Sermon Tone Analysis

We all face hard times, don’t we?

In our daily life we might have relationship that fracture, or we may be going through a season where the trials of life wage such intense war upon us that our faith seems to be growing dim.

And it’s in those times that we know that we should be stronger than we are, but we simply can’t get there.

Well, we’ve all been there.

And today I want to tell you about a man who lost the whole world, but God was faithful even when it seemed he was all alone with no one but his family.

God’s Response To Sin

His Retribution

Have you ever heard, “I have warned you twice to behave and not hit your sibling.

How about I give you something that’ll remind you to control yourself.”

Followed by a whooping?

And then as you get older you think, “How do my parents think that hitting me is a proper way to teach me about how hitting is bad?”

Well, this is the same sort of issue we encounter when we find God unleashing chaos upon the chaotic world, particularly here in Genesis.

In the case of the Dad giving his son a whooping or in the case of God flooding the world, the differences between the one being punished and the one giving the punishment is all about control and responsibility.

The father isn’t reacting out of uncontrolled anger, but proper discipline.

When God unleashes the chaos of the flood as punishment for the chaotic sinfulness of the world, His action is not one of unrestrained anger, but control and responsibility.

He cares for His creation and as He looked at the Earth it was ransacked with sin.

That cannot be discharged by simply letting sin run amok.

Responsibility implies response.

In contrast to the uncontrolled violence that characterized the antediluvian world, the chaos unleashed by God is totally under his control and is effectively accomplishing his will.

As we see Him flooding the world in Genesis 6:11-14; 17-18; 22 and Genesis 7:1-7, 11-13, 16, 17-23 we see Him behaving as a man of war.

This is what the rainbow teaches us which we will see later.

But just as we see God unleashing chaos on the global level, we also see Him doing it on a personal level throughout the Bible in the lives of men like King Manasseh, Job, or the thief on the cross.

There was a man by the name of Chuck Colson who wasn’t raised in a Christian home, but his family taught him the value of character and integrity.

They said that Chuck had serious ambition and drive and that he was so successful in law and politics that he held an influential position in the White House when Richard Nixon was President, before he was 40 years old.

But his strong sense of loyalty and his striving for excellence, began to compromise his commitment to his integrity and he became a master of manipulation and gained the reputation as a guy who would do anything to get the job done no matter the cost.

Suddenly, Colson found himself caught up in a huge scandal called the Watergate cover-up and his life of prestige and power unraveled as God unleashed chaos in his life.

As everything fell apart around him and as he was sentenced to prison, the Lord saved him.

And through that he went on to minister in prisons reaching thousands of people.

His life is a wonderful example of what can happen when God’s chaos is unleashed against the sinful chaos of our lives.

So what is our response to this passage as we see God releasing chaos upon the world?

What do we see floating upon the waters of God’s wrath here for us to learn from?

Well, 2 Peter 2:9 says

he also encourages us to not allow God’s delay in bringing judgment to cause us to join the doubters of the world in 2 Peter 3:9

Peter says that the reality of God’s judgement doesn’t just impact the future, but that it impacts how we live our lives today in 2 Peter 3:11

As we read this passage and see God’s wrath and justice, we also see grace.

And our response should be ones of awe.

That God could have allowed us to fall off into judgment, but He showed us grace just like He did to Noah and because of that, we should live godly lives marked by His love and grace.

His Recreation of Earth

As we read through the story of the Flood, there are tons of connections here.

As we read through, I’ll highlight them.

8:1-2 is connected to day 1 in Gen. 1:2

8:2b is connected to day 2 in Gen. 1:7-8

8:3-5 is connected to day 3 in Gen. 1:9

8:7-8 is connected to day 5 in Gen. 1:20

8:17 is connected to day 6 in Gen. 1:24

And so, as we read through this story and we see the Earth covered in the water, God is doing something.

It make look like destruction, but it’s decreation and recreation.

He is bringing us back to think of Noah as a second Adam.

This is supposed to look like a new beginning and that should be mind blowing how in a world of sin that deserves no hope, God gives grace and a second chance.

We can see something similar to this is Jeremiah where he gives Israel a message of being plucked up, broken down, being destroyed and overthrown.

And then later on, God gives him a message that says, ““The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will plant the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the offspring of men and of animals.

Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD.”

There is more than salvation here, there is a salvaging of operations.

God takes a cursed planet and a sinful man and gives him grace.

This is the God who touched the destructive, zealous Saul and made him the Apostle Paul that we know and love.

This is the same God who touched a norther African philosopher named Augustine and made Him one of the most impactful Christians in history.

This God is in the business of re-creating, and our lives are testimonies of that grace.

We are saved from sin and salvaged as vessels for the masters use.

God’s Remembrance Of Noah

Guys, imagine what Noah went through.

Imagine the horrific noises he heard and the sights he saw.

Imagine the doubt he must’ve struggled with as he is on this boat for 150 days and he doesn’t hear a single word from God.

And yet, in the midst of this, Genesis 8:1 says

Genesis 8:1 (NKJV)

1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark.

And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.

Now, this doesn’t mean that God forgot Noah, but is used for when God is acting according to a promise of covenant in a way that the people of God can see.

All that Noah had to hold onto was what we saw in Genesis 6:17-18

An article from Ligonier ministries said this, “In the depths of despair we may give up hope that the Lord will remember His promises.

Yet we must hold fast, for though it may seem to us that He is slow to fulfill His Word, He always acts at just the right time” (2 Peter 3:9).

As John Calvin comments: "[God], who has promised his help to the miserable, will, in due time, be present with us, that we may indeed perceive the care he takes of us.”

Noah must’ve though that the only reason his life had been spared was so he might be the most miserable man on Earth, but in this, God remembered him.

So what can we take from this?

That we can rest in the providence of God.

And even though it may seem we are forsaken, in the end, we will be able to say, “The Lord has never forgotten about me.”

Noah’s Reaction

Now, as the flood waters begin to subside, Noah sends out a raven and a dove (8:6-14).

What’s interesting here is that the dove is a lower ground feeding bird.

And when it comes back with an olive leave, it shows Noah that the waters have returned and the recovery of the Earth has began and then in v13, Noah removes the top of the boat, but notice he hasn’t moved off the Ark.

I want us to notice first...

Noah’s Patience

Noah doesn’t move a foot until he hears from God.

This is a man who has exercised faith since he found grace in the eyes of God.

He is patiently waiting and obeying the command of God at the beginning, during and end of this great trial of faith.

And this should be the same with us even in the smallest things in our life.

Not that we should expect to hear the verbal voice of God, or that we should expect to find Scripture on what to have for lunch, but that we should seek to move in faith to honor God in all aspects of our lives, whether we eat or drink.

Are you at a point of making a big decision in your life?

Noah’s Praise

Now lastly I want to notice Noah’s praise in Genesis 8:20

Noah has shown us many proofs of his faith in God throughout this story and here we see this sacrifice celebrating the goodness of God and giving thanks to God for showing mercy to his family.

Sure, it may have been sufficient for Noah to merely tell his family of the goodness of God, or for his heart to simply think of the goodness of God.

But this is a man wholly committed to expressing thanksgiving.

The fact that he burns the whole offering is a symbol of Noah’s total devotion to the Lord and not only does Noah give all of one clean animal, but he gives some of all the clean animals.

This man’s heart is overflowing with thankfulness.

Westermann said, “A spontaneous celebration, the result of salvation experienced, is just as much a part of the necessary life of worship as the permanent, regularly organized service.”

The general take away for us here as we see Noah assuming the role of priest is that for us, who have been made apart of the holy priesthood as Peter tells us, we should offer all of our worship in faith as a blessing to the heart of our Lord.

Conclusion

So, in conclusion, I want to tie this up in a bow for us in stating that In the midst of life’s most troublesome moments, we must let the promises of God soothe us, and the providence of God strengthen us.