From the Start - Part 18 | The Noahic Covenant (A Genesis Sermon Series Part 19)

Turn in your Bibles or scroll to chapter 8.

Genesis chapter 8. We'll finish chapter 8 this

Genesis 8 · chapter mention

morning and then jump into Chapter 9.

Marriage is a covenant based on vows to each other.

Now, while there is a legal component to it, marriage is a

commitment before God between a man and a woman.

It's intended to be permanent and unconditional.

When we're poor, I'm going to stay right here by your side.

That hasn't changed. If you get sick, I'll be right

there helping you through it. When things are bumpy, we're

going to stick it out. God made an unconditional

covenant with humanity and creation, ensuring that despite

our propensity for evil, his grace remains active this

morning. If you would, and if you're

able, would you stand as we read from chapter 8, verses 20

through 22? Then Noah built an altar to the

Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every

clean burden, 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 sea,

time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and

night, shall not cease. You may be seated.

Noah and his family had been cooped up inside the ark for 378

days, roughly. They'd not felt sunshine.

They hadn't touched dry land or lived any kind of normal

existence during that time. But the first thing Noah did

after leaving the ark was build an altar to worship God.

Now, I'm sure there were other possibly more urgent matters to

tend to, like building shelters and gathering food.

But the first thing Noah, this man who walked with God, the

first thing he did was worship God.

He's, he's offering animals. That is his worship and offering

of animals. It's interesting that that Noah

is silent on on a number of counts, actually, he has yet to

speak in the text. He has no response to God's

announcement, no questions about the ark or the animals, no plea

on behalf of anyone else, no Christ or mercy, no bursts of

joy or gratitude for for being saved through the flood.

No grief that the world was destroyed, no impatience, no

prayers of Thanksgiving accompanying the the offering.

Even he could have spoken. But instead what we routinely

see from Noah so far are actions.

We've seen his obedience throughout this narrative and

his walking with God speaks to that obedience.

This offering of animals is is another God honoring act in the

life of Noah. In the Mesopotamian flood

accounts, the purpose of ancient sacrifices was to appease the

angry and volatile gods through gifts of food and drink.

And our instinct might be to say, well, Noah's purpose

actually was to make a sin offering.

But I actually think that that that's out of place for a couple

reasons. One, so far, Noah's life in the

text has been characterized by righteousness and his intimate

walk with God. And two, to assume it's a sin

offering is to import ideas into the text that aren't there.

Sure, later Moses will outline sacrifices and the protocols

around them, but we have nothing to tell us this is a sin

offering or even a vank offering.

It may be that perhaps Noah was looking for God's favor and

blessing as he embarks on this next step in the journey,

multiplying and filling the earth with his family.

The burnt offerings Moses audience were familiar with are

usually associated with petitioning God for something,

so that could possibly explain his motive.

Even in the next section we'll see that Noah receives a

blessing, so it could be that blessing is connected to the

offerings here when getting off the ark.

Now I'm curious as to how many animals came off the ark.

We can presume that more came off the ark than went into the

ark as surely some of them would have been old enough to mate and

reproduce. Of the clean animals, there

might have been more than went in, but it's highly unlikely

there there would have been a proliferation of clean animals

during that year on the ark. It was during this time of

limited availability that Noah made these offerings.

He wasn't making his offering out of out of abundance, but

rather I would say more out of scarcity.

God is pleased when we offer our gifts to Him out of a position

of scarcity or or lack as it it implies trust in His provision.

I'm reminded of of King David going up to raise an altar on

the threshing floor of a round of the Jebusite in Second Samuel

24. This offering that King David is

going up to to offer is to is to assuage the judgments that it

that it that has come this this plague that was caused because

you see, David had taken a census and he wasn't instructed

to take a census. And you say, oh, well, we take a

census all the time. What's wrong with taking a

census? Well, the problem is his motive

behind the census. You take a census in order to

set assess what kind of army you have, what is your military

power. That is what he did rather than

trusting in God. So David approaches the

threshing floor of a round of the Jebusites and Jebus is is

Jerusalem. Jerusalem.

He approaches the threshing floor and Aronis Aronis says

here, take take the the thresh. The threshing floor is yours and

here's some wood and and here's oxen.

It's all yours and David responds as second Samuel 2424.

But the king said to Arona, no, but I will buy it from you for a

price. It will not offer burnt

offerings to the Lord. My God, that cost me nothing.

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50

shekels of silver. So David says I'm not going to

make a sacrifice that that cost me nothing.

And here Noah made his offering almost definitely not from a

place of abundance, but more likely from a place of scarcity

costing him something. Verse 21 says that Yahweh

smelled the pleasing aroma. This doesn't mean he literally

smelled the sacrifice. Scripture often paints God in

what we call anthropomorphic terms it describes.

It's describing him in ways that that are human in order to

understand something of God. God doesn't have literal

nostrils and olfactory nerves. In case you were curious, God

had regard for for the sacrifice Noah offered.

It was a pleasing aroma and the concept of a pleasing aroma is

routinely used in scripture to characterize sacrifices, whether

they were priestly sacrifices or or Jesus sacrifice or living

sacrifices. So when God smelled Noah's

sacrifice, it prompted him to issue a promise of restraint.

God is promising restraint. There's hope for the earth and

and humanity here as as God makes a few promises.

First, he would never again curse the ground because of

humanity. The ground had been cursed in

the aftermath of sin and then a second time after Abel was

murdered. Now some some have interpreted

this incorrectly to mean that the curse was lifted from the

ground, but that's not the case as we still live under the

curse. The curse most specifically in

view here is that of the flood. That's what he means.

God's promise was to never again do what he had done with the

deluge. God also promised to not kill

every living creature. This pertains to both animal and

human alike. God would never again bring such

wholesale destruction, in spite of the fact that verse 21

reiterates chapter 6 and instead of man's character, the

intentions of man's heart are evil.

Humanity deserves judgment, but God promised life would always

continue. In season and out of season, hot

and cold, day and night, life would continue.

This promise of restraint is God's grace on the earth and in

humanity. Society was corrupt and and past

the point of saving, yet God still chose to exhibit grace in

saving this family and the inhabitants of the ark so they

could start a new future. In the next chapter we see some

new procedures put in place. If you look at Chapter 9 at

verse one, we'll read verses one through 7.

God bless Noah and his sons and said to them, Be fruitful and

multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of

you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of

the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and

all the fish of the sea into your hand they are delivered.

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you.

And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.

But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is its blood.

And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning.

From every beast I will require it, and from man, from his

fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.

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.

So as as Noah was recommissioned, God blessed him

and he reiterated what we call the cultural mandate.

The cultural mandate is simply to be fruitful and multiply and

fill the earth. The cultural mandate first

showed up in chapter 1 and then here again God twice gives the

humans the same instructions. Time will tell how good of a job

they do of this, but that's the command.

Go fill the earth. However, here in this post

diluvian world, things aren't going to be the way that they've

been for all these centuries. In post flood life.

There's there's a strained relationship between humans and

animals. There's a strained relationship

now between the humans and the animals.

Humans and animals can they can have marvelous relationships,

albeit not quite like it was back in the garden.

Back in the garden, the animals were all paraded in front of

Adam and and he named each species as they as he spent time

with them and and learned their various characteristics and

traits. And the text gives evidence that

some of those relationships remained intact until the flood.

But then after the flood things changed.

Now one of the changes that occurred was animals would fear

humans. The animals would would now fear

humans. Back in chapter 1, humans had

been been given the command to subdue and and rule the animals.

Now I'd like to remind you that this wasn't ruling and and

subduing them wasn't wasn't abuse or anything like that.

It was simply to help them be the best that they could be.

Excuse me, Animals could be used to help humans do work and and

the humans could help care for the animals ruling and so doing

was good and beneficial. But now the command to subdue

and to rule had been replaced by fear and dread.

Partnership and ruling and reigning was no longer in view

for many of the animals, and that relationship had been

replaced by fear. I suspect part of the reason why

animals fear humans is that many of them had become prey.

In verse 3 God said every moving thing that lives shall be food

for you and as I gave you the green plants, I give you

everything. There's a bit of discussion

about which animals might be referred to here, but what is

clear that there's a significant change in humanity's diet.

I believe humans were either exclusively or primarily

vegetarian before this moment, and then here God gave them

permission to eat meat. So humanity was given permission

to eat meat. Steak was finally an option.

Something good to come out of the fall I guess.

God had given humans animals for food, so a logical response to

their being hunted prey would be to fear humans.

Some theologians have surmised that when God gave humans

permission to eat this meat that it also meant animals which had

up to this point been vegetarian became carnivorous, carnivorous

carnivorous. It's going a bit too far to

suggest that the narrative is trying to make such a statement

here, and that all animals were vegetarian prior to this point,

because the text doesn't say that.

So we have to be careful with what we infer and read into the

text. Now, sadly, it's important to

state that this was not a carte blanche ticket to to needlessly

slaughter animals. This means acts like the late

18th century's slaughter of the American bison and and reducing

their numbers from 60 million down to a mere few 100 four 500

is of of a godly perspective on ecology.

That's not good stewardship. They are alive and well today.

You can go see them and and don't get close to them like

stupid people that you see online.

They are still wild. Giving humanity the freedom to

eat meat wasn't a license to human savagery.

Proper orientation to the earth and the animal Kingdom means

understanding that we are allowed to eat meat and should

also care for animal life. With this new allowance there is

a restriction though. No eating blood.

That rare steak. It's kind of on the border.

No, I just no eating blood. Humanity was prohibited from

eating the blood of animals. By the way, the the well done

steak. That's a sin.

Also, just so just just to be clear, confession, if we go out

to a steak place, one of us likes to order a medium well.

I think that's like perfect. Somebody, somebody else, if she

had the opportunity would order well.

Now there's 2 problems with that.

One, it takes longer for my steak to come out now, right

because she ordered well done and you just ruined it.

So she has she has agreed she often will order medium well so

it comes out more quickly and she gets more of the flavor.

So that is very thoughtful of her.

Quite, quite the sacrifice, but I digress.

Eating blood, though, actually eating blood, is on a different

level than simply eating meat. Animals eat blood, and by

restricting humans from eating blood, God is limiting the

extent of humanity's wildness here in our Western culture.

Someone could look at the laws and regulations and scripture

regarding blood and and might see them as as weird or archaic

or possibly even misogynistic in some cases.

But you see, blood is important tonight and I think it would be

difficult for me to overstate the importance of blood in the

Bible. First of all, life is in the

blood. Life is in the blood.

Verse 4 God said you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is

its blood. Blood is life we can't live

without. It's not.

Eating the blood of an animal demonstrates respect for the

sanctity of life. In chapter 4, Abel's blood cried

out from the ground, meaning that his life had been taken at

a still future moment from Noah. Blood would form the center

points of the sacrificial system, and it becomes the only

means to atone for sin. So blood atones and covers sin.

Blood atones and covers sin in the law.

Atonement was only affected by by the shedding of the blood of

a guiltless substitute. And then when Jesus died, it was

his innocent blood that atone for our sins.

Hebrews 10. You'll see it on the screen

there, verses 10 through 12. We've been sanctified through

the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, And

every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the

same sacrifices which can never take away sins.

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for

sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.

When Jesus came and offered up his life, pouring out his blood

on the cross, the perfect sacrifice had finally been made.

No longer would would priests need to go through their

routines of offering sacrifices for sin to further the point in

value of blood and the value of image bearers.

In verse 6, God said whoever sheds the blood of man by man

shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

Now essentially this is the law of retribution.

This is what's called the law of retribution.

This is life for life. The basic premise here is is

that of proportional punishments.

If someone takes someone's life, then that person's life will be

taken from them. The taking of someone's life is

such an insult to God that it warrants the murderer losing his

own life. Now the law of retribution is

detailed more in Leviticus 24, and that's where we get the eye

for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

But this this is the first introduction to the law of

retribution. Every image bearer of God should

be treated with dignity and respect, and the act of murder

is an attack on the very image of God.

Those who take the life of another human are to know that

their lives will be demanded of them, of God's words in this

passage tell us God expects the violence that began with Cain

and and that was prevalent before the flood to continue.

So violence will continue. This new restart still includes

humans with a sin nature right and left to their own devices.

Humans will still give in to that sin that is crouching at

the door to rule over them, and they will give in to the way of

Cain and turn to violence. Reading now that verses 8 in

Chapter 9, verses 8 through 17, we see the no way covenants is

is formally established. Verse 8 And God said to no unto

his sons with him. Behold, I establish my covenant

with you and your offspring after you, and with every living

creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every

beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.

It is for every beast of the earth.

I established 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've set my bow in the cloud,

and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the

earth when I bring clouds over the earth.

And the bow was 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 was 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

flesh that is on the earth. I'm curious, did anybody go home

last week and do a deep dive on trying to find where the ark is?

No, I figured somebody would go home and start Googling.

OK, where is the ark? Really trying to figure out all

the options. OK that's fine.

I was just just wondering years ago.

Years ago. There is a plethora of

information out there to sift through now.

So as God spoke to Noah and his sons, he first made it clear

that that this covenant is for everyone and everything.

So this covenant is for everyone and everything.

Never again would God destroy all living things and never

again will He destroy the earth. In the Hebrew God is saying I

behold, I am establishing my covenant.

The emphasis is on God and his responsibility in the covenant.

He is the initiator of it and and the obligation is his.

We, we have no parts in this contract.

God is just saying I am going to do this.

In spite of humanity's sinfulness.

God is determined to never again devastate humanity in such a

manner. So God placed the rainbow in the

sky to serve as a sign. And this rainbow is a reminder.

The rainbow serves as a reminder.

It's a reminder to both God and to us.

First of all, in verses 14 and 15, God said when I bring clouds

over the earth and the bow was seen in the clouds, I will

remember my covenants. God has made a promise and He's

going to uphold His part because that's what He does.

He's God and He can be counted on.

He'll always remember this promise.

Second, the rainbow serves as a reminder to us of God's

covenant. The point here is that the

people of God we are to remember that God remembers Noah and his

descendants are are to notice rainbows appearing naturally in

the sky and know that God chooses to keep his covenant to

never again destroy the earth with a flood.

So how do we apply this? You can go home, you can eat

that steak. For those who are capable, you

could have many children. There's some other things we can

do though. First of all, live as a pleasing

aroma. Live as a pleasing aroma.

Our lives carry an odor. Is the odor like a junior high

boy? No offense to any junior high

boys we may have in the room. Or do you smell sweet and fresh

like roses? 2nd Corinthians 2 versus 14 and

15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who

are being saved and among those who are perishing to. 1A

fragrance from death to death to the other, a fragrance from life

to life. Our goal is to live a life of

worship that is a sweet smelling sacrifice to God.

Now the ramifications of this are that for those who are in

the body of Christ, your life lived in worship will be a

wonderful fragrance to believers.

But for those who are outside of the church and who are hostile

to the things of God, our lives actually stink to them and are

an offence. They can't fathom the ways in

which the people of God live, but our desire is to live in

such a way that we are a pleasing aroma as much as

possible, both within the body as well as to those outside the

body, our lives pointing to God. Next, remember God's promises.

Remember His promises, if God said it, He can be counted on.

He's promised provision, care, His presence, protection,

guidance, purpose, peace, joy, forgiveness, and salvation.

And there's like something like 12 passages there that I listed

that you can look up just to encourage you and your faith if

you're struggling with any of these things.

Trust what He said and live by it.

Don't discount it or or excuse it.

Oh, but that doesn't apply to me.

If God made a promise, then you can take it to the bank.

Lastly, live in the atonement Christ purchased.

Live in the atonement that Christ purchased.

Christ died on the cross as a willing and innocent sacrifice

so that so that we can be made right with a holy God.

He died, He paid the price, and our own righteousness could

never cut it for the believer in Christ's sacrifice.

Sometimes we can. We fall into this habit of

trying to prove our worth, our value.

Quit trying to prove your worth or, or trying to prove that

you're good enough. In case you didn't know, you'll

never be. We'll never be good enough.

Live from a posture of grace rather than a foundation of

works. Christ paid it all, and nothing

we can do will make God love you more.

So let your life be lived out of the overflow of your

relationship with Him, not working to to earn His favor,

but receiving His favor through the grace that He gives to us.

And then choosing to live and and to show works as a response

out of thankfulness and worship for what He has done in our

lives. And for anyone in this room who

may not have yet stepped over the line of faith, surrender it

all to Him. Jesus paid the ultimate price so

so that you can have abundant life.

He offered to cover to cover over your sins if you'll only

accept the free gift He offers. Surrender your will and your

ways to God, trusting only in Jesus.

Sacrifice for your here and now, as well As for your future.

He purchased your freedom from sin, so place your trust in Him

and receive the free gift of grace that God wants to give

you. Then, when you receive Him, He

will empower you to live the life that He intends for you to

live. Let's bow our heads and close

our eyes. As we prepare to close this

morning, just take a moment to meditate upon God's grace.

Often we come to these points and in a service and and our

attention is drawn to sin. But let's flip that a bit and

meditate upon God's grace so the quietness of your hearts.

Thank God for His grace. Have a conversation with Him

about that and how grateful you are for that.

God, we thank you for your grace, that though we deserve

judgment, punishment, separation, God, you have poured

out your grace as a free gift. You've promised provision, care,

your presence, protection, peace, joy, guidance,

forgiveness, and salvation in you.

Thank you for your promise. As we remind ourselves of these

things this morning, may they inspire us to to live in the

atonement, to live in the fact that Christ has covered our

sins. When you look at us, you don't

see us as dirty and sinful, but you look through the blood of

Jesus Christ, that precious blood.

You look through his blood shed and you see us as though we have

no sin of our own. What marvelous grace we thank

you and may our lives reflect the grace that has been poured

out abundantly. It's in Jesus name we pray,

Amen.