How y'all doing today? Awesome. I'm doing very well, thank you so much. If you're in
our sanctuary today visiting for the first time or if you're watching online
for the very first time, we want to say welcome. We're so glad you're here to
worship with us at Hosanna. I am Pastor Nathan and this morning we're gonna be
looking at the second half of the flood story in Genesis chapter 8 and chapter
9. You know, as we've been studying through this and we consider the flood story
as it's described by Scripture, I don't think it's hard for any of us to say, you
know, this was a divine act of decreation as God was going through and
kind of messing everything up, if you will, to fix everything. The
decreation is kind of like a reversal of the creation we read about in Genesis 1.
You see, in creation God separated the watery depths from the water above and
then the dry land appeared, but here in the flood we have the water appearing and
the dry land submerging below it as a violent destructive turbulence of
surging water is released by God upon the whole earth in judgment for sin. We
read that all the sources of the vast watery depths burst open and the flood
gates of the sky were opened and that is where all this water came from as the
rain fell for 40 days and 40 nights. That water came up from the ground from those
watery depths and surged upon the earth for a hundred and fifty days. That's
about five months and that's quite a time when everything is being wiped out.
This flood was so dramatic and so cataclysmic that the water rose, the
Scripture tells us, all the way to 22 feet above the highest mountain peak
that existed at the time. So this picture we have here is of intense watery
chaotic divine judgment covering the entire planet. While all that was taking
place we have the ark floating above it all like a gigantic sealed coffin keeping
those within safe from the wrath and inside that ark we read that there was
pairs of every single animal on earth, not every single type of animal but
every single kind of animal on the earth and one righteous man and his family.
This man was named Noah and we learned in a previous study that Noah is a
picture of the type of person that God saves. A person who is saved by faith, a
person who is saved because they believe God is real and all the implications of
that. If God is real then his word is true because God is true and that means
that everything God has spoken through the prophets and the Apostles and
everything that that we have recorded in the Word of God including the warnings
of judgment are true. You can count on them as true and so we see that Noah
believed God and he was declared righteous because of it and so we learn
that very important point that the person God saves is the person who
believes in him and believes in his word. It's not because of our actions, it's not
because of what we do or don't do but rather our actions are because he has
saved us because of our faith through our faith. So in the second half of the
flood story we're gonna see the earth go from decreation to recreation. Now it's
not a recreation as we're gonna see in the end of time but it's a restoration
of the earth that God had originally created and we're gonna learn why with
all the wickedness taking place in the world today, why God hasn't wiped it out
again yet and that's an important question because a lot of Christians
wrestle with why God do you allow this? Why God do you allow that? And there is a
very good reason but while we're here in the earth today we are called to be
representatives of Christ, ambassadors of him, a light into this dark world that
everybody we come in contact with has the opportunity to hear about the
gospel and to give their life to Jesus Christ that they too would be saved from
the judgment. So we are in Genesis chapter 8 this morning and we're gonna
be going all the way to Genesis chapter 9 verse 17 so buckle up. The entire flood
story as we've been looking at it is not just a great story, not just a
valuable story but it's also from a literary perspective just very unique
and beautiful because the the story divides fairly neatly into two halves.
You have the decreation of the earth as God pours out his judgment and then you
have the second half which is kind of like the recreation of the earth or the
restoration of the earth. In chapter 7 of Genesis we have God giving Noah a
warning of seven days until the flood starts and then Noah being locked in for
seven days and then we have 40 days and nights of flood then we have
150 days of the water surging on the earth then when we get to chapter 8 we
have 150 days of water subsiding, 40 days of waiting, 7 days of waiting and 7
days of waiting and so it's a pretty beautiful literary mirror there of what
God is doing and I believe that all these details and stuff are just because
God wants us to know this is historical, this really happened, it is a historical
account of what God did in the past and those details really are incredible.
On top of that we're gonna look at some of how the the restoration of the
earth after the flood actually parallels creation from Genesis chapter 1 and
as I mentioned last week we asked the question why is God so precise?
Why does God include very specific dates and times and number of days and all
that and there's a number of reasons but for the sake of this study it's because
these records that we have in Scripture hold very necessary theological very
very critical theological directives for our life and so God wants us to know
that it's very important to know his word but more importantly is that God is
precise and and very specific because he wants us to understand that salvation.
We come to salvation through a very precise and very specific means. We know
as Christians that the Bible says it is through Jesus Christ that we come to
salvation him and him alone and it's him and him alone as he's described by God's
word it's not Jesus the brother of Lucifer it's not Jesus some other he's
he's one with the father like he's actually the father as oneness
teaches no he's Jesus as he's revealed himself in his word it's very precise
it's very specific because our world today wants to be like yeah sure you
know you know the word Jesus but it's this other thing that gets you saved and
the devil is doing that all around the world to lead people astray from what
salvation is really about and so I believe the details in this story are
just a nod towards the fact that God is precise when the things matter and
listen up and so as we're gonna go through this story we start in chapter
8 verse 1 this is the middle point of the flood and this is where the second
half of the flood begins and it demonstrates a very very important
aspect of judgment and salvation and it's right in the first three words of
verse 1 God remembered Noah if you're a highlighter or underliner or whatever
that is remember that Genesis 8 1 a God remembered Noah you see when the Bible
says God remembers something it's never God going oh shoot I forgot that's not
that's not God remembering in the biblical way when it says God remembers
Noah it's more than a recollection when we see God remembering it's it's a
precursor to God acting is what it typically is like when the Bible tells
us that God remembered Adam he then saved Lot when the Bible tells us that
God remembered Rachel she then conceived right and so God remembering is
basically saying God is now gonna take action towards someone based on a
previous commitment he has made that's what it means when God remembers and so
here God remembering Noah means okay God has done all the judgment and and killed
everything on the earth and and all that and now God is ready to start bringing
it back to the end and fulfilling that commitment to know that he was gonna
save him and so verse 1 it says God remembered Noah as well as all the
wildlife and all the livestock that were with him in the ark God caused a wind to
pass over the earth and the water began to subside now this is the first
parallel to creation in Genesis chapter 1 because the word here that says wind
God caused a wind is the same exact word that has also rendered spirit capital S
to refer to the Holy Spirit of God in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2 this is how
the earth was described with the spirit hovering this is now the earth was
formless and empty very similar to what it was at that point except for Noah in
the ark darkness covered the surface of the watery depths same thing as the
earth was completely covered with the flood waters and the Spirit of God was
hovering over the surface of the waters so there's a beautiful parallel here to
to the picture of God in a sense recreating the earth so again as I've
already mentioned Moses goes into very specific detail as to calendar days as
he continues to write this account we were already told that the floods
started in the 600th year the second month the 17th day very specific now
these dates are based upon the Jewish calendar which is 30 days per month so
it's not 365 days point seven with a leap year here and all these weird
things just 30 days per month 360 days a year okay or 350 I can't remember now
I'm not good at math so anyways very specific though rain fell for 40 days and
nights water surged for 150 days and now we're reading that it begins to subside
that word subside means simply to become less violent which tells you what the
flood waters around the earth were for that first hundred and fifty days the
picture that comes to my mind is when we look at rapids you ever seen rapids and
how violent and churning you know have you ever been water rafting anybody
whitewater rafting yeah I have a couple times right you're never closer to God
than when you're in the rapids you know because every second you're like I'm
gonna die you know and we hit a rock and flipped over and so I got the
experience of going underwater in the rapids and yeah faith-building
experiences but that that churning that that violence of the water that's what
had been happening it wasn't just water filled up but things were being
destroyed things were being moved things were being just wiped out and so we have
that picture that all of that violence began to subside here it began to slow
down and so verse 2 it says the sources of the watery depths and the floodgates
of the sky were closed and the rain from the sky stopped the water steadily
receded from the earth and by the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had
decreased decreased significantly the ark came to rest in the seventh month on
the 17th day of the month on the mountains of Ararat so we've gone from
the 17th day of the second month to the 17th day of the seventh month if you do
the math and that one I did ahead of time so I wouldn't mess it up it's five
months 150 days five months and within those five months again the rain fell
the rain stopped the watery depths were opened the watery depths were closed and
the water began to recede now when we read this plainly it seems to be telling
us that the water decreased significantly by the hundred and fiftieth
day by that 17th day of the seventh month that's how it reads when you just
read it plainly because the context here starting at the end of Genesis 8 was the
water surged for 150 days then God remembered Noah and da da da da da and
then the water started to subside and then by the end of the 50 days the water
had decreased significantly now there's no theological problem with reading it
that way it just doesn't mean that the waters went to the midpoint and then
down at the second point it just remembers during this chaos those
waters that were 22 feet above the highest mountain peak in the world at
that time had subsided and they had at least subsided enough where the bottom
of Noah's Ark bonk hit the mountains of Ararat and so we find the boat there
that's gonna be stopped there on the mountains and it's just an interesting
thing I want you to notice there it says mountains plural so it's not telling us
one specific mountain it's telling us an area an area of mountains that were
known as the mountains of Ararat now today there is a Mount Ararat that's in
eastern Turkey or Western Armenia depending on which political border you
would like to believe in because there's fights over it but there is a Mount
Ararat that is kind of a tourist destination and I don't know if it's the
real place but the Bible doesn't tell us it was here specifically it says it was
in this area okay so I point that out because there's there's a lot of people
who have claimed to find Noah's Ark up on that mountain or other mountains in
different places and some of them are very interesting there was a guy years
ago named Ron Wyatt who had some really compelling evidence of of what he
thought was the Ark now I don't know if that's really true because there has
also been a lot of very legitimate challenges to stuff he said that's also
very compelling and so I don't know if anybody's found the Ark or not but I
will say this that in the writings of Josephus who is the great Jewish
historian who wrote during the the first century the early first century in his
writings he notes that the that the Noah the Ark of Noah still existed there in
his time and people were actually making treks to that Ark taking parts of it and
turning them into relics so we know that from the flood time to at least the
early first century the Ark was still there and people were able to go and see
it and so do with that what you will but verse 5 it goes on to tell us that the
water continued to recede until the tenth month in the tenth month on the
first day of the month the tops of the mountains were visible so we've gone
from second month to the seventh month to the tenth month we hit that midpoint
where the floodgates were closed where the watery depths are closed water
started receding water has continued to recede at this point and it says the
mountaintops were visible well visible from where the Ark the Ark that's that's
this whole account is being written from that that perspective and so from the
Ark they could see the mountaintops now if we remember the Ark was a huge boat
very huge so the fact that it had run aground on the mountains of Ararat
doesn't mean that the water levels were so low they could see the ground yet and
so from the seventh month for the ten months the water was slowly receding and
so add just after two months they saw the mountaintops now verse 6 after 40
days Noah opened the window of the Ark that he had made and he sent out a raven
it went back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth or dried up
yeah dried up from the earth then he sent out a dove to see whether the water
on the earth's surface had gone down but the dove found no resting place for its
foot it returned to him in the Ark because water covered the surface of the
whole earth he reached out and brought it into the Ark to himself so Noah waited
seven more days and sent out the dove from the Ark again when the dove came to
him at evening there was a plucked olive leaf in its beak so Noah knew that the
water on the earth's surface had gone down after he waited another seven days
he sent out the dove but it did not return to him again and so now we're at
the tenth month plus 40 days right we could follow this largely on a calendar
to know really the specific details of when things were taking place but after
40 more days we see Noah kind of opening the window because it hadn't rained in a
while at this point open it up and said hey well looking down I still see water
so let me send out a raven now it tells us that the raven went out and went back
and forth on the earth until the water had dried up that's telling us that the
raven didn't come back right and people go why didn't the raven come back what I
found out is that ravens are what's the word scavengers they they feed on
carrion as well as other things and so it's kind of a gruesome picture but the
raven flew out not finding any ground or treetops or anything but likely floating
corpses and oh num num num and then flew to another one and num num num and
Raven's like sweet I'm good I don't need to go back to the ark for food doves are
not carrion eaters okay so maybe Moses was like maybe I won't send out a raven
again because there's only two of them and oh shoot no more Ravens right we
have Ravens today so we know he didn't do that so he sends out the dove now the
dove is a clean animal it is a pure animal and we read here that it did
return so the idea is that you have the Raven sent out and then seven days it
doesn't say that here but when it says he waited another seven days the
indicators that there was already a seven day span so Raven seven days dove
seven days dove seven days and dove now you go okay cool there's birds flying
all over the place right it's a picture of the amazing and incredible patience
and endurance of faith that Noah had what was during likely a very
uncomfortable time right can you imagine being sealed up in this boat with two
of every animal and you know guess what they they they poop and they pee and
stuff and and they make noise and it was probably a very uncomfortable time to
be in there you know some of you know that that my mom is an animal lover she
loves animals and some of the animals she have today are guinea pigs right and
you know guinea pigs they just poop that's what guinea pigs do right and and
you know it's just the the like I'll go in there and it's like the room where
the animals are it's just it has a unique odor to it right and it you know
but she loves them you know and I don't know if she doesn't smell her she
doesn't care but you know she loves the animals and but you know animals they
have smells you go into a barn it stinks you know there's manure and stuff
and so but Noah endured through all of that and we have no record here that
during that time he was in the ark from beginning to end that God spoke to him
in any way think about that Noah persevered reliant on what God had
already said God told him there's gonna be a flood and I'm gonna save you shuts
him up into the ark the rain comes oh pitter-patter whoa the boat lifted up
storm violence waves probably who knows and not a word from God and yet Noah
didn't start going maybe I made a mistake maybe this was wrong maybe maybe
we should make some life vests and jump out he persevered and and that's in a
very important lesson for us because you know we have issues with waiting a lot
of times we struggle with patience right it's always said don't pray for
patience because the way God teaches you patience is patience and you're like oh
you know but pray for patience but sometimes we'll hear from the Lord or
Lord will speak to us through his word and we go okay God wants me to do ABC
and then two weeks later we're like God are you sure is this still your will for
me and God's saying what did I tell you but but I need a reminder what did I
tell you Noah was going God said this and I don't care how long ago it was the
last thing I heard from God was this I believe it and I'm gonna believe it
until God tells me otherwise and I'm gonna act on that belief until God tells
me otherwise and that's something we Christians need to do more right you
know a lot of people will be like gosh I just you know Bible's cool but if I
heard from God that would be that would be greater and my question is would it
right we have God's holy word his will revealed to us and yet when God tells us
something we say oh great I'm gonna go apply that in my life we lose patience
so quick and we're like God are you sure is that what you really want and we have
his word right in front of us and if you go back to that word you read that told
you to do a thing it hasn't changed now sometimes that's not enough for people
you know early in my faith I've had three instances in my life where God
audibly spoke to me and the only way I could describe it to you guys is it was
audible I heard it with my ears there was nobody there it was just a voice and
I heard it and those were major major crossroads in my faith of my faith
growing in my maturity and you know sometimes when I share that story with
people I'll be like yeah so I've been a Christian for 25 27 years now something
like that and God's only spoken to me three times and people go only three
times only three times like he hasn't spoken to me that way one single time
and I'm like well maybe that's just because I was so dumb and stubborn and
hard-headed God had to do that to get my attention and so God could speak to you
that way but he's already spoken to us through his word and that needs to be
the thing we go to first and that needs to be the thing that when we read it we
believe it and we act on it and don't question it and that's what we see Noah
doing here that he had heard God's word and and was believing God's word and was
living according to what he had heard from God there was no reason no matter
how long to doubt God's word the conditions probably not ideal right we're
difficult it was probably a trial for him and his family but he didn't
question God and that question is for us as well do we act on God's word
faithfully and patiently patiently through whatever whatever trial
whatever difficulty are we still going well God said this this amount of time
ago and I'm gonna believe and act on that and that's one of the things we're
called to do as believers right you've heard that phrase God said it I believe
it that ends it and that's a great creed for a Christian to live by when it comes
to God's word and so the voyage now comes to an end in verse 13 it says in
the six hundred and first year in the first month on the first day of the
month that's New Year's Day the water had covered the earth the water that
covered the earth was dried up then Noah removed the ark's cover and saw that the
surface of the ground was drying by the 27th day of the second month the earth
was dry and so again we're following this chronology right way back on the
tenth month oh we're starting to see the tips of mountains 40 days later let's
send out the birds the dove comes back with an olive branch in its mouth that
means at least trees were exposed above the water line something the dove could
land on but not enough that the dove was content or comfortable to live out there
so now we're at the place where Noah is looking out and the waters that had
covered the earth was dried up the flood waters were gone but as he removes the
ark's cover he still sees that the ground was drying right the whole thing
had been inundated with water and so as the waters had drained away however God
did that the ground was still wet the ground was still muddy probably the
ground was not stable enough to go out and walk on and so they still sat in
that ark for two more months then they finally came out on the 27th day of the
second month in the 601st year so doing quick math on that right for a total of
one year and ten days using the the Jewish calendar of 30 days per month
what we have is for one year and ten days God was silent God did not say a
word to Noah after God sealed him in and said trust in my salvation there was no
more word trust in my salvation for a hundred and ten days the whole earth was
being de-created and then recreated I can't imagine what it sounded like as
this churning was going on as this violence was was destroying the earth all
the air-breathing life was wiped off the earth for a one year and ten days it was
just chaos of course it peaked and then it receded out but you know it's during
this time that that some believe that that what was once one continent was
split apart violently because as the waters came up from the watery depths
they believe it pushed apart continental plates what's interesting is today
science scientists do acknowledge that there's three plates that kind of
crashed into each other and formed the mountains we now know as the mountain
ranges of Ararat and so I don't know if that really happened or not I personally
tend to lean that way but we do know that that the topology of the earth
changed regardless in this restoration of the earth it parallels again
creation in Genesis chapter 1 as we go from water being over the whole earth
and then through God's providence dry land appearing and so finally after a
year and ten days of God's silence trusting God having faith in God well
he said this a year ago I'm gonna believe it now God finally speaks to
Noah in verse 15 then God spoke to Noah come out of the ark you your wife your
sons and your son's wives with you bring out all the living creatures that are
with you birds livestock those that crawl on the earth and they will spread
out over the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth so Noah along with
his sons his wife and his son's wives came out all the animals all the
creatures that crawl all the flying creatures everything that moves on
the earth came out of the ark by their families families is another way to say
type right it was dog that came out not every kind of dog not every breed just
dog and then cat and they all came out but you'll notice through this second
half of the story we keep seeing this repetition it's God said do this and
then exactly what he said happened God said do this and exactly what he said
happened what we're seeing here is this repetition this reminder of obedience
God said it they did it God said hey the animals are gonna go spread out over the
whole earth guess what the animals came out and spread over the whole earth
right we're seeing this picture of when God speaks it's truth when God works and
moves it happens and it's absolutely according to his word no variance of
any kind just like when when God gave the instructions to Noah to build the
ark right it was very specific and we talked about why because when it comes
to salvation God is very specific it's through Jesus Christ the shed blood of
Jesus Christ putting your faith in that work it is through him we are saved no
other means to be saved very very specific and when God speaks there's
obedience we don't challenge God in his word when God says don't lie it doesn't
mean well what kind of lie surely not a little white lie Lord right God said
don't lie period and and there's so much that's in the Bible that we try and
negotiate with and what we're seeing here is this reminder that when God says do
it this way it is to be done that way exactly why because it is the best way
it is the the the best possible way that could be done and if God says do it a
certain way we do it we live according to his word and we know that that is the
best possible way for us to live even when there's times of chaos and so Noah
steps out of the earth onto this clean earth sin having been washed away by the
waters of judgment and again it's this beautiful picture again of what we are
that when we are in Christ looking forward to the day of wrath that God is
gonna pour out upon the earth we do that knowing that our sins have been washed
away by the Spirit of God they've been washed away through our faith in Jesus
Christ they're not just covered but they're gone and that's just a picture of
the entire Old Testament up to the times of Jesus where they did these sacrifices
that the blood represented covering of sin but when Jesus came he said no no
it's done once and for all it's forgiven it's washed away the idea is
that God looks at you and he doesn't see the sin and go yeah well you know he the
Bible tells us that God looks at us through the blood of Christ spotless and
unblemished he looks at us and he goes you're perfect why well when you believe
God and you put your faith in him trust in him for salvation you're washed
clean by the blood of Christ kind of like how Noah trusted God believed God
was saved and God said you're righteous Noah not because he was sinless but
because he believed God and so we see this whole picture here of him stepping
out on this beautiful clean earth it's it's it's different the sin has been
washed away and and we know this is gonna happen again worldwide but next
time it's gonna be by fire instead of water next time it's not just gonna be a
cleaning of what existed it's gonna be a complete obliteration of the earth and
then it will be a new heaven and a new earth created by God and guess what
those who are in Christ are gonna step out onto that beautifully perfect new
world without sin and enjoy paradise forever with Christ but the Bible tells
us that this earth is gonna melt in fervent heat that there's this earth
will be no more and the new earth will be inhabited by those who chose to
believe in God chose to believe his word chose to put their trust and faith in
all that God says believing that yes judgments gonna come and that salvation
is through Christ alone and this is all a picture of that in the very beginning
so along with Noah it's his family it's all the creatures they brought into the
ark they now come out in verse 20 it says Noah built an altar to the Lord he
took some of every kind of clean animal and every kind of clean bird and offered
burnt offerings on the altar you see God remembered Noah right we said the
definition of that is God is now moving towards Noah in line with the commitment
he already made to Noah no I'm gonna save you and now that's what we read in
the second half of this flood story the first thing Noah does when God moves
towards him a lot in line with his commitment is he worships God God moves
Noah worshiped God fulfilled his promise to Noah came through on his commitment
because God does not lie Noah worshiped that is a perfectly correct response
from us when God moves we worship God that's what the whole idea of sacrificing
on the altar was now the picture of this is is Noah given over everything to God
that's what the idea of the burnt sacrifice was it's completely consumed
right it's completely burnt and incinerated to ashes on that altar and
that idea there is that Noah is the first thing he's doing out of the ark is
saying God I'm not gonna withhold anything from you that everything that
I have everything that exists is yours I mean imagine the sacrifice Noah
apparently it doesn't tell us how but he knew that there were supposed to be
clean animals and that there was supposed to be the sacrifice to the Lord
but there's only a few precious samples of that type of animal left the rest
have been killed and wiped out by the flood and yet Noah is still gonna follow
through and worship God and give of something that's like well if we mess
this up and we run out of doves that's it no more doves but God is greater and
and more important and more valuable more worthy than anything that exists on
this earth and the idea here is that God is or Noah is recognizing that by doing
the sacrifice and just hallelujah to God praise be to God for his judgments you
know it's celebrating that God did this not that whoo-hoo he killed people but
but God you you wipe sin off the earth it's also a recognition that praise God
for his salvation and so we need to be people like that when God moves we
worship it's one of the reasons why we gather here on a Sunday but if you're
only worshiping on Sunday when we're together you're missing out you're
missing it worship every day praise God every day because every single day God
is moving towards you in line with his commitment every single day God is
saying well if you put your faith in my son and I look at you I'm not gonna wipe
you out for your sin I see you perfect and every day God is doing that hallelujah
praise God for that and so we move on here the story switches from Noah's
faithfulness that's kind of what we've been looking at to God's response right
to that faithfulness verse 21 when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma he said
to himself I will never again curse the ground because of human beings even
though the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth onward and I
will never again strike down every living thing as I have done so God was
pleased with the sacrifice the sacrifice was given with the right heart right the
the commitment from Noah was given with with with everything right behind it is
his God was pleased that idea of God being pleased with the aroma of the
sacrifices he accepts it he accepts it for what it is and what it's meant and
then we see that he responds with grace here and that's what God does in our
lives you guys know the definition of grace right I've said it many times
grace is getting what you don't deserve mercy is not getting what you do deserve
so grace would it would it know a get here this commitment from God that he
will never again curse the ground even though the human heart is still wicked
and evil and he will never again strike down every living thing but if you think
about it it's like was was Noah given a sacrifice for his own sin the Bible all
tells us that God already saw him as righteous God already saw him as is
blameless and spotless due to his faith so who was the sacrifice for I believe
and I think that that Noah's sacrifice here was a sacrifice for mankind and
that included Noah from Noah's perspective that this is a sacrifice for
all of mankind because God's response I will never strike down any human in this
way even though their hearts are wicked and evil I will never again strike down
every living creature as I have done and that's a very important phrase as I have
done and we're gonna see later it's by a global flood but despite the fact that
that that sin remains within mankind despite the fact that that Noah and his
family and everybody from that point forward are still gonna have the
knowledge of good and evil gained by Adam and Eve eating the fruit in the
garden despite the fact that with that knowledge which does nothing more than
teach us how to be wicked and selfish and sinful despite all of that God
graciously said I'm gonna give you something you don't deserve I'm not
gonna flood the world again verse 22 as long as the earth endures seed time and
harvest cold and heat summer and winter and day and night will not cease now
some people look at this verse and they go this is where the seasons began right
we have a different earth now it's it's the same one effectively but it's been
redone and people look at this and go this is where the seasons started
because before that before the flood well canopy theory right there was this
canopy of water vapor because God separated the water above and below and
that canopy of vapor around the earth created like a greenhouse effect so the
entire planet globally was just this perfect temperature and perfect on
unchanging temperature and it was perfectly regulated right there was no
hot and cold there was no seasonal changes that's the theory right and then
the theory is is that when God said okay enough boom the waters fell from that
canopy and now because things have changed ecologically now we have
seasons now we have fluctuating temperatures now we have hot and cold
and all that stuff that takes place over time but the commitment that God said
that as long as the earth endures this will not cease we're still living under
that commitment today now sure you don't see it as dramatically in California
right in California we're like oh it's two degrees different it must be winter
oh it's two degrees hotter it must be right it doesn't change too much but you
go to other parts of the country and it's very obvious right covered with
snow and and then no snow and green right it's just God said as long as the
earth endures this will not cease and this comes to that question we ask is
why is it when we look around the world and we see evil horrible things we see
trafficking of children for perverse reasons we have organ harvesting
happening around the world because some crazy person in some country goes oh if
I eat this part of a human I will live forever it'll extend my life plan and so
that's that's just two of the horrible things that are happening around the
world and you go God why do you allow this to continue God why haven't you
stepped in and wiped it out yet and we don't ultimately know the
answers to those questions but when we understand that God made a commitment
right here after the flood to Noah that we should be able to come to the place
of deferring to God's wisdom deferring to God's will deferring to God's way and
even when we're in the position where we say I don't understand and I don't
understand how those things are still allowed but I recognize that my limited
brain is far inferior to the omniscience of Almighty God and that according to
God's way and God's will I have to trust God with those things why does this
happen I have to trust God with it and go I don't know but he does and if he
hasn't done anything yet there's a reason why and then we go back to the
things we know well let's keep preaching the gospel let's keep working to rescue
kids out of those situations let's let's keep working to see the Spirit of God
change people's hearts and so with this grace this commitment that God gives
chapter 9 verse 1 we see God responding with blessing he says God blessed Noah
and his sons and said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth
so he repeats to Noah the blessing he gave to Adam and Eve in the very
beginning new earth Adam and Eve be fruitful multiply cleansed earth Noah be
fruitful and multiply the blessing is still intact just like it was with Adam
and Eve when they ate of the fruit and they sinned and then after God came and
covered their sin he said still be fruitful multiply the blessing wasn't
gone the blessing wasn't done away with they were still called to do the thing
God has called them to do and and I believe based on the very beginning of
what we have in Scripture yet that that children are a blessing and that
multiplying is a very high calling possibly one of the main callings God
has given to humanity right in the beginning it was Adam and Eve be fruitful
multiply enjoy everything I've given you enjoy each other raise up generations
of people who are gonna worship God and love God and work and just praise him and
then they sinned and sin entered the human heart but God said still this call
this blessing is still on your life now I know there's you know people that are
infertile and you can't have kids and there's other people that that for some
reason don't have children but but to ever come to the place where we look at
the calling the blessing of children say oh that's not for me nah especially as a
believer you're missing out on a call of God now myself I don't have any
biological children for many years I was like whoo-hoo but as I've grown in my
life I've had the opportunity to be a big brother and a father figure to many
many young men and the young ladies through through young adults ministry
stuff and I've been so blessed that I've got to play a part in the raising of a
generation to love God and now I get to play the part of Papa in in the life of
James who isn't my biological child but I don't care and I don't think he cares
and so I get to be a part there right I get to play that part of of that
fruitful and multiplication and raising those generations in the earth and I'm
so blessed for it but people who disdain that and put it aside they having kids
is not my plan I you're missing part of the calling that God has and so he gives
them this blessing but now the blessing comes with qualifications look at verse
two fill the earth but the fear and terror of you will be in every living
creature on the earth every bird of the sky every creature that crawls on the
ground and all of the fish in the sea they are placed under your authority
every creature that lives and moves will now be food for you and I as I gave you
the green plants I've given you everything however you must not eat meat
with the lifeblood in it so hey Noah let's go back to the beginning fresh
earth it's clean do what I told them to do but it's gonna be different because
when Adam and Eve were fruitful and multiplying in the very very beginning
they were at peace with all the animals it wasn't a contentious thing they were
vegetarians we see here because the permission to eat meat is being given
that means that Adam and Eve can go up and you know scratch T-Rex on the chin
and he just you know do his leg thing and it was just perfect and happy there
was no violence but now as you multiply and fill the earth it's gonna be in an
adversarial from an adversarial position that as you grow and expand the animal
kingdom is gonna fight back and yeah lions eat people and it right it's it's
it's been a dangerous world as we've grown and started to cover everything
now he does say that you will still have authority over them you will still rule
over them you're still gonna be in charge but but it's going to be without
peace but we have an upside to this right the upside to this is steak thank
you God right we get we get steak and vegetables now right and how awesome is
that you know like I said meat doesn't seem to initially have been part of the
human diet that they ate the seeds the plants and all that but they weren't to
eat the animals and I think it was because of what I'm about to bring up
here because he goes don't eat meat that still has the lifeblood in it what he's
saying is my command to you Noah is humans are not to act like animals
they're not to devour animals the way animals devour animals you are different
you are human you are not an animal you are a creation made in my image so don't
act like the animals and devour one another with with without care without
concern why I believe this is where God is is establishing respect for life
respect for life and the giver of life which is something I think was missing
pre-flood and so the blood the blood is important there's value to the blood
don't eat meat with the blood still in it and I believe that was also to set
them up for appreciating blood sacrifice the fact that the blood was shed for
them was incredibly valuable and of immense value ultimately so that we
would understand that when Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross it was of
immense value impossible priceless to us that through our trust in that we would
be saved and so God now is moving on from the respect for animal life to
respect for human life verse 5 he goes and I will require a penalty for your
lifeblood I will require it from any animal and from any human if someone
murders a fellow human I will require that person's life whoever sheds human
blood by human blood his by humans his blood will be shed for God made humans
in his image I find it interesting that the very first commandment that God
gives to Noah after the flood is regarding sanctity of life it is the
very first thing look respect animal life but especially respect human life
it makes you think of how callous the people were before the flood right we
had read in chapter 6 verse 3 that humanity was completely corrupt before
the flood that wickedness was widespread that violence was the norm that murder
was a celebrated everyday occurrence right it talked about these these great
heroes these Nephilim whatever they were great heroes of renowned it
specifically says that they were the famous men and the context seems to
indicate they were famous for their violence their sexual violence it paints
the picture that pre-flood there was no respect for life because there was no
respect for the giver of life and that it was just wanton destruction people
devouring one another the way animals devour one another but after the flood
the potential for this kind of disregard for human life was still within humanity
and so he says although animal blood may be shed and that's for those of you that
like hunting that's where it's a you can shed the blood of animals but don't
consume it with the blood in it or don't consume the blood then he says where
human blood is shed whether it's by an animal or another human it's the death
penalty this is where we have capital punishment instituted in Scripture you
see I have to address something real quick the the difference between killing
and murder right this people get caught up here well God said don't shed human
blood but then he said if you do it humans are going to shed your blood that
seems like a contradiction there's a difference biblically between murder and
killing killing is just the termination of another life murder is unjustified or
unlawful intentional killing of another person often through rage or hate or
selfishness killing was lawfully applicable in cases of capital crimes as
we see here biblically also biblically was it was lawful in the cases of self
defense it was also lawful in the cases of a justified war right a soldier could
kill another soldier that was not breaking this law but murder wasn't
lawful in any context and we see how that was codified in the Ten Commandments
they'll show not murder so yes it's unfortunately true that protecting a
nation protecting a family protecting society sometimes requires killing but
that is different than murder murder is a wanton disregard for life and so to
argue against things like the death penalty is to argue against the Word of
God and I know there's believers out there's like oh that's that's so
inhumane and that's so bad God instituted this to protect humanity to
say if someone is callous enough about life to murder someone they got to go
because they'll do it again or to argue for things like abortion is to argue
against God's Word on the sanctity of life abortion is the taking of life why
because the Bible says so the Bible says that conception a baby is a baby it's a
life and I know it's a very difficult topic and it's a very difficult subject
but in our society we cannot put people in office who say you should be able to
kill that baby up to the day of birth that's disgusting now I know there's a
very tiny amount of cases that that bring up questions right where the
mother's life is at play and I don't have time to do that whole discussion
discussion but a vast majority of abortions are for selfish reasons oh I'm
too young to have a baby I can't afford to have a baby then don't have sex
problem solved yep there's selfish reasons why people go and murder the
life of a child God's Word here is a word to a very violent world and his
word here is meant to protect human life and so to ignore God's teaching on this
is to descend deeper and deeper into a pre-flood society and we see that
happening today so after these instructions God repeats his instruction
to Noah but you you be fruitful multiply you go out and and cover the
earth and multiply upon it he's simply saying look Noah from here forward
respect life and the giver of life especially human life and go out and be
fruitful and then finally we see the Noahic covenant here that starts in
verse 8 then God said to Noah and his sons with him understand that I'm
establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you and with every
living creature that is with you birds livestock and all the wildlife of the
earth that is with you all the animals of the earth that came out of the ark I
established my covenant with you that never again will every creature be
wiped out by flood waters there will never again be a flood to destroy the
earth so God's restating his commitment here but but here it's it's being
solemnized solemnized right it means it's being formalized right there's a
difference between someone saying hey let's make this agreement and signing a
contract about it right one's legally enforceable one is well I hope they
follow through and that's the difference here where God's made these
commitments but now he's making it legally enforceable saying I cannot will
not break this and it's a universal covenant because it applies to every
human good or evil it applies to every living creature on the planet it's a
one-sided covenant what I mean by that is God is the one who is initiating it
God is the one who is defining it right twice in these verses he says my
covenant this is my covenant with you meaning it didn't require any
acknowledgement from humans it didn't require ratification from humans humans
weren't a part of the equation outside of receiving the benefits and it was
unconditional that no matter what humans would do from there forward there would
never again be destruction by water so verse 12 it says and God said this is
the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living
creature with you a covenant for all future generations I have placed my bow
in the clouds and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth
whenever I form clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds I will
remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures water will never
again become a flood to destroy every creature the bow will be in the clouds
and I will look at it and remember my permanent covenant between God and all
the living creatures on the earth and God said to Noah this is the sign of
the covenant that I have established between me and every living creature
now the bow he's talking about there we call it a rainbow right and you'll notice
he says my bow this is my covenant this is my bow this is my sign that I am
going to be committed to this as I stated it no matter what that the idea
here was that every time it rained every time the the line the light shone
through the water droplets and prismed out into this bow of color all of
mankind could look at that and go wow God has graciously promised to never
flood us again despite how wicked we are God would look at that and go yep I'm
still moving towards you to not destroy the earth until the appointed time it's
God remembering God acting on his commitment and that commitment is every
single day when God looks at us and instead of seeing the sin he sees
perfection through the blood of Jesus Christ and he goes you're coming to
heaven I will not wipe you out and that applies to the whole earth until the
appointed time so in the flood God decreated and recreated the earth he
washed it clean of all air breathing life every human on the earth at that
time suffered the judgment of God against their sin except Noah and his
family why because Noah was the only one that was righteous you see a question
comes up Noah's righteous but it doesn't say anything about his wife and his
kids and their wives it simply doesn't tell us but I do know that throughout
the Old Testament especially in in the the the culture that there that developed
there the father often spoke for the family that the family would benefit
from the father's decisions and the father's actions even the bad actions
because their scripture that says oh if the father sinned the curse is gonna be
held to the fourth generation right that there was this idea that the in a
patriarchal society like this that the father represented he his reputation
covered his family reputation it could be that or it could be they were
righteous it just doesn't tell us okay but the idea is that Noah and his family
were saved they had faith and they lived according to that faith and the rainbow
was meant to be this reminder this forever mine reminder of what happened
and what it meant to them every time Noah would see a rainbow or his family
would see a rainbow they would remember the gravity of sin they would remember
the penalty of sin they would remember how serious God takes sin that he wiped
out the entire planet they would remember the unearned grace of God for
those who simply believe in him in his word he will save them from it they
would remember God's promise to never hit the reset button again to never
start over but instead he's gonna let human history play out patiently waiting
for the appointed time where his wrath will indeed come where it won't be just
a cleansing of the old but it will be a complete destruction of the old and a
complete replacement by the new so when we trust in Jesus Christ for our
salvation our own salvation from judgment to come scripture tells us that
we were given a brand new heart see it's not the old heart that's just washed
and put back he goes nah I'm gonna take it out and give you a brand new one why
because the old heart is is is completely thoroughly sinful hopelessly
unsavable and so God just doesn't say I'm gonna I'm gonna wash it clean and
okay do it again he goes no no I have to pull that one out and I have to set you
set you on a life with a brand new heart a brand new nature and with that brand
new heart and that brand new nature that we are given we embark on a brand new
life see in the world in a brand new way acting in a brand new behavior just
being different because God saved us and then just like God with this new heart
in this new nature we're waiting patiently for the appointed time and so
when we're wondering God why do you allow this to happen why do you allow
that to happen God will do something about it and we have to trust him for
his timing but the rain remit the the rainbow reminds us today that it was
divine wrath that gave way to peace it reminds us of the ultimate work of the
new covenant when God's wrath was turned away from humanity by the blood of his
own son shed on the cross so that all who would find themselves in Christ
through faith they would receive grace and mercy instead of wrath and judgment
the rainbow should remind us that we find full spiritual restoration in Christ
and we look forward to a brand new earth a brand new life that we're gonna step
out onto a perfect creation worshiping God forever praising his name that he
saved us now because the rainbow represents all of that that's why I
believe the devil co-opted it to be a symbol of sexual deviation and
disobedience to God where the rainbow was supposed to be something that we
saw and we humbled ourselves now instead it represents pride the deepest sin of
mankind that will lead them straight into judgment but those of us that trust
in Christ and trust in God for salvation you're saved that's it that you no longer
have this relationship we're like oh I messed up is he still am I still saved I
messed up is he is he mad at me no you're his kid you mess up it's gonna
have some consequences now and God says hey spank spank do don't do better let's
do different I'm gonna fill you with my spirit so you could choose to do better
but you're still saved you're still his kid why because you're in Christ you're
literally placed there by God clothed in the in the righteousness that he gives
you through your faith and the beautiful hope is that you'll come out the other
side when everything is said and done in a perfect paradise forever with God
praising his name that is what the story teaches us we thank God so much for our
salvation we thank God for judgment we thank God that we are still here to tell
people how to escape that judgment and that's what we're called to do until the
time he takes us home so let's pray father we love you we thank you God for
your word we thank you God for who you are Lord we thank you God that you
commit to your promises to us that you've covenanted with with Noah and all
the future generations that as long as the seasons are taking place that every
time we see a rainbow we would remember God your commitment to never again flood
the world Lord we know your patience is infinite and unlimited we know God you
waited long enough for us to be saved and so Lord help us understand that
you're waiting long enough for everybody who will be saved to be saved yet God we
do pray Lord that your spirit would work in this world to reverse evil and
wickedness to do away with it and those who persist in it and cling to it Lord
that you would deal with and we know Lord that ultimately you're gonna deal
with them and so help us to trust that God help us to trust in you Lord knowing
that we have this unconditional covenant that we have time in this world to live
for you that God is you've given us a brand new heart you call us to live in a
brand new way that others would see the hope of glory in us that we would be
able to tell them about you and what you did to propitiate the wrath of God that
we could be saved Lord please use us please use us to share your word to
share your hope to share your gospel please use us God to be tools in your
hand that others would come to know you and be saved from the judgment to come
Lord we thank you and we love you it's in Jesus name we pray amen all right
church let's worship