Boat and Bow- The Noahic Covenant

Hebrews 10:23 (NLT) 
Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

“The madness in the world is not because of God but because of sin.”
Genesis 6:5–6 (NLT) 5 The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. 6 So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart.

Genesis 6:8–9 (NLT) 8 But Noah found favor with the Lord. This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.

Genesis 6:18 (NLT) But I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat—you and your wife and your sons and their wives.
Most believe it took close to 100 years to construct… 

Genesis 8:1 (NLT) God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and livestock with him in the boat. He sent a wind to blow across the earth, and the floodwaters began to recede.

Genesis 8:20-21 (NLT) 20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose. 21 And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things.

Genesis 9:1-15(NLT) Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. 2 All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. 3 I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. 4 But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it. 5 “And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die. 6 If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image. 7 Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth.” 8 Then God told Noah and his sons, 9 “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, 10 and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. 11 Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.” 12 Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. 13 I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. 14 When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, 15 and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures.

Noahic Covenant:
1. Renewal
It’s not just a renewal of a contract, it's a renewal of us.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT) Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 

2. Reaffirming our image
Imago Dei

3. Restraint

• Out of his Love, wrath was poured out.
• Common wrath: The wrath of God is being revealed.

Restraint= “Common Grace”

Psalm 145:9 (NLT) The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation.
“Jesus took the common wrath give us special grace”
Isaiah 53:6 (NLT) All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.
 
Romans 5:9–10 (NIV) 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

4. Remembrance
The covenant sign The Bow

A weapon of war is now a symbol of peace and mercy.