All right, Genesis chapter 8. We consider the marvel of Noah
finding grace in the eyes of the Lord. The whole world, whole
world. Every thought of the imagination,
man's heart evil continually. And that was Noah's too. But
Almighty God was pleased to show mercy to one man and his family
for his sake. We saw where the Lord commanded
Noah to build an ark. We heard the word of the Lord
tell Noah to come after 120 years of construction. And then we beheld the wrath
of God poured out upon the earth, upon the ark, and the delivery
of Noah and his family, the whole race of mankind, except for eight
souls wiped out. Oh, the miracle that God has
a remnant. according to the election of
grace, a remnant. Paul said if there wasn't a small
remnant right now, we'd all be like Sodom and Gomorrah. But God Almighty is going to
save His people from their sins. Now one verse tonight, Genesis
8-1. And God remembered Noah. Now it's not that there would
be any possibility of there being any forgetfulness with God. God Almighty is omniscient. That means He knows all. He knows. But whenever the scripture declares
the Lord to remember, that means that when he's pleased to actually
evidence or show that which in his heart, his will, his purpose,
that he's pleased to deal with all men whether he's pleased
to show mercy and compassion or whether he's pleased to exhibit
and deal with that man, that woman in wrath and judgment. That is the Lord remembering. He remembers when he's pleased
to either show mercy or judgment. That's how God is said to remember. The believer asks by faith for
the Lord to remember us, to have mercy upon us. Psalm 25 7, remember
not the sins of my youth, my transgressions. According to
thy tender mercy, remember thou me for thy goodness sake, oh
Lord. It's not that God forgets, The
sins of His people, He remembers them no more. That means He doesn't
charge them with them. He doesn't deal with them according
to those. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. It's not that we're not sinners,
but it's that God doesn't impute them to us. Charge them with
us. Charge us with it. Genesis 19.29,
and it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain,
that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of
the overflow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt. God remembered his covenant with
Abraham. He remembers that covenant. Listen
to Exodus 2, 23, 25. It came to pass in process of
time that the king of Egypt died and the children of Israel sighed
by reason of the bondage and they cried and their cry came
up unto God by reason of the bondage, and God heard their
groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with
Isaac, with Jacob, and God looked upon the children of Israel,
and God had respect unto them. Oh, the mercy of God. When the
Lord remembers to have compassion, again, Not that it just came
back to him again all of a sudden like it does to us. Oh, now I
remember. It's when he's pleased to show
it, to exhibit it. That's the Lord remembering. I cannot help but think about
that thief on the cross. You know, Scripture declares
that There'll come a time when the
Lord was talking to some people, and he said, the children of
the kingdom are going to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, and you're going to be cast out. Whenever the Lord was on the
Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John were with him.
And there was Moses and Elijah. And Peter, James, and John knew
it. They knew who they were. That's Moses and Elijah. Hundreds
and hundreds and hundreds of years died before the disciples
were even on the earth, and they knew who they were. I'm convinced
we'll know. We won't be dealing, you know
this, we won't be in the same relationships as we are now.
We'll be brethren, part of the kingdom. But we'll know, we'll
know one another. And I think about that thief
on the cross, and I think of of knowing who he was, who he
was while on this earth. And that thief, in that day,
in that hour, I don't know how close he was. I know his legs
were getting ready to be broken here pretty quickly. He was gonna
die, he was gonna suffocate. But he says unto the Lord, Lord,
remember me when thou enterest, comest into thy kingdom. Not
merely just have a knowledge of him, but remember me in mercy. Remember me. The Lord said, you come unto me,
all you the weak, heavy laden, I'll give you rest. And that
thief came to him. Lord, remember me. And the Lord
said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with
me in paradise. Now, what words to die with?
Now that's some words that, I mean he, outside of those words right
there, he has no hope. He knew something of what he
was and there he is, dying. Remember me. So mercy is the
prayer of those made to see something of their need of mercy. Now back up, three, two. I have
heard thy speech and was afraid. Oh Lord, revive thy work in the
midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make
known in wrath, remember mercy. Lord, while you pour out wrath
upon this earth, and I know every man, every woman that leaves
this earth, this world without Christ, I know what's gonna happen. I know what's gonna happen. This
book declares what's gonna happen. They that hath the Son hath life.
They that hath not the Son hath not life. Lord, in wrath, remember
mercy. Lord, have mercy on me. And oh,
the mercy of God to remember the sins of His people. For I
will be merciful to their unrighteousness. This is what I said a while ago.
And their sins, and their iniquities will I remember no more." God
never forgets. Can a woman forget her sucking
child that she should not have compassion on the son of her
womb? Yea, they may forget. Yet will I not forget thee. If the Lord has been pleased
to show mercy He ever remembers. He ever shows mercy. So the scripture
says, and God remembered Noah and every living thing and all
the cattle that was with him in the ark. Even in the mercy of God, there
was a remembrance of the wild and the tamed. Animals that God
had created. And remember again, the scripture
says, Genesis 1.31, concerning the creation, all things, man,
the animals, the birds, the fishes, the plants. God saw everything
that he had made and behold, it was very good. Like I said
a week or so ago, I realize that we don't know, we don't perceive
the fullness of the youthfulness of all the creation. It's surely
hidden from the minds of men, but the truthfulness and the
declaration from the mouth of the Lord saying that it was very
good causes us to realize that God Almighty has created all
things for his glory and for the good sake of his people and
the honor of his blessed son. So everything that God put in
that ark, it was for his glory, the good of his people. So in
an act of sovereign grace, God remembered Noah and every living
thing and remembered him for Christ's sake. Like David showed
mercy to Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake, for his daddy's sake, for
the sake of your daddy, that was my friend, made a covenant
with your daddy. And I'm gonna show mercy to you
for his sake. All the mercy and grace and compassion
that's shown to any of us who could of ourselves do nothing.
No ability, no will, no power, no love for God, no nothing.
But God, for Christ's sake, has remembered to show mercy for
the sake of his beloved son. But why? Why did God remember
Noah? I've thought about this today
and I was Going over these notes, I thought, why did the Almighty
remember this sinner who in himself was worthy of the flames of hell?
Why? Because God delighteth in mercy. He delighteth in mercy. We think about God Almighty who's
sovereign. He is. The mighty God He is. God Almighty who rules in the
army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. He's
God. Nobody stays at His hand. But
oh, to hear those words, He delighteth in mercy. I'm thinking, Lord,
delight to have mercy on me. Lord, remember me. Lord, show mercy. Delight to have mercy upon me. And Lord, I know for Christ's
sake. Delight to have mercy on those
like you did Noah, who in the midst of all this world that
you chose to show mercy. Almighty God, who remembered
the blood that was shed from the foundation of the world.
He who knows the end from the beginning and beheld the faithfulness
of his beloved son, whoever stood as the surety, Almighty God knew
he was the first, he first trusted in Christ. And all that were
chosen in him before the foundation of the world, All that were chosen
in Christ, before there was ever a creation, and put in Him, Him
being the surety, and He trusted Him. God's Word, God's Name, He trusted the Son, and for the
sake of the Son, looked upon the objects of His mercies justified
in His Son, no charge to them, never been a charge to them. He did it for the sake of the
one who was by Him, brought up with Him, was daily His delight,
and rejoiced always before Him. Jehovah remembered. According
to that eternal omniscience. He remembered the one for whom
He was doing all that He did for His people, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who in time would actually come into this world and live
before Him in absolute obedience and establish that robe of righteousness
that He robes His children in. God saw, God remembered, God
knew. He knew that the Lord Jesus Christ
would come into this world and make Himself of no reputation
and humble Himself before the Father. The Father knew that.
He remembered. He remembered before it ever
actually took place in time. He remembered that His blessed
Son would come into this world place himself into the hands
of wicked men and lay down his life for the sheep. Therefore, God remembered Noah for the sake
of Christ. Noah and all like him. And then in an act of absolute
mercy and power, The scripture says God remembered Noah and
every living thing and all the cattle that was with him in the
ark and God made a wind to pass over the earth and the waters
assuaged. How amazing are the ways of the
Lord. Here he was pleased to make a
wind to pass over the earth, that same power that was exhibited
when the Red Sea was opened up for the delivery of God's people,
a wind. The scripture says Exodus 14,
21, and Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the Lord
caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all night
and made the sea dry land and the waters were divided. Dry
land. He who sends the wind controls
the wind. Turn with me to Mark 4. The Lord
was asleep in the back of a boat. There we behold the humanity
of Christ. Scripture says He was asleep. And Mark 4. Verse 37 says, And there arose
a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so
that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part
of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him, and say unto
him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose
and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, peace, be still. And the wind ceased. And there was a great calm. And he said unto them, why are
you so fearful? And how is it that you have no
faith? And they feared exceedingly and
said one to another, What manner of man is this that even the
wind and the sea obey Him? And as the wind and the sea obeyed
the Lord as He spoke, in that day in which His disciples were
afraid, the boat was filling up and we're going down and Lord,
don't you care? The Lord who spoke to that wind
made the wind back in Genesis chapter 8 to pass over the earth
and it says, and the waters assuaged. Now, that's an amazing effect. The usual effect of the wind
would have been on that water to cause that water to be lifted
up or enraged. Psalm 107.25 says, for he commandeth
and raises the stormy wind which lifted up the waves thereof. You get wind starting to blow
out over the ocean and there can be some pretty heavy duty
winds and pretty heavy duty waves Jonah 1.4 concerning Jonah fleeing
from the Lord, but the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea,
and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so the ship was like
to be broken. It was whipping that ship around
and that wind blowing, but here God made the wind to work contrary
to its normal effect. The scripture says the water
assuaged. It subsided, it decreased. The wind, the Lord spoke to the
wind and to the sea back in Mark 4, stopped it. But this wind
was doing something different. It was causing the passion of
the water, actually when I looked at the word assuaged, it means
to allay, a-l-l-a-y-e-d, to allay, that is to diminish and to put
to rest. That's what that wind was doing. God remembered Noah. He remembered
his covenant. He remembered his mercy. He remembered
his son. He remembered the one who paid
the debt for Noah, saw him bleed before the foundation of the
world, and he sent a wind. After he'd sent wrath and destroyed
all of mankind, save for eight souls, And He sent that wind
and made that wind to pass over the earth and the waters. The Lord holds all things in
His hand. And He does as He will, when
He will, how He will. And the wind that normally has
one effect on the water now has a different effect because it
pleases God. That's what He does. Almighty God can take a situation
wherever we are. He knows where His people are.
And what normally would seem to be the effect, God Almighty
does as He will. He does with us as He will. Listen
to this. I wrapped this up. Proverbs 30
verse 4. Who hath ascended up into the
heaven? Or who descended? Who hath gathered
the wind in his fist? Who hath bound the waters in
a garment? Who hath established all the
ends of the earth? What is his name? And what's
his son's name, if thou canst tell?" Well, what a scripture
that gloriously declares the sovereignty of Almighty God to
weak and beggarly men such as we are. When man thinks himself
to be something, you consider the words It's Solomon Penn there
in Proverbs. Who is he that has his seat in
heaven? That's what he was saying. Who
is he? It works all things together. for good to them that love him.
Who is that? Who is he whose universal power
and orders providence, and it's felt and experienced by all men. Where is his mysterious being,
Solomon Penn, who hides the depth of himself and his ways from
men? Who is that? Who has control
of the invisible wind and has the power and right and wisdom
to retain it and hold it in his fist? Who is that? Who is he
that binds the waters up above in a garment? and all of their
weight is held in heaven and doesn't fall until he commands
it to fall. Who has consolidated all the
foundations and defined the limits of the remote regions of the
world? In that latter part when he says,
who hath established all the ends of the earth, what is his
name and what is his son's name if thou canst tell? He said,
can you give me one all-inclusive name for him? Who is he? And what's his son's name? What's
his all-inclusive name? He's a person. What's his name? That you can describe the indescribable
God. He told Moses, he said, you tell
them that I am that I am sent you. I'm the Lord. Jehovah Jireh,
that was the name of God. What does that mean? The Lord
will provide. Jehovah Nisai, the Lord my banner. Jehovah Shalom, the Lord send
peace. Jehovah Shema, the Lord is there. Jehovah Sidcanu, the Lord is,
the Lord our righteousness. He said, who is this that holds
everything in his fist, this wind? What's his name if you
can tell it? I can't tell it. the one who is altogether holy,
the one who we know by faith. Saul of Tarsus says, who art
thou, Lord? He said, I'm Jesus of Nazareth. Psalm 135, seven,
he causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth and
maketh lightnings for the rain and bringeth the wind out of
his treasuries. There's no way to express the
thankfulness that a believer has when he experiences, by faith,
the mercy of Almighty God to him. He who remembers to show
mercy and his good pleasure, he has compassion, a worthless
worms as we are. And to even contemplate that
he does remember the objects of his mercy, we never forget
that for one person, he's done what he's done for his blessed
son. I pray that the Lord bless these
words to our heart, just those words, and God remembered Noah. God remembered. Lord, I pray
have mercy on us. Remember us for Christ's sake.
Amen.