Overview
Noah built the ark because he was personally convinced that what God told him was true, and he held that conviction for over a hundred years without a single recorded supporter around him. Hebrews 11:7 says that 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. This Faith 2020 conference teaching walks through Genesis 5 to Genesis 7 and draws out three things: Noah had faith and believed God, God supplied everything Noah needed to carry out the commission, and God encouraged him to keep going year after year. The same three things are available to us, one day at a time.
Transcript
Hebrews 11:7 — By Faith Noah Prepared an Ark
Thank you very much. It’s such a privilege to be able to share God’s Word with you this evening. Tonight we’re going to talk about Noah, a man of conviction.
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 5. Our personal conviction, being convinced of what God says, is essential to faith, our believing God. Noah’s conviction is such a great example to us because he continued to believe what God told him to do for over a hundred years in spite of not having any recorded support from those around him. In Hebrews 11 verse 7 it says, By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, respect, 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.
So how did he do this? By faith. He believed God. Three things I want to highlight to help us relate and to see the application of the things that we’re going to learn about Noah tonight.
Three Things to Learn From Noah: Faith, Supply and Encouragement
Number one, Noah had faith. He trusted and believed God. And we can live with that same type of conviction day by day.
Number two, God supplied Noah whatever he needed to carry out what he asked him to do, just like God does for us. And number three, God encouraged him to help keep him going, as God certainly can and does provide daily encouragement for us. So let’s look at some of the details of the life of Noah.
In Genesis chapter 5 verse 32 it says, And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. So it’s important to note that he was five hundred years old, and this is when God commissioned him to build the ark. He was five hundred, and then it says in Genesis 7 verse 6, And Noah was six hundred years old, when the floods of the waters was upon the earth.
So he was preparing an ark for a hundred years. He was five hundred when he got the commissioning, and then he was six hundred when it started to rain. Hundred years, that’s a long time.
Genesis 6 — The Wickedness of Man and the Idiom of Permission
I don’t think there’s anybody in here that’s that long. Chapter 6 verse 1, And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them. Verse 5 goes through who was born, and then it says, And God saw the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, And that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
That’s some bad stuff there. Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for it repented me that I have made them. Now, one thing I need to explain to you here, it appears as if God is doing this, that God is doing something evil. Well, this is what’s called an idiom of permission.
See, at this time, people knew very little about the adversary, about the devil, so everything was attributed to God. But we know that God is light, we know that God is love, we know that there’s no darkness in God, that God is good always. It’s in the essence of God allowed it to happen, because every imagination of the hearts was only evil continually.
God allowed this to happen. You could liken it unto an umbrella. When you go out and it’s raining, you stay underneath the umbrella, at least your hair is going to stay dry, right? But if you go out from underneath the umbrella, you’re going to get wet.
Is that God’s fault? No, just get back underneath the umbrella, underneath the umbrella of God’s protection. See, God is limited in protecting people when they, by their free will, walk outside of God’s protection. So, there’s all this evil in the world.
But Noah Found Grace in the Eyes of the Lord
Verse 8, chapter 6, verse 8, it said, But Noah, and whenever you see that word, but, it sets in contrast what was before, which is the evil that was going on around him. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. I love that.
He found or received grace, favor with God. It says, in the eyes of the Lord, and that’s a figure of speech. God doesn’t have eyes.
That was God’s opinion of him. But Noah received or found grace in the eyes of the Lord. I love that.
Noah Was a Just Man, Perfect in His Generation
Verse 9, and these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generation, and that should be singular there, and Noah walked with God. So, he was a just man.
That means he was righteous before God. He was right before God in conduct and in character. In essence, he kept himself sanctified or separate from all the evil that was surrounding him.
He kept himself separate. He kept himself right with God. It says, he was perfect in his generation.
It means he had integrity, a sound mind. He was an upright man. And then this great statement, Noah walked with God.
Noah Walked With God: A Close Relationship Like Enoch’s
Wow. What a statement to make about the man’s life, right? And there’s only two other places that that phrase is used, and it’s both in reference to Noah’s great grandfather, Enoch, who also walked with God. To walk with God, you have to have a close relationship with him.
So, Noah talked with him. He listened to him. So, it makes sense that he would get this revelation, that he would get this special commissioning from God because he walked with God.
So, in verse 10, And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
And God said unto Noah, he said unto Noah, he talked to him. The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. And behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Genesis 6:14 — Make Thee an Ark of Gopher Wood
And then in verse 14, he starts telling him what he wants him to do. Now, just picture yourself being Noah, listening to God explain this, like, for the first time, he’s hearing this. Okay, so, make thee an ark.
He doesn’t say, well, do you want to do this? He said, make thee an ark. It was a command. It was something God told him to do.
So, apparently, he had been in the habit of doing what God would tell him to do. He walked with God. It was beautiful.
Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Room shalt thou make in the ark. Thou shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
How Big Was the Ark? 300 Cubits and Four Stories
And this is the fashion which thou shalt make of it. The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, and the height of it 30 cubits. So, by one estimation, 300 cubits, it’s like one and a half football fields long.
Just, I mean, that’s huge to build this boat. And verse 16, and a window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit thou shalt finish it above, and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof. Okay, so, here’s the deck of the boat.
So, it says, with the lower, and then a second, and a third story. So, that makes one, two, three, four. Four-story boat.
One and a half football fields long. By this time, I was like, getting his mind blown. Okay, and behold, verse 17, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life from under heaven, and everything that is in the earth shall die.
Two of Every Sort and All the Food That Is Eaten
But, with thee, with Noah, will I establish my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy son’s wife with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark to keep them alive with thee, and they shall be male and female, the fowl after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, every creeping thing in the earth after its kind, two of every sort shall come into the ark to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all the food that is eaten.
You stop and think about that for a minute. Not only feed his family, but all these animals, and like, how do you figure all that out? It’s just, so it says, take of thee all the food that is eaten, that thou shall gather it to thee, and it shall be for food for thee and for them. Verse 22, thus did Noah, according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
He did it. Now, I’m just picturing Noah. He’s sitting there, and God, you know, he’s probably just, you know, talking with God, and God goes, okay, this is what I want you to do.
Genesis 2:5 — It Had Never Rained Before the Flood
And then he explains all this. And after he’s done, I mean, I would have gone like, okay, you want me to do what? Maybe I didn’t hear you right. You realize what a big job that is, God, right? It’s just, and then the whole concept of rain.
It says in Genesis 2, 5, and 6, see, it had never rained before. And you can see this very clearly. In Genesis 2, 5, it says, for the Lord had not caused it to rain upon the earth, but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
It was just like, you know, how you have dew on the grass in the mornings. That’s how everything was watered. And then we see in chapter 7, verse 4, it says, I will cause it to rain.
In verse 11, it says, the windows of heaven were opened up, and the water came down. So even the concept of rain was something that was foreign to him. This is just so much to wrap your mind around, but Noah walked with God.
The Logistics of Finding Gopher Wood and Cutting the Lumber
He did all, according to all that God had told him to do. And I think about the details of this job and just the logistics of gathering the materials. I mean, it’s not like he had his little flatbed truck and he drove down to Lowe’s and he’d just go, okay, load up the lumber.
I’m going to build a boat. No, he had to go find gopher wood trees. I mean, why gopher wood? Can I just take the ones I got in my backyard? No, it’s just, maybe he had gopher wood there.
Maybe he didn’t, but that’s a lot of trees. And then, you know, he didn’t have some fancy machine to run the lumber through. He had to cut the tree down.
He had to take the bark off. He had to cut it into strips of lumber. I mean, you know, and one tree, I don’t know, maybe.
You can get four or five pieces of lumber. I don’t know, maybe. That’s a lot of trees.
No wonder it took him so long. Just, you know, to think of the logistics. He had to find these trees.
God Supplied Everything Noah Needed to Build the Ark
He had to cut them down. And where did he get it all? God supplied. God supplied what he needed.
He must have showed God, God must have just shown him how to get everything because he walked with God. How did he know how to do this? It didn’t say that he was a carpenter necessarily. God must have taught him along the way everything he needed to know.
God would never ask us to do something where he wouldn’t also give us what we need to do it. Materials, understanding. I’m going to read that again.
God would never ask us to do something where he wouldn’t also give us what we need to do it. Materials, understanding, wisdom, insight, like Rico was talking about. God will do that for us.
James 1:5 — If Any of You Lack Wisdom, Let Him Ask of God
It says in James 1, 5, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. You want to know how to do something? God will show you.
He will show you. So, he asked God, where do I get the trees? What do I do about this pitch? How do I make this window like this? What about all the animals? How do I feed them? What kind of food do I need to bring that doesn’t have to be cold? The whole logistics of everything, I can just imagine that. So, Noah started building this huge ark.
It was 100 years. He had to keep going, day by day by day by week, month, year after year, 10 years, 20 years, 50 years. 100 years is a long time.
One Hundred Years of Building, One Day at a Time
And he had to have the conviction in his soul, the faith and trust in God, that God would do what he told him, that what God told him to do was true. To get up every day and keep going, he just had to live one day at a time. That’s all we can do.
All you can do is do what you need to do today, just like we do every day. You think maybe Noah got discouraged at times? Absolutely. He was human.
You know, I just think about, oh, here he is building this boat, right? And then his friend walks by and like, what are you doing, Noah? Well, I’m building this huge boat and there’s going to be water coming from the sky and it’s going to flood the whole earth and the only people that are going to be alive is me and my family. And his friends are like, you’re crazy. But yet he kept going.
Did Noah Get Discouraged? How God Kept Encouraging Him
And, you know, I would have thought maybe even after 50 years, Noah could have gone, okay, God, you know, it’s been 50 years. I’m doing what you’re telling me. I’m building this thing, see? You know, it’s coming along.
Is it going to rain yet? I mean, this could really happen, right? I’m not doing this in vain. 50 years, 60 years. See? God must have just encouraged him because he walked with God.
You know, God must have just been, honey, you’re doing great. Just keep going. I’m there for you.
It’s going to happen. It’s just going to take some time. It’s okay.
You’re doing great. You know, God must have just provided that encouragement because there’s really no record of any specific person around him, you know, yay, Noah. But God, God gave him the encouragement that he needed.
Genesis 7:1 — Come Thou and All Thy House Into the Ark
Chapter 7, verse 1. Okay, so now the ark is built, and the Lord said unto Noah, he was like, yay, the day’s here. He’s probably so excited. Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
Of every clean beast thou shalt take of thee by sevens. Wait a minute. That’s got to be a typo.
I thought it was by twos. I don’t know. That’s what my Bible says.
Pretty cool to read what’s written, huh? I love that. The clean beasts take by sevens, the male and the female, and of the beasts that are not clean by twos, the male and his female, of the fowl also of the air by sevens, the male and the female, to keep the seed alive upon the face of all the earth. For yet in seven days will I cause it to… Well, yet in seven days is when it can soon start.
So I’m thinking by that time he’s probably starting to collect food, I guess, because he didn’t know when to start. I don’t know. I’m just saying.
Noah Did According to All That the Lord Commanded
And I will cause it to rain upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights, and every living substance that I have made will I destroy off the face of the earth, and Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded. And Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. Look at that.
Again, it says he did according to all. God asks us to do something. We should just do it all.
Whatever God asks us, let’s just do it, because he’ll give us what we need, right? And he’ll give us the understanding and the wisdom how to carry it out. Verse 13, The selfsame day entered Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them into the ark. They and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, and every bird of every sort.
And the Lord Shut Him In: God Shut the Door of the Ark
And they went in unto the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein there is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in, male and female, of all flesh, as God commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.
Look at it. It says that God shut the door. And the flood was 40 days upon the earth, and the waters increased and bare up the ark, and it was lifted above the earth.
But I love that. God shut the door. God goes, okay, that’s it.
2 Peter 2:5 — Noah, a Preacher of Righteousness
Everybody’s there? Shut the door. 2 Peter 2.5 says, And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing the flood upon the world of the ungodly. See, Noah’s conviction in what God told him to do was so strong that he continued to let people know what was right according to God.
He was a preacher of righteousness. People would come by, and he would just tell them about God. He was a preacher of righteousness.
So people were given the option, but they refused. Noah was a man of conviction. He had faith and continued to trust and believe God, that what God had told him to do for over 100 years.
What Noah’s Conviction Means for Us Today
What a great example to us, that we can live with that same type of conviction and trust in God day by day, one day at a time. God supplied what Noah needed to do this great commissioning, and he worked with him, and he taught him all along the way. What sweet fellowship Noah must have had with God.
I want to be like that. And he’ll do the same for us. God will give us what we need and provide understanding and wisdom in abundance.
And God encouraged and strengthened Noah to help him keep going, and God certainly can and does provide great encouragement for us. And that is Noah, a man of conviction. Thank you.
Key Takeaways
- Our personal conviction, being convinced of what God says, is essential to faith, our believing God. Noah continued to believe what God told him to do for over a hundred years in spite of not having any recorded support from those around him.
- Noah was five hundred years old when God commissioned him (Genesis 5:32) and six hundred years old when the flood came (Genesis 7:6), so he was preparing an ark for a hundred years.
- Where Genesis says God would destroy man, that is an idiom of permission. God is light, God is love, there is no darkness in God, and God is limited in protecting people when they by their free will walk outside of God’s protection.
- Noah was a just man, righteous before God in conduct and character, perfect in his generation, and the great statement of his life is that Noah walked with God.
- God would never ask us to do something where he wouldn’t also give us what we need to do it: materials, understanding, wisdom, insight. James 1:5 says if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.
- God encouraged and strengthened Noah to help him keep going, and God certainly can and does provide great encouragement for us.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long did it take Noah to build the ark?
About a hundred years. Genesis 5:32 says Noah was five hundred years old when he begat Shem, Ham and Japheth, and that is when God commissioned him to build the ark. Genesis 7:6 says Noah was six hundred years old when the floods of the waters was upon the earth. He was five hundred when he got the commissioning, and six hundred when it started to rain, so he was preparing an ark for a hundred years.
Why does Genesis say God destroyed man if God is good?
Because this is what is called an idiom of permission. At that time people knew very little about the adversary, so everything was attributed to God. But we know that God is light, that God is love, that there is no darkness in God, that God is good always. God allowed it to happen, because every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continually. God is limited in protecting people when they, by their free will, walk outside of God’s protection.
How did Noah know how to build the ark?
It does not say that Noah was a carpenter. God must have taught him along the way everything he needed to know, because he walked with God. God would never ask us to do something where he wouldn’t also give us what we need to do it: materials, understanding, wisdom, insight. James 1:5 says if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.
Scripture References
Genesis 5; Hebrews 11:7; Genesis 5:32; Genesis 7:6; Genesis 6:1; Genesis 6:5-7; Genesis 6:8; Genesis 6:9; Genesis 6:10-13; Genesis 6:14-15; Genesis 6:16; Genesis 6:17-21; Genesis 6:22; Genesis 2:5-6; Genesis 7:4; Genesis 7:11; James 1:5; Genesis 7:1-4; Genesis 7:6; Genesis 7:13-18; 2 Peter 2:5
This text was prepared from the teaching audio. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
