WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.000 This is Genesis chapter 8. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:36.939 In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:42.960 At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven. 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:46.260 It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. 00:00:46.700 --> 00:00:52.019 Then he sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:56.700 But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, 00:00:56.980 --> 00:00:59.060 for the waters were still in the face of the whole earth. 00:00:59.060 --> 00:01:03.440 So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:08.659 He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:14.840 And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:17.939 So God knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 00:01:18.520 --> 00:01:23.300 Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore. 00:01:23.299 --> 00:01:28.039 In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:32.679 the waters were dried from off the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the ark, 00:01:32.819 --> 00:01:35.700 and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. 00:01:36.379 --> 00:01:40.519 In the second month, in the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. 00:01:40.519 --> 00:01:42.079 Then God said to Noah, 00:01:42.579 --> 00:01:48.259 Go out from the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 00:01:48.780 --> 00:01:52.459 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, 00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:55.799 birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, 00:01:56.179 --> 00:01:59.719 that they may swarm on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. 00:01:59.719 --> 00:02:03.900 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. 00:02:04.260 --> 00:02:08.579 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:10.740 went out by families from the ark. 00:02:11.479 --> 00:02:14.759 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took some of every clean animal, 00:02:14.939 --> 00:02:18.900 and some of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 00:02:19.659 --> 00:02:23.240 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, 00:02:23.340 --> 00:02:25.780 I will never again curse the ground because of man, 00:02:25.860 --> 00:02:29.240 for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:34.680 Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 00:02:35.140 --> 00:02:38.960 While the earth remains, see time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:41.740 day and night shall not cease. 00:02:42.280 --> 00:02:44.379 Amen. This is God's holy word. 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:51.180 We're working our way on Sunday mornings from Genesis 4 to 11, 00:02:51.379 --> 00:02:54.219 and the question we keep asking every week is, 00:02:54.420 --> 00:02:55.379 what's wrong with us? 00:02:55.400 --> 00:02:58.180 And the answer has been the same every week, and that's sin. 00:02:58.180 --> 00:03:05.460 So as soon as sin begins in Genesis chapter 3, this series of texts is really a spiral of corruption, 00:03:05.700 --> 00:03:07.040 of things getting worse and worse. 00:03:07.659 --> 00:03:10.599 And Adam and Eve take what is forbidden for them to eat, 00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:13.280 but then Cain murders his brother. 00:03:13.580 --> 00:03:19.140 And then after that, Cain's grandson murders a boy and sings a song about it and celebrates it. 00:03:19.580 --> 00:03:24.300 And then after that, we read in Genesis 6 that the earth is entirely filled with corruption, 00:03:24.300 --> 00:03:27.500 and injustice cries up from the face of the ground. 00:03:27.780 --> 00:03:29.860 And on that basis, God sends the flood. 00:03:29.860 --> 00:03:35.240 And so we know in our tradition, Westminster Shorter Catechism number one, 00:03:35.780 --> 00:03:40.900 that we were made as human beings to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. 00:03:40.900 --> 00:03:46.120 And Genesis 4 to 11 really tells the story, the chorus line from Genesis 11, 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:49.759 that instead of glorifying God and enjoying Him forever, 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.680 humanity, we have chosen to make a name for ourselves at every turn of history. 00:03:55.500 --> 00:04:00.840 And the word that often gets used for that is that we chose from the beginning to be autonomous, 00:04:01.879 --> 00:04:07.099 self-governing, self-defined, self-named, that we want to make a name for ourselves. 00:04:07.099 --> 00:04:08.859 We don't want to be named by God. 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:14.159 And so we see the plight of sin throughout the whole story of Genesis 4 to 11. 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:20.459 And yet, every time that it seems to get worse, God's grace enters. 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:26.399 And the wages of sin is death, but Adam and Eve live for hundreds of years. 00:04:26.500 --> 00:04:28.360 They do not get what they deserve. 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:34.199 And God's grace seems to overwhelm human sin over and over again every time throughout these stories. 00:04:34.199 --> 00:04:44.240 And when you come to the Noah story, Noah's father, another lame man, names him Noah, which means rest in Hebrew. 00:04:44.899 --> 00:04:49.759 And you've arrived at this point where you say, why does God keep showing grace to humanity? 00:04:50.039 --> 00:04:54.060 And is the answer going to be in the birth of this boy, Noah? 00:04:54.180 --> 00:04:55.120 His name means rest. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:05:00.300 And that's because we've been tracing this line from Genesis 3.15 forward. 00:05:00.300 --> 00:05:10.699 Genesis 3.15, God says to Eve, one day, a boy, a child from your offspring will crush the head of the serpent, crush the head of all evil. 00:05:10.900 --> 00:05:14.300 And you get to Noah and you say, his name is rest. 00:05:14.439 --> 00:05:19.560 Lamech even says, in this one, the curse of the ground shall be removed. 00:05:19.660 --> 00:05:21.460 We shall find rest amid the curse. 00:05:21.500 --> 00:05:22.439 And you say, is it him? 00:05:22.439 --> 00:05:30.439 And so one of the questions that the writer Moses wants you to ask of the flood story is, did Noah actually bring rest? 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:39.480 And is he the savior that you think he might be based on the promise of Genesis 3.15 and the way his dad names him? 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:44.360 And so it drives you right into the heart as we approach toward the end of the flood story. 00:05:44.759 --> 00:05:48.220 The question of salvation, is Noah going to save us? 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:49.399 Is Noah going to save the world? 00:05:49.399 --> 00:05:56.479 And that's so important because every religion has a salvation story, a narrative that it tells about what is wrong with you. 00:05:56.579 --> 00:06:01.899 And then what is the God that happens to be worshiped in that religion up to to make it right? 00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:07.799 So in Islam, in Islam, you are saved by worship and obedience. 00:06:09.319 --> 00:06:14.679 And if you worship and you obey consistently over your lifetime, there's a possibility of salvation. 00:06:14.680 --> 00:06:18.120 In Buddhism, you're saved by enlightenment. 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:27.019 So you want to escape the physical realm of suffering by exiting the physical realm altogether through a process of nirvana, of enlightenment. 00:06:27.019 --> 00:06:30.660 And you have to pursue that and work towards that throughout your life. 00:06:30.740 --> 00:06:36.720 In secular humanism, there's a cheap and derivative story of salvation. 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:43.600 And that derivative story of salvation is that salvation is really about being authentic to yourself, about being your true self, 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:47.900 and not letting anything stop you from pursuing your authentic and true self. 00:06:48.020 --> 00:06:52.600 And one of the things the flood story does is it tells you what the rest of the Bible tells you, 00:06:52.640 --> 00:06:59.880 and that's that Christianity is the one religion that says that you cannot achieve your own salvation, 00:06:59.879 --> 00:07:02.459 and you can't even really pursue your own salvation, 00:07:03.180 --> 00:07:07.920 that if you're to be saved, it has to entirely come from the outside. 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:12.540 I mean, if there's one way we said it in the baptism, to summarize the whole of the Christian message, 00:07:12.540 --> 00:07:14.699 it is God saves sinners. 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:16.300 God does it all. 00:07:16.939 --> 00:07:22.159 And that's so distinct from the rest of the narratives of salvation in our culture and in the other religions. 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:24.040 And when you come to this, you say, 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:27.180 okay, God, what are you telling me here about the flood story? 00:07:27.240 --> 00:07:32.360 Am I just to read this as some great moral example of Noah, a man who was righteous? 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:36.820 And instead, we come to the Bible, and the question that we need to ask is, 00:07:37.400 --> 00:07:42.840 if it is God alone who can save sinners, what is this story telling me about how God saves? 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:46.820 And that's what Genesis 8 answers today. 00:07:47.540 --> 00:07:49.420 It answers it in three ways. 00:07:49.420 --> 00:07:51.960 It's number one, God remembered. 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:54.680 Number two, God reset the world. 00:07:54.900 --> 00:07:56.560 And number three, God made a way. 00:07:57.900 --> 00:08:03.500 All right, so the first thing we see, I think, in Genesis 8 is that God remembered. 00:08:03.640 --> 00:08:04.700 So that's what we see in verse 1. 00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:07.540 But before I explain that a little bit, 00:08:07.759 --> 00:08:11.460 it's important to remember that Genesis 7 comes before Genesis 8, 00:08:11.540 --> 00:08:13.259 and Genesis 7 and 8 go together. 00:08:13.860 --> 00:08:15.280 You can't separate them. 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:22.659 And last week, we saw very briefly that there was a cosmic crime committed against God. 00:08:23.739 --> 00:08:29.459 And that cosmic crime was not only violence in all the land, but also respectable apathy, 00:08:29.659 --> 00:08:33.339 living life without any regard for God and not caring about God. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:39.179 And so the flood, the just judgment of God came into the world, but there was an ark. 00:08:39.179 --> 00:08:46.120 And the ark was God's gift of mercy to deliver Noah and his family through the waters of judgment. 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:51.379 And the ark was not really a ship. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:52.819 There was no rudder. 00:08:52.899 --> 00:08:54.120 Remember, there was no sails. 00:08:54.620 --> 00:08:55.679 There were no oars. 00:08:56.500 --> 00:08:58.759 Noah had no command over it, not at all. 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:01.899 Instead, Noah, at the end of the story, was placed into the ark, 00:09:02.039 --> 00:09:03.679 and the Lord shut the door. 00:09:04.299 --> 00:09:07.500 And Noah need do nothing but hide inside the refuge of the ark. 00:09:07.500 --> 00:09:10.460 And the ark is Jesus Christ. 00:09:11.539 --> 00:09:16.720 And that was where we saw the story of the flood take us last week into the story of salvation, 00:09:16.860 --> 00:09:19.419 salvation by judgment that God does it all. 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:21.200 But then there's also chapter 8. 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:25.659 And you come to chapter 8 this week, and there's this hinge verse, verse 1, 00:09:26.299 --> 00:09:30.000 but God remembered Noah and all the animals, all the beasts, all the livestock. 00:09:30.899 --> 00:09:36.480 Now, that word remembered is not that God forgot about Noah. 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:40.639 It's that he remembered that he loved Noah. 00:09:40.860 --> 00:09:47.060 The word to remember is really to say, I love Noah, and I know I want to save him. 00:09:47.620 --> 00:09:49.659 And so God remembers Noah and all the livestock. 00:09:49.920 --> 00:09:56.779 You imagine they've been in the ark for 100, no, sorry, one year and 10 days by the time of this event, 00:09:56.840 --> 00:09:58.019 by the time of Genesis chapter 8. 00:09:58.019 --> 00:10:07.179 And so if you're in an ark closed in with a ton of stinky animals and, you know, your kids and their spouses, 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:10.840 boy, 100, a year and 10 days in, you want out, right? 00:10:11.379 --> 00:10:16.139 And God remembers Noah and he says, I will bring you out. 00:10:16.139 --> 00:10:23.740 And that is a word of compassion and love and saying, I made a promise to you and I will save you and I'll take it all the way. 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:25.559 What is this? 00:10:25.580 --> 00:10:26.620 What's going on in chapter 8? 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:31.039 Down in verse 16 and 17, God commands Noah. 00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:32.100 He opens the door. 00:10:32.199 --> 00:10:34.879 He commands Noah to leave the ark with all the animals. 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:46.240 And it's this, it's that we learn here that salvation, salvation is not just going through the waters of God's judgment hidden inside of Christ, the ark. 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:49.120 But salvation is bigger than that. 00:10:49.259 --> 00:10:50.919 In other words, let me put it this way. 00:10:51.500 --> 00:10:56.039 Salvation is not just about the forgiveness of your sins amid the judgment you deserve. 00:10:56.580 --> 00:11:03.419 Salvation is about being brought to the other side where God will open the door to you to a new land and a new life. 00:11:03.419 --> 00:11:09.939 Salvation is far bigger than just the forgiveness of your sins, just getting through the ark of chaos, waters, and judgment. 00:11:10.120 --> 00:11:18.519 Salvation is actually about God bringing those waters to rest and opening the door and saying, now parade out into a new life, a new creation even. 00:11:19.439 --> 00:11:27.839 And at the center of the story is not Noah's performance, but it's God remembering and saying, I really am going to bring Noah all the way. 00:11:27.939 --> 00:11:29.019 I'm going to save him fully. 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:30.939 And he has nothing to do with it. 00:11:30.940 --> 00:11:38.800 And it's so striking that if you were to go back to chapter 6 and then read all the way to chapter 9 through the whole flood story, 00:11:39.500 --> 00:11:45.660 Noah does not say a single word until chapter 9, verse 25, after the flood begins. 00:11:46.620 --> 00:11:49.960 And every accent of the passage is that Noah does nothing. 00:11:50.920 --> 00:11:53.580 And God brings him all the way through, all the way to this point. 00:11:53.580 --> 00:12:02.040 Now, we said last week that Peter picks up on this and interprets this, chapter 7 and now chapter 8 together, 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:07.700 in the New Testament when he talks about the fact that this corresponds to baptism. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:09.040 And this is what Peter says. 00:12:09.100 --> 00:12:09.340 He says, 00:12:09.340 --> 00:12:18.920 Now, Peter, what do you mean? 00:12:19.180 --> 00:12:23.759 Only when you read chapter 7 and chapter 8 together can you get it. 00:12:24.340 --> 00:12:26.800 In chapter 7, Peter says it's like baptism. 00:12:27.899 --> 00:12:31.540 Noah went under or through the waters of God's judgment. 00:12:31.539 --> 00:12:36.079 He went down, down, down, down, because that's what his sin deserves yet. 00:12:36.279 --> 00:12:40.860 Like in baptism, he went under the waters hidden inside an ark. 00:12:41.620 --> 00:12:43.000 And the ark is Jesus Christ. 00:12:44.079 --> 00:12:49.500 But then chapter 8, Peter doesn't just say he survived the floodwaters. 00:12:49.659 --> 00:12:52.799 It says that he passed through them and came back up again. 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:59.139 And you see that when you come to chapter 8, you realize that salvation is not just about being saved from judgment. 00:12:59.479 --> 00:13:01.759 It's about being saved unto something. 00:13:03.419 --> 00:13:08.179 And that unto something is when the ark finds a place to rest on the top of the mountain 00:13:08.179 --> 00:13:13.079 and God opens the door and says that I have been building new creation for you. 00:13:14.579 --> 00:13:21.159 And Peter says that's what baptism means, that you go under the waters of judgment in an ark safely, in a refuge, 00:13:21.159 --> 00:13:25.459 but then you come up from the waters corresponding to the baptism of Jesus Christ, 00:13:26.100 --> 00:13:28.000 entering into a new life, into a new land. 00:13:28.719 --> 00:13:32.399 And so we see here the very first thing is that when God remembers Noah, 00:13:32.579 --> 00:13:36.419 he's actually painting for us the entire picture of Christian salvation. 00:13:37.699 --> 00:13:40.259 That in Christ, you go under the waters with him, 00:13:40.939 --> 00:13:46.379 but in his resurrection, you come up from the waters and you're saved unto a new life, unto a new something. 00:13:47.179 --> 00:13:49.299 Now, we learn secondly more. 00:13:50.259 --> 00:13:51.039 Let me put it this way. 00:13:51.159 --> 00:13:57.459 That means that we should be able to look at chapter 8 and find out some of the details and narrative form 00:13:57.459 --> 00:14:01.659 of what this new life is, new creation really is. 00:14:01.740 --> 00:14:02.980 And that's exactly what we have. 00:14:03.019 --> 00:14:04.480 What is this salvation, secondly? 00:14:04.919 --> 00:14:09.740 And we learn here that salvation is when God resets the world. 00:14:10.819 --> 00:14:15.879 Now, remember, Genesis 7 and Genesis 8 have to be read together. 00:14:15.879 --> 00:14:28.299 And so last week in Genesis 7, we had this moment in verse 11 where God brought the waters up from the ground and down from the heavens. 00:14:28.299 --> 00:14:36.719 And we said last week that that sounded just like Genesis 1 language, except a reversal of Genesis 1. 00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:41.740 In Genesis 1, God put the waters above and the waters below in their place and made the dry land. 00:14:41.740 --> 00:14:44.960 But in Genesis 7, the flood is a decreation event. 00:14:45.720 --> 00:14:50.299 Now, listen to what happens here in Genesis chapter 8 in verse 2. 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:58.480 The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed and the rains of the heaven were restrained and the waters receded. 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:06.480 Now, the commentators are all so in agreement on this that when you start to read through the details of chapter 8, 00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:12.080 you start to see not decreation but a recreation event. 00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:18.519 And that recreation event seems to track through all the different days of Genesis chapter 1. 00:15:19.340 --> 00:15:24.080 So in Genesis chapter 1 on day 2, God put the waters in their place. 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:28.340 And then in Genesis chapter 8 verse 2, God puts the waters back in their place. 00:15:28.340 --> 00:15:29.540 It's just like day 2 again. 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:31.620 It's like a new creation all over. 00:15:32.120 --> 00:15:35.240 And I'll just briefly walk you through these. 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:37.440 What about day 3 in Genesis 1? 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:43.879 In day 3 in Genesis 1, when the waters are put in their place, dry land appears that humans can live on. 00:15:44.580 --> 00:15:48.100 And look down at Genesis chapter 8 verses 3 to 5. 00:15:48.100 --> 00:15:52.540 After the waters recede, all the way at the end of verse 5, it says, 00:15:52.940 --> 00:15:56.420 now that the waters have gone back to their place, the mountains could be seen. 00:15:57.080 --> 00:15:58.000 Dry land appears. 00:15:58.340 --> 00:16:02.100 And it says it again at the end of the passage, that dry land emerged. 00:16:02.660 --> 00:16:03.639 What about day 3? 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:05.399 What happens in Genesis 1 on day 3? 00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:07.379 The plants begin to grow. 00:16:07.620 --> 00:16:08.820 Vegetation begins to arise. 00:16:09.340 --> 00:16:15.379 And here in this story, Moses sends out a dove, and the dove brings back an olive leaf. 00:16:16.060 --> 00:16:18.899 Vegetation begins to arise again from the ground. 00:16:18.899 --> 00:16:24.500 And the olive branch, the olive leaf in the Bible means peace with God. 00:16:24.500 --> 00:16:26.240 It means reconciliation with God. 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:32.860 Just as the dove at Jesus' baptism, the Holy Spirit would condescend upon Christ. 00:16:32.860 --> 00:16:36.879 So here, there's a condescension of peace that's being spoken. 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:38.340 Day 4. 00:16:38.860 --> 00:16:39.639 Oh man, this one. 00:16:39.639 --> 00:16:46.699 In Genesis chapter 1, in day 4, God says, I'm giving the sun and the moon and the stars so 00:16:46.699 --> 00:16:51.439 that there will be seasons, day and night, evening and morning, year after year. 00:16:51.899 --> 00:16:57.699 And then when you get to Genesis 8, at the end in verse 22, he says, day and night, summer 00:16:57.699 --> 00:16:59.659 and winter, the seasons will be here forever. 00:16:59.659 --> 00:17:01.419 And you could go on and on. 00:17:01.500 --> 00:17:04.619 The birds over the waters, day 5 in Genesis 1. 00:17:04.779 --> 00:17:06.379 Well, he sends out the raven and the dove. 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:07.579 Day 6. 00:17:08.200 --> 00:17:12.079 The day 6 in Genesis 1, the creatures are made, every living thing. 00:17:12.599 --> 00:17:19.159 And Genesis 1 is quoted in verse 17 and 19 to describe every living creature that came out 00:17:19.159 --> 00:17:19.639 of the ark. 00:17:20.200 --> 00:17:27.000 And then day 6 again, and here's where you really know that Genesis 8 is a recreation, 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:29.819 a new creation corresponding to Genesis 1. 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:32.980 And that's down in chapter 8, verse 17. 00:17:34.220 --> 00:17:39.920 God says to Moses, to Noah, sorry, bring out with you every living thing that is with you, 00:17:40.440 --> 00:17:43.579 all the birds and animals, that they may swarm on the earth. 00:17:43.640 --> 00:17:48.200 And then there's the language, that they would be fruitful and multiply on all the earth. 00:17:48.460 --> 00:17:50.900 And that's a quote from Genesis 1, 28. 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:56.259 And you see, what's happening here is that the flood story, the just judgment of God was 00:17:56.259 --> 00:17:57.160 de-creation. 00:17:57.420 --> 00:18:01.359 But in Genesis chapter 8, God is recreating the world. 00:18:01.940 --> 00:18:02.980 He's given a whole new creation. 00:18:03.099 --> 00:18:07.960 And it follows the sequence of the days of creation even in the way that Noah observes 00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:10.359 the land after the waters have receded. 00:18:11.160 --> 00:18:13.279 I'll cap it all off with this. 00:18:14.259 --> 00:18:18.039 In verse 2, look at verse, sorry, the end of verse 1 with me. 00:18:18.039 --> 00:18:22.539 It says, God made a wind blow over the earth and the water subsided. 00:18:23.579 --> 00:18:27.599 That Hebrew word, God made a wind, is the word ruach. 00:18:28.119 --> 00:18:32.019 It means wind or spirit in the Old Testament. 00:18:32.680 --> 00:18:38.559 And it's the same phrase that shows up in Genesis 1, verse 2, that God made the heavens and the 00:18:38.559 --> 00:18:38.740 earth. 00:18:38.819 --> 00:18:39.379 And what happened? 00:18:39.720 --> 00:18:44.339 The ruach came and covered over the face of the waters, hovered over the face of the waters. 00:18:44.339 --> 00:18:49.819 Here, it's the same line that the ruach, the spirit, not just the wind, but the spirit hovered 00:18:49.819 --> 00:18:51.339 over the face of the waters. 00:18:51.659 --> 00:18:52.699 What is happening here? 00:18:52.839 --> 00:19:00.839 This is Noah, a second Adam, stepping out into a world that was submerged in God's judgment 00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:02.579 that now has been remade. 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:04.939 And what does it teach us? 00:19:05.079 --> 00:19:10.240 It teaches us that salvation is more than just the forgiveness of sins. 00:19:10.279 --> 00:19:11.559 It's the whole salvation story. 00:19:11.559 --> 00:19:16.319 It's that you Christian friends are being saved unto new creation. 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:19.579 And so you can't cut the story off. 00:19:20.539 --> 00:19:25.460 You know, the bookends of the story, we talk about our creation and fall and redemption and 00:19:25.460 --> 00:19:26.099 new creation. 00:19:26.619 --> 00:19:31.500 But it can be our tendency oftentimes to cut the bookends off and to say, what's the gospel? 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:34.359 Well, the gospel is that you're a sinner and you need redemption. 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:35.339 And that is the gospel. 00:19:35.799 --> 00:19:37.559 That's exactly what Genesis 7 said. 00:19:37.559 --> 00:19:44.099 But when you get to Genesis 8, you realize that the whole gospel is that God made you 00:19:44.099 --> 00:19:49.119 and that God will restore you and bring you all the way in to the new creation. 00:19:49.659 --> 00:19:54.139 That you have to have the whole story, the broad gospel, the big gospel to understand what 00:19:54.139 --> 00:19:57.379 Christianity is actually teaching, the full story of redemption. 00:19:57.380 --> 00:20:02.220 Now, thirdly and finally, God made a way. 00:20:05.900 --> 00:20:12.380 Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a famous French philosopher in the Enlightenment in the 18th century. 00:20:13.540 --> 00:20:19.420 And like all of the Enlightenment philosophers at the time, there was really a work among them 00:20:19.420 --> 00:20:23.420 to try to rethink what's wrong with humanity and what's wrong with the world. 00:20:23.420 --> 00:20:28.240 I don't know if you guys have looked at the news in the last 24 hours, but the last 24 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:31.539 hours have had a heavy slate of very awful things. 00:20:31.940 --> 00:20:37.720 A terrorism attack, multiple shootings that were with multiple victims, a hurricane. 00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:40.400 I mean, all sorts of things have happened this week in the news. 00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:43.460 And the news comes across really bad. 00:20:43.580 --> 00:20:47.920 And in the same way, in the 18th century, these philosophers were looking at horrific events 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:50.840 like the Lisbon earthquake in Portugal. 00:20:50.839 --> 00:20:53.559 And they were saying, what is wrong with the world? 00:20:53.639 --> 00:20:54.500 What is wrong with humanity? 00:20:54.599 --> 00:20:58.459 But what they wanted to do was rethink that and suggest an alternative idea. 00:20:58.539 --> 00:21:02.179 And Jean-Jacques Rousseau, one of the most famous, he wrote a book about this. 00:21:02.699 --> 00:21:06.299 And he wrote a book really about children and their education. 00:21:06.299 --> 00:21:13.459 And what he said was that the problem is not with children or not with youth, not with even 00:21:13.459 --> 00:21:14.319 the human heart. 00:21:14.399 --> 00:21:19.579 The problem is with culture and it's with society and it's with not nature, but nurture, 00:21:19.799 --> 00:21:20.339 its environment. 00:21:20.339 --> 00:21:21.220 So listen to what he writes. 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:26.859 He says, everything is good as it leaves the hands of the author. 00:21:27.899 --> 00:21:32.519 Everything degenerates when it's put into the hands of men, humankind. 00:21:33.059 --> 00:21:37.839 And what he was saying there is that the problem we face as humans is not what we are. 00:21:37.919 --> 00:21:38.599 It's not ethical. 00:21:38.939 --> 00:21:40.359 It's not something in us. 00:21:40.500 --> 00:21:41.899 He's saying it's entirely outside. 00:21:42.119 --> 00:21:47.639 So his experiment was if you take a group of children and you separate them from society 00:21:47.640 --> 00:21:52.340 and you let them live on their own, they will actually never fall into degeneracy. 00:21:52.460 --> 00:21:53.820 They'll never fall into big sins. 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:55.780 They'll never fall into corruption. 00:21:55.960 --> 00:22:03.320 Now, listen, Genesis 8 is, to put it this way, the experiment that Rousseau needed to 00:22:03.320 --> 00:22:03.540 see. 00:22:04.900 --> 00:22:06.520 Because what's happened in Genesis 8? 00:22:06.580 --> 00:22:09.840 In Genesis 8, God has sent a flood upon the world. 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:14.000 And the only people that are left are Noah and his family. 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:17.459 And Noah and his family are called blameless and righteous. 00:22:17.460 --> 00:22:20.680 And then you read verse 20 and 21. 00:22:21.819 --> 00:22:22.779 And what does it say? 00:22:23.019 --> 00:22:28.240 It says, Noah built an altar to the Lord and he offered a sacrifice. 00:22:28.840 --> 00:22:34.740 In verse 21, the Lord smelled the aroma and the Lord said in his heart, I will never again 00:22:34.740 --> 00:22:36.380 curse the ground because of humanity. 00:22:37.140 --> 00:22:37.519 Why? 00:22:38.279 --> 00:22:42.620 For the intention of the human heart is evil from his youth. 00:22:42.619 --> 00:22:51.939 Now, what's so striking as we finish is that the same diagnosis God gave for sending the 00:22:51.939 --> 00:22:55.639 flood is quoted here in 821. 00:22:56.139 --> 00:23:00.779 Back in chapter 6, God said, I am bringing the flood to the world, judgment to the world, 00:23:00.819 --> 00:23:04.819 because there is nothing but evil in the human heart from the time of their youth. 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:10.899 But then you come to chapter 8 and he said, I will never again flood the world because the 00:23:10.900 --> 00:23:13.240 human heart is evil from the time of their youth. 00:23:13.259 --> 00:23:17.100 You see, he says, on the one hand, I'm going to flood the world because the human heart is 00:23:17.100 --> 00:23:17.580 so evil. 00:23:17.820 --> 00:23:22.180 On the other hand, I will never again flood the world because the human heart is so evil. 00:23:24.140 --> 00:23:25.500 And what is he talking about here? 00:23:25.600 --> 00:23:27.200 The slate has been wiped clean. 00:23:27.300 --> 00:23:31.540 We've just saw in point two that Noah has entered into new creation. 00:23:31.620 --> 00:23:37.400 Is he the one that would bring rest to the world in a beautiful land full of new creation 00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:37.900 life? 00:23:37.900 --> 00:23:45.100 And as soon as we get to verse 20 and 21, who is God talking about when he said the intention 00:23:45.100 --> 00:23:47.060 of the heart is only evil? 00:23:47.660 --> 00:23:48.480 He's talking about Noah. 00:23:50.680 --> 00:23:52.840 And he's saying there's a big problem left. 00:23:53.780 --> 00:23:58.240 And that's that I might have brought just judgment upon the world and we might have started 00:23:58.240 --> 00:23:58.640 over. 00:23:58.940 --> 00:24:01.720 And it's sort of like Genesis 1 all over again. 00:24:01.720 --> 00:24:07.220 But Noah still has an evil heart and so does his family. 00:24:07.319 --> 00:24:08.140 And you see what God is saying? 00:24:08.200 --> 00:24:15.039 He's saying, I will never again flood the world like this because though I have the right to 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:19.620 bring just judgment upon humanity for their sins, though I have the right and it is good 00:24:19.620 --> 00:24:25.480 and all that God does is good, I want humans. 00:24:26.940 --> 00:24:27.880 What is he saying? 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:28.920 He's remembering humanity. 00:24:28.920 --> 00:24:33.880 He's saying, if I were to bring only judgment, it's never going to fix the deepest problem. 00:24:34.140 --> 00:24:35.860 And the deepest problem is the human heart. 00:24:37.080 --> 00:24:40.800 You know, I can wipe the slate clean and I can start over with a new Adam and his family, 00:24:41.080 --> 00:24:42.720 but they're still full of sin. 00:24:44.500 --> 00:24:51.539 And if I'm going to do the very purposes of my creation, which is to be with humanity forever 00:24:51.539 --> 00:24:55.380 and enjoy them and they enjoy me, something has to change. 00:24:55.480 --> 00:24:56.519 Something has to be different. 00:24:57.220 --> 00:24:58.420 Enter sacrifice. 00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:04.740 This moment in verse 20 is the first time the word altar is used in the Bible. 00:25:05.560 --> 00:25:10.580 And it's the first time a particular type of sacrifice is mentioned in the Bible. 00:25:10.800 --> 00:25:13.279 In Hebrew, it's called the olah sacrifice. 00:25:13.620 --> 00:25:16.019 It translates here to the whole burnt offering. 00:25:16.019 --> 00:25:18.879 And it's a very particular type of offering. 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:20.980 We read about it in Leviticus. 00:25:21.240 --> 00:25:29.660 It's an offering where the sinner would come and place their hand upon the head of the bull, 00:25:29.740 --> 00:25:31.220 the goat, the lamb that's being offered. 00:25:32.379 --> 00:25:35.519 And in that proclamation, what would happen is what's called expiation. 00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:38.379 And expiation is a fancy word for a simple idea. 00:25:38.380 --> 00:25:46.540 It's when you say, my sins have been fully transferred to this creature and it will be burned. 00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:47.540 It will die fully. 00:25:47.660 --> 00:25:49.540 It will be completely offered up to God. 00:25:49.760 --> 00:25:51.440 And Noah did that. 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:56.460 And he was saying, Lord, at the beginning of this new world, this, is it new creation? 00:25:57.180 --> 00:26:00.299 All I can say is, I need you to take my sins away. 00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:02.779 And he did that. 00:26:03.100 --> 00:26:04.840 And God received that offering. 00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:08.420 And God stayed the justice that Noah also deserved. 00:26:08.940 --> 00:26:09.840 And what was God saying? 00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:16.720 God was saying, if I continue to bring justice to this world like is right, like is due, 00:26:16.920 --> 00:26:22.039 it's never going to ultimately lead to new creation because people are just going to keep doing the same things. 00:26:22.620 --> 00:26:23.960 And Rousseau was so wrong. 00:26:23.960 --> 00:26:28.519 And the Lord said, no, the human heart has to be fixed. 00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:35.259 And the only way to do that is to have justice and mercy kiss, have justice and mercy meet. 00:26:35.340 --> 00:26:42.759 And so in this great sacrifice, this whole burnt offering, not only are your sins transferred to another and taken away from you, 00:26:42.840 --> 00:26:48.420 but then they're also propitiated, which means that God then turns and looks at you and says, 00:26:48.420 --> 00:26:54.039 because your sin has been taken away, I am with you and for you and reconciled with you forever. 00:26:55.180 --> 00:27:01.880 Now, do you know, friends, that in Romans 3 and Ephesians 2 and Ephesians 5, all three of those places, 00:27:02.220 --> 00:27:06.340 it says that Jesus Christ is our whole burnt offering. 00:27:06.339 --> 00:27:13.740 You see, he is the ark that you went down into the floodwaters with and he kept you. 00:27:15.500 --> 00:27:17.919 But then it's not enough, but then it's not enough. 00:27:18.459 --> 00:27:24.659 He also had to completely give himself away as a whole burnt offering so that your sins could be placed on him 00:27:24.660 --> 00:27:30.060 and God could say, I have now reconciled myself to you fully and finally and forever. 00:27:31.660 --> 00:27:32.759 I'll finish with this. 00:27:35.080 --> 00:27:41.200 You know, you think about where Genesis 8 in the Bible finds its ultimate fulfillment. 00:27:42.540 --> 00:27:45.900 I love the Lord of the Rings, I think is somewhat known here. 00:27:46.279 --> 00:27:51.920 And in the end of the story of the Lord of the Rings, the return of the king after the great battle of Minas Tirith 00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:57.080 and has happened and the ring has been destroyed, Samwise Gamgee, Frodo's dear friend, 00:27:57.200 --> 00:28:00.500 he wakes up from a sleep where he thought he was dead. 00:28:00.860 --> 00:28:05.539 And he turns to Gandalf and he says, Gandalf, I thought you were dead. 00:28:05.580 --> 00:28:07.519 In fact, I thought I was dead. 00:28:07.560 --> 00:28:09.480 And then he gives that famous phrase. 00:28:09.480 --> 00:28:14.680 He asks, are all the sad things that have happened going to come untrue? 00:28:17.380 --> 00:28:20.420 And he's really asking the same question that Genesis 8 was asking. 00:28:20.420 --> 00:28:26.880 When Noah walked out of the ark, is he the one in which we would find rest? 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:29.180 Is he the one that would usher in new creation? 00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:32.360 Is it in Noah that all the sad things will come untrue? 00:28:32.700 --> 00:28:35.759 And of course, the answer is that it's only in the one that he points to, 00:28:36.060 --> 00:28:38.460 the true and better Noah, Jesus Christ, 00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:42.900 who became for you a whole burnt offering so that you might step out of the ark, 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:47.100 the safety, the refuge of the cross into his resurrection life, his new creation. 00:28:47.099 --> 00:28:54.019 And that's such good news because where the fulfillment of Genesis 8 lands 00:28:54.019 --> 00:28:56.339 is in Revelation chapter 21. 00:28:56.519 --> 00:29:00.439 In this one little line, in that day, the day of new creation, 00:29:00.679 --> 00:29:02.179 the sea will be no more. 00:29:03.539 --> 00:29:04.759 There will be no more sea. 00:29:05.139 --> 00:29:07.699 Now, that is not bad news for you beach lovers. 00:29:08.839 --> 00:29:10.699 It's not saying there will be no more beaches, 00:29:10.859 --> 00:29:13.439 there will be no more water, there will be no more places to swim. 00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:14.420 No, what's it saying? 00:29:14.779 --> 00:29:15.500 What does it mean? 00:29:15.660 --> 00:29:18.400 Revelation 21, the new creation, there will be no more sea, 00:29:18.940 --> 00:29:21.039 there will be no more floodwaters. 00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:26.940 There will be no more sin, there will be no more chaos. 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:30.620 In that day, all of these problems will be gone 00:29:30.620 --> 00:29:33.100 and you will step out of the ark into the new creation 00:29:33.100 --> 00:29:36.840 because you step from the cross into resurrection life. 00:29:36.980 --> 00:29:39.660 And that's the story of Genesis 7 and 8 together. 00:29:39.660 --> 00:29:44.580 At the cross, Jesus was there. 00:29:44.840 --> 00:29:47.900 And of course, you remember he was hanging next to a thief. 00:29:49.240 --> 00:29:54.080 In Genesis chapter 8, verse 1, it says that the basis of Noah's salvation 00:29:54.080 --> 00:29:56.240 is that God remembered Noah. 00:29:57.519 --> 00:30:00.700 The basis of Noah's salvation is that God remembered him. 00:30:00.820 --> 00:30:01.840 It means that he loved him. 00:30:02.660 --> 00:30:05.420 And at the cross, Jesus was hanging next to a thief. 00:30:05.420 --> 00:30:09.160 And that thief had no more fresh starts left. 00:30:09.259 --> 00:30:11.039 That thief was moments away from death. 00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:14.039 A man that was being publicly executed. 00:30:14.820 --> 00:30:17.400 A man that had no hope left in the world, to be sure. 00:30:17.860 --> 00:30:18.960 And what did he say to Jesus? 00:30:21.019 --> 00:30:23.320 He said, will you remember me? 00:30:25.240 --> 00:30:27.519 So it doesn't matter if you've lived a blameless life, 00:30:27.640 --> 00:30:30.820 a good, moral, respectable person, decent person like Noah, 00:30:31.039 --> 00:30:31.960 and boy, was he. 00:30:31.960 --> 00:30:35.140 He needed expiation and propitiation. 00:30:35.279 --> 00:30:35.799 Noah did. 00:30:36.140 --> 00:30:39.480 And it doesn't matter if you're like the thief on the cross 00:30:39.480 --> 00:30:43.559 and you say, my life has been nothing but ruin. 00:30:44.940 --> 00:30:48.059 God says in Christ Jesus, he will remember you. 00:30:49.480 --> 00:30:55.279 And you need do nothing but ask and say, Lord, remember me. 00:30:55.720 --> 00:30:58.079 And he will, and he will take you to new creation. 00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:00.019 Let us pray. 00:31:00.119 --> 00:31:03.839 Father, we ask that you would remember us today. 00:31:03.960 --> 00:31:07.939 And I ask that you would remember specifically individuals here 00:31:07.939 --> 00:31:09.379 that are looking for hope. 00:31:11.299 --> 00:31:14.000 And so remember us now as we sing your praises 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:18.779 and we sing of the God who takes us all the way through the storm, 00:31:19.079 --> 00:31:21.639 all the way into resurrection life, into new creation. 00:31:21.640 --> 00:31:26.600 And we ask for that love from you now by faith. 00:31:27.140 --> 00:31:28.300 In Jesus' name, amen.