Christian Foundations

God Remembers Noah

BNW: Message Two (000423PM)

Genesis 8

Just about 5,000 years ago, God says He destroyed the Earth's entire human population. All but eight humans were killed in the flood. No one could escape the Flood because God caused the earth's crust to break up at the start of the Flood. Huge eruptions under the oceans for thousands of miles literally boiled the ocean and released steam into the air along with volcanic ash. Immense tidal waves were also created. The steam and the ash that went up precipitated as rain for the entire period of the eruptions. All that are familiar with volcanic eruptions knows this phenomenon. There would be a cooling down of the earth’s atmosphere as well due to the blockage of sunlight. Then oceanic waters not only boiled off and gave the rain, but also swept across all landmass with such force, that the soil and all the trees were uprooted into a muddy soup.  

No one escaped, the Lost World perished in the Genesis Flood engineered by God. This is the event we will read about in God's Word. And this event directly caused the death of every man woman, and child on Earth, except for 8. It devastated all the forests of earth. It drowned, or suffocated every land animal on earth. It killed every massive and powerful dinosaur. It destroyed every human being. And it left its footprints globally. Noah and his family rode out the first global catastrophe in a wooden boat! They were locked inside and had no way to see what was happening. Can you imagine the emotions they experienced? Fear, dread, anxiety, stress, claustrophobia, nausea, sea-sickness, second thoughts and so much more. But abandonment may have been the worst thought. 

Try to think of the most alone and forgotten you have ever felt. Think about what it would have been like to have felt that for a year. Now you are only starting to feel what Noah felt as we examine his life this evening! 

Tonight as we open to Genesis 8 we are opening to the darkest hour of Noah's life. As far as Noah could tell they were all alone and adrift over fathomless swirling black waters. They had no rudder, no sail, no chart and no compass.  

God had personally spoken to them and asked them to come in and join Him inside the Ark. They had responded and had been in here for over a year, but there had been no word from God for over a year. Every member of his family was dead except his 3 boys and their wives. Every inch of his hometown was under a mile of rock and three miles of water. Noah's world was gone, ruined, wrecked. Noah was alone and felt forgotten and abandoned. On top of that the door was sealed shut, and the ark was floating somewhere that none inside could see.  

The good news of this chapter is that God had not forgotten them. They were not abandoned. God has a perfect plan for the universe and a perfect plan for me. He is working out that plan with infinitely accurate timing. God moves at the correct moment even if we don't. 

Welcome to the Brave New World of Noah and His sons. As they stepped off the Ark as far as they could see was the devastation of a flooded earth. The hills, valleys, mountains all were scarred. The trash that floats in a storm was strewn across the hillsides. The bloated and decomposing bodies of doomed creatures that were carried about by the waters were dotting the landscape just starting to green up with trees and grasses. Then there was the ominous sound of the new world with the storms, thunder and lightning of the hydrological cycle. The Brave New World of Noah and His sons was a world where everything reminded them that God had destroyed the Old World that Perished in the Genesis Flood.  

So why did God remember Noah? Because of His grace. Before the Flood God made a sovereign choice, He chose to love Noah. Look for a moment at Genesis 6:9. And when God puts His grace upon us, He loves us. So the theme of Genesis 8 is God remembers, and He remembers in LOVE. Here is a quick outline of the chapter: 

God's Love Remembers. v. 1-5

• God Remembers Noah
• Lessons from Noah remembering God.
• Lessons from the Resting Ark 

God's Love Purifies. v. 6-14

• Lessons on holiness: Ravens feast on uncleanness and doves don't. No qualms about resting in an unclean place.
• Lessons on waiting 

God's Love sacrifices. v. 15-22

• Lessons on giving: Noah gave the first and best 14% to God.
• Lessons on Remembering God
• Lessons on God's Promises 

What did Noah remember about God? 

• God deserves our obedience so he obeys (8:18)
• God deserves our attention, so he built an altar (8:20a).
• God needs a substitionary offering to be approached, so he shed blood and offered it to God (8:20b)
• God loves sacrifice, so he gave him 1/7^th (8:20c)