Scripture Alone: God’s Preserving Word
Scripture Alone • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 44:31
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· 13 viewsThe flood is a gloomy reminder of the recompense for sin, yet it reveals God’s plan to save the world through One Righteous man.
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9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.
15 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits.
16 Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.
17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.
18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
John Hus
Was a preacher for the common people of Bohemia.
Bohemia is modern day Czech.
Less than 20 years after Wycliffe.
The Universities of Prague and Oxford began exchanging ideas.
Wycliffe’s ideas began to spread like wildfire.
While in school at the University of Prague he became converted.
“In 1402, Hus was appointed the rector and preacher of the enormous Bethlehem Chapel in Prague.” —Steven Lawson
Roman Catholics began trying to stamp out Wycliffe’s ideas.
Hus was excommunicated from the church for standing against papal authority.
Hus continued to speak out against papal authority.
On November 3rd, 1414 (Literally today, 609 years ago!), John Hus was imprisoned.
Horrible conditions.
Pillars of Grace (AD 100–1564) Arrested and Imprisoned
“One of the doctors said to me that, whatever I did, I should submit to the Council, though my whole case was good and in order, and added, ‘If the Council told you, “You have only one eye,” although you have two, you ought to agree with the Council that it is so.’ To which I replied, ‘If the whole world told me so, as long as I have the use of my reason, I could not say so without resisting my conscience.’ ”
Hus stood strong in prison.
But on July 6th, 1415, Hus was condemned to be burned at the stake.
He was condemned to be burned for being a heretic.
In the face of death, Hus then boldly told his executioners,
“Today, you are burning a goose [the meaning of his name in Czech]; however, a hundred years from now, you will be able to hear a swan sing; you will not burn it, you will have to listen to him.” —Steven Lawson
He was burned at the stake for being a heretic.
It is said that he died singing,
Pillars of Grace (AD 100–1564) Condemned as a Heretic
“Jesus, son of the living God, have mercy on me.”
You would think that killing these Reformers would stamp out the movement.
Unless the movement is from God.
The people of Bohemia finally began hearing the Word of God in their own language.
Hus was a preacher to the common man.
And the common man languished to hear God’s Word proclaimed.
God’s story follows the biblical covenants.
The promises of God serve as the backbone that holds the skeleton of Scripture together.
Follow the promises, see the shape of Scripture.
Widespread Rebellion & Sin
Widespread Rebellion & Sin
(Gen 5:28-6:8)
Eve expected Cain to be the snake crusher that God promised.
That falls apart in Genesis 4.
This same expectation happens over and over.
Expectation and Hope filled Promises.
Expectation and Hope filled Promises.
Noah’s father spoke this prophecy over him when he was born.
Genesis 5:29 (ESV)
“Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”
Lamech hopes that Noah will bring “relief from our work.”
The people long for a deliverer from the curse.
Corruption in All the Earth.
Corruption in All the Earth.
1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them,
2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.
3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
The story meets a new level of evil.
Jude 6 (ESV)
6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day…
Adam and Eve rebelled and their rebellion reverberated through the whole world.
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
The Lord saw that mankind was evil in their deeds.
But those deeds were the outflowing of the thoughts and intentions of their hearts.
They’re evil came from within them, and it was continually wicked.
Compare this “The LORD saw…” with Gen 1:31…
Genesis 1:31 (ESV)
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.
What God created to be good has spread evil and rebellion upon the whole face of the earth.
6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
If you were reading this narrative of Genesis, for the first time…
You would naturally wonder, how is it that God will put up with the sinfulness of mankind?
If he’s willing to expel Adam and Eve out of the garden for disobedience…
How will he put up with humanity walking so wickedly?
God is going to deal with human evil and sin.
But He is going to provide salvation through the judgment.
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
This phrase in Genesis 6:8, “Noah found favor” is a reminder of God’s kindness.
If it depended on humanity, all men would righteously be destroyed.
But one man found favor, or literally received grace.
One man found grace from God.
Preserving a “Herald of Righteousness.”
Preserving a “Herald of Righteousness.”
Noah is the undeserving sinner that has received mercy from the hand of God.
God is merciful to an undeserving sinner like Noah.
The Christ of the Covenants Chapter 7: Noah: The Covenant of Preservation
God’s grace to Noah did not appear because of this man’s righteousness, but because of the particularity of God’s program of redemption.
Favor Proceeds Righteousness
God’s grace and favor proceeds righteousness.
God doesn’t look for righteous people to make them more righteous.
He delights to be merciful and have favor toward sinners.
The Undoing of Creation through Judgment.
The Undoing of Creation through Judgment.
Notice what grace from God brings for Noah…
9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
Noah was righteous before Yahweh because of Yahweh’s favor toward him.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
If you pay close attention to the text, you’ll see a systematic de-creation.
A de-creation compared to the original creation order that God made earlier (Gen 1:1-31).
Exactly the opposite order that God created the world, we will witness God “uncreating” it.
The judgment of the flood will kill everything that God gave life to.
God placed his image upon mankind to bring the peace or shalom to all the Earth.
But in Genesis 6:11 we see violence.
We see the corruption of all flesh.
Every gross injustice you can imagine.
Destruction of Defilement from the Earth
Destruction of Defilement from the Earth
13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
God will go on to describe a vessel that will carry His image bearers out of the flood.
The image bearers that God will use to recreate and repopulate the world.
Noah is the head of his family.
Noah and this family will carry God’s promise forward.
17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.
Think about the way we often see Noah’s Ark displayed…
One of the effects of modern liberalism is to look at their portrait and portrayal of Noah and the flood.
You will see happy creatures on a boat, smiling.
And this is fundamentally incorrect, the greatest destruction that has ever been came in the story of Noah.
To present to our children that Noah was merely a jolly man with some animals on a boat is a gross misunderstanding of the story of Noah.
God is making the world into a watery grave.
The world that was once created to sustain life becomes the watery grave that will bury all humanity.
A once vibrant garden crushed under the watery weight of judgment.
It is a grave misconception that we often have of Noah and the flood.
Although there is a dark and gloomy backdrop of judgment upon all mankind, there is a glimmer of hope.
God’s Promise Extended to One Family
God’s Promise Extended to One Family
18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
We see again the language of God’s covenantal Word coming near to Noah.
19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.
20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive.
21 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.”
The next phrase is important for our understanding of the Word of God.
22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.
Noah obeyed the Word of Yahweh.
He obeyed and completed all that God had commanded Him.
The Believer and the Floods of Judgment.
The Believer and the Floods of Judgment.
In 1 Peter, Peter discusses the relevance of Noah with respect to Christ.
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
Jesus Christ suffered in the place of sinners.
He being the righteous one in the place of those who are unrighteous.
Jesus Christ, our great substitute.
Who lived a perfect life and yet died in the place of unrighteous sinners.
Peter goes on to describe that when Christ died he declared his victory over the spirits that were put in prison.
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,
20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
Those that perished in the flood heard the prophetic preaching of the gospel in their own day through Noah.
As Noah built, he preached of the coming judgment.
But here Peter tells us that the ultimate victory was in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The judgment that was promised was fulfilled in the flood and consummated in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
Noah’s physical salvation during the flood is now compared to baptism.
Just as Noah and his family was saved in the physical flood.
So now believers are saved through the waters of baptism.
This does not mean that baptism literally saves us but what it means is that we are connected to Christ.
We’re connected to Him in His one time Judgment that he bore for us, and we’re also connected to him in the resurrection life that we now share with him.
The “Re-creation” of the World Through One Man
The “Re-creation” of the World Through One Man
1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.
Notice again that Noah found favor or was a recipient of grace from God (Genesis 6:8)
Here again he is described as being righteous.
Because he has received favor from God.
God’s unmerited favor stops them from participating in the iniquity all around him.
Noah’s Obedience from a Heart of Faith
Noah’s Obedience from a Heart of Faith
A phrase that is repeated in Genesis 7:5, 7:9, 7:15-16.
All of Noah’s actions were prompted from faith.
The building of the Ark.
5 And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.
He believed God, so he built.
Boarding the Ark when God said to.
9 two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah.
Taking his whole family aboard a boat in the middle of the desert.
15 They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.
He believed God, so he put his family up for mockery and shame.
7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
All that Noah did was a condemnation to the world around him of the coming judgment.
Noah is described elsewhere as a “herald of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5) in his preaching but also in his acting. His acting corresponding to his belief.
The act of building the ark was the obedience of his faith.
This obedience condemned the world around him.
People would’ve heard Noah building the ark.
The sound of the saw cutting the wood, would’ve been a call to turn from their rebellion.
The sound of the hammer nailing the Ark together would’ve been the resounding call of repentance.
We experience the same reality when we preach the cross of Jesus Christ.
When the cross of Jesus Christ is truly preached, the unbelieving world snarls at it.
They despise the preaching of the cross because it condemn them in their sin.
Christian
When you walk in obedience through faith.
Your obedience is an act of condemnation to others.
21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind.
22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.
23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.
24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.
Would God keep his promise?
Would God do what he said for Noah and his family?
1 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.
The LORD’s remembrance of Noah in the ark is the basis for their survival.
Chaos and destruction on the earth.
Here are 8 people that God remembered.
To “remember” here is not as though God forgot as much as acting on behalf of a past promise.
Atonement as the Covering of Wrath.
Atonement as the Covering of Wrath.
20 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.
Notice what the offering does.
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, 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. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
The Christ of the Covenants Chapter 7: Noah: The Covenant of Preservation
God binds himself to preserve the earth in its present world-order until the time of the consummation.
The Promise of Preservation Until Consummation
The Promise of Preservation Until Consummation
13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
What is a rainbow?
The scientist would say it is “light beams refracting through rain droplets” and he would be correct (kinda).
A rainbow is so much more than what it is to the naked eye.
A rainbow represents a promise.
A promise that God is constantly upholding.
Think about at any given time how many rainbows are on the earth.
Every time the All-knowing God sees a rainbow, “He remembers.”
God is so much more attentive to His promises than we could ever imagine Him to be.
Even as people curse His name, and make a mockery of His “sign of promise”, He remembers.
15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 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.”
Just like God remembered Noah in the boat (Gen 8:1).
He will remember all “living creatures” every time He sees the rainbow.
The Christ of the Covenants Chapter 7: Noah: The Covenant of Preservation
The Lord knew precisely the state of man’s heart before the flood, and certainly understood the limitations of judgment’s power to change the heart of man
The Believer and the Judgment to Come.
The Believer and the Judgment to Come.
(2 Peter 3:4-9)
4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
The same divine word that created the world and brought judgment at the flood. Whether it is manifested by water or fire, the power of God’s word in creation, in the flood, and in the final judgment is emphasized.
The flood stands as the gloomy reminder of the recompence for sin yet reveals God’s plan of saving the world through One Righteous man.
The flood stands as the gloomy reminder of the recompence for sin yet reveals God’s plan of saving the world through One Righteous man.
