Let's go back to Genesis chapter
8 this evening. The book of Genesis chapter 8. Now from Genesis chapter 8, I
want to speak to you on the subject of sweet savor. A sweet savor. You have the scripture there
for you. Genesis 8, look at verse 20. The Lord smelled a sweet savor. Look at verse 21. And Noah built
in an altar unto the Lord. He took of every clean beast
and of every clean fowl. He offered burnt offerings on
the altar. It is offerings to the Lord. Offerings that go up, literally. And then the 21st verse, and
the Lord smelled a sweet savor, a fragrance. And the Lord said, not to Noah,
but to himself. God gave the words to Moses later
that they might be part of Holy Scripture, but the Lord speaking
to Himself. And this is what He said in His
heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's
sake. For the imagination of man's
heart is evil from his youth. or from his youth, neither will
I again smite any more everything living as I have done." Look back at the expression that
begins chapter 8. It says, and God remembered Noah. He never forgot him. He was in
that ark a long, long time. Over a year. About a year and
ten or eleven days. You're talking about confinement.
There he was. I have no idea what thoughts
might have gone through Noah's mind during all these months. But one thing we know for a certainty,
God never forgot him. God put him in the ark. God gave
him the ark. God ordained the ark. God effectually
drew him into the ark. God called him into the ark. God had made provisions for Noah
while he was in the ark. And all those many, many months
that Noah was in the ark, God never forgot him. Several years ago, I went through a little season
of feeling sorry for myself. You ever do that? Feel a little
sorry for yourself and feel like nobody else is going through
things like you're going through. Probably you never feel like
that. I'm sure you don't. I'm alone in that, I guess. But I was feeling that way and
I was talking to a fellow preacher and he said, I think God still
knows your address. And God knew Noah's address. It says God remembered Noah. Look at a scripture in the book
of Isaiah. Hold there in Genesis. Look at
Isaiah 49. Isaiah chapter 49. Here's the church, and we're
all tempted from from time to time to murmur, to be dissatisfied
with whatever circumstances God has put us in. Look at what Zion
says in Isaiah chapter 49 and verse 14. But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me. And my Lord hath forgotten me. Now listen to what God says.
Listen to what Jehovah says. This is Jehovah our Savior. This is our Redeemer. This is
our beloved Lord and Savior. Here's what he says to his church.
This is what he says to every believer. To every sinner who
has fled to Jesus Christ for refuge for his soul. To everyone
who embraces the Lord Jesus Christ. Who looks to Him for life, for
forgiveness, for salvation, and for righteousness. This is what
the Lord says to His people. He says, 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. Now watch it. Behold. Be amazed. Be astounded. Here's something that ought to
get your attention. God says, I have graven thee. I have graven thee upon the palms
of my hands. Thy walls are continually before
me. The Lord says, look and see. Look at the palms of my hands,
wounded for your transgressions. Nailed to a cross. Can I ever
forget you? Thy walls are ever before me,
God says. The Lord doesn't forget His people. His hands were wounded in redeeming
us. He holds us in His nail-scarred
hands. In John chapter 10, you need
not look at this, you know it, I'm sure. The Savior said concerning
His sheep, and I give to them eternal life, and they shall
never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of My, what do you say, My hand. My hand. My Father which
gave them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one on this. They are in union on the security
and the preservation of the sheep. Noah was in that ark a long,
long time, but God didn't forget him. I'll tell you this, that ark
has the only place on the entire earth where there was safety. This is a worldwide flood. But he was where he needed to
be, he was where he wanted to be, and he was where God put
him. Because you see, everywhere else,
everywhere else was the place of death. In all the world, one
place of life. Everywhere else, devastation. Desolation, death, emptiness,
one place. Life, provision, fellowship with
God in the ark. See our Savior there? Nowhere for us to flee to for
safety except Jesus Christ the Lord. Death is everywhere else. And everything in this world
is marked for desolation and devastation and destruction. But there is life in Christ.
Only in Christ Jesus, that is where life is found. Now back
here in Genesis chapter 8, drop down to verses 15 and 16. God is speaking to Noah. And he said, he's been in this
ark all these many, many months. And God said, go forth of the
ark, thou and thy wife and thy son's wife with thee. Go forth
out of the ark. Now look back in chapter 7. This
is the opposite command. In chapter 7 in verse 1 of Genesis,
And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into
the ark. In one place He commands, Come
into the ark, and in the other place He said, It's time to leave
the ark. God says, Come in to the ark. After Noah had built the ark,
after all things were made ready, God commanded him to enter into
the ark. When it was but seven days until
the fountains of the deep would open up and the heavens above
would pour forth water, God called Noah and his family into the
ark. Come thou and all thy house into
the ark. And here's the reason. Chapter 7, verse 1. For, that
word is because. Here's the reason. For thee have
I seen righteous before me in this generation. I see you righteous. It doesn't matter how anybody
else saw Noah. Most, I'm sure, saw Noah as an
oddball preacher who preached and built an ark for about 120
years or so. I'm sure that he was to most
people a thorn in their flesh. He was a bother to them because
he was a preacher of righteousness. And preachers of righteousness
are not well received by the world. But he kept on building
and he kept on preaching. And then God said, now it's time
for you to come into the ark. God didn't say, go into the ark.
God said, come in the ark. I'm with you. I'm with you. For thee have I seen righteous
before me. Before me. In this generation. Look back
at chapter 6. The first seven verses of chapter
6 of Genesis set forth the general apostasy of the day. But God
had reserved a man for himself. Even then, there was a remnant
according to the election of grace, although it was a very
small remnant. At this time, the only one that
we know for sure is a just man is Noah. He's the only one we
know of that was a righteous man. He was a just man. Look
at verse 8 of chapter 6. After setting forth the wickedness
of the generation in which Noah lived, Verse 8 says, but Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. What a sweet word, grace. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. This grace originated with God. You see, salvation doesn't begin
with man. And salvation is not commenced
by man and it's not finished by man. Salvation is of the Lord. Grace came to Noah. Noah didn't
come to grace. God came to Noah. Noah didn't
come to God. God came to Noah. He found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. You see, grace is not the result
of something man does. Grace is God's work. Grace is
God's gift. Grace is God's intervention. You see, God had from eternity
past set His very heart upon Noah. And God was determined
to be gracious to him. And the Lord found a way to save
him, the object of his grace. Though the Lord purposed to destroy
the world, he purposed to save Noah. And he purposed the means
whereby that salvation would be brought to pass by the building
of an ark. Even so, our God purposed the
salvation of all of his Noahs. from before the foundation of
the world, and He determined the only way whereby we could
be saved in accordance with His law and with His justice. There is an ark for our souls,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold Him living, bleeding,
suffering, dying, and rising again, that God might be just
and the justifier of all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the first mentioning of grace. Grace. When does grace first appear?
Well, it first appears when the sins of men had reached its very
height. When all the transgressions of
mankind cried out to God, as it were, for vengeance and for
wrath to fall. Then, grace is seen. Grace is poured forth. Where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Grace is omnipotent. Grace is
free. Grace is sovereign. Grace is
unconditional. Grace is conquering. Grace is
saving. The world was lost, but Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The world was in ignorance,
but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The world was ripe
for judgment, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The world perished, but Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah is the remnant. He's the remnant. Noah's family
was shown mercy solely on the basis of their association with
this man who found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Look at verse
9. These are the generations of
Noah. Noah was a just man. He's a righteous
man. And Noah was perfect in his generation. In other words, he didn't lack
anything. He didn't lack for anything before
God. Before God. You see folks, in
the Lord Jesus Christ, washed in His blood, robed in His righteousness,
we lack for nothing that we need before God. We have all that
we need and all that He demands. Look again at chapter 7 verse
1. The Lord said unto Noah, Come
thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous
before me in this generation. God called him into the ark.
God called him into the ark. Proverbs 18 verse 10, The name
of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it
and is safe. And is safe. And I expect when
God called Noah to come in the ark, I bet he went in fast. I wouldn't be hesitant, would
you? He believed the Word of the Lord. He believed the warning
that God's going to send a flood. And he moved with fear. That's
the way we read in Hebrews chapter 11, isn't it? He moved with fear. The Lord's name is a strong tower
and the righteous runneth into it. We run to Jesus Christ. There's no hesitation. And you
notice that in the book of Proverbs, it's runneth. R-U-N-N-E-T-H. That's something we keep on doing.
We keep on running to Christ. Every hour of every day we run
to Him because we need Him. And we find in Him safety and
security and preservation and everything a holy God demands.
And I call upon all of you tonight, run to Jesus Christ right now. May God give you legs to run. Give you a will to run to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you what, if He
calls you and says, come to the ark, you'll run in. You'll run
in and you'll thank God there's an ark for your poor soul. And
when there's death and destruction and desolation all around you,
and you find yourself in the midst of a place of life and
forgiveness and righteousness in Jesus Christ, you'll give
Him the glory. You'll bless His name. Oh God,
thank You for calling me to come to You in the ark. In the ark. Look back at chapter
8 again. Look at verse 17. Verse 17. Bring forth with thee every living
thing that is with thee. God now says, go forth out of
the ark. You're safe. Death is past. Judgment is over. I sat in the office today thinking,
what a sight it must have been when Noah went out of that ark.
Because this earth didn't look anything like it did when he
went in there. There's no life left out there. There's nothing left. And God has, by this mighty ark,
by these floodwaters, He's pushed the mountains up and He's put
the valleys down below. And things are not at all like
they were when Noah went into the ark. God who called him to
come into the ark said, Noah, it's time to leave the ark. Go
forth. Go forth. And so verse 18, Noah
went forth. Noah went forth. And his sons
and his wife and his sons' wives with him, every beast, every
creeping thing and every fowl and whatsoever creepeth upon
the earth after their kinds went forth out of the ark. Compare
that. Go back to chapter 7. Look at
verses 7 and 8. And Noah went in. and his sons
and his wife and his sons' wives with him into the ark because
of the waters of the flood of clean beasts, of beasts that
are not clean, of fowls and of everything that creepeth upon
the earth. These went in two by two unto
Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded
Noah. They were kept safe. For a year and a few days after
that, a year and ten or eleven days is what the Bible scholars
said, kept safe there. All those who went in were kept
safe until the destruction was passed. And then they went forth. You see, none can ever perish
who are called to the Lord Jesus Christ. All who went into the
ark came out of the ark. And all who were brought in,
called in to Jesus Christ were preserved, and in the end, Not
a hoof shall be missing. Not a hoof shall be left out.
That's what Pharaoh told Moses when Moses said, the Lord said,
let my people go. And Pharaoh said, well, you can
leave your cattle here anyway when I release you. Moses said,
not a hoof shall be left behind. Everybody, God, His purpose to
enter into the ark has safely gone through all the judgment
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ and we come out alive on the
other side. Every last one of them. No sheep
shall be lost. You see, not one drop of water
fell on Noah or his family or any of these animals. And not
one drop of wrath will fall on the Lord's people. It all fell on our Savior. There's
Noah and his family in the ark, and all of these animals, and
water is all around them. It's beneath them. It's on the
sides of them, beating on the sides of the ark, and it's above
them, and they're all inside, dry. They weren't harmed. They can't
be harmed. They're safe in the ark, that
ark into which God had called them. And all who are in Christ
Jesus, we're safe. But understand this, the floodwaters
of God's wrath fell on our ark. And He took the storm fully. And not one drop of vengeance
will ever fall on us. We're safe in the ark, Christ
Jesus. Well, Noah and his family exit
the ark. Here comes all the animals. Noah
goes out. He looks about. The last statement
of verse 19, they went forth out of the ark. What's the first
thing he's going to do? Well, let's build a house. Gotta
have somewhere to live. No, that's not the first thing
he did. First thing he did was he built an altar. And this is
the first mentioning of the word altar in the Bible. Up until
this time, it would appear that they worshipped God over here
at the entrance or where God put the flaming sword, the chair
bend with the flaming sword. That's where they went to worship
God. There's no mention of an altar. But the flood has washed
paradise away. And Noah builds an altar. He
built an altar unto the Lord. Why do you think he built an
altar? Well, he built an altar to worship. God can't be worshipped
without blood sacrifice, without a burnt offering. He built an
altar out of thanksgiving. And he built an altar because
Noah believed this, without shedding of blood, there is no remission
of sin. Now listen, this is a man with his wife and his sons and
his daughters-in-law who have been in this ark for over a year
and they haven't offered a sacrifice. Well, there wasn't any casinos
in there for them to go to. There wasn't the worldly places
to go to while they were in there. Well, surely, preacher, they
didn't sin while they were in there, did they? They are full
of sin. They are full of sin when they
went in. They are full of sin when they came out. And Noah
said, we've got to have sacrifice. We've got to have several animals.
He took several of the clean beasts and several of the clean
fowls. He didn't say, well now, wait,
man, we've got to hold those back because what are we going
to eat? He didn't say that. He took several of them and offered
them as burnt offerings to God because he believed this, in
order for us to go free, a suitable sacrifice and substitutes got
to die on our steps. Old Noah, he believed in substitution
and satisfaction. And he killed his animals. And so it says in verse 21, and
the Lord smelled a sweet savor. In other words, that's another
way of saying God was well pleased. God was well pleased. Hold your
place there and look at Ephesians chapter 5. Look at Ephesians chapter 5.
Look at verses 1 and 2. Ephesians 5, 1 and 2. Be ye therefore followers of
God. What does that word followers mean? Imitators. He's just spoken
about in the last verse of chapter 4. Be ye kind one to another,
tender hearted, forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake
hath forgiven you. Now, you as children of God,
be imitators of God, be forgiving. We're forgiving people because
we're forgiven people. And if you can't forgive, it's
because you haven't been forgiven. We're forgiving people. Now look
at verse 2, "...and walk in love, as Christ hath also loved us,
and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to
God." Now the offering was for us. It was for our salvation,
for our redemption, but it was to God. He was the offering and
the sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. And I want to show you
something. Go back to our text in Genesis
chapter 8 there. And I want you to look at the
21st verse. Over in the, if you've got a
center column, for verse 21, it says, a savor
of rest. A savor of rest. And it's the same ideas where
after God had performed creation, after He created all things,
God rested on the seventh day. God was satisfied. God's well
pleased with all that He did. And when Noah offered up those
burnt offerings to God, it's like the Lord said, I rest on
that. I'm pleased with that. I'm delighted
with that. And what rest that gives us that
our Savior has suffered, bled, and died for us. And God is at
rest toward us. Let us be at rest in our souls. This was a work well pleasing
to the Lord. Literally a smell of rest. Well, look at this, verse 21
again. And the Lord said, 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, for 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. Now, get this. The very reason The very reason
why God destroyed the earth to begin with is given as the reason
as to why He is going to now preserve the earth. Ever notice
that? It's the same reason. Let me
read it again. The Lord said in his heart, I
will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, for
the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, neither
will I again smite any more every living as I have done. Go over
to chapter 6. Look at chapter 6 and verse 5.
This is the very reason why God sent the flood in the beginning.
Chapter 6 and verse 5, And God saw that the wickedness of man
was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that
he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart,
and the Lord said, I will destroy. I'll destroy man whom I've created
from the face of the earth, both man and beast and creeping things
and fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made
them." And then we get over to chapter 8 and the Lord says,
every imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, therefore
I'm not going to destroy the earth again. What unusual language. I'll tell you this, if God rose
up to judge the earth, every time it was filled with transgressors
and transgressions, there would be one judgment after another.
It would be never ending. Isn't that right? It would be
never ending. Let me tell you what we need.
We need the forbearance of God. That's what we need. Can you
read what Peter says in 2 Peter chapter 3? The forbearance of
God is salvation. Young lady, you'll have to sit
down now. The forbearance of God, the forbearance of God is
salvation. God issued this word from His
heart to assure us that the earth would not again be destroyed
Because such a destruction would destroy all flesh and God's got
a remnant. He has redemption yet to be accomplished. The sweet savor of the sacrifices
of God. Let me give you this and I'll
quit. Look at verse 22. What God says, while the earth
remaineth, seed, time, and harvest, and
cold, and heat, and summer, and winter, and day, and night shall
not cease. Well, the surface meaning is
obvious, but this ties into our messages
this past Sunday. It shows the continuity of the
Church of God in this world. God's people and the good seed
of the Word will continue to be sown while the earth remaineth. You see, the earth is the stage
upon which God is bringing to pass his great drama of salvation. I know this earth is destined
to be burned with fire, but it remains to this day because God
himself has promised that it will remain because he has a
people here and there must be seed time and there must be a
harvest. While the earth remaineth, seed
time and harvest, it's always seed time. there's always going
to be a harvest right up to the end. In fact, when the last of
the Lord's wheat have been harvested, brought to faith in Jesus Christ,
that's when the final harvest will be. And until then, we keep
sowing the seed, the seed of the gospel. While the earth remaineth
seed time and harvest cold and heat, sometimes things appear
to be lifeless and cold. At other times, the church has
to endure the heat of persecution, but we just keep on sowing the
seed. Summer and winter, there are
seasons of summer. Thank God we feel the warmth
of the power of the Spirit through the effectual usage of the Word
of God by God's Spirit. We love the summer. While the earth remaineth, there's
going to be wintertime too. We're going to have cold spells, barrenness, when it seems to
be no growth. And even then, we mustn't change
the seed. Don't do anything different.
Just keep on doing what you're doing. Right up to the end. And day and night shall not cease.
As long as we're in this world, there'll be people who are in
the light. and people who are in the darkness. People who see
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in Christ Jesus. Others who remain in the darkness
of ignorance and error. But through it all, we just keep
sowing the seed. May the Lord bless the seed that
is sown. And we do sow it, we don't throw
it. Isn't that right? We don't throw it. You say, well, I don't care whether
you believe it or not. I care whether you believe. I'm
not going to throw the seed at you. I'm going to sow it. Now,
if you don't believe, I'll just keep on sowing it because somebody
is going to believe. But those that sow in tears shall
reap with joy. Isn't that what it says? So we sow the seed and we water
the seed with the tears of prayer and concern, crying out to God
to bless for a harvest. I don't want to have a rough
edge on me when I preach the gospel. I want to preach from
my heart. I do care whether you believe.
I don't want you to perish. I know God's going to do right
by you. He's going to do right by me and everybody else. But
if it's God's will, oh how I pray He'll show you mercy for Christ's
sake. And that God will right now pull
you with the fingers of effectual grace and you'll come running
into the ark. You'll run into the Lord's name
and find in Him a refuge for your poor soul. Sweet savor unto
God. That's what the sacrifice of
Christ is. Sweet savor unto God. And you know what? It's a sweet
savor to us too. Yeah. Sweet savor to us too. Let's sing a closing song.