How This Earth Remains (Noahic Covenant Part 2)

Well, our normal pattern of ministering God's Word is to preach through portions of the Bible that He has given us.

This semester, we're doing something fun. We're doing a series called Covenant Theology, and it's a bit more topical.

We're seeing different parts of Scripture, how God has revealed Himself by way of covenant.

So covenant is a word and a concept that God Himself chose as a way of revealing who He is to His people.

We've seen that the creation, the covenant that God made, called the Covenant of Works with Adam, the federal head.

We've seen that before God created the heavens and the earth and even time, the Lord covenanted to save a people, the covenant of redemption.

We saw last week the covenant that God made through Noah to preserve Him and to show grace, which is pointing to Christ.

It's pointing to the covenant of grace.

So today's focus is the Noahic Covenant, the covenant with Noah and all of creation, part two.

In our Bible, we'll start reading with Genesis chapter 8.

Genesis 8 · chapter mention

We'll start at verse 1, and I'm going to be calling out the section, so I'll try to make it clear so that we can read it and follow along together.

As I read and you see your copy of God's Word, remember, we believe this is God's inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear and sufficient Word.

It's the Word of God Himself for His people.

So at the end, I'll say this is the Word of God.

And if you receive it that way, you can respond, thanks be to God.

Genesis 8, beginning at verse 1.

Genesis 8, verse 15.

Genesis 8:15

Then God said to Noah,

Verse 20.

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart,

I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth.

Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.

While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.

Chapter 9, verse 1.

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them,

Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Chapter 9, verse 6.

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.

For God made man in his own image.

And you be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,

Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring and with every living creature that is with you,

the birds, the livestock and every beast of the earth that is with you.

As many as came out of the ark, it is for every beast of the earth.

I establish my covenant with you that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood

and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.

And God said,

This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all future generations.

I have set my bow in the clouds and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,

I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh.

And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.

God said to Noah,

This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all the flesh of the earth.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Indeed, you may be seated.

Let's pray.

Amen.

Father, we need help to walk in this world.

Our minds so quickly turn to despair.

We know the wrath that we deserve for our sin, but we're reminded, Lord, of your covenant faithfulness.

And we pray, Father, that from this passage today, you'll make it more clear to your people

how it is that you want us to walk on this earth and what it means to be part of the kingdom of heaven

and in this world, though we are not of the world.

Help us to understand, Lord, the context of our redemption and the context of the church today, Lord.

We pray that you'll unite us as a body in the mission that you've given the church through Jesus Christ.

We pray that your Holy Spirit will guide us, bring us closer and closer to you.

Use your word to sharpen us, Lord.

Use your word to fan into a flame, especially those who are weak today, Lord.

Those whose whose faith is feels to be flickering.

We know you will not quench the smoking flax.

You will stoke it, Lord.

You will preserve it.

We pray that you'll do that today by the ministry of your word and the power of your Holy Spirit.

For your glory we ask.

Amen.

Amen.

In studying this passage and trying to understand in my own mind, what is the mission of the church?

What does it mean to be in this world and not of the world?

And what is it that God has set in place since the time of the waters receding after the flood?

And then the kingdom that Christ inaugurated.

There were several stories that came through my mind.

The one I decided to share with you today begins with a man named Jan or John.

And he lived in the Netherlands in a city called Leiden.

His work in Leiden was a tailor.

He made clothes.

And he began hearing these teachings of a more radical group.

And their feeling, their very strong feeling is that they could set up a new Jerusalem.

A city in Germany that they would call Zion.

And it would become a theocracy that would usher in the kingdom of heaven.

So this group of zealous, fervent people moved to the German city of Münster.

This was in the 1500s.

At the time while Martin Luther was still alive in the Reformation in another part of Germany.

Once this group came into power, the remaining sin in their flesh became very clear.

Their lack of understanding of the Bible also became very clear.

Jan, who then was nicknamed John of Leiden, he became like the king of this little new Jerusalem in the city of Münster.

He took 16 wives for himself.

The government ended up coming in and teaching a lesson.

They beheaded these leaders.

They put their bodies in cages that can still be found in a church.

Not the bodies, but the cages are found in this church in Münster today, I'm told.

I've never been there.

That is an example of what Martin Luther called theologians of glory.

People who read the Bible and they want to hold on to all the parts that bring themselves glory.

They want to essentially put themselves in the place of Christ.

Martin Luther saw the very clear contrast with the New Testament.

What he called theologians of the cross.

That's what we want to be.

Theologians of glory, they prefer works.

Theologians of the cross see the path following Christ includes suffering.

Theologians of glory want glow.

But theologians of the cross take up their cross daily and follow Christ.

Theologians of glory want strength.

Theologians of the cross embrace the weakness of our vessels.

The weakness of our position depending on Christ daily.

There is a very dangerous message in our country and around the world right now.

I'm not even going to give the label, but you can probably guess or find it quickly on Google.

And there's a group that claims if only our group or our movement could take over.

You can take your pick how you want to fill in the next blink.

Take over the school board.

Take over the state government.

Take over politics on a national level.

One person said, quote, we would solve school shootings and we would, quote, solve immorality in America.

So what is our view?

What is our view as the church in light of this covenant that God makes through Noah and all creation after the flood?

I don't know what your view is.

I'll do my best to lay out for you what I see in these passages.

Jesus Christ said that this earth will perish.

This earth will perish.

But if you see in our sermon text today, Genesis 8, verse 22.

Genesis 8:22

We're told that this earth also remains.

So the sermon title today is how this earth remains.

How in both senses.

How can it remain?

How can we not self-destroy?

And then the other in the other sense, the earth does remain.

How?

What are the conditions?

What has God set in place?

Last week, as I mentioned, we saw that God covenants to save his seed from the coming judgment.

And this foreshadows the first coming of Jesus Christ.

We see in response to God preserving Noah and this seed that would crush the serpent's head one day.

We see in Genesis chapter 8, verse 1.

Genesis 8:1

That God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark.

And God made a wind blow over the earth and the waters subsided.

The rain from the heavens was restrained.

God was true to his promise.

He's revealing the covenant of grace.

He will preserve the seed until Jesus Christ comes to fulfill all of scripture.

We see in chapter 8, verse 20.

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

It's curious because this comes from Moses, through whom God did give the ceremonial law.

So he's using a description that the people of Israel would have understood.

But Noah was offering a sacrifice to God that was pleasing to God, even a reference to clean animals.

So we have to imagine and try to understand how was it that Noah learned to do that?

God showed incredible grace to Noah.

And his first response when the water subsides is to build an altar and offer up a sacrifice.

If you look in your Bible at Genesis chapter 5, the genealogy, you won't have time to do this now during the sermon, but you can see others who have charted it.

Genesis 5 · chapter mention

You can simply make a bar graph for each of the ages of the people who lived.

And it struck me one observation trying to answer this question.

Where did Noah learn how to offer up a sacrifice on an altar?

We're told that Noah's father, his name was Lamech.

You see that in Genesis 5, verse 30.

Genesis 5:30

And if you look at the bar graphs of each of their lives, Lamech, Noah's father, would have most likely been alive when even Adam was still alive.

And certainly when Seth was alive.

So where did Lamech learn to offer a sacrifice?

Well, most likely from Seth.

And then there's old man Adam sitting there.

Yes, and he gets to hear from that account the great story that we just reviewed of how God made a covenant of grace and clothed them, shedding the blood.

Now, the interesting thing to me is that there was no overlap that I could tell between Noah and either Seth or Adam.

Noah's faith and what Noah learned and how Noah responded seemed to be dependent on Lamech, his dad, as handing it over and teaching his own son.

Now, in part two, the focus is less on the covenant of grace being foreshadowed and pointing to the work of Christ.

Part two of the Noah covenant is this.

We see here that God covenants to preserve the natural order as a backdrop for redemptive history to unfold.

Yeah, God, God let Noah learn from his dad what pleases God.

And Noah passed that on to his three sons.

The one who seems to have believed and received that faith and through whom the promise would continue with Shem.

And Abraham comes from the line of Shem.

And so we see this continuity throughout all of Scripture.

It's God unveiling and showing exactly how he will work.

But the real question for the Noah covenant today, part two, is how does God stabilize the stage, as someone put it,

so that the playwright, God himself, can become the main actor and the hero?

So really, the focus is less on redemptive history and the covenant of grace being unveiled for Christ.

It's more on the stage.

How is it stabilized or the backdrop from which the grace of God and the person of Christ will shine?

So here's a few observations as we walk through this.

Genesis 8, chapter 20 or chapter 8, verse 21.

So Noah offered that sacrifice.

But now it's from God's perspective.

In verse 21, when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said, pay attention, in his heart,

I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth.

I believe God is revealing himself to us who have his word now.

I'm sure this isn't all of them, but here's four revelations from this passage.

Number one, man is ill-meriting.

Remember, Noah deserves death and judgment just like everyone else.

But the Lord is merciful.

Man's heart is evil, but God shall preserve life despite man's depravity.

Mercy is withholding due punishment.

And God says he will not destroy again.

And after the flood, man continues to be fallen.

Man is no better after the flood than he was before.

Yet God grants man life under the sun, under creation.

After the flood, man gets to live.

And God will keep his promise no matter how good or bad man's works are.

This covenant was purposed in God's heart.

It does not depend on man in any way.

God will preserve this world as long as it remains.

So our Lord is merciful.

I shall never again destroy the world with a flood.

I shall never again strike down every living creature as I have done.

God preserves the world that you and I live in every single day.

When you wake up and the sun is shining, the grass is turning green another season.

These are reasons to praise God and to remind ourselves,

This is my father's world.

He's the creator and the sustainer of everyone and everything.

It also gives us a desire for the perfect mercy of God to be fully unveiled, doesn't it?

It points forward.

When will this merciful God fill the whole world with his glory?

We long for that day.

So that's the first revelation.

Man is ill-meriting, but the Lord is merciful.

Second revelation is that man is death-deserving,

but God is not only merciful, he's gracious.

God vows he will preserve the cycle of the seasons.

He will govern earth's environment and climate

to ensure animal and vegetable life continue.

That's how this earth remains.

So the book of Ecclesiastes is really a commentary on this, this truth.

Life under the sun is only good.

And food of the different seasons and the meats that you can grill,

those are only good because God made it so.

You deserve death, but God has filled this earth with things for you to enjoy

in your life under the sun,

knowing that it's all going to perish one day

and your life is fleeting and it all ought to point you to God.

Never to worship the creature rather than the creator.

We read in verse 22,

seed time and harvest, cold and heat,

summer and winter, day and night shall not cease

as long as the earth remains.

What's the reason for that?

You can say with confidence it's because God,

the creator is in covenant with his whole earth.

Doesn't that give you comfort?

When you see the next headline,

man, there's there's all kinds of headlines, aren't there?

It's stuff you could not make up.

When some of you were in school,

these are things that the sci-fi was about

and it's happened.

It's all happening.

How long will this earth remain and how does it remain?

How have we even continued to remain this long?

Only if a good God is sustaining all of it.

God is generous

and God is patient

and God generously, patiently preserves all of life.

He withholds his judgment.

Doesn't it make you long for his glory

to fill the earth fully, consummately one day?

When will it be that this gracious Lord

will truly rule over all the earth,

not just in a preserving way,

but the true kingdom of heaven filling this entire earth?

We long for that day.

So man is death deserving,

but the Lord is gracious.

The Lord also reveals this by way of covenant.

So the same two points,

but in the form of a covenant,

the Lord reveals his covenant mercy

and his covenant grace

by committing himself,

by vowing with a legally binding oath.

This is how he'll do it.

It was interesting for me to learn.

If you look at verse 21,

the Lord said in his heart,

most interpreters think that

this was God revealing later to Moses

what was true all along,

even if Noah didn't know it.

So it's likely that

what God was covenanting

was part of that divine counsel,

maybe not even heard by Noah

at this point only.

It would have become audible for Noah later,

but God's decree does not depend on Noah

even knowing that.

God's decree was expressed

in chapter 8 of Genesis

by swearing by himself.

And then if you turn to Genesis 9,

Genesis 9:9

verse 9,

it's showing us what God did tell Noah.

Now God is speaking to Noah

in Genesis 9, 9.

Behold, I establish my covenant with you

and every offspring.

The point here is that

God covenants before man even knows it.

That's another source of comfort

that we can have.

Some of you,

this has been a wonderful truth to learn.

Why is it that you believed in God?

When you heard the gospel,

why did you know

that could even be true for you?

That you could be cleansed

by the blood of Jesus?

Well, the answer is

because God covenanted to do that.

And you know you're saved.

You know he gave you a new heart.

But now, only now,

by studying his word

and what he's revealed,

do you see,

this is what was happening all along.

And why?

All glory be to God

and more comfort for you.

More trust in his promises.

The fourth revelation I see here

is that after the flood,

the Lord covenanted

not only with mankind,

but with all future generations

generations of mankind

and every living creature

with the whole earth itself.

Let's look at Genesis chapter 9,

Genesis 9:9

verses 9 and 10.

Behold, I establish my covenant

with you and your offspring after you

with every living creature with you.

Verse 12,

the covenant that I make

is between me and you

for all future generations.

So Noah

is receiving this

on behalf of all mankind

that will follow.

There are no human beings

on planet earth

that did not come from Noah.

His three sons came from him

and everyone on filling the earth today

came from this one man.

So God's covenant stands

to every single person

from every people,

nation, tribe, and tongue.

God will preserve them.

I love how Ecclesiastes 1, 4 says,

a generation goes

and a generation comes,

but the earth remains forever.

Picking up on this refrain.

So those are the revelations

we see in this passage.

But next,

I'd like to highlight

the implications.

I see five significant implications

of the covenant

that God made through Noah

with all the earth.

First is that the Noahic covenant

is non-redemptive

in the sense that it's not promising

to save all of mankind.

But instead,

this covenant promises

that God will sustain,

uphold,

govern all the earth

until the ground,

until the ground

bears forth the fruit

that man can eat

and the animals reproduce

and man can eat them.

Man can enjoy life on the earth.

He'll have the carbs he needs

by tilling the ground

and he'll have the protein he needs

by shepherding the flocks.

Man has to go out and work

and cultivate

in order to survive

on this earth

just like Adam

east of Eden.

But it's non-redemptive.

So it's for survival

and preservation only.

One commentator

that was very helpful here,

I'll mention him a few times.

His name is David Van Drunen,

systematic theology professor

at Westminster.

He wrote,

So the Noahic covenant

is non-redemptive.

Second is that

the Noahic covenant

is common,

meaning that it's not

limited to the elect

and it's not limited

to the special line

from Abram

to Jesus Christ.

It's for every single

human being.

It's common.

Another theologian,

Meredith Klein,

commented that

common grace

is not itself redemptive.

Rather,

it allows for the preservation

of a world stage

upon which the drama

of the covenant of redemption

could play out.

So it's common

and it's good

for all.

How can wicked people

who despise God

enjoy the fruit

of his earth?

How can they enjoy

times of great harvest

and prosperity

and enjoy all the good gifts

that God has given?

Even if they don't give glory

to God,

it's because they are part

of this common covenant

that God made

with all who fill the earth today.

The third implication

is that the sign

of the Noahic covenant,

it's symbolic.

Because a sign,

it points

to further significance.

The sign is the rainbow.

Just as we can still see

the rainbow today,

we're reminded

that the covenant

is still in effect.

Let's look together

at chapter 9,

verse 13.

God says,

I have set my bow

in the cloud

and it shall be

a sign

of the covenant

between me

and the earth.

And even to this day,

the rainbow shines out

from the clouds

for every man

and beast

to see.

Everyone who sees

the rainbow

bears witness

that God

has made a covenant

with the earth.

God says,

I have set

my bow

in the clouds.

And this word

is used

in other parts

to describe

warfare language.

One scholar

pointed out

how in ancient

iconography,

bows are vertical

in battle.

It means you're ready

to shoot them.

But then after a battle,

the victorious Lord,

as they're riding off

on their horse,

would be pictured

with their bow

horizontal,

indicating peace

following the war.

You see how the bow,

it's a sign

that God

has made war

with wicked world.

God is victorious

and his bow

is now in the resting position.

He's giving man

undeserved peace

until the second coming

of Christ.

God has already

waged his war.

He's already punished

the violent,

rebellious man.

And the rainbow

is a sign.

Notice,

it's for God.

Look at verse 16.

It's a sign

for God

of his own

terms

of his covenant.

This is a unilateral

covenant.

It's God himself

who makes the covenant.

God himself

will keep the covenant.

And the sign

is,

so to speak,

a reminder

for God.

In verse 16,

he says,

when the bow

is in the clouds,

I will see it

and I will remember

the everlasting covenant

between me

and all life

on earth.

This is our

God of peace.

Doesn't it make you

long for that day

when true peace,

relational shalom

with God

will fill

this earth?

When will that day

come when the glory

of this peace

keeping God

will rule over

all perfectly?

The fourth

implication of the

Noahic covenant

is that it is

binding today.

The Noahic covenant

is still binding

just as it's good

for every human being.

It binds

every man

and woman today.

Let's look together

at verse 6.

The Lord says,

whoever sheds

the blood

of man,

by man

shall his blood

be shed

for God

made man

in his own image.

Every human being

is an image bearer

of God.

Every human being

is precious

in the eyes

of the Lord.

And it's also

saying that it's

man's job

to shed the blood

of murderers.

How can man

judge that way?

How can man

discern well?

It's because

every man

has the image

of God still.

God preserves

in all his

image bearers

a natural

sense of

law.

This is a good

thing.

This is why

we can have

very wise

judges

and lawyers

working a

judicial system

as image

bearers of God

though they're

not saved,

though they're

not yet

regenerated.

But this is

still binding

today.

The sanctity

of life.

One of the

statistics I

looked up,

I had to

double check

this and

just I

sat there

stunned and

silent.

Reminded again,

you've heard

these numbers

as I have,

how quickly

I forget.

Every hour,

100 abortions

happen in

America.

One million

abortions

every year

in this

country.

73 million

abortions

every year

worldwide.

God's

covenant with

Noah is

still binding.

We are

image bearers

and God

has given

us a

sense of

law and

justice.

God's

love.

We need

to have

confidence in

this world.

We need

to not be

surprised by

how wicked

the world

is.

What we do

need to be

surprised by

is how God

can preserve

anything good

out of this

fallen creation,

even after the

flood.

And I am

amazed at both

of those things

every week.

How wicked

we are

because of

sin as

human beings

and also

how good,

how much

good people

are capable

of without

even knowing

the Lord

Jesus.

Paul pointed

that out in

Romans 2.14.

He said,

that's why

Gentiles do

by nature

what the law

requires.

It's the only

reason human

beings do not

act more

badly.

So we can

ask,

how does

this world

remain?

This is how

God preserves

the world so

it does

remain.

we read

in Genesis

Genesis 9:1

chapter 9

verse 1,

God blessed

Noah and

his sons

and said

to them,

be fruitful

and multiply

and fill

the earth.

This is

another binding

command for

all mankind

which is

God's design

for the

family.

God commands

very clearly

in scripture,

man and

wife are to

multiply

children

within the

family.

That's

God's

good

design.

It's not

a sin

if a

family

can't

have

children

or

abstains

from

childbearing

for medical

or other

reasons,

but that's

God's

design.

One man,

one woman

in a

family

bearing

children.

G.K.

Chesterton

pointed out

the heart

of human

society

is,

quote,

a triangle

of truisms

consisting

of father,

mother,

and child.

Tearing them

apart has

devastating

results for

both individuals

and society.

And one

result is that

ever more

selfish and

loveless forms

of sex

become normalized,

someone pointed

out,

as forms of

self-expression

for salvation.

that didn't

strike me

until recently.

You start to

hear some

of the

songs on

the radio,

songs that

are,

you know,

it's different

than the

love songs

of a

different era.

These are

songs that

are using

worship

language to

describe a

sexual

encounter

between

two people.

Normalizing

sexual

activity and

identity as

a form of

self-expression

and even a

way of

saving

yourself.

There's a

Princeton law

professor named

Robert George.

Everything I've

read from him

has been very

helpful,

and to me it's a

reminder of this

natural law.

He wrote,

it's odd,

but there are

people who seek

fulfillment,

even a kind of

salvation in sex.

They won't even

expect more than

it can give.

Sadly,

by perverting it,

they deny themselves

the great good

that it actually

can deliver,

namely,

true marital

communion.

That's the end

of his quote.

This is God's

binding design

on all mankind

that fills the

earth still

today.

And when we

see God's

covenant sign

in the clouds,

this is what we

should be reminded

of.

We should thank

him for preserving

this wicked world

as he does.

guys.

The fifth

significance I

see here is this,

that we live in a

layered reality.

The Noahic

covenant pulls

together for us

the backdrop,

the three layers

in which redemptive

history will unfold

now when we move

next to the covenant

God makes with

Abraham.

But here are the

three layers of

the reality of

this world that we

live in.

Creation,

fall,

in Noahic

preservation,

we can call it.

So our reality

from creation,

it includes God's

natural law that

reveals him and

it reveals what

pleases him.

John Gill wrote

that the natural

law was given as

part of the Lord's

providential control

over what he

made.

The content of the

natural law is

the moral law.

What Jesus

summarized as,

love the Lord

your God with

all your heart,

soul, mind, and

strength, and love

your neighbor as

yourself.

which the

Mosaic covenant

opened up as the

Ten Commandments.

A theologian named

Ian Clary wrote

that while the

natural law could

not establish God

as the savior of

mankind, it does

tell us about God,

the creator.

It is insufficient

to save sinners,

so it needs to be

re-engraved on our

souls in

regeneration.

And that's the

great promise of

Jeremiah 31 and

Hebrews 8 being

fulfilled.

I will write my

law in your

heart and in

your mind.

So the

Noahic covenant

was not a simple

reinstituting of

God's creation

commands, but it

was a revision of

what God had

commanded all

along, but now

in the common

grace mode.

Not to fulfill as

a federal head like

Adam only could do

because he was

sinless, but rather

to preserve all

mankind until the

coming of the

second Adam who

could fulfill God's

covenant of works.

One theologian

pointed out how in

this covenant with

Noah, there is no

Sabbath in view.

In the first

creation, we see how

the Lord rested on

the Sabbath day.

And then later on in

Exodus, when the law

is being given, the

fourth commandment, it

makes reference to

that.

You shall rest as

God's special people

because God rested at

creation.

But with the Noahic

covenant, there's no

mention of Sabbath

rest.

And so the Sabbath

ordinance, Meredith

Klein pointed out, it

was a sign for Adam

and then for God's

people in the old

covenant that would

mark God's promise of

eschatological blessing.

If you take a Sabbath

rest, it's pointing you

toward a greater rest

that you'll have one day.

Before the fall, the

cultural mandate had the

Sabbath in view, but this

is not the case any

longer for those after

the flood.

In other words, he's

saying that those after

the flood should not

expect blessing from

God by living on this

earth post-fall through

any cultural labors.

We cannot save

ourselves.

So now I'm going to

try to give you some

things to contemplate.

As you answer the

question for yourself, how

do I live in this world?

in light of creation,

fall, and God's

preservation.

First, this world is the

city of man.

We're told that this world

is Satan's domain on

earth.

The church is the city of

God.

The church is a picture of

heaven coming to earth.

Michael Beck pointed out

that when Christ came, he

did not establish the state

or the family or a school

or a business venture.

These things already

existed and were governed

and preserved under the

covenant God made with

Noah.

The Lord Jesus established

one thing, the church.

And Christ remains the

universal Lord of all, but

only the church is sacred.

Only the church is the

special kingdom of God on

earth.

First Timothy 2.2 says,

We are now in the city of

man.

We are to lead a peaceful

and quiet life that is

godly and dignified in every

way, that this is good and

pleasing in the sight of God

our Savior, who desires all

people to be saved and to

come to the knowledge of the

truth.

So while you're in the world

and the city of man, live a

peaceful and quiet life,

knowing this is pleasing in

God's sight and may your

life be a testimony that

God uses to draw people in

to be saved and to belong

to his special kingdom on

earth, which is the church.

So this world is the city of

man and the church is the

city of God.

Number two, Christ did not

charge the church with

ushering in the new heavens

by taking over the city of

man by force.

Instead, the picture we're

given is being like the

patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac,

and Jacob.

We are sojourners and

exiles in the world.

First Peter 2 11.

Here we have no lasting

city.

Instead, we seek the city

that is to come.

Hebrews 13 14.

So as Christians in the city

of man, yes, we vote.

We can even run for offices,

but we don't put our hopes

that those things would save

this world.

First Timothy 2 11.

We are to pray for those who

rule over us as God's

ordained magistrates.

I urge you that to make

supplications, prayers,

intercessions, and

thanksgivings for the civil

magistrates that God

ordained.

But when the elections don't

go the way we want here in

Colorado or nationally, that

is not what we're putting our

hopes in.

We trust that God will

preserve us through

suffering, through our

theology of the cross.

as long as this earth

remains, he will preserve

his people according to his

will.

And if we're persecuted in

this world, we say this is to

the glory of God.

He's our provider and he will

bring the new heavens and the

earth in his time.

Vendrunen wrote that Christians

should pursue cultural

activities.

We should do that.

Music, the arts, study

medicine, study law, study

these things in the city of

man.

But we do it with a spirit

of love and service toward

them, not triumph and

conquest over the world.

Our work in the world does

not usher in the new

Jerusalem.

We don't want to make the

mistake of John of Leiden.

Revelation 21 verse 2 says

Revelation 21:2

something mind-blowing.

It says that the new

Jerusalem, it is the bride of

Christ.

Christ, the bride of Christ,

the church, the people, they

are the continuity between

this world and the world to

come.

It is our bodies and our

souls that God will transport

into the new heavens and the

new earth.

That's what will be in common.

It's the church.

Vendrunen also wrote, no one

born in Adam's curse could

accomplish Adam's dominion

mandate.

The last Adam, Jesus Christ, he

has completed that mandate once

for all and no one else needs

to accomplish it.

So when Jesus teaches us to

pray for the will of God to be

done and the kingdom of heaven

to come on earth, we do that

trusting that Christ is the one

who ushers in the kingdom of

heaven spiritually.

It is not the mission of the

world to trans.

It's not the mission of the

church to transform the world,

but rather in Romans 12, we are

told do not be conformed to the

patterns of this world, but you

church be transformed by the

renewing of your mind.

Beloved congregation of our

Lord Jesus Christ, we are not

theologians of glory.

We want to be theologians of the

cross.

We want to obey Jesus and his

command to take up our cross

daily in this world.

He's preserving it until the full

number of those that Christ

purchased are brought to him.

We don't want to have a mission

statement that says we will

transform the world.

Instead, we want to praise God

every single day that he

preserves this fallen world, this

decaying planet, and he does

that through his people.

This earth is that decaying

carcass, but we are the salt of

the world.

We've been pushed into the the

massive humanity on earth to hold

it together, to preserve it.

We will not fill this planet with

the kingdom of heaven by any form

of cultural dominion.

Instead, Christians, we want to

throw our whole life on the

promise that Christ shall return

in glory one day.

Romans 14, we read that we shall

all stand before the judgment seat

of Christ.

This is Christ's second coming.

And as I live, saith the Lord, he's

quoting Isaiah 45.

Every knee shall bow to me and

every tongue shall confess to God.

And so then every one of us shall

give account himself to God.

It's when Christ returns that every

knee will bow and we will give

account to him.

So when Christ does return that

second time, all of the earth will

be full of the glory of God.

Habakkuk 2 14 says the earth shall

be filled with the knowledge of the

glory of the Lord as the waters

cover the sea.

That's when the Lord will fill this

earth with his kingdom of heaven and

we will be able to rest fully and

finally with him forever.

Let's pray.

Oh Lord God, hallowed be your name.

You are the creator and sustainer of

everyone and everything.

Lord, we do pray that your kingdom

come and your will be done on earth as

it is in heaven.

Thank you for how you've inaugurated the

kingdom of heaven through the work of

Jesus Christ in your church today.

that we get to be part of that Lord, a

foretaste of the heavenly glory will

enjoy.

We long for the day when you will

return, when you will come and your

glory will cover this entire earth as

the waters cover the sea.

Please come quickly, Lord Jesus,

according to your will.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

As we prepare for the Lord's Supper, I want to bring to your attention some important parallels between Noah and Adam.

Came from the study and Bible commentary.

In both narratives, Adam and Noah, God created and then recreated out of watery chaos.

Both Adam and Noah are said to be the image of God.

And those are the only occurrences in all of Genesis of that phrase, the image of God.

Both Adam and Noah walked with God.

Both exercised dominion over animals.

Adam was told to name the animals.

Noah was told to preserve them in the ark.

God commands each to be fruitful, to multiply, and to rule.

Both Adam and Noah were to work the ground.

Both Adam and Noah sinned in connection with what they consumed.

Adam sinned by eating the forbidden fruit.

Noah, after the water subsided, grew a vineyard, grew the grapes, made wine, got drunk.

And the sin of both Adam and Noah resulted in shame, in nakedness, and needing clothing.

Our Lord Jesus Christ came.

The Bible calls him the second Adam.

He came to inaugurate the new creation.

And we're told that those who are in Christ are clothed with his righteousness.

And now with the Lord's Supper, we eat and we drink.

All that man has done to sin, to destroy that bond, the covenant of grace, it goes forward and it promises the blessings that Christ secured for you.

So come to the Lord's table today.

If you are a Christian, if you're united to him, praising him for his righteousness, praising him for redeeming what we eat, redeeming what we will drink.

It's not a fruit of the vine that's bitter anymore.

It's sweet taste.

And it's a foretaste of the banquet feast of heaven.

The new Jerusalem, the Zion of God, where he rules his people as their king.

If Jesus is your king, then this is his table.

And he invites you to come and to feast with him, to rest in his grace again today.

If you're a baptized believer in good standing within a church, taking steps toward membership or visitors who know Jesus, then you come and you enjoy the Lord's Supper.

It's for you.

We'll take the elements by making a line down the middle, breaking off the bread and taking the cup back to your seat.

And then once everyone's been served, we'll stand together as a spiritual family and we'll read from God's word to enjoy it together.

You may be served.

You may be served.