Genesis 8:1  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 asswaged;
2  The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
3  And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
4  And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

We, as people, are interesting to observe. I am a person and I am just as interesting for others to observe as I find others to observe. The Bible teaches that Christians have passed from death unto life. The Bible says that the saved person belongs to God; he is not his own but has been bought with a price. I am thankful that there is only One authority that all must come under. That One authority is God. The governments need to understand they need to be under God’s authority if they want to govern their people properly. Those governments that choose to make themselves gods, will answer to the true God. Churches need to understand that a true church is one that is under God’s authority.
There are people who claim to believe that God is their authority, and yet if they disagree with a certain person’s theology, they demand that person must run his theology past their chosen man, not God. That is the essence of the Jack Hyles heresy. Every person is accountable before God. Does that mean we do not talk to others about what we believe? Of course not. The Bible teaches that every man that God has chosen to be in a position of leadership must be taught by other godly men.

II Timothy 2:2  And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

No true man of God can be a self-taught man. Certainly there is a necessary place for personal study. There is a need to be a diligent student of the Word. A diligent student of the Word submits to God’s authority in all things. The apostle Paul stated:

I Corinthians 11:1  Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

Jesus Christ commanded men to follow Him. He is God. He can make that command. However, no mortal man can make that claim. God must be our final authority. Any man that is worth following is the one who will point his disciples to Christ in all things. Every man will have opinions. However, what we need to build our lives on is the Word of God. We need to faithfully study and follow what God says.
As we continue our topical study on Biblical salvation, we must accept what God says as THE authority. There is a great danger in putting man’s opinions ahead of God’s Word. The Bible is clear that all people will stand before Him on judgment day. No one will stand before the apostle Paul or Peter or even me. I will answer to God for what I believe and for what I teach. That is a sobering fact for me. That does not cause me to be quiet, but it does cause me to study carefully and prayerfully to guard against leading others astray.
In our text, Noah spent over a year in the ark. He was kept healthy and safe inside that ark. As we stated before, the ark is a picture of Jesus Christ and His salvation. The typology never supersedes the reality. Jesus Christ is the reality. He is THE SAVIOUR. The ark could possibly be sitting under ice on the mountains of Ararat. It might be decayed by now. God, in His grace and mercy, has not allowed any person to find that ark since Noah left it. There is no doubt that if people found that ark, they would worship it just like they do many other things that are not worthy of worship.
In Genesis 8:1, we read that God remembered Noah. This “remembering” does not mean that God forgot about Noah and his family. It means that God would continue His plan which involved the receding of the waters so that Noah and every living thing on the ark could leave it and carry on with life on this earth.
God used the wind to help evaporate the waters. He also stopped the fountains of the deep and the rain from above. It is important to note that rain was a new thing as the flood began. Prior to that the Bible says there was a mist that watered the earth.
We see again that Noah walked by faith in God. He had never seen rain until he was in the ark. He did not need to understand everything in order to obey God. All he needed was to believe in a God Who can do everything He says He will do.
In verse 3 we read that the waters returned from off the earth continually. God caused the waters to rise above the highest mountains. He now would cause the waters to return to His prepared places. There were waters under the earth that went back to that place. There were waters above the earth and they were put back up there as well. There are lakes and oceans and rivers that hold the waters.
Today we have “scientists” and politicians who think they can control the waters. They think that the droughts we are facing can be corrected by human manipulation. Fools pursue foolish agendas. God controls the waters and He sends rain and He withholds rain. If we want God’s blessings we need to know Him and serve Him.
Noah knew the true God. He lived in a wicked world. However, he did not need to be like the wicked world around him. He was protected in the midst of a severe judgment of God. God did not need to protect Noah. God did so because He did not make the world to be uninhabited. He created man to live on this earth and He commanded man to be fruitful and multiply. God was going to enlist Noah and his family to be fruitful and multiply and re-populate the world.
In verse 4 of our text we read that the ark rested in the seventh month of the seventeenth day of the month.
Jesus Christ declared that salvation was finished as He died and shed His blood on the cross. There is no room for human works. Jesus Christ did not need to do something more to save us. Mary cannot do anything to save anyone. She is not co-redemptrix with Jesus Christ. The pope has no part in salvation. He is the tool of the devil. Catholic priests cannot do anything to save anyone. They cannot even save themselves and they are lost.
The ark rested, but Noah did not get to leave just yet. Remember Noah was walking with God. God would tell him when it was safe to leave.

Genesis 8:6  And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
7  And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8  Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
9  But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

Time was moving on. After a few more days, God told Noah to open the window of the ark and release a raven and a dove. Ravens are scavengers. There was much death due to the flood. There would have been many bodies of people and animals floating on the waters after the turmoil of the flood waters ceased. The raven left the ark and never came back again. It had much to eat. It could sit on floating debris.
Sinners are scavengers. They don’t mind the filth of the flesh and they feast on that filth. They don’t mind living in the squalor of sin. They follow the devil and they are somewhat content to follow him. Thanks to God’s mercy and grace sinners are different than the ravens in that God placed a conscience in every human being. His Holy Spirit works in the heart of every lost sinner to continually remind them them they are missing a key element of life. A few will pursue that fact and will be brought to salvation. They will leave the squalor of sin and be given a new nature that seeks to serve the true and living God.
The dove was a different bird. The dove is not a scavenger. It needs fresh food. The dove is depicted in the Bible as a peaceful bird. The dove descended upon the Lord Jesus to identify Him as the Son of God before John the Baptist.
The dove could not find a place to rest and it came back to Noah. God knew all of this. Noah needed to see the difference. He was soon going to go out into the world that was severely changed due to the flood. He would be reminded of death often. He also needed to remember that life was there as well. Just as Noah had walked with God prior to the flood and during the flood, he would need to continue to walk with God even though he would see a very different world than he knew just a little over a year ago.
We read that God told Noah to wait another seven days and then send the dove out again. This time the dove came back to him with an olive leaf in its mouth. Even though it found this new life, it still came back to the ark. After another seven days, the dove was released again and this time it did not come back. Now there was enough food to sustain the dove and others. Now God would command Noah to open the door and let Noah and all the living creatures leave the ark.
Noah was protected because he walked with God. That made all the difference. We will see yet, that Noah did not always walk with God. He failed God when he chose to do things his own way. He sinned. God shows us reality. We will come to that yet.
Pastor Bartel