Noahic Covenant

Introduction

The story of Noah is a fascinating one. On one side, we have all of the animals on a really cool boat and their pictures are normally in our nursery. On the other side, we have the complete destruction of the world that God had created besides that which on the boat. How do we reconcile these two competing ideas?

If Genesis 1-2 is the story of creation, Genesis 6-9 and the story of Noah is the story of de-creation and recreation. In the end of this story, what we find is that we are as lost as ever. Even the one who has seen God perform the miraculous is flawed and broken and in need of a Savior.

Read Genesis 6:9-7:7

Explanation

Genesis 6:1-13: The Rampant Wickedness on the Earth

The sons of God and the daughters of man married one another. This is a coupling of humanity and the demonic - if you want more information, I am sorry, but I don’t have it. The point, really, is that Satan began to have his way in the world, and man conceded to this. Mankind fell away from God in indescribable and incomparable ways, and the world spiraled into rampant wickedness.

What does it mean that God regrets making mankind? God regrets making mankind the same way you may regret a decision yet be willing to do it 1000 times over.

At times in your life, you have absolute foreknowledge of what a decision will cost, yet you make the decision anyway.

Example: Discipling your children. You can make the decision to discipline your children, hate the decision, and know that you couldn’t make any other decision. The same is true for having to fire someone who isn’t doing their work. The same is true of making a difficult medical decision. The same is true of changing jobs and moving far away from your family.

God, in his foreknowledge, knew what would become of humanity and made them anyway. God knew our messiness, our struggle, and the pain we would cause Him.

The world was wicked, but the Lord still chose to save Noah, a righteous but imperfect man. I am thankful for the patience of God for sinners like me.

God was patient with all of humanity in delaying their demise, and he is patient with me and you.

This thanksgiving season, if your year hasn’t gone the way you thought it would. You are still struggling with that sin. You are still involved in that issue. Whatever it might be? The Lord is patient with you.

Genesis 6:14-7:24: Noah Obeys the Lord by Faith

Noah obeys the Lord and builds the ark, having faith in God’s words to Him.

I love that the details of the ark are in the Bible. Your eyes may glance over them, but I believe they are important.

They are important, because they give us a bit of the scale of the project that God gave Noah.

The ark was around 3/5 the length of the Titanic.

Scholars estimate conservatively that Noah built the ark in 40-75 years. I am going to pick a in-between number for what I want to do here. Noah’s faith and obedience had to walk hand in hand for 60 years before the Lord proved Himself faithful to his word and his promise.

Imagine having to wake up every morning for 60 years to build a boat for a flood that God promises you is coming. And you have to get your family on board to help. And you do this year after year after year.

We are saved by faith in a moment, but faith is an every minute of every day kind of relationship with God.

It’s why the text that Carrie read this morning is so important. Hebrews 11:6–7 “6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”

What do you do when the Lord requires you to be faithful to Him and continue to grind day after day in what He has called you to? What does 60 year faith look like?

Some of you are having a hard time marriage in your marriage. You have a child who is difficult to care for. You are a caregiver for your spouse. Some of your students have a teacher that doesn’t like you or a coach who doesn’t care for you. Some of you teachers have a student who gives you a hard time.

You work in a job or ministry where you aren’t really seeing the results you want to see, but you know you are where the Lord wants you.

What does faithfulness look like when you have to get up every day and keep stepping forward? Hebrews gives us the answer.

Noah lived by faith. He knew that God was God and God meant what He said.

We may not have a command from God to build a boat for a flood that is coming, but we do have the Bible. And we know what God wants for the lost. We know what he desire for our families and our friends. We know what He wants for our coworkers.

And in the same way as Noah, we walk by faith in God’s promises, knowing God is God and God means what He says.

If we have the faith that saves, we also have the faith that looks upon our lives with the eyes of our Lord - knowing that God desires our good and His glory.

Noah’s faith led Him to obedience.

Noah had no other reason to believe that the flood would come than the Lord’s promises.

And the Lord’s promises led Him to obedience.

Genesis 8: The Water Subsides and the Lord Saves Noah

In this chapter, we simply hear see that the water subsides. As the water subsides, the ark lands on the mountains of Ararat. From there, Noah wanted to see if the water was subsiding elsewhere. So, he sent a raven out from the ark. It went out over the water and returned. A raven is a scavenger, so it would have had plenty to eat (What a morbid thought!). He then sent out a dove which eats fruit and seed from the trees, and the dove returned. Then he sent the dove out again, and the dove returned with an olive leaf in its mouth. And finally, he sent the dove out again, and it did not return.

The raven confirmed the reality of death, while the dove confirmed the reality of life.

The dove (Hb. yonah) - When doves are seen throughout the Bible, they are signs of life, especially, life over death. Jonah (name meaning dove) takes the message of life to the Assyrians who were soon to be ended by God. The spirit of God descends on Jesus like a what? A dove.

What is the main point of the story of Noah? This story is chiastic, meaning that every point of the story has a parallel point on the opposite end. And it works its way towards one thing that does not have a mirror, because it is the main point. What is that main point. Chapter Eight, Verse One - THE LORD REMEMBERED NOAH.

Philip Bethancourt, “God’s remembering Noah had less to do with God’s memory and more to do with God’s mission.

The Bible is not saying that God forgot Noah then suddenly remembered Him. It is saying that God has not forgotten the plan he set in place for Noah.

Genesis 9: The Noahic Covenant and Noah’s Sin

Genesis 9:1-7.

God gives commands to the Noah about how to live. They were many of the commands originally given to Adam and Eve. We see God “recreating” the world with people of faith. (Genesis 9:1-7)

God establishes a covenant with Noah that he will never destroy the world by a flood again. (Genesis 9:8-17)

What is God telling Noah? “I will not destroy man entirely.” Man is wicked, but I am patient and steadfast in my love for you.

God is going to remain steadfast and patient with man forever.

Noah gets drunk, is seen by his son (Ham), and curses his son. (Genesis 9:18-27)

When alcohol enters the picture, the story gets quite strange. Noah gets drunk, and his son sees him naked. Noah gets mad (remember, anger is a bit easier in the short term than shame), and he curses his son. What a vile ending to a glorious story. What is the point of sharing? That point, you might ask, is that Jesus is the better Noah.

Even Noah, righteous in his generation, was an imperfect man.

Invitation

How is Jesus the better Noah?

Noah, even though He was a man of faith, was unrighteousness and in need of saving. Jesus’ righteousness is what saved Noah. Philip Bethancourt, “The people Jesus came FROM reveals the people Jesus came FOR.

Just as Noah was saved BY God while the world perished, so the world was saved in Jesus perishing.

Response.

Salvation. We have a craving to be patiently and consistently known and loved. You will only find that one place.

Return. May we not presume on the patience of the Lord, but walk with Him truly.

Community. Today may be the day you make the decision to join our faith family.