We are recording.
So last week, so last week we did the beginning of Genesis.
We got all the way to creation and did not finish what I could have said about creation.
So it's, there's so much, so much.
I could have done five weeks on Genesis for sure,
because I have an outline here that does not finish Genesis by any stretch.
So I'm okay with that, because what I hope to do here is point us in a direction of a way to read Genesis
and the other books of really the whole Bible, but especially the Old Testament, the foundational truths.
That's what I'm trying to pull out is some foundational big ideas.
And I can't pull them all out, because there are a lot of them.
But what I hope to do is sort of model a way of looking at Scripture to help us think that way.
So I'm a person who thinks details and events and this narrative portion, you know, this, the story of Noah and the flood.
You know, and I think about that pretty contained.
Like I do think about, well, what does it show us about Christ?
What is it?
How does it point to Christ?
How does it?
You know, I think about some of those things.
But what are the big ideas that undergird all of what we believe?
And without which our neighbors, who increasingly don't have this foundation, our neighbors are thinking really differently from the way we are.
I forget if I said this last week, but I have an aunt who's, she's in her 80s.
She's very much a child of the 60s and the sexual revolution and all of this.
Very bright, very interesting, very curious, really a wonderful, warm person.
But we've had conversations, and I've realized we are on a different planet.
Like the way she thinks about God is not as a personal God at all.
Like that's sort of where I start.
I've been a Christian for a long time, so this is what's in my head.
And even as a child in a non-Christian home, the idea was that God was a personal God that you could like pray to.
There was not a real faith in that God, but that's what I was taught as a child to the extent I was taught anything.
But so anyway, the world has changed.
And so that's what I want to look at.
So it's okay with me if we don't hit everything because, you know, you can go back and read Genesis and begin thinking about, for instance, we're not going to get to Abraham for Pete 6.
You know, the outline goes through Noah, and I may mention some other things a little bit about Babel and Abraham.
But, you know, there are things all the way through.
So as you read, not just Genesis, but whatever you're reading, I just want to encourage you to say, so what?
Like, okay, this happened.
So what?
What does this tell us about who we are, who God is, how the world works, the givens that God has built into creation because he is the creator?
So this week we're going to start with the fall, which is another, you know, big one.
So the account is in Genesis 3.
And I'm not going to read the whole thing.
But let me just read some of it.
So in Genesis 3, it begins,
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman,
Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?
And the woman said to the serpent,
We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden.
But God said,
You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden.
Neither shall you touch it, lest you die.
But the serpent said to the woman,
You shall not surely die.
For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened.
And you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
and that it was a delight to the eyes,
and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,
she took of its fruit and ate.
And she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both were opened,
and they knew that they were naked.
And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
And if you are familiar with this story,
which I gather many of you are,
we see how this eventually works out.
And this disobedience is a big deal.
So I want to first talk about,
what did we learn about sin in this passage?
This is the beginning of sin, right?
And I want to look at Eve and what's going on in her head, right?
We don't know exactly,
but we know that Eve knows the command not to eat of the fruit.
It seems pretty clear.
She kind of expands on it by saying,
neither shall you touch it,
which we have no record of God actually saying.
So she's allowed a little more law to get in there.
But she knows she's not supposed to eat of the tree.
That's clear.
But she listens to the serpent.
She gives him an audience.
Might have been wiser not to engage
once she realized he was going to call God into question,
which is what he does.
He talks in these sort of half-truths, right?
He said, you will not surely die.
Now, that's an outright lie.
They don't die immediately,
and the death that they die
is a bigger death than just a physical death.
As we recognize it,
it results in much more
than just their physical death,
which does come.
So that's a lie,
the serpent says.
And then he says,
for God knows that when you eat of it,
your eyes will be opened,
and you will be like God,
knowing good and evil.
So then she looks at the tree.
Oh, it looks really good.
Like, that looks good.
And it sounds like,
I mean, the serpent is saying,
God doesn't really have your best interests at heart.
God's really holding out on you.
Well, I wonder if that's true.
So she's weighing these things.
And even in weighing those things
and wondering if what God says is true,
she's put herself in the place of judge
over what is right and wrong, right?
So she listens to the serpent.
She's listened to God.
And she's like, okay,
what do I choose?
And that what do I choose
is her expressing her autonomy
and her,
I get to decide, right?
And deciding what is good
and what is evil
apart from what God has said.
So the essence of sin,
as we see it here
and we see it throughout scripture,
this is just a broad,
there are many ways to talk about sin,
but it's autonomy.
It's autonomy that I can decide,
I can decide good and evil.
I can be the judge
over what is right and wrong,
what's right for me,
what's going to be better for me,
what's more desirable,
what do I want?
And it's not that we don't have
choices and options under God.
We absolutely do.
But the rational approach, right,
is to trust that God,
who created the world,
he actually knows better than I do
what is right and what is wrong,
what is good and what is evil,
what is going to be better for me.
And she thinks the fruit
is going to be better.
And she chooses that.
So she takes over the role
of God in her life, right?
She has decided the law for her.
And we do this every time we sin, right?
We weigh the options.
Sometimes that happens really fast, right?
We're not always deliberating
over whether we're going to
snap at our spouse, right?
We don't give it a lot of thought always,
which is the problem.
But every time we choose
to disobey God,
we're taking on that position of
I get to decide what's right
and what's wrong.
And this is what I'm going to do
because it seems better to me.
So that's really the essence of sin.
And as it enters the world,
and if we look around now,
and this has been true throughout history
since the fall,
which affected all of us,
which resulted in an inability
to always choose the good,
which Eve had.
She had an ability
to say no to the serpent.
And Christ restores that to us, right?
When he chooses us
and gives us grace
and he puts his spirit in us,
we are able to say no to sin.
We will never do it perfectly.
But that faculty of choosing the good
is restored to us.
But throughout history,
apart from Christ,
we see autonomy is like the thing.
And it becomes more and more evident
as you proceed through history.
So people in ancient days
didn't have a lot of choices.
They still could sin or not.
But autonomy wasn't all,
that wasn't all their world.
But in many ways,
it is all our world in the West.
Autonomy is the expectation
everywhere we look in our culture.
And it's not rational
any more than it was for Eve, right?
If God created the earth,
which again,
that's a big if for most of,
you know, most,
many of our neighbors,
if God created the world,
he probably knows better than I do.
Remember,
we talked about the
creator-creature distinction
and how God is outside creation
and we are inside it.
So our perspective,
we only have,
if we ignore God,
we can only judge by what's around us.
And that's not gonna,
that doesn't provide enough information.
But God,
God offers it.
So our society assumes
that autonomy and choice
are necessarily,
and of themselves,
both possible
and the ultimate good.
Right?
If you look around,
what,
what do we think of
when we think of freedom?
We think the ability to do
pursuit of happiness,
to pursue these goods
in our lives?
Sorry.
The biblical view
is that
autonomy,
and this is a quotation,
autonomy,
understood in the sense
of being independent
from God
in our judgments
and evaluations,
is metaphysically impossible
and relationally destructive.
So we really cannot be
independent of God
because we are created beings.
We are finite.
We're subject to God.
He created us.
He can,
he sustains us.
He gives us breath.
We are not independent.
We cannot exist independently,
whether we acknowledge it or not.
And as I said,
after the fall,
we have the added corruption
of what sin does
to our minds
and our wills
and the way it turns us
into ourselves.
The result
of this autonomy,
of this sin,
rejecting God
and pretending we are God,
is alienation.
And you can see
all kinds of alienation
throughout
as then God
unveils
the curses
and the results
of their sin
in the rest of chapter 3.
We're alienated from God.
We're alienated
from one another.
You see the immediate
blame game
that goes on
between Adam and Eve
and the serpent.
We're alienated
from our bodies.
Like they're suddenly
super uncomfortable
that they're naked
and they need to
cover it.
They're shamed.
We're alienated
from the rest of creation.
All of creation
is affected
by our sin
and the fall.
All of creation
has been unsettled
and is corrupt.
Not necessarily,
thoroughly,
none of these,
like this corruption,
none of it is so much
that God's good creation
isn't evident
and that there aren't
good things in creation
or that our being created
in the image of God
doesn't go away.
We are still created
in the image of God
but we're warped
and twisted
and the creation,
too,
is likewise
warped and twisted.
It's not what it should be.
So that idea
of what is now
is neither what it always was
nor what it was meant to be.
So God created it.
Remember last week,
God created it good
and he said,
this is good.
And then the fall
and it's not good.
But that implies,
you know,
what it says is that
there was a really good time.
It was created good.
Eden was real
and beautiful
and a place of abundance
and blessing.
Something happened
and we know it as
sin entered the world
and now the world
is not so good.
We see goodness,
but we also see evil.
We see cruelty.
There's murder
within the first few chapters
of Genesis.
The world is not
as it should be.
And I think,
I think we all,
Christian and non-Christian alike,
sense that.
Like, this isn't,
we're not really supposed to be,
you know,
embroiled in war
and embroiled in
fierce arguments
with one another
and hating each other
and we know racism is not,
that's not ideal
and we know,
so, you know,
even apart from Christ,
we recognize that
this is not,
this is not what it should be.
But where do we get that sense?
Like, why,
why do we think that?
And it's only because
it once was
as it should be.
And that echo
of Eden,
you know,
sort of,
it,
it affects our hearts.
It affects even non-Christians
who don't believe
in Eden
and don't believe
in a fall.
so for,
for many non-Christians,
history is,
it's just always
what we know now.
That's all it was
and that's all
it's ever going to be.
So,
that's a really
different viewpoint
from,
from what the Bible
lays out for us,
which is,
first,
that there was a beginning,
as we talked about
last week,
there was a beginning
to history,
which implies an end.
it began good
and full of blessing
and abundance
and love
and sweetness,
but something happened.
So now what we have
is not what it was meant to be,
is not what it was,
and
we don't see this,
well,
we see it,
the very beginnings of it
in Genesis 3, 15,
there will be something different.
Something different is coming.
if we think about
the world,
if the world was always
riddled with sin,
cruelty,
hardship,
death-dealing,
tornadoes,
and all the rest,
we can opt
for
despair,
like this is what it is,
man,
life is rough,
and this is what we got,
and
let's make the best of it,
or not,
or let's give up,
or whatever,
you know,
there's
many philosophies
that are within that,
and that,
you know,
nihilism,
or existentialism,
these all
result from that view
that this is what it is,
and this is what it's going to be,
or
in many periods of history,
and many,
you know,
people throughout history
have taken a more utopian view,
like,
we can make it better.
we can,
as people evolve,
and get smarter,
and our technology improves,
and
we learn to love one another,
we can make it
what it should be,
right?
But that's not true either,
because of the way we're bound in sin,
and we're not,
we're not God.
Only God,
who is outside of creation,
can change the trajectory.
history.
We have had
millennia
to do that,
and we have never done it,
right?
And I don't feel like anyone
can look around the world today
and say,
we're almost there,
right?
I mean,
we're not saying that.
There was a period in history
before World War I,
there were a lot of people
who said,
we're almost there,
look at us,
look at what we're doing,
look at the technologies
we're developing,
and
we're gonna,
you know,
we're gonna apply science
and reason,
and we're gonna make
the world beautiful.
And then World War I came,
and this
utter,
senseless carnage
of World War I
disillusioned a lot of people,
and it was followed
not that long
after
by
the Depression
and World War II,
and like,
where's the hope?
Like,
that does not look good.
These,
these two
cataclysmic
conflicts
in the,
in the 20th century,
in the first half
of the 20th century,
took the wind
out of the sails
of a lot of
utopians.
But there's still
that temptation.
We desire to,
to see it get better.
We look at,
oh,
maybe AI will save us.
You know,
maybe,
you know,
maybe that will,
maybe that's the key,
you know,
to making the world
a better place
and loving each other
and,
and ending war
and violence
and all of this.
The other dimension,
which I briefly mentioned,
the Bible adds,
so,
the narrative tells us
that something happened
that destroyed something good
or that marred something good,
and something's going to happen.
So,
in Genesis 3,
chapter 15,
the Lord is speaking
to the serpent,
and he curses him,
and in verse 15,
he says,
I will put enmity
between you
and the woman
and between your offspring
and her offspring.
He shall bruise your head
and you shall bruise his heel.
Which would you rather have bruised,
your head or your heel?
Who's going to win this battle?
We know.
There's,
like,
we know.
We know for real.
But this is a promise
embedded right here
at the very beginning,
right here
in whatever it is,
hours after the first sin.
God makes a promise
that,
serpent,
you are not going to survive this.
But,
the,
by humanity,
the offspring of the woman
will survive
and will triumph
over you.
So,
this promise
way back here
in Genesis
is the first
of many subsequent promises,
as we know,
of an ultimate victory
and
something different,
not more of the same.
Promises of a future
and a hope
abound throughout the Bible.
I think we know this.
But,
at first,
they seem to be
in the near future.
there are short,
what seem to be
short-term promises.
Even the promise
to Abraham
will be fulfilled
over generations.
But it seems
kind of localized.
It seems specific
to Abraham
and his offspring,
his children.
And it is
in many ways.
But it's also
pointing forward
to what we know
as the coming of Christ,
the redemption
from sin
and eventually
the new heavens
and the new earth
where righteousness dwells.
That will be,
that's coming.
That's coming.
Now,
we don't have to
bring it about.
The utopian
wants to,
you know,
apply
reason
and science
and
technology
and all this
to bring it about.
And
it's not wrong
to apply reason
and science
and technology
to improve
people's lives.
That's a good thing.
But to hope
that that is going
to be the answer
is foolishness.
It's not going
to be the answer.
God is going
to bring about
the new heavens
and the new earth.
And he planned it
way back here.
He actually planned it
before the foundation
of the earth.
Right?
But here's the first hint
and it's right after
the fall.
the plan of God
for redemption
is first promised
immediately after the fall
but the promises
multiply
and widen
in application
up to and through
the incarnation
of Christ.
And in the New Testament
we have promises
of a new heaven
and a new earth
where righteousness dwells.
The Bible
gives us
perspective
on the world
we live in
that the world
doesn't naturally have.
Right?
We have the perspective
in the narrative
of scripture
laid down in Genesis
that what God created
was good
was very good.
And something happened.
Humanity
brought sin
into the world
with the help
of the serpent.
And
that messed
everything up.
but
there's a promise
here
that points
to a future
where everything
will not still
be messed up.
Everything messed up
will be cleaned up.
That's the promise
of scripture.
So as we talk
with our neighbors
I think we need
to remember
that the reality
of the fall
is really good news
in a broken world.
This is good news.
It means
this is not
how it was meant to be.
This is not
how it should be.
This is not
this is not
part of the design.
We're not stuck
with this
necessarily.
Right?
It's
something happened.
So how do we
get back
to Eden
or how do we
as the Bible
tells us
move forward
into something
even better
than Eden?
But often
you know
our
we talk about
the fall
in the church
but out there
they're not
talking about
the fall.
Like they're
recognizing evil
and awfulness
and all of that
but they don't
realize
they don't really
stay conscious
of if they
have it in their
heads at all.
It wasn't always
like this
and it will not
always be like this.
So this is
this is hope.
This is our hope
as believers.
This is the hope
of the scripture
way back here
in Genesis.
God has something
better in mind
than even Eden
and the sin
of Adam and Eve
and the sins
of so many
throughout millennia
will not thwart
God's plan.
God is going
to bring about
something really
good.
The fall
points us
to hope
and it is a
belief more
and more foreign
to our neighbors.
Evil is not
original
and it will
not last.
So that's
good news.
Right?
That's good news.
And as we
talk to
people around
us
who don't
have this
foundation
and who
don't see
like just
the idea
is like
will someone
sinned back
there in a
garden
and what
I suffer
for it
like what
the heck
you know
there's all
kinds of
like it
doesn't make
sense
and it
doesn't
sound like
good news
right?
But if we
put it in
the context
of God's
big story
it's really
good news
that there
was a fall.
Now
obviously
there are
ways in
which it's
not good
news
but
essentially
that's what
it is
and it
points
just like
the beginning
of the
world
and creation
in the
beginning
God
created
the heavens
and the
earth
points to
an end
when the
history as
we know
it will
come to
an end
so does
the fall
and in
the way
it's
presented
in Genesis
chapter 3
point us
to
something
different
that's
going to
be way
way better.
So any
questions or
comments on
that?
I've read
how the
perception
that most
people seem
to have
about
there's so
much that's
good about
the world
and that
there's so
much that's
bad about
the world
can
provide
an opening
to the
gospel
as you
just pointed
out.
There is
this
tension
or
paradox
as we
look around
this
and
well
might I
share with
you
what the
biblical
perspective
is or
what Jesus'
perspective
is on
why do
we have
that?
Yep.
Or like
why do we
have these
good things?
Why are
these absolutely
wonderful
things built
into our
creation?
Not just
the physical
wonders
which are
stunning and
amazing
but love
between a
husband and
a wife.
The joy
of raising
children,
the joy
of
a good
conversation,
the joy
of hanging
out with
friends and
laughing.
All these
joys,
they're only
there because
God put
them there,
right?
And
why would
that evolve
out of
sort of
nothing?
Why would
that just
come about
any more
than why
would there
be so
much evil?
Like apart
from the
story of
scripture,
the story
the Bible
tells,
we don't
have reasons
for any
of this
stuff.
So,
yeah,
thanks.
Yeah?
It just
seems like
in the world
people that
really don't
really know
about the
Bible and
God stuff,
they think
it's like
a fantasy
type God
or a
kind of
storytelling
thing,
but if
you look
at,
if you
read the
Bible and
you look
at what
story is
the Bible,
you realize
how much
God really
feels in
reality.
Yeah.
Yeah,
it's a great
point.
Yep.
All right,
so let's
move on.
We're going
to look at
Noah and
the flood.
And again,
I'm not going
to read the
whole story.
I'm going
to assume
some of
that's
in your
heads,
but I
want to
read
Genesis
chapter 6
verses 5
through 7.
The Lord
saw that
the wickedness
of man
was great
in the
earth,
and that
every
intention
of the
thoughts
of his
heart
was only
evil
continually.
And the
Lord
regretted
that he
had made
man on
the earth
and it
grieved
him to
his heart.
So the
Lord
said,
I will
blot out
man whom
I have
created
from the
face of
the land,
man and
animals and
creeping things
and birds
of the
heavens,
for I'm
sorry that
I have
made them.
But Noah
found favor
in the
eyes of
the Lord.
So,
let's
see.
so that's
how this
account
begins,
right?
God
looks at
the earth
and wow,
it is
really a
mess,
right?
I mean,
he doesn't
pull any
punches,
like every
intention of
the thoughts
of his
heart was
only evil
continually.
And it
just like,
yeah,
I mean,
it's a,
it's a
jarring
indictment
of what
humanity
has become,
right?
But then
this,
this striking
verse 8
there,
Noah found
favor in
the eyes
of the
Lord.
Now,
what is
that about?
Was Noah
such a
good guy
that God
just couldn't
resist?
Well,
I gotta save
him because
he's really
good.
He's the
one who's
really righteous
and all the
rest are
losers,
right?
But if
you read
it in the
context of
the account
and all
of scripture,
we recognize
that's not
how God
ever works.
He never
looks at
someone and
says,
you're who I
need because
you are
really good
or you're,
you have,
you have
what we
need here,
you need
to be the
leader,
right?
That's not
how he goes
about choosing
anyone in
scripture.
So why
would that
be true
here with
Noah?
Noah found
favor in
the eyes
of the
Lord,
and when
we read
verse 9,
the very
next verse,
these are
the generations
of Noah.
Noah was
a righteous
man,
blameless
in his
generation.
Noah walked
with God.
So first,
we have
this
word that
says,
God
looked on
Noah with
favor,
right?
It's basically
what he
said,
or grace
is another
way to
look at
that word
favor,
right?
Noah found
favor or
grace in
the eyes
of the
Lord,
and only
then do
we hear
that Noah
was a
righteous
man.
God
chooses
unrighteous
people,
because that's
all he's
got to
choose from,
right?
We're all
unrighteous
in this
generation
of Noah's
generation,
all the
thoughts
and intentions
of their
hearts
were only
evil
continually.
God
chooses
Noah.
Well,
why?
Well,
we don't
know.
That's hidden
in the mind
of God.
But I think
we can be
pretty confident
that it wasn't
because Noah
was such a
good guy,
because that's
never the way
it works
in Scripture.
God chooses
sinners.
He chooses
people who
are fallen
and broken
and sinful,
who are
rebellious.
This is who
he chooses.
And then
what happens
is,
the pattern
of Scripture,
the chosen
person,
right,
in this case
Noah,
responds to
God,
enabled by
God to
respond,
responds in
faith and
obedience.
God
so,
right here
in the story
of Noah,
we have
the reminder
or the,
like,
it's one
of the first
accounts where
we see
God's grace.
Now,
we've seen
it in Adam
and Eve
for sure.
He could
have just
wiped them
out and
just stopped
right there,
but God
did not,
and he
continues
his intention
for the
earth and
his creation.
and here
in Noah,
we see it
again.
Noah found
favor or
grace.
Noah was
righteous,
but the
order is
important.
The pattern
throughout the
Bible is
that God
chooses a
person and
that person
trusts and
obeys God
in consequence,
not the
other way
around.
God's
dealings with
Noah
reverse the
performance
leads to
reward,
dynamic,
to one of
blessing leads
to response.
God does
not wait
until Noah
comes up to
scratch before
blessing him,
nor does he
wait until
Noah has
built the
boat before
declaring him
righteous.
That's the
big obedience
that we see
in Noah.
He does
what God
tells him to
do,
and we see
that,
but that's
after he's
found favor
in God's
eyes.
God's
blessing
comes
unbidden
gratuitously.
We talked
about
how creation
itself is
gratuitous,
that it
doesn't need
to happen,
that it
comes as
a gift
and as
a blessing.
And here
this blessing
on Noah
comes the
same way.
It comes
out of the
love of
God's
heart and
not God
responding to
something good
in Noah.
God's
blessing
comes,
I said
that,
okay.
It
transforms
Noah's
action from
performance
orchestrated to
win God's
favor,
which is how
the world
works,
right?
We perform
and we
expect a
reward.
He transforms
that into a
grateful response
to God's
loving initiative.
initiative.
A number of
these quotes
here come
from the
book Biblical
Critical
Thinking by
Christopher Watkin
and that was a
quote from
Watkin.
And I am
going to put
together a
little bibliography
so you have
these titles.
So this is
utterly foreign
to the fallen
world, from
pagan religions
to sophisticated
stock traders
outside the
kingdom, and
we who are
believers as
well need
regular reminders
of this
pattern.
So strongly
does our
culture and
our sin
push against
it.
God doesn't
reward us
because we
perform well.
God has
grace, he
chooses us,
and he
enables us to
respond in
faith and
obedience.
And that's
the pattern
that we see.
And, you
know, on
this side of
Christ's death
and resurrection
and we have
the New
Testament that's
a lot clearer
to us.
But still,
don't we all
need reminders
of this?
Like, I mean,
I need it
every day.
I need to
remember that
I'm not
my good,
whatever it
is.
First, it's
enabled only
by God and
not by me.
And second,
it doesn't
make God
love me
more.
God doesn't
love me
more than
he did
when I
was
screwing
everything
up.
Right?
And the
reality is I
continue to
screw everything
up as I
even do
some good
things.
Right?
But it's
all grace.
It's all
grace.
The world
is perform
in order to
gain the
prize.
This is what
we do.
Do what
you have
to do
to get
what you
want.
And we
know this
is how
the world
works.
Right?
You go
to work.
You expect
to be paid.
You do
well.
You expect
to be
promoted.
Get a
raise.
This is
how it
works.
This is
another
quotation
from
Watkin.
It says,
Grace is
not an
outworking
of Noah's
character,
family
situation,
or culture.
Such an
event of
grace is
possible in
the biblical
world because
God radically
transcends the
created order
and is not
contained or
constrained by
its logical
or natural
possibilities.
We do
not live
in a
closed
system,
but in
a creation
whose
creator is
living and
active.
And again,
that goes
back to the
foundation of
creation.
He is
outside
creation,
and he
created it.
And he
is both
transcendent,
like outside
and above,
and imminent.
He's
active within
his creation.
So that's
where we
see,
that's where
grace comes
in, right?
Because he
cares, because
he loves us.
He created
out of love
and for
blessing.
And he
continues to
do that,
to pour
that out
on us,
even though
we don't
deserve it.
We've shown
that over
and over
again.
Another thing
to think
about with
the flood
is that
God saves
us from
himself.
The waters
that drowned
the human race
were also the
waters that
floated the
ark and
saved Noah
and his
family.
We have the
judgment of
God against
evil, the
righteous and
good judgment
of God
against the
evil rebellion
of the
world.
And then
we have
him choosing
Noah and
saving Noah
and his
family right
from out of
the midst of
that judgment.
And as we
look through
scripture, we
see this over
and over again,
right?
And we see
it most
poignantly, of
course, on
the cross.
Jesus takes
the judgment
that we
deserve.
God pours
out his
judgment on
this man,
Christ Jesus,
and he
takes the
judgment from
us and
saves us
out of it.
Right?
We deserved
the judgment
that Jesus
took for us.
God rescues
us from
his own
judgment.
God rescues
us from
God.
And in
the world,
we'll find
judgment and
grace,
judgment and
love, or
whatever, as
antithetical.
Like, they
don't go
together.
But in
scripture, we
see them
knit together
in the heart
of God.
He is both
infinitely just
and will
punish sin,
and he is
infinitely
merciful, and
he opens
salvation to
all.
He invites
every person
to come to
him and
trust and be
saved.
God rescues
the heart.
He offers
the heart
to us.
Judgment and
grace flow
from the same
source, not
from a good
God fighting
against a bad
God.
You'll see
that in
religions
throughout
history.
Noah is
saved not
because he
flees from
God's
anger, but
because in
the midst of
that anger,
he trusts
God's
word.
It is
God whom
we fear
because of
his just
wrath against
sin, our
sin, but
it is in
God that we
hope in
the promise
of his
grace.
So
judgment and
mercy are
not contrary,
and God is
not one
sometimes and
the other
sometimes.
He's always
all of it.
God is
and that's
challenging
for us to
put together,
right?
And that's
true in
the world.
Again, in
Genesis, we
have the
beginnings of
themes, these
big ideas that
run through
Scripture.
And the
gospel of
Jesus makes
no sense.
things that
are
not
and if our
neighbors, our
co-workers, our
family members do
not have the
biblical
undergirding laid
in the earliest
chapters of the
Bible, and many
will not, we
need to be mindful
of that, or our
communication will
have no
resonance.
many, many
years ago, there
was some kind of
evangelism campaign
that was promoted
in the church I
was in as a
teenager.
And I'm trying
to remember, there
was this key
word, like this
key phrase, and
you were supposed
to go around
asking your
friends, you
know, something
like, I
shouldn't have
even started
because I can't
remember the
phrase.
But it had to
do with God
saving, right?
And again, my
aunt, the same
aunt, she was
like, from
what?
Like, it was not
evident that there
was anything to be
saved from, and
this is in the
70s, right?
And that was, and
I'm not saying it
was new in the
70s either, but
here's this woman
of the world,
who's like, well,
what are you
talking about God
saves?
Like, who
needs it, right?
So without the
undergirding that
we have, even in
just these, you
know, first 10
chapters of
Genesis, without
that, the gospel
makes no sense.
And we need to
remember that our
neighbors don't
necessarily have
that undergirding,
whether they've
heard the stories
or not, right?
I mean, and many
people will have
heard about the
flood, they will
have heard about,
but they will not
have, apart from
God's grace,
extracted from it
what the Bible is
teaching us, what
Moses wants us to
understand.
That is the
foundation for all
that we believe.
So I'm not going
to go into the
rest of it, we're
going to close
soon, unlike
last week, I'm
sorry I really
ran over.
As we move
forward in the
scriptures, we have
Babel and the
tower, in which,
if you remember,
people want to,
they decide to
build a tower to
heaven, to reach
into the heavens,
to make a name
for themselves.
How familiar is
that to us in
this culture?
We want to make
a name for
ourselves, when
in fact, God
who created us
has a name for
us.
He has an
identity for us,
and we just need
to walk into
that.
We don't need to
make a name for
ourselves, right?
And that comes
out of a sinful
pride and
autonomy.
Like, I'm going
to do it myself,
I'm going to
build this ladder
up to heaven, or
this tower, or
whatever it was.
So, all kinds
of things to
pull out of
that, and how
does our
language, like,
we didn't talk
about in
creation how
God spoke, and
it was.
What are the
implications of
that?
That was, you
know, this is
some of the
things that I
just didn't
unpack, because
we don't have
time, but God
is a speaking
God.
What does that
mean for us?
How do we see
that in our
culture, maybe
being lost
track of?
What's the
primacy of
language supposed
to be?
What is it
supposed to be?
Okay, so here
in Babel we
get language
again, right?
He confuses
their language.
We come to
the promise to
Abraham, it
sets up the
whole rest of
the narrative
about Israel,
and this is the
beginnings of
God's plan, not
really the
beginnings, but
this is a
fresh moment
in the
ancient world
where God
calls Abraham
and he's
going to give
Abraham all
his descendants
who are going
to be a
people of
God.
So the story
narrows to
Abraham and
his offspring.
The remaining
chapters of
Genesis unpack
the establishment
of the people
of Israel
through whom
God will
carry out
his plan
of redemption.
Over and over
we see sinners
who fail and
a God who
triumphs despite
their sin.
We see this
throughout Genesis.
Obviously we see
it through the
rest of Scripture,
but we see
again that the
people God
chooses are not
necessarily good.
They're not good
people, right?
Abraham, like,
throws his wife
under the bus a
couple times
because he wants
to protect
himself.
And we see
the failures
of his
descendants as
well.
And yet God
continues his
plan.
We see God's
providence at
work to
maintain that
line of
faithful Israel
despite barren
women, kidnapped
sons, murderous
brothers.
In Joseph in
particular, Moses
shows us God's
providence as
over years he
protects and
prospers Joseph,
notwithstanding
many serious
setbacks,
and he brings
his people to
Egypt.
What's that
about?
Well, so
next week we're
going to look at
little bits of,
I'll just say it
this way,
Exodus.
Okay, so we're
going to look at
that, look at the
Exodus from
Israel and try and
see what does
this add to our
picture of how
the world works,
of who God
is, who we
are.
So that's
basically what
we're doing.
But I just
encourage you as
you read,
particularly through
the Pentateuch,
but all through
Scripture, ask
yourself, so
what?
Why does it say
this here?
Why does it
refer back to,
you know,
there are
references that
refer back to
these earlier
chapters, right?
Adam and Eve
come up.
You know,
why is that
here at this
moment?
Just to think
about Scripture,
not just reading
the details and
getting the
story, which is
important, the
details are
important and
true and
valuable, but
also looking at
what is this
telling me about
God?
What is this
telling me about
the world?
And how do my
neighbors look at
this?
How do my
neighbors see
this?
So,
that's it.
So I'm
going to
close, and
you're welcome
to talk to me
anytime if you
have any
questions or
comments or
anything like
that, but
let me close
in prayer.
Father, as we
look at what
happened in the
Garden of Eden,
as we look at
the sin of the
world around
Noah and his
family, we see
your grace, we
see your
determination to
bless and to
do good to
the people you
have created.
Even in the
midst of our
rebellion and
sin, when it
looks like we
can't get any
worse, you
choose a man
and make him
righteous, and
he carries on
the human race.
And we see you
working out your
promises.
Throughout the
book of Genesis
and throughout
the scriptures, we
see your grace, and
oh God, how we
need your grace.
Remind us that it
is not our
performance that
gains us the
reward of
relationship with
you, but it is
your grace.
And help us, as
we reflect on
that, to then
walk out and
freely obey and
trust the God who
created us, who
knows all things.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.