Noah had a remarkable faith that saved his life from the destruction of the flood and saved his soul from a devil’s hell.  His faith saved him because it was an obedient faith.  Saving faith always does the same thing when it comes to commandments given by God.  It obeys, and that is what Noah did.

Hebrews 11:7 (ESV)
⁷ By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household.  By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.  

In reverent fear, Noah constructed the ark.  It took him 120 years to complete, but that did not matter because he was a man of faith.  There is little doubt that the ungodly people that surrounded him gave him trouble, but that did not matter either because, once again, he was a man of faith.  The job was not easy, the task was daunting, and the obstacles must have been many, but none of that mattered because Noah’s faith led him to obey God regardless of the situation or circumstance.  What do we learn from Noah?  We learn that true faith always obeys.  The moment you drain obedience from faith, you are left with a dead, useless condition.

James 2:17–20 (ESV)
¹⁷ So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.  ¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  ¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!  ²⁰ Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

Another thing we learn from Noah is just how meticulous God is when it comes to obedience.  Proper obedience that is produced by proper faith is an obedience that involves doing exactly what God says.  It is not just doing something any way we want to do it, it is doing God’s will His way.  God gave Noah detailed instructions for the ark because He is a God of detail.  Go back and read Genesis 6.  God told Noah not only what to make the ark out of but also how long, wide, and high He wanted the ark to be, as well as how many floors, windows, and doors He wanted it to have.  God did the same thing with Moses when he gave him instructions to build the Tabernacle.  It does not take very long for one to see that God is detail-oriented when He gives us commands.  Noah and his family survived in the ark because he did exactly what God commanded him to do.

Genesis 6:22 (ESV)
²²Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

One more thing we can learn from Noah’s faithful obedience is that his meticulous following of Gold’s command did not earn him salvation.  Denominational preachers have conjured up in their minds this idea that somehow grace means that salvation is unconditional and that there is no human effort in it at all.  That is a devil’s lie, and it is a lie that has sadly been believed by far too many people.  Yes, we are saved by grace, but that does not mean that there is nothing for us to do.  Both spiritually and physically, Noah was saved by grace (Genesis 6:8)  Yet, to actually be saved from the flood, he had to build an ark.  Today, we are saved by grace as well, but to actually be saved, we must obey the gospel (Romans 1:16).

Do you have the same kind of faith as Noah?  He not only believed that God existed, he demonstrated his faith by meticulous obedience.  We must do the same.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.