I have to tell you, I'm glad
to be here, too. I've looked forward to this time together.
I bring you greetings from your brethren in Ashland. And you
know you are continually in our hearts and our prayers as you
wait on the Lord to provide a pastor. You're very dear to me, and I
always hold you close to my heart. If you want to open your Bibles
to Genesis chapter 8, I know the midweek service can
be a sacrifice or difficulty to get to. You've been out working
all day to get yourself in here and in some frame of mind to
worship and to hear. I know it can be difficult. I did that for many, many years
before I've now become the pastor. I want to give you something
tonight that will enable you to leave here encouraged. encouraged because you've seen
Christ the Savior, seen the promise of his coming. I've titled the
message, Two Birds, Two Natures. You know the whole story of the
ark. Every culture has a story of
the ark. How the God saved every species
of animal alive in the ark, both clean and unclean animals. Now, I find it very interesting
to me that roughly 2,000 years before the law was given to Moses,
animals were already divided into clean and unclean animals.
God called them clean and unclean, and no one knew which was which.
Clean and unclean, and the law hadn't been given yet. That also tells me, long before
the law was given, men knew sin. Men knew right and wrong. They
didn't know the Redeemer. They didn't know how to be delivered
from sin. They had no idea of the debt of sin and how that
debt can be paid, any more than the flesh does today. But they
knew sin. They knew right from wrong before
the law was ever given. And I digress, but I just find
that very interesting. But have you ever wondered? Why
did God keep both clean and unclean animals alive? I mean, maybe
we'd just be done with unclean animals and only have clean.
Why did God keep the unclean animals alive? Well, I believe
I have the answer to that. Saving alive both clean and unclean
animals in that ark is a picture of the two natures that are in
every believer. Every believer has a clean and
an unclean nature in them. There's the flesh and the spirit.
The nature of the flesh, that's what's born in us when we're
conceived from our father's seed. We're conceived with a nature
just like Adam's. The nature of the spirit is what's
born in us when we're conceived from the holy seed of the word
of God, by the power of God the Holy Spirit. That new man's like
his father, too. He's sinless and perfect. The
raven, you know the story of these two birds, the raven is
an unclean bird. It's a black bird, which pictures
the black stain of sin, the dark blindness of sin that we're born
into. That nature can do nothing but
sin. Everything it does is sinful.
And that black, blind nature, the nature we're all born with,
the nature we're all still carrying around with us, cannot love God. It cannot believe Christ. It
doesn't even want to believe Christ. It can't do it. It cannot
know God. Now the dove is a clean bird.
That bird is white, and that picture is the pure, sinless
nature of Christ that's born in every spirit by the power
of the Holy Spirit. And that nature can never sin. Now I want you to hold your place
there in 1 John chapter 3. We couldn't make that statement
if that was not in the word of God. That new man born of God
cannot sin. 1 John chapter 3. Verse 9, whosoever is born of
God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him. It
just all depends upon the seed that conceived him. His nature
is in the seed that conceived him. If the seed that conceived
him is holy, so is he. His seed remaineth in him, and
he cannot sin because he's born of God. Now, that's the new nature
that's born in every believer. And every believer has that nature. Now in scripture, the dove is
given to us as a type of the Holy Spirit. You remember after
our Lord was baptized, John said he saw the Spirit descend upon
him and lie upon him in the form of a dove. In the Song of Solomon,
the beloved calls his bride, my dove. And she says of him,
he has dove's eyes. Doves are pictures of pure holiness.
And every believer has these two natures in them, one of pure
sin. One of pure holiness. Now those
two natures are contrary to each other. So they're going to fight
and war against one another as long as they live in the same
body. And if you look at Genesis chapter
25, I want to show you something that's very interesting here.
That warfare between the flesh and the spirit begins the very
moment a believer is born with spiritual life. Genesis chapter 25 and verse
21. And Isaac entreated the Lord
for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord was entreated
of him. And Rebekah, his wife, conceived. This is what happened right after
she conceived. The children struggled within
her. And she said, if it be so, why am I thus? And she went to
inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her, there
are two nations in thy womb, and two manner of people shall
be separated from thy bowels. The one people shall be stronger
than the other, and the elder shall serve the younger. The
very moment that Rebecca conceived, this warfare began because there's
two nations in her, two different nations. That's what happens
to the believer. The moment we're born again,
this struggle between these two opposite natures begins, this
warfare begins. And you know what? Both of those
natures are me. Both of them are men. I really
am flesh that can't do anything but sin. And I really am spirit
that cannot sin. And that warfare between the
flesh and the spirit is going to make the believer miserable.
You know the scripture there, Romans 7, when the Apostle Paul
talks about what I want to do, that's not what I do. What I
don't want to do, that's what I do. And he just ends up saying,
who's going to deliver me from the body of this death? He said,
I thank God through Christ Jesus. That's how I'm going to be delivered.
But that sounds like a man pretty miserable, isn't it? I can't
do what I want to do. I do what I don't want to do.
That's that civil war that goes on inside of every believer.
And I know to the natural man, that sounds very mysterious.
You know, to say that there are two natures in me, there are
two yous, and both of them are you, but you're not schizophrenic.
That's a complete mystery to the natural man. It's a complete
mystery. And it always will be. But let
me tell you, this mystery of the two natures will be perfectly
obvious to you when God gives you a second nature. It'll just
be as obvious as anything can be. And our text tonight gives
us some pictures of the evidences that the Spirit has caused us
to be born again. And I want us to know tonight.
I want us to be able to leave here tonight knowing, have I
been born again? If you have, you can leave with
a smile on your face. You can leave with courage if
you've been born again. Back in our text here, Genesis chapter
6. Here's the first thing. Here's
how the new birth happens. It happens by the will and power
of God. Genesis 6 verse 1. I'm sorry,
I said the wrong place. Where am I at? Genesis 8, Genesis
8. 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 assuaged. 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, and the ark rested. In the seventh month
of the 17th day of the month of the mountains of Ararat, and
the waters decreased continually until the 10th month. In the
tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of
the mountains seen. Now here, after Noah got on the
ark, the Lord shut the door. The rain started. The fountains
of the deep opened. I just cannot imagine the deluge
that came upon the earth and killed every living thing. Everything
that had breath in it, man and animal, everything was killed.
And it rained. And it rained. And it rained.
And verse two says that finally, the rain from heaven was restrained. You know, I wonder sometimes,
why is it that dark clouds pass over and there's no rain? You can tell these are rain clouds.
They've got to be full of water. They're so dark and just, why
do they need rainfall? Well, believe I know, because
God restrains the rain. It's just almost like God suspends
the law of gravity, and that rain, that water, does not fall
from the sky. It stays in the clouds. It seems
impossible for it to do, but it does. Because by his power,
God restrains it. And then a day like today, he
lets it rain. But it only happens by his will. Whether it does rain or doesn't,
it's by God's will, isn't it? And when those clouds don't drop
rain, it's God restraining that. Now you know that the rain of
the flood is a picture of God's wrath against sin. That water
came and destroyed everything. But now has come the time, God's
restrained the rain. He's restrained his wrath. And
when God saves His people, they still sin. They still have that
nature that can't do anything but sin. They're still a sinful
people. But God restrains His wrath against sin. He restrains
that wrath, and He does not allow it to fall upon them. He does
not destroy them. Now, it seems impossible that
a holy God would do that, doesn't it? That He would restrain His
wrath against sin and not let it fall on someone who sins so
wretchedly. But God restrains his wrath.
He doesn't let it fall. You know why? Because the wrath
already fell on Christ the substitute. See, that rain that fell, that
fell on Noah's sin too, didn't it? But it all landed on the
ark. The ark bore it all. So now God's
restrained. There's no more rain. There's
no more rain coming to destroy man. God doesn't say, Noah's
been hiding out in that ark. And he gets out of the ark. Then
I'm going to send another flood. I'm going to get him, too. He
didn't do that. He restrained his wrath against Noah's sin
because his wrath fell on Noah's substitute. And that's exactly
what happens when God saves his people. People jokingly talk about, oh,
don't say that. God's going to strike me with
lightning. The believer never has to worry about that. Now,
we're ashamed of ourselves. We're ashamed of the things that
we think, ashamed of the sin that we commit, what we say,
what we think, what we want to do. But God's wrath against that
sin is restrained, because it already fell on Christ our substitute. And that's the reason God remembered
Noah in the ark. Noah went in that ark, he was
in there a year. God didn't forget about Noah
for a year. It came time for God to remember Noah, to remember
his covenant, to remember his promise. Now it's time for him
to deliver Noah from the ark and deliver him from this flood.
And that's what God does for his people, he remembers them.
God's always known His people. He chose them by name before
the foundation of the world. He didn't choose them and then
forget them and then suddenly remember them. God's always known
His people, but He remembers His covenant and there's a time
that God remembers and comes and sends life. It's a time of
mercy. It's a time of grace that He
shows to His people. And he shows that mercy, he shows
that grace because the death of Christ satisfied God's justice.
There's no wrath left in him for his people. All that's left
in God for his people is his mercy, and his grace, and his
love. And God remembers his people.
And when it's time, he sends his spirit to them. The spirit
comes, blowing where it listeth, and gives spiritual life to God's
people. And all that happens at the will of God, because of
the power of God, when God remembers his people. And they're born
again. Now, here's the second thing.
I want to give you four evidences of the new birth. The first evidence
of the new birth is found in this, what we can and cannot
eat. Verse 6, and it came to pass at the end of 40 days that
Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made, and he
sent forth a raven. which went forth to and fro until
the waters were dried up from off the earth. And he sent forth
a dove from him to see if the waters were abated from off the
face of the ground. And the dove found no rest for
the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark,
for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. Then he put
forth his hand and took her, and pulled her in unto him into
the ark. Now Noah let these two birds
go out the window of the ark. He let the raven go. And the
raven never came back. The raven went here and there
and everywhere, but never came back to the ark. The raven could
feed. I'm just assuming there had to
be dead bodies floating around in that water. The raven could
go to those dead bodies and feed there and was happy to do it.
This is just what the raven wanted. The dove flew around, looked
for a while, and she saw nothing that was fit for her to eat.
So she came back to the ark. The raven didn't have to come
back to the ark. It had plenty to eat. It had what would sustain
it. But the dove had to come back
to the ark because she needed the ark. See, whether or not
you need the ark is dependent on what you can eat, what you
can eat. And many times in scripture,
eating is given to us as a picture of faith, what you trust in to
save you. The Lord said in John 6.53, except
you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you
have no life in you. Now the Lord doesn't mean here
you've got to be a cannibal and actually eat his flesh and drink his blood
or somehow, you know, some priest says some mumbo jumbo over a
glass of wine and it turns into the blood of Christ and says
some mumbo jumbo over the bread and actually turns into the body
of Christ. That's not what the Lord means at all. He's not telling
his people to be a cannibal. Eating is a picture of faith.
It's taking Christ by faith and having union with Him. That's
the only way a dead sinner can have life. The only way. It's
by being joined to Christ. Scripture calls our religious
works that we do, trying to make ourselves righteous, trying to
give ourselves righteousness, to give ourselves lives. Scripture
calls that dead works. Oh, they're works that produce
something. They're works that earn something, but they don't
produce life. They produce spiritual death.
Everything we do to make God happy with us by what we do or
what we don't do is a dead work. It brings forth spiritual death.
Now, before you knew Christ, you could feed on those dead
works, couldn't you? Before you knew Christ, you could trust
those good works to save you. Somebody told you, as long as
your good works outweigh your bad works, and God will accept
you in heaven, and everything will be fine. Well, you could
trust that. You could trust your works, couldn't you, before you
knew Christ? That's the raven. The raven flying around, feeding
on those dead carcasses floating around in the water. The raven
can eat those. The raven can enjoy that. But
the dove can't. The dove can't land on those
dead carcasses and eat. She needs birdseed. That's what
she needs. Well, ask the believer. The believer
needs something to eat. And we need Christ. The believer
finds, I need to hear the gospel. I need to. The gospel of Christ
is the only thing that will feed my soul. The gospel of Christ
is the only thing that gives me the strength to continue. I mean, you wonder sometimes. I mean, you know, this life is
not easy. I mean, I'm thankful for it. There's blessings in
it, but it's not easy, is it? You wonder how sometimes somebody
puts one foot in front of the other without Christ. I mean, it's just amazing to
me. How can somebody do that? The believer says, I don't have
the strength to continue. without hearing the gospel preached,
without hearing Christ preached, the only way my soul can be refreshed
is by hearing of Christ the Savior. If that describes you, if you
have that need, if that's the only way that you can have spiritual
food is by hearing Christ preached, pretty good indication you've
been born again. All right, here's the second evidence of the new
birth. It's where you find rest for your soul. Now, the raven
didn't come back to the ark, so he found rest somewhere, didn't
he? I mean, almost had to be on a dead carcass, because there
was no dry land or anything yet. Now, the dove, as a bird, can
fly. The dove could physically land
on a dead carcass, right? I mean, she had that skill. But
she couldn't bear to stay there. The dove couldn't. I mean, to
the dove, that's gross. She flew back to the ark. She's
like, I can't rest on this stinking, bloated corpse. I can't rest
here. I'm going to go back to the ark.
I can rest in the ark. That's the unbeliever and the
believer. The unbeliever can rest in his own works of religion.
It doesn't matter that God calls him dead works. He can still
rest in his own works of religion. He thinks that has to be good
enough. Many unbelievers, they're not heathen. I mean, heathen
in the sense that they have no religion. They're very religious,
outwardly religious people. Very, very, very, very active
in doing as many works of righteousness as they can so they can rest
their soul in this fact. They can tell God they did all
they could. I did as good as I could. Is God going to accept
the best I can do? They think so. That's why they
can find rest in it. And all that is, is resting on
the carcass of a dead bloated animal. That's all it is. The
believer can't find any rest there. The believer cannot find
any rest in any of our works. Because this is what God has
shown to us. Our works aren't good enough. Why is it that you
seek Christ? Because your works can't make
you righteous. Because your works aren't good enough. The believer
cannot find any rest in our dead works. It's just like the dove
laying on that dead carcass. It's gross to the believer to
think, I'm going to rest in my dead works. It's awful. Now,
that being said, the believer wants to do as much as we possibly
can in the service of our Savior. Don't we? We want to do as much
as we possibly can. but we don't rest in those works.
We do those works out of love and thanksgiving and service
to our God and help to our brethren, but we don't rest in those works.
We only rest in Christ. Don't start preaching to me the
law and morality and religious ceremonies, you got to do this,
you got to do this, you got to do this. You're not going to
find any rest there. Where does it end? You're not
going to find any rest there. All that can do is make us weary,
just tire us out. Here's why God gave the law.
Here's why God has the law acts as a mirror to show us how vile
and dirty and filthy in sin that we are so that we'll seek Christ
for cleansing. That's why. And the believer
can find rest only there. The believer needs to hear Christ
preach. I can't get any rest for my soul
in this world. I need to hear him preach so
I can be rest. If I could just hear one more
time, Christ has done everything the Father requires of me. I
can rest. You just can't tell me that often
enough. Let me hear one more time that the blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, cleanses me from all my sin. All of them. All of them. Ones
I know about, the ones I don't know about. I mean all of them. That gives rest for my soul.
Let me hear one more time that not only does Christ do everything
God requires of me, Christ is everything God requires of me.
He finds it all in His Son. Now I'm telling you, I just have
to hear that preach. I have to. I accuse my dear wife. on Sunday afternoons, we go home
to eat. And I have accused her often
of seasoning the food with tranquilizers. Because buddy, I'm telling you,
we get done eating on Sunday afternoon. And I cannot keep
my eyes open. I mean, have you ever been like
me? I just have to go to sleep. I have to take a nap. That's
the way the believer is. God salts them and makes them
thirsty. I have to hear him preached.
It's the only thing I can do to find any rest for my soul.
Now, if you can rest in all the things that you've done for God,
you can rest in all the things that you've done to show other
people what a good Christian you are, then my friend, I'm
afraid you're the raven. You're feeding on dead things.
You've not been born again yet. But if you can only rest in Christ
and who he is and what he's done for his people, then you've been
born again. If hearing Christ refreshes you,
just relaxes you, because it takes the pressure off. He is
all. He's all. He's all I need. He's all I want. Then you've
been born again, because the only place the new man can find
rest for his soul is in Christ. And if there's anyone here that
does not know the Lord, let me tell you, you need rest. I don't
know if you're seeking it, but I can tell you this, you need
it. If God has showed you you need rest for your soul, come
to Christ. Come to Christ and rest. That's
what he said, isn't it? If you're weary and heavy laden,
come unto me and rest. All right, here's the third evidence
you've been born again. You still need Christ. You still need him. And Noah
let that raven go. The raven never came back to
the ark, because it didn't need the ark. The raven was just fine,
living on those dead carcasses floating around. Can you imagine
that raven? Noah let that raven go. And that
raven just starts flying around up there, looking down that water,
and sees all those dead bodies floating around. Maybe people,
animals, and all these. And the raven just thinks, oh,
it's a smorgasbord. Just let me at it. The dove didn't do that. The
dove flew up in the air and looked around. She came back to the
ark because she needed the ark. Now the rain, remember that rain
that started to fall? That rain is God's judgment against
sin. Well, God restrained the rain.
There wasn't any rainfall now. But that dove needed the ark.
She'd still drown without the ark. So she needed the ark. Now that raven is the unbeliever.
The unbeliever looks at all the religion in the world, at man's
religion, and it just looks like a smorgasbord to him. You know,
the unbeliever can be satisfied. I'll try a little of this and
a little of this and a little of this and a little of this.
There's a dear friend of mine was talking to me one time about
all the different religions he's in for the Lord saved him. I
said, how can you keep track of all of them? There are so
many of them. He said, that's what I was doing, just a little
of this, a little of this, a little of this. You know, it all seemed
good to me. The unbeliever can be satisfied with that. But the
believer can't do that. The believer finds this. There's
only one message that will satisfy my soul. There's only one message
that will satisfy the hunger of my soul. And that message
is Christ and Him crucified. That's the only message that
will satisfy me. And any other message, it's just
irritating. There's no food there. The believer
says this. Christ has saved me. He saved
me by His doing, by His dying. It's all of His work. It's all
of His grace. It's all of His power. It's all
of His will. He saved me. Christ bore the
wrath for my sin and put it away, gave me a salvation that I cannot
lose. It's impossible. And even though I'm sitting in
a pretty good seat, I cannot lose my salvation. Tell you what,
I still need Christ or I'll perish. I still need to hear Him preach.
I have to worship Him. I have to be where He is. And
you want to know where Christ is? I think two places right
off. Number one, he's on the throne.
That gives me peace. Number two, he's in his word.
Easy to find. It's all in one book. And number
three, he's with his people when they meet together in public
worship. I need to be where he is. Then I want to come to the
worship surface. I just feel like I'll die or
perish from spiritual starvation if I don't be where the gospel's
preached. Because I can only feed on Christ. I can only rest in him. And that's
just as true now as it ever was, as it ever was. I know when the
Lord first reveals himself to us, there's an excitement in
there. There's an excitement. I remember,
I mean, it's difficult to say. I can't tell you exactly the
moment that the Lord revealed himself to me. I've always heard
the gospel. It's the only thing, I never
had to really unlearn anything exactly. I remember a time in
the 80s and early 90s, whew, every message seemed like it
was just life altering. Every message just, oh, the Lord
was just blessing me. I was learning so much. I was
so excited, so excited by that. You know what I find? I find I still
need him as much today, 30 years later, as I ever did. Rex, probably
more. Probably more. Now if you find
you can be satisfied with a little of this, and a little of this,
and a little of this, and Christ alone gets boring to you, because
it's the same old, same old. I'm sorry to say, you have not
been born again. But if you can only be satisfied with the preaching
of Christ, you still need him. a pretty good indication you've
been born again. You know, I still need, that's what the believers
say, I still need, I need Christ, I need him to save me, and I
need him to keep me saved. And that's what's pictured here
at the end of verse nine. Look at it in verse nine, it
says, the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot. She
returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face
of the whole earth. Then he put forth his hand and took her,
and pulled her in unto him into the ark. Now this is what God
does for all of His doves. He causes them to come in. He lays hold on His people and
pulls them in, causes them to come in. He draws them to Christ
so that they can't stay away from Him. See, that's how we
got in Christ, isn't it? God put us there. He put us there. And that's how we stay in Christ.
That's how we stay in him, because he holds us in his hand. And
no man can pluck them out of my hand, the Savior said. Now,
he says no man can pluck them out of my hand. That means our
enemies can't come in, pry his fingers open, and get us out,
so we perish. That also means we don't have
the strength to push his fingers open and jump out either. The
Lord saves us primarily from ourselves. from ourselves so
that we cannot leave him. The spirit just keeps drawing
his people to Christ. He gives them a continual need
of Christ. And if you know this, this is
your hope of salvation. God has saved you, and he's the
one who keeps you saved. Pretty good indication you've
been born again. But if you find that you did something to make
salvation effectual for you, and you can do something to keep
it, maybe improve your situation, improve your standing with God
so you get more rewards than having somebody else by what
you do, then I'm sorry to tell you, you haven't been born again
yet. The believer finds this. I still need Christ. I need him. Here's the fourth evidence you've
been born again. It's where you find peace. Verse 10. And he stayed yet another seven
days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And
the dove came in to him in the evening, and low in her mouth
was an olive leaf plucked off. So no one knew that the waters
were abated from off the earth. Now this time when the dove came
back, she brought an olive leaf with her. The tops of the trees
were now above the water, and she plucked off that branch and
brought it back to Noah. And Noah knew the water's at
least receded enough that the tops of the trees are visible.
And you know about what the olive branch is. The olive branch is
a picture of peace. You want to make peace with somebody,
you talk about extending the olive branch to them. Well, this
dove bringing back an olive leaf to Noah is a picture of God the
Holy Spirit bringing peace into the hearts of God's people. Now,
how does the Holy Spirit do that? We talk about having peace in
the heart. How does the Holy Spirit give
peace to God's people? Does the Holy Spirit just make
us think everything's OK? Even though we're in this horrible
trial, this horrible pain, this awful situation, we can just
put on a silly religious smile and say, nothing's bad. Everything's
good. You know, it's like the emperor's new clothes. Somebody's
got to finally say, this fella doesn't have any clothes on.
He's naked. Well, does the Holy Spirit just make the storm stop
so we just don't hurt anymore, just like you've got no more
problems? Is that how he brings peace to the hearts of God's
people? No, sir. It's not. He does something more
impressive than that. The Holy Spirit brings peace
to the hearts of God's people by applying his word, by applying
his gospel to our hearts. He brings us to the worship service
to hear the gospel, and then he makes us hear it, truly hear
it with the ear of faith. We may read the word, he takes
that word, applies it to our hearts, and we enjoy peace, even
though the storm is still raging, even though the pain is just
as real as it ever was. there's peace in the heart by
looking to Christ, by trusting Christ. See, I'm still trapped
in this body of sin. As long as I'm in it, I'm going
to suffer all the effects of sin in my body. But even though
my body suffers those effects of sin, my soul has peace. And that's what this is talking
about. You know, it may not be well with my body. It may not
be well with my mind, but it's well with my soul. It's well
with my soul because Christ has died for me. And that's exactly
what the Savior meant when he told his disciples, my peace
I give unto you. He gives to his people the peace,
the peace we have with God, because the Lord Jesus Christ purchased
that peace with his own blood on the cross when he was sacrificed
as a substitute for his people. And we see the sacrifice of the
substitute. We see the Son of God in the
flesh dying for my sin. There's peace with God. God's
not angry anymore. He took out his anger on his
son. And if I'll ever get a hold of
this, that I see the son of God slaughtered his son in the most
shameful, most humiliating way possible, that he made him a
curse for me, that he did that for the likes of me. that God
Almighty, someone so great, would do something so wonderful for
a wretch like me. Buddy, I love him. In response,
I'll love him. I'll lay down my shotgun, and
there'll be peace. There'll be peace. See, the only
one who could tell Noah about this peace, about this olive
leaf, was the dove. The raven couldn't do it, could
he? But the dove did. Well, the only one who can tell
God's people about peace in Christ is God the Holy Spirit. He brings
it to the hearts of God's people. If you find peace in your heart
when you hear of Christ crucified for your sin, then my friends,
you've been born again. All right, here's the third thing. I want to give you something
to look forward to if you've been born again. Verse 12. And
he stayed yet another seven days and sent forth a dove, which
returned not again unto him anymore." Now, there must have finally
been enough trees and seeds and stuff and dry land, you know,
that the dove could live outside the ark. And I know that this
picture is not perfect. The believer never leaves Christ.
We never live outside of Christ. But this is a very good picture
if we remember this. We start out looking at the ark
with the clean and the unclean animals in it as a picture of
the body of a believer. You've got a clean nature and
an unclean nature, don't you? Well, right now, the believer's
dove. That new man, he's trapped in
this clay prison. He's trapped in there. He's in
a civil war against the old man, fighting against that old man.
But that warfare is not going to last forever. Just like all
wars, the Lord's going to bring this war to an end, too. And one day. The Lord's going
to look at his child. He's going to call that child
home. He's going to say, it's enough. Come off the battlefield. Your point in time has come.
And he brings that child home. And when he does, that dove,
that new man, flies away from that ark. That ark used to have
clean animals and unclean animals. The dove flies away and never
comes back. He never comes back to a body
of sin evermore. He flies away to be with the
Lord. And there, there'll be no more
body of sin. There will be no nature of sin
in us. No more will we have to deal
with two natures. There will be one nature. The devil is going to
be by himself. That righteous nature is going to be by himself.
There will be no presence of sin in us or around us. No more will we need to rest
in Christ by faith because we'll see him face to face. I hesitate to use this example,
but you'll understand. I'm not equating these two things. But when I was a teenager, my
wife and I dated while we were teenagers for a while. And she
was at a different high school than me. And she gave me a picture
of her. She was a cheerleader for that
school. And she gave me a picture of
her in a cheerleader outfit. Buddy, I carried that picture
with me everywhere I went. And it didn't take nothing for
me to want. You want to see my girlfriend?
I mean, I'm telling you. And people invariably say, that's
not your girlfriend. You just found that picture in
a catalog or something. That's your girlfriend. But I'd see her. I'd see her.
We went to church together. I'd see her on Sundays and Wednesdays.
We lived about 40 minutes apart. This is a real dating situation,
right? We only see each other twice a week. But when I was
with her, I never took that picture out one time. Not one time. I love, I just, when I get asked
to go preach somewhere, my first thought is always to go to the
Old Testament, preach from these Old Testament pictures. I just
love them, I love them. In glory, we'll not get those
pictures out one time. We'll not have to have faith,
we'll not have to rely on faith one more time. We'll see the
glorious face of Christ the Redeemer, face to face, nothing between,
and Him smiling, saying, well done, my good and faithful servant. The only way he could see that
is to see us in Christ. And if you've been born again
by God the Holy Spirit, that's not a fairy tale. That's your
end. That's what you have to look
forward to. Maybe that will encourage us to go back out and whatever
it is that the Lord's put your hand to do tomorrow, do it. Do
it. Patiently waiting for him to
come get you. All right. I hope the Lord will bless that
to you.