🇬🇧 But I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall enter into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you." "And Noah did so; he did according to all that God commanded him." Genesis 6:18822 "It was not simply the ark that saved Noah. That was the means by which it was possible for him to be saved, but what really saved Noah was God's agreement with him. It was God's word and promise that saved him. Therefore, we too must look beyond the means by which we are saved to find the great motivation that brought Christ to earth, to the promise of God that underlies everything else and establishes a covenant with us, a new arrangement for living. Whenever you come across the word covenant in Scripture, don't think of it as a contract that God makes with His people. It is that, in a sense, but it is primarily a new basis for life, a living arrangement. This covenant we see here goes much further than the simple act of saving Noah; it is something that was to govern his life and the life of the world after the flood had ceased. It required only one attitude on Noah's part, that of obedience. I am disturbed by the ease with which many use the Lord Jesus as a Saviour to save them from going to hell when they die, but have no intention of allowing Him to rule their lives while they are alive. Noah obeyed God and this is what saved Noah and this is what saves us. It is not the fact that we accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour, thereby agreeing that we belong to Him and will be saved when we die. It is the fact that we have received Him as Lord. We recognise the right He has over us: His right to rule, His right to command us and for us to obey. The heart must respond immediately in obedience to all that God commands as Noah did in this case. That recognition of His lordship is the basis of salvation." Ray Stedman