So Noah did everything precisely as God had commanded him.Thus Noah did. He did all that God commanded him.Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
3 sermons cite this verse
I. First, FAITH NEEDS NO WARRANT FOR ITS ACTION BUT THE COMMAND OF GOD. Believers have no need to consult with flesh and blood. I may refer you in illustration of this Truth of God to good men in all ages. There is Noah, for instance. He is commanded by God to build an ark of gopher wood—an ark large enough to hold himself and his family and some of all beasts, birds and creeping things that were upon the face of the earth! Was it not an absurd idea to build so huge an ark upon dry land? Yet Noah did not consult with any of the people who were then living—we read, "Thus did Noah: according to all that God commanded him, so did he." Then, think of Abraham. He was commanded by God to leave his country, his kindred and his father's house and to go unto a land that God would show him." And we read, "So Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken unto him." Further on—in his life there was that very memorable occasion when God commanded him to offer up his son Isaac as a burnt offering. Abraham did not consult with Sarah. He knew the mother's feelings far too well to wish to lacerate them, and she might have said, "No, my Husband, such a deed as that must not be done." So he did not ask her, but he rose up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, prepared the wood and set out on the three days' journey to the place of which God had told him. He did not even consult Isaac, who was, apparently, thus to die. And when Isaac said to him, "Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" his father replied, almost choking, I think, as he said it—"My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering." He consulted not with his own flesh and blood, else had the father been too strong for the Believer, but as God had commanded him to offer his son as a sacrifice, he unsheathed the knife to slay his beloved Isaac—a glorious instance of what faith can dare to do without asking the advice or the approval of men! …
I have set forth the character of Noah before you and commended it to the utmost. Yet I know that in the sight of God, the Patriarch's character was not, in itself, perfect. There must have been innumerable imperfections, infirmities, and faults which God's Omniscient eyes could see in it. How, then, could he be said to be righteous before God? Why, God looked at him in Christ! He became heir of the righteousness which is by faith, or, as Paul puts it, he was "accepted in the Beloved." Then, in consequence of that acceptance, he was "righteous" in the modified sense in which all the Lord's people are righteous when the Grace of God has taught them to walk uprightly and so made them, at least in a measure, like their righteous Father who is in Heaven! But let me add to this, in order to clear the Gospel of anything like legal defilement, that the eminence of Noah's character appears in the fact that he was righteous before God, that is to say, his righteousness had respect to God. When he dealt with his neighbors, he did not say to himself, "Now I must deal righteously with these men, or I shall lose my reputation as an honest, upright man." Oh, no! He dealt righteously with men because he desired to be righteous before God. He did not ask himself, "What will my neighbors think or say concerning the building of the ark?" His great concern was to be obedient to the commands that the Lord had given him and, therefore, we read again and again, "according to all that God commanded him, so did he." He fashioned his life by the will of God, not by the will of his fellow men, nor by his own will and, Beloved, this is the way for us to be righteous before God, when He brings us, by His Grace, to desire to live according to His will and to His praise and glory! I fear that many professors go blundering on, not stopping to pray, "Lord, show us what You will have us do." Noah did not act thus—he was righteous before God, righteous with respect to God, righteous in God's sight! …
GEN. vi. 22. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. Concerning these words, I would observe three things: 1. What it was that God commanded Noah, to which these words refer. It was the building of an ark according to the particular direction of God, against the time when the flood of waters should come; and the laying up of food for himself, his family, and the other animals, which were to be preserved in the ark. We have the particular commands which God gave him respecting this affair, from the 14th verse, “Make thee an ark of gopher wood,” &c. 2. We may observe the special design of the work which God had enjoined upon Noah: it was to save himself and his family, when the rest of the world should be drowned. See ver. 17, 18. 3. We may observe Noah’s obedience. He obeyed God: Thus did Noah. And his obedience was thorough and universal: According to all that God commanded him, so did he. He not only began, but he went through his work, which God had commanded him to undertake for his salvation from the flood. To this obedience the apostle refers in Heb. xi. 7. “By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house.” Doctrine.—We should be willing to engage in and go through great undertakings, in order to our own salvation. …