20-05 In Den Beginne - 7

Old and New and the Same Sermon 7: Genesis 9 As we approach this last chapter about Noah, let’s not forget that these are the words of his sons. Our perspective is not Noah’s, but that of three young men (well, they were over 100 - not so young) that witness God’s dealings with their father. Noah is polarizing. Unsaved people mock this story and dismiss it, Christians are split on this story and they sanitize it. But God includes three chapters about his dealings with this man - we get more details about Noah’s life than we do about Adam’s. Noah and his family disembark the ark and build an altar to worship God. One of the questions I often hear is what happened to the ark? It’s a huge ocean liner that ended up on the top of a mountain range. Why can’t we find its remnants? The answer to my thinking is simple: they stepped off the ark into a world of destruction, where building materials were scarce. I imagine the ark was repurposed. An Old Command 9:1 God blesses Noah and his sons and repeats His command from chapter 2: be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Just as with Adam: go and fill the earth. And they did. We all are descendants from Noah. We descended from the man that survived the flood. It is a common record in every culture on earth. We are survivors of a cataclysmic flood that dramatically changed this earth. A New Change 9:2-7 God changes man’s relationship to the animals: he changes our diet and gives us BBQ. Humor aside, God clearly expands man’s diet in verse 3. Sidenote: much of today’s push toward vegetarianism and a vegan lifestyle is more about undoing God’s decree than it is about the kind treatment of animals. This makes way for a very important stipulation God gives about man. He clarifies that man is not the same as animals and killing animals is not the same as killing a man. In poetic style the old command and the new change come together (verses 6-7): Man bears the image of God and they are to fill the earth. A New Covenant 9:8-17 God makes an unconditional covenant with all of creation: you will never again have to fear judgment through a global flood: to destroy the earth. Can you imagine the fear that could have gripped their hearts the first time they heard thunder or the next time it rained? What if one of the brothers insulted the other and they felt raindrops on their head. Fear would have gripped them. God in His grace promises that they do not have to fear and he gives them a sign. At that moment, the brother can look up and see God’s reminder. The rainbow is a wonderful sign that teaches us to remember, but that is not actually what God says in verse 14-15. God says the bow is there for Him to remember His promise. We tend to look at the bow and think that it is merely a bow, but the word used here is “war bow”, as in a bow and arrow… a hunter’s weapon. The rainbow is God’s reminder that hostility against man has ceased… He has hung it up. Spurgeon noted that God hung the bow pointed away from man and it’s arrows now point to Himself. This could be a veiled reference to Christ’s atoning work. What is most disconcerting, however, is that the LGBT community has taken this sign and repurposed it be their emblem. An Old Complication 9:18-29 And then we read that something else stepped off the ark. Sin survived the flood also… it hitched a ride in their hearts (cf. 8:21). Noah plants a vineyard and gets drunk. Why? Well… why do you sin? It was a lapse in judgment, poor decision making, most likely a series of bad decisions. It is sad to read this, but the Bible presents us with the unvarnished truth. I am not going to comment too much this morning, because I will revisit this passage in four weeks - on Father’s Day. Suffice it to say sin has not been eradicated. Despite God’s sweeping judgment, man still sins. Man still rebels. Man does not obey. Man does not walk perfectly with God. There are parallels with Pentecost… an old command to love, a New Covenant in Christ’s blood, a new sign in the coming of the Comforter, a new beginning in the Church, and the same problem: sin. But now it is different… Christ has come. God turned the bow of His wrath upon Himself and He took the punishment for our sin. We do not have to serve sin and we now have the indwelt Holy Spirit, who helps us walk with God. And He is the down payment for the glorious inheritance that awaits us. We still sin, but it’s not the same… we look to the cross, knowing that the payment for our sin has been made. We look inward to the Holy Spirit, who compels us to walk worthy. And we look forward to the day of Christ’s return.