Sermon 3/07/04 am

Jim Huskey, What Faith Does

As we continue our journey through the book of Hebrews, we've reached

the eleventh chapter of the book. We have listened as the author has

pointed out what faith is. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped

for, the evidence of things not seen." Having told us that, in verse

6 he said, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he

that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder

of them that diligently seek him." He that comes to God must believe -

what? must believe that He is. That's the first part. I am fearful

that an awful lot of folks in the religious world and the various

communities of religious people stop with their definition right there.

They believe that God is, and that's about it. But that's not what the

Hebrew author said. He didn't stop there. He that comes to God must

believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently

seek him. In other words, we not only must believe that God IS, we

must believe GOD. There is where the "faith" of so many is lacking.

They look around and say 'OH, yea, I believe there is a God.' I've

talked with people time and again in the past and have them tell me,

'Well, I know that's in the Bible, but I just don't believe that. I

don't believe that's necessary.' Well, my first question is, if it's

not necessary, why is it in the Bible? If you don't believe it's

necessary, and you believe the Bible is the word of God, then the

bottom line is, you don't believe what God said. That's what the Hebrew

author said faith is all about - believing IN God and BELIEVING God.

Now how do I know that's true? I just read the following verses. The

Bible is it's own best interpreter. How do I know faith that is

acceptable to God believes, number 1, that God is, and believes,

number 2, what God says? Well, I just read the rest of the chapter.

That's all I have to do. Remember, he began the chapter by saying,

"Now faith is..." Well, now he's showing us what faith is and what it

does in the remainder of this elventh chapter.

"By faith Noah..." Usually all the little children who go to Bible

class know about Noah. "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things

not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his

house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the

righteousness which is by faith." Well, let's look at that. "By faith

Noah..." Was Noah saved by faith? Yes, he was. Well, how do you

know? That's what the book said. "By faith Noah..." Well, what did

Noah, by faith, do? Well, let's go back over to the Old Testament, to

the book of Genesis. You see, he Hebrew author just said he prepared

an ark. Let's read a little more about this. In Genesis, chapter 6,

we'll begin reading in verse 13. "And God said unto Noah, The end of

all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence

through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make

thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt

pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which

thou shalt make of it; The length of the ark shall be three hundred

cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty

cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt

thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the

side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it."

Gen. 6:13-16. "By faith Noah, being warned of things not seen as yet,

moved with fear, prepared an ark...."

Now let's talk about this "little boat" for a minute. First of all,

God said make it out of gopher wood. Now, I suppose in the minds of a

lot of folks, God would have had to have told Noah, 'Don't make it out

of pine, don't make it out of oak, don't make it out of cedar, don't

make it out of birch, don't make it out of poplar, don't make it out

of walnut, don't make it out of cherry, etc.' Why? Well, God didn't

say DON'T make it out of those. He didn't have to say it. When he

said "Make thee an ark of GOPHER WOOD..." that excluded everyting else

regarding the woods he was to use in making the ark. "Make thee an

ark of gopher wood..." "....The length of the ark shall be three

hundred cubits." A cubit is roughly 18 inches, or a foot and a half.

So that boat was a football field and half of another long. A

football field is 300 feet goal line to goal line, that is a regulation,

outside football field, not an arena field. So it would be a long as

a football field and half of another one. It was to be 50 cubits wide.

That's 75 feet. It was to be 30 cubits high, or 45 feet. Now you

stop and think about that for a minute. This was not some little

fishing boat we're talking about here. Four hundred, fifty feet long,

45 feet high, 75 feet wide, three stories. You ever figured out how

many square feet of lumber Noah had to cut ??? Now remembered, he

couldn't call Home Depot and get a pre-fabricated kit for this job.

He can't even go to Home Depot and get a chainsaw. You stop and think

of the kind of tools they had with which to work. They had to some

how, chop those trees down, hew the wood out by hand, put that thing

together. That was an awful lot of boat to have to build even if they

had some of our automated tools to use. There would be four men doing

the work, that is when Noah could get his sons to work. If he was

like most fathers, if he had three boys and tried to get them to do

something, well....... So at best, there were four men with crude

working tools and a huge boat to build.

But that's not all. Begin reading at verse 19 of Genesis 6. "And of

every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring

into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and

female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of

every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort

shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of

all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall

be for food for thee, and for them." Oh, the ark doesn't come stocked!!

vs. 19-21. Now think about it. You go to the grocery store and buy

groceries perhaps for a week for you and your family and maybe even

for a pet or two at the house. That's not what Noah had to provide.

Noah had to provide food for himself, his wife, his three sons, their

wives - eight adults. Oh, but that's the easy part. You see, I've

heard these fellows get us and say 'well, now see he didn't have much

to work about because God had them in a hibernation stage.' That's

not what it said, brother. It said he had to take food in their "for

them". Have you ever thought about how much food that many animals

could eat in a year and ten days ???? Oh, now I know why the Hebrew

letter says "By faith Noah prepared an ark...." He not only believed

IN God, he believed what God said. It was going to take a long time to

build that boat and a lot of hard work. We start doing some little

repair jobs around the house, and even with what few tools I have,

we wind up with bursted knuckles, sore fingers, arms. Can you imagine

the task Noah had in front of him? Can you just imagine? I'm afraid

if it had been me, by the time I got a few logs cut and hewed out, I'd

have said "Lord, I'll settle for a dingy to get out of this thing

myself." No, Noah believed what God said. "By faith Noah, moved with

fear, prepared an ark....." Listen to verse 22 of Genesis 6. "Thus

did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he." Look

at verse 5, Genesis 7, "And Noah did according unto all that the Lord

commanded him." Then these people today say, "Oh, I know God said it,

but I don't really believe that's necessary." Then they talk about

faith. They don't know what the word means. They don't have any

concept. You see, I believe that's exactly why the Hebrew author gave

us the picture he did. "Now faith is..." "..he that comes to God must

believe that he is, and that he is a reward of them that diligently

see him." Then what did the author do? He began giving one example

after another of faith. Everyone of those examples follows the

definition. They believed in God and they believed God. Now do you

think Noah would have gone to all that effort if he didn't believe God

was going to bring something the world had never seen on the earth -

a flood, and that, as a result of the things God told himl, he and his

family would be spared? Do you believe Noah would have done all that

work if he hadn't believed that?? NO!!!! That's what it says. That's

what the author said here. "..he that cometh to God must believe that

He is, and that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him."

What does it mean to diligently seek him? It means to do what he

says do !!!! "...according to all God commanded him, so did he."

I can just see some modern-day people looking at this example and saying

'Well, you know, I don't know why God made Noah do all that? God could

have saved Noah.' That's not the point !!!! God could have floated

him on a cloud if he had wanted to do it. That's not the point. The

point is, God told him to build the ark and he believed God to the point

that he did it. "...according to ALL that God commanded, so did he."

I can just see folks today looking at the plans. 'Now, God you know

one door ain't enough for a boat that big. We're going to need more

light in there than that one window can provide. After all, Lord, you

know what a mess those animals are going to make on that boat.' All

I know is "....according to ALL that God commanded him, so did he."

And the Bible says Noah, by faith, saved his house, and he became

heir righteousness which is by faith. Now that's what it means to be

saved by faith - to believe in God and believe God enough to do what

God says. I am fearful that most of the religious world doesn't have

a good grasp on what saving faith is all about. Some of the ones who

preach so long and so loud on salvation by faith, and most of them say

salvation by faith ONLY, don't have the concept that we must do what

God says do; that that's a part of saving faith. It is faith that

believes enough to act in harmony with the message that's been

delivered.

Well, the author doesn't stop there. I wanted to spend most of our

time on the ark because children are familiar with that boat story.

They know about the ark, but they don't realize what a task it was to

have built that thing, how much work it would take, how much

preparation it would take just to gather food all that time. Remember

later, when Joseph was down in Egypt and predicted the famine? They

stored food primarily for people, to help them survive, but there were

multitudes of people who were doing it, by the King's command, at

Joseph's word. Here with this ark you have a man and his three sons

gathering food for them for over a year and for every kind of animal,

not one of each, but two of some of them and fourteen of the clean

ones. They would be eating some of them. So that's what faith is all

about.

Now look at verse 8 in Hebres 11. "By faith Abraham (father of the

faithful) when he was called to go out into a place which he should

after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing

whither he went." I remember the first time I came down to this area

from up in North Carolina for a trial sermon at Pennville. I'd never

heard of Trion or Summerville, I had no idea of where they were, but

all I had to do was get a map; I knew the name of the place and I could

take that map and look and see where I was going. But that's not

what Abram was told to do. God told him to get out from his father's

house, from his kindred and go to a place he would show him. That's

one of those "need to know" basis things. He didn't tell him where

he was going, and when he got there, he told him he was going to give

that land to his children after him. But you see, Abraham went out,

not know where he was going. Now he wasn't a "spring chicken" either.

He was 75 years old. Well, let's go back and let the Bible give us

the commentary on this. Let's being in Genesis 12:1. "Now the Lord

had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy

kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee;

and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make

thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them

that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee; and in thee shall

all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord

had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him; and Abram was seventy and

five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his

wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had

gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went

forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they

came." Gen. 12:1-5. He was told when he left, "..go unto a land that

I will show thee." Abraham didn't have any idea how long the journey

would be, where it would lead him. All he knew was that God told him

to leave where he was and go where he'd show him. He didn't know how

long he'd be on the road, didn't know where he would wind up; but the

record says he obeyed, Heb. 11:8, "....and he went out, now knowing

whither he went." Verse 9 continues, "By faith he sojourned in the

land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with

Isaac and Jacob the heirs with him of the same promise; for he looked

for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."

That's faith, that's faith!!!! 'Well, Lord, what if I don't like the

people there.' God didnt' ask him that. He said "Go". 'Well, Lord,

I've got deep ties here, family here, business here.' God said "Go".

That's what Abraham did.

I've got a feeling I could ask an awful lot of folks today in some of

the religious world Could Noah have been save if he had refused to

built the ark like God told him to? I believe they'd tell me "No, he

couldn't." But if I ask them Can you be saved without being baptized

for the remission of sins? "Well, yes I think so. Well, my question

is, Where is any evidence that God required more of Abraham and of

Noah than he requires of us when it comes to the matter of faith??

He required them to do what he told them to do. Remember the author

is writing this to christians, and christians with a Jewish background.

That's the whole point he's making - faith requires us to do what God

commands us to do. "Now faith is..." and here's what faith does, and

here's how it works. We'll spend some more time on this in our next

lesson as we go through the book of Hebrews.