The Noahic Covenant

[0:00] Your souls praise to your God. What a privilege. I was thanking the Lord this week and I tell you that the pressure of being in the pulpit on Sunday, putting you into the Scripture, praying, seeking God, is a humbling experience.

[0:39] And it sharpens the soul and it keeps you mindful of the things of God. And for that, week after week after week, I'm very thankful. That is a wonderful privilege that you afford to me and to my brother Greg as we share this pulpit and speak of the goodness of God every Sunday.

[0:58] What a marvelous thing, isn't it? To sit under the Word of God. Thus saith Jesus, not Jeff and Greg. We're just vessels. Well, I'm sure that you are familiar with some things that have been going on in the news that I want to use in the way of my intro.

[1:15] The message that I'll be bringing concerns... I think it went to sleep on me again. Sometimes it does that. There we go. The Noahic Covenant is the title of my message very simply and descriptively.

[1:27] The Noahic Covenant. And it's from Genesis 9. We'll be there in just a few moments. But back to what's going on in the news. So we had our two astronauts that were stranded in the space station for, what, eight or nine months?

[1:41] They were supposed to be there like eight days. And they were up there for months and months. And we were finally able to bring them home. Well, one of those astronauts is a Christian. He is actually an elder in his church in Texas.

[1:56] And they seemed very like-minded. We looked him up, read about him. And it was because of something that I heard in an interview that one of Fox's lead journalists, Bill Hemmer, did with the two astronauts.

[2:09] Did any of you see any of those clips or those interviews? No? Brenda saw a little bit? It was really neat. I encourage you to go back into Fox's history and look into that.

[2:20] Bill Hemmer toured the space center with these two astronauts and did an extensive interview all about what happened to them, why it happened. And then they took him around and put him in capsules and talked him through some of the things that went on.

[2:33] It was fascinating. But I was particularly interested when at one point, Bill Hemmer asked the astronauts, the two of them that were there, and they had a third guy who had gone prior to, he asked them, do you think that there's life beyond planet Earth?

[2:51] And only the female astronaut answered that question, and she answered it according to her religion, which I think is Near Eastern, something from the Near East, Hindu.

[3:03] She said that she thought it would be arrogant of us to consider that we were the only living entities in the universe. and I completely disagree with that based on Scripture.

[3:16] I think the Bible makes a case for planet Earth being so unique in the vast universe that God wants us to be absolutely amazed at His grace that He would create a habitable planet out of billions and billions and billions and billions of places in a universe that we can't find the end to.

[3:35] And He has said, Earth is where it's habitable for you. And you're unique and you're special. And I don't think, I personally don't believe that there's life beyond our system.

[3:47] I don't. I think this is it and that's the point. We're supposed to see this for what it is. If we could go to the furthest ends of the universe and look for even a green twig growing out of the ground, we can't find it.

[4:02] We can't find it. So far, we can't find it. And I think it's all testimony that this is special. This is really, really special. So Star Wars is fun to watch, but all those creepy things with the big eyes and all the nonsense, I don't know.

[4:18] Here's the most important part of what I think the interview suggested to me as I watched it. There was another time when this news journalist from Fox, Bill Hemmer, asked this, quote, I don't know the right way to say this, but does space flight change the way you view a higher power?

[4:42] What a question. What a question. So astronaut Butch Wilmore, the Christian, said this, quote, I didn't need to go to space to know anything about my Lord.

[4:56] It's all in Scripture. So, no, not necessarily. I'm grateful for that view that I have those memories of what earth looks like from that vantage point, but no, I didn't need to do that.

[5:10] No, I didn't. End quote. That's a good response, isn't it? Scripture tells me everything that I need to know about my God and I didn't need to go to space to learn anything new.

[5:22] Why? Because space doesn't have anything new to teach me that God doesn't want me to know in His Word about who He is and how He operates. So the furthest reaches of the universe aren't going to tell us anything new about God that the Scripture hasn't already revealed to us about the Lord.

[5:38] It's not going to happen. This is what God wants us to know about Him and how He operates. In the Bible, we encounter our Creator God. We believe that.

[5:50] The Bible is His Word and through the real people that God works in their lives through, the real true circumstances that are outlined in Scripture for us, in these ways, God reveals Himself and His operative ways in His universe, especially through His Son, Jesus Christ.

[6:12] Especially through His Son, Jesus, we see this wonderful, saving God. But friends, listen to this now. There is no magic here that connects us to God just because we know facts about the Bible.

[6:29] Just because we read... You and I both know people who have read the Bible or read the Bible and they are as lost as they can be. They don't live their life to glorify God.

[6:39] They philosophize about the Bible, but they don't live their life to glorify God. They don't let the Bible convict them about sin in their life so that they change. No, listen.

[6:50] Being religious, being religious, is not the way to God. And being religious doesn't make us right with God, does it?

[7:03] The Bible tells us we were made by God as moral beings. That is, we were made to live in a moral uprightness before the Lord in the world.

[7:16] This is why He made Adam and Eve and it all began with Adam and Eve. They were made to live a right life before the Lord. That is a way of living that glorified God in who they were and in how they related to each other.

[7:32] Sorry, I got to... This beard. Don't be surprised if I come in and this thing's gone. It's starting to aggravate me. But we are to live an upright life before the Lord.

[7:47] We're to take God at His word and we're to live to honor Him in terms of reflecting His character. But now here's the truth about all of this. The terrible backdrop of our passage today has to do with God's judgment.

[8:04] And this judgment happened as we've been seeing by a global flood which destroyed every single air-breathing creature on the planet. Now just imagine that.

[8:15] And only eight human beings escaped it. This is the backdrop for what we're going to see this morning. We're talking about an entire planet of creatures that God made and that had followed His direction to multiply humans and animals.

[8:35] The reality of this is this. God judges human unbelief and disobedience. This is what we're seeing. But there's also the ark and Noah.

[8:49] Isn't there? And so as devastating as the flood is as hard as the flood is the reality is we have Noah and we have the ark and God tells us much about all of that.

[9:02] How do they mix? How does the flood and God acting in holy wrath and judgment mix with God saving Noah and seven other people on this giant boat that now on the whole has become useless to them?

[9:20] People ask all the time as we think about this and it's an intriguing thing to think about. Do you think we'll ever find the ark? And I personally it's like the ark of the covenant and raiders of the lost ark and all.

[9:33] I hope not. Can you imagine how that would be venerated if we found it? How people would worship it? Yes they would. People of all faiths would probably go to that place and make it some big shrine when we need to bow to the Lord Jesus not to this stuff that God made.

[9:53] So I hope we don't find it. I hope that they dispensed of it by disassembling it and using it for stuff they needed to build houses or whatever with. I don't know. It's a lot there.

[10:03] You guys saw how much timber and resource was in that boat. Why not? Right? Who wants to go cut a tree down? Let's just go take it off of the boat. That's what I do.

[10:14] Anyway. That didn't charge you for any of that personal opinion? Let's look at what's going on with Noah. Noah in Genesis 9 introduces us to our covenant making creator.

[10:31] So he's our covenant maker. He's our covenant keeper. And here's the interesting part about this God as a covenant maker. He seeks us out.

[10:44] Otherwise we just keep on living in rebellious unbelief and deception. Sinful deception. But God seeks us out in our sins of unbelief and disobedience in order to bring us into this everlasting covenantal relationship of his favor forgiveness and love.

[11:04] God does that. He has the initiative. And he does all of this as I'm saying through covenant. Through covenant. This is a very important concept.

[11:16] So we're going to start this morning with this. What is a covenant? What is a covenant? covenant. Covenants are central to God's plans and constitute the vehicles through which God's kingdom purposes unfold.

[11:32] Now what does that mean? Well covenants are central to God's plans in order of what he does to make or create or carry forward the vehicles the means the means through which his kingdom plans designs and purposes for you and for his world are brought forward.

[11:59] That all happens through covenant. So it's super important that we understand what we mean by this. We're not talking about theological covenants as if we were covenantal.

[12:10] That's another discussion. We're talking about the way that God is choosing to relate to us through these different covenant forms. So a covenant then is a formal agreement.

[12:24] It's a treaty between two parties with obligations and regulations. Those are the things that are part of a covenant and different covenants will include different obligations different regulations.

[12:40] Now there are five biblical covenants that are said to be unconditional. That means everlasting. everlasting. Never to be nullified.

[12:51] I don't know if you knew that. The Noahic, the Abrahamic, the priestly, the Davidic, and the new covenant. So when we talk about the Old Testament and the New Testament, another way that we could say this is old covenant, new covenant.

[13:11] That's what that means. And so we are under which covenant? The old or the new? The new. We are under the new covenant in the Lord Jesus Christ. That under Jesus, new obligations.

[13:25] He didn't come to abolish the old covenant. Is the old covenant just out now? We just need to take the books of the Old Testament and rip them out and just have the new? Jesus came to do what with the law?

[13:37] Fulfill. Fulfill. And so Jesus has died for us to fulfill the law on our behalf. So that God looks at us as law keepers instead of law breakers in the righteousness of Jesus.

[13:51] Righteousness means that Jesus has fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law on your behalf. Because the law matters. You see? So we are in the new covenant.

[14:03] We are under the new covenant in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is one covenant however that is conditional. It's temporary. And that is the Mosaic covenant.

[14:14] The Mosaic covenant. That's a temporary one. But all the others have aspects of being unconditional. Now there are eight other passages in Genesis alone which speak about the Noahic covenant.

[14:30] But the substance or I might say the actual heart of the Noahic covenant is found in our passage this morning. in Genesis 9 and I'd like for you to look at verse 8.

[14:44] I want to read down through verse 17. Here's the heart of the Noahic covenant. There are aspects of the covenant and verses before this but here's the heart of it.

[14:55] Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him and here's what God said. Now behold I myself do establish my covenant with you.

[15:09] and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that is with you. That is 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.

[15:25] earth. So you see the extent of the covenant? Boy that includes everything. I will establish my covenant with you and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.

[15:42] What a promise. 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 will be blessed by the covenant that God is making now with Noah and his sons and all the creatures.

[16:06] I set my bow in the cloud and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. 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 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 is on the earth and God said to Noah is on the earth now I have come back through my Bible and I have taken that passage with a yellow highlighter and everywhere that God is beginning to say that he will establish his covenant I have highlighted it and I want to take you through that real quick in verse 9

[17:06] I myself do establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you verse 11 at the beginning I establish my covenant with you verse 12 I am making between me and you what the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you verse 13 he set his bow in the cloud as a sign of covenant between me and the earth verse 15 I will remember my covenant which is between me and you verse 16 I will look upon that bow and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth this is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth you see how many times in that series of verses God makes mention of what he is stepping out to do in relationship with his earth both humans and all the creatures on the planet and then he adds to this this will be a covenant that will go for all successive generations it won't wear out or go away well he's talking to you you're successive generations from

[18:33] Noah we all came from Noah and his sons I don't know if mine is more a Jephite or I don't know who I don't know but his sons came from Noah so we all come from Noah in some way or another and now the Noah covenant applies to us as well I want to show you in Genesis 9 then God makes seven provisions for humanity in this Noahic covenant again an everlasting ongoing covenant of blessing reflecting God's faithfulness to Noah and to all mankind so listen to this even those who remain in sinful unbelief against God benefit from the Noahic covenant by God's common grace because God said all creatures and all successive generations are going to be blessed by this covenant and this promise that

[19:36] I'm making even unbelievers live in a world where God's promise not to ever flood it with water again benefit don't they yeah absolutely and you're going to see some more of these benefits that come I'm just trying to let you know!

[19:50] that on the heels of this absolute catastrophe that God has visited on the human race what an awesome God we're seeing now in terms of his love and forgiveness and kindness and patience he's steadfast he didn't have to remake the world he could have just said that's it I'm done with this but that's not what he did and so you have life you're here you're here to enjoy your wife and your kids and the life that you have and that's all a gift what are you doing with it what are you doing with the gift of!

[20:27] that! God has given now that you're going to be made aware of it if you weren't before how is it going to affect your heart of worship your sense of gratitude how is it going to sober you spiritually in your walk with the Lord this week what are you going to let it do that's where we're sitting right now in this moment I look at your baby and I think!

[20:55] a blessing right we're so happy for you guys what a blessing a young life a new life what a good God well look with me then at chapter 8 verse 20 I told you last time I was in the pulpit we would pick up here and include more about this with chapter 9 because they actually go together so 820 then Noah built an altar!

[21:24] gets off the ark with everything coming off the ark and then the first thing that he does is build an altar to the Lord which is a response of his worship he took of every clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar so that took a while the Lord then smelled the soothing aroma and the Lord said to himself I will never again curse the ground on account of man for I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done now notice verse 22 while the earth remains seed time and harvest cold and heat summer and winter day and night shall not cease and God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth the fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on sea into your hand they are given every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you

[22:35] I give all to you as I gave the green plant see God can give it because it belongs to him only you shall not eat flesh with its life that is blood blood don't eat blood surely I will require your life blood from every beast I will require and from every man and from every man's brother I will require the life of man whoever sheds man's blood by man his blood shall be shed for in the image of God he made man as for you be fruitful and multiply populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it and then we have the heart of the covenant that we read earlier so God's first provision of the Noahic covenant in terms of the seven provisions that he's made the first one that he brings forward is this idea of providing a sense of steadiness or constancy in nature in creation a sense of steadiness and constancy and we see that in verse 22 while the earth remains seed time and harvest cold and heat summer and winter and day and night shall not cease now verse 22 is based this promise this guarantee which is part of the covenant

[24:00] Noahic covenant that is based on what came before in Genesis 8 20 and 21 where I read that Noah built an altar and made sacrifice made worship before the Lord and the Lord smelled this going up and God was very pleased with it Noah responded in worship to God in his divine favor in saving Noah this is Noah expressing a heart of gratitude and submission dependence upon the Lord in his worship and what happened God took great pleasure in Noah's offering God's relationship that he had with Noah that's that's what's happening here it's a twofold Noah responding to God and then God receiving Noah's worship what an awesome awesome beautiful thing for Noah to know that God is being pleased with what Noah is offering and that God made it possible for a human being to offer the

[25:01] God of the universe worship and it means something to God how can your puny worship mean anything to our great God how can that be there's a name that should be on your lips right now Jesus Christ that's how it is through his son that your!

[25:23] worship is made worthy of this worship worthy God that's how that happens with Noah it's the same thing Noah is offering this sacrifice in faith in humble dependence upon God and out of a grateful soul!

[26:12] God it's just wonderful and this is what we're seeing here this is what our worship of God reflects it reflects God's pleasure with us through faith in Jesus God is pleased with us in his son he receives our worship on the basis of his son's righteousness not our worthiness his son's worthiness credited to us making us worthy before this God and then God receives that worship when it is done in spirit and in truth right and so we base our worship on the truth our dependence on God as our father to provide for us is pleasing to God he wants us to express our dependence on him not try to hide it or apologize for it God I need you I needy when it comes to my relationship with you

[27:15] Lord I'm pretty needy I'm not a self made man just the opposite look even though God knows that it will continue to be true that the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth even though God knows that's going to continue to be true that mankind will continue to harden their hearts against God and against God's goodness nevertheless look what it says the Lord promises to maintain and sustain a habitable planet for humanity now this is important because this is in your face every single day of your life it's just one reason why the idea I've said it before of space travel to save humanity we need to be a space faring people in order to save humanity this planet is not going to sustain us forever well that's what man's wisdom says that's not what God says we don't need that space travel to save humanity reflects sinful rebellion and unbelief fine if we want to go out to

[28:27] Mars and see what's there and come back and talk about it great spend the billions! see I'm pretty cynical about that I don't want to go live on Mars I'm fine where I am global warming climate panic resource depletion overpopulation all of that is against God's promise in the Noahic covenant to sustain his world for human habitation amen amen this was established way back when God dried up the land Noah stepped off the ark and God said now right on the heels of Noah's worship seed time and harvest cold and heat night and day it will not cease until I say so boom now we're supposed to be responsible right that you don't have to go out and buy an electric car or anything like that but you need to be responsible we need to take care of what we have!

[29:32] that verse 16 chapter 9 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 and it will be a sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth in other words what he's saying is God is in a covenantal relationship with his creation and for its part even under the curse creation continues to bear witness to the

[30:35] God look at this verse to the God who did not leave himself without witness in that he did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons satisfying your hearts with food and with gladness do you see that truth that is the truth in acts that is building on Genesis 8 22 he said he would sustain he promised to provide and here your God is keeping his promise even to unbelievers who get to eat of the produce of the earth and make use of the resources of God's planet even though they hate God look at this verse oh Lord how many are your works in wisdom you have made them all the earth is full of your creatures they all wait for you to give them their food in due season well you give to them they gather it up you open your hand they are satisfied with good that's from

[31:36] Psalm 104 that we read as our call to worship this morning so so I say it again to you friends having life your life is a gift from God it it is itself a witness on the one hand to God's goodness on the other hand to our own moral culpability as unbelievers people who deny the Lord the gratitude and worship of our hearts and live instead for ourselves that's the testimony that life brings life shows a gracious God to give us this life but at the same time for all those who deny the Lord hate the Lord live for themselves it's a two edged sword because it's also proof of the fallenness of the human heart against Almighty God who has given them this life to live the selfishness of sin the greed of sin the blindness of sin so the first provision that

[32:39] God made has to do with this sense of his constancy and steadiness in taking care of or sustaining his world right here's the second provision it's a provision of people so you could have a wife so you could have a husband so you could have children and aunts and uncles and granddaddies and stuff relationships with people verse one of chapter nine and God blessed Noah how did he bless him and God blessed his sons how did he bless them with this be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth there's the blessing I'm going to give you the blessing of my sustaining grace for you to go out and repopulate the entire planet starting with you and it's going to be an abundant thing it's going to be an explosive thing now I don't know how God did all that I just know!

[33:33] that's what he's saying in this and then look over at verse 7 as for you be fruitful and multiply populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it wow it's like he's repeated this over and over in different ways for emphasis be fruitful and multiply I made this world this is God I made this world to team with people kind of like you would see with fish teaming you know in a pond or the ocean or whatever have you ever been somewhere where people fed their fish you know is my too southern for this okay catfish pond come on you put the food out there on the top of the water and all of a sudden you just this teaming swarming all over the place right that's the idea teaming it's incredible really what he's telling them it's been a little more than a year since the flood covered the earth and here's what's going to happen

[34:41] God acts in two loving ways to Noah he blesses Noah and his sons which means that God favors them he favors them with his goodness his sustaining grace his kindness his love and from that saving favor on Noah God then does this he commissions Noah and his sons to repopulate the entire planet all human beings derive from Noah and from his sons and their wives all of us and so again friends don't buy into what you hear on the TV and read in these places that tell you that we are a group of races no we're not we are one race the human race we didn't come from apes we are one race we are one people in the sense of being human human we're all human together one race but there are many diverse colors there are many diverse cultures of the one race many diverse expressions of the one race but the one race points to one

[35:56] God and that's why it's important and we won't we won't surrender one inch of that ground one race under one God when God looks at the human race he breaks it down into two two peoples if you will and it's all done on a spiritual level those who belong to him through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and those who don't that's the only demarcation that God makes so they're my brothers in the fact that they are human beings like I am and they derive from the same God and they carry the same value in the sense that God made them in his image just like he made me my purple brothers my green brothers my yellow brothers my fuchsia brothers whatever color you are whatever culture you come from and so where does the value for the human race but

[36:57] I'm not trying to be cute when we monkey with God's design for the human race and assign monkeyness to ourselves we degrade ourselves we deny that we came from God and that we were made like we are from God from day one we didn't evolve folks do you realize the Bible teaches We're devolving not evolving we're devolving we're wearing out we're becoming worse we're marching I know it's not very uplifting is it we'll get back to the covenant here in just a minute so what we have going on now is Noah being commissioned so the emphasis is in Noah's obedient worship and that obedient worship means offering offering up to God and that offering is being received it's going up to say that Greg you said it today when you were doing your intro the sweet aroma let's offer a sweet aroma to

[38:00] God well he was speaking right out of this passage it simply means let's offer something worthy of the Lord that the Lord would receive because we're offering it in faith based in the truth we're we're singing the truth back to God we're praying the truth back to God we're taking our worship orders from the Lord and offering it back to God what would be more worthy than to offer God his word in worship and that's what we do this is a beautiful start to a renewed commission on Noah's life so the importance for us is that we live in and we live from now don't miss this because I know I've said a lot already the importance for us is that we live in and we live from the favor of the Lord if you're a Christian you should be living in and you should be living from the favor of

[39:00] God on your life and that should sober you in so many ways it should create a gratitude in your life in so many ways we live by grace through faith in the blessings of God saving favor and this favor of the Lord ought to define and shape us you are no longer under condemnation you are living under the favor of the Lord does God convict you of sin yes that's a blessing people in the unbelieving!

[39:30] world if they feel the sting of sin it's because they don't want to get caught not because they're worried about not glorifying God they hate God as a believer you feel the conviction the sting of sin God is using your conscience and drawing your spirit to him to repent so that you won't live in disobedience to the Lord what a blessing this favor of God on our life!

[39:59] I'll put it! up here!! Noah our worship is always in response to God you see that so look if you feed your heart on God's truth and reflect prayerfully on his goodness your desires will conform to worshiping him humbly and thankfully you understand that now that's very important the opposite of this is true if you don't live in response to God if you don't feed your heart on God's!

[40:32] truth if you don't reflect prayerfully on his goodness your desires will not be conditioned toward the Lord you'll default you'll drift and you'll drift back to earthly things do you see this we're we're pulling this out of this covenantal relationship between knowing God I'm trying to help you see this is what God's doing and this is what we see Noah responding to Noah's responding to God's favor in his life everywhere he looks and everything he sees and everything his foot touches is the blessing of Almighty God that he's still breathing and he's not getting over that I love it it draws my heart to the Lord Noah obeys God from his heart of worship that's why he obeyed because his heart is full of worship gratitude thankfulness submission humility awe and in those circumstances it'd be hard not to be like that

[41:39] I think coming off the ark and everything that's happened verse 7 is slightly nuanced slightly altered from verse 1 look at those again with me in in verse 1 be fruitful multiply fill the earth verse 7 be fruitful multiply populate the earth abundantly and multiply just enough of the nuance here I'll put it up on the screen just to emphasize it be fruitful and multiply populate the earth abundantly and multiply populate abundantly in the new American standard is actually one word in the Hebrew it's shirach and it means to team or to swarm that's why I made a big deal of that a minute ago be fruitful multiply fill populate the earth multiply in it all of those are clear commands for people to swarm on the earth that is to spread out and to scatter across the planet which is a good thing now that's going to become very important for us when during the

[42:44] Tower of Babel remember so here's where you're getting your command your clear command to scatter to team to move out on the earth this is God's design and purpose and we're going to find mankind saying no being little brats no and they're not going to want to do it and so God's going to have to deal with them on it the third provision that God makes in this Noahic covenant then extends to protection from the animals in verse 2 the fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and 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 into your hand they are given now folks this terror don't we see this in the animals today come on where are my hunters do you go out into the field to hunt and the deer just walk up and lick your hand and then you stick a knife in their neck no

[43:47] I mean if you were hungry enough you would want that to be the case they are terrified of us they only attack us because they are hungry or it becomes fortuitous for them you know I had somebody tell me before snakes are more afraid of you Jeff than you are of them and I didn't say it but I walked away and went that's hogwash you have no idea how terrified I am you don't know how afraid snakes are you see them squiggle off and stuff like that but if you've ever been chased by a moccasin like I have you don't know they are terrified look God hardwired this into the animal world you see that they are afraid of us and we are to dominate them so this whole move see this is all answered folks by faith in Jesus Christ we are not to worship animals or trees or plants or creation we're not to create these organizations that make rights of animals elevated over the needs of man that's ridiculous and it angers me to see that happening when people's lives are deeply affected by these groups that want to turn animal rights into something that makes the life of human beings hard it's hard enough as it is and they ignore the wisdom of almighty God in doing it don't they

[45:12] I'm just trying to say God has this under control if we would just listen to the Lord now why was it necessary for God to put the terror of us in animals why would he do that for one reason because now meat is on the menu we're not vegetarians anymore and neither are they there are dinosaurs on the earth right now folks they just got off the ark and they're going to grow they're going to get bigger how about that now I don't know about you but if I'm off the ark and I found out that T-Rex is now a meat eater I'm worried I'm worried about that for me and my kids I'm like kids stay in the yard alright a little levity but look unchecked by this fear of man here's the reality dinosaurs and other predators would at the very least consume each other and mankind and at the worst they would devour each other into complete extinction so God had to do something so he put the terror of human beings into these animals and they scattered as well they didn't want to be around humans anywhere humans were they're getting out of dodge so this is another way that God is providing this scatter design this scatter plan for even the creatures of the planet that's all we need to say about that for now how about number four it's a provision of food coming from the animals we see that in three and four every moving thing that's alive shall be food for you

[46:54] I mean what do we need to say about that I give all of it to you just like I gave you all the green plants and you started out as vegetarians as it were now meats on the menu it's all fish everything it's all good eat all of it your only prohibition is that you can't eat their blood why because life is in the blood he associates the blood with life and he doesn't want you becoming desensitized to that you take the animals and the fish for food but you remember that this is all life that I made and you respect me in it now look you see other cultures they get down on their faces and they worship God when they kill something and they say a prayer to this unknown deity or they talk to the tree people or whatever no we're not talking about that that's paganism and animism we don't do that we don't worship animals but we're to be thankful to God Jeremy

[47:55] I know you're a hunter Jeremy deer hunts and I know you're thankful for what God provides when God makes it possible for you to harvest he does that and he shares it with some of you I've benefited from it and his family benefits from it that's the heart we need to bring when we're harvesting what God has provided for us all of this is a reminder of God's good sustaining grace it's all supposed to remind us that it's his world and we're getting to share in it it's beautiful but there's a further concept of this that's even more important it's the concept of life in the blood being critical to the sacrificial system of the Hebrews it's going to lay the foundation for what will be our forgiveness in the sacrifice of Jesus shedding his blood for us and I just want to quickly show this to you before I move on and through him the Bible says and through Jesus to reconcile all things to himself how having made peace through the blood of his cross

[49:02] Colossians 120 much more than having now been justified by Jesus blood we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him Romans 5 9 the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin 1st John 1 7 see so this is the importance of life in the blood it is by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that we are cleansed from all sin because he made an atoning sacrifice of his life life is in the blood for him to shed his blood is another way of saying he offered up his life in substitute for your life that's the beauty and the power of this it's being established in the Noahic covenant it really goes back to God sacrificing the animals to clothe Adam and Eve after the fall doesn't it so God's been about this for some time number five in the way of God's provision through the

[50:02] Noahic covenant what's number five the sacredness for human life that follows right on what God's saying about eating meat now surely verse 5 I will require your life blood and from every animal or beast I will require it and from every man and from every man's blood verse 6 whoever sheds man's blood by man his blood shall be shed for in the image of God he made them so!

[51:01] God repeats I will require I will I will require three times he says this it's extremely important to the Lord so listen here's the bottom line once again the Bible all the way back in Genesis is speaking to these issues of our societal and cultural issues that we face today that become such hot beds of debate and wackiness to shed the blood of any human being life is in the blood so it means to take their life either by an animal or another person is a personal offense against God and God will personally deal with the offender that's how serious God takes this this fear of mankind that God has put into the animals as well as the importance of life in the blood that sets the tone for the Lord legally declaring the sacredness!

[52:00] I made in my image they bear a special mark of my creator power my wisdom now the legal ramifications the legal ramifications are distinctly emphasized in the next provision as it relates to the sacredness of human life look at it with me it was in six whoever shed man's blood by man his blood shall be shed for in the image of God God made man very straightforwardly if you kill another person you forfeit your own life that's from God to kill another is to kill yourself God requires your death now interestingly in verse six who has the responsibility to carry out God's justice on a murderer according to verse six who does look at it carefully what does it say man do you see it by man so

[53:19] God takes it personally and God is going to deal with you ultimately if you remain in unrepentance as a murderer don't passages in the New Testament tell murderers will not inherit the kingdom of heaven unless you repent unless you come to faith in Jesus Christ and then can you as a murderer know Christ and forgiveness and be brought to heaven yes but unrepentant murderers aren't going to heaven and so verse 6 tells us that societies bear the responsibility to follow through on God's mandate in the Noahic covenant and execute capital punishment on murderers and folks there's nothing in the Bible that has canceled that he said for all successive generations did he mean it or not he did and he did not cancel it there's no warrant in scripture that subsumes the Noahic covenant in a way that says okay we don't have to worry about those prescriptions anymore you with me now

[54:22] I hope what this does is it's helping you settle all these different societal issues that come up that people want to debate and get in arguments about and that capital punishment is a settled thing in the Bible if you murder a human being we have a responsibility to take your life a life for a life period what's that supposed to do is that harsh what's that supposed to communicate to you and to me to people looking in the value that God places on human life the sacredness of human life but when we're aborting millions of babies every year we get a little desensitized to human life did you see in the news this past week where there's this man down in Florida that was stabbed over a hundred times by this illegal immigrant over a hundred how do you stab a human being 150 times why would you do that all over his body this is the heinous nature of people who have lost the sacredness for human life and we've done that to ourselves we've desensitized humanity to this look at the things that on

[55:36] TV look at the video games that we play all around our society we're training each other to devalue human life it's a terrible thing the basis for all of this is a life for a life and it's based on the value God places on each human being for in the image of God he made man that's what verse six says all right how about number seven the last one to provide the promise never to destroy the earth again by water we see that several times between verse eight down through verse seventeen there will be the ongoing evidence of course of a fallen world like tsunamis and hurricanes have you ever heard somebody say I thought God said he would never send a flood like that again well that's not the flood that's not the global flood those are!

[56:34] localized events that bear the scars of a fallen world a world that's still in upheaval a world that's still groaning like one of the Christian scientists told us on Wednesday night when he was asked how many of these different geologic events that were reshaping the earth right after the flood how many of those are still going on today and the scientist said all of them volcanoes!

[57:02] tectonic movement earthquakes tsunamis all of this is still going on today just at a lesser level when God says he won't destroy the world ever again by water what did he tell us in 2 Peter he will destroy the world by fire keep that in mind the world will be destroyed and remade but it won't be by water next time it will be by fire in 12 through 17 six times in six successive verses I read this to you earlier the Lord says he is setting a bow in the rain clouds as the sign the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth that's in verse 17 here's the sign of the covenant that I'm making with you Noah and all successive generations and all flesh that is on the earth if it breathes air

[58:02] I'm making a covenant with it and the covenant is I'm going to set the bow in the cloud as a sign that I'll never ever send rain on the earth again to flood the earth and kill everything now folks just think about it for us today a storm comes up and I'm in my house going oh thank the lord my plants need water so bad you know that's what I'm thinking here's what I'm not thinking but probably what I would be thinking if I just stepped off the ark or I'm in the first few generations of getting off the ark and all these things are being related to me about what coming last time that happened you remember what happened then so what is God doing God is condescending and considering and saying hey I want to assure you because now we saw again the scientists told us the geologists told us that at the time of

[59:04] Noah's flood there is evidence of the fauna that was growing up and the forests that were coming up God had made the earth much much warmer the climate is much much warmer and it's going to take hundreds of years for it to start to get cooler and cooler so right now it's like a global tropical issue and so everything is regenerating at an enormously fast rate that's what God made lots of rain is falling rain is still coming down and it's coming down in places in deluges right but it's not flooding the earth and so God is making this covenant with them and saying you're going to see more of the rain you're going to see more of the clouds but I'm putting a sign to show you that I promise this will not take your life this is not judgment I'm bringing this rain on the earth to replenish it so that you can be blessed because

[60:05] I can do that too I'm and I can use whatever I want to save you even the cross of my son I used an ark before and now I'll use a cross that's who I am what more do you need to know if that's all you knew of God what more do you need to know that's enough to be saved run to this God who makes the ark and gives his son on a cross run to this God and flee the wrath to come amen this is the work of the Lord even for us today the rainbow is a kind and gracious expression of God's long suffering and steadfast love folks he remembers that means that he personally stands behind his promise he's not saying oh

[61:05] I need something to remind me not to kill all of you because you're so bad no he puts the bow in the cloud and says I remember it's a way of saying I stand behind my promise when you see the bow know that I'm standing behind what I said in my covenant with you it's beautiful this is very interesting and then I'll move to a close the Hebrew word for bow is used to describe both the weapon that shoots arrows and for the rainbow same word context aside one commentator said of the rainbow listen to this it's placement in the clouds points to the cessation of God's hostilities against mankind it so I I'm not bringing a weapon I'm not weaponizing the rain anymore now the rain and the bow will be a sign of my blessing on you to sustain you not to take you out all right question for you as I end did

[62:17] God's global flood cleanse the world of sin what do you think what immediate proof in chapter nine do you have that is not the case what immediate proof it begins in verse 18 yep with the first few words now the sons of Noah boom that's enough right there you see there were eight sinners on the ark eight sinners I can't do all this text today we'll we'll add this next time Shem Ham Japheth they were the sons go populate the earth Noah began farming he planted a vineyard and got drunk and then his boys come in Ham degrades we'll talk about why Ham degrades his dad Shem and Japheth try to deal with their dad in some sense of dignity

[63:18] Noah realizes what's going on and places a curse on Ham and his successive generations does that sound like the flood cleansed the earth to you of sin No and here's the proof so now you know why that passage is immediately in the Bible oh just in case you thought that the flood cured all the evils of mankind not so much not so much all right another question for you how important is it for us that God is a covenant!

[63:47] God is a covenant making God well apart from God's initiative to enter into covenant with us through his son Jesus Christ we are utterly helpless against sin and death we are wholly unable to please God and we haven't the slightest desire to honor the Lord in his goodness to us not a bit that surely!

[64:06] was Jeff Jackson at one point in my life our pride causes us to dishonor God and take for granted his promises to us in the Noahic covenant do you realize how many millions and millions and millions of people across the globe live in rank rebellion and unbelief against the Lord and could care less that they live under the blessing of the Noahic covenant they could care less and they hate God now folks look our dilemma is that we were made to know God and by conscience and by nature we do know him but we suppress the truth about God so that we don't know him in a saving way that is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and so author and theologian David Wells expressed this sinful dilemma this way by creation we are made for a moral world that we cannot honor but from which we cannot disengage

[65:16] That is our dilemma! God made us to live rightly before him in his world and without Jesus we can't and we can't disengage from it we are part of it we are in the fabric of what this place is we reek of it and we need God to do a spiritual work of rebirth to rebirth us in new spiritual life well the new world of Noah is still a world oppressed by sin and death and that dilemma is what Jesus rescues us from through his cross and God willing next week we are going to have to talk about what's going on with Shem Ham and Japheth and Noah and this curse and what it meant for all these descendants of Noah will you pray with me beloved dear father in heaven thank you for your truth and thank you

[66:17] God that you show us in your word without compromise the answers to so many of these cultural dilemmas that we find ourselves in as we talk to themselves to the Bible and to the truth of scripture and gosh we get ourselves Lord in so many difficult spots by not listening to your word by not heeding the truth of your word going all the way back to Genesis when you were doing remarkable things to reestablish the planet for your people but thank you for your grace and kindness and most of all Lord we thank you for Jesus whose shed blood we are redeemed by and for the forgiveness that we experience as we come by grace through faith to bow our hearts before Jesus and look to him and to him alone for the salvation that we need the forgiveness of our sins thank you almighty

[67:20] God for giving us the covenant and for these seven provisions! that you've made for humanity that we all are blessed by and live under I pray for my brothers and sisters this week as they leave here today that they'll be more mindful of praising you for the covenant and look for the signs of this wonderful covenant that are ongoing as you keep the season steady as the pollen falls and the leaves change and the flowers come out it's just a reminder that you are keeping your promise Thank you for being a covenant making covenant keeping creator God in Jesus name we love you and we pray amen