013 God’s Grace to Humanity

Genesis 9:1-17

January 26, 2014

Well, we’ve been covering this story of the beginning of man,

And it has not been a fun story to watch.

God started it all perfect

He did everything for man that He could have

And then man sinned and brought a curse

And then man sinned again and brought more curse

And then man continued to sin until God was grieved

That is when we saw the Judgment of God

(Judgment is you getting what you deserve)

God sent a flood upon the earth

And killed every living thing with breath in its nostrils.

After this we saw the Mercy of God

(Mercy is you not getting what you deserve)

And for that we looked at Noah and his family and the remnant of animals.

· Yes Noah walked with God

· Yes Noah was blameless in his time

· Yes Noah was a preacher of righteousness

But do not be confused into thinking

That Noah was righteous like God is righteous.

· The fact that God warned Noah about the flood

· The fact that God waited for Noah to build an ark

· The fact that God walked Noah through the flood

Those were all acts of Mercy.

And Moses is taking us through that reality.

Well this morning we see the next important attribute

And that is the Grace of God

(Grace is you getting what you don’t deserve)

Now we talk and sing a lot about grace, and rightly so.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

It is true that salvation is by grace alone.

(otherwise it would be by grace and works, and Paul squashes that there)

It is only God’s grace that allows anyone to be saved.

It is literally God giving us what we do not deserve.

And because of that we love the grace of God.

One of the best statements on grace in Scripture is found in Romans 5

Romans 5:20-21 “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

We love the reality that God does not always treat us as we deserve, but instead often times treats us better.

He gives us grace.

And that is what Moses is reminding the children of Israel of.

GOD IS A GRACIOUS GOD

Here was Moses’ congregation, wondering in the wilderness (in the middle of judgment) wondering what would become of them.

· Sure they had been saved from the wrath of Egypt

· Sure they had been carried through the Red Sea

· Sure God was caring for them in the Wilderness

But they were still prone to forget how good their God was.

Moses is reminding them here of just the kind of God they serve.

We too need this reminder.

· When things don’t go as planned

· When life throws us an unexpected curveball

We too are tempted to wonder if God is as good as He says.

Last week we looked at Psalm 77 and how Asaph was in despair

Because God wasn’t answering as quickly as he expected.

He felt like God must have changed his policy

In regard to helping those who suffer.

Psalms 77:10 “Then I said, "It is my grief, That the right hand of the Most High has changed."

So how did Asaph pull himself out of that pit?

Psalms 77:11-15 “I shall remember the deeds of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work And muse on Your deeds. Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your strength among the peoples. You have by Your power redeemed Your people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph.”

Asaph pulled himself out of despair

By remembering all that God had done in the past.

AND THE STORY WE REMEMBER THIS MORNING IS A TREMENDOUS STORY TO SHOW US GOD’S AMAZING GRACE.

Isaiah even used reference to this story.

In Isaiah 54 God is making an appeal to Israel

Regarding the blessing of redemption.

If they will but trust in Him, He is promising grace.

Isaiah 54:4-9 "Fear not, for you will not be put to shame; And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced; But you will forget the shame of your youth, And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. "For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the LORD of hosts; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth. "For the LORD has called you, Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, Even like a wife of one's youth when she is rejected," Says your God. "For a brief moment I forsook you, But with great compassion I will gather you. "In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you," Says the LORD your Redeemer. "For this is like the days of Noah to Me, When I swore that the waters of Noah Would not flood the earth again; So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you Nor will I rebuke you.”

When Isaiah wanted God’s people to understand God’s grace,

He reminded them of what God did for Noah.

And that is what Moses is doing here as well.

The children of Israel needed to be reminded of how God carried His people through the judgment and how He was merciful and gracious.

So do we.

We have seen the judgment of God – which is real

We have seen the mercy of God – which is real

This morning let me show you the grace of God.

God giving humanity what they most certainly do not deserve,

And that is a second chance.

Two main points that we will develop a little further.

Grace seen in two ways:

#1 GOD’S PLAN FOR HUMANITY

Genesis 9:1-7

Now honestly, if you want to talk about grace,

It is actually seen in the first verse of chapter 9.

“And God blessed Noah and his sons”

Gen 8 started with mercy – “God remembered Noah”

Gen 9 starts with grace – “God blessed Noah”

And this is amazing.

Wouldn’t you agree that it is fair to say that God has done enough.

I mean God did warn Noah and God did spare Noah

And God did carry Noah safely through.

It seems like the natural course of thought here would be that

Chapter 9 would be a chapter about Noah blessing God.

It seems to me that a natural flow would be a whole song of Noah,

Where he did nothing but talk about the tremendous mercy of God

To save him and his family through the judgment.

And yet, instead of a chapter recording that,

We get a chapter which records how God blessed Noah.

· That is above and beyond

· That is the extra mile

· That is Noah getting what he did not deserve

You also see here a command from God to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.”

And there two things important about that.

1) God is intending for the survival of man.

He actually wants man to thrive, and that command bookends this section

as he repeats it again in verse 7

2) The reality has changed since the beginning.

God told Adam something different.

Genesis 1:28 “God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Adam was also to subdue the earth and rule over it.

That reality was lost at the fall.

But just because man lost his place of authority

Does not mean he lost his affection from God.

God still wants man to succeed.

Based on the way man grieved God previously, this is an act of grace.

No human ever has the right to assume that God is against humanity. If He was, we would not be here.

But you see very quickly a picture of God’s grace.

But let me show it to you a little more detailed than that.

These 7 verses actually give us

4 distinct pictures of God’s grace toward humanity.

1) GOD’S PLACEMENT OF MAN (2)

“The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all of the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given.”

Now again, this is a little different than what occurred for Adam.

· For Adam the animals were friends.

· In fact you may even remember that God looked through every animal to see if one would be a suitable helpmate for Adam.

But animals are no longer friends, now they are foes

That is again a consequence of sin and the curse

And this is initially very bad news for humanity,

For who can match the strength of a horse? Who can match the ferocity of a lion? Who can match the sting of the viper?

If we are all even in this thing, man is in a world of hurt.

And so God makes provision.

He put “the terror” of man on every animal.

Man imagines himself so fierce and crafty today because of his ability to hunt.

· We really think we’re doing something when we go out and hunt an animal and

kill it, and we suppose this makes us superior to the beasts.

· Another man decorates his home with trophies of animals he has killed as

though he is some sort of mighty man able to conquer the wild beasts.

But he forgets that the playing field is not level.

He is hunting beasts, but they are not hunting him,

They are running from him.

Had God not put a terror on the beasts, and they hunted us like we hunt them,

Trust me when I tell you that humans wouldn’t be the only ones in need of a taxidermist.

God graciously put man at the head.

God gave us a place we did not deserve.

We had this position once and ruined it, and God graciously gave it again.

And if you will remember, it was this reality

That literally blew David’s mind.

Psalms 8:3-8 “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field, The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.”

David just couldn’t figure why God would put so much stock in man.

We call that grace.

God placed man above everything.

Now it is true that we still await the perfect fulfillment of that placement when Christ returns and all is set to peace.

But the placement was made long ago.

God is gracious to man.

God’s Placement of Man

2) GOD’S PROVISION FOR MAN (3)

“Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant.”

· First animals were friends

· Then animals were foes

Now animals are food

And yes Moses would introduce dietary restrictions for the Jewish people to help separate them from the nations, but the point here is not restriction.

The point here is provision.

God is providing for man.

God is giving man food to eat.

That is grace, especially since the ground is cursed.

Now man can eat the beast of the field, not just the fruit of it.

Incidentally we know why God has graciously agreed to provide for us.

Matthew 6:31-33 "Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

God promises to provide so we can focus on serving.

God says I’ll take care of the food so you can set your priority on My kingdom.

It is grace that God would not only place man at the pinnacle of creation,

But would also choose to provide for his needs.

Grace is also seen:

3) GOD’S PROTECTION OF MAN (4-6)

Now here, just as with Adam, we find that Noah had only 1 command.

“Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.”

Man was not to eat animals where the blood

Had not been properly drained.

The reason is because the life is in the blood,

And the life belongs to God.

It is not man’s to take, it is not man’s to eat.

And this was not just a Jewish command, this was a universal one.

In fact you will remember when Gentiles started to be saved

And the Jews were up in arms about rather or not they should be circumcised

And come under the Law.

The Jewish council met and decided,

No, they did not have to come under the Law.

However they did say this:

Acts 15:19-20 "Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood.”

That originated with Noah.

Now man could shed animal’s blood, they just couldn’t eat it.

However, man has an even greater protection.

(5-6) "Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man's brother I will require the life of man. "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.”

Now man was allowed to shed the blood of an animal,

He just could not eat it.

But in regard to man, man is not even allowed to shed his blood.

The only time blood could be shed would be in judicial justice

To punish one who does shed another’s blood.

God instituted the death penalty from the beginning.

Murder is a serious crime and God requires the blood of the murderer.

That is the only way to appease the crime.

And we could talk more about murder and the shedding of blood,

But the main point I want you to see is that

God set a certain protection over man.

Whereas animals could be killed for food, man can’t be killed at all.

If a man kills a beast, it is food

If a beast kills a man, it is to be killed

Why would God place man so high above all other creation?

The answer is grace

God’s placement of man, provision for man, protection of man

4) GOD’S PROPAGATION OF MAN (7)

“As for you, be fruitful and multiply; populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”

And just as we said earlier, this command bookends the section.

God is for man.

He wants an earth full of humanity.

No population control

No annihilation of races

God wants man to multiply.

After all the grief that humanity caused Him, you would think God would be done with them, and yet He isn’t.

That is grace.

That is man getting what we do not deserve.

And so we see grace in God’s plan for humanity.

It is a great plan, it is a glorious plan, it is a gracious plan

The second way we see God’s grace

#2 GOD’S PROMISE TO MAN

Genesis 9:8-17

God does something here that I find truly amazing.

God actually enacts a covenant with man,

And an unconditional one at that.

When you think about it, after the flood,

This was a time when God held all the cards.

I mean, He is letting man start over, but certainly man should now know

That you don’t mess with Him.

And if I were God and I wanted to keep it that way, it is easy.

Every time man starts pushing my patience a little,

I just send a little sprinkle, and I let it rain until they repent.

Easy enough right?

And yet God completely gives up His ace in the hole.

He is not a Tyrant

He is not a Bully

When Jesus came as God made flesh, we saw how gentle He could be

Matthew 12:18-21 "BEHOLD, MY SERVANT WHOM IHAVE CHOSEN; MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL is WELL-PLEASED; I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM, AND HE SHALL PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES. "HE WILL NOT QUARREL, NOR CRY OUT; NOR WILL ANYONE HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS. "A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF, AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT, UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY. "AND IN HIS NAME THE GENTILES WILL HOPE."

Jesus explained God to us better than ever before.

· And we find Him to be gracious and gentle.

· He is not the kind to hold threats over a person’s head.

· He doesn’t threaten, He doesn’t manipulate, He doesn’t bully.

And that is perfectly seen here as well.

Instead of forcing man to forever treat lightly for fear of another flood,

God makes a startling promise to man that He’ll never do it again.

(8-11) “Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, "Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. "I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth."

What a promise from God!

I would imagine man to have just a bit of an anxiety complex

Every time they saw a cloud build and rain come.

Children today are naturally afraid of thunder storm.

But if God had never made this promise,

Every time it rained we would be concerned if it was the next global killer.

God could have used this forever, instead He makes a promise.

I’ll never flood the earth again.

Now don’t misunderstand this.

God does not promise to never judge the earth again.

That He will most certainly do, just not with water.

2 Peter 3:7 “But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”

God will judge again with fire.

But He gives Noah a promise

That He doesn’t have to fear every time it rains.

And just in case that promise is not enough,

God promises a continual reminder.

(12-17) “God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. "It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. "When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth."

The rainbow would become God’s ultimate symbol of grace.

(The cross is not a symbol of grace – the cross is a symbol of judgment)

That is why the cross is offensive.

THE RAINBOW IS THE SYMBOL OF GRACE

God said every time it rains, and the anxiety of a flood fills your heart,

Then look to the heavens at my rainbow,

It is the sign of My promise that I will not flood the earth again.

Furthermore, God said (16) “When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant”

(It is disheartening that today the rainbow has lost its symbolism and has been instead adopted by the gay and lesbian community as their sign)

But the rainbow was never intended to be a sign of sin,

It was intended to be a sign of grace.

And this is true throughout the Bible.

In the book of Revelation, when John is caught up to heaven and sees God on His throne, notice what he saw:

Revelation 4:3 “And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.”

Later in Revelation when a strong angel comes to John to convince John not to give up on sinners, but to prophesy to them again, notice what the angel is wearing:

Revelation 10:1 “I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire;”

God’s rainbow has always been a sign of grace.

I suppose those who hide behind it today as a symbol for sin,

Do what many do when they seek to take advantage of grace.

They think If God is gracious then I can sin.

And that is a foolish thought.

For grace was given to remind us of God’s propensity to forgive,

Not to encourage us to sin.

But the point is that God was and is gracious to humanity.

(He gives us what we do not deserve)

After man grieved God to the point of total annihilation,

God preserved a remnant.

He then took that remnant and:

Placed them above all creation

Provided for them food to eat

Protected them from one another

Propagated them over the whole earth

Promised to never flood them again

Proved it with a sign in the heavens

That is a gracious God.

And as Moses preached to that rabble traveling in the wilderness,

Continually tempted to forsake God or turn against God.

Moses could only remind them that God is good.

God has good plans for you.

He had placed them in the wilderness, but under a cloud and out from under Pharaoh.

He was providing for them daily with manna from heaven

He was protecting them continually from every surrounding foe and even the elements

And He had already made them to be like the sand which is on the seashore in number.

God was being gracious to Israel, and they couldn’t even see it.

HOW ABOUT YOU?

God has placed you in His kingdom, under the blood of Christ and out from under sin.

God is providing for you daily, not only food, but also forgiveness.

God is protecting you from the schemes of the enemy.

God is daily calling out others to join you and be His children.

What more can we call this but grace?

So next time things don’t go as you think they should,

And you are like Asaph, crying through the night.

Stop and remember who God has always been,

And turn to Him once again to trust Him. He has earned it.

He also deserves your trust today, if you have never given it to Him.

No, you don’t deserve forgiveness

No, you don’t deserve new life

No, you don’t deserve a second chance

But grace is when you get what you don’t deserve.

And “by grace are you saved”

If a fear of God’s wrath won’t lead you to repentance

And if the offer of God’s mercy doesn’t lead you to repentance

Then by all means, may the blessing of His grace be what does.

Trust in Him.