 Okay, as you're being seated, please turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 9 verses 8 through 17 Genesis chapter 9 verses 8 through 17 And as always we desire to worship the Lord in the way that he desires to be worshiped And there's no better way to do that than to look into his word to consider how we ought to approach him In our worship and this morning we'll be looking at Genesis chapter 9 verses 8 through 17 and it reads Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him Behold I Established my covenant with you and your offspring after you and with every living creature that is with you The birds the livestock and every beast of the earth with you As many as came out of the ark. It is for every beast of the earth. I Establish my covenant with you that never again Shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood and never again Shall there be a flood to destroy the earth? And God said this is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and Every living creature that is with you for all future generations I have set my bow in the cloud and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh and The water shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant Between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth God said to Noah this is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and All flesh that is on the earth Amen here. We have the no way a covenant thought the promise of the no way a covenant And imagine with me for a moment what it would have been like for Noah and His sons and his wife to hear this promise from God Noah had just witnessed the greatest destruction Ever brought upon the face of the earth even to date Nothing more tragic has ever happened on this earth He saw the beauty of the earth before the flood with his own eyes Likely a beauty that we can only imagine And he was a herald of righteousness as Peter said Amongst the ungodly on the earth and he saw God inflict his judgment upon the earth And Noah Noah had to understand especially being a herald of righteousness that he was a sinner, too And Noah did have favor from the Lord But Noah's favor wasn't the favor that he earned from the Lord The favor that Noah had from the Lord was bestowed upon him He was righteous because God made him righteous But imagine Noah's what Noah's thoughts would have been like in a moment of faithlessness in a moment of temptation He might ask what would God do the same to me Will God do the same to my sons? What about their children? Will he do the same thing again? But God God provides his covenant and he promises that he will no longer curse the ground again as he did It's a seed time and harvest cold and heat winter and summer They will continue those same things that the Lord has decided will govern the earth they would continue upon the earth until the appointed time and this This covenant that God gave I didn't read it particularly in this portion of the text but just before he echoes again The commands that he gave to Adam to be fruitful and multiply He echoes the commands to fill the earth But now it's different Because now unlike when Adam was there there's sin on the earth now and God makes concessions for sin when he speaks to Noah But consider that covenant consider God's mercy Consider God's mercy to Noah in this that he would give Noah this promise and really through Noah give us this promise He says that he would give this covenant not just to Noah but to for all future generations He God is showing that he is not at war with men God follows up as his is his pattern. He follows up sin and judgment and he's followed it up with mercy God shows mercy to the undeserving We should praise God for his mercy God also gives a sign to this covenant He sets the bow and the clouds Arainbow as we will call it now as a sign of this covenant. It's a bow of peace and not a bowl of war He shows mercy in the cloud of judgment God does He will look upon this bow and he will remember his covenant. He says God is not an ogre But he is a redeemer Our God is a merciful God even in the midst of judgment God shows his mercy But consider us those of us who are Christians see this mercy that God showed to Noah and to all future generations this isn't A mercy of redemption. This is a common mercy. This is a common mercy shown to all men But to those of us who are Christians, we have been shown a much greater mercy, haven't we? Right we he hasn't just given us a rainbow He hasn't just given us a promise of the earth to continue its patterns He's given us his son He's given us his son the ultimate expression of mercy not just common mercy not just common grace and And even the language of this covenant like this covenant promise it suggests that God has Likely more in mind here Suggest that God is pointing to something else You know, what's interesting is that when God mentions seeing the bow and remembering his covenant in verse 16 He calls it an everlasting covenant and you might ask Well this earth this earth isn't everlasting. Is it this earth won't be here forever. God will destroy this earth There will be a new heavens and a new earth Even this language here of God well, he says I will look upon the bow or I will see it and remember That's the same language that God uses when he speaks of the Passover lamb the blood of the Passover lamb in Exodus 12 when God will see the Blood of the lamb on the doorpost and he will look over them and and Will pass over their sins And even the throne of God even a throne of God in Revelation chapter 4 where Christ sits You know what it has around it has a rainbow around it Consider God's mercy to you believer God has given you a greater promise than the common Mercies that all men have God has given you Jesus Christ and when God looks upon Jesus Christ He will remember not merely a common Mercy that he has promised he will remember the mercy that he has promised you according to the new covenant And he will pass over your sins and he has passed over your sins So praise the Lord for his mercy. We have much reason to worship our God We have much reason to bow down before him in gratitude So let's do that together as we sing as we pray as we listen to the word preached Let's remember God's mercy to us both us both common and redemptive. Let's pray Lord God We praise you for your mercy toward us May your name be praised We praise the name of your son who has redeemed us by his own blood Lord that you would look upon him and Count our sins paid We praise you for that Lord help us to remember this truth Help us to remember your mercy and help us to bow down before you in gratitude and in love Knowing that our God has been good to us Praise your name. Oh God and Jesus name. We pray amen