The Way of Salvation
Introduction
Have you ever just really messed up?
I can remember one time that I knew I had really messed up. It was not too long ago, early 2023. Our daughter had just been born and we were preparing to move across the country.
One of the things you need to do in the weeks following the birth of a child is to add them to your health insurance plan. Somehow, this simple but very important task just slipped my mind. In fact, I thought she had been added and one day happened to notice that she had not been.
We were blessed to have such good medical coverage, but if Reagan's hospital bill and first year appointments were all not billed through our insurance, then we would have a lot of unexpected costs.
Instantly, I began to panic. How could I have forgotten? I called our HR department as soon as I could. She got me in touch with a representative with the insurance company.
Long story short, the lady was very kind. I did not offer the information but even though I had missed the special enrollment period, she still added Reagan to our policy. I messed up big, and deserved to pay for it. (Literally!) But I received undeserved favor from a customer service representative of all people!
Last week, we looked at the first part of chapter 6. Pastor Thomas drew out a very important truth just beneath the surface, so to speak, in Genesis. Sin begins in the garden with Adam and Eve and grows like a cancer in the midst of humanity. Lamech’s boasting of violence and polygamy took root and grew to be societal issues.
Sin is progressive. And we’ve seen the progress of sin throughout our brief journey through the book of Genesis.
In our text, we find a verbal thread that traces all the way back to the beginning. We find the word SAW. (“Looked” in Gen 6:11.)
We have what God sees, in his perfection, understanding exactly what and how things are, and then we have what man sees. Interesting that Jesus focuses on the “eye” in his teaching at times.
God SAW that it was good. Gen 1
Eve SAW that the tree was good for food. Gen 3:6
The sons of God SAW the daughters of men that they were beautiful. Gen 6:2
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. Gen 6:5
God looked upon the earth and SAW that it was corrupt. Gen 6:11
From the garden, to Cain’s murder of his own brother, to Lamech, and now to the whole world’s minds and hearts being totally consumed by evil. Man continues to reject God and His good creation. The consequence? The Creator will undo His creation.
Can I stop here, and just make a pastoral plea? Don’t give sin an inch. Perhaps this analogy is too on the nose or overused but it communicates the truth so well. Most of us probably know of the popular children’s book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. It speaks to the progressive nature of conceding things. You concede to a bad choice, it becomes a habit. And soon, you want more because the dopamine doesn’t take you quite as far, until you’ve gone further than you ever imagined. You start with a cookie, then a glass of milk, then a straw, then a napkin, and then we’re doing haircuts.
What started as taking a bite of forbidden fruit has now become pervasive violence. Sin always leads to death. Friend, any choice to love anything outside of God, is choosing death. Notice I did not say other than God, but outside of God. We can love things other than God, but when that love takes away from our love of God in the smallest amount, it is sin. And it brings about death. (“Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” James 1:15)
In Genesis, we find mankind way past giving into the milk request. Their sin has reached the endgame level. Yet, God’s grace is not hemmed in by our wickedness. No matter how many times we give into the mouse, God is still able to offer us grace.
And grace is what I really want us to meditate on this morning as we look at
Gen 6.
God responds to wickedness with grace.
Yes, God responds to wicked violence an d perversion with His just vengeance, but to us He offers us grace.
What do we mean when we say grace? This is a religious or spiritual sounding word, but how often do we think about what grace actually means? What is grace?
In the most basic sense, grace means unmerited favor.
Did Noah earn God’s grace? He was just and perfect.
“Just” = conduct
“Perfect” = whole, healthy
But if his good deeds, and moral rightness. And if his complete character earned him favor with God, would it be grace? The Bible is clear. We may have different perspectives on the fine details, but God is the One Who acts first. God is the One who moves toward us first. That is, in part, what grace means.
And this is one place in which the rubber meets the road for us in this story. Friend, no matter what you have done, how you’ve messed up. No matter how big the failure, God moves toward you first. Both to those who know Him, and even to the ones who know Him, but are a couple steps down the line from giving the mouse a cookie.
God always responds with grace.
God gives grace to those who trust in Him.
How does God respond to degenerate and violent evil? Always with justice. And with judgement and grace. But wait a second, if God is just, or perfectly right in His justice, then how can He give grace? How can He do anything but give people what they deserve? The liars, the cheaters, the abusers, the thieves, the murderers, they certainly do not deserve His favor, yet it is to these that He offers grace.
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Cor 6:9–11
Justified. So though we do not deserve to be called righteous, we still are. And how is this possible? In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Jesus is Lord over death and hell because He defeated them when arose from the grave. And now the Holy Spirit of God is united with us in Christ, dwelling in us so that God the Father can say, my son, my daughter is righteous.
And all of this happens, by faith. In another letter in the New Testament, Paul elaborates on faith and how it relates to God’s grace in Jesus.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Rom 5:1–2
For some of us, this text is very familiar. It should be! Anything we have from God comes by or through our faith. God gives grace to those who have faith, or those who trust in Him.
So Noah did not earn God’s favor. He found grace. Goodness that he could never earn. Noah’s faithfulness could never be good enough to deserve God’s acceptance.
It might be said of him, like Paul says about Abraham in Romans 4:20-21…
He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. Rom 4:20–21
Noah was fully convinced that God’s promises to him were worthy of investment. And that is what faith is. Faith is dependence or reliance.
Faith: dependence, reliance
Faith is not some abstract feeling that everything will be ok. Faith is a choice to operate as if something is true. Friend, faith is not a vague sense that everything will be alright when there are no answers to a health problem, or when you have a totally unforeseen financial crisis. Faith is being content in whatever state you are in like Paul, waiting on the Lord like the Psalms, and still praising the God who slays you like Job.
Faith includes optimism, but faith is real. It does not ignore reality.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Heb 11:1
Have you ever just really messed up?
I can remember one time that I knew I had really messed up. It was not too long ago, early 2023. Our daughter had just been born and we were preparing to move across the country.
One of the things you need to do in the weeks following the birth of a child is to add them to your health insurance plan. Somehow, this simple but very important task just slipped my mind. In fact, I thought she had been added and one day happened to notice that she had not been.
We were blessed to have such good medical coverage, but if Reagan's hospital bill and first year appointments were all not billed through our insurance, then we would have a lot of unexpected costs.
Instantly, I began to panic. How could I have forgotten? I called our HR department as soon as I could. She got me in touch with a representative with the insurance company.
Long story short, the lady was very kind. I did not offer the information but even though I had missed the special enrollment period, she still added Reagan to our policy. I messed up big, and deserved to pay for it. (Literally!) But I received undeserved favor from a customer service representative of all people!
Last week, we looked at the first part of chapter 6. Pastor Thomas drew out a very important truth just beneath the surface, so to speak, in Genesis. Sin begins in the garden with Adam and Eve and grows like a cancer in the midst of humanity. Lamech’s boasting of violence and polygamy took root and grew to be societal issues.
Sin is progressive. And we’ve seen the progress of sin throughout our brief journey through the book of Genesis.
In our text, we find a verbal thread that traces all the way back to the beginning. We find the word SAW. (“Looked” in Gen 6:11.)
We have what God sees, in his perfection, understanding exactly what and how things are, and then we have what man sees. Interesting that Jesus focuses on the “eye” in his teaching at times.
God SAW that it was good. Gen 1
Eve SAW that the tree was good for food. Gen 3:6
The sons of God SAW the daughters of men that they were beautiful. Gen 6:2
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. Gen 6:5
God looked upon the earth and SAW that it was corrupt. Gen 6:11
From the garden, to Cain’s murder of his own brother, to Lamech, and now to the whole world’s minds and hearts being totally consumed by evil. Man continues to reject God and His good creation. The consequence? The Creator will undo His creation.
Can I stop here, and just make a pastoral plea? Don’t give sin an inch. Perhaps this analogy is too on the nose or overused but it communicates the truth so well. Most of us probably know of the popular children’s book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. It speaks to the progressive nature of conceding things. You concede to a bad choice, it becomes a habit. And soon, you want more because the dopamine doesn’t take you quite as far, until you’ve gone further than you ever imagined. You start with a cookie, then a glass of milk, then a straw, then a napkin, and then we’re doing haircuts.
What started as taking a bite of forbidden fruit has now become pervasive violence. Sin always leads to death. Friend, any choice to love anything outside of God, is choosing death. Notice I did not say other than God, but outside of God. We can love things other than God, but when that love takes away from our love of God in the smallest amount, it is sin. And it brings about death. (“Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” James 1:15)
In Genesis, we find mankind way past giving into the milk request. Their sin has reached the endgame level. Yet, God’s grace is not hemmed in by our wickedness. No matter how many times we give into the mouse, God is still able to offer us grace.
And grace is what I really want us to meditate on this morning as we look at
Gen 6.
God responds to wickedness with grace.
Yes, God responds to wicked violence an d perversion with His just vengeance, but to us He offers us grace.
What do we mean when we say grace? This is a religious or spiritual sounding word, but how often do we think about what grace actually means? What is grace?
In the most basic sense, grace means unmerited favor.
Did Noah earn God’s grace? He was just and perfect.
“Just” = conduct
“Perfect” = whole, healthy
But if his good deeds, and moral rightness. And if his complete character earned him favor with God, would it be grace? The Bible is clear. We may have different perspectives on the fine details, but God is the One Who acts first. God is the One who moves toward us first. That is, in part, what grace means.
And this is one place in which the rubber meets the road for us in this story. Friend, no matter what you have done, how you’ve messed up. No matter how big the failure, God moves toward you first. Both to those who know Him, and even to the ones who know Him, but are a couple steps down the line from giving the mouse a cookie.
God always responds with grace.
God gives grace to those who trust in Him.
How does God respond to degenerate and violent evil? Always with justice. And with judgement and grace. But wait a second, if God is just, or perfectly right in His justice, then how can He give grace? How can He do anything but give people what they deserve? The liars, the cheaters, the abusers, the thieves, the murderers, they certainly do not deserve His favor, yet it is to these that He offers grace.
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Cor 6:9–11
Justified. So though we do not deserve to be called righteous, we still are. And how is this possible? In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Jesus is Lord over death and hell because He defeated them when arose from the grave. And now the Holy Spirit of God is united with us in Christ, dwelling in us so that God the Father can say, my son, my daughter is righteous.
And all of this happens, by faith. In another letter in the New Testament, Paul elaborates on faith and how it relates to God’s grace in Jesus.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Rom 5:1–2
For some of us, this text is very familiar. It should be! Anything we have from God comes by or through our faith. God gives grace to those who have faith, or those who trust in Him.
So Noah did not earn God’s favor. He found grace. Goodness that he could never earn. Noah’s faithfulness could never be good enough to deserve God’s acceptance.
It might be said of him, like Paul says about Abraham in Romans 4:20-21…
He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. Rom 4:20–21
Noah was fully convinced that God’s promises to him were worthy of investment. And that is what faith is. Faith is dependence or reliance.
Faith: dependence, reliance
Faith is not some abstract feeling that everything will be ok. Faith is a choice to operate as if something is true. Friend, faith is not a vague sense that everything will be alright when there are no answers to a health problem, or when you have a totally unforeseen financial crisis. Faith is being content in whatever state you are in like Paul, waiting on the Lord like the Psalms, and still praising the God who slays you like Job.
Faith includes optimism, but faith is real. It does not ignore reality.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Heb 11:1
In fact, faith is so real that it puts its money where its mouth is …
Faith will result in obedience.
By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. Heb 11:7
As the writer of Hebrews moves through the story of the Old Testament, highlighting those who trusted God, we see a pattern in each episode. By faith, people took action.
That is what faith does. And not just generic or self-directed action: obedience. When we trust God enough to act like He is God, that is obedience. And that is what the Bible means by the word, “faith.”
Obedience is the flesh and bones of faith.
Faith includes so much more than feelings. Let us look at the anatomy of Noah’s faith.
He received revelation from God. Noah was warned of God. (revelation means something that has been revealed)
Noah was “moved with godly fear.” Fear of God is rightly responding to who God is. And because he feared God, “Noah took God at His word.” (Zodiahates)
Noah saw the Truth of what God was saying, not because he was smart enough, but because he chose to believe God. Are you seeing things rightly? Have you ever been reading a story or watching a movie, and all of a sudden you realize that what you thought you knew about the story might not be true. This whole time, the narrative has been from the perspective of a certain character, but all of a sudden, probably in the last half of the story, you realize that this character’s perspective is not trustworthy. We call that person an “unreliable narrator”.
Fearing God means recognizing that I, on my own, am not a reliable source of information. It is accepting that my heart and my feelings are deceptive and corrupt. They cannot be trusted.
And so because Noah took God at His Word, He obeyed. And through his faith, he was saved.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, Eph 2:8
Now, Noah’s family line becomes the righteous line. And like Him, those who are united to Christ by faith, become heirs of righteousness (according to faith).
What are you relying upon? Which “narrator” are you trusting? We can tell which one we trust by our choices. Moment by moment, we are believing a story about the way things are and the way things should be. When we trust in God, we obey His Word. We trust what He says about the way our lives are and the way that they should be. I love the things He says to love, and I hate what He hates.
What do your choices say about whom you really believe? What do you love?
God establishes a covenant with the faithful.
God does not save Noah merely to keep him alive and prevent his destruction. The saving grace of God to deliver Noah from the flood was the entrance into a relationship of grace. The grace does not end there.
God’s people have always suffered from the same self-inflicted disease. We believe that we can mix God’s goodness (His grace) with the thing goodness the world offers. But this is a misunderstanding of God’s grace. We think that we can receive God’s grace to save us from hell, but then that’s enough. I’m saved. I’m going to heaven. That is all I need. But that offer was never on the table.
The result of God saving you is that God will know you. God’s saves His people for a covenantal relationship with Him.
The covenant parties belong to one another so that they “live for and with one another.” (Ligon Duncan)
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 1 John 4:7–9
Life in covenant consists of work and responsibility. This is what you’re signing up for when you enter into a covenant with God.
Duty in marriage is not a bug, it is a feature. We are not paying the price for the benefits by taking on the responsibilities of the covenant with our spouse. The responsibilities themselves are the substance of married life. They are not the medicine we have force down with a spoonful of sugar. They may not taste like sugar, but what is God doing in us through marriage? Changing our taste buds.
And it is the same thing when it comes to our covenant with God in Christ. By His Spirit, He is changing our taste buds so that the duties of the covenant, the seemingly meticulous details of the ark in our lives, become sugar-sweet as He changes our taste buds.
Conclusion
I pray that through this sermon you have been able to savor God’s grace to His children. The amazing, marvelous, infinite, matchless grace. The grace that is greater than all our sin.
In fact, faith is so real that it puts its money where its mouth is …
Faith will result in obedience.
By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. Heb 11:7
As the writer of Hebrews moves through the story of the Old Testament, highlighting those who trusted God, we see a pattern in each episode. By faith, people took action.
That is what faith does. And not just generic or self-directed action: obedience. When we trust God enough to act like He is God, that is obedience. And that is what the Bible means by the word, “faith.”
Obedience is the flesh and bones of faith.
Faith includes so much more than feelings. Let us look at the anatomy of Noah’s faith.
He received revelation from God. Noah was warned of God. (revelation means something that has been revealed)
Noah was “moved with godly fear.” Fear of God is rightly responding to who God is. And because he feared God, “Noah took God at His word.” (Zodiahates)
Noah saw the Truth of what God was saying, not because he was smart enough, but because he chose to believe God. Are you seeing things rightly? Have you ever been reading a story or watching a movie, and all of a sudden you realize that what you thought you knew about the story might not be true. This whole time, the narrative has been from the perspective of a certain character, but all of a sudden, probably in the last half of the story, you realize that this character’s perspective is not trustworthy. We call that person an “unreliable narrator”.
Fearing God means recognizing that I, on my own, am not a reliable source of information. It is accepting that my heart and my feelings are deceptive and corrupt. They cannot be trusted.
And so because Noah took God at His Word, He obeyed. And through his faith, he was saved.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, Eph 2:8
Now, Noah’s family line becomes the righteous line. And like Him, those who are united to Christ by faith, become heirs of righteousness (according to faith).
What are you relying upon? Which “narrator” are you trusting? We can tell which one we trust by our choices. Moment by moment, we are believing a story about the way things are and the way things should be. When we trust in God, we obey His Word. We trust what He says about the way our lives are and the way that they should be. I love the things He says to love, and I hate what He hates.
What do your choices say about whom you really believe? What do you love?
God establishes a covenant with the faithful.
God does not save Noah merely to keep him alive and prevent his destruction. The saving grace of God to deliver Noah from the flood was the entrance into a relationship of grace. The grace does not end there.
God’s people have always suffered from the same self-inflicted disease. We believe that we can mix God’s goodness (His grace) with the thing goodness the world offers. But this is a misunderstanding of God’s grace. We think that we can receive God’s grace to save us from hell, but then that’s enough. I’m saved. I’m going to heaven. That is all I need. But that offer was never on the table.
The result of God saving you is that God will know you. God’s saves His people for a covenantal relationship with Him.
The covenant parties belong to one another so that they “live for and with one another.” (Ligon Duncan)
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 1 John 4:7–9
Life in covenant consists of work and responsibility. This is what you’re signing up for when you enter into a covenant with God.
Duty in marriage is not a bug, it is a feature. We are not paying the price for the benefits by taking on the responsibilities of the covenant with our spouse. The responsibilities themselves are the substance of married life. They are not the medicine we have force down with a spoonful of sugar. They may not taste like sugar, but what is God doing in us through marriage? Changing our taste buds.
And it is the same thing when it comes to our covenant with God in Christ. By His Spirit, He is changing our taste buds so that the duties of the covenant, the seemingly meticulous details of the ark in our lives, become sugar-sweet as He changes our taste buds.
Conclusion
I pray that through this sermon you have been able to savor God’s grace to His children. The amazing, marvelous, infinite, matchless grace. The grace that is greater than all our sin.
Sin and despair like the sea waves cold, threaten the soul with infinite loss. Yes, we see around us the dire affects of our societal and personal sin. Perhaps, you carry scars or even a limp from your past choices, but friend whatever effects of sin we face in this world pale in comparison to the consequences of sin on our souls.
Discussion Questions
- What is your favorite explanation of ...
- grace?
- faith?
- a covenant?
- How did the earth go from being "very good" when God looked at it in Gen 1 to being "filled with corruption" when God looked at it in Gen 6:12?
- What does it mean when Moses says, "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord"?
- Explain how God's good justice includes both judgment and grace?
- Is faith a belief in your mind, a feeling in your heart, or the action of your hands?
- What is the result of genuine faith?
- Faith responds to God's promises. What promise of God has most recently motivated you to act differently in some way (see Heb 7:11)? Can you give a testimony of what happened?
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2024
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The First Two Woes of RevelationThe Blessing of WorkThe Four GospelsThe Book of ActsAnother Dramatic IntermissionThe Blessing of MarriageThe Making of a Godly Man, Family, Church & CommunityThe Two WitnessesPaul's Letters & TravelsThe Tragic Entrance of SinAnnouncing the Seventh TrumpetThe Jerusalem Council and The Epistle of GalatiansThe Sad Effects of Sin
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