I go back to Genesis 8 with me. Genesis chapter 8. The story
of Noah and the ark is a true story, a familiar one to everyone in
here. It's a true story. This is not
an allegory. This is not a parable. This is a true story. story of
God's anger and wrath, God's judgment against an ungodly world,
which he destroyed by water. And this is a wonderful story
of God's sovereign electing grace and mercy upon a few. those that were in the ark. Noah
and the ark represent, as you know, they represent Christ and
his church. God, who has not changed, has
promised another final judgment upon this unbelieving world.
Not an allegory, not a parable, but a fact. Peter wrote that
it will be in the last days and it will be by fire. And as they surely laughed and
mocked Noah in that day, Noah who was a preacher of righteousness,
gods, they laughed and mocked at him
saying, I'm sure things like this. Noah, God's not like that. And so in these last days, Peter
also wrote, scoffers will come, saying, where is the promise
of his coming? But we go right on preaching this, don't we?
We go right on preaching, as Noah did, a holy, just, and righteous
God who will by no means clear the guilty, who is angry with
the wicked every day, but God is also rich in mercy
and grace and a Savior to all that are in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is God's ark. Noah represents Him. All in Christ are and will be
saved. Look at verse 1. God remembered
Noah and every living thing, and all the cattle that were
with Him in the ark. What a picture of Christ that
is. Noah and his ark. Christ and his church. The name
Noah means rest. When his father and mother named
him, I'm not sure they knew why, but God led them to name Noah,
Noah, which means rest or comfort. They said, for the same, this
child shall give us great comfort. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
was born, they said, call his name Jesus, for he shall give
us rest, our Savior, our Lord of Sabbath. The ark was filled
with animals, clean and unclean animals, sheep as well as goats,
doves as well as ravens. And the ark in our story tonight
represents The visible church, or that is, those who seem to
be the church, professors, like Israel of old, they were not
all Israel, they were of Israel. And the visible church is filled
with both wheat and tares, sheep and goats. And I think you'll
know them tonight by this story. All right, look at verse 6. Here
is our story. It came to pass at the end of
40 days that Noah opened the window of the ark. There was
but one window as there was but one door. You see, Christ is
all of this. Christ is all and in all of these
things. Christ is the door, isn't it?
Christ is the window. A window is the only source of
light and fresh air. Well, Christ is the light of
the world. In verse 7, he made the window
and at the end of 40 days, Noah opened the window. In verse 7,
he sent forth a raven which went forth to and fro until the waters
were dried up from off the earth. set forth a raven, and this raven,
it flew back and forth, and it never really came back in the
ark. It's clear that that raven did
not come in, back in the ark. It may have come to the ark and
rested on it, but it wasn't in it. But it went to and forth
throughout the earth looking for something to feed on. Now
you know what ravens feed on. You see these black birds on
the highways and so forth, feeding on carrion. That's dead flesh,
isn't it? That's what ravens feed on. And
the raven here is a picture of the professor or the worldling
out there, the professor of religion or the worldling, who is back
and forth, but not in. the beloved, not in Christ, until
finally, like this raven, gone for good, they found something
to feed on. Dead flesh. A world. Well, verse 8, also Noah sent
forth a dove from him to see if the waters were abated from
off the face of the ground. Noah sent forth a dove. Now this
dove is our subject. This dove is every true believer. This dove represents the believer. Stay with me. I'm quite sure
you'll get a blessing from this. The dove throughout Scripture
has often represented the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, hasn't
it? When Solomon wrote the canticles or the Song of Solomon, the church
says of the Lord Jesus Christ, Thou hast eyes like doves." Have
you ever looked at the eyes of a dove? They're very clear and
very innocent, aren't they? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ in
His purity, that turtle dove, in His innocence, in His holiness.
Thou hast eyes like dove. And the turtle dove. Doves were
often used in the sin offerings, weren't they, throughout the
book of Leviticus? And Exodus, turtle doves were used in the
sacrifices. Well, Christ is all of those
and more. But the dove also represents
the believer. In the Song of Solomon, Christ
said to His church, He said, Open to me my sister, my love,
my dove. So the dove represents the believer
also. And here in this story, God help
me now. Noah is Christ. A picture of Christ. And the
dove is every wandering believer. And if you are a believer, you
are prone to wander. And you will. But if you are
a believer, you will return. Okay. Verse 8. So he sent forth
the dove from him. And verse 9 says, but the dove
found no rest for the sole of her foot. The dove goes out. The dove has been cooped up for
five months. You know, this story of Noah
and the ark is even more remarkable, a story of God's wonderful grace
to Noah, when you consider the fact that he was on that ship
one year. Most of us, I thought at one
time, just 40 days or so, or a few months at the most. One
year. It was a long journey, wasn't
it, on that boat. Well, after a while, Noah sent
out this dove And he says in verse 9, the dove found no rest. After being cooped up for many
months, five months, six months, seven months, this dove is ready
to stretch her wings. And she flies off. She leaves
the ark. A place of safety. A place of
food. A place of fellowship. Her mate is there. Her shipmates
aren't there. There were seven doves. Noah
was there, and all her fellows. Why would she do that? Why would
she leave? Where would she go? How could
she leave? Why would she leave such a place
as that? Well, here are a few reasons. She had wings, and she longed
to use them. Man, every believer, has wings
in the form of an imagination, which often takes flight, doesn't
it? Look at the last, well, the next to last verse of this chapter
also says this before the flood. But after the flood, there's
only Noah and his family. Right? The redeemed. Well, here
God says in verse 21, the Lord smelled a sweet savor, that's
Christ, isn't it? Said in his heart, I will not
curse the ground anymore for man's sake, for or though the
imagination of man's heart is evil. Now, he said that of the
unbelieving world before the flood, and now he says this of
Noah. Noah had an imagination, as did
Shem, Ham, Japheth, and their wives. And every believer has
this imagination which often runs wild, doesn't it? It runs
away. And we need to pray, Lord, don't
let my imagination take flight. Don't let it have its way. Why
did she leave the ark? Why did she leave Noah? Why did
she leave? Brother Spurgeon said that she
remembered her dove coat. You dove hunters, you know what
a dove coat is, don't you? Doves, like many birds, have
a nesting place to which they return. They build one, they
often return there over and over again. And this dove, before
she was one of the elect doves, she was an elect dove. Before
she was one of the elect doves, she had this dove coat, this
home, this former nesting place where she found all her happiness
and all of her contentment and so forth. And that's what she
began to think about. And before the ark, that's where
she was, and she began to think back on that and began, I wonder
if it's still there. I think I'll go back and see
if it's still there. And every believer before we
were, well, I can't really say this, before we knew we were
in Christ, perhaps we should date our lives
that way, B.C. Before we knew we were in Christ,
before faith, every believer was out in the world, satisfied,
Paul wrote, having pleasure in unrighteousness. Old friends,
old places, all old haunts, old cronies, and sometimes our imagination. And you're a liar if you don't
say this is true. Sometimes you wonder. I wonder
what that would be like. Like the Israelites who lusted
for the flesh pots of Egypt, didn't they? Wanted to go back
where they came from. They forgot. They forgot. I wonder. I thought about this. It's no wonder that this dove
left the ark, really. A dove has wings. A dove has
former homes, which she thought about. It's no wonder. The miracle is that she came
back. And it doesn't surprise me when
people leave the gospel. It doesn't surprise me. You know,
you feel it, prone to wander. Lord, I feel it, prone to leave
the God I love. The great wonder and God's great
grace and mercy is this. He brings them back. Why did she leave? Why did she
leave? Why did she leave the ark and
Noah? Now listen to this. Listen to me. Noah sent her. This was a test. This was a test. Noah sent her
away from the ark. The Lord Jesus Christ as a man,
When he became a man 30 years old, the first thing that's written
and recorded of him in Scripture, it says that he was led of the
Spirit into the wilderness and tempted by the devil 40 days
and 49 as a man. Tempted at all points, like as
we are, yet without sin. He's our substitute. He was tempted. He didn't fly away. He faced
those temptations, but he was led away into the wilderness
of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit led him into
the wilderness to be tempted of Satan as our substitute. But now listen, he tells us to
pray. He tells us to pray. When you
pray, pray after this manner. Our Father, lead us not into
temptation. Now, God does not tempt man. Cannot tempt man. Cannot be tempted,
neither does He tempt any man with evil. Yet, He tries us. His people. And He does it not
by tempting us, but like He did with Simon Peter. Just let him
go for a minute. Just let him go. See what he'll do. What will
he do? He'll fly away. Won't he? If the Lord takes his
hand off of us for a moment, we'll fall. Sin is like gravity. It'll take us down. The world
will suck us in. Lord, take not thy Holy Spirit
from me, David said. Lead me and guide me by thy Spirit.
Lead me not. Lord, don't let me face temptation
alone. I can't do it. I'll fly away. But sometimes he does. Like this
dove, he does this, and we fall. We wander, don't we? Time away
from Him. And it's a sad time, as we're
going to see in a minute. It's a sad time. It's a bad time. A time of temptation, sin, shame,
loneliness, emptiness. This dove found no rest for her
soul, the soul of her feet. And yet that time away from Noah
and the ark made that ark sweeter than it was before. Like David, when he was in exile
from the temple, said, oh, my heart cries out. I want to be
a bird. He said, I just want to be a
bird in the rafter. So the dove flies away. And it
says the dove found no rest. She flies here and she flies
there. She flies to and fro. She sees this, she sees that.
She finds no place to rest. No place to land, no place to
stay, no place to lie. And she's getting tired and weary,
and she needs to rest. But she can't find anything or
anywhere to rest. Thank God. Solomon, the Lord
had Solomon, who was the wisest man on earth, act a fool. The Lord allowed him to try everything. It was an experiment that the
Lord let him fall into for our sake, for our learning. These
things are written for our learning. Solomon said, I tried folly,
I tried riches, I tried wine, I tried laughter, I tried mirth,
I tried riches, I tried it all, he said, and this is what I came
to the conclusion. Vanity of vanities. There's no
rest. There's no happiness. It's empty. Well, this dove, she doesn't
find any rest. She finds none there. And she
sees the raven. She's out there looking for something. She knows not what. She sees
the raven. The raven has found what he's
looking for. The raven is on some dead, bloated
carcass, putrefying flesh. The raven has found something
which to feed on that it really enjoys. But it's repulsive to
the dove. She can't eat that. Maybe the raven invited her. I can't do that. That's repulsive
to her. She spots a tree floating by.
There's a place of rest. tree and limbs from it, and she
tries to land on that floating tree, and it's full of muck and
mire and clay, and she gets her wings all covered with dirt. Now they're heavier than they
were before, and her feet are stuck in the miry clay, and barely
she flies off. And now she's heavier than she
was when she left. Heavy laden, needing rest. Brother Spurgeon said this. He
said, why can't the dove find rest? Listen, listen. Why can't
the dove find rest? Well, he said, it's not for want
or lack of will. She wanted to. She wanted to
find rest somewhere, but she couldn't. And every believer
still has within them an old nature, an old man that wants
to find something out there. Doesn't it? Every believer has
this old man that wants and wills to find something else. Why couldn't the dove find rest?
It wasn't for lack of will. It wasn't for lack of an eye
to see things. Doves have clear eyes, don't
they? They have good vision. Like most
burials, she saw many things, perhaps many things that appealed
to her. And the believer is a human being,
and we still see things that are attractive to us. We still
see things in this world that appeal to us. There are still
some things, some places, some people that are attractive to
us, aren't there? That appeal to us. The disciple,
I thought about the disciple one time. They were in awe of
the temple. You remember? One day they were
walking around Jerusalem and they were in awe of that temple
and they wanted to show it to the Lord. I have to laugh at
that. The Lord who left heaven. And
the disciple said, Lord, would you need to come look at this?
This man-made building. They were in awe of it, and so
are we. We're in awe of man-made things, aren't we? You know,
I thought about this. Someday when we're with Christ
in glory, we will wonder, what did I ever see in any of that? She had an eye. It wasn't for
lack of a will. It wasn't for lack of an eye
to see things. It wasn't for lack of wings.
She was free. Noah opened that window and said,
go. And she went. She was free. One time the Lord was preaching,
and after he preached, John 6 I believe it is, and he preached some hard
sayings, that is, sayings that were hard, difficult sayings
of his sovereignty, of God's sovereign claims and his own.
and the narrowness of the way, who he was, his person, his work. Well, it says, after he preached,
it says, many of his disciples, those who seemed to be his disciples,
walked no more with him. They said, these are hard sayings,
who can hear them? And they walked no more with
him. We won't have any part, we're leaving, getting out of
here. And he turned to his disciples and said, will you also go away? There's the door. You're free to go. And that door back there, nobody
forces you to stay here. I started to say nobody forces
you to come. But it's not for lack of or want of wings. So the dove couldn't find rest,
not for want of will, She wanted to. Not for want of an eye. She
saw some things that appealed to her. Not for want of freedom
or wings. Why couldn't she find rest? She's a dove. She's a dove. That's why. Not a raven. Oh my. You find any rest in this
world? I mean any real rest. And you've
wondered. If you haven't, you will. She
was a dove. She's a dove. She has her mate.
She has her new dove coat. Noah made her a better one. A
better nest. She has a new dwelling place.
She has a new master. She has a new home. So what does
she do? She turns. She turns. 180 degrees. She's heading for home. Scripture says, Turn us, O Lord,
and we'll be turned. Not until then, huh? Turn away
mine eyes from beholding vanity. It's of the Lord's goodness that
leads us to repentance. Repentance is to turn. It's the
Lord's goodness, isn't it? Huh? And send us back to Christ. So this little turtledove. Turn. And heads for home, heads back
to Noah and the ark. But by now, she's tired, she's
weary, and she's flown a long way off. She's filthy, her feet are laden
with clay, her wings are weary, and she's a long way off. But
she looks. And she spots Ad-Ark. And she
thinks, if I can just get back there. If I can just make it. That old brown boat. Ad-Ark hasn't
changed, has it? No old brown boat. The raven
didn't find much beauty in it that he desired. No comeliness,
no former comeliness, but ah, now to this weary-laden and heavy-laden
love, it's the most beautiful thing she's ever seen. She's
got to get back. But she's so weary now, I don't
think she can make it. I don't think she can make it.
She's gone too far. She's too dirty. Maybe the window
is closed. Maybe Noah's forgot about it.
He's got six other ones. Maybe if she comes, he won't
have her. But she's got to try. She's got
to go back. She must try to find rest where
she first found it. where she first found rest. There
is no other place. She tried everything else and
there is no other place. So she flaps her weary, dirty
wings and she approaches the ark and look, lo and behold,
the windows open. And standing in the window is
Noah himself. And look at verse 9. It says
he put forth his hand and took her and pulled her in
under him into the yard. There now, my love, my dove,
what did you think you were going to find out there? Look at you
now. Got to wash you, don't I? Where have you been? What have
you done? You can't find any rest out there. In me is thine
rest. This is your home. These are
your mates. Listen to Psalm 116. Listen to
David in Psalm 116. He says, Return unto thy rest,
O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee,
that thou hast delivered my soul from
death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. Scripture says of our blessed
Lord, He waits to be gracious. He has been gone a long time.
He waits to be gracious. It doesn't say how long the prodigal
son was gone, does it? Aren't you glad? It could have
been years. He waits to be gracious. Scripture
says he's ready to pardon. Scripture says his arm is not
too short to bring in the wanderer. There's
none too far off. It says he's able to save to
the uttermost them that come unto God by him. Someone said,
the gutter most. Oh, the breadth, the length,
the depth, and the height of the love of God that's in Christ. Isaiah 30 says, in returning
and rest shall ye be saved. And quietness and confidence
is your strength. That's coming to Christ. To whom?
Coming. We wander constantly, don't we? Constantly. But to
whom coming? The window of the ark is open
even now. Even now. Well, there's another
part of this story, isn't there? Maybe you looked at that. I wasn't
going to go into it, but maybe you wonder about this. Verses
10 and 11, he said he stayed yet another seven days, and again
he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came in.
She came back. Sent her out again. She came
back in the evening, and lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf.
Fluffed up. What's this all about? Well,
our Lord, in Matthew 10, sent forth His disciples out into
the world, didn't He? He said, Lo, I send you forth
as sheep among wolves. He said, Be ye wise as serpents,
but harmless as doves. The olive branch has always been
a symbol of peace, hasn't it? God's people are peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers.
She came back to him and said, it's a wild world out there.
That raven's taking over. Now I'm coming back to you again.
Lord, David said, they're for war out there. They're for war. I'm for peace. Well, she came
back, blessed are the peacemakers. But verse 12 now says, He stayed
yet another seven days, and sent forth the dove, sent her again,
which returned not again unto him any more. He sent her out
this last time, and she never came back. Well, someday we will leave here
also, never to return. Like Enoch, someday we will walk
somewhere, if we're not lying down on a bed, and we'll walk
on into glory by faith, never to return. The soul will fly
again to its God that made it. And in closing, let's say with
David, in Psalm 55, David said, Oh, that I had wings like a dove. But then would I fly away and
be at rest. Some of our beloved brethren
and sisters have done just that. Taken wing. Flying, flowing away. At rest. Forever ready. No more to come
back to this mud and the mire. Never to stray again, never to
wander. Now they're with Him forever. Isn't that what you
say? Oh, that I had wings like a dove. Maybe that's where that
old song came from, Brother Henry, on the wings of a snow white
dove. Alright, I hope it was a blessing to someone. Me and
Mrs. Pershing tried the best we could.
Stand with me. Our Lord, thank You so much for
Your Word, the Word of mercy, love, and grace to wandering
sheep, to doves that fly away. The story of Your mercy in bringing
them back. Your grace, how You are ready
to pardon. Merciful, gracious. Your mercy
is higher than the heavens. Your grace, higher than the heavens. your love deeper than the ocean.
Lord, how we thank you for it. We ask that you would bring us
back time and again, because we have, we do, and we will wonder. We ask that you would forever
bring us to Christ. Keep us coming back to Christ. To hear the gospel of our forgiveness
and our pardon abreast in Christ. And Lord, may this be a blessing
to someone, a great comfort to your sheep. You've told me to
comfort ye, comfort ye my people. And Lord, only you can really
do that through your Word, so I ask that you do so according
to your purpose. It's in Christ's name we've met
here tonight. Christ, our rest and our comfort. Amen. Thank you.