Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church located in Kernersville, North Carolina.

Our service has gone this morning. I believe it would be fitting to end the series today and to share some things that God has laid on our heart. You really can't finish Noah and the Ark unless you talk about the rainbow.

And so I want to just cover that briefly this morning and it is very exciting actually to me. I told you really last Sunday and this Sunday are somewhat to finish the story of Noah and the Ark to give you the significance and the symbolism of salvation. This is like an Old Testament picture of salvation that was to come.

The first two Sundays were just more exciting to me as you go through the symbolism of the Ark and being in the Ark and in Christ and the similarity between those two. But as everything was done and as we covered last week that judgment was done, God showed grace and Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And that's the only reason you and I are living and breathing today is because God showed grace to Noah and allowed mankind to continue. And as everything is done and settled, God as he brought peace back to this earth at that time, he salvaged those eight individuals, told them to be fruitful and multiply.

And as that water was subsiding here on the earth, God placed a rainbow in the sky. And many of you know the significance of it, many of you might not, but we're going to look at that this morning and I hope that you'll get a blessing from it. Genesis chapter nine, excuse me, verse nine, look at this if you would. And I behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you. God is basically saying I'm going to form a covenant, a promise, a binding agreement, not only with you but with all the generations to come. 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. And I will establish my covenant with you. Neither shall all flesh be cut off anymore by the waters of a flood.

Neither shall there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, 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. I do set my bow, or as we call it, the rainbow. I do set my bow in the cloud and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. He is saying this is a symbol of the covenant that I've made.

In other words, he is saying that the rainbow is very important. He said this is a sign and this is something for every generation from now on when they see this. This is not only a reminder to them of what I've promised, but this is also a reminder to God what he promised.

Everybody got that so far. Look at verse 14. And it shall come to pass when I bring a cloud over the earth that the bow shall be seen in the cloud. And I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud and I will look upon it.

Isn't that interesting? God said I will look upon it. In other words, I will notice it.

I will see it. That I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 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. He repeated himself.

That is emphasis in God's word. He's saying I promised you. I have doubly promised you.

You need to take note of this. This is a covenant between me and you. By the way, God takes his covenants very serious.

Let me say that again. God takes his covenants very serious. And God takes your covenant very serious too.

God said in his word that it is better for you not to vow a vow than to vow a vow and break it. Let's pray. Lord, we love you this morning. We thank you for your grace and your mercy. And Lord, as we just briefly share and finish, Lord, this great passage of scripture. The things that we need to learn from it, Lord, I pray that you would use it in your precious and holy name we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. I want to say this and start off real quickly that there are three items in God's word that God put in the sky to speak to men. And I want you to understand what these three things are. Number one, there was the pillar of cloud and fire.

Now obviously this was later on, but I just want you to know the three things. As obviously God was leading Moses and the children of Israel out of Egypt, he provided them a pillar of cloud and fire. And then second, there was the star that he provided to the wise men to lead them to the Savior.

Then third is the rainbow. Now, the first thing that we talked about was the pillar of cloud and fire. That was him reminding man of his presence. That means as the children of Israel were going through the wilderness, he had that pillar of cloud and of fire to show them that he was with them, he was above them, he was under them, he was before them, he was behind them, and he was in them. And dear friend when you get saved all of the above are true. The Bible says he goes before us, the Bible said he comes behind us, the Bible said he lives in us, the Bible said he controls everything, created everything, he's above us, below us, in front of us, beside of us, he's got us covered by his blood.

Alright? That means the pillar of cloud and fire speaks of his presence. Second was the star. And that spoke of his preeminence. He led the wise men to who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords in Jesus.

He is preeminent over everything. And that star led them to him, obviously. That was a sign that Jesus was above all, before all, and in all.

Third was the rainbow. And that, obviously, we know the pillar in the cloud of fire spoke of his presence, the star spoke of his preeminence, but the rainbow speaks of his promise. And he has made promises to us in God's word.

Now look at me, I want you to know why this is so important. The fact that he promised this to them all these years ago, and you and I still see rainbows. It is a sign to us that when God makes a promise, he keeps his promise. And he has made other promises to us in God's word. And we know that they're true, and we know that he will keep those promises. But just in case we need proof, he made this promise a long time ago, and this is the only one of the three signs that he put in the sky for men that still remain, so that you and I will always know God keeps his promise. And all God's people said, amen.

Dear friend, every promise he's made you, he will keep it. Now, why is the rainbow so significant? Well, the rainbow's been perverted by the devil.

I'm not going to go there, but you all know exactly what I'm talking about. That it was only Satan that would take something, a symbol that God has left as a promise to man of judgment to come, that Satan would pervert it, and throw it right back in God's face as if there was no judgment coming. And that's exactly what Satan would love for you to think in this building, that you're fine, you're okay, and judgment is not coming. But this rainbow is a sign that whatever God's promised, he will keep it. And he said that judgment day is coming, that there is a heaven, and that there is a hell, and you will live in one of those for the rest of your life.

And the only way for you or I to be in heaven for an eternity is to put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and his shed blood. Why is the rainbow so important? Well, the first color you'll see in the top of a rainbow, now Ben has a picture up here obviously for this thing and it will be hard for maybe you to see on the screen, but every rainbow has the same order of colors. The very top color in a rainbow is purple. And purple stands for royalty. And that stands for obviously that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 1 Timothy 6.15 says, which in his times he shall show. In his times he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

That's exactly who Jesus is. And every time you and I see a rainbow, we can see that purple color and know that he is royalty, he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and because we've been saved, we are now royalty also. Because we are now in his family. And if he's the king, we're the children of the king.

We're just as much royalty as he is. Praise be to God for that. Second thing is this, the next color is blue. And blue in God's Word is always a sign of heaven. That's why the heavens obviously are colored blue.

Blue is a sign of heaven. And it is a reminder to us that the Savior came from heaven to this earth to save mankind who would put their trust in him. John 3.13, and no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven. He was in heaven, came down from heaven, and returned back to heaven. Listen to me, the fact that he returned back to heaven showed that he overcame and defeated death.

So it's very important. Number three, the next color in the rainbow, it goes from purple to blue to green. Green in the God's Word is always a sign of new life. That's why springtime things get green, there's new life, things are growing again.

Green is always a sign of new life. John 14.6, Jesus sayeth unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me. That means this, dear friend, every time we see green in that rainbow we can be reminded that we have new life in Christ. The Bible says that Christ came not just so that we could have life, but that we could have it more abundantly. Everything in your life is new and fresh and you have opportunity because you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. He gave you a new nature. He gave you a new heart. He gave you a new life. He gave you new opportunities. He gave you a new eternity. It's all new in Christ. Every time we see that green and that rainbow, we got new life in Christ. The next color is yellow.

That yellow obviously stands for sunlight. And we find obviously in John chapter 8 verse 12, we know that Jesus is the light of the world, the Bible says. Listen to this verse. Then spake Jesus unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

That yellow color shows that obviously He's the light of the world. That you and I, when we are saved, we are now walking in light. That's why God says men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. But when you and I get saved, now our deeds ought to be right and we ought to love the light. And we ought to love the right. Love the light, love the right. Okay, number five is this. Stop that rhyming, I mean it. Anybody want a peanut?

Okay, anyway. Number five, the next color in the rainbow. It goes from purple to blue to green to yellow to orange. Anybody guess what orange obviously represents in God's word even in life? It means warning or repent. That's why all of our road signs, most all of them are orange.

That is a national sign for security reasons. That there's danger. There's warning. John chapter 3 verse 3 says, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Dear friend, when you see that orange in the rainbow, that's that warning.

Hey, warning, warning. Do you know that you're saved? Have you put your faith and trust in Christ?

Have you heeded the warning of God's word? The last color is red. Now obviously that word red ought to bring something special to you and I as Christians. That stands obviously for the blood of Christ. You and I have been covered by the blood if you've been saved by his grace. Let me read this to you.

First Peter chapter 1 verse 18. For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received, obviously by tradition of your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Look at me. When I am under the rainbow, it ought to remind me that I am under the blood.

Listen to me. Do you know that also in the rainbow we go from those colors to purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, but the rainbow, every rainbow that exists, it holds and has every color of the spectrum, although our eyes cannot see it. Do you know that our eyes are not able to see every color that is available? It's just the way we're put together and the mechanics of our eyes, we can't see every color. In fact, some of you are color blind. We have a youth pastor that is color blind. And we will look at things and I'll say, what do you think?

Do you think that matches Jacob? And he says, I have no idea. Because he's color blind in certain colors. And you know what? You and I, listen, when we look at a rainbow, we're not going to be able to see every color that there is, but it's there.

Do you have any idea where I'm going with this? Do you know when you got saved, there are things about God you'll never see? And there's too much about Him to ever know? I mean, there's things about God and God's holiness and God's ability and things that God, do you know God's done some things in your life you don't even know He's done? Do you know that God has provided safety to you at times on a road you didn't even know God provided safety? Do you know God has opened up doors along the way?

He's removed barriers and you never saw the doors and you never saw the barriers. When you got saved, you and I got so much more than we could ever even realize. It's there, but we can't see it. I was eating with one of the families in our church this week. On Friday evening, we were talking about the things we've been talking about, angels and different things on Wednesday nights. And they asked the question, are angels with you all the time? And I said, yep, we're eating together right here in their dining room, there are angels all around us. If you and I could see the angels that are in this building right now.

They're sent to minister to us and we can't see it, but it's there. Oh dear friend, you and I could never fathom or understand all that God brings, all that God does, all that Christ suffered, we'll never see it, but it's there. Let me put it this way. I got excited about this, you might not. Odds are, you won't.

I'm just picking with you. I got excited about this when I put this together for this. If you look at the colors of the rainbow as you follow them down, listen to me. It means this, when I look up, I must see that the king of kings left heaven and gave me new life when I believed the light of his word and repented and was then covered by his blood. Anybody want a rainbow? It's more pitiful than nowadays. You almost can't even wear a rainbow or display a rainbow for what people might think it means. And dear friend, I'm here to tell you, years ago God left it and God made a covenant and he will keep that covenant. Let me give you a couple things about this real quickly and my time's gone.

It's really not, I got about 15 minutes, but listen to me. Two things are necessary for a rainbow to develop. To have a rainbow, two things are necessary.

Number one, there has to be a disturbance in heaven. There has to be a storm, there has to be rain, there has to be something. Second thing that has to be, there has to be sunlight. You can't see a rainbow if you don't have any light. Dear friend, that rainbow is a promise to us that God is still keeping his promise. And listen to me, in the middle of the storms that come into your life, there should be light as he is the light of the world that ought to shine in your life.

There is a disturbance and there is sunlight. And dear friend, even in your disturbances and even in your storms and even when the winds and the rains come into your life, you can be reminded that God will keep his promise. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Let me give you some interesting facts and I will let you go this morning. And by the way I had a couple of members straighten me up on some things. I was preaching on the, I always have that happen by the way. It would just kill some people to say, hey good message. They've got to come and say, oh yeah and you know what in verse 4 you could say that. You know what, I know, but I don't have five hours to preach. Everybody's got to add something else, you know, just okay. I just had to get it off my chest, all right.

I'm just picking. I had a couple of members straighten me out and I said, you know, we don't know what kind of wood gopher wood is. They think it's cypress or pine that the ark was made out of, but they don't know what kind of tree that came from, so we don't really know why it was called gopher wood.

And they corrected me, Brother Dale Traxler said that it was termed that. Because he said Noah had those sons and he said, go for that wood and go for that wood and go for that wood. So that's why it's called gopher wood, that's pretty good. And then Miss Salter let me know why Noah did not fish off the ark because he only had two worms. So anyway, so I like the way you think folks, I like the way you think. I'm picking folks, I'm picking. By the time I get done, nobody's going to talk to the preacher after church. Just leave him alone, he's cranky, stay away from him. You'd have to know me, bless your heart, some of you don't even know me, but you'd have to, I'm very easy, you're not going to offend me.

Okay, first thing I want you to know about is this. Number one, man did not ask for the rainbow. It was all God's idea. Man did not say, hey I need a sign that you're going to keep your promise. Listen, man didn't ask for it, God volunteered it. The rainbow was all God's idea, guess what? Man didn't ask for a saint. Speaking of a disturbance in heaven, good Lord. Whoa, whoa. That made the flowers move, that was horrible.

Everybody push the flowers back where they were. Listen, man didn't ask for the rainbow, it was all God's idea. Guess what else man didn't ask for? Man didn't ask for a savior. He gave it. Man didn't know to ask for that.

Jesus came on his own. Number two is this, man cannot destroy a rainbow. You could plant bombs, you could get some jets. We're going to destroy a rainbow, you're going to go right through it.

Not realize you're in it. Let me tell you something, mankind thinks that they can destroy God and atheists think they can win legal battles and all these things. Let me tell you something, you can do what you want. You cannot destroy God. Folks, just calm down. Quit getting so worried because the world's doing what they're doing. We're not going to beat God.

We're on the right side. Number three is this, all men see the rainbow the same. I see a rainbow, if somebody's standing by and we have a rainbow in the sky, they're going to see the exact same rainbow. They don't see it differently, it's the same to all men. And you know what, salvation is available to all men. Doesn't matter what color you are, where you're from, what your background is, all the things you've done right or wrong. Doesn't matter, doesn't matter if you're wealthy, poor, it does not matter.

It's available to everybody the same. In God's eyes, we're all the same. Number four is this, God looks upon the rainbow and remembers his promise every time God looks at it. He even said, I will look upon it and will remember the covenant that I have made with you.

What is interesting is, I don't know if you've ever thought about it this way, and I didn't, I was reading one commentator and he made note of this. I don't know if this is exactly the case, but you would have a hard time disproving it with God's word, is that the simple truth is, I know we all see rainbows at different times and I might be traveling through Florida somewhere and they've had a rainstorm and the sun's coming out, and all of a sudden you all have been driving in a car somewhere and maybe at home and say, hey, look at that rainbow. Listen to me, I believe at the exact same time we're looking at it, God's looking at it too. Isn't it amazing to think that at the exact same time you're looking at a rainbow, God's looking at it at the exact same time. You say, how do you know that?

I don't really know that for sure, but I think so. Because God is omnipresent. He is everywhere and he said, when you look on the rainbow, I'll look on the rainbow. You and God are looking at the same rainbow, wouldn't that be awesome? Alright.

Guess I've run my course, alright. Fifth thing is this, the rainbow touches both heaven and earth. Rainbow touches both heaven and earth. Jesus left heaven, came to earth, he had to to save mankind.

And if you think about it, he had to come from heaven to earth and then back. Number six is this, the rainbow cannot be taken back. It's there to stay. God made his promise, but you know, mankind's gotten really sinful. And we have. But the rainbow cannot be taken back.

It's there. Dear friend, listen to me. When Christ offered salvation, that cannot be taken back. Last, I want you to know this, that nobody has ever seen a complete rainbow. They've only seen half of it. You know what the Bible said about Christ? That literally the half cannot be told. Dear friend, as great and wonderful as you and I know God to be and know Jesus to be, we haven't seen half of it. I was telling our deacons this morning before we prayed, we were praying for a couple members in our church that their health is just going down so quickly.

And I told them this, and I'll close with this. I said, you know, it would almost seem life's unfair to a lot of individuals when you give your life and you serve God and you get down to the end of your life and it seems like it's almost what we would call in, I guess you would call it English terms, movie terms, novel terms, it almost seems anti-climactic. You give your life, you sacrifice things that this world has to offer, whatever, because you want to serve God and you want to live for God and you give your life faithfully for years and then your body begins to break down and your health begins to leave and then all of a sudden you just get worse and worse and worse and worse and it seems that your whole life lived you think that you will live all this and then there will be something grand at the end but you live your whole life for the Lord and you get down to the point and it will get to the point that you can't come to church maybe and then folks, the new folks that come in don't even have a clue of what you've ever done for the church.

They don't even know you, they don't even know you exist and the people that did, half of them forget you and it seems like it's just that's the way life ends for a Christian and then you just die and you think, boy, you did all that. And look, it just seems almost anti-climactic and it would be but for heaven. But heaven is the ultimate climax.

It's not over down here. You've served your whole life. Yeah, it's going to end a little bit sad down here because death is sad and we die because we sin. But heaven's coming. And when you serve your whole life and you're faithful to the Lord, imagine how thankful you're going to be when you see His precious face and all of a sudden you witness the glory that you never even knew existed. We've never seen a whole rainbow and we'll never see all of God.

We'll spend an eternity and continue to learn something about Him every second of every minute. God put a rainbow in the clouds for me. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.