Genesis chapter six. I'd like to read verses five
to eight before we ask our Lord's blessing. Genesis chapter six. Picking up where we left off. 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. And it repented the Lord that
he had 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,
the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made
them. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Let's pray together. Our father, we're so thankful
that we have this privilege to be able to assemble ourselves
together and Lord, to hear the word of God and to be able to
thank you and praise and bless you for your goodness and your
mercy, your long-suffering. We ask you now, Lord, as we consider
your word, teach us, help us, and Lord, forgive us where we
fail you, for Christ's sake. Amen. The whole scope of God's justice
of man's salvation is found in the revelation of the flood. Man is flesh and shall never
be anymore in himself as flesh. He'll never be accepted of God
in himself. He is flesh. He's fit in himself
only for death and justice. That's all he's fit for. Almighty
God is holy. God is holy. And man by sin is
separated from God. Almighty God must save a man,
but never at the expense of his justice. The Lord Jesus Christ
is man's only hope. And when it comes to salvation,
the Lord told Moses, in relating to Moses the revelation of his
glory, what is your glory? Show me your glory. And he said,
I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. And whom I will,
he'll harden. Genesis chapter 6 reveals how
God can be just and justify a sinner. The justification of a sinner
is the revelation of how this sinner stands before God accepted
in the Beloved. Now we're going to look at Genesis
chapter 6 verses 5 to 8. And just to bring us to that
point in our last study, we considered the revelation of how the sons
of God who were the descendants of Seth. There were only two
lines of descendants. It was Seth and Cain. They were
the sons revealed in the scriptures. And the bloodline of our Lord
Jesus Christ came through Seth. So it was talking about the sons
of God. Now these sons of God were those
ones that were at least in name. Not all of them, obviously, because
of the revelation of these scriptures, but many that have the name. of being a son of God. But they were the sons of the
descendants of the lineage of Seth. And the sons of God saw
the daughters of men, and those daughters set forth those who
were of the lineage of Cain. And what these sons of God did
in disobedience to God is they saw the daughters of men And
they liked what they saw. They were fair. And these sons
of God took them wives of all which they chose. And these sons
of God who disregarded the Word of God, they brought upon themselves
the judgment of God. Now, I'm not going to say because
it's not so, if someone is one of God's own. one of God's elect,
regenerated by the grace of God. God will never cast one of his
own out, never. But these obviously were from
the lineage of Seth and had the name of a son of God being from
that lineage, from that family, from that line. And they married
those of whom God had cursed And the mingling of those two
was actually the picture. Now you've got to look at this
thing spiritually and realize that it's a picture of man, because
of sin, thinking or trying or attempting to join works and
grace, trying to put that together. that carnal thought of saying
that Almighty God saves by grace, but all you have to do is. And any time that you mingle
or try to mingle grace and works, it's never going to be God honoring. Man, as he is born in Adam, thinks. Man, as he's born in Adam, thinks,
and especially religiously so. that unity must be maintained
at all costs. Unity. You think there's always
a unity. I've told you how I'd be invited. I've been invited. It happened
in Tennessee. It's happened in West Virginia. I'll be invited
to, you know, we're going to have a conglomerate of all the
denominations, all the churches. We're going to meet. The last
time I was invited was going to be at the courthouse. We're
going to meet out on the square, out on the courthouse steps,
all the different, and we're going to all pray together. And
we just want to know if we can count on you to be there. And
I said, no, I'm sorry, I won't be able to be there. I'm not,
I'm not, I can't, I can't. I can't associate myself with
those that I know. I'm not praying to the same God.
I can't. They said, Marvin, you're just
drawing to... No, I'm not. No, I'm not. I can't. What they were doing,
they were trying to mingle works and grace, which is no grace.
It's not grace at all. But here's the sad thing, that
the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair, and
what that is saying spiritually, is that it appears as though
the mingling of works and grace appears to be appealing. It's
lovely. It seems to be in the mind of
the carnal heart that which is the best. Truth. Now listen. and the adherence to the truth
of God's sovereignty in creation. It's amazing how men will say,
I believe that God was sovereign in creation. Who else was there
to create but God? They'll even say that, I believe
that God is sovereign when it comes to providence. Who else
can order these things? I'm telling you, we're not going
to, you know, global warming and all this. Almighty God rules in creation
and providence. We mostly agree on that. Most people say I agree on that.
But when it comes to salvation, this is where they want to draw
the line. They want to say, I believe that God created everything,
God runs everything, but when it comes to salvation, They say, I believe that man's
got a part. Man has no part in salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. It's the Lord. Listen. Galatians 5, 9. A little leaven
leavens the whole lump. You try to add man's works, man's
will to the finished work of Christ, and it is a total perversion
of the truth. You hear me say, I believe that
God's sovereign. I believe that God rules. I believe
that Almighty God, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, died
on the cross. I believe He died to make salvation
possible for every man who will accept what He's done. The whole
thing now is dead because you added a little bit of leaven.
These sons of God saw the daughters of men and they were fair and
they married them. They joined themselves together.
And spiritually speaking, that's what it's talking about. It's
the mingling or trying to mingle of works and grace. And a believer
will not, by the grace of God, he will not, he cannot, he cannot. Man's disregard to the simplicity
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ led to God's wise judgment of
mankind. That was the great sin of man. Man thinking he put his hand.
Almighty God limited, when he set forth to Noah, there's going
to be 120 years until the flood comes. And in the midst of that
time, in the days of Noah, There were, the scripture says, giants,
and that word giants is interpreted as bullies, tyrants, those who
daringly trampled upon that which was sacred. I know that Pharaoh
was born after after the flood, I understand that, but I thought
of like these tyrants, these giants, it would be like, as
an example, it wasn't that they were necessarily huge, big, though
there were big guys, Goliath being one of them, you know,
the Goliath, the one that says, you know, I defy the armies of
Israel, but this Pharaoh of Egypt, he was the one that says, who
is the Lord that I should obey his voice? Giants, that's what
it's talking about. Bullies. Tyrants. And these mighty men of renown,
born to the sons of God and the daughters of men. Now if these
men of renown be religious, we're not told who they were. It just
says that they were there. They were giants. Bullies or
tyrants is what it means. And all of the speculation won't
amount to a hill of beans of who they were. The scripture
doesn't say who they were. But they were Men that, because of
excessive power or prestige or whether they were religious,
whatever they were, these highly bullying type of men, they were
respected, at least outwardly, by men and they were, if being
religious, they were the ones that made merchandise of men's
souls, which I said last time is the most violent. and cruel
of all men. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, let
me just read this to you concerning this 1 Corinthians chapter 1
verses 26-27. The scripture says, for you see
your calling brethren. There were those giants in the
time. men of great prestige, bullies
is what they were, but those that were the big shots, big
boys, you know, kind of ruled by power and ruled whoever they
were. For you see your calling brethren,
how not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble
are called. But God has chosen the foolish
things of this world to confound the wise, and God has chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things that are
mighty. You know, I told you one time,
I heard Brother Henry say that, he said, if you'll notice, he
said, you don't find, he said, you do some, you do some, but
not many very, very prestigious people. You don't find very,
very many very, very highly educated, very politically motivated, doctors. You do some, but not many. Not many movie stars. I mean,
people like that. He said not many. Most of the
time you're going to find that it's just people like us. people that Almighty God's been
pleased to show mercy. So here's where it was. This
is the way it was in the days of Noah. And the scripture says
in verse 5, here's where we'll start, 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. Every day, God saw. Oh, how we're reminded, Psalm
11, 4, the Lord is in His holy temple. The Lord's throne is
in heaven. His eyes behold. His eyelids
try the children of men. Without a doubt, the Lord did
see the acts of men, but more so, the scripture says, He saw
their imaginations. He knew their thoughts. He knew
their purposes and their desires. And that which he set forth concerning
those thoughts and imaginations, they were only wicked. They were always, everyday wicked. He saw that there was none good. He saw that the wickedness of
man, the evil calamity, that total rebellion of the creation
was great in the earth. no less than total, firmly rooted
corruption. That's what it was. And here
was the amazing thing. My brother-in-law and I were
talking today. You think about that right there.
You think it was just like people just running around with machetes,
slashing people. The scripture says they were
marrying and giving and married. You know, going to work and doing
what... But God Almighty saw the heart
of man. You and I see like... We judge
on the outside. God sees the heart. And what
we see, which is acceptable, Almighty God saw it as total
wickedness. Total rebellion. The problem
is we don't see the standard. God is holy and we can't even
enter into that. We cannot enter into the depth
of His glory, His highness, that no man can even look upon God. The essence of His glory is holiness. We see as we can only see. God sees, and he saw. He saw
what was there, every imagination. And the scripture says, verse
6 and 7, and it repented the Lord that he had 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 have made them." Now,
looking up the wording there, repenting, it repenteth the Lord. Repenting, and it means to sigh. It means to breathe strongly
or be sorry. And we know that, humanly speaking,
that definition would insinuate a wavering, a spirit of disappointment,
a change of mind, a purpose, a realization of something that
I didn't realize before, that would be the natural understanding
of it. But when it comes to God, that
cannot be, that's not the way it is, because the Lord doesn't
change. Malachi 3.6, for I am the Lord,
I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed, because I don't change. That's the only reason
you're not consumed. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. There's only two kinds of people
in the world. Jacob's and Esau's. They're emblematic. There's only
two. There's only two. That's all
they are. Wherever they're from, whatever country, there's only
two. Jacob, have I loved Esau? But
I'm the Lord, and I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Numbers 23, 19. God is not man
that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent.
Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and
shall he not make it good? God is immutable. He doesn't change. There's no shadow of turning
with Him. He never alters His mind, He
never alters His will, His purpose, His counsel. Job 23.13, but He
is of one mind, one mind. Who can turn Him? And what His
soul desireth, even that He doeth. The scripture says that it repented
the Lord that he had made man on the earth and grieved him
at his heart. We can't look at that like man looks at it. Because man's interpretation
of that concerning man, it would be to say that I've changed my
mind. Well, you can't say that with
God. God don't change. He grieved him at his heart.
Something grieved man's heart is because something slipped
up on me that I didn't know about, and it disappointed me, and it
really hurt my feelings. It just hurt me. You hurt me. And I'm grieved over it. And
God is not that way. It repented the Lord that He
had made man on the earth and grieved him at his heart, all
according to God's omniscient will. What does that mean, omniscient
will? He knows everything. He knows. God Almighty ever knew
this would be the case. God knew that. Now He's going
to bring glory to Himself in the exhibition of His justice. Almighty God declared that because
of the absolute wickedness of man, the change that's going
to be made, we talk about it repented, you know, there's going
to be change, but it's going to be changed in the eyes of
men, not in God's position with mankind. Nothing ever changes
with God. Almighty God who created man
had blessed man to be fruitful and to multiply and replenish
the earth and to subdue it. And now Almighty God is going
to destroy man whom he had created from the face of the earth. He's
going to destroy man, beast, creeping things, fowls of the
air, And he said, I'm going to wipe it off and I'm going to
abolish it. Wipe it as you'd wipe a rag over
a piece of glass or a counter. Man was the problem. And Almighty
God, who had placed man to have dominion over the animals now,
because the animals who had no part in the fall personally,
But they were affected by it because man who was to be over
them in dominion, to rule and to have dominion over the animals,
the cattle of the fields. Because man's sin and man's going
to be destroyed, so are the animals. Sin affects everything. And now the animal kingdom is
going to suffer the penalty of man's sin. Nonetheless, it had
no part in it. The earth didn't have any part
in it. But the earth groaned right now. The earth groaned
because of man's sin. But in the midst of the declaration
of Almighty God to destroy this creation, the scripture declares
something that was indescribably marvelous. I love this word, this first
word in verse 8. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Now, here's the way it is. Man, the scripture says, verse
5, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. Every thought, every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Do
you know that that included Noah? That included Noah. If God saw that the wickedness
of man was great and that every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil and Noah happened to be a man that had
an imagination and a thought Noah was in that group too. But Almighty God, the scripture
declares, looked upon that man in the glorious person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Because God had before the foundation
of the world chosen to show mercy and grace and compassion to this
man. Right here. was accepted of God totally on
the basis of God's viewing Him, seeing Him in Christ. Hold your place right there.
Turn with me to Titus chapter 2 verse 11. Titus. Titus 2.11. Titus 2.11, for the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men, all kinds of men, Jews, Gentiles,
black, white, yellow, Not all men without distinction, we know
that. The scripture bears that out.
But this is one of those scriptures that men will take and rest. The scriptures there, see? Appears
to all men, all types, all kinds. Every nation, kindred, tribe,
and tongue. God's got a people in every place in this world. The scripture says that Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Whenever you see the grace
of God, that word, the grace of God, put the Lord Jesus Christ
right there, and you'll see it aright. Ephesians 2.8, for by grace, but by Christ, are you saved. Through faith, through faith
in Him, He's the object of our faith. Faith is given from above,
but faith has an object. It has an object, and it looks
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, not of your works, it is the
gift of God. What is? The grace of God through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God's gift. So here in this first place in
the Bible where the word grace is found, we have the blessed
realization that salvation is by God's grace alone. It is never attributed to man,
but only to the Lord God of heaven. It never begins with man. It never is the result of something
that man does. Grace is by God's free gift. God's will. God's purpose. Grace. What a beautiful name. Almighty God had purposed to
save Noah, a man just like everybody else, a man born in sin, he came
from the loins of Adam. He was a rebel against God by
birth, by nature, by practice. And Noah would have been the
first one to tell you, I am what I am by the grace of God. Noah
was no different in his character in Adam as anybody else. But by the grace of God, he was
only accepted of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord, according
to the Scriptures, everything that's ever said in the rest
of the Word of God is pertaining to right here. God doesn't change.
He never changes how He saves sinners. He never changes. He
saves them in Christ. He saves them by grace, by Christ,
through faith in Christ. Lord willing, we are going to
be seeing this man. Noah is going to be commissioned.
Next time he is going to be commissioned to build a boat. God is going
to give him exact specifications on that boat. That boat set forth
Christ. That was going to be his only
salvation. Judgment of God fell on Noah just like it did everybody
else, but Noah was in the boat. He was in Christ. But here, Almighty
God had purposed to save this one man out of all humanity. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord, and his wife, and his three sons, and their wives,
and the remnant of those animals that were in there, they were,
and here's Noah as a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, they
were preserved from the judgment of God for Noah's sake. It was
a picture of our Lord, just like we're saved from the wrath of
God for the sake of Christ. He bore. our guilt, our punishment. So here, the Lord who had eternally
purposed to save Noah, he did so before the foundation of the
world. Hold your place in Genesis and turn over to 2 Timothy 1.
2 Timothy chapter 1. Listen to this blessing. Usually
I read verse 9 only. And I'm going to read verses
1 to 10. 2 Timothy verse 1 to 10. Paul, an apostle of Jesus
Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life, which
is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace,
mercy, and peace. From God the Father in Christ
Jesus our Lord, I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers
with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of
thee in my prayers night and day. I am greatly desiring to
see thee, being mindful of thy tears that I may be filled with
joy, when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in
thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother, Lois, and thy mother,
Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also. Wherefore, I put
thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which
is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not
given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and
of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but
be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who has saved us and called us with an holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel. So here's according
to the Scriptures. When was, in the mind, will,
and purpose of Almighty God, Noah and every other vessel of
God's mercy, when were they saved? Before the foundation of the
world. But it's been made manifest in these days through the preaching
of the Gospel of God, calling them out, who has saved us and
called us. When we talk about salvation,
we've been saved. We're being saved right now,
being kept by the power of God. And we shall be saved. In that
latter day when Almighty God says unto those that He's everlastingly
loved, enter in, enter in. All you beloved of my Father,
to the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of
the world. Being found in Christ, We've got a perception of salvation. Salvation is eternal according
to God. Be found in him, loved of God.
He saw the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.
The Lord loved Noah. He loved him. He said, I have
loved thee. This is Jeremiah 31.3. Yea, I
have loved thee. He was talking to Jeremiah. But
God's not a respecter of persons. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Not because of something that
he saw in Jeremiah or something he saw in Noah. There's no good
thing in Noah himself. But the scripture declares, I
have loved thee with an everlasting Love. What does that mean? It
never began. And it never ends. I've loved
you with an everlasting. So here's Noah. Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. God is going to destroy the rest
of the world in a flood. But to Noah and his family, God
was going to preserve him not because of Noah's goodness. Because of God's mercy. Because of God's grace. God is just and men are going
to die. But God is merciful. And there's
going to be some that God is going to preserve. So, let's
remember. There's nothing in man that moves
God to bestow grace. There's nothing. There's none. God shows mercy and compassion
to whomsoever He will. So knowing that God Almighty
has mercy and compassion on whomsoever He will, I can tell you for a
fact that grace is particular. In Micah, if you want to turn
there, Micah chapter 7, Micah chapter 7 verse 18. I said grace is particular. Who is a God like unto thee that
pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever,
because he delighteth in mercy. Why would he pass by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? Because he spewed out his justice
upon the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one that the Father
made sin. He made him sin, who knew no
sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. So grace is particular. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Romans 9, 16, So then it is not
Him that willeth, that is from the heart, nor of him that runneth
with his best efforts, but God that showeth mercy. Again, God
doesn't change, so therefore, if God has mercy upon a sinner
in time, that grace is eternal. I said a moment ago, it never
started, it never ended, just like God's love. And since grace
is only found in God's eyes, the scripture says, Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. God didn't find graciousness
in Noah's eyes. Noah was in the first group that
we talked about. The every imagination group.
The only wicked group. But Noah found grace in God's
eyes, so therefore grace is sovereign. Since man is dead and trespasses
and sins and has no ability to pull himself up by his own bootstraps,
then grace is free. is free to men. It's had, the scripture says,
with no money, without price, but oh, the price of that redemption. The scripture says, Ephesians
5, 25, husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the
church and gave himself for it. Salvation, God's grace, is free
to us, but oh the price of that blessed grace. So the Lord showing
grace to Noah proves that God's always had a remnant. He's always
had a remnant in this world. The scripture bears that out.
Even now at this present time, there's a remnant. according
to the election of grace. God is going to show mercy to
that remnant. And again, Noah and his family
were spared, totally, according to the grace of God. So here's
Noah, a glorious picture of every one of the vessels of God's mercy. Noah, a glorious picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the one in whom God's people are going to
be saved and preserved. And may we, even at this evening
right now, may we just stop and consider the blessed truth that
God has mercy. He has mercy. He has grace and
compassion on whomsoever He will. But you know, I told you last
Sunday, I think, or last Wednesday or sometime, when somebody says
to me, you don't believe in whosoever will, do you? I said, oh, yes,
I do. Yes, I do. I'm telling everybody right now,
cast yourself upon the mercy of God. Come to Christ. You say, well, I don't see the
consistency in that. I said, I do. It's the declaration
of God's Word. The Spirit and the bride say
come. If anyone has a heart to come, you know why they came?
Because the Spirit made them willing in the day of God's power.
That's why they came. because God was pleased to come
to them and save in grace, remove a heart of stone and rebellion
and give them a heart of flesh and cast themselves upon God's
mercy, have mercy on me, a sinner. And the amazing thing about hearing
that, it's like that woman that had the issue of blood, a sinner,
just like any other sinner. And she comes to the Lord and
she said, if I can but touch the hem of his garment, I'm going
to be whole. And she came and touched him.
He said, who touched me? His disciples said, what do you
mean who touched you? The press, everybody's touching you. He
said, I perceive virtue has gone out of my body. In turn, he saw
the woman and he told her, he said, thy faith hath made thee
whole. The object of your faith made
you whole. Whosoever will, let him come.
God saves sovereignly. He saves on purpose. His counsel
is going to stand. Almighty God is God in heaven
and earth. Man is in need of Savior. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Lord, look upon me tonight in
grace. Lord, look on me. Have mercy
on me for your glory and the good of this poor sinner and
these sinners. Amen.