God's Covenant with Noah
Notes
Transcript
Intro: This past Sunday we looked at the reality of God’s Judgement as illustrated by the flood account. We saw both Gods wrath against sin and yet God’s commitment to his Kingdom and love. We saw that God will punish this wicked but will reward the righteous. We talked about how Christ is the new “Ark”. And if we enter into it His righteousness covers us.
We remember that the main theme from last weeks sermon is also our same theme for todays: Even though God must judge sin, He will preserve a remnant for His Kingdom purposes.
Today we will continue this account of Noah and we will dive into the second covenant made by God to his people. The first was the Adamic Covenant promising that from the line of Eve would come one that would defeat the serpent. Then Today we will dive into the Noahic Covenant.
Now in scripture we find two different types covenants made by God. In the O.T. we find highlighted a series of covenants made by God leading to the final covenant sealed by Jesus blood.
Here are the two types of covenants:
Unconditional - Unconditional covenants are those that are completely one-sided.
Unconditional - Unconditional covenants are those that are completely one-sided.
God told Adam and Eve a Messiah would come from them. It’s a promise in which no action is required.
Conditional - Conditional covenants are also made by God, but require some measure of agreement of commitment by both parties.
Conditional - Conditional covenants are also made by God, but require some measure of agreement of commitment by both parties.
An example of this would be the covenant that God makes with Israel about how they are to behave in the promise land. If you follow my Law then I will bless you.
Let’s look at this account to together.
In the six hundred first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water that had covered the earth was dried up. Then Noah removed the ark’s cover and saw that the surface of the ground was drying.
By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was dry.
Then God spoke to Noah,
“Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you.
Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, those that crawl on the earth—and they will spread over the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”
When Hope and I were in college, Hurricane Ivan came through Pensacola at a category 5. In fact, it almost hit Pensacola head on. I remember they made all the men on campus cram into the sports center to wait out the storm. Now as far as arrangements go, it was pretty good place to wait it out. We had racket ball, bowling, ice skating, pool, and ping pong to pass the time away. At one point when the storm was at it height they crammed us all in or near the racquetball courts. As the wind howled and we could see trees and debris flying around, I remember being amazed at the power of the storm.
Of course as a young man, I was young and stupid, and this whole thing was enjoyable for me. It was all a great adventure. Hanging out with my buddies while the world came crashing down around us. We seemed safe inside.
But I remember when the storm was over and they finally let us out of the building walking outside. If you can picture around 2500 college men walking outside into the light almost in complete silence. The destruction and devastation was unbelievable.
Their was debris, trees and large limbs down everywhere. Some of the buildings were missing part of their roofs. It wasn’t until we stepped out could we really get a true picture of what it was that we had gone through. Their was a strange silence in the air. No birds, no sounds of cars. Nothing. It was unbelievably quiet.
I can only imagine as Noah and His Family exited the ark the scene that must have unfolded before them. An empty earth filled with debris and an eerie silence.
No doubt their would have been a sense of awe and wonder at the power of God and his wrath against sin.
But as awful as this was there was also a sense of gratitude. Look at what Noah does next.
Noah Sacrifices to the Lord.
Noah Sacrifices to the Lord.
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord. He took some of every kind of clean animal and every kind of clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
As far as we know there was no instruction from God for Noah to do this. However, this sacrifice is reminiscent of Abel’s. Abel offered the first and the best from His flocks.
Here Noah makes a even greater sacrifice. To sacrifice such a limited resource shows an extraordinary faith in the character and nature of God.
Think about it. This is survival 101. If you are in a position where you may run out of food and resources, you don’t just take what can’t be easily replaced and use it all up.
No doubt the trial of the flood increased Noah’s faith in God. God had miraculously spared Noah and his family. God no doubt would continue to provide and care for Noah.
God’s Reaction to the Sacrifice.
God’s Reaction to the Sacrifice.
When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, he said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of human beings, even though the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth onward. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.
It is here that we see the pronouncement of the Noahic Covenant. God smells the pleasing aroma and makes a promise.
Now smelling a pleasing aroma maybe a weird thing to associate with God’s action. Does God just like the smell of cooking meat?
Let’s look at a few more verses that will help us understand this phrase.
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in Christ’s triumphal procession and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place.
For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children,
and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.
We see that this statement is not truly directed toward the action but rather what this action represents, A humble act of worship. There is no doubt that Noah after seeing the awesome power of God, the wrath against sin, and the remnants of the destruction around him and the fact that he we and his family were spared resulted in a deep sense of gratitude.
The heart behind the sacrifice matters.
The heart behind the sacrifice matters.
Just a few weeks ago we saw How Abel offered a more excellent Sacrifice than Cain. Abel actions expressed his hearts recognition of God. Here Noah is humbled by God’s saving grace.
So God makes a Covenant with Noah.
This Covenant is as we already mentioned a unconditional covenant made by God meaning that it will happen no matter the actions of man.
But it is also a renewal covenant. In that we find many of the same elements mentioned in Genesis 1-3 to Adam and Eve.
Promise #1 God would never again curse the ground.
Promise #1 God would never again curse the ground.
When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, he said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of human beings, even though the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth onward. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.
And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life.
Even though the heart of mankind is evil God will never again pronounce a curse on the earth. This of course is speaking of a future hope.
Promise #2 The season’s will always continue.
Promise #2 The season’s will always continue.
As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”
This is good news!
The Seasons will remain until the end.
It’s as if we have a God that could look into eternity future and see the lies that would be perpetuated.
Look Church, Those who propagate that climate change will wipe out human life are either misinformed or they intend to deceive. They are either deceived or they are taking part in the deception. Why? Because
Fear is a powerful motivator and a mechanism of the enemy.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.
Man cannot destroy the earth. Which most likely means that Nuclear proliferation also should not be a real concern. The earth was created by the voice of God and it will only be by God’s divine power that it will be destroyed.
This is not an excuse to to waste resources or to ignore the stewardship of creation but the fact of the matter is that God established a covenant long ago. He promised that as long as their is an earth there will be no major or permanent disruptions to the seasons.
The earth will continue until the Day of the Lord.
Promise #3 The earth will never again experience a world-wide flood.
Promise #3 The earth will never again experience a world-wide flood.
The Rainbow is a sign of the Covenant.
The Rainbow is a sign of the Covenant.