Genesis 8:1-22 NKJV Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. (2) The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. (3) And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. (4) Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. (5) And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. (6) So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. (7) Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. (8) He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. (9) But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. (10) And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. (11) Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. (12) So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore. (13) And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. (14) And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. (15) Then God spoke to Noah, saying, (16) “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. (17) Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” (18) So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. (19) Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark. (20) Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. (21) And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. (22) “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”
- Good morning church, this morning we continue flying through the book of Genesis by going through the entirety of Chapter eight…
- Ok “Flying through” may be a bit of an exaggeration… this is now our 26th sermon on Genesis, which means we have been here for half a year and haven’t even gotten 20% through the book… but that’s ok, it’s not a race!
- Now if you are new here to CLC, this is what we do, we preach through whole books of the Bible… Sometimes we preach on just a verse, sometimes a whole chapter… but today you happen to be here for this message, and I believe that God has something to say to you this morning, Amen?!
- So, we have been going through Genesis and we are at the events of the flood.
- We spent time talking about the sin and wickedness that lead up to the flood.
- We then talked about how much faith Noah showed in preparing for the flood and as he and his family boarded the Ark and the waters rose.
- And now we see the tail half of the historic, world changing events of the flood. As the waters start to subside, and Noah and his family are able to leave the ark.
- And what I find phenomenal about this chapter are the final two verses:
Genesis 8:21-22 NKJV And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. (22) “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”
- Things changed for mankind and the earth after the flood, things changed for the better.
- Creation which had been cursed, had now been restored, at least in part.
- And man was given a second chance at life.
- A New Creation Means a New Life… That is what we are talking about today… Let’s Pray.
Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray
- Now, in the chapter we just read, I find three mini sermons… honestly they could all be sermons in their own right, but they all go along this same theme… they all lead to the same crescendo… that we are a new creation given a new life.
- The first thing that really stands out to me in this chapter is this line from the very first verse “Then God Remembered Noah”.
- The next thing that stands out is the events of the Raven and the Dove… my spirit shouts when I read that “THIS IS IMPORTANT”.
- Finally, those last few verses about God’s covenant with Noah.
- So these are the three things that lead me to my three points this morning:
Point one – If You Are Born Again, God Has Not Forgotten You
Point Two – Don’t Return to Your Old Death, Live in Your New Life
(Next Week) – In Christ Jesus, You Are a New Creation, Live Like It
- Let’s get into it with point one: If You Are Born Again, God Has Not Forgotten You.
Point one – If You Are Born Again, God Has Not Forgotten You
Genesis 8:1 NKJV Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.
- Then God remembered Noah.
- Does this mean that God is capable of forgetting things?
- Well it depends on what you mean by “Forget”, do you remember the two laws of biblical interpretation that we learned when we preached through Revelation?
- The Two Laws of Biblical Interpretation
- Whenever possible, take scripture literally.
- Let Scripture interpret Scripture.
- So when we read “God remembered Noah” and we think “Did God forget Noah before an was like “Oh yeah, I left a guy on a boat, I should probably fix that…”… well we can apply the two laws of Scriptural interpretation…
- Is it possible to take this scripture literally? You might be tempted to say “Yes, God could have forgotten Noah and needed to remember Him”…
- But we also have to apply rule two… Let Scripture interpret Scripture.
- 1 John 3:20 says that God knows everything.
- Hebrews 4:13 says that no creature is hidden from God’s Sight…
- I mean, look at what Like 12:6 says, plain as day…
Luke 12:6 NKJV “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God.
- God doesn’t forget anyone of his creatures… much less humans.
- So, when we apply the two laws of Biblical interpretation we know that God can not literally forget Noah, and thus need to literally remember Noah… it must mean something else.
- Think about ol’ Lamech, who murdered a man… that pompous fool “Wives of Lamech listen to my voice! Hear my speech!”…
- God didn’t forget that guy, because a thousand years later God had Moses write his story in Genisis…
- But at the same time… Lamech was gone… all the wicked people were gone, everyone but Noah and his family DESTROYED.
- God didn’t care about the affairs of Lamech any longer.
- God did not intervene in Lamech’s life… because Lamech was gone.
- God didn’t remember the destroyed wicked like he remembered Noah, because this is a different kind of Remember.
- This is a hand of blessing, an outstretched arm, a working of miracles… God saying to Noah “I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN YOU!”.
- Listen, if you are a born again believer this morning, hear this word from God. GOD HAS NOT FORGOTTEN YOU.
- Now remember in the last few sermons I said that there is no record of God speaking to Noah during his time on the Ark. Before and after the Ark, yes, but not during the time of the Ark…
- When you compare Genesis 7:11 with Genisis 8:14 you get an exact timeline for how long God was not speaking to Noah.
Genesis 7:11 NKJV In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
Genesis 8:14 NKJV And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.
- The rain starts on seventeenth day of the second month, a year passes, and then the earth was dried on the twenty-seventh day of the second month. According to a lunar calendar with 360 days, that is 370 days.
- 370 days of being in the Ark.
- 370 days of doing hard manual labor, caring for many animals.
- 370 days without hearing God’s voice.
- But Noah remained faithful, Noah did the work, God never forgot about Noah, though Noah may have been tempted to feel it.
- God, in a booming voice tells Noah “Get on the Ark” and God shuts the door behind Noah.
- Then 370 days pass, and we get Genesis 8:1.
Genesis 8:1 NKJV Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.
- If you are born again, if you are living life according to God’s plan… no matter how long it has been since you had that miracle… how long it has been since you had that experience at the altar, how long it has been since you have heard the booming voice of God… there will be a time again where God remembers you…
- Not that God has forgotten you, but that God says in that booming voice once again:
- *prophetically as the Spirit leads* “[person] I remember you, my Arm is stretched out afresh for you”
- “[person] I have not left you or forsaken you, your calling is still valid, arise and go for I am with you”
- “[person] my promises remain over your life, prepare the storehouses for a fresh season of blessings”
- If you are born again, God has NOT forgotten you!
Isaiah 49:13-15 NKJV Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, And will have mercy on His afflicted. (14) But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, And my Lord has forgotten me.” (15) “Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you.
- GOD WILL HAVE MERCY ON HIS AFFLECTED.
- Would you take note, dear saints, that God does not deny that you will face affliction.
- Noah faced the same troubles that Lamech and the rest of the world faced.
- He faced the same storm, the same rain, the same flood.
- The difference is that Noah had a place to take shelter.
- Noah had a place to take refuge.
- God had provided a way through the affliction, a way through the storm.
- And at the other end of the storm, GOD REMEMBERED NOAH!
- If you are in affliction dear saint, first, run to the shelter of Christ Jesus.
- Run to the strong tower.
- Get in the Ark, stay in the church.
- And there will be periods in your life were affliction surrounds you, and everyone you know is drowning and the voice of God seems far off.
- BUT LET THAT PERIOD BE A TIME WHERE YOU ARE IN THE CHURCH LOOKING OUT…
- Where you are in the ark looking out.
- Because that is a much better place to be than the storm looking in.
- And though the affliction surrounds you, God will not forget you in your affliction…
- And though the work seems endless, there will be a time where the rain stops, the waters subside, and God Remembers you.
- If you are born again, know this, God has not forgotten you…
- But I wonder, have you forgotten God, that is what our second point is about this morning.
Point Two – Don’t Forget God, Don’t Return to Your Old Life of Death
Genesis 8:6-12 NKJV So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. (7) Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. (8) He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. (9) But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. (10) And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. (11) Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. (12) So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.
- Now you may not see it here, but there is a whole sermon here about leaving the church, leaving the faith, leaving the blessings and protection of God.
- Just consider these events for a moment.
- Noah sends out a raven… and the raven flies and flies and fly, until the waters had gone down enough for it to find a place to rest… it was probably near a total place of exhaustion when it finally find a place to land.
- The raven never returns to the Ark.
- On the other hand there is the dove. The dove flies out, but when it finds no resting place it does not continue to fly too and fro as the raven did, no, it returns to the Ark.
- It fly out again later, and finds dry land, it finds food, and it brings the food back to the ark, back to Noah.
- Now some of you can see the point I am making already… but it gets deeper… You see a Dove is a clean animal but a Raven is an unclean animal.
- Ravens are unclean because of their diet… they are scavengers who eat dead animals… they feast on rotting flesh, the thrive on death.
- The Raven flew out and probably find a couple of bloated corpses to land on, some rotten animals to eat and devour.
- It would not have had that kind of diet on the ark.
- It yearned for the death of it’s old life… and so, finding the ark not all that to his liking, the Raven jumped at the chance to leave the safety of the ark and return to the death of his past life.
- The Dove on the other hand went out and said “There is nothing here in this land of death and destruction for me, and he returned to the safety and blessing of the ark”.
- Again the Dove is sent out, and this time finds food! And dry ground appears, and the Dove could have stayed and thrived, but it doesn’t it returns again to the safety and blessing of the Ark.
- And finally a third time, with the blessing and calling of God, the dove is sent out and leaves the ark to be fruitful and multiply in it’s new life.
- Eventually Noah had to leave the Ark, eventually the Dove had to leave the ark.
- I think of Christian Life Church as a kind of mini-ark. A shelter from the storms of this world, a place to find Jesus, a place to find Salvation, a place to find nourishment and provision from a God who cares.
- And one day you will be called to leave this ark… I mean, even if you are here until you or are called home, you will be leaving, there is no Christian Life Church of Cedar Rapids in heaven.
- And some, hopefully very few, will be called to leave CLC while here on earth… maybe you will be called to leave CLC to start a church plant, or to serve at some other ministry that really needs your help.
- You will never be called to leave Christ’s Church, big C, the Bride of Christ, but you may be called to leave here…
- BUT WHEN YOU DO, YOU BETTER MAKE SURE YOU ARE THE DOVE AND NOT THE RAVEN.
- The dove was not quick to leave, the dove had to be told three times to go, the dove brought back peace and provision to the church.
- The raven left the first chance it could get… the raven returned to death… to uncleanness… a representation of sin.
- And who did God remember, did God remember the dove or the Raven?
- Because last time I checked the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a DOVE!
- But I have seen far to many ravens leave the church.
- They say “Oh I was told by God to leave the church” and then they, sometimes slowly, sometimes rapidly, they return to death and they forget about God.
Proverbs 26:11 NKJV As a dog returns to his own vomit, So a fool repeats his folly.
- Why did the Raven not return?! I can hear his excuses now:
- “Well Noah sent me out after all… and I haven’t had a good eyeball in ages… I am so SICK of that diet of grain… oh look, that corpse is delightfully rotten and swollen… I can smell it from way over here…”
- The Raven probably found comfort in the death of his past…
- And I will be the first to tell you, your sin will comfort you for a while.
- I get it, you once heard the booming voice of God, you saw the miracles, you have taken comfort in the Ark…
- But it has been so long, you haven’t heard… you feel like God has forgotten you…
- So you think about your past life… the things that used to bring you comfort…
- And again, I will tell you as a pastor and a man of God, those things WILL bring you comfort, for a while.
- If you return to the bottle, it will comfort you.
- If you return to the needle, it will comfort you.
- If you return to those worldly friends who hate God but love you… yeah they will comfort you.
- Those women on the computer, they can be so comforting.
- The pursuit of money, promotions, power, and influence… those things can help you sleep at night, sure…
- For a while.
- But the comfort doesn’t last.
- The alcohol doesn’t really comfort you when you are in prison for killing a man while driving drunk.
- It’s not so comforting while you lie dying in a hospital room because your liver has failed.
- The needle will not comfort you as you die of an overdose, or a drug deal gone wrong.
- Those woman on the internet will be of little comfort as your wife serves you divorce papers.
- All the money, and promotions, and power, and influence in the world won’t buy you more time with your children.
- I have never meet anyone resented their father for not making enough money… but I have meet many who resent their father because he never spent time with them, because he chose work over family.
- And those friends who hate God, the Bible warns they will pull you down into destruction with them.
- There will be little comfort in hell to think “Well at least my friends are burning here somewhere too”.
Conclusion
- Now listen, let me end not with discouragement, but with encouragement.
- If you are here this morning, it is not too late… you have returned to the ark! Praise God.
- Some of you need encouragement to know, God has not forgotten you, He sees you, He sees that you are fighting for righteousness, you are not returning to sin, and you are seeking His face.
- God has not forgotten you, and you will hear His booming voice once again, you will see His outstretched arm and mighty hand once again.
- And if you are here and you have been turning to sin for comfort… it is not to late! Confess those sins, put them aside, get back on the Ark, and return to life.
- God has not forgotten you, chose this day, once and for all, not to forget Him, and watch as He restores His blessings and promises to you!
- But you say “I have gone to far, pastor, I can’t return, I deserve the wrath of God!”
- And I respond, God is a good who remembers!
Habakkuk 3:2 NKJV O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid; O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.
0 Comments