Sermon (18-Feb): "God Remembers" Gen 9:8-17

Bible Passage:

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him:

9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you

10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth.

11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:

13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,

15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

Objective: (SLIDE)

The objective of this message is to learn from Paul’s example in doing all we can to reach some with the gospel of Jesus Christ

Introduction: “God Remembers!” (SLIDE)

- When I think of the Person of God—the Trinity of God,

- It never crosses my mind that God has to remember anything

- I think of God as all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-seeing

- Yet, when I think about God and remembering,

- I begin to think about covenants

- At the core, a covenant is “a promise between two or more parties to perform certain actions” (GotQuestions.org)

- Person to person, king to subject, man to God, God to man

- The idea is that it could be transactional, conditional, or unconditional

- One or both persons got something out of it

- You can even look at it in terms of testament—Old and New Testament, Old and New Covenant

- It’s not just the idea that we are no longer under the Old Covenant anymore

- That’s the gist but there’s so much more to the Old Covenant/the Old Testament that we need to look at

- First off, we need to know that we get more out of any covenant or promise with God than He does in us

- I kinda look at it as God is making the bigger adjustment

- Not saying that we don’t have to adjust but our adjustment is to benefit us

- When we consider God and who He is…God adjusting doesn’t benefit Him

- Sometimes it may seem like we’re doing Him a favor with our obedience

- The realization is that no one of us, singularly, can frustrate God’s plan and the intent of His covenant

- I always like to look at it as a chance to participate in what God is doing

- In just these few verses, God uses that term covenant in talking to Noah

- He’s talking to Noah about the type of relationship he wants to have with Noah and his sons

- But, God mentions that it doesn’t stop with Noah and his sons—it extends down to us as believers through faith

TRANSITION: God gives Noah and us a lesson of what it means to be in a covenant relationship with God; this covenant shows us this:

God Honors Faith

God Values Life

God Keeps His Word…He Remembers

God Honors Faith (SLIDE)

- I’m hoping most of us have been taught in church in this era about the importance of faith and what it means in our relationship with God

- Yet, even in what we have been taught, we can still overemphasize the works that we can do for God, the kingdom and the church

- I believe for the most part we know that we are only “saved by grace through faith”

- But then we lose that identity of faith somewhat like the church in Galatia—where they started off right

- Then it became more important to “work the law” as opposed to “believing what they heard” in the beginning

- Paul had to correct them, by reminding them that their walk began with them believing in what Christ had done

- Now, they were to continue in it and so are we

- God honors faith…

- In what’s called the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11, Noah is found right alongside the likes of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses

- And looks what Scripture says,

7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

- Noah’s faith in what God told him to do—it led the way for him

- When we look back on Noah in Genesis 6, I ask myself the question, “What made Noah stand out to God?

- We know Noah wasn’t perfect

- We know that he wasn’t sinless as we see a little later that he gets drunk and passes out

- But we do know this, Gen 6:9 reads,

“Noah was a righteous man [one who was just and had right standing with God], blameless in his [evil] generation; Noah walked (lived) [in habitual fellowship] with God.”

- I believe that before Abraham, we see this testimony of Noah

- Early Old Testament, we read of Enoch walking with God in habitual fellowship

- It was his lifestyle

- Neither was he perfect, but we see that Enoch and Noah had this fellowship with God

- I believe that it was that fellowship that grounded their faith in God; it strengthened their faith in God

- Their fellowship with God was in sync with their relationshipwith Him

- There’s things that have happened in the Old Testament that are for our learning

- So, we have to ask ourselves, “

Is God honoring our faith the same way that He did with Noah?”

- Just to be clear, He’s not asking us to be Noah, Enoch, or Jesus

- But what if we can fine tune our faith a bit more

- And I’m challenging myself with that same question

- There may be times when it seems as if our faith level is inching along

- But we must be reminded that it’s a walk of faith not a run of faith

- It’s a lifestyle…a habitual fellowship with God

- I never could have imagined over 20 years ago that I would be where I am

- God did it…through fellowship with Him, faithful service, His grace—and mercy

- I recognize that it’s a fellowship with Him on my end that still needs to grow

- It’s something that I nor you can be content with where we are

- One thing I’m learning is that we have to continue seeking intimacy and closeness;

- Our faith in Him must continue to grow; God is asking us to have faith/confidence in Him

- Look at what Oswald Chambers said,

“Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you cannot understand at the time.”

- Deliberate meaning that we have to purpose that God’s character is what His word says it is—that it’s good and true

- We trust that God honors faith

Transition: We also believe that He values life

God Values Life (SLIDE)

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

- I’m stopping right here but throughout this whole passage

- God is talking about His promise to protect humankind and all living creatures

- With all that is going on in the world, we can begin to wonder if God cares about us

- We can begin to wonder if He’s aloof or could care less

- Still, I begin to

- He wasn’t saying that you or I should bend our convictions to any and every lifestyle

- Because I believe that minimizes or testimony about Christ

- I believe that (SLIDE)

Paul had a willingness to become uncomfortable even unconventional for the cause of Christ

- His heart’s desire was in being sensitive to the needs and concerns to those of the law (Jews) as well as to those without (Gentiles)

- It takes a different type of person—one in tune to the heart and Spirit of God—to have that mindset

- That a mindset that’ll find itself at the scrutiny of the public, whether in the church or out of it

- That’s a mindset that’s looking to leave the 99 for the 1 still out there

- Just like Paul looked for opportunities to tell others about Christ, we can do the same

- We can give the Reason for the hope that rests on the inside of us

- When our actions and words line up with the gospel message, it combines to exponentially increase the reach of Christ

- Christ working in and through us will help God to reach all people

Transition: He talks about when he was with but he also says…

God Keeps His Word…He Remembers(SLIDE)

When I Am with…

21 When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ. 22 When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some.

- In a way, you can see somewhat a progression in Paul’s ministry

- Whereas he was with the Jews; he now talks as when he’s with the Gentiles

- He knows that the Jewish law wasn’t for the Gentiles

- But, his living apart from the Law wasn’t to shame, mock or disrespect the Jews

- Paul simply knew that he couldn’t win over the Gentiles the same way he did the Jews

- Bottom line, no two people are the same and won’t be won to Christ the same way

- It’ll be nice if there was a blanket approach to reach everybody and there are different ways to reach most

- Time after time, research continues to show that

“Personal evangelism has been proven to be the most effective method of evangelism. Peter, the apostle of Jesus Christ, was a product of personal evangelism. Just as Peter was brought to Jesus through one-on-one evangelism, there are people out there that need Jesus Christ, and they are desperately waiting for you to bring the gospel to them.” – The Guardian Magazine (03-May-20)

- I look back on it and sometimes feel that I missed opportunities for the one on one

- Then, someone will mention the impact that I had on them faith-wise

- So, I believe that each interaction is important

- Each interaction is an opportunity to find common ground with others and connect—showing them Christ in us

- What if we were to avoid the know-it-all or better than them attitude?

- What if we approached their questions, beliefs, or convictions with curiosity instead of judgment?

- It’s definitely a few questions we should think about

CLOSING: As I begin to close, are we like Paul and doing everything we can to save some?

- We all pretty much know that God is the One who does the saving

- Still, He uses people like you and I as He chooses

- Once we come to Christ, it’s no longer about our rights

- Our rights don’t equal a mandated payment from God

- We have this opportunity in all that God has done for us to co-operate with God in his gospel plan

- It’s about us being used as vessels fit for the Master’s use

- It’s about Christ’s righteousness shining through us

FAITHpoint: Paul’s focus was not on rules and regulations but on Christ as Savior

- Is that yours as well?

- Will you pray with me?