Genesis 7:1-9:17: God Will Bring You Through

Introduction

Hurricane Katrina - my introduction to MREs. (Pictures of the worst.) 24 different meal options.

Katrina was an inconvenience for me, but a disaster for so many others. 1800 people lost their lives. $161 billion in damage on Gulf Coast.

First time driving back to New Orleans - devastation.

As devastating as Katrina was, it was a light drizzle compared to the flood.

Gen. 7 is horrific. With the exception of Noah, his family, and the animals on the ark, every living creature destroyed in a universal, catastrophic flood.

A story of divine judgment and divine mercy.

Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Grace extended to Noah. His life was spared, but the flood wasn’t easy for Noah. He endured the storm protected by God.

If you are in Christ, you are safe from every storm. God will bring you through.

Because you are assured God will bring you through, 2 commitments you need to make this morning.

God does not forget me, so I will not forget Him.

Gen. 6:5 - every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time.

Romans 6:23: the wages of sin is death. Gen. 7 - everyone got what they earned: judgment and death.

God had been patient. “God waited patiently in the days of Noah...” ( 1 Peter 3:20). Gen. 7 - God’s patience had run out.

7:1 - God speaks to Noah: “Enter the ark...” with seven pairs of clean animals - sacrifices would be made after flood - two pairs of unclean animals, and 7 pairs of birds of sky.

vs. 4 - Seven days before it would storm - a busy 7 days - 7 days of animals entering the ark. vs. 5 - again “Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him.” And, entered ark just as God commanded him. (vs. 9)

vs. 11 - note the details. Moses wants us to know this is a historical event. “I can tell you the exact day it happened.”

Gen. 1 - God separated the waters from the land - order out of chaos. Now, the opposite… Chaos coming to an orderly world (vs. 11).

On same day… God shut Noah in the ark (vs. 16). God would protect Noah from coming judgment. For those outside the ark, no more opportunity for repentance.

What were those first couple of days like inside the ark? The waters slowly rise, and those outside the ark begin to understand their fatal mistake.

The torrential downpours. Imagine the amount of rain it would take to flood the earth. The sound of torrential rain beating on the roof of the ark, and the sound of people beating on the ark. Grown men shouting, “Let us in...” The shouts of mothers with their crying children, “Please let us in! We believe!” Horror.

vs. 21-23. “Everything with the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils…” Remember how God breathed life into Adam and Eve? “He wiped out every living thing...”

For forty days, torrential rains. So much water that the tops of mountains were covered.

Wasn’t easy for Noah either…

At the end of 40 days, the rain finally stops, but the flood was far from over. vs. 24 - the floodwaters surged for 150 days. For 5 months - the ark floated on the open waters with no land in sight.

This wasn’t a cruise ship. Noah and his family not lounging at the pool while they sailed to the Caribbean. Horrendous - giant boat rocking back and forth in the waters. The responsibility of caring for all the creatures on the boat. Every day, feeding and cleaning. Imagine the smells...

Imagine the sea sickness. No dramamine.

This was God’s plan of salvation for Noah’s family? Seriously? Perhaps Noah started to question God’s plan. “God, where are you? God, will this storm end? Will we ever get off this boat?”

8:1 - Turning point of the story: “God remembered Noah, as well as all the wildlife...”

Not that God forgot Noah, but God was about to act on Noah’s behalf. (Gen. 30:22: God remembered Rachel.) God caused a great wind (Gen. 1 - Spirit hovering), and the waters began to subside. After 150 days, the ark rested on top of the mountains of Ararat as the waters continued to recede until the tenth month from when the flood started.

Was it safe to leave the ark? For 40 days Noah waited before sending out a raven. Then he sent out a dove twice, and twice it returned because there was no dry ground for the dove to land. The third time, the dove returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf. The land was dry! Just to be safe, waited 7 more days, sent dove out again, and the dove did not return.

vs. 13 - In six hundred and first year - the waters dry. For a year, Noah and his family on the ark, but God remembered and brought them to dry ground.

Maybe you feel forgotten by God. You’ve asked, “How long will I suffer?” He has not forgotten you. If you are His child you can know:

God gives evidences of His work when life is hard. Sometimes, so focused on the problem that we don’t see God’s work in the problem.

Even in the most trying situations God will give you reminders or evidences of His work. If you’ll pay attention, you’ll see evidence of His work. A phone call from someone to encourage you. A Scripture you read that gives you hope. Someone who prays with you. A new friend who has struggled like you are. Pay attention - evidence of His work is all around you.

God brings you through the hard times in His time. God didn’t tell Noah how long he’d be on the boat. Noah’s time on the ark was long but limited - so is your suffering. There will come a day to get off the ark. There will come a day when you get to the other side of your struggle.

Since you know God has not forgotten you, don’t forget God! We’re always tempted to run from God when life is hard instead of running to God.

Stop stressing. (It’s going to be ok. Instead of stressing, obey. Over and over, “Noah did all God commanded.” Are you fueled more by anxiety or faith?)

Stay hopeful. (Instead of being so negative. Your attitude really affects you and those around you.)

Remember your last difficult season.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/chicken-shortage-pandemic-fried-sandwich-craze It won’t last forever...

God will not forsake me, so I will not stop praising Him.

For a year, the ark was all that he and his family knew. Now, it was time to leave. God speaks to Noah for the first time in a year. The last time: “Enter the ark.” Now: “Leave the ark.”

Walking out that door - a step of faith. What would this new world be like? Sometimes it’s easier for us to stay in the hard places than trust that God has something better for you on the other side of the challenges.

If you had been in Noah’s shoes, what would you have done after being in a a giant boat for a year? Kiss the ground? Run in the grassy fields? After a year of terror, Noah’s first action was to worship.

Noah built an altar (8:20). First time someone builds an altar in the Bible. Noah offers a sacrifice. When he gets off the boat he worshipped because God had not forgotten nor forsaken Noah.

Gen. 9 sounds similar to Gen. 1. “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth.”

But, notice something… everything changes yet nothing changes. God recreates the earth with one family, but he will recreate the earth in a fallen world. God tells Noah to be fruitful and multiply knowing that Noah would fill the world with sinners.

The judgment of God removed sinners from the earth, but it did not remove sin. On the earth was a family who were a family of sinners. Noah walked with God, but he wasn’t perfect (8:21).

God makes an unconditional covenant with Noah. First time the word covenant used in Bible. A covenant is a relational promise. When God makes a covenant to someone He is saying, “I’m giving myself to you for your well-being and nothing you can do will stop me from giving myself to you.” A covenant is selfless: “I’m going to be good to you in spite of you.”

God makes a covenant with Noah that will extend to all humanity: “I will never strike down every living creature as I have done” (8:21).

Every person on earth benefits from this covenant. Common grace… Since the flood God patiently enduring with people.

The sign of the covenant: a rainbow. But note, “bow” (9:13) not “rainbow.”

Bow = weapon of war. When you look at a rainbow in the sky a reminder that God has set his wrath aside. He is gracious.

When Charles Spurgeon preached this passage he noted that the bow points to heaven, not earth. Why? Because there would come a day when another storm would come - another day of judgment and wrath. A day when the sky would go dark and the earth would. A day when the bow of God’s wrath would not be pointed at us but at His eternal Son.

Noah was a tremendous man of faith, but he was not the hero we need. Noah was not the fulfilment of Gen. 3:15. Jesus is… He is the sinless man. He is the One who willingly went to a cross to die the death we deserve and rose again to give us life abundant and eternal so that we can know that our God will never forsake us. Our salvation is secure in Jesus.

The flood didn’t destroy sin, but Jesus did. Through faith in Jesus, you are a part of the New Covenant - a covenant family in which you are promised that God will never forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).

Tim Keller: Every time you look into the heart of the storm and you see the rainbow of grace, you remember that’s where Jesus went. He went into the heart of God’s wrath out of love for us. He got the lightning so we could have the rainbow.

If you are not a believer, just like in the days of Noah, there will be a day when grace runs out. Today, He gives you an opportunity to board the true ark of salvation: Jesus Himself. But, if you fail to trust Jesus, judgment is coming - not by flood - but by fire. Trust Him today.

Follower of Jesus, for us, this passage is a call to not stop praising God because He has brought us through and He will bring us through.

We don’t stop praising God because we always know the best is yet to come.

We don’t stop praising God because we know God is the God of second chances.

We don’t stop praising God because we know God is the God of the covenant.