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[0:00] This is Genesis 8. The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains became visible.

[0:39] After forty days, Noah opened a window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground.

[0:52] But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth, so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark.

[1:04] He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf. Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.

[1:17] He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him. By the first day of the first month of Noah's 601st year, the water had dried up from the earth.

[1:30] Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was completely dry. Then God said to Noah, Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.

[1:47] Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you, the birds, the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground, so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.

[1:59] So Noah came out together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds, everything that moves on land, came out of the ark, one kind after another.

[2:13] Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart, Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.

[2:54] The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground and on all the fish in the sea, they are given into your hands.

[3:06] Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.

[3:17] And for your lifeblood, I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal and from each human being, too. I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.

[3:30] Whoever sheds human blood by humans shall their blood be shed. From the image of God has God made mankind. As for you, be fruitful and increase in number.

[3:41] Multiply on the earth and increase upon it. Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you. And with every living creature that was with you, the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you, every living creature on earth, I establish my covenant with you.

[4:04] Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood. Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is a sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come.

[4:22] I have set my rainbow in the clouds and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind.

[4:36] Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.

[4:49] So God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth. That's the word of God. And we invite Moxie to speak.

[5:00] Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Isaac. So good to be worshipping with you guys.

[5:12] All right. We are into Genesis 8 and 9 already. And I'm sure we heard the story, the records of the...

[5:22] Well, they're not stories. They're actually... Remember that word, that toledotes? That's the accounts of God's dealing with mankind. So this is one of the accounts, okay, with the story, accounts of the floods and the new beginning.

[5:42] So I think when we see the rainbow, I don't think anyone would dislike seeing rainbows, right? And I'm sure there's a lot of times when God has actually spoke and encouraged us whenever we see the rainbows.

[5:58] I'm sure many of us have that kind of experiences. Pastor William, just send me a photo of the rainbow just before and just to encourage me. Thank you. Yeah.

[6:09] I think it's not just a pretty sight. It has biblical promises for us, all right? And I'm sure God would speak to us about His faithfulness, about His promises, about His grace and blessing unto us.

[6:27] And I had many, many memories about how when I was the most frustrated, when I was really down and didn't know what to do, and there was a rainbow, and it was double rainbow.

[6:41] And even I had seen triple rainbows. Have you seen it before? I'll show you later. Okay. True. I shot it myself. Okay. So what does it really mean?

[6:54] You know? Seeing the rainbow in the sky. Yep. Isaac has just read those passages to us. It was good. And I believe the passage that we have read, chapter 8 to 9, verse 17, God has commanded Noah and all that were in the ark to leave.

[7:15] And God blessed him for a new habitation after the flood. That was the passages we have just listened and read. And what does it mean to us for us today?

[7:26] And what does it mean to us for us today? I believe that God's dealing with Noah and was heading ahead to flood.

[7:37] It was his attitude and his decisive actions towards sin. And sin persisted throughout the history of mankind, even to today.

[7:49] Christ has dealt with it, sure. But God still is very much against sin because he's a righteous God. Okay? And after he deals with sin, he will bless us with eternal assurance with the promises of the cross.

[8:12] With the promise of the cross. So this is what we see. We're not just seeing a past event about Noah, about the ark, about the flood.

[8:24] We see it through the history of mankind. And God's attributes, God's nature. He is a righteous God. He deals with sin. But because he deals with sin, he blesses us with the assurance of the cross of Jesus.

[8:41] And we, here we stand today. So next time when we see the rainbow, just don't admire the pretty sight. Oh, so nice. No, we see further than that.

[8:53] We see deeper than just a natural phenomenon. We see the promise of God and the cross. Okay? So, the spirit of God was hovering over the waters, I think.

[9:07] In chapter 1, verse 3. We remember that verse. You know, when God created the heaven and earth. And the earth was formless and void. And that formless and void was not nothing.

[9:20] You know? You know, we think formless and void. It was, what is it? Nothing? No. Actually, the formless and void, it was the opposing forces that was opposing God.

[9:33] And when verse 3, in Genesis 1, 3. It says the spirit of God hovering over the waters. It was more than just like, you know, like floating or checking what's happening.

[9:48] It was actually attacking, you know? It was the spirit of God was zooming down and attacking all these opposing forces.

[9:58] So, it was a battle. You know? It was a battle between the two forces. But God always wins. When we read Genesis 1, up to now, up to 8, 9.

[10:13] And actually, on Sunday morning and Saturday, they finished Genesis already. Okay? Read up to 11. 11 chapters. The first 11 chapters of Genesis. You see, you see the chaos, the power of chaos, every time was opposing the order of God.

[10:33] But every time, God's order prevails. All right? I think this is the truth that we need to stand very firm. You know?

[10:43] We're saying that the firm, our firm foundation. This is the firm foundation we need to stand on. Very, very clear. You know, God is always on the winning side.

[10:56] Yes, the sin abounds. We live in a sinful world. You know? Things that happen not the way we want to. Even Christians, we experience, we ourselves fall into sin.

[11:10] The power of sin. But because Christ has triumphed over death and sin. And we, not because what I do, but we can, by the power of Christ, we can stand.

[11:26] We can prevail with Him. Okay? So this is what we need to stick in mind. All right? Rainbow after the storm. Okay?

[11:36] Okay? This is the passage we just read. And I think there's two points I'd like to share with you. The first is God's dealing with sin.

[11:47] Why was there a flood? Because God opposed, God could not stand sin. All right? In chapter 6, a couple of sermons prior to this, it described that God was really, really regretted when seeing the sin of mankind.

[12:14] You know? In chapter 6, verse 2, it says that God had regretted. In chapter 6, verse 5, it described that the wickedness of humankind was every inclination of thought were evil all the time.

[12:29] Can you imagine? When God has created mankind, it's supposed to be good. But because man misused the freedom, the choice, and sin came into the world.

[12:41] And that sin is like, you know, from the tiny little mole on our skins or in our organs. And it's kind of spread. And it's just the whole body was, yeah, cancerous.

[12:56] And that similar description of what the author was trying to describe for the people during those times. And God regretted.

[13:09] All right? Now, if you see this, okay. How can you describe this house? What words would you want to describe this?

[13:28] Whatever. If you think you can use tidiness to describe this, I think anything but this word tidy, right?

[13:38] If you think it's okay, you can live there. I think you're pretty chaotic yourself. It's like God seeing this.

[13:49] The whole of humankind was chaos. How could he fix? Just picking up bits and bits. But the thing that the whole humankind was every inclination of thoughts were evil all the time.

[14:08] What could God do? What could God do? He could only do a drastic action. The flood. To wipe out the mankind with the sin.

[14:18] Because God could not stand sin. All right? In chapter 7, verse 22, the last sermon, I believe.

[14:29] It says that everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Now, that's pretty drastic. Okay?

[14:41] When God created, remember? In chapter 2, verse 7, God breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life.

[14:54] And now, in chapter 7, verse 22, everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.

[15:06] It's very much like, you know, giving birth to a baby and you kill your baby. It's that drastic. Because God could not stand sin.

[15:22] God hated sin. Because he's a righteous God. But God has a dilemma. Okay?

[15:34] He's a loving God. He's a loving God. He loves what he created. He loves you and me, sinners.

[15:50] But he cannot stand sin. So you can see, when God was wiping out the mankind, Noah was spared.

[16:04] In 7.23. It's not our issue. It's God's issue. Alright? He needs to deal with sin.

[16:17] But he loves you and me. We are sinners. And today, if it wasn't Christ's grace upon us, we would be all wiped away.

[16:32] Dead. Dead. God has mercy upon you and me. In Jeremiah 29.11.

[16:43] It says that God's plan is not to harm us. Not to punish us. But to prospers us.

[16:53] To give us peace. Now that's very hard for us to understand. How could this God, righteous God, who hated sin, you and me, are sinful.

[17:06] But he loves you and me as sinners. Something has to be done. And that's why we're still here today. But somehow, deep down in his heart, he's loving you and loving me.

[17:21] And that's why we're still here today. A lot of things we cannot understand. But God, this is God. Okay?

[17:31] A righteous God who hated sin, but loved you and me. And he had this plan for the Messiah to come and die for us. And even, even he knew in his almighty and sovereignty, he knew sin would still persist.

[17:50] Of course he knew the flood did not wipe out everything. Even after Noah, you know, after the flood, a new beginning.

[18:02] That sin was still in mankind. Can you imagine? After the new beginning, then Noah got drunk. And he woke up the next morning. Oh goodness, how could my son did such terrible thing on me?

[18:17] And he cursed his son. You know, a new beginning. But sin in the humankind still persisted.

[18:27] Didn't God know it? Of course he knew it. But he was patient. Still wanting his purpose to be fulfilled.

[18:38] What purpose? The salvation of all mankind. The seed of the woman is going to come in his time. So, when we see the flood.

[18:52] When we see the rainbow. It reminds us of God's dealing with sin. Alright? So, next time we see the rainbow. Don't just see a pretty sight.

[19:04] Just see how our sin could have caused God to deal with our sin. And the flood. And the blood of Jesus.

[19:16] Okay? So, be careful. Don't sin too casually. Every time we sin, we hurt God.

[19:26] But his grace is much, much more. And in the flood, we see God's blessing to new life.

[19:39] Okay? There are various descriptions in chapter 8 here. Firstly, is that he gave new habitations. In chapter 8, verses 17 to 9, 1.

[19:53] It says, Bring them up. Multiply. Fruitful. Increase. It echoes 1, 22, 23 in Genesis. Same kind of promises.

[20:04] Same kinds of commands. Because the intentions of God was for humankind to be fruitful and multiply, to inhabit the earth.

[20:16] But the inclination of mankind is, No, we don't want to move. We want to do what we want. We want to stay together. The Tower of Babel was like that.

[20:27] Alright? But God's purpose for mankind is to inhabit the earth and to be fruitful and multiply and to manage the earth for God.

[20:39] For His glory. In chapter 8, verse 1, it says, God remembered. If you have your Bibles, you can read it. When God remembered Noah.

[20:53] Now, every time this word remembered, it entails that God did something. God did not just remember something. Oh, I remember now.

[21:03] No, it's not just that. When God remembered, He connected with blessings. Alright? When God, in Genesis 19, verse 29, when God remembered Abraham, He blessed.

[21:21] And in Exodus 32, verse 13, Moses prayed for the Israelites. God remembered us. He was praying for God's actions and blessing upon the Israelites.

[21:35] So, here, the author says, when God remembered Noah, God started to bless Noah and everything that came out from the ark.

[21:49] And in 8, verse 2, it says, the springs of the deep and the floodgates of heavens closed. And that's why the flood kind of stopped.

[22:01] Okay? Now, this is the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, what, how people see the world at the time. Okay?

[22:12] Of course, this is not 21st century, um, scientific ways of seeing the heaven and the earth. Now, this is the ancient Near East, what they perceive, um, the earth, the sky, the Sheol, that's the deep, you know, that's the, the, where the dead are.

[22:30] Okay? And, you can see, it may not be very clear. Now, that's the deep, that is, that's the chaotic waters. Okay? The void and formless. Okay?

[22:41] But, the opposing forces. Okay? And, and you see that, the floodgates of the deep is open. That's why, you know, it was kind of come up from underneath.

[22:52] And, uh, and the windows of the skies, okay, the windows of the heaven, open. And that's why, was rain pouring down. So, had, you know, the, the world had to be flooded.

[23:06] and, and all, all lives was destroyed. It was, from above, and from below. And now, the gates, floodgates closed, windows were closed.

[23:17] And the water, was, slowly, slowly, draining away. And it, also, um, it says that, when God, used the, wind, blue, uh, so that the ground are dry.

[23:33] And that wind, and same word, the rock, the, the, the spirit, or the breath. Okay? So, how did God do it? I don't know.

[23:44] But, but it was really saying that, God was using all means, so that, to give a new beginning, for the, for Noah, and the, and the people, and the people, and the animals, from, that come out from the ark.

[23:59] Okay? And, God gave, the new habitation. And God gives us, new beginnings, when he deals, with the sins, in our lives.

[24:11] Not just that, he also blessed, the earth. 821, the Lord, smelled, the pleasing aroma, said, in his heart, never again, I will curse the ground, because of man.

[24:23] Every inclination, inclination of his heart, is evil, from childhood. Now, what does it mean? Now, obviously, not because, Noah, has offered the sacrifices, and, and God said, oh, this, such nice barbecue smell.

[24:40] Oh, I won't, I won't, I won't curse the ground again. Not, not, not that. When, when, when, here, when God says, he will not curse, the ground, because of man.

[24:54] He was, it's come up from his, own, own, graciousness. Okay? And, now, even though, the inclination of, his heart, from his, of mankind, in his heart, even, it was still evil, from childhood, God still, wanted, to bless, the earth, for the people, that come out, from the ark.

[25:21] Even though, sin, still persist, but God, was willing, to bless. That is, his, loving nature.

[25:33] How did he bless? 822. While the earth, remained, seed time, and harvest, and cold, and heat, and summer, and winter, and day, and night, shall not cease.

[25:47] Now, that is, that is the promise, of his faithfulness. That's the, seasons, that's day, and night, sun, and the rain, that, ensure, all the essential needs, are in good supply.

[26:08] That's how practical, God, who bless, the earth, for you and I, to, to, to, to, to, in it. Even, to, today.

[26:19] If, the one, if we wake up in the morning, tomorrow, and I plan to go fishing, it's supposed to be, eight o'clock, the high tide. And suddenly, we find, I found that, oh, it's three o'clock.

[26:32] How come the tide changes, that quick? You know? But, God has, in his, in his power, in his sovereignty, he has blessed the earth, with this, this, seasons, and, and the nights, and days, and, and everything, in, in his order, so that, man, can live, in this world, with much, of his blessings.

[27:04] And, thirdly, got a new, order. That new order was, not just, like in the, in the first chapter, first two chapters in Genesis, man was supposed to, only to eat, vegetables, and, and fruits.

[27:22] But here, we can eat meat. Okay? Don't know why. Is it because, mankind, after sin, after we have fallen, we, sort of, we can, we cannot, just live on, veggies, or, or fruits alone?

[27:41] Don't know. But God, somehow, given a new order here, we're okay to eat the fish, and the animals. Alright? For us, or meat lovers, we like to hear, this verse, oh, it's good, it's biblical to eat meat.

[27:57] Okay? Yeah. But, the thing is, we cannot eat, raw, with the blood, still in it. Alright? Now, I know, some Chinese like to eat, blood, the pig's blood, or chicken's blood, okay?

[28:14] Some, it might not, it might not, have any importance to you, okay? But for all the folks, it might, it might be. But, we're not saying here, that whether we should, we should or not.

[28:27] I think, we don't need to. Okay? We don't need to. But, here, it actually goes to the fourth promise, is that, it's confirmed, our new identity.

[28:43] Not new identity, our identity, and our original creation. In verses, in 9 verse 6, that, because we still, we have, we have the image, and the likeness of God.

[28:55] So, killing, shedding blood, of another person, that is, destroying, the image, of, of God, in a person.

[29:06] So, that is, that is prohibited, okay? And, that is liable, to capital punishment. And, lastly, established, of covenant, that is, in chapter 9, we've just read, before.

[29:26] Chapter 9, verses 12 to 13. God said, this is, actually, that was the, verse for the last month, right? From, verse of, of April.

[29:37] And, God said, this is the sign, of the covenant, I'm making, between me, and you, and every living creature, with you. A covenant, for all generations, to come.

[29:49] I've set my rainbow, in the clouds, and it will be the sign, of covenant, between me, and the earth. Now, that is, that is, that is, a, a, tangible sign, that we can see.

[30:05] God has, established, this covenant, with Noah, not just with Noah, but with the, with the, with the, every living creature. And, this promise, still stands, today.

[30:19] Now, when we see, the comparison, okay, of, chapters, seven to nine, to, to compare, to chapter one.

[30:33] Oh, actually, yeah, some of the, letters, might have, changed a bit, but that's okay. But you can still see it, okay. In chapter one, compared to seven, darkness, over the surface.

[30:50] And in chapter seven, eleven, the springs, of the great deep, burst forth. That is, that's the opposing power. Okay. But God is in control.

[31:01] Okay. When God said, let the dry, dry ground appeared, in one verse nine. Same here. Even the flood, were in God's control.

[31:13] Okay. And eight, verse five, the mountains became visible. Who, made the mountains, become visible? Who, made the waters, gone away?

[31:26] God. It was not the deep, it was not the, the, the flood that, you know, decided to move away. No, it was God commanded them, to, to withdraw.

[31:37] Okay. And, and so on. So, actually, the, that's the chapter seven to nine, is the recreation of, the original creation. And God was, God is in total control.

[31:54] So, what, what do we see from this, from this, um, new, the rainbow, and the, and the new beginning? We see God, God, in, in, his, his determination.

[32:08] Okay. Even the sinful, the sin of mankind, um, gave, this, uh, opposing power, the sin that, you know, come, uh, against God's purpose, but, he, his purpose, will always prevail.

[32:27] When we see, when we live in this world today, we still see, the power of sin, amongst us.

[32:39] Either it was personal, or in a global, way. But, we need to believe that. We need to trust that. He, his purpose, his salvation, will always, triumph over, every sin, and chaos, in this world.

[32:56] We need to believe this. Otherwise, we'll be just drifted off, by all these sinful things, and all these, uh, negative, all these sinful forces, and, and we, we just, drift and toss, and, and we don't know where we are.

[33:11] But, we have this firm foundation, we can stand on. And one day, Jesus will come back. Right? So, um, whenever, next time, when you see the, rainbow, whether we're, just single, double, or triple, we don't just see the rainbow, we see the cross.

[33:37] God's accomplishment, on, on the cross, the seed of the woman. All right? The, the rainbow was just, the, the rainbow was just, a, a, a covenant, that, that, that, kind of, pointing forth, to the, salvation, the, the seed of the woman, that, God has, in his time, to make this happen.

[34:03] So, when, next time, when we see the rainbow, please think, also, the cross. And in the cross, we have the promise, that, we can overcome, with God.

[34:17] All right? So, a couple questions, for us to think about. How do we, respond to such a, righteous, yet a loving God, and a faithful God, in our life?

[34:29] Okay. What does it mean? What does it mean? And, what if anything, in this world, can hinder, God's, salvation plan?

[34:41] Can, the, evil forces, can, my, sinful nature, or God, He will, He will triumph over it anyway.