I'm gonna be in Genesis chapter
six. Genesis chapter six. I wanna
begin reading in verse five. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 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 repented me that I have made them. Here comes three-letter
word, one of the most important words you'll ever read. But,
but. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Now I'm just gonna stop right
there. There was a fella who wrote,
this was in one of Tim James' bulletins. He wrote what he thought
the most important things he had learned. And he wrote down
three things. The first one is this. God is
more holy than I ever thought. The second thing is this, I am
more sinful than I ever feared. And the third one is I am love
beyond all that I know. I agree wholeheartedly, those
are great things. And I wish everybody knew them,
but they don't. But as of reading this scripture
here, I wanna add one more. God's grace in Christ Jesus is
more gracious and merciful than I know, than I can truly know
right now. But what I want to preach on
today is Noah found grace. Noah found grace. First of all,
before I get too far into anything, here, Noah is actually a picture
of Christ. In this account of Noah, we will
see the Lord Jesus Christ in this fact. A, the earth is full
of wickedness and there is grace given to Noah. There is grace
in Noah. And the only ones that are saved
in this account, in this true account of the ark and Noah and
the Lord are the family of Noah. And that's it. Noah, his wife,
his three sons, and their wives are the only ones spared from
this flood. That's it. Now, you want to argue
whether the flood occurred and all that stuff? Go right ahead,
argue all you want. I'm not going to argue with you. You either believe God or you
don't. I mean, that's just all there is to it. I understand
how it's hard to imagine this. It's OK. It happened. But here it is. No one survived
outside of the ark. No one survived but Noah and
his family. Because here's the thing. In
this account, there is no survival outside the ark. And there's
no one in the ark except Noah, his family, and God, God. Because God was there and he
said, come into the ark. He didn't tell Noah to go in
and I'm gonna be outside. He said, no, come into the ark.
Now, and as far as we are told, this is all we know. There was
no grace for anyone outside of the ark in the eyes of the Lord. in the eyes of the Lord. And
here's the thing, Jesus Christ is the head of his family. He's
the head of the body, his body. And no one without Christ will
survive. That's it. There is no salvation
outside of the family of God. Period. So in this we see Noah
as a type of Christ. But let me be clear. because
I have heard this in times past. The scripture is not saying,
not saying, that Noah went out and hunted down Grace. It's not
that Grace was out there and Noah went and found it. That's
not what he's saying. That's not what this scripture
means. I know that's the way we talk now, but that's not the
way this means. It's not what it says. Because
here's the point. Grace is never found in the sense
of Noah having to find it. It never speaks of grace in that
way. Now I do know, in the next verse, it says these are the
generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect
in his generations. And, here's a glorious thing,
Noah walked with God. Noah walked with God. But that
isn't said until after. It says Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord The order is very particular and it's very
important And let me tell you folks that's grace that's grace When the Lord said The wickedness
of man was great on the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually That's
me. That's me. That was Noah. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. That's why it says but. You understand, you're going
from this one thought to another thought. You use the conjunction
but. Why? Because something's gonna
change. And it did. Oh, I like that. It was said only after Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. And here's the thing, here's
what this means. that the Lord looked at Noah,
but not only that, he looked at Noah without condemnation. Without condemnation. That's
grace. You understand? If God can look
at you and not condemn you, it's not only your doing, it's the
thoughts. Evil thoughts. The imagination
of man is on what? Wicked. God saw the wickedness,
the thoughts of men, their imaginings, and what did he say about it?
He said it was evil continually, continually. And it grieved him
at his heart. Because why? Sin grieves the
Lord. He's the offended party. Sin
is against God. Now yes, it could be considered
against me or against you, but that's not the point. We're talking
about what God says. And when God looked at Noah,
he saw grace. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Noah may not have found grace
in the eyes of men, it doesn't matter. It's not gonna do you
any good. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord because grace, first and foremost, is in the eyes
of the Lord. It matters what God sees, not
what you and I see. And the Lord looked upon Noah,
at Noah, in grace. It is in the eyes, the sight
of the Lord, in the sight of the Lord, that grace is found. and nowhere else. You wanna know
why? Because the Lord has all the
grace. All the grace. Psalms 103 verse
eight says this. The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. Psalms 111 verse four
says this. He hath made his wonderful works
to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion. Full of compassion. Psalms 116
and verse five says this. Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Righteous. I am a just God and
a savior. Gracious is the Lord and righteous,
yea, our God is merciful. Merciful. Psalm 145 verse eight. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy. Oh my, the Lord is gracious.
To expand just a little bit upon it, just for a second. The Lord
is the source of all grace. There is no grace outside of
the Lord. All true grace, all gracious,
merciful compassion comes from the Lord. Specifically, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the fountain of all grace.
If you want to take a look, Look at John chapter one. I'm gonna
go ahead and put this in here. John chapter one, and I've got
written down verse 14. Well, let me get back
to John chapter one. John chapter one. and the word
was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. John bare witness of him and
cried, saying, this was he of whom I spake, he that cometh
after me is preferred before me, that's John the Baptist,
for he was before me. 16. and of his fullness have all
we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. I'm gonna tell you something,
if that's true now, if that's true 2,000 years ago, it was
true in the day of Noah. You understand? Moses saw my
day and was glad. What did Moses saw? Moses saw
a day of grace. Moses saw the grace of God in
Jesus Christ. And what was it? He was glad.
He rejoiced. Oh, the word of Jesus Christ
is full of grace and truth. He is the source of all grace. Grace came by Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Well, when
it says Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, it is Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ. I fully believe
that. Because here it is, the Lord
Jesus Christ looked upon Noah in grace, in grace, in mercy. Acts 15 and 11 says this, but
we believe, that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
we shall be saved, even as they. What? We are saved by the Lord
Jesus Christ by his grace. By his grace. Because there is
no other salvation. And here's the thing, there never
has been any other salvation. Noah was saved by grace. Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. There is no other salvation,
not even for Noah. Of course, I might as well go. It's gonna come up, I'm sure. Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians
chapter two, verses four through eight. But God, who is rich in
mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. Then there's that little parentheses
that are all love, the five words. What's it say? By grace, ye are
saved. By grace, ye are saved. Oh, I
like that. Salvation has always been by
grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. God loved us with his great love,
even when we were dead in trespasses and sins. We were dead, and let's
make no, don't make any bones about it, we were dead in trespasses
and in sins. We didn't know God, we didn't
want God, we certainly didn't love God, because we didn't know
God. And that's the way of every human
being until Jesus Christ finds you He loved us rich in his great
grace and his mercy he loved his people and let's be clear
We are quickened together with Jesus Christ and nowhere else
Life is him he is life He's not only our life. He is life itself. He's the source of all life as
well as the source of all grace and We were dead and we are made
alive. That's what the word quickens
means. Quickened, made alive with Christ and in Jesus Christ. Oh, I like that. And Paul emphasized,
put those little parentheses there. By grace are you saved. By grace are you saved. Oh, I
like that. But he didn't stop there and
hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might show
the exceeding riches of of his what grace in His kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus for by grace are ye saved through faith
and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God Now where's
this grace come from this faith comes from? not of works, not
of works, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we
are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Oh, I like that. This is what
it means to have found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This
is what it means. Salvation, grace is of, it is
from the Lord. Salvation is from the Lord. And it's the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and truth came by him,
and right now to this day, it still comes by him. There's a coming of the day,
he told them. The time is now. times now, the hours now, times
now, that those that are dead, and he's talking about in trespasses
and in sin, dead, spiritually, they're gonna hear the voice
of the Son of God, and those that hear that, those that hear
him, they shall live. They shall live. And that's what
it means to have found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Oh,
I like that. Grace and truth came by him.
We are saved by grace. By grace are ye saved. Ah, it's
good stuff. Understand, grace is given. Grace is given by Jesus Christ
to his people in his time. His time. Well, James four and verse six
says this. but he giveth more grace. Oh, I like that, too. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Now, you wanna say
something about the humble? Trust me, before he gives you
grace, he's gonna humble you. As a matter of fact, him humbling
you is grace. You understand, he came to save
sinners. If you're not a sinner, if you don't think you're a sinner,
if you don't know you're a sinner, you got no claim. You gotta fit
the description. God's grace is his to give to
whom he will. It says that in the Old Testament.
Told Moses, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I
will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. Who's making the decisions? Not
you, not me, God. God is making the decision, it's
his will. God's grace is his to give to
whom he will, and he gives to those that, what? He's humbled,
he's humbled. That's what it means to find
grace in the eyes of the Lord. I was looking at this, Walter,
and I was looking at Robert Hawker's commentary, and he had, and that
was for Genesis 6, 8. He had a, what I thought was
kind of a strange reference until I read it, because I had to look.
He had an interesting reference to his Genesis 6, 8 in his commentary. He wrote of Noah as a type of
the blessed Jesus Christ. But then he wrote this. Is not the finding of him talking
about Christ finding of Noah in the grace and favor here spoken
of in John chapter 1 and verse 43 So I went and looked at it
John 1 and verse 43 says this the day following Jesus would
go forth into Galilee and Findeth Philip and saith unto him Not
only did he find Philip, saith unto him, here's what he said,
follow me. That's all he said. And you know
what happened? Philip got up and followed Christ. And then went and told Nathanael
about it. Philip got up and followed Christ. That was it. And I'm
gonna tell you this right here. Philip found grace in the eyes
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Right then and right there. Just
like Noah did. just like Noah. You know, how did this happen?
Well, Jesus Christ found Philip. The good shepherd is gonna find
every one of his lost sheep. And he's gonna call them by name. And, and, here's the gracious
part even better, they follow me. They follow me. No questions,
no doubts, no requests. He said, they'll follow me. And
you know what they do? The sheep, his sheep follow their
shepherd, the good shepherd. Oh, I like that. Because right
here, Robert Hawker was right. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
was given to Philip. Oh, I like that. Now, and here's
the thing. I don't know if there was any
others around Philip at that time. I don't know who was there
or who wasn't there. And here's the thing, it doesn't
matter. Jesus Christ was speaking to Philip right then and there.
And that's the only person he was speaking to. And Philip followed
him. Oh, I like that, I do. What does
it say? Here's a tough one. Isaiah 30,
verse 18. And therefore will the Lord Therefore
will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you. And therefore
will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you. For the
Lord is a God of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait
for him. I'm gonna tell you something.
We have our timetables. We have what we want, and we
want it now. That's usually the way we are.
But listen, God does what he wants, when he wants. God saves
his people in his good time. And he calls them by name, and
you know what? They follow him. They follow
him. What did Noah do? Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. What did Noah do? He built an
ark. It's what God told him to do.
What did Noah do? Noah followed the Lord. It says here, these are the generations
of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect
in his generations, and Noah walked with God. Oh, that's a beautiful statement.
I wish I could say that about me. Noah walked with God, why? Because Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. That's it. By grace, ye are saved. We are saved by grace, through
faith, and that none of ourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of
works! because we would boast if it
was of works. But we are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. Oh, I like that. That's what
it means to find grace in the eyes of the Lord. Oh. I am No, I'm not gonna do that. Let's
just remember. Remember the pit from which you're
digged. But don't go back. Don't go back. He's put your feet on a rock
and that's where we're to stay. He's lifted my feet out of the
miry clay and planted my feet on the rock. Stay there and praise
his holy name. Our Father, we're thankful again
for this time and this place. For your, most of all, Lord,
your son, who came and gave himself an offering for our sin, for
our iniquity, for our transgressions, for our failures and falsehoods
and our unbelief, Lord. Thank you so much for you are
a just God and a savior and you righteously punished your own
son and freed us. Lord. Oh, we know without shedding
of blood, there is no remission, no freedom, but Lord, we have
also been told in your word that with the shedding of his blood,
There is freedom. There is remission. In Christ
Jesus name we pray. Amen.