The New World

Intro

Good morning, 

• Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 8, 

• this morning we will be looking at Genesis 8:20-9:17.

• We are continuing our series through the first 11 chapters of Genesis,

• Called “In the Beginning,”

• Where we are discovering what God reveals about Himself, 

• his creation, 

• and the foundational events that begin the story of salvation.

Question

Have you ever been given a totally fresh start?

It’s rare, but every now and then in our lives we get the chance for a new start.

Maybe you remember that feeling every young person gets on the first day of a new school year.

I’m sure you know that feeling.

You’ve got on your new clothes,

your new shoes,

new haircut

maybe a whole new look.

And it wasn’t just your look that was different,

but you were going to act differently this time too.

Did anyone else love the first time writing the date perfectly in the margin of your school notes?

September 5, 1998,

For me, almost every year,

writing the date perfectly kind of symbolized how I was going to approach the year.

This year I’m going to finally be a good student,

this year I’m going to do all my homework,

this year I’m going to participate in the extracurricular activities.

This year I’m not going to be desk buddies with the teacher.

This year is going to be different.

The fresh start is exciting!

Theres nothing like that feeling you get when the past doesn’t matter anymore,

and the future is wide open,

there’s hope, things can be better this time.

In our passage this morning, we see a man who enters a fresh start,

not just in a new year,

but in a new world.

Recap

Last week in our series

• we saw that God destroyed a world that was filled with violence and evil.

But God rescued Noah, and his family,

• as well as a mating pair of every kind of bird and land animal.

They entered the ark leaving the old world that was going to be destroyed,

and just over a year later they exited the ark,

entering a brand new world.

But our passage this morning,

does more than just describe the fresh start of one man and his family.

It also demonstrates how God gives a new start to all who call on him.

Which takes us to our passage this morning.

Genesis 8:20-9:17

I’m going to begin by just reading C. 8, vv. 20-22.

Genesis 8:20-22

Exposition

Offering (8:20)

Noah and his family have just exited the ark after spending more than a year inside it.

and the very first thing that Noah does, is that he worships God by giving a burnt offering.

We read in Genesis 8:20,

Genesis 8:20 ESV

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

This is why Noah is told in Genesis 7 that he is to take seven pairs of clean animals with him on the ark,

while he only brought two of every kind of unclean animal on the ark.

These clean animals were brought in a greater number so that they could be consumed as food,

and offered up as offerings.

Offering of Atonement

There is no doubt that part of the reason for Noah’s offering,

was to give thanks to God for bringing him and his family safely through the flood waters.

But this was not just an offering of thanks,

it was an offering of atonement.

The word in Hebrew “Kaphar,” that is translated into english as atonement, gives us the image of covering,

of covering shame and sin.

This is what literally happened with Adam and Eve after they disobeyed God.

God in his mercy covered their nakedness, he covered their shame with animal skins.

And so an offering of atonement is given as a covering for sin.

That is what Noah is doing here, as the representative for all humanity.

The reason we know this is because the offerings Noah gives are described as “burnt offerings”.

In the mosaic law, there were many sacrifices that were offered in worship to God.

In many of these sacrifices, just a portion of what was sacrificed was burnt up.

These sacrifices were a meal that was shared with the worshipper, the mediator (the priest), and with God.

But what Noah gave is described as a “burnt offering”.

Whole burnt offerings according to the mosaic law in Leviticus 1,

were burnt (offered up) entirely to God.

And they were offered to atone for, to pay for, sin.

So Noah, acting as a priest representing mankind,

offered up an offering of atonement to the Lord on behalf of humanity.

Forgiveness (8:21-22)

Receiving the Offering

And God receives it.

We know that God received the offering because we read in v. 21 that the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma.

Though burnt offerings, are called burnt offerings,

the burning up of the offering was not the main thing.

The smoke was the main thing.

The smoke from the offering went up and pleased God.

And so God smelled the pleasing aroma.

and accepted this offering of atonement.

Going on in vv. 21-22 it says,

Genesis 8:21–22 ESV

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, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

Two Promises

Here, in response to Noah’s offering of atonement God gives two promises:

a) Not to curse the ground.

The first promise is that he would never curse the ground again.

This is referring back to the time of Adam and his sin,

where God cursed the ground in Genesis 3:17-19.

In his promise to Noah, God is not going to remove the curse he has already placed on the earth.

But he has promised never to curse the ground again, or add to the curse that is already there,

even though mankind still sins.

As God says in v. 21 “for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”

Even though there is a new world,

even though God had accepted Noah’s atonement offering for the sin of mankind,

Mankind is still born into sin.

We are sinners by nature,

and this is why this offering of atonement given by Noah would not be the last one.

Offering’s like it would have to be made for centuries,

until sin was fully and finally atoned for by Jesus on the cross.

b) Not to bring worldwide destruction.

The second promise that God gives to mankind,

is that God would never bring worldwide destruction again,

striking down every living creature, as he had done in the flood.

Now this promise that God gives, is further internal evidence,

that the flood of Noah was a worldwide flood as I argued for last week.

If Noah’s flood was not a world wide flood,

but a local flood destroying everything in a specific region,

then God has not kept this promise.

Obviously, big, destructive local floods, storms and tsunami’s have happened.

But God has kept his promise,

he has not brought destruction on the whole planet.

And he will not until the day when Christ returns to renew all things.

God had accepted Noahs offering of atonement,

and he gave promises expressing his grace and forgiveness.

Point 1: God gives us a new start by forgiving our sin.

This beings me to my first point this morning:

God gives us a new start by forgiving sin.

God had received Noah’s offering of atonement,

mankind’s sin had been covered.

But as I said, this is just the first of many offerings of atonement that we see in the Bible.

That is until Jesus arrived.

Final Atonement

Through Jesus’ death on the cross, he has brought final atonement.

Covering our sins completely,

and bringing us reconciliation with God.

His death on the cross fully, and finally, atoned for the sin of mankind.

This is why he came.

This is why John the baptist called Jesus “the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

And this is why, when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, he said of the cup,

Matthew 26:28 ESV

this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus, through his death on the cross, atoned for our sins,

allowing our sins to be perfectly paid for, perfectly covered, and perfectly forgiven.

That means that when we repent of our sins and believe in Jesus Christ for our salvation,

those sins that we have done,

those things that we have thought, have said, those things we are so ashamed of,

are taken from us.

All that we have done in the past, and all that we will do in the future.

God says several times in the Bible, “That he will remember our sins no more.”

Thats how God gives us a fresh start.

God gives a new start by forgiving sin.

Point 2: God gives us a new start by giving us new instruction.

But the new start God gives, does not end at merely forgiveness.

God also equips us to live new lives in light of the fresh start we’ve been given.

This takes me to my second point this morning:

2. God gives us a new start by giving us new instruction.

New Instruction (9:1-7)

In our passage God isn’t content to just release Noah and his family out into the new world,

he gives them new instructions, new commands, to help him live in this new world.

1. Be Fruitful (vv. 1-2)

The first command that God gives to Noah will sound familiar.

We read in Genesis 9:1,

Genesis 9:1 ESV

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

The instruction that God gives here in v. 1 is word for word identical,

to the dominion mandate God gave to Adam and Eve at creation in Genesis 1:28.

God intends mankind to fill the earth and exercise dominion over the earth,

ruling it under God,

to make both mankind and the creation flourish, and bring glory to God.

But we see how this command is new and different in vv. 2-4.

2. New Food (vv. 3-4)

There God says that:

Genesis 9:2–4 ESV

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.

Not only are the beasts and creatures to be subject to mankind,

but God has allowed that the creatures be food for mankind, in this new world.

Now this is not to say that people weren’t eating the meat of animals before the flood,

but it does seem that if meat was eaten,

it was not eaten with God’s blessing.

At creation God gave every green plant to be eaten as food by both plants and animals.

We see this in Genesis 1:29.

But now God has expressly allowed the eating of meat.

But with one restriction:

that blood not be consumed.

Eating Blood

This does not mean that eating a blue rare steak is a sin,

it is gross, but it’s not a sin.

The red liquid in a rare steak isn’t even blood it’s water and myoglobin.

But the reason God here has forbidden the consuming of blood,

is that blood is physically and symbolically tied to life.

And life is sacred.

Meaning in Life

Something we don’t often think of,

is that in the modern world, we have stripped the meaning off of nearly everything.

For the ancients it was the opposite, their world was enchanted with meaning,

everything had meaning.

We think of blood in purely material terms; a red fluid that carries oxygen to our body parts.

The ancients saw blood as not only giving life like we do;

but even when blood was no longer fulfilling that purpose,

as in when an animal is killed to be eaten,

it’s lifeblood still was tied symbolically to the life of the animal.

Even when blood was drained from the carcass, it still represented that animals life.

They understood that life was sacred, and they would express that even in what they ate,

or didn’t eat.

So in reverence for the value of life, they were commanded not to eat an animal’s blood.

3. Protecting Human Life (vv. 5-6)

This sacredness of life also ties in with the next instruction God gives to mankind.

We read in Genesis 9:5-6:

Genesis 9:5–6 ESV

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.

God here goes further than merely declaring life to be sacred,

but he reminds us that human life in particular is sacred, over and above all other life.

Because God made man in his own image.

We talked about this back when we looked at Genesis 1.

Mankind is the only one of God’s creatures, physical or spiritual, who are described as being made in God’s image.

It is not just a physical quality, or an ability that we might have,

but it is a status that is bestowed on us by God.

To be human, is to be made in the image of God,

to be made in the image of God, is to be human.

And so with this status of being made in the image of God,

human life is particularly sacred.

Protecting Image Bearers

Remember what caused the flood;

the flood happened because the world was filled with violence.

And so God, in this new world, gives this command to humanity,

a command meant to protect human life.

That if an animal were to bring death to a human, that animal would need to be put to death.

And if a human were to intentionally bring death to another human,

that murderer would face death themselves.

This is clearly referring to capital punishment.

And I understand why people are against it, and don’t like the idea of it,

but I’ll tell you the weight of scripture points to the civil government,

having authority to bear the sword; to punish heinous crimes like murder, with death.

We see it very clearly in here in Genesis 9:6.

But we also see it affirmed throughout the Old Testament, and the New testament.

Jesus paraphrases our passage in Genesis 9 at his arrest in Matthew 26:52. He said,

Matthew 26:52 ESV

“All who take the sword will perish by the sword.

Jesus is not speaking of some kind of vague karmic fulfillment,

he is referring to the law that God gave Noah.

God does not give everybody this authority to take vengeance for murder with the sword;

not the individual, not the family, not the church.

But he does gives the civil government this authority to bear the sword.

Romans 13:3-4 says,

Romans 13:3–4 ESV

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.

God instituted civil government for this purpose,

to use the sword to protect human life.

Because human life is sacred.

Our Rejection of the Sacredness of Life

This instruction about the sacredness of human life,

was not just for Noah’s time.

As I said, we see it affirmed and reinforced throughout the scriptures.

But I tell you if there’s one command of God that needs to be brought to bear on 21st century Canada,

it’s this one.

Foolishly, as a society we can’t bear the thought of putting murderers to death for their crime,

but we have tolerated and promoted the murder of the sick and the elderly,

and the murder of infants in the womb.

Both are sanctioned by law, because we as a society have rejected the sanctity of human life.

MAiD

If you look at the numbers in Canada,

MAiD - the Doctor assisted suicide program in Canada, has become the 5th leading cause of death in Canada.

This is not merely speeding up the natural process of dying.

There is a stark difference between; removing life support so that someone can die naturally,

and what the MAiD doctor does by introducing an chemical agent that actively kills a person.

And I know we hate to see people suffer, but actively killing them should never have been an option.

There are amazing ways that medical professionals,

can mitigate suffering and pain.

I’ve seen for myself how important good hospice care can be, thats what we should be invested in.

But actively killing people who are suffering should never have been an option.

It became one, because we reject what God has said, that human life is sacred.

Abortion

Even though it may be shocking that MAiD is the 5th leading cause of death,

year after year in Canada,

abortion is always number 1.

And with what we know now about life inside the womb,

there is no mistake,

that is not a potential human in there,

that is a baby boy, or it is a baby girl.

Now, the last thing I want to do is heap guilt onto people who have repented of sin from their past.

As I said before, there is a genuine fresh start given to each of us who call on God in repentance and faith.

Through faith in Jesus Christ, every sin is forgiven,

your sin, whatever it might have been,

died on the cross with Christ who took it from you.

He died in your place, he died in my place, so that we could be forgiven.

Commands for our Good

But the Bible does not gloss over the difficult things in life and neither should we. 

And unfortunately there are many Christians, and those who claim to be Christians,

who have grown soft to these things, and even promote them,

because they are following the spirit of the age,

and are not obeying the commands of God.

Commands given for our good.

God gave Noah commands for this fresh start he was given.

And God gives us commands and instructions for the fresh start we have been given.

We have them available to us in the scriptures.

As Paul writes, they are “God breathed, profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness.”

God teaches his forgiven people, how to live their new lives through his word.

And he expect us to abide by his commands and instruction.

This is why in Jesus’s great commission, Jesus says in Matthew 28:18-20

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

So as the people of God,

let’s walk in obedience to his word.

Covenant (9:8-11)

Continuing on in Genesis 9:8-11,

Genesis 9:8–11 ESV

Then God said to Noah and to 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 establish 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.”

Now this is the first time we see the word covenant used in the Bible.

A covenant is an agreement that God makes with his people.

We see several throughout the Bible.

This the covenant with Noah, the covenant with Abraham, the covenant with Moses, the covenant with David;

but all of them lead up to the final new covenant in Christ.

God here in our passage is establishing the first of these covenants with Noah,

Where he gives Noah, as the representative of all mankind, the promise,

that he will never again destroy the whole earth with a flood.

And with this new promise, in this new covenant,

God gives a sign so that it will be remembered by those who receive it.

Sign of the covenant (9:12-17)

We read in Genesis 9:12-17,

Genesis 9:12–17 ESV

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 have 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 is 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 is 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.”

Now this is not to say that a rainbow had never appeared on earth until that moment.

But now the rainbow had been given new meaning,

it would serve as a sign of the covenant,

a sign of the promise that God had established with mankind.

We see in the other covenants that God makes with man in the scriptures,

that a sign accompanies them.

The sign in the covenant made with Abraham was circumcision.

The sign in the covenant made with Moses was the Sabbath day.

These signs serve to remind those who take part in the covenant,

of the promises God has made.

Point 3: God gives us a new start by giving us a new promise

And this takes me to my final point this morning.

3. God Gives us a new start by giving us a new promise.

God had given Noah the promise that this new world would never again be destroyed by a flood.

But for those of us who have been given a new start through Jesus Christ,

our promise is far, far, better.

And that is eternal life.

New Covenant in Christ

In the new covenant that we have in Christ,

the promise we have been given is that though we will one day die,

we will be raised from the dead, just as Christ was raised.

Raised to live forever in a renewed heaven and earth at Christ’s return.

That is the promise we have been given!

Sign of the Covenant

And the sign of this new covenant reminds us of this promise.

That is Baptism.

We talked about this last week,

we baptize believers down into the water symbolizing their death and burial,

and we raise them out of the water again,

symbolizing their resurrection into eternal life.

This is the sign that they have repented of their sins and believed in Jesus for their salvation.

This is the sign that they have received their new start!

And Jesus instituted this sign,

for the same reason that God gave the rainbow as the sign of his promise to Noah;

so that those who have received the promise can remember it.

When doubt enters your mind,

when your tempted to fall into sin,

when you feel far from God,

remember your baptism!

Let it do what it is meant to do -

remind you that by faith you belong to God,

you have been forgiven of all your sin,

that God loves you and is close to you,

and that you have been given a fresh start.

Remember your baptism, it is the sign of the fresh start that you’ve been given.

And it is the sign for others as well,

so that when you stray, other Christians who witnessed your baptism,

can remind you of the covenant you entered by faith.

So they can pull you back to walking in obedience and faith.

That is what the sign is for - so that you could feel in your flesh,

and so others could see with their eyes,

the fresh start that you have received by faith.

Application & Conclusion

Just like mankind received a fresh start in the new world after the flood.

You and I receive a fresh start when we repent of our sins and believe in Jesus Christ as our lord and saviour.

God gives us this fresh start by:

forgiving our sin,

giving us new instruction,

and giving us a new promise.

So how do we live in light of this fresh start?

Forgiveness - Repent

First of all God gives us a fresh start by forgiving our sins.

The way we bring our sins to him for forgiveness is through repentance.

Confession of sin to God is not just something someone does at the moment of their conversion.

Confession ought to be a regular part of the life of a believer.

As 1 John 1:9 says,

1 John 1:9 ESV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The holiest Christians are not the ones who think they have no sin to confess to the Lord,

the holiest Christians are those who spend the most time crying out to God to cleanse them of unrighteousness.

God has given us a fresh start by forgiving our sins - Therefore Repent!

Instruction - Obey

Secondly God has given us a new start by giving us new instruction to live by.

Don’t be ignorant of the wisdom and instruction of the Lord.

Jesus wants you to walk in obedience to his commands,

and so learn to delight in them.

They are for his glory, but guess what,

they are also for your good, and the good of those around you.

Obeying God’s commands is how we love him, but it is also how we love our neighbour.

Walking in them is walking in light,

and walking in them is promoting life and flourishing.

God has given us a fresh start by giving us new instruction - Therefore Obey!

Promise - Believe

And Finally, God has given us a new promise.

How we respond to this new promise of eternal life in Christ is by believing it…

Trusting God in all that he has said that he will do.

And he has given us the sign of this new promise, the sign of this new covenant,

in baptism.

If you haven’t yet been baptized as a sign of your faith in Jesus Christ,

talk to me, talk to one of the other pastors,

we would love to answer your questions and see you baptized as a sign that you have received salvation by faith.

For you who have been baptized,

remember your baptism!

Let it remind you of the promise that God has given you,

that you will be raised to new life with Christ.

Let it remind you of what you have been given,

so that you can live boldly, and confidently,

walking with God by the Spirit,

in the fresh start you have received.