Key Life Network

Steve Brown: Noah, the rain, and the covenant. Let's talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew: If you've suffered too long under a do more, try harder religion, Key Life is here to proclaim that Jesus sets the captives free. Steve invited Pete Alwinson to teach us this week. Pete is a former pastor, founder of forgedtruth.com and the author of Like Father Like Son.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. Hi, Pete.

Pete Alwinson: Hey, man.

Steve Brown: Hey, we By the way, I read the manuscript of your book and I can hardly wait for it to come out.

Pete Alwinson: Aw.

Steve Brown: What's the title of it again?

Pete Alwinson: You are kind. It's called the Five Marks of Manhood and it's really how we understand how grace builds great men.

Steve Brown: So good. I just I couldn't put it down, man. It just I almost became a Christian. I was that close.

Pete Alwinson: You were I'll pray that we get to the other side of that.

Steve Brown: Yeah, right. Listen, if you're just joining us yesterday and Pete is in for the week as he does often, and we're talking about the covenants of the Bible. And we learned a lot of stuff from Dr. Alwinson yesterday on the covenant. And what we're going to do, we see it as one covenant of grace, two manifestational covenants, the old and the new, one of works and one of grace, but still one covenant. And we talked about the difference between covenant theology and dispensational theology. So if you want to go and check it out on the website, it's there and you can learn some stuff.

But what Okay. Let's go to Noah.

Pete Alwinson: Yeah, because when we start out, when we understand after the fall, the covenant of works is broken. And so now we see in Genesis 3:15 16 God is going to do something gracious. But but that doesn't unfold until Genesis chapter 12 with Abraham, which we'll probably not get to today.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: But so so we see Genesis 3 then unfolding and and in Genesis 4 Cain and Abel.

Steve Brown: Oh, yeah.

Pete Alwinson: So Adam and Eve are rejected from the garden. They broke that covenant. They're they're law breakers. And and and and yet God did did clothe them, didn't he? He clothed them with animal skins, which is indicative

Steve Brown: And he gave them a promise that you shared with us yesterday. It was good. Go ahead.

Pete Alwinson: That's right. That's right. And And so but then we see culture unforming and there's a lot packed into Genesis. And really the whole book of Genesis is what we might call a preamble to Exodus and the giving of the law on Mount Sinai.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: And so it's all setting the historical beginnings and foundation for why the law was even given in Exodus 20. But we see Cain and Abel. We see brother killing brother, fratricide. We see the descendants of Adam in Genesis 5. We see Genesis 6 the corruption of all of mankind. It's getting worse and worse and worse to the point where God says I'm sorry that I created mankind. The devolution of mankind.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: And And so then we see Noah being raised up to build an ark. Takes a long time to do it. But he builds this ark in which he is going to carry through the remnant not only of animal life that God wants to preserve, but human life. Now it says an interesting thing. It says that Adam that Noah was righteous.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: It doesn't mean that Noah was not himself affected by the fall.

Steve Brown: Oh, and later on we find out it was big time he wasn't. Anyway, go ahead.

Pete Alwinson: That's right. No, you're absolutely right. But he was righteous. And And it's important to understand as we think of the Old Testament that a man like Job for instance who's called righteous doesn't mean he's perfect. It means he's following God.

Steve Brown: Yeah. Yeah. That's right.

Pete Alwinson: He's doing his his level best to follow into the footsteps of God's law. So the flood comes and and and most everybody knows the flood about the flood. And the flood happens and then the waters subside. And then at the end of that, God makes some incredible statements as he puts the covenant of the rainbow in the sky.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: And so it says in in Genesis 9 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And so there's a restarting of everything. It's interesting in Genesis 1 it says that the before creation the earth was formless and void. Tohu wa bohu are the Hebrew words. It was formless and void. It was It was water.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: And it covered the face of of of the of the earth. And then God separated the waters, created land, created man, and all that. In the flood there is the restoration of tohu wa bohu, chaos. But floating on the top of the waters is the promise one who would come, Noah. And God would through Noah bring a restoration of humanity. And then he put the covenant of the rainbow and said, I will never destroy the earth this way again. And so in a very real sense when we think of covenant, God has made a promise.

Again here we have God making a promise, the greater to the lesser.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: God making the promise to lesser Noah and the rest of us that he would never destroy the world via a flood. Now in a very real sense that is that's a powerful statement particularly for those of us who live here in Florida.

Steve Brown: Yeah, right.

Pete Alwinson: My my kids were over at the beach the other day with their kids and they sent me a picture of a storm that was coming in.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: And it was like holy this is the end of the world. In Florida we get storms.

Steve Brown: Yeah, we really do.

Pete Alwinson: And you would think this is going this is going to be like that.

Steve Brown: But God is referring back to the beginning. I mean, there's a connection between the water there.

Pete Alwinson: Huh?

Steve Brown: Go ahead.

Pete Alwinson: And the wa And so now he says, I 'll never destroy the world through the water this way through the waters. In a very real sense this promise, this covenant that God makes is is is a part of the gracious reality of God.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: But it's a it's a it 's a larger covenant that we might even call an administrative covenant of the covenant of grace. He He said in Genesis 3 I I'm going to do something that to crush the serpent's head.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: But we don't know what that is yet. But here this is a promise to all of humanity, not just a slice of it. And that greater promise is common grace where everybody when it rains, when it storms, when there's a thunder clouds, when there 's a hurricane you don't need to think that this is the end of the world.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: That this is not necessarily God's judgment on us.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: And so the covenant of the rainbow is a common grace to all of mankind.

Steve Brown: That's so good.

Pete Alwinson: And it's a powerful truth that

Steve Brown: And Jesus Jesus referred that to that, didn't he?

Pete Alwinson: That's right. Yeah.

Steve Brown: That God causes his the good and bad to happen to everybody.

Pete Alwinson: That's right. That's right. The sun to rise on the good and the evil. We see God's common grace upon in every area that we have enough air to breathe, food to eat, work to do. There's so much common grace and and and we don't As Christians today we don't use those terminologies as much as Christians before us used to use.

Steve Brown: Yeah, right.

Pete Alwinson: It's a good concept. So God makes a covenant where he promises that he is going to take care of us in this whole covenant of the rainbow with Noah. And And so that that's a big thing. Now Noah then gets beyond that time and his he develops. But what happens after that? Well culture continues to devolve. He has kids that those kids have kids. Culture gets perfect, right? Absolutely not. It continues to go the way that it went before the flood.

Steve Brown: Do you think God's bringing his hands and saying I had such high expectations for this bunch?

Pete Alwinson: I hoped better for you. You know.

Steve Brown: Yeah. Not at all. This is all a part of a major covenantal plan.

Pete Alwinson: Not at all. That's right. That's right. Remember creation, fall, promise, fulfillment, consummation. God is sovereign overall.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: And And so none of this surprises him. But then we get to the the the the tower of Babel and and God blowing up those those attempts for man. See man had forgot. By the time of the tower of Babel man had forgot the grace of God in redeeming mankind, so to speak, through the flood.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: And And And they build a tower. They're worshiping mankind. Let's stay together. But what happens is then that after the tower of of of of Babel God has to do something because mankind has again devolved to an extremely low level. And now he 's ready to focus his efforts in bringing the the covenant of grace into the great fulfillment by raising up his servant Abraham or Abram. And that's where we stumble upon Abram in Genesis 12. And that's another covenant.

Steve Brown: That's another deal. Another covenant.

Pete Alwinson: That's right.

Steve Brown: Oh, Pete, that's so good. I can You know, sometimes we think of scripture in a Sunday school way instead of before the sovereign God who in his covenant has planned and prepared and cared for and loved his covenant people.

Pete Alwinson: Mm.

Steve Brown: And we're going to see where all this goes. And dear friend, it's going to blow your mind. If you haven't thought these thoughts before think them because they are revealed from God himself. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew: Thank you Steve Brown and Pete Alwinson. If you're just joining us, all this week Steve and Pete are giving us a broad survey of God's covenants and what they mean for us. Tomorrow we'll dive into Abraham, the law, and grace. Don't miss it. We are in the family and we cannot be cast away. How many times have your children done things that were not pleasing? You may have been disappointed in their decisions, but you did not throw them away or kick them out of the family. Well your heavenly Father will not put you out of the family no matter what you do.

Well that excerpt is from an excellent article by Jerry Perry's and you can find it in our latest digital magazine. You 'll also enjoy articles from Steve, Justin Holcomb, and Chad West. Get all of it on demand for free right now at keylife.org/digital magazine. And for a short time longer, you can still get our 2026 print magazine by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That's 1-800-539-5433. You can also email steve@keylife.org to order that magazine or go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Just ask for your free copy of Key Life magazine. Finally a question. Have you ever partnered in the work of Key Life by giving?

It's easy. Just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can now give safely and securely by text. Just take out your phone and text Key Life to 28950. That's Key Life, one word or two, doesn't matter. Text that to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the states and for C in Canada and Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.