I have entitled the message for
this morning, Sin and Grace. Now, I'd like to read these first
nine verses together and keep that in mind as we consider this,
sin and grace. Verse 1, And it came to pass,
when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters
were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters
of men, that they were fair. And they took them wives of all
which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit
shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh
yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were
giants in the earth in those days, and also after that when
the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they
bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were
of old, men of valor, men of renown. 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'd 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. 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 generations. And Noah walked with God. Sin and grace. It takes grace to understand
sin. And it's only those who understand
sin who understand grace. Now, let me repeat that. I want
you to chew on that. It takes grace to understand
sin. Now, you can understand the consequences
of sin and the terrible things sin creates without grace. All
of us have experienced it to one degree or another. But it
takes grace to understand sin. And it's only those who understand
sin that understand grace. Now, this message that I'm going
to bring is a summary of the message of the entire Bible. brought into one message, and
I hope you'll see that by the end of this message. Sin. Remember, I entitled this message
Sin and Grace. In the human experience, sin
began with Adam. Remember Romans chapter 5 verse
12, by one man sin entered the world. That's where it came from.
By one man, sin entered the world and death by sin. So death passed
upon all men, me and you, because all have sinned. When Adam sinned,
we sinned. Now, when he's talking about
that death, Now, one man sinned and entered the world in death
by sin. He's not really talking about
PHYSICAL death, although that is included. He's talking about
SPIRITUAL death. And that was demonstrated in
Adam. What happened after Adam ate
of the fruit? Well, the first thing that's
pointed out is they knew they were naked. They were naked BEFORE
this, and it was not an issue. But it is now. SOMETHING has
happened. It's called spiritual death. He quickly made a covering of
fig leaves to cover his nakedness, representing salvation by WORKS,
and he HID from God's presence. He didn't want to be around God
anymore. He DISLIKED God. He feared God, and this is not
talking about the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning
of wisdom. This is a slavish fear and dislike of God. After he fell, there's no confession
of sin. There's no asking for forgiveness.
There's no asking for mercy. As a matter of fact, all he was
is a victim. The woman that you gave me, SHE
gave me of the fruit, and I did eat. He put all the blame on
God. Now, that is an ILLUSTRATION of spiritual death. That's where sin began. Look in chapter 5, verse 3, And
Adam lived an hundred and thirty years. Now, remember, Adam was
made in the likeness and image of God. And Adam lived an hundred
and thirty years, and he begat a son in HIS own likeness. with
the same fallen, sinful nature. He begat a son just like HIM,
and He called His name Seth. Look in chapter 6, verse Now, let me remind you before
we look at this passage of Scripture, because I think this will be
helpful in understanding this. How many people have not read
that Genesis 6 with the sons of God and the daughters of men,
and thought, Man, that's bizarre. What in the world does that mean?
And we just kind of move on. Well, God the Holy Spirit revealed
this for a purpose, and it DOES mean something. Now, you'll remember
there was Cain And then Abel was killed, and Seth was raised
up in his place, and that's when men began to call upon the name
of the Lord. So we have the two lines, Cain, salvation by works. Isn't that what he represents?
He comes into God's presence, bringing an offering of fruit,
not what God commanded. Abel came by the blood, Cain
killed him. Seth is raised up in his place.
Seth is a part of calling upon the name of the Lord. When he
was born, then began men to call upon the name of the Lord, and
there was a division between men at this time. There was the
line of Seth. Those who CLAIMED to call upon
the name of the Lord, they made a distinction, and Cain Now,
remember that as we look at this passage of Scripture. And it
came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the
earth, sinners began to multiply, and daughters were born unto
them. And the sons of God saw the daughters
of men, that they were fair, and they took them wives of all
which they chose. Now, if you would read commentaries
on this, A lot of commentaries have the sons of God as being
angels because of Job chapter 1, when the sons of God met before
God, they were angels, and they said, Well, these are angels,
as well. There's a couple of big problems
with that. Number one, angels and men mating
and having kind of a hybrid creature that ends up being a giant? Well,
there's a couple of problems with that. For one thing, you
remember when the Lord talked about the children of resurrection,
how they're neither married or are given in marriage, but are
as the angels of God? That kind of stuff doesn't go
on with angels. And 10 times in that first chapter, we read,
after his kind, after his kind. So this is not angels mating
with women and producing some kind of hybrid race of giants. This is talking about Seth and
Cain. The sons of God were called the
line of Seth. The sons of Cain were the men. And they mixed together. They mixed together, and it was
all based upon the flesh. The sons of God looked at the
daughters of men that they were fair. All they looked upon was
the outward appearance. And they came together, and this
represents the mixing of grace and works. This is what this
is about. It's the mixing of grace and
works, and that's the ultimate sin anyway, isn't it? That's
what this world does. That's what Cain does. Seth,
the sons of Seth, all they looked upon was the appearance, that
which was appealing to the flesh, and they chose whom they would. They acted on this, and they
chose these women that they thought were attractive to them, and
we have here the mixing of works and grace. Verse 3, And the LORD
said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, I'm not going
to put up with this forever, for that he also is flesh, yet
his day shall be a hundred twenty years. That's talking about the
time that Noah would build the ark before God destroyed all
flesh. Verse 4, There were giants in
the earth in those days, and it might have been men like Goliath
that were ten feet tall. But it also, I think, means giants
in wickedness, giants in evil. There were giants in the earth
in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came
unto the daughters of men, they bare to them children, the same
became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown, renown
for wickedness is what that's a reference to, because if you
go on reading, you're going to see that's what he's talking
about when God makes this observation. Verse 5, And God saw, now, centuries
have passed since Adam and God saw that the wickedness of man
was great in the earth. These men of renown, these men
of old, their wickedness was great in the earth and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now listen to me real carefully.
This is one of the most important verses in the Bible. The whole
Bible is understood in the context of this statement with regard
to men. And there is no understanding
of grace where this is not received and where this is not believed. But what it says, God saw. You know, the Lord is the only
one who sees things as they are. You and I don't. We don't see
things as they are. We make a shot at it, but we
don't. But God sees things as they are. You believe that? What God sees, not what you and
I see. What God sees is the way it really
is. And God saw. This is not man's
testimony. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every, every, Imagination. He's not even talking yet about
the deeds. He's talking about the thoughts
that go through the mind, the intents, the inclinations, the
motives. Every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil, non-stop. Look down in verse 11 of chapter
six. And the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was
FILLED with VIOLENCE and CRUELTY. And God looked upon the earth,
and behold, it was CORRUPT! For ALL flesh, no one is excluded
from this, ALL flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God
said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for
the earth is filled with violence through them. And behold, I will
destroy the earth. Now, every imagination, and this
is God's description of you. This is God's description of
me. Every. No exceptions, every. Imagination,
everything that passes through our mind of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually, non-stop. And this is why the scripture
says the plowing of the wicked is sin. I mean plowing seems
like a wholesome activity, doesn't it? Go out and plow the ground,
maybe to make food for poor people and give it away, and that seems
wholesome enough. I can't think of anything that
seems more wholesome than going out and plowing the ground to
make food. The plowing of the wicked is
sin. That's what the Bible refers to as total
depravity. Every, somebody says a total
depravity in the Bible, not those words, but boy, the doctrine
is, the doctrine is. It means every faculty of man,
his intellect, his affections, his will, his conscience is under
the dominion and control of sin. People talk about free will.
There isn't anything more ludicrous and ridiculous in all the world. Everything about man is under
the dominion of sin. I don't become a sinner when
I sin. I sin because that's what I am,
a sinner. Somebody who's every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually. Now
this says, several things about me and you. It says, first of
all, that all I do is sin. Every, that's God's testimony.
Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually. The heart, the scripture says,
is desperately wicked, deceitful above all things. Who can know
it? This tells me that I cannot not sin. Every imagination,
thoughts of an art is only evil continually. And you know, this sin I'm talking
about is all my fault. Look at verse 12 once again.
And God looked upon the earth and behold, it was corrupt for
all flesh had corrupted his way. My sin's all my fault. I can't
blame it on God. I can't blame it on God's sovereignty.
My wickedness is my fault. And because of my sin, anytime
I look in judgment on anybody else about anything, I'm practicing
hypocrisy. That's all it is. I don't have
the room to be judgmental toward anybody upon any subject because
of who I am and because of my heart. And I have no claims on
God. If He leaves me to myself and
lets me drop to hell, holy and reverend is His name. And I can't change the reality
of Genesis chapter 6 verse 5. This describes me. And you know
what the proof of that is? The cross. I can't look to myself
and get all this figured out. I mean, I'll look at other people. I'll look at myself, then I'll
look at somebody else and say, at least I'm not like that, or at least I'm not
that bad, or I'm better than that person. Maybe if I did a
little bit more, I could get up to that. I'm not asking you
to look within yourself to find the truthfulness of this testimony.
The cross is the truthfulness of this testimony. The cross. Here's where me and you are.
That's what we would do if the restraints were taken away and
God left us to ourselves. The cross is the truth with regard
to me and you. Verse six, Genesis chapter six,
verse six. And he repented the Lord that
he'd made man on the earth. And it grieved him in his heart
when he saw this wickedness of man. And the Lord said, I'll
destroy man whom I've created from the face of the earth, both
man and beast, and the creeping things and the fowls of the air,
for it repenteth me that I made him. Now, this is language given
to accommodate our weakness. our humanness. Scripture points out God is immutable. He's not a man that he should
repent. He never changes his mind. I
am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
I'm so thankful for the immutability of God. But the Lord is giving
us some insight into his heart. He wasn't indifferent about the
sinfulness and wickedness of man and grieved him in his heart.
He said, I've repented that I made him. Look what he's become. Now
God knew what he would become, but this was all a part of God's
purpose. And this language is given to accommodate our weakness. And let us know what's in God's
heart. He was grieved in his heart at the sinfulness and the
great wickedness of men, violence and cruelty covering the earth.
He saw this and he was not pleased. He was grieved at his heart,
but verse eight, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And that word, but, I'm so thankful
for that. Now, nobody is excluded from
this Genesis chapter six, verse five, including Noah. There is
none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understands.
There's none that seeketh after God. They've all gone out of
the way. They've together become unprofitable. There's none that
doeth good. No, not one, including Noah. And this is very important. I
was amazed in some of the commentaries I read in preparing this message. And they talked about Noah, like
verse 9. These are the generations of
Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in the generations. And
Noah walked with God. And they said, well, that's relatively,
he was just better than everybody else. But obviously he was a
sinner. He sinned. And so that's relative. No, that's
not relative. I hope we'll understand this
as we go on. But the point is, did Noah somehow escape this?
And it was, he was not that bad. And that's why God spared him.
That's the way most people look at it. If that's the case, Me
and you are without hope. And salvation really is by works
and not by grace, if that is the case. But it doesn't say
Noah was a cut above the rest of mankind, but Noah found grace. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. What's that look like? And you,
Colossians 221, and you that were sometimes alienated, and
enemies in your mind, enemies to God by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to
present you holy and unblameable and unreproachable in his sight. Now that's what it is to find
grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Noah was included in what God
saw in verse 5, but look what grace did. Verse 9, Noah was
a JUST man. That is the word that's generally
translated righteous. As a matter of fact, it is translated
righteousness, righteous in Genesis chapter seven, verse one, he
was a just man and perfect. That word means without blemish,
without blemish, without sin. When God saw this man, he saw
a man who was righteous and holy. Look in chapter seven, verse
one, And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into
the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me, before me. And remember, God doesn't say,
I'm going to treat you like you were righteous. He said, no,
you you're righteous before me. And that said actually to every
believer. Now, There is no understanding of
grace without an understanding of verse five. And when you understand
verse five, you understand grace. Now, I'm going to make seven
statements with regard to the grace of God. Seven statements. And all of these statements go
together. If you leave out one of them,
it's not the grace of God. Whatever else you might call
it, it's not the grace of God. And we can see all of these in
the person of Noah. Seven statements regarding the
grace of God. Now here's my first statement.
The grace of God is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Be kind, Ephesians 4, 32, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another even as God for, anybody know the rest
of the verse? For Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. He didn't forgive you because
of anything you did. He didn't forgive you because you asked
for forgiveness. He didn't forgive you because of some reformation
in your life, how you promised to always be better and I won't
commit that sin anymore. Okay, he'll forgive, no, no.
God for Christ's sake. Only reason that's needed. Christ's. Turn with me, hold your finger
there in Genesis 6, and turn with me to Ephesians chapter
1. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who HATH blessed us, not He will
IF. He hath. Got that? He hath. Somebody says I'm blessed. I
hear that a lot. Well, I hope you are. But if
God's blessed you, you are blessed. He hath blessed us with how many
spiritual blessings? All spiritual blessings. In heavenly places, in Christ. You see, every blessing God has
to give is in Christ. God's grace is in Christ Jesus. You go on reading the remainder
of this chapter and you'll see to what extent that is, where
it's according as He has chosen us in Him, accepted in Him, on
and on, forgiven in Him. But God's blessing, God's mercy.
Paul said to Timothy, Be STRONG in the grace that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. I love what Brother Mahan always
said, God will not speak to nor be spoken to apart from Jesus
Christ. All of God's grace is in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Second statement. Now remember,
I'm giving you seven statements, and all of these statements are
absolutely necessary for it to be God's grace. First, God's grace is in Christ
Jesus. The second statement is this,
God's grace is eternal. God's grace is eternal. One of these days I'm going to
Get into genealogy. I plan on it. I want to find
out about how noble my roots are and all the kings and stuff
that came out of me. I'm going to study it. But you
know, if you get into genealogy, if you shake your family tree
long enough, Adam's going to fall out. And we're all the same.
We're all the same. But if I trace the genealogy
of the grace I've experienced, it better end up in eternity,
or it's not the grace of God. according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. He saved us, Paul
said in II Timothy 1 and 9, and called us with a 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. Paul said to the Thessalonians,
we're bound to thank God always for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Come ye blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. God's grace is eternal. If you have grace now, it's because
you've ALWAYS had grace in God's purpose. Now, if it's not found
in eternity, it's NOT the grace of God. Whatever else it is,
it's NOT the grace of God. God's grace is eternal BEFORE,
he said, BEFORE I formed thee in the belly, I knew God's grace is in Christ. God's
grace is eternal. And listen to this. God's grace
is sovereign. God sovereignly selected Noah
as an object of his grace. Noah was singled out by the grace
of God. He was just like everybody else
by nature. He was in that group described in verse 5, but he
was singled out. He was selected. He was elected
by the distinguishing, discriminating grace of God. You take God's
sovereign, distinguishing, discriminating choice of who he gives grace
to out of the equation of grace, and you no longer have grace.
Who? made thee to differ from another. And what do you have that you
didn't receive? Anybody here that's a believer
is thinking, Why me? Why would he single out me? For
the children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election might
stand, not of works. But of him that calleth that
was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. He selected,
elected sovereignly Noah out of the rest of mankind. And my
only thought is how would he, why, he singled out me. I was
in Genesis 6, 5, and he singled out me. Fourth statement. God's
grace is in Christ, it's eternal, it's sovereign, and God's grace
is ALWAYS saving grace. Grace is not an offer! It's not
an offer. It's always saving grace. I love what Peter said. We believe
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be
saved. Grace isn't offered to you up
for your acceptance or rejection. God's grace is saving grace,
electing grace, justifying grace, redeeming grace, calling grace,
preserving grace, saving grace by grace. You know, I hear preachers
talk about God's common grace. I don't like that. What's common
about God's grace? I realize that he's good to all.
I wouldn't deny that. He's good to all, but God's grace
is not common. God's grace is saving particular
grace. By grace, you are saved. The grace of God, fifthly, is
free grace. Free grace. being justified, Romans 3, 24,
being justified freely, freely, without a cause in you, freely
by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Now,
the only way me or you would be saved is if salvation really
is free. If there's one thing that I need
to bring to the table in order for God to save me, I'm doomed,
and so are you. But do you know I love that song
we sing, let not conscience make you linger, nor a fitness fondly
dream. The only fitness he requires
is to have a need of him. You know the only people grace
is for? People who, it must be free or they won't have it. Free,
absolutely free, without a cause in you. Six, the grace of God, and this
is just as important. We can't leave this out. The
grace of God is righteous grace. The grace of God is righteous
grace. You see, there's nothing unclean
or sinful or unjust about grace. Grace doesn't just overlook sin.
I'm going to be gracious, I'm going to go ahead and let that
go by. That's not the way grace is at all. Look in verse 9 of
Genesis chapter 6. Once again, I've already read
it. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a JUST man,
a RIGHTEOUS man, and PERFECT without blemish in
HIS generations. Now, how can that be if NOAH
WAS IN THAT GROUP DESCRIBED IN VERSE 5. HOW CAN HE BE WITHOUT
BLEMISH? HOW CAN HE BE JUST? WELL, HOLD
YOUR FINGER IN GENESIS 6 AND TURN TO ROMANS 5. VERSE 20. Moreover, the law entered
to restrain sin. No, the law entered that the
offense, the sin, the transgression, the wickedness, the scandal might
abound, overflow. But where sin abounded, and let
me ask you a question. Are you a place where sin abounds? where sin overflows. It's a fountain coming up that
you can't stop. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, and here's the question. How much ability do you have
to stop death? None. None. How much ability do you have
to stop sin? None. That's what the Bible teaches. Even as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign. Just as you have no power to
stop death, you have no power to stop grace. Grace really is
irresistible and invincible. And there's not a thing anybody
can do to stop it. We don't want to anyway, do we? But look at
these next words, through righteousness. unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. You see, my sin became His sin. He became guilty of that sin,
and that's why the wrath of God came down upon him. God's just.
All sin must be punished. My sin was punished. And his
righteousness, just as truly as my sin became his sin, his
righteousness becomes my righteousness, and I stand before God just like
Noah did, righteous and perfect in my generation without blemish. HIS GRACE IS RIGHTEOUS GRACE. And here's the last point. Turn
back to our text, verse 9. These are the generations of
Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect
in his generations. And look at this last description
of Noah. walked with God. Now, this is what grace does.
Grace makes a man, every believer, walk with the living God. How can two walk together, said
Amos, except they be agreed? And every believer is in complete
agreement with God. I'm in agreement with his character.
I love the way he is. I wouldn't change him if I could.
I'm in agreement with His Son. His Son is altogether lovely.
His Son is all in salvation. I'm in agreement with His testimony
with regard to me. Genesis 6, 5, when I read, the
wickedness of man was great in the earth and every imagination.
Yep, that's me. I'm in agreement. And I look
to Christ only and rest in Him and walk with Him. He is my salvation. He's my life. He's my life. I'm not just talking about some
doctrine I adhere to. He is my life. And that's true
of every believer. They walk with the living God
by grace. Sin and grace. And this is a summary of the
entire message of the scripture. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
glorious grace. How we thank you for the revelation
of sin. Lord, we wouldn't know this except
you reveal yourself to us. And how we thank you for the
butts of scripture, but God is rich in mercy. How we thank you,
but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Bless this message
according to your will. In Christ's name we pray, amen.