Big idea: Humbly turn to God in faith and gratitude for the mercy and grace in the Noahic covenant.
Application
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good morning everyone, and I just want to add my welcome from John and John, John saying, Nobody got here by accident. Actually, you got here by sheer determination this morning. And we appreciate your determination to make it here this morning, if you're online. And the best determination you could get was us online. Welcome to you too. There are some some nasty weather out there. We are going to be looking at Genesis chapter eight and nine, and we'll get to that in a second. But I just do want to say, if you want to connect to aspiring men, we have younger guys. We have older guys. It's not really an age. If you want to aspire to be a more qualified and able leader, it might be a leader that is a lead, a leader of servants, a deacon. It might be a leader who is an elder. All of that is so valuable to the life of the church. Sometimes we'll slip and we'll say things like or just be a lay elder, and I'm thinking, you mean work a full time job and have a full time ministry. Also, our lay elders do an incredible amount of labor for the church. We are so thankful for them. So if that's in any place or anything that you're interested in, I would love to talk to you after and get you connected to that. Let's turn our attention to Genesis, chapter eight. This morning, we've been going through Genesis, and we're going to be looking at the Noahic Covenant. Stand with me for the reading of God's word, and I'm going to read 820, through 917, and we're going to look at the true meaning of the rainbow. And it will be very encouraging when we see God's faithful promises here as we as we look at what's here. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth, neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done while the earth remains, seed, time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the flesh of the sea into your hands. They are delivered every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I give you, gave you green plants, I give you everything, but you shall not eat flesh with its life that is its blood. And for your life blood, I will require a reckoning from every beast. I will require it from and from man, from his fellow man. I will require a reckoning for the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man by man, shall his blood be shed for God made Him in His own image. And you be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it. Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. It is for every beast of the earth I will establish my covenant with you that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood. Never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all future generations, I will have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh and the water shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. God said to Noah, this is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all the flesh that is on the earth. This is the word of the Lord, our God, we praise you, our great creator, as we look at the flood story, the massive judgment that went over the whole earth, you preserved mankind through Noah, through his sons and their wives, next week, we'll see. In the start of the multiplication, you have been gracious to save here we see a great, incredible promise that is alive and powerful. This very day, you have made a covenant with all the earth, all the offspring of Noah. That's us, and we have a promise. When it rains and we see the rainbow, you remember your promise, and you keep your word, and we can have hope. And I pray that that would be true of us today, that we would see what's here and understand a little bit better how the Bible's storyline and your commitments hold up, that we would be people who would trust your promises more and more I do pray for churches around our city that they would be faithful to trust your promises, the promises through Christ, the promises of your return, that we would be faithful until the final new heavens and new earth arrives. Now, Father, I pray for churches in our city, I think of of Christ the Redeemer, Carrie Hughes, their elder team, that You would help him faithfully preach and teach and shepherd, help their pastors, their elders. The church itself, sitting at the edge of of West Central, has eagerly sought to minister to that community. We pray that you would be working through the gospel witness that's there. Bless the things like Christianity explored that they do for unbelievers to come and hear the Gospel for the first time. Bless those ministries. Help us now be faithful in ours. Help Us have attentiveness to what you're about to say to us in Christ's name. Amen, you may be seated Well, if you're under 25 and have not read the Bible much, you probably think that the rainbow is symbolic of a celebration of racial, gender, homosexual and transgender equality. The rainbow flag, I mean the rainbow flag by the people who use it, is a celebration of pride, which Christians don't usually want to celebrate Pride of any kind, pride flags, pride parades, pride weeks, pride hockey games with the chiefs. We had a night with the Chiefs at the Winter Break church families could go and sit together, and it was going to be a pride night. Somebody texted like, do we need to warn people about it's like, you live in Spokane. I don't know what other warning you need than that, but, I mean, I think they were thinking of like, what about our children? Well, we're gonna have to teach them something else about the rainbow, aren't we? Genesis, eight, nine. We find God's meaning of the rainbow. C, S, Lewis talked about Aslan at the stone table. There was a much deeper magic when Aslan was killed. If you ever read Lynn and witch in the wardrobe, there's a much deeper promise in Genesis eight and nine. And the message from this is one that we need to trumpet louder with more joy, with more confidence and more Thanksgiving than the modern celebration of pride. The rainbow after a rain shower or after a storm is given by God to display his mercy and grace to sinful humanity, no matter how sinful man is, no matter how sinful man is, God is displaying mercy and grace to the world today. We're going to unpack God's covenant with Noah. A covenant is a solemn commitment between God, the great king, and people of the earth put together a little graphic, just to kind of put it in our minds. Somebody's used this, this metaphor before is the covenants, these commitments between God, the king, and his people who represent Him, often by these different names and these different roles, form the structure of the story of the Bible, the architecture of the story of the Bible. We've seen the creation mandate in Genesis one and two. It's been repeated, and it will get repeated in the Noahic Covenant. Today, we'll look at that, but this is the basis for which the Abrahamic Covenant stands on. We're going to find out that God is going to keep a stable earth so that the promise to Abraham can be completed so that the people of Israel can have a stable land. And the Mosaic Covenant, so that the Davidic Covenant with the kingdom eventually ruled by Jesus Himself, will be on a stable planet. And the New Covenant, as it's finished out in its entirety, will be on an earth that is new, that is stable. The key question that we look at after judgment, after this massive judgment, is there mercy and grace after judgment? Ian. Is there mercy and grace after judgment? The covenant with Noah is a resounding yes, there is mercy and grace,
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contrary to what our culture wants to tell us about pride, I picked the big idea, something like this today, humbly turn to God in faith and gratitude for the mercy and grace of his covenant promise. Here we have one of the first offerings of promise. God is promising something despite however man lives and operates, and I see among Christians and non Christians alike, this feeling of an ever irreversible and impending catastrophe. And that's how news cycles work. They want you to look at the news and feel like disaster is about to strike all the time. Makes you look at the news again, someone's political agenda, military agenda, social agenda will utterly ruin the world. And remember Christians and non Christians get spun up in the cycle after 1000s of years of human history, God, not man, has preserved the world. Your world could seem on the edge of Ruin, the edge of catastrophe. Could be the divorce of your parents. It could be a cancer diagnosis of a loved one. It could be an unspeakable, vile, criminal act on an innocent. The promise here is simple, there will be good on this world again, personally you, you were here this morning, perhaps you have done things that you are ashamed of. You're guilty before God, your browsing history has recorded it. Maybe the state knows. Maybe you're on parole, maybe you're out of rehab. You your spouse, your family, and there's a question, is there still grace and mercy after God's discipline and justice? Whatever the effects of sin are, however God may bring judgments on it, as long as you're alive in this world, grace and mercy remain. That's what the rainbow means. God's grace and God's mercy remain. Let's take a look at this and see how it's unfolding for us. If you notice this, this graphic. It's all headed a direction, creation, mandate, Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, exercise dominion over it. We're going to see a repeat of that today, the Noahic Covenant, Abrahamic Covenant mosaic, Davidic New Covenant all the way at the end. What should it look like if you're to write something at the top, in the new heavens, in the New Earth, where Jesus reigns and all his people are perfected, there is a statement, I will be your God, and you will be my people. It's all about building an eternal relationship with the king. Here we have a number of firsts. We have the first mediator, Noah. We have the first burnt offerings. We have the first official covenant. As we unpack them, we're going to see the previews and how it shapes the whole storyline of the Bible. So let's take a look at these pieces, all with the B. I'm reminded of the great old time preacher Warren weirs B, who had the B series of his commentaries. Let's start with this. Be thankful. Be thankful for God's mediator, or at least God's mediation in Noah. Noah was a man of faith. He walked with God. That's what chapter six told us meaning he had an ongoing communion with God. God rescued him and his family when the ark and the worldwide flood destroyed the earth, and as Nathan gave us this great picture, as the waters rose, it bore up the ark, and Noah and his family and all the creatures the land creatures were saved after the waters receded, Noah left the ark, and what does he do? Verse 20, then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. We don't know how Noah was told to do these things. Somehow in the walking with the Lord, he was given some direction or some idea, but a whole burnt offering. Let's focus on this first. It had to be from the clean animals. And the clean animals were those that God designated as pure undefiled God had a special designation. God is a holy God. God is a righteous God. And He determined a set of animals that were going to be clean, and it was birds and livestock, and they were offered as a burnt offering. So build a large stone altar, gather lots of firewood, put the firewood on top of the altar, kill the animals, shedding their blood, putting it on top of the wood, lighting the wood on fire, and the whole animal is consumed. It's all burned up. There's nothing left to eat. It's not a barbecue. It's a total offering, completely given over to God. When Noah does this, and we're going to see it later on, when we get into Leviticus, Exodus, Leviticus, other Old Testament, the worshipers joyful Noah and the sons are saying, We didn't die. We didn't die. What do I give to God who's had mercy on me? I give something whole, a whole offering. I give my whole self. The worship is humble. My sins also deserve death. Something else has to give its life for mine. That's the picture of the sacrifice. Something needs to die for justice to happen. The worshiper is helpless. Have mercy on us. Lord, we are in a miserable situation. The worshiper is needy. Help us. Lord, we need to live and worship, and we need you to help us. These are the characteristics because of all the burnt offerings throughout all of the Old Testament, and they point us forward before we get there. Look at verse 21 because Noah's not just a worshiper. He's a worshiper, but he's also the mediator. You could see it by what God did in response. Notice the response verse 21 and when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground because of man. The Lord looked at Noah's faith, looked at the offering given to Noah and the Lord said, That pleases me. This picture of a pleasing aroma is the idea of God in heaven, smelling the smoke, seeing the faith and the offering, and saying, This is good. And in Genesis three, we find that God is the first mediator. The end of Genesis three, God kills animals, takes the skins, turns them into clothing, clothes Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness, their shame. Genesis six, we get our first human mediator, the first priest. And God was pleased with Noah, the first priest sacrifice, prayer and worship, and he responded with a promise, I will never again curse the ground because of man. It's interesting, in light of what's next for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. It's a way of saying, despite man's sin, I will still be gracious. I will still be merciful, almost to the point of man's heart is evil, and if I always responded to it like I just did with the flood, it would just be flood after flood after flood after flood after flood. And by His grace and mercy, He sees the faith and he sees Noah's offering, and he responds with a promise, I will never again do that. Neither will I ever strike down every living creature as I have done. How long will this last? Well, the earth remains. He uses these pairings to talk about completeness, seed time and harvest. That's spring and fall and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter. Yes. Winter, yes, even winter. God has not forgotten his promise as the snow falls, as my rear wheel drive truck can do, spin outs in a really big parking lot, which is not a good example for a pastor to. Give to the youth winter. God is faithful. Day and night. None of this shall cease. God's made a promise.
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So as we're looking at this, what's the promise like, what's the what's the thing that's so important about it, there's going to be a stable world which he can empower his mandate to fulfill the world, to fill the world with image bearers. The next verses that we're going to look at in a minute, it's going to be a stable Earth, so that the promise to Abraham can flourish. So Abraham can move to Canaan and his descendants can leave Egypt and build a land and build a nation in a land, so that Israel could live and flourish as a kingdom of priests, so that David and his offspring could rule and be an example to the nations one day, that Jesus, Christ, the fulfiller of all of those, could come, he could die For sin, and he could rise and he could commission his followers to the farthest corners of the earth. There will be a stable land so that we could bear his image to the farthest corners of the earth. This was set in motion here for and it gives us the first shadow of the final mediator in Jesus Christ, First Timothy two, five through 16, five through six says this, For there is one God. There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ, Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all. Moses, took some of every clean animal. Jesus gave himself. He gave Himself as the payment for sin. He gave Himself as the ransom for all who would believe. I Eve, we do thank God for the faith of Noah, that God saw Noah's offering and that God was making a promise and a covenant, and we still receive it today. But how much more thankful are we because the final mediator, the full and final sacrifice has come. This is who you need to deal with your sin. It's not what you do, but who you humbly trust as Lord and Savior. So what are you doing with the mercy and grace that God has granted? What are you doing with it? The only right and fitting thing to do with this mercy and grace is to respond and serve with your whole life. Moses offered a burnt offering after the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, Romans, 12 says that we offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God. The first, we stop and pause and thank God for the for the substitute, thank God for the ransom. Thank God for the mediator, Jesus Christ. Second, following this, we need to be fruitful and just remember this, this covenant applies to you. It's your covenant. God made it to Noah all his descendants, which you are descendants? We were telling our seven year old granddaughter yesterday that we are descendants of Noah, and she's like, What? Yeah, Mom and Dad, are descendants of Noah. They are. So is Nona and bestie. You guys are too. Yeah. Look, everybody you see is a descendant of Noah. Oh, I guess that isn't as cool as I thought, but it's striking, because this is part of ancient history that you may or may not think you have any part in Look at verse one, verse 791, and 97 look how it repeats. Nine one and God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. When God blesses that means he gives it his gracious empowerment to happen. They're gonna they're gonna multiply. Verse seven, and you be fruitful. Multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it. Here we have a repeat of the Creation mandate. It's the fourth time be fruitful. Multiply, fill the earth. And it's in brackets and inclusio. Now there's some additions to this. Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth. We're reminded of God's mandate in filling the Earth. We're charged with increasing life and flourishing in the world. God has made every human with a. Abilities and capacities to help creatures, to help people do what God has made them for. If you want to make it practical, when we go back to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, exercise dominion over it, if you want to make it practical, it just boils down to a couple of simple questions, what do I know how to do that could help someone else? It's not intended to be complicated. So you could be a third grader. What do you know how to do that could help your mother and father? You can dry the dishes. Oh, that's just what I want to do. I want to dry dishes, but you know how to do that. You could be at your 25th year in your company, and you know how to do a lot of things in your company, and you can help new employees figure out how to be effective in their company. In the company, what do I know how to do that could help someone else flourish in their work? Or you could say, What could I learn to help someone else? I think of of every student at about 16, you're thinking about, am I going into trades? Am I going into university? What am I going to do with my future? Whatever you do with your future. Do it with one aim, to represent God by serving and helping others flourish in this world for God's glory, I could make it really practical. Make a plug for transform conference. Come to transform conference this week, you could be equipped how to handle God's word better and help others follow Jesus better. You could go help your roommates, you could help your family, help your church, help your work, help your neighborhood. Why? So God's glory is displayed through you notice that he's going to bring the issue of made in God's image again, so that we can represent God to the world. Here's the added component. That's the repeat. Here's the added component. Be fruitful and be just remember, man's heart has not changed. Says, For the intention of man's heart is evil. From his youth, there needs to be a check in this world to the unrestrained evil of man. And so there is the institution of justice. It's gonna happen between the natural realm, between the creatures of the world and mankind, and the other way, between men and men. Notice that there's a fundamental change that God says is going to happen, the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground, all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are delivered. What's going on here? Apparently, before the flood, not only had the violence of mankind grown toward each other, but the violence of mankind to the animals, the creatures or beasts toward mankind, that's why all flesh had to be destroyed, except the pairs that were preserved. Now, God institutes a fear. He instills a fear in animals. You it
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doesn't mean there will never be an animal attack. Doesn't mean there will never be an issue between humans exploiting animals and a blood thirsty way, but God has fundamentally changed mankind's relationship with animals. Says verse three, every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. 15 years ago, a number of us took a few trips to China. For sure, in China, if it's not nailed to the ground, it's food. I mean, they eat everything, bugs, sea bugs, land bugs, everything, as long as it's not poison. In China, it's food. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you, as I have given you the green plants I give you everything. So what's going on here? Now, the productivity of plants is not going to be enough to sustain general life. I know there's some vegans who would argue with me about that, but. I'm not aware of any vegans that don't have a lot of friends in shipping that can stay vegans in Alaska in the winter, it's whatever you're going to eat. It's got to be preserved or shipped, otherwise you're going to eat meat. Now all the meat eaters went, Yes, this is where we have permission to eat meat? Yeah, you do, but notice it is at the life of the animal, not God's original design. And even so, there is to be justice and restraint. Verse four, but you shall not eat flesh with its life that is its blood. Is he talking about dietary laws? Is it wrong to eat blood sausage? We were in Scotland. We had haggis and dark pudding, black pudding. It's blood pudding. So they take blood, put it in a sausage, and they cook it. You just bet you just want 100 of those. He just said that, and I just my mouth started watering. I think it's blood sausage. Is he talking about that? No, he's really not talking about that. The issue is killing and eating like a soulless, ravenous animal. Just kill it, rip off its skin and start digging in. There is to be restraint. The principle is going to finish out in the Proverbs, where a godly or righteous man treats his animals well. Verse five, it heightens, because this is the point that he's moving toward for your life blood, I will require a reckoning from every beast. I will require it and from man, from his fellow man. I will require a reckoning for the life of man. There must be justice in the world. Genesis six, one through eight, violence, hatred, domination. There must be justice to restrain the evil of man. Now there will be a reckoning. This is the first place we have capital punishment. Many people see the first place for justice and government, although there's nothing said about the form of government. So don't carry that too far. But the principle of justice is here. It's now going to be implemented in conscience and even to this day, where there are idolatrous nations, nations that don't seek to please the Lord first, they still have systems of justice to restrain evil by conscience, by necessity, Will there still be injustice in the world? Yes, beasts will still attack and harm people will harm and kill other people, but there will be justice, and it's not merely for murder. Yes, this is about capital punishment. This sets the pinnacle. If anyone murders, he's going to be murdered. But all justice is born out of this principle, do not harm another person made in God's image. Do not harm another person made in God's image. With your words, James talks about the terrible nature of the tongue, for out of the mouth flow two things, praises to God and curses to mankind, curses to other who is made in the image of God. The principle of justice begins here to do no harm to fellow man. The 10 Commandments, as we think of the first four are about loving God, the last six are about loving mankind. And this is the pinnacle. This is where the principle of justice begins. Human life is to be highly valued by heart, by tongue, by action. Verse six, whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed for God made man in His own image and violence will not be the reigning influence in the world now. So when we get back to this last part of the inclusio, verse seven, be fruitful. Multiply increase greatly on the earth. Multiply in it. Now, they can do that with a principle of just. Justice. Add in the realities that we experience after the coming of Jesus Christ. Think about what Jesus has come to do. He was not only the greatest mediator, but think about what happened to him, the God man, was mistreated, verbally mistreated, from the heart. He was beaten. He was arrested, beaten, crucified, and on the cross, Jesus bears the full wrath of God in the place of his people. Here we have a principle of justice fulfilled in Christ, and with that reality among God's people, we can be fruitful, multiply and great increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it. Jesus has established a justice among the people of God.
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Be fruitful and just so think about your words. Think about your intentions, think about your actions, starting with the people you live closest with, and in every circle, outward, third, be confident in God's gracious covenant. And here is point three. Here is the idea of really holding fast to God's promises. Covenants, especially this covenant, is a set of promises primarily laid on God's action alone. God said to Noah, to his sons, Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. For it is for every beast on the earth. What's a covenant? A covenant is a solemn commitment to a relationship in which both sides, both relationships, God and His people here commit to a mutually beneficial relationship. The only surviving one that I see in a day by day basis, is marriage. Marriage is a mutual commitment, a solemn and mutual commitment to the benefit of the other. It's not a contract. A contract is an agreement, action given, action taken. And there is a there is a benefit, but there is not necessarily a relationship. A covenant, by its definition, is a relationship with promises and obligations for the others good. What is that ultimate promise and obligation will see it unfold, will see it finish in the new heavens and the new earth. God will make a people who he will say, I will be your God, and you will be my people. He will bless and sustain, and they will worship and serve him forever. What's this covenant? Verse 11, I will establish my covenant with you that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the Earth. Here is the covenant promise to keep a stable world. Here's the covenant promise that upholds God's promise from Genesis 315 remember, in Genesis 315 there is going to be a seed born of the woman who will destroy satan. This upholds the promise. There will be a world in which a nation from Abraham will be built, a people Israel will be established, a King David will be set so that a new covenant will be established between the King who died for his people and rose in victory, who will return. There is a promise given here. There will be a stable world. Will there be natural disasters? Yes, is there a curse on the earth that makes it hard to farm, hard to live? Yes. God didn't pull off the idea of toil. He said, Never again. Will he destroy it all? Ian, will that? Will there be judgments in the other covenants? Yes, there will. But this is the kind of promise and the kind of commitment you need when natural disasters that happen in LA occur or the whole. Hurricanes that slam Florida and the Gulf Coast and the East every year, when the snow falls and it's hard to drive, these are the kinds of things. Yes, you might get a leak in your roof, you might have some damage, but God is going to hold the whole world together. Yes, World War One, World War Two, cost millions of lives. Entire cities were leveled to the ground, Dresden Hiroshima, but all these years later, there is a stable world. God is upholding his promise. God is sending the good rains, and he's sending the storms. Every covenant has obligations. God has declared his. I will never again. Destroy all these things. I will make the world stable. What are ours? It's in the mandate, Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, uphold justice. What if we don't what if we don't uphold our obligations? We individually can face justice. We can face consequences for our sins, but God will never say that it's time to destroy the whole world like this again, his grace and mercy remain for another generation. This is the kind of covenant that's unilateral. Doesn't matter how men behave. God is going to keep his promise. You and I can forfeit the blessings under that promise, but God is going to keep his promise to another generation, even though man's intentions in his heart is evil from his youth, God will still uphold the world. Some of you have read your Bibles, have read to the end of your Bibles, and you say, I know it says there will never be a flood, but there might be a What fire. So this is just the promise. I'm never going to flood the world again, but, man, I'm gonna make it burn. You read that, you go, Oh, I guess is that really what's what it's saying. It's taken from Second Peter 310, what about what Peter is saying? But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, Jesus returning to take the world. He will judge, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. What is this dissolving? There's two views. One is a total annihilation of the very elements The MacArthur Study Bible, or the ESV Study Bible, which talk about a purging. I'm not trying to pit my old boss and the ESV against each other. Even at master seminary, where I teach, it's permissible to see the purification view, and that's what I take here. Part of the reason why I take it is twofold. One, there's a promise that God's going to uphold life. And the second is that this is a purification. The word dissolved in two in 310, is the idea of purification, and when we get to the end of verse 10, all the things will be exposed. This is very similar. It's very similar to what happens at every one of our personal judgments. We're going to stand before Jesus one day, and it is going to be as with a fire, where everything will be exposed. Whatever is done by faith is rewarded. Whatever is not done by faith. It's called the wood hand stubble will be burned away like chaff. It won't be to our credit. The point in Peter is that all the works that are done on the earth will be exposed. Verse 13 renders either side a non issue, because he says, according to his promise, we are waiting for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Will there be mercy after judgment? Will there be Grace after judgment for all those who, by faith, put their trust in the promise of God in Jesus Christ, there is mercy and grace. After the final judgment, there is a new heavens and a new earth. Why does this kind of thing matter? Why does it matter? Ian.
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I imagine the scenario, a young girl is badly mistreated on a date, innocent, violated. There is a promise of a time when Jesus reigns on Earth where everything that is done in evil, although it's just her word and His Word, will be brought to the light of God's justice. Everything will be brought to the light of God's justice the way I see it, the way I think the Bible sees it, Jesus is going to return, and he is going to rule on the earth in such a way that any sin or injustice will be immediately dealt with, and then that will give way to a new heavens and new earth where sin and injustice don't happen anymore. There is hope for that girl, or anyone else, any of you who have experienced injustice, where there will be a public display and Jesus will say, this one was wronged. This one committed the crime. My Justice stands. Ian,
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there is mercy and grace for the innocent after judgment, looking ahead the apostle Paul, thinking of the rebirth of the earth. The second reason why I think it's going to be a renewal, as opposed to a total annihilation, is this promise in Romans 823, For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. He's talking about the resurrection. Remember Jesus real human body. Really died. He really went into the grave, and he really rose in a glorified same body. Jesus rose from the dead in the same body that he had before the cross. You are going to die if you your faith and hope and trust is in Jesus, your body might go to the ground, your body might go into the crematorium, but you will be resurrected in same body, glorified in This world, will be resurrected, so to speak, same body. There is hope after the judgment of the world. What's the sign that helps us with this? The rainbow, the rainbow. Most of the signs, except for, except for the Davidic, have have a sign with them. Verse 12 says, This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you. God determined the relationships you all and all the creatures for all future generations, I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. So after it rains or after a storm, remember, rains can be a blessing. Storms can be a devastating catastrophe. But by the rainbow, God is making and keeping his promise to show mercy and grace to the world. And what a fitting sign after the flood, after it was rain that brought judgment. Now there is the rainbow. Is there hope after judgment? What does the rainbow really mean? It means that God is still merciful and gracious, even though the world has returned to the same sin that was before the flood.
49:31
I think of the subverting of the symbol of the rainbow to put it on a rainbow flag and to celebrate Pride when you see that I was just driving down Perry, and there's a crosswalk with a rainbow on it, driving over it, and in Perry district, it clearly means pride. It's a pride flag on that. Maybe I should drive another way. Maybe I should treat it like a black cat. I don't. Drive over that. Or maybe I can say, I know you're subverting God's plan, but I know the truth he still has mercy and grace, and it is available today. What God calls sinful and evil regarding sexuality and gender is used to call those sins virtues. But you know better. Christian, I want you to hear this in years there, recent years, there's been this Chicken Little type of attitude when you see flags everywhere. This guy is falling. The sky is falling. Does the evil of men out power overpower the righteousness and grace of God? Does it? No, when you see the rainbow, you're going to say, God's grace and mercy remain.
51:07
God will preserve the world so all his plans and blessings will be fulfilled on it. Jesus is going to maintain a stable world so that the good news can get to every tribe and tongue and nation. The symbol we love, which we're going to celebrate in a minute, is the cross. It's not technically a sign, but we're going to celebrate the sign, which is the Lord's Supper, and it's built on the rainbow. This sign, added to that sign means that Jesus is going to get his gospel to every tribe and tongue and nation, fulfilling his mission. Let me pray, Father. Thank you for this really clear word, powerful promise. When we look at the world and whatever is happening in it, I pray by scripture, by the signs, even in nature that you give, we would take hold of your promise, renew our hope, continue our labor and being fruitful and multiplying, Upholding justice and preaching the gospel, help us do all of those things. Christ's name. Amen.
Dr. Dan Jarms is teaching pastor and team leader at Faith Bible Church in Spokane Washington, as well as associate dean at The Master's Seminary in Spokane. He has been married for over 30 years to Linda, and has three adult children. He earned his B.A. in English at the Master’s College, B.Ed. at Eastern Washington University, M.Div and D.Min in Expository Preaching at The Master’s Seminary. His other interests include NCAA basketball, woodworking, and art.
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