And I want to begin reading in Genesis chapter 8, verse 4. You and I have been studying.
We studied last time concerning salvation that was in the ark.
Some of you may remember that. We looked at Noah being called
into the ark. God shut him in and kept him
and brought him into a new world. He was saved by virtue of being
in this ark. We looked at that. And this morning
we want to look at this just a little bit different. I think
there's some more lessons here that can be taught us. And this
morning we want to change just a little bit, and it may sound
so contrary, but that's one thing about the Scriptures. They're
just so deep, and they're so wide. It's not like reading a
newspaper when you read the Scriptures. There's all sorts of lessons
that we can learn from the very same narrative. And I want to
look at this morning, salvation from the ark. Noah was put in
the ark, and that was surely the picture of our Lord Jesus.
But looking at it from reality, all reality, he needed to get
out of this ark. He couldn't live in this ark,
and that's the place He came to in His life. So we look at
this this morning, deliverance or salvation from the ark. And
I want to begin reading in verse 4. After the flood had came and
the waters began to decrease, the ark rested in the seventh
month on the seventeenth day of the month. upon the mountains
of Ariat. And the waters decreased continually
until the tenth month. And 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 forty 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. Also he sent forth a dove from
him to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the
ground. But the dove found no rest for
the sole of her feet, and she returned unto him and to the
ark. For the waters were on the face of the whole earth. And
he put forth his hand and took her and pulled her in unto him
and to the ark. And he stayed yet seven other
seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark.
And the dove came in to 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. And he stayed yet seven days,
and sent forth the dove, which returned not again to him any
more. And it came to pass in the sixth
hundred, And first year, in the first month, the first day of
the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth. And Noah
removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the face
of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the
seventh and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou and
thy wives, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee." God's
spoken to Noah, and He said, Go forth out of the ark. Go forth of the ark. It's so
good, as you and I read, how keen Noah's ears was to God's
voice. You often read in there that
whatever the Lord said, so He did. As God commanded Noah, so
He did. It's good to have a keen ear
and good to hear what the Lord speaks to us. Noah never went
into the ark until God said, Come in. When God said, Come
in, he went in. And he never came out until God
said, Come out. And then he went out. And looking
at this from Now, historical perspective, since you and I
can read it here from that perspective, I think we realize how important
it was for Noah to listen to the Lord's voice, to receive
instructions and obey and believe what God told him to do. The
Scripture tells us that by faith, Noah being warned of God, prepared
in an ark. If you and I aren't careful,
we'll look back upon this historical account of Noah and all that
he experienced and we're apt not to realize what a difficult
task it was for Noah in this ark. What a struggle that he
went through, how he had to endure. The best I can figure from my
calculation And others seem to think the same thing, that Noah
was in this ark for a year, or just over a year. And I expressed
unto you a few Sundays ago the difficulty, especially the first
40 days that he was in this ark. All the violence and the tsunamis
rolling the ark. And then after he landed upon
this mountain, he spent about seven months before he actually
came out of this ark. And what we can learn from that
is this. God saved Noah from this flood. But He saved him by using such
extreme measures. He put Noah through some straits
and through some trials. And as you and I consider the
way in which God's been pleased to save men and women, I think
you and I could agree this morning that He takes extreme measures
to save a sinner. If you and I would just consider
what it cost for our redemption. What did it cost the Son of God
to redeem us from our sins? We're bought with a price. But
not just any price. Not silver and gold, Peter tells
us. But we're bought with the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we consider what it cost
us, look at the extreme that God went to. Look what it cost
the Son of God to redeem us. The old timers, when they used
to express the agony and the sufferings and what the Son of
God had to endure, they had a statement that they sometimes used. to
describe His sufferings upon the cross. And they would say
it like this, with strength enough, but none despair. The Lord Jesus
Christ was put through extremity. And if I could say it without
being misunderstood, I could say it like this, it was all
He could do to redeem us. It took everything He had. The
Scripture says He gave Himself. What more could a man give? His
strength, His will, His time, His breath, His own life's blood. It took everything He had. And
when you and I consider our experience, The way in which the Lord comes
to us and saves us, I think all of us would agree that He can
take extreme measure in saving us, because He brings us to repentance. He brings us to take up our cross
and deny ourselves and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. There
is only one way to be saved, and that is through grace. Apart
from grace, there is no such thing as salvation. But we can
say that even through grace, in our own experience, salvation
is a very difficult thing. The Lord Jesus was preaching
one day, and there was a man that came to Him, a rich young
ruler, and asked the Lord what he needed to do to have eternal
life. And the Lord said, Go sell everything you have. You're trusted
in your riches and they can't save you. Go sell them and give
to the poor. And take up your cross and follow
me. And the man went away sad at that saying. And the Lord
Jesus said, How heartily shall they who have riches enter the
kingdom of heaven. How heartily shall a rich man
be saved. And the disciples were astonished
at it. They said, Who then can be saved? That's a good question,
ain't it? Who can be saved? And the Lord
Jesus said, with man it's impossible. That's how difficult, brothers
and sisters, it is to be saved. With man it's impossible, but
not with God. With God all things are possible.
But when He brings us to Himself, He sometimes takes extreme measures
to do it. I don't set a salvation before
you this morning, that's impossible. If I did that, I'd drive you
to despair, and I'd drive myself to despair. Salvation is sure. Salvation is certain. But there's
two things, as you and I consider our text this morning, that we
must say about salvation. It's sure and it's certain, but
only for those who obey the Lord. It's sure and certain for those
who are saved on God's terms. Everybody wasn't saved from the
flood. Most people perished in this
day. The only man and family that
was saved is that man the Scripture said, when the Lord said He did. When the Lord spoke, he moved.
When the Lord warned him, he took heed to it. He believed
the Lord and prepared Namarck to the saving of his house. We know that Noah could not have
escaped the flood if he had not heard the voice of God and believed
what God told him and hearkened to what he heard. There's no
salvation apart from that is there. Jesus Christ is the author
of eternal salvation unto all of those that obey Him. My sheep
hear My voice and they follow Me. They hear Me, they believe
Me, and they follow Me. They obey Me. And I give unto
them eternal life. But it's certain and it's sure
for those who obey the Lord Jesus Christ. And secondly, obeying
the Lord usually comes at a great cost to oneself. Noah was saved. Yes, he was. But boy, I tell
you, God put him through some extreme situations, didn't He?
He was saved. But I tell you what the Lord
did first. He saved him from this world. He saved him by forsaking
the world and coming unto this ark. God saves us, but He does it
by bringing us through a straight gate and a narrow way. We must enter, Paul said, through
great tribulations. Ain't that been your experience?
It's been my experience. We often hear it described as
it's easy for a dead fish to float downstream. But you've got to be a live fish
to swim upstream. And there's where grace comes
in. And there's where grace begins in us. But as sure as grace begins
in us, what happens? Trouble comes. If I didn't believe
in a live devil, I would say it was the easiest thing in the
world to be saved. If I didn't believe we were sinners
by nature, I'd say it's the easiest thing in the world to be saved.
But we've got a live devil, and we're sinners by nature. It takes
grace to save us. And when God takes a hand to
save us, it's sometimes difficult. It's difficult. We see the importance
of hearing and obeying. Thus did Noah, according to all
that God commanded him, so did he. So important, ain't it? It's
so important. And I think what lost people
especially are so apt to not realize, and this is so detrimental,
is to read this Bible and think that God is not speaking to them. That He's speaking to somebody
else. But as you and I, whether we're saved this morning or whether
we're lost, as we pick up this Bible and read it, one of the
things that we need to remember and realize, God is speaking
to me. Here on earth, and how important,
brothers and sisters, it is. It's critical. It is critical
that all of us here this morning hear His voice and listen to
Him and believe Him. Oh, it's absolutely necessary. It's necessary. Thus did Noah
according to all that God commanded him. Now, let's consider Noah
this morning and the way the Lord saved him out of this ark. This ark, no doubt, had become
a cramped space. It had become a narrow prison.
He had been in here now for five or six months. Can you imagine?
Imagine, as I've said before, how it smelled, how cramped it
had become. He had become so dreadful to
Noah that he began to think of getting out. I want out. Can you put yourself there and
think about what a place it was? At first, I'm sure that he wanted
to be there. He was glad to be there, but
now things had changed. The sun had come out. It had
begun to get hot in the ark. The animals began to smell, and
there was no doubt a general unrest, a restlessness within
this ark. And Noah began to desire to get
out of this prison. And one day he reached up just
over his head there on the ceiling and he opened this window, 18
inches square. And when he opened that window
for the first time, light shined in. And I imagine though it was
just a little light coming through a small window, it almost blinded
his eyes. I can almost imagine Noah whispering
underneath his breath so nobody could hear him. I've got to get
out of this dingy place. I've got to get out of this stinking
ark. I've got to get out into the
light. Can't you hear him say that? Isn't it this way with a poor
sinner when he begins to become bored with his sin? When he begins
to feel uneasy and restless in his sins, oh, they go along in
their life, especially in our youth, and we enjoy life. Childhood and youth is vanity. But then we come to the time
and the age where we begin to feel something of our sin against
God, and we get uneasy about it. Our hearts become cramped. We become burned somewhat with
it all, and we begin to feel our bondage. And here is where
a secret desire is born in a person's heart. I've got to escape this unpleasantness. I've got to have some relief
from these feelings. He don't know it's born there.
It's a secret desire. But it's a wonderful thing when
a man or a woman comes to the point in their life that they
become bored with sin, and uneasy with sin, and restless in it. And as they lay on their bed
or on their job, they begin to think, I want out of this. This
life doesn't satisfy me anymore. Did you know, brothers and sisters,
until a man or a woman begins to think that way, they'll never
come out of sin. A man will never be saved. As
long as a person is happy where they are, they'll stay there.
Noah wasn't content in this ark. Oh, he was at one time, but now
it's become a cramped place, a narrow prison. And he opens
up that window and some light floods into him. And he begins
to think, oh, I want out into the light. I want out into the
light. Here is where a person comes
to. And if God will have it, when a man has been brought to
feel some restlessness and unpleasantness in his sin, if God will have
it, they hear a word. God sends a word. He may send
a message to them. He may send a song to them. He may send somebody to witness
to them. Or they may read a few verses
of Scripture. It may just be a thought that
comes to them. It may be a word of warning.
It may be a word of encouragement or instruction. But if it's from
above, it shines into their minds. And they may not know much about
what it means, But they are drawn to it, as Noah was drawn to this
light. It may not be much light, just
a small window, but if it is from above, and it shines into
our darkness, it does not take much light. I remember years
ago when I was lost, I heard this woman say, She said, I am standing on the
rock. I had no idea what the rock was.
I didn't know who the rock was. But oh, that was a little light
sent into my soul. The rock? The rock. And I couldn't
get away from that. And then I was sitting one day
and another man came up to me to witness to me. I hardly remember
anything he said to me, but the first two words he spoke to me
was this, Christ said. Christ said. And oh, what a little
light. Christ said. Christ. And some light broke in upon
my mind. It wasn't much light. But it
came from above, and it shined into my poor dark soul, and it
stirs a longing, doesn't it? Have you ever been there? And
it stirs a longing in your soul. You've got just enough light
that it stirs this longing that you're not satisfied until you
find the source of that light. Oh, you've seen a few rays from
the sun, but you want to behold the sun itself. That's what Noah
saw. He got discontent in this old
stinking dark ark. I've got to get out of here,
he said. And he saw some light. He saw some light. And what did
he do next? What did he do next? Well, he
began to get anxious. He wanted out of this ark. But
you know the poor man couldn't tell what to do. God had sealed
up the door and he couldn't get out. I imagine he was afraid
to try to get out. He couldn't knock the door down.
He was afraid to. How deep is the water? He was
afraid the water was too deep to be waded. He couldn't tell what to do.
There he was, stuck in this prison. How was he to get out? See the
dilemma this poor man found himself in. He got just a little light. Oh, and he wanted out into all
the light. But how could he get out? Well, here's what he did. First thing he did, we're told
here, is he sent out two birds. He sent out a raven and he sent
out a dove. These are two birds of completely
different natures. A raven is A meat-eating bird. He devours prey. He likes to
eat dead flesh. In Leviticus, I think it's chapter
11, he's called an unclean bird.
He's abomination in the eyes of God. The children of Israel
weren't allowed to eat them or sacrifice these ravens. They
live on dead flesh. And then he sent out a dove.
And a dove in the Scriptures represents to us a heart where
grace has begun its work. You read about the dove and you
read such things as this, I did mourn as a dove. Mine eyes fell
with looking upward, O Lord, I am oppressed. Undertake for
me. That's what the dove represents
to us. The old raven, what does he represent
to us? Well, I guess he could represent
those old self-righteous prayers, those old legalistic prayers
that you and I first begin to pray with. I look back upon some
of my prayers when I was lost, and it's just like an old devouring
raven. I remember some of the prayers
I prayed. Oh, God, don't kill me tonight. I promise you this,
I'll do better tomorrow. I had no intention of doing any
better. I was trying to appease the Lord with my legalistic promises
that I never intended to keep. Oh God, if you'll let me keep
this sin, I'll give up this one. Trying to get Him to compromise
and bargain. Oh, the sacrifice, as Solomon
said, of the wicked is abomination to the Lord. Their prayers is
sin. I wonder sometimes when the Apostle
Paul, after the Lord saved him and he looked back upon his lost
life, how he abhorred the way he used to pray. Do you remember
how the Pharisees used to pray? God, I thank You that I am not
like other men are. Oh, the wicked prayers. And then
when the Lord wouldn't hear me, when He wouldn't do for me what
I thought He ought to do for me, oh, I'd get so angry. I'd
get so angry. This old raven. This old raven. Just devouring everything. But then we have the dove. He sent out a dove. He sent out
a raven. And then He sent out a dove. I did mourn as a dove. Oh, Lord, I'm oppressed. My sin
has oppressed me. I'm oppressed by guilt with a
sense of God's judgment, with a sense of unbelief. Oh, Lord,
undertake for me, receive me, forgive me, save me, have mercy
upon me. That's the way Noah began to
pray. That's what this dove represents. It's a prayer of a broken heart. I don't know why Noah sent out
this raven. I really don't know. And maybe
that's the point. Maybe that's the point. Maybe
he wondered himself. Maybe he wondered after you sent
that raven out, what in the world did I do that for? How could
I have sent out an old ravenous bird? I tell you, I think about
that way when I think about some of my prayers that I prayed.
Why in the world would I have said that? Why in the world? But we know here from verse 8
why He sent out this dove. Look here in verse 8 again. He
sent forth a dove from Him to see if the waters were abated
from off the face of the earth. That's why he sent out the dove.
He wanted some evidence that judgment had passed. He wanted
some evidence that things were well outside. That the floods
wasn't still upon the earth. What were these flood waters?
That's the judgment of God. He said, I ain't going out there
in that stuff. We'll drown. So he sent this dove out to get
some evidence that the judgment had passed. But notice in verse
9, the dove returned without any evidence. No evidence. No answer to Noah's prayer. Don't you think that made him
so sad? I mean, you, this man was, shut up in his little narrow
prison, and he needed some evidence that things were well outside. But you, this dove, come back.
And there was no answer. Don't you think he was sad? And
maybe somewhat fearful? Listen, and I think this is a
lesson that you and I can learn from this this morning. Our poor
generation has been told that the Lord Jesus Christ is obligated
to do whatever people ask Him to do. And He's obligated to
do it as soon as they ask it. Just say this, they tell them,
Jesus, forgive me. And he's obligated to do it.
Or just say this, I now receive Jesus as my personal Savior,
and he's obligated to be that. Or just pray the sinner's prayer,
and that prayer will save you. Our poor lost generation who
thanks the Lord of glory is at their disposal and is obligated
to hear their sinful prayers that come from a heart of presumption. And I fear they're deceived by
the devil. It's never dawned upon them that
God owes us only one thing, and that is eternal judgment and
misery. And if he's pleased to save anybody,
it's not out of obligation. It's not out of requirement on
his part. But it's by his free grace and
for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. When is a man saved? When he prays some prayer. When
he says some words. He's saved when God saves him
and not until then. I'm not discouraging anyone this
morning from praying, but I am saying this, brothers and sisters,
and you know this from your experience, and I know this from my experience.
The Lord never heard you the first time you called on Him,
did He? He may have heard, but did He answer? I tell you, I can bear witness
He never answered me the second time, or the third time, or the
fourth time. And he brought me to the place
where I realized that he wasn't going to hear me until he got
good and ready. And he just wrung my soul dry.
And I cried all I could cry and prayed all I could pray. Noah
sent out this raven, but I tell you, he come back and had no
answer in his mouth. I am afraid that many in our
generation know nothing about humbling themselves before the
Lord and waiting on Him to save them. We want everything quick,
don't we? We want everything quick. It
is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the
salvation of the Lord. He setteth still, the prophet
said. He puts his mouth in the dust,
if so be thus hoped. I'll tell you one of the reasons
the Lord don't always answer the sinner when he first begins
to call. He wants to wean us from this presumptuous attitude
that thinks he's just available for us whenever we call. How serious was Noah? How obvious was his need? Well,
look here in verse 10 and verse 11 of chapter 8. And he stayed yet seven days,
and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. He doesn't stop,
does he? He doesn't stop. How serious
was he? He prayed again. It's obvious
this man wanted out of this prison. So he sent out the dove again.
Did you ever wonder what happened to people that begin to seek
the Lord and then they quit? I don't know what happened. Many
do that. Many do that. Not Noah. Not Noah. He sent out a dove and look what
happens here in verse 11. And the dove came in to him in
the evening, and look at this little word, it's the same word
that the New Testament has used. So he sent out the dove again.
Did you ever wonder what happened to people that begin to seek
the Lord and then they quit? I don't know what happened. Many
do that. Many do that. Not Noah. Not Noah. He sent out a dove, and look
what happens here in verse 11. And the dove came in to him in
the evening, and look at this little word. It's the same word
that the New Testament has as, Behold, lo, would you look at
this, he said, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. So no one knew that the waters
were bathed from the earth. Lo, what was that? It's almost
a surprise. What was it? Well, it was just
the thing Noah was looking for. Evidence. Evidence of what? Evidence that there was life.
Evidence there was life. This was a leaf plucked off of
a live tree. It wasn't an old dead leaf that
had been floated in the water that came from the old world.
This was new life from a new world that had been brought right
to Noah's hand. And he took it and he looked
at it and he thought no doubt to himself, life, life, here's
life. And the Scripture says here,
he knew the waters were abated. He knew the waters were dried
up from off the earth. He knew the judgment was passed. How did he know that? He was
looking at the evidence. The Scripture says everything
on the face of the earth was destroyed. So this was something
new, wasn't it? This was new life. This wasn't
from the old world. No, this was new. And Noah had
it in his hand. Life. Life. This life wasn't
something from the past. This life was not something from
within Noah, but it came from without him. Now listen to this.
Listen to this. Where did this leaf come from? It came from without. And it
came to him. And this is the only thing, brothers
and sisters, that will satisfy a man and a woman. If they feel
the guilt of their sins, they feel themselves under the judgment
of God, this is the only thing that will satisfy a person who
is dead in trespasses and sins, and that is to become a possessor
of life. Doesn't that satisfy you? It
wouldn't have done Moses or Noah a bit of good for that little
bird to have brought back in an old dead twig. Death is all
around us. Death is within us. Death is
in front of us. Death is behind us. By one man's
sin entered into this world, and death by sin, so death passed
upon all men. That's our problem. That's where
we're at. We're dead, spiritually. And
the only thing that will satisfy us and do us any good is to become
a possessor of life. And that's what Noah had in his
hand. Life. Life. And we don't have it. It's not
in us. It don't originate with us. But
it comes to us the same way that Noah's olive leaf came to him
from that outside source. It comes from above, this life
does. There is one source of eternal
life, and that life must come to us
from that source. As the Father hath life in Himself,
so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself. And that life that's in Jesus
Christ is a life that can be communicated. It's a life that
He can give to us, His life. I give unto them eternal life. I am the bread of God which cometh
down from heaven, and I give life unto the world." John said the life was manifested. It was revealed and we've seen
it. And we bear witness and we show
unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was revealed
unto us. God has given to us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son. He is the source. He is the life. Jesus Christ who came down from
heaven and suffered on Calvary's tree and was buried and arose
and ascended back to heaven is eternal life. And at His will,
He can communicate. He can give. He can send this
life to you. I love those passages in Galatians
4 and Romans 8. If you put the two passages together,
God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son, the Spirit of His
Son into our hearts. And what is He called in Romans
8-3? The Spirit of life that's in
Christ Jesus. And where does He come from?
He comes from Christ Himself. And what does He bring with Him?
Life. And where does He come to? To us. And you and I will
never be satisfied until we become possessors of this life eternal. You say, Bruce, I'm this and
I'm that. It don't matter what we are,
does it? But I've done this great thing and I've done that great
thing, but that's not the issue, is it? But I have this system
of theology, it doesn't matter. Here's the issue. Are you and
I possessors of this eternal life that is Jesus Christ the
Lord? That's the evidence that we're
looking for, ain't it? That's it. This dove came in and brought
this leaf plucked off of a live tree, and Moses held it in his
possession. And he said, surely the judgment's
passed. It's passed. The waters must
be dried up. How do you know? Here's new life.
Everything else destroyed. Everything else has been destroyed.
There's something new. There's something new. And here
in verse 12, look at this. He sends out this dove again.
He staged its other seven days and sent forth the dove, but
it never returned to him anymore. And as I thought about this,
I thought, why in the world did he send out this dove again? And I thought maybe he wanted
more evidence. Maybe he wanted an olive branch
this time. It's amazing to me when I read
the commentaries, they talk about the little dove coming back with
an olive branch in his mouth, as if the little dove went out
and snapped a big branch off of a bush or something. It was
a leaf is all it was. But Noah sent him out again,
and I imagine he wanted more evidence. But you know something? He never got any more. He never
got any more. Why? Well, I could speculate
and say this, that perhaps the Lord was saying to him, Noah,
I've given you sufficient evidence. I've already given you evidence. Now live by faith. I tell you, I've sought for more
evidence myself. I've sent out more doves. I've
run out of doves. Send them out. I've prayed prayers just like
some of you have. Oh, Lord, flood my soul. But it hasn't happened. Oh, send
the light. Oh, let me hear your voice. Oh,
I want to feel more. I want to see more. But you know
what? The answer usually comes back
to me. I've given you evidence enough. I've given you evidence
enough. I've made myself real to you.
I've given you enough assurance. And now you take My Word and
you walk by faith. I tell you, brothers and sisters,
I'd love to live. I'd love to live. I'd love to
get up in the morning and the Lord just flood my soul with
His presence and fill me with His Spirit and just catch me
up into heaven and walk in the clouds. It's not been that way
with me, has it you? As the Lord revealed Himself
to you, as He made you to know His love, as He let you see your
sins put away in His blood, then you know what He tells you now?
You're going to walk by faith the rest of the way. You take
My Word and walk by faith. You get into trouble sometimes
and you get to thinking, you know, I want the Lord just to
sweep down and give me this great deliverance. We think that, don't
we, Clarence? I'm in trouble. What do you want?
I want the Lord just to swoop down like this chariot that took
up Elijah and just suddenly and gloriously deliver me. But it
usually don't happen that way. We take His Word and we live
by faith. We've done so with a little olive
leaf. We've done laid hands upon it.
And that's evidence enough. If we've seen in the mind of
our understanding this life is in Christ and it's mine, that's
enough. Take His Word and walk by faith.
And one thing I noticed here in verse 13, Noah spent a whole
month, over a month, before he began to take off the cover of
this ark. Now you notice that, that he
did that. He had the evidence that there
was life outside, but in verse 13, he stayed in there about
a month or so, and then he began to take off this covering of
the ark. Why? Why did he stay in there
that long? He's wanting out of there, you
know he was. Well, it could have been fear. They've been afraid to come out.
They've been afraid to take it. Boy, if I take that off, I don't
know, it may start raining again. If it does, we're in trouble.
I don't know if the judgment's over or not. Maybe been a little
bit afraid. Maybe been a little bit doubtful
about it all. Uncertain. What cavern do you live under
this morning? What cavern's upon your heart? Anxiety? Worry? Doubts? Fears? Ignorance? Laziness? Spiritual
laziness? What cloud do you live under?
What caverns over your heart that you need to start taking
off? Oh, I'm so afraid! What are you
afraid of? Oh, Bruce, I just live in constant
fear. What are you afraid of?" Well, I'm just afraid God's going
to punish me. Well, dear soul, start taking
off the top of that ark and look around. It's dry out here. It's dry out here. There's no condemnation. to them
who are in Christ Jesus. He that believeth in the Son
is not condemned. Are you afraid of God's judgment?
After He has given you ample evidence that He has given you
life in Christ? Well, start taking off the top
of that old ark then, and come out into the light, and look
around and see as Noah did. The ground is dry. I don't have
to be afraid anymore. Oh, I'm so afraid. Of what? Oh,
I'm so afraid of dying. There's no death here. There's
no death here. It's a new world. Death is back
there in the old world. Death has been destroyed. All
that's in this new world is life. You don't have to be afraid. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. A dear old, old friend of mine
called me the other day. Old, old friend. A preacher friend. And he said, I've been afraid
of dying for years. And the Lord just delivered me
from it. Ain't that amazing? See the covers that we can live
under? If the Lord has given us ample
evidence that we're His, then start taking the covers off of
this old ark and come out into the light. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. The Lord here in verse 15 and
verse 16 spake to Noah and He said, Go forth of the ark." And
he went forth. There's three types of believers. There are some who are still
living with this little narrow window. It's almost like they're
still in prison. They've got so little light in
their understanding. They never even begin to take
the top from their ark. The life they have is very, very
small. Others are living with a top
off, but they're still afraid to come out of the ark. And others have come out, and
they're walking at liberty and enjoying their salvation in Christ. Somebody will say, Bruce, you
have to be careful about preaching too much liberty. You know when
it's safe. You know when liberty is safe. When a man does just what Noah
did. When he listens for God's voice. And he moves when God
says move. We've got liberty in Jesus Christ,
brethren. We can enjoy this life as we're
living here if we'll do what Noah did. Stay close to the book
and listen to God's voice and move when He tells us to move.
I don't have to keep an eye on you. I don't have to come to
your houses and see if you've got any wine in the refrigerator
door. That's your business. I don't enter your conscience.
I don't tell you where you can go and where you can't go. There's
liberty in Christ, and that liberty is kept and guarded when you
hear His voice and simply follow Him. That's safe. You'll not
abuse your liberty when you do that. When you do that. Yes, the Lord gave you evidence
this morning that you're His. And start taking the top off. Get in His Word, and read it,
and believe it, and live in the enjoyment of it. God bless His
Word. Let's pray.