That’s All I Can Stands, And I Can’t Stands No More
Genesis 6: 1-8 (NLT)
Intro: As many of you know, I am a collector. My wife says that I am a junk collector. We are not going to touch that this morning. What many of you know is that I collect all things Popeye. This came about from the death of my brother and me inheriting his collection. What I really like to collect is all things Wimpy, the character from Popeye. Guess why I like Wimpy? So Popeye is just a by-product of my wimpy collection. As I was reading and studying the scripture for this morning, a particular saying of Popeye’s came to mind. This is what I thought about.
. Play you tube video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h97kbv4mbsc&feature=youtube_gdata
. Popeye said that he has had all he can stand and he can’t stand no more.
. It seems that someone or something had pushed Popeye too far and he could not take it any longer.
. Here a few years ago, there was a billboard over on I-20 west going toward Atlanta.
. The billboard simply said,”Don’t Make Me Come down There” signed God.
. Remember back when you were a child and your mom or dad would yell across the house telling you that you were in for it if they had to come in there?
. In our scripture this morning, God has had enough.
. He did come down here and when He did, all Hell broke loose.
. He was just like Popeye. He had had all He could stand and He couldn’t stand no more.
. Wait a minute pastor; I thought that God was love. All He could do is love. King David who wrote many of the psalms describes him this way.
Psalm 103: 8
. 8The LORD is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
. While He is filled with love, He may be slow to anger, But.
. There is obviously a point where you can end up pushing God too far.
. Back when I was in High School, about 100 years ago, I knew a boy named Howard. Howard didn’t get upset at anything. Howard was just a happy go lucky kind of guy.
. Well there was this bully who kept on picking on Howard. This went on and on for several weeks.
. Howard was a tall wrangley kid. About six foot two and about 190 pounds. This kid was picking on Howard one day and I guess Howard had had enough. Howard had these huge hands and he reared back and punched this bully in the face. I swear his fist covered his whole face.
. They carted the bully off in an ambulance. Thankfully he wasn’t hurt permanently but he never bullied Howard again.
. You see Howard had all that he could stand.
. God is much like Popeye and Howard in our scripture this morning. He had been pushed and He had taken all He could stand.
. We are back in Genesis this morning.
. Nine generations have passed since Adam and Eve were in the Garden. Due to the longevity of life, at least 1500 years had passed.
. We saw that there was worship of God when we looked at Enoch’s walk with God but we don’t hear anything about man’s relationship with God after the Story of Enoch.
. What we see next is what has become of mankind.
. 1Then the people began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them.
2The sons of God saw the beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives.
3Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years.”
4In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times.
5The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.
6So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart.
7And the LORD said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.”
8But Noah found favor with the LORD.
. The first thing we see here is what makes God so fed up and angry:
. Unrepentant Sin
.Look at verse 5 again.
. 5The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.
. Everything they thought or even imagined was consistently and totally evil.
. Basically every thought and action was for their own self gratification. They were giving in to their own base desires wants with absolutely no regard for anyone or anything.
. When we read this we think of murderers and rapists and I am sure that much of that was going on but God looks into the heart.
. Their hearts were godless.
. When the Bible speaks of the heart, it is talking about all that a person is. Their inner soul.
. There was no thought of God in their lives whatsoever.
. We read about this and think man, how could this be.
. Folks, they were no different than a lost person today.
. They lost have no thoughts of God whatsoever.
. I dare say that many professed Christians have very little if any thoughts of God.
. It’s all about them.
. Isn’t that really what these people were like.
. Everything was all about them. What made them happy.
. What was their desires. What did they covet.
. That’s what drove their lives.
. Sound familiar.
. One day God was looking down at Earth and saw all of the evil that was going on. He decided to send an angel down to Earth to check it out.
So he called one of His best angels and sent the angel to Earth for a time.
When the angel returned she told God, yes it is bad on Earth, 95% is bad and 5% is good. Well, God thought for a moment and said "Maybe I had better send down a second angel, to get another point of view."
So God called another angel and sent her to Earth for a time too.
When the angel returned she went to God and told Him yes, the Earth was in decline, 95% was bad and 5% was good. God said this was not good.
So He decided to E-mail the 5% that were good. He wanted to encourage them..............give them a little something to help them keep going.
Do you know what that E-mail said?
* * * * * * * * *
You didn’t get one either, huh?
. In our scripture, God looked down and saw no one who was willing to repent of their sin.
. I know without a doubt that if any would have repented, God would have saved them and found a way to use them for his glory.
. Unrepentant sin will always lead to what we see next.
. Unimaginable Consequences.
Look at verses 6&7 again.
. 6So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart.
7And the LORD said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.”
. Sin always has consequences.
. When our hearts are not set on the things of God and the life that He wants us to live, when it’s all about us and our desires, there are consequences.
. For these folks, it was total destruction.
. Not only were they to pay the price but so was every living thing on the earth.
. A few more verses and we would see that God destroys them through the flood that came upon the Earth. We will look at the flood here in a few weeks.
. Total destruction, all because of their hearts being blinded by what they desired . All their thoughts and actions were for themselves.
. For mankind today, there are unimaginable consequences for unrepentant sin.
. While there are consequences here on Earth for who we are, there are eternal consequences for unrepentant sin.
. Can you imagine what Hell is like. I can’t, not really.
. We know from scripture that hell is eternal. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells about the final Judgment. All will stand before the King and those with unrepentant sin, those whose sin is not covered by the blood of Jesus will be separated with those who have been saved through faith in Jesus Christ.
. Jesus says in Matthew 25:46, 46“And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”
This unimaginable consequence is ETERNAL.
. You will be eternally separated from God and his power and his love. Hell will be a loveless place.
. Look at how Paul described it to the church in Thessalonica in 2 Thess 1:7-9
. 7And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come with his mighty angels,
8in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus.
9They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power.
. Can you imagine a place without love? I can’t.
. What an unimaginable consequence of unrepentant sin.
. Finally scripture tells us that Hell is a place of fire and eternal torment.
.Look at Matthew 13:41-42 with me. Jesus Says;
. 41The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.
42And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
. In our scripture, I am sure that the people could never imagine a flood coming and totally destroying them.
. That was just unimaginable.
. Unrepentant sin will have unimaginable consequences.
. While our scripture teaches us about sin and consequences, it also shows us the greatest attribute of God.
. Gods Unmerited Grace
. Look at verse 8 again.
. 8But Noah found favor with the LORD.
. Obviously Noah believed and God because he found favor with the Lord.
. Verse 9 goes on to tell us that this was because Noah walked in close fellowship with God.
. By all rights, God could have just destroyed everyone.
. Scripture just told us that He was sorry that He had created the whole human race.
. In his grace though, He decided to save one man and his family.
. Our world is much like the world that God destroyed so long ago.
. We are a world of wickedness and sin.
. Most peoples hearts are concerned with nothing but themselves and they certainly are not on the things of God.
. You know what though, you can be like Noah. You can be the recipient of God’s unmerited grace.
. You see God knows that left to ourselves, we will be just like the people He destroyed.
. He created a way for us to be recipients of his grace.
. He did that by instead of punishing us for our sin and debauchery, He sent Jesus Christ, God incarnate to die in our place.
. He sacrificed himself so that we may live.
. We experience his unmerited grace through believing this and accepting Jesus as our sacrifice for our sin.
. There is a time limit on this offer of unmerited grace.
. We must accept this free gift of salvation when it is offered. If we die in the state of un-repentance, an eternity in Hell awaits us.
. Back in the Middle Ages, one of the old Saxon kings set out with an army to put down a rebellion in a distant province of his kingdom. When the insurrection had been quelled and the army of rebels defeated, the king placed a candle over the archway of his castle where he had his headquarters and, lighting the candle, announced through a herald to all those who had been in rebellion against him that all who surrendered and took the oath of loyalty while the candle was burning would be spared. The king offered them his clemency and mercy, but the offer was limited to the life of the candle.
Every great offer of life and of time has its candle limitations. This is true of the offer of fortune and prosperity, or knowledge, or health, or affection. There is a limited period of time in which to make use of their offer and their opportunity. This is true most of all of the greatest offer ever made to man, the offer of eternal life through Jesus Christ, God’s Son.
. 2 Corinthians 6: 2:
. For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.”Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.
Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT
God Isn’t Gonna Like This, Jeff Strite; (sermon central)
Illustrations from sermon central
