Amen. OK, so we're up to Genesis 8, and let's just remember where we were in Genesis 7,
and obviously, you know, it all goes sort of together from Genesis chapter 1, the chapter
divisions came later, but in the previous chapter where we were, we saw, we looked at
Noah, how he wasn't just saved, was he? He was living righteously, and for me it was
a sort of picture of enduring until the end, with that flood being, you know, sort of a
picture, if you like, of the end times. He was described as a preacher of righteousness
in 2 Peter 2, and we saw in the previous chapter that Genesis 6 said that he walked with God,
so for me this was a holy guy, wasn't it? This was a good guy, he was a very righteous
guy, and because of that, his family received that protection too, didn't they? So the family
came on the ark with him, it was all about Noah's righteousness, which blessed his family,
and we then saw the similarities between the flood and the coming wrath, with the ark for
me being a picture of both salvation and the rapture, so there's a picture of both. We
looked then at the fountains of the deep briefly, and how they were only discovered in very
recent history, and there's always cool stuff like that in the Bible, isn't there? Which
just helps, in a way for us, just helps strengthen our faith, you know, I'm going to prove, prove
salvation to people, however, it's interesting stuff for us, isn't it? And then we also focused
on how it rained 40 days and 40 nights, a number often associated with trials, we looked
at Jesus Christ in Mark 1-13 where it said, and he was there in the wilderness 40 days
tempted of Satan, and was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered unto him, and I
don't think that's any coincidence there, and he was there 40 days, he was with the
wild beasts, obviously Noah was as well, and then we looked at how those 40 days and nights
were clearly a trial, weren't they? And I think sometimes you forget that, don't you?
You just gloss over it and you just think of this kind of jolly old time where they're
just, you know, probably singing songs on the boat and thinking how great this is, but
I don't think it was anything like that. There were people dying all over, around outside
the ark, probably, they're probably hearing a lot of screaming and shouting for help and
stuff like that, it was a, I'd imagine a horrendous storm, can you just imagine what
that was like with the fountains of the deep bursting open, the windows of heaven opening,
you're just talking, you know, more rain than the world has ever seen. And then we saw,
we saw, well, with that, we talked about, not only did it rise to the top of the mountains,
the ark, but we looked at also, you know, there was 40 days spent with ham as well,
and I don't know what happened with that, but, and obviously they're on the ark a lot
longer, but that 40 days and nights was a time when it was raining hard, when they couldn't
open a window. And that's what we looked at as well, because we talked a bit about the
smell and I know it might sound a bit funny, but I think you sometimes don't really think
about that, do you, that there was 40 days and 40 nights with every animal in the world,
at least every kind of animal, pairs of and sevens of the clean, all there with no sort
of sewage system, nothing to get rid of any of that stuff, and that must have absolutely
stung. That stuff makes you sick, doesn't it? A lot of smells make people vomit and
everything else. I mean, let alone the seasickness as well, that must have been a rough 40 days
and 40 nights, I think so. So it was then after that, they were able to open a window.
Where we are in Genesis chapter eight and verse six, it says, and it came to pass at
the end of 40 days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. So at the end
of those 40 days, a window could be opened. So that's obviously the biggest trial of it
at that point, where they're just listening to the rain hammering down and everything
else going on. And for me, they at least got a breath of fresh air. I reckon they were
all kind of fighting to get their heads out of that window, probably half the animals
as well. But then, but remember as well that in that time, in that 40 days and 40 nights,
I think, you look, the rest of mankind and all animals died, didn't they? Look at the
end of chapter seven. Let me just finish off chapter seven again, just to remind you where
we're at. Verse 21, chapter seven and verse 21 says, and all flesh died that moved upon
the earth, both of fowl and of cattle and of beast and of every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth and every man, all in whose nostrils was the breath of life of
all that was in the dry land died. And every living substance was destroyed, which was
upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle and the creeping things and the fowl
of the heaven. And they were destroyed from the earth and Noah only remained alive and
they were, that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth and
150 days. So that's how long the waters were there. And we're going to Genesis chapter
eight and verse one, which then says, and God remembered Noah and every living thing
and all the cattle that was with him in the ark. And God made a wind pass over the earth
and the waters assuaged that the fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven
were stopped and the rain from heaven was restrained and the waters returned from off
the earth continually. And after the end of the 150 days, the waters were abated. I'd
like to pray before we continue with this chapter of the Bible. Father, thank you for
your word. Thank you for, well, just so many truths we're getting out of here, the many
lessons we're getting out of these early chapters of the book of Genesis, Lord, just help me
to preach the ones that, you know, I've kind of, I'm going to focus on in this chapter,
just, just loudly and clearly and boldly, Lord, and accurately film with your spirit.
Please help me to just preach, you know, what you'd want me to preach. You're not to preach
what you wouldn't Lord help everyone to have a tent of his Jesus name. We pray all of this.
Amen. Okay. So when it says God remembered, okay, this is saying that he was a bit preoccupied
first. And so he went, Oh yeah, that, that arc, I forgot about that. Basically, it's
just saying that God kept them in mind. He decreased the waters for them, assuaged his
space. He subsided. Okay. And I bet that was a strong wind that he put out there as well.
Maybe they started getting concerned about that, but, but the rain, the, the, the water
pumping out of the oceans, we looked at the fountains of the deep, it all stopped off
to 40 days. And then the water abated or lessened during that 150 days. Didn't it? Verse four
says the arc rested in the seventh month on the 17th day of the month upon the mountains
of Ararat. Now Genesis chapter seven and verse 11 says in the 600th year of Noah's life,
in the second month, the 17th day of the month, the same day where all the fountains
of the great deep broken up and the windows of heaven were open. So it's on that 150 days,
it was five months later that the arc parked up on the mountains of Ararat. And this is,
I think at the time it was probably, or maybe not, I don't know if it was called what at
the time, but more recently or less recently than now it was Armenia. It's now more recently
known as East Turkey. And I think people are still claiming to have found pieces of
the arc. Can't anyone ever hear these stories where they always seem to find something and
then that kind of seems to peter out a little bit. There's someone else thinks they've got
the arc and then that kind of seems to go away. And you kind of wonder, don't you think
what's going on with this? What have they, or haven't they found the arc? I mean, I would
hazard a guess that they probably never will find the arc. And I don't think, because look,
we're not here to prove the Bible, are we? Okay. The Bible's proof of itself. The word
of God is amazing. The word of God is got nothing anywhere close. We don't need people
to find bits of arc to prove the word of God. And it probably is a bit of a cash cow, isn't
it? So it's people getting funded to go out and claim that they're going to find something.
And then just probably as the funding's running out, they find a little splinter that could
possibly be something to do with it. Cue another five years of funding or something. That's
what it seems like to me. I might be wrong. Maybe I'm being a bit pessimistic there. I
don't think anyone's ever going to find it. Although we know the maths and the maths of
our route, you know, this isn't sort of like Mount Snowdon. These are some pretty high,
you know, peaks. I think always snow covered. They're high there. This is some pretty, pretty
big sort of mountain ranges out there. However, I don't think it's ever been found. Verse
five says, and the waters decreased continually until the 10th month. In the 10th month, on
the first day of the month were the tops of the mountain scene. So this is now another
two and a half months later. And the tops of the mountains, don't forget that we got
to the point where the water was well above the tops of the mountains. How does that work?
Well, I'll tell you how it works when a load of water comes down and comes up all at the
same time. And we got to the point where absolutely everything was covered. There was no safe
place to hide. Verse six says, and it came to pass at the end of 40 days that Noah opened
the window of the ark which he had made. And he sent forth a raven which went forth
to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Also, he sent forth a dove
from him to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. Now, at face
value, you've got this raven that goes, and apparently ravens can go for quite a long
time. I don't know if they're the same ravens now as they were then. Obviously, things have
changed a lot in those many years since. But the, for me, there's a clear picture here.
And this is what I believe. We basically, we've got two birds, okay? And I'm sure, look,
I'm sure there are many different ideas and people have different ideas of what this represents.
I do think that this is representing something. This is my take for it. You see the description
of the raven going forth to and fro, yeah? Notice the raven goes forth to and fro. And
for me, the first thing you think about when you think of going forth to and fro, it makes
me think of how Satan's described in Job one and two, okay? Going to and fro over the earth.
Turn to Job chapter one and we'll have a look at that. So, Job one and verse six. Job chapter
one and verse six says this, Now there was a day, Job one and verse six, we're going
to look at just before the book of Psalms, for those of you that are wondering. Job chapter
one and verse six says, Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves
before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence
comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth
and for walking up and down in it. Now, if you remember, we looked at this a couple of
chapters ago and we were talking about what the sons of God are. The sons have got to
believe us, okay? That's clear as day in the Bible. We went through this. I don't really
want to focus on that. We've already preached that. However, what is it that Satan describes?
He says he was going to and fro in the earth, okay? And from walking up and down in it.
Then if you go to the next chapter, Job chapter two, we have the same situation again, exactly
the same answer. It says in Job two and verse one, Again, there was a day when the sons
of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present
himself before the Lord. And the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan
answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth and for walking up and
down in it. So again, we see the same answer. He's going to and fro in the earth. No, I
don't. Look, you could go, well, it's just a term, isn't it? But it's not just there.
We see basically similar language. You don't have to turn to 1 Peter 5, 8 says, Be sober,
be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour. The devil walks about. He goes to and fro in the earth. He's looking
for people to devour. Okay, people to and really, who's he really looking for ultimately
is God's people, people working for God, doing things for God, people who are serving God.
He's looking to devour you. And obviously, it's not just him. Sadly, the Bible makes
it clear whether sadly or not, there's a lot of devils out there as well, aren't there?
And there's a whole army of devils. And they go to and fro in the earth. And they look
for those to basically be able to target. Now, so you've got this raven which went
forth to and fro until the waters were dried up off the earth. And then you've got the
dove, which, again, for me represents the Holy Spirit. Okay, first off, that's with
all four gospel writers likening the Holy Spirit to a dove at Jesus baptism. Now turn
to Luke 3, some go, well, it just ascended like a dove. It's just the way it came down.
Matthew 3.16 says, I think I've possibly even said this myself before. Matthew 3.16,
will you turn to Luke 3 says, in Jesus when he was baptized, went up straightway out of
the water and lo, the heavens were opened unto him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending
like a dove and lightly upon him. So it descended like a dove. However, it wasn't just a descent
because Luke chapter three, where you are, and verse 22 says, Luke 3.22, and the Holy
Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him. And a voice came from heaven,
which said, thou art my beloved son, in thee, I am well pleased. So it descended in a bodily
shape like a dove as well. Okay. So for me, it looked at least in some ways like a dove,
it wasn't a dove. Okay, it was like a dove. So don't start worshipping the doves when
you see them flying past and stuff because we will do that funny stuff. Okay, and you
know, getting all the kind of graven images of doves and dove statues and everything else.
It descended like a dove, but it was in a bodily shape like a dove as well. And if the
raven represents the evil spirit, and you could say Satan, or at least you could say
devils, or whatever, and the dove, the Holy Spirit, I would say perhaps they could then
also represent the children of the devil and the children of God. And this is what I believe,
because you've got the raven being sent forth and going to and fro without returning. So
the devil sent away from ultimately God's presence. We've looked before how it seemed
that God was on the ark, we're going to look at that later on as well. And he's the raven
sent forth, he goes to and fro. And then you've got it said in verse seven, now let's just
check that again, he sent forth the raven which went forth to and fro until the waters
were dried up from the earth. For me a picture of rejection from God. And then you've got
the dove that regularly returns. And for me, it's just his first part, which is a picture
says also he sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters were abated from off the
face of the ground. 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. Now for me, that's
a picture of the saved, okay. Jesus said in John 17 16, you don't have to turn there,
they are not of the world, even as I'm not of the world, talking about his disciples.
But there's no ultimate rest in this life, is there for us? Okay, we don't really get
rest in this life. Look, obviously, you know, Jesus Christ is our rest. However, we're not
of this world, are we? Okay, we don't, let's be honest, you're not going, I just love it
here. You just, we're basically passing through, aren't we? And for me, I'm just yearning for
that day in heaven, our kingdom is waiting for us. The dove ended up returning and being
pulled into the ark for me, a picture of salvation. Okay, and or at least, you know, the end being
saved, having being already a picture of someone saved. Now, that's how I see it. Now, look,
you might think, look, that's a bit of a stretch, brother Ian, I just think that he sent forth
a raven, he sent forth a dove. Well, so, so be it, okay. He sent forth a raven, he sent
forth a dove, the raven didn't return, the raven went to and fro, the devil goes to and
fro. The dove did return and was pulled back into the ark. That's how I see that. But,
you know, you can view that how you like, interested what you think off the sermon on
that. But let's continue anyway. Verse 10 says, and he stayed yet other seven days and
again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And a dove came in to him in the evening and
low in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off, so no one knew that the waters were abated
from off the earth. So it seems that the waters are decreasing, doesn't it? Okay, they obviously
it says the waters were abated because of this. Now, you think, wait a second, how did
he end up with an olive leaf, right? Anyone ever wondered this, looked at this and thought,
how did that olive tree survive all of this water, all of this rain and everything else?
Well, did you know that olive trees can survive under water? Anyone know this? No? So apparently,
and again, something that's just been tested more recently, olive trees are actually one
of those very durable, hardy plants, trees that can actually survive under water for
long periods of time as well. And we don't really know how long it took the water to
submerge and then drain in the highest areas, do we? Because the last things to have been
submerged by water would have been the tops of the mountains and then probably the quickest
things to have ended up not submerged by water would have been the tops of the mountains,
right? And I'd imagine that a lot of plant life and things probably did best at the tops
of the highest peaks and places, you know, probably a little lower than that, than maybe
places which got swamped pretty early on and then did about, you know, the best part of
a year underwater or something. However, what we do see is that he came up with an olive
leaf and again, just an interesting little tidbit there, because maybe people, it must
have been nonsense, had he come back with a leaf. Well, olive trees apparently can survive
underwater. And look, at least the water didn't cover those areas as long as they were
in the ark, which we see in a bit, it's going to be over a year. Now, verse 12 says,
And he stayed yet other seven days, and sent forth the dove, which returned not again unto
him any more. So the dove has now found somewhere to go. Again, we don't know where now. Verse
13 says, It came to pass in six hundredth and first year. In the first month, the first
day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth, and Noah removed the covering
of the ark, and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. So this seems to be
the roof of the ark. I don't know what he had there, some sort of way of retracting
it. I don't remember how big that ark was as well. So I'm guessing the boys got involved
with him there as well with removing that, removing that covering. Verse 14 says, And
in the second month, on the seventh and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dry. So the
face of the ground was dry, we saw in verse 13, but the ground would have likely given
way beneath them. So remember how much water it must have been holding. It would have been
literally like a swamp if you'd trodden into it. If you've ever been on waterlogged ground
or something, think that times a hundred or something. I don't think it probably would
have been very safe. So in verse 14, it's basically nearly two months later, it's now
dried up, dried out enough for them to leave the ark. And it says in verse 15, And God
spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons'
wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh,
both of fowl, and of cattle, and of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, that they
may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. And
Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him. Every beast,
every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after
their kinds, went forth out of the ark. And Noah built an altar unto the Lord, and took
of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Well, it seems like the first thing that Noah did was build an altar for God, doesn't it?
He just spent a long time on this ark. He's just been through what must have been just
an unreal trial and, you know, whether you want to call it trial, tribulation, whatever,
of 40 days and nights of that, then that long period of time still stuck on this ark. And
the first thing he does when he gets off is what? Builds an altar. Now, look, he was obviously
handy on the tools, OK? I mean, he built the ark, OK? But it does show what this man's
priorities were, doesn't it? Yeah, it does show that he had the right priorities in life.
His priority was, right, build an altar for God, and worship and serve God. That should
be, shouldn't it, our priority in life, yeah? That's our number one priority, really. You
know, and obviously part of our life, look, there's other things we have to, you know,
there are those that have families and wives and husbands and all these things and we have
a duty to, you know, we have many duties in life, but our number one priority, we're children
of God, aren't we, is to serve, is to worship, is to, basically, is to honour and glory God.
And you go, oh, well, you know, I don't know about that, you know, what about the rest
of life to live? What's the point in the rest of it, really, when you compare it to, this
is the God of the world, this is the God of the universe, this is God that's done so
much for you, every single person here that's saved, he came and died on the cross for you,
he went to hell for you, he did all of that, and then people so often just put him down
here and put everything else up here, it's nuts, but Noah, Noah who walked with God,
Noah who was a righteous man, Noah who is a godly example for the majority of his life,
Noah, the first thing he did when he got off that ark was he built an altar for God,
and he could have been, look, he could have been thinking about where to have his home
next and he worked on that, well, first things first, I need to build some shelter, or first
things first, I need to work out where I'm going to have that vineyard, which kind of
was a bit of the undoing of him, but, okay, we're not going to go there yet, but before
any of that, he just thought, right, where am I going to worship God? How am I going
to worship God? Where am I going to worship God? And, look, we, look, this stuff gets
preached a bit, we can't be preached, look, enough, can it? Because, really, that needs
to be, that needs to be our focus, isn't it? And, look, I've said this before, it doesn't
have to be here, if you decide, look, I don't think I can get on here, for whatever reason,
I don't like the way you do things here, I don't like this, you don't have to worship
God here, you can find somewhere else to worship God that sits right with you, however, that
has to be our focus, doesn't it? And not just, well, if I can kind of make it, I'll
just kind of, as long as I can, you know, I'll do the odd Sunday or something else,
as long as I can make it, look, our focus has to be how can I worship God, how God wants
me to, and should I tell you how God wants you to worship him? He tells you to not forsake
the assembling of yourself together, as a matter of some is, but exhorting one another
and so much the more as you see the day approaching. God wants you vested, he wants you in the
things of God, he wants you serving him, and look, that's different to, like we said,
to the false Christian church out there, the clown churches where they're just turning
up and pat each other on the back and going home again, well, at least I went to church,
that's not biblical Christianity. Biblical Christianity is we are ambassadors for Christ,
we have been given the ministry of reconciliation, okay, our job is to go out and get people
saved, and we do that from the local church, we get sent out by church, we get built up
in our church, we get strengthened in the church, and we go out from the church and
we get people saved, that's serving God, okay, and with that, what else does he want us doing?
Singing to him, he wants us praising him, he wants us praying together, he wants us
helping each other, he wants us a team doing many things for him, and we do that from the
local church, and we don't do that when we have a many hundreds of miles away from the
church kind of going, oh, well, you know, that's the way it is. Now, look, there's time
and it could be hard, and there are some people that we've talked about before that, good
on them, they start to get together and they think, well, we're going to make a way of
having a church where we are, good on you. Yeah, if you can do that, if you think you
can get together, you can start getting soul winning and doing the things of God, but ultimately
you need to find a way to be soul winning, don't you? Because without soul winning, without
preaching the gospel to people, it's barely Christianity. Now, you could be on the road
to that, okay, don't get me wrong, you can be, you know, on the first step to doing that,
and yeah, you're a disciple if you're going the right way, but if you're a Christian who's
saying, never going to do that, not interested, not for me, I'm going to turn up at church,
have a chat, have a biscuit, have a cup of tea afterwards and go home, well, you know,
why am I not getting blessed, God? You know, that's not what I see with Noah. I see Noah
getting off the ark and going, right, where am I going to worship God? Where am I going
to serve him to the fullest? Where am I going to sacrifice to the Lord? Where am I going
to give an offering of myself to the Lord? And what a great example there, first thing
he does when he gets off the ark. And turn to Matthew 6, because a lot of people think,
well, what about the other stuff, though? Okay, yeah, look, I'll find a church once
I get my job sorted, once I get my, once I get my, my, this situation done, once I kind
of work out the ideal home, what I'll do is I'll find a home somewhere that I can either
afford it or somewhere that I think that I'm able to live or where I've got this at or
whatever else it is where I can have like the, whatever it is that you feel you need,
then after that I'll look for a church. But does it really work like that? Because the
chances are you won't find a proper church. How many proper churches are even in this
country? It's crazy, isn't it? How many churches have just got, have just got the word of God,
got the King James Bible, and how many churches actually believe the gospel? Because the longer
you live here, the more you realise it's very few, isn't it? And then you take those
boxes and you go to the church, they seem to believe it all, but then they don't seem
to believe in going out and getting people saved. It's bizarre. If you believe the gospel
and you know how, yeah, it's easy believism, isn't it? Yeah? Look, believing's easy, yeah?
Yeah, I believe in easy believism. I tell you what, it's easy for us. It wasn't easy
for Jesus Christ though, was it? Yeah, and if you believe that, why wouldn't you then
encourage your church to go out and show other people? It's weird, isn't it? Okay. And sadly,
there's not many of those around and you've got to get things the right way round. You've
got to, if you, if you give, if you, if you commit yourself to the Lord, all those things
will be added on to you. Look at Matthew 6, Jesus teaches us to get our priorities straight.
Now he, he warns us about worshipping money, about focusing too much on our carnal needs.
He says this in verse 31, he says, therefore take no thought saying, what shall we eat?
This is Matthew 6 verse 31. What shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal
shall we be clothed? He said, don't worry about that stuff. For all these, for after
all these things that the Gentiles seek, these are the nations, the unsaved, for your heavenly
Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things, but seek ye first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no
thought for the more, for the more shall take thought for the things of itself, sufficient
unto the day is it evil thereof. Look, he made it clear, didn't he? You seek the kingdom
of God first. You get your focus, your priorities right, and those things will be added unto
you anyway. Instead of just spending your years, you know, what a sad life people spend.
They get saved. They know what the Bible says. They know they should really be doing the
things of God, but they're too busy stressing and fussing over all those other things in
life instead of setting their sights on the real goal. And the real goal is worshipping
God and serving God, isn't it? That's what we're here to do. And Noah seemed to seek
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness as soon as he got off the ark. Look at verse
20 again. It said, And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord and took of every clean beast
and of every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings on the altar. Now, remember that
Noah brought the clean beast by seven, so he had spare, okay? He wasn't leaving them
short and I don't know if, you know, maybe there was some breeding going on on the ark
as well. I mean, it was a bit of a boring year for those animals. Anyway, I don't know
what happened there, but he sacrificed and cooked one of each of these clean animals
as an offering to God, okay? Why? Why do you do that? Well, back in Genesis 4, we saw
Cain and Abel, didn't we, bring offerings to God with Abel's animal sacrifice being
the correct way. So if you remember when we looked at that, Cain brought the offerings
of his hands. He was like, look at what I've done. Look at what I've made. It was a picture
of work salvation. It was a picture of basically what everyone else is teaching out there.
Every religion out there, every version of Christianity, apart from someone who's actually
following the Bible is teaching that you can somehow work your way, be good enough,
do enough of whatever it is to get to heaven. And then you had Abel's offering, which was
a picture of just that sacrifice of Jesus Christ, a lamb that was shed before the foundation
of the world and, or slain, sorry, before the foundation of the world, his blood was
shed to pay for our sins, okay? So you got those two. But with that, with that Abel's
sacrifice being the right way, look at Genesis 4, 4 anyway, while we're there quickly. Genesis
4, 4 says, and Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock. So that was his
sacrifice and of the fat thereof, and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.
So like I said, that was a picture of the eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ. However,
God does expect us to offer of our abundance to him, doesn't he? Okay. That's what he does
expect. That's what we see here. That's what we're now seeing also with Noah as well. And
those clean animals, the livestock, look, ultimately have other functions, don't they?
Especially as God's about to instruct him to basically start eating them, okay? And
he basically sacrifices of every clean animal and clean fowl. He sacrifices of every single
one. So he, look, for me, look, he's basically offering to God, basically a large amount
of what God's just given to him. He's giving back to God. He's making offering of what
he's been blessed with, because he's just come off the ark. They're his, aren't they?
The livestock are his, those animals. You could say the unclean ones are more likely
to go and be wild and go off and do whatever, but the clean ones are his. Now, what were
they offered for? Because, well, it seems that they're offered to God for no other reason
than for him to just smell a sweet savour. That's all that we see. Verse 21 says the
Lord smelled a sweet savour. Now, God was happy with that. Why? Because he just really
wanted to smell that cooking lamb. And look, lamb does smell good when it's cooking. I'm
sure they did. And I'm sure some of those steaks he was cooking up were probably really
getting up into his nostrils there. I can appreciate that. However, I think he was happy
because it was offering to him of Noah's abundance. He was just offering back to God. He didn't
get angry and go, that poor sheep, poor fluffy. That was my favourite one. He smelled a sweet
savour. He was happy, wasn't he? And look, however, had Noah killed a person, it would
have been different, wouldn't it? So Noah, it wouldn't have been okay if Noah had just
slain his wife and gone, oh, I'm done with her. Now, here you go, God, here's an offering.
Because believe it or not, there's a difference between people and animals. Again, contrary
to what most of the world will teach you. Try and make out like we're all the same and
you get all these just crazy, just deranged lunatic animal lovers that seem to put animals
up here and babies down here. Oh, yeah, you can murder babies in the womb, that's fine.
You know, murder them, do all sorts of horrific things to them. But someone was called to
a dog, get them, hunt them down, you know, string them up. It's bizarre, isn't it? But
everything is inside out and back to front and upside down in our crazy world that we
live in, isn't it? But however, God doesn't see it like that, because God actually sees
things as normal people should, where you've got people with a soul, people with, you know,
an intelligence and everything that's beyond any animal. Yeah, God actually does put people
up here, okay, and animals he does put down here. Now, with that in mind, look, Proverbs
12 10 does say a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast. Okay, we're not here to
be cruel to animals, are we? But, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. And
for me, whenever I see that verse, I just always think of these animal loving people
haters, and their tender mercies, their virtue signalling about how much they love animals,
and ultimately hate anyone that doesn't and hate people and, you know, don't care about,
you know, all the many of the atrocities that go on in the world. Their tender mercies are
cruel, aren't they? Okay, it's nonsense. It's just usually virtue signalling and a lot of
the time, it's just all inside out. A lot of them do seem to have a lot of adoration
for animals, but it's almost to a worship point, isn't it? You guys knock on doors a
bit, yeah? How crazy is it sometimes? You knock on the door, and the dog's literally
trying to kill you, and he's just trying to get through. They're like, poor little things.
What's wrong with you? They can't even answer their door because their dog just is ruining
their lives, you know, and it's like, how did you get to that point? You know, it's
so weird, isn't it? But sadly, that's the world we live in. Okay, however, verse 21
says this, and the Lord smelled a sweet savour, and the Lord said in his heart, I will not
again curse the ground any more for man's sake, for the imagination of man's heart is
evil from his youth, neither will I again smite any more every, sorry, any more everything
living as I have done. So, here's an interesting thing with that. It seems that the offering
was a part of avoiding further curses, isn't it? It says, and the Lord smelled a sweet
savour, and then you have a semi-colon, so we're continuing that point, and the Lord
said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, for the
imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, neither will I again smite any more
every thing living as I have done. So, that offering, that offering by Noah looks like
it kind of avoided further curses, maybe. Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but
I would say that, whether I am or not, we shouldn't underestimate the consequence of
what the actions of a few righteous can have. Look, there's big consequences to what you
do in life, not only for yourself, but also for your family, and also for the family to
come after you as well, but also for your nation. I mean, think about Abraham, and when
he's bartering with the Lord Jesus Christ about destroying that wicked place Sodom,
and he's basically saying to him, look, peradventure, there was just some righteous people there,
and he said, I would spare that horrendous place where it got so bad, so just, just,
I mean, how do you even describe that place? But he was willing to spare it peradventure
for ten righteous. If there had been ten saved people there, then God would have spared that
place. And look, what we, you know, just being saved, just having saved people in a nation,
for me affects what happens to that nation. God will look slightly differently at that
nation, won't he, because he's got his children there. It does make a difference, doesn't
it? Let alone if those people are doing things and serving him and worshipping him and doing
things for him. We talked about in our Ezra study, just for example, just how there are
favourable laws in this nation to worshipping God. We're in a world of God haters, really,
aren't we? We're in a world at least of God rejecters to some degree. I mean, most
people, they don't, I mean, we were at Dornoch today, just round here, I mean, most doors,
was it John, just slammed in our face to some degree? I mean, some, one even said to John,
he said, oh, can I just ask you a question after inviting her to church? Can I ask you
a question? I said, okay. Don't preach. I thought, that wasn't really a question. And
then she slammed the door in the face. I mean, but this is the sort of stuff that you deal
with, don't you? And I mean, it was a, we had a bad block of it, didn't we? And then
eventually we turned a corner and it got a little bit, you got like a burst out or something
and we thought, yay, high-fiving, got a burst out. That's how bad it was, wasn't it? But
look, that's, and that's, I mean, that's the, oh, it's just because it's Wickford. I mean,
what's Wickford? It's hardly, you know, it's hardly the version of Beverly Hills here,
is it? It's hardly Mayfair or Park Lane, oh, well, they're just so wealthy. It's just a
normal, fairly middle-class place, isn't it? And these places are all over the country
and they don't want to hear it. And it shouldn't be as it is. However, we have a lot of religious
protection here. And by the way, I was telling you just, just a little update. I was telling
you about the swim-skirt debacle, wasn't on Sunday? Most of you were here, weren't you,
for this, right? Yeah. Okay. So I got a follow-up email this morning and it was an apology.
And it said, I'm very sorry, your daughter can swim and I'll pull in a swim skirt and
your daughter can actually, and we're not going to kick them out. And I'm sorry that
we embarrassed you and shamed them and everything else. Look, most countries, you're not going
to get that, are you? Okay, look, there is some protection here. There is some, you know,
we do have some freedoms here to practice our religion, to have, to basically just have
some morality, yeah? To have some decency in public and not have to be banned from council
swimming pools for daring to not want to bear all and sundry to everyone. Crazy as we might
be for wanting that, you know? But anyway, point being that, look, there is that and,
you know, righteous people and the actions of righteous can bless a place, can't they?
And for me, that's probably because there have been saved people here in the future,
in the past, sorry, maybe knowing that there's going to be churches in the future going out
and tearing it up and knocking doors and getting people saved, right? So, okay, let's keep
going there. Where are we? But where were we? Verse 21. But it also seems that God is,
you could say he's also resigning himself to the evil in man's heart here, isn't he?
Because he said, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake, for the imagination
of man's heart so is evil from his youth. Neither will I again smite any more every
living thing as I've done. So, look, more, it's like he's saying, look, more curses aren't
really going to change that. Man's evil anyway, you know, it's almost like he's going, look,
you know, at least, at least there's some here, at least there's some that are worshipping
me, they're coming out and coming out of the ark and worshipping me. However, I'm not going
to curse anymore and it's almost like he's saying, look, well, the imagination of man's
heart is evil from his youth. There's not really much we can do about that now. However,
verse 22 then says, while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest and cold and heat and
summer and winter and day and night shall not cease. Now, it's a funny old world we
live in, isn't it? Because this verse is probably more important nowadays than it's probably
ever been, I'd imagine. Now, don't get me wrong, yeah, I'm sure there have been doomongers
from early on in life. I don't think there's anything new under the sun. I'm sure people
have been doomongering from, if that's even the word for it, but from pretty early on.
But nowadays there's probably so, look, there's more financial investment in doomongering,
isn't there? More financial incentive in doomongering as well and more basically worldwide doomongering
than we've probably ever seen, I'm sure. I don't know. Maybe there have been times in
history where whole sort of ruling empires to some degree, because we seem to have that
in our Western media, it seems to be quite a ruling empire, doesn't it, have been doomongering
to the point of everyone panicking and saying, just give me more money. Let me just tax us
more for having a diesel car or something else and somehow save us. But I don't think
so. I think we're at somewhere that we've never seen. Because that taxing thing is ridiculous,
isn't it? I mean, when I go into central London in a diesel now, I have to pay, I have to
pay, I think, £12.50, I pay £15 congestion. And then when I pay on the side of the road
to park where there's no multi-storey car parks, you've just got to kind of find a bay
and drive laps for ages until you find one. When I finally find a bay and I pay it, I
don't just get away with the £2.50 an hour and you think, well, that's not too bad, is
it, £2.50 an hour? It's still a rip-off, yeah? Not only do I pay the £2.50 an hour,
then I have to pay an extra £1.25 an hour because environmentally friendly tariffs have
been applied to this parking location. Now, the environmentally friendly tariffs, it's
not only that. I mean, that's bad enough. But I also have to sit there every time. And
I can't pay until I listen to the voice recording saying, which is a further 50% increase because
environmentally friendly tariffs have been applied to this location, hence I can recite
it, yeah? I have to listen to that every single time. Really wise. They're just rubbing salt
into that wound, yeah? And it's a laugh, isn't it? It's an absolute joke. What are they even
doing with that money? What are they doing with that money, those ULEZ charges for people
just not having an up-to-date enough petrol car? Am I right in here? Did I hear that a
load of these electric batteries started exploding as well? These electric cars. I mean, it sounds
dangerous these things as well. It's crazy, isn't it? But where's that going? Where's
that money going? So what they'll say is it will go to some sort of sustainability schemes,
I think. So I'd imagine a certain percentage, I've looked into this, forgive me, I didn't
have the time when I was writing these notes, but I'm guessing they'll say, well, no, don't
worry, we put a certain amount to research into more, I don't know, whatever they call
it, whatever the word is, for fuel that's going to be more sustainable with the planet,
all this sort of stuff. But really, what is that? That's just people getting paid
for old rope, isn't it? It's kind of like the big pharma thing, isn't it, where researchers
get paid to research things for them to then sell for a fortune. And it's the same sort
of thing. It's just all money, money, money, people just making money, little ways of making
more and more money. And look, this isn't new. So what we're seeing now, it's not, oh,
well, this just suddenly happened in the last 10 years, or something. In my time, it's changed
from global warming to climate change. And I'm right in thinking, before that, everyone
was warning of an ice age, weren't they? Has that come back again? Are we getting warned
of an ice age again? I don't think anyone can really make their mind up. It goes to
like, ice age, global warming sounded good, but then it was like, yeah, but how do we
explain these cold winters? Oh, no, no, it's actually climate change. It's cold, it's hot,
it's warm, it's everything, you know? Fancy that. It's crazy, isn't it? But you know what,
you get enough people saying this sort of stuff, and you can pull the wool over into
intelligent people's eyes. I mean, there are people out there, they love this stuff. But
what I've noticed is that seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and
night, are still going strong. Anyone else notice that? Funny that, because God said
that would happen, didn't he? And what's really crazy with it, okay, it's bad enough,
the diesel stuff and all this doom-mongering, it's like, well, it cannot go on like this.
You know, kind of wheel up David Attenborough, you know, prop him up, someone underneath
it, well, he goes, we cannot sustain much longer and cure billions more, you know, on
this sort of stuff. So, you know, obviously, look, obviously that stuff's bad enough. But
what's really crazy, and I know I preached about this a little while ago, is the latest
push for veganism and Frankenstein foods with it all. I mean, that stuff is just maddening,
isn't it? No, actually, it's cows farting. That's the problem. Honestly, I know it sounds
crude, but that's what they believe. That's honestly what they believe. They believe that
cows farting is destroying the world. And if we don't stop the cows farting somehow
by basically just refusing to eat the meat, but I don't think it lasts longer. If we stopped
eating it, surely there's going to be more cows, because they're not getting eaten. That's
true, isn't it? But apparently not. Apparently that's the issue. That's the problem. We all
just need to go vegan. But we're not just going to go vegan and eat kind of carrots
and celery and things that go out the ground. No, no, no, no. No, because that would be
too easy, wouldn't it? That would be too healthy, maybe, although I don't think it would be
that healthy. But no, no, we need a load of Frankenstein foods. We need a load of chemically
produced, I remember reading off some of the ingredients of some of this big selling stuff.
And it's just all a load of, it's a chemical soup. It's a chemical soup with all sorts
of chemical practices and surely enough, a load of pollution that comes from it in these
massive factories and everything else that we're being told that that's somehow saving
the planet. It's madness, isn't it? However, the truth is a large, well, I don't know if
a large majority, I would say a lot of people believe this stuff, don't they? Now, why do
they believe it? Is it, are people that stupid? I mean, there is a whole, well, if it, you
know, if you make a documentary and make it sound scientific enough, then people will
just feel like they sound intelligent agreeing with it. But you know what a lot of it is?
A lot of it's bullying. A lot of it's bullying because you get labelled a climate change
denier, don't you? Oh, I don't want to be called one of those climate change deniers.
It sounds a bit like Holocaust denial, doesn't it? You know, it sounds really, really wicked,
doesn't it? And if you notice that sort of stuff, it's the same tactics with a lot of
this full science, isn't it? It's bully tactics. If you think vaccine science, the so-called
vaccine science, where like putting in all sort of aborted fetal cell lines, bovine serum,
all sorts of known contaminants, pollutants, all these things, inject them straight into
a baby's bloodstream is apparently scientific. And that anyone that denies that is some sort
of kook. You must be a freak. I mean, how dare you trust, you know, God and his immune
system, you nutters. You know, why aren't you just injecting weird things into your
children's bloodstream? I mean, why aren't you going up to 30 vaccinations in the first
year of life? Five in one, six in ones. I had vaccinations when I was young and I'm
all right. You know, it's the sort of thing. This is what you hear, don't you? Yet they
probably had one vaccine, didn't they? One vaccine probably when they were young and
maybe one or two later. And the MMR only came out when they were a bit older, you know,
and that was fault over. But it's like, why wouldn't you just line up and just take whatever
they shoot into your kid's arms? But it's the same stuff. And what do they call you?
They'll call you a vaccine. They'll call you a science denier, won't they? They'll
call you some sort of crate. Oh, you're one of those and anti-vaxxers. Like, you know,
with a kind of sneer as they say it. It's the same. And it's the same with what else?
Big Bang atheist science, isn't it? It's, again, it's mockery. You know, if you don't
agree you're evil, you're stupid, you're a science denier. What? You know, you get
those on the door, I believe in science. You know, they say, you still get those, don't
you? A bit, yeah. Well, not really. I actually believe in science. Oh, which science is that
then? They don't even know, what do they even believe? They don't even like science.
Probably failed it at school. They did. It's true, isn't it? Most of these guys, they don't
even know, you know, they can't even go any further than I believe in science. But then
what is it? It's basically like you're not intelligent enough. You must be stupid to
believe the word of God instead of the word of Stephen Hawking or the word of whoever
else. And that's what it comes down to. And their Bible changes every other year. Our
Bible stays the same. My Bible doesn't change. I use the King James Bible, by the way, in
case anyone is wondering. My Bible doesn't change. It doesn't have new editions coming
out where it all changes. But their Bible does. And it's all bullying, isn't it? It's
all bullying tactics. But when it comes to climate change, when it comes to climate change,
even though, you know, look, even though we obviously believe what the Bible says, I do
believe in climate change. You know that? I do believe in it. Turn to Revelation Chapter
8. I do believe it's going to get hot on this earth. I don't know about you guys. I believe
it's going to get hot, real hot, real hot here. Yeah. I don't believe in the ice age
stuff. I believe in the fire age stuff. Yeah. However, it's not accidental. It's got nothing
to do with cows. Okay. It's got to do with something else. It's because God's wrath is
going to be spilled out upon this world of Christ's rejectors. That's the truth, isn't
it? There is some climate change coming. Yeah. But it's going to be from God. It's not going
to be from cows. And look at Revelation Chapter 8 and verse 6. Revelation 8, 6 tells us what's
coming. It says, and the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves
to sound. The first angel sounded and they followed hail and fire mingled with blood
and they were cast upon the earth and the third part of trees was burnt up and all green
grass was burnt up. And no, obviously the climate change pseudo-Christians would like
to go, oh, well, we'll marry that up. That's probably because of climate change. No, it
was hail and fire mingled with blood. Yeah. And they were cast upon the earth. This wasn't
because it just got so hot. There was a little bit of like forest fires or something. And
the second angel sounded and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast
into the sea and the third part of the sea became blood. And the third part of the creatures
which were in the sea and had life died. And the third part of the ships were destroyed.
And the third angel sounded and there fell a great star from heaven burning as it were
a lamp and it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters
and the name of the star is called Wormwood and the third part of the waters became Wormwood.
And many men died of the waters because they were made bitter. And the fourth angel sounded
and the third part of the sun was smitten and the third part of the moon, the third
part of the stars was, the third part of them was darkened and a day shone not for a third
part of it and a night likewise. And I beheld and heard an angel flying through the midst
of heaven saying with a loud voice, whoa, whoa, whoa, to the inhabitants of the earth
by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound.
That's scary, isn't it? That's what's coming. And by the way, if anyone noticed when you
turn to your Bible, is that any New Testament or the Old Testament? That's the New Testament.
I thought that was all the mean stuff from the Old Testament. No, the book of Revelation
is probably the hardest and roughest book in the Bible, isn't it, of what's going to
come on this world and that is coming. Climate change is coming. Fortunately, we won't be
here for all of that. If you put your faith in Jesus Christ, there's no chance of you
being there for any of that. And look, before any of that happens, what's going to happen?
Well, Jesus Christ is going to return with power and great glory, isn't he? You don't
have to turn there. He told us in Matthew 24, 31, and he shall send his angels with
a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds
from one end of heaven to the other. Now, go back to Genesis 8, because until then,
we don't have to be worrying about climate change, global warming, ice ages or any of
that nonsense. Genesis 8 and verse 22, God told us this. He said, while the earth remaineth,
seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall
not cease. OK, look, we don't have to be focusing on that stuff. Don't get distracted by that
rubbish. Don't start getting pulled in by that. Look, it may be, look, maybe we're nowhere
near the end and maybe it will be in another few decades they'll come out with their latest
one. It'll be the latest thing to scare people, to basically make them reject the truths of
the word of God, start panicking, start worrying about themselves and all that, instead of
worrying about what should we be worrying about? We should be worrying about pulling
people out of that eventual fire that's to come. And whether it's a fire on this earth
in the end times or it's that eternal lake of fire, that's what we should be worrying
about. That's what we should be focusing on and not focusing on all of this just fear-mongering
nonsense that you see out in the world that's just a load of just and makes a lot of rich
people richer at the same time. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, cold
and heat and summer, winter, day and night shall not cease. I'm going to trust the word
of God instead of the word of man. On that, let's pray.
Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for, well, those truths there in Genesis chapter
8 and especially that final truth there, Lord, something which flies in the face of our so-called
modern science. And look, obviously we love real science, Lord. We love real science,
which is real observable science. But what we don't love is just propaganda, is fake
science, is science falsely so-called. Help us to differentiate between the two, Lord.
Help us to just have our faith in what your word says. And your word says that this world
is going to keep going until it comes to the end. And in the meantime, we've got a job
to do, Lord. Like Noah had his priorities straight, the first thing he did when he got
off that ark was started set to work for you building an altar and serving and worshipping
you properly. Help us to just make the service of you, the worshipping of you, the work that
you give us to do, that ministry of reconciliation. Help us to make that the priority in our lives
away from all the other stuff and then knowing that the rest of that will be added unto us,
Lord. Help us to just have faith in what your word says about these things. Help us to get
home safe tonight, Lord. Help us to return on Sunday for another day in your house. In
Jesus' name we pray all this. Amen.