Increasing Corruption

Introduction

From the genealogy of chapter 5 we fast forward to tonight's short passage. Through the last bits of scripture we are given some hope, chapter 4 ends with worship, chapter 5 shows us the promised line, and in the end of it there is Noah who through the words of his father offers us hope.

Then we get here to our passage and we see that even though there is hope, there is still sin. More than just that, the corruption on earth is increasing more and more. This corruption is so great that God decides to intervene.

What a tragedy that this happens but through it we still see a great God.

Let’s start with prayer then we can look at the story.

The Story

Lets read our passage for tonight in it’s entirety as we start, Genesis 6.1-8

Genesis 6:1–8 ESV

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 in to the daughters of man 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 to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom 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.

So man begins to multiply which is what they were called to do. Then there became an issue, the sons of God begin to marry women on earth. These men are fallen angels, we can see this through other references to the sons of God where it refers to angels and then in Jude we see that these angels have left their proper dwelling.

God then says that mans days will be 120 years. Now at face value this seems to point to lifespan, the thing is that people after this continue to live long and now nobody lives this long. That points this to possibly mean that this is the time until the flood.

Then there are the Nephilim. These are separated from the children that the fallen angels have with man. There is only one other reference to these men, it is in Numbers 13.33. These men were simply really big guys, giants. Giant is actually the word that the LXX uses to translate this word.

So there are these giants and these men of renown on the earth. The men of renown coming from fallen angels. This is clearly the increasing corruption.

God saw this increasing corruption too, he was not pleased by it. It says that he regretted that he had made them. This regret is different than we would typically think of. This is better looked at as grieving or having sorrow. This brought sorrow to God.

Now Yahweh says that he will blot out all of man and animals and creeping things and birds.

then there in Genesis 6:8 “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”

Even in all of this evil, Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. There is hope. God is about to do something great.

Depravity

In this passage the human race extends but so does the reach of sin. Perversion and depravity are everywhere. We might see in our own world that this is true.

Depravity is moral corruption. As humans we are all fully depraved, we are completely morally corrupt. This is a big problem for us. We see that Genesis 6:5 applies just as much to us today as it did to them at this time, that verse says “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.”

This provides us with a lens to view the world and to view our own lives. This is a hard truth but we are corrupt beings. We would like to think that we are not, we would like to think that certain people aren’t, but that is just simply not true.

Just this last week a preacher that I valued very much fell into sin enough to be removed from his church and all the ministries that he was associated with. This is a guy who I have spent a lot on his books and time reading them, I have traveled to hear him and to learn from him, I got to meet him and shake his hand just last year. To me he was a pillar of the faith. Now I knew he was a sinner don’t get me wrong. But to think that something this serious has happened. If he can fall how can I think that I am above that. How can you think that you are above that.

We are totally depraved, we are totally morally corrupt. We are not above sin, even if our faith is in Jesus sin still comes for us and is crouching at the door and it will rule over us if we let it.

If your faith is not in Jesus you are a slave to this moral corruption. You are a slave to sin. You are just like the people on earth who grieved God, who brought him great sorrow. So you need the same solution that they do, you need the seed of the woman just like them.

This is a hard truth, it is hard to admit our moral corruption, it is hard to admit our sin. It is hard to admit it even to ourselves. We must admit it to God though even though he knows and ask for forgiveness.

Hope

This story is not without hope though. Like in many of the stories of Genesis, there is hope in the darkest of times. This is because of what we talked about last week, God’s sovereignty. God is in complete control of everything and even through this he has preserved someone who will carry on the line. We saw him in the genealogy last week, this is Noah.

Genesis 6:8 ESV

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Even in all of this corruption and depravity there is a glimmer of Hope because Noah has found favor in God’s eyes.

We will be going through the story of Noah and seeing some parallels that he has with other characters in the Bible but through them all we can see that he is a type of savior. He saves a remnant through the judgment of God to continue the world and to fulfill the promises that he has made.

Noah is the hope here but he is not a perfect man. This means that he cannot be the final hope. The hope that we need because of our sin has to be a perfect hope. This can only be found in Jesus.

Jesus came to this world and lived a perfect life. He was hated though and he was put to death. This is what God had intended to happen though. This is the fulfillment of the promise in Genesis 3.15. In his sacrifice he payed the price for our sins. The debt we owe he payed for all who would believe in him, this faith. If you would put your faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior he will forgive you for your sins. This is the beauty of the gospel, this is our only hope.

Our only hope in life and death is that we are not our own but belong to God.

Without the salvation offered to us by Jesus there is no hope. If you have not put your faith in him you have no hope. But that can change today.

Conclusion

So tonight is a little short but I have put some heavy truths in front of you. How will you respond to these truths? You are a completely morally corrupt human. Without Christ you have no hope. In our story tonight we see that there is hope for them and I brought out that there is hope for you too. All you must do is respond in faith and repentance.

For those of you who have put your faith in Jesus I have this question for you. Are you still living in depravity? Are you fighting sin and ruling over it or is it ruling over you? Or maybe this, do you think you are above sin? If you do I will tell you this, you are wrong.

Here in a moment I am going to pray and I have another song, this is your time to respond. Maybe you want to know more about salvation, come right over to the side and find me. Maybe you need to repent and spend some time in prayer about the depravity of your life, do that now. Maybe you were of the mindset that you are above your sin, be humbled and ask God to change your heart now.