Living in the Present by Faith

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. – Hebrews 11:7

The life of Noah clearly illustrates the connection between faith in God and obedience. In the book of Genesis, four chapters are dedicated to the story of Noah and the ark, but the Hebrews writer gives him only one verse. In the Genesis account no reference is given to the faith of Noah. In fact, the word “faith” does not appear in Genesis. Yet Noah’s life was characterized by obedient faith in God. Noah lived in obedience to God’s revelation both to his forefathers and to him personally. The spoken word of God was his Bible.

Noah was the last in the godly line of Adam through Seth. When he was born, six of his ancestors were still living: Enosh, Kenan, Mahalel, Jared, Methuselah, and Lamech. They all died before the flood. But we are told that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord-a grace that justified him (Gen. 6:8).

Noah was righteous in life and blameless in his dealings with other people. Like Enoch, he walked in holy communion with God and obeyed all God’s commandments (Gen. 6:22; 7:5). We know he was a believer because of his obedience. Therefore, let us examine the faith of Noah, the work of Noah, and the justification of Noah.

The Faith of Noah

The first point is the faith of Noah. Hebrews 11:7 begins, “By faith Noah.” The author of Hebrews is saying that Noah lived by faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). We can say without faith it is impossible to be saved from sin. Noah pleased God through his obedience and was saved from death. That is why we can say that Noah lived by faith.

Noah lived by faith in God and his objective word. A child who believes in his father will obey his father’s word. Noah lived by faith in God who created the universe out of nothing, having been told about that by his forefathers (cf. Gen. 1:1, Heb. 11:3). He believed in a holy God who hates sin and communicates his will to man of how man should live. Noah knew he was a sinner, but he repented of his sins and trusted in the Messiah who was to come to save sinners. He worshiped God by offering bloody sacrifices according to God’s instruction: “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it” (Gen. 8:20-21). Noah understood that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Heb. 9:22).

Noah did not believe in a god of his mind’s creation or in a god based on probability. He believed in the God who revealed himself to his fathers and to him. He lived by the faith which comes by hearing God’s word. He stood alone living by faith when all others lived in enmity toward God. Genesis 6:5 describes the wicked generation in which Noah lived: “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” Here we see all of man’s wickedness, rebellion, enmity toward the good and holy God.

In the midst of this corrupt generation, one person stood alone, loving and serving God: “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and full of violence [lawlessness]. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, ‘I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth'” (Gen. 6:11-13).

Noah lived by faith in what he knew of God from his forefathers. He also lived by a specific revelation God gave him, that in 120 years God would destroy all the people of the world by a flood. The Hebrews author speaks of this: “By faith Noah, having been warned of things not yet seen.”

We read elsewhere of such warning oracles of God: “They serve at the sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle, ‘See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain'” (Heb. 8:5). Such direct, specific communication also came to the Magi: “And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route” (Matt. 2:12). God also gave a specific oracle to Joseph, the legal father of Jesus: “But when [Joseph] heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee” (Matt. 2:22).

Hebrews 12:25 warns us: “See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?” We are warned, not by some personal communication, but by the entire body of revelation given to us in the Scripture. We must govern ourselves in the light of God’s infallible communication: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16).

Noah was warned “of things not yet seen.” These things included the universal flood that would destroy every wicked person of that generation and instructions for building an ark (Gen. 6:14-16).

Faith is faith in God’s revelation. Then it was given orally; now we have it in written form. Jesus Christ himself lived by faith. He said, “It stands written,” referring to God’s authoritative word (Matt. 4). As God’s Son, he honored his Father by doing his revealed will. This is where Eve failed. She should have told Satan, “It is spoken, and I stand under the authority of God’s spoken oracle.”

Noah did not act on the basis of a hunch, but on the basis of God’s objective word. God’s word is still the authority for everyone, especially for God’s people. Noah was given a revelation concerning things not yet seen, things 120 years into the future. If we were given such a warning, we might have said, “That is all right, but I do not have to worry about it right now. These things will not happen for a long time. Maybe I will start building in a century or so.” But Noah moved with fear right away and began to build. In fact, in the Greek text “warning” and “obedience” are coincident and simultaneous. Immediate, exact, and glad obedience is what God requires of his children. Delay and denial are not part of true faith.

God’s revelation had to do with something unprecedented, something “unreasonable,” without any historical analogy. There had never been a flood on the earth before, let alone rain: “When the Lord made the earth and the heavens-and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground” (Gen. 2:4-6).

Now Noah was being told there was going to be flood 120 years in the future that would cover the whole inhabited earth and destroy everyone except Noah and his family. He was to build a boat, with specific instructions to use gopher wood, and coat it with pitch, to put in a door, and make three decks. This ark was to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high-about 96,000 square feet of deck area-without an anchor, without mast or sail, without steering wheel. It was to be built on dry land in a landlocked area. This was the unreasonable and unprecedented revelation that came to Noah.

The Obedient Work of Noah

The second point is that Noah obeyed God’s word. The Hebrews author says that Noah, when warned of things not yet seen, moved with fear, meaning with anxious, godly earnestness, and began building the ark. As soon as he heard God’s word, Noah put it into action.

In the Hebrew text of Genesis 6, there is only one command given-to build the ark (Gen. 6:14). Noah began to do this unprecedented, unreasonable thing immediately, because he was doing so by faith. Faith has its reason: the infinite, personal God behind the word. Noah’s faith in God motivated his immediate obedience.

Abraham was also given such an oracle by the true God (Gen. 22). In the middle of the night God told him to take his only son Isaac, the son he loved, and kill him in sacrifice him to God as a demonstration of his surpassing love for God. Moved with holy fear, Abraham got up very early the next morning and went to sacrifice Isaac. In Hebrews 11 we are given the reason behind Abraham’s action: “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from the dead” (Heb. 11:19). Abraham believed that God was able to raise Isaac from his ashes in order to fulfill his promises. Faith’s reason is the ability of God to do everything he has promised.

Noah’s life literally fulfilled the description of faith given in Hebrews 11:1. Faith sees things future as present. Such a view energizes us to do the will of God and to live by God’s word in the present. Faith gives us the substance of things hoped for and the proof of things not seen. Faith is like a telescope that brings things distant and future to the present and near us that we may be inspired by it to live for God.

By faith Noah saw the huge deluge God had promised destroying all the wicked people of his generation, and himself and his family being saved by divine grace. Therefore he lived by faith and constructed the ark for the salvation of his family. Faith works in the light of God’s revelation. Faith is active, not passive. Faith avoids sin and seeks to do the will of God earnestly and gladly.

Faith without present obedience is dead faith. It is the devil’s faith and its destiny is that of the devil, eternal destruction in the lake of fire. I remember someone saying that if we do not act justly, then our claim to be justified is mere presumption and our faith is merely that dead faith of which James speaks, a faith that will not justify anyone. Matthew Henry says, “True faith affects, first, our affections, and then our actions.”

Noah moved with godly fear, paying heed to the word. When I see people without any reverence and holy fear, I see people who have nothing to do with godliness. We are exhorted by Paul, the great champion of salvation by sovereign grace, to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12-13). Godly fear causes us to stay away from evil and inspires us to do God’s will gladly.

Paul himself was moved with a holy fear of God and lived daily in complete obedience to the will of God. He wrote, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men” (2 Cor. 5:10-11).

What about Jesus Christ? “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission” (Heb. 5:7).

This idea is also found in reference to us in Hebrews 12:28: “Therefore since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.” In Psalm 2:11-12 we are exhorted, “Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.” The curse of this generation is that we treat God as a buddy. O, that we would fear as the psalmist did: “My flesh trembles in fear of you; I stand in awe of your laws” (Ps. 119:120).

In the book of Malachi, the Lord makes a clear distinction between those who fear him and the rest of that miserable generation: “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. ‘For I am a great king,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and my name is to be feared among the nations'” (1:14); “My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name” (2:5); “So I will come near to you for judgment, I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me” (3:5); “Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other and the Lord listened and heard” (3:16); “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings” (4:2).

Godly people are God-fearing people who fear God and anxiously do his will. Faith has two aspects-an invisible, internal aspect and a visible, external aspect. The internal aspect of faith trusts God with the heart. It is a faith that affects our affections. Our internal attitude is energized by our trust in God’s veracity and unchangeableness. But if we trust God with our hearts, our faith will also be visible through our deeds. We will do the will of God immediately, exactly, and gladly. Faith works the works of God. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15). Invisible faith is made visible through what we do.

In Mark 2 we read about four people who believed Jesus Christ was able and willing to heal their paralyzed friend. They carried him to the house where Jesus was ministering and saw that the house was full, with people standing outside. But they believed and refused to go back. They went to the roof, made a hole in it, and lowered the man down through it into the very presence of Jesus. In Mark 2:5 we read, “When Jesus saw their faith . . .” Faith is visible. It is an internal attitude made visible by taking this miserable wretch of a man to Jesus. They believed, and all their actions, including digging a hole in the roof of someone’s house, was all faith working.

Faith in Jesus Christ scales all walls. So Noah believed in his heart that God is and that he is the Savior of those who diligently seek him. He demonstrated his faith by building a huge ark in a dry land. And all the while the ark was being built, Noah was preaching to the wicked antediluvian people in two ways-by his actions in building the ark and by his words. He told them God was going to destroy the world in one hundred and twenty years. He told them because God hates evil, his judgment was surely coming, and he would destroy all wicked people, though nothing like this had ever happened before. But he also told them that the only way of salvation is through repentance and faith in God. He urged them to repent, believe, and join him in worshiping and serving the true and living God. Noah exhorted them to live holy lives and be saved by the ark (1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5).

The people responded by mocking Noah and his message. I am sure they called him an unscientific, non-materialist fool who believes in an infinite, personal God of judgment. “Old man,” they would insist, “there is no judgment, there is no God, there is no morality. Live it up! Eat, drink, and be merry. In a few hundred years, we will die, and that will be it.”

One hundred and twenty years finally came to an end. The last week came and God said that in seven days the flood would come. Notice, there were no clouds. The sky was still clear. There was nothing different, and no one believed Noah. Even his employees refused to believe. Then the animals came and entered the ark on their own by divine drawing. All the people saw this, yet they still refused to come and enter the ark.

Finally, the last day came and Noah and his seven family members entered the ark, and the Lord shut the door. Then, just as God had warned, the flood came. Noah was proven right, and the world was proven wrong. The people ran to the ark, but they could not enter. They climbed on the roofs of their houses and to the tops of the trees. They fled to the hills and the mountains, but they could not escape the floodwaters of God’s judgment. The wicked mockers all died, but Noah and his family were saved through the flood.

Noah lived by faith in God’s revelation of judgment and salvation. He moved with fear, and Noah’s faith worked daily by building the ark. Noah obeyed everything God commanded him. When God destroyed the entire antediluvian world of men, Noah became the ancestor of all people now in the world.

There is a blessing for those who live by faith and obey God’s word. Remember the story of Peter working all night and catching nothing? In the morning Jesus told him to pull the boat into the deep waters and once again let down the net. At first Peter protested, but then he said, “But because you say so, I will let down the nets,” and they caught a boatful of fish (Luke 5:4-7).

To the ten lepers Jesus said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests,” and as they went, they were healed (Luke 17:11-19). Elisha told Naaman the Syrian general, a leper, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” He refused because he was a powerful and mighty man; he did not expect this simple gospel. He was, however, persuaded by his servants to dip himself seven times. When he came up the seventh time, he was healed (2 Kings 5).

What must we do to be saved? The answer is simple: “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved-you and your household” (Acts 16:31). The Philippian jailer believed and was saved the same night. Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. He does not beg, plead, or cajole; rather, he commands all people everywhere to repent. (PGM) The wages of sin is death, and the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Yet God in mercy commands us to repent and be saved.

The Righteousness of Noah

The third point from Hebrews 11:7 is that Noah became an heir of righteousness which is by faith. If we are theologically sensitive, we can conclude that the Hebrews author was thinking as the apostle Paul declared, that justification is kata pistin, according to faith, not works.

Genesis 6:8 told us that “Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord.” All are born sinners and practice sin, and Noah was no exception. But Noah found grace and it was the basis of his righteousness. Noah was not justified by his obedient work of building the ark. He was saved by grace, which is unmerited favor. We merited hell and God freely gave us heaven. We merited eternal death, but God gave us eternal life. That is what grace is all about.

God’s grace justified Noah and he became a preacher of righteousness in his generation (2 Pet. 2:5). When everyone else was practicing wickedness, he was shining as light in their midst. He was saved by grace through faith. This is the Pauline doctrine we discover in the epistles to the Romans and the Galatians.

The author of Hebrews says that Noah became an heir of righteousness according to faith, not on the basis of his own good works. Earlier in this epistle, he used the word “heir” in Hebrews 1:2 in reference to God appointing his Son to be the heir of all things. He also used it to speak of believers: “Are not all angels ministering spirits, sent to serve those who are heirs of salvation?” (Heb. 1:14). Righteousness is not something we earn; it is a gift, the Father’s free disposition of salvation. We also read in Hebrews 6:12 and 17 that we are heirs of God’s promises of salvation, which are true and will be fulfilled. Salvation has three dimensions or tenses: God saved us, he is saving us, and he will save us. We are heirs of God’s promises.

Paul also speaks of this concept of salvation and justification. In Romans 3:9 he writes, “What shall we conclude, then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.” In Romans 3:23 he says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Paul believes in the pervasiveness of sin; we are born sinners and practice sin. There is no way, therefore, we can do anything to please God and merit his salvation. So in Romans 3:22 we read, “This righteousness from God comes to us through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” The doctrine of Paul and that of the author of Hebrews is the same. Noah became heir of righteousness according to faith.

Throughout the New Testament, Paul speaks of this doctrine: “And [Abraham] received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised . . . It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus Christ” (Rom. 4:11, 13). In Romans 10:4 he writes, “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes,” who lifts up his hand of faith and receives this free gift of righteousness from God. In Philippians 3:8 Paul begins, “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.” Remember the illustration of a treasure hidden in a field. God opens the man’s eyes, and he sees it is really treasure, so he sells everything and comes and buys the field. Paul also left all things: “I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, a righteousness that comes from God and is by faith” (Phil. 3:8-9). In 2 Corinthians 5:19 and 21 Paul declares, “That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them . . . God made him who had no sin to be sin for us that in Jesus Christ we might become the righteousness of God.”

We are speaking about justification by grace through faith: we are saved by grace through faith, not based on anything we have done. This righteousness that is according to faith manifests itself in sanctification, in obedience to God’s will. Thus, a justified Noah obeyed God by building the ark. His doing so was evidence that Noah became an heir of righteousness according to faith, not according to any meritorious works of his own. The fundamental truth is that sanctification proves justification by grace through faith. Therefore, if we do not see sanctification in a person, if we do not see obedience to God, then we cannot be assured that person is saved. The only way to know if a person is truly justified is if there is visible evidence of sanctification, which is doing the will of God exactly, immediately, and with great delight.

Modern evangelicalism glories in a justification without sanctification. But we must not separate that which God has joined together. God has joined justification with sanctification, and when modern evangelicals separate the two, they are doing a devilish work. Modern evangelicalism glories in a faith without works. It glories in a salvation where Jesus Christ is not Lord. It preaches Jesus Christ as Savior but not as Lord. Many flock to such churches. But to glory in a salvation in which Jesus Christ is not Lord is to glory in a dead faith, in the devil’s faith, in a faith whose destiny is the destiny of the devil. To such people the Lord will say on that great day, “Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.” Such people are not heirs of righteousness according to faith.

Noah was not only justified by faith, but he also lived by faith in God’s word, following God, walking with God, being blameless and righteous. He lived by faith in God’s word by doing God’s will because he was justified. Noah’s life illustrates the principle of Hebrews 10:38: “But my righteous one will live by faith,” meaning by faith in God and his word. He became an heir of righteousness according to faith. Noah knew he was justified. This is not speaking of a future possession of righteousness. Righteousness is a present possession of every person who trusted in Jesus Christ alone for his eternal salvation. We are justified and have been given righteousness. Having been justified by faith, we now experience peace with God (Rom. 5:1). We enjoy now assurance of salvation. It is not hope-so.

What about You?

Are you justified by grace through faith now? Are you an heir of salvation? Are you an heir of God’s promise? Are you an heir of righteousness according to faith? Do you live daily by obedience to God’s will? Do you witness to the world by deed and word as Noah alone witnessed when the majority lived in utter wickedness? From the flood only eight people were saved. When God burned up Sodom and Gomorrah, three were saved. Few are going to be saved when Christ comes (cf. Matt. 5:13-14). All who pretend that they are saved but do not obey God’s word are foolish and are playing with fire.

If we are Christians, we are the light of the world, the salt of the earth, and the hope of the world. Faith comes to the sinner by hearing us declare the gospel. We have the same word Noah preached. In fact, we have the Bible-the whole written word of God-in our hands, hearts, and mouths. As heirs of righteousness, we must boldly proclaim the gospel because we have the same message, that destruction and judgment is coming when Jesus Christ returns: “Just as man is destined to die once and after that, to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away sins of many people. And he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting” (Heb. 9:27-28).

Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Sovereign Lord of all, heir of all things, upholder of all the universe, head of the church, the fullness of him who fills all in all. He never begs or pleads, but commands us to surrender completely to him, that we may be saved and become an heir of the righteousness that is by faith. He declares, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20). At the house of Cornelius, Peter says, “He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42).

When Paul was brought to the Areopagus Hill in Athens and was interviewed by philosophers and the city councilmen, he proclaimed, “In the past God overlooked such ignorance but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. And he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).

We may wonder why Jesus Christ has not yet come. Jesus himself tells us, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14). This is the same message of Noah. He spoke about one hundred and twenty years before judgment came. It has now been two thousand years since Christ’s first advent. This “delay” tempts us to think nothing is going to happen, that the biblical idea of judgment is just a joke or a legend. In fact, people have used the phrase “it is like the second coming” to speak about something that will not happen.

But read what Peter says: “First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation . . . The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear. With a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare” (2 Pet. 3:3-4, 9-10). The second coming of Christ is as incredible to us as the great flood was to the people of Noah’s time. How can something happen that has never happened before? It is so unscientific and unreasonable. But it happened then and it will happen.

There is no difference between the people of Noah’s day and ours. Jesus himself said in the context of eschatology, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. This is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt. 24:37-39).

If you are not a Christian, if you are not an heir of righteousness by faith, enter the ark now. Be saved. Be an heir of righteousness by faith before the door is shut by God, that is, before he comes or before you die. And if you are saved, live by God’s word as Noah lived by faith-not by your ideas. If you are a Christian, you follow Jesus Christ; he does not follow you. You make decisions for his glory based on his word. That is what living by faith is all about. When a person is confused, it is because that person does not want to do what God wants him to do. The moment you agree to do what God wants you to do, the cloud goes away and everything is clear.

If we really are saved and are heirs of righteousness that is by faith, and if we believe that this Jesus Christ is coming again, then it should do something in our lives. In 2 Peter 3:11-12 we read, “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?” This doctrine of the second coming of Jesus for judgment and the salvation of his people ought to affect our lives: “You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.” John says the same thing: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him like he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:2-3). The second coming is not a theoretical idea that we can read about and forget. The gospel must govern our thinking, our priorities, our finances, our going and coming-every aspect of our lives-if we are heirs of righteousness by faith. It should spur us to holy living. God’s people will be holy, while others pretend to be holy. But the latter will be told, “You are workers of iniquity.”

May God help us to believe in the eternal, personal, moral God whose revelation is completely true and now comes to us in the Bible. May we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation, and demonstrate our justification through sanctification. May we walk as heirs of righteousness by faith and live by faith daily as Noah did. As he believed in the flood, may we believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ and live holy lives, speeding his coming as we wait for him, declaring, “Amen, come Lord Jesus.”