So we're gonna be in Genesis 6, starting in verse 5. Last week, we covered up to about verse 5. And as I said, this is the beginning of the story of Noah. Next week, we'll actually look at the whole structure and what we learn about the flood itself. But today, we see why God brings the flood. Genesis 6, verses 5 and following. Please listen to the reading of the word of God. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, I will blot out man from whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals, and creeping things and birds of the heaven, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Now these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it. The length of the ark is 300 cubits, its breadth is 50 cubits, and its height is 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark and finish it to a cubit above and set the door of the ark on its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die, but I will establish My covenant with you And you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them. Noah did this. He did all that God commanded him. This is the very word of our Lord. So this week, are you looking forward to this week? giggles. Some people don't know what I'm talking about. God willing, we may know if we have a new president this week. And while you may not be looking forward to that, I'm looking forward to the end of the political ads, mail and text. If there's ever been a sign of the fallenness of this earth, it's political campaigns and the fact that they are inundating us with lies. But are we really hopeful? Whoever wins in our country? I don't actually see a lot of hope. I mean, I'm not telling us not to vote. I voted. I encourage you to vote. It's a great privilege we have in this country. As Christians, we ought to have a say in how we want society to look. And it should look and reflect what God says in His Word. Even the unbelieving world is supposed to exhibit what God says in His world. If not, God would not destroy the world in the flood. because he had already sent Cain away from his face and presence. They were operating as a society, we saw this last week, the line of Cain away from the face of God, and yet Seth's line is supposed to be the covenant community by which faith is being exhibited, and even they get corrupted, and God brings judgment upon all of them, even those who he knows are away from him. Now I hope we have a president that honors life and the economy improves and laws are just, but at the end of the day, this country is not going to change in the White House. It's gotta start in our own house. And that starts with the house of God. and the people of God. And I'm concerned that the biggest problems in the world are really reflected in the church. As I look at the church, and I'm talking about the church in America in general, I know the church is to all nations, but as I look at the church in our land, it just seems to reflect what's going on in our land. And the biggest problem that I see is that whether it's in this country or in the church, people just don't think sin is that big a deal. They don't even think it means anything. And worse of all, they think we can decide what is right and wrong. Of course, there's nothing new under the sun. That's what we saw in Genesis 3 with Adam and Eve. But I think we think the sin problem is the murderers and the rapists and the child sex traffickers and the abusers. Those are the real sin problems. But the rest of us are just trying to get along and we're not really that bad. Yeah, we have a cross word and we think a bad thought, but we're only human. And maybe God grades on a curve. Now the Reformation was mentioned before, 500 and something years ago, where reformers all over the continent of Europe stood up against the Church of Rome that made it as if God graded on a curve. And as if your works could outwork your evil. And somewhere there's a line about doing enough good You cross over the threshold, and under that line, you don't. But the story of the flood, as we're seeing, and we're going to see over the next couple weeks, shows that God isn't grading on a curve. It's not about what everyone else is doing, and he just looks and says, well, everybody's over here, and I'll just lop off the top half and keep them. But he only saves one family. Eight people will go into the ark. Noah and Mrs. Noah, three sons and their wives. And as I was discussing this story and this text with friends this week, like what were the people thinking? Millions of people at this point. They have very long lives, civilization is spreading rapidly, and a very minor growth rate would result in millions of people. Did they think, ah, God doesn't really care. I tell my kids, they go to a wonderful Christian school. I have nothing, absolutely nothing negative to say about this school. I have no evidence that there's anything going on there that shouldn't be. But I tell them, because I've worked in Christian school before, that just because you're with everybody who you have to be in a Christian family to go there, claims the name of Christ, it doesn't mean everything that's going on there is okay. Judge it by the word of God. Have that mindset that you will test what you're hearing about what's going on in your friend's homes or seeing what's happening in the classroom by what the word says. God does not grade on a curve. He is altogether holy, righteous, and true, and he does not change. As I said, I think what's going on in our country is just what's going on in the church. A theologian, David Wells, I've read this quote before, wrote this in 1994 in a book that he wrote, God in the Wasteland. He says, the fundamental problem in the evangelical world today, so those who stand on the word of God, this is 30 years ago, The fundamental problem among Christians is that God rests too inconsequential upon the church. God really doesn't matter, is what he's saying. His truth is too distant, His grace is too ordinary, His judgment too benign, and His gospel is too easy, and Christ is too common. He then quotes from another theologian from like a hundred years ago at this point, and he says this, it's like Christianity today represents a God without wrath bringing a people without sin into a kingdom without judgment through a Christ without the cross. Today we're gonna see how God actually feels about sin, and what sin requires. And it should put to rest the idea that God may grade on a curve. He saves only eight out of millions, and he does so for his own purpose. And maybe you're thinking, that's again, only the big sins, the murderers and the rapists. But what our text says today, it's because of an infection, a virus. corruption within the nature of humanity itself. But yet, in as much as we think the flood story is a story of God's wrath and justice, and it is, for Christians we see more. We see the flood story is actually a story of God's grace. about his faithfulness to his covenant and his promises and his people and that he makes a way and provides a way and enables those who will be in that way to have faith to obey and experience his gracious love. See, how do you view the flood? An angry God, a wrathful God like the world views the flood? Or a patient God who is faithful to his people and his promises? Let's look at the story under three headings. The corruption of sin, the cure for sin, and the contrast to sin. Ever since Genesis 3, we're in Genesis 6, so half of what we've seen in Genesis, nothing is happening on the earth as it's supposed to happen. Adam and Eve disobey God, Cain, gives a sacrifice that is unpleasing to God, he kills his brother Abel. Cain's line is living extremely wicked, taking multiple wives, so polygamy enters in, murder multiplies and vengeance belongs to man in this wicked, sinful earth. And God's assessment of it is, the wickedness of man was great in the land, verse five, and every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The theme picks up in verse 11. The earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. Verse 13, it's filled with violence through the people, so God says he will destroy them with the earth, he's going to bring a flood, verse 17, to destroy the flesh. You heard the word corrupt over and over and over, right? What's interesting is in the Hebrew, when God says, I will destroy two times, that's the same word for corrupt. They have destroyed my earth, I am going to destroy them. They have ruined my creation, I am going to bring a ruin to them. What a contrast from chapter one in Genesis, and then God saw that it was good, and God saw that it was good, and then God saw that it was very good. And what is he saying here? It's just wicked and broken and fallen, and he includes the animals in that. Because now, with the rebellion of man, we see animals attacking one another and attacking humans. This is not the way it was meant to be. And so God is grieved. Verse 6, the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart. Now this raises all kinds of questions for Christians and for people. Well, doesn't God know? Is God at fault for this? How did He not know? And we've been having a class on Wednesday nights called The Majesty of Mystery to look at these what we call paradoxes in Christianity, and we just saw this one in particular. Why does it seem like God sometimes doesn't know? Why does God seem at times to be angry or to act Well, he even says, I'm jealous at times. And here he says he regrets. If God is infinite, eternal, unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth, he is infinite in those things. He is perfect in those things. How could he regret? How could he grieve? Well, we must maintain that God knows all things and can foretell all things. But when God acts in space and time, his eternal unchangeable attributes, namely here his holiness, gets expressed in space and time covenantally with his people as grief. God's not a robot. He's love. And he creates out of his love, and when his creation rebels against him and not only that is hurting one another, right? Violence is filling the earth. He expresses in space and time a reflection of his eternal unchangeable attribute of his holiness and his justice and his goodness in space and time is expressed covenantally with creation with his people in the form of regret and grief. I know it's hard to understand. But it can't be any other way, because he's a good God, and how could a good God allow this to continue? So he's going to destroy or blot them out. And again, there's this ongoing contrast. Every intention of the thoughts of man's heart was evil. So what? God's heart is grieved. So you have man's heart and God's heart. Man has destroyed or corrupted my perfect creation, so I will destroy them. What do you think was going on in that society? How did it get this bad? Do we think that's just them? Do you know the New Testament uses the flood, Matthew 24, Jesus says this, for as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking and marrying and given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark. And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. Now the Bible also says, that Noah was a preacher of righteousness for this hundred and something years of the building of the ark, and he was using probably the people to help build it. So what were they unaware of? God's holiness. God's word. That their sin really mattered to God. Luke 17, 26 and 27 says this. Oh, it's what I just read from Matthew. Quotes it again, just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. How do we look at our own day? Are we near the end? We're supposed to always be ready for the return of Christ. And I know the gospel is moving over places all over the earth that it's actually changing things. But my assessment of this country and where we live is a society that once knew the Lord, and now has in grand fashion rejected all that knowledge. And most people in this country would actually still say they believe in that God. Do you know that? But you have to dig into what it is they believe about that God to realize they're not actually believers in that God. Back in my pre-marriage, pre- pastoral pre-Christ days, you know, I've talked about my own partying habits. And people in society, like you go out in society, for the most part, it looks okay. But like, I moved and operated in a world that was very, very debaucherous. And I remember a time, it was a street party down in Key West, which is extremely sinful place, called Fantasy Fest. And I was on a rooftop as I was looking over the city with literally what could only be described as a golden calf scene of millions of people. And I'm standing on top of it. And whatever I knew about God in that moment, I just had a wave of dread come upon me. How wicked am I? God is just, and look at what I'm doing here. And, you know, it didn't stop me. I wanted it. Somehow, in a weird way, and this is God's grace and conscience that he gives us, and common grace, and the image of God in my life, He always was holding on to me even when I was pushing away from Him. He allowed me to realize He is God and He is just and I am a rebel far worse than I even imagined. And I left that and I kept living my life because He's not smiting me dead. Maybe I'm not really that bad. Maybe if I just stop doing some things, it'll be okay with God. But you know what this shows us? The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the land and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil. I looked up that every. all encompassing. This is where we get total depravity from, y'all. Man, mankind, completely corrupted. Not that mankind can't actually do something that may be nice to somebody else, but there's a virus, a corruption within the human race that makes it so that no one is righteous, no not one, that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You know, we live in a country that says it's only what you do that matters. And certainly civilly, meaning the government, we can't have our civil government being the thought police, okay? We can't. Because if that's the measure, then we all belong in prison, Jesus says. because hate is murder and lust is adultery. So when the government tries to be the thought police, that's not what we want. But God is. When I think of the book of Revelation and the final judgment and the books are opened, Again, this is imagery, it's analogy, but the only thing I can think of is, as the Bible talks about, is every thought, word, and deed recorded. How would you like every thought put on a billboard for your closest loved ones? God knows it all, David says, Psalm 139. Where could I go from your presence? From the highest mountains to the depths of Sheol, you are there. Before I think a thought or utter a word, you are there. Our problem is not that we sin, although our sin heaps more judgment upon us. Our problem is our operating system, in computer terms, is corrupted. It affects everything that we do in our lives. Jesus says, what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. See, it's not like what I was taught in the Catholic Church, that you don't have to repent of your sinful desires, you just have to try not to do them. It's that our sinful desires need to be repented of. Now, what's the problem with that? We don't choose those. What we think or want is a part of who we are. Now, as Christians, we're given the spirit to put the root of bitterness to death, but in the flesh, that's who we are, and I know that I am guilty for the sins I actually commit and for why I wanted to commit them. This should paint an extremely bleak picture for us, because what hope do we have? But in the midst of this scene where God is going to wipe all this out, he makes a way for eight people. Now why does God do that? We said last week, why doesn't he just start over completely? If there is a sin virus that is corrupting at the level of the root of our hearts, that we cannot change ourselves, and if you don't believe me, try, why doesn't he just start over? It's gonna continue with Noah, and it does. That's why we get Sodom and Gomorrah, for instance, with Lot, and he saves Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah. Because God is faithful to his promises and his people. Satan tries to destroy creation. And if God starts over, it's like letting Satan win. Like as if Satan can ruin what God has done. And so God first and foremost, for his own glory, makes a way and a promise in Genesis 3.15, but also for his love for his image bearers, Adam and Eve. They were supposed to die on the spot and God gives them grace and we looked at grace last week. And he makes a promise that one would come from Eve's line who will make this all right, who will reverse the virus, a cure as it were. And that's what in Seth's line last week we saw. With Enoch walking with God, with Lamech saying, alas, I have Noah. who will bring us rest. His name means rest. He's the one God promised. Eve thought it was Cain, it wasn't Cain. She thought it was Seth, it wasn't Seth. Lamech thought it was Noah. The irony there is, even Lamech dies. He sees Noah building the ark, but he doesn't get to go in. But God preserves this family, and in the midst of that, gives grace to these eight people. First, because he loves them. Because what? Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The word favor is the word grace. That's just what it is. But Noah received grace from God. And the line of promise is preserved. And when you get to Luke chapter three, you see that the names I just mentioned that we saw last week in Seth's line, Enoch, Lamech, Noah, or in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. See, the deliverer is preserved in the flood. And God is preserving that. But what we see is it requires grace, which is the cure for sin. See, the cure for sin is not working harder. The cure for sin is not doing more good than the bad you did. It requires judgment and payment. But how do you get that? There's nothing you can do. It's grace. And somehow, God gave grace to Noah. But what does that mean for the rest of us? Because creation goes awry even after Noah. Immediately after the flood, as we'll see. It's all working toward one who would come who's not born with the contagion. One who's not born with the virus. Jesus Christ. Conceived by the Holy Spirit. Not Joseph. So he's perfect. fully God and fully man to pay the price, to be the new Adam where the first Adam failed, to be the ark that carries the covenant community who receives grace in him safely home through the storm, to deliver us to a beautiful existence. But notice how that has to happen in Jesus Christ. God has to bring judgment. See, His holiness requires it, and when people try to say, can't just God just forgive? Nothing in the world works like that. There is always a penalty that accompanies the forgiveness. You know, the classic example is like if your child breaks something in your home, you just forgive them. Yeah, but you pay for what's broken, either by doing without it or by replacing it. And God the Father does that for His children. So He pours out His judgment and wrath, a flood of judgment as it were, on His very Son hanging on a cross where if during this time the whole world was filled with violence and corruption, God pours out His holy wrath on His Son Jesus Christ on the cross so that you could receive His grace. Because he's faithful to his people and his promises. And so what's the contrast to sin? If the cure for sin is grace, what's the opposite of it? It's faith. It's faith. Hebrews 11. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of the things that are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain through which he was commended as righteous. God commending him by accepting his gifts and through his faith though he died he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up to God that he should not see death and he was not found because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. and without faith it's impossible to please God. For whoever would draw near to God must believe he exists, that's faith, and that he rewards those who seek him. By faith, Noah, being warned by God concerning events not yet seen, in reverent fear, constructed an ark for the saving of his household. And by this he condemned the world and became an heir of righteousness that comes by faith. See, Hebrew says this righteousness that Noah, in our text today it says, Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation, But before that, it said he received grace and favor in the eyes of the Lord. Hebrew just said, is the righteousness he received, he received by faith. And Romans tells us, Paul writes in Romans, that we receive the righteousness of God by faith. That Abraham was counted as righteousness because of his faith. See, the opposite of sin is faith. Because faith receives the grace by which we don't sin. And then what does it say about Noah? Verse 22, Noah did this. He did all that God commanded him. Now those works, what I just read in Hebrews is it says, Noah did that because he believed. See, your faith will always express itself in works. but your works are not earning you salvation. Your works are not overcoming your sins. God is not ignoring your sin because of your works. He looks upon his son, Jesus Christ, and he pours out his wrath upon him, the payment for sin. And then when he sees you, he sees his son by which the sin is paid for because you have expressed faith in his work, not your own. The story of the flood that we've read so far is the story of God's grace that you receive for accepting the fact that his judgment is poured out on another and not you. It's the story of God's covenant faithfulness to a people. It's a story of what God wants from his people. their hearts first that lead to obedience. God is grieved at sin, but he's made a way, a perfect way, a way to keep us preserved in the midst of his judgment, in the midst of the storms of life. He tells Noah exactly how to make an ark. He tells Noah exactly what's gonna happen, and Noah believes God. And because of that faith, he lives it out and is preserved. The church of Jesus Christ is that ark. And Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And he says, no one comes to the Father except through me. And he says, if you love me, you will obey like Noah. You will keep my commandments. If sin grieves you, it should. But so often I think sin only grieves us because it's affecting us from others. What we have to realize is there's a sin nature first and foremost that corrupts our thoughts, hearts, and actions. but the Holy Spirit who lives in us is helping us put that to death so that we can live in light of the glory of God and feel his pleasure. So the question for each of us is what, who are in Christ, like what is it in your life that you're just living with, like the days of Noah and thinking, yeah, God, look, God's not judging me for that, it must be okay. Not only is he not judging me for that, it seems like he's blessing me. This most dangerous place to be for Christians is when you think because you have financial prosperity or health or things are going in your life that God is so pleased that He's overlooking your sin. Pride comes before the fall. Are thought lives, are they reflecting the beauty, truth, and goodness that God wants? Or do we think that because Everybody lies. Lying is okay. God's not judging. Or maybe kids in your classes, you see your friends cheating and they're getting away with it so it must be okay. Or maybe because the statistics show that 50% of the men in the church are doing porn that that must mean, well, God's not going to kill 50% of the men or judge them for that. Whatever it is. See, that's where repentance comes in. Because what happens is, and this is what happens to me when I am upset about my actions, and I'm upset that I wanted to do those ways or respond in those ways or whatever it is, and that could be like, why? Why do I think like that? I remember that's why Jesus had to come. And that he paid the price so that I don't have to. And then I remember Romans 8, there's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the spirit of life has set me free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. That you're no longer a slave to that, that you're a child of God. And if a child, an heir, an heir through Christ. And it helps me lift up my head and say, if God is for me, who could be against me? that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor powers, nor principalities, nor anything present or anything to come can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus. That's the gospel, y'all. If you're a Christian, cling to that. And if you're not a Christian, the Bible repeatedly talks about the days of Noah and our own day. We cannot fool God and God will not be mocked and there is going to be judgment. Do you want to be in the ark? There's room for you in the ark. There's love for you in the ark. I'm going to close with 2 Peter before we go to the table. 2 Peter 2.5, if God did not spare the ancient world, God doesn't grade on a curve. He didn't spare them, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly. If by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, he condemned them to extinction, making them example of what is going to happen to the ungodly, but he rescued Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials. and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despising authority. There is a way. His name is Jesus. Look to Him. Let's pray.