The Flood and the Covenant

Intro

Talking about the flood today. One of the all time great stories you learned in Sunday school.

Main Idea: Man’s Sin Requires Divine Intervention

The flood narrative mirrors the creation narrative and previews Mt. Sinai. Again, the purpose of today is not scientific. It is to help us see what Moses was communicating and seeing Jesus.

Truth #1: Sin corrupts all creation (6:6-8, 11-13, 17-18)

Exp. This story can take us back to the days of flannel graph. Always had toys of a boat with little plastic animals. This story is a story about sin and its effects, not a boat. Nor is it about the rainbow. These are elements that point to something greater. Man’s sin was too much. Gen. 6:5-8. Like the Garden, man’s sin corrupted the created order. God’s response to sin. Grieved = displays his relational nature. God is no robot. He is personal, and is hurt when we sin.

Ill. How you feel when your child sins. Or when you see someone you love relapse on drugs or alcohol. There is a grief because it is personal.

Arg. Making man was not the error. It is what man made of himself. Sin corrupted everything. Gen. 6:11-13. All of creation was corrupted. He was going to end everything. Gen. 6:17-18. Water is a symbol of wrath in the OT. Both here and the exodus. This is anticreation. He is undoing creation. All he created will be destroyed. Why? Sin is not just a human problem. Sin is a creation issue.

Christ - Paul explains this in Romans. Romans 8:18-22, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” What is now? Jesus who would restore all things to himself. If sin is the cause of the earth’s corruption, and Jesus defeated sin, then he is the one who will restore all things. He is the only hope for us, and the hope for creation.

App. Two things to know:

Your sin grieves God.

Your sin affects everything.

Truth #2: God pours out his wrath (7:1, 24; 8:20-22)

Exp. After he pronounces what he will do, he does it. He pours out his wrath in the form of a flood. Undoing all of the creation mentioned before. This is not an unemotional punishment. It is a grieving wrath.

Ill. Not like a sports fine. You do something wrong, you’re fined a definite amount. This is like parents discipling children. Nobody likes it. But emotion is still in it. It has to be.

Exp. God loves his creation. Again, creation is not the error. It’s what man has done to creation. God pouring out his wrath on creation was the same wrath poured out on Jesus.

Christ - Romans 3:21-25, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” Propitiation = appeasing the wrath of God.

Exp. Gen. 8:20-22. Noah is mentioned as a righteous man. Preview of sacrificial system. A pleasing aroma to God. This promise is not dependent on goodness of man, but on the goodness of God.

App. What things do you need to lay on the altar for sacrifice?

Your heart?

Your sin?

Your will?

Truth #3: God makes his covenant (9:6-7, 9-11, 13-17)

Exp. He made a promise, but he will give a sign of a covenant. Gen. 9:6-7. Mirror of Garden and preview of Mt. Sinai. Gave Noah same command as he did to Adam. This is also why Pharaoh was scared of Israel. Gen. 9:9-11. Again makes the promise. Then, the covenant. Gen. 9:13-17. The rainbow. Hebrew = no rainbow. Just a bow like bow and arrow. Weapon. When we see it, we are reminded of something. The rainbow is not the thing to be celebrated. It is a sign to something greater. The covenant is what we remember.

Ill. Like driving to vacation. Road signs remind you of where you are. You don’t celebrate the signs. You celebrate what they are telling you.

Arg. Moses is writing this not so that the Hebrews will celebrate a rainbow. But so that they will remember something about God. He makes and keeps covenants. He never goes back on them. He will make a covenant with them at Mt. Sinai. He will also make one in Jesus.

Christ - Jesus at the last supper. He shares his body and blood. Luke 22:20, “And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’” God is a personal God. He would send his son to make a new covenant. If you profess faith in him, you will be saved.

App. We can easily look at this story and think that God is a spiteful angry god who cares nothing for humanity. Moses’ point was the exact opposite. That God grieved what man had become. We learn several things:

Our sin has deadly consequences.

God hates your sin.

God loves you.