Today we'll be looking in Genesis
chapter nine, verses eight through 17, and the title of today's
message will be God's Abode. Beginning in verse eight of Genesis
nine, it says, And God spake unto Noah and to his sons with
him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you and with
your seed after you. and with every living creature
that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast
of the earth, with you from all that go out of the ark to every
beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant
with you. Neither shall all flesh be cut
off any more by the waters of a flood, neither shall there
be any more, neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy
the earth. And God said, this is the token
of the covenant. which I make between me and you
and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations. 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 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 upon the earth. And God
said unto Noah, this is the token of the covenant, which I have
established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. We have saw that God spared Noah
and all of his family and brought them through the flood, the flood
of God's judgment and wrath upon the earth. And God brought him
safely through the storm and everybody else and everything
else was destroyed. The only one that was spared
was Noah and his family. And the reason that God spared
Noah was, we have saw that it said that Noah found grace in
God's sight. Everyone else died, everyone
else perished. And here we see that God told
Noah that he would establish his covenant. with him. If you noticed, I don't remember
how many times it's mentioned just in these few verses, God
mentions the word covenant. Then he mentioned the everlasting
covenant. And he said he would establish the covenant. And the
word establish means that he would make it firm and it would
be fixed. God's gonna start over with Noah. Noah and his three
sons and his daughters-in-law and his wife are the only ones
left upon the earth. Noah, like Adam, would be the
head of the human race. God kept Noah in the ark a while
after that it rested on Mount Ararat, and even this is grace. We don't know exactly how long
that he stayed there, but it was sometime after that God brought
Noah out of the ark, because you can imagine all those rotten
corpses and all that death that was upon this earth when the
flood began to recede. But here comes Noah out of the
ark. And the first time you can imagine that he saw a cloud come
up after he came out of the ark, can you imagine? He would probably
be terrified. He probably thought, well, here
we go again. God's gonna see in judgment again. But today
we wanna look at that God made a promise. God made a covenant
with Noah that he would not destroy the earth again by flood. Now
we know that he says that one day that he'll destroy it by
fire, and the sin which drowned the first world will burn the
one that we live in now. But he promises never to destroy
it again by flood. Noah was just as wicked as everybody
else that perished. It was not that Noah was any
better. He found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And God's people
today experience the same feelings that Noah did. We are sinners
like everybody else, and why does God not destroy us? We see
men every day die. They die without Christ. They
die lost. They die under the wrath and
judgment of God. They leave this world and die
without Christ. Well, why does God spare us?
I'll tell you why. Just like he told Noah, God made
an everlasting covenant. But what is a covenant? A covenant
is a promise from God. God made the covenant. This is
what the covenant, this is what God said he would do or wouldn't
do. This was God's doing. God takes the initiative. God
says, I will establish my covenant with you, Noah. today this is
what I want us to look at, this covenant, this promise that God
made with Noah. God says, I will not destroy
the earth again by flood. Now we've seen many floods come
upon the earth just since I've been living, but they've never
been a worldwide flood and there never will be another worldwide
flood. You said, how do you know that?
God made a promise. Men are just as wicked as they
were in the days of Noah. Why doesn't God destroy him now
with the flood? He promised that he wouldn't. God made a covenant, a covenant
promise of mercy. That's mercy, to never do it
again. Now that's mercy. We deserve
it just like they did. We deserve to perish just like
they did. Noah deserved to perish just like everybody else did.
But why didn't he? Mercy. Mercy. Thank God for his
mercy. His mercy endures forever. I can say, can you imagine first
time Noah saw a cloud? Well, oh, it's going to rain
again and God's going to destroy us again. We're just as wicked. But God gave Noah a token. What
was this token? The rainbow in the sky, which
is a symbol of God's faithfulness. symbol of God's promise a symbol
of God's mercy that Noah could see and He would be reminded
God is faithful to his promises We make promises and we can't
keep them We hope we can but God makes promises and they're
based upon God's faithfulness to his promises the Bible says
God who cannot lie and There are rainbows because God is merciful
to sinners. The rainbow is a picture of the
gospel, which is Christ himself. Christ is the messenger of the
covenant. He's the blessings, all the blessings
of the covenant are wrapped up in him and his blood is the blood
of the everlasting covenant. What does that mean? It'll never
end, never change. Why? God doesn't change. God
may have said, just think for a minute, if God says, okay,
I think I'll just change my mind. I promised him, but I think I'll
renege on my promise and I think I'll just go ahead and destroy
everybody. Let me send another flood. No, God is faithful. God is faithful. He's the one
that promised and it's based upon his faithfulness to himself
and to his promise and his faithfulness to his people. So today I want us to look at
God's bow, a token of God's covenant. So let's first look at the covenant.
The covenant, God made this covenant with Noah and his sons and the
earth. Noah stood as Adam did, as the
head of the human race. Noah is the living heir. He's
the only living heir. Everybody else perished. God
starts over with Noah like he did Adam. He said, go forth and
replenish the earth. Everybody else, everything else
is dead. And given the rainbow, God ratified
the promise that he had made. He displayed it. The bow in the
cloud was not only to assure Noah and to assure man that no
more would the earth be destroyed by flood, but it was also a memorial
of the new relationship with God. That covenant, God made
this covenant with Noah. God was in a relationship with
Noah based on God's faithfulness. Noah had no claims whatsoever
on God and man has no claims upon God. Any more than a cup
has any claim upon the potter that made it. Listen, God gave
man life and God continues to keep man in life. And man is
dependent upon God for every breath he has. Why? In mercy. People blaspheme God, they curse
God with every breath and God gives them the breath to do it.
Why doesn't he destroy them? Mercy. Every day that they're
out of hell, every day that they're spared one more day, mercy. But
God is pleased, now listen to this statement, but God has pleased
to bind himself by voluntary agreement called covenants in
order that man may learn. that God is full of grace and
may serve him with thanksgiving. Thank you, God, for sparing us
one more day. Thank you, God, for giving us
life one more day. God made a covenant with Adam
and to give him all blessings that he did not merit in himself.
It's not merit, it's grace. Now, the world had undergone
the judgment of God. And God makes a covenant with
Noah in creation and he confirms it by a sign. If you give him
this token. He who by justice should have
destroyed was moved by love and grace to give pardon and promise
instead of wrath. What grace. This covenant was
an unconditional covenant. It wasn't based on what Noah
would do. It wasn't based upon what Noah's sons would do. It
was conditioned, the only condition was upon the promise of God. He didn't say, now Noah, as long
as you straighten up and don't live like those people lived
before the flood, well then I won't send one. Well, that wouldn't
have lasted long. He just said, God just said,
no, I'm going to make a covenant with you. I'm going to be merciful. And my bow in the sky is a token
of that fact. No, I'm going to be merciful
to you. It is sure in a comforting testimony that the fact that
there is therefore now no condemnation to them, which are in Christ
Jesus. I will not destroy you. You're going to deserve it just
like everybody else did. You deserve to be destroyed. But in Genesis chapter 6 verse
7, it says, God says, I will destroy all man. And here in
chapter 9, he says, I will not destroy man. I will not. I will remember verse 15, my
covenant. And I may remember, verse 16,
I will look upon it that I may remember the everlasting covenant. This is the one difference between
the old covenant and new covenant. There's no conditions. If there was any conditions to
meet, we'd all be in a lot of trouble. because we can't meet
any condition. We're dead in trespasses and
sin. Everybody that has ever lived deserved to perish under
God's wrath. Noah was not any better. Noah
found grace and God made this covenant of mercy and grace with
Noah. The problem with the old covenant
was that the people could not honor it. The promise of the
new is that Christ did honor the old, he met all the conditions,
he met all the requirements, and so the sinner is blessed
unconditionally in Christ. That's grace. Unconditional. No conditions. Okay, so let's
look at the bow. And everybody probably has saw
a rainbow, so you know what I'm talking about and what this scripture
speaks of. Something about this bow, it
is a half circle. It's 180 degrees. And that's
a picture like when God saves a man, he turns him 180 degrees.
It's like an arch on a bridge. And I know some have probably
drove over it or actually saw it, that New River Gorge Bridge.
It is an arch. It's a bow. Like a bridge, it
enables us to pass from one place to another. That grave gulf that
is fixed between God and man, this bridge goes over that gulf. And it unites, he's the mediator
between God and man. It stands as a bridge. It spans
earth to heaven, from darkness to light, from doubts to grace. It finds you ruined and it delivers
you into his favor. It is a bridge. and it testifies
that the work is ceased. It doesn't take you halfway over.
That'd be bad to go halfway over the New River Gorge Bridge and
then drop off the end of the bridge. That's how another gospel
is. It doesn't take you all the way.
It leaves a little bit for you to do. This bow reaches all the
way over. It's God's bow. So it's a half
circle. It's also a weapon of war. Now
most people know what a bow is, you know, a bow and an arrow.
You take a bow and draw it back and you can shoot an arrow with
it. But this bow has no arrow. It is an empty bow. And notice
this bow is not pointed toward earth, but it's pointed toward
heaven. And the arrow, the instrument
of judgment, has already been shot. It's an empty bow. The
justice of God was shot into the heart of God's son and the
bow is empty. That's mercy. That's mercy. It is a token of God's grace
toward us in his son. There is no threat, no threat
in an empty bow, only peace. Can you imagine when Noah saw
the bow? Now, this is what God's telling Noah. When you see the
bow, which is empty, there's no arrows, and it's not pointed
toward earth. It's pointed toward heaven, and
it's empty. It's a symbol that justice has
been satisfied. Peace and mercy. Now, this is
good news of the gospel. It's unconditional. And God gave
a token. People still see it. Most everybody
see it and have no idea what it means. Most everybody's probably,
if they've ever read the Bible at any time, they've read this
story of Noah and the ark and the rainbow. They know it's a
symbol of God's faithfulness, but they don't understand it.
Understand it. People have a misconception of
who God is. God is a merciful God. God is
a gracious God. And the only way God can be gracious
is His justice has been satisfied. No other way. The error has been
shot. It was shot into the heart of
Almighty God, into His Son. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. And because of that, because the storm has already passed,
because they've already come through the flood, God's judgment
and justice has been perfectly satisfied, now God can show mercy. And God says, Noah, I'm gonna
establish my covenant with you. This covenant of peace. Isaiah
54 9 for this is as the waters of Noah unto me for as I have
sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth
so I have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke
thee for the mountains shall apart and the hill shall be removed
but watch this 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." Mercy, covenant of peace. Something else about
this bow, its colors declare the glory of God. In Revelation
chapter four, verse three, it describes as there's a rainbow
around the throne. Revelation 10.1, it talks about
our Lord. It says there's a rainbow upon
His head that displays His glory. Psalms 19.1 says the heavens
declare the glory of God. And nothing in the heavens does
this so much as the rainbow. And you know where God's people
see God's glory? In the face of Jesus Christ. That's his glory. God gives the
light of the knowledge of his glory in his son's face. And this light is pictured by
the rainbow. Because when you see the rainbow,
what is it you are looking at exactly? What is it you see when
you see a rainbow? Well first, there's three primary
colors, and every other color is made from these three primary
colors. These primary colors are red,
blue, and yellow. And as I've read somewhere the
other day, it says the thicker the cloud, the brighter the colors. You know, sometimes you barely
can see just part of the rainbow, but I've seen it sometimes and
it was so brilliant and so bright. That's his glory. The thicker
the cloud. It always speaks about Christ.
He's coming in the clouds. He came down on the Mount of
Sinai in the cloud. The cloud abode upon the mercy
seat. It has something to do with God's
glory. God's beauty, God's excellency,
God's character. Listen, these colors come from
rays of light as they shine upon the rain in the cloud. All the
glory of God is displayed in those three colors. All the glory
of God is displayed in the Trinity of His sacred person, the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The three persons of the Godhead
are at work and the glories of the triune God are displayed
in the covenant of grace in this rainbow, this rainbow around
the throne. As God looks at his people, as
God looks at them in grace, how does he look at them? Through
the rainbow. There's a rainbow around the
throne. It's not a throne of justice that has come boldly
into the throne of what? Grace? Why grace? There's a rainbow. It's a token
of what? When Noah saw the rainbow, it
didn't mean, OK, God's going to judge you again. God's going
to show mercy. And how can God show mercy? The
Father chose before the world was ever made. The Son came and
redeemed those people. And the Spirit of God calls those
sinners to himself. And they all work. And God's
glory is displayed. The rainbow is of various colors,
and it fitly expresses the various promises and the blessings in
the covenant of grace. When David was getting ready
to die, he said, God hath made with me an everlasting covenant. It is sure, it is ordered in
all things, and this is all my hope. And this rainbow is put in the
sky for everybody to see. Isn't that amazing? God put it
there. He put it in such a way everybody
can see it. But as I got to thinking about
the rainbow, now the rainbow's not seen all the time. And it's
not seen from everywhere. You cannot see the bow before
the storm. You cannot see the bow in the
midst of the storm. You see the bow after the storm
in the passing cloud. All judgment is past is glory. You see the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. John said we beheld his glory.
His glory. Oh, if God ever allows you to
see His glory, His glory, Moses said, Lord, show me Your glory.
Look at everything Moses saw. You'd have thought Moses would
have saw his glory. He's seen him bring the children
of Israel through the Red Sea. God said, I'll be merciful to
whom I will be merciful and whom I will, I'll show compassion.
God's glory is in his compassion. God's glory is in his grace. At times, it seems that God hides
his glory in the cloud. People may know the facts about
his death, the facts about his burial and his resurrection,
and never see his glory. They talk about God, they talk
about Christ, and they never saw his glory. I want to see
his glory. The world knows that he saves,
but they don't know how he saves. How does God save? He honors
his glory. And he does it because of that
everlasting covenant. God has a people he's gonna save
and he's gonna save them. And everyone that he saves brings
glory to his name. Who gets the glory? He does.
Why are you spared, Noah? I'll tell you why. Grace. Why
is anybody spared? Grace. Grace. This world is in a fog when it
comes to the grace and the things of God. They have no idea. The
reason the bow is put in the sky is that everyone can see. God has told us to go into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And you know
how you'll see his glory? In the gospel. The gospel tells
you how that God can be just and justify the ungodly. Is anyone interested in mercy? Then look to the bow. We don't
preach like we feel that only the non-elect or anyone of the
non-elect are going to be saved. God's going to save all his people.
We preach the gospel to every Christian. Look, look to the
rainbow. What does that say? God's merciful. Do you need mercy? Look to him.
Do you need grace? Look to him. If you need mercy,
look to God's rainbow. Look to Christ and find mercy
in him. That's the only place it's found. Our Lord said, John 10, nine,
I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,
and go in and out and find pasture. And the rainbow also appears
when one part of the sky is clear. Mercy remembered in the midst
of wrath. Do you see God's bow in the sky?
Are you ever fearful when the clouds begin to form and you
say, well, I guess God's going to get me? You know, some people
live their whole life in fear. And I know that we're sinners
and we deserve to perish, but God's going to get you. God's
going to get you. God had rather saved than damned.
God sends the gospel. God sends the gospel. He said
that the gospel may be preached in all the world. And the gospel
doesn't tell you what you can do. The gospel doesn't say, you
know, if you let God do something, it's all in God's hands. If God
ever does you anything, it's grace and mercy. The sun may be gone for a while.
The thunder is deafening and startling. You want to run and
hide? If you are in Christ, you're
already hidden. You don't need to seek shelter.
You already have it. Now that's good news. That's
good news. You have the promise of God.
God graciously reminds us of his covenant. When we see the
bow that his justice is spent and there is therefore no condemnation. Did you hear that? No condemnation
to them, which are in Christ Jesus who walked not after the
flesh, but after the spirit, who shall lay anything. to the
charge of God's elect. It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. And if
he gave us those things, shall he not freely give us all things? The judgment fell upon the ark,
and there won't be another one. Now listen. In closing, I pray
that God will enable you to behold his rainbow, our Lord Jesus Christ. and realize that judgment is
passed and now he can and does show mercy to unworthy sinners. Are you a sinner in need of mercy? Look to him and rejoice and he
puts the bow as a token of his grace. May God use this message
to speak to your heart. Amen.