Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyvert. I'm going to be reading from
Genesis chapter 8 about the raven and the dove that were sent out
of the ark. And before I read this passage
of scripture, I want to say with regard to the Word of God The
events of the Old Testament and the New Testament as well are
literal events. There was a literal flood. There was a literal arc made
that was 120 years in the making. Noah literally had a dove and
a raven fly out of the arc to see if the waters had abated.
But while these are literal events, they are all, without exception,
allegories. to teach us something of the
gospel. Now, the scripture is inspired. That's what it claims for itself.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God. If God can create the universe,
he can inspire men to write a book and to preserve it. And this
is a book that tells us who God is, his true character, and how
he saves sinners by Christ for his glory. That's the purpose
of the Bible. Now, keep that in mind as we
read this passage of scripture regarding the raven and the dove. Now, the raven was an unclean
animal. Before the Levitical law, During
this time before the scriptures had been written, you had clean
and unclean animals. You'll remember that seven pairs
of clean animals and two pairs of unclean animals went into
the ark. There was clean and there was
unclean then. A raven is an unclean animal. A dove was a clean animal. Now let's read this passage of
scripture together. Verse six, 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 bated from off the face of the
ground. But the dove found no rest for
the sole of her foot, and she returned to him into 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 into the ark. And he stayed yet 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 the earth. And he stayed yet other seven
days, and sent forth the dove, which returned not again to him,
anymore. Now we read of the ark setting
for 40 days. It had landed on Mount Ararat,
which is in the current land of Turkey, a mountain range. And I think it's interesting
the name of the mountain upon which it rested, Mount Ararat,
means the curse reversed. And the receding of the waters,
speaks of the curse being reversed. And it talks about when the curse
was truly reversed on Mount Calvary, when Christ was made sin. But
the ark rested on Mount Ararat. And while it rested there for
40 days, Moses did not look out the window. Now, 40 days is a
very significant number. 40 is a significant number in
the scripture. It seems to be a time of testing. The children of Israel were in
the wilderness for 40 years. The spies went into the promised
land to look it over for 40 days. The Lord was tempted by the devil
for 40 days. Forty seems to have something
to do with the time of testing. Noah was in the ark for 40 more
days on top of that mountain, and then we read where he sent
out a raven. Now, a raven was an unclean animal,
And you know what a raven or a crow is? It lives off carrion. It lives off rotting flesh. It can eat death and get its
nourishment from death. That's a raven. Like a vulture
or a eagle, it can live off carrion, an unclean animal. And this raven
went to and fro. It flew from one place to another,
and it had no need to return to the ark. It didn't return
to the ark. It could eat off the rotting
dead flesh that came upon. It could lie down on some carcass
and eat, and it had no need to come back to the ark. The raven
was an unclean animal. Now the dove is a clean animal
according to the law. The dove was used for sacrifice
for poor people who couldn't afford to pay for a lamb. The dove is the emblem of God
the Holy Spirit. When John the Baptist saw the
Holy Spirit descend upon Christ, it was in the form of a dove. If you read the Song of Solomon,
both the bridegroom and the Shulamite say you have dove's eyes. Think of the soothing sound,
the cooing of a dove. Think of the offensive cawing
of a raven. Oh, they sound awful, but oh,
the soothing noise or cooing of the dove. Now, this dove couldn't
find a place to rest. You see, it was against her nature
to eat carrion. She had to come back to the ark. Now, verse Nine, the dove found no rest
for the soul of her foot, and she returned unto him in the
ark. For the waters were on the face of the whole earth. Then
he put forth his hand, and took her in, and pulled her into the
ark. And then he waited another seven
days. 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. Now, in every culture, an olive
leaf is peace. I'm extending the olive branch
to you, peace. That's what the olive branch
and the olive leaf represent, peace. The dove brought back
this message of peace to Abraham, I mean to Noah, and he saw the
evidence that the water was gone. So Noah knew that the waters
were abated from off the earth, and he stayed yet another seven
days and sent forth the dove, which were turned not again unto
him any more." Now, this is historical. All of this happened literally,
and it's given to teach us the gospel. Not only is this a literal
historical event, this is an allegory. Everything in the Old
Testament, according to Galatians chapter four, if you read that,
is allegorical. Yes, it's literal, but it's given
to teach the gospel. It's not a children's Bible story
or some myth. It's given to teach the gospel.
Now, I have heard messages with regard to this dove leaving the
ark and coming back as a picture of a believer who goes into a
backslidden condition, goes back to the world, and finally finds
no rest or satisfaction in the world, so they come back to Christ. Now, that's a beautiful thing,
but that's not what this scripture is teaching. It doesn't fit with
the picture. Now, this ark represents the
gospel Everybody in the ark was saved. Everybody outside of the
ark was destroyed. Everybody in Christ is saved. Everybody outside of Christ is
destroyed. There was only one place of safety
in the ark. Now, in this ark, there were
clean and unclean beasts. The dove was a clean beast. The raven was an unclean beast. That word raven means ravenous,
with an insatiable appetite. It could not be satisfied, always
after the, knew nothing of resting in Christ. But the dove, white
symbolizing purity, a clean beast, it represents the new nature. The raven represents the old
nature. The dove represents the new nature. You see, in every believer, now
not in an unbeliever, an unbeliever only has one nature, the nature
he was born with. He's never been born again, born
from above. All he has is a sinful nature.
And if you talk to him about having two natures, he will think
what you're saying is foolish and ridiculous. But the Bible
definitely teaches that the believer has two separate natures. One that he was born with, the
old nature, the sinful nature, and the one with which he was
born again with. That's the new nature. The raven
is the old nature. It can live off rotting dead
flesh, the death of this world, dead religious works. The dove,
that's against its nature. It can't feed off things like
that. The dove can find rest only in the ark. The raven didn't
have to go back to the ark. He was fine without it. But the
dove could find rest only in the ark. Now, this is taught
throughout the scripture. I think one of the beautiful,
here's another allegory. It's found in Genesis chapter
25. It's about the birth of Jacob
and Esau in Genesis chapter 25. I want to begin reading in verse
19, or verse 20. And Isaac was 40 years old when
he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel, the Syrian
of Badanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. And Isaac entreated
the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord
was entreated of him and Rebekah, his wife, conceived. Oh, she'd been barren. She hated
being barren. And the Lord put life within
her. Verse 22, and the children struggled
together within her. She didn't realize she had twins. And she said, if it be so, why
am I thus? Why this struggle within me? Why this fight within me? And
she went to inquire of the Lord and the Lord said unto her, two
nations are in thy womb. And two manner of people shall
be separated from thy bowels. The one people should be stronger
than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger."
Now, that really happened. She had twins, Jacob and Esau. But do you remember how God said,
Jacob, have I loved, but Esau, have I hated? He said that in
Malachi. He said that in Romans 9. Esau represents the old man. He represents the old nature.
Jacob represents the new man, the new nature, and there is
this struggle because of that. Galatians 5, verse 17 says, the
flesh lusts against the spirit. The spirit lusts against the
flesh. These are contrary one to another,
so that you cannot do the things that you would. Read Romans 7,
where Paul speaks of the two natures he possessed. He begins
with saying, we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal,
sold under sin. What I want to do, I don't do.
What I hate, that's what I do. I find a law that when I would
do good, evil is present with me. He's talking about those
two natures. Read Romans 7, verses 14 through 25. And if you're
a believer, this is your experience as well. Now, if you only have
one nature, it won't make sense to you. But if you've been born
of the Spirit, you'll know exactly what Paul is saying. Now, what
does this new nature look like? What does this old nature look
like? Well, the raven, the old nature,
all it does is sin. It cannot not sin. And it can find nutrients and
satisfaction in death. It's never repented of dead works. We find that twice in the book
of Hebrews. This thing of dead works, anything
done before God saved you is only a dead work. But a dead
man, dead in sins, can eat death and be satisfied. Now a dove
cannot. A dove has a holy nature. It's that which is born of the
Spirit. 1 John 3, 9 says, he that's born of God cannot commit
sin. For his seed remaineth in him.
He cannot sin. You see, if that which is born
of God is holy, it doesn't even have the potential to sin. So
you have these two natures coming through one consciousness. I
guess one way to describe it would be hot and cold water coming
out of the same faucet. They come from different places,
but they're coming out of the same faucet. Every believer has
two separate natures, flesh and spirit. Now, how can I know if
I have a holy nature? How can I know if I have the
nature of the dove? Now in our text, What is evident
is that the dove can find only rest in the ark. If you have
a holy nature, the only one you can rest in is Jesus Christ himself. You have no confidence in any
works. All you can rest in is who he
is and what he did and what he accomplished on Calvary's tree. That's the nature of a dove.
A dove looks only to Christ. A raven can't do that, has no
desire to do it. But a dove must look only to
Christ. Paul said, Oh, that I may win
Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law. that which is through the faith
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Now, I want to read a passage
of scripture in Hebrews chapter eight that will tell us what
the nature of the dove is, the new nature. In Hebrews chapter
eight, verse 10, and this is a quotation from Jeremiah chapter
31, For this is the covenant that I'll make with the house
of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws
into their mind and write them in their hearts. Now, the first thing that I would
notice is that we have the two words, mind and heart. And I know people who fear believing
something in their mind that they don't really believe in
their heart. Well, if you believe it in your mind, you believe
it in your heart as well. The two can't be separated. They're
the same thing. Now, you can say you believe
something in your mind that you don't really believe, but you
say you do. But if you really believe something
in your mind, you believe it in your heart. And I want us
to notice how It says, I will put my laws plural in their mind
and write them plural in their heart. Now this is the only time
in the New Testament law is in the plural. I'll write my laws
in their mind and in their heart. Now, what does he mean by laws? Does he mean the Ten Commandments? No. The Ten Commandments are
written on everybody's heart anyway. That's what the New Testament
teaches. Let me read a passage of scripture
from Romans chapter two where Paul deals with this. He says
in verse 14, for when the Gentiles, which had not the law, They don't
have a copy of the Bible. By nature, the things contained
in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves,
which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their
conscience also bearing witness in their thoughts, the meanwhile
accusing or else excusing one another. Now, everybody born
into this world is born knowing that God is. It's intuitive. Everybody that's born into this
world knows it's wrong to murder. It's wrong to steal. It's wrong
to kill. It's wrong to lie. Sexual sin
is wrong. Everyone is born with that knowledge. Somebody says, we need to teach
people how to live. They already know how to live. Everybody knows
those things are wrong. He's not talking about having
the Ten Commandments written in your heart. That's already
there. That's already there. If you've never seen a copy of
the Bible, that's still already there. Men are born with that
sense. Now, your conscience can become
so seared that you can't see the difference between right
and wrong. That happens quite often to people. They become
so hard-hearted through sin. But everybody's born knowing
the difference between right and wrong. But in the New Testament,
we read of six laws, and these could very well be called the
laws of the new nature, the laws of the dove. If I have the nature
of a dove, I have all six of these laws. Now, these are principles. You know, your nature controls
everything. You know, people talk about free
will. Well, we've got a free will. There's really no such
thing as free will. Your will is controlled by your
nature. Now, you do what you want to do. You don't do things
by compulsion. You do what you want to do. But
it is your nature that controls your will. It's the nature of
a pig to live in slop. It's the nature of a cat to want
to be clean. It's the nature of a tiger to eat meat. Now,
men's wills are controlled by their nature. And if someone's
in Christ, they have a new nature, they have a new heart, and it
manifests itself by these six laws. And these are laws of nature. You know what that is. These
are laws of the new nature. First, we read in Romans 7, verse
23, of the law of sin. Now, if you have a new nature,
you know something about, if you have the nature of a dove,
you know something about the law of sin. In Romans 7, verse 23, Paul said,
but I see another law in my members warring in my members and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members."
Now, when you see that you're a sinner, let me tell you what
you see. you see that all you do is sin, that you cannot not
sin. And you put the blame on yourself. You don't blame your environment.
You don't blame your circumstances. You don't blame God. Your sin
is all your fault. If you really believe you're
a sinner, you believe you can't sit in judgment on anybody concerning
anything. You're just as bad, probably
worse. And if you believe you're a sinner,
you know you have no claims on God whatsoever. If He sent you to hell, you would
be getting exactly what you deserve. Somebody says, I can't see myself
that way. Well, if that's the case, it's because you don't
have a holy nature, because only a holy nature can recognize this.
A man sees himself to be a sinner. When he has the nature of a dove,
he sees himself to be a sinner. Now, the second word is the law
of righteousness, Romans 9 31. If you have the nature of a dove,
you cannot be satisfied with anything but perfect righteousness
before the holy law of God. You don't presume, you have to
have this righteousness. This is the righteousness that
the believer hungers and thirsts for. Christ is called in Romans
10, verse four, the end of the law for righteousness. It's a
justification. The only thing that'll satisfy
your conscience, your conscience is perfect righteousness before
the holy law of God, and the only way you can have that is
through the gospel. And then we read in Romans 3,
verse 27, of the law of faith. This is in your nature. You cannot
not believe. You cannot not believe that Jesus
Christ is God the Son, the absolute Lord of all, the ruler of the
universe, the creator of all things, the only Savior of sinners. You believe Christ. Now, you
have an old nature that doesn't believe. The old nature never
does believe. That's why that man said, Lord, I believe. Help
thou mine unbelief. The old nature never believes.
The new nature always does. But there's a law of faith. You
look to Christ. You can't not trust him as your
only righteousness before God. It can't happen. You have this
law. Faith is the natural thing for the new man to do. And then
we read in James 1 chapter 25 of the perfect law of liberty.
Now, liberty, here's what liberty is. It's not owing anything.
And it's doing what you want to do. Now, there's a law of
liberty. If you tell me there's something
I need to do to be saved, I won't have it. Christ is my salvation. He did it all. Salvation's not
about me doing anything. It's about what He has done.
Stand fast in the liberty where with Christ it's made us free.
Don't give me something to do. Tell me to look to Christ. He
did it all. He said it is finished. And I'm
doing what I want to do right now. I'm not doing what I have
to do. I'm doing what I want to do. You know, most people's
religion is very sad, them doing things that they really don't
want to do and not getting to do what they want to do. Now, not
a believer. My want to is to follow the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then in James 2.12, we read
of the royal law of love. It is the nature of a believer
to love God as He's revealed in His Word. I love Him as He
is. I love every one of His attributes.
I love His sovereignty. I love His holiness. I love His
grace. I love His power. I love His
immutability. Everything that God is, as He's
revealed in His Word, the believer loves. And we love those who
love Him. He that loveth him that begat,
loveth him also that's begotten of him. John says you can't help
but love somebody who loves Christ. You love all men. You want all
men to be saved, but oh, how you love God and how you love
those who love God. And then there is the law of
Christ. It's spoken of in Galatians chapter
six. If a man be overtaken in a fault,
ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness,
considering yourself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one
another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Bear one another's
burdens. Your brother's sin is a burden
to him, just like your sin is a burden to you. Bear ye one
another's burdens, put up with one another, be gracious to one
another, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Now that's the nature
of a dove. the nature of a raven and the
nature of a dove in the same person, if God has saved us.
We have this message on DVD and CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg praying God
will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's our prayer,
amen. To receive a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send
your request to todd.nyberg at gmail.com. Or you may write or
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