God's Grace In A Corrupt World Series

Genesis (14) (God’s Grace in A Corrupt World)

Text: Genesis 6:1-8

By: Ken McKinley

Before we begin this morning, I just want to let everyone know that my sermon is probably going to be a little bit shorter than normal. I’ve had an incredibly event filled week. So; just letting you know that today you’re going to get out of here in time to beat the noon rush and you’ll probably be able to get a good table at K-Bob’s or Pizza Hut, or wherever you like to eat after church.

(Read Text)

Now just so everyone understands, even though we have entered a new chapter in the Book of Genesis, this is actually still to be considered as part of chapter 5. If you look back real quickly at chapter 5 verse 1 you’ll see kind of a title that’s given to this section (Read Gen. 5:1); and it’s not until we get to verse 9 of chapter six that we get to a new section. So for all intents and purposes this is still considered “The book of the generations of Adam,” verse 9 is the beginning section that deals with the “generations of Noah.” So for our purposes in reading this, we need to keep in mind what we’ve already learned about Adam and the line of Seth, because this goes along with it.

Now if you remember; when we looked at chapter four and examined the line of Cain, we already saw how sin was progressing. Cain murdered someone yet he feared God’s judgment, but later on his descendant Lamech murdered someone, and had no fear of God, and he even boasted about his evil and sins. Then last Sunday we saw how the Sons of God took wives of the Daughters of Men and the result was a corruption of God’s creation. So by the time we get to Noah, sin has multiplied to the point where God has to bring judgment upon mankind. And this judgment is directly tied to the fact that these “sons of God” had sons, “after their kind” which the Bible calls Nephilim (or mighty ones or giants).

But this morning; we’re going to look at this passage from another angle so to speak. The first thing I want you to notice there in verses 1 – 4 is that rebellion and sin, never goes unnoticed. Those four verses tell us how sin was increasing in the world, and we talked about that some last Sunday. So sin has increased in the world, and God is about to bring judgment, but the amazing thing here is that He even tells us the reason for this coming judgment. Verse 2 leads to God’s statements in verse 3, and verses 4 and 5 lead to God’s statements in verse 6, and since we know that God is just, we know that His judgment will be proportionate to the sin which is being punished.

Now verse 9, even though it’s not in our text this morning, tells us a little bit about this as well. Like I said; that’s where we begin the genealogy of Noah, but also in that same verse, we’re given that phrase, “perfect in his generations.” And when we take that phrase with what we’ve already learned, we understand that it’s saying that Noah’s line hadn’t been corrupted by these “Sons of God.” And it reminds us that in the line of Seth, faith in God and in His promises, was being passed on from one generation to the next.

And so, because the devil has tried to throw a curve into God’s plan and because sin is running rampant in the world, judgment is coming. All the people in Noah’s day were doing what they normally do. They went about their business just like any other day. And we read in chapter 5:32 that Noah was 500 years old, we also know from Genesis 9:28-29 that Noah lived 350 years after the flood and that he had lived 950 years total, that means that Noah was working on building the ark for 100 years or more… probably a hundred and 120 years based on what God has said in verse 3 of our text. But whether it’s a hundred years, or 120 years, there’s no doubt in my mind, that as Noah was working on building the ark, his neighbors would come by and ridicule him and make fun of him and mock him, and say, “Noah what in the world are you doing? You’re crazy!” In-fact; turn with me to Hebrews 11:7 (Read). Noah believed God, he had faith, and his faith had works.

But everyone else ignored Noah, and they ignored God’s warning that judgment was coming and as Paul Harvey says, “You know the rest of the story.”