Of Grief and Grace

We've been in our series here for five weeks titled The Beginning, as we have been studying the first 11 chapters of Genesis.

So far we have covered

1. The Creation - and studied that what gives mankind worth is that each of us are made in the image of God.

2. The Fall - and saw that sin corrupts. Sin separates us from God and hinders our relationship with Him.

3. Cain and Abel- we saw the first murder. We saw through this that Cain could have repented at any time, even after he murdered his brother, but in pride never did. We talked further about the outlook that he had on God. The truth was that God was being merciful and gracious throughout all of His dealings with Cain, and all Cain saw was a God that was unfair and mean. His prideful outlook blinded him to the true nature of God.

4. The Lineage of Seth- and as we studied chapters 4 and five, we saw that Seth and his descendants were people who had faith in God and walked with God. We were able to see the corrupting influence of sin in this study as well. We dipped our toes into chapter 6, and saw that people who once identified as God Followers and God Worshippers now were marrying into families that had no intention to follow God, but were intent on making a name for themselves. As this began to be the norm, and as these people began to multiply, so also did sin.

Sin and violence became the norm of the day. We studied that there were those faithful to the Lord in this time, but they were reduced to one family of Seth's lineage.

We got all the way to Lamech, son of Methuselah, and when Lamech had his son he named him Noah. Noah means rest. Lamech has a hope in God that in Noah's day, God will bring rest to the earth that has suffered because of all the evil in it.

And this is where we start today.

Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

PRAY

Today, as we dive into chapter 6 and chapter 9, there are a couple of things that I want to point out, and there is one thing that we won't spend much time at all on which will be glaringly obvious.

If you are familiar with this section in Genesis, you know these chapters are about The Flood. If you grew up going to Sunday School you are probably familiar with the story of Noah receiving a command to build a huge ship, an ark, in which he, his family, and 2 of every animal are to be kept safe during this flood that will affect the entire earth.

This is the story of the flood. And to be clear, I believe this flood is a literal flood that covered, literally, all of the world. It is not an allegory, it is not a legend, and we can say that conclusively because Jesus Christ spoke of the flood as a real and true event which He believed actually happened. And if God Himself said it happened literally, then I believe that it happened literally.

This sermon will not focus on that, however. See, the story of the flood is a story about both grief and about grace. The focus of this story is not on the animals, the ark, the actual flood, destruction, or even on Noah. The focus of this story, like every other Bible story, is God. In this account, we have two things that stand out about God. As I studied for this sermon, as I read through these chapters and listened to and read various pastors and commentaries dealing with these passages, two things stood out about God, and that is what we will look at today.

God's Grief Over Sin

Genesis 6:5-7 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

As sinful man multiplied, so did sin itself. The more men thought to make a great name of themselves instead of exalting and praising the great name of God, the more sin deepened and spread.

We see in this passage here that sin grows. I heard a pastor once say, "Satan has big plans for little sins."

Going all the way back to the garden of Eden, we often think the big sin was that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. But in the conversation with Eve, did Satan ever say, "You should eat that fruit," no, all Satan did was try to change Eve's mind.

Now that isn't such a big deal, right? The thought of something is not actually something, right? Right, but what we believe determines how we behave.

We see that God's initial indictment against Adam was not for eating the fruit but for listening to the wrong voice. Adam turned his ear from God and listened to Satan's message. A little sin, but as mentioned before, Satan has big plans for little sins.

Little sins, like pridefully offering something to the Lord. Little sins, like disassociating from those that identify as worshippers of God and entering close and influential relationships with those who are against God.

Those little sins grow and spread if left unchecked and unrepentant.

Do you think Cain's first thought after God rejected his offering was, "I'm going to kill my brother?" No! It probably was not, but he left the pride, the jealousy, and the anger unchecked for long enough that it grew to murderous rage.

Do you think that when Seth's various sons and daughters that once identified as God Followers started to marry those in Cain's lineage and those that were not God Followers had the thoughts of, "Someday, my kids are going to be evil! They aren't going to do anything but think evil and devise evil all day?" No, but Satan has big plans for little sins.

Don't be surprised when Satan takes way more than what we initially give him. Adam and Eve gave them their ears, and sin took their home and more importantly, their fellowship with God. Then it continued to ravage their family. We still look back and shake a fist in frustration at the memory of the Fall.

But sin not only grows, it (sin) grieves the heart of God.

Genesis 6:6-7 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

The word "repent" here is not dealing with the changing of a mind. It is not that God is saying, "I made a mistake when I created man." The word repent here literally means to sigh, to have pain or anguish about something.

God didn't make a mistake, he felt pain because of the sin. He was in anguish.

Think about it this way. Parents, has your kid ever done something so wrong that it hurts you? I'm not talking about something embarrassing, that's a different kind of feeling. I'm talking about something that causes you anguish because of the sin they have gotten into.

These things can be as big as getting a call from the police department and finding out that your daughter was just arrested on DUI and that her actions caused someone else injury. Or it could be that you walk into your son's room finding him berating and absolutely destroying his younger siblings with the hatefulness of his words and his attitude. As a parent, both of those situations and the countless that would fall within that spectrum would cause us some sort of grief and anguish.

I don't think any one here would go so far as to say, "I wish my son/daughter would never have been born," but out of our mouths would escape a sigh and our hearts would overflow with anguish. We would likely apologize to those affected and say, "I am so sorry about my child."

This is what God is saying. "I am in pain and in anguish because of the sin. I feel sorry (sorrow) about how deep they have fallen."

And we need to understand that grief is a love word.

When God expresses in v.6 that He is "grieved at His heart," He is expressing love.

Sin not only breaks God's law, it breaks God's heart. There is no such thing as a small sin against a loving God.

Isaiah 54 uses this word grief as the feeling a woman would have after she has prepared herself for her wedding, the decorations are up, her dress and hair and makeup are ready, the guests have arrived, but the groom has run off with the maid of honor. This is being grieved at heart. Sin hurts God in this way.

Let's talk about grief for a moment. I worked for a while in funeral homes back in Texas. On many occasions, I preached funerals for families that did not have a church or a pastor that was available. Families that I did not know.

As I spoke with the families and prepared for those funerals, I felt sorry for them and felt bad for them, but I didn't experience grief.

But the day I preached my friend's funeral, that day I experienced grief. There was a love for him and his kids in my heart, and I felt grief. I was not sorry that he was my friend, I was not wishing that I had never met him, but I was sorry; I was grieving.

Grief is a love word. At this point, God IS So grieved because of sin that He makes a plan to purge the earth from the rampant disease, and His plan is to bring a flood.

Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

God is longsuffering. In fact, one of the ways that God describes Himself in Exodus 34:5-7 is longsuffering, and merciful.

But longsuffering is just that, longsuffering, not eversuffering. So God declares that He will not fight this fight with man anymore. He's going to give them 120 years. And in this 120 years, do you know what option the world had available to them? The option of repentance, just like Cain.

And God's longsuffering has a limit. Part of the rest of His self-description in that he "will by no means clear the guilty." God, because of His very nature, must punish sin.

He punishes sin in individuals, in groups, and in the whole world.

And this should be comforting to us, to know that God sees the sin but will not forever tolerate it.

How can we watch the news and see all the sin and wickedness going on and people being abused and persecuted and still be able to continue with our lives? Because we know that God sees it, and one day, God will punish sin. In the meantime, man is given a chance to repent, but if they don't, there will come a day when God will deal with sin because sin grieves God.

But we don't just see that sin grieves God in this story. Despite this story being an account of most of creation being destroyed on account of sin, the real focus here is on God's Grace.

By grace, God chose one person. (God's grace chose one person.)

Genesis 6:8-9 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

Notice the word found. Noah didn't earn grace. The very definition of grace is that it is a gift that is undeserved. Grace is a gift. If you earn it, it's not a gift.

Noah didn't find grace because he was just; Noah was just and "perfect" (complete or full, i.e. fully pursuing his walk with God; not sinless) because he found grace.

How did he find grace? Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Noah found grace through faith. Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

He had a faith in God, that is how he got grace.

Let's talk a little bit about Noah's faith.

Noah had a living faith. James chapter 2 tells us a lot about a living faith. Faith is alive only when it is joined with actions, otherwise it is merely belief.

Noah's faith caused him to stand out. His faith was alive and he stood out because he walked with God when no one else in that time was. Genesis 6:9

1.) Noah's faith was alive because it had action- he obeyed and built the ark. Genesis 6:14-17 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. 17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.

Noah is building a boat far from the sea. The ark measures 1.5 football fields long and about 4 stories high.

Noah's faith was not temporary. Noah's faith continued to work for 120 years as he completed the ark. His faith showed not only when he began to chop down the first tree, but all the way to the day he added the last layer of pitch to it.

If we are to live for God in a corrupt culture, it won't be easy. We are going to have to roll up our sleeves and do some work and walk to a different beat than others.

2.) 2 Peter 2:5

And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; - Noah's faith was alive because it caused him to warn others.

Imagine how we would remember Noah if Noah would have kept his mouth shut?

How will history remember us? We come and sing and hear about God, but do we lift our voices to tell others?

Spurgeon - If sinners will be damned, then at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions. And let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.

Was Noah's witnessing effective? Some would say "no." But I say "yes." He got his family in the ark. The job of a real man is to save your family. Don't send you wife and kids to church, bring your family to church. If you get asked a question, Dad, dig in the Bible and find the answer. If you can't find it, you ask around. You do the investigating. It is your job, dads, to be the spiritual leader of the home. So lead!

3.) Noah's faith was alive because it was patient. 120yrs of preaching and working and there was no sign of rain until God shut the door to the ark.

How long did Noah wait? 120 years. I wonder how many times Noah looked up at the sky and wondered, "Is today the day?" How many times did he look around and see the wickedness and wonder if that was going to be the day when judgement fell? How many times did he wonder how long God was going to let the other people mock him for building a boat where there was no water?

Everyone mocked but one day they found out that Noah was right and they were wrong.

4.) Noah's living faith worshipped.

After the flood and after the waters abate and go down, Noah gets off the ark with his family. Look at the first thing Noah does in Genesis 8:20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

I don't, for the life of me, understand the people that claim Christ, claim to be Christians, and sit in a chair with their arms crossed and a sour look on their face while the rest if the congregation sings. We should be taking EVERY opportunity to praise the Lord! Noah's faith caused him to worship God.

Let's continue with God's grace. God's Grace not oy chose one person, but God's grace made a covenant with all the earth.

Genesis 9:8-17 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. 11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. 12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

Let's talk covenants for a second. We don't use the word covenant very often anymore. We use words like agreement or contract more often, and though these are synonyms, they do not correctly describe what a covenant is.

A covenant is much deeper than a contract in that a covenant is the beginning of a type of relationship.

For example, I have a contract with a credit institution. This institution has given me a card and they will provide me with a line of credit. At the end of a certain time period, I must begin to make payments on that line of credit. We have agreed on terms and conditions, a document was drawn up, and we both signed on the dotted lines. This contract is now binding. There are certain things they must uphold and certain things I must uphold. But if I break that contract, the credit institution doesn't care, they just send collectors after me. They report me to the credit bureau. They may even sue me, but that's about it it. We really don't have a relationship.

What would better exemplify a covenant would be a marriage. Marriag is so much more than a contract, and it is sad that so many people have degraded it to just a civil contract in recent years. Marriage is the beginning of a covenant relationship with your spouse. Yes, you agree to certain things when you enter this covenant: to love and to cherish, honor and respect in sickness and health, for richer or for poorer, to have and to hold until death do you part, as long as you both shall live.

And for legal purposes, there is a document signed at the bottom by both parties. But this is a relationship, not a simple agreement and contract. Hearts and lives have been bound together by this covenant, and to break this covenant is to permanently damage a life.

Something important about covenants is this: covenants are made between at least two parties, and typically, both parties agree to uphold certain things in this covenant relationship.

But if you take a look at God's covenant with the earth, you will see that He is the only one that has to do anything in this covenant. This is not conditional on man being good or righteous, God makes a covenant with creation to never destroy it completely with a flood again no matter what. It is not up to us to uphold this covenant. It is up to God alone. This is a theme we will see repeated throughout the Bible as well.

And He also gives a token of His promise. The bow in the heavens. The rainbow. When we think of a rainbow, we think of happy things. We use phrases like "rainbows and unicorns" to denote something is very easy or pleasant. But think of the word bow. This word translated bow means war bow.

Genesis 9:13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

God hung up His war bow. He was done fighting, and promised to never shoot those kinds of wrath arrows at humanity again. If you think of a rainbow, you picture it arched toward heaven. Not only did God hang up His bow, but it faces heaven, not earth. The business end is pointed up toward heaven and not toward man.

God will never try to save the world by shooting the arrows of his wrath down to men, but by shooting the arrows of his wrath into heaven. This is how Jesus enters the story! What did Jesus do? Jesus took God's wrath for man on the cross.

That's not the only picture we have of Jesus in this story.

The ark is a picture of Jesus, the only way to be saved from God's wrath toward sin is to be in Him. You enter a relationship through Jesus just like Noah walked with God, by faith.

Invitation

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LIFE GROUPS

First we saw God's grief over sin. We talked about how sin grows.

What are sins that start out small, but can end up growing larger than expected?

- Neglecting time with God once > habitually neglecting prayer and Bible reading

- Hanging out with the wrong people > doing the things they are doing

- Flirting with someone that is not your spouse > emotional affair or full on physical affair

The center of each Christian's life should be Jesus. Our lives should revolve around Him.

In the sermon, the following phrase was mentioned: what we believe determines how we behave.

Conversely, how we behave shows others what we believe.

Uncomfortable question: Do people at your work/school/home see that you believe Jesus is the center of your life?

What comes to mind when you hear that sin grieves the heart of God?

How should we respond to sin in our lives knowing that it brings pain to God's heart?

Read Ephesians 2:8-9

How can we find grace in the sight of the Lord? Through faith.

Noah demonstrated a faith that the book of James would call "alive." How did that faith make him stand out among his peers?

Thinking about your work/school/ friend/home environments, how should your faith make you stand out among those around you?

Uncomfortable question: In what ways at work/school/home/with friends do you find it hard to do what is right because others all around you do what is wrong?

Have you ever found yourself trying to earn God's grace? Elaborate.

Challenge: Go around the group and praise God for one thing by finishing this sentence: I praise God because ________.

Faith challenge: Invite someone to church this week (verbally, don't just put an invitation on someone's door), or share the Gospel with one person this week.