Thank you, Glenn, for reading
that. And if you want to, while you have your Bibles there, turn
them right back to chapter 6. You and I have been what I like
to refer to as gleaning in the book of Genesis. We've not been
going verse by verse, but studying some things that have been interesting
to me, and I hope to you also. The earth had been now somewhat,
maybe 2,000 years old, and wickedness had so increased that God was
determined to bring a flood and destroy mankind. And I want to
begin reading again, as I read to you last week, in the sixth
chapter, in verse 5. And God saw the wickedness of
man, that it 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
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 creep and fang and fowls of the air, for it
repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of
Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation and
walked with God. Noah walked with God. Noah begat
three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before
God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked
upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had
corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end
of all flashes come before me, for the earth is filled with
violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the
earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood, room shalt thou make in
the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch, and this
is the fashion which thou shalt make it of. The length of the
ark shall be three hundred cubits, five hundred and forty feet or
so. The breadth of the ark somewhere around 54 feet or 90 feet, and
the height, of course, 50 or 55 feet. Verse 16, A window shalt
thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it
above. The lower of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof,
where the lower, second, and third storey shalt thou make
it. And behold, I Even I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth
to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life from under
heaven, and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But
with thee will I establish my covenant, and thou shalt come
into the ark, thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy son's wife
with thee, and of every living thing of all flesh, two of every
sort, shalt thou bring into the ark to keep them alive with thee.
they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and
of cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing of the earth
after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee to
keep them alive, to take unto thee of all food, and take unto
thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee,
and it shall be food for thee and for them. Thus did Noah according
to all God commanded him. So he did. Now, over in the verses
that I just read to you, here in verse 5, we're told that God
saw the wickedness of man, that it was great in the earth, and
He said here in verse 6 that it repented Him that He had made
man and grieved Him at His heart. He was sorry. that He had made
man. Now, the question has often been
asked, what in the world does this mean? How can we understand
this? God was sorry that He had made
man. Well, it doesn't mean that God
was weak. God is not weak. God is not a
feeble God. The weakness of God is stronger
than man. It can't mean that God had changed,
for He said, I'm the Lord that changeth not. I'm the same yesterday,
today, and forever. It can't be saying that God had
failed in His purpose, because He said, I've spoken it, I will
also do it, saith the Lord. It cannot mean that God is confused
and surprised are wringing his hands, are frustrated. God is
never frustrated. They asked David, Who your God
is? And he said, My God is in heaven,
and He has done whatsoever He pleased. What are you and I to
learn from this verse 6? And it repented the Lord that
He had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. One thing we're to learn here
that God has a heart. Did you know God had a heart?
He has a heart. And it says here that His heart
can be grieved by man's sin. Now that's amazing, ain't it?
God looks upon man, He takes account of man's ways, and He's
grieved by the rebellion of His creatures. Now that's amazing
to me. that the eternal, holy, sovereign
Spirit can fill sorrow in His heart because of the rebellion
of His creatures, that is, because they've taken a course of action
that is contrary to His holiness, contrary to His commandments,
contrary to what He made them. Instead of us being so confused
about this, I think if we'll just look at it this morning
in this light, it'll help us. If God is willing to open His
heart and reveal to us how He feels, reveals unto us what's
there, then let us not question it. Let's look at it and believe
it just as it's written. And here we see in this verse,
A willingness on God's part to express His sorrow and reveal
to us His inward grief. Now He reveals to us something
of Himself that you and I often don't like to reveal about ourselves.
Sometimes when something has happened that brings us sorrow,
we try to hide it. When somebody has done something
to us that makes us grieve, we try to hide it. But ain't this
amazing that the Eternal God, the Sovereign Lord, the Ruler
of this universe, has condescended, has stooped to open up His heart
and tell us what's there. And what is it that's there?
That He can be grieved with the rebellion of His creatures. Now brothers and sisters, I count
that in God to be a great condescension. a great humbling of Himself. Instead of a weakness in Him,
instead of it demoting some change or frustration, it should serve
in us to see that this great Almighty Creator has condescended
to expose to us what's in His heart. And that should melt the
heart of stone and break the heart of the greatest rebel in
this world. Jesus wept. Ain't that what the
Scripture teaches us? Jesus wept. Who is Jesus? He's God. Brother Todd Norbert
said he just loved to say that. Jesus Christ is God. And Jesus
Christ wept. Can you imagine that? Jesus Christ
is God, and Jesus Christ wept. This stirs all kinds of emotions
in my heart when I think of this. Fear, humility, amazement. Jesus, our God, wept. You know what the Bible means
to me as I read it. You know what it says to me.
You know what the Word of God is to me as I read it. You know
what I see it to be to me. I see God stooping. I see Him humbling Himself. I
see Him condescending and breathing out words and languages, human
words, speaking in this weak and simple means to poor creatures. in a way that we can just get
a glimpse of the glory of the triune and eternal God. That's
what I see in that. When I open this Bible up and
begin to read these words, I almost get a picture of this dad that
has been over the crib of his little infant, and he's speaking
the language of that infant. Dada. Dada. And when I imagine
that the everlasting God does something like that in order
to communicate with me, you know what I see in the Bible. I see
God in heaven, humbling Himself and spanning this gulf between
the Creator and the creature. By this simple language of man,
in order to communicate with us, the Creator communicating
with a creature. And how does He do it? By this
Word. By this simple Word. The Lord is high above all the
nations, and His glory is above the heavens. who is likened to
the Lord God, that dwelleth on high, who humbleth himself." What does he humble himself to
do? To behold the things that's in heaven. But he doesn't stop
there. He humbles himself to behold
the things that's in earth. Brothers and sisters, if God
in heaven, is going to have anything to do with us, He must condescend
to us. We cannot raise ourselves up
to Him. We don't have the capacity. He
must humble Himself down to us. He that's higher than the heavens,
David said, who has to humble himself to behold the things
in heaven. And now what does He do? He humbles
Himself to behold the things that's in earth. And why does
He do that? The very next word answers that
question for us. To lift up the poor. To lift
up the poor from the dust. And to deliver the beggar, the
needy, from the dunghill. What does this verse tell us?
Well, it tells us this. God is condescending to us. to open up His heart to let us
know what's there. And how in the world can He do
it? And I would say this, with the
risk of being misunderstood, the most difficult thing God
Almighty ever did was try to communicate to creatures. How does an everlasting Creator
communicate to creatures? The only way He does it is by
these words. What does it mean when God looked
upon this earth and He said, it repenteth me that I have made
man? It simply means the sorrow of
His heart has been exposed. What does it mean when God looks
upon our sin and our rebellion and is grieved It means He can
be touched with that. He has a heart. The Lord said,
I will destroy man whom I have made. And somebody said, God
could have destroyed everybody without exception. But you know
He could not. He could not. He could not because
He would not. And He would not because He could
not, and He could not because He would not. He will not. He never has, and He never will. There's three reasons why God
brings judgment upon His creatures. First of all, He does it in regards
to His justice. God is a jealous God. He won't
be mocked long by His creatures. Therefore, He is willing to reveal
His wrath and to make His power known and repay His enemies to
their faith. And secondly, He brings judgment
as an example to others. He turned the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah into ashes and condemned them with an overthrow, making
them an example to those who should hereafter live ungodly. But God brings judgment upon
many for another reason, and that's to magnify His redeeming
grace. As you and I read verse 8 here,
if you read it slowly in its context, how it shines. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. But what makes this shine as
it does? Because of the context. It's
revealed right in the face of destruction. I will destroy man
whom I have made. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. God wasn't willing to destroy
a whole world. Not a whole world. But God was
willing to destroy almost everybody just to magnify His redeeming
grace. Salvation is never so glorious
but as we see it in the light of damnation. Eternal salvation
is never so precious in our eyes but as we view it in the light
of eternal damnation. What value would you and I place
upon mercy if justice winked at sin and counted it a trifling
thing. Listen to this. What makes the
love of God so great in your eyes? What is it that makes the
love of God in Christ so great in your eyes, but knowing this,
that He is angry with the wicked every day? What value would you
put upon the love of God if you thought He was never angry with
anybody? What is it that makes God's elect
in love so humbling to our heart, but to know He didn't include
everybody in it? What is it that makes the blood
of Christ so precious? It's to know that so many are
dying unwashed. What is it that makes the intercession
of Christ essential to us? It's because lost men are going
to hell without His intercession. What is it that makes the work
of the Holy Spirit so necessary in our eyes? It's because we
see a great host perishing, perishing all around us, and the Spirit
not working in their hearts to will and to do of God's good
pleasure. What is it that will add to the
splendor of heaven in the eyes of the saints but their knowing
there's a lake of fire filled with a lost humanity? That's
what will make heaven so precious. When I hear the wicked call for
the rocks and hills to fall, when I see them start and shrink
and in the lake of fire they sink, then Lord shall I fully
know but not till then how much I owe. God is willing that some
be given over to eternal justice, that His redeeming grace be magnified. And He sets one of these over
against the other. He sets eternal destruction over
against redeeming grace. He sets wrath over against mercy,
death over against light. The torments of hell will magnify
the rest of heaven, and the light in heaven will magnify the darkness
of hell. God Himself sets one of these
over against another one. No, God cannot destroy all men
without exception. If He did, justice would be satisfied. Justice would be glorified. But
God is more than just a God of justice, brothers and sisters.
He's the Father of mercies. He's the God of all grace. He's
a God who has compassion. And therefore, these things also
must be magnified. These are attributes that cannot
be sealed up in the bosom of God. They must find a way to
vent themselves. Mercy and grace and compassion
must find a way to make their true natures known. So how do
they do that? They follow justice alone. Mercy
follows justice. And justice brings in its verdict
of guilt. And wrath has been pronounced. And destruction is ready to come. And then grace comes in and says,
now I'll get myself a great name. Then mercy speaks and says, now
I'll be glorified. And then compassion says, now
they'll praise me. If God destroyed all without
exception, how could He reveal His chief glory? And what is
God's chief glory? It's His redeeming grace. The
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. What is that glory? Whatever
it is, He was willing for us to see it. He was willing for
us to look upon it and behold it and know it. What is that
glory that we see in the Lord Jesus Christ made flesh? He's
full of grace. That's it. He's full of grace
and truth. They that are whole need not
a physician, but they that are sick. Go learn what that means. I will have mercy. I will have compassion upon whom
I will. I will be gracious to whom I
will. Look at the wills. I will have mercy. I will be
gracious. I will have compassion. I will. I will. I will. You take God's
will away from Him, and He is no God. But that will never happen. As long as there is a God, God
will have a will. And as long as God will have
a will, mercy will have a vent. And grace will have a door. And
compassion will have eyes. And this earth will know the
salvation of the Lord when justice says, I will destroy. Grace says,
I will save my Noah's, and I'll be glorified. God sends His judgment that in
that dark cloud, the rainbow of grace shines. Judgment fell
upon Adam and Eve. It fell upon the serpent. They were driven from the garden,
and there they are walking out with eyes cast down to the ground,
and there are countenance of sinners. We see the justice of
God, but we see the grace of God, because they left there
with a promise. The Messiah is coming. The seed
of the woman is coming. You see the morning sky lit up
as it rains fire from heaven and destroys the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah. Eternal vengeance fell upon them.
But out there walking up that hill, you see the grace of God.
Lot and his two daughters. And here the Lord comes to Noah
and says, I'll destroy a man whom I have made. And the waters
begin to rise. And the judgment of God falls,
and all breath dies. It leaves the man. And there
you see God's justice and how dark it is. But upon the face
of those waters, you see the grace of God. Those eight people
in the ark, saved. And there's where God gets Hisself
a great name and His grace. It's always seen. when it shines
with that dark cloud of justice behind it. I will destroy, but
Noah found grace. Here we see in verse 8, Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and that simply means he's
going to be saved. Noah and all his family. But
the only means of salvation was this ark. And Noah knew that. Noah knew that. God had revealed
it to him. In Hebrews 11 and 7, by faith,
Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear,
preparing the ark to the saving of his house. He believed the
only means of salvation from this awful flood was in this
ark. Everybody outside the ark going
to die. Only those inside the ark would
be kept alive. Nothing else mattered. If you
was in the ark, you would live. If you were outside the ark,
you would die. It doesn't matter who you were. It didn't matter
what position you held. It didn't matter what you had
done or what you hadn't done. The issue was those who are in
the ark are saved. Those who are outside the ark
shall perish under the judgment of God. And we're told there
that Brother Glenn read to us in chapter 7, verse 17 through
23, of the awful destruction that had come. And he said there
in verse 21 and verse 22, all flesh died that was upon the
earth, fowls and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth, and every man, all in whose nostrils
was the breath of life. of all that was in the dry land
died. And verse 23 in the last portion
said they were all destroyed from the earth and Noah only
remained alive and they that were with him in the earth. Only
place, only place. As I read this, this past week
my heart was sort of gripped as I read this and imagined what
this must have been like. this destruction. I remember
what it had been two years ago or three years ago when the tsunami
came there in Southeast Asia. 250 million people were swept
away by that giant wave. What a devastation that was when
we watched it on our TVs. Can you imagine being nowhere
here and you knew what was coming? Just put yourself in his position
if you can and imagine what he thought. Imagine how he felt. He knew what was coming. You
and I can read this account because it's history now. These other
people didn't believe it, but Noah believed it. You and I read
it. He experienced it. Can you imagine
how he felt? knowing what was coming, and
knowing the only sure place was in this ark. If he didn't get
in there, if his family didn't get in there, every one of them
was going to perish. God would not spare them or anyone
else, but as they were in this ark. He had already told Noah here,
I will destroy man whom I have made. And he tells Noah then
in the 6th chapter to build him an ark, gives him all the blueprints.
And then here in chapter 6 and verse 17, he reiterates once
again the judgment. Can you imagine how Noah felt? Would he get this ark built? Would he be able to finish it
in time? All the sorrow, all the doubts,
all the mocking. Never had rain before. Nobody
had ever built an ark before. And when he got it built, would
he be able to enter it with his family? And if he did, would
they be kept alive? Would this ark that he made be
sufficient to endure such a flood? Would he be safe in it? Knowing
us as I do, all kinds of questions and doubts arose in this man's
mind. He had a task before him. 120
years he worked on this ark. Can you imagine then when we
come to chapter 6 and verse 18 how these precious words must
have encouraged and comforted his soul? God said this when
He had reiterated the judgment that all breath that was in men
was going to leave it, God was going to destroy, they were all
going to die. And then verse 18, He speaks these words to
Noah. But with thee will I establish my covenant. Oh, what a blessing this must
have been. I'm going to establish my covenant with you. You know
what this word means. It means to cut. Cutting. To cut. A covenant. It's where
we get this phrase that we hear sometimes today, cut a deal.
We often hear it between the prosecutor and a criminal. The
prosecutor cut him a deal. It don't mean very much in our
day. It almost seems irreverent to use it. But when God says
it, It means something. When God said, Noah, I'm going
to cut you a deal, it meant something to Noah. I'm going to make you
a promise. I'm going to make a deal with
you. And what is it? It has to do with two things.
First of all, look at this. In verse 18, here's the deal
I'm going to make with you, Noah. Now look at this. And thou shalt come into the
ark. Isn't that wonderful? Now how
would you feel if you were there working on this ark? And all the doubts and the fears
and the anxiety, knowing what you're going to face in the world,
and the Lord comes to you and He says, I assure you this much,
you're going to come into the ark. Oh, wouldn't that have been
comforting? You're coming in. Noah went to work on that ark
with the assurance that this covenant blessing was sure. You
shall come. Every board he cut. Every nail
he nailed. Every time he got him a load
of pitch and put on the inside and outside of that ark. Every
moment he worked upon that ark. He worked with this assurance.
You shall come into this heart. Our Lord Jesus found so much
comfort in the covenant of grace that the Father had made with
Him. He is preaching to those in chapter 6 of John one day,
and He said, you've heard of Me, and you've even seen Me,
but you don't believe on Me. You won't come to Me. And then
he turned right around and he made this statement that must
have been so confident to him, but he said, though you won't
come, you have no interest in me, but he said, all the Father
gives to me, they shall come to me. And that's the confidence
that I can preach to you with this morning. You may be here
this morning, dear soul, and you've never come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. But I can assure you of this
one thing, if you aren't an elect soul, you may have never come
up until now. But there's coming a time when
you shall come. The Lord Jesus takes great comfort
in that, and I as a preacher take great comfort in that, just
as Noah must have took great comfort in that. You have not
come up until now. But just as sure as the covenant
of grace is ordered in all things, and is sure, you shall come."
There's coming a day when you'll be awakened just like Noah was.
You'll fear, just like he did, of the coming destruction. And
just like Noah, it'll be said, you're coming to Christ. You
shall come. That's what that covenant assured
him of. You're coming. You're coming. Thou shalt come. Would he really come into the
ark? Was this covenant sure? God said, I'm going to cut you
a deal. You're coming. Well, look in chapter 7 that
Brother Glenn read to us, and look in verse 1. And the Lord
said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark."
What is this? It's a fulfillment of that covenant
promise. You shall come. So what happens? Well, there comes a day when
the Lord calls him and says, Come on now. Come on now. And what else does it assure
him of? Look in verse 7 of chapter 7. And Noah went in. And Noah went in. The Lord Jesus says, All the
Father gives to Me, they shall come to Me. And then He turns
right around and says, The Holy Spirit shall call them. No man
can come to Me except My Father draw him." But then they'll come. All who has heard and learned
of the Father, He comes to Me. He comes to Me. That's the first
thing. This covenant that God made with
Noah secured Noah's coming into the ark. The covenant that God
made with His Son, that everyone that He had given to His Son,
they're coming. They're coming to Christ. And
secondly, look at this. Here's something else He said
in this covenant. Not only that thou shalt come,
but look in verse 19 of chapter 6. And of every living thing
of all flesh, two of every sort, thou shalt bring unto the ark,
To keep them alive with Thee. What did it assure them of? Life. Life. Why was this so important? Well, the Lord wanted Noah to
know, I'm not putting you in that ark to kill you. Whatever you have to suffer,
you know this. I'm putting you in that ark to
preserve you, to preserve your life." That meant something to
Noah. When they went into that ark
and God shut him in and they heard the waters begin to roll
and the thunders were rolling and lightning flashing, would
this ship go up? Is this thing going to float?
What's going to happen to us? Everybody else is going to be
destroyed. What's going to happen to us? The Lord said, I'm going
to make you a covenant, Noah, and the covenant is this, you
shall live. You ain't going to die. Noah was in this prison. He was
in this prison. But in this prison, he had the
assurance. He had a covenant promise. You
shall not die. There's two prisons we're told
about in Noah's day. Two prisons. In 1 Peter 3, verse
19, we're told about the spirits of the lost, that they were in
prison. Christ went through Noah, and
He preached to the lost people in His day, and He said, here's
the condition of those lost people. They're in a prison. In a prison
of sin that they can't get out of. And they died there in that
prison of sin. You think a man has a free will?
He's in a prison of sin. And God has to deliver him out
of that prison. And here, secondly, Noah and
his family was in a prison because we are told in verse 16 of chapter
7 that God shut him in. That means God shut him up. God closed him in. God shut him
in. He is in a prison. Which prison
you would have been in? You would have been in that prison
of sin and darkness. You would have been in this prison
of the ark. The Scripture tells us that the
believer is dead and his life is hid with Christ in God. He's in a prison. And he cries
out from his soul, who shall deliver me from this body of
death? He's dead and he's hid. And he can't get out. You can't get out of Christ.
Where are you going if you got out? What's out there? The wrath of God. Destruction. And you sure can't get out of
this prison of this body. Who shall deliver me from this
prison, this body of death? It's a present prison. And we
long to be free from it. And we hear the Scripture say,
Turn to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. What is a stronghold? Turn to the stronghold, ye prisoners
of hope. It's God's purpose. It's God's
purpose. It's the Lord's promises. When
darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale,
our anchor holds within the veil. His oath, His covenant, His blood
support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. Here these eight people
were shut up in this prison. And don't you think that covenant
promise was the only hope and assurance they found? I put you
here to preserve you. I put you here to spare your
life. What is God's purpose in putting
us in Christ? To someday glorify us. We're
waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. We're waiting
for the top to be taken off the ark. when Christ who is our life shall
appear. Then, but not till then, shall
we appear with Him in glory. Now we're waiting. Now we're
hoping. Shut up! In Christ! Oh, but we're
waiting for the glorious liberty of the children of God. Don't you feel like that? Don't
you feel like you're in a prison? You are. You are. God has put you in Christ and
He shut you in there. And all you can do right now
is wait and hope. And you cry with John, come Lord
Jesus, come and set me free. I long for the glorious liberty. I long to see you as you are
and be like you. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
descends from heaven with a shout, you know what His people are
going to say? This is our God. We've waited for Him. He shut
us up in this prison of grace. We've waited for Him. And now
He's come to deliver us and to make us like Himself. Come, my
people, enter thou into thy chambers. the chambers of everlasting love,
an immutable covenant, unfailing promises, a sure redemption,
and shut thy doors about thee, and hide thyself, as it were,
for a little moment, until his indignation be overpassed." Hide
yourself. Our Lord is coming. Our Lord
is coming. And then when He destroys this
earth, our glorified eyes will be opened upon a new world wherein
dwelleth righteousness. Lord, bring it to pass. Let's
pray.