1. "This passage is full of interesting details and has given rise to everything from theological controversies to conspiracy theories to fantasy novels. But embedded in it are crucial truths for us to understand our world and ourselves."

2. "First, things you don't need to know. And as a pastor, I feel guilty using that as a heading for a sermon. Having said that, all scriptures are not created equally, and there are parts in the Scriptures where there are things that were recorded that at the time would have been understood and that fit in context, but are not as weighted with clear truths that we understand as well."

3. "Whichever answer we take of those uncertain phrases, we can know that even these verses show us God's plan. Continuing what these people are doing is in some sense obeying the command in Genesis 1:28, to be fruitful and multiply. But even in the midst of their obediences, they were continuing to sin. And God would only let that go on for so long."

4. "Friends, the religion of the Bible is not a kind of Gnosticism that says the physical is inherently evil and the spiritual is what is inherently good. No, God is a spirit. But he made us and this world and everything in it. And he made us to be physical beings."

5. "So the Lord was grieved and pained and dismayed instead of being pleased exactly because he is good. God is unhappy with what sin does to his creation. Sin caused pain for God and pain for people."

6. "Friends, one implication of the Bible's teaching here is that self-help religions are no help at all. So if your friend is into positive thinking or a religion which basically says if you grab hold of the teachings of this guru or this prophet and follow them, then that's all you need. Well, that's just not good enough for what the Bible tells us is our situation."

7. "Christianity says everyone is made in the image of God. There is no person on this planet who is not of unbelievable value before God, and you have no rights over that person inherently to treat them in any way other than what God has called you to do. On the other hand, everyone, even the best among us, are tainted by sin. We're twisted by the fall."

8. "A good doctor is not one who gives you a report you like. A good doctor is one who gives you a report that's true. Friends, the Bible is a good friend to you like that."

9. "If you or I were God and we had made the world and the world treated us like we have treated God, I'm guessing we would have just junked the world. Just completely be done with it. Get rid of it. I am amazed at God's patience and his kindness with those of us completely dependent beings that he has made specifically to reflect his character."

10. "The voice that spells forgiveness will say, 'You may go. You've been let off the penalty which your sins deserve,' but the verdict which means acceptance, justification, being treated just as if I'd never sinned. That means you can hear God saying, 'You may come. You are welcome to all my love and my fellowship.' This is what's restored to us through the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Observation Questions

1. Genesis 6:5 - How does the text describe the extent and depth of human wickedness before the flood?

2. Genesis 6:6-7 - What emotions does God express in response to human wickedness, and what action does He decide to take?

3. Genesis 6:8 - What distinguishing characteristic does the text attribute to Noah amid the universal wickedness?

4. Genesis 6:3 - What limitation does God place on humanity, and why does He say He is doing this?

5. Genesis 6:1-2 - What relationship is described between "the sons of God" and "the daughters of man," and what motivated their actions?

6. Genesis 6:4 - Who were the Nephilim according to the text, and how are they characterized?

Interpretation Questions

1. In what ways does God's grief over human sin (Genesis 6:6) reveal His character and goodness, and how does this relate to other passages about God's unchanging nature (like Malachi 3:6)?

2. What does Genesis 6:5 teach us about the doctrine of human depravity, and how does this compare with New Testament teachings about sin (such as Romans 3:23 or Ephesians 4:18)?

3. How does Noah's finding "favor in the eyes of the Lord" (Genesis 6:8) foreshadow the concept of salvation by grace through faith that we see fully revealed in Christ?

4. What does God's decision to limit human lifespan (Genesis 6:3) reveal about His mercy even within judgment?

5. How does the pattern of sin, judgment, and grace in Genesis 6:1-8 connect to the broader biblical narrative of redemption that culminates in Christ?

Application Questions

1. When was the last time you were confronted with the depth of your own sinfulness like we see described in Genesis 6:5? How did you respond?

2. How does the knowledge that "every intention of the thoughts of your heart" is known by God affect how you approach temptation and confession in your daily life?

3. Think about a time when you experienced God's favor (grace) despite your unworthiness. How has this shaped your understanding of God's character?

4. In what specific area of your life are you most tempted to believe the cultural lie that people are basically good rather than the biblical truth about human depravity?

5. Genesis 6:3 reminds us of life's brevity. What specific change would you make to your priorities if you truly lived with the awareness that your days are numbered?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Hebrews 11:1-7 - This passage defines faith as "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen," and illustrates it through Abel's acceptable sacrifice, Enoch's walking with God, and Noah's obedient response to God's warning about the flood. Noah's faith-filled obedience made him an "heir of the righteousness that comes by faith," connecting directly to the sermon's emphasis on salvation through faith.

2. Romans 5:1-11 - Paul explains how we are justified by faith and reconciled to God through Christ, who died for us while we were still sinners, giving us hope in God's salvation.

3. Psalm 14:1-7 - This psalm echoes Genesis 6:5-8, describing humanity's corruption and God's observation of wickedness, while looking forward to salvation.

4. 2 Peter 3:3-14 - Peter compares the coming day of the Lord to the flood of Noah's time, reminding believers to live holy lives in light of coming judgment.

Sermon Main Topics

I. Engaging with the Bible Beyond Trivial Facts

II. Things You Don’t Need to Know: Ambiguous Details in Genesis 6:1-4

III. Things You Do Need to Know: Essential Truths in Genesis 6:5-8

IV. Responding to God’s Truth: Readiness for Judgment and Faith in Christ

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Detailed Sermon Outline

- Composed of Old and New Testaments, written by multiple authors (Genesis 1:31; 2 Timothy 3:16).

There is a YouTube content creator named Austin McConnell. He currently has posted 180 videos on the platform. Their content is on various subjects, many of them boasting views in the tens or even hundreds of thousands. His most popular videos, however, have garnered millions of views, and among them, his most popular series is called a solid 20 minutes of useless information or a solid 30 minutes of useless information. You get the idea what the series is like and I have to say, having tried a few minutes of these videos, I found them embarrassingly engaging.

The plotline is weak, I confess, but he capitalizes well on our love of trivia. You know, discrete, isolated facts. A hundred dollar bill costs 12 cents to make. There are 86 Lego bricks for every person on the planet. The first item sold on ebay was a laser pin.

A group of owls is called a parliament. How about this one? According to a survey done by Crayola, the least favored and least used Crayola color is white. As of 2014, Salt Lake City is home to more plastic surgeons per capita than any other city in the us. The word swims with all capitals is the same upside down.

Kids, feel free.

I could keep going for 20 or 30 minutes.

I'm pretty sure after studying my passage this week that this is how some people engage the Bible. Some people think of the Bible as a large collection of fortune cookie style fortunes all collected together in some gigantic mass that's indecipherable.

Now I think that could only be done though by first time readers. I think anyone who begins to look at the Bible more carefully only after a few minutes can figure out that it's in two parts, the Old Testament and the new. Help from a Christian friend or nearby church will let you know that each Testament is composed of various books, and those books are written originally in separate scrolls that together were recognized by the Christians as the Word of God. And fundamentally one book. They were written by different people.

Some authors wrote more than one book. So Paul wrote several letters in the New Testament. Luke wrote a quarter of the New Testament in his two long books, Luke and Acts. And in the Old Testament, the first five books were written by Moses. And those first five books are where we are in this current series of studies.

We're in the first book of the Bible, Genesis. So go ahead and grab your Bible, open up to the first book of the Bible and you'll know where to find it by the fact that I called it the first book in the Bible. So just open that front cover and there you'll find Genesis. We're in chapter six this morning. It's a large number six.

If you're not used to looking at a Bible. Smaller numbers after that are verse numbers. I think you'll find our text beginning on page five. But the Genesis is the part that we're looking at particularly is the interesting first part of it. The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob take up most of the book.

They're the immediate preface to the Israelites in Egypt and escaping from the promised land and taking escaping from Egypt and going to the promised land. That's really Genesis, chapters 11 to 50. The first few chapters of Genesis are often read. That's creation and man's fall into sin. But we are looking at those fascinating chapters in that period between the fall and.

And the call of Abraham, where there seem to have been millennia of history largely lost to us except for the few bits of which survive in these early chapters of Genesis. So this morning we're in Genesis, chapter six, verses one to eight. So open up to that. If you're using the Bibles provided. I think you'll find it on page five.

And if you don't have a Bible of your own at home that you can read, feel free and take this Bible from us as a gift to encourage you to continue to read and study the Bible. Genesis chapter six. This short passage sets the stage for the flood, which is our subject next week, Lord willing. This passage is full of interesting details and has given rise to everything from theological controversies to conspiracy theories to fantasy novels. But embedded in it are crucial truths for us to understand our world and ourselves.

So listen as I read these verses to us now from Genesis, chapter 6, beginning verse 1. When man began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive, and they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, my spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh. His days shall be 120 years. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, and they bore children to them.

These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. So the Lord said, I will blot out man who I have created from the face of the land. Man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. I want to lead us through this brief passage, noting some things that you don't need to know and some things that you do. And I pray that as we consider this passage, what you and God have to do with each other, you will see, it will become clearer to you, and you will understand how it's important for you even today. First, things you don't need to know. And as a pastor, I feel guilty using that as a heading for a sermon.

You don't need to know. I mean, all Scripture is inspired and profitable for teaching, correction, reproof and training and righteousness. That's true. Having said that, all scriptures are not created equally, and there are parts in the Scriptures where there are things that are recorded that at the time would have been understood and that fit in context, but are not as weighted with clear truths that we understand as well. And I think we find ourselves with a few of those verses right here at the beginning of our passage this morning.

I'll happily hear your thoughts at the door.

Deuteronomy 29:29 does tell us that the secret things belong to the Lord, those that he's revealed to us and to our children. I think some of the secret things may be here in these verses. Let's just look at them and do the best we can. First, who are the sons of God? Well, let's look again at these first four verses.

Let me just read them again. When man began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive, and they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, my spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh his days shall be 120 years. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

So who were these sons of God? Well, some say angels, because the same phrase is used in passages in Job, and also because of passages in Second Peter and Jude that may seem to refer to this. Three main reasons that I'm not persuaded of this. Number one, because of Jesus teaching that in heaven angels do not experience marriage. As Hebrews 1:14 says, angels are spirits.

And because I don't think the positive title Sons of God would be given to fallen angels, to demons. And because this whole section is not about the evil of angelic beings and their rebellion, it's about the evil of mankind that leads to the flood. So the moral emphasis is on the guilt of people. No penalties recorded here towards supernatural beings, unlike, say, even in Genesis chapter three, when not only the man and the woman are cursed, but the serpent is cursed. There's nothing like that here.

So then, if these sons of God are humans, who are they? There are three basic ideas about this. Number one, the majority of opinion seems to be that these are the descendants of Seth's godly line, as opposed to the ungodly line of Cain that you see talked about in chapter four, from whom in this reading, the daughters of man are supposed to come. So the sons of God, the descendants of Seth, the daughters of man, the descendants of Cain represented. And so therefore this passage would stand as a warning against religiously mixed marriages.

An alternative opinion is that these are those who call themselves the sons of the gods. And this is the great ones, like the pharaohs or the Caesars who claimed divine descent. In that case, the daughters of men would be poor and powerless women who are taken advantage of. And this would stand as a text against the exploitation of powerless women by powerful men. A third alternative.

Some people say that these are simply idiomatic expressions for men. Sons of God. After all, we see up in Genesis 5:1, Adam was made by God. He was made as a son of God in God's image. And then Seth was made in his own image.

And the women are simply called daughters of men. And that the sin was in either the shallow acquisition of wives on the basis of mere physical attraction, because that's mentioned here, or perhaps the practice of polygamy, certainly finding a spouse physically attractive is not wrong, but may be a passing and weak basis for a lifelong union. We want to thank God for his good gifts, but never abuse them. So whoever these sons of God and daughters of men are in verse three or in verses one and two, verse three suggests they did something wrong. Look at verse three.

Then the Lord said, my spirit shall not abide, shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh. His day shall be 120 years. Now, abide here does not mean like to indwell a Christian. No. What abide here?

That word here is simply a statement that could mean contend with or strive with, be around, sort of put up with. So whether this is a statement of how many years until God was going to cut off this generation through the flood, or a statement that God would lower the normal lifespan of human beings which we see happening in the next few chapters, and so lessen their years to sin. This is clearly meant as some kind of judgment. Either way, God would act to remind them of their mortality and therefore the account that they would have to give for how they've lived. So, as a church, you'll notice that we regularly sing and pray and preach in such a way as to remind us of the brevity and uncertainty of this life and of the constant assurance and constantly assurance of the fact that we must all face judgment.

And so our times together are fundamentally serious and sober because of the great weight of what we're considering. This brings us to the first sentence of verse four and our next question. Who are the Nephilim? Look at verse 4. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them.

We know very little about these people because we're told very little. The only other place in the Bible where this word occurs is in Numbers, chapter 13, verse 33, where we have one of their or some of their descendants claim to be seen in the promised land. But friends, that comment came from an unreliable, cowardly, scared liar. He didn't want them to go into the promised land. And he was telling them, they're really big people, we can't make it.

We can't do it on our own. We'll never take them. And so he was trying to persuade them that these Canaanites were too much for them, as we'll see next week in the flood, chapter 7, verse 23, God blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground. Man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth.

Only Noah was left. And those who were with him in the ark. Friends, the Nephilim referred to here would have been killed in the flood. So our only other verse in the Bible which tells us about them other than Numbers 13:33, is the verse we're looking at right now, verse four. And here our translators have simply decided to transliterate this word.

That is, to transliterate is just to take a word in another language and spell it out in letters that you use. So if I don't say gracias is thank you, I just spell out G R, A, C, I, A, S in English rather than translating it. Thank you. Well, that's what many of the translations, not all of them, but many of the translations have decided to do here. They just transliterated the word.

If they wanted to translate, they could. It's a known word. It just means fallen ones. These are the ones who fell. These are the fallen ones.

And so these fallen ones are whom? Well, these certainly are the accounts of the fallen children of Adam and Eve. Moses is identifying when these unions that he referred to in verse two were taking place. And it was in the time of these fallen ones. The only other information there could be is in that last sentence in verse four.

These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. Which brings us to the last of my three initial questions. Who does the these refer to there at the beginning in that sentence? In verse four, is this a description of the children of men and women marrying, or is this a description of the Nephilim in the days of whom these children were being born and living? Well, here there's a hint in the original language.

I think the lack of a normal connective at the beginning of the sentence makes it much more likely to modify not what comes immediately before it, which would be the children of the men and women. But to modify the Nephilim, kind of like you insert a note, an explanatory note, in which case it reinforces the idea that the Nephilim were men who either themselves were large and powerful, or at least regarded themselves as that, and were regarded by that, by others as that, and called themselves that, perhaps in their pride. And that's how they were remembered, men who made a name for themselves great heroes of their time. Whichever answer we take of those uncertain phrases, we can know that even these verses show us God's plan. Continuing what these people are doing is in some sense obeying the command in Matthew or in Genesis 1:28, to be fruitful and multiply.

But even in the midst of their obediences, they were continuing to sin. And God would only let that go on for so long. And so we see here in verse three, whatever sins they were, they were sins against each other, made in God's image and sins against God. And ultimately this sin would not be allowed to continue. However, we take these first verses of chapter six.

They don't tell of repentance and revival, which is what we would hope for. Instead, we have but to look to the next paragraph to understand the spiritual truth of what's going on here, whatever the particulars. And it's these things that are the things you really do need to know. So things you do need to know. And I'll have three sub Points to this Things you do need to know.

Let's reread the second half of our passage, beginning in verse five. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, I will blot out man who I have created from the face of the land. Man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I had made them.

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Three things that we need to know. First, God is good. God is good. Do you see how that's the background even to this very dark passage?

The creation itself, mankind, the animals, the world, everything in it, though fallen now, is still good. God had made it all, and he declared it all good back in Genesis chapter one when he'd made it. Friends, the religion of the Bible is not a kind of Gnosticism that says the physical is inherently evil and the spiritual is what is inherently good. No, God is a spirit. But he made us and this world and everything in it.

And he made us to be physical beings. And when he did, it's at the end of that act of creation in Genesis chapter 1, verse 31 that he says God saw everything that he made and behold, it was very good. And that goodness in the creation reflects God's own character. God Himself is good, and what he's made in his creation is good. God knows everything.

He sees everything everyone does everywhere. And he knows how to evaluate it morally better than we do ourselves. He even knows our intentions and our hearts. Nothing is hidden to Him. Even the thoughts of your mind are open to Him.

And he being always good is what contrasts so sharply and conflicts with our sins. Friends, it's God's goodness that brings us to hear him in his word. It's God's goodness that brings him to express Himself as He does here, even about our sin. When Scripture here says in verse 6 that the Lord regretted, he's communicating a negative evaluation of the sinful choices people made. God's character is unchangingly good.

His feelings are not like our feelings. Theologians use the word of anthropomorphism to speak of God as if he were a man, or even anthropopathism to speak of God as if he felt like a man in order to communicate what is a fundamentally different experience for a perfectly good, all knowing being like God. God's Heart was grieved because he loves people. He made us to glorify God. His impulse, even to judge by blotting out people and de creating much of what he'd created is exactly because God is good and because God is not indifferent to people acting in the kind of lecherous and even murderous ways we saw in Genesis chapter four among the descendants of Cain.

Even in the curse, he had continued to give people a way to live and for them to continue to have hope. So the Lord was grieved and pained and and dismayed instead of being pleased exactly because he is good. God is unhappy with what sin does to his creation. Sin caused pain for God and pain for people. This show of sorrow is completely consistent with what the Lord Jesus revealed to us about the heart of God.

Remember in John 11 where Jesus wept over the death of his friend Lazarus? Or in Matthew's Gospel, in Matthew chapter 23 where we see Jesus lamenting over disobedient Jerusalem. So God is sorrowful, but he's not sorry in the sense that he wished he hadn't done something. His plans don't change. The Lord says through the prophet Malachi I, the Lord do not change.

Moses records how God caused Balaam to prophesy, God is not man that he should lie, or the Son of man that he should change his mind. Has he said and will he not do it? Or has he spoken and will he not fulfill it? As Paul testified to the Roman Christians in Romans 11, the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Neither God's person nor his character, neither his purposes nor his plans change, but his line of acting towards humans changes depending on what we do.

And he expresses that to us in such words out of our own experience. As he uses here, God's plans and purposes don't change. But since he expresses himself to us in time, he declares what he intends to do. And then depending on what we do, he he expresses the change to us as he points out what he will now plan to do. A great example of this is in the book of Jonah, a little prophet later in the Old Testament, four chapters.

Jonah is a strange prophet in that he doesn't want to go prophesy call the Ninevites to repentance. Because the Ninevites are his enemies. He wants them judged. But God very convincingly drafts him and pulls him over to prophesy. And so Jonah does.

He tells them, God will destroy this city. Very soon God will destroy this great city. And then you know what happens. The Ninevites Repent. And so what happens?

God says he's not going to destroy the city. Did God change his mind? No, God didn't change his mind. The. The message that came caused the Ninevites to change what they were doing.

And then God did what Jonah knew the Lord would do because he was like that. And Jonah even gets upset at him for that. He says in Jonah 4. Two, I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster. He's the same word.

Now, God was always gonna threaten disaster if they continued in their sins. But if they repented, he was always going to relent from those announced plans. In fact, Moses recording of these verses Here in Genesis 6 is part of how God was warning and appealing to the Israelites as they were about to go into Canaan. Not to give in to the idolatry of the Canaanites, not to follow the way of the world, but to continue to be faithful to him. The Puritan pastor Stephen Charnock commented on God's relenting from destroying Nineveh as he had threatened through Jonah.

When the threatening was made, the Ninevites were a fit object for justice. But when they repented, they were a fit object for a merciful respite. To threaten when sins are high is a part of God's justice, not to execute when sins are revoked by repentance is a part of God's goodness. So this language here then, about God regretting and being grieved and sorry is not so much telling us about God's feelings as his actions. God is signaling how he's going to act toward them.

And whereas he had acted as their creator and blesser, he would now act as their uncreator and judge. But God's own mind never changes. A new thought never occurs to God's mind. How then does he communicate to us limited creatures that we are in time? He uses images that we will understand.

And yet all of this. God only does what he does because he is good. He knows the grief of oppressed women. He knows the grief of those who are sexually abused. He knows the impoverishing confusion of the soul not raised to worship the one true God and taught his word and ways.

Everyone is made in his image and is made in order to reflect Him. And yet instead, by our sins, we proclaim distortions about him every day. Friends, even his grief is good and holy and pure.

It too is good. He tolerates man's sin to continue only so Long. If you're here this morning frustrated and aggrieved that God has tolerated someone else's sin against you for too long, it shouldn't have been put up with this. Long. Be careful, friend.

Remember God's patience toward you. Should God have been as patient with you as he's been here? Lowering lifespans and a universal flood threatens. In our own lives, circumstances sovereignly constrain our freedom to sin. We're all on a shot clock until the buzzer sounds and the score is finalized.

We may try to deceive others, even ourselves, about how young we are, how vigorous we are, as if that keeps us further away from God's righteous judgment. But, friend, we are exactly one week closer to it than we were last Sunday. At this time does not matter how healthy you are or sick you are, how young you look or how old you look, you are exactly one week closer to God's judgment.

You know the Oscar wilde story from 1890, the picture of Dorian Gray? It's a story of a young, handsome socialite who entertains and is entertained at parties and social affairs regularly, week after week, month after month, year after year, as people around him, though age, he never seems to. He always looks so young, even exactly the same. But what they don't know is that he had made an infernal bargain and that hiding away in his attic under a drape was a picture that had been painted of him. And that picture was aging and showing his true corruption and degeneracy, even in the features of his face, and would someday come to a point where he would have to turn in himself and his image and become what he really is in that picture.

Friends, that's what our lives are like in this world. We are living ultimately not for what we think of each other today, the mere appearance, but we are living. We should be living for those who know the truth about ourselves, as God does, for those who are ready to appear before him, to trust in Christ alone, to say that we are living for Him. That brings us to the next point that we need to see here. First, God is good.

Second, we are not. We are not. That is, we are evil. Now, does that seem too harsh? Scripture teaches us that anything that is not done in faith is sin.

So what that means is that anything that you are doing in your life that you're not ultimately doing out of obedience to God and out of your service to him is, in fact, even if it has the appearance of virtue, it is a kind of sin because it's not done ultimately out of praise to God. Now, because you're the congregation, you are. Let me quickly say, if we're talking about two different actions by non Christians, both done not to God, so they're both ultimately sins. One can still be better than the other. I would rather have a non Christian not murdering than merely not gossiping.

Okay? So don't freak out over public policy and think that I'm suggesting it doesn't matter what we do. No, of course it matters what we do. I'm speaking here about ultimate level, what God regards as good or bad. And all that is not done in faith ultimately is sin.

So we are all, in that sense, wrong. The severity of the judgment that God is about to bring in the passage that we hope to consider next week should make it clear how good we are. Not such a severe remedy as blotting out men suggests a severe problem. And the illustrations that Moses has provided here in Genesis from chapters three and four are really summarized here in Genesis, chapter six, verse five. Look at verse five, one of the most severe treatments of humanity in all the Bible.

Verse 5. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Listen to that again. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Friends, this is why we sang that first song we did all mankind.

This is why Jay led us in praying a prayer of lamentations. You know, we only do a prayer of lament once every three or four months. But we'll select one service which because of the text is particularly appropriate. And out of this winter springtime, this text today, because of this verse, made it seem especially appropriate that we lament because of our sin. Verse 5 presents one witness to convict man of wickedness, but that one is the ever living, ever seeing God, who is judge of all.

And here in verse five we read, the Lord saw no further witness need be adduced. As Elihu says in Job of God, for his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps. There's no gloom or deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves. Or as the Lord told Samuel, the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

You realize that in God's controversy with us, he's not started the fight we have by our sins. God has done nothing wrong. Yet in creating us, he was stepping into the grief that he knew would come from the sins of these pre diluvian men. The grief he would know from centuries of Israel's sins, which we read about in the Psalms and the prophets. Even the grief he would know from your sins and mine.

Remember Ephesians 4:30, Paul's instruction, Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Friends. This verse 5 summarizes the sad trend since the fall of our first parents. Though this is hyperbole as it comes across in the English the every and all, when Moses himself has recorded good actions on the part of Enoch, on the part of Noah, the point of the hyperbole is clear. It's a tragic picture of depravity which is so great as to be comprehensive and universal.

Theologians speak of the difference between total depravity and utter depravity. Might be a useful distinction for you to understand. Total depravity, which I think this passage is clearly teaching, is that every aspect of our being has been touched by the fall. Our turned in ness on ourselves means that nothing escapes the sinfulness of fallen humanity. Utter depravity would mean there is nothing good left.

All we do, all the time is evil and only evil. And that is more than even this passage is teaching. And you can tell because of the examples of goodness it gives on both sides of it as we look in chapters five and chapter six later on about Enoch walking with God or Noah walking with God. No, what this is teaching is the comprehensiveness of our depravity. Not that there is nothing anyone does that is ever anything other than evil, but rather that evil is what typifies us.

It is intensively so of our hearts and thoughts. It is extensively so. It's deeply personal. It's inward and outward. It's upward.

The Lord Jesus compared the last days before his return as those days here before the flood when the people seemed heedless of the danger they were living like they would never have to give an account. Friends, one implication of the Bible's teaching here is that self help religions are no help at all. So if your friend is into positive thinking or a religion which basically says if you grab hold of the teachings of this guru or this prophet and follow them, then that's all you need. Well, that's just not good enough for what the Bible tells us is our situation. The Bible tells us that we are fallen in sin, that we are spiritually, as Paul put it to the Ephesians, dead.

Now we need someone who can give us New life. We need someone who, like Jonah when he was in the belly of that father fish, submerged, swallowed deep under, needed someone to save him, because a ladder sent down to him is nothing he would be able to climb. Friends, that's the situation we're in, and that's what this verse tells us about. That's why David could talk about himself in such dark terms. That's why Paul could say, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Again, I just refer. If you're here and you're not a Christian, I would just want to challenge you about your understanding of the world. If you look around at different philosophies and different religions, they will tend to go in one of two directions. They'll be shallow and overly optimistic, and therefore they will tell you you're basically good. And you will become open to their manipulation because they will think then you can do what they say, and if you don't, they could physically coerce you.

Or, on the other hand, they'll become too negative and they'll only see the bad and be kind of nihilistic, say there is no hope. Christianity participates in neither of those errors. Christianity says everyone is made in the image of God. There is no person on this planet who is not of unbelievable value before God, and you have no rights over that person inherently to treat them in any way other than what God has called you to do. On the other hand, everyone, even the best among us, are tainted by sin.

We're twisted by the fall. So therefore we're not surprised, though we're saddened when we deal with the sin in each other's lives. But we're also not surprised, though we're pleased when even a person who's in rebellion against God does something good or creates something beautiful. Because as Christians, we understand everyone's made in the image of God. Everyone is fallen friends.

This is the truth that we're seeing here, even in these verses. Young people, I think it's especially important that you know this. You're being taught in schools today things that are false about what people are basically like. You need these great truths in the Bible that are weighty, that help you understand who God is and the truth about us. And no one in schools would tell you that there's something basically wrong with you because they would be scared they'd be sued.

Even if the teachers have their own private suspicions that something is wrong with at least some, probably most kids here, they'll never say it. They may not have a worldview to understand it. Friends, that's where the Bible is your friend. The Bible will tell you the truth. You know, a good doctor is not one who gives you a report.

You you like. A good doctor is one who gives you a report. That's true. Friends, the Bible is a good friend to you. Like that here at this church.

We want to be a good church like that. We don't want to run each other down. We want to build each other up. But in order to build each other up, if we're going to do that effectively, we have to begin by building a foundation, digging deep down into the truth about us. And, and the truth that we see here in Genesis 6, 5 is that the thoughts of our heart are typically evil.

So we need a savior to give us new life. Which brings me to the last truth that we need to know. Number three. So, first one that I've said God is good. Second one we are not.

Third one, God saves. Praise the Lord. God saves. That's why even when we have hymns about sinfulness and depravity, we have a final stanza which is hopeful about what God has done for us in Christ. We cannot save ourselves.

True. We need saving. True. Also, though God saves, there is hope. Now.

If you or I were God and we had made the world and the world treated us like we have treated God, I'm guessing we would have just junked the world. Just completely be done with it. Get rid of it. I am amazed at God's patience and his kindness with those of us completely dependent beings that he has made specifically to reflect his character. He saw someone we see here who was not acting like all the others, but who was walking with God.

Look at verse 8, Genesis, chapter 6, verse 8.

Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

When you think of the days he lived in the fact that Noah was, as we're going to see next week, just a verse below this. He was walking with God. That's impressive. Noah lived in a dark day, as I say. We'll read more about this next week, but let's just note what it says in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 7.

By faith. Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen in reverent fear, constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. That's really where Noah, I think is pointing ahead toward Abraham. We read a few chapters later that Abraham believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Noah believed the Lord's word when it came to him. So the way of salvation is the way of hearing and believing and fearing and obeying and trusting God. The favor we need is God's favor. It's God's grace. God favored Noah, and that's amazing.

When you look at the story that we've been given of humanity so far, you look back in chapter five, verse one, you see the sort of books inside Genesis start with this phrase, Genesis 5, 1, the generations, or that is the family of Adam. This is the book of the generations of Adam. That's how this sort of book inside of Genesis begins. But now here it ends literally, disastrously, and yet not hopelessly. You see in the next verse, chapter six, verse nine, after our passage, these are the generations of Noah.

Verse 9 starts the next book in Genesis. And it's this book that we're gonna spend all the rest of these sermons in, in this series in Genesis. Genesis 6:9 through almost the end of chapter 11. When you get to. If you look over in chapter 1127, you can see this model now.

These are the generations of Terah. That's where the next book begins. Chapter 11, verse 27. That's what takes us to Abraham. This is gonna be Abraham's story.

So we're looking now for the remainder starting next Sunday. Just all these stories from 6, 9. These are the generations of Noah through the end of that book. This goes on through the rest of the book. Moses laying out which section he's talking about here.

Well, here we see verse 8 of chapter 6 ends this short little book, the book of the generations of Adam. And it's been, on the whole, a kind of dark book. Look how he summarizes it there in chapter six, verse five, about the evils of humanity. And yet, as darkly as the generations of Adam have gone, even through Seth's line, the sky is dark with coming judgment. But in that dark sky are points of light, the hope that God would give his favor, as he puts it here in verse eight, not earned favor, but undeserved by faith.

Noah believed. We read in Hebrews what God had told us. Friends, if you think about it just from what we already see in Genesis, there are already hints of how God would deliver. It seems like deliverance would be coming in the sense that someone would defeat Satan. We know that from Genesis 3:15.

And that one would also come from Eve's descendants. Could the strange expression of the seed of the woman, when that would normally be the seed of the man, be an allusion to the virgin birth? And then in chapter four, verse Four. Abel's sacrifice is accepted. And what was his sacrifice?

It was of a firstborn lamb. Could this tell us something about the way that the seed of the woman would defeat Satan? That a sacrificial offering of a pure firstborn would be made? And then in chapter 5, verse 29, when Lamech prophesied about one who would bring relief. So if Satan is crushed by some kind of sacrifice made by a descendant of Lamech's whose victory would entail relief from the curse.

Friend, do you see how far we're getting even before the flood, in constructing a picture of what God would do in Jesus?

He's laying out hope. Do you want to find favor in the eyes of the Lord? Believe the promises that he set out to us. Friends, you're not going to achieve sinlessness in this life. You're a sinner and your only hope is a savior.

And Christ is that Savior. God has sent his only Son incarnated, taken on flesh. Jesus lived a perfect life. He died on the cross as that sacrificial lamb, firstborn, pure. That sacrifice is sufficient to pay the penalty that all of us have deserved for our sins, all of us who will turn and trust from our sins.

And he calls us all now to believe in him, the one who's risen from the dead in victory. He calls us to rise out of our sins and to go in faith to Him. Friends, that's how you can have new life. I've often told you the story of Bill Sykes, the London fruit seller from a century or so ago. One of Archibald Brown's missionaries from the East London Tabernacle went to see him and found him one April morning.

He visited him several times and he'd shared the gospel with him. But Bill never seemed interested. He was very ill. Then on April 27, the worker recorded found him cheerful, but very low. His son was present, and I commenced speaking to him about spiritual matters.

Bill Sykes, interrupting my conversation, said, give him that little bit. What bit? I said that little bit about Christ taking my place and how he had my punishment for me. That's the bit. Bill may have been dying, but he heard what was his only hope.

And he wanted his son to hear it, too. Friend, is that your hope? This morning? God saves us through his son, Jesus Christ. So there it is.

Some things that we don't need to know. Maybe not quite. YouTube, useless information level. I do not want to insult God's word ever, but there are some things here in this passage clearly that we do need to know about what God is like. About what we are like and about what hope we can have.

Catherine the Great ruled Russia from 1762 to 1796. Wouldn't be a sermon for me if there weren't a little history. And then she died. All of her great power couldn't stop her from dying. When she dies, one aide spontaneously recorded Catherine the Great having uttered a last sigh.

Like all mortals appeared before the judgment seat of God.

I wonder how all this finds you today. Are you ready for that final appearance before the judgment seat of God?

Have you felt far off from God? Fatherless, like the cosmos is simply a. A cold, soul crushing vacuum? Friend, that's what it becomes when Adam and Eve fall, when they're cast out of the garden because of our sin. We're excluded from the presence of God and fellowship with God.

We're unable to walk with God because we disbelieved and disobeyed him. We're put at a distance. But then, like Noah, Enoch before him of old, we hear something of the promises of God. And more than that, we hear about justification by faith alone in Jesus Christ. And we realize that in believing Christ, we are forgiven of our sins and more.

The voice that spells forgiveness will say, you may go. You've been let off the penalty which your sins deserve, but the verdict which means acceptance, justification, being treated just as if I'd never sinned. That means you can hear God saying, you may come. You are welcome to all my love and my fellowship, friends. This is what's restored to us through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Do you believe?

Let's pray.

Lord God, we pray that your Holy Spirit would take these words that you've inspired and would preach them savingly to our souls. Even now we ask, in Jesus name, amen.