God’s Commitments

Genesis 7:1-8:22; 9:8-16

Every person can grow in their understanding of God by learning the promises made by God.

Introduction:

During the terrible days of the Blitz, a father, holding his small son by the hand, ran from a building that had been struck by a bomb. In the front yard was a shell hole. Seeking shelter as quickly as possible, the father jumped into the hole and held up his arms for his son to follow. Terrified, yet hearing his father's voice telling him to jump, the boy replied, "I can't see you!"

The father, looking up against the sky tinted red by the burning buildings, called to the silhouette of his son, "But I can see you. Jump!" The boy jumped, because he trusted his father. The Christian faith enables us to face life or meet death, not because we can see, but with the certainty that we are seen; not that we know all the answers, but that we are known.

Donner Atwood.

Noah faced a similar challenge in what God was asking him to do. Like the little boy he had to believe that God could see him and would guide him through. He had to rely on God’s promises.

Promise I. I will destroy the earth

A. God gave Noah the task of building the ark because he was going to destroy the earth with a worldwide flood. It would cover the entire world. So Noah was given the task of building a boat that would house a remnant during the flood. Noah and his family along with pairs of every kind of animal would enter the ark. So Noah would house all of these animals inside of the ark. God was grieved over what he created and he wanted to start over. The way he choose to do this was by flooding the earth. In 7:7 God tells Noah that he will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature he had made. Then in v. 10 we are told that after seven days the floodwaters came. God does exactly what he says he will do.

B. In the rest of chapter 7 and in chapter 8 we see how God fulfilled his promise and how he took care of Noah and those in the Ark. It had to be a mix of emotions for Noah. He knew God had done what he said he would do. This had to bring a great deal of satisfaction. Maybe you have experienced that. God has said that something would happen and you were privileged to see it happen. That is a neat experience. At the same time Noah had to be very sad that God was destroying his creation and that everything that was familiar to Noah was gone.

C. In 7:20, 21 we are told that the water was so deep it covered even the tallest mountains. Just as God had said everything that had the breath of life in it died. It is a grim picture, but it also reminds us of the great power God has. It also demonstrates for us the great compassion God has, since he was willing to save Noah and his family. God saved Noah just as he said he would do. He kept the Ark afloat during the flood. He maintained a remnant to repopulate the earth.

D. This is certainly not one of the more pleasing promises we see from God throughout the Bible, but it is a promise. We see it made and fulfilled. It is really pretty ugly. We learn that God does what he says he will do. He told Noah his plans and he carried them out.

E. In this passage we learn that God cannot tolerate sin, that is what he choose to destroy the earth. We also see how powerful he is. A God who is able to bring about such mass destruction, has to be great. We have disasters today and think of them as aweful, but they are nothing compared to what God with Noah. We also learn of God’s desire to have a good relationship with man. He chose to use Noah and his family as a remnant.

Promise II. I will never destroy the earth with water again

A. Can you imagine the weight Noah must have felt when he realized that every living thing on the earth was with him on the ark. It must have been frightening and humbling at the same time. God had destroyed everything and now the only things alive were those things God had chosen to keep, and they were all together in a boat floating on an endless ocean. After Noah gets out of the ark and everything that is with him gets out God makes a promise. In 8:21 Noah says, “never agin will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never agins will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.”

B. God makes this commitment, but he has an understanding in 8:21. "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.” It really sounds as if God saw that once sin was introduced into the world by Adam, things will not get better they will only get worse. God knew this and so he said, “even though every inclination of his heart is evil.” God understood the consequences of sin coming into the world. In the New Testment we are taught, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Ro 3:23 NIVUS) I think that some in the world have concluded that it we are all sinners and God knows that we might as well not even fight that inclination. In another passage in Romans we are taught, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ro 6:23 NIVUS) With there being such a heavy price tag connected with sin, it would behoove us to avoid a life that includes sin.

C. Just as God provided a way of salvation for Noah he has also provided a way of salvation for us. In that Romans 6 passage the author tells us that we can have eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. We don’t have to climb in an Ark like Noah did, but we can come to Jesus Christ and he will save us. While God promised that he would not flood the earth again, he also promised in other places that judgement is awaiting those who have not come into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

D. The people of Noah’s day were wipped out because of their sin. They were destroyed in the flood. God is not going to do that again. However, the punishment for those who live in sin and refuse to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is eternal punishment. It might not be physical destruction, in truth it is something much worse. It is an eternal destruction.

Promise III. I will remember my covenant

A. A covenant in this situation is a promise that God is making to all of creation. Most of the time when God makes a covenant it is in the form of, Here is what I will do and I expect you to do something. In the covenant God made with Abraham, God promised that Abraham would become the father of many nations. God expected Abraham to stay faithful to God. There was a promise and an expectation. If there was an expectation in this passage, we don’t see it. It might be that God expected Noah and all of the creatures to be fruitful and multiply to fill the earth. God made a covenant with Noah.

B. As a sign of the covenant God put a rainbow in the sky. Usually when there is a rainbow in the sky it is dark in one part of the sky with rain falling. In another part there would be sun shining brightly. As these two very different elements combine you have the beauty of a rainbow that brightens the sky. It is a reminder to God of the promise he made, and it is a reminder to us of the promise God made to us, that he would never flood the entire earth again.

C. We can be assured that God is not going to bring about the kind of destruction he did in Noah’s day. This does a few things for us. It does not mean the God will never get angery with man again. It does not mean that we are free to act however we want to. It does not mean that God is going to ignor our sin. We need to live holy and pure lives that honor God. We know that even though God has promised he will never destroy the earth with water again, we do know that he has the capacity to being angry enough to act when he does not like something.

Conclusion:

God makes promises to us, and sometimes these promises have a happy ending to them, and there are times when those promises are pretty negative. Some of the promises God made to Noah were pretty ugly, and some of them were very nice. Through everything we saw how God was faithful and trustworthy in his promises. He came through and fulfilled all of his promises. No matter where we are, we should be careful that we within God’s will so we can be on the good side of his promises.