I'm going to read you my text
for tonight. Acts, chapter 16, verse four and five, you don't
need to turn there. I just want to read it. And as
they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees
for to keep. That were ordained of the apostles
and elders which were at Jerusalem, and so were the churches established
in the faith. Now, the only way you and I will
be established in the faith, and I wanna be that, don't you,
is by keeping these decrees spoken of in Acts chapter 15, and that's
what we're going to consider tonight, the decrees to keep. Now, I'm preaching this morning
on the rainbow of the covenant. The rainbow. of the covenant. I hope every time we see a rainbow,
we think of this covenant that God made. But whether we think
of it or not, God thinks of it at all times, and we're going
to see that from this passage of Scripture. Now, the covenant
that God made with Noah and his seed is to Teach us something
of the covenant that God made with Christ and His seed. Now, I was thinking about this
thing of the covenant God made. There's only one type of person
that will have an interest in this covenant. One type of person. The person who genuinely believes
that if salvation is in any way to any degree dependent upon
me doing something or not doing something before I can be saved,
I have no hope. Would that describe you? If salvation
is dependent, is contingent upon me doing something or not doing
something before I can be saved, then I have no hope of being
saved. Now, this covenant tells us how
people like that, like me and you, like Noah, can be saved. The rainbow of the covenant. Now in this passage of scripture
that I just read, the word covenant is used seven different times. It's found over 300 times in
the scripture. But just in this passage of scripture
we just read, the word covenant is found seven different times. The statement is made after the
flood, but it was made before the flood as well. Look in Genesis
chapter six. Verse 18, this is before God
has sent the flood. God says, but with thee, Genesis
6, 18, Noah, will I establish my covenant? I love the language
of that, don't you? It's so powerful. With thee,
I will establish my covenant and thou shalt come into the
ark. Now that's the way God's covenant
works. I will. You shall. That's why we read
in verse eight, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
The reason Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord was not
because he wasn't like those people described in verse five.
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. No, that was Noah. That's you.
That's me. But Noah found grace. That means
that Noah was included in that great covenant that God made
with Christ before the world began. According as he hath chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world. Noah is a type
to illustrate this covenant that God made with Christ and His
seed. Just as the covenant was made
with Noah and His seed, the people in the ark, the covenant is made
with Christ and His seed, those who are in Him. Ephesians 1.3 says, Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us. HATH BLESSED US WITH ALL SPIRITUAL
BLESSINGS." Now, hold on just a moment. The only blessings
there are are spiritual blessings. Now, I'm thankful for health,
but I know the Lord can take it away, and health or sickness
is not indicative of God's blessing. I'm thankful for being able to
pay the bills, but being able to pay the bills or not being
able to pay the bills are not indicative of God's blessing.
God's blessing is spiritual. He hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Let me read a scripture to you
from Isaiah 53. You can turn there if you want.
Isaiah 53, verse 10, talking about the seed. God said to Noah,
I'm making a covenant with you and your seed. Well, God said
to Christ, I'm making a covenant with you and your seed. If I'm
a believer, I'm his seed. I'm his seed. That's mysterious,
isn't it? But it's so. If I'm a believer,
I'm of the seed of Christ. Look in Isaiah 53, verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. In that great psalm of the cross,
Psalm 22, we read, A seed shall serve him. A seed, the seed of
Christ. This is eternal seed. I wish
I could explain it better, but this is not something much to
be explained, but believed. Every believer is the seed of
Christ. A seed shall serve him. It shall
be counted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come and declare his
righteousness unto a people that shall be born, born again, the
seed that he hath done this and is being declared right now.
Now the scripture speaks so much of this covenant. We read of
a covenant made with Noah, a covenant made with Moses, a covenant made
with David, a covenant made with Solomon, but these are all given
to illustrate one covenant. It's not like there are six or
seven different covenants. There's only two covenants. Paul
makes that clear in Galatians chapter 4 when he says these
are the two covenants, the covenant God made with Christ or the covenant
God made with Adam. The covenant that is ultimately
conditioned upon Adam's obedience The covenant that is ultimately
conditioned on Christ's obedience. Now listen to me real carefully.
God will meet you any way you want. If you want to come on the condition
of Christ's obedience only, God will meet you there. I don't
care who you are. Somebody says, well, it's only
for the elect. I know. I realize that. But if you come pleading
only Christ, God will meet you on that ground and you'll be
accepted. And if you come the other way,
if that's what you want, if you wanna come on your own works,
go for it. God will meet you there and he'll give you exactly
what you got coming. God always pays his debts. But you can come on the ground
of Christ Somebody says, well, I want to, but I'm afraid I can't.
Yeah, you can. If you come pleading Christ,
God will meet you there. And if you come on the ground
of your works, God will meet you there as well. Now, I repeat,
this is a covenant made not with all mankind, but with those in
the ark. And this covenant God made with
Christ is not a covenant made with all mankind, but all those
who are in Christ. And I pray that by the time this
message is over, we can know for sure whether or not we are
in this covenant. Wouldn't it be a blessing if
you could leave here knowing that you are included in this
glorious covenant that God made with Christ? Now look back in
our text in Genesis 9 verse 11. God says, I will establish my
covenant with you. And in this covenant, he promises
he will never again send a flood. Now that flood was for judgment. Question, how is it that he can
never send a flood again when men are just as sinful after
the flood? And Noah's an example of that. If you read the end of this chapter,
I think it's so, I don't even know what word to describe it,
but Noah's last chapter in his life that we read about is not
a good one. We read where he was drunken, passed out in a
tent, sitting there in nakedness. Made him a vineyard. That's what
we're going to consider next week. But Noah was still a sinner
after he walked out of the ark. And you and I right now are still
sinners. Sinners saved by grace, sinners
God has entered into covenant with, but we are still sinners. Now, how can this covenant be
sure? How can it be true, since I'm
like that, that God can still say to me, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Turn with
me to Hebrews 13. I'd like you to look at this
with me. Hebrews 13th chapter, Verse 20. Now, the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep. through the blood of the everlasting
covenant. Now that's the same covenant
that we're reading of in Genesis chapter nine. And notice it says
the God of peace, the only peace you're gonna find is in this
covenant. He called it the covenant of
my peace in Isaiah chapter 54 verse 10. The God of peace. And here's where this peace comes
from, that brought again from the dead, the Lord Jesus, that
great shepherd of the sheep. Now, why did he bring him again
from the dead? Because he did what the father
intended for him to do. He put away sin. He was delivered
for our offenses. He was raised again for our justification. Therefore, every believer stands
before God sinless right now. Now those sins that you feel
guilty about, if you're a believer, you know what? They're not. They're
gone. They're put away. They do not
exist. Isn't that glorious? That's what
the great shepherd of the sheep accomplished when he was raised
from the dead. And don't miss this in this verse
of scripture, through the blood, of the everlasting covenant. The covenant that never had a
beginning. The covenant that never has an ending. The blood
of the everlasting covenant. Now this refers to Christ being
the Lamb slain. from the very foundation of the
world. I love that verse of scripture.
And in the original, it's like this, the lamb having been slain,
not that will be slain, the lamb having been slain from the very
foundation of the world, the blood of the everlasting covenant. Now back to Genesis chapter nine, Look in verse 12. And God said, well, I'm so thankful we know
what God said. What a glorious thing. I'm so thankful for the
Bible. God said, this is not what some
religious person said. This is not what some preacher
even said. God said. I'm thankful for the Word of
God. How powerful. God said, in the beginning, God,
I love the way Hebrews begins, God, who in sundry times and
diverse manners, oh, the Lord God. God said, verse 12, this is the
token of the covenant, which I make between me and you. Now, we live in a world of covenants. When I go into the grocery store,
there is a price that has to be paid, and I've got to agree
to pay that price before it comes mine. I mean, we just, we live
in a world of covenants. Everything is according to, you
do this, I'll do that. But this is not the way God's
covenant works. He says, this is what I'll do. This is a covenant
I make. It's no pact between me and you
that you do your part and I'll do my part. No, this is a covenant
that I make. Oh, that's. 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 where he's not going to flood
the earth anymore. He says, 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 will be seen
in the cloud. They had never had rain before
the flood when the rains came down. The scripture says somehow
dew watered the earth and rain had not taken place as of yet.
Rain didn't take place until the flood. Somebody says, explain
that to me. Yeah, I don't feel any need to.
That's what God says. Somebody says, well, how can
you not have her? I don't know, but I'm not worried about it.
If God said it, that's the way it is. I read somewhere where
somebody says we need to listen to science. Well, I'm all for
science, but I want to hear what God says. And science will end
up falling in line to that. It's just that we don't know
everything. But at any rate, it didn't rain. And so after
Noah and his family walked out of that ark, what do you think
they started thinking the first time they heard the thunder clap
and the clouds grow dark and the rain start coming? I guarantee
you they're thinking about that flood, about that deluge that
killed everybody. But what does God put in the
sky to remind them? A beautiful rainbow. And what I love about that rainbow,
God did not say, I'm putting that rainbow for your assurance. That's not what he said at all.
Look what he said. Verse 15, 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's 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. Now, this language
is given to cause us to know that God never forgets His covenant. You'll forget it. You do it all
the time. Every time you lose assurance
of salvation, you've forgotten the covenant. You forgot all
about it. But God never forgets it. And all of his dealings with
his people at all times is according to this covenant. The rainbow of the covenant.
And turn with me to Revelation chapter four. Remember the significance early
on of this rainbow. Now look in Revelation chapter
four, verse one. After this, I looked and behold,
a door was opened in heaven. Well, don't you want to see what's
up there? This door opened in heaven. This is the door God
has opened. John sees into heaven at this
time. Now, look what it said. The door
was opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard was
as it were of a trumpet talking with me, which said, Come up
hither, and I will show thee things which must be. Hereafter, You know why they
must be? Because it's all God's purpose
and God's decree. Everything is included in this
covenant. That's why they must be. I love
in the next chapter when they talk about the book. Sealed with
seven seals written on the front side and back side can't be added
to. That's God's purpose, God's decrees. Everything God has purposed
is in this book. That's where the lamb came and
took the book. I love the language of that.
He didn't ask for it. He took it as the father's equal,
the son of God. Now look in verse two. And immediately I was in the
spirit And behold, a throne was set in heaven. Now, you're not going to see
into heaven without seeing a throne and what that represents, the
absolute sovereignty of God, the one who controls all things. Verse 3, And he that sat was
to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone. And look at
this, there was a rainbow. There was a rainbow round about
this throne of absolute sovereign control, the Godhead. There was a rainbow encircling
this throne. You see, this tells us that from
the throne God is always mindful of His covenant, always. Everything that takes place is
included in the fulfilling of this eternal covenant, and the
only way I can approach God is through this covenant. Now, let
me put this in real simple terms. The Lord said, No man cometh
to the Father, but by me. Not beside me, not behind me,
but by me. So that when he as the covenant
head comes into the presence of the Father, so does everyone
in him. Now we've often wondered, have
I come to Christ? Well, if I'm in him, if he has
come to the father, I've come to the father because I come
in him. No man comes to the father, but
by me. Now, David, the man after God's
own heart, had something to say about this covenant, called in
Isaiah 54.10, the covenant of peace, called in Isaiah 55.3,
the everlasting covenant, even the sure mercies of David. Now,
let's see how David speaks of this covenant. Turn to 2 Samuel
23, very familiar passage of scripture, but oh, so important. 2 Samuel 23. Verse 1, now these be the last
words of David. David knows he's going to stand
soon before God in judgment. David's dying. I wish that we
would all take that into account. One of these days, very soon,
all this is going to be over, and I'm going to stand before
a thrice holy God. What's David thinking about?
What's on David's mind at this time? If I was David, I'd be thinking
about some pretty bad things. David committed some very grievous
sins. Now you wanna, I doubt, now you've
done in your heart, I realize that, but I doubt that anybody
in here has committed cold-blooded, premeditated, wicked murder. You might have done it in your
heart. As a matter of fact, I know you have done it in your heart,
but as far as the actual carrying it out, I mean, you think of
what he did to Uriah simply to cover up his own sin. He had
this man murdered, and he implicated somebody else in it. He got Joab
to do his dirty work, and he made Joab guilty as well. It's
no wonder Joab didn't respect him after this. He had nothing
but trouble with Joab. after this because of what he
got Joab to do. I'm sure Joab was disgusted by
him to kill Uriah like that. And I could name many other sins.
What about when he numbered the children of Israel and he was
so presumptuous that he, he considered him apart from the atonement,
apart from the atonement money. And that's why he was in such
trouble. And that's why the Lord killed 70,000 people because
of him. He could have thought of a lot
of things that he did. He went and stayed in Gath for over a
year and was with the king of Gath. And as far as the king
of Gath concerned, he turned against the children of Israel
when he was fleeing from Absalom. I mean, we could go on. I mean,
fleeing from Saul, we could go on and on with glaring problems
in this man's life. But he hadn't mentioned any of
them. Not when he was dying. And he could have thought about
Goliath. how the Lord had used him. The Lord made him to be
the greatest man on the earth during that time. The scripture
actually says the fear of David fell on every nation. Every nation knew. You don't
mess with David. You don't mess with him. The
God of Israel is his God, and there's no defeating this man.
He was a man greatly used of God. The sweet psalmist of Israel. Oh, aren't you thankful for the
Psalms? The Psalms written by David. Now here he is dying. What's he got to say? Verse five, although my house be not so with
God yet, he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all and sure. This is all my salvation and
all my desire. though he make it not to grow. Now this dying word begins with
an although. That's where he begins. Although my house be not so with
God. Now, God said after that event
with Bathsheba, the sword's never going to depart from your house.
And it didn't. He had one trouble after another. You think you have family troubles?
He had worse than you do. I mean, he had his children,
the things his children did. His wives, although my house
be not so with God. And I don't have any question
that what he meant more than that is although this house,
the body is always called the house in scripture, quite often.
It houses the soul or whatever, this house. Although this house
be not so with God. Somebody said there is total
depravity. Although my house, my house,
not talking about yours, I'm talking about mine, in my own
experience. Although my house be not so with
God, there is total depravity. Yet. Unconditional election. Yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant. Although my house be not so with
God yet, that doesn't take away from this. He hath made with
me an everlasting covenant. One that was made before time
began. Doesn't that amaze you? The Lord,
why? Why? Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. That's why. Yet hath he made
with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure,
Christ's effectual atonement. ORDERED IN EVERYTHING, AND THE
REASON MY SALVATION IS SURE, BECAUSE HE MADE IT SURE BY THE
BLOOD OF HIS CROSS, ORDERED IN ALL THINGS AND SURE. AND THEN
HE SAYS THIS IS, HOW MUCH OF MY SALVATION? ALL OF MY SALVATION. THAT'S WHAT'S CALLED IRRESISTIBLE
GRACE. saving grace. This is all my
salvation, and it's all my desire. Now,
that is what we would call perseverance. You see, here's my desire. And
most people, when they think of perseverance, they think,
well, that means you believe in one saved, always saved. Well,
it depends. It depends. If you have anything
to do with it, no, I don't believe one saved always saved. If I
have anything to do with it, no, I don't believe that, I'll
fall away. But if God's the one who does the saving, yeah, I
believe the one saved always saved. But here's the thing about
perseverance. It's not just that you'll never
fall away, it's that you continue your only desires to be found
in Christ. Now that's perseverance. Your
only desire at all times is to be found in Christ. You never
wanna be viewed independently of him. That's persevering in
the faith. That is looking to Christ only. So in this glorious statement,
we have the doctrine of grace. Although my house be not so with
God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure. And this is all my salvation
and all my desire. And then he ends with this very unusual way. Though he maketh
it not to grow. Now that is a, I think it almost
doesn't make sense in the context of that. I know it does. The
only problem is me. Why would he end it that way?
Though he make it not to grow. Don't we grow? Yeah. Scripture says grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We
grow to understand the gospel more by his grace. We grow to
see more of our sinfulness. We see more of our need of him.
We grow in the fruit of the spirit. We grow in the beatitudes. Every
believer grows because where there's life, there will be growth.
But let me tell you two places I do not grow. I do not grow more holy. and I do not grow less sinful. How about you? I do not grow, I know this, I
do not grow more holy. Well, I'm really getting holy.
No, I don't grow more holy. And I don't grow less sinful.
Well, I don't have the same problem with sin I used to. No. No, I don't grow in either of
those ways. And somebody that claims to grow
in those ways proves they're really ignorant of the gospel.
You're just ignorant of the gospel. If that's the way, if you're
growing more holy and less sinful, you've not really understood
how God saves sinners. Can you say with David regarding
to this covenant, this is all my salvation, all of it. and
all my desire. I don't want anything else. And
here's your experience, though he make it not to grow. Now here's
what I want to leave you with. How can I know if I personally
was included in this covenant? Let me ask you two questions
and this will answer that. Number one, are you a sinner? Come on now, are you a sinner? Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. If you're a sinner, he came to
save you. Isn't that wonderful? Here's
the second question. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of the living God? Do you believe that he is
eternal God equal with the Father? You know, there's something too,
it's almost scary to think of His Majesty when He came up and
took the book, showing by that that He is equal with the Father. Do you believe that? Do you believe He's eternal God?
God's Christ God's prophet, God's priest, when scripture says,
who so believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. You know, if you're born of God,
that means you're the seed. May the Lord give every one of
us, according to his will, the grace to enter in to what David
said with regard to this covenant. And I hope the next time we look
at a beautiful rainbow, and I tell you sometimes when you see them,
oh, they're so fabulous looking, you know, sometimes you can barely
see them, sometimes when you see a really big one going for,
remember, this refers to God's covenant. And remember this,
he's the one who always remembers the covenant. And that is our
salvation. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you. For the
covenant of your peace. How we thank you for the blood
of the everlasting covenant. How we thank you for your rainbow.
That reminds us. That you never forget your covenant. Lord, I ask in Christ name. that you would give everyone
in this room. Lord, we were praying that you
would be merciful. And that you would give everyone
in this room the grace to believe that they're a sinner. To make no other claim than that,
and to believe that thy blessed son is God, the son, the second
person of the Trinity, the savior of sinners. In His name we pray. Amen. Dwayne,
come lead us in closing here.