Faithful: Week 3

Introduction

Last week we left off with God’s covenant with Noah

God’s Covenant with Noah

So, if you go to the front of your book we see a timeline of God’s covenants and we’ve touched on 3 of them to this point and we’re only through 3 chapters of the Bible! The Covenant of Redemption before the Bible was written. The Covenant of Works in the Garden of Eden, and the Covenant of Grace in Genesis 3:15 as God promised to send a Savior. As Genesis continues, we see the after effects of the fall of man unfold as things get progressively worse on the planet!

We don’t have enough time to do a full Bible study of the story of Noah but let’s at least look at the context of what is taking place in his time on the earth.

What happened from the fall in Genesis 3 until Noah in Genesis 6? Were things getting better or worse? Significantly worse!

Imagine sin like a cancer eating away at good cells and spreading rapidly around the body. This is what sin is doing on the planet as it is corrupting and leading to further wickedness on the earth. So much so that God is going to judge the sinfulness of mankind. Yet, in His judgment, He is merciful and forgiving!

What did Adam and Eve deserve in the Garden whenever they sinned against God?

Immediate death and separation from God for all eternity!

What did God do, though?

God was merciful and kicked them out of the Garden so that they would only be separated from him for a temporary period of time instead of for all eternity!

What did all people deserve in Genesis 6?

Immediate death and separation from God for all eternity!

What did God do, though?

God was merciful and chose to extend grace to a sinner in Noah and his family. Noah was a sinner - he was not perfect and he did not deserve to be saved… Yet, this is what God did because Noah found favor in His sight. We read in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11 that this is because Noah has faith in the Lord. He wasn’t perfect, but he believed in God and sought to glorify Him.

In the grand scheme of God’s plan and covenants, why is it significant that He chose to save Noah and his family?

Because the only way that you have the Seed of the woman is for the genealogies to match up. God is faithful to His promises and this is the way that things had to be - not because Noah was deserving but because God is faithful to His promises each and every time!

Reminder that human sin cannot override or overpower God’s perfect plan of redemption!

God makes a covenant with Noah that He will never flood the entire earth again. Noah responds to God’s promise by building an altar and making an offering as he worships God. Once again, God says to Noah what He told Adam, “Be fruitful and multiply and rule over the earth… spread out over the earth and multiply.” The sign of God’s covenant with Noah is the Rainbow.

The God of the Bible is patient, isn’t He? He withheld His wrath for 120 years with Noah’s generation and it took Noah a good while to build the Ark. God is patient today too! Paul Washer puts it like this, today God has both hands up. With one hand He pleads with sinners to repent and come to Him in faith… with the other He is holding back His wrath against sin and sinners. But one day both hands will drop and it will be too late for sinners to repent as God’s wrath will be poured out upon them just like His wrath was poured out upon humanity in the days of Noah.

Why must God punish sin?

He is holy and just

If He were not holy then He wouldn’t have to

If He were unjust then He wouldn’t have to

But, He’s holy and just… sinfulness goes against God’s design and must be punished by God

Why is it a good thing that we are saved by God’s grace rather than our works?

We could never work good enough to earn our own way

Why is it a good thing that God initiates these covenants instead of man making them?

God is the faithful party regardless of our sin and failure

Jesus Fulfills God’s Covenant with Noah

Compare God’s judgment against sin with Noah and Jesus

The Flood destroyed all but 8 people

God’s coming wrath against sin destroys all who are not in Christ

The Ark spared Noah and his family from God’s judgment

The Ark (cross) spares all who are in Christ

Noah was not worthy to survive God’s judgment (still a sinner)

We are not worthy to be saved because of our sin

Noah is a part of a family and they are saved

As Christians, we are a part of a family that is saved through God’s adoptive grace

On the Cross, what does God save us from?

God saves us from His wrath

He suffered for our sins as the righteous One and proclaimed His victory (likely in reference to fallen angels, not to humans in prison. In the NT you never see prison refer to as a spiritual/otherworldly place for people).

After getting off of the Ark, Noah builds an altar and worships God. He wasn’t perfect, but God chose to save he and his family. What stands out to you about this decision to worship God at this time?

Noah knew that God had delivered him and his family and kept his promise to flood the earth. He knew he was undeserving and praised God for His grace.

We’d often be busy getting to work or exploring the new sights to see… but Noah started off on the right foot: with worship!

How can we make sure that we lead our families to worship God faithfully, even in difficult seasons of life?

Make it a priority and remember Who God is in the first place: He is the creator and provider!

How does God’s judgment with the flood point us to Jesus Christ?

Jesus comes to be the Ark for us as He alone can rescue us from God’s wrath!

Whenever Jesus returns, it will be a day of judgment as all who are not in Christ will be destroyed, just like in the flood of Noah but it will be even worse.

God’s Covenant with Abraham

“The entire story of the Bible is the story of God bringing His people to Himself” - page 65, such a good reminder from start to finish as we’re a part of something bigger than ourselves!

Why is it significant that God made a covenant with Noah to not flood the earth again?

Because after the flood people went back to doing what they did before! Even though Noah found favor with God, his descendants were no different than their ancestors.

We read in Genesis 11 that the people built a tower to attempt to make a name for themselves. They failed to fulfill God’s instructions of spreading out and multiplying and filling the earth and they failed to glorify God as they wanted to glorify themselves. Therefore, God destroyed their plans and scattered them as they no longer could communicate with one another.

Years pass and eventually Abram appears in chapter 11 and 12 and we find out that he has no offspring yet God makes a promise with this unlikely figure. This is something commonly seen in the Bible: God uses crooked sticks to hit straight shots! He uses the weak and outcast to oppose the strong and popular. May we be careful to not reject the unlikely figure that He uses!

God makes a covenant with Abram in chapters 12 and 15 and promises him two things

Offspring

Land

This is significant because Abram had no offspring at this point in time and yet, God promises to give them a nation that will bless all the people on the earth! Further, these people had many things but God called them to move to a better place and live as nomads for a period of time and that He would give them a promised land.

The amazing thing about the covenant between God and Abraham is that God brought Abram out of a place of security but idolatry and into a place danger but faithfulness. God called an older man with no kids and promised Him that He would be made into a great and mighty nation. Abram will drop the ball… but God made a covenant with Him to bless all the peoples of the world through his offspring. This is all because of God’s perfect plan… but it wouldn’t necessarily work out in Abram’s timeline. These 2 promises don’t immediately happen.

Abram sins against God and against his wife by nearly letting the Egyptian Pharoah take her as his wife, then Lot goes a different way, things aren’t going the best for this man who just had a promise from God… Yet, God isn’t done with this man. To prove this, God performs a covenant ceremony with Abram. He initiates this covenant, not the other way around.

What would be bad about Abram initiating this covenant with God?

Abram would take on the responsibility of being faithful

God promises to not leave Abram alone in this waiting period. He promises to give Abram descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky! In our galaxy alone we have 100 billion stars and in the universe it is estimated that there are 10 trillion galaxies! The number of stars in the entire universe is beyond our comprehension and understanding - We have to understand that God isn’t making a direct statement saying that if there are 1 trillion stars, you’ll have 1 trillion and 1 offspring… it’s a figure of speech: You’re going to have so many offspring you can’t even count them. God will make Abram great and multiply his offspring greatly and to make this covenant enacted, God does something typical to Abram’s culture: blood is shed

We read in Genesis 15 that

Genesis 15:9–17 CSB

9 He said to him, “Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 So he brought all these to him, cut them in half, and laid the pieces opposite each other, but he did not cut the birds in half. 11 Birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. 12 As the sun was setting, a deep sleep came over Abram, and suddenly great terror and darkness descended on him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know this for certain: Your offspring will be resident aliens for four hundred years in a land that does not belong to them and will be enslaved and oppressed. 14 However, I will judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will go out with many possessions. 15 But you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” 17 When the sun had set and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the divided animals.

This sounds gross and confusing so let’s backup with a little context: This is a Suzerain Vassal Covenant. Whenever these ceremonies would be done the less powerful party would walk through the animals to demonstrate their inferior status as the vassal and they would agree that if I disobey this covenant then this will happen to me… This carries significant implications because if Abram had walked through the animals he would have been killed the moment that he disobeyed God’s command. While he waits in chapter 15, he falls asleep and the Lord walks through the animals. Again, we think this sounds strange… but this represents that God has initiated the covenant and God has placed the responsibility of upholding the covenant and the consequences of disobeying the covenant upon Himself rather than on Abram. We can’t miss this… why did Jesus have to die? Because God promised to take on the role of the servant and the King… God promised to bear the disobedience and curse for His people. This is what Jesus does!

Our book shares on page 70 that God cuts the covenant, God carries it out, and God covers the penalty of the curse. He pays the price in full for all who repent and trust in Him as Lord! We can always trust in Him to finish the work that He starts because He is faithful.

Abram’s Impatience

Even though God is faithful, God doesn’t always act on our timeline the way we’d like! We read that Abram is 70 years old in chapter 12 whenever God makes this promise with him and 16 years have passed and still no biological son… You have to have a son in order to have many offspring. So Abram and Sarai take matters into their own hands and we read in chapter 16 that Abram has Ishmael with Sarai’s servant Hagar. They were impatient and understandably so… so they went to plan B and look at all the problems that have risen simply because they failed to wait and trust in God’s timing.

What problems have you experienced simply because you failed to wait long enough on the Lord?

Have you been there?

Nearly went to the wrong school

God is faithful to His promise even though Abram and Sarai messed up - this is such good news! He changes his name to Abraham (Father of many nations) and eventually in chapter 21, he and Sarah will have Isaac.

The sign of God’s covenant with Abraham is circumcision - something unique to Jewish people in the ancient world

Significant that this action doesn’t alone save, though, as Acts 15 demonstrates that Gentiles don’t have to be circumcised to be saved, they simply need to have faith in Jesus

Ultimately this action demonstrates faith and trust in the Lord. God commanded Abraham to do this and he did it. He was credited with righteousness as you read Romans 4 and Hebrews 11 look at this text

Romans 4:9–12 CSB

9 Is this blessing only for the circumcised, then? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say, Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness. 10 In what way, then, was it credited—while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? It was not while he was circumcised, but uncircumcised. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while still uncircumcised. This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also. 12 And he became the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had while he was still uncircumcised.

Eventually God makes a way for he and his wife to have Isaac and even though all of the convenantal promises haven’t come true yet, Abraham trusts that God will make them come to pass. He isn’t perfect, but he places his faith in the Lord because God has made the barren fertile. He has brought life where there used to be death. He has made a way where there was no way. This is what He continues to do for us today.

Jesus Fulfills Abrahamic Covenant

Again, all of these covenants point us to Jesus and Jesus fulfills the promise God gave Abraham to have a people and a land. Through Abraham’s offspring all the people of the world will be blessed - how does Jesus fulfill this promise?

Is this a promise meaning that all people are going to be saved and go to heaven as some universalists claim?

NO!

Promise that God’s grace would be poured out and that all the nations of the world are blessed because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

God isn’t done with ethnic Israel - He has a plan for them in Romans 11 to save those who repent and believe in Christ as Lord but some are cut off in order for Gentiles like you and I to be grafted in. Remember last week, every person before the cross was saved by grace through faith as Jesus bore those sins that had been covered for years on the cross. Every person after the cross must be saved by grace through faith in Christ. John 14:6 still applies

John 14:6 CSB

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

It’s not be a Jew or descendant of Abraham or believe in Jesus… It’s believe in Jesus Christ!

Abraham was credited with a righteousness that wasn’t his own. He becomes the father of many nations, not just the Israelites! All who place faith in Christ as Lord.

Also, for those who are in Christ, they have the promise of a land. The promised land was a dud, not because God failed but because of the sins of the people. They lost battles because they disobeyed God and they eventually were taken into captivity because they sinned against the Lord. However, the promised rest given to God’s children through Jesus can never be taken away.

It Is Well With My Soul example: This is what Jesus alone can do for the human soul and no other person can take that peace away!

Jesus saves us and brings us back to God’s presence:

Page 79:

Credited with His righteousness

All who place their faith in Him as Lord and Savior

Eternal Glory with God

This is our hope today - Jesus alone saving sinners like us and restoring us to God