A New Beginning

Q: What does the Bible say about regeneration?

The Bible teaches that regeneration is a new birth by the Holy Spirit, making a person a new creation in Christ. Regeneration, as outlined in Scripture, signifies a profound transformation where an individual becomes a new creation in Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, it states, 'Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.' This process is initiated by God's sovereign choice and involves being born anew by the Spirit, as emphasized in John 3:6, which says, 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.' It is essential to understand that apart from this divine intervention, no one can see the kingdom of God. Thus, regeneration is foundational to the Christian faith, highlighting God's grace and sovereignty in salvation.

Q: How do we know the doctrine of election is true?

The doctrine of election is supported by Scripture, demonstrating God's sovereign choice in salvation. The doctrine of election is rooted in biblical revelation, affirming that God, in His sovereignty, chooses individuals for salvation before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4-5 articulates this, stating that 'He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.' This choice is not based on foreseen merit or action but solely on God's purpose and grace. Furthermore, Romans 8:29-30 outlines the golden chain of redemption, reinforcing that those whom God foreknew, He predestined, called, justified, and glorified. This doctrinal view ensures that the entire work of salvation is attributed to God’s grace, emphasizing His glory in the salvation of His people.

Q: Why is baptism important for Christians?

Baptism is an important outward sign of an inward change in the believer's life, signifying their faith in Christ. Baptism serves as a vital ordinance established by Christ, signifying the believer's public declaration of faith and identification with His death, burial, and resurrection. In Romans 6:3-4, Paul states, 'Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.' This illustrates not only the symbolic act of washing away sins but also the transformative work of regeneration, marking the believer's entrance into the community of faith. Moreover, as believers are baptized, they are demonstrating their obedience to Christ's command and their commitment to live in accordance with His will.

Q: What does the Bible say about God's covenant?

God's covenant represents His unchanging promise and commitment to His people, established through Christ. In the biblical narrative, God's covenant is a central theme that reflects His faithfulness and mercy toward His people. The covenant, as illustrated in Genesis 9:12-13, where He promised never to destroy the earth by flood again, signifies a lasting commitment to humanity. This is further fulfilled in the New Covenant established by Christ, as noted in Jeremiah 31:31-34, where God promises to write His law on the hearts of His people. This transformational aspect emphasizes that God not only commits to saving His people but also works within them to produce a heart aligned with His will. In Christ, the ultimate expression of God's covenant love, believers are assured of their security and relationship with Him, founded on grace rather than works.

Alright, let's stay there in
Genesis chapter 8. I was concerned that I had so
much stuff in my notes here that I wouldn't be able to preach
it all, but Brother Ravi said quite a bit of it, so he helped
me there. I appreciate that. Now if the
Lord is willing, on the first Sunday in August, we'll be baptizing
our sister Debbie Dudenath. And I can say with all the saints
here, Debbie, that I'm thankful for you. I'm thankful the Lord
has been pleased to give you faith in Christ. I'm very thankful. That's a time of rejoicing. It's
a time of rejoicing. Whenever you're baptized, you're
confessing that God has regenerated you, that He's made everything
new. That scripture that Ravi referred to is in 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. And all things are of God who
hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. That's why Genesis
chapter 8 caught my attention. I started reading here in verse
14. In the second month, on the seventh and twentieth day of
the month, was the earth dried, and God spake unto Noah, saying,
Go forth of the ark." For Noah, this was a new genesis. This
was a new beginning, is what this was. The judgment of the
old world, his sin and all of that old world was passed. God had made everything new.
and he comes out of that ark and it's a new beginning, a completely
new beginning. That's a great picture of a believer,
being regenerated and made new in Christ. We're going to look
at this as an example of a believer who's been regenerated and we're
going to see some of the things that God teaches His child through
the gospel, through His Word, into that heart of faith that
He's given. I've titled this, A New Beginning. We begin here in verse 15 and
he says, And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth. God spake unto
Noah, saying, Go forth. Now this is the first thing that
we see. Newness of life begins for Christ's redeemed child by
God speaking in power into that heart that He's made new. by
His incorruptible Word. That's how life begins. That's how this newness of life
begins. God's elect were in Christ spiritually
since the foundation of the world, since He put us in Christ. We
see a good example of it here with Noah by the fact that God
put him in the ark. Well, God's people were in the
ark from before the world began. He put us there. Of God are you
in Christ. And Noah was in that ark when
the reign of judgment immersed that ark, when it baptized that
ark. And God's people were in Christ
when He was baptized on the cross, immersed in the judgment of God.
And though we were born of Adam, and though we had a being from
Adam, God's child has not truly been born until we've been born
again of God in regeneration. Now you think about that. We
have a being as a child of Adam. But that child that God determined
He would save before the foundation of the world, He hasn't even
been born yet. As long as we're just a child of Adam. Look over
at John chapter 3. John chapter 3. By our first birth, our fleshly
man, all that we are by our first birth is the son of Adam. Born
of his flesh, born after Adam's defiled image. The psalmist said,
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive
me. That means The conception, by
conception he was a sinner. Listen to what Christ said in
John 3, 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born of the
spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
ye must be born again. You must be born again. Look
over Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. Our true existence as a child
of God, our true being, begins when we have been born again
by the Word of God. Look at Colossians 3 verse 9.
Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old
man with his deeds. That's the product of Adam. And
have put on the new man. which is renewed. It means being
renewed. You know the scripture that says,
though our outward man perish, our inward man is renewed day
by day. We're continually being renewed
in the inward man. And here's how. In knowledge,
in knowledge, it means full discernment of God. You know, John said,
the man that has the unction of the Spirit of God knows all
things, and he needs not that any man teach him. because the
Spirit of God has taught him in knowledge, given him a discernment
of the body of Christ, so that he has a fear of God now, so
that he discerns that God is his Father and he is the Son
of God, so that he discerns the truth of Christ's blood and his
righteousness being all his salvation. He loves and delights in the
truth of God and he wants God to have all the glory now. This
is what it is to be renewed in knowledge. And then look, after
the image of Him that created Him. After the image of Him that
created Him. We didn't have that before this
took place. We didn't have that before we were born again. We
were created after the image of Adam. But here now, after
the image of Him that created him. Listen to this. 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. much more glorious than
that man that's born of Adam. Because this one's created after
the image of him that created him. Look at verse 11, where
there's neither Greek nor Jew, now all those walls that we used
to separate us, they've been torn down. We don't use race
and try to exalt ourselves over another now. Circumcision nor
uncircumcision. We don't stand up on a pedestal
now and talk about how we've kept the law and somebody else
hadn't kept it. Barbarian, Scythian. We don't talk about because one's
educated, he's got something up on the man who doesn't have
a degree and is uneducated. Bond or free. But here's where
we are. But Christ is all and in all. We're just a bunch of worms.
Equally worms. But Christ is all and in all. Turn to Ephesians 4. Ephesians
chapter 4. And look in verse 22. Ephesians 4.22, put off concerning
the former conversation, that means the former way of life,
the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. That's all we were as we were
born in Adam. and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind. That means in that knowledge
that we just read about. It means discerning the body
and blood of Christ in the gospel and in your own personal study.
It means give yourself to discern Him, to grow in that knowledge.
Verse 24, and that you put on the new man which after God is
created in righteousness. Righteousness has to do with
the law. Our old man was created in unrighteousness by Adam our
first head. He broke the law in the garden.
And by that transgression we were created in unrighteousness
the first time. But the second time, when a man
is born of God, he is created in righteousness because by Christ's
obedience unto the death of the cross, He has made His people
the righteousness of God in Him. Legally so. And true holiness. When we were born of Adam's corrupt
seed, we were defiled in our nature and we were unholy. But
being born of Christ, the incorruptible seed, now we're holy inwardly
in that new man. And this all takes place whenever
God speaks through the preaching of Christ in Him crucified. Look
at 1 Peter 1.23. I know very well that a man can't
hear this gospel until he's born again. But God clearly states
in His Word that He does this work through the gospel. That
means that God, as the gospel is going forth, He does a work
in a man. He does a work within. Look at
1 Peter 1.23. being born again, not of corruptible
seed, that's how we were born the first time, but of incorruptible,
and you hear me say that a lot, here's what it means, by the
Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh
is as grass, that's what we were the first man, and all the glory
of man is the flower of grass, that's all we were in our flesh.
The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.
but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you. Wherefore, laying aside
all malice, and all guile, and all hypocrisies, and envies,
and all evil speakings, saying, well, this is not how I've been
born, lay that aside. And as newborn babes, desire
the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. If so be that you have tasted
that the Lord is gracious. So you see, newness of life begins
for us by Christ redeemed, for Christ redeemed by God speaking
and making us a new creature. And that's how this newness of
life is continued. We're renewed daily We're renewed
daily by this continual hearing of His Word. The praise is not
of men, it's of God. So in baptism, when we go up
there to baptize Debbie, she's going to be confessing in public
baptism that she did nothing of herself, that God chose her,
that Christ redeemed her, and that particularly that she's
been regenerated and made new by the Holy Spirit of God. And
so if you've tasted the Lord is gracious, if you have, If
you've tasted the Lord is gracious by His grace, by what He's done,
then don't neglect the Word of God. Don't neglect hearing it
preached. Don't neglect reading it at home.
Don't neglect getting along with God and asking Him to give you
an understanding and to grow you in grace. Give yourself to
this. That's what He's saying when
He says be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Grow in that knowledge. Give yourself to that. That's
how it pleased God to renew us in the beginning and that's how
it pleases Him to renew us inwardly day by day. Day by day. You see,
the reason God does it this way is we can't ever get so big that
we say, I don't need to preach another gospel anymore. That
man will shrivel up and prove he never was even connected to
the vine anyway. He was just a flower that blossomed
out for a little while and looked like he was connected to the
vine, but he wasn't. He wasn't. Because if he is,
You've got to come and hear the Word. We've got to have the Gospel
to be renewed, to be continually renewed. After you hear it, don't
you feel renewed? After you hear the message and
God speaks in your heart, sometimes we're just dead as a hammer and
God lets us just stay there dead as a hammer and dull and we don't
hear anything. But sometimes He speaks in our heart and we
leave from here feeling close to God because you've been renewed
by Him, by His Word. Alright, secondly, let's go back
now. That brings us to the second point. That which comes first
to the believer is the worship of God. Look at verse 20. And
Noah built an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean
beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on
the altar. Now this burning of these offerings
on this altar is a picture of coming to God through faith.
It's a picture of thanksgiving, of thanking God. It's a picture
of praise and worship of God for His mercy and His grace in
Christ. You try to imagine how Noah felt
when he walked out of that ark. I mean, he's the only man, him
and his family, the only man on this planet. Can you imagine
that? You talk about freedom. This
man has complete freedom. And that's what the believer
has when we've been renewed and regenerated by God. We have freedom. We've been freed from that old
world of sin and corruption that plagued us so much. Not freed
like we will be, but freed to a great degree from it. We've
been freed completely from the bondage of the law. We've been
freed from the curse of the law. We've been freed from our old
sin nature having the dominion over us. He doesn't have that
dominion anymore. We've been freed and we have
this sweet and precious liberty in Christ. And that's a wonderful
thing. And this great grace of God,
it doesn't make a man It doesn't make a man come out of the ark
and look around and say, let me see if I can figure out where
is the nicest spot I can build me a big house. I got nobody
now telling me I can't go over there and get the biggest trees
I want to get and go get the finest gold I want to get or
anything and I can get it all the riches in this world and
heap it up for myself right now. Nobody can stop me. What will
a man do if nobody is watching? Well, I'll tell you what he'll
do if God's working in his ark. The first thing he did was he
built a place to worship God. That's the first thing. You think,
well, Noah, you've got to go build some place for your family
to live. Nope, that's not what's important. You've got to get
some provisions for these kids and this wife of yours so they're
not going to be able to survive. That's not what the most important
thing is. I'm going to build a place where we can worship
God. That's the number one thing. And that's what he did. And that's
what it's showing us that this is the preeminent purpose for
which the believer has been born of God. This is it. To worship
God, glorify God in the worship and praise and prayer to Him. Thanksgiving to Him. The Lord
said, all these things, all the things you see the Gentiles going
after, all these things you see the world going after, He said,
your Father knows that you have need of all these things. He
knows that. We just read in the back, Brother
Eric read in the back, God can do everything. Well, he can stop
us in our mad dash thinking we got to go out and get those things
ourselves. He can stop us. He can make it
so that we're just running on a treadmill. And we just keep
running and keep running and keep running. We can't get what
we're trying to get. And just wear ourselves out until
we finally wear out and fall flat on our face. And he'll say,
now let me show you what I really, what you need to have. He said,
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and
all these things will be added to you. God knows you need them.
He'll add those things as you need them. Brethren, by His amazing
grace, Christ has made us wholly priest under God. There was a
time when all the stuff you see now in Catholicism, that's a
big play. That's what that is. That's an
act. That's a show. That's a Vegas show is what that
is. in a big cathedral. But back
when God did have priests on this earth, a man couldn't come
to God without a priest. You couldn't come to God without
a high priest. Because through that, God was
showing us, He will not allow us to come to Him except through
Christ. We have to have a high priest.
And now, He's made us priests unto God. So that we can come
to God through Christ our High Priest and we don't have to have
a man to represent us. We don't have to bring bullocks
and goats and offerings like no one was doing here. We can
come to God and offer the calves of our lips. and He will receive
them through Christ Jesus. Under Him, and when we do this,
when we come here and we worship, and your friends and everybody
call you and they say, you really ought to go with us this weekend,
I got these tickets, we're never going to get these tickets again,
they're once in a lifetime tickets, you ought to go with us. And
you say, I got something more important than that. I want to
go hear Christ. Won't you come with me? I got
a ticket you need to get. I got a ticket. I got the ticket.
Come here with this. And when you do that, this is
what you're saying. Unto him that loved us and washed us from
our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests
unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion forever
and ever. Amen. You see, Noah said that. Have I been calling him Moses?
I told Don yesterday I was afraid I was going to put Abraham in
the ark today. I'm afraid I might be putting Moses in the ark.
Noah is who I'm talking about. Everything that he did and those
animals that were in that ark. Those animals were spared in
that ark and brought out of that ark alive for the purpose of
being sacrificed as a burnt offering to God. We were in Christ and
our lives were spared through the judgment of Christ for the
purpose of us being a sacrifice to God. That's exactly right.
Listen to the scripture. Romans 12, 1. I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable under God, which is your reasonable
service. That's right. Most of the things
men sacrifice are not things that they're giving up. It's
not a sacrifice. Most of the things. Those fellows that were
walking up and sacrificing that day when the Lord, when the widow
walked up and threw in two mites, she sacrificed what she had. It was a sacrifice. It was a
sacrifice because based on what she had left over. And that's
what God said, this was a sacrifice to me. A sacrifice to me. In
that burnt offering, this is what Noah saw. This is what we
see when we come worship God. In that burnt offering, as we
worship, we just sang about Him. We're going to sing about Him
again. We're going to pray to Him. We just prayed to Him. We're
going to pray to Him again. We thanked Him. And now we're
hearing His word preached. And in all of this, we see what
Noah saw in those offerings he was offering. The lamb. We'll
just consider the lamb. I had all the animals, but we'll
just look at the lamb. Christ the Lamb, that was one
of those clean animals He was offering. That Lamb is the one
Abraham was talking about when him and Isaac were going up Mount
Moriah and Isaac said, here's the wood, here's the fire, where's
the Lamb? We don't have a sacrifice. We can't approach God without
a sacrifice. And Abraham said, my son, God will provide Himself
a Lamb for a burnt offering. God is that Lamb. Christ is God
providing Himself. And He is that Lamb. The Lamb
reminds us of Christ's patience. Listen to this. He was oppressed
and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. That includes typing on Facebook
too. Firing off something back at
somebody. He opened not His mouth. He's brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before shearers is dumb, so he openeth
not his mouth. Peter said, and that's for an
example for us, brethren. He said, if you be persecuted
when you've done a good thing and you take it patiently, this
is acceptable to God for this is where unto you were called.
For Christ did the same and He's left us as an example to follow
Him. The lamb reminds us that Christ in Himself was perfect
and holy, a fit lamb. Peter said, we were deemed with
the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. And that lamb reminds us that
that spotless lamb came to God and became that great sacrifice
by taking our sins, the sins of His elect, upon Himself. And
all we like sheep have gone astray. We were the straying sheep. He
wasn't. We've turned everyone to His
own way. He walked in the way that pleased
God. We were the ones that turned to our own way. And the Lord
has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. The Lord took the
sin of His people and put it on the sheep that was not straying
and made Him to be that one sheep standing there as the only straying
guilty sheep before Him that He might make us who were straying
sheep spotless sheep. And by that transaction we've
been made the righteousness of God in Him. And then those offerings
there on that altar, they were all burnt in fire. Can you just
picture them on that altar? Burning, crackling on that fire. And the smoke rising up off that
fire. And that fire reminds us of hell. It reminds us of the fires of
judgment of God. The Lord's hell is a fire that
shall never be quenched. Whatever that is, Fire is the
worst thing we could possibly think of. It's a hell, it's a
fire that shall never be quenched. And yet Christ bore for His people
those painful burning agonies of the wrath of God so that God's
wrath shall never once fall on not one for whom Christ died. Does this sound good to you?
You're sitting there and you think, I don't know if I'm God's
elect. Do you believe Him? Doesn't it sound magnificent?
Doesn't it sound wonderful to you? And then look at this. Don't pass this up. Look where
He laid all these. He laid them on an altar. And
Christ is our altar. Whatever it is that we're doing,
brethren, if the love of Christ is what is constraining us to
do it, we're not doing it because we want to be seen, we're not
doing it because you think the preacher wants you to do it,
you're not doing it because you think your brethren are going
to see you doing it. You do it because of the love of Christ.
You do not care if anybody finds out. You don't go and tell anybody
about it. It's strictly between you and
God that you want to do whatever it is you're doing. for His glory,
for His honor, that which is honoring and glorifying to Him. Christ takes that and He presents
it to God. And when He presents it to God,
this is how it comes up to God. Look at the next verse. Verse
21. And the Lord smelled a sweet savor. The margin says, a savor
of rest. A savor of rest. Our feeble sacrifices
come up to God perfect because God looks at Christ and He doesn't
look at us. He looks at Christ and He doesn't
look at us. So, for the new believer, listen to this, this is what
God teaches us. You've got a new beginning. a
new beginning. Here's what he said. Be ye therefore
followers of God as dear children 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 sweet smelling savor. Alright, here's
the third thing. Remember this. Every believer
here, remember this. God's purpose to preserve us
is connected directly to his satisfaction with God's sacrifice. Look at this, verse 21. And the
Lord smelled a sweet savor, and the Lord said in his heart. And
is a conjunction. Remember conjunction, junction,
what's your function? It's connecting. It's connecting. That tells us what God purposed
in His own heart was directly connected with having smelled
that sweet savor of Christ in that burnt offering. God's purpose
toward this earth is for the good of His people, and the reason
He does it is because He's satisfied with God's finished work. That's
the reason He does what He does for God's people. God's the first
cause of everything. You notice here, it says God
said this in His heart. He didn't tell Noah this yet.
He didn't tell him this yet. So you and I may not understand
what God's doing. We may not understand exactly
what how he's making his purpose ripen and come to pass. It may not look like it's working
out in our favor. And the world, the popular opinion
of the world may be that it's not. But whatever you do, Don't
listen to the world. This is the Word of God. This
is God's Word. Listen to God's Word. It's going
to turn out exactly like God said it would. Exactly. Now,
concerning the preservation of this earth itself, here's what
God purposed in Himself because of Christ's sweet smelling safer.
Verse 22. while the earth remaineth seedtime and harvest, cold and
heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. Here's my application for every
believer on that verse. Believe God and drive a comfortable
car. Believe God and you don't have
to drive a go-kart. Believe God, the world's going
to be here. Let me give you three evils.
of all this promotion of fear by the world about global warming
and about this nonsense that man's going to be able to save
the earth by the Green Movement. I'll give you three evils about
this. Number one, it directly contradicts God's purpose to
preserve the earth because of Christ's finished work and Him
alone. It contradicts that. Number two,
to say that a man can save this earth by anything he's done is
to say that we can fix the curse that's caused by our sin. Christ
is the only one that could do that. And because He has done
it for His people, that's what's holding this world in place right
now. The word of His power that He wrote in His blood, the blood
of His New Testament. A man can't do it because it
says there, the imagination of man's heart is evil from his
youth. And it makes it more difficult. When this world indoctrinates
our young people, it makes it more difficult for them to grasp
the greater meaning of this verse right here. And I will show you
that greater meaning in a minute. But I'm thankful that all hell
can't prevail against God's people. Because God, He can prevail and
He can make His people hear this. Alright, here's the fourth thing
I want you to see. Believer, with God's blessing upon us,
there are certain privileges that God has graciously given
to us. Genesis 9, verse 1 says, God
blessed Noah and his sons. Now, this is the number one thing. God has blessed us by giving
us fruitfulness. He's made us fruitful. He's made
us fruitful. He promises to make us fruitful.
so we can spread the gospel. Verse 1, He said unto them, Be
fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. Now this was temporal.
This was just have more babies is what He was telling them.
One command, I guarantee you Noah didn't have to be told twice.
But this is a spiritual thing that God is showing us. All our
fruitfulness is of God. Being filled with the fruits
of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and
praise of God. So we've got God's assurance
of fruitfulness. And then all multiplying and
all filling up, all plentishing, is of God. Every bit of it. Those in the early church went
about praising God and having favor with all the people, and
the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. He's replenishing. He's filling
up the new heavens and the new earth is what He's doing. And
He's using His people to do it. That's the first thing. That's
the number one thing. Secondly, God's put all things
under our feet so we can do this. Look at verse 2. And the fear
of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth. And the end of it says, into
your hand are they delivered. Christ has not only made us priests
unto God, He's made us kings unto God. And under Christ our
King, all things were put under our feet when everything was
put under Christ's feet. We've been studying in Ephesians.
God put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head
over all things to the church. And when He did that, He put
all things under our feet. We believe God will see that
glory of God. Believe God that what He said
is so. We'll see that glory of God that
He has indeed. He will not prevent us from accomplishing
what He will be glorified by. And we can say, He said, I'll
never leave thee, I'll never forsake thee, so that we may
boldly say, the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall
do unto me. And then here's the third blessing
He's given us. God's blessed us by making Christ our life
and our strength as we go. Look at verse 3. Every moving
thing that liveth shall be meat for you, even as the green herb
have I given you all things. Now before the flood, God only
blessed man allowing him to eat salad. That's all he could eat
before the flood. But now God blesses man and says
now you can eat all flesh. I've given it into your hand.
But he forbid one thing. Look at verse 4. But flesh with
the life thereof. Flesh with the life thereof.
Now watch this. Which is the blood thereof. The
life is in the blood. You shall not eat it. You shall
not eat it. Life's in the blood. They couldn't
eat the blood because this is what Leviticus 17 and 11 says,
I've given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for
your souls. For it's the blood that make
an atonement for the soul. You know, everything in the law
is purged by blood because without the shedding of blood there's
no remission. It's because blood is life. It's life. It's how a life is given for
a life by the shedding of blood. Now you 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 first time that his child is given the blessing
that he can eat. the flesh of Christ. And because
Christ's blood is the atoning blood, we can drink His blood
too. Listen to this. Whoso eateth
my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. What do you do with food? Why
would He tell you this? You can eat all this food, so
you'll have life, and so you'll have strength. Well, the spiritual
picture is of it in the regeneration, in the newness of life. We can
partake of Christ by faith. We can rest in Him. He's our
life and He's our strength. And we feed upon Him daily. We
feed upon Him daily. And not only has He given us
Christ for our life and our strength, He said He's given us all things. Just like He gave them all flesh.
Let no man glory in men, for all things are yours, whether
Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death,
or things present, or things to come, all are yours, and you
are Christ's, and Christ is God's. You know the other night when
Don was preaching, and he said, he stopped and he said, we don't
half believe that. I know why he said it. Because
we sit here, I was sitting there listening to Him, just tired
in my flesh and worn out in my flesh and hearing these things
that ought to be making me jump out of my seat. They really should. If we believe these things, It's limitless to what we could
do in this earth for the glory of Christ, for the furtherance
of his gospel, for the glory of his name. It's limitless what
we could do. Alright, let's look on now. I
got to give you this. I'm going to paraphrase this,
but Spurgeon said this. I thought this was good. He said,
Knowing God has blessed us with these certainties all to make
us eager to earnestly seek to be the spiritual parents of immortal
souls, travailing in birth till Christ be formed in them. That's
what he said. When he says here, repopulate
the earth and all that, of course the earth had to be repopulated.
But all this is a spiritual picture of his people. This is a spiritual
picture of what he does when he gives us life. This is the
purpose for which we're here, just like the purpose of Noah
and his family. Alright, let's move along now. Here's the next
thing. I don't y'all think I'm not thankful
for you. I am so thankful for you. I was
sitting here this week and I was just Like for instance when I sent
those emails out about us getting here earlier and stuff like that,
I was so encouraged by the fact that everybody responded so good. I mean it was just such a kind
and such a gracious and thankful response. And I just was so,
y'all can't believe what it does for you. And then to watch you
when the meetings are going on and just whatever needs to be
done, your willingness to help to do whatever needs to be done
to keep everything running smoothly and to have food and all those
things. I just appreciate that. I really
do. This is what God has put us here
for. That is it. That is it. We are
serving God's purpose in this earth. Alright, here is the fifth
thing. Believers. can wait on the Lord
to avenge you. Now you're going to have to put
on your thinking cap here just a minute. I had to look at this
for a while. This is a strange thing to say
right here. Verse 5. And surely your blood
of your lives will I require. Now this is a promise of grace.
to Noah. This is a promise of grace to
Noah. We could look at this just as
the letter of the law. God ordains, obviously here,
capital punishment. That's what this is speaking
about. But there's a greater lesson in this than that. Listen
to this. First of all, justice shall be
executed for murder of God's saints. And it shall be God who
shall execute that justice. He says, verse 5, Surely your
blood of your lives will I require. He's the one that's going to
require it. When He says the blood of your
lives, it means if you have been killed, I'm going to require
it. Secondly, God will execute justice
on everybody. Look at verse 5. Of every beast,
at the hand of man, and at the hand of every man's brother.
In Revelation, God uses beasts to describe Satan. He's a murderer
from the beginning. He describes men who are anti-Christ,
men in philosophy, men in governments, men in religion. And the murdering
brother is Adam. That's the murdering brother.
He murdered every one of us by his one transgression in the
garden. And the murdering brother is me and you and our old man
of our flesh. How many times have you been
angry without a cause? That's murder, Christ said. That's
murder. We're guilty because of that. Now thirdly, God says that justice
shall also be executed by a man. Look at verse 6. He said before,
I'm going to require it. Now he says a man is going to
execute justice. 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 God-man Christ Jesus.
Christ took the sins of His people and He became the guilty one. And then He had justice executed
on Himself. He was executing justice on Himself. He's the guilty party and He's
the judge executing justice. And as this law states, by death
justice is satisfied. And then Christ comes in judgment
and He slays our old man of our flesh by this gospel. And then He heals us by making
us new in the heart. He said, I kill and I make alive,
I wound and I heal, and neither is there any that can deliver
out of my hand. And then Christ gives us this
charge when He's done this work. Verse 7. And you, be ye fruitful
and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply therein. You see it? You see it? He's
going to avenge us. So what can we do? We can wait
on the Lord. What about Satan and all those
beastly men of Antichrist? What about them? Their judgment
is coming. Revelation 13, verse 8 says,
All that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him, talking about
the beast, Antichrist, whose names are not written in the
Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Everybody whose names weren't written in that book by God before
the world began, they're going to worship the beast and antichrist. Anything that's against Christ
is what it is. And everything that's against
Christ, that's what they're going to worship. And it says, if any man have
an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity
shall go into captivity. And he that killeth with a sword
must be killed with a sword. Here is the patience and faith
of the saints. That means you and I wait on
the Lord. We believe God and trust Him.
You don't have to try to avenge yourself. You don't have to wield
the sword like Peter and cut off anybody's ear. Put it up.
You live by the sword, you're going to die by the sword. That
same man who's come and executed justice and judgment in the earth
for his people, that same man who's calling out his people
by his grace and giving us a new heart and making us willing to
trust him, he's now judge of heaven and earth seated at the
right hand of God. and all those that worship everything
anti-Christ are going to wake up one day and put their hand
over their mouth and say, now I know. It's just like that preacher
I despised that day at Rocky Hill and scoffed and looked at
him with contempt and said, I'm not going to hear you. Yes, you are. Oh yeah, you're
going to hear me. I'm going to be standing there
with him. And he's going to say to me, did you tell him? And
I'm going to say, yes Lord, I told him. And he's going to say, you're
free from their blood. And he's going to cast them into
hell to spend eternity in the fire that is never quenched.
That's what this judge was going to do. I was a stubborn teenager
once. I turned 13 and for some reason
my mom and my dad became the enemy. And I decided I didn't
want to do what they said. I didn't want to live by their
rules. I wanted to be my own person. And I did that the whole
time I was under their roof. The only problem with that was
I was depending on them to feed me and clothe me and give me
a bed to sleep in and make up for the difference where I couldn't
pay my bills. That was the only problem with that. That's called
a freeloading cheapskate, no good for nothing. And it's worse
when it's with God. Because the problem with God
is you're depending on Him for your air. That breath you just
took, God gave it to you. Don't breathe anymore if you
don't want to serve Him. That eye you just blinked, God
gave you the strength to do that. Don't blink anymore if you don't
want to serve Him. Quit taking up all the things
that He gives you and using them and then turning around and spitting
in His face. It's my Father. I don't like
it. Oh, the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal. They're mighty through God to
the pulling down of strongholds. They cast down imaginations and
every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge
of God and brings it into captivity, every thought to the obedience
of Christ. That's what He'll do. Alright,
here's the sixth thing. I won't have time. He makes with
us an everlasting covenant. Look at verse 9. And I, behold, I establish my
covenant with you and with your seed after you. Now look over
at Isaiah 54. God ordered this in all things
and made it sure. He made this covenant. He said,
Never flesh shall be cut off any more by the waters of the
flood, neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the
earth. Now that's so. God's not going to destroy this
world with a flood anymore. But here's this greater meaning
I was talking to you about. Here's the spiritual significance.
It's declared plainly right here. In Isaiah 53, you see the flood
come upon Christ our Ark. In Isaiah 54, the ground is dried
and And here you hear God proclaiming His everlasting covenant for
all of His elect people. Verse 7. For a small moment have
I forsaken thee in Christ on the cross, but with great mercies
will I gather thee. 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. The Lord thy Redeemer. 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. 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 from thee, saith the Lord that hath mercy
on thee. That's the spiritual picture
of all this. This is the covenant He makes in our hearts. He tells
us justice is satisfied, mercy is yours, your sins are put away,
you're made the righteousness of God, and the mountains are
going to depart before my mercy will ever depart from you. And
how do we know? He gives us a covenant, a token
of this covenant. That's the seventh thing. And
the token, verse 12, is the rainbow. He put the token of the covenant
in the sky. He says, Genesis 9-12, 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. I do set my bow in the cloud.
This is a rainbow. And it shall be for a token of
a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass
when I bring a cloud over the earth that the bow shall 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 the water shall no more become a flood to destroy
all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud
and I'll look upon it that I may remember the everlasting covenant
between God and every living creature of all flesh that is
upon the earth. 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. How many colors are in the covenant,
in the rainbow? Seven. It's perfect. His covenant
is established. It's ordered in all things and
sure. It's yes and amen in Christ. It looks like an archer's bow,
but it doesn't have a string and it doesn't have an arrow.
Because Christ said, He's bent His bow and He set me as a mark
for the error. He's caused the errors of His
quiver to enter into my reins. And now Christ's warfare is accomplished
and He's hung up His bow forever. And it's pointed upwards to show
us where the token of this covenant is sitting. That token of that
rainbow tells us the world is not going to be destroyed with
a flood. And it reminds us of Christ. But our true token of
the covenant is the covenant Himself. And he's seated at God's
right hand. John said, I looked and there
was a rainbow round about the throne in sight like unto an
emerald. And he said, and a rainbow was
upon his head. And Ezekiel said, and the appearance
of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the
appearance of the brightness round about him. It was the appearance
of the likeness of the glory of God. That's who Christ is.
God says, I'll look upon it. Always, that's where He's looking.
And He tells us, and I'll cause you to look upon it so you'll
remember My covenant. You'll remember My covenant.
Now, for us to see it, there's going to have to be a cloud.
But He said, I'll put the cloud in the sky. And so in all our
little clouds and all our little suffering, He put it there for
a reason so we could see the token of His covenant. We've
got to have rain. We've got to have the Spirit
of His grace. We've got to have the sun. We've got to have the
sun of righteousness shining. But when you see that rainbow,
it makes all the cloud and all the storms and whatever trial
you've been through, when you see Christ better, it makes it
all worthwhile. Have you ever seen an ugly rainbow?
Never. You just look at it and you think,
oh, justice is satisfied. Christ is reigning. And the mountains
will depart and the hills will be removed, but His kindness
shall not depart from me, neither shall the covenant of His peace
be removed, saith the Lord that has mercy on me. That's walking
in newness of life. Amen.

A New Beginning

What does the Bible say about regeneration?

How do we know the doctrine of election is true?

Why is baptism important for Christians?

What does the Bible say about God's covenant?

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A New Beginning

What does the Bible say about regeneration?

How do we know the doctrine of election is true?

Why is baptism important for Christians?

What does the Bible say about God's covenant?

Sermon Transcript

About Clay Curtis

Comments

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