Our Wednesday service will be
Thursday this week, and we're going to have a New Year service
and observe the Lord's table together. It'll be at 7 o'clock. It won't be at midnight. I've
been to a few of those services like that. It's impossible to
stay awake. Or was for me anyway. Also. Tonight I'm going to be
preaching from Acts chapter 15 on the letter. It was sent. to the church at Antioch from
the church at Jerusalem where James says in verse 20, we're
going to look at the whole passage, but he says, the Gentiles, here's
their requirement that they abstain from pollutions of idols and
from fornication and from things strangled and from blood. And
he calls these things necessary things, these four necessary
things. Now, what does that mean? I feel
like the Lord's giving me some light on that. And I'm looking
forward to trying to bring that message. Look once again at verse four
of Genesis chapter eight. And the ark rested in the seventh month on
the 17th day of the month upon the mountains of Ararat. I was amazed when I looked up
the meaning of this mountain. It means the curse reversed. I've entitled this message, The
Curse Reversed. Now, precise detail is given
by Moses about the waters of the flood receding and the ark
eventually resting on Mount Ararat. a range in modern day Turkey.
The highest peak there is 16,900 feet. It's higher than any peaks
we have in the Rocky Mountains as far as the United States goes. And the meaning of this word,
this mountain rage that it rested on is the curse reversed. And the receding of the waters
speaks of that, doesn't it? That which brought the curse
on now recedes down. The curse reversed. Now the flood, the deluge, was
God's judgment against sin. This is something that really
took place. And look in chapter six, verse
five, I guess I've repeated this verse
of scripture during every message we've been looking at during
Genesis. And I hope as I read this passage
of scripture that nobody will flatter themselves and say this
doesn't apply to me because this applies to me and you right now.
On December 27th, 2020. This describes everybody in this
room. Verse five, and God saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. Now, that's God's testimony of
me. That's God's testimony of you. Somebody says, well, I can't
see that about myself. God does. God does, whether you
see it or not, God does. And he repented the Lord that
he'd made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from
the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing,
and the fowls of the air. For it repenteth me that I've
made them. Verse 11, the earth was corrupt
before God and the earth was filled with violence and God
looked upon the earth and behold, it was corrupt for all flesh. No exceptions. All flesh had
corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, the end
of all flesh has come before me for the earth is filled with
violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them. And we know that God told Noah
to build an ark. It took 120 years to build that
ark. And that ark was a giant barge
that would be lifted up over the floods of the waters. We
read in Hebrews 11, verse seven, by faith Noah being warned of
God of things not as yet seen, things like rain. Do you know
it had never rained upon the earth? the floods coming up from
the fountains of the deep, things not seen, the destruction of
the earth, prepared an ark to the saving of his house by which
he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which
is a faith. Now, let's don't go past that
for just a moment. He became heir of the righteousness,
which is a faith. Noah is called by Peter in 2
Peter chapter 2 a preacher of righteousness. Now the average
person when they think of Noah being a preacher of righteousness
they think you need to start living this way because God's
going to send a flood and if you don't straighten up you're
going to be in trouble. That's not what Noah was preaching. He was preaching the righteousness
of faith. Now listen to this scripture
real carefully. There's not a more important verse of scripture
in all the Bible. Paul says in Romans chapter one, verse 16,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth. to the Jew first, and also to
the Greek, for therein, in the gospel, is the righteousness
of God revealed. Now there is no more important
thing for me to understand than this, the righteousness of God. Now that's speaking of the righteousness
of his character, the holiness of his character, the purity,
the perfection of his character. He's of two pure eyes to behold
iniquity. He can't accept you or me the
way we are. He's righteous. The righteousness
of God speaks of his righteousness in my condemnation, my personal
condemnation. I'm no different than those people
described in that verse of scripture I just read. But here's the blessed
thing, it also reveals the righteousness of God in my salvation. Where his righteousness, his
righteous character demands the salvation of everybody he saved
because they stand righteous before God. Now that's the righteousness
that Noah was a preacher of. The righteousness of faith. Now, in Genesis chapter eight,
verse one, You know, we had read in chapter seven about the utter
destruction of the flood, how it just kept rising up and up
15 cubits, which is 22 and a half feet over the highest mountain
peak. I guess it's talking about Mount
Everest. But that is how complete this flood was. There was no
dry land left anywhere. But now the waters began to recede,
and we read in verse, chapter eight, verse, look at verse 24,
the waters prevailed. upon the earth in 150 days. Now everybody was drowned except
the people in the ark. Everybody, the whole population
of the earth was wiped out at this time. Peter tells us that
only eight souls were saved. Everybody else was drowned. They were dead. And then we read
in verse one, and God remembered Noah. every living thing. And all the cattle, the animals
that was with him in the ark. Now that doesn't mean that God
had forgotten Noah during this time and thought, oh, I remember
him now. No, God always remembered Noah and every living thing. And God's memory is salvation. You remember the words of the
thief? Lord, remember me. You see, if the Lord remembers
you, you're saved. You're plumb saved. You can't
be anything but saved. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. 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. Now notice first of all, God
made a wind. Now here's the first word we
have concerning God saving Noah. and God causing the curse to
be reversed, God made a wind. God caused a wind. Now, if you're saved, you know
that the reason you're saved is God caused your salvation. You know that from the depths
of your heart. You know salvation is a work
of the Lord. There isn't anybody who's saved
Listen to me. There isn't anybody who is saved,
saved by God, saved by Christ, that says, well, the reason I'm
saved is because I decided to let God save me. I decided to
accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. Now I'm saved. That's
foolishness. There's no truth to that kind
of thinking. If you're saved, it's because
God caused your salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. Amen? I love what Jonah said from the
whale's belly. He knew it. Salvation is of the
Lord. If I get out of this whale's
belly, it's because the Lord caused it. Salvation is of the
Lord. That ought to give you some encouragement
because You and I are both men, as Genesis described in Genesis
6, 5, whose wickedness is great, and every imagination of the
thoughts of your heart is only evil continually. That's God's
testimony. So the only hope you or I have is that salvation is
of the Lord. Now let's go on reading. God made a wind to pass over
the earth. Two words I want us to notice
in particular, wind and Passover. You can see where that's going,
can't you? Wind. Do you know the word wind is
the same word, Hebrew word, translated in Genesis 1-2, the spirit of
God moved upon the face of the waters. The wind is the spirit. The spirit of God. Now in this
thing of the curse being reversed, we have the work of the spirit.
He that's born of the spirit, that which is born of the spirit,
this new life he gives, the life of God in the soul, that which
is born of the spirit is spirit. There's the first word, wind
or spirit. The second word is pass over. What do you think when you think
of the Passover? When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. That's the gospel. Now in this
verse of scripture, we have all three persons of the Trinity
in salvation. We have God, the Father, remembering
Noah, remembering the covenant he made with him. We have God
the Spirit, a great wind. We have Passover, the work of
the sun. And what took place? And the
waters assuaged from the earth. Now that word assuage is Also
translated, pacified, appeased, ceased. Now this is what the
work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit do in salvation. The curse is reversed. There's
an appeasement. There is a ceasing, there is
a pacifying. This is what the work of Christ
does with regard to the wrath of God and judgment against sin.
It assuages it, it pacifies. He pacified the wrath of God.
He made God, and this is what this word actually means, that
if Christ died for you, God right now is eternally satisfied with
you. He's not looking for anything
else. There's nothing else you need. You are right now eternally
complete in Christ, and God is satisfied with you. I know you're
not satisfied with yourself. You have sin on your heart right
now, but you know, not before God. He is completely satisfied. The waters assuage, look in verse
two. The fountains also of the deep
and the windows of heaven were stopped. And the rain from heaven was
restrained. I like this word stopped. Stopped. Do you know that Christ stopped
the wrath of God? God's judgment against sin, it
can go no further than Christ. And he says with regard to everyone
that Christ died for, there's no fury in me. The wrath of God
was stopped and the rain from heaven was Restrained. Who restrained it? God did. Now in this great work of salvation,
I love to think of the power of God. The wisdom of God in
making a way that God could actually be just and justify somebody
like me. You know, if you would ask an
angel, After he saw Adam fall, how can God be just and justify
that mess? The angel would still be scratching
his head right now. He couldn't figure it out. He couldn't come
up with an answer. And if he could come up with an answer,
he wouldn't have the power to execute it. But oh, the Lord
God does. The wrath was stopped. The reins were restrained. Look in verse three. And the waters returned from
off the earth continually. This is the reversing of the
curse. And after the end, notice that
word end, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. I mean, every word is so full
of gospel, isn't it? After the end of the 150 days, The waters were abated, they
were no more. You wouldn't see any water anywhere
because it was all gone. Verse four, and the ark, and everybody in that ark rested, rested. Now that's the same word
that's used with regard to God resting on the Sabbath day. Look back to Genesis chapter
one, and let me remind you what the writer to the Hebrews said.
They which believe do enter into rest. For he that has entered
into his rest hath ceased from his own works. I love that, as
God did from his, and he's referring to what took place here in verse
31 of Genesis 1. And God saw everything that he
had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and
the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished. and all the host of them. And
on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had made,
and he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which
he had made. Now, you know as well as I do,
God wasn't tired. He wasn't worn out from this
work. It was finished. It was very good. It could not
be improved and he rested. And God blessed the seventh day
and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all
the work which God created and made. When the Lord said from the cross,
It is finished. What was finished? Just his earthly work? No. He said in John chapter 17 verse
4, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work
thou gavest me to do. What was the work the Father
gave him to do? Well, Matthew 121 says, Thou
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. Finished. Finished. Beloved, there's nothing for
you to do. Have you ever, have I ever ceased from my own works
as God did from his? There's nothing to do. Not do, it's been done. Back to Genesis eight. And the ark rested, verse four. And the ark rested. And the ark rested. In the seventh month, on the
17th day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. The curse reversed. Now this mountain typifies another
mountain, doesn't it? where the curse was reversed. Mount Calvary. Now, I want us
to spend a couple of minutes and I'm just gonna mention it
as much as I can. I don't understand it, love it,
it's glorious. I want us to think just for a
few moments about the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He never sinned. He's holy, harmless, undefiled,
higher than the heavens. He's not like those old priests
who needed to offer a sacrifice first for his own sin, then for
the sins of the people, because he did all this in one glorious
act on Calvary Street. Christ Jesus never sinned. He knew no sin, the scripture
says. He knew no sin. He didn't enter into the experience
of sin because he is holy. He never sinned. Even when he was made sin, he
never committed sin. He never put anything before
God. Never. He never made an idol
of any kind. He reverenced the only one to
ever reverence the name of his father. He always rested. He was completely satisfied with
his father's will. He always honored his father
and his earthly father and mother. He never murdered anyone, no,
not in his heart. He never had a sinful, lustful
thought pass through his mind. He never lied. He never stole anything. He never
coveted. He is the perfect man, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Think of his sinlessness. Now,
it's hard for us to even, well, hard, it's impossible for us
to even imagine what sinlessness is. I mean, we breathe sin, we
think sin. It's in our very existence. You know, the natural man doesn't
understand sin because he thinks, if I can refrain from doing these
things, I'm not sinful, or I'm not sinning. No. If it comes
from you, it's sin. And you only understand that
if God gives you a new nature, a holy nature. An unbeliever
cannot understand the concept of sin. He thinks it's things
he does. Well, sin ill. The reason sin
is because you did it. That's the problem. You did it. I did it. But the Lord Jesus
Christ never sinned. And then there is the sinner,
me and you. Now listen to me carefully. Not one time have
I ever not put something before God. I've been an idle factory. I have never reverenced his name. I've never rested. I've never honored my parents
or any God-given authority. I'm a murderer. I'm an adulterer. I'm a liar. I'm a thief. I'm covetous. Still? Yep. Yep. every one of those things. I am. And I ought to be cursed. You know, when that psalm was
read, Psalm 17 that Mitch read, the psalmist said, you know,
hear this prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips. Feigned
lips, fake lips. Lips. You know, when I say I
ought to be cursed, I hope I mean it. I hope it's not going out
of faint lips. I want to be honest before God
concerning what I am. The scripture said, cursed is
everyone that continue with not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. And there's not one thing
that I can do to change that. There's not one thing that I
can do to reverse that. But thank God, the curse has
been reversed. And it doesn't have anything
to do with anything that I have done. You see, on Calvary's tree, the
curse was reversed. He was made a curse, according
to Galatians 3.13. He was made a curse, and there's
only one reason he was made a curse, because according to 2 Corinthians
5.21, For he hath made him to be sin. Who knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Now I want you to
think about this for a moment. I don't expect you to understand
it. I don't understand it, I just believe it. He was made to be
sin. Now what does that mean? That
means my sins that I'm guilty of committing, every one of them,
ones I'm aware of, the ones I'm not aware of, my sin became his
personal sin. That's scary saying that, but
it's so. My sin became his personal sin. The scripture says he bare our
sins in his own body on the tree. Now somebody says, aren't you
taking that a little bit too far? Well, let's see what the
scripture says. Turn to Psalm 40. Psalm 40, verse six. Sacrifice and offering
thou didst not desire? Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt offering and sin offering
hast thou not required? Then said I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book it's
written of me. I delight to do thy will. O my God, yea, thy law is within
my heart. Who's speaking? That's Jesus
Christ speaking. And it's quoted in Psalm I mean,
in Hebrews chapter 10, these are the direct words of the Lord
Jesus Christ when he says, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. This is Jesus Christ speaking.
Now, look in verse 11. Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. Innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Todd's iniquities that were imputed
to me have taken hold upon me. That's not what he says, is it?
He says, my iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not
able to look up They are more than the hairs of mine head,
therefore my heart faileth me. Who's speaking? Yes, that's David
speaking, and you've said the same thing in your heart where
you felt like your iniquities were more than the hairs of your
head. Yeah, that's David speaking, but more than that, that's Jesus
Christ speaking when he says concerning The sins given to
him that he bore, mine iniquities. He was made sin. But just as truly as he was made
sin, and who understands all that's behind that? I don't.
You don't either. All we can do is believe what
God says in his word. But he was literally, literally
made sin so that that sin became his sin. He owned it as his own.
He actually became guilty. You say, how could that be? With
God, nothing shall be impossible. There's the point. I can't do
this. God can. I can't say, well, I'm
gonna impute my sins to Christ. Doesn't work that way. This is
the work of God, for he hath made him to be sin. For us who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God,
just as truly as he My sin became his, just as truly his righteousness
is my personal righteousness before God. My friends, that's
a gospel. That is the gospel. Verse five, and the waters decreased
continually until the 10th month. In the 10th month, on the first
day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. Now we have a new world. We have a brand new world. The tops of the mountains are
now seen as the waters abated." Now, would you turn with me to
II Corinthians chapter 5? I've already quoted one verse
from here, II Corinthians chapter 5. We've got a new world. Verse 17, If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. Now, if this is talking about
my personal experience of sin, I'm in trouble. Somebody says,
well, since God saved me, I'm so different. I'm so good now. I'm so holy now. I'm so obedient
now. I don't have the problems and
struggles with sin I used to have. That was back before I
was saved. Now that I'm saved, all things
have become new. You're a liar if you say that.
You're just flat out a dishonest liar. You've lost all credibility. I don't pay attention to anything
you say, because you're not being honest. What's it mean then? Old things
are passed away. All things have become new. A
new creation. Here's the best way I know how
to explain that. You have a new history. That stuff from your past, it
never happened. It's what the Bible calls justification. Now you can't change your history,
can you? There's a lot of things you change
if you could, but you can't, it's there. But God can because
Christ said in Revelation 21, behold, I make all things new. They landed on the curse reversed
to a new world. And all things, in verse 18,
all things are of God. Now, what does that include?
All things. I don't care, plug in anything
you want. All things are of God for the
accomplishment of His glorious purpose. All things are of God
who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and hath given
to us the ministry of reconciliation to wit, namely, here's what it
is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. I tell you,
I wish I knew what that meant. God beseeching the sinner. That's
amazing. What a glorious God we have that
he would condescend to beseech God, beseeching the sinner. I don't even know what to say
about it, but there it is. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ dead, be ye reconciled to God. He's reconciled, you be reconciled. He's satisfied, You be satisfied
with him. He is satisfied with his son. Complete reconciliation has taken
place. You be satisfied with what God's
satisfied with. And don't look anywhere else. For he hath made him. And look at that word to be,
it's in italics. That means the translator just
put it there to, shed some light on it, and generally, when something
is put in talc, it doesn't shed much light on it. It usually
makes it a little bit darker, a little bit more muddy. Look
what it says. For he hath made him sin, for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Now, if I have never rested in
Christ, just like that ark rested on that mountain where the curse
was reversed, if I have never rested, if you have never rested,
may this be the day we do. Let's pray. Lord, I ask in Christ's name
that you would enable everybody in this room, by your grace,
for your glory, for Christ's sake, enable everybody in this
room to cease from their own works and to look to Christ only. and rest in him. Enable us to do that even now
for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen. We're going to have a