Please rise for the public reading of the Word of God. I remind you that the reading of Scripture is an element of worship, not just the preaching. This is the most direct unfiltered voice from the scriptures that we hear. Our New Testament lesson comes from the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24. We'll read verses 36 to 44. But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken, and the other left. Watch, therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. This is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We'll turn now to the story that Jesus spoke of, the days of Noah, in Genesis chapter six, our Old Testament lesson and our sermon text. We'll read Genesis six, one to 13. Now it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful, and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, my spirit shall not strive with man forever. For he is indeed flesh, yet his days shall be 120 years. There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men, who were of old, men of renown. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart, so the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah, found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on 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 them with the earth. The grass withers, the flower fades, the word of God stands forever. Amen. You may be seated. The Book of Ecclesiastes is a difficult book, but it's a book that especially our young people should consider. speaking for a moment to our covenant children and covenant youth, those who are of tender years. Here's what Solomon says in that book. The preacher says, remember now your creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come and the years draw near when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them. While the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are not darkened, and the clouds do not return after the rain. Remember your creator now, before that day comes. In our studies in Genesis, we have come to what Solomon described. We've come to difficult days. 120 year countdown to judgment. When the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are going to be darkened, God's gonna flip the switch, turn off the lights, and the clouds shall return after the rain. Indeed, there's gonna be rain, a lot of rain. 40 days, 40 nights of nonstop rain. We've come to the days of Noah. In some ways, these days were ordinary. Life went on. What did Jesus say? They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage. Life went on, but looming in the background was the certain threat, the imminent reality of God's judgment. Now, why was that? And we've been looking at this chapter for a few weeks now, and we saw before that Genesis records an escalation of evil. You have two children in a sandbox fighting over a toy, and it escalates into World War III, a nuclear holocaust. That's what we find in this passage. That's what we find in this book. It starts with the sin of Adam, and it leads to an avalanche of sin. Whatever cultural development, there's a spiritual downgrade. And in the immediate context, whatever the sons of God were doing, and whoever they were, their sin led to great evil. which in turn led to God's judgment. Congregation, we come to difficult days, so dark, that listen to what the Bible says. It says that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Dark days, difficult days, discouraging days. Maybe you feel like you're living in days like that now at the level of your family, the level of your work, your marriage, your city, your states, the world. Congregation, I have good news for you. I have the best news. that in this dark night, there was a spark of light. In these dark days, there was a ray of hope. And it's found in verse eight. That's what we're gonna focus on this morning. Verse eight, just shines out of the darkness, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah, what a Savior our God saves sinners. We're gonna look at this passage under two basic headings, the problem of sin and the solution of salvation. Something's wrong, God fixes it. First, the problem. The bad news is that by nature, we are all sinners who deserve God's judgment. That's the bad news. And in this passage, we find a graphic, grotesque portrait of sin and misery. Three big sins. This is a bit of review, but we started with Adam in the garden, and then we had Cain in the land, and now we have the sons of God who sin in such a way that it affects the entire world. Regardless of what view you take of the sons of God, again, I favor the angelic interpretation in some form. The improper mingling of the sons of God with the daughters of men led to, through the giant warrior tyrants, great evil. Great evil, perhaps the fallen angels gave dark knowledge to men, but there is a contagious, toxic spread of vice in civilization. Look at verse five again. The Lord saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. I'm tempted to want to try to expound that passage, but instead, I can think of no better expositor than Gerhardus Voss, who said four things about Genesis 6-5. First, he said, notice the intensity and extent of evil, great in the earth. Second, Notice its inwardness. Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart. Not just on the outside, but the enemy within. Third, the absoluteness of the sway of evil, excluding everything good, only evil. And then fourth, the habitual, continuous working of evil, continually, all day long. That is a graphic and grotesque portrait of sin and misery. It's really, if we had no other verse in the Bible, the proof text on total depravity. Radical in its depth and comprehensive in its scope. You might hear from sociologists and guidance counselors and psychologists that we're all basically good. You know, there's a nice spark of human kindness in everyone, and if we would just put our political and cultural and religious differences aside, we could all just get along. Well, that's a lie straight from the pit of hell. It's simply not true. We are not basically good. On the other side of the fall of Adam, we are basically bad. This is the shocking and scandalous teaching of the word of God that we are by nature sinners deserving judgments outside of Christ. We're not basically good. Now what does this look like? Well the portrait continues in verse 11. The earth also was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth and indeed it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. It's corrupt and it is violent. Of course, there's a vertical dimension to this. Men are shaking their fists in the face of God. There's high-handed rebellion against God on high, but they're also sinning against their neighbors, their fellow men. Jesus says the two great commandments are love God, love your neighbor. Well, when you sin, you sin against God primarily, vertically, but you also stand against your fellow man horizontally. There's a note of pleasure here, going back to the sons of God and the daughters of men, a perverse pleasure, but also a power grab, a domination. Corrupt and violent. If that was true in the days of Noah, is it still true today? Turn on the news, look around you. We have people who call good evil and call evil good. We have butchers who cut up children. in the name of LGBTQ plus agendas. We have assaults on nature itself and on nature's God. We have denials of creation in so-called reformed churches. We have the blood of unborn children crying out from the ground for vengeance. We have a land filled with blood, violence, corruption, perversion, with minivans getting toppled and storefronts getting set on fire. We are in a similar day, a day of corruption, a day of violence. And this kind of great evil, whether you look at the Roman Empire, you look at the days of Noah, you look at our own day, as evil begins to populate the earth and multiply and divide, Sooner or later, God cuts it down. It demands judgment, and that's what we find in verse six. The Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. Remarkably personal language. So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. It's a language, on the surface, of regret. I am sorry that I made this world and it has become so wicked. It's a hard verse, because as you read it, you might reasonably ask the question, I thought God was unchangeable and immutable, I thought God was simple and impassable, without body, parts, or passions. So how can the Bible describe God this way? Well, just as a side note, I wanna explain it. This is what theologians who like to use big words call anthropomorphic or anthropopathic language. You might say, what does that mean? Well, here's what it means. The language used here of God, though true, is figurative, not literal. And we know that because elsewhere we are told explicitly that God does not and cannot change his mind. Numbers 23, 19, God is not a man. that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?" What's going on here is this, God who is simple, God who is one, God who is without body, parts, or passions is described using the figurative language of human emotions. Why? To communicate to us as creatures his posture towards sin and his determination, his sovereign purpose to punish it, to punish that sin. Do you see what's going on? does not, cannot change his mind. He is utterly immutable and unchangeable, but to convey to us who are but creatures of the dust something of his posture of holiness towards wickedness, the Bible uses this figurative language of human emotions to communicate something of that reality. as well as his sovereign purpose to punish sin. Jeremiah 18, the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up or to pull down and to destroy it, If the nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to build it and to plant it, if it does evil in my sight so that it does not obey my voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it. So this is not God changing his mind. This is the immutable, the eternal, the unchangeable God expressing to us his posture of holiness towards wickedness and his purpose, which he tells us in Jeremiah 18, that when people are wicked, he brings down judgment. This is the unchanging God's unchanging mode of operation. In the face of great evil, God says, I'm going to hit the reset button. You might wonder, when's this gonna happen? When's it gonna happen for our nation? When did it happen for Rome? When did it happen for Greece, or Medo-Persia, or Babylon? When did it happen in the days of Noah? Well, how long? Verse three tells us, and the Lord said, as he's looking out at great evil, my spirit Reference to the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. We serve a triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh, yet his days shall be 120 years. Spirit, God says, the Holy Spirit will not always strive. ethically with man, or it could be translated, he will not always rule or abide physically with man. One way or another, whether his restraining power will be removed, or whether he will physically leave them as they perish, one way or another, there is going to come a day of judgment. 120 years, this could refer to a lifespan, that men had much longer lifespans, as we saw in the genealogies before the flood. Now they're gonna be shortened to 120 years. Well, there's a problem with that, because later we have longer lifespans after the flood, and then eventually shorter than 120 years after the flood. Just look at Psalm 90. 70, or by reason of strength, 80 years. That doesn't seem to be what's being talked about. Not a lifespan of 120 years, but rather a time frame. God is saying, because of their wickedness, I am going to, in 120 years, bring down the hammer of judgments. I'm going to hit the stopwatch. And when it hits 120 years, know that the day of judgment is nigh. It's a countdown. And it provides time for two things. One, for sin to fill up, for iniquity to fill up. to reach a certain threshold, and two, it graciously provides opportunity for men, women, and children to repent. God is long-suffering. God is gracious. God is compassionate. And here's what's amazing. What was going on in this 120-year period? Sometimes you think the only thing that was happening was that people were living their worst life now, and then Noah was building an ark. But he was doing more than building an ark. What was he doing? He was preaching. He was doing what I'm doing this morning. He was crying out to his generation, it's gonna rain. It's gonna rain and y'all better repent of your sins and climb aboard the ark or you're going to perish. Judgment's coming. Repent before it's too late. We know that because in 2nd Peter 2 5 Noah is designated a preacher of righteousness a herald of the righteousness of God and So God gave them a hundred and twenty years to listen to the plaintive ministry of this righteous man an opportunity to repent and As Peter says, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Ezekiel tells us that God is, he doesn't take delight in the death of the wicked. He would use the language of the covenant rather that they turn and repent, though he is sovereign over all. Well, as you look at this, sin. this need for judgment, and then an intervening period of 120 years for sin to fill up and for people to have the opportunity to repent, this is providing a historical pattern that will play out again and again. Not always with 120 years, but this idea that God waits for the iniquity of the Amorites to fill up before he sends in Joshua and Caleb to wipe out the inhabitants of Canaan. that God gave the Jews who rejected Jesus in AD 30. He gave that generation 40 years of opportunity to repent. But then he brought down the hammer of judgment upon Jerusalem and upon the temple in AD 70. And congregation This pattern plays itself out, whether it's the golden lion of Babylon, or the silver bear of Medo-Persia, or the bronze leopard with four heads and four wings of Greece, or the iron... fearsome monster of the Roman Empire, God gives men and nations time for their sin to fill up and an opportunity to repent. And if they do not repent, God brings judgment. And I tell you that this is true of all men in all nations. This is true of the United States of America. We've been blessed for 200 years to enjoy life, liberty, and property, but if we continue in impenitence, and the pattern in the Bible and the pattern in history is true, that if we, as a people, do not humble ourselves, confess our sins, and pray to the Lord of Heaven, how can we not expect His judgment to fall? In fact, I tell you, the judgment has already begun. Romans 1 tells us that when men give themselves to other men and women to other women in an unnatural way, that is not just crying out for judgment, it is an expression of God's judgment. He has given those people over to their sins. Judgment has begun. But whether we're talking about the days of Noah, the days of Rome, the days of the United States of America, this pattern, of sin, of judgment, and of an intervening period of delay, this ultimately prefigures a final event. A final event to come. When Babylon fell, Isaiah tells us, he describes it using astrological imagery. The sun is taken out. The stars fall. It's the picture of an empire crumbling. But that imagery points forward to a final, a definitive day of the Lord, spoken of in Matthew 24, which we just read, and in Luke 17. But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. He's coming in an hour you do not expect. Spirit is not going to strive forever, both in the history of a nation and in the history of the world. The Spirit does not strive forever. And so my urgent exhortation to you, this is true of every generation since Noah, you need to prepare for rain. Prepare to meet thy God. Because ultimately, at the end of history, it's going to rain. If you're not in the ark, You're going to get wet, you're gonna drown. If you're not in Christ, you're going to perish in everlasting fire, separated from the presence of God. So let this pattern, this picture, set forth in this historical event, put the fear of God into you as you think about the coming of Christ on the clouds of heaven to judge the quick and the dead. Well, we've spent a lot of time talking about the bad news. We're all sinners, we're all busted, we all deserve judgment. That's a very depressing sermon you've preached so far. But that's often the way it works in the prophets, isn't it? Often for chapters and chapters, it's just oracles of woe and doom and gloom and judgment. It's important to listen to that, that urgent cry for repentance. But as it is in the prophets, so it is here that in the dark night, there is spark of light. In this difficult day, there's a ray of hope. I love this verse. I love this verse. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. As hundreds, thousands, millions, perhaps billions were in pursuit of their own lusts, the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life, Noah found grace. God saves sinners. The solution, the good news is that though we are sinners, by grace, through faith, in Christ alone, we can be saved. And we know that because Noah found grace. Reminds me of Ephesians 2 where it lists how we are dead in trespasses and sins, and you have that beautiful turn, but God, made us alive together with Christ. Well, here it's, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now, some will argue that the following verse provides the reason for why he found grace, because you might wonder, why this man? What was so special about Noah? And some will say, if you look at verse nine, we learn something unique about him. Noah was a just man, perfect or blameless in his generations. Noah walked with God. Matthew Henry says, this is not a sinless perfection, but a perfection of sincerity. This man sincerely followed the Lord. It's a reminder of someone we saw recently, right? Enoch's remarkable testimony. Enoch walked with God. Well, here we see that Noah walked with God. holy conduct before Him, holy communion with Him. I heard a sermon recently where the preacher said that this walking with the Lord speaks of an experiencing and enjoying of God's company. Noah enjoyed spending time with God. Now, is that the reason why he found grace? Now, it's true. that God promises to reward sincere obedience. It pleases Him when we obey Him. What does John say? I delight to know that the children walk in the truth. When you sincerely, from a heart of love and thanksgiving, do the right thing, your Heavenly Father smiles upon that. Even as you parents know what it's like to smile at your children when, even under great duress, they do the right thing anyway. That's all true. But I'm actually not convinced that's the relationship between these two verses. Actually, I think the relationship is the reverse between verses eight and nine. Congregation, and this is theologically true at a bedrock level, regardless of your exegesis, but at a bedrock level, it's not that Noah found grace because he walked with God. He walked with God because he found grace. You see the difference? He didn't earn God's favor. It's because he was shown grace that this man walked with the Lord. It's not the reason he found favor, but the evidence that he had found favor. And it makes sense, because what is grace? By definition, grace is undeserved, indeed ill-deserved, unmerited, demerited favor. Noah was born in sin and conceived in sin. He was guilty He was broken, and he deserved God's wrath. But something was different, and that was that God set his electing, sovereign grace and love upon this wicked man. And the evidence that he had done so was this subsequent walk of righteousness before the face of God. I love how Matthew Henry puts it, the effect of God's favor to him. It was God's goodwill to him that produced this good work in him. He was a very good man, but he was no better than the grace of God made him." You see, God met Noah where he was and not where he should have been. That might be an encouragement to you this morning. God meets you where you are, not where you should have been, but then God doesn't leave you where you are. He takes you up. He transforms you by His grace. By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, this man, Noah, was justified, adopted, and sanctified. And I say in Christ alone, because what was Noah trusting in? He wasn't trusting in his own works of merit. He was looking back to the first proclamation of the gospel to Adam and Eve, Genesis 3.15. He was looking to the seed of the woman who was gonna crush the head of the serpent. He was looking, by faith, to Jesus. The reason Noah found grace was God's good pleasure. And he loved Noah with an everlasting love. Because God set his grace upon him, and that grace not only forgave him, but transformed him, Noah stood out. Noah did not look like the rest of the world. Noah was the odd man out. was a man who was marked out. He swam against the tide. As G.K. Chesterton said, it takes a living thing to swim against the tide. And Noah was a man who was alive. He was a man who had been set free. He was a man who had been pardoned. He was a man who had been forgiven. He was a man who had been sanctified. He was a man who was being transformed by the grace and power of God. And so he swam against the tide. Young people, as you enter into situations where people are offering you all sorts of things, where they are offering you pleasures that you know are illicit, where they are offering you money that you know would be ill-gotten, when they are encouraging you to laugh at jokes that you know would violate Paul's instruction about coarse jesting, you have an opportunity. to be the dead thing that swims with the tide, or you can be the live thing that swims against the tide, and you can stand out as Noah did in his generation, realizing that though the world mocks you, though the world scoffs at you, you've found favor in the eyes of the Lord, and that's all that really matters. Noah. was a remarkable man. Ezekiel mentions him in chapter 14. He says, even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness, says the Lord. Even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness. This is an exemplar, an example, a model for us. And the key, don't forget the key, is the previous verse, verse eight, Noah found grace. How can we apply this great truth? I wanna leave you with a couple applications. First, these are dark days, these are difficult days, and some of you, whether because of the national situation, international situation, or much more intimate, the state of your home, some friendships that have fallen on hard times. You're in difficult days, and it can be very demoralizing to feel like, in an office place, you're the only one who cares about the glory of God. It can be very discouraging. I wanna encourage you that 7,000 have not bowed the knee to Baal, that even when the whole world seems like it's going in the wrong direction, There is always a remnant according to the election of grace. God will build his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. We can care not what men think of us because all that matters is that you find grace and favor in the eyes of the Lord. Henry again says, let this be the summit of our ambition. to find grace in the eyes of the Lord. Herein, let us labor that present or absent, we may be accepted of him. It sounds cliche, but we play for an audience of one. We labor for the glory of God. And no matter what people think of you or say of you now, Just fast forward, if history were a YouTube video, and you were scrubbing through it, you would barely move at all, and you're at the final day, and you're looking face to face with Jesus, and Jesus looks at you, and he says, well done, good, faithful servant, enter into my joy. At that day, when you look back, who cares what people thought of you? Who cares if you stood out? Who cares if you were the odd man out? If all that matters is that you find favor in the eyes of the Lord, let's put this in perspective and be encouraged by it. Second is an exhortation, and I've already hinted at this, but this passage is screaming to us. If you're not a believer, if you're outside the ark, if you're not trusting in Christ or if you're trusting your own works to save you, you need to flee. You should be afraid. Flee from the wrath to come. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near, as that 120-year clock is ticking, or that five-year clock, or that one-minute clock. And having found God, or rather, after he's found you, as you've turned to him and you've been brought home to him, as you rested upon Christ alone, having found grace from God, I urge you to walk with God all the days of your life. May it be said of us in a crooked and perverse generation, but Dave found grace in the eyes of the Lord. But Jim found grace in the eyes of the Lord. But Madeline found grace in the eyes of the Lord. that Fritz found grace in the eyes of the Lord, that all of us, to a man, to a woman, to a child, have found grace in the eyes of the Lord, not because of what we can do, but because of what he has done. This is good news. This is the best news. God saves sinners. Let us pray.