Jonah Albrecht

July 28th 2024

10th Sunday After Pentecost

Genesis 9:8-17

The Promises of God Never Fail

8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,9″Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 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. 11 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.” 12 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: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 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.” 17 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.” (Gen. 9:9 ESV)

 

To those who are called according to His Name, redeemed, restored, forgiven, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Suppose, for just a moment, you were a politician who was up for reelection. What would you base your campaign on to have the best chance to win your bid for office? Chances are, you would point to your record. You would want the voters to see how successful you were in keeping the promises you made in the last election, and that is why they should vote for you in this election.

What about when it comes to choosing a brand of appliance to go with, a vehicle to drive, a store to shop at? Each one of these you probably shop based on the company’s past record – what experience other people, or you have had with them. This is typically the way we operate our lives. We like to be sure about what we are purchasing and what we are about to put our trust in. If a company is smart, they would make sure you know how reliable they have been in the past.

God does something similar when it comes to your faith life. Except, with God, His promises never fail. He never fails to deliver and He has thousands of years to prove it. Though you could begin with Adam and Eve and the very creation of the world, our text this morning contains the most obvious and sure sign anyone could ask for. The sign given to Noah and his sons show: God’s Promises Never Fail.

The things that Noah and his family went through required a lot of trust in God. He warned Noah of a worldwide flood that would wipe out every living creature that wasn’t a fish in the sea. Put yourself in his shoes. For over a year, you were stuck in this ark that God gave you the dimensions for; with animals of all kinds that God brought to you; and even when the rain stopped, you had to trust God that He was going to bring you safely to land. That is no easy feat. Not even for the strongest of Christians.

When soldiers come back from a warzone, they often suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. For veterans in WWI it was called shellshock. One of the affects of this was a hypersensitivity to loud noises. Now imagine going through a world-altering cataclysmic flood . . .certainly you would be a little jumpy the next time you saw clouds in the sky. That is, unless you received what Noah and his family received: a promise from the Almighty.

“Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 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. 11 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.”

For Noah and his family, the promise would be enough. They trusted God to bring them through the waters that flooded the earth and He did. That is why, as soon as they left the ark, they built an altar and worshiped God. If God had only given them the promise of His Word, to not destroy the earth by the flood, they could have trusted that Word without any doubt that it would come true. They had faith. Noah appears in the heroes of faith chapter of the Bible in Hebrews 11: By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

There was a common theme among the followers of God in the Old Testament. They often had to exercise their faith without knowing what would happen in the future. Consider Abraham who had to wait until he was 100 years old until he received his promised son. Or any of the believers, who held faith in the promised Messiah, but did not live to see Jesus come to earth to accomplish His mission. But their faith wasn’t totally blind. God had given them signs. For Abraham, it was the stars in the sky and the sand in on the seashore. For God’s people Israel, it was the Day of Atonement where the priest would offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people, a picture of what Jesus would do.

But there is no sign that is more recognizable, nor well-known throughout the history of the world than that of Noah. God gave Noah a sign too as a pledge to His word. , “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: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 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.”

The rainbow that appears after a rainstorm would have been around before God made this covenant with Noah. But now, it takes on a totally different meaning. It is the universal sign of God’s one-sided covenant with every living creature. Every time Noah saw the clouds rumble on the horizon, he did not have to have blind faith that God would keep His word. But he patiently waited for the bow to appear in the sky and knew that God keeps His promises.

What is incredible about this covenant God made is that it is an everlasting covenant. Whenever you and I look to the sky and see the rainbow appear, it is a reminder to us that God will never again destroy the world by a flood. For over four thousand years, God has been faithful to this covenant. Have there been floods that cause great destruction? Sure. But nothing that would even come close to what happened in the days of Noah. Talk about a reliable track record!

Doubts sometimes still arise don’t they? Even when you know what the Bible says, it can still be difficult to put your trust wholly in God. Blind faith is not easy. Satan loves to stir up doubt within our hearts. “Did God really say…?”  Those moments of depression are especially difficult. You know that God has promised to always be with you, but it certainly feels like you are all alone. Is God really there? Does He really care about me? Am I being punished for something I did? Thoughts like these can swirl rampantly in our hearts and minds, consuming our every thought and action.

These are occasions that Satan wants to use against you to chip away at your faith. It all begins with a seed of doubt, but he is never satisfied with you feeling alone. No, his goal is to get you to turn your back on God completely. He wants you to look at the storm clouds gathering on the horizon and live in fear that God might just forget about His promises. If God really kept His promises, why are you feeling the way that you are right now? Why are you suffering?

It can get difficult to simply rely on someone’s word, even God’s Word. Our faith is not perfect and we still suffer from a sinful flesh. Our sinful flesh works overtime to drive a wedge between you and the words of promise given to you in Scripture.

Just like in the days of Noah, however, God does not leave you with just His Word. Though His Word is sufficient and all we need to defend against the lies of Satan, God has gone one step further to keep you, His child, at peace. He gives you proof. It doesn’t end with the promise of the rainbow following a rainstorm. That is but one example of God’s loving compassion. The rest of the Bible is filled with them. The birth of Isaac shows that God can bring to pass a promise He makes over a long interval of time. Joseph being sold into slavery shows that God remains in control of our lives even in the midst of the greatest turmoil. The Assyrians laying siege to the city of Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah shows that even the most powerful nations on earth crumble underneath the thumb of God’s power.

All these serve as testimonies to you and to your children and to the future generations that God keeps His promises. There is one sign that is missing. Did you catch it? The sign of your Savior Jesus. For millennia God promised to send a Messiah to redeem this world filled with its sin-stricken people. All the way back to Genesis with Adam and Eve: God’s promise regarding the Seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent to the last prophecies of John the Baptist; these all point to the one who was to come. The Anointed One, the Prince of Peace, the Branch of Jesse, the Sacrificial Lamb, the Man of Sorrows. The more you look, the more evidence you see of God giving His people signs to establish rapport as the God who keeps His promises.

For you, though, Jesus is the sign. Jesus did come, taking on our human flesh and walking the road that we call life. His life and His ministry that is recorded in the New Testament stands as a sign to us today how faithful God is. But most importantly, we have the sign of the cross. Millions upon millions of people wear this sign around their necks, it adorns steeples across the world and it is the centerpiece of faith everywhere. The sign of the cross is the greatest testament that God keeps His promises because without it, you and I would not be here today.

The cross shows God’s love. It shows God’s dedication to His created beings, despite how far we have fallen into sin. The cross reveals the nails pounded into the innocent Son of God. The cross shows the darkness of God’s presence leaving His Son so that He might suffer the very pit of hell for the sake of His people. The cross reminds us of the blood that was shed upon it. The blood that we partake in at Holy Communion. The blood that our sins are washed clean in. The blood that dresses you in the white garments of Christ’s righteousness. Yes, the cross is the greatest testimony that God keeps His promises, but it does not end there.

There is the sign of the tomb. The tomb that was empty on Easter morning, declaring to the world that Satan’s power has been destroyed. Hell lost its authority over death because Jesus, your Savior had overcome death for you. The empty tomb assures you that you stand forgiven before God. He accepted Jesus’ payment on your behalf on you are God’s very own child.

This changes everything does it not? The sheer amount of testimonies given by God for your assurance, for your edification, and for your peace. Whether it is the sign given to Noah and the world to never again destroy this world by the waters of a flood; or whether it is the sign given to you and the world about how God’s Son delivered you from eternal damnation; either way you have God’s track recorded of keeping His promises.

The next time you read your Bible and you come across a promise given in Scripture, remember the sign of Noah. Remember the sign of your Savior. God fulfilled those promises. Certainly, He will keep you as well. Amen.