Text: Heb. 11:6-7
Intro: The single most important thing in a person's life is faith.
    1. Eph. 2:8-9 We are saved by faith. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of
        God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Heb. 11:6 We can not please God without faith. "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."
    2. Noah lived in an evil time. (READ) Gen. 6:5-8. He lived in a time when men did not believe God. The evidence of that
        was how they lived. They did every sin imaginable.
        a. We also live in an evil time. I believe America is fast becoming a nation whose "Every imagination of the thoughts is
            only evil continually."
            a) Homosexuality and abortion are accepted in our society as normal.
            b) Many Americans think nothing of committing these gross sins.
            c) Lying is perfectly all right if you get some benefit from it.
            d) America is fast becoming a nation devoid of any moral character.
        b. In the days before the Flood there were evil times, Yet one man found Grace because he trusted God who created
            him.
        c. When God spoke Noah believed! He trusted in what God said.
            a) Noah was a man, just like you and I.
            b) What made him outstanding was....He believed God!
            c) He based his whole life, NOT JUST PART OF IT, on the promises of God.
            d) He understood the principle that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write centuries later in Romans 12:1-2 I beseech
                you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
                unto God, which is your reasonable service. ~ And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the
                renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Many are
                mistaken into thinking that if we give mental thought or lip service to the Bible it is the same as faith. The Word of
                God does not teach that.
I. WHAT WAS THE BASIS OF NOAH'S FAITH?
    A.  The verse says being, "warned of God."
        1. Faith is not a leap into the dark.
            a. Biblical faith knows the final outcome.
        2. True faith is based on TRUTH.
            a. It is based on the One who is Truth...it is based on God's own Word.
        3. It is based on the promise of One who is all powerful and can bring what He wills about.
            a. What He promises HE can DO!
    B. THERE IS A FALSE IDEA OF FAITH.
        1. Christians have too often let the world, or the false teachers define for us Biblical truths.
            a. Many have gotten their understanding of faith from the Charismatics and the so-called "Faith Healers" on TV and
                Radio.
            b. The faith they present to their listeners is a distorted and often deliberate perversion of biblical faith.
        2. Their false idea of faith has misled many.
            a. Some have the idea that faith is something mystical or some unseen force.
        3. BIBLICAL FAITH IS ACTING ON THE PROMISES OF GOD.
            a. It’s a matter of accepting God’s Word, trusting Him because He is our God, and then doing what He has said.
            b. Faith is living by the promises of God made in God’s Word the Bible. WE BELIEVE....WHAT HE HAS SAID.!
        4.  The greater your trust in God, the more dependent on Him you are...the greater things God will do through you.
    C.  God told Noah the world was going to be destroyed because of sin
        1. Did Noah do something we can not do? Did he have some ability that we today do not have.....the answer is no. He
            was just like you and I.
            a. His great act of faith was...simply this: He believed God and obeyed Him.
        2. Heb. 11:6 says He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
            Him."
        3. Noah believed in God, he accepted and feared God, when God said He was going to destroy the Earth....Noah
            believed it, knew it was true and started getting materials together to build the Ark.
        4. All this was based on a very simple thing.....God said it.
    D.  Question? Does God speak today? Can you hear God speak this morning???
        1. What is it that I hold in my hand?
            a. The Bible...God's recorded and preserved Word to man.
                a) As surely as Noah heard God speak to him audibly....we can hear God speak to us! John 5:24 Verily, verily, I
                    say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not
                    come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
            b. Folks, God can and does speak to us with the same power as He spoke to Noah.
                a) Nothing is lost in the fact that we have the written WORD. Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in
                    divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, ~  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by
                    his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
            c. It is the same Word, that Word that can save the sinner from his sin, that can take the vilest of sinners and wash him
                white as snow in the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
            d. God's promises are immutable! They do not change!!
            e. Noah believed God, so he acted on it and based his life on it!"
        2. NOAH prepared the ark and preached to the lost souls around him.
        3. Not one other person believed out side his family! But Noah did!
            a. Faith is not an action of the masses, but of each separate individual.
            b. His faith in God's Word, in God's promises saved Noah and his family.
            c. By trusting in God's Word today...you’ll be saved the same way Noah was saved, by faith.
II. Noah's Faith was not Based on What He Could See!
    A. It had never rained, nor had there been a worldwide flood.
    B. There was no physical evidence in Noah's life or knowledge that what God said, could happen.
    C. He had no knowledge to base his belief on except that God said it would happen.
        1. The basis of Biblical faith is not in miracles and visible demonstrations of God's power.
            a. Many look to signs for their faith instead of the promises of God.
        2. Many who claim to know Christ are not experiencing His presence and power    in their lives.
            a. They feel that if things are going well then God is present and blessing, But when things are bad or not so good they
                lose sight of God.
            b. When things are not happening they become disillusioned and their faith fails.
        3. Faith in God is real when men and women simply believe God and trust in His  promises.
        4. What a great miracle God performed when he divided the waters of the Red  Sea and the Children of Israel escaped
            Pharaoh's chariots that were bearing down on them.
            a. Yet, in only a short time the people had forgotten what God had done and began complaining bitterly.... mad at
                Moses and God.
            b. The whole history of Israel is one of God's deliverance over and over again....but when God performed the miracles
                their faith was short lived and they soon returned to unbelief.
        5. In the New Testament Jesus performed miracle after miracle.
            a. Everyone in Israel knew of Christ's supernatural acts.
            b. Nicodemus, stated the undisputable fact...."no man can do these miracles  except God be with him."
            c. They saw the dead raised from the grave, those born blind and lame healed totally.
            d. They saw the Lord feed on two occasions thousands of people.
            e. Many of them ate the bread and fish Jesus made
                a) But it did not cause in them a great faith. They did not believe His promise of eternal life and forgiveness of sin.
            f. The miracles made do difference.
    D. In John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles,
        but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
        a. They followed Jesus for the food he put in their bellies.
            a) Their bellies were filled by a clear miracle of God and all they could think of is "Do it again!"
        b. They were not motivated to faith by the miracles!
        c. John 6:30 says they continued to ask for a sign.
            a) They had seen the miracles yet it was not enough.
            b) They saw and did not believe. John 6;35-36.
            c) They said show us a sign that we might believe!
III. Luke 16: 19-31 Jesus Told the Story of Lazarus and the Rich Man.
    A. Rich man in Hell, begged for Lazarus to be sent back to warn his brothers. Abraham replied to him: They have Moses
        and the prophets; let them hear them v 29. "And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead,
        they will repent." 30
        1. The rich man knew his brothers did not believe the Word of God....He knew he had not believed it.
        2. His wrong thinking continued even in Hell.
        3. He concluded that they would believe if they saw a dead man return to life. "And he said unto him, If they hear not
            Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. LUKE 16:31
        4. What saved Lazarus was simple faith, he believed and trusted in what God said.
            a. He trusted the promises of God.
        5. He was a poor beggar. God chose not to bless him with material things....he could not say his faith was evidenced in
            God's material blessings.
    B. Noah believed God in spite of what logic and experience had taught him.
        1. The verse says he “moved with fear".
        2. When he heard the Word of God, that God was going to destroy the world, he became fearful and very cautiously
            began to build the ark.
        3.  With no physical evidence on which to base his actions, he acted anyway.
IV. Noah Believed God, and Accepted God's Promise of Salvation.
    A. He moved with fear and prepared an ark in order to saved his family."
    B. He built something no one there had ever seen.
        1. He built an ark on dry land.
            a. Others could see the action of faith in his life..
        2. IF YOUR FAITH IS BIBLICAL FAITH..REAL FAITH IT WILL PRODUCE ACTIONS...IT WILL BE SEEN...
            James 2:20
        3. The people who did not believe in God laughed, they ridiculed, they made fun...BUT it did not stop Noah from
            believing God.
        4. His faith was in God....Not in people, not in the world.
    C. Could these people have been saved? Yes, God warned them through his preacher Noah. 1 Peter 3:19-20 By which
        also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; ~  Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering
        of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
        II Peter 2:5, "and 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;"
Conclusion:  GOD IS STILL WARNING MEN TODAY, MOST FOLKS THANK IT IS FOOLISHNESS.
    A. But some wise men believe God and are saved
        1. He promised to save all who will believe.
        2. Noah is safe with the Lord even at this moment, as well as all who down through the ages have believed and obeyed
            God.
        3. He was saved!!!! Not only physically from the Flood, but more importantly God saved his soul.
        4. WILL YOU BELIEVE GOD TODAY?
    B. You do not have to spend an eternity in hell.
    C. Christ Jesus has already paid you for your sins...and God says he will wipe the slate clean...if you will by simple faith
         trust him...right now. God has promised that to you and I.
    D. You have God's word on the matter, He will save you, if you simply take God at His word.