WEBVTT 00:00.800 --> 00:03.800 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 00:05.500 --> 00:08.700 The church year gives a blessed order for our days. 00:08.700 --> 00:12.000 And the order for today, is the commemoration of Noah. 00:12.300 --> 00:16.700 So, how do we commemorate Noah best? 00:16.700 --> 00:17.500 How do we best 00:17.500 --> 00:22.400 remember those who have gone before us? Hebrews 11 teaches us 00:22.400 --> 00:27.800 that we are to remember, Noah as an heir of righteousness by faith and 00:27.800 --> 00:31.000 to that I can give my hearty amen. 00:31.900 --> 00:37.600 And yet it is Moses that has something even better than that to say 00:37.600 --> 00:38.500 about Noah. 00:39.300 --> 00:42.600 So depending upon what you want to choose, what you choose to focus 00:42.600 --> 00:48.000 upon in Genesis. Moses teaches you to remember Noah, as one who found 00:48.000 --> 00:54.400 favor, even grace in the eyes of Yahweh or you remember him as a 00:54.400 --> 00:58.500 drunkard who curses his own son and Grandson. 00:59.100 --> 00:59.800 Now of course, 01:00.000 --> 01:03.400 there is merit in holding these two things together when it comes to 01:03.400 --> 01:09.100 Noah. Remembering him as Simul justus et peccator both a saint by 01:09.100 --> 01:10.400 the grace of Yahweh 01:10.600 --> 01:15.000 but also then a sinner by his own sinful, shortcomings. 01:15.800 --> 01:20.500 But that is not where Moses would actually have us focus. 01:21.300 --> 01:27.200 You see, the flood narrative, is a giant chiasm that begins at point A 01:27.300 --> 01:29.800 and then continues on through points B, C, 01:30.000 --> 01:35.700 D all the way to a point P before it finally starts backing back out 01:35.700 --> 01:39.800 O, N, M and all the way back to point A. 01:39.900 --> 01:44.700 Now this is the kind of thing that absolutely fascinates me and I'm 01:44.700 --> 01:50.300 sure that it fascinates you as well or at least it should fascinate 01:50.300 --> 01:50.700 you. 01:51.000 --> 01:55.800 Now, part of the beauty of such a chiasm, is it tells us exactly where 01:55.800 --> 01:59.800 the literary focus of the text is, and therefore, where 02:00.000 --> 02:04.700 our focus ought to be as well. You go right to the center. 02:04.900 --> 02:14.600 So what is point, P of that chiasm, it's Genesis 8, verse 1, God 02:14.800 --> 02:16.800 remembered Noah. 02:18.100 --> 02:23.500 The best way to commemorate Noah, the best way to remember him is that 02:23.500 --> 02:30.900 God remembered him to celebrate that God, remembered Noah. 02:32.100 --> 02:33.200 But what does that mean? 02:33.700 --> 02:35.700 What does it mean for the omniscient 02:35.700 --> 02:39.800 God who knows all things to remember. 02:40.900 --> 02:44.900 It's quite a different thing than how we like to remember our Hebrew 02:44.900 --> 02:46.900 vocabulary. There 02:46.900 --> 02:48.900 sits that Hebrew word, right 02:48.900 --> 02:52.800 at the precipice there at the dark recesses of your mind and you're 02:52.800 --> 02:53.600 doing everything 02:53.600 --> 02:59.100 you can to beckon it to come forward into the light of day so that you 02:59.100 --> 02:59.800 can recall 03:00.000 --> 03:05.600 it. I know that word so why can't I remember it? 03:05.900 --> 03:10.200 So, keep studying your vocab so that it will keep coming forward into 03:10.200 --> 03:11.200 the light of day. 03:11.700 --> 03:16.000 But when God remembers, it's quite a different thing. 03:16.200 --> 03:22.000 When he remembers He springs into action, it's not that something has 03:22.000 --> 03:25.700 slipped from his mind and suddenly comes back in a rush. 03:26.100 --> 03:29.800 No when God remembers He acts 03:30.000 --> 03:32.400 in accord with His promises. 03:32.600 --> 03:36.700 He acts in a chord with His very nature. 03:37.500 --> 03:41.700 So, here is Noah and all the animals with him 03:41.700 --> 03:44.900 in the ark. Rain had fallen for 40 days. 03:45.000 --> 03:49.400 And then the flood waters, had flooded, the Earth for 150 days. 03:49.600 --> 03:54.800 So that only Noah and all those with him in the ark are left alive. 03:56.000 --> 03:59.800 And then we are told that God remembered Noah. 04:00.800 --> 04:05.400 He remembered what He had promised Noah that although that, although 04:05.400 --> 04:08.100 all others would perish in the flood. 04:08.500 --> 04:12.800 God would establish his Covenant with Noah. 04:13.700 --> 04:18.200 And now in Genesis 8, verse 1, it's time. 04:19.200 --> 04:24.500 So God remembers, He acts in a chord with what he has promised Noah. 04:24.900 --> 04:28.900 He sends a wind that causes the waters to recede. 04:30.200 --> 04:31.800 Here in Genesis 8, verse 1, 04:31.800 --> 04:36.100 it is the first time that we come across the Hebrew verb zecar 04:36.300 --> 04:42.200 remember in Holy Scripture. But it will be the far from the last time 04:42.300 --> 04:43.900 we hear that verb. 04:44.500 --> 04:50.800 This text launches us into the glorious beauty of divine, remembrance 04:51.000 --> 04:56.500 that reverberates throughout all of Holy Scripture, one glorious 04:56.500 --> 04:59.800 thread in the tapestry of biblical theology. 05:00.000 --> 05:01.700 Zecar 05:01.700 --> 05:07.100 will next occur in Genesis chapter 9, as God makes good on His promise 05:07.100 --> 05:11.500 to establish a covenant with Noah and with the rest of creation as 05:11.500 --> 05:12.000 well. 05:12.400 --> 05:14.700 He promises that he'll never again 05:14.700 --> 05:19.400 flood the Earth, destroy the Earth by means of a flood, and He 05:19.400 --> 05:24.900 attaches to that promise, his sign, the bow in the clouds. 05:24.900 --> 05:29.800 And then God says, when the bow is seen in the clouds, 05:30.000 --> 05:36.300 I will remember my Covenant. And throughout the rest of Genesis, God 05:36.300 --> 05:40.800 keeps remembering and so He keeps acting. 05:41.200 --> 05:44.100 He keeps honoring His promises. 05:44.600 --> 05:50.000 He'll do it for Abraham, and lot in Genesis 19, he'll do it for Rachel 05:50.000 --> 05:51.800 in Genesis, Chapter 30. 05:53.300 --> 05:54.100 God 05:54.600 --> 05:59.800 remembers. This beautiful truth was not lost on Moses. 06:00.600 --> 06:06.000 In Exodus chapter 2, when the Israelites are groaning in slavery, God 06:06.000 --> 06:12.600 determines to act because He remembered his Covenant with Abraham 06:12.600 --> 06:13.800 with Isaac 06:13.800 --> 06:18.300 and with Jacob. Namely that their descendants are going to inherit the 06:18.300 --> 06:25.900 promised land and now is the time for God to remember for Him to act 06:25.900 --> 06:29.000 for Him to honor His promise. 06:30.200 --> 06:37.500 God remembers this beautiful promise was not lost on Moses and it 06:37.500 --> 06:44.600 shall not be lost on us. When we commemorate Noah by celebrating that 06:44.600 --> 06:48.700 God remembered him were also celebrating that 06:48.700 --> 06:55.600 God remembers us. The descendants of Noah because this is really a 06:55.600 --> 06:56.400 statement 06:56.400 --> 06:58.300 not about who Noah is. 06:58.700 --> 06:59.800 It's a statement about 07:00.100 --> 07:04.700 who God is according to his very nature. 07:05.300 --> 07:06.900 He is a God 07:07.200 --> 07:10.100 who remembers. Who keeps Covenant. 07:10.100 --> 07:13.200 Who acts in accord with His promises. 07:14.500 --> 07:16.200 God remembers. 07:16.800 --> 07:21.300 Now that is something to hold onto every day of your life. 07:21.600 --> 07:26.900 But yet there are moments when it's beauty is all the more resplendent. 07:28.600 --> 07:32.900 When your mother's mind or your grandmother's mind, seems like it has 07:32.900 --> 07:38.700 become a sieve through which everything just falls through so that she 07:38.700 --> 07:39.400 does not 07:39.400 --> 07:44.700 remember your name and looks back at you with a blank stare, as you 07:44.700 --> 07:47.100 share stories from yesteryear. 07:47.800 --> 07:51.200 How can she cling to the promises of God? 07:51.900 --> 07:56.600 How can she remember the grace of God bound up in Christ? 07:56.700 --> 07:58.200 How can she remember her 07:58.300 --> 07:59.800 Baptism even as you 08:00.000 --> 08:02.200 trace the sign of the cross upon her. 08:03.500 --> 08:12.500 The gospel is that God remembers even when she cannot. He remembers. 08:13.000 --> 08:15.400 He acts in accord with His grace 08:15.400 --> 08:19.000 in Christ. He honors His baptismal promise. 08:20.300 --> 08:22.300 God remembers. 08:23.000 --> 08:28.100 That is something to cling to when you wish your mind had become a 08:28.100 --> 08:33.500 sieve because instead, it has become a bear trap that is clamped down 08:33.500 --> 08:35.000 upon your sin. 08:36.200 --> 08:38.900 It may have been a sin you committed years ago. 08:39.100 --> 08:43.400 You may have even been able to keep it a secret from everybody else. 08:43.600 --> 08:49.200 But yet with icy fingers, it grips, tight, your conscience, and your 08:49.200 --> 08:50.000 heart. 08:50.300 --> 08:53.600 If only you couldn't remember it. 08:54.700 --> 08:58.400 And then you get to join your voice with David's. 09:00.300 --> 09:04.000 Your compassion, o, Yahweh and your steadfast love for 09:04.000 --> 09:09.800 they are from of old. The sins of my youth, and my transgressions do 09:09.800 --> 09:15.900 not remember. According to your steadfast love, remember me 09:15.900 --> 09:20.500 Oh, you Yahweh for the sake of your goodness. 09:21.900 --> 09:28.100 God remembers, what He has promised in accord with His very nature 09:28.500 --> 09:31.000 that has been revealed in Christ. 09:31.700 --> 09:39.100 God acts according to His compassion. He honors His steadfast love. 09:39.700 --> 09:46.000 God remembers you in Mercy for the sake of Christ. 09:47.100 --> 09:50.800 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 09:51.700 --> 09:52.200 Amen.