Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Noah did everything that Yahweh commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came on the earth. Noah went into the ship with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, because of the floodwaters.“

(Genesis 7:5-7)

Noah obeyed God. He decided that he was going to do what God wanted him to do, no matter what. That obedience and worshipful attitude to God is what made him faithful in all he did. His worship of God informed his whole lifestyle. “By faith Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared a ship for the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith” (Hebrews 11:7). It is through our belief in God, our trust in what He says, and our humble submission in obedience to His Will that puts us in the place to be saved. It’s how salvation works. “that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). A lord is a ruler. Authority you submit to. It isn’t someone who makes suggestions, but someone who issues commands – which must be obeyed. When we submit and obey, we stay in the blessing zone. We stay where we can be saved, and He is faithful to save us (1 John 1:9).

God asked, and Noah responded in worship – both in attitude and in actions. In response, God covenanted with Noah. God sealed him up in the ark, along with his family, and preserved the choice of godly humanity while enforcing the choice of ungodly humanity. God always seals His faithful (Hebrews 11:6). He is a God of Mercy and Grace (Ephesians 2:8-9 ).

“Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.“

(Ephesians 4:30)

When you are saved, you want to show appreciation for the one who saved you. In the same way, we were saved by Jesus. He did it by grace, not through our own efforts. Should we sin more to get more grace? No! Acceptance of grace ignites a desire to show appreciation. To lean into godly thinking. Chapter four of Ephesians shows how you start to reject God. It shows how getting your eyes off God leads to the rejection of His moral character. In place of that, we try to put OUR ideas and OUR morals. When we do, we embrace confusion and darkness because our thinking has no foundation. No truth to it. Only feelings and sensations. But when we act in accordance to God’s moral character, when we recognise His truth through the Word and lean into His thinking, then we keep our eyes on Him. Our motivations are to bring Him glory. To worship Him in action, speech, and thought. To thank Him through worshipful obedience for sealing us and saving us from destruction. For redeeming our lives when we didn’t deserve it and giving us the great gift of His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Summary

When we accepted the salvation that Jesus offered, we were sealed by Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). By trusting in Jesus, we were saved from destruction. Not on our own merits, but by believing what Jesus said and trusting in His works. Since we have been saved, we show our love and appreciation for Jesus by learning His moral character and emulating it with how we think, act, and speak. Worshipping Him with how we live our lives. Entering into His covenant and abiding by it.