January 16, 2022 - David Baumgartner

[0:00] We welcome you to the media ministry of Bethel Community Church. Knowing Jesus, making Jesus known. Alright, well good morning everyone.

[0:12] It's good to be here, isn't it? It really is. As you heard last week, we're starting something new. We're in a new year, so it's a good time to take a few months and do something new.

[0:25] We're looking at select accounts in the book of Genesis. If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Genesis chapter 6. I really hope that you bring your Bibles as we go through these various accounts in Genesis.

[0:40] Genesis is a foundational book. I want to ask you, just consider the number of times that the New Testament writers either cite, quote, or refer to someone, someone or something that's going on in the book of Genesis.

[0:55] This morning, we're going to be talking about Noah and the Noahic covenant. What's that? There was this preacher who ended his sermon by announcing that he would be preaching on Noah and the ark on the following Sunday.

[1:14] And so he gave the scripture reference for the congregation to read, of course, ahead of time. There were a couple of boys in the church who noticed something very interesting about the placement of the story of Noah in the Bible.

[1:29] And they slipped in to the church during the week and they glued pages of the Bible together and the pulpit Bible. And so the next Sunday, the preacher gets up and he begins to read his text and he goes like this.

[1:46] Noah took unto himself a wife and she was, and he turned the page, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high.

[1:58] He paused for a moment. He scratched his head. He read it again. And then he finally looked up and he said, you know, I've been reading this Bible for 50 years.

[2:11] And I got to tell you, there's some things in here that are just really hard to believe. Well, again, what is the Noahic covenant? How does it pertain to us today?

[2:24] Well, we're going to be starting with the context here, certainly the conditions of the flood or before the flood. We're actually going to be looking at four chapters in Genesis.

[2:35] We can kind of look at this as four different movements in this story here. Let's go ahead and first pray. Heavenly Father, we are so grateful that we can be here together.

[2:47] Lord, you provide for us. As it was said earlier today, you give us everything we need to walk in righteousness and in peace. And we're so grateful for that, Lord. We're thankful for your word and for these accounts that were written thousands of years ago.

[3:02] And yet they apply to us today. We pray, Father, that through the ministry of your holy word and as your Holy Spirit would make these words come alive to us today. We are so grateful.

[3:14] In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Here we are in Genesis chapter 6. We have to realize that by this time, the whole world was populated by who?

[3:26] The descendants of Adam and Eve. Noah was actually the 10th generation from Adam. And of course, he came through Seth. At this time, you got to also remember that the average lifespan was about 900 years.

[3:43] That's a pretty long time, isn't it? How is that? Well, it's believed that there was a canopy of water vapor that blocked harmful rays from the sun.

[3:55] And so, for example, we read that Noah was 930 years old when he died. Adam was. How about Noah? He was 950 years. There's this guy named Methuselah.

[4:07] 969 years he lived. But here's the main point here. If you consider the lifespan of people being like around 900 years, how many children do you think there would be at that time?

[4:21] Millions and millions of people. And you might want to ask yourself, well, with millions of millions of people living, how are they doing? Well, if you look with me in chapter 6, beginning in verse 5.

[4:36] Here's what the Lord saw. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great. You might want to circle that word on the earth. Look with me, my friends.

[4:53] That word, great. Every intent of his thoughts. Only evil continually. And in verse 6. The Lord was sorry that he had made man on earth.

[5:07] And he was grieved in his heart. Do you realize just how striking those words are? That God would be, he would regret that he made mankind?

[5:20] Here he is expressing his sorrow. In verse 7. The Lord said, I will blot out man. This is man in whom he created. From the face of the land. From manned animals.

[5:32] To creeping things. And to the birds of the sky. For I am sorry that I have made them. But then here we see in verse 8. Here we see this great contrast.

[5:43] There is one man. His name is Noah. Verse 8 says, But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. We actually learned back in chapter 5.

[5:55] That the name Noah means he will bring rest. Just hold on to that for a moment here. In chapter 6 verse 9. It says that Noah was a righteous man.

[6:08] It says that he was blameless in his time. And it says that Noah walked with God. Noah is actually similar to Adam.

[6:19] If you consider both men walked with God. Both were recipients of the promises of God. Both were caretakers of lower creatures.

[6:31] And in chapter 6 verse 13. We notice here that God speaks to Noah. He says in verse 13. I have determined to make an end of all flesh. For the earth is filled with violence through them.

[6:43] Talking about all the people here. And he says, Behold, I will destroy them. I will destroy them with the earth. And then in verse 14. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.

[6:57] Now nobody really knows what gopher wood is. It may be the type of wood that's now extinct. Or it may be referring to the shape of the wood. Of the processing of it.

[7:07] But notice here that he says, Make this ark. What an interesting command here to Noah. And then beginning in verse 15. We notice the dimensions are given.

[7:19] Not of Noah's wife. But of the ark here. You may want to notice how it talks about the dimensions. The length is six times longer than the width.

[7:30] Did you know that ship builders today use these same dimensions when they build cargo ships? That apparently this is the optimum set of dimensions for seaworthiness.

[7:42] Now up to this point. I think a lot of people begin to be what? Skeptical. Of the book of this account here. This account can't be possible. How is Noah going to build such a huge thing?

[7:55] How can Noah? Here's another question. How can he fit all these animals on this ark? Well friends here the truth is. Is not every animal needed to be on the ark.

[8:07] It said earlier in Genesis. It talks about how after their kind. That's referring to the animal itself. For instance. For instance. There's like 200 breeds of dogs today.

[8:19] Well did you need 200 breeds of dogs to bring on the ark? No. Just one pair. That's all that's needed. There's a great life size model of the ark that's in the state of Kentucky.

[8:32] Have you ever been there? I'd encourage you to go there. It's put on by Answers in Genesis. And they actually have a lot of material there. That suggests numerous ways that this account is true.

[8:46] They deal with a lot of the typical obstacles out there. So they show how systems for food and water. Ventilation. How waste removal could have easily taken place on the ark.

[8:59] It's all very well done. You got to remember here. The ark was not a recreational vehicle. No. All it needed to do was float. So it needed no steering mechanism.

[9:12] It needed no motor or something to propel it. It just floated. So in beginning in verse 19, Noah's told here, bring on seven pairs of clean animals.

[9:24] Seven of them. And one pair of unclean animals. We don't know how Noah knew the difference between clean and unclean. But he obviously must have known something. Look with me in verse 15.

[9:37] It says, so they went into the ark, went into the ark to Noah by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life.

[9:47] And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him. And the Lord closed it behind him. We realized that back in chapter six, that there's only one door to the ark.

[10:05] And notice here that when it came time to close it, God did it. It was the Lord. You may notice in your Bibles, it says the Lord closed it.

[10:15] That's his personal name, Yahweh. Why do you think that's an important detail to include? It's because, it's the emphasize, this is God's judgment.

[10:27] God is doing this. Maybe there's another reason. Maybe God knew that Noah could never bring himself to close the door. I want to ask you, could you?

[10:38] I suppose you had the button, okay, the end of the world button. And it's sitting right there on your kitchen table. Could you press that button knowing that it's the end of the world and that there's millions and millions of people, maybe family, friends, who will then enter into a Christless eternity.

[11:00] Could you do that? I don't think God asks us to do things that we cannot do. And maybe that's another reason why God closed the door of the ark.

[11:12] Those are the conditions here of the ark. Let's look at the flood here. The second movement. Chapter seven, let's go to verse 11. In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, and on the 17th day of the month, and on the same day, all the, here we go, the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened, and the rain fell upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.

[11:42] We should notice here that it was the fountains of the deep that opened first. And that would have been causing great earthquakes and volcanoes. Geysers of molten lava, if you will, would be squeezed out of the earth's crust.

[11:59] And it would be shooting debris up into the atmosphere, causing it to rain. I remember hearing years ago how they calculated the amount of water vapor in this canopy.

[12:11] They thought that it would take about 40 days to rain it all out. Very interesting here. In verse 19, the water prevailed for more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered.

[12:31] Well, here's a question that's commonly asked. Was the flood worldwide, or was it just a local flood? Personally, I believe it was a worldwide flood. There's geological evidence.

[12:44] There's remains of fossils, of marine life that's on the top of the mountains throughout the world. Also, if it was local, why would there be a need to take two of every kind?

[12:57] Wouldn't you find two of others elsewhere? In Genesis chapter 10, we won't read this today, but it says that in verse 32, These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, from these nations spread upon the earth after the flood.

[13:18] So there's some evidence there that this flood was worldwide. Let's look at the aftermath now in chapter 8, beginning in verse 1.

[13:29] What is it like after the flood? Verse 1, But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. And God caused the wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.

[13:44] Verse 4, And in the seventh month and on the seventh day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. See, we get these details here at this point.

[13:56] Details about how Noah sends out these various birds. Birds, and that's to see if there's dry land. Eventually, we read that a dove comes back with an olive branch in his beak.

[14:07] Apparently, olive trees grow only in lower elevations, and so that's a pretty good sign. But even then, Noah waits. He stays in the ark.

[14:18] In fact, they spent a year and ten days on that ark, waiting to hear from God. And then in chapter 8, verse 15, it says, Here's what he said.

[14:30] Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 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 ground, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, be fruitful and multiply on the earth.

[14:48] Can you imagine when that door opens, that covering is removed, and just walking out and seeing the earth for the first time after the flood?

[15:00] What a sight that must have been. What a sight. In verses 20 to 22, we see Noah's first act is to build an altar.

[15:11] This is the first time we see an altar mentioned in Genesis. No doubt, this sacrifice was done out of a sense of gratitude. But also, this sacrifice was an act of atonement.

[15:27] Here's why. It's referring to a burnt offering, and it says something really important. It was pleasing. It was soothing. It was a soothing aroma to the Lord.

[15:38] That tells us here that God received Noah's sacrifice. It soothed God's anger. In fact, that word pleasing, it's actually related to the name Noah.

[15:51] Noah, it means he will bring rest. How interesting that is. And so when Noah and his family stepped out of the ark, we read that God lays out some instructions for humanity.

[16:05] If you turn with me to chapter 9, let's look at what it says. First, be fruitful and multiply. Well, where have you seen that before?

[16:17] As with Adam, right? This is a repeat of the command given to Adam. Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. Verses 2 and 3.

[16:29] The fear of you shall be on every animal. Well, this seems kind of new. Before this, in chapter 6, it talks about how the animals will come to Noah.

[16:41] But now the animals will be afraid. It says also that man's given, again, dominion over the animal world. But here's something new.

[16:52] Now we have permission to eat meat. So apparently, up to this point, people were vegetarians. And now they're able to eat meat. Here's the fourth verse.

[17:04] There's a prohibition against drinking blood. Well, this actually shows how God views all life. Since the blood is a symbol of life. God sees all life as sacred, as valuable.

[17:19] He says in verse 5, Surely I will require your lifeblood. That's because the life is in the blood. Why would he say that? Because verse 6. This is really important.

[17:30] Here we see the beginning of the judicial and civil governments being established. Notice. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed.

[17:44] For in the image of God he made man. Notice here. It says, by man, the offender's blood shall be shed.

[17:55] In other words, if you kill somebody, you'll forfeit your life. But here's the key. That's not carried out by God himself.

[18:06] No, rather, it's by man. Through what we would call human agency. And previously, no one could take another person's life. But now, God delegates authority to mankind.

[18:21] Not individually, but corporately. And that's where we come up with human government. And then he ends this section here. Again, verse 7. He ends as he started.

[18:33] Be fruitful and multiply. Let's go to chapter 9 here. And you can look with me on your handout here. We come to, in verse 8 of chapter 9.

[18:45] The Noahic covenant. This is the key thing here. Verse 8. Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons, saying, Now behold, I myself do establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you.

[19:03] So here's the covenant here. Verse 10. The Noahic covenant is also with every living creature. Do you see that? Verse 11. Never again shall all flesh be cut off.

[19:16] That means all flesh be put to death by floodwaters. And then he says in verses 12 and 13. This is the sign of the covenant. The rainbow. Notice here it says that this covenant is going to remain for all successive generations.

[19:34] This promise here. The Noahic covenant is unconditional. Verse 9. It's universal. Verse 11. It's everlasting. Verse 12.

[19:46] In other words, you and I don't have to maintain any of these promises. It says God will do all that he promised. And then in verse 16, we have this bow that's placed in the cloud.

[19:58] And when God looks at it, he says, I will remember. And then in verse 17, this rainbow. It's kind of a summary here. The rainbow is the sign of the covenant that God gave us.

[20:12] What is the rainbow today? It's a sign of the Noahic covenant. That's what it is. It's not nothing else. It's a sign of the covenant. So that's the Noahic covenant.

[20:25] Actually, we see three kinds of covenants in the Old Testament. The first one you may be familiar with. It's called the parity covenant. That's a covenant made between equals.

[20:38] We will later read about Abraham and Abimelech in chapter 21. Isaac and Abimelech have a covenant. This is in Genesis 26. Jacob and Laban have a covenant.

[20:51] This is in Genesis 31. And of course, a covenant that's parity between two people equals. It would be conditional, right? Terms.

[21:03] You have your part. I have my part. The second kind of covenant would be terms made by a king and his subjects. This also is conditional.

[21:16] The king may make demands of loyalty and obedience. Here's a great example. The Mosaic covenant is a conditional covenant. Here's the third kind of covenant.

[21:27] It's called the Royal Grant Covenant. And this is also between a king and his subjects. But in this one, the king makes promises.

[21:38] And he says something like this. I'm going to do such and such for all of my people. God love my people. And I'm just going to do this for you.

[21:50] And when you think about it, that's what the Noah covenant is. That's what the Abrahamic covenant is. The Davidic covenant is. The Davidic covenant is. And the new covenant is. These are all unconditional covenants.

[22:01] What is our part in those covenants? Nothing. We are the recipients. Covenants. And those covenants. They never cease.

[22:11] They're never brought to an end. Or the word that's commonly used. Abrogated. Never. So here's the question that we started with. How does this covenant.

[22:23] And what we read with Noah. How does this apply to us? What can we learn about it? I think this section shows us several things. Here's the first one. And you can follow on the outline here.

[22:34] First, this text. This account. Shows how human sin and rebellion grieves God. Would you agree with that?

[22:46] It grieves him. And it also brings great judgment. In fact, I would say this is a pretty severe judgment. Would you agree with that?

[22:58] Even though Noah and his family were saved. The world was not restored to its. What we would call pre-fall condition. No, it was marred by human sin.

[23:11] You might want to ask. Well, how is that? Well, first. There's enmity between man and the animal kingdom. They fear us. Now, people might say. Well, it's because you eat them.

[23:23] No, I think it's for lots of reasons. Except dogs. I do love dogs. And for some reason, when that chasm opened, for some reason, the dogs jumped over the chasm to be with us.

[23:37] I heard that somewhere. But you think about other things, though. What about earthquakes and hurricanes and tornadoes? From where do these come? I believe that those are remnants.

[23:51] Or carryovers from the time of the flood. People, you know, you think about all the tectonic shifts of the plates and things that happened. And think about that.

[24:03] We're still feeling that. The remnants of that today. People call those things tornadoes and so on. They call them acts of God. Well, you know what?

[24:13] Maybe they are because of his judgment. But who brought it on? Mankind. We did. So the first thing we see is just how human sin and rebellion, it grieves God.

[24:26] Secondly, God established a way to restrain human evil. This section here actually introduces what we call the third dispensation.

[24:39] It's the dispensation of human government. And I might ask this question to you. What is the highest purpose of human government? It's the highest purpose, the highest function is the protection of human life.

[24:55] Why is that important? Well, we're told here it's because man is made in the image of God. This is the highest status, the highest privilege, if you will, of any created being.

[25:10] Life is a gift from God. And the main thing here is that God now holds man responsible for protecting the sanctity of life.

[25:21] Even specifying the use of capital punishment. When we see capital punishment today, it's not called murder, is it? No, murder is what someone else does.

[25:35] But capital punishment is not murder. No, it's justice. Paul talks about that in Romans chapter 13. He says, you want to be free of fear from the authorities?

[25:46] Do the right thing. Then he talks about the sword and so on. So, if capital punishment is established, it would follow that mankind would then need to decide on the details.

[25:59] How do you conduct a fair trial? How a man should be executed? And you know what? The devil is in the details. Isn't that true? How is man doing with this protection of human life?

[26:14] I'll give you one word. Abortion. How sad it is that someone could look at a little baby like Lydia's doing.

[26:24] Looking at this little baby. And to think something is atrocious of taking a human life. But apparently, our hearts are hard. And apparently, it's the easiest thing to do.

[26:38] At least, that's what we're told. Personally, I don't think that's true. Yeah, God established the human government.

[26:50] And may we continue to pray for our government. That we would live in ways that God has outlined. Thirdly, Noah's faith. Noah believed God.

[27:02] We're told here that Noah was a righteous man. Living in a very exceedingly time of great wickedness. I think it's really interesting.

[27:14] If you look in chapter 7, verse 1. It says this. Then the Lord said to Noah, Enter the ark, you and all your household. For you alone I have seen to be righteous before me at this time.

[27:30] That you there is singular. Maybe he was the only one in that whole family. Maybe Mrs. Noah, not Joan of Arc.

[27:41] But maybe Mrs. Noah was not righteous. Maybe she didn't walk with God. Maybe the three sons and their wives didn't walk with God. But he says, You alone do I see as righteous.

[27:56] But remember Noah is representing mankind at this time. We learn in 2 Peter 2, verse 4. That in the days of Noah. He's a preacher of righteousness.

[28:09] Well how did that go? Do you ever get. Discerned. Discouraged.

[28:24] Thank you. I knew it was a dis. Discouraged. Whenever you share the gospel with people and they don't listen. Well Noah was a preacher of righteousness. And apparently no one listened.

[28:37] I think just like today. Can you imagine the ridicule that Noah experienced? You know. You're going to build a what?

[28:48] An ark? What's that? We talked today about living in our Sunday school. Living a separate life. A holy life. And sometimes we are exposed to great ridicule.

[29:03] It says here in verse 7. Hebrews 11, verse 7. If you look with me on your handout. By faith. Noah being warned by God.

[29:15] Concerning events as yet unseen. You might just want to stop right there. What kind of things had Noah not seen yet? Yeah.

[29:26] Rain. How about a flood? Animal sacrifice? Yeah. Lots of things here. But it says in reverent fear. He constructed an ark for the saving of his household.

[29:39] And by this he condemned the world. And became an heir of the righteousness. That comes by sacrificing an animal. No. No. It says righteousness that comes by faith.

[29:53] Noah believed God. Noah was warned of God concerning things. And what does faith mean? That means that you believe in things that are not yet seen.

[30:06] Right? And it was his faith that saved him. And he became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Which leads to the last point here.

[30:18] God provides a way of salvation. When God promised to never destroy the earth by a flood. I want to ask you this question. Does that mean that mankind is off the hook?

[30:32] I'm never going to destroy the earth by water. So we're off the hook, right? What does that mean? The flood account can be seen as a disruption in human history.

[30:47] Some theologians see the flood account as a reversal of creation, if you will. Apparently, man's sinfulness was so great at this time that humanity's future was in jeopardy.

[31:02] And so God had to intervene. And he hits that restart button. And what this covenant is saying is that God will not stop the course of human history any longer.

[31:17] No, we're on a timetable. We are on a timetable right now. I'd like to end here by looking at these three verses here.

[31:28] Look with me in Acts 1, chapter 1, verse 6. This is before Jesus' ascension. He says, That word fixed, that's referring to something that's established.

[31:58] It's set. Human history is on a course. And God is not going to stop our timetable any longer.

[32:10] In the Olivet Discourse, in Matthew chapter 24, he says this beginning in verse 16. He was asked a question about the end times.

[32:20] But concerning that day and hour, Noah knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the Son, but the Father only. As it were in the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

[32:36] For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark. For they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away.

[32:51] So will be the coming of the Son of Man. And then he goes on here. Two men will be in the field. One will be taken and one left. As in the days of Noah. And you think about how people are resistant, how they were resistant to Noah's preaching.

[33:08] They're resistant today to the word of God. Many people have no thought of things that are eternal. And so back then, people were caught unaware. My last verse here in 2 Peter.

[33:21] He says in chapter 3, Know this first of all, that in the last days, mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lust, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming?

[33:32] For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. Have you ever heard that? For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God, the heavens existed long ago.

[33:47] And the earth was formed out of water and the flood. Early Genesis. And through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water.

[33:59] Chapter 6, 7, 8, and 9. But again, but the present heaven and the earth, by His word, are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and the destruction of ungodly men.

[34:12] Wow, how sobering those verses are. As the musicians come up here, how do we escape such a judgment?

[34:24] Well, as it was here, the only way to escape was through the means that God provided. He said, get into the boat.

[34:38] Get into it. And then when God shut the door, what's that a picture of? That's a picture of His justice and His mercy. Justice for the wicked, the unbelieving world outside who perished.

[34:54] But mercy to those who were inside the door. They were saved. We have such a salvation, friends. Jesus is our ark. He's the door of salvation.

[35:09] It's recorded in John's Gospel account. Jesus said, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. And just as Noah and his family went through that door to be saved, so must you and I go through that one door that God provides.

[35:29] And that door has a name, Jesus Christ. Those outside will perish. And what a very sad prospect that is. But those in Christ will be saved.

[35:42] To Him be all the glory and honor that's due His name. Because we have His promises. And what a good God He is. Heavenly Father, we are so grateful that You have made these promises to us, Lord.

[35:57] That those of us who are in Christ have entered into salvation. The way that You provided for us.

[36:08] And Lord, we're so grateful for that because we didn't earn it. No one here can say that we deserve it. But it was by Your grace and Your intention that You would provide a way for us to be saved.

[36:22] Lord, I pray that we would have much more success in preaching the Word than Noah did. May we be guided by Your Word and the Holy Spirit who's in us.

[36:34] May we be guided by your grace and God. May we be guided by your grace and your grace and your grace and your grace and your grace and your grace and your grace. May we be honored through our lives as we live to please You.

[36:53] to walk in ways that are righteous. To take on the righteousness that You have provided. until that day that You take us home.

[37:04] Or that day that You come for us, Lord. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.