God's Sovereign Choice

“So the LORD said, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created — and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground — for I regret that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:7-8, NIV).

Are you aware of the Australian songwriter of Hillsong (Marty Sampson), who wrote such songs as, “King of Majesty,” “Now That You’re Near,” “Saviour King,” “Reason I Live” “Shout Unto God,” was reported that he renounced his faith?

Some of his reasons: “hypocrisy of pastors, lack of miracles -- his sorrow over false miracles such as what he observed in a secular documentary on Benny Hinn. He also questioned why there are so many different interpretations of the Bible.” He also asked “How can God be love…” yet send billions of people to a place of eternal suffering?

Recently, however, he clarified that he didn’t renounced his faith, but it was on “incredibly shaky ground” and he wanted to really know the answers.

If he is present right now, at least, he will receive the answer to one of his questions, “How can God be love yet send many to hell”?

Perhaps, we could tell him, “God is love, but He is not only love. He is Holy. No trace of unholiness could survive in His Holy Presence. In His Holiness, His standard of righteousness is so high, that our human righteousness is like filthy rags in His sight! Actually, the question should be, “How can God who is enamored of His Holiness prevent an unrighteous person to go where he deserves to suffer?”

God, however, is not only Holy in exercising His love and mercy. He is also Sovereign in His Holiness. And in His Sovereignty, He displays not only His absolute Sovereign Power, but also His Sovereign choice. And that will be our topic today… GOD’S SOVEREIGN CHOICE… as we deal with our text (Genesis 6:7-8).

So, how could God display His Sovereignty in making of His choices?

In previous verses of our text, we got a picture of God as One who will not plead for the sinners forever and that He is being grieved with sin.

Now, in our text, He is pictured as God who is not only in control of all things, but decides what will happen to His creation. And He displayed that as the Sovereign God, who is not only All-Powerful, He could also execute anything especially toward His creation. He could determine anything and bring it to pass whatever He desires.

In our passage, we could point out at least two important things what the Sovereign God can do. What are those? How does He display His Sovereignty in the account?

First, GOD EXTENDS HIS WRATH (verse 7).

We read verse 7, “So the LORD said, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created — and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground — for I regret that I have made them.’”

We could observe significant things in the verse. As the Creator and Sovereign God, He could display His wrath and wipe out what He created. As God who is Good and Just, He would not allow any sin or evil to prosper. He would surely put them to an end. He would blot them out from His Holy Presence.

And to uphold His Holiness, in His Sovereignty, He could unleash His wrath even to the many, not just to some or to the few.

In His Holiness, He abhors sin and would not tolerate anyone who will pollute His Holiness to go unpunish .

The word “regret” in Hebrew is not limited to the meaning of being sorry for one’s own doing. It could also mean to have pity or compassion for others. It could also mean to ease oneself by taking vengeance. So, instead of allowing the suffering caused by sin to continue over His creation, especially on His own people, God in His Mercy and Wisdom determined that it’s best to eliminate the “vehicles” of sin.

Indeed God is love. But He is not in love with sin. We read in Psalm 5:4-6, “For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong; you destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful you, LORD, detest.”

In the New Testament, we read in Romans 2:5, 8-9:

“But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed… But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”