Okay. Turn back to Genesis chapter
8 now. Last fall, Hannah and I were
riding in my car coming back from somewhere. We were riding over one of the
back roads. What was the name of the road
number you used to live on, Mary? 756. That was the road. We're coming back over that.
And you cross 640 there, and you go down, you come up the
top of the hill, and you look out over a—you can see quite
a long ways. And last fall, when the leaves
were in their full color, we were driving back, and it had
been raining. And we drove down through there and we came up
on top of the hill where you could see for miles it seems. And we saw the most beautiful
rainbow. You could see the start and the end of it. You could
see the whole thing just covering all of Franklin County or all
of Virginia. Great big rainbows. Gorgeous.
Glorious sight. And it has a glorious purpose.
There's a purpose every time one of those shows up. The scientists
give their reasons for it. Say the sun shines, shining through
the clouds and does different things and reflections and so
forth. And then you have a bow. Well, God put that there. And
he said it first. He said, my cloud, when I see
When you see a cloud in the sky, and I'll put my bow in it, you
have to have a cloud to have a rainbow. He said that first. But God put it there for a purpose,
a purpose. Well, let's look at some other
things before we get to that rainbow. Look at chapter 8, verse
1. We'll get to the rainbow here
in a moment. Chapter 8 says in verse 1, God remembered Noah.
I don't think you're getting tired of this, are you? I studied
it all over again, and I've been studying this for hours, hours,
and preaching it for hours now, and it's still just as fresh.
Verse 1 says, God remembered Noah and every living thing,
all the cattle that was with him in the ark. God remembered
Noah and every living thing with him in the ark. The only thing
living was that which was in the ark with Noah. Jesus Christ
is our Noah. Noah means rest, doesn't it?
Jesus Christ is our Noah, our Savior, our resting place, our
Savior from the wrath and condemnation of sin. He is the one, like Noah,
who did that great work of salvation by himself. He did that great
work of salvation for his people in making himself to be an ark,
a tabernacle for us to abide in, and a tabernacle for God
to abide in. He was made as hen for us. And back up in chapter 7, verse
17, it says that the waters bear up the ark, and it was lifted
up above the earth. All these words are so significant,
aren't they? God bears witness with his word. Christ said, If
I be lifted up, I will draw men myself. And the waters bore up
the ark, and Christ was borne up on the cross, and he bore
our sins in his body on the tree, and he bore them away. And like
Noah, him only, in chapter 7 verse 1, God says, Thee have I seen
righteous before And Christ is the one God has seen righteous,
and I am seen righteous in him. And like other stories in God's
Word, like Jonathan—remember the story of Jonathan and how
David remembered and spared Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake? I love that
story. That's one of my favorites. David
remembered a covenant he made with Jonathan and spared Mephibosheth. And here, Noah, God remembered
Noah and spared Noah's family because of that covenant he made
with Noah. And so, God remembers Christ,
the covenant that he made with Christ, and his work, and he
spared men. His family, his wife, his bride. And every living thing, everyone
whom he hath quickened together with Christ, who were crucified
with him, who were buried with him. Noah and his family were,
as it were, buried beneath the waters, buried in that wooden
coffin, went down under the waters, in the waters, and we were buried
with Christ. But that ark came out and rested
on the mountain, didn't it? And we were risen with Christ.
And God remembers what Christ did. and will for all eternity,
will never forget. The only thing he will forget
is our sins. He will always remember that
covenant that he made with his Son concerning us, and he spares
us. Look at verse 2 of chapter 8.
It says, The fountains of the deep and windows of heaven were
stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. Those that are
in Christ need never fear that rain of fire. God says one day
it's going to rain fire from heaven upon this earth. We need
never fear that rain, nor dark clouds. When dark clouds start
brewing, we need never fear them. The only rain that we will see
is grace raining under righteousness. The only showers We're going
to say, are showers of blessing. The old poem is, Fear not, ye
saints, fresh courage take, Those clouds ye so much dread, Are
filled with blessing, And some day will break With blessings
on thy head. So the only rain we will have
upon us is grace, grace raining. That's what Paul said to the
Corinthians. Verse 4, And the ark rested in
the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountain
of Ararat. And Christ, after he finished his work, he rested
on the holy mountain, didn't he? And after he had by himself
purged our sins, the scripture says he sat down on the right
hand of God. And like Noah's family who rested
in the ark on the mountain with him, we are resting in Christ. We are seated with Christ in
the heavenly. And someday we'll walk out of
this tabernacle, just like Noah and his family walked out of
that ark, and we'll walk into a land that is fairer than day.
All right, every word is significant here. Look at verse 6. I'm going
to try to just pass down through here briefly and get to Chapter
9, verse 6, It came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah
opened the window of the ark which he had made, and he sent
forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters
were dried up from off the earth." And it seems that the raven did
not return. He sent the raven, and he did
this because a raven is something that feeds on dead carcasses
And he sent the raven to see if the waters had gone down and
there was dry land appearing, there would be carcasses washed
up on it. And that's why he sent it. But the window there. Christ
is the window, isn't it? Christ is the light of the world,
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. In Christ
we can see things. We can see things clearly in
Christ. Illumination, spiritual illumination.
Noah, when he opened that window, he saw things as they were, didn't
he? He saw things as they were. He saw things from inside the
ark as they were. Drowning. Dead thing. Drowning. The world drowning.
The world destroyed. And that's what we see in Christ,
don't we? We see clearly. We see clearly that God is going
to destroy the earth. This world is drowning in sin.
Now, the raven that Noah sent forth, something, as I said,
that feeds on dead carcasses. This was sent by Noah to ascertain
if land was showing anywhere, and eventually the raven did
not return. And then it says, verse 8, also
he sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters were abated
from off the face of the ground, but the dove found no rest for
the soul of her and she returned unto him into the ark. The waters
were on the face of the whole earth. Then he put forth his
hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark."
I love that verse. A dove is a peaceable, gentle,
neat little creature. It does not feed on carrion,
but it feeds on vegetation and so forth. He sent a dove, and
eventually, He stayed yet another seven days,
and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. The dove came
in to him in the evening. The dove kept returning to no
one. And lo, in her mouth was an olive
leaf plucked off, a symbol of peace, and the dove brought back
an olive leaf. In verse 9, he put forth his
hand and took her pulled her in unto him, pulled her in again,
and kept her to himself. Jesus Christ, these two things,
I believe, represent preachers of the gospel. I mean, one of
them does. The raven, I believe, represents
false prophets, false preachers who are dead, black-hearted,
dead-hearted men, ministry of death. They are dead, and so
is their ministry, so-called, and their people, their gospel,
which is no gospel. And these false prophets claim
to come from God, and there's a sense in which they do, because
Jesus Christ is Lord over all, right? He's Lord over all. Everyone does his bidding. And
I'm reminded of Paul's letter to the Thessalonians in which
he said, He said that he would send strong
delusion. God himself would send strong delusions that people,
because people receive not the love of the truth. See, God first
sent true prophets, didn't he? And because they received not
the love of the truth, then the false ones started coming and
they received one. And God shall send strong delusions that they
should believe a lie. So there is a sense in which
he sends them too. to see who the people will receive.
But the dove here, I believe, represents his true prophets
and apostles. He said, Behold, I send you forth
as sheep among wolves. He said, Be ye wise as serpents
and harmless as doves. So these doves, and they're messengers
of peace, aren't they? This dove, little dove, had that
olive leaf in her mouth. And God ministers a messenger
of peace, too, but they talk about the peace that Christ obtained
by the blood of his cross. Look at verse 9, and then we'll
turn over to Hebrews 11. Verse 9, again, look at that. It says, The dove found no rest
for the sole of her feet. And again, I'm talking, this
is a type, I believe, of a true preacher of the gospel, true
prophet, all of God's pilgrims. The dove found no rest for the
sole of her foot. She returned unto him. All right,
let's look over to Hebrews 11 and see if this doesn't apply
there. Hebrews chapter 11, that great
chapter on faith, it talks about Noah there. It
goes on down in Hebrews 11, verse 12. It says there, Spring of
one, that is, Abraham, him as good as dead, so many as the
stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the
seashore, innumerable, that seed of Abraham. And you know, I noticed
that back in chapter 7, it said, seed, singular. Anybody notice
that? It said that about Noah, too. Keep seed alive. Seed, singular. All right, read
on. Hebrews 11. And it says, There
sprang from him as many as the stars of the sky and the sand
of the seashore, innumerable. Verse 13, These all died in faith. You remember our message on Enoch? And I said that surely somebody
out there would say, you're getting too much out of that. And Enoch
didn't know Christ. How did he know Christ? Yeah,
he did. Look at Hebrews 11. And this
just sprang out at me today. These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having seen them. How far
off? Every one of them. And he mentioned
Abel, he mentioned Enoch, he mentioned Noah, he mentioned
Abraham. They all saw them. Saw what? saw Christ, the promises
of God in Christ. All the promises of God are in
him. Right? Read on. And were persuaded. They knew who they believed and
were persuaded that he was able. There's only one faith, isn't
there? Man saved one way. Enoch wasn't
saved because he walked with God. He walked with God because
he was saved. Right? And were persuaded and embraced
them. They received the love of the
truth. Who's the truth? Christ. And confess, read on,
here's what I'm getting at here. They confessed that there were
strangers and pilgrims, like that little dove that found no
red. Strangers and pilgrims, read on. They would say, such
things declare plainly they sook a country. That little dove was
looking for a place to lie. She kept coming back to Christ,
or Noah. We yell Christ. And it says that
they They say such things, they say the same thing. They seek
a country. Truly, verse 15, if they had
been mindful of that country from which they came out, they
might have had opportunity of return, but now they desire a
better country. That is unheavenly, wherefore
God is not ashamed, and they keep to whom coming. That little
dove kept coming back to nowhere. To whom coming? She'd go out,
and the scripture says that in Christ we will go in and out
and find pasture. All right, back to the text in
Genesis 8. All this is a picture of Christ,
all these verses on down through here. Let's read verse 15, chapter
8, verse 15. God spake unto Noah, saying,
Go forth of the ark, thou and thy wife and thy sons and thy
sons' wives with thee. bring forth with thee every living
thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl and of cattle,
of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, that
they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful and
multiply upon the earth. And Noah went forth, and his
sons and his wives, and his sons' wives with him." It says Noah
went first, didn't he? Noah came out of that ark first,
didn't he? Noah came forth first out of
the ark bringing his sons and his wives with him. Who's ever
mind yet? Christ, our Captain, came forth
out of that grave. Scripture says he's the firstborn
among many brethren. It became him in bringing many
sons unto glory, bringing his wife, bringing his sons with
him. Verse 20, And they were building
an altar unto the Lord. and took of every clean beast,
and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the
altar, and the Lord smelled a sweet savor. And the Lord said in his
heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's
sake, even though the imagination of man's heart," that means Noah
and his sons and his wives, their wives, "'even though the imagination
of man's heart is evil from his youth, neither will I again smite
any more every living thing as I have done.'" because he smelled
a sweet savor. What does that tell you? The
scripture says in Ephesians 5, Christ hath given himself for
us in offering a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. And though
we are sinners, yes, still sinners, God remembers them no more. He
says there's no condemnation to them that are in Christ. And
God remembers those sins no more because of that sacrifice Christ
made, because of that sweet smelling savor to God. He cannot smell
our sins. And God sealed this oath with
Noah, or his oath to Noah. He sealed it with a symbol, a
token. A token of his covenant, God
made an oath to Noah. He could swear by no greater.
He swore by himself. I, did you remember reading that?
And I, behold, I establish. Look down at chapter 9, verse
9. And I, who? Who is this I? The I am. And I, behold, I Establish
my covenant with you and with your, there it is, seed after
you. Singular. Seed. God made an oath
and a covenant and he gave a token. A token for that covenant. Look down at verse 8 now. It
says, God said, spoken unto Noah and his sons with him, I behold,
I have established my covenant with you, with your seed after
you, with every living creature that is with you, that bear the
fowl, and the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you,
from all that go out of the ark, and I will establish my covenant
with you. Verse 12, this is the token of
the covenant which I make between me and you, and of every living
creature that is with you. For a perpetual generation, I
do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a
covenant between me and the earth. 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'll remember my covenant between me and you
and every living creature, and I'll no more destroy all flesh
with a flurry." Verse 16, "...the bow shall be in the cloud, and
I'll look upon it." and I'll remember my covenant." Just imagine
with me that one day after all of this, Noah and his son—well,
shortly, it says on down in chapter 9 that Noah planted a vineyard.
And Shem, Ham, and Japheth were getting on up there by then. I'm sure they probably helped
him with the vineyard. Didn't help him with the ark. But Leroy
and his boys were out in the field, working in the field one
day, and the sky started to turn dark with clouds. Sky just ominous looking, dark
clouds covering the sky. And then it began to rain a little
bit. He started raining after the flood is when the rain first
came. And then it rained from there
on. We've seen a good bit of it,
haven't we? But it started raining. And I
just bet you that one of those boys said,
Oh no. Oh no, Dad. Knowing what a sinner
they were, Rabbi Shem, knowing what a sinner he was, and knowing
how God had destroyed the world by flood and by rain and by flood,
knowing that he was a sinner, he said, Oh no, bad God is going
to destroy us now. It's raining. And Noah said, Uh-uh, son. No way. God won't destroy us. Well, how
can you be sure, dad? God gave me his word, son. And
God never lies. He can't lie. It's impossible
for him to lie. He swore on his own name. He
made an oath. He made with me a covenant, an
everlasting covenant. And he won't go back on it. And
he will not destroy us by a flood, he promised. And here's proof. Look over there. Look up there. And there's a big rainbow in
the sky. That's the token. God said it'd be there. Look,
there it is, a rainbow. A token of God's covenant in
the midst of that black sky. Like I said, you have to have
clouds to have a rainbow. And in the midst of that blackness
is a glorious, glorious crown of color to be seen. I'll turn over to Hebrews 6 now.
Let's look at this in Hebrews 6. And here we are, sons of Noah,
sons of Adam, sons of Noah, sinners just like Adam, just like Noah.
And our imagination of our heart is only evil continually. But
by God's grace, he has brought us to Christ. We've come to Christ
by faith. We have been, the Scripture says,
crucified with Christ, but now we live. Been buried with him
in baptism, believers' baptism. Been buried with him. Now we're
alive unto God through Christ, but we still sin. We still sin, don't we? And our
sins worry us, don't they? They bring us to shame and they
make us feel guilt, don't they? And they make us feel fear before
a holy God. We sin. Will God destroy us? No way. No way. Because he smells that sweet
smelling savor of Christ's sacrifice. But there are times when we say
with David, We say, my sin is ever before me. My sin is ever
before me. But there's something ever before
the Lord. The scriptures talks about the
blood before the Lord. There's something between us
and the Lord. Always a token of this covenant that God cannot
lie. And he said he would not remember
our sins anymore, and he would not destroy them. No condemnation
to them that are in Christ. And though our sins are ever
before us, there's something ever before God to remind him. It's the blood. There's Christ.
Christ is ever before the Father. And our sins appear at times
like a black cloud over our head, don't they? And that's the way
Satan would have us to feel. that sin's always hanging over
our head. And again, we say with David,
my iniquity's gone over my head. Everybody said that? Psalm 38? My iniquities are over
my head, but look a little higher than your head. Look a little
higher. Look as high as you can to the
rock that is higher than I. Look higher. There's something
and there's someone higher. If you look high in the heavens,
you'll see a token. of God's covenant. There on the
mercy seat, in the very holy of holies, there's blood. That's
a token of the everlasting covenant, a seal. And you see, we're under
the mercy seat. And that blood covers, pitches,
atones, covers the mercy seat. And that's the token. That token,
like the rainbow that covers the earth, that blood over the
mercy seat A token of God's covenant. Look at Hebrews 6 verse 17. It says that, Hebrews 6 verse 17, God willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
the unchangeableness of his counsel. interposed himself, or confirmed
it by an oath, that by two immutable things in which it was impossible
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation to a fled
for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." What's set
before us? I've already told you. The blood. The blood. Which hope, verse 19, we have
as an anchor for the soul. both sure and steadfast, which
entereth into that within the veil." That's Christ, our hope,
who entered in with His blown blood. Look at chapter 9, verse
12, "...neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His
own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us." You ever get tired of that, John?
How many times have you read that and heard that? That's our
salvation, isn't it? Verse 14 says, How much more
shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself without spot to God, purge your conscience? If that
rainbow in the sky purged old Noah's conscience, how much more
the blood of God's Son? Purge our conscience. God said
to Noah, When I bring a cloud in the bowl, it shall be seen
in the cloud, I will remember my covenant. The water shall
no more become a flood to destroy. And God says to us, sinner, to
you, sinner, though your sins like a dark cloud are over you,
yet when I see the blood, I'll remember my covenant and I'll
pass over you. I'll remember your sins no more.
Now I've turned to Revelation 4 and I'll quit. It hasn't even
been 30 minutes. There's some things to be seen
in this rainbow. How many colors are in the rainbow?
Anybody tell me? Huh? Where'd you be
at? Seven. Red, orange, yellow, green,
blue, indigo, violet. You took art and seven primary
colors in the rainbow. What are the three primary colors? Red, yellow, and blue. Those are all symbols of God,
Christ's redemption, his deity. Blue is the Holy Spirit, the
wind, water. Blue is water, right? Three primary
colors. But the first color in the rainbow,
you know what the first one is, the topmost color? Come on, people. Red. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue,
indigo, violet. That's the order of it. Red is
the topmost color. Red. What does that tell you
about? Well, there are three that bear
record in heaven, the Scripture says. The Father, the Word, and
the Holy Ghost. And these three agree in one.
One covenant. Three bear witness in the earth,
too. The Spirit, the water, and the blood. And these three agree
in one. In who? in one, in Christ, a
covenant. Three persons that make up the
Godhead, in Christ, with us all. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . And like I said, blood red is
the primary color of our redemption, isn't it? The token of God's
covenant. And you know, someday we're going
to see Christ seated on that throne in the heavenlies. We're going to see him as he
is. And you know what we're going
to see surrounding that throne? Look at Revelation 4, verse 2,
And immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne
was set in heaven. And one sat on the throne, and
he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone.
And there was a rainbow round about the throne, a sight like unto an angel, a
rainbow. I imagine, I wonder why. He said a perpetual covenant,
didn't he? With a rainbow. It says that in Ezekiel. Same
thing, Ezekiel. And another passage in Revelation
I did not write down. A rainbow round about the throne,
round about his head, a rainbow. Well, I hope that was a blessing
to you. Stand with me. Our Heavenly Father, we don't
fully realize how much that covenant means to us. In the blood of
the everlasting covenant, we just know in part, we preach
in part, we know in part, we understand in part, and we just
can't fully enter into it. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not
heard, neither have entered into the heart. of men, the things
that God had prepared for them that loved him, all because of
that covenant, ordered in all things and sure, ordered in Christ,
who is our surety, sealed by his own blood, made by that covenant
made with an oath, impossible for God to lie. What a seal,
what a sure salvation we have. blessed assurance we have through
the covenant, through the blood, by oath, by covenant, by blood,
it will support us in that overwhelming flood. When all around our souls
give way, Christ then is all our hope and our stay. On Christ
the solid rock we stand, all other ground and confidence is
sinking sand. And we stand on Christ. And Lord,
make the gospel precious to us indeed. May we be primarily persuaded. We have received the promises.
May we be primarily persuaded of them. So know whom we have
believed. He who cannot lie. Persuaded
he's able that he put away our sins. And it's all sure because
we see a rainbow. You see the blood. You see the
blood. Bless these words to our hearts
and our understanding. Apply them to our lives. In Christ's
name, through his blood, we pray and ask these things. Amen.