#1308 1108 09P

          A righteous standing before God is a believing faith in His Son.  Romans 5:1 ”Having been declared righteous, then, by faith, we have peace toward God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”  Genuine faith in God is evidenced by acting in faith on His Word.

          Genesis 6:9 ”Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.”  He was declared righteous by God, because he acted in faith on the Word of God.  James 2:21 ”Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?”  God 2 Peter 2:5 “did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly.”

          There are only two groups of people—righteous and unrighteous—believers or unbelievers.  Matthew 13:49 “The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous.”  The apostle Paul said Acts 24:15 that “that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.”

          People had become so rebellious and wicked in Noah’s day Genesis 6:8 that God destroyed all life with a flood.  Noah, however, believed God, obeyed His instructions to build an ark, and was saved.  Doing what God told him to do was first priority, so putting God’s Word into practice must be first on the list for us also.  Real faith does not make excuses—it just obeys.

          God warned Noah and Jesus warns us—Matthew 24:44, “be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”  Noah obeyed because he believed that God would do what He said.  Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.  By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”  His obedience to God condemns the disobedience of this rebellious world.

          Noah would be criticized for building an ark where there was no seen water, just as the world criticizes anyone today where there is no seen plan or person to trust in.  Unbelievers think it is foolish to trust God in faith for healing, protection, provisions, justice, wisdom, and other life issues.

          Most of the people then were disobedient to God, just as most people today have no faith in God.  Noah is the first one to be called righteous Genesis 6:9.  When others did not heed warnings, Noah obeyed and acted in faith.  Doing this made Noah righteous before God—“Faith without deeds is dead” James 2:26.  Abraham was righteous because James 2:22 “his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.”  Faith is never separated from obedience.

          To believe God is to trust Him in faith, and to meet life circumstances as His Word says.  We are to forgive others from the heart, to place insults and injustices before God in prayer 1 Peter 2:23, and give to those who ask of us.  Our prayer each day is to be delivered from a defiant nature, and to have it replaced with a compliant one.

          The devil has deceived millions to think obedience is works, when the truth is that obedience is true faith.  God’s grace is not a license for, nor an excuse to, sin Jude 1:4.  God’s grace is Titus 2:12-13 ”Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”

Our life is to give evidence of our faith.  Obedience and faith are connected, so Noah’s acted in faith to obey the Word.  His faith in God was the result of his believing God.  Such faith condemns a world of no faith.  His life of trust on God is a clear rebuke to everyone else’s life of no trust on God.  Noah Hebrews 11:7 “condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”

          The ark was built where no body of water could be seen, but we hear no excuses and no hesitation from Noah—only submissive obedience.  Faith can only be faith, when we do not see results.  There was no rain before the Flood, but Noah responded in faith—which is Hebrews 11:1 “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” 

Noah only had a spoken word, but today we have God’s written Word.  Noah had been living by faith prior to God’s command, so when a greater trial was confronted, he could still act in faith on God’s Word.

          God requires that we believe Him, and He wants everyone to trust Him concerning any situation or temptation we face.  God has a plan, so we are to get started in faith, and begin trusting God for results.  It could be a financial need, physical healing, forgiving a friend, protection from harm, or any issue, but trusting God for the ability to follow through in faith, is simply a choice on our part.  Faith seems foolish to the world because God’s Truth is spiritually discerned 1 Corinthians 2:14.

          Noah would have warned the people of coming judgment—due to rebellion and their unwillingness to believe God in faith.  They had the same opportunity to believe and trust God as Noah did—but they were not willing Matthew 22:3.

2 Peter 2:4-9 “If God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;”—would He not protect us today, if we will trust Him in faith?

          “If [God] condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment.”

          Anyone can escape destruction by faith in the atonement sacrifice of Christ.  We only have to believe, confess, forsake our sins, and live by faith each day.  The wickedness, immorality, drunkenness, unbelief, vulgarity, and lack of respect for God’s Word, are worse today than ever.  A few lived by faith in Noah’s day and were saved, just as the same few will be saved today by faith in the blood of Jesus.

Noah’s acting faith Hebrews 11:7 “condemned the world and [he] became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”  His faith was real because he acted on the Word.  He was “a righteous man” only by his faith in God—not by any merit of his own.  Anyone can be righteous by that same faith in Jesus Christ.

          Thousands of years before Jesus was born, Noah was righteous before God, because He believed God in faith.  Since God cannot change Malachi 3:6; James 1:17, He will save anyone today who is willing to believe and trust Him in faith like Noah.  Those who perished in the flood—refused to live by faith.  The perfect sacrifice of Christ can atone for all the sins on earth—but only a few are willing to believe and trust God in faith.

          If we want to be righteous by faith in Christ, as Noah was righteous by faith in God, then our stated faith must be combined with acting in faith.  The believer trusts God for health and healing without medical help, but only by a trusting faith in the atonement sacrifice of Christ Acts 3:16.  We trust God for divine protection from harm, injury, or loss without weapons or insurance, but only by a trusting faith on the blood of Jesus.

          Noah was surrounded by wickedness and unbelief, just as we are today.  When God said that His wrath would come on a sinful world, Noah was told to act in faith and be saved.  Rebellion, unbelief, and immoral lifestyles are worse than ever, so God has declared destruction again—by fire this time 2 Peter 3:10.  We are to live righteous lives while 2 Peter 3:12 ”looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God.”

          An unbelieving world just keeps following its own plans to destruction, but the believer heeds the warning and maintains a trusting faith on God.  Matthew 24:38-42 ”Before the Deluge, men were busy eating and drinking, taking wives or giving them, up to the very day when Noah entered the Ark, nor did they realise any danger till the Deluge came and swept them all away; so will it be at the Coming of the Son of Man.

          ”Then will two men be in the open country: one will be taken away, and one left behind. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken away, and one left behind.  Be on the alert therefore, for you do not know the day on which your Lord is coming.”

          If we have a need, we trust God in faith to supply it—without going into debt, without letting anyone know, and without accepting laid-up money.  If someone steals from us, slanders our name, or insults our family, we do not avenge ourselves, but leave that to God Romans 12:19.  We love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, so that we may be sons of our Father in heaven Matthew 5:44-45.