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All right, Genesis chapter 8. The title for the sermon this morning is lessons from the flood. Lessons from the flood. This is the chapter where we get the flood proper. We get a lot of detail about the flood here. And let's look at verse number 1, Genesis chapter 8 verse 1. The Bible says, and God remembered Noah and every living thing and all the cattle that was with him in the ark. And God made a winter pass over the earth and the waters assuaged. So what I want you to think about here in verse number 1 is, of course, it's a scary time for Noah and his family to be in that ark to experience something that only this family will ever experience. Seeing the entire world being destroyed by a flood. Something they've never seen before. All the people they knew, all their former acquaintances, those that did not come on the ark were destroyed. All the animals of the field were destroyed. The face of the earth is being changed geographically by this flood. This is a troubleless time for the world. And of course, Noah and his family are safe on the ark. And I love how it begins here in verse number 1. It says, and God remembered Noah. That's not to say that he had forgotten about Noah. He had forgotten about Noah, oh yeah, Noah, let's remember him. He's all right in the ark. No, no, no. And what it means by that is God kept his mind on Noah. He kept him in remembrance. Making sure that he was there faithfully looking after Noah, making sure nothing would come of them during this troubleless time. And I think the lesson we can take out of that verse immediately is that when you go through the storms of life, when you go through troubleless times, when you go through tribulation, sometimes you're going to have that feeling that God has departed from you. Now it might be true that you've departed from the Lord. It might be true that you've walked away from the Lord a little bit. It might be true that, you know, you've cut that fellowship with the Lord, that you've not confessed your sins, you're walking in darkness. That may be true, but the Lord promises us that he'll never leave us nor forsake us. And the best remembrance you can have in the times of trials is that the Lord has you in mind. That the Lord is there wanting to guide you and to lead you. And I know how it is when times are tough, you may feel the presence of the Lord is far away. But he's always there. You know, he's got you in his remembrance, all right? And you need to take that promise with you that will get you through the hardships. And I love just that word, the Lord remembered Noah, because it reminds me that that phrase is used a few times in the Bible, you know, it is brought up a few times, but it reminds me most of all about the thief on the cross. You know, what are the words that the thief on the cross said to Jesus? He says, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And of course, Jesus said the beautiful words, very, very, they sent to you today, that shall be with me in paradise, okay? So remembering one is, you know, entering into salvation, but that thief, all the thief wanted, you know, Jesus to do just to keep him in mind when he comes into, just keep me in mind, Lord, you know, I was there on the cross with you, you know, you had to place his faith on Jesus. He had placed his faith that Jesus would come again in his glorious kingdom. And Jesus promised him that, yep, absolutely, you know, you'll be with me, not even just then, but you'll be with me today, you know, Jesus Christ said, and that reminds me of the thief on the cross there, when the Lord remembers people in the Bible, okay? And then verse number two, verse number two, the fountains also of the deep, and this is something I didn't cover in the previous chapter, but it wasn't just rain that fell, it wasn't just water from the heavens. It wasn't just rain falling from the clouds that caused this flood, but there were fountains of the deep, you see, there is water under the crust of this earth, you know, and that's still found today, you know, in the oceans, there are still fountains of water that come and fill up the oceans, you still see that today, but here we see that part of the reason the earth was able to be flooded in such a way is that the waters from the fountains of the deep were opened up. So there was water gushing out of the earth, as well as rain falling from heaven, okay? So there was this two-part process of the flood here, the fountains also of the deep, and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. Verse number three, and the waters returned from off the earth continually, and after the end of the 150 days were the waters abated. That's similar to the word that was in verse number one, where it says, and the waters assuaged, basically it just means it softened, it calmed down, okay, the, you know, well, you know it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, okay, that's how long the water was coming down on the earth, but still even after the 40 days and 40 nights, you know, the waters were rough, you know, the entire earth was covered by waters, you know, totally destroying the surface of the earth, but after 150 days, that's finally when things started to calm down a little bit, okay, as things started to settle down. And we saw that mentioned, the 150 days, we saw that mentioned in the previous chapter. And then verse number four, and the ark rested in the seventh month on the 17th day of the month upon the mountains of Ararat, okay. So one misconception out there is that the Noah's ark rested on Mount Ararat, okay, but the Bible doesn't tell us which specific mountain it felt it came upon, it just mentions on the mountains of Ararat. So the mountains of that region, okay, and Mount Ararat, if you don't know, is actually on in Turkey, and it's on the east, most east side of Turkey. In fact, it's very close to the border of Armenia, and the Armenians basically on their coat of arms, they've got Noah's flood, like the Armenians, they viewed Noah's flood as a true story, you know, absolutely true story. They feel like they own that story, you know, from where the ark was laid, and I even have a silver coin from Armenia, and it's got what it's worth, and on the other side, it's got Noah's ark. I mean, they really believe in this story, and obviously, you know, a lot of people put doubts in the story of Noah's flood. You know, a lot of people say, well, that's just a fairy tale, you know, that's just for children, just children's stories from the Bible, you know, it's not true. And as we'll go through this chapter, we'll start to notice something very unusual about this fairy tale, right, is that God gives us specific time. He gives us events, He gives us places, you know, real geographical places, and timeframes as to how this flood affected the earth. And you know, you wouldn't have this level of detail if it's just a parable, if it's just some fairy tale. No, this is a true event that we need to remember, and we'll get into that later on as well. But I just want you to turn back to Genesis 7 for a moment, turn back to Genesis chapter 7, because let's look at some of the timeframe here. Genesis 7, verse 11, you know, God doesn't give us these years and months for no reason, it's so we can sit there and actually work out, you know, what kind of effects this flood had on the earth. But Genesis 7, verse 11, remember this, it said, in the 600th year of Noah's life. So how old was Noah when the floods came? 600 years. But look at this, in the second month, the 17th day of the month, have you ever wondered why has God given us this detail? It's so we can work it out later on, okay? The same day where all the fountains of the great deep broken up and the windows of heaven were opened, all right? So the second month of Noah's 600 years of life, and the 17th day of that month, the floods came upon the earth, okay? And what did we just read in verse number 4 of Genesis 8, Genesis 8, verse 4? And the ark rested in the seventh month on the 17th day of the month upon the mountains of Ararat. So it's another, it's 17 days of the seventh month. So if the flood came in the second month, and now it's the seventh month when the ark is resting on the mountains of Ararat, how many months has gone by? Five months, absolutely, five months has gone by. So it's not just 40 days and 40 nights of rain. These guys have now been on the ark for five months, right? With all the animals, with all that going on, I mean, this is a long flood. Of course, I mean, you would expect something like this should the whole world be flooded by water, all right? And so we see that it rests on the mountains of Ararat. So what my understanding of that is that the earth is still, and it definitely is, it's still totally covered by water, but like any boat, you've got a bit of depth into the water. It sounds like they just got stuck in the mountains there. That's where the Lord wanted them to rest, and they stopped moving with the waters. It just rested in the mountains of Ararat, though the mountains were not yet seen. It's just the bottom of the ark kind of just getting stuck there, getting fixed on the mountains of Ararat, all right? Now verse number five, and the waters decreased continually. So you're seeing the waters now slowly coming down. The waters decreased continually until the 10th month. How many months now? Until the 10th month. In the 10th month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. So now at the 10th month, they finally start to see the tops of mountains, all right? So that is now eight months, okay? Five months they got stuck somewhere in the mountains of Ararat, you know, the bottom of the ship got fixed there, but then another five months has gone by when they finally see the tops of the mountains, all right? It's been, sorry, another three months have gone by. Now it's eight months from when the floods came. They can see the tops of the mountains. Verse number six, and it came to pass at the end of 40 days. I mean it's so much detail, right? Another 40 days go by, you know, and it came to pass at the end of 40 days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. Now you may not be aware of this in verse number seven because it doesn't get brought mention again, but a lot of us know about the dove that Noah releases to go and see if the land has gotten dry, but a lot of people forget about the raven, and it's here in verse number seven, and he sent forth a raven, and ravens are basically crows, you know, we know them in Australia mostly as crows, okay, a crow is a type of raven, and he sent forth a raven which went forth to and fro until the waters were dried up from off the earth. That's all we know about the raven, okay? We know that Noah releases the raven, he goes to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. It goes and it doesn't die, it just hovers, it goes around until the earth is dry. Now it's difficult to understand from this verse alone exactly what the raven was doing, but by comparison to the dove we do see a difference, okay? So whether this raven was going sort of from the ark back and forth, you know, or if it was just going to and fro because, you know, ravens are sort of birds that are a lot more I guess aggressive, they can survive a lot more in harsh condition than doves. So it's possible it could have just found some floating debris and landed there and been going to and fro until it found dry. We don't get a lot of information as to what this raven was doing, but one thing we definitely can compare and one of the lessons we're going to take out of this flood story is a comparison between the raven and the dove. Because look in verse number eight, verse number eight, it 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 put her in unto him into the ark. So that's a lot of information about the dove. The dove gets released, but the dove can find no rest for its feet, okay? So what does it do? It goes back into the ark and Noah pulls that bird back into the ark. So that is a significant difference between the raven and the dove. The raven doesn't go back into the ark, but the dove does. Now keep your finger there. I want you guys to go to Deuteronomy chapter 14, please. Deuteronomy chapter 14, verse 11. Deuteronomy chapter 14, verse 11. Because we want to take a lesson from the raven and the dove, okay? The raven and the dove, but let's understand a little bit more about the raven here. In Deuteronomy chapter 14, verse 11, Deuteronomy chapter 14, verse 11. The Bible says, of all clean birds ye shall eat, but these are they of which ye shall not eat, the eagle and the ossifridge and the osprey and the glade and the kite and the vulture after his kind and every raven after his kind. So with the Israelites of the Old Testament, were they allowed to eat ravens? No, they weren't allowed to eat ravens, right? In verse number 11, God commands them they can eat of every clean bird, okay, and a dove is a clean bird. And then he gives us a list of birds they could not eat of. These are unclean birds. These are unclean animals. The raven falls in the category of an unclean animal, okay, and the dove falls in the category of a clean animal, okay, and if you know the laws of the Old Testament, you know, the Israelites of old were not allowed to eat of unclean animals. They could only eat of clean animals. Now, those dietary laws were not in place in Noah's day. In fact, Noah was not eating any meat until after he got off the flood, okay, but he already knew if you remember, God already commanded him to take, you know, two of every unclean animal and sevens of the clean animal. So there was already a knowledge of what was clean and unclean. And so what the raven represents is an unclean animal and what the dove represents is a clean animal, all right. So if the ark is a picture of salvation, if the ark is a picture of salvation and the dove, which represents a clean creature, returns to the ark, enters into the ark, what lesson do you think we can get out of that? The only way for you to be clean is for you to enter into that ark. The only way for you to be clean is for you to receive the salvation of the Lord. And if you don't enter into that ark, you remain unclean. You remain unforgiven of your sins, of course, okay. So that's one of the lessons that I want you to think about as we're looking at this is in order for you to be right with the Lord, you must enter the ark. You must enter salvation. You must receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. Otherwise, if you don't receive the free gift of salvation, you're going to stay unclean. You're going to be going to and fro trying to clean yourself and it's not going to happen for you, okay. We see these stories in the Bible because we can take lessons from these things and understand, hey, the dove did the right thing. The dove found no rest for his feet, right. It couldn't find rest anywhere else except in the ark, you know. And if you're not saved today, you're not going to find rest anywhere else in this world. There's no other religion. There's no other person. There's nothing else, no other salvation you can find. There's no other rest that you can find on this earth, okay. You'll be going to and fro like that raven, you know, but you can be like that dove. You want to be clean in the sight of the Lord. You enter into the ark, you find rest in the Lord Jesus Christ, all right. Now turn to Acts chapter 10, please, Acts chapter 10, Acts chapter 10, because we want to learn a little bit more about this picture of clean and unclean. What does this represent? You know, why was it that God, you know, drew these lines between what was clean and unclean in the Old Testament? What's the lesson for us? You know, and some people say, well, eating clean creatures is healthier for you. You know, it will improve your health in which you eat the unclean. Maybe the unclean animals were animals of prey, animals of prey, and were like carnivorous animals and animals that maybe were like the scavengers of the earth, like pigs, you know, just eating everything. And, you know, the clean animals were better for your health. I actually believe that's probably true. I believe that Israelites were probably a lot healthier than the surrounding nations, which, you know, were not obeying the dietary laws that God has given us. You know, I do believe, you know, if you're having health issues, I do personally believe you're probably going to improve in your health by eating of clean animals and abstaining from unclean animals, okay? But that's not a command that's given to us in the New Testament. You know, you're not right with God in the New Testament because you're eating clean animals, okay? And let's learn a little bit here in Acts chapter 10, verse 1. The Bible says, there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, okay? So this is an Italian man, okay? He's a Roman centurion. He's not a Jew, okay? Verse number 2, a devout man and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much arms to the people and prayed to God always, he saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming into him and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid and said, what is it Lord? And he said unto him, thy prayers and thine arms are come up for a memorial before God. So here we have God remembering Cornelius, the way he remembered Noah. Verse number 5, and now send men to Joppa and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. This is of course, Peter the apostle. He lodged with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside. He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. And when the angel which spoke, spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually. And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa. On the morrow, as they went on their journey and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour, and he became very hungry. And would have eaten, but while they made ready, he fell into a trance. So Peter's, you know, while they made ready. So while the food's getting ready, you know, I can imagine he, I guess Peter smelling the food and he's getting hungry. I mean, have you, I'm sure you've been like that, where you're not really hungry, but then all of a sudden you smell just delicious food and you're like, man, I want to have some of that, right? I want to eat some of that. That's what's happening to Peter. But then he falls into this trance. He has this vision or has this dream in verse number 11. And so heaven opened and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners and let down to the earth. Wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air. So what we see here, Peter having this vision of this, what's it say here, a certain vessel, like a sheet, a sheet knit at four corners and it's filled with all types of animals. Okay. Clean and unclean, you know, it says of all types of animals here. And then verse number 13, he hears the voice from the Lord and it says there, and there came a voice to him, rise Peter, eat and kill and eat, kill and eat. And remember, Peter here is a Jew, you know, Peter here has grown up his life, you know, most of his life under the Old Testament ways, under the Old Testament laws. And of course, he would not eat of the unclean, you know, he was being obedient to the Lord in that sense, not eating of the unclean. And verse number 14, but Peter said, not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. Verse 15, and the voice spake unto him again the second time, what God had cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice and the vessel was received up again into heaven. I mean, Peter sometimes needs the lesson three times, we see this in the Bible. You know, Peter quite often needing to be taught something three times for it to really sink in for him to understand. Okay. So we won't keep reading the rest of the story. But what this vision is showing, we have men, Italian men, you know, Roman men coming to get Peter, you know, Peter was being called by the Lord to go and preach to Cornelius and his household, but prior to that, God had given him this vision of the clean and of the unclean. What do you think that represents then? Well, obviously, the children of God, the Old Testament Israel were considered clean. Now, they were God's people and those of other nations were considered unclean. And God uses this symbolically of cleaning unclean animals to speak of his people as being clean and those that were of ungodly nations as the unclean. Okay. And so we can see how Peter would resist from eating of the unclean animals. And I believe this pictures his heart, because God had already commanded them, already commanded the disciples to get out there and preach the gospel to all nations, you know, to go to the outermost part of the earth. Okay. And Peter, it's like he needed to be reminded that the gospel was not just for Jerusalem. It was not just for Israel, but it was for the entire world. And God says, look, I've made it clean. All right. As far as God was concerned, Cornelius was a clean man. And Peter was being called to go and preach to him, to go to preach to the Gentiles. Now, Paul didn't have a problem with this. We know the story of Paul. He had no problem going to the Gentiles, but Peter was a bit stubborn in a sense. Okay. And needed to learn this a few times that, hey, his call to go and preach the gospel was to every man, not to just a select few. Okay. Now, what's the lesson for us? That we should preach the gospel to everybody, you know, to everyone. You know, there might be people in your life that you're thinking about that you say, well, there's no way this person will receive the gospel. You know, have you ever knocked on the door and someone's come out and you're like, this person's unclean. This person's just not going to hear me out. This person's going to yell at me potentially, you know, slam the door in my face and you know, this person's just unclean. But then sometimes they're the most receptive people. You know, sometimes they're the most receptive people. You know, I've had the experience the first time, maybe the second time I came to the Sunshine Coast. I was door knocking in Little Mountain and I knocked on the door of a woman and I said, you know, are you 100% sure you're going to heaven? And she said, it's too late for me now. It's too late. I said, well, what do you mean? And she turned around. I think it was on her back, on the shoulder, she had a tattoo of Satan or something, right? Like, you know, that goat head, whatever they call it, I forget what they call that creature. Anyone remember? Baphomet? Yeah. Baphomet. That goat, satanic, you know, transgender goat, whatever it is, you know, tattooed on her back. And she goes, it's too late for me. I said, well, let me give you the gospel and we'll see if it's too late. Let me give you the gospel. And she heard the gospel and she believed it, received the Lord Christ as her savior. You know, I, you know, she considered herself, she considers herself unclean. She considered, well, I've already made my decision. I've already decided, oh, it's here on my body. Okay. But one thing she'll need, she probably didn't understand was that flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God. You know, thankfully that old flesh, thankfully that tattooed body, whatever images of Satan there are in her body is going to decay. It's going to rot. It's going to be done away with. And the Lord will give her now, now that she's saved, the Lord will give her a new resurrected body, you know, a clean body and hey, she's clean on the inside, maybe a bit unclean on the outside. Hey, but you know what? It's easy sometimes to look at people and make judgment calls and go, oh, this person's unclean. This person does not deserve to hear the gospel. Well, you need to get out there and preach the gospel to every creature. Okay. Just like every creature to Peter was fine to be eaten of, we need to make sure we go and preach the gospel to every creature. That's the lesson that we can take out of the flood here. Now just, not that it's important. I'll get you guys, actually, I'll get you guys to turn to second Peter, please. Second Peter chapter three, second Peter chapter three. And just, just in case you are wondering, you know, are those dietary laws still relevant in the New Testament? Well, we already saw this vision of God. God wouldn't give this vision, you know, without a secondary purpose of the animals there. So obviously, by this point in time, God had lifted those dietary restrictions. And it would have been fine for Peter to go and kill and eat one of those animals, the unclean animals. But I'll quickly read to you from second Peter, sorry, first Timothy. You guys are in second Peter. You guys go to second Peter chapter three. I'm going to read to you from first Timothy 4.4. Not that it's so important, but just in case you're wondering. First Timothy 4.4, it says, for every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. Okay, so the Bible says for every creature of God is good. And there, of course, it's speaking about being eaten of. Okay, so those dietary laws are not in effect today. They're not more right with God or less right with God if you're eating certain animals. Though I personally believe there's probably some good reasons, health reasons, if you decide to eat of clean animals, you're probably going to be a bit healthier. You're probably going to benefit from eating of those animals. But let's go to second Peter chapter three, please. Second Peter chapter three. And this is something I didn't have in my notes. Second Peter chapter three, verse three. Second Peter chapter three, verse three, let's look at this quickly, verse three. Second Peter chapter three, verse three. Knowing this first, that they shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lasts. Okay, so do we have scoffers today of the Bible? Do people scoff at the Bible? Absolutely. You know, we live in this time today, right? It says in verse four, and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God, the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water, perished. So when was the world overflowed with water and perish? That was the time of Noah, right? That's what we're reading about in Genesis chapter eight, verse number seven. But the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and petition of ungodly men. So what we're seeing here, guys, is that the world, by and large, are ignorant or scoff at the Bible, and they will be ignorant and scoff at the flood of Noah, okay? And that the questions will come, well, when is Christ coming back? Things continue as they were, you know, this promise of Christ coming back. Now I'm not hearing that so much today, but there will come a time when people are scoffing about the coming of the Lord. And I think that's going to happen during the times of tribulation, okay? Scoffing at the Lord Jesus Christ, coming back, hey, when's that going to happen, okay? But what we see here, and I want you to be reminded, I want you to be reminded, actually I wanted to keep reading, but I want you to be reminded because there's going to come a time when you feel that this world is so wicked, okay? This world is so unclean that God ought to come and destroy the earth, you know? God ought to come now and judge the earth. God ought to come now and just rain fire and brimstone right now, okay? That's how you're going to feel about life, okay? And it says here in verse number eight, verse number eight, but beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day with the Lord as a thousand years, as a thousand years as one day, all right? So back in verse number seven, it said there is a day of judgment coming. It said it's reserved unto fire against the day of judgment. There is a day of judgment coming. There is a day when God will pour out his wrath once again on this earth, that he will destroy the earth one more time, not by water, but this time by fire. And look, there's a reservation. It's going to happen, guaranteed, there's a reservation. Just like when you book a hotel or you book a flight, you know, you make a reservation first, you say this time, at this date, this time, I'm going to be there, okay? The same thing God has told us in his word, that he has reserved a time, he's reserved a day, this is when he's going to pour out his wrath, okay? So you might desire to see God's judgment on this earth because we see how wicked it is, but just be comforted and be reminded that God has already set a time. It's going to happen for sure, okay, for sure, okay? Now how should you go about business then? You know, we know that time is going to come. Well, let's keep reading there in second Peter. In Peter chapter three, verse number nine, it says here, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise. So it says to you, hey, I promise you, it's going to happen, all right? But then it says, as some men count slackness, but look, but his long suffering to us would, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Do you see that? God has reserved a time for judgment. You know, you feel like, Lord, why isn't it happening maybe, right? You see the wickedness of this world. Well, we know why. The Bible tells us why he's not come down and brought judgment just now, because his long suffering, his long suffering. And why is he long suffering? Because it's said there he's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, all right? So instead of you, you know, getting fired up and saying, God, please destroy Australia right now. Please bring judgment upon Australia right now. Instead of you getting fired up like that, use that zeal, use that fire to get out there and call people to repentance, okay, because God has been long suffering right now. Now's the time. Hey, once that reservation comes and God's judgment falls on the earth and there's fire, there's no way, there's no more chance for you to get out there and preach the gospel. Use the time now. Use the Lord's long suffering right now to get out there and call people to repentance, all right? God was long suffering in the days of Noah. We saw 120 years, all right? So we may not see those final days. We may not see the tribulation and God's wrath in our lifetime, okay? But we are here at a time in the long suffering of God to make sure we get out there and preach to maybe what we would consider unclean, okay? So take your Bibles and go back to Genesis chapter eight, please. Genesis chapter eight, verse 10, Genesis chapter eight, verse 10. So we left off with the dove coming back to the ark, resting her feet, okay? Verse number 10. And he stayed yet another seven days and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. So Noah waits a week and then sends the dove once again, all right? I mean, I love the detail. I love the detail that God gives us. Verse 11. And the dove came into him in the evening and low in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. So Noah knew what the waters, so he knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. So the waters have really decreased. Now the dove has found some vegetation and it's found a plant or found a tree there. It's taken a leaf off it, a lot of olive leaf and brought it to Noah, okay? Verse number 12. And he stayed yet another seven days and sent forth the dove, which returned not again unto him anymore. So now the dove has left. It's found a place to rest. It's found a place probably to nest. It's found some food for itself. It's not coming back to the ark. That gives Noah, man, we're almost there. We're almost now at a time when we can step out of the ark and make our home back on the earth. But what I want you to do here, guys, is turn to Isaiah, again, keep your finger there in Genesis 8, and turn to Isaiah 28, turn to Isaiah 28, Isaiah 28, because we've not yet finished the lessons from the dove and the raven, okay? We're still learning a little bit more about this dove and this raven. And you guys go to Isaiah 28, verse 9, Isaiah 28. And I'm going to read to you from Ephesians 4, 14, okay? Now remember the story of the dove. The dove left the ark and came back, could find no rest for its feet the first time. Seven days later, the dove leaves, finds an olive leaf, brings it back, okay? There's some progress. Now we can find, hey, you know, the first time, it couldn't be fruitful on the earth. There was nothing the dove could achieve except to rest in the Lord. The second time, hey, there's some hope. There's some hope that I can be productive on the earth once again. And by the third time the dove goes out, now it can live on the earth. Now it can sustain itself. It can be productive and so on, okay? Now what's the lesson there, guys? I'm going to read to you from Ephesians 4, 14. And I wanted, you know, as soon as I saw the raven, you know, going to and fro, I immediately thought of this verse, right? And a lot of us know this verse, Ephesians 4, 14. It says that we, henceforth being no more children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ. Hey, what's the lesson we can learn from the raven? God does not want us to be like the raven. God does not want us to be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, okay? And the raven represents also somebody who is unsettled, someone that does not have his foundations in the Word of God, okay? The raven did not have his foundations in the ark and was tossed to and fro, okay? Whereas the dove did find its foundations in the ark, didn't it? The dove did take its time, you know? At first, the dove, you know, represents that new creature, that newly saved babe in Christ who may not be productive all that much, but he knows he can find rest in Christ, okay? But then he goes out again and sees, hey, what can I do for the Lord? And he comes back with that leaf. Not much, but he can come back with a leaf. He can send a message, you know, that the waters are coming down. And then what do we see the third time? The dove comes, well, it doesn't come back. Now the dove can be fully productive, you know, the dove took its time. The dove took its time. And the lesson we see, we shouldn't be people that are tossed to and fro with every winter doctrine. We need to be people that do not rush our Christian growth. Hey, if you've been saved not too long, just relax. Take your time. You know, learn things a little at a time. Don't be someone that rushes and thinks, I'm going to be the most mature. I'm just going to be God. I'm going to be full of zeal. I'm just going to get out there and live for the Lord. I've seen so many Christians who are not well grounded, you know, try to do great things for the Lord, but then they're tossed to and fro, and they get into heresy, they get into, or they just get out of church that they lose the zeal because they've not grounded themselves. Okay? Isaiah 28, verse nine, please, Isaiah 28, verse nine. When you're a little child, how should you be? It says here in verse number nine, whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? And that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts. So we need, first of all, guys, the milk of the word of God. And then verse number 10, for precepts must be upon precepts, precept upon precepts, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little, okay? That should be you. You should look at this and say, how does the Lord want me to grow as a babe in Christ? How does he want me to mature and develop? Does he just want me to rush out there and be this Christian superstar? No, it says precept upon precepts, line upon line, here a little, there a little, okay? A little bit at a time. A little bit at a time. Let me strongly encourage you, guys, please be patient with your spiritual growth. Make sure as you learn doctrine, you settle, okay, I have this key doctrine I need to learn. Let me find some Bible verses. Let me get grounded in these doctrines, salvation, get grounded in salvation. Get grounded on eternal life. Get grounded on the deity of Christ. Get grounded on the Trinity. Get grounded on the virgin birth. Get grounded on what baptism represents. Get grounded on the second coming of Christ. Get grounded in creation. Get grounded in the history of Old Testament Israel. Get grounded in the life of Christ and start building a little bit, a little bit, okay? Come to church and learn doctrine. Just take your time to grow. The Bible compares spiritual growth with physical growth, you know? And of course, a little baby to a full grown man takes what? Twenty years. Twenty years. Hey, your spiritual life, your spiritual growth may need to take 20 years for you to be developed into that strong, godly, unmovable man, okay? Please don't rush, you know? Children that act all adult-ish, you know? It's not a good sight, but neither is an adult that acts childish, all right? You know, we've got to be, you know, try to live in accordance to our age. But the key thing we need to learn is that we need to be growing. We need to be growing, okay? Every moment you get to learn the Bible, do so. Take your time. Ask the Lord to lead you. Please don't rush your spiritual growth. You know, I've seen Christians get frustrated. I'm not growing as fast as I want to. Relax, you know, line upon line, line upon line, you know? Here a little, there a little. You don't want to rush too quickly, otherwise you'll be that person that gets tossed to and fro represented by that raven, okay? The raven was too quick. It was trying to find a place to live. The dove was smart. Came back to the Lord, you know, and slowly built up its hope and then was productive when he went out of the ark. Verse number, go back to Genesis 8 please, Genesis 8. Genesis 8 verse 13. Genesis 8, 13. And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year. Now how old was Noah when the flood came? Six hundred. Six hundred. Now it's six hundred and first year. So there's a year that's gone by, hasn't there, okay? In the first month, well not quite a year just yet. 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. Okay. So at what point now was the face of the ground dry? Well, this is now eleven months in because remember the flood came on the second month of his six hundred years and now this is the six hundred and first year but it's the first month. So it's not been a full twelve months just yet. It's now eleven months. Eleven months in and the face of the ground is dry but what you'll see later on, it's not safe to walk on, okay? It's the face of the ground, it said right at the end there, the face of the ground was dry, meaning that's like the top soil, the top soil is dry, okay? But that would mean that under the soil it's still very wet. You know, it still requires some drainage for that water to get down into the earth. So it might look dry on the outside but it wouldn't be safe just yet to go out and start you know, living a life and building, constructing things, anything like that. The ground's just not hard enough just yet. You'll see this in verse number fourteen. Verse number fourteen, and in the second month, on the seventh and twentieth day of the month was the earth dry. So now the earth is fully dried. Now the earth is back to its normal self in a sense, okay? But look at this. It says, and in the second month, you know, of the six hundred and first year, okay? And then it says on the seventh and twentieth day of the month. What's the seventh and twentieth day? That's twenty-seven days into the month, all right? So God gives us all this information for a reason. Again, go back to Genesis seven verse eleven, please. Genesis seven verse eleven, because now we can see how long the effects of the flood took before they could walk on the earth, okay? Genesis seven and eleven, I'll let someone here work it out, okay? So it says here, in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, so six hundred years, the second month, the seventeenth day of the month. That's when the floods came, okay? So six hundred years, second month, seventeen days, yeah? So when was the entire earth dried? Back in Genesis eight fourteen, it said, remember it was already six hundred and one years, and then it says in the second month, on the seventh and twentieth day of the month, that's twenty-seven days into the month, was the earth dried. So how long, how long were the effects of the flood? You know, from the time the flood came to the earth was dried, how long was that time period? All right, Jason's got an answer, let's see if one of the kids can work out first. Georgia's got an answer? All right, did Jason tell you? Ah, oh yeah, who told you? Lily? All right, Georgia, on behalf of Lily, what's the answer? Exactly, one year and ten days, okay? So the same month, but ten days later, the Bible tells us the entire earth was dried. Does this sound like a fairy tale to you? God gives all this information, you know, specific times and dates as to how this took place. I can imagine a fairy tale saying it rained for forty days and forty nights, and then they got off the ark and they were fine, right? I can imagine a fairy tale being like that, okay, but God gives us all this information, you know, it's a scene, you know, from the time that the ark gets rested on the mountains of Ararat, to the time they see the tops of the mountains, to the time they, you know, they see the top of the earth, the face of the earth at least dry, but not the bottom, and then the entire earth being dried. You know, God gives us this detail because these are true events, you know, these are true events, and we see the judgment of God, you know, we should have a bit of fear about the judgment of God. You know, it should drive us to understand that God can just wipe out the entire earth, and He will. There is a time reserved, we saw already, there's a reserved time, and He again will destroy this earth, not by water, but by fire, okay? This is not a fairy tale for children. Verse number fifteen, Genesis 8.15, 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 every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, that they may breed abundantly in the earth and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. Okay, so, does God have any concerns about overpopulation? Hey, this is the same command that we have today, okay, to get out there and be fruitful and multiply, not just the human beings, but also all the creatures that were on the ark, and all the animals are being commanded of God to be fruitful and multiply, and you know, it's the same command that He gave to Adam and Eve of the old world, if you want to consider it that way, the same command exists today, post-flood, you know? Just driving to Gympie yesterday, right? I mean, it's so much empty place, we're definitely not overpopulated, and this is just a small part of the world, you know? And we'll soon see with the rest of this chapter just how off the world is, you know? The world's saying we're overpopulated, you know, that the world just can't sustain seven billion people. Hey, the world can probably sustain probably another 20 billion people, who knows, you know? I don't know how far this population will grow before everything ends and the new world, the new heaven, the new earth come to be, but hey, you know, there's plenty of land out there, there's plenty of land. I mean, I live in aura, and I'm frustrated that every house is like jam-packed, I think there's so much land, be fruitful and multiply, you know? How can I multiply when these houses are only made for like one or two kids, you know? It's challenging to be in a house like that with 10 kids. But hey, that's the world. The world is always contrary to the Bible. Verse number 18, and Noah went forth and his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him and every beast, every creeping thing and every fowl and whatsoever creep upon the earth. So Mrs. Raven would have had to find Mr. Raven wherever he went, or maybe the other way around, maybe it was Mrs. Raven that got out there, because remember, there's only two very unclean animal. So yeah, you know, wherever the ravens go, they worked it out. And verse 20, and Noah built an altar unto the Lord and took of every clean beast and every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And I love that because now, you know, Noah's come off the ark. And this is like a reset button. This is like a new beginning for Noah, you know, everything. It's just them. It's just that one family now that's left. The first thing he does is offers a sacrifice to the Lord. The first thing he does is acknowledge and praise and thank the Lord for getting through those difficulties. And that's how you need to be as well. When the Lord gets you through the storms of life, when he gets you through the trials of life, you need to stop and just thank the Lord, just thank the Lord for getting you through that trial. Okay, verse number 21. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour. And the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore, for man's sake, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I again smite anymore every living thing, as I have done, while the earth remain of sea time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. As soon as I read verse 22, when I was preparing this, I just thought of global warming. Or, you know, in my day, when I was in primary school, it was global freezing. It was a hole in the ozone layer was going to, what happened to that hole? I don't know what happened to it. Did it get plugged or something? I never hear about it in the media anymore. The hole in the ozone layer. And you know, our deodorant cans or whatever was causing a hole in the atmosphere somewhere. And it was going to cause like next ice age, that was the idea that the earth is cooling down and we're going to experience next ice age and you know, 100 years or something like that. I don't know, whatever, whatever the science was back then. But instead of global cooling, now we've gone to global warming, like climate change. And they were, you know, now it's going to get so hot and all the ice caps, you know, Antarctica and all this kind of stuff will melt and the floods will rise and again, the earth will be flooded, you know, by the rising waters and we need to save the earth. You know, what does God say at the end of verse 22, while the earth remaineth, see time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. All right. It's a myth. Global warming. I mean, there's climate change every day. Okay. In one day you're going to experience climate change, you know, you might wake up cold in the morning and you get warm in the evening, you know, during the day and in the evening it starts to cool down again. Well, that's climate change, you know, let's go to save the earth. No, look, God promises us there's going to be cold and heat, summer and winter, you know, it will not cease as long as the earth remains. Okay. Again, just the science of this earth, guys, is contrary to the Bible. I almost feel like, you know, scientists just say they open up their Bibles. Okay, we're going to come up with a new theory. Let's open up the Bible. Okay. That's what God said. We need to do the opposite. We need to teach the opposite. That's exactly the kind of science, the science supposed to be so called that we get today. God, please go to Philippians chapter three. I want to end on this. Philippians chapter three, verse seven, Philippians chapter three, verse seven. What's another lesson we can take out of this story of the flood? Okay. I mean, put yourself in Noah's shoes for a moment. You know, I'm sure he's delighted. I mean, sacrificing to the Lord is the light that has come through, is thanking the Lord. But it would have been hard. I mean, I think just as a natural man, it'd be hard to see what you knew totally destroyed. All the people that you knew, whether they were good people or bad people, totally wiped out, you know? And imagine just being the only people on the earth. Just you. I don't know. It would be lonely. I mean, I guess that's why they had family, right? He's got his wife, he's got his kids and their wives. You know, hey, if that was enough company for Noah, we should also give attention to our family, our wives and our children and our extended family that we have around us, you know? But it would have been a traumatic time for Noah, I reckon, you know, to experience such things. But we see that he gets off that ark, doesn't he? He gets off the ark and he thanks the Lord. And the lesson I want to take out of this, guys, is that we've all made mistakes in our past. We've all had problems, trials in our past. And this is another problem that I find with Christians, a lot of Christians, is they get stuck in the past. They can't forgive themselves. They can't move on. You know, they're just constantly thinking about, you know, what they did wrong, how life could have been, should have things have been different, you know? And they get stuck in the past. They get stuck in the past. They get bogged down with guilt. They get bogged down with sorrow, you know? And they know they're saved, praise God. But when you're like that, when you take that approach to life, it's going to cause you to live a very miserable life. Well, first of all, it's not going to cause you to be able to live for Christ the way God wants you to, okay? Second of all, not only are you going to bring yourself down and low, you're going to bring those that you love and care about down as well. You're going to bring them down. You're going to bring them depression when they see you cast down. You're going to, you know, the way you act has an effect on people around you, and especially those that love you the most, okay? And what we see here in Philippians 3 verse 7, Philippians 3 verse 7, it says here, but what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. This is, of course, Paul, and speaking of himself, he says, Doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, you know? And Noah lost a lot. I mean, he lost the entire world that he knew. He lost it, okay? Verse number 9, it says here, and be found in him not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. And these are the words that, you know, really stand out to me, they help me in life, and I hope it helps you in life. You know, it says, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do. What's this one thing that he does? Forgetting those things which are behind, okay, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Have you got doubt, have you, do you have, you know, regrets in life? Especially maybe when you're unsaved, and especially when you're unsaved, you make a lot of mistakes, you do a lot of foolish things, but even as a saved person, you can make a lot of mistakes, you can make a lot of foolish mistakes, you can bring a lot of grief into your life, a lot of consequences of sin might be, you might have to just live with that for the rest of your life, because a lot of consequences of sin do carry into life, okay? But what do you then do with those things? What do you do with that past? What did Paul do? He says, I'm just going to forget those things. You know how the Lord remembered Noah, okay? It's not that he had forgotten Noah and had to remember him, that he just kept Noah in his mind, okay? And what you need to do, guys, instead of, you know, beating yourself up, instead of, you know, getting down and low and sorrowful for your past mistakes, you've got to forget those things. You know, if you've come to the Lord as a person, you've asked the Lord for his salvation, he's paid for your sins on the cross, that means he's paid for your mistakes, he's paid for the things that you regret, it was as though Christ had made those mistakes, as though he had committed those sins, and he paid the full price for that on the cross. He's taken that, and God's forgiven you, God's forgiven you, and he's promising you the resurrected body, he's given you, he's promising you resurrection to live forever in an eternal life. If God has forgiven you, you need to forgive yourself, okay? I mean, are you more righteous than God, you know, that God can forgive you, but you can't forgive yourself? Because if you can't forgive yourself, you're saying, I'm more righteous than God, you know, I can't forgive the sins that God has forgiven, the mistakes that I've made, you need to put that behind you and push toward the prize of the high calling of Jesus Christ, in order for you to live effective lives for Christ, you need to forget the mistakes you've made, put them behind you, okay? They're always gonna be there, they're always gonna sort of niggle you, but you need to just say, Lord, please help me to put that behind me, because I want to live after the high calling that you've called me to do, okay? And I can just imagine Noah, I mean, he's got no choice in this matter, I mean, those past things that he's got to forget them, okay? We find later on, though, he gets into a bad place, and I, you know, it's traumatic what he went through, we find him in a bad place later on, okay? So even someone like Noah can make mistakes, you know? But please, you know, I don't want you to be someone that's just constantly putting yourself down, constantly sorrowing, look, Paul made mistakes, you know, Paul had things that he said, look, that's just, I'm just gonna view that as done now, I'm just gonna move on with my life, I'm gonna forget those things that I've done, and he's did some terrible things, and Paul's probably the best example of a godly Christian we can find in the Bible, one of the best Christians you can find in the Bible, you know, we see the example in Paul, you can be one of those best Christians, you can be someone that lives godly, you can be someone that lives after the high calling that God has given you, but you need to put those things behind you, the mistakes, the griefs, the regrets, you need to put that behind you in order for you to move forward, okay? Those are the lessons of the flood, let's pray.