Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.cccharlotte.org/sermons/33071/genesis-81-22/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Genesis chapter 8. Genesis chapter 8. So Noah is on the ark. He's been there quite a long time.

[0:13] He will end up being there a little over a year. I guess the theme for today, hurry up and wait. We'll read through the chapter, and then we'll pray, and then we will see what the Lord has for us.

[0:30] And God remembered Noah and every living thing and all the cattle that was with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assaged.

[0:41] 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 150 days, the waters were abated.

[0:55] And the ark rested in the seventh month, and the seventeenth day of the month upon the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month.

[1:06] And in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. And it came to pass at the end of 40 days that Noah opened the window of the ark, which he had made.

[1:18] And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro until the waters were dried up from off the earth. And he also sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground.

[1:29] 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 he took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

[1:45] And he stayed yet other seven days. And again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came into him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off.

[1:56] So Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days, and sent forth a dove, which returned not again unto him anymore.

[2:06] And it came to pass in the 600th, in the first year, in the first month, 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.

[2:22] And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou and thy wife and thy sons and thy sons' wives with thee.

[2:35] 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 creeps upon the earth, that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.

[2:50] 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 creeps upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

[3:05] 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. And the Lord smelled a sweet savor.

[3:16] 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.

[3:31] While the earth remains, seed time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease. Father, we thank you that your word is alive, and that the truth of your word, the effectiveness of your word, and the living quality of your word will never cease.

[3:51] Thank you for the truths contained in it. We pray that you would speak to our hearts today. Open our minds, Lord. We thank you we have the promise in Ephesians that tells us, Lord, that you have given us the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

[4:05] In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Noah's on the ark, and as I was thinking about this chapter, I identify with it a lot, with Noah's state here, because it's over.

[4:18] The judgment is over. Forty days and forty nights, the heavens were opened and the rain fell and the fountains of the deep were opened. For forty days and forty nights, the earth, the bathtub of the earth, was filling up.

[4:31] And it was over. But Noah doesn't get to get off the ark until three hundred and seventy-some days he's on this ark. You know, over a year later is when he gets to get off the ark.

[4:43] And just when you know, you can sense that God is moving, God's doing something, you're ready. And then it just seems like it's dragging on and on. And you can perceive what's coming.

[4:54] God's going to do something. I can tell. And you're ready to go. And the Lord's just like, hurry up and wait. And so Noah is patiently awaiting the perceived outcome.

[5:08] I think that was the thought that I have. That when you perceive God is doing something in your life, there's an outcome that's being perceived. We've got to wait for it. We want to go. We want to be ready to do it.

[5:20] Let's get it done. And God would have us to wait. Our theme verse for this section of Scripture, Hebrews 10, 36, and 37, says, For you have need of patience that after you've done the will of God, you might receive the promise.

[5:37] For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. Obviously speaking of Jesus' return. But we have need of patience that after we do God's will, well, the promise is coming.

[5:48] But it's not in our time. Just as Jesus is coming to return, to take us home, we're ready. We perceive it. But he's not here yet, is he?

[5:59] On our timetable. So, you've heard the term where God closes a door, he opens a window. Kind of like the term God helps those who help themselves.

[6:13] You know, cleanliness is next to godliness. None of those are in the Bible. But you should wash. But where God opens a door, or closes a door, he opens a window. That's not in the Bible.

[6:24] What we're going to see today is that when we open a window, God will very often then open a door when we open a window. So in chapter 8, Noah's on the ark with Mrs. Noah.

[6:36] Oh, remember last week I said that I didn't know what the kind of lighting he had on the ark. I did some research because remember it's pitched inside and out. It's super flammable. So I looked into it, and in the Hebrew, the type of lighting is flood lighting.

[6:50] So, now we know what lighting was on the ark. Oh. So they did have some light in there. So they're on the ark, and it says, and God remembered Noah. I'd ask, that's not really comforting.

[7:01] That means he forgot him, right? No, he didn't forget him. The wording there means to have in mind. It literally has the idea behind it to be pierced or fixed. Something that's like pinned.

[7:12] You pin it. Which is very applicable in the day we live in because everybody pins. Well, not everybody. I don't have Pinterest. But a lot of people pin. They pin things. Why? Because they want to remember it.

[7:23] They want it to be in mind. They want it to be something. Oh, I like that. So the idea here is that Noah is in the heart of God. Noah's in God's mind. He's fixed there. Not that God forgot about him.

[7:36] God is thinking upon him. And every living thing and all cattle that was with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth and the waters.

[7:48] I don't know if that's assuaged. I guess assuaged. Yes, they were assuaged. Assuaged means to be appeased, to be pacified. The idea is the end of wrath. It was over.

[7:59] God made a wind. That's the same word, wind, that we saw in Genesis chapter 1 when we went through the creation account in verse 2. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Same word, move there.

[8:10] There's the same word here used for wind. It's the same word used in Genesis chapter 3 verse 8 where it says, they heard the voice of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

[8:23] Cool of the day. That word wind, it means the breath, the breath of the day. The breath of God moved upon the face of the waters. And here again, God again is moving upon the face of the waters with his breath.

[8:35] He's breathing upon it. And it's receding. It's turning back. You want to pull out your little handy-dandy timeline. This helped me a little bit, kind of wrap my mind around what's going on here.

[8:52] Unfortunately, I have a black and white printer. So on the bottom where it says the seven days would be in red, you can see these guys over here would be our seven days.

[9:06] But anyway, so Noah's on the ark. The rain has stopped. You can see just past 40 days on the bottom is your days that the rain stops. And then the ark does not rest on the mountains of Ararat, which we'll see in verse 3, until 110 days later.

[9:24] And so something happens there where Noah's going to perceive that something has changed. Maybe he can feel the rocking and all of a sudden it stops. Maybe he feels a bump. Or maybe as the water is going down the ark kind of settles and tilts a little.

[9:38] All the armadillos roll to one side. And then 73 days later, it's not until he sees the top of the mountains appear. And after that, he begins then to act.

[9:52] And he opens a window and he begins to kind of feel out where things are at. So that will kind of help walk us through some of this. But it's a long process. If you look, when the rain stops after 40 days, he's on that boat a long time.

[10:08] And yet he knows God is moving. When the ark rests on the top of Mount Ararat in Genesis 8, verses 3 and 4, okay, let's go.

[10:19] Let's get off this boat. I'm tired of this. I'm ready. I know you're moving, God. I felt you move. I felt a bump. Something shifted. Something settled. I know you've moved.

[10:31] Then the mountains appear. He sees them. God, I see you're working. I can see it. I can see it. That which is perceived is eventually seen. And Noah will eventually see what he perceives.

[10:44] When we perceive God moving, we think there's another season coming. God is at work. But what you perceive, God will eventually allow you to see. But even then, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's time to move forward.

[10:58] And so God breathes upon the waters. They begin to come back, roll back. In verse 2, The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained.

[11:09] It was to be shut up or withheld. He turned off the faucet. And the waters returned from off the earth continually. The word continually literally is the same word for walk.

[11:21] God is walking back the waters. So when the fountains of the deep were opened and the windows of heaven were opened, I mean, 40 days, and this thing filled up. Look how long it's taking for the waters to return.

[11:33] Why? Why'd it have to take so long? Well, it's a little gruesome, but I think everything had to sink. Everything had to kind of sink that was dead and be buried by the silt. Remember when Israel crossed the Red Sea and then the Egyptians attempted to afterwards and God closed the sea after them and it says the next morning they saw the bodies of the Egyptians upon the shore because they were dead and floating and washed up.

[11:58] So there had to be a point here where God had to leave this so that everything that was dead and floating would sink. And if you think that this is one giant muddy slurry that's just happened, the whole world has just been stirred up.

[12:13] It's all going to settle out. That's where we get our fossil record because you have billions of dead things laid down by water, buried all over the earth. And so for Noah, in his timing, if he was to come off as soon as maybe he wanted to or maybe Mrs. Noah wanted to, get me out of this ark, it stinks.

[12:30] You know? Well, God had his timing because he needed to make sure that all of corruption was, that there's no evidence of corruption, that he had washed it all away.

[12:43] So there's this long process here as that slowly walking back in verse 3. And after the end of 150 days, waters were abated. Literally, they lacked. They were diminished.

[12:54] There's enough water, we said it before, right now to cover the face of the earth. If you kind of leveled some of the mountains and lifted up some of the ocean basins, you could cover the face of the earth by up like two or three miles of the amount of water.

[13:06] So whatever the Lord did during this process when the fountains of the deep were open and they created these deep ravines in the ocean, well, the waters are now coming back off the earth. They're receding.

[13:18] In verse 4, And the ark rested. It sat down. It was quiet. It resided. In the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

[13:29] Anybody knows for sure what Ararat means? Especially with these, you know, the pre-flood and then directly after the flood, there's not a lot to correlate with language. But it's thought it could mean to ring out or the curse reversed.

[13:47] So he landed on the Mount of Ararat. The curse has been wrung out. It's over. There's nothing left to do to judge the world at this point.

[13:59] And the waters decreased continually. That's that word to be walked back. They continued to abate. They walked continually in that direction until the tenth month. Tenth month. Come on.

[14:10] Let's get out of this boat. On the first day of the month were the tops of the mountains seen. As we said, that which is perceived is eventually seen. And it came to pass at the end of 40 days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.

[14:26] So now Noah begins to act. Somehow he just senses it's time. He opened the window. It may not have been the first time he opened this window, but he's going to open it with a purpose now.

[14:40] Noah opened the window long before he opened a door. Didn't he? The first thing he did was to open a window. And it's the window which he had made.

[14:50] And so we said where God closes the door or he opens a window, well, this is a window that Noah opened. And God won't open a window for us that's our window to open.

[15:02] God desires for us to open a window. We're going to see the effect of what happens when we open a window, what God does. but God won't open the window for us.

[15:16] And we will come back to that window. But let's continue in verse 7. And he sent forth a raven which went forth to and fro until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

[15:29] And he also sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. For 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.

[15:42] Then he put forth his hand and he took her and pulled her in unto him into the ark. What's going on here that he's got like this bird thing going? Sending out birds. What did they do?

[15:52] They all got loose. Get them out of the house. Well, where it says he sent forth a raven, the raven's going to tell him something. The raven didn't return so it means there was a place for the raven to rest.

[16:06] And where it says there in verse 7 he sent forth a raven which went forth to and fro or in going forth and returning from place to place until the waters were dried up. Well, that means the waters weren't dried up because the waters were still covering the face of the ground.

[16:20] Well, the raven can land on the floating things and feast on the floating things. So the carcasses that are still floating the raven can still land on. And so Noah knows it's not time.

[16:31] There's still corruption. Inside the ark we're protected from corruption. Outside the ark unless it's God timing for us to move outside of that ark that place of rest that place of residing in quiet we take the chance of being corrupted.

[16:49] And so he sends forth the raven it doesn't come back so he's like okay, it must have found a place to rest but is that a place I can rest? The raven can rest in corruption but there's no real rest in corruption.

[17:01] And so then he sends forth this dove. He sent forth a dove to see if the waters were abated but the dove found no rest. None at all. No place for it to rest. None for the sole of her foot.

[17:13] And she returned unto him into the ark for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. Then he put forth his hand and he took her and pulled her in unto him into the ark. How did the dove come?

[17:26] By way of the window. The dove came by way of the window which Noah had opened. He had to reach out his hand and he had to take her in. The dove came willingly to Noah and Noah opened the window but Noah still had to take hold of and receive the dove.

[17:42] There's still a part for Noah to do in receiving this dove. What does the dove represent in scripture? Holy Spirit. Descended bodily upon Jesus in the form of a dove.

[17:55] And they heard the voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am already well pleased. Represents the Holy Spirit. This is the first use of the word dove in scripture.

[18:06] And in here we see what it's being used for. The dove is being used to search out a place of rest. It's being used to determine if there's corruption still in the world or not. And we're going to see that the dove brings assurance of a future promise.

[18:20] But the dove could not find rest and the dove will never find rest in corruption. And so for us we are to only go if the dove finds rest. If the dove does not find rest we shouldn't find rest there.

[18:34] The raven may find rest there. May find rest in corruption but we shouldn't be. Colossians 3.15 says and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which also you are called in one body and be you thankful.

[18:47] Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. That means wherever the peace goes you go. Peace don't go you don't go. The word literally means to umpire. Let the peace of God umpire in your heart.

[18:59] If the umpire says you're out get out don't stay there you know don't wait for strike three get out of there. And so Noah has taken and received the dove back unto himself and he pulled her in to the ark.

[19:15] And what did the dove lead to? Receiving the dove through the window. He opened the window he received it to himself and it led to a Sabbath rest. And he stayed yet other seven days and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark.

[19:30] And the dove came into him in the evening and lo in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off so no one knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

[19:44] We see the picture of the dove right like the sign of peace and it's got like an olive branch. What does the Bible say? It was a leaf. You see some poor dove with a giant branch trying to fly. It was a leaf.

[19:56] Just a leaf. Ephesians 1.14 tells us that the Holy Spirit is given to us. We'll read it. Ephesians 1.13 and 14. Speaking of the Holy Spirit or of God and Jesus in whom we've trusted that after we heard the word of truth the gospel of our salvation in whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory.

[20:23] the earnest of our inheritance the Holy Spirit brings a little bit what we have now the fullness that we have now in Christ is just a little bit of what's to come when we are there in his presence for eternity.

[20:38] And yet he withholds nothing. He gives all. But what we can receive right now is just a little bit. So we see that Noah knew now that the waters were abated or that there is life.

[20:53] There is new life again. After the corruption comes new life. And then it led to another Sabbath's rest. And he stayed yet other seven days and sent forth the dove which returned no more again unto him anymore.

[21:08] What does that mean? If we apply that does it mean the Holy Spirit left? Ah! No. It just means there's a time to move beyond the window. There's a time to move beyond the window experience to move to the door. And so what do we see with the dove?

[21:20] The dove came by way of the window. The dove must be received. The dove came at a set time. Came in the evening. The dove led to a Sabbath's rest.

[21:33] The dove comes with future promise. Hey, here's this little olive leaf. The dove brings assurance that the water has been abated. Judgment is over. The dove leads to an open door which then leads to a new world.

[21:48] So what is the window? What is the window in our life? We need to open a window to receive the dove. Spend time with the Lord. Well, it's the word in prayer. It's fellowship. It's not that complicated, guys.

[22:00] You know, I would say it's not hard to open a window but we just moved into a house. The windows are really hard to open. They're these old like Anderson windows from like the 60s. And then I had some really eager helpers who painted the windows closed.

[22:14] And so I got to like slice them and shake them and bang them and pop them. So it takes a bit to get them open but it's refreshing once they're open. Right? But it's not that hard to open a window.

[22:24] And we need to open windows into our life for the Holy Spirit to come as we open the word, as we pray. Noah's job, you know, he didn't have like a dove whistle.

[22:36] He didn't have a net. Right? And it's interesting, it came back in the evening. And as Noah began to realize this is the pattern. Now yes, we should have our hearts open to the Lord all the time.

[22:50] But here is a set time where Noah opened the window. He was there at the window and he opened the window. Do we have set times? Do I have a set time where I sit down and I open this window that the dove comes through with a little olive leaf?

[23:04] And do I expect the Lord? Do I just kind of throw it open and close it and go on my way? And am I willing to take the time then to reach out for the dove?

[23:17] To reach out for the Lord to come in? And Noah did this and it's a funny sequence of events that he would then wait seven days and he would do it again and wait seven days and do it again.

[23:29] I think it's just this picture of the Lord giving us an example of what it is to wait on the Lord. We don't wait by doing nothing. We wait as we're in communion and as we're in fellowship.

[23:41] We're looking for future promises. We're expecting them. And then the dove brings assurance. Yes, the corruption's past. Yes, the judgment's over. And yes, as eventually here now Noah finds out it's time to move beyond the window and to the open door.

[23:57] And so in verse 12 he stayed yet another seven days and sent forth the dove which returned not again unto him anymore. And it came to pass and it always will.

[24:11] The things that we perceive God doing he will bring to pass. Last year we went to the Deep South Pastors Conference the Calvary Chapel Pastors Conference and I was just I knew God was calling me to plant a church.

[24:28] But I didn't see any way forward. And this is before we had decided to step out was it last January? So it would have been in September. I knew God was calling me to do that but I couldn't see a way forward how to make that happen.

[24:42] Like how could I leave you know the pastor of the church where I was at and how's this going to work? We're going to have to move far away. And I remember I went up for prayer. They had the different pastors up there who had taught or whatever this one guy and he was in the same field of business I was and he had a very similar situation when he was assisting pastor.

[25:04] Funny how the Lord does that. But he's like he goes to me look you're not going to die before God fulfills the things he's promised to do in your life. He's like he'll fulfill them or we'll get raptured.

[25:15] He's like but if God has promised to do them and if you know God's moving and doing something he's like he'll do it. So just wait on him. Serve where you're at and be content. And this is not easy to do when you perceive that God's got something in front of you to do and you're excited to do it.

[25:29] He says yeah but just focus right here. And so Noah lets this dove out he waits seven days and he goes back to mucking stalls right? Or whatever he's doing. Checking the batteries in the floodlights.

[25:42] And then he sends the bird out and comes back he waits another seven days. And now it came to pass though in the 600th and first year in the first month the first day of the month the waters were dried up from off the earth.

[25:58] If you remember Noah was 600 years old in verse 6 of chapter 7 when the flood of waters was upon the earth. And so now you know he's a little over a year older they've been on this boat.

[26:12] And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked and behold the face of the ground was dry. I like that. I like that sequence. He removed he looked he beheld he removed the covering.

[26:26] Again I just think of the picture of the window we have. You need to remove the covering of the book. Read it. He removed the covering. The thing that was standing between him and the next season of his life the thing that was standing between him and God's call the thing that we're going to see that was standing between him and God's voice telling him to go forward it was for Noah to remove that.

[26:47] And he did. Noah needed to experience for himself what he knew was true. The ark had rested he knew that was true. The waters had left the earth he knew that was true he just told us that by receiving the branch or the branch the leaf from the dove he knew the waters had dried up off the earth.

[27:08] But now he needed to see it. He needed to behold it. And God will do that in our lives. He'll give us the same assurance. The things that we know are true he wants us to experience.

[27:19] That verse we read at the beginning where he said after you've done the will of God you have made a patience that you may receive the promise. God wants us to receive the promises. We're thinking about that and praying about that with just like Lord how do you want to move in our midst as we read the word in the New Testament.

[27:34] How does the Holy Spirit want to work among us? How do we give him that window to do that? We're giving him a window on Sunday morning right now aren't we? For the teaching of the word to hear the word of God to allow ourselves to be edified to worship him.

[27:48] But we need to give him other windows as well. Windows of prayer. And not just where we're like Lord I need this and I need this and I need this but where we're praising him and praying to him in a way that we're saying God it's not about me.

[28:01] What do you want to do? How do you want to shape my will and heart in this moment? We're giving him windows where Holy Spirit move among us by your gifts.

[28:11] Move among us in a way that we can be edified. Look if the Spirit is given for our edification and then if the gifts are given by the Spirit because that's the way he chooses to move among the body and we don't exercise all the gifts then we're losing out on a lot of edification.

[28:30] And unfortunately the enemy's done a good job in scaring us off from some of that. But there's windows we need to open. So those are areas you can kind of be praying about as we start this body this fellowship.

[28:41] How to open those so that we can reach out to the Lord and receive what he has for us. But Noah now opens the door he looks and behold the face of the ground is dry and the second month on the seventh and twentieth day of the month was the earth dried.

[29:02] And he's ready to go. And God opens the door what do you do? Oh we say it all the time you go through it oh man the Lord's opened a door the Lord's put before me an open door I'm going to walk through it the Lord's opened a door so I'm going to go through it.

[29:14] Noah did all he could to prepare but he only moved forward at the word of God. Verse 15 And God spake unto Noah saying go forth of the ark. So Noah did everything he could to prepare didn't he?

[29:27] He had the raven go out he had the dove go out he was ready he opened the window he wanted time to open the door he opened it he saw it's dry he's standing there you know he's got his Mrs. Noah on one side the boys behind him with their wives they got their bags all the animals lined up in alphabetical order and it's like let's go let's go Noah what's going on?

[29:47] Well God hasn't told me to move forward Noah the ground's dry right? Yeah judgment's over right? Yep Are there any signs of corruption? No no corruption no corruption okay is the door open?

[29:59] Yep the door is open what are you waiting for? I'm waiting for the Lord's voice the God who called me to come onto the ark is going to be the same God who tells me go off the ark go forth Noah 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 creeps upon the earth that they may breed abundantly in the earth be fruitful and multiply upon the earth Noah needed to hear the word of God he needed to hear the Lord telling him these things like well he already told him that at the beginning of this the Lord is so faithful to continually reiterate to us I identify a lot with Gideon he had to have all his different signs and then at one point they're outside the camp of Midian and they're ready to attack he's got his 300 men and the Lord comes and says to him hey Gideon if you're if you need assurance take

[31:04] I can't remember his servant's name with you and go down into the camp of the Midianites and listen so he's like okay I'm gonna go down and he gets down there and he hears two guys and one of them's like hey I had a dream and this barley loaf rolled into the camp of Midian and all the tents fell and the other guy goes oh well that's none other than Gideon the son of whatever his name was and Gideon's like oh yes thank you Lord that's me I'm so off in my Lord and the Lord will so many times he'll give me that dream of the Midianite you'll hear someone or just something that'll just give such assurance again about something he's already spoken the Lord is so faithful to bring assurance but for Noah no amount of signs and perceptions and same for us the application is that no amount of signs and perceptions can replace God's word well I know people who live their Christian experience this way well this really seems to be blessed by God why because it's working do you know how many times in scripture things don't work out for people that are blessed by God Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego the Lord has forsaken us we're about to be thrown into the fiery furnace no they're like the Lord's in this let's do this throw us in so many people live their life by omens and signs well I perceive

[32:20] God's moving and I feel like great if you think that open a window open a window and see if God opens a door if God opens the door wait because he'll tell you to go through it it'll be the perfect time so the open door set before Noah were only entered at God's command and so here we're given again this command it's interesting he gives it to Noah for the animals but he tells them that they may breed abundantly in the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth Noah went forth and his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him every beast and every creeping thing and every fowl and whatsoever creeps upon the earth after their kinds went forth out of the ark that means nothing was lost not one animal was lost not one died everything that God put on the ark will come off the ark none who the father has given me will I lose said Jesus and so Noah comes off the ark and all the animals are to multiply

[33:27] God desires abundance and fruitfulness there's never any idea in the word that there's too many people or there's too much creation God desires abundance and fruitfulness but for Noah there was one group of animals Noah looked over and he saw two snakes and they weren't multiplying they were just sitting there all the other animals are multiplying he's like fellas the command is to multiply they said yeah well we're adders we don't multiply there's a lot of Noah jokes out there you shouldn't always tell them but God desires fruitfulness and abundance and then what's the next thing Noah does Noah says come on boys let's build a house let's explore the whole new world and Noah built an altar unto the Lord and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings unto the Lord and so we saw that the dove will always lead to rest and we are to always follow the dove into rest and only follow into rest but the dove will also always lead to sacrifice when you follow the Holy Spirit and you walk with the Lord it will always lead to sacrifice and the sacrifice will lead to rest but it will always be sacrifice there will be no part of your life that is not sacrifice take up your cross daily and follow me he who ceases to save his life will lose it but he who loses his life for my sake and the gospels shall find it the wording there is to he who willfully casts away his life will find it will stumble upon it almost like discover it by happenstance and the next thing

[35:16] Noah does is he sacrifices Noah built an altar unto the Lord and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings unto the Lord okay Noah one animal sure there's not a lot of animals to go around and we're going to find out here Noah pretty soon in the next chapter in verse 3 God's going to tell him every moving thing that lives shall be meat for you even as the green herb have I given you all things he's going to tell him now that your life source is going to come through food through the animal no longer is the primary source going to be through the herb of the field and so hey Shem bring me one of those clean animals what are we going to do dad oh we're going to sacrifice it okay okay bring me another one another one dad we just did one we're losing them fast here another one another one another one the cost of sacrifice and the Lord smelled a sweet savor that means again that same word there he breathed he's like to breathe in he breathed it in and oh what is that and the Lord said in his heart

[36:23] 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 everything living as I have done the sacrifice satisfied sin satisfied God's judgment on sin it doesn't make any it doesn't make a lot of sense the Lord says I will no longer curse the ground for man's sake and he acknowledges the imagination of man's heart is evil all the time from his youth but the sacrifice allows God to cover sin because it looks forward to the greater sacrifice and it's interesting here he says I will no longer curse the ground anymore the curse on the ground is enough man's perpetuated sin will not add a greater curse to the ground man is sinful and the ground is cursed but I will not continue to add curse to it then he says neither will I again smite anymore everything living as I have done the curse that's upon creation

[37:25] Romans tells us that all creation groans waiting for the adoption of the sons of God that God's not gonna judge creation for the sake of man anymore either and so Noah offers a willing sacrifice and it cost him a lot I mean there's no he can't go to the supermarket these animals are gonna take a while to breed this is all he has but the loss Noah suffered through sacrifice was not nearly as great as the loss he would have suffered if he didn't sacrifice Noah's sacrifice alone of all the people of the earth Noah alone had the position and the responsibility and the calling and the authority to sacrifice on behalf of mankind and he did that and God looked at that and said that's enough that'll do and though it cost Noah a lot it didn't really cost him he gained and so we see that the sacrifice was offered willingly God didn't command that

[38:26] God commanded Noah leave the ark and Noah wouldn't go through that door until God told him to but when he got off the ark God didn't say hey I want you to sacrifice to me okay Noah one animal that's good Noah's like man no I'm gonna give everything of everything I have every area of my life every clean area of my life I want the Lord's hand to be in the sacrifice was costly it was very costly very costly the sacrifice was clean only the clean animals only clean things will God accept the sacrifice was pleasing to God God smelled a sweet savor he breathed it in and it was pleasing to him the sacrifice touched the heart of God because it says that the Lord said in his heart I will no longer again curse the ground I like that I like that that God God has we think of God as so limitless and he's omniscient and omnipresent and omnipotent and yet we're told in the beginning of chapter 8 that he remembered

[39:29] Noah he thought on him and now we see that God has a God in his heart is pondering things and thinking things and in his heart he's making decisions the sacrifice affected the entire world because of the sacrifice God said I will no longer curse the ground for the sake for man's sake and it affected the entire population as well and the sacrifice led to rest God was at rest and if God is at rest I am at rest and I can be at rest and so verse 22 while the earth remains seed time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not see the new ecology established this is not the old ecology this is not just reiterating that oh there's seasons no this is saying that there is now a new ecology after the flood that is being put in place these seasons cold and heat summer and winter I like that because remember when we looked at creation when it says he created the greater lights and the lesser lights and the firmament to rule the day and for seasons and signs those seasons and signs they were not in existence when God created the sun the moon and the stars to give seasons to give signs in the heavens they weren't created and yet you think of man before the flood whatever they saw the stars whatever the seasons were then those that were walking with the Lord oh I understand why God created this it makes sense well after the flood everything's changed they had no idea what was in God's heart of what he was going to do next neither did Noah we're going to find out next week it's a whole new world and there's some things

[41:13] Noah's going to discover that he may not quite have expected but what did Noah do that he did very well he prepared in the way he could in the place he was at where God had put him he opened the window I was thinking of the scripture Luke 19 speaking of one of the parables when Jesus talks about those who will serve him and how he's going to go away in Luke 19 verse 12 and 13 it says he said therefore a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return and he called his ten servants and delivered them ten pounds and said unto them occupy till I come well how do you do that well I think we just saw that we occupy by waiting to wait on the Lord we saw what waiting is it's not doing nothing we occupy by being at rest at rest in the promises of God at rest at what God is doing we occupy by keeping the window open in our life to receive the Holy Spirit we occupy by being willing to follow God through open doors that he tells us to go through that we are to occupy and so Noah has just come through one of the most trying times for humanity as Noah steps off the ark into a new world the Lord is already there and he's already prepared it's interesting because the Lord told Noah come into the ark and now he's telling him to go forth in John we're told that Jesus puts forth his sheep the good shepherd puts forth his sheep he goes oh but then I go before them and we talk about in our house that moment of when

[43:02] God's doing something new and you feel kind of put out there and all alone and then the shepherd kind of comes around and says follow me we're going this way oh you're still here Jesus thank you but Noah had spent decades of his life investing in this thing building this thing this was his life's work this had just been used by God mightily in people's lives edification and life came through this thing and God is telling him to go forth out of it and leave it behind you never see Noah go back into it you never see the ark again nobody has maybe they have but Noah's told to go forth out of it and Jesus said he said you do not put new wine into old wines again it's a little burst and for some of us we've been told to go out of things that have been very comfortable to go into something new and we need the assurance that it's the Lord who's told us you need that I need that I need to know I need to go down and listen in the camp of the Midianites and hear like God is telling me to go through this door

[44:03] I don't have to question so as we close open the window and let the Lord show you what he has to come maybe it's a season to wait maybe it's a season to go through an open door sometimes some windows are harder to open than others we need some help sometimes we can't get it open on our own scripture tells us to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ so if you need prayer get prayer find someone who will pray with you I'll pray with you there are sometimes there are some things that we can't bear alone that's okay so Father thank you so much for your word thank you that your word tells us that the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart oh God that will not despise tell us in the New Testament blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God blessed are the pure for they shall see God Lord there's a cost involved here with following you it cost Noah a lot to get on the ark everything he knew and it cost a lot to get off the ark everything he had given his life for life to but Lord we want to willingly offer our lives to you it's our reasonable service

[45:31]  I would ask you Lord as we open the windows of our heart this week as we open the windows of our time this week and sit with you we pray we read the word Lord would you do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ever ask you you love us we're in your heart you remember us you've pinned us there because you were pinned you were pierced for our transgressions bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon you so Lord we truly Lord have been pinned to you thank you Lord for your great love for us in Jesus name Amen ön