Noah's Faith, Part 2

Turn with me in your Bible to Hebrews chapter 11 verse number 7 last week We looked at Noah this week We're gonna look at Noah if I had a lot of time next week the following week We'd look at Noah and the week after that we'd look at Noah and the week after that we'd look at Noah.

Why? Because I want you to know a Theology I want you to know the scriptures. Do you know that if you understand Noah? You understand the doctrine of justification You understand the righteousness of God? You understand God's predestination and election. You understand the grace of God the forgiveness of God You understand what it means to walk with God just by looking at the life of Noah There's so much theology in the man's life That just comes to life for us when we understand what God did in and through this man But we do want to conclude today Hebrews 11 verse number 7 with Noah a man who lived a life of faith as you talked about last week Remember, he's only one of two men in the Bible who is said to have walked with God Enoch and Noah It doesn't mean that nobody else walked with God.

It just says that these two men walked with God So if God says it if God states it it's significant Because through Noah's life in Enoch's life We begin to understand what walking with God looks like and so you need to understand Enoch and Noah That's why we're going through the hall of faith.

So you begin to understand these things And we understand that through Noah's life this man Whose name means rest? teaches us how to live a life of Rest He was a forgiven man. He was a faultless man. He was a faithful man He was a fruitful man all that in the book of Genesis chapter 6 Verses 6 7 & 8 to help us understand in verse number 9 as well Help us understand this man's life and how to live a life of complete and total rest And when you understand Noah's life You begin to see what it means to walk the faultless life or the blameless life told you last week It doesn't mean they never sinned.

No, he sinned but it was a blameless life a faultless life That means there was no blight upon his life No character defect that would bring a reproach upon God and the people of God No obvious defect in his life That means he would be a man who confessed his sin who repented of a sin who sought Reconciliation with God on a regular basis. He was a man who lived a faultless or blameless life in the time Which was the most wicked of all times in the history of the world more about that in just a moment But let me read to you Hebrews 11 verse number 7 which reads as follows by faith Noah being warned by God about things not seen in Reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household by which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness Which is according to faith if you got your Bible back to Genesis chapter 6 verse number 9 It says these are the records of the generations of Noah.

Noah was a righteous man He was blameless in his name in his time Noah walked with God Noah became the father of three sons Shem Hammond Japheth Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God and the earth was filled with violence God looked on the earth and behold it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth Then God said to Noah the end of all flesh has come before me For the earth is filled with violence because of them and behold. I am about to destroy them with the earth Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood You shall make the ark with rooms and shall cover it inside and out with pitch This is how you shall make it the length of the ark 300 cubits its breadth 50 cubits It's height 30 cubits.

You shall make a window for the ark and finish it To a cubit from the top and set the door of the ark in the side of it And you shall make it with lower second and third decks Behold, I even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth to destroy all flesh In which is the breath of life from under heaven?

everything that is on the earth shall perish but I will establish my covenant with you and you shall enter the ark you and your Sons and your wife and your sons wives with you and every living thing of all flesh You shall bring two of every kind into the ark to keep them alive with you they should be male and female of the birds after their kind and of the animals after their kind and of every creepy thing of The of the ground after its kind two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive as for you Take for yourself some of all food Which is edible and gather it to yourself and it should be for food for you and for them Thus Noah did according to all not some But to all that God had commanded him.

So he did What a what an incredible Incredible man four things. I want you to see Okay Noah number one Was mindful of the Word of God?

Motivated by the fear of God Meticulous in his service for God and made a child of God this four simple points from Hebrews 11 verse number 7 with the commentary in Genesis chapter 6 Okay. First of all Noah Was mindful of the Word of God it says by faith Noah Faith is believing in what God has said How does no one know?

What God has said? three ways Enoch's teaching Methuselah's testimony and God told him Okay, he knew of Enoch's teaching about the coming judgment of God so God Through Enoch his first prophet he understood about the coming judgment of God His son Methuselah Was a testimony To the Word of God In other words his name means is shall not come Okay, when it until he dies when he dies it shall happen What will happen the judgment so no one knew that because he was a contemporary of Methuselah because in the year that Methuselah died the flood came But also God told him God said to him I'm gonna destroy the world He told him it says in he was 11 7 by faith Noah being warned by God about things not seen He didn't see what was gonna happen, but God told him because faith is believing in what God Has already said it's trusting obedience, right it's believing absolutely everything that God says and behaving accordingly to all that God says That's what simple faith is Noah believed absolutely in what God said So much so it says that Noah did all that God said not some Didn't didn't take a shortcut on on how tall the Ark was or how wide the Ark was or how long the Ark was He did it exactly as God said Because he wanted to obey all of the Word of the Living God He was mindful of the Word of God Here he is in the Mesopotamian Valley somewhere between the Tigers and Euphrates River in the middle of an open Arena where there were no trees and God says I want you to build the Ark Because I'm gonna destroy the world with water I'm not sure Noah never saw a boat before let alone build a boat, but now he has to And after about 50 years, I've been saved for 49 years.

I figured that up this morning I was saved when I was 14. I've been saved 49 years Okay, after about 50 years of doing the same thing every day getting up. Remember he did it without a truck without trains Without tools electric tools without a chainsaw. He had to cut down trees to build an Ark How does he get the trees? into the Mesopotamian Valley How did he do all that? But see that's why I took him 120 years They took him so long but by faith Noah He believed what God said. You see some of you have been praying for the salvation of a family member for five years ten years fifteen twenty years And not saved yet And you're thinking about maybe I should stop praying.

No, you don't stop praying Don't stop asking God to do a great work You maintain Persistency in your prayer life you keep asking you keep seeking you keep knocking why because that's what God's commanded us to do trusting him to accomplish great things No, it could have easily quit But he didn't He was completely mindful of the Word of God. I Like what it says back in Genesis 6 verse number 22 Noah did according to all that God had commanded him. So he did Do you notice that in Genesis 6?

Noah did not hesitate Noah did not procrastinate Noah did not speculate Noah did not contemplate and Noah did not debate with God He just obeyed all that he said Just that simple That's why he walked with God Why do we have trouble walking with God because we want to procrastinate We're not so sure we want to do what God says We want to we want to delay our obedience, but delayed obedience is always what?

Disobedience, right? And so you have to realize that when God says to do something we do it God doesn't want us to question him.

He just wants us to simply obey him. That's it It's not rocket science, he's not asking us to do things that he didn't already equip us to do So here is Noah being warned by God about the destruction of the world Having heard the testimony of Enoch Of Methuselah having heard the teaching of Enoch Understanding those things and having been told specifically by God what he was going to do No obeyed That's why he walked with God that's why he's in the Hall of Faith, that's why I lived a blameless life a flawless life Noah Was mindful of the Word of God but number two Noah was motivated by the fear of God Hebrews 11 7 says by faith Noah being warned by God about things not seen in reverence or in fear Prepared an ark for the salvation of his household by which he condemned the world in reverence King James says in fear Which is a better translation You know, we've we've dumbed down the word fear in Christianity There needs to be a recapturing of the holy terror of God with Christians I'm afraid that that doesn't happen much anymore.

We don't preach on the fear of God we should But Noah was motivated by the fear of God It motivated him moved him like it should move you and me it motivates us Listen, I live in the holy dread of the living God I'm not living in fear of the judgment of God I'm not living in fear of the condemnation of God why because perfect love casts out Fear first John 4 18 the fear of what?

Well, perfect love doesn't cast out the fear of God, but perfect love does cast out the fear of condemnation and fear of judgment And so therefore I am freed from those things But it means I live in the fear of the Lord all day long what did Solomon say Listen the end of all man that sums it up this way fear God keep his commandments If you fear him, you will keep his commandments Isaiah 66 verse number 2 to this man When I look to him who is broken out of a contrite heart who trembles who shakes uncontrollably under the authority of my word No, Noah did that Noah would shake Under the fear of the Living God because God spoke When we open the Word of God God is speaking That causes us to to shake uncontrollably under what he says Not because we're gonna be condemned not because we're gonna lose our salvation.

No, no, that's true but because he is a holy God and I'm an unholy person and I am called to follow him and and to serve him That's why in the book of Revelation in Revelation chapter 14 verse number 7 The angel flies around him in heaven and says as he preaches the gospel Fear God and give him glory Fear God and give him glory. You can't give God glory unless you fear him Why is that the message preached? Because everybody during the tribulation is living in fear of what? fear of death fear of the next part of the sky falling Part of fear of what the next earthquake is going to bring or the next poison water is going to bring They they live in the fear of of death Listen, we know Psalm 130 verse 4 says there's forgiveness with thee That thou mayest be feared Why does God forgive us of our sins?

So we can go to heaven No So that you will fear him The byproduct of that is heaven But he wants you to fear him Why because Romans 3 tells us having quoting from the Old Testament that there is no fear of God before the eye of the unbeliever The unbeliever doesn't fear God only the believer fears him We live in the holy terror of the Living God So we live our life. No one was motivated by that fear He knew that God was serious about what he said. See we don't think God's serious by what he says We think well, he's so graceful.

It's a loving to feel merciful. He'll understand That's just the wrong view of God He is a holy God who demands we live a holy life And so we live in the fear of God all day long That's why the Lord said do not fear the one who kills body But fear the one who can kill body and soul in hell Put this way do not fear What man can do only fear what God can do? Very important, but listen, we live in the fear of what man can do Instead of living the fear of what God can do in other words the unbeliever lives in the fear of death The believer lives in the fear of the one who holds the keys to death see the difference Revelation 1 and 18 tells us that Jesus Christ our Lord holds the keys to death and Hades That's the one you to fear Not fear death But fear the one who holds the keys to death That's the living God see the unbeliever fears death But the believer doesn't fear death.

He fears the one who holds the keys to death How do we know that? Well, we've already studied it Hebrews 2 verse number 14 Therefore since the children share in flesh and blood he himself likewise also partook of the same that through death he might render Powerless him who had the power of death that is the devil and might free those who through fear of death Were subject to slavery all their lives Do you know that God freed you from the fear of death? When you were saved you were saved from the bondage of Satan and you were saved from the fear of death Meaning that if you fear death, maybe you're not saved Because you should fear only the one who holds the keys To death why God has removed that fear Death has no power over us we are set free from all of that and Therefore we live in that freedom Therefore we understand Noah Who was motivated by the fear of God?

That's what moved him. Listen all the way back in the book of Deuteronomy. Listen to this Deuteronomy chapter Chapter 5 verse number 29. Oh that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my Commandments always that's always been the message of God Chapter 6 verse number 24 Deuteronomy So the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes to fear the Lord our God For our good always and our survival as it is today Moses says look as I close out my life know this all these statutes God gave you gave you for one reason That you might fear him if you fear him it will be for your good and for your survival in the land of Canaan If you don't fear him You're gonna be in trouble What happened to Israel?

They lost the fear of God and They began to incorporate their lives With the idols of the land and began to worship those Because he didn't fear God Deuteronomy 8 verse number 6 therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God to walk in his ways and to fear him Deuteronomy 13 13 verse number 4 you shall follow the Lord your God and fear him and you keep his commandments listen to his voice serve him and Cling to him chapter 17 verse number 18 now shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom This is talking about Kings He shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priest It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God The Kings were to write the word of the Lord on a scroll They were to read it copy it write it down.

Why say would learn to fear the Lord God all the days of their life That's why David would say these words in the book of 2nd Samuel 23 verse number 3 the God of Israel Said the Rock of Israel spoke to me he who rules over men righteously Who rules in the fear of God is as the light of the morning when the Sun rises a Morning without clouds when the tender grass springs out of the earth through sunshine after rain You got a rule men righteously and reverently you gotta rule them in the fear of the Living God every single day My friends we have lost the holy terror that a relationship with the Living God brings We had to live in the fear of the Lord all day long Solomon says the book of Proverbs the 23rd and 24th chapter That's what we do That's why when the Bible says We're getting ready to embark on the Christmas season right just a few short weeks away right In the Bible says as the angel spoke peace on earth Toward those With whom he is pleased What says?

Book of Luke 2nd chapter peace on earth toward those Whom he is pleased Question is with whom is the Lord pleased answer Psalm? 147 verse number 11 the Lord is pleased Only with those who fear him See that The Lord is pleased with those who fear him those who wait for his loving-kindness Those are the ones with whom the Lord is pleased And so here is Noah whose name means rest Meaning he was at peace with God why because he feared the true and Living God That's why he was at peace. That's why he was at rest that's why we as believers during a time of of Of a pandemic that sweeps the world we live it at peace and rest Why?

Because we live in the fear of God We don't live in the fear of a virus. We don't fear live in the fear of mandates We don't live in the fear of anything. Anybody says we don't fear what man can do We fear only the one who can kill body and soul in hell. We fear the one who holds the keys to death We don't fear death itself It's just as simple Here was Noah He was Noah Who lived a faultless life a righteous man who walked with God? Who by the fear of God prepared an ark and condemned the world That's why he did it That's why he bade all that God said He wasn't about to to not obey all that God said He was gonna do everything that God said because their fear God means you obey his commandments you do what he says and That's what Noah did So Noah was mindful of the Word of God Which motivated him to fear his God, right?

Which made him meticulous in his service of God He was very meticulous in what he did one in preparation to in proclamation He was very meticulous in the preparation of the ark Because he had to follow God's design. He had to make sure he did everything that God said It had to be so many cubits, right? So the ark was just about 440 feet long about 73 73 feet wide and about 44 feet high About as high as a four-story building There were three decks each deck 95,000 square feet total square footage of the ark 1,000,396 Thousand square feet it's about the size of a ocean vessel today That's what he did very meticulous God said it must be this many cubits high this many cubits long this many cubits wide in Moses Noah was gonna fudge on that he was gonna do exactly as God said because he was very meticulous In obeying everything that God said very meticulous in his service for God So in the preparation of the ark He did it exactly as God said now there had to be questions, right?

There had to be questions. How do I get all these animals on the ark? How do I feed All these animals he didn't know he's gonna be in the ark for about a year. That's how long he was Almost about a year until he got off the ark I'm gonna feed all these animals How am I gonna clean up after all these animals? What am I gonna do with them and food for us how much food do I gather That I can feed the family A lot of questions in his mind But you sit back and question God about how long this or how far that or he just simply obeyed what God said so that when you come to Chapter 7 of Genesis, then the Lord said Noah into the ark you and your household For you alone have seen I have seen to be righteous before me in this time Noah Into the ark so somewhere between chapter 6 and chapter 7 120 years took place he built the ark And so as he built this ark God says enter in He was very meticulous about what he did for God The window had to be in the right spot.

The door had to be in the right spot To make sure it was all done exactly as God said But there had to be so many questions And then the abuse and the ridicule That he and his family would take for all that time And yet he because he didn't fear what they said He feared what God said It didn't really bother him all that much He could motivate his kids I said, all right. God's got a plan Enoch told us Methuselah lived it He's dying the day he dies The year he dies that floods coming so make sure we just keep building because it's going to happen Why God told me God spoke to me.

God made it very clear. Noah. This is what i'm going to do So this is why we're doing what we're doing. See the more the father knows the word of God The easier it is to motivate his children for God The less he knows about the word of God the harder it is to motivate them Why because he has no plan. He has no purpose. He doesn't know where he's going He's just hanging out there in no man's land But if he knows the word of God, he can direct his children into the ways of God because God has said God has spoken This is what God says.

This is what we do. This is why we do it That's what noah did He's very meticulous in his service for God in the preparation of the ark and then in his proclamation of the word He was a preacher How do we know that? The bible tells us second peter chapter 2 noah was a preacher Of righteousness verse number four Noah was a preacher of righteousness now remember The bible says that noah was a righteous man in genesis chapter 6 Chapter 7 God says I have seen you as righteous before me In second peter chapter 2 Noah was a preacher of righteousness very important So through the preaching of righteousness he was condemning the world when he built the ark he was condemning the world But he kept preaching with a hammer in one hand and a voice speaking the truth about the coming judgment of God And showing man how he can escape that judgment Very important now he's doing this.

Listen. I told you last week At the at the at the most violent time the most vile time On the face of the earth, how do we know that? Well, we read you last week coming back to genesis chapter 6. Hopefully your finger is already there At least one of your 10 fingers is already there We saw in verse number five the lord saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts Of his heart was only evil continually and the lord was sorry They had made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart and the lord said I will blot out man Whom I have created from the face of the land from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky For I am sorry that I have made them you say well, why is God sorry?

Then did not God not know? Why does God grieve? Listen, this is what the theologians call an anthropomorphic statement about God God being stated in human terms so we can understand him People say well did God change? No, God never changes. God never changes, right? God created man Good God created man Sinless adam and eve, right? God didn't change Who changed? man changed God is always holy. God is always just God must punish sin in his justice But by his grace, he lets some men live Some men are saved And so therefore God didn't change man changed Man sinned against the true and living god.

He was created one way But went a different direction That would grieve a holy god Having given them everything perfectly They would rebel against that But why was every thought? every intention of man evil continually well If you read genesis chapter six, it says in verse number four The nephilim were on the earth in those days And also afterward when the sons of god came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them Those were the mighty men who were of old men of renown Now this is the whole sermon in and of itself So let me sum it up for you the sons of god are fallen angels We know the sons of god are angels basically from the book of job job 1 job 2 job 38 So we know that the sons of god are referred to as angels.

These are angels Okay, and what did they do they left their first estate and they cohabitated with the daughters of men Well, how can angels do that?

How can demons do that their spirits? Yeah, but demons can can infest and incorporate themselves into a male body And then they would reproduce a demon hybrid raid Excuse me a demon hybrid race And that's why they were mighty men men of renown Nimrod in chapter 10 is called a mighty man. He was mighty because of his wickedness and his violence so these demon offspring Demon man offspring were men of violence That's why the world was as evil as it was You can go back to second peter and read about how these angels were kept in in chains of bondage Until the lord comes again And you you can begin to understand what the scriptures say about them.

Jude 6 and 7 also speaks about them so I can go into great detail If you want to listen to our sermon on genesis 6 you can begin to understand these things But this is why the world was so wicked. This is why it was so violent demons had infested these men These sons of god had invested these men who cohabitated with the daughters of men and produced a demon hybrid race And when god sent his son, he didn't send his son to redeem demon man He sent his son to redeem man so This makes everything violent everything evil the thoughts of men being evil continually because satan is running rampant on the earth God says that's it They all got to die So he destroyed them all That's why It's so much worse than he is today I know we don't understand that we have a hard time comprehending that But god says that's it.

I gotta destroy the world but i'm gonna grace one man I'm gonna grace one man in his family And i'm gonna start over again That's what god did with noah He was a preacher of righteousness, isn't it interesting the bible says these words in the book of matthew listen to this Matthew 24 verse number 37 for the coming of the son of man will be just like the days of noah For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking Marrying and giving in marriage until the day that noah entered the ark We think of marrying and giving in marriage as just normal every day getting married But that is a specific reference to genesis chapter 6 where demons were being Married and given in marriage to the daughters of men And therefore that's why it was such a demonic age just like it will be during the tribulation It will be a demonic age Because satan will have filled the earth.

He would have been cast down to the earth We have a hard time understanding that we thought he was cast out of heaven way back before genesis chapter 2 Revelation 12 says that satan is before the throne of grace day and night And he will be cast out of heaven Geographically, he was cast out of heaven morally between genesis 1 and chapter 2, but now he's going to be cast out geographically During the tribulation. He's going to come down to earth and demonic oppression will be all throughout the world And that's why it'll be so violent that's why when the lord returns he destroys mankind those who have rebelled against him And that's what we're looking forward to one day But until that day we understand that noah was very meticulous in his service for god He had to preach the righteousness of god.

He had to proclaim the truth of god He had to condemn the world when he built an ark now notice this back to hebrews chapter 11 Oh so much to say in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his soul of his household By which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith Think about that Do you know the very first man in the bible declared righteous was?

Noah Genesis chapter 6 It wasn't that enoch Wasn't righteous he was But noah is the first person in the bible To be declared a righteous man Isn't it interesting?

He was a preacher of righteousness second peter chapter 2 tells us but genesis 6 tells us that he was a righteous man Now listen, it says back in genesis chapter 6 these words But noah found favor in the eyes of god verse 8 But noah was graced by god And these are the records of the generations of noah verse 9 noah was a righteous man blameless in his time So people think god had favor on him because he was righteous and because he was blameless No, not true He was righteous and blameless because god graced him Noah found grace in the eyes of the lord.

In other words god decided to grace noah Noah's thoughts and noah's mind was as evil as everybody else's thoughts and mind But god graced noah God didn't grace anybody else Just one man and his family nobody else That was god's choice God was going to start again Because god graced him He now became a righteous man Not a perfect man But he had a righteous standing before the true and living god It's a legal term We we understand this way right in second corinthians 5 21 he who knew no sin became sin for us That we might be made the righteousness of god in him So christ bore in his body your sin and mine right on calvary's tree God the father treated his son as if he committed all your sin, although he was sinless So that We would be made the righteousness of god in him We would be treated with the holy righteousness of god as he looks down upon us It's a legal term That's the doctrine of justification by imputation which has such great theological implications Because it's the high point of the atoning work of christ So noah Was graced by god God chose him among all the evil people in the world and graced him And declared him a righteous man before him Because noah would believe by faith in what The seed from genesis 3 15 that was going to come He believed by faith about the animal sacrifices based on adam and eve based on abel and cain He believed all that he understood all those things and began to realize that the messiah was going to come That there was a promised seed that was going to arrive.

But in the meantime god was going to destroy the world and start over again And noah didn't understand all the implications of that But he believed everything that god said He believed everything there was to understand about the coming messiah up to that point And he trusted by faith And all that god said You see it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done Listen religion Doesn't work only righteousness works But you can't obtain righteousness on your own So paul says not by works of righteousness, which we have done but by the washing of regeneration by the renewing of the spirit A man is saved right?

I I can't earn my way to to heaven. I can't do enough good things to get to heaven But god in his grace and god and his mercy Can save a man? And declare him righteous before him because by faith We've been set free By faith we've been justified before him listen to the The book of romans the third chapter which says The righteousness of god through faith in jesus christ for all those who believe for there is no distinction For all the sin that fall short of the glory of god being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption Which is in christ It says in verse number 26 His righteousness at this present time Said he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in jesus christ We are justified We are declared right before god His righteousness is credited to our account Not by anything that we have done But by the grace of almighty god Who by faith we trust and believe in what he did?

on calvary's cross So here is noah way back in genesis chapter six and the writer of hebrews Who is trying to get all these hebrew people to understand? That without the shedding of blood there's no remission of sins And to believe in the coming promise of the new covenant and you have to believe by faith based on what god has said Because there's nothing you can do to earn god's acceptance Using noah as a supreme illustration of a man who was declared righteous before god And he didn't know near as much as all these hebrew people did in the audience He's trying to explain to them What it means to be justified by faith alone Remember job's question how could a man Be made right before god That's always been the question Job asked at first And the question is very simple.

How does a man? How does an unholy man? Ever get right with a holy god answer you can't You can't but god can God can declare you righteous god can make you righteous. You can't earn his favor. You can't earn his acceptance But when god graces you By faith In what he has said You believe all that he says And the righteousness of christ Is imputed to your account And you are made right before the true and living god That was noah That's why god spared him He was going to be used by god to start a whole new generation of people So we've lived this long till now Waiting for god to come and so as it was in the days of noah So it is today There was a preaching of righteousness during the days of noah There's a preaching of righteousness today.

God has set aside his people to preach the truth of the living god As it was in the days of noah, so it is today We keep preaching the truth living the truth explaining the truth Why because man needs to know how to be right with god and guess what we have the answer We know what the bible says So we explain it to people So when it's all said and done They no longer fear Death They don't fear Hell They don't fear the unknown Why they just fear the one who holds the keys to death Who knows everything that we don't know?

And that's the one we fear because he is the one who gave his life for us That's what noah did And that's how we live our lives. Let's pray together father We thank you for today the opportunity you give us to spend time in your word So brief it is so much to cover so little time But we thank you father that on this day. We could look at your word and realize What it means to be justified by faith in god alone as a man like noah was who lived a gruesome in a gruesome time a violent time but maintained his His steadfast commitment to the word of god and to the person of god May we likewise in jesus name amen