"So the Lord said, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.' But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations; Noah walked with God" (Genesis 6:7-9).

"By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith" (Hebrews 11:7).

IDEA: While every person in Hebrews 11 relates to God in the same way -- by faith, the results of their life of faith differ.

PURPOSE: To help listeners live before God in faith but not to expect the results to be the same.

Do you like to read the biographies of noted Christians? Why are the subjects of these biographies “noted”?

I. It can be defeating to read the biographies of great Christians if we read them the wrong way.

Louis S. Chafer was a Christian leader. He testified that he read the life story of George Muller. His testimony was, “Men, I almost starved to death.” Instead of copying Muller’s faith, he copied Muller’s method.

What is more valuable -- a Rembrandt original or a copy of it? Why?

II. In Hebrews 11, we read about three men who lived before the flood: Abel, Enoch and Noah.

What did they have in common? What are we to imitate?

We should not expect the same results in our lives as they had in theirs.

For his faith, Abel paid the price of his life.

Because of his faith, Enoch was taken from this life.

By his faith, Noah saved his life and those of his entire family from drowning.

When you see a group of Christians all behaving in the same way, what might that tell you?

It is the originals that are valuable, not the copies.