Title: A New Beginning
Text: Genesis 18: 15-9: 17
Date: July 21, 2013
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
If the Lord is willing, the first Sunday in August, we will be
baptizing our sister, Debbie Doodnath.
What a time of rejoicing! I speak for all these saints here when I say I
am so thankful for you, Debbie, that God has graciously given you faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Among other things, by baptism, Debbie will be publicly confessing
she is a new creature, old things are passed away.
2
Corinthians 5: 17: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18: And all things
are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.
That is why Genesis chapter 8 caught my attention as I was reading
this week. Noah is coming out of the ark after the flood.
Genesis
8: 14: And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month,
was the earth dried. 15: And God spake unto Noah, saying, 16: Go forth of the
ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee. 17: Bring
forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh,
For Noah, this was a new
Genesis—a new beginning. God’s judgment had passed away. The old world had
passed away. All things had become new. What a picture!
Proposition:
We will look at this as an example of a newly regenerated believer
and hear some of the things God declares to his child who is just beginning the
life of faith.
Title:
A New Beginning
Genesis 8: 15: And God spake unto Noah, saying, go forth…
I. NEWNESS OF LIFE BEGINS FOR CHRIST’S REDEEMED CHILD WHEN GOD
SPEAKS IN POWER CREATING US ANEW BY THE INCORRUPTIBLE WORD—
God’s elect were in Christ
spiritually from eternity. “Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” (Gen 6:
8) God shut Noah up in the ark before one drop of judgment fell. Then the rain
of God’s wrath came down in judgment, baptizing the ark on all sides. Noah died
in the flood—just as those outside the ark died—but he was protected by the
ark. He was buried in the ark. When the
ark arose, Noah arose in the ark. And when the ark sat upon the Mt. Ararat, so
did Noah because he was in the ark.
The elect of God found grace
in the eyes of God. He put us in Christ by divine election before the world was
made. “Of [God] are ye in Christ Jesus.” (1 Cor 1: 30; Eph 1: 3-4) With our
sins on him, Christ was justly immersed in the wrath of God’s judgment on the
cross. We died on the cross when Christ
died. When Christ was buried our old man
of sin was buried, when Christ arose, God’s elect arose in him and when Christ
sat down in heavenly Mt. Zion his people sat down in him. (Rom 6: 1-11)
But, though born a child of
Adam, the elect child of God has not truly been born until we are born again of
God in regeneration. Think about that. By
our first birth, our fleshly man is the son of Adam—born of his flesh, born
after Adam’s defiled image.
Psalm 51: 5: Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother
conceive me.
John
3:6: That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. 7: Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Our true existence as a
child of God, our true being, begins when we have been born again by the Word
of God.
Colossians
3: 9: Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his
deeds; 10: And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the
image of him that created him: 11: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ
is all, and in all.
“Renewed” means being
renewed day by day, as the scripture says, “Though our outward man perish, yet
the inward man is renewed day by day.”
Knowledge means full discernment of God. It includes the fear of the
Lord, the knowledge of God as our Father and of we being sons of God, of having
a new desire for God to have all the glory. The image of God formed in us by
the Spirit of God, is as much more glorious than that born by Adam, as the Second
Man, the Lord from heaven, is more glorious than the first man. We now know we
are all just worms; all those middle walls we used to exalt ourselves over
others is broken down. Christ is All and in all.
Ephesians
4: 22: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is
corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23: And be renewed in the spirit of
your mind; 24: And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness.
Our old man was created in unrighteousness
by Adam’s disobedience to the law in the garden; by Christ’s obedience unto
death he, as our last head, has made our new man the righteousness of God in
him. Born of Adam’s corrupt seed our old man was unholy; the new man is created
holy by the incorruptible Seed. In
our text, God spoke to Noah. This new creation is made when God speaks through
the preaching of Christ and him crucified.
1
Peter 1: 23: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,
by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 24: For all flesh is as
grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away: 25: But the word of the Lord endureth for
ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. 2: 1:
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies,
and all evil speakings, 2: As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the
word, that ye may grow thereby: 3: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is
gracious.
So newness of life begins
for Christ’s redeemed when God speaks in power within us. “Whose praise is not of men but of God.” (Rom
2: 29) Baptism is the public confession that we have been washed in
regeneration and raised to newness of life in Christ by the word of God through
the gospel. If you have tasted that the
Lord is gracious, like a new born babe, desire the milk of the word that ye may
grow thereby! This is how it pleased God to renew the inward man day-by-day.
II. THAT WHICH COMES FIRST TO THE BELIEVER IS THE WORSHIP OF
GOD—Genesis 8: 20: 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.
This is a picture of faith
in Christ, of thanksgiving, of praise and worship of God for his mercy and
grace in Christ. Try to imagine how Noah felt that day when he came forth of
the ark. Noah was free. Likewise, by
Christ the believer is: freed from the bondage of the old world of sin that
once mastered our affections, freed from the bondage of the law by Christ
fulfilling it and being the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that
believes. We have precious liberty in Christ our Redeemer.
This great grace of our God
makes first things first in the heart of the believer. Noah did not first build a home for himself
and his family. He did not first seek provisions for him and his family. Noah did for himself and his family the most
important thing, the most loving thing, the most needful thing he could do. He
built a place where he and his family could worship God.
Application: This shows you and I the preeminent
purpose for which we have been raised to newness of life—it is for the glory of
God.
Matthew
6: 32: (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly
Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33: But seek ye first the
kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto
you.
Brethren, by God’s amazing
grace, Christ has made us holy priests unto God.
1
Pet 2: 5: Ye are…an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices,
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
This is our life and our
life’s work. By the worship of God being first in our lives we are bearing
witness to the world, saying,
Revelation
1: 5:…Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 6:
And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and
dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Those animals Noah
sacrificed were alive because they were in the ark when the flood came. They were saved in order to be sacrificed to
God for the great things he had done.
You and I who believe are alive spiritually because we were in Christ
when judgment came upon Christ. We have been saved that we might be a sacrifice
to God.
Romans
12:1: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service.
In that burnt offering Noah
saw Christ like we do as we worship in singing and hearing the gospel of Christ.
The lamb-we will just consider the lamb for sake of time.
Christ the Lamb is the one
Abraham spoke to Isaac about, saying, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb
for a burnt offering.” (Gen 22: 8)
The lamb reminds us of
Christ’s patience—Isaiah 53:7: He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he
opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
The lamb reminds us that
Christ, in himself, was perfect and holy—a fit lamb—1 Peter 1:19: [We were
redeemed] with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot.”
The lamb reminds us of
Christ’s great sacrifice in taking our sins upon himself—Isaiah 53:6: All we
like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the
LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.—
Those offerings burning in
fire reminds us of the fire of God’s wrath—“Hell…is a fire that shall never be
quenched.” Yet, Christ bore for us those
painful, burning agonies of the wrath of God so that God’s wrath shall never
touch one of God’s elect who trust in Christ.
And note where all of these
were laid, upon the altar—Christ is the believer’s Altar. Brethren, when the love of Christ for us is
our only constraint: in making us desire to put off the old man of flesh and in
making us to delight to serve God, to worship him together with his saints and
to provide for one another then whatever is done in faith for his glory and
honor is presented to God by Christ.
And here is how God receives
it?—Genesis 8: 21: And the LORD smelled
a sweet savour. Imagine that! Our feeble sacrifices come up to God perfect
because God looks at Christ, not us. So new believer, listen to God the Holy
Spirit in
Ephesians
5: 1: Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2: And walk in love,
as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a
sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
III. BELIEVER, REMEMBER, GOD’S PURPOSE IN YOUR PRESEVATION IS
DIRECTLY CONNECTED TO GOD’S DELIGHT IN CHRIST’S FINISHED WORK—Genesis 8: 21:…the
LORD smelled a sweet savour; AND the LORD said in his heart,…
“And” is a conjunction which
tells us what God purposed in his own heart was directly connected with having
smelled that sweet savor of Christ in the burnt offering. God’s purpose toward
this earth is for the good of his people and the reason is because God is
satisfied with Christ’s finished work of putting away the sin of his people. God
is the first cause of all things—notice God purposed this in his own heart
before he revealed it in Noah’s heart.
Application: God may keep his purpose a secret
before he makes it clear in our hearts. We may not understand what God is doing
in this earth. But never let the popular
opinion of men make you doubt God. Rest
assured God is doing as he said he would.
ALWAYS BELIEVE GOD’S WORD OVER THIS WORLD’S WORD!
Now, concerning the
preservation of this earth itself: here is what God purposed in himself because
of Christ’s sweet smelling savor—Genesis
8: 22: While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and
summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Application: Believe God and drive a comfortable
car! Believe God and you do not have to
drive a go-cart!
Brethren, there are three
great evils of Satan in this world’s promotion of fear about global warming and
in the green movement to make men think they can save the world.
1) It directly contradicts
God’s purpose to preserve the earth because of Christ’s finished work—that
sweet smelling savor.
2) To say man can save the
earth is to say man can fix the curse caused by our sin—we cannot—for the
imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth
3) It makes it more
difficult for our young people to grasp the greater meaning of this verse. But
thankfully, we know, God can overcome all obstacles. I will get to that greater truth in a moment.
IV. BELIEVER, WITH GOD’S BLESSING UPON US THERE ARE CERTAIN
PRIVELGES GOD HAS GRACIOUSLY GIVEN TO US—Genesis 9: 1: And God blessed Noah and
his sons,
Number one, God has blessed
us by making us fruitful in spreading his gospel—Genesis 9: 1: and said unto
them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. All our
fruitfulness is of God—Philippians
1:11: Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ,
unto the glory and praise of God—so we have God’s assurance of fruitfulness. All “multiplying” and “filling up” is of God—those in the early church went about, “Praising God, and having favour with
all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be
saved.” (Acts 2: 47).
Secondly, God has put all
things under our feet—Genesis 9: 2: And
the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth,..
into your hand are they delivered. Christ has not only made us priests unto
God, he has also made us kings unto
God. God put all things under our
feet when he put all things under Christ’s feet “and gave him to be the head
over all things to the church.” (Eph 1: 22)
Hebrews
13: 5:..he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 6: So that we
may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do
unto me.
Thirdly, God has blessed us
by making Christ our Life and Strength—Genesis
9: 3: Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green
herb have I given you all things. Before
the flood, God only allowed men to eat salad—in this new beginning God blessed
them so they could eat flesh. But God
forbid one thing—Genesis 9: 4: But flesh with the life thereof, which
is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
Life is in the blood. They could not eat the blood because God said, “I
have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it
is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” (Lev 17:11-12) Hebrews 9: 22:…without shedding of blood is no
remission.
Put these two things
together: This new beginning marked the first time man was given the blessing
of God to eat flesh. By God’s regenerating grace, it marks the new beginning
when for the first time every believer is given liberty to feed upon Christ.
But because Christ’s Life IS the blood by which atonement is made, Christ said,
John
6:54: Whoso eateth my flesh, AND drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I
will raise him up at the last day.
Application: Christ is our Life and Strength for this
work God has given us. Feed upon Christ
daily. And with Christ, God also has given us all things.
1
Corinthians 3: 21: Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
22: Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or
things present, or things to come; all are yours; 23: And ye are Christ’s; and
Christ is God’s.
Noah and his sons were the
only family in the earth at that time. That is what God’s saints are in the
earth. We are the first family. God has
blessed us with all spiritual privileges.
Knowing God has blessed us with these certainties ought to make us eager
to earnestly seek to be the spiritual parents of immortal souls, “travailing in
birth till Christ be formed” in them? Believer, this is our life’s work on this
earth.
I am so thankful for each of
you. I was blessed by the messages but I was also blessed by you. Pharisee’s
watch to find fault; I watch cause I know I will find reasons to rejoice at
your willingness to do whatever needs done for the furtherance of the gospel. And
I am so grateful to the Lord for you. I
thank you.
V. BELIEVER, WAIT ON THE LORD TO AVENGE YOU, JUSTICE HAS BEEN
SATISFIED AND JUDGMENT AWAITS THOSE WHO MURDER GOD’S SAINTS—Genesis 9: 5: And surely your blood of your
lives will I require;
This law was a promise of
grace of Noah. We could look at it as just the letter of the law—it is obvious God
ordained capital punishment for murder. But there are greater lessons in this.
First, justice shall be
executed for murder of God’s saints and it shall be God who shall execute
justice—Genesis 9: 5: “surely your blood of your lives will I require.”
Secondly, God will execute
justice on all—Genesis 9: 5: of every beast…at the hand of man;…at the hand of every man’s brother. In
Revelation God uses a beast to describe Satan, that “murderer from the
beginning.” Also men who are anti-christ in religion, in philosophy, in
governments of the world are metaphorically called beasts. (Rev 13) The murdering
brother is Adam and our old man of flesh--“By one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin.” Adam our brother murdered us all by his sin. And we
are guilty because anger without a cause is murder. All our guilty!
Thirdly, God says that
justice shall also be executed by a Man—Genesis
9: 6: Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by Man shall his blood be shed: for in the
image of God made he man. The Man
who satisfied justice and who is God satisfying justice is the GodMan, Christ
Jesus. Christ took the sins of his
people and stood as the guilty one in our place and had justice executed on
him. As this law states, by death justice is satisfied. Then Christ comes in judgment and slays our
old man of flesh and makes us alive by his grace.
Deuteronomy
32:39…I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that
can deliver out of my hand.
Then Christ gives us this
charge—Genesis 9: 7: And you, be ye
fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply
therein.
As for Satan, and the
beastly men who are anti-christ, their judgment shall come:
Revelation
13: 8: And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not
written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9: If any man have an ear, let him hear. 10: He that leadeth into captivity
shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the
sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Application: So wait upon the Lord God. We win the
victory by the gospel of God’s grace, not with carnal swords.
2
Corinthians 10: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty
through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5: Casting down imaginations,
and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and
bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Illustration: Stubborn teenager—it never brought me
peace opposing my father—has it brought you peace? It never will. Neither shall you find peace opposing God.
Murderers shall be damned.
VI. BELIEVER, GOD MAKES AN EVERLASTING COVENANT OF GRACE IN OUR
HEARTS—Genesis 9: 9: And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with
your seed after you;
Noah did not make a covenant
with God—God established his covenant with Noah. It is ordered in all things and sure—established! The everlasting
covenant is a covenant of pure grace (Rom. 9:11-18). It is a covenant of unconditional promise -“I will” - “You shall” (Gal. 4:22-31).
God makes this covenant with
his elect “out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;” (Rev 5:
9) I won’t read it but we see that pictured in all these kinds of animals in
verse 10. God’s people are diverse
people. But this is what we have in common:
Ephesians
4: 4: There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of
your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all,
who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
God promises to never cut
off his people ever for any reason--Genesis
9: 11: And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be
cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a
flood to destroy the earth. The greater truth is declared plainly in Isaiah
54.
In Isaiah 53, the great
flood of God’s wrath came upon Christ our Ark. Then in Isaiah 54, the ground
has dried up and God smelled the sweet savor of Christ’s offering. And because God smelled the sweet savor of
Christ’s offering, he says of all his elect:
Isaiah
54: 7: For a small moment have I forsaken thee; [in Christ on the cross] but
with great mercies will I gather thee. 8: In a little wrath I hid my face from
thee for a moment; [in Christ on the cross] but with everlasting kindness will
I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. 9: For this is as the
waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah
should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth
with thee, nor rebuke thee. 10: For the mountains shall depart, and the hills
be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant
of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
Brethren, justice is
satisfied and our sins are put away. We are made the righteousness of God and
have peace with God forever!
VII. BELIEVER, GOD HAS GIVEN US A TOKEN OF HIS COVENANT--Genesis 9: 12: And God said, This is
the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living
creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13: I do set my
bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the
earth. 14: And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that
the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15: And I will remember my covenant, which is
between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall
no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16: And the bow shall be in the
cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant
between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the
earth. 17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant,
which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the
earth.
The rainbow has seven
colors—the number of perfection—because the promises of God in Christ are yes
and amen! The bow is like an archer’s bow—but it has no arrow or string—for the
arrows of justice were all shot at Christ.
Lamentations
3: 12: He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. 13: He hath
caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
Now the warfare is
accomplished! God has hung up his bow! The
bow is pointed up to direct our attention to where Christ our Covenant sits at
the right hand of God. John saw Christ there and he said,
Revelation
4: 2…and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an
emerald.
Revelation 10:1…and a rainbow was upon his head,
Ezekiel 1:28: As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of
rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the
appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.
God says, “I will look upon
it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living
creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” God is looking to Christ our Covenant, the
Token of the Covenant—to remember his everlasting covenant.
For you and I to see that
token—Christ—we need three things:
1) A cloud—when the storm
clouds come we see the rainbow—when the clouds of adversity come that is when
we see Christ best! But remember who brings the cloud—God said Genesis 9: 14: And it shall come to pass,
when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud
2) We also need rain—his
Spirit is pictured by rain.
3) We need the Light of the
Sun of Righteousness to shine into our hearts.
Application: Aren’t the clouds worth every minute! Have
you ever seen an ugly rainbow? When you
see it, dear child of God, remember: justice is satisfied, Christ is Reigning
and the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall
not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith
the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
Amen!