"It's going to gleep so build a blurp to save your family"
By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Hebrews 11:7
Imagine what it would have been like for God to come to Noah and ask him to build an ark because there was going to be a world wide flood. What in the world was an ark? What is rain and what is a flood? And he had to do this to save his family?
What would you do? - "It's going to gleep so build a blurp!" umm... sure...
This is where Faith steps in; it fills the gap between God's promise and His provision. The gap can be any amount of time and in Noah's case it was 120 years. For 120 years he built this blurp in his backyard and preached to friends and family about this gleep that was coming. Despite certain ridicule and incredulity, Noah was moved with godly fear.
What does godly fear look like today? It's actually easiest to look at the opposites first to better understand godly fear:
- skepticism - "we've never seen that before"
- hedonism - "we're having too much fun"
- optimism - "things will be different tomorrow"
What were the results of Noah's actions?
He and his family were saved from the gleep and "he condemned the world." How does that work? John 3:16-19 - Make sure that you read that passage and notice this important fact: Judgment and Salvation occur simultaneously! If there is a group of people playing in the sewers with all the lights off they don't know they are filthy, when someone turn on a flashlight they are condemned and their first reaction is to turn the flashlight off. Noah showed everyone that they were sinful and were going to die. He showed them that they were condemned.
So when God's Word has been spoken...
- Will I take it seriously?
- Will I work persistenly?
- Will I live different?
Summary of Peter Hubbard's - 7/31 Sunday AM sermon.