Isaiah 54. I'm going to read verses 8 through
10. Beginning in verse 8, And a little
wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting
kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith 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 shall be removed, but my kindness shall not depart
from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,
saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. Now this is written
to believers This is written to those who've been called by
God's grace and it's written to those who are being called
by God's grace. To those God is calling out of
darkness into His light. This is the covenant God makes
in the heart when He calls us from darkness to light. He says
here, I will not take my covenant of peace from you. And this is
what He tells us when He calls us. Now what is a covenant? What
is a covenant? Let me give you three things
to help you understand something about God's covenant, about this
covenant of peace. Number one, it's a promise. It's
a promise from God to the sinner. It's a promise from God to those
that God has everlastingly loved. He says there in verse 8, I will
have mercy on thee. That's a promise. He says in
verse 9, I have sworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke
thee. That's a promise. Verse 10, he
says, My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the
covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy
on thee. This is a promise. So the first thing, the covenant
of God is a promise. Secondly, it's unconditional. It's unconditional. The covenant
that God makes with His elect in the heart of those born of
God is not conditioned on anything in us. It's not a promise that
says, I will if you will. When you come across that in
Scripture, in the Old Testament, that's a covenant of works. We
were under a covenant of works. God's elect, those he shall save,
were under a covenant of works in the garden, in Adam. And we
failed. We sinned against God. And God
cast us out. But this covenant that God makes
in the heart is unconditional. God's covenant by us is not to
be performed not based on any work performed by us. Now, somebody
might say, well, isn't faith a condition? Well, faith is a
gift of God and it's part of this covenant that God gives.
Let me show you that. Turn to Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah
32. Our faith, we have faith because
God gives it and He gives it in conjunction with revealing
Christ in us and making this covenant with us. Look here,
Jeremiah 32, 39. He says, I will give them one heart. This is
where you get faith. This is the heart of faith. I'll
give them one heart and one way. That's Christ's way. I'll give
them one heart, I'll give them one way. So that, in order that,
so that, in order to, that they fear me forever. You see, this
is the work of God. He said, I'll give them a heart
of faith and I'll give them one way, Christ, so that they'll
fear me forever. And he says, for the good of
them and of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them. An everlasting covenant. He said,
I'll give them faith, I'll give them one way Christ, and I'll
make an everlasting covenant with them. That I will not turn
away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their
hearts that they shall not depart from me. So God's everlasting
covenant is unconditional. God the Father, God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit do all the work and that's the glorious
good news when He makes this everlasting covenant in our hearts
is it's done. He's done it. His promise to
us is fulfilled and He's going to bring us to glory with Him
not based on any work in us. And here's the third thing. This
covenant is everlasting and it's eternal. God's covenant to His
people never ends. It's never ending. It's everlasting.
So these three things are true of this everlasting covenant
of peace. Number one, it's a promise of God. Number two, it's unconditional. It's done by God. And number
three, it's everlasting. It's eternal. All right. Secondly,
now, let's compare God's covenant to His people to God's covenant
that He made to Noah. He says here in verse 8, In a
little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, But with everlasting
kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.
We saw here that when we sinned in the garden, God turned His face from us.
It appeared that God forsook us, but He didn't forsake His
people. We were in Christ from the beginning, thankfully. That's
the only reason God didn't forsake His people. He put a people in
Christ before the foundation of the world. Men who hate the
doctrine of election and the doctrine of predestination hate
their own mercy. That's what they hate. Because
God, if He hadn't chosen people in Christ, we would have died
in the garden justly. But He put a people in Christ.
And because He had a people in Christ, He did hide His face
from us until Christ came. And Christ redeemed His people
from the curse of the law. And now He's gathering us out.
He says, I hid my face from you in a little wrath for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you. Verse
9. And it tells us how this is like
Noah's covenant. For this is as the waters of
Noah unto me. Now here's what he promised Noah,
verse 9. As I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no
more go over the earth. That's what he promised Noah.
He said, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee
nor rebuke thee. Now let's go back and read about
this covenant God made with Noah in Genesis chapter 8. Genesis
chapter 8. And let me set this up for you.
There may be some that don't know about Noah and his ark.
God looked down from heaven and He saw that the thoughts in the
heart of man was only evil continually. And we had sinned. We sinned
in Adam and man cannot do anything to please God. And it got to
such a horrible sinful way in the earth that
God poured out judgment. That's what God's going to do
again. He's going to pour out judgment on the earth. Before
he did that, he told Noah. He came and he revealed himself
to Noah by grace. And he told Noah to build an
ark. And he shut Noah up in that ark. There was not one drop of
water that fell until God put Noah in that ark. Now when God
began to drop that water from heaven and break up the water
from beneath, that water, that flood represents the judgment
of God. And everybody outside of that
ark died in the flood. because they were outside of
the ark. The flood of judgment fell directly
upon them and they died. But Noah inside the ark, the
flood of judgment fell on the ark and it didn't fall on Noah. It didn't touch Noah because
it fell on the ark. It consumed the ark so that the
ark saved Noah because he was in the ark. Now brethren, this
is the truth of the gospel. The flood is judgment. And everybody
that's in Christ, when judgment comes, they're spared. In fact,
the truth of the matter is, when God judged Christ on the cross,
judgment settled. All judgment is settled. Christ
said, now is the judgment of this world. Whenever God judged
Christ, His people were in Christ. We were in Him. We did what He
did when He did it. We fulfilled the law when He
fulfilled it. And when He took our sin and God justly poured
out the flood of judgment upon Him, we satisfied divine judgment. We satisfied divine judgment.
And everybody outside of Him their judgment is settled too.
Their judgment is settled. And what's happening right now
is God is sending forth the gospel and He's calling out His sheep
and telling those the good news of what He has accomplished for
us. And He will not stop until He's called the very last one
into the ark. There will not be one drop of
judgment fall, just like in Noah's day, until all have been called
into the ark. And then judgment's coming. And
that day God is going to pronounce publicly who is just and righteous
by the work of Christ. And He's going to pronounce who
is condemned because they would not believe on Christ. It won't
be God's fault. It will be man's fault because
he would not believe on Christ. Now, in our text, what we're
seeing here, or in this passage about Noah, what we're seeing
here is that the waters have gone away now. Judgment's been
accomplished. And the ark has come up out of
the water. And now Noah has come out of the ark. Here you have
a picture of Christ ascended from the grave, ascended up to
the Father to present Himself to the Father. Genesis 8 verse
20. It says, And Noah built an altar unto the Lord. This is
a picture of Christ. Christ is our altar. And the
first thing he did was come out of the grave, come out of the
flood and go to the Father to present himself to the Father.
And it says here in verse 20, And he took of every clean beast,
and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the
altar, and the Lord smelled a sweet savor. Christ did this for a
chosen people. The Scripture says this, Ephesians
5 verse 2 says, Christ loved us and He gave Himself for us. an offering and a sacrifice to
God for a sweet smelling savor. Christ loved His people. You
have to have a people to love somebody, right? Don't you have
to have an object of your love to love somebody? It says Christ
loved us. And it says, and He gave Himself
for us. That means as the substitute
in our place. He gave Himself for us. He's
the offering. He's the sacrifice that God's
pleased with. And God smelled a sweet-smelling
savor in what Christ did. This is God's own Son. And God's
satisfied by what He did. Outside of Christ, I've shown
you here recently, outside of Christ, God smells the sinner
as an abomination. A sulfurous stench in his nostrils. But in Christ, God smells a sweet-smelling
savor. You want to be in Christ. Listen
to me. You want to be in Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
now while there is time. There is coming a day. When that
water started falling, it was too late then. It was too late. Judgment was come. And when Christ
returns, judgment will be come. It will be too late then. Believe
on Him now. Believe on Him now. If He makes
you able, you will. And everyone that He saved, He
is going to make them able. They are going to believe on
Him. Alright, look now. So the picture in our text is
that the work of redemption has been accomplished for all God's
elect. We're righteous, not by our doing, but by Christ's doing.
By Christ's doing. Christ finished the work. And
we're righteous by what He did. Now, here was the covenant He
made to Noah. God's going to come to us. We're
dead. We've got to be told this good news. So He comes to us
and He says, I'll give them one heart. I'll give them one way.
And I'm going to make a covenant with them. So He gives us faith.
He gives us faith in Christ. And He makes His everlasting
covenant in our hearts. And here's what He says. Genesis
8, verse 21. The Lord said in His heart. That means He said
it into Noah's heart. He said it into Noah's heart.
If God makes His covenant with you today, it's going to be because
God spoke through the Gospel. This is God speaking. This is
not a man speaking, it's God speaking. I'm here on behalf
of God. God is speaking the Word. And
if you hear, you're going to hear it in your heart because
God spoke into your heart. Alright? And here's the covenant
God made with Noah. Genesis 8.21. I will not again
curse the ground anymore for man's sake, because the imagination
of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I again smite
any more everything living as I have done. While the earth
remaineth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, and summer and
winter, and day and night shall not cease." Now, this is God's
covenant to Noah. This was His covenant to Noah.
The earth will never again be cursed by a flood. The earth
will remain as long as God holds it in place. It's going to remain.
You don't have to worry about that. You can listen to God and
ignore politicians. It's going to be fine. God's
going to keep it and it's going to be fine. And God's going to
see to it. Now, hold your place here in
Genesis and go back to our text in Isaiah 54. He said here in verse 6, The
Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken, grieved in spirit,
a wife of youth when thou wast refused, saith thy God, like
a harlot, like an adulterous wife. In a small moment I forsook
thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little
wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting
kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. Now, God called us and He made
this covenant in our heart. He said with great mercies will
I gather thee. He said, With everlasting kindness
will I have mercy on thee. He said in verse 9, 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. Believer,
our judgment is settled. Our judgment is settled. You
have nothing to fear about death because when we meet God, we
are going to meet God accepted in Christ Jesus the Beloved.
Our judgment is settled. Justice is satisfied. God is
pleased with us. He said, I promise you, I'm never
going to be angry with you. I'm never going to rebuke you
in my fierce anger. I'm never going to cast you out
again. God's satisfied with His people
in Christ. Now, thirdly, that's how it is. That's how it was a comparison
to Noah's covenant. He said, just as that water would
never come again on that earth, He says, I'll never rebuke you
again. I'll never be angry with you again. But there's some contrast. There's some contrast between
the covenant God makes with us and the covenant He made with
Noah. First of all, our covenant is everlasting and eternal. But
Noah's, this covenant God made with Noah was temporal. It was
temporary. Go back there to Genesis 8 and
look here. Genesis 8 verse 22. God put a limit on His covenant
to Noah. Verse 22, he says, while the
earth remaineth. While the earth remaineth. That's
how long that covenant will be in effect. While the earth remaineth,
seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day
and night shall not cease. The ark in Noah's day was just
a picture. It was only a picture. It was
a picture of Christ. And therefore, it was just a
temporary salvation. It just saved him from that flood,
that earthly flood. And so the covenant God made
with Noah was a temporary, temporal, earthly covenant. But God put
no time limit on this covenant He made with His people. Go back
now to Isaiah 54 and look at verse 10. He says, For the mountains
shall depart, When the earth's gone, when it's all dissolved
and burned up, he said, and the hills be removed, my kindness
shall not depart from thee. Neither shall the covenant of
my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on you.
Believer, this covenant, this sure word that God gives us that
He'll never be angry with us, is not only in this life, it's
in the world to come. Christ is eternal God and what
He did was eternal. So we have an everlasting, eternal
promise given to us of God. Here's the second contrast in
Noah's covenant and our covenant. The second contrast is this,
our assurance. What do we have as assurance?
What did Noah have as assurance? What do we have as assurance?
Go back to Genesis 9. God gave Noah a temporary token
to assure him. It was a rainbow. in the sky. You ever wondered where the rainbow
came from? You ever wondered why there's a rainbow in the
sky? Here it is. Here's why. Genesis 9 verse 11. And I will establish My covenant
with you. God always does the establishing
of His covenant. Whether it's temporary or it's
eternal, God establishes it. I will establish My covenant
with you. Neither shall all flesh be cut
off anymore by the waters of a flood. Not going to be by the
waters of a flood. Next time it's going to be by
God's judgment. But not by the waters of a flood. Neither shall
there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, this
is the token of the covenant. Here's the token of the covenant.
Here's how you can be sure this covenant is going to be sure.
Which I make between me and you and every living creature that's
with you for perpetual generations. I do set my bow in the clouds. I set my rainbow in the cloud,
and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the
earth. This is how you're going to know
God's Word is sure about this thing of Him never destroying
the world with a flood again. He says, 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 will look upon it that
I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every
living creature of all flesh that is on earth." Now that was
the assurance of this covenant that God made Noah a rainbow
in the sky. What's our assurance that this
everlasting covenant is sure? It's Christ Himself. It's the
Son of God Himself. He's our assurance. God raised
up that bow and He set that bow in the clouds. When Christ finished
the work and He went to the grave, God raised Christ from the dead
and Christ Jesus, God's own Son, God Himself, sat down at the
right hand of the throne of God. Christ is the covenant of His
people. He is our assurance, brethren.
Look back at Isaiah 49 and verse 8. Isaiah 49 and verse 8. Thus saith
the Lord. He's speaking to Christ right
here. He says, In an acceptable time have I heard you? When the
work was finished, He heard Christ. He heard Him. The judgment was
settled. He said, It's finished. God said, now I hear him now.
He turned His back on him until then. He said, now I hear him.
And He said, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee.
He raised him from the dead. I'll preserve thee and I will
give thee for a covenant of the people. I'll give you for a covenant
of the people to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the
desolate heritage. God raised Christ and He said,
here's my token to you. that this promise is sure, He
raised Christ. Now, God set that rainbow in
the clouds above us. You know where He set Christ?
He set Him at His right hand. Hebrews 1-3 says He's the express
image of God. He's the brightness of His glory.
And when He had by Himself purged our sins, He set down at the
right hand of the Majesty on high. Why did He set down? The
work is finished. There is nothing else to be done.
He sat down. Now you sit down. You rest in
Him. You rest in Him. He is our assurance.
He is our assurance. Look at Revelation 10. Revelation
10. I will show you what John saw
in heaven. And look at verse 1. I saw another, Revelation 10
verse 1. I saw another mighty angel. This is Christ Jesus, our Redeemer. I saw another mighty angel come
down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. Where did God put this
rainbow? He put it in a cloud. Here's
Christ. He said, I saw Him robed with
a cloud, clothed with a cloud. And look, and a rainbow was upon
His head. A rainbow was upon His head.
And His face was as it were the sun and His feet as pillars of
fire. And He had in His hand a little
book open. This is the whole book of Providence.
This is a book of why everything in this earth happens the way
it happens, at the time it happens, to whom it happens. It's because
God, Christ Jesus, holds the book of Providence in His hand.
And He says here, And he set his right foot upon the sea and
his left foot on the earth. He's got power over all. Power
over all. And he cried with a loud voice
when a lion roared. He's the lion of the tribe of
Judah. And when he cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
You know when you look up and see a rainbow? It's after the
thunder roars. You'll look up after the storm
has gone and you'll see a rainbow in the clouds. You know when
you're going to hear and see Christ? when He's roared and
thundered and made you to look up and behold Him. That's when
you're going to behold Him. And you'll behold Him. You won't
behold the rainbow and the clouds. You won't behold... You'll behold
Christ. Christ and that rainbow. That
rainbow had seven colors in it. Seven colors. The number of perfection.
and you look at Christ and you see the perfection of all the
redemptive work, you see the perfection of our righteousness,
the perfection of our holiness, the perfection of what God demands
of you and me, brethren, is Christ the Lord. That's when a man's
saved, when he stops trying to look at himself and add to Christ,
and he rests in Christ alone. And God looks upon the rainbow,
not upon us. That's what He told Noah, I'm
going to look upon the rainbow He didn't say, I'm going to look
upon you. He said, I'm going to look upon the rainbow. I'll look upon
the rainbow. God said, I'll look upon it.
You know who God looks upon? Isaiah 53. He said there in Isaiah
53, He said there in verse 10, He shall see His seed. He shall
see His seed. He's looking upon His Son. He's
looking upon Christ. He sees Christ. And you think
this, man will say, well, But I'm not always feel like I see
God. I don't always feel like I see
Christ. And I don't always remember this
covenant. But see brethren, here's the good news of this everlasting
covenant. God has not left anything up to you. God says, I'm going
to look on Christ. And God says, and I will remember
my covenant. What if you get Alzheimer's and
you can't remember nothing? God says, I'm going to remember
My covenant. Look here. Look here. He said,
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 even better than that, brethren, God looks
upon Christ. He doesn't look upon His people.
He looks upon His Son. And He remembers His covenant
toward you and I because of His Son. That's why that rainbow
It's empty. It's a bow. Looks like a bow
and arrow, but it's empty and it's pointed up and it's got
no arrow in it at all. Well, the bow's been shot. The
arrow's been shot. The arrow of justice has been
shot and it was shot into the heart of Christ our Redeemer
for His people. And so now justice is satisfied
and the bow's empty. It's empty. Christ has no more
anger toward us. I'll no more be angry toward
you. I'll no more be wroth toward His people because that judgment
is settled. But now, instead of being full
of wrath and full of an arrow to shoot at His people, He's
full of the riches of Christ to pour out abundantly upon His
people. This is the case for you who
believe. This is the case for you who have been called by His
grace. 2 Samuel 23. This is what David said. And this is what you and I can
say. Although my house be not so with God. I've got a lot of
people in my house that don't believe this gospel. And although
my house be not so with God, yet He's made with me. He has
made with me. God has made with me an everlasting
covenant. And it's ordered in all things. God has ordered it in all things. He has worked out everything
in His covenant by Himself. And therefore, it's sure in all
things. There's nothing, nothing I got
to worry about that has not been fulfilled. It's sure in all things.
And this is all my salvation. You mean, Clay, you're not dependent
on you doing something? Not a thing. Not a thing. You
mean you don't think that you have to do anything? I do not
have to do anything for salvation, no sir. And if you think you
do, we saw Thursday night, Paul said, Christ shall profit you
nothing. You're a debtor, do it all yourself. But the man
resting in Christ, he can be sure it's done. It's done. Salvation is certain and sure.
And this is all my salvation and all my desire. Every bit
of it. Now, for you who don't believe
on Him, for you sinners that don't believe on Him, listen
to this. Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. This is what He says. Verse 2. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread? Why are you working? Why do you
keep on working and spending for that which is never going
to eternally satisfy God and will never give you eternal life?
Why? Huh? Why? Your labor is for that
which satisfies not. Why do you keep on laboring for
that? Working, working, working, working, working. You know what?
You can work from now to the last breath you take. You will
never ever work enough to soothe and satisfy that guilty conscience
of yours, and nor will you satisfy God. Now your conscience might
become seared to where you think you're good, but I guarantee
you this, you will never ever meet God and find a God that's
satisfied by your works, ever. He says here, hearken diligently
unto me. unto me, and eat that which is
good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. You want that
which is good? You want real fatness? You want
something God satisfied that will satisfy your soul and make
you give you rest that you've never known? Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now listen, look here, verse 3. Incline your ear and come
unto me, hear, and your soul shall live. Your soul shall live. God's going to have to give you
the ears. God's going to have to give you the will. God's going
to have to give you, He's going to have to draw you to Himself.
But I'll tell you this, He says this, now this is how He does
it. He says to dead folks, He says to dead folks, hear! And
all of a sudden, bone starts coming to bone, and sinew to
sinew, and flesh to flesh, and they're formed together. And
all of a sudden, the Spirit of God comes in them, and they live!
And they can do what God said to do, all of a sudden. They
can hear Him, and they live. And this is what God says. Verse
3, And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David. I'll make an everlasting covenant
with you. Would you like to know that it's
settled between you and God? That God is satisfied? All the
works... Listen to this, brethren. I'm
not trying to fulfill the law of God. I'm not trying to keep
the Ten Commandments. to please God, to get more favor
with God, or to keep the favor I have with God. I'm not. I delight
in the law of God, in the inward man. I want to keep His law.
And I would to God that I could. Paul said, that which I would,
I don't do. I wish I could. But this is where
I rest, brethren. This is where I rest. Christ
has fulfilled the law for me so fully that God says in Romans
8, who's going to lay anything to the charge of my life. It's God that justified me. It's
Christ that died and is risen and is at the right hand of the
Father. You know what that means? We can't break the law, brethren.
You can't break it. All we do in our flesh is break
it. But before God, we can't break the law of God because
Christ has forever fulfilled it for us. And that's our righteousness.
Christ is our righteousness. It's done. I'll make with you
an everlasting covenant, He said. He is order and sure. That's
all my salvation and all my desire. Amen. Let's stand together, brethren,
and we'll be dismissed. We've got about 15 minutes. Let's try to get back about 5
till. Father, we thank You for Your Word. What a God looks upon
a bunch of wretched sinners, sends forth His Son, redeems
us completely, finishes the work, justifies your law, does the
justifying of your people, and then come and tell us, and give
us life and faith, and make this everlasting covenant in our heart,
and give us this rest, and then carry us all the rest of our
days until you deliver us safely into eternal glory with you.
We have a God. We have a God that is amazing. God, we thank you for that. Thank
you, thank you, thank you. Forgive us, Lord, of our unbelief.
Forgive us of the sin of our self-righteousness. Forgive us
the sin of our self-sanctifying vanity. Forgive us the sin of
turning from you back to that other husband, the law, and trying
to come and committing spiritual adultery. Keep us stayed on Christ. Keep us knowing that this covenant
is ordered and sure and it's everlasting. Thank you, Father. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.