Sue J Love
Loyal
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2015
- Messages
- 5,283
By Faith
I am presently reading in Hebrews 11, the whole chapter. This chapter of Hebrews is commonly referred to as the Faith Chapter of the Bible because it details for us many of the people of faith of long ago. And for most of them, it was about what they did by faith in Jesus Christ, whether for a long period or for a very short period of time; whether they had always walked with the Lord by faith, or if they had one specific moment of faith in action that was memorable enough to include in this chapter. For this is what faith looks like.
Now, it is way too long to quote the whole thing and to write on it, too, so I am going to summarize a lot of it, and quote some of it. And I hope you will read the whole chapter for yourselves, if you have not already done so. For we learn throughout this chapter, and throughout the Scriptures, as a whole, that faith in Jesus is not a feeling or a confession with our lips only, but faith is shown as genuine by what we do in love response to God, in obedience to his commands. By faith we do what the Lord is leading us to do, out of love.
By Faith Noah
“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” (Hebrews 11:7 BSB)
Noah, who was 500 years old, and his family, lived in a time of great rebellion carried out by the people of the earth (minus Noah and his family). The people were living however they wanted to live without regard for God, just doing whatever their sinful hearts desired.
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time. 6And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7So the LORD said, “I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” 8Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:5-8 BSB)
So, the Lord instructed Noah to build an ark, and he gave him complete instructions on how it was to be built, and Noah obeyed God. And God did as he said he would do, and Noah and his family, and two of every living creature (not humans) went into the ark, and the door was shut. And then God flooded the earth and everyone and every living creature on the earth died. And Noah was now 600 years old. So it appears that he worked on building this ark for 100 years. That takes enormous faith! And I am most certain that the people thought he was absolutely crazy for obeying the Lord.
For Us
Now, it looks like I am not going to cover the whole chapter of Hebrews 11 in one writing, so this may end up being a short series. We will see. But what can we learn from Noah’s experience with God from the time God called him to build this ark until the time it was completed, and that the flood had come and gone, and now Noah and his family were back on the earth?
One of the first things that comes to mind is his age. Now I don’t know what 500 years old felt like at that time, but that was old. And I am old by our time standard, and so I feel what that is like. He may have had the support of his wife and children, but he did not have any other support. So he was doing this without much outside support at all, with probably the people laughing at him, mocking him, calling him names, and thinking he must be absolutely crazy. I mean, put yourselves in his place.
And this wasn’t a quick fix, either. I assume it took him 100 years to build this ark. Can you imagine that? And that he stayed the course? And that he did not give up? Was he ever disheartened and discouraged? He may have been. But if he was, he didn’t let it stop him. He remained true to the calling that God gave him regardless of his circumstances or his surroundings or what other people were thinking about him. And he finished well! He kept the faith, and he obeyed the Lord against all odds against him.
And this is a picture of what faith looks like! It is not our emotions. It is not lip service to God only, minus obedience and submission and putting sin to death in our lives. It is obedience, first and foremost. And then it involves perseverance, staying the course, running the race, and not giving up just because things got harder. It is staying faithful to the Lord in service to him, in death to sin and obedience to his commands, despite all odds against us.
[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Acts 26:18; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Hebrews 12:1-2; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 2:24]
The Spirit Calling
An Original Work / November 12, 2019
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Hear the Spirit calling. He’ll keep you from falling.
Tenderly He’s calling, “Come and follow Him.”
Walk with Jesus daily. Don’t give in to lazy.
Folks may call you crazy. Fellowship with Him.
Follow where He leads you. Eat what Jesus feeds you.
His love will renew you, if you follow Him.
Do what Jesus tells you. Don’t let your faith fail you.
His love will avail you, if you walk with Him.
Jesus, Lord and Savior, reigneth now forever.
He gave us His favor, so we’d live with Him.
Turning now from our sin, Holy Spirit live-in.
Holiness we walk in, purified by Him.
What Faith Looks Like
An Original Work / July 8, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
I am presently reading in Hebrews 11, the whole chapter. This chapter of Hebrews is commonly referred to as the Faith Chapter of the Bible because it details for us many of the people of faith of long ago. And for most of them, it was about what they did by faith in Jesus Christ, whether for a long period or for a very short period of time; whether they had always walked with the Lord by faith, or if they had one specific moment of faith in action that was memorable enough to include in this chapter. For this is what faith looks like.
Now, it is way too long to quote the whole thing and to write on it, too, so I am going to summarize a lot of it, and quote some of it. And I hope you will read the whole chapter for yourselves, if you have not already done so. For we learn throughout this chapter, and throughout the Scriptures, as a whole, that faith in Jesus is not a feeling or a confession with our lips only, but faith is shown as genuine by what we do in love response to God, in obedience to his commands. By faith we do what the Lord is leading us to do, out of love.
By Faith Noah
“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” (Hebrews 11:7 BSB)
Noah, who was 500 years old, and his family, lived in a time of great rebellion carried out by the people of the earth (minus Noah and his family). The people were living however they wanted to live without regard for God, just doing whatever their sinful hearts desired.
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time. 6And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7So the LORD said, “I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” 8Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:5-8 BSB)
So, the Lord instructed Noah to build an ark, and he gave him complete instructions on how it was to be built, and Noah obeyed God. And God did as he said he would do, and Noah and his family, and two of every living creature (not humans) went into the ark, and the door was shut. And then God flooded the earth and everyone and every living creature on the earth died. And Noah was now 600 years old. So it appears that he worked on building this ark for 100 years. That takes enormous faith! And I am most certain that the people thought he was absolutely crazy for obeying the Lord.
For Us
Now, it looks like I am not going to cover the whole chapter of Hebrews 11 in one writing, so this may end up being a short series. We will see. But what can we learn from Noah’s experience with God from the time God called him to build this ark until the time it was completed, and that the flood had come and gone, and now Noah and his family were back on the earth?
One of the first things that comes to mind is his age. Now I don’t know what 500 years old felt like at that time, but that was old. And I am old by our time standard, and so I feel what that is like. He may have had the support of his wife and children, but he did not have any other support. So he was doing this without much outside support at all, with probably the people laughing at him, mocking him, calling him names, and thinking he must be absolutely crazy. I mean, put yourselves in his place.
And this wasn’t a quick fix, either. I assume it took him 100 years to build this ark. Can you imagine that? And that he stayed the course? And that he did not give up? Was he ever disheartened and discouraged? He may have been. But if he was, he didn’t let it stop him. He remained true to the calling that God gave him regardless of his circumstances or his surroundings or what other people were thinking about him. And he finished well! He kept the faith, and he obeyed the Lord against all odds against him.
And this is a picture of what faith looks like! It is not our emotions. It is not lip service to God only, minus obedience and submission and putting sin to death in our lives. It is obedience, first and foremost. And then it involves perseverance, staying the course, running the race, and not giving up just because things got harder. It is staying faithful to the Lord in service to him, in death to sin and obedience to his commands, despite all odds against us.
[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Acts 26:18; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Hebrews 12:1-2; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 2:24]
The Spirit Calling
An Original Work / November 12, 2019
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Hear the Spirit calling. He’ll keep you from falling.
Tenderly He’s calling, “Come and follow Him.”
Walk with Jesus daily. Don’t give in to lazy.
Folks may call you crazy. Fellowship with Him.
Follow where He leads you. Eat what Jesus feeds you.
His love will renew you, if you follow Him.
Do what Jesus tells you. Don’t let your faith fail you.
His love will avail you, if you walk with Him.
Jesus, Lord and Savior, reigneth now forever.
He gave us His favor, so we’d live with Him.
Turning now from our sin, Holy Spirit live-in.
Holiness we walk in, purified by Him.
What Faith Looks Like
An Original Work / July 8, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
