Would you look in Genesis chapter
7, verse 7, and Noah went in and his sons
and his wife and his son's wives with him into the ark because
of the waters of the flood of clean beasts. and of beasts that are not clean. Now this was before the Levitical
law. Even then, there were beasts
that were clean, and there were beasts that were not clean. And the raven and the dove represent
the beast that is clean, and the beast that is not clean. The raven under the Levitical
law was an unclean beast. The dove was clean. The dove was used for sacrifice
for someone who could not afford a lamb. In the New Testament,
the dove is the emblem of the Holy Spirit. In each of the four
gospels, it's recorded where John the Baptist saw the Holy
Spirit descending in the form of a dove upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. Clean and unclean. Now we'll keep that in mind as
we consider this story. I've entitled this message, The
Raven and the Dove. Now the ark had rested on a mountain
as we saw last week. Mount Ararat means the curse
reversed. It rested and for 40 days it
sat there as the waters continued to recede. Now 40 days is very
significant in the scripture, isn't it? The number 40 is very
significant. You remember Moses was on Mount
Sinai for how long? 40 days. The spies were sent
for how long? 40 days. Israel was in the wilderness
for what? 40 years. There's many other
places where the word 40 is used. I think of the Lord being tempted
for 40 days. And after his ascension, he was
here upon the earth for 40 days. Elijah went on the strength of
the meat for 40 days back to Mount Horeb. When Jonah was preaching
to the Ninevites, he said, yet 40 days and the Lord's going
to destroy this place. It seems that 40 has something
to do with the time of testing. 40 days sitting on the Mount. Now we read in verse eight, or
verse six, and it came to pass at the end of 40 days, Genesis
eight, verse six, 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, and the raven was unclean. You know, a raven,
what do they eat? Roadkill, carrion. They feed off death, the rotting
flesh of death. That's one of the reasons why
it was called an unclean animal. Now he sent out this raven that
was in the ark. He sent forth a raven, which
went to and fro until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
Now, what did this raven do? It just went back and forth.
It didn't come back to the ark. It could feed off rotting flesh. And no doubt some carcasses were
visible at this time, and the raven could go and light on those
carcasses and eat them, and it would go back and forth, nothing
direct, back and forth, to and fro, wherever it could get to
a carcass, but it felt no need to return to the ark. Verse 8, also, He sent forth a dove. Now, the raven was black. The dove was white, signifying
the purity. That dove is a very special animal
in the scripture. You know, in the Song of Solomon,
six different times when the bridegroom is speaking with the
Shulamite woman, they call each other doves. That's the relationship
between Christ and his church. He says, you have dove's eyes.
She says to him, you have dove's eyes. There's a great significance
to this dove. This dove was used for sacrifice. It had to be without blemish.
The dove that was used for sacrifice, but it represented the work of
Christ. What a special place this dove has in the scripture.
Now, what about this dove? 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 foot, and she returned unto him into the ark."
The dove, it was against its nature. The dove could not eat
and live off the rotting flesh of death. It didn't find its
home in a dead carcass. It couldn't find any rest until
it returned to the ark. It could find rest only in the
ark. A believer can find rest only
in Christ. Verse 10, and he stayed yet other
seven days Again, he sent forth the dove out of the ark, and
the dove came in to him in the evening. It always returns to
the ark. And lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. Now, in every culture, what does
the olive leaf symbolize? Peace. You know, we extend the
olive branch. It always refers to peace. And the only one who could tell
Noah of this peace, of this life, was the dove. So Noah knew that the waters
were abated from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven
days and sent forth the dove, which returned not again unto
him, anymore. Now the dove was rid of being
around unglued beasts. The dove has left to return no
more. Now this is a literal historical
event that literally took place. It's not a myth. It's not a children's
Bible story. And you know, I think this is
interesting. Every culture has some story about the flood. You
know, people that are not Christian, whatever, every culture has some
kind of story of the flood. I mean, it's just something that
happened, something that literally took place. And I hate it when
preachers start using the flood to say, well, it caused mountains
and geologicals. No, don't try to use the Bible
as a science book. I feel no need to do that at
all. Flood proves that the dinosaurs died during the flood. Please don't do that. This book
is not a science book. It's a revelation of who God
is. And we don't try to prove something about science through
this book, or we don't use science to prove this book. See, science
says this, that proves the Bible's the word of God. No, it doesn't.
No, it doesn't. This is God's Word, and we don't
need geological proofs and so on. So don't use the flood as
a reason to believe this scientific fact or that scientific fact.
That's not its purpose. Its purpose is to teach us the
gospel. Now, this is a literal happening, which is an allegory. It's given to teach the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I think it's interesting. I read several commentaries just
to see what they would say that this is teaching. And about everybody
I read said what this is teaching is that a believer can come into
a backslidden condition. and go into the world and find
no satisfaction in the world, and they'll come back to Christ.
Now, I wouldn't say that doesn't happen, but that's not the teaching
of this, as we shall see. Now, the ark typifies Christ. The judgment of God fell. Those in the ark, eight individuals
and all the animals that were in the ark were saved. Millions
upon millions of people and animals were drowned in the flood. The earth was destroyed by this
flood. The only people that were saved
are those people who were in the ark. Now, in this ark, you
had both clean and unclean beasts. And I think it's so interesting
that this was before the Levitical law, before you had all those
rules and dietary rules about what you could eat, what you
couldn't eat, what was clean and unclean. Even at that time
in the Ark, there was that which is clean and that which was unclean. The raven was unclean. The word
raven means ravenous. A bird with an insatiable appetite
that could live off the rotting flesh of death. That's the raven,
unclean. And then you have the dove. The raven had no need to return
to the ark, did he? He was fine without the ark.
He was happy without the ark. But the dove could not find rest. until it returned to the ark.
There was no rest without the ark. Now when the Lord Jesus
speaks to the disciples, he says, be he as wise as serpents and
harmless as doves. Now that word harmless means
simple, unmixed, pure. be as wise as serpents and as
harmless as doves. And in our text, the most striking
thing about the dove is it could only rest in the ark. It couldn't
rest anywhere else. It was against its nature to
try to rest in death. It was against its nature to
eat the rotting flesh of death. It could find rest only in the
ark. Now, what this raven and dove
speak of in the ark are the two natures that dwell in the believer. An unclean nature and a holy
nature. Every believer, now an unbeliever
doesn't have this. That's why an unbeliever never
understands when you talk about two natures, because they only
have one, and it doesn't make any sense to them. But if you
have two natures, you will know exactly what this means, and
you will have experienced this yourself, and you'll know. You
can leave this place this morning knowing whether or not you have
the nature of a dove. And the thing with it is, as
soon as you know you have the nature of a dove, you'll start
questioning it. Maybe I don't. I realize that. In this thing
of assurance, as soon as you get assurance, you start thinking,
I've got assurance. And then it leaves. That's us. That's what we are. Because you'll
start looking to the flesh. You'll start looking to something
about the raven to give you assurance. And it won't do it. But still,
you read that Psalm, Psalm 86, show me a token for good, David
said. I pray that that's what takes place with every believer
in this place. And if you're an unbeliever,
I pray that you'd hear the gospel and the power of the spirit.
But I want a token for good out of understanding this thing of
the raven and the dove. Now, in the Song of Solomon,
The Shulamite said, I am two companies of armies. You know what that refers to.
I have two armies within me. Turn with me for a moment to
Genesis chapter 25. Now here, once again, is an event
that is allegorical. Verse 20, and Isaac was 40 years old when
he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel, the Syrian
of Paddan Aram, 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. She now had life in her that
was not there before. It's called the new birth. Now, what does she say? Well,
I've got life now. Everything's great. I mean, things
are going downhill now. Everything's fine. Know what
took place when she had life? And the children struggled together
within her. She didn't know she had two lives
in her. She didn't realize this at the
time. All she knew about was a struggle, a fight. What is wrong with me? Why am
I thus? And she said, if it be so, why
am I thus? Why this struggle? Why this fight? What's wrong? What's wrong with
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.
And the one people shall be stronger than the other, and the elder,
the old nature, shall serve the younger, the new nature. Now,
this is taught in the New Testament. Galatians chapter 5 verse 17,
the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit lusts against
the flesh and these are contrary one to the other so that you
cannot do the things you would. You would never sin again. You would be perfectly conformed
to being just like your Redeemer in every respect. That's what
you want. You would. You know what? You
can't. You would commit every vile sin
that there is without restraint. It's in your heart. My soul,
if our hearts were opened up to everybody else, we'd run out
the door and never look at each other in the face again. If anybody
could see what was actually in our hearts, the things that we
would do. You would, but you can't. You can't. You have God, the
Spirit, the new man in you. Turn to Romans chapter seven.
I mean, this is so plainly taught in the scripture. Paul says in verse 14, for we
know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal Fleshly, sold under sin. That little phrase means a slave
to sin. Sold as a slave to sin. Now, somebody says, I'm not.
Now, the only reason you'd say I'm not is because you don't
have a holy nature. That's the only way someone would say something
like that. They don't have a holy nature.
It's the holy nature that sees this, that perceives this, that
experiences this. Verse 15, for that which I do,
I don't approve of it. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law, it's good. Now, then it's no
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. It wasn't me,
it was him. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present
with me, I would be without sin, but how to perform that which
is good, I find not for the good that I would, I do not, but the
evil which I would not, that I do. Now, if I do that, I would
not, it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
I find then a law, this is a law that when I would do good, Evil
is present with me for I I delight in the law of God after the inward
man, but I See another law in my members Warring Remember the
Shulamite said I'm two armies. I'm a company of two armies the
flesh lusting against the spirit the spirit lusting against the
flesh and I see another law in my members warring against the
law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of
sin, which is in my members. Oh, wretched man that I used
to be before God saved me. Doesn't say that at all, does
it? Oh, wretched man that I am. WHO SHALL DELIVER ME FROM THE
BODY OF THIS DEATH? THAT RAVEN. I THANK GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST
OUR LORD, SO THEN WITH THE MIND I MYSELF SERVE THE LAW OF GOD,
WITH THE FLESH THE LAW OF SIN. The dove cannot sin. The raven cannot not sin. The new nature, and this is scriptural,
1 John 3, verse 9, Verse 9, 1 John chapter 3, whosoever
is born of God, and isn't that what the new birth is, being
born of God, born from above, born again, that which is born,
birthed, fathered of the Spirit, is Spirit. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin. Somebody says, well that means
he doesn't practice sin. Do you practice sin? Huh, sure you do. You practice it every day, every
second of your life. When you breathe, you're practicing
sin. Isn't that so? If you know yourself, you know
that's so. But it doesn't say he doesn't practice sin. It says,
whosoever is born of God, that which is born of God, doth not
commit sin. The new nature cannot sin. The old nature cannot not sin. It is a continual lawbreaker. You have the dove, you have the
raven in the ark. Now, that new man always believes. The old man never believes. Hence the cry, I believe. I really do. I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. That is the old man. Now what does this holy nature look like? Well,
there's only one piece of information our text gives us. It can rest
only in the ark. That's the only information our
text gives with regard to this dove. One thing it could do,
it could find no rest for the sole of her foot anywhere but
in the ark. Now, I know this about the new
nature. It can rest only in Jesus Christ. Nowhere else. Anybody that has a new nature,
they can't find any nutrients. They can't find any comfort in
eating the rotten works of the flesh. They can find rest only
in Jesus Christ. Now, I touched on this a few
months ago, but I want to dwell on it a little bit more so we
can understand the nature of the dove. Would you turn with
me to Hebrews chapter 8, verse 10? Hebrews chapter 8 verse 10, and
this is a quotation from Jeremiah chapter 31. So this is taught
both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. For this is
the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws. Now, this is of great significance. This is the only time you will
find the word laws, plural. Every time else, now this is
quoted again in Hebrews 10, that's laws. Same scripture, but everywhere
else in the Bible, you never read of the laws in the plural.
I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their
hearts. Them, plural, once again. And here's something else I want
us to notice. He talks about mind and heart. Now how many times have you worried
that you believe something in your mind that you don't believe
in your heart? I dare say many times. Now let
me remind you of this fact. What you believe in your mind,
you believe in your heart. Now it could be there's some
things in your mind that you don't really believe. That's
true. Somebody says, I believe in the
doctrine of total depravity, yet really when it comes right
down to it, you don't believe you're totally depraved. You don't really
believe what you say you do. But what you believe in your
mind, really believe, believe in your heart. The Bible doesn't
make that distinction. It doesn't make that here. He
talks about writing his laws in their mind and in their heart. It is the same thing. We have the mind of Christ. Every believer, we have, we possess
the mind of Christ. Now, like I said, these laws
I will put my laws into their mind and I will write them. Oh,
his penmanship is so effectual. I will write them in their hearts.
And let me say this, this is not talking about the Ten Commandments.
That's the way most people look at this. Well, that means the
law is written in my heart. Well, hold your finger there
in Hebrews and turn to Romans chapter two. Let me dispel that
myth. or let God the Holy Spirit dispel that, you don't let, I
wish I'd not ever use the word let, you don't let him do anything,
he does his will. But look what it says in verse
14. For when the Gentiles, who have no
revelation from God, they don't have a Bible, they don't have
a written revelation, They don't have the law due by nature, the
things contained in the law. These having not the law, or
a law unto themselves, would show the work of the law written
in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, their thoughts
the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another." Now, God's
law, the Ten Commandments, is written in the heart of every
body, every human being born into this world. Everybody's
born knowing it's wrong to murder. It's wrong to steal. Sexual sin
is wrong. Everybody knows it's wrong. You're born in your heart. That's
why I say this a lot. I'll say it again. We teach people
how to live. They already know how to live.
That's foolishness, they already know how to live. Everybody knows
the difference between right and wrong. Now, it could be through
continued sin, your heart becomes so hard and your conscience becomes
so hard that you can't tell the difference, I realize that, but
still, everybody's born into this world with God's law, singular,
written on their heart. But what about these laws? Now
I read of six laws in the New Testament. I've preached this message several
times in the past, but let's close by considering these six
laws and you can see these are the laws of the dove. And if
you are a dove, if you have a dove's nature, you're going to see these
laws written in your heart. Now, the first is called in Romans
chapter seven, verse 23, the law of sin. The law of sin. But I see another law warring
in my members and bringing me into captivity to the law of
sin, which is in my members. which is in my body. I'm aware
of it right now. Now it takes a holy nature to
see this. You'll understand this if the
Lord's given you the nature of a dove. It takes the Holy Spirit,
it takes a holy nature to see this. All I am is sin. All I do is sin. All I think
is sin. All I am is sin. I cannot not sin. I've never kept one commandment
one time. Do you see that with regard to
yourself? You believe that's you. That's the law of sin. You can't escape it, can you?
When I would do good, evil. is present with me. That's you. And it takes a holy
nature to see that. You cannot possibly see that
if you do not have the nature of a dove. If you have the nature
of a dove, you see that that's true with regard to you. And then in Romans chapter 9,
verse 31, we read of the law of righteousness. Now these laws
are not necessarily written down laws, they're principles. I find
a law that when I would do good, evil's present with me. This
is not so much talking about something written down, but something,
this is the nature of a dove. If you're a dove, you can't be
satisfied with anything short of perfect righteousness. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. You know that you don't have
any personal righteousness, you know that your righteousnesses
are as filthy rags, and you can't be satisfied with anything short
of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ being your perfect
and only righteousness before God. Now, if you have that law
of sin, You've got that law of righteousness too. And you understand
that the only righteousness there is is the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. You are relying on his righteousness. That's what doves do. You see,
your nature, a pig, its nature is to wallow
in filth, isn't it? That's its nature. A cat, its
nature is clean. It can't stand that. It's the
nature of a tiger to eat meat. He's not going to eat grass.
If you've got a new nature, you've got a nature that this is what
it's like. This is it. You know, the very
idea, for instance, the very idea of free will is ridiculous.
Your will is controlled by your nature. Now, you do what you
want to do. No question about that. Everybody here does what
they want to do. But your will is controlled by your nature.
And Paul said, to will is present with me. We have this nature
that sees ourself as nothing but sin, can be satisfied with
nothing but the righteousness of Christ. And then we read in
Romans chapter three, verse 27 of the law of faith, the law
of faith. And you know what that means? You cannot not believe. Do you know that I really do
believe that Jesus Christ is eternal God? I cannot believe it. I can't
believe he's just a man. I believe he is the Christ, God's
Christ, God's prophet, God's priest. And what a priest he
is. He's a he's he's the priest who
offers the sacrifice of himself upon the altar of himself. He's
the priest. He's the altar. He's the sacrifice. He's all. I can't not believe
that. Now, I can have all kinds of
questions, well, maybe you don't really believe me, or maybe you're
an unbeliever, maybe you're just saying that. I mean, unbelief's
always there because of my old nature. There's never a time
when I can say, well, I can't say, I believe, help thou my
unbelief. The unbelief's always there,
but the belief's always there too. It's called the law of faith. And then we read in James 1.25
of the perfect law of liberty. The perfect law of liberty. Now
what is liberty? Liberty consists in two things.
Number one, you don't owe anything. There's nothing expected out
of you. There's nothing you need to do in order to be saved. You don't know anything, and
you do what you want to do, not just what you have to do, not
what's expected out of you, but you do what you want to do. Now, where the Spirit of the
Lord is, Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3, where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. Now, you know something a believer
can't handle? The nature of a dove can't handle
being put under bondage. If you give me something to do,
I reject it. Christ is my salvation. Don't
tell me about what I need to do. Well, you need to do this,
you need, no, Christ did it all. And anything else is just utterly
offensive to me. Christ did it all. And I will
not be, by the grace of God, I will not be put under bondage. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free. And be not entangled again in
that yoke of bondage. Salvation by works. And I tell
you what, what I'm doing right now, I'm doing what I wanna do. There's a law of liberty. And then there is in James 2,
verse 12, the royal law of love. Now, I love God. I love Jesus Christ. I love God the Holy Spirit. I love him just the way he is. You know the reason I love election
is because I love the God of election. I sure do. You know the reason I love predestination
is because I love the God of predestination. You know the
reason I love holiness is because I love the God of holiness. I
love God as he is. I love his power. I love his
wisdom. I love his independence. I love
his immutability. I love God as he's revealed in
the word. I love his gospel. I love the
way he saves sinners by Christ. This is a law. Everybody that
has the nature of a dove, they love God. And everyone that loveth
him that begat, loveth him that's begotten of him. You can't help
but love believers. Now we love all men, we want
all men to hear the gospel, but there's this, you know, anybody
that loves Jesus Christ, I love that person. I mean, I'm their
biggest fan if they love Jesus Christ. I hope that you love
anybody that sees the awesomeness and the glory of Jesus Christ.
You love them. You love them. The royal law
of love. And we'll close with this one,
Galatians chapter six. I want you to read this with
me. Verse one, brethren, brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, that
have the nature of a dove. Restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness, considering yourself. If you're not overtaken in that
same fault he is, you would be apart from the grace of God,
and you know you're overtaken in some fault anyway. Now that's
the truth, isn't it? You can see someone overtaken
in a fault. Do you point your finger of judgment
upon that person? Well, the raven will do that. No doubt. I judge people all
the time, and it's such a hypocritical act on my part, and it's a hypocritical
act on your part, anytime you judge anybody for anything. Paul said, let's not judge one
another anymore. Judge not that you be not judged. Brethren, if a man be overtaken
in a thought, ye which are spiritual, Restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear
ye one another's burdens. My sin is such a burden to me. It's a burden. I hate it. Put up with me. Your sin is a burden to you. What a burden. It's with you
every single day, every single hour. What am I to do? Bear with you. You see, the end of this story,
The raven leaves, I mean the dove leaves to return no more. Now, it had to dwell with that
dirty, filthy raven in the ark for a long time. But one of these
days, the dove leaves to deal with the raven no more. And every
believer, one of these days, you're not going to deal with
the raven anymore. You're not even going to remember what he's
like. You'll be in Christ's presence
where you want to be. Let's pray. Lord, give us the grace to fulfill
the law of Christ to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill
the law of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we ask that we might know
something of the law of sin and the law of righteousness, the
law of faith, the law of liberty, the law of love, the law of thy
blessed son. Lord, write your laws in our
minds and put them in our hearts for Christ's sake. In his name
we pray. Amen.