Genesis 6:3-7 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. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. 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. 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.
At the beginning of this section of Scripture, a most disturbing truth is revealed; “...My spirit shall not always strive with man....” We sing and rejoice and praise our God for His grace and His longsuffering mercy. However, there is a definite limit to God’s “striving” with man. There is a limit to His grace. God had striven with man at this point for the better part of 2,000 years. The human family had been corrupted with the union of the “sons of God” and the “daughters of men.” The “wickedness” of man had become great on the earth to the point that “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” So evil had it gotten by the time we get to Genesis 6, “...it repented the Lord thy he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” By the way, remember that Jesus said, “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.” (Luke 17:26) The day that you and I are living in are very wicked, able to be compared to the days spoken of in the sixth chapter of Genesis.
At the time of this writing, the coronavirus is still sweeping the world with nearly 1.5 million cases and 83.5 thousand deaths resulting. This has proven to be a devastating contagion, but nothing compared to the contagion of sin. In around 1800 years since it had entered into the human family in the Garden of Eden, it had so infected the race that the only solution was the destruction of the world through an unimaginable Divine judgment; a judgment that would fall upon the world “an hundred and twenty years” after God’s decree in Genesis 6:3.
Scripture declares that “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” The Psalmist wrote, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.” (Psalms 10:4) Have you ever had anyone tell you, “I’ve never really thought about it,” when they were asked about their relationship with God and the eternal prospects of their soul? “God is not in all his thoughts.” In Noah’s day, and in our day as well, “the thoughts of his heart was only on evil continually.” Beloved, just one of the ways you know that God has been gracious to you is the way He has revealed Himself to you. How many times have you seen something in nature, and immediately your thoughts went to God? How many times have you thought, “God has blessed me so?” To the unsaved person, God is seldom, if ever, in their thoughts. All of their thoughts may not be grounded in vileness or extreme wickedness, but if God is not in one’s thinking, all of his thoughts are wicked. They are wicked because there is no thoughts of gratitude to God. There is no seeking of God’s will and guidance, no thanksgiving for His blessings. That God is not considered by one of His creatures is a great wickedness in itself.
“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.” Some have been deceived in thinking that God is simply too good to ever condemn anyone to a Christless eternity. There are those who believe that in the end, all will be saved. Beloved, there is no such thing taught at all in the Word of God. God is loving, longsuffering and forgiving. His mercy endures forever. He has no pleasure at all that the wicked should die in their sins. (Ezekiel 18:23; 33:11) But, our God is just. He is not unequally balanced on the eternal scale. Just as He reached the limit of his striving with man in Genesis 6, and consequently decreed the destruction of the world with the flood, God will condemn the unsaved to an eternal hell. He has provided all with the means of escaping that eternal judgment through the Lord Jesus Christ, but all who exit this life without Him are, and will be forever, hopelessly lost. O friend, know that you are saved today!
Pastor Steve Smith
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