WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.859 And I'm going to invite Chris to come and read scripture for us. 00:00:10.519 --> 00:00:16.440 This is Genesis chapter 9 verses 1 to 7 and then 18 to 28. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:39.759 And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 00:00:40.519 --> 00:00:43.640 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:47.219 And for your lifeblood I will require reckoning. 00:00:47.500 --> 00:00:50.620 From every beast I will require it, and from every man. 00:00:51.060 --> 00:00:54.039 From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of a man. 00:00:54.500 --> 00:00:58.439 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. 00:00:58.439 --> 00:01:00.799 For God made man in his own image. 00:01:01.339 --> 00:01:03.460 And you, be fruitful and multiply. 00:01:03.799 --> 00:01:05.739 Team on the earth and multiply it. 00:01:06.700 --> 00:01:12.539 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. 00:01:13.259 --> 00:01:14.840 Ham was the father of Canaan. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:17.280 These three were the sons of Noah. 00:01:17.700 --> 00:01:20.359 And from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed. 00:01:21.099 --> 00:01:24.400 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. 00:01:24.579 --> 00:01:28.200 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 00:01:28.439 --> 00:01:33.959 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 00:01:34.700 --> 00:01:41.959 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backwards and covered the nakedness of their father. 00:01:42.579 --> 00:01:46.039 Their faces were turned backwards, and they did not see their father's nakedness. 00:01:46.040 --> 00:01:52.340 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew that his youngest son, what his youngest son had done to him, he said, 00:01:52.800 --> 00:01:53.660 Cursed be Canaan. 00:01:54.219 --> 00:01:56.560 A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers. 00:01:57.219 --> 00:02:02.160 He also said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:08.840 May God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:12.640 After the flood, Noah lived for 350 years. 00:02:13.180 --> 00:02:16.659 All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died. 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:18.379 This is the word of the Lord. 00:02:18.379 --> 00:02:21.680 Let's pray. 00:02:22.340 --> 00:02:29.639 Lord, as we come to your word, we ask that you would give us eyes of faith to receive it in the way that you've delivered it, 00:02:29.719 --> 00:02:33.719 that we would see it as your word, as the Bible that you've given us, 00:02:33.799 --> 00:02:38.539 and that we would see what you have for us here, Lord, that our lives would be changed, 00:02:38.699 --> 00:02:44.780 that even in our seats today, that in some way you would be at work in us to change us from the inside out. 00:02:44.780 --> 00:02:47.280 And so we ask for your help now, in Christ's name. 00:02:47.639 --> 00:02:47.900 Amen. 00:02:49.180 --> 00:02:56.699 We're working through a series on Genesis 4-11, and Genesis 4-11 comes right after Genesis 1-3, 00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:01.460 and in that we saw God in Genesis 1 create the world, 00:03:02.199 --> 00:03:09.159 and then in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve, the first humans, they fell into sin and rebellion against God. 00:03:10.099 --> 00:03:15.639 Now, Genesis 4-11 cycles then of the same thing. 00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:20.199 There's a creation event and a fall, a decline. 00:03:20.539 --> 00:03:23.959 Remember, right before the flood, there was violence in all the earth. 00:03:24.019 --> 00:03:24.799 It was totally corrupted. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:33.480 And then in the flood, we saw God unmake the world in a way, and then through the ark and through Noah and his family remake the world, 00:03:34.100 --> 00:03:37.140 reset it, reconstitute it like Genesis 1 all over again. 00:03:37.139 --> 00:03:43.359 And then at the end of Genesis 8, Noah and his family parade out from the ark with the animals. 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:52.540 And you've got a sort of a new Adam and a second Eve and all these animals being ushered out into a new world, a garden. 00:03:52.539 --> 00:03:55.560 And it's like creation all over again. 00:03:55.620 --> 00:04:03.959 And yet, we read at the same time in chapter 8, verse 21, that Noah took his heart into the ark, and he took his heart out of the ark as well. 00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:12.379 And at the core, even the best man on earth at the time, it says his heart was only full of evil sin from the time of his youth. 00:04:12.379 --> 00:04:17.579 And so that means that as you come to this passage today, think about it, dear reader. 00:04:17.819 --> 00:04:28.180 If there has been a creation event and a fall event and a decline event and a recreation event already in the story from Genesis 1 to Genesis 8, 00:04:28.579 --> 00:04:33.480 and God in Genesis 8 has just remade the world and sent his people back into the world, 00:04:33.719 --> 00:04:37.339 we see so many quotes from Genesis 1 all throughout the passage for that reason. 00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:38.879 What's going to happen next? 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:48.019 If God's just recreated the world, but he's put sinful human beings back into it, what do you expect is going to happen next? 00:04:49.259 --> 00:04:54.680 And that's exactly what we find in this passage today in verses 1 to 7 that Chris read. 00:04:55.480 --> 00:05:00.379 God gives you not only a cosmic structure for creation, but also a moral structure. 00:05:00.379 --> 00:05:11.680 But then in verses 18 to 29, we have this very sad and miserable story of what happens when people bring their sin off the ark back into the world. 00:05:12.360 --> 00:05:14.100 And it's a really miserable scene. 00:05:14.620 --> 00:05:17.199 And so let's learn what God has to teach us here. 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:18.319 There's a few lessons. 00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:21.139 Number one, there's a call to guard life. 00:05:21.139 --> 00:05:26.219 Secondly, there's a failure to honor people here. 00:05:26.479 --> 00:05:29.899 And then finally, the man who covers us. 00:05:30.979 --> 00:05:36.979 So first, let's think about the call of God in verses 1 to 7 to guard and protect life. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:41.419 All right, so if you look down at verse 1, you'll see that it says, 00:05:41.659 --> 00:05:43.279 be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:45.839 And then if you look down at verse 7, you'll see that it says, 00:05:46.019 --> 00:05:48.759 be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth. 00:05:49.059 --> 00:05:51.299 That's the same sentence with a couple words swapped out. 00:05:51.659 --> 00:05:54.699 And you see that verse 1 and verse 7 make a sandwich. 00:05:55.259 --> 00:05:57.119 And there's filling in the middle of that sandwich. 00:05:57.619 --> 00:06:02.799 And that sandwich, verses 1 and verses 7, are both quotes from Genesis 128. 00:06:03.619 --> 00:06:06.839 And so what we have here is God taking the command he gave to Adam and Eve, 00:06:07.359 --> 00:06:13.000 a blessing, and re-giving it, again, re-issuing it to Noah and to his family. 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:14.959 As soon as they come out of the ark. 00:06:15.359 --> 00:06:16.319 And so what's happening here? 00:06:16.419 --> 00:06:19.839 Well, verses 2 to 6 is the meat of that sandwich. 00:06:20.339 --> 00:06:21.439 Verse 1 to 7, the bread. 00:06:21.679 --> 00:06:22.639 Verses 2 to 6, the meat. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:26.239 And in that, you've got God telling you, 00:06:26.539 --> 00:06:29.500 how then should you live in a newly structured world? 00:06:29.819 --> 00:06:31.659 A world that's been protected and recreated. 00:06:31.739 --> 00:06:35.259 And we saw last week that he's covenanted with all of creation and said, 00:06:35.359 --> 00:06:36.919 I'm keeping this place around. 00:06:37.059 --> 00:06:38.119 I'm not going to get rid of it. 00:06:38.479 --> 00:06:42.979 God's affection for the world and for humans and for animals and for the land and for creatures 00:06:42.980 --> 00:06:45.560 and now that he's decided he's keeping it. 00:06:45.660 --> 00:06:46.640 Seed time and harvest. 00:06:47.300 --> 00:06:48.600 It's not going to go away. 00:06:48.700 --> 00:06:51.879 God, the great author, remember, the great director of history. 00:06:52.060 --> 00:06:55.280 It's as if in Genesis 8 and 9, he says, okay, once more from the top. 00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:57.140 I'm keeping this place. 00:06:57.960 --> 00:07:05.520 But along with that cosmic structure, land and animals and humans and stars and galaxies and sun, moon, 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:11.939 and gravity, now in verses 1 to 7, he gives you the moral structure that fits in the cosmic structure. 00:07:12.099 --> 00:07:20.199 You know, you don't build a house and make plans for all the rooms and then use the rooms in the exact opposite way that you plan for. 00:07:20.279 --> 00:07:21.740 You wouldn't put your bedroom in the toilet. 00:07:22.359 --> 00:07:25.819 No, in the same way, the cosmic structure, God gave you a cosmic structure. 00:07:26.159 --> 00:07:28.620 But with that, he also attaches a moral structure. 00:07:28.620 --> 00:07:33.139 And that's what we're reading about in verses 1 to 7 when God creates the world. 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:34.280 So this is a blessing. 00:07:34.439 --> 00:07:40.040 God is saying, the very things I plan to do in Genesis 1, I'm going to do from Genesis 9 forward. 00:07:40.579 --> 00:07:44.660 I'm going to bless you with the command to subdue the earth and to keep it. 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:47.899 And so really what we have here is the commands to say, look, be a human. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:50.100 Go out and make a city. 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:51.860 Go out and build society. 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:52.800 Go out and work. 00:07:52.920 --> 00:07:53.800 Go out and flourish. 00:07:53.800 --> 00:07:54.420 Go out and work. 00:07:54.800 --> 00:08:04.579 Yet, yet, if you read verses 1 to 6 carefully, one of the things you may have noticed is while this looks like Genesis 1, there's differences. 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:11.480 And so if you look at chapter 9, verse 1, it says in 9-1, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 00:08:11.560 --> 00:08:17.879 But if you were to go back and read Genesis 1-28, it would say, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. 00:08:18.580 --> 00:08:19.519 And so there's something missing. 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:32.539 And that's because the word subdue in Genesis 1 has the sense of Adam and Eve and humanity working in total harmony and peace with the land and with the animals to build society. 00:08:32.679 --> 00:08:33.519 But here that's missing. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:33.779 Why? 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:39.120 Because what we have here is a reissuing of the commands of Genesis 1, but in a world of sin. 00:08:40.299 --> 00:08:42.100 And that means they're just a little bit different. 00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:43.840 God is saying, I'm keeping it. 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:45.000 I'm keeping the moral structure. 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:51.720 I'm keeping the cosmic structure, but I'm changing it just a bit in order to protect life and steward life. 00:08:51.779 --> 00:08:52.759 And so keep going. 00:08:52.860 --> 00:09:00.360 In chapter 9, verse 2, the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and every bird and everything that creeps on the ground. 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:02.720 He said the same thing in Genesis 1-28. 00:09:03.159 --> 00:09:08.259 But he said there, take dominion over every beast of the earth, every creeping thing, every bird of the air. 00:09:08.620 --> 00:09:10.360 Here, do you see what's been replaced? 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:11.879 Not dominion. 00:09:11.879 --> 00:09:13.059 That's a partnership. 00:09:13.220 --> 00:09:14.419 That's a relationship of harmony. 00:09:14.899 --> 00:09:20.059 But here, the fear and dread of you will be on all the animals, all the beasts of the field. 00:09:20.460 --> 00:09:20.720 Why? 00:09:20.840 --> 00:09:24.340 Because God is saying, you, humanity, you rebelled against me. 00:09:24.460 --> 00:09:26.759 And Noah, you brought your sin off the ark. 00:09:26.820 --> 00:09:33.200 And so the relationship you have with the animals, with the land, and with humans is not what it once was. 00:09:33.980 --> 00:09:39.580 And so God is doing everything he can to protect humanity by saying, now the animals are going to be skittish. 00:09:39.580 --> 00:09:42.840 They're going to be afraid of you so that you can keep society. 00:09:42.980 --> 00:09:47.680 They're going to stay away from you so that your cities are not overrun and ultimately ruined. 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:56.020 There's a wonderful thought about this in Isaiah chapter 11, that when Christ comes again, it says, 00:09:56.019 --> 00:10:14.079 Now, that's a picture of what's coming, but that's a picture of what was in Genesis chapter 1 and 2. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:17.460 And now he's saying, but you've ruined your relationship with the animals. 00:10:18.300 --> 00:10:22.759 And so now they fear you and they dread you and domestication and all sorts of things have to be introduced. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:28.800 And then in verses 5 and 6, you've got him speak about this reckoning because of violence. 00:10:29.220 --> 00:10:31.660 So he turns to the next line. 00:10:31.800 --> 00:10:32.660 You should expect this. 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:37.900 If you go back and read Genesis 1, he's going to tell you, be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth. 00:10:37.899 --> 00:10:40.399 Take dominion over all the animals. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:41.759 And then the very next thing would be what? 00:10:42.199 --> 00:10:44.459 And you, remember, you're made in the image of God. 00:10:45.720 --> 00:10:49.779 And you're to honor one another in that and have relationships with humans in that. 00:10:49.860 --> 00:10:51.199 And that's exactly what he does here. 00:10:51.559 --> 00:10:53.899 But in verse 5 and 6, he says, 00:10:54.139 --> 00:10:58.299 Whoever sheds the blood of humanity, by humanity shall his blood be shed. 00:10:58.759 --> 00:11:04.620 So we have the first positive law in history, the first outright spoken law against murder, 00:11:04.620 --> 00:11:06.799 which will come up again in the Ten Commandments. 00:11:07.139 --> 00:11:07.379 Why? 00:11:07.460 --> 00:11:10.899 It's saying, look, you still are the image of God and you're to honor the image of God. 00:11:11.019 --> 00:11:13.799 But because of sin, the command has changed. 00:11:14.379 --> 00:11:18.620 And now I have to protect you from one another by providing a way of justice 00:11:18.620 --> 00:11:23.740 in the midst of human violence that we already saw back in Genesis chapter 6. 00:11:23.799 --> 00:11:24.700 Now listen, here's the point. 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:27.539 Genesis 1 was the ideal. 00:11:28.740 --> 00:11:31.279 But in a world of sin, Genesis 9 is the real. 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:36.980 It's how we then should live amid a world full of sin and corruption. 00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:40.579 And that means God is saying to us, the grain of creation still stands. 00:11:40.839 --> 00:11:42.819 The cosmic structure still stands. 00:11:43.079 --> 00:11:45.220 There is a moral structure that still stands. 00:11:45.379 --> 00:11:50.279 But it's been amended with guardrails in order to protect life 00:11:50.279 --> 00:11:54.059 so that the stage of redemption could play out all the way to the end. 00:11:54.740 --> 00:11:56.039 Let me give you a few applications. 00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:58.279 Number one, what this means. 00:11:58.279 --> 00:12:01.659 It means, first, there is such a thing as the moral order. 00:12:03.339 --> 00:12:08.120 And the moral order, the grain of the universe, the way we should live, 00:12:08.179 --> 00:12:12.459 is not something that arises from our feelings, from the way we feel. 00:12:13.220 --> 00:12:19.740 In 1920s, in the 1920s, there was a group of philosophers that came up with something in England 00:12:19.740 --> 00:12:21.740 called the Boo Harathesis. 00:12:21.740 --> 00:12:27.120 And the Boo Harathesis was this, that all moral claims, all claims of value, 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:32.220 are nothing but your boo or hurrah to anything anybody else says. 00:12:32.940 --> 00:12:33.820 In other words, what were they saying? 00:12:33.879 --> 00:12:36.560 They were saying there's no such thing as moral value or moral order. 00:12:36.700 --> 00:12:40.060 All you can really say is that every moral claim is just saying, 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:41.600 boo, I don't like that. 00:12:41.639 --> 00:12:42.840 Or hurrah, I love that. 00:12:42.940 --> 00:12:43.639 I'm with that. 00:12:43.799 --> 00:12:45.580 And that's all morality really is. 00:12:45.639 --> 00:12:47.279 It's a construct of society. 00:12:47.419 --> 00:12:48.360 That was the Boo Harathesis. 00:12:48.360 --> 00:12:52.899 And it's striking that in 1960, that was published in the 1920s, 00:12:53.220 --> 00:12:56.560 Bertrand Russell, one of the leading atheists of the 20th century, 00:12:56.639 --> 00:12:59.500 this is what he said in a letter to a friend. 00:12:59.580 --> 00:13:05.779 He said, I find myself incapable of believing that all that is wrong with the wanton cruelty in the world 00:13:05.779 --> 00:13:07.320 is simply that I don't like it. 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:12.759 And what we're reading here is that there is a moral structure to the universe, a grain. 00:13:12.860 --> 00:13:14.519 And it's actually outside of us. 00:13:14.519 --> 00:13:19.279 It's a goodness that stands above us and is bigger than us and comes into our lives, 00:13:19.340 --> 00:13:21.039 into our hearts by way of a gift. 00:13:21.139 --> 00:13:25.980 The second thing we read here is that the real heartbeat of that moral order, 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:29.120 and there's so much detail here to talk about, 00:13:29.179 --> 00:13:33.799 but the real heartbeat of that moral order is stewarding life and protecting life. 00:13:33.899 --> 00:13:35.120 That's the real heartbeat God gives. 00:13:35.799 --> 00:13:37.299 That's not just human life, by the way. 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:40.960 That's also animal life and the life of the land and the life of all the creatures. 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:46.740 It's striking here that God, in the fear and dread of animals related to us, 00:13:47.100 --> 00:13:48.879 says you can eat meat. 00:13:49.040 --> 00:13:50.040 He allows that. 00:13:50.100 --> 00:13:51.440 It had already been happening prior, 00:13:51.660 --> 00:13:54.660 but there's a real positive command here that allows for that. 00:13:54.920 --> 00:13:56.860 And then right after, there's a limitation. 00:13:57.660 --> 00:14:00.220 Strange to our modern eyes and ears. 00:14:00.379 --> 00:14:01.360 It says, verse 4, 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:02.820 but you shall not drink the blood. 00:14:03.639 --> 00:14:05.740 And you say today, I don't want to drink the blood, 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:08.500 but there's a reason we don't want to drink the blood. 00:14:08.500 --> 00:14:12.299 And that's because God gave this command in Genesis 9. 00:14:12.580 --> 00:14:17.639 And in the pagan societies in the ancient Near East that were all around Israel going forward after this, 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:22.279 it was normal for people to drink blood in cult ritual as an act of worship. 00:14:22.899 --> 00:14:26.159 But here, just to get down right to the heart of what he's saying, 00:14:26.360 --> 00:14:29.360 the reason God says this, and he reissues this in Leviticus, 00:14:29.500 --> 00:14:32.019 is because he's saying blood is the sign of life. 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:33.159 It's a symbol of life. 00:14:33.159 --> 00:14:38.240 And I want you to know that even though I allow you to use the animals for food 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:41.839 and to steward them in careful and appropriate ways, 00:14:42.539 --> 00:14:46.399 when you give their blood away without taking it, what are you saying? 00:14:46.459 --> 00:14:50.439 You're saying, I recognize that I am not the master of this creature. 00:14:50.919 --> 00:14:52.600 I didn't give it its life. 00:14:52.740 --> 00:14:54.000 I don't provide its life. 00:14:54.259 --> 00:14:55.519 I am nothing but a steward. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:58.319 I am a guest at the table of God. 00:14:59.100 --> 00:15:03.740 And he's invited me to take and use, but with a reminder, 00:15:03.899 --> 00:15:07.659 and this is why we pray at meals, to say, this is not the creature I made. 00:15:08.220 --> 00:15:08.819 I'm a steward. 00:15:08.899 --> 00:15:09.480 I'm not a master. 00:15:10.019 --> 00:15:12.799 And the same way with every single creature that he made. 00:15:13.319 --> 00:15:16.620 And the heart of the heart, thirdly, by way of application, 00:15:16.740 --> 00:15:23.039 the heart of the heart of this is not just that animal life is to be stewarded, 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:25.279 and creaturely life, and the life of the land. 00:15:25.879 --> 00:15:30.719 But also, very clearly, this is all about the fact that it's human life 00:15:30.719 --> 00:15:32.139 that is most precious to God. 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:35.879 And so, in verse 5, he says something really interesting. 00:15:36.679 --> 00:15:37.319 He says, 00:15:38.179 --> 00:15:40.240 In your lifeblood I will require a reckoning. 00:15:40.939 --> 00:15:45.480 So, for murder, from even beasts I will require a reckoning for murder of human beings. 00:15:45.819 --> 00:15:46.500 And then he writes, 00:15:46.860 --> 00:15:50.740 From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 00:15:50.740 --> 00:15:53.960 If you translate that literally, it actually says, 00:15:54.580 --> 00:15:57.740 From every man I will require a reckoning from his brother. 00:15:58.620 --> 00:15:59.240 Why? 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:03.080 Because we've already seen what two brothers did. 00:16:03.899 --> 00:16:05.740 Cain murdered his brother. 00:16:05.940 --> 00:16:06.360 And he's saying, 00:16:06.539 --> 00:16:09.820 For that grand injustice, I require justice. 00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:11.580 And so, God is saying, 00:16:11.680 --> 00:16:13.759 I'm all about protecting human life. 00:16:13.820 --> 00:16:19.460 And society cannot flourish with murder being left untouched by the courts of justice 00:16:19.460 --> 00:16:20.680 in some way, shape, and form. 00:16:21.580 --> 00:16:22.820 And you see that at the heart of this. 00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:23.080 He says, 00:16:23.180 --> 00:16:24.040 You are the image of God. 00:16:24.160 --> 00:16:27.820 Your role is to value life and to protect it and to care for it. 00:16:27.860 --> 00:16:31.920 And the takeaway of this section is that the Christian view is so balanced. 00:16:32.060 --> 00:16:32.759 And here it is. 00:16:33.620 --> 00:16:35.660 People are so precious to God. 00:16:36.519 --> 00:16:37.920 You are made in God's image. 00:16:37.920 --> 00:16:39.639 And he values you so much. 00:16:39.639 --> 00:16:44.319 And the land and the animals and the creatures and the bugs matter to God so much too. 00:16:45.080 --> 00:16:48.279 And that means that it's wrong on the one hand to say, 00:16:49.199 --> 00:16:50.600 You know, nature was here first. 00:16:50.740 --> 00:16:52.319 Nature is more important than people. 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:55.500 There's a way of making ecology into an idol. 00:16:55.659 --> 00:16:57.100 And the Bible is saying no to that. 00:16:57.159 --> 00:16:57.899 But on the other hand, 00:16:58.179 --> 00:17:01.639 there's a way of dismissing care of the land and care of animals altogether. 00:17:02.039 --> 00:17:03.480 And the Bible is saying no to that too. 00:17:04.339 --> 00:17:05.200 And it's so balanced. 00:17:05.299 --> 00:17:07.500 It's saying human beings are so precious to God. 00:17:07.500 --> 00:17:09.220 They're the most precious and valuable. 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:11.319 But I've made a covenant with everything. 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:14.579 And you are to value everything and steward it in the order, 00:17:14.700 --> 00:17:16.539 the moral order that I've given you to do that. 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:22.720 Now listen, that means that we've got to look out at the world 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:25.819 and see every single person as infinitely precious. 00:17:27.019 --> 00:17:28.920 C.S. Lewis, Weight of Glory, 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:32.440 a quote you have definitely heard from this pulpit several times before. 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:35.960 There are no ordinary people, Lewis writes. 00:17:35.960 --> 00:17:38.019 You've never talked to a mere mortal. 00:17:39.079 --> 00:17:45.900 It is only immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit. 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:50.400 And the invitation here is to see every human being in the same way 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:52.900 that God sees every human being, full of value. 00:17:53.100 --> 00:17:56.039 And I want to ask you, do you see the person on the bus that, 00:17:56.700 --> 00:17:57.700 the stranger on the bus that way? 00:17:57.740 --> 00:18:00.539 Do you see your colleague that is so annoying that way? 00:18:00.539 --> 00:18:07.220 Do you, even the people that smell, you know, all of us, we are precious to God 00:18:07.220 --> 00:18:09.480 and we've got to look out and see value in every single person. 00:18:10.299 --> 00:18:11.940 And here's a great test. 00:18:12.299 --> 00:18:17.700 Gavin, who preached a few weeks back, brought up David Brooks' wonderful book, 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:18.740 How to Know a Person. 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:23.539 And David Brooks talks about being either an illuminator or a diminisher. 00:18:23.539 --> 00:18:24.139 A diminisher. 00:18:24.460 --> 00:18:27.819 An illuminator is a person who encourages and values others. 00:18:27.980 --> 00:18:30.159 And people actually see that you value them. 00:18:30.200 --> 00:18:30.940 That's an illuminator. 00:18:31.379 --> 00:18:36.799 A diminisher is a person who, where people really know that they're not valued by you, 00:18:36.879 --> 00:18:38.839 but maybe used, instrumentalized. 00:18:39.700 --> 00:18:41.079 And I want to ask you, here's a great test. 00:18:41.799 --> 00:18:43.839 Can you ask this morning, as one writer puts it, 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:45.740 do you have the courage to ask this morning, 00:18:45.740 --> 00:18:49.839 do I value people and do they know that? 00:18:51.980 --> 00:18:56.140 And one of the ways to know the answer to that question is, 00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:00.200 are people willing to come to you to talk about their problems? 00:19:01.180 --> 00:19:04.339 And that's one of the ways that you can know that people really value. 00:19:04.339 --> 00:19:05.460 And you got to hear that here. 00:19:05.700 --> 00:19:10.299 The call is guard life, protect life, steward life, value life, love life. 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:13.680 Not only human beings, but all the creatures that God has made. 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:18.200 Learn what God commands about how to steward everything to his glory. 00:19:19.120 --> 00:19:24.160 Secondly, briefly, and yet, verse 18 to 28. 00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:32.700 God, in a covenant in the in-between section, 9 to 17, says, 00:19:33.120 --> 00:19:35.920 I'm keeping the cosmic structure of reality so I can save this world. 00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:39.220 God says, here's the moral structure I'm giving you. 00:19:39.720 --> 00:19:43.560 But then the very first story we get after the flood, 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:47.480 is of a total failure to steward life and protect life and guard life 00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:48.940 and value others and care for life. 00:19:49.299 --> 00:19:51.900 And that's the story about Noah and his son, Ham. 00:19:52.759 --> 00:19:55.840 Now, Noah, Moses, I should say, the writer, 00:19:56.039 --> 00:19:59.960 he is shouting at us here to see the parallels. 00:20:00.660 --> 00:20:02.519 Remember Genesis 1 and Genesis 9? 00:20:03.460 --> 00:20:05.060 Genesis 3 and Genesis 9 now. 00:20:05.820 --> 00:20:06.480 Just look at this. 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:09.880 In verse 20, and we'll only focus on 20 to 24 this morning, 00:20:09.880 --> 00:20:12.560 Noah began to be a man of the soil. 00:20:13.700 --> 00:20:16.480 But in Hebrew, that phrase says, 00:20:17.100 --> 00:20:19.940 Noah began to be an Adam of the Adamah. 00:20:20.560 --> 00:20:24.900 So the word for soil or ground is Adam with an H on the end, Adamah. 00:20:25.360 --> 00:20:28.040 And that's the same phrase that's used of who? 00:20:28.540 --> 00:20:31.860 Adam himself in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2 and 3. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:33.700 An Adam of the Adamah. 00:20:33.780 --> 00:20:35.260 That's how Noah is titled here. 00:20:35.259 --> 00:20:37.539 And then right after that, what happens? 00:20:37.720 --> 00:20:41.220 Well, this Adam of the Adamah, this Adam of the ground, 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:42.819 he planted a vineyard. 00:20:43.879 --> 00:20:44.680 What's a vineyard? 00:20:45.460 --> 00:20:46.579 A vineyard is a garden. 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:49.599 And so Moses is already saying, do you see? 00:20:50.259 --> 00:20:52.480 This is a second Adam? 00:20:53.640 --> 00:20:54.940 An Adam of the Adamah? 00:20:55.019 --> 00:20:55.619 And what did he do? 00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:57.299 Right after the recreation of the world, 00:20:57.359 --> 00:20:59.119 he planted a vineyard and he went into it? 00:20:59.619 --> 00:21:03.859 Just like Adam was called to plant a garden and enter into it. 00:21:03.859 --> 00:21:06.219 And then in verse 21, what does he do? 00:21:06.299 --> 00:21:08.699 He drinks of the wine and becomes drunk. 00:21:09.779 --> 00:21:13.219 And to drink of wine from a vineyard, of course, 00:21:13.259 --> 00:21:13.799 what do you have to do? 00:21:13.819 --> 00:21:15.079 You have to reach out your hand 00:21:15.079 --> 00:21:17.159 and you have to take of the fruit of the vine. 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:20.979 And the great sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of God 00:21:20.979 --> 00:21:23.819 was they reached out and they took what was forbidden to them 00:21:23.819 --> 00:21:26.500 and they ate and they knew they were naked. 00:21:27.899 --> 00:21:30.539 And here in the same way, this second Adam, 00:21:30.539 --> 00:21:34.759 the Adam of the Adamah in the garden that God told him to plant 00:21:34.759 --> 00:21:36.779 goes into the garden and he takes of the fruit, 00:21:36.899 --> 00:21:39.339 but he takes of it in excess in the wrong way. 00:21:39.500 --> 00:21:40.779 And what happens immediately, 00:21:40.940 --> 00:21:42.720 it says that his nakedness was uncovered, 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:46.279 just like Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter three. 00:21:47.139 --> 00:21:48.299 And if you keep going, 00:21:49.159 --> 00:21:51.420 just after Adam and Eve take of the fruit 00:21:51.420 --> 00:21:52.920 and they're naked and they're ashamed, 00:21:53.019 --> 00:21:54.059 in the very next story, 00:21:54.059 --> 00:21:59.659 a son lets the beast called sin rule over his life 00:21:59.659 --> 00:22:00.759 and he murders his brother. 00:22:01.480 --> 00:22:02.419 And what do we have in this story? 00:22:02.839 --> 00:22:04.460 Well, we have this new Adam of the Adamah 00:22:04.460 --> 00:22:07.559 who reaches out and takes fruit in a way he should not 00:22:07.559 --> 00:22:08.879 and his nakedness is uncovered. 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:12.079 And then just like Genesis four with Cain, 00:22:12.639 --> 00:22:15.859 his son Ham commits a great evil against him 00:22:15.859 --> 00:22:17.839 and ruins the family. 00:22:18.839 --> 00:22:20.700 So just remember that we talked about the cycles. 00:22:21.019 --> 00:22:22.399 If you have a cycle of creation, 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:24.600 what do you expect next, a fall? 00:22:24.759 --> 00:22:26.640 And then if you have a fall, you have a great decline. 00:22:26.740 --> 00:22:27.820 And that's exactly the cycle 00:22:27.820 --> 00:22:29.880 that we're reading about here all over again. 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:32.440 And what is this sin that Cain commits? 00:22:33.380 --> 00:22:34.840 I won't say much about it, 00:22:35.300 --> 00:22:38.340 but in verse 22, to see the nakedness of a father 00:22:38.340 --> 00:22:40.460 is a euphemism in the Bible. 00:22:41.100 --> 00:22:43.620 So it's very probably not as literal 00:22:43.620 --> 00:22:44.920 as it reads on the surface, 00:22:45.300 --> 00:22:46.920 a simple seeing of nakedness 00:22:46.920 --> 00:22:49.420 when they all live in the same household. 00:22:49.580 --> 00:22:51.019 Instead, it's something more than that. 00:22:51.019 --> 00:22:52.940 And you can read about that euphemism 00:22:52.940 --> 00:22:55.539 in Leviticus 18 and Leviticus 20, 00:22:55.720 --> 00:22:58.200 but it's most certainly a reference, 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:00.240 a euphemism for serious sexual sin. 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:02.940 And in Leviticus 18 and 20, 00:23:03.019 --> 00:23:04.099 we have an explanation 00:23:04.099 --> 00:23:06.799 of the multiple possibilities of that sexual sin 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:11.079 that can be either referencing Noah or his wife. 00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:13.720 Because the euphemism to uncover 00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:15.960 the nakedness of a father in Leviticus 00:23:15.960 --> 00:23:19.240 also references the nakedness of a wife. 00:23:19.240 --> 00:23:21.559 And so this is extreme sexual sin 00:23:21.559 --> 00:23:23.539 that's being talked about here. 00:23:23.740 --> 00:23:27.079 And what's happening is that Cain, Ham, 00:23:27.880 --> 00:23:30.620 let the beast of sin rule over him. 00:23:31.319 --> 00:23:32.920 And a great fall occurs here. 00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:36.440 We were made to steward life and protect life 00:23:36.440 --> 00:23:39.200 and value life and honor life. 00:23:39.299 --> 00:23:41.240 And the very first story we get 00:23:41.240 --> 00:23:44.079 after what was thought to be the best man on earth, 00:23:44.180 --> 00:23:45.980 Noah comes out into the world, 00:23:45.980 --> 00:23:47.900 we get a horrific, a miserable scene, 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:50.240 a sad scene of what happens 00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:52.940 when the heart of sin is allowed, 00:23:52.940 --> 00:23:55.860 like Cain and Ham's life to rule over us. 00:23:56.740 --> 00:23:59.279 And so there's a massive gap that takes place here 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:01.339 between what we were made to be 00:24:01.339 --> 00:24:04.700 and what this first family after the flood actually are. 00:24:04.700 --> 00:24:09.319 And if you think about these characters 00:24:09.319 --> 00:24:11.580 as we close, as we come to a close, 00:24:11.620 --> 00:24:12.680 if you think about these characters, 00:24:13.600 --> 00:24:17.100 what was Noah's sin at the core in this moment? 00:24:18.460 --> 00:24:20.140 In Genesis chapter three, verse six, 00:24:20.920 --> 00:24:24.660 it says that Adam was with Eve 00:24:24.660 --> 00:24:26.620 as she reached out and took the fruit. 00:24:27.180 --> 00:24:29.740 He, the priest of the garden, 00:24:29.960 --> 00:24:32.019 the husband of his great wife Eve, 00:24:32.100 --> 00:24:32.980 the mother of all life, 00:24:32.980 --> 00:24:36.200 he was passive, he let her do that. 00:24:36.380 --> 00:24:38.759 He stood by and he did nothing 00:24:38.759 --> 00:24:40.880 and he let the world fall into ruin. 00:24:42.380 --> 00:24:44.279 Noah gets drunk and he passes out 00:24:44.279 --> 00:24:45.279 from taking of the tree. 00:24:45.640 --> 00:24:46.579 And what is his great sin? 00:24:46.660 --> 00:24:47.440 It is passivity. 00:24:47.660 --> 00:24:51.120 He stands by in this horrible scene 00:24:51.120 --> 00:24:53.799 and lets this happen to his family. 00:24:54.420 --> 00:24:55.500 He's just like Adam. 00:24:56.920 --> 00:25:02.059 And I know that there's so many applications 00:25:02.059 --> 00:25:02.940 that we could talk about here, 00:25:02.980 --> 00:25:03.799 but I just wanna ask you, 00:25:03.899 --> 00:25:05.779 who in your life maybe 00:25:05.779 --> 00:25:09.639 is God calling you to move toward 00:25:09.639 --> 00:25:12.639 in agency, not passivity, 00:25:13.179 --> 00:25:18.659 in order to protect, value, guard, love, 00:25:18.740 --> 00:25:21.339 and help them to know how much you value them 00:25:21.339 --> 00:25:21.960 and are for them? 00:25:22.819 --> 00:25:24.259 At the very core here, 00:25:24.339 --> 00:25:27.039 there's an invitation to not be passive 00:25:27.039 --> 00:25:29.019 in your Christian life 00:25:29.019 --> 00:25:30.539 and the stewardship of all that God's given you, 00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:31.920 especially the lives of people, 00:25:32.119 --> 00:25:33.220 but to be active. 00:25:33.339 --> 00:25:34.359 And that was the sin of Adam. 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:35.879 And it's the sin of Noah here. 00:25:36.279 --> 00:25:37.240 But then you think about Ham. 00:25:37.299 --> 00:25:39.579 What's the sin of Ham at the core? 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:42.079 And boy, we could talk about the sin of Ham. 00:25:42.519 --> 00:25:45.500 It's a great evil and a miserable scene, 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:48.039 but really at the heart of the sin of Ham 00:25:48.039 --> 00:25:52.119 is that he lets the beast in his heart 00:25:52.119 --> 00:25:54.759 turn him into a person that will use people. 00:25:54.759 --> 00:25:59.900 He exploits and he instrumentalizes others, 00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:02.420 even in his family, for power and pleasure. 00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:05.039 And that's the great sin of Ham. 00:26:05.740 --> 00:26:07.740 And let me ask you a question this morning. 00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:10.500 When we see people, when I see people, 00:26:11.240 --> 00:26:12.559 especially close to me, 00:26:12.920 --> 00:26:14.859 do I see the image of God 00:26:14.859 --> 00:26:18.000 and the value and the preciousness of their life 00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:20.119 or am I struggling in my life 00:26:20.119 --> 00:26:22.099 with instrumentalizing the people 00:26:22.099 --> 00:26:23.559 that God has given me? 00:26:23.559 --> 00:26:25.539 I don't love them for who they are. 00:26:25.799 --> 00:26:28.379 I use them in some way. 00:26:29.460 --> 00:26:31.839 And I think while we could talk about 00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:34.720 the massive gap of degree and types of sins 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:36.679 that can be committed in passivity 00:26:36.679 --> 00:26:40.079 and instrumentalizing people in the world 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:41.059 and creatures and animals 00:26:41.059 --> 00:26:41.899 and all that God's given us, 00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:45.299 a huge gap from the great evil that Ham commits here 00:26:45.299 --> 00:26:49.339 all the way down to the most minor infraction of gossip, 00:26:49.339 --> 00:26:53.959 where in gossip we use somebody else's nakedness, 00:26:54.059 --> 00:26:56.019 their shame for the sake of our good, 00:26:56.720 --> 00:26:57.740 instrumentalizing them. 00:26:58.519 --> 00:27:01.959 I think we all know that there is a gap in our lives 00:27:01.959 --> 00:27:04.439 between who God made us to be 00:27:04.439 --> 00:27:06.159 in the moral structure in the universe and who we are. 00:27:06.899 --> 00:27:08.039 And we feel that in our hearts. 00:27:08.119 --> 00:27:10.179 We lay down at night in our beds 00:27:10.179 --> 00:27:11.619 and we think, why did I say that? 00:27:11.759 --> 00:27:12.839 Why did I say that? 00:27:12.839 --> 00:27:14.559 Why did I not do that? 00:27:14.859 --> 00:27:16.059 Why was I passive? 00:27:16.220 --> 00:27:17.359 Why did I stand by? 00:27:17.740 --> 00:27:18.779 Why did I not lead? 00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:21.359 Why did I let that happen? 00:27:21.559 --> 00:27:23.240 Why did I not? 00:27:23.339 --> 00:27:24.139 Why did I do? 00:27:24.599 --> 00:27:26.039 We all feel the weight of that. 00:27:26.159 --> 00:27:28.839 And the Bible from Genesis 3 to Genesis 9 00:27:28.839 --> 00:27:32.379 gives you an exterior explanation. 00:27:32.740 --> 00:27:34.899 It's called nakedness. 00:27:35.079 --> 00:27:37.519 Nakedness is the external concept, 00:27:38.279 --> 00:27:40.639 the visible physical reality 00:27:40.639 --> 00:27:42.519 of what's going on in the inner life with sin. 00:27:42.859 --> 00:27:45.220 And it corresponds to the concept of shame. 00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:47.980 And there's false shame in this life. 00:27:48.119 --> 00:27:51.160 There's shame that arises from things done to us. 00:27:51.160 --> 00:27:53.440 And we're not at all talking about that this morning. 00:27:54.500 --> 00:27:56.119 But there's real shame as well. 00:27:56.180 --> 00:27:58.240 And that real shame arises in the gap 00:27:58.240 --> 00:27:59.339 when we sense, 00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:02.639 I have not been and done who I was supposed to be and do. 00:28:02.759 --> 00:28:05.000 And I've said things and I've done things 00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:07.019 and I feel uncovered before God. 00:28:07.460 --> 00:28:09.099 And I wonder if any of you feel that way today. 00:28:09.220 --> 00:28:10.299 Psalm 134 says, 00:28:10.819 --> 00:28:12.099 who are we to hide? 00:28:12.220 --> 00:28:13.920 We can't hide from the living God. 00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:16.140 He sees all from the top to the bottom 00:28:16.140 --> 00:28:18.079 and the fig leaves don't work. 00:28:18.200 --> 00:28:20.039 The coping doesn't work before him. 00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:21.880 The way of covering ourselves 00:28:21.880 --> 00:28:22.759 and blame shifting 00:28:22.759 --> 00:28:25.579 and building walls and stoicism 00:28:25.579 --> 00:28:27.180 doesn't work before him. 00:28:28.119 --> 00:28:29.039 What are we to do? 00:28:29.640 --> 00:28:32.380 And in steps Shem and Japheth. 00:28:32.380 --> 00:28:34.320 These two brothers, 00:28:34.500 --> 00:28:37.860 they cover their father's nakedness. 00:28:38.020 --> 00:28:39.300 And that's a euphemism. 00:28:40.020 --> 00:28:41.700 We don't know all that it means. 00:28:42.420 --> 00:28:43.720 But it's certainly a euphemism. 00:28:44.020 --> 00:28:46.600 And they step in and grace and cover Noah. 00:28:46.780 --> 00:28:48.780 And what is Moses telling us in that moment? 00:28:48.900 --> 00:28:50.180 I think it's this. 00:28:51.040 --> 00:28:53.060 That Noah was a great man. 00:28:53.420 --> 00:28:54.180 Boy, was he. 00:28:55.720 --> 00:28:58.160 Noah was called blameless in his day. 00:28:58.460 --> 00:28:59.900 He was the best of the people. 00:28:59.900 --> 00:29:02.280 He was a great man, 00:29:02.340 --> 00:29:03.140 but he was not a good man. 00:29:04.759 --> 00:29:06.320 Not to the bottom, not to the core. 00:29:06.580 --> 00:29:09.460 He had a gap between the ideal 00:29:09.460 --> 00:29:10.740 and the real in his heart. 00:29:11.360 --> 00:29:13.980 And the whole story of Genesis 1 to 11 00:29:13.980 --> 00:29:17.400 is who is the seed of the woman 00:29:17.400 --> 00:29:20.240 who is going to rescue this world 00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:21.040 from the seed of the serpent? 00:29:22.019 --> 00:29:23.580 And we've wondered so far, 00:29:23.720 --> 00:29:24.360 is it Noah? 00:29:24.580 --> 00:29:25.920 And right now we find out. 00:29:26.280 --> 00:29:27.380 It is not Noah. 00:29:27.380 --> 00:29:30.600 But let me tell you, friends, 00:29:30.680 --> 00:29:31.860 if you feel the weight of shame 00:29:31.860 --> 00:29:33.380 and guilt in your life in any way, 00:29:34.540 --> 00:29:38.660 there is a second Adam 00:29:38.660 --> 00:29:41.440 who is far greater than Noah ever was. 00:29:43.040 --> 00:29:46.760 And Jesus Christ, the righteous, 00:29:47.200 --> 00:29:48.140 came into this world 00:29:48.140 --> 00:29:50.500 and he stood, 00:29:52.500 --> 00:29:54.800 Adam's sin was that he stood by 00:29:54.800 --> 00:29:57.940 while his bride was being murdered by the serpent. 00:29:58.920 --> 00:30:01.380 Noah's sin was that he stood by in passivity 00:30:01.380 --> 00:30:03.560 while his bride and his family 00:30:03.560 --> 00:30:06.400 were being taken by this great evil. 00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:09.980 Jesus Christ is the great groom 00:30:09.980 --> 00:30:11.600 who stepped in the fray 00:30:11.600 --> 00:30:14.400 and became the guardian for his bride all the way. 00:30:15.180 --> 00:30:16.880 Jesus Christ went to the cross 00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:19.259 taking on your shame, 00:30:19.400 --> 00:30:20.300 taking on your guilt. 00:30:20.440 --> 00:30:21.259 He was uncovered. 00:30:21.560 --> 00:30:23.700 Remember, they gambled his clothes away. 00:30:24.380 --> 00:30:25.120 He was naked 00:30:25.120 --> 00:30:28.160 because the exterior life 00:30:28.160 --> 00:30:30.340 showed us what he was doing spiritually. 00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:31.500 And what he was doing spiritually 00:30:31.500 --> 00:30:34.040 was that he was taking on our guilt 00:30:34.040 --> 00:30:35.519 and our shame and our nakedness 00:30:35.519 --> 00:30:38.100 and all that we've done in this life 00:30:38.100 --> 00:30:41.440 to keep that gap between the ideal and the real. 00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:44.259 And verse five says, 00:30:44.539 --> 00:30:47.400 by the blood for the blood of man, 00:30:47.500 --> 00:30:48.980 for all that we've done 00:30:48.980 --> 00:30:50.200 to shed blood in this world, 00:30:50.279 --> 00:30:51.140 the violence of this world, 00:30:51.400 --> 00:30:52.779 I will require a reckoning. 00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:55.019 And so he became that reckoning. 00:30:55.120 --> 00:30:56.660 His blood was spilled. 00:30:56.820 --> 00:30:57.259 It's in him. 00:30:57.480 --> 00:30:58.539 Look, you can look at him today 00:30:58.539 --> 00:30:59.160 and you can say, 00:30:59.640 --> 00:31:00.840 my debt is paid. 00:31:00.940 --> 00:31:01.980 It is paid in full. 00:31:02.259 --> 00:31:04.759 I am covered by the blood of the lamb. 00:31:05.559 --> 00:31:07.680 He really did bear your shame. 00:31:07.779 --> 00:31:09.039 And so you can put it away. 00:31:09.039 --> 00:31:11.420 And I wanna invite you to something. 00:31:11.539 --> 00:31:12.519 And this is the last word. 00:31:13.740 --> 00:31:16.019 If you look to him today for covering, 00:31:16.519 --> 00:31:18.139 if you look to the blood of the lamb 00:31:18.139 --> 00:31:19.220 poured out for you 00:31:19.220 --> 00:31:21.359 that we're about to celebrate at this table, 00:31:21.879 --> 00:31:24.220 you will have the freedom to go forward 00:31:24.220 --> 00:31:26.460 and reread chapter nine, verses one to seven 00:31:26.460 --> 00:31:27.460 and ask the question, 00:31:28.279 --> 00:31:31.259 in what ways am I not right now 00:31:31.259 --> 00:31:32.779 valuing people in my life? 00:31:32.980 --> 00:31:35.359 And in what ways do people, 00:31:35.680 --> 00:31:37.440 are they not able to come to me 00:31:37.440 --> 00:31:38.580 to talk about problems 00:31:38.580 --> 00:31:40.299 because I haven't yet shown them 00:31:40.299 --> 00:31:41.059 that I love them, 00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:42.559 that I value them? 00:31:42.740 --> 00:31:44.299 Look, you're safe to ask that question. 00:31:45.299 --> 00:31:46.820 You can have the courage to ask that question. 00:31:46.900 --> 00:31:47.039 Why? 00:31:47.140 --> 00:31:48.160 Because you're safe in Christ. 00:31:49.200 --> 00:31:50.799 Your shame has already been put away. 00:31:51.019 --> 00:31:51.840 And so you can say, 00:31:51.960 --> 00:31:52.799 I can change. 00:31:52.840 --> 00:31:53.480 I will change. 00:31:53.539 --> 00:31:55.500 I'm not scared to actually look 00:31:55.500 --> 00:31:56.519 at what's going on in here 00:31:56.519 --> 00:31:59.500 and grow and work on that 00:31:59.500 --> 00:32:00.320 and look at my idols 00:32:00.320 --> 00:32:01.500 and come up out of them 00:32:01.500 --> 00:32:04.100 because Jesus Christ has borne 00:32:04.100 --> 00:32:05.519 my shame to the uttermost. 00:32:05.980 --> 00:32:06.460 You're free. 00:32:06.460 --> 00:32:06.980 You're safe. 00:32:07.799 --> 00:32:08.500 You can ask, 00:32:08.600 --> 00:32:09.500 do I really value people? 00:32:09.620 --> 00:32:10.299 And work on it. 00:32:11.120 --> 00:32:11.660 Let us pray. 00:32:11.799 --> 00:32:13.600 Father, we ask now 00:32:13.600 --> 00:32:14.559 as we come to the table, 00:32:15.819 --> 00:32:18.240 we would have an experience with you 00:32:18.240 --> 00:32:19.880 that we would look at our guilt 00:32:19.880 --> 00:32:20.440 and our shame 00:32:20.440 --> 00:32:21.220 and see it covered 00:32:21.220 --> 00:32:22.120 by the blood of the Lamb. 00:32:22.980 --> 00:32:24.480 And so bless our time now 00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:25.600 as we come to your meal 00:32:25.600 --> 00:32:26.920 and we pray that in Christ's name. 00:32:27.420 --> 00:32:27.720 Amen. 00:32:27.720 --> 00:32:27.819 Amen.