[0:00] Well, if we could, this evening, with the Lord's help and the Lord's enabling, if we could turn back to that portion of Scripture that we read. Genesis chapter 8. Genesis chapter 8.
[0:16] And if we read again just at verse 1. Genesis 8, verse 1. But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark.
[0:31] And God made a wind blow over the earth and the waters subsided. But particularly the words there at the beginning of verse 1, what it says, but God remembered Noah.
[0:47] Noah, but God remembered Noah. I don't know about you, but whenever I come to certain passages of Scripture, they often remind me about specific times in my life.
[1:07] Sometimes it's the Psalms that I've spoken. Other times it's Proverbs that have prodded me. Sometimes it's the laws that have led us in the paths of righteousness. Or sometimes it's the Gospels.
[1:20] And there are verses in the Gospels that present to us the good news and the goodness of our Savior. Whatever it is and wherever it is in Scripture, there are passages that often prompt us to remember particular occasions in our lives.
[1:35] And for me, Genesis 8, verse 1, is one such verse. But God remembered Noah. God remembered Noah.
[1:47] I was 18. I was in North Uist one weekend. And I went along to the evening service in the Pable and Kilmure Church of Scotland. I'd never met the preacher until that evening.
[1:59] I'd seen him once before, but I didn't really know him. And that evening, he was preaching on Genesis 8, verse 1. And God remembered Noah. Unfortunately, I don't remember anything about the sermon.
[2:13] All I remember is the text. But every time I read this verse in Genesis 8, verse 1, it reminds me of this occasion. Because when I went to the door after the service, just like I do myself now, the minister, he shook my hand, just like I do with all of you as you leave.
[2:30] But he looked at me. And the minister said to me, do I know you? Do I know you? And I said, no, I've never met you before. To which he said, are you sure?
[2:44] So I said, no, I've never met you before. He said, oh, well, come up to the man's for a coffee. The minister, I'm sure you're desperate to find out who it is. He was the Reverend Ian Murdo Campbell.
[2:54] He's now the minister in Kinloch. And that was the means, actually, for me to speak and even to share with Ian Murdo about my sense of call to the ministry.
[3:05] And it was also an opportunity for Ian Murdo himself to encourage and enable me to go forward into the ministry. And so whenever I read this verse in Genesis 8, verse 1, I'm reminded of when I was 18.
[3:19] I'm reminded of the Lord's faithfulness in my call to ministry. And I'm reassured of his promises in ministry. And, you know, in many ways, that was the same for Noah.
[3:31] Because when God remembered Noah, Noah was reminded of the Lord's faithfulness. And Noah was reassured of his covenant promises. Noah was reminded of the Lord's faithfulness and reassured of his covenant promises.
[3:46] And, you know, that's what I want us to think about this evening. I want us to think about the covenant. The covenant that God made with Noah. And I want us to break it down into three headings.
[3:57] So three headings, three C's. The comfort, the covenant, and the clause. The comfort, the covenant, and the clause. So first of all, the comfort.
[4:10] The comfort. We see there in verse 1. But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth and the waters subsided.
[4:25] Now, as you know, in our study of the days of Noah, we've considered the culture. We've seen that the culture was a confused culture. It was confused and continually and completely corrupt.
[4:38] We've considered the captain. Where Noah was the captain, he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. We've considered the crew. The crew, along with Captain Noah and his wife, they were all aboard the ark.
[4:51] So there was the chief mate Shem and his wife. There was second mate Ham and his wife. And there was Bosun Japheth and his wife. And it was a small crew of eight souls.
[5:02] But to the crew, they respected their captain. We've also considered the construction. Which wasn't an easy task for ark construction and sons. But as we've seen, by faith, they sourced all the men, all the means, all the methods, and all the materials for building the ark according to God's measurements.
[5:20] Because the construction of the ark, we've seen it before, it was about 500 foot long, it was about 85 foot wide, and about 50 foot high.
[5:31] It had a capacity of 1,250 TEUs. 20 foot equivalent units. So, or you could, as we've said before, 1,250 20 foot steel containers could fit inside the ark.
[5:47] Then we considered the cargo. That contrary to the opinions of many skeptics and many cynics, there were less than 6,800 kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and insects inside the ark.
[6:02] Showing us that the shape was accommodating. The size of the ark was ample. And the space inside the ark was abundant. It was so abundant that there was more than enough room for others to come into the ark.
[6:18] There was more than enough room for all the animals, Noah and his family, and other people to come into the ark. And that's what we considered last week when we were looking at the closed door.
[6:30] We saw that after a lifetime of Noah, the preacher of righteousness, proclaiming the good news of the ark, the people failed to use the opportunity of an open door.
[6:43] And instead, they were facing the chaos of a closed door. Because when the floodgates of heaven opened, the Lord shut the door of the ark.
[6:54] And all the people in Noah's community whom he had worked alongside and whom Noah had witnessed to for about 75 years, they were all lost in the flood.
[7:06] It was too late. They were all too late. And the realization, we touched on this last week, the realization that they were wrong must have filled them with fear.
[7:17] Paralyzed them with panic. As those who had helped build the ark, they were left outside the door, banging and banging and banging on the very door that they had built.
[7:29] It was a solemn and sobering moment. A solemn and sobering moment. Because as you read there in Genesis 7, it says there in verse 21, All flesh died that moved on the earth.
[7:40] Birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land and whose nostrils was the breath of life died.
[7:56] God blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground. Man and animals and creeping things and the birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left and those who were with him in the ark.
[8:11] You know, my friend, it was a solemn and sobering moment where the lost were shut out and the lords were shut in.
[8:26] And the lords were shut in. There was chaos for those who were shut out, but there was comfort for those who were shut in.
[8:37] And you know, we often focus upon the chaos of being shut out. And rightly so, because, well, Jesus focused upon the chaos of being shut out. When he compared it to his second coming in Matthew 24, Jesus said, As in the days of Noah, so will it be with the coming of the Son of Man.
[8:55] And like Jesus, we focus upon the chaos of a closed door and being shut out for all eternity. Because we don't want anyone to be shut out. We don't want anyone to be lost.
[9:06] We don't want anyone to be outside the door. Because like Jesus, as Christians, we want all people everywhere to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.
[9:16] And yet, as it was in the days of Noah, Jesus says, So will it be with the coming of the Son of Man. The lost will be shut out, but the lords will be shut in.
[9:31] There will be chaos for those who are shut out, but there will be comfort for those who are shut in. And you know, it's the comfort for those who are shut in that we now need to focus and fix our attention on.
[9:44] Because even though there was chaos all around as the Lord judged the corruption and the confusion and the contamination of the sin in the world, there was comfort for those eight souls who were shut inside the ark.
[10:00] There was comfort for them. There was comfort for Captain Noah and his crew as they were shut inside the ark. Because, you know, the captain and his crew, they enjoyed safety, security, and salvation in the ark.
[10:26] And boys and girls, this is a picture and portrait of what it is to be in Christ. It's a picture and portrait of what it is to be in Christ.
[10:37] You know, the ark, you could say, in many ways, it's a foreshadowing. It's a foretelling of what it means to be in Christ. Because when we come into the New Testament, and when we consider Paul's letters to the churches, Paul, in all of his letters, he's constantly and continually reminding and reassuring the church of Jesus Christ that they are in Christ.
[11:01] They're in the ark. They're in Christ. And for Paul, being in Christ is to be in union with Christ. It's to be united to Christ. It's to be safe and secure in Christ.
[11:14] Because for Paul, you read through his letters, amazing what he says. He teaches us that our union with Christ, it underlies every area and every aspect of our salvation.
[11:27] Our union with Christ underlies every area and every aspect of our salvation. One theologian put it this way. I can't remember who said it, but I wrote it down and I've kept coming back to it.
[11:40] Union with Christ, he says, is the fountainhead from which every spiritual blessing flows to the Christian. Whether it's repentance, faith, pardon, justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance, and glorification.
[11:57] They are all ours in Christ. Therefore, when you're in Christ, when you're in the ark, when you have comfort in Christ, you have graciously received every spiritual blessing in Christ.
[12:14] And when you look at Paul's letters, this is what he talks about. He tells us again and again, he says to us, when you're in the ark, when you're in Christ, you have adoption in Christ.
[12:25] You have acceptance in Christ. You have forgiveness in Christ. You have freedom in Christ. You have love in Christ. You have life in Christ.
[12:36] You have redemption in Christ. You have reconciliation in Christ. You have restoration in Christ. You have resurrection in Christ. You have renewal in Christ. More than that, Paul teaches us that you have salvation in Christ.
[12:49] You have security in Christ. You have safety in Christ. You're hidden in Christ. And you're happy in Christ. My friend, when you're in Christ, when you're in the ark, you have graciously received every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. And although the lost are shut out, as the Lord's, you're shut in. You're shut in. And there's no way for you to be out.
[13:20] Because when you're in, you're in. There's chaos for those who are shut out, but there's comfort for those who are shut in. There's comfort because you're safe and secure and saved in Christ our ark. What great hope you have as a Christian, that there's comfort.
[13:41] There's comfort because you're safe and secure and saved in Christ our ark. And so we see the comfort. That's the first thing we see, the comfort. Then secondly, the covenant.
[13:55] The covenant. So the comfort and the covenant. Look again at verse 1. God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark.
[14:10] And God made a wind blow over the earth and the water subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed. The rain from the heavens was restrained and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days, the waters had abated. And so on.
[14:33] So there's the comfort and then the covenant. Now when we speak about the theme of covenant or covenant theology, what do we mean? Well, we mean that the God of the Bible, as we say it so often, he's a covenant making and a covenant keeping God. We saw that this morning when we said that the title Lord is the title of the covenant king. A title that means the one who keeps covenant. So he makes promises to us and he keeps his promises to us. But you know, when you study scripture, when you study the Bible as a whole, we see that there are many covenants that are mentioned throughout the Bible because there are covenants between men. So one man to another man. There's, you read Abraham and Abimelech, there's Jacob and Laban, there's David and Jonathan. They all make covenants. They're covenants between men. There's also covenants in marriage. The first covenant, of course, is in
[15:35] Genesis, right? Very beginning of Genesis, that creation ordinance of marriage. And we were looking at this on Wednesday evening in our study of Ephesians. We said that marriage is a covenant. It's a covenant between a man and a woman. It's a promise between two parties. It's a legally binding contract between a couple. And so there are covenants between men. There are covenants in marriage. But there are also covenants with God. And the amazing thing about the covenants with God is that God is the initiator.
[16:11] God is the instigator of the covenant, not man. In fact, our Bible, our whole Bible, it's amazing how it holds together. It's all based upon and bound up in a covenantal framework. So the Bible is framed according to covenant, the theme and the focus of covenants, a covenantal framework where God, He relates to mankind and He enters into a relationship with mankind through a covenant.
[16:41] Now, the reason I mentioned the theme of covenant and the topic of covenant theology is all because the first time that the word covenant, boys and girls, the first time that the word covenant is used in the Bible is here in the narrative of Noah and the flood, where God said to Noah in Genesis 6 verse 18, I will establish my covenant with you and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And remarkably, when you look at the narrative of Noah, just chapter 6 to 9 of Genesis, you see that the word covenant is mentioned eight times in four chapters. And actually, seven of those references to covenant are found in chapter 9 alone. That's what we'll be coming back to this again, God willing, next Lord's Day. But the first covenant, the first ever covenant that God made with man was in the garden. God made a covenant with mankind. And as our confession teaches us, it was called the covenant of works. It was made with Adam.
[17:53] And upon obedience to the covenant of works, Adam would receive God's blessing and the promise of eternal life. But as we all know, we know the story of the Bible, Genesis 3, Adam failed.
[18:07] He failed to remain obedient to God's covenant of works. And instead of receiving the blessing of God, Adam, we're told, and all his posterity, all his generations after him, they entered into this estate of sin and misery because they all received the curse. They didn't receive the blessing, they received the curse of God. But what's beautiful about our Bible, and I think it's amazing, where Adam failed in the first covenant, the covenant of works. God graciously provided and promised a second covenant, the covenant of grace. The second covenant, the covenant of grace. But the covenant of grace, it wasn't, this is the amazing thing about the covenant of grace, it wasn't based upon the obedience of mankind. The covenant of grace. The covenant of grace was based upon the obedience of God. It wasn't based upon Adam's obedience or any descendant after Adam. The covenant of grace was based entirely upon the obedience of God, where God sought to do something in order that there would be absolutely nothing that could break this covenant of grace, regardless of how wayward man could be.
[19:23] And you know, the wonder of wonders is that in his love for lost sinners and out of his own good pleasure, God covenanted himself. God covenanted himself. God bound himself. He made a permanent and perpetual promise to his people. God covenanted himself to his people. He bound himself to his people.
[19:47] If you want to look into more of this, read your larger and your shorter catechism. It's fascinating. Because our catechism teaches us, it asks the question, our catechism asks the question, did God leave all mankind to perish in any state of sin and misery? You come to the narrative of Noah and you think, well, no, he didn't. He didn't leave all mankind to perish in any state of sin and misery. Why? Because the answer of the catechism is God, having out of his mere good pleasure from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life and did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the state of sin and misery and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a redeemer. And it's that covenant of grace which God reveals to Noah. God reveals the covenant of grace to Noah. That's why we're told there in Genesis 6 that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And it's this same covenant of grace that holds the whole of our Bible together. Because this same covenant is repeated and reiterated and reaffirmed to those coming in the generations after Noah. To Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses, to the Israelites, to King David. And then finally, it's revealed in the New Testament with the new covenant in the person of Jesus Christ. And it's all a covenant of grace. All that we're seeing throughout the whole of the Bible is grace, grace, grace, grace, grace upon grace. And it's a permanent and perpetual promise. One generation after the other, God is promising to his people that he has bound himself to us. And you know, it's this covenant that Noah found comfort in. The covenant of grace. He found comfort in the covenant of grace. And it's the covenant of grace that's been remembered there in the beginning of Genesis 8.
[22:01] That's why Genesis 8.1 is a brilliant verse. We're told there in Genesis 8.1, God remembered Noah. God remembered Noah. He's remembering his covenant. He's remembering his covenant of grace.
[22:17] Now, as you know, we are repeatedly reminded to remember things in the Bible, simply because we often forget and we fail to remember things. So we're commanded, as you know, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. We're also told, remember your creator in the days of your youth. So there's one for the children. Remember your creator in the days of your youth. Jesus said, remember Lot's wife.
[22:46] The thief on the cross, you remember, he turned to Jesus and said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Paul taught us in his letter to Timothy, he said, remember Jesus Christ. We're repeatedly reminded to remember things in the Bible. But when God remembers, when God remembers, and when God remembered Noah, it's not that God had forgotten Noah and his family. Not that he'd forgotten about them being in the ark and failed to remember about his flood of judgment upon the world.
[23:21] No, when we're told that God remembered Noah, the word remember is a covenantal word. It's a covenantal word. It's a word that emphasizes and explains God's relationship to his people because of his covenant of grace. He's explaining his relationship to his people because of his covenant of grace. And you know, we see this throughout scripture. You look at it even with the Israelites. God continually remembers his covenant promises to them. And every time God remembers, it means that he's going to graciously act according to his covenant of grace. Every time God remembers, it means that he's going to graciously act towards his people according to his covenant of grace. And that's what we see here. Because when God remembered Noah, the rain stopped and the ark rested and the waters receded.
[24:24] When God remembered Noah, the rain stopped, the ark rested and the waters receded. That's what we're reading at the beginning of chapter 8. God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed. The rain from the heavens was restrained and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days, the waters had abated.
[25:00] And in the seventh month, on the 17th day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. So when God graciously acted according to his covenant of grace, God remembered Noah.
[25:16] The rain stopped, the ark rested on Mount Ararat, and the waters receded. And you know, it's remarkable to imagine, as we read there earlier, to even imagine the ark rising. This structure of 500 feet long, 85 feet wide, 85 feet wide, 50 feet high. It's rising 15 cubits, or 7 meters, above the summit of Mount Ararat.
[25:48] It's hard to get your head around it. Because as you know, Mount Ararat, if you've ever looked up pictures of it, it's located in Turkey, close to the border of Iran. Boys and girls, it stands at 5,137 meters tall, making Mount Ararat both the tallest mountain in Turkey and the tallest mountain mentioned in the Bible.
[26:14] But I believe, you know, there's a play on words here. When it says that the ark rested on Ararat, it says there, down in verse 4, when it says the ark rested on Ararat, there's a play on words, because as I said, the name Noah means rest. The name Noah means rest. Now, as you know, the location of the lost ark, Noah's ark, it has been discussed and debated for generations. Many have made archaeological attempts to look for the lost ark on Mount Ararat. Many have claimed and many have confessed that they've even discovered the lost ark on Mount Ararat. I was looking it up this week and trying to work out how long ago it was.
[26:58] And you'll remember in 2010, so 14 years ago, there was this discovery, a declared discovery, that they'd found the ark, which led actually to the sad disappearance of Donald Mackenzie from Stornoway. He went out to look for the ark at the age of only 47, and he has been missing ever since. But since then, there have been many sightings, many suggestions of the location of the lost ark, even as recently as last year. There was another sighting, another suggestion, but even Ken Ham and many others doubt that that's a genuine discovery. But you know, what can be confirmed and what can be even correlated with Scripture is that when God graciously acted according to His covenant of grace, God remembered Noah. The rain stopped, the ark rested on Ararat, and the waters receded. Which leads us to our last heading, the clause. So the comfort, the covenant, and the clause. The clause. Look at verse 6.
[28:21] At the end of forty days, Noah opened the wind of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground.
[28:43] You know, whenever I think, and even as we've studied this over the past number of weeks, when I think about the narrative of Noah, I think it must have been a nightmare. It must have been a nightmare. And we'll touch on that more, God willing, next Lord's Day.
[29:01] But it must have been a nightmare, not only to watch and witness God destroy the world with a flood. And everyone you've ever known, apart from your family, dying. But then having to shelter in the safety and the security of an ark that God has shut you in, and you're there with thousands of animals. And you know, it must have not only been chaotic, but also very claustrophobic.
[29:28] Because as you know, there was only one, we're told, there was only one window. There was only one door. The door that God shut. There was no sight of land, because it was all 15 cubits below them, at the very least. No sight of land, just sea. They were at, they were a ship at sea. And although they were safe and secure, they were stuck in the ark for a very long time.
[29:55] And you know, we criticize, we complain to Calmac if the ferry is later or longer than two and a half hours. But Noah and his family, they were on the ark for over a year. Noah and his family were on the ark for over a year. And you can work it out.
[30:13] When you read through the narrative of Noah, we see that Noah entered the ark on the 10th day of the second month. So seven days before the door of the ark was closed. We mentioned this last Lord's Day. He was in a week before the door shut. Then on the 17th day of the second month, there was chaos as the door shut. Chaos for those who were shut out. There was comfort for those who were shut in. The lost were shut out. The Lord's were shut in as the door of the ark closed and the windows of heaven opened. We're then told that it rained for 40 days and 40 nights.
[30:49] And we're told that the waters prevailed upon the earth. End of chapter seven. We're told that they prevail upon the earth for 150 days. So then after 197 days in the ark, on the 17th day of the month, God remembered Noah. We're told Genesis 8 verse 1, he remembered Noah. The rain stopped, the ark rested, and the waters began to recede. And the waters continued to recede until the first day of the 10th month when the mountains could finally be seen. Then we read verse 6, at the end of 40 days, Noah opened the wind of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. So as the tide turns, Noah very cleverly, he uses claws to check the water levels. Noah very cleverly uses claws to check the water levels because after eight months in the ark, he releases a raven. A raven that never returned. Because as you know, the raven, it eats flesh. So it found flesh to feed on. We don't know what the flesh was. Probably something floating in the water, which again highlights the nightmare that Noah was in. Then Noah, he cleverly uses more claws to check the water levels because you read there in verse 8, then he sent forth a dove from him to see if the water should subside it from the face of the ground. But the dove found no place to set her foot. As she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand, took her, and brought her into the ark with him. He waited another seven days and again sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So there's life. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore. So the dove continued to return to the ark until it was safe to leave. The dove kept coming back to find rest in the ark with the man Noah called rest until it was safe to leave. Then verse 13, in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth.
[33:23] And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. Then God said to Noah, go out from the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons' wives with you. Now, although we can't be absolutely accurate, I always find it fascinating to work it out. We know that Noah, he was six hundred years old when he entered the ark on the tenth day of the second month. And Noah left the ark on the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the following year, when he was six hundred and one years old.
[34:01] Which means that Noah and his family, they were in the ark with all these animals for one year and seventeen days. They were in the ark for one year and seventeen days. Now, assuming that they followed a lunar calendar, because the Jews, they followed a lunar calendar rather than a solar calendar, which we follow, there are three hundred and fifty-four days in a lunar calendar year. So, three hundred and fifty-four days in a lunar calendar year plus your seventeen days, if you're good at maths, it gives you an approximate length of time that Noah, his family, and all the animals were in the ark. And he was in the ark, boys and girls, three hundred and seventy-one days. Three hundred and seventy-one days. It's a long time. A long, long time. And yet through it all, God remembered Noah.
[35:03] God remembered Noah. The Lord was faithful to his covenant promises. Because even though Noah found comfort in a closed door, when God graciously acted in his covenant of grace towards Noah, God remembered Noah. The rain stopped. The ark rested. The rain receded. And Noah was released after three hundred and seventy-one days in the ark. And you know, my friend, like Noah, maybe I shouldn't say like Noah, we'll never go through what Noah went through. But there are things in life that take a long time to go through. And there are things in life that take a long time to recover from. And we'll see that more with Noah next week. It took a long time for Noah to recover from the nightmare that he endured. But you know, whether it's the effects and the experience of sin, or sickness, or suffering, or surgery, or sorrow, or separation, in it all, or suffering, or depression. In it all, we're being taught this evening in Genesis 8, that God is faithful. God is faithful. Why? Because he remembers us. He acts towards us according to his covenant of grace. A covenant that's still active tonight. It hasn't ended.
[36:43] His covenant is still active tonight towards His people. And He remembers us. God remembers us just like God remembered Noah.
[36:56] So you remember tonight, as you leave here, that He is one who remembers you. This covenant-making and covenant-keeping God has not forgotten you.
[37:09] Whatever you're going through, He has not forgotten you. Because just like Noah, God remembered him. And God remembers you too. Well, may the Lord bless these thoughts to us.
[37:22] Let us pray. O Lord, we give thanks for the covenant promises that are in Thy Word. And to know that every promise, every promise is yea and amen in Christ Jesus.
[37:36] It is all connected to Thy Son. All covenanted in Thy Son. Help us then, we pray, to claim and even to confess all these promises.
[37:49] And Lord, we pray that as we begin another week, that we, like Noah, would be remembered by our covenant God. That Thou wouldst remember us in whatever we are going through. Whatever we are facing.
[38:00] That we would know that the Lord has not forgotten us. He has not failed to remember us. But His covenant promises. They are towards us. Help us then to trust in this covenant of grace.
[38:13] And to know that the Lord who makes promises. He keeps every single one of His promises. Because He cannot deny Himself. He cannot lie. Help us then to trust Him.
[38:24] To trust in Him with all our heart. To lean not upon our own understanding. But in all our ways, even this week. To acknowledge Him. Knowing that He will direct our path.
[38:37] Keep us then, we pray. For we ask it in Jesus' name. And for His sake. Amen. Well, we're going to bring our service to a conclusion this evening.
[38:47] We're going to sing in Psalm 107. Psalm 107. Again in the Scottish Psalter.
[39:02] Psalm 107, page 384. We're going to sing from verse 26. Down to the verse Mark 31. Before we sing, we're going to do the questions.
[39:26] So, question one. Complete the sentence. Being in the ark is a picture of being in Christ. Well done. Question two.
[39:37] Genesis 6, verse 8. Is the first time the word covenant is mentioned in the Bible? Mount Ararat is the tallest mountain in the Bible. How tall is it?
[39:52] Well done. 5,137 meters. Approximately, approximately, how many days was Noah in the ark? 371.
[40:06] Would you like to be in the ark for 371 days? No. It's amazing. Well done. Very, very good at listening and answering questions.
[40:18] Okay. So, Psalm 107. We're singing from verse 26 down to the verse Mark 31. As I said, all of our Psalms this evening, they focus upon the theme of rest. And this Psalm, Psalm 107, or particularly these verses, they emphasize to us that this is the Sailor Psalm.
[40:38] It's a Psalm that describes Noah's experience. Because it says there in verse 29, Down to the verse Mark 31, from 26 to 31.
[41:03] And we'll stand to sing, if you're able, to God's praise. They bow to heaven, then to the depths, they do go down again.
[41:25] Their soul doth fade and melt away with trouble and with pain.
[41:42] They reel a stagger like one throng, not there with end they be.
[41:58] Then they to God in trouble cry, who then from strays the free.
[42:15] The storm is changed into a calm, at His command and will.
[42:33] So that the ways which reach before, now quiet are and still.
[42:51] Then are they glad because at rest, and quiet thou they be.
[43:09] So to the heaven He them brings, which they desire to see.
[43:26] O that man to the Lord would give.
[43:37] Praise for His goodness then, And for His word of wonder done, And to the sons of men.
[44:04] The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, The fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, now and forevermore. Amen.