WEBVTT 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:02.080 Good morning. 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:06.480 Today, Joel is going to be preaching from the book of Genesis. 00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:10.480 So if you'd like to open your Bibles and follow along, I would highly encourage it. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:12.160 We're going to be in Genesis 8. 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:17.039 We're going to read the whole chapter, and then we're going to go about halfway through chapter 9 as well. 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:23.839 So this is going to be a little bit longer passage, but it's it's a really amazing testimony of God. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:30.640 Out of reverence for the word, as you're able, would you please stand with me and we'll read this together. 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:34.560 Starting in chapter 8. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:44.799 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark, and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:57.600 Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained, and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased. 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:04.159 In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:07.439 The water decreased steadily until the tenth month. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:12.560 In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible. 00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:24.640 Then it came about at the end of forty days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had which he had made, and he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth. 00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:29.760 Then he sent out a dove from him to see if the water was abated from the face of the land. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:38.159 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of the earth. 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:43.599 Then he put her he put out his hand and took her in, and brought her into the ark to himself. 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:49.599 So he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark. 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:56.000 The dove came to him towards the evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. 00:01:56.239 --> 00:01:59.519 So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth. 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:05.920 Then he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, but she did not return to him again. 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:14.240 Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, of the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:20.240 Then Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up. 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:25.520 In the second month, on the twenty seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:33.120 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons, and your sons' wives with you. 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:45.360 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. 00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:50.080 So Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife and his sons' wives with him. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:57.280 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark. 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:05.199 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:19.599 The Lord smelled the smooth the soothing aroma, and the Lord said to himself, I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth, and I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done. 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:27.680 While the earth remains, sea time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:29.840 CHAPTER nine. 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:36.159 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and he said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:47.520 The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth, and on every bird of the sky, with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea into your hand they are given. 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:51.039 Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you. 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:54.800 I give it all to you, as I gave the green plant. 00:03:55.120 --> 00:03:59.680 Only you shall not eat the flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:10.879 Surely I will require your life blood, and from every beast I will require it, and from every man, from every man's brother, I will require the life of man. 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:18.560 Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God he created man. 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:25.120 As for you, be fruitful and multiply, populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it. 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:42.079 Then God spoke to Noah and his sons with him, saying, Now, behold, I myself do establish my covenant with you, and with your descendants after you, and every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you. 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:53.920 Of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth, I establish my covenant with you, and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood. 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:58.160 Neither shall there be again be a flood to destroy the earth. 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:08.879 God said, This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between me and you, and every living creature that is with you for all successive generations. 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:15.600 I will set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:31.920 It shall come about when I bring a cloud over the earth that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you, and every living creature of all flesh, and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:42.079 When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature and all flesh that is on the earth. 00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:50.480 And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth. 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:52.560 This is the word of God. 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:34.480 Heavenly God, creator and sustainer of all that is. 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:37.199 We just thank you for your word. 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:43.199 Thank you that you've told us what happened, what is happening, and what is gonna happen. 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:45.360 Because you are sovereign. 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:47.439 This is your plan. 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:50.319 And you've made it known to us. 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:51.519 You reveal it to us. 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:52.800 Thank you for your word, Lord. 00:06:52.959 --> 00:06:54.959 Please guide us and direct us in our time now. 00:06:55.120 --> 00:07:01.920 Help us to listen, to learn, to grow, to change, to come out of this place more in love with you than we walked in. 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:04.480 Only by the power of your Holy Spirit. 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:06.240 We ask it in Jesus' name. 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:07.120 Amen. 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:14.240 So in uh early October, how many of you take the newspaper if it even exists anymore? 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:14.879 Anybody? 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:15.920 Okay, two people. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:16.480 Right on. 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:18.240 That's why they're going out of business. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:36.720 Um in early October, I got a uh a newspaper from my mom, and it was talking about this hunter uh that came across, as he was like in Baker County or something like that, that came across a couple of antelope that were stuck together. 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:38.399 Their horns were locked. 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:39.120 You saw that? 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:39.600 Yeah. 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:45.199 Their horns were locked, and there was one antelope that was dragging around another one. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:49.439 It had died, it had succumbed to the fight. 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:54.639 And the hunter saw and looked and was like, oh, obviously, this other one's not gonna make it either. 00:07:54.720 --> 00:08:00.000 It can't defend itself, it can't run, it can't get food, it's just hanging onto this thing. 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:15.120 And so he went back and got help, and uh somehow they had a bone saw, and he was able to get up there when the other one was kind of resting and cut that thing loose, cut one of those horns loose, and then the that live antelope jumped up and ran off. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:33.120 That article got me thinking about that passage in the book of Romans in chapter 7, verse 24, where Paul talks about the body of death that he was attached to. 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:55.120 In that passage, Paul was lamenting his flesh or his sin nature, or his body of death that was continuing to drag him down, and it was it was dogging his days, even as he lived a life of a committed, born-again Christian. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:58.879 Let me read to you a passage starting in verse 15. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:07.279 It says, For I do not understand my own actions, for I do not do what I want, but the very thing I hate. 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:17.600 Now, if I do not do what I want, I agree with the law that it is good, so it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:28.399 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh, for I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:36.159 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:44.159 Now, if I do not do what I want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin that dwells within me. 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:51.519 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 00:09:52.320 --> 00:10:08.320 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me a captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:13.360 Wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death. 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:30.240 Just like the antelope, helplessly dragging around another dead antelope by the horns, Paul is locked in this grappling match with the old man, his sin nature. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:39.200 Everywhere he goes, every move he makes, his sinful flesh is right there with him. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:50.320 Constantly weighing him down and urging him to listen to temptation and to give in to it and fulfill the desires of the flesh? 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:55.279 Can you relate to Paul? 00:10:57.200 --> 00:10:59.759 Can you relate to that antelope? 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:10.720 Is your inmost desire to run free, to not be held down or burdened by temptation and sin? 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:31.919 Does your born-again Christian heart say and want one thing while the body of death holds you down and keeps you from fully and completely functioning as the redeemed new creation God says you are in Christ. 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:37.840 I would say this is the struggle of every believer. 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:43.519 All Christians struggle with sin in the body. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:50.879 Though we are saved and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we still struggle against the old man, the body of sin. 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:58.240 This is the lot of the believer on this planet. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:10.320 The struggle of the blood-bought, born-again believer against his or her sin nature. 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:12.320 This is called sanctification. 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:29.919 The daily and nightly battle to trust God at his word and by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit to turn away from temptation to sin and to submit to God's Lordship over your everlasting soul. 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:42.399 The struggle is normal, it is good, it is right, it is humbling, and it is promised by Christ to the believer. 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:48.480 John 16, 33, Jesus says, In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage. 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:51.360 I have overcome the world. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:55.519 He also said to take up our cross and follow him. 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:01.440 So how did he overcome the world? 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:07.519 Through his perfect, sinless life. 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:16.960 His substitutionary death on the cross, his resurrection from the dead, and ascension to the right hand of the Father. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:20.559 In doing this, Christ conquered Satan's sin and death. 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:27.600 So when Christ says that we are going to tribulate, I think we ought to tribulate. 00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:48.399 What I mean to say, my brothers and my sisters in Christ, is that we must fight against our propensity to sin in the flesh for all the days that we will live in this earth suit until we are taken to glory in His perfect will and timing. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:49.279 Amen? 00:13:51.600 --> 00:14:24.879 Now, if you're sitting there and you're listening to this, and you don't struggle against sin in your life, if it is not a burden to you, if you can happily come to church and shake hands and smile and visit with your friends on Sunday and happily live like the world and enjoy sin the rest of the week, then you seriously need to consider whether or not you are actually a Christian. 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:38.399 Because Christians struggle against sin and hate it and fight it and repent of it all the way to glory. 00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:48.159 Your sin nature, it means to hold you down and destroy you. 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:53.200 As a Christ follower, you are not to give in to that sin nature. 00:14:53.519 --> 00:15:01.919 You are to fight against it by the power of the Holy Spirit with your focus on eternal life, not on the things of this world. 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:07.840 You should never be comfortable with your sin. 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:19.840 If the Holy Spirit is in you, if you are a Christ follower, a Christian, then He will never cease to make you holy. 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:24.000 The Holy Spirit cannot abide sin. 00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:27.759 He's always cleaning house. 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:39.759 He's always bringing to mind and shining a light on anything in your life that does not conform to the character of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:47.440 Consider your motivations and your desires. 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:50.159 Judge yourself. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:52.960 Do not be complacent. 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:57.919 Don't agree with the world to pursue the things of the world. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:04.639 This world and its desires are passing away. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:09.759 This world is reserved for fire. 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:13.679 The great day of judgment is coming. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:27.519 And only those whose hearts have been made right with the king of all creation, by faith in the blood of Christ, will pass through this judgment into eternal life and heaven. 00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:31.840 So fight the good fight of faith. 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:37.120 Agree with the Holy Spirit and seek his desires. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:17:04.240 The writer of Hebrews puts it this way: Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:13.920 Consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:18.559 Church, the right place to be as a Christ follower is with Paul. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:30.960 Back in Romans verse 24 of chapter 7, where he says, Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:33.200 So what's he doing? 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:35.519 He's looking for a deliverer. 00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:38.960 He's looking for a savior. 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:43.440 He's coming to God in humbleness, humility. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:54.640 He comes to God looking for help and answers, and recognize that as a Christian, you are in a battle that you cannot win apart from God's deliverance. 00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:58.079 It is He who redeems. 00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:00.400 It is He who protects. 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:04.400 It is He who will bring your faith to completion. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:09.759 Recognize your need, and then recognize your Savior. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:15.680 Seeking a Savior, a deliverer, is humbling. 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:22.160 And this is where the Christian must live and move and have their being. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:30.720 We have to stay humble because in prideless humility, God comes to our aid. 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:40.079 Remember, he came to seek and save the lost, not those who don't think they need any help. 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:49.279 1 Peter 5, 7 says that we are to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift us up. 00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:53.200 God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. 00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:56.960 Paul does not rely on his ability to fight sin alone. 00:18:57.200 --> 00:19:06.400 He knows that he cannot obey the perfect law of God perfectly and thereby earn his way to heaven. 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:14.880 He knows he's a sinner with a sin nature that he can't defeat by himself because in the flesh he's in bondage to that sin nature. 00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:20.960 So in humbleness, he calls out for a savior. 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:27.440 Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:36.880 James 4, 6 says that God is opposed to the proud. 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:50.559 Those who think they are good enough for God, but gives grace to the humble, those who know that they have a need of a Savior. 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:55.599 Submit therefore to God, resist the devil, he will flee from you. 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:58.160 Draw near to God, he will draw near to you. 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:00.720 Cleanse your hands, you sinners. 00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:06.079 Purify your hearts, you double-minded, be miserable, mourn and weep. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:08.880 Let your laughter be turned to mourning, your joy to gloom. 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:14.160 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you. 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:26.319 Though Paul wants to follow Christ perfectly, he recognizes his sin, his inability to follow Christ perfectly while in the body. 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:31.279 And in that humbleness he cries out, Who will save me from this body of death? 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:32.720 So what's the answer? 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:35.039 Who can save him? 00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:36.640 Who can save us? 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:39.680 Romans 7, 25. 00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:46.960 Thanks be to God through Jesus our Lord. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:56.079 So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:10.400 Thanks can be given to God through Christ, because only in Christ can we be saved from our sin while we continue to struggle against it. 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:26.799 His perfect and finished work on the cross was so sufficient that it not only paid for my sins in the past, but also my present sins and the sins I have yet to commit in the future. 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:37.359 Praise be to the Lord God Almighty, who has saved me and holds me in Christ while I continue to struggle against sin. 00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:50.640 And praise him as we, the church, look forward to being released from this body of death when we die. 00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:59.200 Or he returns and we are changed in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and fully and perfectly become the new creation. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:12.240 We now are when we are cut loose from the old man, the body of death, and forever live in perfect freedom as the sons and daughters of the exalted King of all creation. 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:14.559 This is the hope of the Christian. 00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:36.240 Not attaining sinless perfection in the body, but humbly and hopefully and faithfully fighting sin in the body, with the power of the Holy Spirit, day after day after day after day, all to the glory of God who can save us from this body of death. 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:43.119 Some of you might be saying to yourselves, Amen, brother. 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:44.480 Good stuff. 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:47.920 What in the world does that have to do with Genesis? 00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:50.960 I'm glad you asked. 00:22:52.640 --> 00:23:03.759 In the same way that the live antelope needed someone to save it from the dead one, locked to it before it died as well. 00:23:05.599 --> 00:23:16.319 In the same way that Paul and us need to humbly rely on Christ to save us from the ever-present reality of our sin nature. 00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:23.680 So it is for Noah and his family, and the animals in the ark in our passage in Genesis 8 and 9. 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:25.200 Think about it. 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:37.440 Back in Genesis 6, when God decided to cleanse the earth of sin with a flood, it says that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. 00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:40.880 It does not say Noah was sinless. 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:49.279 In fact, Noah knew he was a sinner, and Noah desired righteousness. 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:54.880 That was the difference between him and the rest of the people in the world at that time. 00:23:55.440 --> 00:23:59.519 Remember the condemning words that God said of mankind at that time. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:06.240 Every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:10.400 There was no struggling against sin. 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:15.759 There was practicing it and enjoying it. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:27.440 So what happened is God was looking at fallen humanity who were working hard and practicing and enjoying their sin. 00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:37.359 God saw Noah humbly looking back at him, looking for salvation from his personal body of death. 00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:41.680 And Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:52.720 Noah, a sinner, in a world about to be judged for its rampant sin, humbled himself and recognized he needed a savior. 00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:59.680 And God came to Noah in his need and saved him. 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:05.599 Not only him, but his family and a bunch of animals on the ark. 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:22.480 This flood narrative in Genesis is a picture of our need and what God will do for those who humbly look to him and him only for salvation. 00:25:23.039 --> 00:25:33.519 So, real quick, we're going to work our way through the text of this passage with our need and the covenant-making love of God on our minds. 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:36.000 Genesis 8, 1 through 5. 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:43.359 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him on the ark, and God made a wind to blow over the earth. 00:25:43.680 --> 00:25:45.119 The waters subsided. 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:48.160 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were shut. 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:50.559 The rain from the heavens was restrained. 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:53.200 The waters receded from the earth continually. 00:25:53.359 --> 00:25:57.039 At the end of a hundred and fifty days, the waters had abated. 00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:02.960 And in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:10.799 And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month, and in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. 00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:24.400 So because of the sin of mankind, because of their self-worshipping pride, their unrepentant hearts, all of the earth was judged with a flood. 00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:37.359 Every man, woman, child, animal, insect, plant, and rock was drowned in the waters of the global flood. 00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:46.240 The only land creatures on earth that survived the flood were on the ark that Noah had built in obedience to God's command. 00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:53.680 And there they floated above a world of destruction for about a year. 00:26:55.920 --> 00:26:58.559 And we have to picture this rightly. 00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:01.680 This was not a cruise ship. 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:05.839 This was not luxury. 00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:10.160 This was not comfortable. 00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:12.160 This was hard. 00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:19.359 Smelly, seasick, dirty, confined, dark, laborious. 00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:21.279 Safety. 00:27:23.519 --> 00:27:27.440 This was God's provision for them. 00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:32.240 Not easy, not smooth sailing. 00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:34.160 This was tough. 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:37.680 And I'm sure there was conflict on that boat. 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:42.559 You cannot lock a bunch of sinners onto a boat for a year and not have problems. 00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:55.440 But this was God's one and only plan of safety and provision for Noah and his family and the animals. 00:27:55.839 --> 00:28:01.839 There was no other option available to escape the flood waters of the judgment. 00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:15.200 So as we consider our sin nature as Christians, being attached to that body of death, while we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, we should think rightly. 00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:22.319 We should not look down on or despise our sanctification. 00:28:27.759 --> 00:28:30.000 Our struggle against sin. 00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:36.559 We need to look at it like the occupants of that ark looked at the flood waters. 00:28:37.359 --> 00:28:38.960 Sure, it's hard. 00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:42.000 Sure, it's difficult. 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:48.799 Sure, it is not the lap of sinless luxury I would have chosen for myself. 00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:53.200 But it is God's perfect plan of salvation for me. 00:28:54.240 --> 00:29:06.160 And so there's no place else I would rather be than floating safe and secure above his wrath and trusting that he will work it all out for his glory and my good. 00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:07.200 Amen. 00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:22.960 The apostle Peter put it this way in 1 Peter chapter 1, when he was writing to encourage Christians in the first century to fight the good fight of faith and to trust in God's provision of salvation for them. 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:52.960 What he wrote is, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 00:29:53.119 --> 00:30:04.160 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials. 00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:20.240 So that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 00:30:20.960 --> 00:30:33.119 James, in his letter, echoes Peter by saying, Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:40.480 Let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 00:30:40.880 --> 00:31:02.000 Both Peter and James are writing to embolden us in our struggle against our sinful flesh to see that fighting sin causes our faith and consequently our Christian walk, our Christ following, to grow stronger. 00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:17.680 They are saying that fighting the old man, humbly fighting sin, is a part of God's plan for us, and that we should accept the battle joyfully, because in the battle of faith we are drawn closer to God. 00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:22.400 And so the rains stopped. 00:31:23.440 --> 00:31:31.119 The judgment waters began to abate, and the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 00:31:31.359 --> 00:31:33.359 Verses six through fourteen. 00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:38.640 At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven. 00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:42.079 It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. 00:31:42.319 --> 00:31:49.039 He sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground, but the dove found no place to set her foot. 00:31:49.200 --> 00:31:53.039 And she returned to him in the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. 00:31:53.119 --> 00:31:56.799 So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. 00:31:57.039 --> 00:32:08.880 He waited another seven days, and again sent forth the dove out of the ark, and the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. 00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:12.720 So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 00:32:12.960 --> 00:32:21.119 And then he waited another seven days, sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him any more. 00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:29.279 In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from the face of the earth. 00:32:29.519 --> 00:32:34.960 Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. 00:32:35.279 --> 00:32:40.400 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. 00:32:41.519 --> 00:32:43.920 So you can picture this, can't you? 00:32:45.119 --> 00:32:58.319 Noah, under this low-hanging rain covering, unable to really see out, unable to confirm that the storm has passed, and is it now safe to remove the covering and venture off of the ark? 00:32:58.640 --> 00:33:05.200 He pokes out his hand and he sends out a raven to see if it would come back or if it would find dry ground. 00:33:05.519 --> 00:33:15.920 The raven, it kept coming and going, probably feeding on floating carcasses, and then coming back to the ark to rest. 00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:23.359 Noah needed more proof, and so he sent out a dove, not a meat-eating bird. 00:33:23.599 --> 00:33:25.759 The dove flew around and came back. 00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:33.440 No good ground or land with vegetation growing out of it to eat out there, so he waited a week. 00:33:33.599 --> 00:33:35.839 And then he sent her out again. 00:33:36.240 --> 00:33:43.279 And this time she came back with a freshly plucked olive leaf, a sure sign of plants growing, new life. 00:33:44.799 --> 00:33:50.400 So he waited another seven days, sent her out again, and this time she didn't come back. 00:33:50.960 --> 00:33:53.680 Plenty of food and water out there for her now. 00:33:53.920 --> 00:33:57.279 No reason to return to the dry safety of the ark. 00:33:57.759 --> 00:34:04.799 So Noah removed the covering and saw dry ground, and it looked like it was time to get off the ark. 00:34:05.279 --> 00:34:07.599 Genesis 8, 15 through 20. 00:34:07.920 --> 00:34:15.760 God spoke to Noah, saying, Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons' wives with you. 00:34:16.159 --> 00:34:26.320 Bring out every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. 00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:30.400 So Noah went out, his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. 00:34:30.559 --> 00:34:37.039 Every beast, every creeping thing, every bird, everything that moves on the earth went out by their families from the ark. 00:34:37.280 --> 00:34:45.360 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took of every clean animal and every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:55.519 Noah did not lead his family or the animals off the ark until God told him to. 00:34:57.119 --> 00:35:04.320 Even though the coast looked clear, Noah did not make a move off that boat until God told him to. 00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:06.239 I like that. 00:35:07.360 --> 00:35:19.599 This is a good example for us to patiently stay put where God has us until God makes it clear that it is time for us to move out and move on to a new thing. 00:35:21.280 --> 00:35:26.480 And what is the first thing that Noah does when he gets off the ark? 00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:28.480 Did he go exploring? 00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:30.800 Did he build a house? 00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:32.639 Did he plant a garden? 00:35:33.119 --> 00:35:33.440 No. 00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:37.920 He offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving. 00:35:38.320 --> 00:35:44.400 He reverently and humbly gives thanks to God for his salvation. 00:35:45.119 --> 00:35:52.079 Again, this is a perfect example of how we should be living here today. 00:35:52.960 --> 00:36:00.320 In humble dependence and thanksgiving for what God has brought us through. 00:36:00.559 --> 00:36:15.280 Not rushing off to the next thing and only ever asking God for stuff, but stopping and deliberately giving sacrificial thanks and praise to Him for what He has brought you through. 00:36:16.079 --> 00:36:19.840 Genesis chapter 8, 20 through 9, 7. 00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:22.559 The Lord smelled the soothing aroma. 00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:28.320 The Lord said to himself, I will never again curse the ground on account of man. 00:36:29.199 --> 00:36:37.440 For the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth, and I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done. 00:36:37.760 --> 00:36:45.039 While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. 00:36:46.320 --> 00:36:53.840 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth. 00:36:54.639 --> 00:37:06.559 The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth, every bird of the sky, everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. 00:37:06.800 --> 00:37:09.199 Into your hand they are given. 00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:15.280 Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you. 00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:20.000 I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. 00:37:20.239 --> 00:37:23.679 Only you shall not eat the flesh with its life, that is the blood. 00:37:23.920 --> 00:37:26.639 Surely I will require your lifeblood. 00:37:26.800 --> 00:37:32.079 From every beast I will require it, from every man, from every man's brother I'll require the life of man. 00:37:32.239 --> 00:37:40.000 Whoever sheds man's blood by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God he made man. 00:37:41.039 --> 00:37:46.880 As for you be fruitful and multiply, populate the earth, multiply in it. 00:37:47.199 --> 00:38:13.440 God responds to Noah's offering of thanksgiving by saying that even though mankind is evil, even though Noah brought sin with him onto the ark and off of the ark, God will continue to provide a place for them to live that can support their needs. 00:38:13.760 --> 00:38:22.000 This is the God we serve, a God of love and compassion, whose perfect judgment is his strange work. 00:38:23.440 --> 00:38:27.039 And then he told Noah and his family, go for it. 00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:29.519 Have a bunch of kids. 00:38:30.239 --> 00:38:32.079 Fill the earth with people. 00:38:32.480 --> 00:38:35.039 Go exploring, see what I've done with the place. 00:38:36.239 --> 00:38:40.719 He also changed the relationship between man and animals. 00:38:41.760 --> 00:38:45.519 Before the flood, mankind was a vegetarian. 00:38:46.079 --> 00:38:50.400 And the animals were all domesticated, not fearful of man. 00:38:51.199 --> 00:38:54.800 After the flood, God changed things. 00:38:55.679 --> 00:39:03.760 God told man he could eat animals, and that the animals would be afraid of him and dangerous to him. 00:39:04.800 --> 00:39:15.440 God not only changed the human population and the topography of the earth, but he changed man's diet and animals' relationship to man. 00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:24.559 To say that the flood was catastrophic and cataclysmic is not an understatement. 00:39:24.960 --> 00:39:30.079 The flood changed everything about how mankind lives on this planet. 00:39:30.559 --> 00:39:34.960 The way of life that no one his family knew before the flood was erased. 00:39:35.280 --> 00:39:38.000 And a new way of life had taken its place. 00:39:38.559 --> 00:39:42.320 And they had to learn from scratch how to live on this planet. 00:39:42.639 --> 00:39:44.880 It was alien to them. 00:39:46.800 --> 00:39:48.320 Their old home. 00:39:50.480 --> 00:39:51.519 Their garden. 00:39:52.079 --> 00:39:55.519 The mountains that maybe they saw out the back door. 00:39:57.360 --> 00:40:00.000 The familiar valleys and streams. 00:40:00.880 --> 00:40:02.079 The neighbors. 00:40:03.599 --> 00:40:04.159 Gone. 00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:10.079 They had to start over and learn where to find food and water. 00:40:10.559 --> 00:40:12.639 And also how to hunt. 00:40:14.559 --> 00:40:19.760 And God also laid down a law when he said that he would require a reckoning for killing. 00:40:20.960 --> 00:40:31.760 I don't know what that reckoning means for the animals, but for mankind, he said that if a human killed another human, then that murderer, that murderer was to be killed. 00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:34.800 Because humans are made in the image of God. 00:40:37.119 --> 00:40:39.840 So why do we consider life sacred? 00:40:40.559 --> 00:40:42.800 Because God says it is. 00:40:43.440 --> 00:40:49.039 Not because a human court of law says it is or it is not, but because God said it is. 00:40:49.760 --> 00:40:52.239 Genesis 9, 8 through 17. 00:40:52.400 --> 00:41:12.559 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, Now behold, I myself do establish my covenant with you, and with your descendants after you, with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, every beast of the earth with you, of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. 00:41:12.880 --> 00:41:15.920 I establish my covenant with you. 00:41:16.159 --> 00:41:22.800 And all flesh shall never be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth. 00:41:23.119 --> 00:41:31.760 God said, This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between me and you, every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations. 00:41:32.079 --> 00:41:40.320 I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. 00:41:40.800 --> 00:41:55.599 It shall come about when I bring the cloud over the earth that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. 00:41:55.760 --> 00:42:05.199 When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. 00:42:05.280 --> 00:42:14.320 And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth. 00:42:17.039 --> 00:42:35.119 So here we come to the main point of the passage and the message for today: God's covenant, God's promise to mankind, God's self-initiated, signed, sealed, delivered contract. 00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:46.400 God responds to Noah, and in effect, God says, I won't destroy the earth again with a flood. 00:42:47.039 --> 00:42:50.320 I'll keep providing food for animals and humans. 00:42:50.559 --> 00:42:56.480 I'll do this even though mankind is full of sin, because of my great love for humans. 00:42:56.880 --> 00:43:06.880 I have made in my image, I will continue to provide for them, and not destroy them with another global flood, even though they deserve it, and so much more. 00:43:07.280 --> 00:43:13.840 And I'll show my forever promise to you and your children and their children with a repeating sign. 00:43:14.719 --> 00:43:16.639 Something you've never seen before. 00:43:16.880 --> 00:43:24.079 I'll put a rainbow in the clouds over this purged and changed earth. 00:43:24.719 --> 00:43:49.920 And the sight of this rainbow is to be a reminder to you of my promise that there once was a global flood due to human sin, but there will not be another one, because I am gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. 00:43:50.079 --> 00:43:54.320 I am a God who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. 00:43:54.719 --> 00:43:59.440 Look at the rainbow and remember that I rule over all creation. 00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:09.760 And I am its holy and righteous judge, and yet I hold up my hands all day long to a disobedient and obstinate people and offer them salvation. 00:44:10.079 --> 00:44:15.039 Look and know that I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:44:15.360 --> 00:44:19.119 No one is saved except by my provision. 00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:22.400 Come and look, let us reason together. 00:44:22.559 --> 00:44:26.719 Though your sins are as scarlet, I can make them white as snow. 00:44:26.880 --> 00:44:30.000 Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. 00:44:30.320 --> 00:44:34.880 Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. 00:44:35.519 --> 00:44:42.719 To the souls of the coming generations looking to me for salvation, know that you that I have saved you in the past. 00:44:42.880 --> 00:44:44.159 I can save you now. 00:44:44.320 --> 00:44:52.800 I will save future generations if you will humbly look to me and trust in what I have provided for your salvation. 00:44:53.119 --> 00:44:57.280 My rainbow says, I promise. 00:44:59.679 --> 00:45:20.159 When we see a rainbow in the sky, our minds should be immediately drawn to the flood narrative and the merciful provision of God to save Noah and his family, animals in the ark, and God's promise not to destroy the earth with a global flood again. 00:45:21.679 --> 00:45:30.800 The important thing to note as we come to a close is that this covenant was made by God to Noah. 00:45:33.119 --> 00:45:36.400 This was not a covenant Noah made to God. 00:45:38.719 --> 00:45:48.159 God came to his sinful, needy creation and said, I promise, I will provide. 00:45:49.760 --> 00:45:52.960 All the liability belonged to God. 00:45:53.920 --> 00:45:56.320 He made a promise to man. 00:45:56.719 --> 00:46:00.960 All man had to do was look up and remember that promise. 00:46:03.119 --> 00:46:10.960 This was not an if-then covenant, of which there are many in the Bible. 00:46:13.360 --> 00:46:20.719 In the Noahic covenant, Noah and his family had no part in making sure that the promise held. 00:46:20.960 --> 00:46:22.159 It was all God. 00:46:24.320 --> 00:46:27.119 And are you glad? 00:46:29.840 --> 00:46:48.639 Are you not thankful that it was not up to humanity to perfectly serve and obey the three times holy God of all creation, so that the world would not be inundated underneath another global flood of righteous judgment? 00:46:49.760 --> 00:47:03.599 If it were up to our righteousness to keep the promise, we would have utterly failed in a matter of moments, and the earth would have been wiped clean of us thousands of years ago. 00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:08.159 Church, God is so merciful. 00:47:09.920 --> 00:47:15.119 Praise God for the promises He makes towards us. 00:47:15.920 --> 00:47:19.199 Praise God for His loving kindness. 00:47:19.519 --> 00:47:21.679 Praise God for His mercy. 00:47:21.840 --> 00:47:30.559 Praise Him that He does not give us the eternal, just, and righteous condemnation we so rightly deserve. 00:47:31.119 --> 00:47:45.199 Praise God for His grace that gives you what you do not deserve: Eternal life through faith in the blood of the eternal Son of God, Jesus, the promised one, the Messiah. 00:47:47.599 --> 00:47:54.159 In conclusion, we need a savior. 00:47:55.840 --> 00:47:58.400 The antelope needed the savior. 00:48:00.719 --> 00:48:03.119 Paul needed a savior. 00:48:04.559 --> 00:48:06.960 Noah needed a savior. 00:48:08.079 --> 00:48:10.639 And so we need a savior. 00:48:11.519 --> 00:48:25.760 And we must trust in God's everlasting promises to save us when we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, and we will be saved. 00:48:26.559 --> 00:48:34.159 We are not saved by our abilities or our righteousness, but by his word to us. 00:48:34.800 --> 00:48:54.400