Untitled Sermon (2)

As we continue our study through Genesis

This morning we find our text in Genesis 9

Noah had left the Ark

A new world was coming alive after the flood

And the words before us given to us by God

Stand as a testament to the timeless wisdom of

the Word of God

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In 1984… this man

District Attorney A.M. Stroud III

Of Shreveport Louisiana was the lead

prosecutor

In the December 1984 first-degree murder

trial of Glenn Ford

Glen was sentenced to death

For a murder that took place in Shreveport

Ford was released from prison in

March of 2014

After the state admitted new evidence

Proving Ford was not the killer

One year later… in March of 2015

Stroud wrote a brutally honest apology

For the Shreveport Times

Listen to his apology:

In 1984… I was 33 years old

I was arrogant… judgmental

Narcissistic and very full of myself

I was not as interested in justice

As I was in winning

To borrow a phrase from Al Pacino in the

movie… ‘And justice for All’

‘Winning became everything’

As a result

Mr. Ford spend 30 years of his life

In a small… dingy … cell

Lighting was poor… heating and cooling were

almost non-existent

After the death verdict was handed down

I went out with others and celebrated with a

few rounds of drinks

That’s sick

I had been entrusted with the duty

To seek the death of a fellow human being

A very solemn task that certainly did not

warrant any celebration

In my rebuttal argument

During the penalty phase of the trial

I mocked Mr. Ford

Stating that this man wanted to stay alive

So he could be given the opportunity to prove

his innocence

How totally wrong I was

I was apologize to Glenn Ford

For all the misery I have caused him and his

family

I apologize to the victim’s family

For giving them the false hope of some closure

I apologize to the members of the jury

For not having all of the story that should

have been disclosed to them

I apologize to the court in not having been

more diligent in my duty

Glenn Ford died at age 65

Less than a few months after this letter

And just a little over a year after having been

released from death row

Stories like this haunt us

Because there is a long list of depraved men in

this country

Who lust after power… control

And they should be removed from office

And yes at times the system is broken

But does this mean we abandon the death

penalty all together?

Does knowing that perfect justice will not be

found until the Kingdom of Christ

When Christ rules and reigns from

Jerusalem…

Does this mean justice cannot ever be found

And carried out in this life?

Does it mean that it is murder to kill someone

Who has taken the life of another?

These are some of the questions we seek to

answer in our text this morning

Join me in Genesis 9

Starting in verse 1

‘So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to

them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth."

The sons of Noah were there

It was the sons of Noah that would reproduce

after the Flood

This blessing was given by Elohim

This was a new beginning for mankind

But take a look at verse 2

This is significant

Because there was a drastic change in how the

animals would now respond to men

Verse 2 tells us

‘And the fear of you and the dread of you shall

be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.

What happened?

Why did this situation change?

Because there is a big difference between the

world of Genesis 1 and Genesis 8

In Genesis 1… God said that His creation was

very good

There was perfect harmony between man and

the beasts of the earth

First there was the Fall of man in Genesis 3

Now the skins of animals were being used for

clothing

Sacrifices were now be made

To atone for the sin of man

And now there was a devastating judgment

upon the earth

The earth had just been covered with water

Most of the land animals had been killed

That will bring about some fear

Most of you know that we came from Wisconsin

We have Black Bear in Wisconsin

They are thick where we lived

We’ve had them find our apple trees

Eat as many as they could

And then lay around and nap in our yard

sunbathing

But they are not feared

Hikers don’t carry guns there

Because they don’t need too

Black bears are hunted in Wisconsin

So they have developed such a fear of man

That they run off at the sight of you

God was telling Noah

The animals are going to start fearing man

And I think part of the reason is the very next

verse

Men were now going to be given permission to

eat them

There is a natural fear now after the flood

That God has allowed

But the problem comes

When large animals are raised in captivity

And then released

They don’t have a fear of man

Tigers… wolves

Large animals raised in captivity

Typically don’t survive if they are released

They lose the natural behaviors given by God

To hunt… to survive

And to fear man

Then we read with verse 3 and 4

‘Every moving thing that lives shall be food

for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.

‘But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is,

its blood.

Now the beasts of the earth would flee man

And man was now given permission to eat

them

Men… hunting was now legit