Foundations for Faith

We are recording.

So last week, so last week we did the beginning of Genesis.

We got all the way to creation and did not finish what I could have said about creation.

So it's, there's so much, so much.

I could have done five weeks on Genesis for sure,

because I have an outline here that does not finish Genesis by any stretch.

So I'm okay with that, because what I hope to do here is point us in a direction of a way to read Genesis

and the other books of really the whole Bible, but especially the Old Testament, the foundational truths.

That's what I'm trying to pull out is some foundational big ideas.

And I can't pull them all out, because there are a lot of them.

But what I hope to do is sort of model a way of looking at Scripture to help us think that way.

So I'm a person who thinks details and events and this narrative portion, you know, this, the story of Noah and the flood.

You know, and I think about that pretty contained.

Like I do think about, well, what does it show us about Christ?

What is it?

What is it?

How does it point to Christ?

How does it?

You know, I think about some of those things.

But what are the big ideas that undergird all of what we believe?

And without which our neighbors, who increasingly don't have this foundation, our neighbors are thinking really differently from the way we are.

I forget if I said this last week, but I have an aunt who's, she's in her 80s.

She's very much a child of the 60s and the sexual revolution and all of this.

Very bright, very interesting, very curious, really a wonderful, warm person.

But we've had conversations, and I've realized we are on a different planet.

Like the way she thinks about God is not as a personal God at all.

Like that's sort of where I start.

I've been a Christian for a long time, so this is what's in my head.

And even as a child in a non-Christian home, the idea was that God was a personal God that you could like pray to.

There was not a real faith in that God, but that's what I was taught as a child to the extent I was taught anything.

But so anyway, the world has changed.

And so that's what I want to look at.

So it's okay with me if we don't hit everything because, you know, you can go back and read Genesis and begin thinking about, for instance, we're not going to get to Abraham for Pete 6.

You know, the outline goes through Noah, and I may mention some other things a little bit about Babel and Abraham.

But, you know, there are things all the way through.

So as you read, not just Genesis, but whatever you're reading, I just want to encourage you to say, so what?

Like, okay, this happened.

So what?

What does this tell us about who we are, who God is, how the world works, the givens that God has built into creation because he is the creator?

So this week we're going to start with the fall, which is another, you know, big one.

So the account is in Genesis 3.

And I'm not going to read the whole thing.

But let me just read some of it.

So in Genesis 3, it begins,

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman,

Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

And the woman said to the serpent,

We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden.

But God said,

You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden.

Neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

But the serpent said to the woman,

You shall not surely die.

For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened.

And you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,

and that it was a delight to the eyes,

and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,

she took of its fruit and ate.

And she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.

Then the eyes of both were opened,

and they knew that they were naked.

And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

And if you are familiar with this story,

which I gather many of you are,

we see how this eventually works out.

And this disobedience is a big deal.

So I want to first talk about,

what did we learn about sin in this passage?

This is the beginning of sin, right?

And I want to look at Eve and what's going on in her head, right?

We don't know exactly,

but we know that Eve knows the command not to eat of the fruit.

It seems pretty clear.

She kind of expands on it by saying,

neither shall you touch it,

which we have no record of God actually saying.

So she's allowed a little more law to get in there.

But she knows she's not supposed to eat of the tree.

That's clear.

But she listens to the serpent.

She gives him an audience.

Might have been wiser not to engage

once she realized he was going to call God into question,

which is what he does.

He talks in these sort of half-truths, right?

He said, you will not surely die.

Now, that's an outright lie.

They don't die immediately,

and the death that they die

is a bigger death than just a physical death.

As we recognize it,

it results in much more

than just their physical death,

which does come.

So that's a lie,

the serpent says.

And then he says,

for God knows that when you eat of it,

your eyes will be opened,

and you will be like God,

knowing good and evil.

So then she looks at the tree.

Oh, it looks really good.

Like, that looks good.

And it sounds like,

I mean, the serpent is saying,

God doesn't really have your best interests at heart.

God's really holding out on you.

Well, I wonder if that's true.

So she's weighing these things.

And even in weighing those things

and wondering if what God says is true,

she's put herself in the place of judge

over what is right and wrong, right?

So she listens to the serpent.

She's listened to God.

And she's like, okay,

what do I choose?

And that what do I choose

is her expressing her autonomy

and her,

I get to decide, right?

And deciding what is good

and what is evil

apart from what God has said.

So the essence of sin,

as we see it here

and we see it throughout scripture,

this is just a broad,

there are many ways to talk about sin,

but it's autonomy.

It's autonomy that I can decide,

I can decide good and evil.

I can be the judge

over what is right and wrong,

what's right for me,

what's going to be better for me,

what's more desirable,

what do I want?

And it's not that we don't have

choices and options under God.

We absolutely do.

But the rational approach, right,

is to trust that God,

who created the world,

he actually knows better than I do

what is right and what is wrong,

what is good and what is evil,

what is going to be better for me.

And she thinks the fruit

is going to be better.

And she chooses that.

So she takes over the role

of God in her life, right?

She has decided the law for her.

And we do this every time we sin, right?

We weigh the options.

Sometimes that happens really fast, right?

We're not always deliberating

over whether we're going to

snap at our spouse, right?

We don't give it a lot of thought always,

which is the problem.

But every time we choose

to disobey God,

we're taking on that position of

I get to decide what's right

and what's wrong.

And this is what I'm going to do

because it seems better to me.

So that's really the essence of sin.

And as it enters the world,

and if we look around now,

and this has been true throughout history

since the fall,

which affected all of us,

which resulted in an inability

to always choose the good,

which Eve had.

She had an ability

to say no to the serpent.

And Christ restores that to us, right?

When he chooses us

and gives us grace

and he puts his spirit in us,

we are able to say no to sin.

We will never do it perfectly.

But that faculty of choosing the good

is restored to us.

But throughout history,

apart from Christ,

we see autonomy is like the thing.

And it becomes more and more evident

as you proceed through history.

So people in ancient days

didn't have a lot of choices.

They still could sin or not.

But autonomy wasn't all,

that wasn't all their world.

But in many ways,

it is all our world in the West.

Autonomy is the expectation

everywhere we look in our culture.

And it's not rational

any more than it was for Eve, right?

If God created the earth,

which again,

that's a big if for most of,

you know, most,

many of our neighbors,

if God created the world,

he probably knows better than I do.

Remember,

we talked about the

creator-creature distinction

and how God is outside creation

and we are inside it.

So our perspective,

we only have,

if we ignore God,

we can only judge by what's around us.

And that's not gonna,

that doesn't provide enough information.

But God,

God offers it.

So our society assumes

that autonomy and choice

are necessarily,

and of themselves,

both possible

and the ultimate good.

Right?

If you look around,

what,

what do we think of

when we think of freedom?

We think the ability to do

pursuit of happiness,

to pursue these goods

in our lives?

Sorry.

The biblical view

is that

autonomy,

and this is a quotation,

autonomy,

understood in the sense

of being independent

from God

in our judgments

and evaluations,

is metaphysically impossible

and relationally destructive.

So we really cannot be

independent of God

because we are created beings.

We are finite.

We're subject to God.

He created us.

He can,

he sustains us.

He gives us breath.

We are not independent.

We cannot exist independently,

whether we acknowledge it or not.

And as I said,

after the fall,

we have the added corruption

of what sin does

to our minds

and our wills

and the way it turns us

into ourselves.

The result

of this autonomy,

of this sin,

rejecting God

and pretending we are God,

is alienation.

And you can see

all kinds of alienation

throughout

as then God

unveils

the curses

and the results

of their sin

in the rest of chapter 3.

We're alienated from God.

We're alienated

from one another.

You see the immediate

blame game

that goes on

between Adam and Eve

and the serpent.

We're alienated

from our bodies.

Like they're suddenly

super uncomfortable

that they're naked

and they need to

cover it.

They're shamed.

We're alienated

from the rest of creation.

All of creation

is affected

by our sin

and the fall.

All of creation

has been unsettled

and is corrupt.

Not necessarily,

thoroughly,

none of these,

like this corruption,

none of it is so much

that God's good creation

isn't evident

and that there aren't

good things in creation

or that our being created

in the image of God

doesn't go away.

We are still created

in the image of God

but we're warped

and twisted

and the creation,

too,

is likewise

warped and twisted.

It's not what it should be.

So that idea

of what is now

is neither what it always was

nor what it was meant to be.

So God created it.

Remember last week,

God created it good

and he said,

this is good.

And then the fall

and it's not good.

But that implies,

you know,

what it says is that

there was a really good time.

It was created good.

Eden was real

and beautiful

and a place of abundance

and blessing.

Something happened

and we know it as

sin entered the world

and now the world

is not so good.

We see goodness,

but we also see evil.

We see cruelty.

There's murder

within the first few chapters

of Genesis.

The world is not

as it should be.

And I think,

I think we all,

Christian and non-Christian alike,

sense that.

Like, this isn't,

we're not really supposed to be,

you know,

embroiled in war

and embroiled in

fierce arguments

with one another

and hating each other

and we know racism is not,

that's not ideal

and we know,

so, you know,

even apart from Christ,

we recognize that

this is not,

this is not what it should be.

But where do we get that sense?

Like, why,

why do we think that?

And it's only because

it once was

as it should be.

And that echo

of Eden,

you know,

sort of,

it,

it,

it affects our hearts.

It affects even non-Christians

who don't believe

in Eden

and don't believe

in a fall.

so for,

for many non-Christians,

history is,

it's just always

what we know now.

That's all it was

and that's all

it's ever going to be.

So,

that's a really

different viewpoint

from,

from what the Bible

lays out for us,

which is,

first,

that there was a beginning,

as we talked about

last week,

there was a beginning

to history,

which implies an end.

it began good

and full of blessing

and abundance

and love

and sweetness,

but something happened.

So now what we have

is not what it was meant to be,

is not what it was,

and

we don't see this,

well,

we see it,

we see it,

the very beginnings of it

in Genesis 3, 15,

there will be something different.

Something different is coming.

if we think about

the world,

if the world was always

riddled with sin,

cruelty,

hardship,

death-dealing,

tornadoes,

and all the rest,

we can opt

for

despair,

like this is what it is,

man,

life is rough,

and this is what we got,

and

let's make the best of it,

or not,

or let's give up,

or whatever,

you know,

there's

many philosophies

that are within that,

and that,

you know,

nihilism,

or existentialism,

these all

result from that view

that this is what it is,

and this is what it's going to be,

or

in many periods of history,

and many,

you know,

people throughout history

have taken a more utopian view,

like,

we can make it better.

we can,

as people evolve,

and get smarter,

and our technology improves,

and

we learn to love one another,

we can make it

what it should be,

right?

But that's not true either,

because of the way we're bound in sin,

and we're not,

we're not God.

Only God,

who is outside of creation,

can change the trajectory.

history.

We have had

millennia

to do that,

and we have never done it,

right?

And I don't feel like anyone

can look around the world today

and say,

we're almost there,

right?

I mean,

we're not saying that.

There was a period in history

before World War I,

there were a lot of people

who said,

we're almost there,

look at us,

look at what we're doing,

look at the technologies

we're developing,

and

we're gonna,

you know,

we're gonna apply science

and reason,

and we're gonna make

the world beautiful.

And then World War I came,

and this

utter,

senseless carnage

of World War I

disillusioned a lot of people,

and it was followed

not that long

after

by

the Depression

and World War II,

and like,

where's the hope?

Like,

that does not look good.

These,

these two

cataclysmic

conflicts

in the,

in the 20th century,

in the first half

of the 20th century,

took the wind

out of the sails

of a lot of

utopians.

But there's still

that temptation.

We desire to,

to see it get better.

We look at,

oh,

maybe AI will save us.

You know,

maybe,

you know,

maybe that will,

maybe that's the key,

you know,

to making the world

a better place

and loving each other

and,

and ending war

and violence

and all of this.

The other dimension,

which I briefly mentioned,

the Bible adds,

so,

the narrative tells us

that something happened

that destroyed something good

or that marred something good,

and something's going to happen.

So,

in Genesis 3,

chapter 15,

the Lord is speaking

to the serpent,

and he curses him,

and in verse 15,

he says,

I will put enmity

between you

and the woman

and between your offspring

and her offspring.

He shall bruise your head

and you shall bruise his heel.

Which would you rather have bruised,

your head or your heel?

Who's going to win this battle?

We know.

We know.

There's,

like,

we know.

We know for real.

But this is a promise

embedded right here

at the very beginning,

right here

in whatever it is,

hours after the first sin.

God makes a promise

that,

serpent,

you are not going to survive this.

But,

the,

by humanity,

the offspring of the woman

will survive

and will triumph

over you.

So,

this promise

way back here

in Genesis

is the first

of many subsequent promises,

as we know,

of an ultimate victory

and

something different,

not more of the same.

Promises of a future

and a hope

abound throughout the Bible.

I think we know this.

But,

at first,

they seem to be

in the near future.

there are short,

what seem to be

short-term promises.

Even the promise

to Abraham

will be fulfilled

over generations.

But it seems

kind of localized.

It seems specific

to Abraham

and his offspring,

his children.

And it is

in many ways.

But it's also

pointing forward

to what we know

as the coming of Christ,

the redemption

from sin

and eventually

the new heavens

and the new earth

where righteousness dwells.

That will be,

that's coming.

That's coming.

Now,

we don't have to

bring it about.

The utopian

wants to,

you know,

apply

reason

and science

and

technology

and all this

to bring it about.

And

it's not wrong

to apply reason

and science

and technology

to improve

people's lives.

That's a good thing.

But to hope

that that is going

to be the answer

is foolishness.

It's not going

to be the answer.

God is going

to bring about

the new heavens

and the new earth.

And he planned it

way back here.

He actually planned it

before the foundation

of the earth.

Right?

But here's the first hint

and it's right after

the fall.

the plan of God

for redemption

is first promised

immediately after the fall

but the promises

multiply

and widen

in application

up to and through

the incarnation

of Christ.

And in the New Testament

we have promises

of a new heaven

and a new earth

where righteousness dwells.

The Bible

gives us

perspective

on the world

we live in

that the world

doesn't naturally have.

Right?

We have the perspective

in the narrative

of scripture

laid down in Genesis

that what God created

was good

was very good.

And something happened.

Humanity

brought sin

into the world

with the help

of the serpent.

And

that messed

everything up.

but

there's a promise

here

that points

to a future

where everything

will not still

be messed up.

Everything messed up

will be cleaned up.

That's the promise

of scripture.

So as we talk

with our neighbors

I think we need

to remember

that the reality

of the fall

is really good news

in a broken world.

This is good news.

It means

this is not

how it was meant to be.

This is not

how it should be.

This is not

this is not

part of the design.

We're not stuck

with this

necessarily.

Right?

It's

something happened.

So how do we

get back

to Eden

or how do we

as the Bible

tells us

move forward

into something

even better

than Eden?

But often

you know

our

we talk about

the fall

in the church

but out there

they're not

talking about

the fall.

Like they're

recognizing evil

and awfulness

and all of that

but they don't

realize

they don't really

stay conscious

of if they

have it in their

heads at all.

It wasn't always

like this

and it will not

always be like this.

So this is

this is hope.

This is our hope

as believers.

This is the hope

of the scripture

way back here

in Genesis.

God has something

better in mind

than even Eden

and the sin

of Adam and Eve

and the sins

of so many

throughout millennia

will not thwart

God's plan.

God is going

to bring about

something really

good.

The fall

points us

to hope

and it is a

belief more

and more foreign

to our neighbors.

Evil is not

original

and it will

not last.

So that's

good news.

Right?

That's good news.

And as we

talk to

people around

us

who don't

have this

foundation

and who

don't see

like just

the idea

is like

will someone

sinned back

there in a

garden

and what

I suffer

for it

like what

the heck

you know

there's all

kinds of

like it

doesn't make

sense

and it

doesn't

sound like

good news

right?

But if we

put it in

the context

of God's

big story

it's really

good news

that there

was a fall.

Now

obviously

there are

ways in

which it's

not good

news

but

essentially

that's what

it is

and it

points

just like

the beginning

of the

world

and creation

in the

beginning

God

created

the heavens

and the

earth

points to

an end

when the

history as

we know

it will

come to

an end

so does

the fall

and in

the way

it's

presented

in Genesis

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3

point us

to

something

different

that's

going to

be way

way better.

So any

questions or

comments on

that?

I've read

how the

perception

that most

people seem

to have

about

there's so

much that's

good about

the world

and that

there's so

much that's

bad about

the world

can

provide

an opening

to the

gospel

as you

just pointed

out.

There is

this

tension

or

paradox

as we

look around

this

and

well

might I

share with

you

what the

biblical

perspective

is or

what Jesus'

perspective

is on

why do

we have

that?

Yep.

Yep.

Or like

why do we

have these

good things?

Why are

these absolutely

wonderful

things built

into our

creation?

Not just

the physical

wonders

which are

stunning and

amazing

but love

between a

husband and

a wife.

The joy

of raising

children,

the joy

of

a good

conversation,

the joy

of hanging

out with

friends and

laughing.

All these

joys,

they're only

there because

God put

them there,

right?

And

why would

that evolve

out of

sort of

nothing?

Why would

that just

come about

any more

than why

would there

be so

much evil?

Like apart

from the

story of

scripture,

the story

the Bible

tells,

we don't

have reasons

for any

of this

stuff.

So,

yeah,

thanks.

Yeah?

It just

seems like

in the world

people that

really don't

really know

about the

Bible and

God stuff,

they think

it's like

a fantasy

type God

or a

kind of

storytelling

thing,

but if

you look

at,

if you

read the

Bible and

you look

at what

story is

the Bible,

you realize

how much

God really

feels in

reality.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah,

it's a great

point.

Yep.

Yep.

All right,

so let's

move on.

We're going

to look at

Noah and

the flood.

And again,

I'm not going

to read the

whole story.

I'm going

to assume

some of

that's

in your

heads,

but I

want to

read

Genesis

Genesis 6:5–7

chapter 6

verses 5

through 7.

The Lord

saw that

the wickedness

of man

was great

in the

earth,

and that

every

intention

of the

thoughts

of his

heart

was only

evil

continually.

And the

Lord

regretted

that he

had made

man on

the earth

and it

grieved

him to

his heart.

So the

Lord

said,

I will

blot out

man whom

I have

created

from the

face of

the land,

man and

animals and

creeping things

and birds

of the

heavens,

for I'm

sorry that

I have

made them.

But Noah

found favor

in the

eyes of

the Lord.

So,

let's

see.

so that's

how this

account

begins,

right?

God

looks at

the earth

and wow,

it is

really a

mess,

right?

I mean,

he doesn't

pull any

punches,

like every

intention of

the thoughts

of his

heart was

only evil

continually.

And it

just like,

yeah,

I mean,

it's a,

it's a

jarring

indictment

of what

humanity

has become,

right?

But then

this,

this striking

verse 8

there,

Noah found

favor in

the eyes

of the

Lord.

Now,

what is

that about?

Was Noah

such a

good guy

that God

just couldn't

resist?

Well,

I gotta save

him because

he's really

good.

He's the

one who's

really righteous

and all the

rest are

losers,

right?

But if

you read

it in the

context of

the account

and all

of scripture,

we recognize

that's not

how God

ever works.

He never

looks at

someone and

says,

you're who I

need because

you are

really good

or you're,

you have,

you have

what we

need here,

you need

to be the

leader,

right?

That's not

how he goes

about choosing

anyone in

scripture.

So why

would that

be true

here with

Noah?

Noah found

favor in

the eyes

of the

Lord,

and when

we read

verse 9,

the very

next verse,

these are

the generations

of Noah.

Noah was

a righteous

man,

blameless

in his

generation.

Noah walked

with God.

So first,

we have

this

word that

says,

God

looked on

Noah with

favor,

right?

It's basically

what he

said,

or grace

is another

way to

look at

that word

favor,

right?

Noah found

favor or

grace in

the eyes

of the

Lord,

and only

then do

we hear

that Noah

was a

righteous

man.

God

chooses

unrighteous

people,

because that's

all he's

got to

choose from,

right?

We're all

unrighteous

in this

generation

of Noah's

generation,

all the

thoughts

and intentions

of their

hearts

were only

evil

continually.

God

chooses

Noah.

Well,

why?

Well,

we don't

know.

That's hidden

in the mind

of God.

But I think

we can be

pretty confident

that it wasn't

because Noah

was such a

good guy,

because that's

never the way

it works

in Scripture.

God chooses

sinners.

He chooses

people who

are fallen

and broken

and sinful,

who are

rebellious.

This is who

he chooses.

And then

what happens

is,

the pattern

of Scripture,

the chosen

person,

right,

in this case

Noah,

responds to

God,

enabled by

God to

respond,

responds in

faith and

obedience.

God

so,

right here

in the story

of Noah,

we have

the reminder

or the,

like,

it's one

of the first

accounts where

we see

God's grace.

Now,

we've seen

it in Adam

and Eve

for sure.

He could

have just

wiped them

out and

just stopped

right there,

but God

did not,

and he

continues

his intention

for the

earth and

his creation.

and here

in Noah,

we see it

again.

Noah found

favor or

grace.

Noah was

righteous,

but the

order is

important.

The pattern

throughout the

Bible is

that God

chooses a

person and

that person

trusts and

obeys God

in consequence,

not the

other way

around.

God's

dealings with

Noah

reverse the

performance

leads to

reward,

dynamic,

to one of

blessing leads

to response.

God does

not wait

until Noah

comes up to

scratch before

blessing him,

nor does he

wait until

Noah has

built the

boat before

declaring him

righteous.

That's the

big obedience

that we see

in Noah.

He does

what God

tells him to

do,

and we see

that,

but that's

after he's

found favor

in God's

eyes.

God's

blessing

comes

unbidden

gratuitously.

We talked

about

how creation

itself is

gratuitous,

that it

doesn't need

to happen,

that it

comes as

a gift

and as

a blessing.

And here

this blessing

on Noah

comes the

same way.

It comes

out of the

love of

God's

heart and

not God

responding to

something good

in Noah.

God's

blessing

comes,

I said

that,

okay.

It

transforms

Noah's

action from

performance

orchestrated to

win God's

favor,

which is how

the world

works,

right?

We perform

and we

expect a

reward.

He transforms

that into a

grateful response

to God's

loving initiative.

initiative.

A number of

these quotes

here come

from the

book Biblical

Critical

Thinking by

Christopher Watkin

and that was a

quote from

Watkin.

And I am

going to put

together a

little bibliography

so you have

these titles.

So this is

utterly foreign

to the fallen

world, from

pagan religions

to sophisticated

stock traders

outside the

kingdom, and

we who are

believers as

well need

regular reminders

of this

pattern.

So strongly

does our

culture and

our sin

push against

it.

God doesn't

reward us

because we

perform well.

God has

grace, he

chooses us,

and he

enables us to

respond in

faith and

obedience.

And that's

the pattern

that we see.

And, you

know, on

this side of

Christ's death

and resurrection

and we have

the New

Testament that's

a lot clearer

to us.

But still,

don't we all

need reminders

of this?

Like, I mean,

I need it

every day.

I need to

remember that

I'm not

my good,

whatever it

is.

First, it's

enabled only

by God and

not by me.

And second,

it doesn't

make God

love me

more.

God doesn't

love me

more than

he did

when I

was

screwing

everything

up.

Right?

And the

reality is I

continue to

screw everything

up as I

even do

some good

things.

Right?

But it's

all grace.

It's all

grace.

The world

is perform

in order to

gain the

prize.

This is what

we do.

Do what

you have

to do

to get

what you

want.

And we

know this

is how

the world

works.

Right?

You go

to work.

You expect

to be paid.

You do

well.

You expect

to be

promoted.

Get a

raise.

This is

how it

works.

This is

another

quotation

from

Watkin.

It says,

Grace is

not an

outworking

of Noah's

character,

family

situation,

or culture.

Such an

event of

grace is

possible in

the biblical

world because

God radically

transcends the

created order

and is not

contained or

constrained by

its logical

or natural

possibilities.

We do

not live

in a

closed

system,

but in

a creation

whose

creator is

living and

active.

And again,

that goes

back to the

foundation of

creation.

He is

outside

creation,

and he

created it.

And he

is both

transcendent,

like outside

and above,

and imminent.

He's

active within

his creation.

So that's

where we

see,

that's where

grace comes

in, right?

Because he

cares, because

he loves us.

He created

out of love

and for

blessing.

And he

continues to

do that,

to pour

that out

on us,

even though

we don't

deserve it.

We've shown

that over

and over

again.

Another thing

to think

about with

the flood

is that

God saves

us from

himself.

The waters

that drowned

the human race

were also the

waters that

floated the

ark and

saved Noah

and his

family.

We have the

judgment of

God against

evil, the

righteous and

good judgment

of God

against the

evil rebellion

of the

world.

And then

we have

him choosing

Noah and

saving Noah

and his

family right

from out of

the midst of

that judgment.

And as we

look through

scripture, we

see this over

and over again,

right?

And we see

it most

poignantly, of

course, on

the cross.

Jesus takes

the judgment

that we

deserve.

God pours

out his

judgment on

this man,

Christ Jesus,

and he

takes the

judgment from

us and

saves us

out of it.

Right?

We deserved

the judgment

that Jesus

took for us.

God rescues

us from

his own

judgment.

God rescues

us from

God.

And in

the world,

we'll find

judgment and

grace,

judgment and

love, or

whatever, as

antithetical.

Like, they

don't go

together.

But in

scripture, we

see them

knit together

in the heart

of God.

He is both

infinitely just

and will

punish sin,

and he is

infinitely

merciful, and

he opens

salvation to

all.

He invites

every person

to come to

him and

trust and be

saved.

God rescues

the heart.

He offers

the heart

to us.

Judgment and

grace flow

from the same

source, not

from a good

God fighting

against a bad

God.

You'll see

that in

religions

throughout

history.

Noah is

saved not

because he

flees from

God's

anger, but

because in

the midst of

that anger,

he trusts

God's

word.

It is

God whom

we fear

because of

his just

wrath against

sin, our

sin, but

it is in

God that we

hope in

the promise

of his

grace.

So

judgment and

mercy are

not contrary,

and God is

not one

sometimes and

the other

sometimes.

He's always

all of it.

God is

and that's

challenging

for us to

put together,

right?

And that's

true in

the world.

Again, in

Genesis, we

have the

beginnings of

themes, these