Genesis 6:8-9 The Gospel Certainty: The Grace of God

The Introduction

Genesis chapters 3 through the beginning of 6 starts to unveil and unravel the destructive nearly unceasing power of sin and corruptness. Our wickedness and transgression against the Holy God was not without the most severe consequences. To call it, "consequences", is an understatement. The best phrase I have heard said, "the breaking of the cosmos".

Do you think that something in space and time didn't break? Could you even imagine when sin came into our existence, that the departure of the spirit, the cracking of the mind, the depletion of strength, hardening of the heart, and the infection of the will?

Did it happen all at once or over time? I think the answer is yes.

Could we imagine going from righteousness to sinfulness? No. None of us can imagine the transition because all we have known all of our lives is our mind cracking, the vacancy of the spirit, the weakness of our bodies, the cancer over our wills and the coldness of our hearts.

Is there even a cure for this? As Paul cries out at the end of Romans 7, "Who will save me from this body of death?"

Let us search for the answer.

The Text

Genesis 6:8-9 (CSB) Noah, however, found favor with the LORD.

⁹ These are the family records of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God.

God

In order to be saved from sin and saved from this body of death, the Lord must look upon your wicked soul, your treasonous existence and see that you are so far from him, must grant you favor.

Genesis 6:8-10 (CSB) Noah, however, found favor with the LORD.

Growing up in church, because of the foolishness of our assumptions that we must be good based on what we have done, we see this verse and think, "Oh, Noah must have been a righteous fellow. That is why he found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Noah must have been worshipping God, giving tithes, attended church, and always blessing the Lord's name. Noah was the only righteous one in the land.

But that is not what the text says!

Go back to verse 5:

Genesis 6:5-7 (CSB) When the LORD saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time,the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and he was deeply grieved. Then the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I created, off the face of the earth, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky—for I regret that I made them.”

Let me ask a silly question: was Noah human? Did Noah have a human mind?

If the answer is yes, what was the inclination of Noah's mind all the time?

Then the Lord said, "I will wipe mankind."

The Almighty God was well within his rights to wipe mankind from the face of the earth.

Do you know of a better way? Yes, Jesus Christ. That is because you know him. But without knowing Christ--think like the world for just a second--what is the best thing to do?

Here's what the world wants: I just want the things of God like provision, riches, beauty, influence, power, talent and glory. All the things to make my life really super easy and fun and then for God to leave me alone and stop bothering me.

Every inclination of mankind was nothing but evil all the time.

The Gospel

To say Noah was the exception or in the case with our church culture, the normal and the usual. "God has to save Noah because Noah was doing the right things" wasn't the case because there isn't another case like that in the Bible.

What I do find in the Bible is that we are sinners and God came to us:

Mark 2:17 (CSB) When Jesus heard this, he told them, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew 1:21 (CSB) She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Romans 5:8 (CSB) But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Ephesians 2:1-5 (CSB) And you were dead in your trespasses and sinsin which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us,made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

Do a character study. Tell me what Adam was doing or Abraham or Jacob or David or Ruth or Isaiah or John the Baptist.

Just being a sinner until God came to them and saved them.

You might contend that the Scriptures say, "Noah was a righteous man." Yes it does that say in the next verse. But what happened first? Noah was righteous then he found favor? Or was it the other way around.

⁹ These are the family records of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God.

¹⁰ And Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

When God gives us grace, this is the gospel:

We are declared righteous.

Noah was a righteous man

2 Corinthians 5:21 (CSB) He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We are declared blameless.

blameless among his contemporaries

Isaiah 43:25 (CSB) “I am the one,I sweep away your transgressions
for my own sake
and remember your sins no more.

Psalms 103:10-12 (CSB) He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve
or repaid us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his faithful love
toward those who fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed
our transgressions from us.

Our Response

1 John 1:9 (CSB) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We are to confess our sins to God

Psalms 51:1-4 (CSB) Be gracious to me, God,
according to your faithful love;
according to your abundant compassion,
blot out my rebellion.
2 Completely wash away my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I am conscious of my rebellion,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you—you alone—I have sinned
and done this evil in your sight.
So you are right when you pass sentence;
you are blameless when you judge.

We are to repent of our sins to God

We are now one with God, who has given us Christ, his own heart, and His Spirit to seal us for all time.

You are no longer an enemy of God. No longer a child of destruction.

God is your friend. Father is your Father. The Spirit is your witness that you are a child of God. Christ is your Eldest brother.

Noah walked with God

Go and be with God

Do what you must to know him more and to love him more. Don't walk away. Don't go your own way. This is the best route. This is the only way to get to life everlasting, fullness of joy, pleasures evermore and complete satisfaction.

Put your trust in him. He will be with you forever.