Transcript

The Only Response to Grace-Part One

Genesis 9:1-29
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Pastor Randy Smith

One thing that Julie and I have observed, now going on twelve years in New Jersey, is that the North East doesn't often enjoy a traditional spring. Sure we had some vicious weather in the winter months in Chicago, but once April arrived, the sun was often shining and the coats were put away. It seems in New Jersey you can make it through the winter, but the cooler temperatures just linger for a few additional months.

Though it may not seem like it, spring has been upon us now for over a month. Perhaps that statement catches you by surprise based upon what I just said, but we can all agree that spring is upon us by a series of other observations. The weather is warmer. The bulbs are blooming. Softball season is underway here at the church. Resurrection Sunday was celebrated. We know we are not in the winter because the snow is gone. We know we are not in the summer because the traffic is still tame. There is evidence that this is spring.

The same can be said of a Christian. Though no Christian exhibits the traits perfectly, there will be some evidence if someone is truly saved. We know that just because someone professes he is a Christian does not necessarily mean he or she is a Christian. Logic makes that one clear. If you do not believe me, I am Michael Jordan.

And just because someone prays to receive Jesus or walks an aisle at an evangelistic crusade does not necessarily mean he or she is a Christian either. Jesus made that one clear when He said, "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness'" (Mt. 7:22-23). So despite calling Jesus, "Lord" and "perform[ing] many miracles," these individuals were never saved! Did you catch why Jesus made this frightening assessment of them? Because they "practice[d] lawlessness." It is not that they committed an occasional sin. It is because they had no heart desire for righteousness and no track record of practicing it!

So how can I know if I am truly saved? Listen, there will be evidence in our lives of a desire for and dedication to righteousness. Proof of God's grace upon us and a devotion to the Lord Jesus not should but will be marked by obedience to His commands. Could Jesus have been any clearer? "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (Jn. 14:15).

We have seen that Noah received God's grace (Gen. 6:8). Last week we learned that it overflowed in the priority of worship (Gen. 8:20). Now this week as we enter chapter 9, we will see that God placed at least three commandments upon His people that He expected them to honor and obey. And obeying these commandments would not only be a reflection of their love toward Him and evidence of their salvation, but also a desire to trust God that His commandments are not burdensome (1 Jn. 5:3) and keeping them is always in their best interest and ours for a life filled with maximum joy.

This morning though I had originally planned to cover all three, we will only examine one of these commandments contained in chapter 9 of Genesis.

1. Honor Life

The first and only command we'll look at is the need to honor life.

Up until this point or near this point in the narrative, it is believed that humankind were vegetarians. However in verse 3 of chapter 9 we read, "Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant." Animals will have the terror of man upon them (verse 2) because many just went from being companions to potential meals on the table. This is the biblical origin of BBQ chicken. This is biblical support to eat cheesesteaks. Primarily what God has clearly established here is that animals and humans are not equal.

This is another point of contrast with the biblical story of creation, which accounts for an eternal, omnipotent Creator with a specific intent, and the humanistic account of evolution, which relies on random chance and time and is void of purpose. You see, if we ignore God's teaching on this subject and pay attention to only what we have learned in the public schools (and sadly many Christian schools as well), we have to conclude that animals and humans stand on a level playing field. If none of us are created in the image of God and we all evolved from the same goo, how can we possibly say we have any more worth than a monkey, or for that matter, a common house-fly?

I took this statement directly off the PETA website. I don't support the abuse of animals and I know these folks are on the radical end, but here is what they say: "Supporters of animal rights believe that animals have an inherent worth-a value completely separate from their usefulness to humans. We believe that every creature with a will to live has a right to live free from pain and suffering. Animal rights is not just a philosophy-it is a social movement that challenges society's traditional view that all nonhuman animals exist solely for human use. As PETA (I keep thinking of Pita bread with some gyros meat and cucumber sauce) founder Ingrid Newkirk has said, "When it comes to pain, love, joy, loneliness, and fear, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy." Newkirk once said that she was "opposed to having children" because "having a purebred human baby is like having a purebred dog; it's nothing but vanity, human vanity." Her deep contempt for humans and misguided loved for animals gives birth to comments like this: "Six million Jews died in concentration camps, but six billion broiler chickens will die this year in slaughterhouses." And again, if we go down the road of evolution and ignore God's creation intent, these statements are perfectly acceptable.

To go down another road, if we ignore the Creator's voice and heed the beliefs of evolution, we will also be forced to affirm the survival of the fittest (as the strong are justified in their domination of the weak), meaning some humans will have greater inherent value than others. Such is a logical and natural conclusion. Charles Darwin himself affirmed superiority of the Caucasian race (The Descent of Man, p. 521) and the intelligence of men over women (The Descent of Man, p. 873-874) - which has clearly been disproved in my house alone. Are we not all fully aware of the persecution and oppression that has occurred when those in power create their own definitions of human personhood to justify the exclusion and abuse of certain people? The examples are innumerable and heartbreaking.

You see, if we believe inherent dignity is not the worth stamped upon all of us as humans from our Creator, then these classifications for the "unfit" in society will appear. Euthanasia for the elderly who can no longer "contribute" to society is only the next natural response to a country that uses tax-payer funding to terminate over 3,000 humans lives through abortion every day.

God's Word teaches us that our greatest concern is for humans - those made in God's likeness and given dominion over the land and who lie closest to His heart. As a matter of fact if we are going to create a new classification for humans, it should be for those who often do not have the ability to defend themselves. "A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, is God in His holy habitation" (Psm. 68:5). "Vindicate the weak and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and destitute" (Psm. 82:3). How can we ignore the images of our Savior spending significant time with the social outcasts - the women, the poor, the diseased and the children? Remember when He rebuked the disciples, "Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these" (Mk. 10:14). Children were kingdom business and not a distraction to our Savior.

Our hearts should be grieved. A mother's lifestyle has taken precedence over a baby's life. Women who are created to nurture babies hire assassins to kill them. Men created to protect women and children, I see drag their girlfriends into the clinic. Perhaps I just identified you in some way. Praise God that there is forgiveness and healing available in Jesus Christ.

Our hearts should be grieved. Countless evangelical churches are remaining silent at what respected theologian R.C. Sproul calls, "the most serious ethical issue that the United States has ever faced" (Tabletalk, April 2013). Sproul goes on to say, "When the church is silent in the midst of a holocaust, she ceases to be a church."

Our hearts should be grieved. Most Christians agree with the evils of abortion and talk up a storm in the church with those who agree with them, but have done nothing to save the lives of little babies.

A few months back I was speaking with an older Catholic woman also on the sidewalk at the abortion clinic. She didn't seem to know what the Catholic teaching was pertaining to salvation and also appeared to be clueless as to what the Bible taught. I proceeded to share Gospel about the free forgiveness that is offered in Jesus Christ and is received on the basis of faith. I told her that once saved we become new creatures in Christ and are used by God to further His kingdom purposes. She paused and thought about it and then respectfully said something along these lines, "If all this is true, why is everybody here a Catholic?" I was at a complete loss for words.

So what are we doing? Are we really defending the fatherless? Are we speaking up in the public sector? Are we writing to our politicians and signing petitions? Are we supporting pro-life politicians in the ballot box? Are we supporting agencies like Solutions in any way? Are we asking our OB-GYN doctors if they perform abortions? Are we praying that God would close the abortion clinics? Are we attending "Pro-life" rallies? Are we helping women with unexpected pregnancies? Are we sharing the Gospel which when received will empower people to wait until marriage (or at least they should) and chose life whenever a womb is occupied (or at least they should).

I can't see how a God-believing, Bible reading, self-respecting Christian can know the facts and be unmoved with the horrors of abortion. More babies die due to abortion every day than all those taken on 9-11. Since Roe V. Wade in 1973, over 53 million abortions have been performed in our country alone. The American babies killed by abortion each year roughly equals all the American military deaths in every war we've fought combined. When do we observe their memorial day? Forty-one percent of New York City pregnancies end in abortion. One very shocking study found that 86% of all abortions are done for the sake of convenience.Planned Parenthood received more than 487 million dollars from the federal government during 2010 (Source: http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/19-facts-about-abortion-in-america-that-should-make-you-very-sick).

I have been informed by my teenage daughters that several students in their schools do not even know what an abortion is - just what the industry and abortion advocates desire! Keep it quiet. Call it a lifeless tissue. It's a simple outpatient procedure. Don't show the ultrasound - we don't need to see the legs and fingers and eyes and heartbeat! It is not "pro-death," it's "pro-choice." Better yet, champion "reproductive rights." And the teens who do know are totally clueless as to the brutality of this procedure. After all, we don't want to be too graphic do we?

When we were together in the car last Sunday my daughter made an interesting observation. She said, "Why are people so consumed with those who lost limbs in the Boston bombings, but could care less about the babies that have their arms and legs pulled off in a routine abortion. And if that makes you sick, type in the words "partial birth abortion" on your favorite search engine. How much blood is on the hands of our society, especially the church, who should know better?

Let's get the order correct - God, people, animals, plants! If I bite the head off a stem of cauliflower, no one bats an eye. If I pull an Ozzy Osborne and bite the head off a dove, there is something wrong with me. If I bite the head off my sister (and growing up there were times I was tempted to do so!), I go to jail for a while. We are not lower or on par with the animals as the naturalists would assert, nor are we on par or higher than God as the secularists would assert. Know your place! Value human life, but do not worship it! According to Scripture, we are permitted to eat the animals, but the animals are not permitted to eat us (cf. Ex. 21:28-32)! As a matter of fact, if they do, according to verse 5, their lives are to be terminated.

As I have said, there is a value upon humans because only humans are created in the image of God. Only humans mirror God's likeness. Only humans have the ability to enter a relationship with God. As far as I know, individuals from all people groups have desire for worship of some divine being (oftentimes the wrong divine being, but the desire for worship nonetheless), yet I am not aware of a single animal that has shown any interest to ascribe allegiance to anyone beyond its owner or an open car window driving down the Parkway.

God's value of life is so high therefore He instituted the death penalty to protect it. We are permitted to kill the animals for food, but we are not permitted to unjustly kill one another for any reason. Verse 6, "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man." We may be marred since the Fall, but we are still in the image of God and even though the New Covenant brought a change from much in our Old Testament, last time I checked, people are still in the image of God (cf. Rom. 13:4).

Life is sacred and it is to be respected. Ever been to Gettysburg? That battlefield is not a place to spread a blanket and have a picnic. Even the pamphlet prohibits tossing a football or throwing a Frisbee. The ground is sacred because of the blood that was spilt. Abortion clinics are the same. Just yesterday seven ladies went inside and as far as I know, only one baby came out alive.

Capital punishment was instituted by God to keep before us the reminder that human life, all human life, is sacred. And that includes you regardless of your age, skin color, intelligence or what the knuckleheads tell you on the back of the bus. Your life is sacred.

And despite all the evils that people committed just up to the time of Noah, they are still commanded, even after the flood in verses 1 and 7, bookends to this section, to "be fruitful and multiply" and "populate the earth abundantly." This is because God values all human life! Later we will see, despite our continual rebellion, God still makes an unconditional and unilateral covenant with humanity (Gen. 9:8-17).

Another reminder that human life is sacred is seen in verse 4. Though Noah was now permitted to eat animals, he was commanded to refrain from "eat[ing] the flesh with its life, that is, its blood."

First, this has protected people from being savages and adopting the practices of paganism. Second, this has taught us to value even animal life because blood always represented the life of the animal (as the verse teaches). And third, since blood represents life, as we learn in the previous chapter (8:20), the blood was devoted to God by way of sacrifice. Hebrews 9:22, "Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."

That is why Jesus not only needed to die, but He also needed to shed His blood. Romans 5:9, "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him." Jesus Christ, the One to whom all the animal sacrifices pointed, gave of His blood that we might be forgiven and saved. What great value He has placed on human life! What greater proof do we need? Don't get your instruction of self-worth from the world, get it from the Bible! And for whom did Jesus die? Animals? Not even fallen angels! Jesus died for humans alone so that those who receive His death on the cross may be reconciled to the Father and live an obedient life whereby that image of God in us is then being renewed.

In comparison to God, people are inherently evil. We saw that in 6:5 and 8:21. Thankfully, we can be forgiven of all our sin and accepted by God through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and despite our condition and the alienation humans experience, God still cares for all life with common grace and values the life of even His sworn enemies. We are commanded by Jesus to do the same.

"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?" (Mt. 5:44-47).

This first point took much longer to explain than I had thought. I know that if there is application of it in our lives, we could go a long way demonstrating our desire to obey God in every area of our lives. Life is precious to God. That means your life too! We as Christians need the continual anticipation of heaven, but we also need to thank God for the gift of life He has given us now. And are the lives of others precious to you as well? Is there evidence of an effort to care and help and support and encourage other people, especially those in the household of God (Gal. 6:10), especially those who are unable to care for themselves?

All the biblical commands as to how we are to treat people! Encourage others, speak kind words to them, breathe grace, forgive and forebear, be honest with others and love them. And the greatest way we can love others is the articulation of the Gospel which delivers people from spiritual death and gives spiritual life.

On your own you will only care for yourself and buy into the self-esteem movement that teaches you to use others to meet your needs. On the contrary, we as Christians have been recreated and are filled with God's Spirit to get all we need from Him so we can meet the needs of others. "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Mk. 10:45)

And if you do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior which is seen in the unconcern and inability for obedience, I would encourage you to bow your heart and call out to Him for salvation. As God provided an Ark for Noah (it was physical salvation by faith alone) to shield him from his wrath, He has provided for us Jesus Christ (it is spiritual salvation by faith alone) to shield us from His wrath, the just penalty we deserve because of our sins. As I have been preaching the past couple weeks, you need to understand the holiness of God and your sinfulness in His sight. Only then will you appreciate Jesus Christ who came as a Savior to take our condemnation upon Himself and offer complete forgiveness. That is why Jesus could declare in John 8:24, "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."

Countless perished in Noah's day because they went with the flow of the world and did not heed the warning. Will you heed the warning? And if you claim to have done so, is there in your life evidence seen by a life devoted to obedience, specifically the concern for all human life. Even the demons believe (Jas. 2:19)! True believers will obey! And true believes will be forgiven and delivered from the wrath of God! As John 3:36 declares, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."