by Charles Spurgeon (excerpt)
His faith produced his fear: his faith and his fear produced his obedience. Nothing in Noah is held up before us as an example, but that which grew out of his faith.
“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.”—Hebrews 11:7.
I. First, notice that in Noah’s case FAITH WAS THE FIRST PRINCIPLE. The text begins, “By faith Noah.” Noah believed what seemed highly improbable, if not absolutely impossible.
II. Secondly, FEAR WAS THE MOVING FORCE. Faith was the living principle, but fear was the moving power; for the text puts it, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear.” Faith molded him, but fear moved him. How was this? “I thought,” says one, “that perfect love casts out fear.” Yes, fear of a certain sort; but there is another fear which perfect love embraces and nourishes. Noah had no evil fear. He had not a servile fear: he was not afraid of God as a culprit is afraid of a judge, or a convict of the hangman. He knew whom he believed, and was persuaded that he had a favour towards him.
III. Thirdly, OBEDIENCE WAS THE GRACIOUS FRUIT. Faith and fear together led Noah to do as God commanded him. When fear is grafted upon faith, it brings forth good fruit, as in this case.
Noah obeyed the Lord exactly. How often does the Scripture say, “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he”! See again and again, “Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him.” Those who have faith in God should show it by a holy fear, which makes them zealous to leave nothing undone which is commanded of the Lord, and to add nothing of will-worship to the perfect law of God. “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it;” was the wise word of the Virgin. Obey the Lord with all your mind and all your heart, in the way of faith, if you would find salvation. Prove that you have grace, by your accurate obedience.
IV. And now I come to my last point, upon which hear me patiently. RESULTS DID NOT FAIL TO COME. One hundred and twenty years preaching, and no converts remaining! One hundred and twenty years building a ship, and yet no water to float it! One hundred and twenty years warning people that God is about to destroy them, and yet no flood! Surely, the good man’s life is a failure. No doubt wise folks said of him, “He is a good old man, but he is uncharitable, and has become an alarmist.”
What did come of it? The first result was, He was saved and his house. The next result was, that he condemned the world. Read, “By which he condemned the world.”
The last thing Noah earned by his faith was this, he became heir of the righteousness which is by faith; for God said of him, when he bade him come into the ark, “Thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.” God declared him righteous; not righteous by his works, although his works, following upon his faith, proved him to be righteous; but righteous by his faith. He believed God, and found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He received the righteousness which God gives through Jesus Christ to all them that believe. Full version – Noah’s Faith, Fear, Obedience, and Salvation
Comments
Of course FAITH & FEAR are totally COUPLED, as Spurgeon noted, and scripture shows this is true–not just in Hebrews 11:7. All the patriarchs And the apostles etc. feared Almighty Yah (and used His one true name- James 5:10 etc.) –all true Israelites feared Yahwah, YOU are supposed to be an Israelite, not a ‘Christian’– as Messiah said in Matt 15:24 that he was sent by the Father for Israelites. Oh BTW, Yeshua Messiah himself of course feared his Father Yahwah–as prophesied he would in Isaiah 11:2, and Heb 5:7 says it too. Scripture points it out several times- that the fear of Yah helps you not sin.
The Kodesh Writ, the true scriptures* which were written & spoken by the inspiration of Almighty Yahwah, contain HUNDREDS of passages on the importance of fearing Yahwah, yet still we see the fear of our maker being “taught by the precept of man” (taught falsely) as PROPHESIED in Isaiah 29:13! Yah knew long ago that there would be false teachings on the things important to Him: Your need to have the fear of Him in your heart, and Your need to exalt, praise, and proclaim His name. So He made sure that Each of those Two things were stressed Bigtime by His prophets, as we have– THREE HUNDRED passages about the fear of Yahwah, and THREE HUNDRED passages about the import of His name. It’s been said that when a point is repeated in The Writ, then we need to sit up and take Notice. Well what if it’s repeated HUNDREDS of times!?
*-as apposed to bible verses, beacuse 2 Tim. 3:16 says “All SCRIPTURE is Yah-breathed, for instruction, correction etc.”
FYI- your bible is LOADED with errors, some from the ignorance of the translators and some purposeful. Just because you read a passage or word or name/title in your BIBLE–does NOT necessarily mean it is SCRIPTURAL!
The 3rd Command is mistranslated–it says “YOU DO NOT BRING THE NAME OF YAHWAH TO NAUGHT…” (NOTHINGNESS) — Yet we do exactly that by IGNORING His personal name – Yahwah. He gave it EIGHT times on the Decalogue stones- the 1st Command starts with “I am Yahwah, your Mighty One, …”
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Though these Old Testament saints struggled with the weight of faith and fear at the same time to accomplish the will of God, our testament offers a better restful way of living it out by our faith in Him who has both obeyed and gave us HIs own faith to live better and easy in Him. Mathew 11:28-30, Gal 2:20, Rom 12:3, 2 Cor 5:17. Thanks be to God who gives us triumph in Christ Jesus!
Alfred – Yes but the ‘fear of the Lord’ is still an absolute necessity for living in the grace and mercy of God. Understanding and wisdom still only come through the fear of the Lord.
“And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.'” – Job 28:28
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. – Proverbs 9:10
Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. – 2 Corinthians 5:11
We love you. God bless. Rex
Yes, Faith or Rex — I’m sorry I don’t know which you are — but you are absolutely correct . Phil. 2.12-13 tells us this as well as Heb. 12.28. Sex sin is rampant in the church today — because there is no fear of the Lord. It was obviously fear of the Lord that kept Joseph from going to bed with Potiphar’s wife
Gen. 39.9-10, and the Lord God Himself praised Job’s fear of the Lord (Job 1.1,8).
Pastors NEED to preach this from the pulpits so that the people will know (Deut. 31.12-13).
The Lord bless you.