Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park was first discovered in 1870 by the Washburn Expedition, and they named it Old Faithful for its frequent and relatively predictable eruptions, which number more than a million since Yellowstone became the first national park in 1872. The world's most famous geyser, which currently erupts around 20 times a day, is usually predicted, they say, with about a 90% accuracy rate and within a 10-minute time span. It can vary between 100 and 180 feet in height and last between a minute and a half and five minutes long, projecting between 3,700 and 8,400 gallons of water each time. Though this marvel that God created is relatively constant and dependable, the passage of God's inerrant and infallible word that we are looking at this morning shows us the God who created this marble and everything else that exists. That this God is 100% faithful and therefore we can trust him and lean upon him completely. Please open your Bibles with me this morning to Genesis 8, 1 through 19. Genesis eight, one through 19, as we continue to work section by section through this wonderful book. But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. God made a wind blow over the earth and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed. The rain from the heavens was restrained. And the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days, the waters had abated. And in the seventh month, on the 17th day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Eret. And the waters continued to abate until the 10th month. In the 10th month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. At the end of 40 days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. But the dove found no place to set her foot and she returned to him to the ark for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand, and took her and brought her into the ark with him. He waited another seven days and again he set forth the dove out from the ark and the dove came back to him in the evening and behold in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So no one knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days and set forth the dove and she did not return to him anymore. In the 601st year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off of the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. In the second month, on the 27th day of the month, the earth had dried out. Then God said to Noah, go out from the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you, all flesh, birds and animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may swarm on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. So Noah went out and his sons and his wife and his son's wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, every bird, everything that moves on the earth went out by families from the ark. In this section of this historical narrative or this true historical account told through story, Noah learned that the worldwide flood that God brought, this flood of judgment, was also grace. And it was a great benefit to his soul, just as it is meant to be to us today. Noah saw that God was faithful to all he said, rescuing his family and renewing his covenant of grace with him specifically. Noah saw God's faithful character, his faithfulness to his word or his promise and his faithfulness to his people, all of which pointed him and every reader with faith who comes after him. Us today, directly to Christ, the promised one, which these events typified and foreshadowed, which was his ultimate hope and is our only hope as well. Chapter eight begins with the words, God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him on the ark. When we read these words today as Americans, We have the tendency to think that this is a little bit strange or a little bit odd because most of the time that we say something like this, someone remembered something means we think that at a time they forgot they didn't remember. The idea has the idea of being brought to mind something that was previously forgotten. Like if someone said, I'm sorry that I'm late because I forgot where I placed my keys. I couldn't find them. I couldn't remember where they were. Or if someone said, I couldn't remember where my glasses were until the moment that I sat down. I actually have an old friend from college days who did that several times. Our tendency is to think about the word remembered from an American perspective, and that's not what is going on here. Our tendency is to think that the word remembered is just something that is mental. But the Hebrew word that is used here has the idea of acting upon a previous commitment. something that was always in the person's mind. The focus is on action, which comes from commitment to a covenant partner in particular, acting based on a promise that was always in God's mind, not something that he ever has forgotten. This one word tells us despite how it may have felt to Noah as he waited for a very long time for these floodwaters to recede. having no idea how long this trial would last, that God was aware of his situation, actively moving his plan of rescue and renewal forward, and that he was faithfully doing all he promised. And that is something that we can trust in today just as much. God sees us and he is moving his story forward today and in our lives as well. Of course, it is both biblical and logical that God knows all things, past, present, and future, and that he cannot forget anything. Romans 11.33 says, oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways. The author of Hebrews in chapter four verse 13 tells us, and no creature is hidden from his sights, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom they must give an account. And John 1630 tells us plainly, Jesus knows all things. God does truly know all things, past, present, and future. In other words, God is the creator, the sustainer, and the ruler over all things, and the one to whom every person will give an account for everything they have ever done. It is impossible for God to forget anything. But even though believers know this is true, at times it can feel like the opposite to each one of us, as we are going through difficulty, as we are going through trials. At times it can feel like the exact opposite, and we begin to think things that are not true. In Psalm 13, David cried out, how long, O Lord? How long will you forget me? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? His cry alone revealed faith. This was not a crisis of faith moment for him. He was going to God, crying out in faith, but he was telling him exactly how he felt with honesty. His cry alone shows that he ran to God in prayer. And then the psalm ends in a confident declaration of faith. But I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. But his circumstances appeared at the moment to be the opposite of biblical truth. So he cried out to God in faith, telling God how he felt while holding onto his promises. Noah's circumstances presented a similar trial for his fallen human nature. They could have affected him in similar ways to David or similar ways to how we might struggle if we were in his shoes. After all, he had been stuck on that boat for a very long time. It may not jump off the pages at you, but as we look at this, you will begin to see. And this was no pleasure cruise. This was not a cruise through the Bahamas. This was not a cruise through Hawaii. Think about it, Genesis 7.12 tells us rain fell on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. So there was an initial 40 days of an extremely violent storm, probably with a fair amount of being bumped all over the place in that boat, even though it was huge. It was the type of boat ride that would give even seasoned sailors seasickness. And if you've ever had seasickness, you know that that is no fun. Maybe the animals would have had seasickness as well, as we know that they are prone to it just as much as we are. And that creates, of course, its own problems. I'll leave you to think about that. Then 724 tells us, and the waters prevailed on the earth for 150 days. This includes that initial 40 days. This is meant to show that God is triumphant in battle. meaning the waters did battle for God and won. They did what he wanted them to do for 150 days. But that also means at that point, Noah and his family had been on this boat for about five months. And when we put ourselves in their place, it would be easy to reason and falsely conclude that, well, maybe it took 40 days to flood the earth, so maybe it should have taken 40 days to have it dry out. And then begin to look at the clock or the calendar and wonder, God, When are you gonna have that happen? When we put ourselves into the place of Noah and his family, it would be easy to reason just like him and to begin to think and fill in the blanks that God did not fill in. Just like David, how long, oh Lord, how long will we have to stay in this ark? God, have you forgotten about us? God, have you maybe changed your mind? Maybe we did something that caused you to change what you were doing. We also need to remember that Genesis was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit many years later by Moses when the original audience was wandering in the wilderness and they were questioning things with God, struggling with similar types of things. But the main difference with Noah and the people of Israel at that time is that the nation largely struggled and asked their questions without trust, without humble submission or faith. but rather as an act of rebellion. And we see something very different with Noah. But of course, God had not forgotten Noah and his family. And it's easy for us to see that because we have the end of the story. But God was committed to them, and even to the animals that God brought on board, which were created for Noah and his family. And God continued to act on their behalf, finishing what he started. Here we are simply told God remembered Noah would have begun to understand this in part as he more than likely heard and felt something new take place as the ark hit the top of the mountains and came to a jolt. More than likely he would have heard the wind that is talked about. Verse one says, and God made a wind blow over the earth and the waters subsided. More than likely he would have heard this wind as it was moving the waters into place, as God blew the waters into their set places in the oceans and lakes and rivers, and as he presumably caused a massive evaporation process to take place. This could have been a loud process like fans blowing when a restoration company comes in and tries to dry out a room after it has been flooded. or it could have been a quiet process over months that verses three through 13 tell us it took for this complete process to end. But ultimately we are not told all the scientific details because that's not what is most important here. What is most important is that we know that the omnipotent creator of the world is able to do whatever he wants with his creation, including all the providential works and the miracles that are recorded throughout the Bible. that operate above or against the normal laws of the universe that he put into motion. He is above them, and he is able to do what he wants. What is important is knowing that God did these things, as nothing is impossible with God, and knowing why he did them. What is his purpose here? There is something more that has taken place with this wind, however, than just a simple wind blowing, or even a massive wind blowing. capable of such transformation, whether we understand the science or not. That is because the Hebrew word that is used here for wind is the same word that is used for spirit. And it is the same word used in Genesis 1 too, which says, the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. In the spirit of God, there is a word. was hovering over the face of the waters. So in other words, it was the Holy Spirit that was doing this, the Holy Spirit that was causing this, as he passed over the waters just like in the beginning at the creation. And he brought order out of chaos a second time, just like he did at the beginning. There is an intentional parallel that exists here. As God destroyed his first creation and is recreating it or renewing it here, it is a type of a new beginning. There are some differences. The first time he created out of nothing or ex nihilo, and this time he worked with the substance that he had already created and he refashioned it and then refilled it with the animals and the people from the ark. But both are a work of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. During the first days of the creation, God gathered the waters that covered the earth and brought them to their assigned places. And he created dry ground. Chapter 1.9 tells us, and God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear. And it was so. And God called the dry land earth. And the waters that were gathered together he called seas. And then he filled the sky with birds, and then the land with animals, and finally with people created in his image meant to reflect him and manage his creation for him. And that is what we see happened after the flood as well. First, God returned the world to its initial place. He returned it to a state of being formless and void as he flooded it and destroyed everything. He brought it back to a place of chaos. He did this as a form of judgment. And then after he judged everything, he regathered the waters into their proper place and remade the dry land. And then he begins to fill it just as he did the first time. First placing birds in the air as Noah let the birds out, the raven and the dove, and then later all the birds. Then setting the animals free, and then finally filling it with people again as Noah and his family came out of the ark. The point here was God was just as present, just as active, just as in control of absolutely every detail. Everything that was taking place in Noah's life and Noah's circumstances, faithfully moving forward his story of redemption, he was just as in control as when he created the planet in the first place. And that was a powerful lesson that showed Noah and everyone who would listen after him just how trustworthy God really is. We will see this more as we progress through the book of Genesis, because the parallel continues with the post-flood people, as they create problems just like before and they continue to disobey and what God does after. Reflecting what took place before the flood, there are two lines of people that emerge just like before the flood. Those who were of the faithful line of Eve and those who rebelled against God and followed the line of the serpents. And so that should sound a little familiar because we looked at that just a few weeks back. But in our passage today, the wind would have conveyed that God was present and he was active, and that Noah was not forgotten. And then feeling the ark run aground on the mountains would have been a startling but welcome jolt, much the way hearing someone call out, land ho, as they got close to the land after a long trip across the Atlantic Ocean. It would have encouraged him. It would have strengthened him for the remainder of the trial. But that did not mean that the trial was over when the Ark came to a stop. Somewhere in the high mountain chain that is located in modern day Turkey and Armenia. The calendar would still turn for many months, testing his patience, testing whether he would remain faithful to the one who had been faithful to him. Genesis 7.11 tells us Noah entered the ark in the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month on the 17th day. God is very specific. This tells us this is real history. And then in 8.3, we are told he was in the ark for five months when the wind blew and the waters began to abate. Sometimes this throws people for a loop because it says the waters abated and they think that that means that it was completely dry. It was time to come out. That's not the meaning here. This is the beginning of the process. But in verse five, it tells us the waters continued to abate until the 10th month. And at that point, the tops of the mountains were seen, which put Noah's time on the boat there at about eight months. And at that point, he was just beginning to see the tops of the mountains sticking out. Like being out in a boat and you can just see a few rocks sticking up here and there, he was not seeing all the land. In other words, hitting the tops of the peak and coming to this place, he still had a long time to go. Then 8.6 tells us after the mountains began to peak out, he waited another 40 days and then he opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent forth the raven and it went to and fro until the waters dried up on the earth. Maybe at this point surmising that the 40 days had been fulfilled and it would be dry. It made sense to choose a raven because the raven is a strong bird. He's capable of flying up much higher than the dove and for longer periods of time. especially since they tend to soar and they don't flap their wings quite as much as other birds that are similar. Also because of their diet, though they will eat seeds and berries, they tend to eat more meat and even carrion and they might need to eat while they were gone. But then it returned and this is not clear in most of our English translations, but it is more clear in the Hebrew. where the phrase, it went to and fro, has the idea of going out and then coming back or returning. Not the idea of flying backward and forward continually, as we might think, until the earth had completely dried out. That would be much too long of a period for them. But it has the idea of flying back and then possibly, as many scholars believe, landing on the top of the ark and resting because of what we're told later about the dove. More the idea of going out and then coming back and landing. But then we are told about the dove, that something different takes place. Then he sent forth a dove to see if the waters had, had subsided and the dove found no place to set her foot. And so she returns and then we see he stretches out his hand and he brings the dove back into the ark. Now this could have taken place the same day, right after the raven, checking to see if there was any exposed land, both far and near, since the doves tend to fly low and not as far. Or it could have been a week later, taking our cues from verse 10, which states he waited another seven days, possibly indicating that he had waited seven days after sending out the raven, and then waited another seven days to send the dove a second time. But either way, the dove did not find any land where it could rest its foot for the first time, and so it came back as well. And we are given this picture where Noah tenderly reaches out his arm and brings the bird back inside, back underneath of his care. This is meant to show us Noah's tenderness and that this reflects the tenderness of God, that he gets it. He understood the meaning of the wind and the waters that they were beginning to abate. He understood the faithful care of God and it came out in his faithful care of these animals. He was reflecting God as he was meant to do. And so we see this tender moment where everything is speeding forward through days and weeks and months, and then all of a sudden it stops on this one moment, and it just shines the light, and it shows us something of Noah's character, and it is meant to show us something of God's character that he reflects. It's really a beautiful moment. The second time that Noah sent the dove out, it came back with an olive branch, giving Noah encouragement that the trees and the plants had begun to grow, once again. This was another step towards seeing God's promise fulfilled. But he still had to wait patiently. So another week went by and he sent out the dove again, and this time it did not come back. And we read in verse 13, in the 601st year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried off from the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. At that point, Noah might have been tempted to fling the door open and run out in excitement. He had been cooped up for so long. I don't know about you, but if there's ever a time where you're sick and you have to be on the couch maybe for a week at a time, by the time you start feeling good, you just want to get out of your house. You want to open up the windows. You want to go for a walk or at least do something to get out. And as we put ourselves into his shoes, I'm sure he was feeling something like that. But we see his faith here. After waiting so long, he still waits. Verses 14 through 19 tell us, in the second month, on the 27th day of the month, the earth had dried out. Then God said, go out from the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out every living thing that is with you. In other words, even after he saw the earth no longer had any water on top of it, he waited almost another two months from the first of the month all the way to the 27th of the next month, bringing his total time on the ark to a year and 10 days. That was a long time to be cooped up in one place, even as big as the Ark was, and a long time to be cooped up with all those animals. It was basically like he was on a floating zoo. But even more, it was a long time to wait on God in the midst of a trial where he wasn't given all the details how long this would last. It was a long time to trust God as he knew that there was nothing but water every direction that he could look, as far as he could see, It was a long time to ponder even more what had happened and how awful it was and why it happened. It was a long time to ponder how he really should have been out in those waters himself if he got what he deserved. A long time of testing his faith. Would he remain faithful to the God that had remained faithful to him? A long time of testing his patience and his family's patience to see if they really believed God's plans for them were the best, right down to the details of how long they stayed on the ark after the earth looked dry. Yet that is exactly what they did. He not only waited to see if the land was dry, deciding on his own what he thought was the right time to leave the ark, but he waited on the Lord to give his approval, to give his command, not only telling us that he had faith, but telling us that he had faith in the one who was faithful and trustworthy. And that is really the key here. He waited for God's timing to tell him to go out. He waited beyond verse 13, where we are told he opened the window and saw it was dry. He waited until God said something. Noah made it through this trial, trusting in God's faithfulness to rescue him, his faithfulness to his word, to his promise, and his promise to rescue him from ultimate judgment in the future as well. That promise that was initially given to Adam and Eve and to everyone who would follow in their footsteps of faith and repentance. Noah knew it was only by the mercy and grace of God that he was ever brought unto the ark. Noah knew that the faith he had was also a gift. And that one day in the future, God would send the promised one just as he had said to Adam and Eve. the one who had accomplished the ultimate rescue, which would not only save him from this judgment, but would save him from the judgment of God poured out sometime in the future on the world for sin. He had a lot of time to ponder things like the holiness of God and to understand that in a very real and powerful way. He had a lot of time to consider how just and righteous God is to punish sin and how God hates sin, not just the sin of the world, but the sin that was residing in him in his own heart. As he spent all those days building the ark, leading up to the time that he went on the ark, and then as he spent all of those days on the ark, he had lots of time to ponder what he was building and what was coming, and then he had lots of time to ponder what had happened and what God brought him through. And as he thought about what God had brought him through, I'm sure it would have been a heavy, powerful, life-changing illustration filled with horror and also extreme gratitude to be alive, much the way that memories of war impact soldiers after they return home. It would not have been a light, cute, fluffy illustration that is easily brushed aside as many people do today when they think about Noah's Ark. They think of it as the stuff of cute cartoon pictures on the front of children's Bibles, complete with happy animals poking their heads out. Noah may be waving on some of them under a bright, sunny, cloudless sky. The reality is this was the wrath of God poured out on sin and rebellion through the most violent storm ever unleashed on the planet. If this was made into a movie, it would surely be an R-rated movie filled with lots of violent death and horror. And they would have heard many of those screams through the boat. The reality is this was a very tough experience for Noah. and we cannot tone it down, because it is in that that the grace of God can begin to work in our hearts, as we see that we deserve that just as much. But it was in the midst of that hard experience that God's faithfulness to his promise meant the most to him, where it made the deepest impact to him and enabled him to trust God completely. God was faithful to Noah through his entire trial. While he and his family were the only believers left on the earth, in the midst of a horribly sinful culture around him, people that did not understand what he was doing that came by that would have mocked him, and yet he faithfully preached. He saw the faithfulness as he brought the animals onto the boat, and he knew God was the one who brought them. He saw God's faithfulness as God closed them in and shut the door. And as God kept them protected, and the waters that he poured out, he also protected them from with his same hand. And now he sees his faithfulness through this entire year and a few extra days. As now God says, it's time to go out. God fulfilled absolutely everything he promised. And when we look back to this, we can know that he will fulfill everything that he promised to us through Christ as well. Today, we live in a world gone mad, a world that has a lot in common with the world at the time of Noah. We live in a world where the spirit of the age is a spirit of rebellion against God and his ways like none of us have seen in our lifetime. Where people constantly call the things that are good, evil, and the things that are evil, good. where people are suppressing the truth and exchanging it for lies that enslave them and hurt them. And this should cause us to weep and preach the gospel to them with love for them, just as Noah did. We live in a time where there is an explosion of intolerance and hatred toward us and persecution of God's people all around the world. Where there is more persecution taking place today than any other time throughout all of history. And it is starting to get hot in our country as well. And it will probably get much hotter. But we need to continue to preach the gospel to them with the same love, even when they mistreat us and mock us, or even if persecution comes to our land. There is a change that is taking place here in our country, and it is palpable, but we are still called to trust in our faithful God. We live in a time where the church is being attacked from the outside and from within, where the so-called woke agenda, which is nothing more than the lies of Marxism in new clothing, is taking over churches, even ones that used to be good, gospel-focused, Christ-focused churches. And it is replacing Christ and the Bible and the gospel with Marxist ideas, things that are meant to divide and tear down. And if you don't know a church that has gone through this yet, I'm sure you will in the future. I know several. Marx was no friend of Christianity. And the movement today is no friend of Christianity either, even when they put it in terms that might seem okay to us. We live in a time when it seems like the return of Christ might be at hand. Beloved, no matter what trials we may face in the future, or what persecution may come to our country and to our lives, this story is for us this morning. This story is for us to see the world outside and to love them because the days are short, to pray for them by name, to take every opportunity to share the gospel. There are only about 2% of Christians today that share the gospel with people. 2%. Pray that God will give us the boldness and the love for the people to share it. Beloved, this story is for us today, ultimately, and I think for the main reason, for us to have the same confidence and same hope that Noah had. And we can have it to a much deeper and fuller extent because we know more of the story. God was faithful to send his son He came just as it was promised to Adam and Eve. He walked in our place and lived a perfect life for us. And then he went to the cross and took our sin on his shoulders when we have faith. So that we would not have to suffer like the people did in this flood. If you have grown cold in your love for Christ, then you need to see that you and I both deserve to be at the bottom of the sea just like all of these people. It is our sin that caused Christ to go to the cross. And the more that we see that, the more that we contemplate that, the more we contemplate how holy and how righteous he is, and then we see that he gave us something different than we deserve. He led us onto the ark through Christ. that will cause your heart to soar and your gratitude to soar and you will no longer be cold in your heart. God hates sin just as much and he is coming back to judge the world and the future. That is promised and we can see that he is faithful and this will happen because he did exactly what he said with Noah in the story. We can see that even more in the cross with Jesus. And so we can know that he is coming back. And we can have the same confidence and hope that Noah had knowing we serve the same God who loves his children who are united to him through faith just as much as he loved Noah. The judgment that God poured out on the world through the flood is a type that foreshadows the future judgment to come, where God will judge Satan and every demon, where he will judge every rebellious sinner who refused to bow the knee to Jesus, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. God will victoriously end all sin and evil and pour out his wrath, and they will be cast into the water that is worse than the waters in this story, because they are the waters of the lake of fire which will burn for eternity. And that is not a popular subject, but it is truth. But right now, we can rejoice knowing, first, that God will end sin. It will come to an end, and all the pain that has been caused. But we can also rejoice knowing that God is faithful to those who love him and trust him, The rescue and renewal that God graciously gave to Noah is also a type that foreshadows the ultimate rescue through Christ, his substitutionary life and death and resurrection, and it points forward to the ultimate rescue that is coming, when he will return and complete our rescue and renewal. So brothers and sisters, let us stand upon the faithfulness of God that we see in this passage this morning. manifest through Jesus, no matter what we go through. And let us do what Jesus told us to do in Luke 21, 28, when he is speaking about the end times. And he says, and there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars and on the earth, distress of nations and perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and foreboding about what is coming on the world. for the power of the heavens will be shaken, and then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." And then he tells us when we see this, now, when you see these things begin to take place, straighten up, raise up your heads. When everyone is falling down, fainting, foreboding, in fear, we as believers can straighten up, lift up our heads, because your redemption is drawing near. Knowing what he saved us from, we can know what he will faithfully save us from in the future, and we can trust in his faithfulness. Amen. Let us pray. Thank you, Lord, for your graciousness to us. Thank you for your kindness. Thank you, Lord, for showing us our sin, and what we have been saved from. You are truly amazing. We love you, Lord. Use us to spread your love to the rest of the world while there is still time, and cause us to stand upon your faithfulness today. No matter what comes our way, give us the confidence that can only come from you. In Jesus' name we pray.