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Sermons from the Book of Genesis |
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A few years ago, there was a popular song entitled "Til The Storm Passes By. We could title Genesis chapter 8, "After The Storm Passes By." In Genesis 7, we see Noah in the storm. In Genesis chapter 8, we see Noah after the storm. In Genesis 8, we see Noah entering a new world. The old world has been destroyed and a new world is before him. He has been brought through the waters of death and now a world of life is before him.
In I Peter 3:20-21 we see that Noah and the flood is a type of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the believer's identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. We read, “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Peter tells us that the saving of Noah was a figure. The word means a "representative, counterpart."
Peter tells us that the saving of Noah was specifically a figure of the believer’s baptism. The baptism referred to is not the baptism that occurs in a church baptistery. That is a figure of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. The baptism that is referred to is not a public illustration of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ but a personal identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
Notice Romans 6:34, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Notice the word "baptized” in verse 3. The word was used in the classics of a piece of hot iron dipped into water to temper it. It was also used of Greek soldiers placing the points of their spears or swords into a bowl of blood. The ideal is that of placing a person or thing into a new environment or into a union with someone or something so as to alter its condition or its relationship to its previous environment. The baptism I am talking about is one in which we were placed into a new environment and the result was, our relationship with the old environment was altered or changed.
Noah was brought into a new environment. The old environment was destroyed. The flood of God’s judgment brought death to that environment and brought Noah into a new environment. You could say that Noah was raised to walk in newness of life. With this newness of life there comes:
1. A LIFE OF APPRECIATION
Verse one says, "God remembered Noah." Noah would live the rest of life in the awareness that God had remembered him. He would live each day thankful for God's grace. Noah would be thankful for:
A. God's Saving Grace.
Each day when Noah looked at the sky he would be thankful that God had saved him. Each day that he saw the sunshine, he would be grateful for God's saving grace. Each time he held his family, he would be thankful that God had saved him from judgment by His grace.
When I think of how God has saved our souls from hell, I think of how our souls ought to be filled with thanksgiving. That is one reason I am bothered when people come to church and sit like a corpse. The fact that God has saved us, spared us from the wrath to come, ought to have us jumping pews and running the aisles.
A little girl whose father was a disc jockey (radio announcer) was invited to a friend’s house for dinner. She was asked to say the blessing. The little girl cleared her throat, looked at her wristwatch and said, "This food, friends, is coming to you through the courtesy of Almighty God."
I don't have to go to hell. I have been delivered from the wrath and judgment of God and it all came through the courtesy of God.
He would also be thankful for:
B. God's Sustaining Grace
God had not saved him from death, but He had sustained in life. He had brought him through the storm. I think of how God has sustained us through the storms of life, watched over us, and kept us. How we ought to be thankful and full of praise. Someone has said that God's favorite attitude is gratitude.
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote: “The man who has forgotten to be thankful, has fallen asleep in life."
A man was out hunting. He just happened to be hunting bears. As he trudged through the forest looking for the beasts, he came upon a large and steep hill. Thinking that perhaps there would be bear on the other side of the hill, he climbed up the steep incline and, just as he was pulling himself up over the last outcropping of rocks, a huge bear met him nose to nose. The bear roared fiercely. The man was so scared that he lost his balance and fell down the hill with the bear not far behind. As he tumbled down the hill, the man lost his gun. When he finally stopped at the bottom, he found that he had a broken leg. Escape was impossible and so the man, who had never been particularly religious (in fact this just happened to be a Sunday morning), prayed, "God, if you will make this bear a Christian I will be happy with whatever lot you give me for the rest of my life." The Bear was no more than three feet away from the man when it stopped dead in its tracks, looked up to the heavens, fell to its knees and prayed in a loud voice, “0 Lord, bless this food of which I am about to partake."
Most only turn to God when they are in trouble. All of us ought to fall down on our knees and give thanks for all God has done for us through His grace. When a man begins to live a resurrected life, he will live a life of appreciation.
Secondly, when we are raised to walk in newness of life it leads to:
2. A LIFE OF APPROPRIATION!
Notice GENESIS 8:6-11, “And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.” Noah was about to enter a new life and to experience a new life. There was a new world before him and a new world he was to make his own.
In this new world we see Noah:
A. Seeking To Learn About His New Life
It is estimated that Noah spent more than a year inside the ark. We read in verse 6, that 40 days after the ark rested that he began seeking to learn about his new life. We read that Noah sent out 2 birds: a raven and a dove. He sent out the raven. The raven was a carrion bird, thus could live off the numerous carcasses that would be lying around. When the raven didn't come back, Noah knew that things were getting to the place where one could survive. He sent out the dove. The dove lives off seeds, etc, and when it came back, Noah knew that things were getting better, but not to the point that one could live on the earth. Seven days later he sent the dove out again. The dove returned a second time, but this time with an olive branch. Noah now knew that things were beginning to grow again and one could now live on the earth. Noah waited 7 more days and sent the dove out again. This time it didn't return, and Noah knew that things were in the condition that they could leave the ark.
We see Noah seeking to learn about his new life. He is wanting to know about the new world he has inherited. His desire is to know about his new life. I see people who claim to be Christians that don't have enough desire to get them out of bed on Sunday morning. I see people all the time who claim to be saved, yet have no desire for spiritual things. I'll tell what the problem is. They have never been saved. A person that is saved and especially someone who is living a resurrected life, will have a desire for the things of God and will want to learn more about the life they have in Christ.
Notice GENESIS 8:13, “And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.” Someone living in newness of life will be taking the covering off to see what is happening. There is a desire to know. There is a seeking to learn.
We also see Noah in his new world:
B. Starting To Live In His New Life
Notice GENESIS 8:14-19, “And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him: Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.” Noah now leaves the ark and begins to make his new world a part of his life. He now begins to make what God has given him his own.
The Bible says in PHILIPPIANS 2:12, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” We are to appropriate, make as our own; all that God has given us in Christ. Walking in newness of life means that what we have in Christ is more than a theoretical matter. It is an experiential matter.
The old world was dead to Noah. A new world was before him. He lived in newness of life by making all that new world offered. A good example of this is found in ROMANS 6:6, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” The word "destroyed" means "to render inoperative."
I think of the old saw mills that were steam operated. The steam would turn a wheel on which was a belt, which turned everything else. Everything was made to operate as that belt turned pulleys, wheels, etc. But if that belt ever slipped, then the machine became inoperative. The steam was there, its power was available, but the machine was inoperative because the belt had slipped.
That's what Jesus did. He slipped the belt. Sin no longer has power over us. The old man of sin has been rendered inoperative in our life. We all know that about the power of sin. We know that sin is not destroyed in the sense of being annihilated. Many live hampered, hindered, and haunted because of the power of sin in their life. They are living with the belt on. Walking in newness of life is making what Christ has done for us (slipping the belt) a force in our life. We have a new life. What that new life has provided is ours for the taking.
Thirdly, we see that when one is raised to walk in newness there is:
3. A LIFE OF ADORATION!
Notice GENESIS 8:20-22, “And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” The first thing Noah did when he got off the ark was to build an altar and worship his God.
In Noah's altar and worship we are reminded that:
A. God Desires Our Worship
The Bible says in JOHN 4:23, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” God wants us to worship Him. A person walking in newness of life will want to worship Him.
We are also reminded that:
B. God Deserves Our Worship
After all God had done, He deserved an altar, and He deserved a sacrifice. He deserved Noah's worship.
When was the last time you built and altar and worshipped God? |