In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes that God wants to communicate His word to us and desires our comfort and service. The preacher highlights the covenant God made with all creation, which remains intact. However, the covenant God has made with His own people is even more precious and meaningful. The sermon then focuses on the story of Noah and how God reassured him after the devastating flood by promising that the seasons would continue as normal. The preacher concludes by emphasizing that God wants us to have peace and hope, and He wants His word to be deeply ingrained in our hearts and minds.

I would like you to imagine yourself and your family as the sole survivors of an atomic devastation that has overtaken the country, perhaps the world. Moreover, you are saved and your family, simply because someone told you in advance what was coming. And having told you what was coming gave you strict commands as to how to fare when the holocaust appeared. You obeyed. You took that wise person at his word. You did everything you were told to do. Now the holocaust has come and gone and you and your family are safe. How would you feel? Am I not right when I say that a strange admixture of awe and wonder, together perhaps with some budding fear, would commingle in your soul? I'm sure that is true. A sense of awe that in his infinite providence and mercy God would have spared you and your family and everyone else is gone. And then a sense of fear. What if this thing is repeated again and I and my family too are wiped out? Such was the situation in which Noah and his family found themselves. God in his infinite mercy and grace had chosen them to salvation. And the answer to the question why is to be found exclusively in the heart of God. It is not in anything that Noah was or Noah did or Noah deserved but simply and solely in the goodness of our infinitely gracious God. But God chose to do that. He chose to show his mercy upon one family even though that family did not deserve it. And now that one family has been conveyed safely through the deluge, Noah and his family are still in the ark. The rain has stopped. The winds are blowing. Dry land has appeared. And one aspect of the total response of Noah is this. I think it's very wonderful. He'll not make a move out of the ark until the God who commanded him to enter tells him to come out. Do you remember how a few pages back in the book of Genesis we read these words, God shut him in. God shut him in. Noah was wise enough and had sufficient grace not to unlock the door until the same God put the key in it and let him out. I don't know how long, well we are not going into those details tonight. But God remembered Noah. Perhaps Noah was a little tired. However, the passage says quite categorically, God remembered Noah. He hadn't forgotten him. And in the fullness of the time, God comes and not only unlocks the door and opens the entrance of the ark again but commands Noah to come out. Now, having so done, we have here something which is most remarkable. It is remarkable wherever we find it. That we have the spectacle of the almighty God of the universe, the almighty God of the universe, entering into a covenant with his creatures. And if not deliberately, then this is the significance of it, even though the words are not used. He goes on oaths. He pledges himself in covenant that he will do certain things and not do other things. And again, all out of the amazing grace and mercy of his heart to these objects of his love. Now that's our subject tonight. It is God in covenant. God in covenant. One thing before we start. This covenant, of course, has relevance to us. It has something to say to us. It's a covenant with all the earth, whilst time and history abide. But God has made with us, his people, another covenant, with terms that are even more gracious than these. Perhaps we shall have a word to say about that before we close. I'm not sure. But let's remember that. Our God is a covenant-making and a covenant-keeping God. And should there be among us tonight anyone who doesn't know the reality of God, let's start here. Our God is not a God who just throws out a few crumbs to the birds of the air. Take it if you please. If not, leave it where it is. He's a God who comes and he says, Come, Dan, I want to make a covenant with you. And I want you to know that I mean what I say. And I bind myself to certain promises, and I will never break them. And I say to you, you need never fear come to a God like this. You need never doubt. You need never tremble. You need never run away from him. For God will keep his covenant engagements as long as he is God. Now the first thing I would like to notice tonight is the concept of a covenant as we have it here. This is the time that we meet it in Genesis. There's a reference to it earlier on, God covenanted with Abraham, with Noah, to take him into the ark. But we meet the concept of a covenant for the first time in the life and in the history of Noah. Now what does it really mean? Well, a covenant is a solid, solemn contract between people. When it is between equals, generally they meet together to confer and they decide the terms. We have that kind of thing in our modern society. People work out the terms of a contract. But when the contract is between God and man, and when it emerges strictly out of the grace and the mercy of God, God doesn't confer with his creatures. But irrespective of our deserts, God promises. And this is exactly what we have here. God binds himself to particular promises. He pledges himself to a particular mode of action. And this is much more than a mere promise, therefore. There is a promissory element here. But the promise is guaranteed by the God who makes it. And it becomes a covenant. Now, I've already answered the question, therefore, whence this particular covenant, and indeed the covenant of grace and of redemption as we know them. A covenant that promises to forgive our sins and to cast them behind the back of God. The origin of such covenants is strictly in the mercy of God, in the mercy and in the goodness and in the will of God. God graciously sets the machinery in motion, signs and seals the covenant out of his own goodness and his own grace. Do you notice in verse 21, it's put very beautifully here, the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground because of man. Later on, neither will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. I want you to notice just those words, the Lord said in his heart. And this is where the covenant began. This is where it sprang. This is where it welled. It was in the heart of God. And if you read in the same verse, just read on a few words, you will read that man's heart is only evil continually. God said in his heart, I will covenant, or words to that effect. In man's heart, there is nothing but evil continually. And remember that the man to whom God refers in his word just there is Noah. There were no other people, only Noah and his children. So in Noah's heart and his son's heart and their wives' hearts, there was nothing but evil. But in his own heart, you know our God is slandered, is he not? The concept of God that people have today is almost of a butcher, a massacring God. Here is a God who despite the iniquity of the best of men, in his heart says, I plan salvation and I plan something gracious. The covenant originated then, not in the heart of man, not in the desire of a man, not by the suggestion of a man or of men, but it originated in the heart of God. The basis of the covenant. What is the covenant based upon? Is it made to depend upon human merit? Is the covenant to be withdrawn, for example, if Noah sins? I have already said enough to answer that question, you have it already. If you are familiar with these words, I hardly need say any more, but let's make it explicit. Negatively, the covenant certainly does not rest upon the basis of human merit. To refer back to those words in verse twenty-one, the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. That refers to Noah. And if you read on to the end of the next chapter, you will find that Noah is dead, drunk in sin. Noah did not deserve this any more than anybody else. God had saved him out of sheer mercy. So God is not now making a covenant because Noah deserves it, or his sons deserve it, or any of the family. Put positively, the basis of such a covenant involvement as we have here, lies exclusively, I repeat, in the goodness and the grace of God. Temporally, the origin of the covenant here in this context is related to the occasion of Noah's sacrifice. If you would like to look at verses twenty and twenty-one again, you will find that we have something to notice here. When Noah came out of the ark, what were his sentiments, what were his emotions, what were his thoughts? Well, we have suggested that there was a sense of awe. Indeed there was, but there was a sense of gratitude too, and much else. And this is what we read. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord. Before he built a house or a shack for himself, before he built anything for himself, Noah built an altar to the Lord. And he took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelled the pleasing odor, the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground because of man. Temporally speaking then, there is a connection between the offering that Noah made and the commencement of the concept of the covenant in the heart of God. It is not one of desert, but they are linked together by the writer of Scripture. Noah's sacrifice probably expressed homage, gratitude, dedication, and atonement. A sense of sorrow for sin and a sacrifice for sin. In these days, of course, the sacrificial system that we encounter later in Scripture was far from formula. And so much was involved in one sacrifice. One sacrifice meant so much. And we are probably right in attributing to this one sacrifice the characteristics of a thank offering, the characteristics of a sin offering, and of a dedication offering. All combined in one, and all the emotions of the soul wrapped up in one, as it were, and expressed by means of this one sacrifice. Actually, therefore, this covenant and its pledged promises are the product of the grace of God. Noah is expressing his gratitude and his sin. But God says, man's heart is only evil continually, full of evil imagination continually. My covenant, therefore, stands not on human desert and merit, but it emerges out of grace, unmerited. That brings us to the content of the covenant, what's involved. Now, its content, as it originated in the heart of God, is specified in words before us. And then its content, as it was expressed in the years of Noah, is slightly different. Let's look at these two. As it originated in the heart of God, go back to verses 20, 21, 22. We read that it contained a double negative. The first negative is this. God pledged himself never again to add to his curse upon the ground because of man's sin. Let me read. I will never again curse the ground because of man. Verse 21, the first part. Now what does this mean? Well, the original curse upon the soil remains. We've considered that. As we've tried to let Genesis speak for itself, we have taken seriously the statement that the soil is cursed because of the sin of Adam. God does not withdraw that. But now what he says is this. He will not add any further to that curse upon the soil, whereby it brings forth not only good fruit, but thorns and thistles and much else, making it difficult to cultivate, especially in certain areas. But Moses said, I will not add to that. Can you see the mercy of this? There must be a consequence of sin and of the fall. But God will temper his judgment with mercy. He wants man to prolong his life upon the earth. There is a purpose. There is a plan. There is need. And so he says, I will not add. I will not heap curse upon curse to make life impossible. And then this. God pledged himself never again to destroy every living creature. The second part of verse 21. These things, says God, will not happen. I covenant with you. These things will not happen. I give you my word. God pledges himself not to bring them to pass again. But now look at verse 22. It continued a positive purpose. While the earth remains – all this goes on in the heart of God – while the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease. Here is the Lord of all creation meeting a fundamental need in the heart of Noah. The need is this, of course. It arises from uncertainty. If this kind of thing has happened once, will it happen again? If we've had such a terrible devastation and there is no one else left in the whole world but me and my family, well, is this going to happen again? Life is uncertain. How can you build? How can you plan? How can you do anything with this terrible uncertainty? God says, Noah, it's all right. I have a promise for you. Whilst the earth remaineth. How long is that? Well, you answer. Whilst the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease. God will not allow another such major dislocation of the seasons, as apparently must have happened during the flood. On the contrary, he will guarantee the basis for cultivation of the soil by the assured consistency of the seasons. That was the covenant as it originated in the heart of God. Now, as it was poured out into the years of Noah, turn over to chapter 9 and verse 11. The same covenant as it was expressed into the years of Noah and his son. God has enlarged it a little. And he amplifies it. And he puts it like this. I establish my covenant with you that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood to destroy the earth. What does this mean? Before we try to answer what does it mean, let us note what it doesn't mean. As I've been reading around this subject, I have found that there are a number of people who jump to false conclusions on the premises that we have here. There are certain things that God did not mean, and I think we need to take them seriously. First of all, God did not hereby abrogate the principle of his holy antipathy towards sin and his condemnation of evil. God was not telling Noah, oh, never mind, Noah, whether you sin or not, all's well. It makes no difference. God's not saying that. We read in the New Testament that the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold down the truth in unrighteousness. God is not here abrogating this principle. He, in and out of his own soul, loathes sin, and he condemns sin. God is not, therefore, abrogating that principle. God is not promising not to intervene in judgment upon individuals, upon groups, or upon nations. I think this is necessary to see from the text, otherwise we misunderstand the whole of the Bible, and we think that things have gone wrong when they've not gone wrong. God did not say, I'm not going to send a flood. He will send various kinds of judgments upon people in due course if they continue to sin. This he will still do, as in the case of Babel over in chapter eleven, of Sodom and Gomorrah in chapter nineteen. The people of the Jews and other nations, as you read on into the Old Testament, God is still the God of judgment. There is nothing here to say that God is not going to continue to be a God of judgment. Neither does this covenant promise mean that natural calamities will not overtake men from time to time. You read on into the Old Testament and you will find that God is telling the children of Israel in chapters like Leviticus chapter twenty-six and in the book of Deuteronomy, that if they do not live according to his commands, he will bring the greatest calamities into their lives. I have no time tonight to read a chapter like Leviticus twenty-six, but if I did, I think it might surprise many of us. You have a look at it when you have a moment's leisure. God is telling his people that he will bring the greatest catastrophes into their lives in judgment. And of course, did he not send them to Babylon, and first of all to Egypt? Do we not read of the locusts and what not? I don't have the time to enter into that. Indeed, we are told that as our Lord Jesus Christ's return draws near, there will not only be wars and rumors of wars, but we shall be hearing of earthquakes and various other catastrophes overtaking peoples in various parts of the world. These are negatives. What, then, is the covenant pledge? What does God pledge in the covenant? God pledges never again within the course of human history will he bring about a wholesale destruction of an entire human community by a flood. What he is telling Noah is this, never again in the course of human history will there be the kind of thing that has been experienced latterly. From Noah onwards, judgment upon men and nations will be generally—not exclusively, I have said enough to prove that already—generally God will keep his judgment until the last great judgment. Now, I find that this is very necessary to declare because we have what is oftentimes called a moral problem facing us in history. It's largely because we don't recognize this principle. God generally withholds judgment until the last great day. Sometimes he intervenes in the lives of individuals, communities, nations. But generally, as a principle, judgment is withheld until the last great day. Now, the problem is this. You and I know some of the most ungodly people who have a jolly good time on earth. And we say to ourselves, is this fair? Is this right? Is this just? Here am I. I give all my tithes to the Lord, we say, like the Pharisee. I keep the Sabbath day. I even come out at night. You know, that's a feather in our cap. We do all these things, and we support missions, and what don't we do? Well, we say our prayers, and it's not easy with me. And look at that guy around the corner. He doesn't even salute the Almighty at Easter time, nor at Christmas time. And he's so well. And he's so happy, apparently. His conscience is quite easy. Now, you see, it's all because of this principle. God withholds judgment, generally speaking, until the last great day of judgment, when the dead shall be raised, and nations will stand before him. There are occasions when he intervenes, but they're occasions. The general principle is this. But, he says to Noah, Noah, you don't need to worry. You can get on plowing the earth, you can get on cultivating the soil. There will be not another flood, as long as the earth remains. Seed time and harvest, and summer and winter, and day and night. No, no, he says, no more judgment of this order, and of this time. Now, what's the purpose of this covenant? Again, I want to make explicit what has been involved, and inherent in what we've said already. It's the continuance of God's original purpose for mankind. I must say this, even though it takes a little time. You see, God is so consistent, and we are so inconsistent. I read in chapter one of Genesis, in verse twenty-eight, that God spoke like this to Adam. He said, Adam, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. Have dominion. You're boss, you're my viceroy. Right. And now things went wrong, then came the flood. Does God give up his purpose? Never, never, never. Listen. Chapter nine, verses one and two. God is now speaking to Noah and his children. Be fruitful and multiply. He addresses Noah very much as if he were a second Adam. He takes up the threads. Men have gone with a deluge. You know, that can happen in human history today just the same. God's purpose is inviolable, my friend. You may stand in the way, but you'll perish in one way or another, and you'll be buried. God will take up the threads, and he'll move on. This is the sovereignty of God in history. You may stand in his way as you would seem and frustrate him. Some way or other, death will come your way, and you'll be buried in a tomb, and God will take up the threads, and he'll carry on the eternal purpose as if puny man had never been. He does it here. This is what he now tells Noah. Be fruitful, he says, and multiply, and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. You see what's happened. The scepter has been taken out of the hand of Adam, and it's been put into the hand of a man. Scripture doesn't call him the second Adam, but he's a kind of second Adam, the head of a new race. The covenant pledge counters the fear of the repetition of such a wholesale devastation as the flood, leaving men free to plan for the future and to do so hopefully. And the covenant pledge promises success to man's labor, says God. It's all in your hands, but you're in mine. And then there's the covenant purpose to confirm the original principle whereby God ruled Adam and Eve even in the Garden of Eden. You can't shake the Almighty out of the principles of his operations. Man is to rule the world for God, but man is to rule the world under God. We have stressed so far that man is to rule the world for God. He's God's viceroy. But now notice, man is to rule the world under God. This is where things go wrong with us. We would like to rule the world for God. We would like to rule the church for God. We would like to rule the community for God. Let me rule. Let me say what things ought to be and ought not to be, wouldn't we? That's not God's purpose, according to Scripture. He who rules for him must always rule under him. Now, there was an indication of that in Eden, and it was put like this. Says God to Adam, you be ruler of everything. You till the soil, you trim the garden, you do everything. But now, as a token of the fact that you're under me, there is one tree there and you mustn't touch it. The fruit of that is mine. Don't go near. A token of the human submission to the sovereignty of God. You have exactly the same thing here. Exactly the same thing here. Every moving thing I read in chapter 9, verses 3 and 4, I mean in principle it's the same thing. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you, and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything, only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is its blood. Can you see what God is doing? Exactly what he did in Eden. Our God never changes. He said to Adam, I give you everything. Everything's in your hand. But you're under me, and I tell you, you mustn't do that. Now he comes to Noah and he does exactly the same thing. The whole business is yours, he says to Noah. I hand it over to you. You're my viceroy. You're under me. And I tell you one thing you mustn't do. Human life is sacred. And you mustn't eat the blood, and you mustn't touch the blood, and you mustn't slay a man. In other words, human life is sacred. You indicate your acceptance of my sovereignty by keeping within the bounds that I set down for you. That brings us to the scope of the covenant. I find this supremely wonderful. That God would make a covenant with the creatures of the earth, not just human, but animals. To know what you have to say to that. The covenant was universal in scope. The passage affirms that it was not only made with Noah, but also with his children. Verse 8 and chapter 9. Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him. Also included are Noah's unborn descendants. Verse 12. And God said, this is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all future generations. We are included in this covenant. It is a covenant made therefore with mankind and with the animal kingdom in verse 10. Read verse 10. 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. Oh, the infinite mercy. The covenant then was universal in its scope. And being universal in its scope, it was to be permanent in its duration. I would like you to notice the repetition, whatever version of the scriptures you may be reading, I would like you to notice the repetition of the equivalent of the word never, or never again in the revised standard version. Let me read just three or four verses. In chapter 8 and verse 21 I read, I will never again curse the ground. In chapter 9 and verse 11 I read, never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood. And never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. And then in verse 15, chapter 9, the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. Oh, isn't this wonderful? God is speaking to his human creatures, first of all, but also to the inanimate, to the creatures of the field, to the non-human. And last of all, I want you to notice the sign of the covenant. How gracious our God is. He not only makes a covenant so that life may be lived in its orderly fashion, we may proceed on the assurance that there is a consistency that is inbuilt into nature. But he gives us a sign. The gracious idea of a sign is something that should elicit our worship. You see, a sign was not necessary. God could have done all this without giving any sign of it, any token of it. Its terms and its promises would have been utterly reliable without any such sign. But God wanted to meet the need arising from human weakness. He wanted to allay the doubts of his creatures. He wanted Noah to feel safe, that he could build for the future. And God says, I'll not only give you my word, but I'll give you a sign. Thus he chose a sign to symbolize the truth that was embodied in his covenant. And the sign was the bow in the cloud, the rainbow. Now, of course, there may have been a rainbow before now, but at least this is the first time it becomes a symbol. It becomes a token of God's covenant. He appointed the rainbow to symbolize how his mercy shot through the darkest cloud to make it glisten with beauty. Oh, there may be clouds in the sky, says God to Noah, and the clouds may be pretty thick and pretty threatening, but I want you to notice, says the Lord, I will put my bow in the clouds. And for you, men of faith, for you, child of mine, I want you to notice that has meaning. They have no meaning for other people when they're born, but for you this has meaning. It will be my bow in the cloud against the ugly, threatening thing. I put my bow to assure you and to remind you of my covenant promises. Some of the ancients and indeed some modern make a lot of this. Now, I don't know how much to make of it. You know, the word for bow here is the same word as you would use when you spoke of bow and arrow. It's the same word exactly. And some of the ancients used to say that God has given man a remarkable picture, yet he's hung his bow in the clouds to show that he's not using it anymore and that the rainbow is a hanging up of the bow of warfare. Well, now, I don't know whether that is true or not. What it is supposed to indicate is true. God says there may be clouds and you may be afraid of them, Noah, because of a flood you've been through. And you may be afraid of a repetition of the same thing, which you needn't be. Never again will there be a kind of flood that you have experienced. And I covenant with you, and this is my sign. God did not need a sign to remind him of what he had promised, but Noah, in his feeble faith, needed a sign to remind him that God always remembered. This is a very precious sign. You see, it was always clearly visible in the clouds. No one can come between us and a rainbow. The rainbow appears to link heaven and earth, doesn't it? And it gives the very clouds a beauty that they never had before. When it is threatening, when it is dark, when you know not quite what's going to happen next, then a rainbow. It seems to come between us and the threatening cloud. God says, I'll put my bow in the sky, and this is a sign, this is a token, this is meaningful to you. Along with the words that I have given you, take this token, and it all means, says God to Noah, you can trust me. Now, my friends, much of this is relevant to us. But some of the principles here, many of the principles underlying here, are particularly relevant. I am very concerned about that which is revealed here about God. God, the God of the Bible, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of creation and the God of redemption, is a God who cares for his people. And he cares for you. And I want you to know that tonight. I'd like you to take that with you. If there was nothing else you could remember from this service, remember this, that the God of the Bible is a God who was so concerned for this creature Noah, despite the fact that God knew that he was going to get drunk just a little later. He so cared for him, he wanted him to be able to live his life in peace and in hope. And even the creatures of the field, even in his wrath, God is merciful. This in part explains the good health and the long life and the blessings of the ungodly as we have seen. God's person, the glory of his character and the wonders of his grace are all written in principle into this. But then this. This reveals the provisions of God. Not only his person, but his provisions. Whereas his covenant is adequate, he gives us not only his promise, he gives us not only his covenant, but just as he did to Noah of old, he's given you and he's given me signs of the covenant, tokens of the covenant, particularly tokens of the covenant of grace, namely those of baptism and of the Lord's Supper. What do they say to us? Why did God give us these tokens, these covenantal signs? Well, let's be reminded of the principle. The principle is this. God wants us to have peace and hope, and he wants to write indelibly upon our minds and upon our hearts what his word says concerning his covenant. He wants the message to come into our souls not only from what we hear, but from what we see. Our God is a God that wants to get his word across, and he wants us to be comforted, and he wants us to be served, and he wants us to be his. Now, if God is so gracious to his creatures generally—this is the last word that I have to say tonight—if God is so gracious to his creatures generally as is indicated here by the covenant with all creation, which remains intact to this very night, and will whilst the earth remains, how much more infinitely wonderful is his covenant and his promises and his concern for those who love him and serve him and are his people. If you are a child of God, then, my good friend, be assured of this. Precious as this covenant is, made with the creatures generally, believer and unbeliever alike, just and unjust alike, the covenant that God has made with his own can hardly be more meaningful, hardly less meaningful, I meant to say, hardly less precious. On the contrary, it must surely be trebly so. God is inviting some of us tonight to realize this, perhaps for the first time, that in his word and in his Son, he does not simply make a promise, he makes a covenant, and he will never, never, never go back upon his word. You can trust him, you can confide in him, you can bring everything you have into his care, and our covenant-keeping God will never let you down. His oath, his covenant and blood support me in the worming flood. When all around my soul gives way, he then is all my hope and stay. Trust him. If you have never come to him with penitence and with faith before tonight, I bid you come tonight. Cease your doubting, cease your fears, cease your anxiety. If you are in charge, in the charge of this covenant-keeping God, then the Son of God says to you, there is no need for you to worry. You see the lily of the field that neither spins nor toils not, and yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Trust me, I clothe the grass which today is and tomorrow is cast into the elm. I hold the birds, the whole universe is in my hand. I am a covenant-keeping God. May it be that all of us who know his word and the terms of his covenant shall honor him forever with the faith of our undivided hearts to his glory.