FAITH! WHAT EXACTLY IS IT? Part 2

"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 is in keeping with faith."  Hebrews 11:7 (NIV)

Here in the New International Version it uses the phrase, "holy fear" but in the New American Standard Version it uses the word, "reverence".  Here we see Noah receiving a warning from God that he was going to destroy the world by a flood but will save Noah and his family if he builds an ark.  So what does Noah do?  Motivated by Holy Fear or Reverence for God Noah builds the ark!  So from this we learn that:

Faith Is Being Obedient To God Out Of Holy Reverential Fear!

Noah's motivation for building this ark was not because he wanted to do something that no one else had done!  It was not because he wanted to show God that he was worthy of being saved!  It was not because he had been sitting around and had nothing better to do!  No!  Noah built that ark because he knew that God was Holy and Righteous, that God was tired of this sinful world and that God would do exactly what he said he would do and that God wasn't playing around.  And that understanding brought

Holy Fear Into Noah's Life That Caused Him To Obey!

You see faith is believing that God will do exactly what he said he would do.  Do we really believe that Christ is coming back one day to judge the living and the dead?  Do we really believe that Christ when he returns will destroy the world by fire? Do we really believe that those who don't repent from their sinful life and turn to Christ as Lord and master will spend an eternity in hell?  If we truly do believe those things doesn't that belief cause you to take pause and fell you with a Holy Reverence for God?  

And if we truly do believe those things shouldn't that Holy Fear cause us to act in obedience to fulfill the mission that Christ has given us of making disciples of all peoples.  I mean if we truly believe that Christ is going to do these things and in the mean time has given us this important task to accomplish should we have the same kind of faith that Noah had that fills us with Holy Fear and grips us with Reverence?  I think it should!

In Galatians 6:9 it says,

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (NIV)

So out of Holy Fear let's not grow tired, 

let's not grow weary, let's not give up!

In Holy Fear let's press on with the mission of making 

disciples for Christ of all people.

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