Title: Ark, Raven & Dove
Text: Genesis 8: 6-9
Date: September 8, 2013
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Genesis 8: 6: And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that
Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: 7: And he sent forth a
raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the
earth. 8: Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated
from off the face of the ground; 9: But the dove found no rest for the sole of
her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the
face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled
her in unto him into the ark.
Here we have: Ark, Raven & Dove
Divisions: Ark, Raven & Dove
Proposition: Normally, I give you one main point at the beginning of
each message then speak to that one point throughout my message. For this message, I will wait until the end
to give you my main point.
I. THE ARK—The
ark is a beautiful picture of Christ Jesus.
Different Kinds of Sinners in Christ
Every kind of animal and bird and beast was called into the
ark and so it is with Christ. There are
diverse people who God calls into Christ.
·
Jew and Gentile
·
Male and female
·
Circumcision and
uncircumcision
·
Greek, Barbarian and
Scythian—refined, unrefined and even more unrefined
·
Bond and free
·
Rich and poor
Natural men elevate themselves based on differences
perceived with the natural eye.
Application: Isn’t it sad that all it really takes to impress a dead
sinner is some superficial difference in a person. For some it is a mansion or
a luxury car, for some it is a level of education, or position/title, for
others it is the neighborhood they live in or whether they are from the north
or the south, the absurdity goes on and on.
Yet, underneath if you remove all the superficial
differences every man, woman and child have one commanility—sin—all are
sinners.
Point: Sin is a divider of men
based on the flesh or on works. That is why God’s house is not:
·
Not A House of Politics!
·
Not A House of Economics!
·
Not A House of Entertainment!
·
Not A House of Sensuality!
God’s house is a House of Prayer—Worship!—Preaching!—Praise!
Election
When God chose a people in Christ before the foundation of
the world his choice of that people was not based on anything in them.
Romans
9:11 (For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
When God regenerates the dead sinner, he effectually makes us
Colossians
3: 10:…put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him
that created him: 11: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor
uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in
all.
Yet, like the Ark—with the various kinds of animals in the
Ark—in Christ, God’s elect are still a diverse people.
Illustration: Danville Conference:
sitting side-by-side—like those various animals in the ark—was a diverse range
of people: from doctors to ditch diggers from opera singers to banjo pickers.
Flood of Justice
Born by Christ
The Ark is a good picture of Christ because it bore the
flood of judgment like Christ did for his people. All God’s elect were shut up in Christ when
he obeyed the law and when he died under its curse—like Noah and his family and
those animals were shut up in the ark by God when the flood came. The “flood”
was the judgment of God upon a sin-cursed world.
Genesis 6: 5: And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually. 6: And it repented the LORD that he had
made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I
have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping
thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8:
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD 9: These are the generations of
Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with
God.
God had chosen Noah. God had
put Noah in Christ his Surety in whom he was just and perfect. God had
regenerated Noah. Noah walked with God—he was, no doubt just in his dealings
with men—but this is how God saw Noah in Christ—just and perfect. But read on—this
is how God sees men outside of Christ
Genesis 6: 11: The earth also was corrupt before God, and the
earth was filled with violence. 12: And God looked upon the earth, and, behold,
it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. 13: And God
said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled
with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
The flood was God’s just
justice upon sinner’s who hated God. That is what Christ bore for all those
God put in Christ.
Genesis 6: 14: Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou
make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
Pitch—within and without—was
a slime which, when it hardened, made the ark waterproof. The word is often translated—covering, or
atonement or ransom.
God’s justice must be atoned
for God to remain just. Therefore, Noah, could only be brought
into a new earth by atonement being made for them. All had to die—Noah included. But an atonement was made for Noah when
the ark bore the flood for him. Noah
was covered—he was ransomed from the flood by the ark. All outside the ark died by
the flood of justice directly descending upon them. But all INSIDE THE ARK lived because the flood bore it for them.
That is a picture of Christ. All—and only all—who were in Christ
when he bore God’s justice on the cross were atoned for. All outside of Christ shall
one day bear the justice of God directly themselves without an atonement.
How do men get inside Christ? The same way Noah and his family got inside
the ark. By God’s grace—Noah found grace
in the eyes of God. By God putting them in Christ
Genesis 7: 16: And they that went in, went in male and female of
all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
Note
verse 16: this is what all God’s people have in common: God put us in Christ
before the foundation of the world; God sends his gospel to us like he told
Noah to get in the ark. By God’s grace, all his people obey God and get in
Christ through faith—they believe on Christ as God effectual commands. But it
is God himself who shut them all up in Christ.
Paul
said, God choose foolish things like a cross, foolish things like preaching,
foolish things like using nobodies who this world does not esteem--
1 Corinthians 1: 29: That no
flesh should glory in his presence. 30: But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who
of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
redemption: 31: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him
glory in the Lord.
So the Ark is a picture of Christ. Christ is so lovely that often men attempt to
unite with the church who really have no real hunger after Christ because they
have not been born again of God the Holy Spirit.
II. THE RAVEN—Genesis 8: 6: And
it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the
ark which he had made. 7: And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and
fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
The Raven Did Not
Return to the Ark
The raven did not return to the ark—it went forth “to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the
earth.” The waters were not yet dried up from off the earth—so how did the
raven go “forth to and fro”? Where did
the raven go?
This is sickening to think about but it illustrates a point
we need to understand. Think of all the
dead bodies floating in the waters: both man and beast. The raven went from one to the other—to and
fro—feasting upon death. The raven is a sad picture of a sinner who appears to
be in Christ but is really dead in sins
Sinner, you whose hearts are yet black as the raven in sin
and death—you with no hunger for Christ—YOU ARE FEASTING UPON DEATH. You fly to and fro—from one body of death to
another body of death looking for something to satisfy your hunger.
The Death of Pleasure
Most feast upon the death of pleasure: sports, entertainment, and pleasures of sin. God warned
of our day when men would be “lovers of
pleasures more than lovers of God;” (2 Tim 3: 4)
Application: Be
honest—why is it you can run and sweat and give your full attention to the
ballgame for well over an hour but you can’t get through one 35-45 minute
sermon without going to the restroom so you can waist time and get some relief
from hearing of Christ? IT IS BECAUSE YOUR HUNGER IS FOR DEATH, NOT FOR CHRIST
THE LIFE!
Illustration: When you
meet God on the day of judgment do you think God will be concerned about how
well you played football or soccer—how many goals you scored? The only thing that will matter in that
day—is are you covered within and without in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ
our Ark—what think ye of Christ!
Moses,
“[choose] rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season;”—he has been with God for thousands of years and
will be for eternity.
Death of Cares
and Riches
Most feast upon the death of “the cares of this world and
of riches.” Oh, you may pay some attention on Sunday but what about the rest of
the week? Are you feasting on Christ—is your heart set on Christ, on his word,
his gospel? Or are you more taken up with the cares of this world—with your
riches?
Mark
4: 18: And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
19: And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts
of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
Moses “[Esteemed] the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.” His hunger was,
“That in the ages to come he might [be shown by God] the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” (Heb 11: 26; Eph 2:
7)
Dead Religious Works
Most hunger for dead
religious works. Many go “to and fro”
from one church to another because their hunger is “to go to church”, for
religious works. Just give them the
bloated corpse of ceremony, the bloated corpse of being seen at a prayer
meeting, of being seen reading and studying, of just being seen at church. Some are “fixers”—they arrive to fix what
they perceive with the Pharisaical eye to be broken.
All such ravens are looking
for something to satisfy—to soothe the conscious—to make them feel good that
they did deeds “A, B, and C.” Like Noah’s raven they only stay for a while then
they fly away never to be seen again content go to to and fro from one body of
death to the other—never full, never satisfied—feasting upon death. Sadly, the
earth is full of ravens.
III. THE DOVE—Genesis
8: 8: Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from
off the face of the ground; 9: But the dove found no rest for the sole of her
foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face
of the whole earth:
The dove is a happy picture
of a believer who God has given a hunger after Christ.
No Rest
She flew
out and looked around—but the dove “found
no rest for the sole of her foot.” While
the raven rested on the floating bodies of death—the dove could find no rest
where the raven found it.
The
believer’s rest is Christ our Ark.
·
Rest from the curse of
the law.
·
Rest from the
condemnation of the law.
·
Rest in the Complete
Righteousness of Christ
Romans 8: 1: There is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from
the law of sin and death. 3 For what the
law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
5 For they that are after the flesh do
mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of
the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is
death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
The believer is like the
dove in a lot of ways—
"Be ye harmless as Doves" Mt 10:16 The dove is meek,
harmless, chaste—that is the believer by God’s grace. Believers do not injure
others; we are not seeking to hurt others—we are "The children of God, in
the midst of a crooked and perverse generation," Php 2:15 .
Doves make their
nests in a rock—believers find no rest
except in Christ our Rock.
Doves feed upon
pure grain, not on death, as fowls of prey do—believers feed upon Christ our Manna from heaven.
Doves love to be
by sweet springs and rivers of water—Noah’s
dove found no rest while the waters of justice covered the cursed earth—believers
love to be by Christ the Water of Life; feeding upon the water of the word;
delighting in his mercy.
Ps 46: 4:
There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy
place of the tabernacles of the most High.
The dove’s eye is
always watching their mate and they mourn when they have lost sight of their
mate—the believer’s eye of faith is always
fixed upon Christ our Beloved and how we do mourn when we lose sight of him!
"Thou
hidest thy face and I was troubled," David said. Hezekiah said, "I did mourn as a Dove,
mine eyes fail with looking up. I shall not see the Lord in the land of the
living," Isa 38:11,14
Doves love to keep company together—"They
fly like a cloud, and as Doves to their windows," that is, to the house or
Church of God, Isa 60:8.
Application: The thing
I have been thanking God most for over the past few years—the unity he has
given us here in Christ Jesus. Aren’t you
thankful? Ps 133-over
Psalm
133:1…Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in
unity!
And doves are
often attacked by fowls of prey and they have no defense but by flight—So when Noah’s dove found no rest among the ravens what
did she do? She took flight—where?
She Returned to
the Ark
Genesis 8: 9: But
the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into
the ark,…
She had protection with Noah in the Ark—believer our safe
refuge is Christ—"At what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee,"
(Ps 56:3). The believer does no look
upon himself as secure unless we are in Christ."The name of the Lord is a
strong tower, the righteous run into it, and are safe/' Pr 18:10 .
Illustration:
Doves and Dovecotes
She had everything she
needed in the Ark—the Ark was her Dovecote. Believer we have full provision in
Christ. We need Justification—we are justified in Christ our Justification—“justified
from all our sins from which you cannot be justified by the law of Moses.” We
need Righteousness—we are righteous in Christ our Righteousness. We need acceptance with God—we are accepted
in the Beloved! We need a safe place to
rest with our brethren where all our daily provision will be provided.
Psalm
17:8 [Christ] Keeps me as the apple of
the eye, hides me under the shadow of thy wings,
Why
on earth would the dove keep looking when she knew all was in the Ark? Is there not enough in Christ? Why keep
flying over the waters of death amongst the ravens? Why leave the fountain for
the broken cisterns? Will a man leave fertile
fields for a barren rock, or forsake the running waters for a stagnant pool?
Now here is my
Proposition: Men may give all kinds of
excuses, the simple fact is men who are ravens can leave the gospel of Christ
because they have a hunger to feast on death.
While men who are doves keep returning to Christ our Ark because in him
alone is our life.
APPLICATION: LET ME TELL YOU WHAT YOU SHOULD DO? BUT PREACHER DON’T YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT MY
PROBLEM IS FIRST? NOPE—BECAUSE I KNOW
THE SOLUTION TO EVERY PROBLEM! FLY LIKE A DOVE TO CHRIST! WILL HE EVER REFUSE
ONE WHO COMES PUTTING THEIR TRUST IN HIM?
NEVER!
Genesis 8:
9:….then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the
ark.
Amen!