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)

Noah: A Story Of Grace, Faith, And Works

The world had become so wicked the Lord God decided to destroy man whom He created from the face of the earth. He would wipe all man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air. The destruction would be total. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and, moving with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household. When the flood had killed all men, beasts, creeping things and birds, Noah and his family came out of the ark along with all the animals preserved by the will of God. Jesus taught the story of the flood as a fact. Moses preserved the story in the holy writ as a powerful testimony to the grace of God, the faith of man and the necessity of salvation through works.

Noah was divinely warned of things not yet seen: grace. God looked upon the world He had created and it grieved His heart to see the wickedness that dominated the hearts of men. Everything that man thought of was evil continually. There was no redeeming value to the mass of humanity as it served the will of Satan. God’s wrath burned so intensely; destruction was all that could save the human race. As God looked upon the wickedness of man, He decided to bring a global flood that would kill everyone save Noah and his family. The grace of God expressed itself when the Lord spoke to Noah and told him what was coming and what he must do to be saved.

Apart from God telling Noah of the destruction and how to avoid certain death, Noah could not have known of the flood or the plans for the ark. Grace is the measure of God’s love to tell Noah of the flood and what must be done to avoid death. This was something apart from the works of Noah to know and understand. There was nothing Noah could boast about when he was saved. Did he know of the flood apart from the word of God? Would he have known to build an ark to save himself? Only through the revealed word of God could Noah have known and acted. Grace saved Noah but not grace alone.

Noah moved with godly fear: faith. The story God told Noah was the most incredible event that defied logic. How could a flood consume the whole earth more than twenty feet above the highest mountain? Nothing in what God told Noah made sense to the human mind. The greatest minds of the day could not believe such a myth. Noah did not doubt what he did not understand. He accepted the word of God as truth, believing that God had the desire and the power to kill every creature on the face of the earth. Armed with that knowledge, Noah moved with godly fear and acted in faith. People would ridicule him and mock him for believing such a story. He would face a world opposed to the idea of a wrathful God. Nothing moved Noah from his firm belief in the word of God. Faith caused him to act, but faith alone did not save Noah.

Noah prepared an ark for the saving of his household: works. Grace had told Noah of the impending destruction and what he must do to be saved. Faith moved him to accept without a doubt that God had the power to destroy all life and that building an ark would save his family. His works put him to build a barge of gopher wood with one door and one window. Noah made the ark 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high because God said so. He did not make it 500 feet long and 50 feet wide. Whatever God told him to do, thus Noah did. His works built an ark. Grace told him to build an ark and his faith in the word of God told him to make the ark exactly like God prescribed.

Nothing about the flood made sense to the rational approach of human wisdom. Only eight people accepted the grace of God, lived by faith and acted in obedience to the word of God. When the flood came upon the world, all life perished because they rejected the grace, faith, and works of salvation. Noah was not saved by grace alone, faith alone, or works alone. The family of Noah was saved by water as that same water destroyed the disobedient. God’s love saved eight souls. It will do the same today.

The same message delivered to Noah is given to all the world through the grace of God. There will never be a global flood, but fire will destroy the world. Through the grace of God, we know this to be true. God did not leave men hopeless without a means to save themselves from the wrath of God. Two thousand years ago, Jesus built His church to save those who would believe in the grace of God. On the day of Pentecost, the Lord added those who were saved to the church. The church is the spiritual ark given to men to save them. Faith is necessary to accept the word of God of the coming judgment and to find salvation in the body of Christ. Like in the days of Noah, there is only one place to find salvation. Jesus died to purchase the church and all those found outside the one church of Christ will perish. Grace, faith and works will not save alone. Accepting the grace of God, moving with godly fear in faith and obedient works, will save a man from the wrath of God.

Water baptism will save a man and condemn the disobedient. Jesus said that when a person believes and is baptized, he will be saved. That same water will condemn those who refuse. Grace is in the waters of baptism as well as faith. No man is saved by works alone. Noah tells the story of the grace, faith, works, and necessity of baptism. Sadly, most will accept the false doctrines of grace alone or faith alone. The sinner’s prayer will condemn more souls to perdition than anything known to man. Noah became an heir of righteousness according to faith.