February 26, 2023 / Finding God in Chaos / Finding Grace in Chaos

Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest

questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search

and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead

pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth

for the life we're searching for. So glad that you're with us this morning. What a thrill

to be able to open the Bible with you together. Genesis chapter 6 today, the title of the

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

message is, Finding Grace in Chaos. How many of you believe that we sometimes see chaos

in our world? Would you raise your hand? It's all over, it's all over the time, all the

time it seems like. Genesis chapter 6 shows us a time of incredible chaos that we need

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

to be aware of. Genesis chapter 6, this is our message series through the book of Genesis

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

and the next few weeks we will continue to focus on this passage. Before you stand, let

me just tell you a story I came across this past week, pretty interesting story. Before

I say the story, I want to tell you, don't miss the boat. Don't miss the boat. Recently,

I read of a 65 year old woman who was on a cruise with her husband and passengers when

they stopped at a certain island were allowed off the boat so long as they got back on when

the boat resumed its journey. Well, in this particular case, the woman and her wife fell

into an argument and they separated. They were both angry, she ended up alone and confused

and she missed the call to reboard. The warning sounds went off, she just missed the call

to reboard. And in her confusion, walking down the street not far from the dock, she

saw the boat, by now it's dark, moving out into the harbor and moving out towards the

sea. And so in an attempt to catch it, she dives off the end of the wharf and swims towards

the boat. She's 65 years old, the water is very cold and for the next 500 meters she

works her best to get to that boat. Four hours later, fishermen find her barely conscious

floating on the surface of the water. She was rescued, she did take an airplane home.

Don't miss the boat. You know, the leaving of a boat, the departing of a boat is a pretty

important thing, especially in the book of Genesis when we look at a large boat called

the Ark. Would you stand with me as we read God's word today? And as we read Genesis

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6, I want to warn you about something. I want to warn you that this text that we'll

read is an expose on the human heart. It will expose the human heart apart from God. This

is what our hearts look like without God. It's also a window opening for us to look

into the mind of and the heart of Almighty God when mankind rebels against Him. So I

want you to be warned because you're going to see some things in this passage we don't

often see. And at the same time, you're going to see a commentary on the grace of God right

in the midst of that chaos. Genesis chapter 6 beginning in verse 1.

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

Now it came about when men began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were

born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and they

took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the Lord said, My spirit shall not strive

with men forever because he also is flesh. Nevertheless, his days shall be 120 years.

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterwards when the sons of God came

into the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were

of old, men every now. Now I need you to know that although those phrases for those mighty

men seem noble, they are not. Verse 5. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man

was great on the earth and every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

The Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart.

And the Lord said, I will blot out man from whom I've created on the face of the land

from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky for I am sorry that I

have made them. Now we'll reserve verse 8 for just a moment. Would you jump down to

verse 11 for more details? Then the earth was corrupt in the sight of God and the earth

was filled with violence. God looked on the earth and behold it was corrupt for all flesh

has corrupted their way upon the earth. Not a beautiful picture, but reality. Let's pray

together. Father today my prayer is that you'll let us see both your justice and your grace

in the same text, the same story. And for us also Lord to hear the warning that you

give not only then but now. Father today let your Holy Spirit speak through this text in

Jesus name I pray and all God's people again said amen. Please be seated.

Alright first some facts. This text is written about 1600 years after creation. 1600 years.

In 1600 years men and women have been living astronomical lengths of time and they're having

a lot of children. They did multiply and replenish the earth. Most historians look back and they

estimate the world's population at the writing of Genesis 6 to be between 4 and 10 billion

people. Now someone says wait a minute don't we only have almost 8 billion people on the

earth today? And my answer is yes. It's hard to imagine but between 4 and 10 billion people

were on the earth in that day and time. And it's not going well. It's not going well

because according to the description that we have here the evil in men's heart was

continual and unbroken. There was wickedness, murderous intent, all the bad things that

you can happen because you can imagine happening all happening at the same time. It's not going

well at all. In fact I watched the movie called The Ark not too many not too many time days

ago and I saw what Hollywood tried to depict about the violence and the bloodshed and not

even Hollywood could come up with a good picture of how wicked that period is. When we read

Genesis chapter 6 we're going to find the answer to a couple of questions and one of

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

those answers is what does God do when mankind attempts to hijack the earth? What does God

do? What does God do and how does he respond when those he created with such potential

turn their back on him? So as we dive into the sex today there are some things that come

to the surface very quickly. The first one is the grief of God. The grief of God. You

caught that in verse 6 didn't you? As we read through the account of Genesis chapter

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

6 you saw what I saw in verse 6 and that first part of that phrase is so incredibly important.

The Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart.

What an interesting phrase. At a time when we don't talk much about the grief of God

we're looking at a window into God's soul for just a moment and reading Genesis chapter

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

6. God was grieved. God was pained. He was sorrowful that man had become corrupt. Now

I'm one of those people that love to emphasize the grace of God and the love of God. How

many of you like to hear about the grace of God and the love of God? And I like to say

it because it's true. I love to say it because we need it. And even in this text we're going

to see some of the grace of God being displayed through the man named Noah. But we also need

to see the other side of the coin of God's character. God is a loving, merciful God but

he's also a just judge who by no means let the guilty go unpunished. If he is not just

he can't be God. And because he's God he's just but he's also merciful and loving at

the same time. But this is that other side of the coin. God is sorry that he has made

man. Now when you read into that text just keep in mind that God is not saying that mankind

was a mistake. God was not saying I was wrong to create Adam and Eve. Creation is not a

mistake. He's not showing weakness. He's not showing the inability to control mankind.

He has in fact given free will. And it's because of that free will that mankind has chosen

the things that he or she has chosen. He's simply vocalizing his heart when sin destroys

the creation. He grieves the damage that's done through the free will of mankind. Now

how many of you in the room know that you have free will? Would you raise your hand

if you know you have free will? And how many of you know that when you have children they

have free will too? Would you raise your hand? And sometimes you wish you had not given them

free will. Would you raise your hand? But nonetheless you have given them free will.

And they choose sometimes things you would not want them to do. I want you to imagine

God as Father which he is the Father of all. And I want you to imagine for a moment the

perspective of a God who created you even to this day with potential. The ability to

flourish. The ability to know him and walk with him and be empowered by him to do the

things that he would ideally want you to do and for us as mankind to turn our back on

God. That's what we have the picture of here. My wife and I are friends from many, many

years back who were godly people, godly parents and who had children that were exactly the

opposite of these parents. They chose all the wrong directions, all the wrong paths,

they all met untimely deaths. It's an incredible story and even though we cannot imagine the

grief and the depth of sadness and sorrow that those parents must have felt as that

was unfolding, it's still hard for us to imagine those parents ever saying, I'm sorry we ever

had these children. And yet here God is articulating a level and a depth of sadness and grief that

you and I struggle to understand. Where he's reached the limits of his mercy and says no

more this is not going to keep on happening. Now obviously the question is what has mankind

done and Genesis chapter 6 helps us with that just a bit. There's a couple things I'll

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

point out from this text. First of all the grief of God came about because marriage was

corrupted. If you look in verse 2 you'll see a scenario unfolding. The sons of God took

wives for themselves. Now this is subject to interpretation by a number of different

angles and you can go and study that in your free time. Some say the sons of God refer

to rulers who were taking wives among those who were more of the servant class. Some say

that these were sons of righteous Seth who were marrying the daughters of Cain. Others

say these were sons of God that were fallen angels who had intended to corrupt mankind's

line. And I fall into that category. I believe these were the fallen angels who corrupted

mankind and the results of that were the corruption of the line of mankind. Since the results

of this kind of marriage catastrophe brings God to the point where he says enough this

is catastrophic. This is not small in any way. But however you interpret it marriage

and offspring are corrupted. The specific plan that God had to populate the earth was

negated. I can't help it but you can't read the Bible and see what it says about marriage

and things that God just doesn't care about marriage. That God says well just whatever

you want to do with marriage go ahead and do. That's not the God of the Bible. And here

in Genesis chapter 6 we see the corruption of marriage, the corruption of how to reproduce

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

and you realize it was a catalyst to move God to judgment. So in the first place we

find this picture of marriage being corrupted. Secondly wickedness was great. Look at verse

5. It says the wickedness of man was great. I put emphasis on the phrase the Bible emphasizes

there's great and continual wickedness. It has exceeded the bounds of nature and decency

on creation itself. So much that the creator said that's enough. No more. I'm not going

to continue to tolerate this. God actually makes statements like this through the Bible

and this is the first time he does it in Genesis chapter 6. I think it would be helpful for

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

me to remind you that God sometimes says this about individuals. Sometimes he says this

about nations and he said it here about the whole world. Remember a man named King Saul

in the Old Testament? So prideful, so boastful about his position that God eventually said

about him in 1 Samuel 15. I regret that I've made Saul king for he has turned back from

fattening me and he's not carried out my commands. At times it's an individual. At times it's

a city. Go back and read about Sodom and Gomorrah and you're going to see God drawing a line

and saying no more. At times an entire nation grieved God. David's Psalm 78 talks about

Israel. He said how often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the

desert. So God draws lines and this time he drew a line for all of creation. The entire

globe grieved his heart. God's actually saying here in the scripture that is enough. No more.

I'm going to blot mankind off the face of the earth. I know the questions that will

come in when we begin to talk about a text like this or a God who acts in such a way

is this question. How is God a just God when he destroys mankind? And we aggravate that

question when we remind you that there were between 4 and 10 billion people on the earth

at the time. That's massive. That's catastrophic. That's huge. It's almost unimaginable. So

how is God a just God? Some are offended that God would destroy anyone at all believing

that God to just live and let live whatever someone wants to do. And they insinuate that

maybe God is cruel or maybe God and his power is kind of a bully by nature. People don't

define justice very well. I think you know that. The reason you can know that is when

I ask the question, do you think we're doing a good job of justice today? And the answer

would be we don't do a very good job of justice or mercy for that matter. We don't define

justice well because we define justice according to what we want. What we feel is right and

we're sinful human beings. But God's just reasoning is just because God is just and

defines justice. Now think about Noah's day for a moment. Mankind was violent and perpetually

wicked. That's unjust. Wickedness alone was the thought of every man's heart. That's unjust.

Marriage was intentionally corrupted and offspring were affected. That's unjust. Sin and evil

created so many victims. And that's unjust. Then mankind perverted God's own creation.

That's unjust. Man is unjust, not God. The flood is God's justice on unjust mankind.

So when you ask yourself the question, is God just? And you look at the wickedness and

injustice on the earth at that time. You can say, yes, God is just and has every reason

for blotting out mankind. Now God doesn't need me to defend him at all. God is able

to defend himself, but from the perspective of Bible theology, God is just in what he

has done. We may not understand it all, but we can see that God has his reasons for the

flood. Now let me ask you a question in the midst of this, and that is what do we learn

from this side of God and sin? We hear so much about the mercy of God, don't we, and

the love of God. What do we learn about the justice of God and how we should approach

him? And here's what I would learn. I would learn that sin always grieves God. I would

learn that sin is personal because he takes you personal and he loves you in a personal

way, and he gave you a personal salvation if you came to faith in Jesus. But sin puts

you at odds with God, and it causes you to turn your back on God, whether you're aware

of it or not. Sin is never your friend. Rebellion never ends well at all. We should learn these

things from the people in Genesis chapter 6. So the grief of God. But there's also the

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

man of God in this story, and you know his name, his name is Noah. I love verse 8, we

jumped over that when we read through the text, but we're coming back to it now because

it deserves a moment on its own here. Look at this verse 8 for a second. It says, but

Noah found favor or grace in the eyes of the Lord. I love the word, but be you, T. I love

it in scripture because every time you find the word, but in scripture, you find all kinds

of change taking place. The wickedness of the world, but Noah found grace in the eyes

of God. You see it throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament as well, but what's

going to happen here is Noah found favor. Therefore he found grace in a chaotic, messed

up and judged world. And I read that and I think what an encouragement to me today. What

encouragement to you today. We live in a chaotic world. It's messed up. It's ultimately going

to be judged, but there is grace in this world when you turn to God. There is mercy in this

world when you come to God. Noah found grace in the eyes of God, and I would be so bold

as to say to you today, you can find grace in the eyes of God. You can find favor before

him as well. Now Noah obviously was a unique individual in a unique time. And what we see

is this divine action by an incredibly loving and merciful and just God who searched and

found a man who would be faithful. He reached into this wicked world. He tapped Noah on

the shoulder. I've got to tell you, Noah wasn't perfect. No man was. He wasn't sinless. He

wasn't a complete person at all, but he found grace. You know in the hall of faith in the

New Testament Noah is mentioned. That's in Hebrews chapter 11. And it says so much to

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

us about the life of Noah. We have to read it. And I want you to notice what it says

about Noah on the screen. By faith Noah being warned by God. God spoke to him about things

not yet seen. In reverence, prepared and art, he obeyed God for the salvation of his household

by which he condemned the world and became an error. He received something of the righteousness

which is according to faith. He did all this by faith, not on his own. So here's what God

did. God spirit mankind through Noah. And as devastating as the flood was going to be,

and as devastating as it was, God warned mankind through Noah. He saved mankind through Noah.

And the verse answers a really big question of how do we find God in a chaotic world?

Well here's the answer. You listen for him to speak to you. And when you hear him you

obey what he tells you to do. And in the end you believe him for whatever he says that

you are to do. God is not going to ask you to build an ark like he did. No other world

will ever be flooded again. What a big ass God made of Noah. Build this big boat, nobody's

ever really built a boat. It's going to rain, it's never really rained before. You're going

to have all the animals and the birds and everything else come onto the boat. How am

I going to do that? That's a really big ass that God makes of Noah. If you and I will

obey God in the small things God tells us to do, then we're going to find what it means

to walk in his favor. He gives us favor by grace, but I can tell you when you walk in

obedience he blesses your life in incredible ways. You can find God in a chaotic world

just like Noah did. You can bet on that. But the third thing this text tells us, it tells

us something about the redemption of God. The redemption of God. Verse 13 and 14,

Then God said to Noah, Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. You shall make the ark with

rooms and shall cover it inside and out with pitch. So the big thing we're talking about

is the ark. And the ark has so many things to say to us today, so many ways for us to

understand what God is doing with his ark. And I'm just going to limit myself to three

of them today just for a few moments. First of all, the ark tells us God has a way. God

has a way. How do you save just a few people who are faithful when the entire globe seems

to be against God? How is God going to do that? God had a way, it was an unpredictable

way, it was a way no one else could have possibly thought of, but what an unusual way to save

the world. It's an incredible strategy. I'm going to have this man who's never built a

boat build a boat. And we're going to populate that boat with everything that's going to

be a part of this new world and this new life. And I've got a rain and this boat will lift

them up and preserve them and save them through the flood. You know, whenever you read the

story of the ark, and then you go back and read the story of the New Testament and Christ,

you can see how the ark is a type of Christ. It's almost like a forewarning of how God

will save us through Christ later on down the road in human history. Let me make some

of those comparisons. Just as the ark was planned by God, so was Christ's plan from

before the foundation of the world. Just as the ark was provided by God, it wasn't

no one alone who built that ark, so is Christ. Just as the ark was a place of safety, so

is Christ a place of safety. Just as the ark was a place of trust that one could enter

into and know that they would be protected, Christ is the person of trust that one enters

into for safety. Just as the ark had one door that God opened and then closed for Noah,

so is Christ the door to enter into for salvation and the only way to eternal life. I mean,

there's some great comparisons between the ark and Christ. To read the story of the ark

is to read that God always has a plan for mankind and that there's always hope, even

in judgment, God has a way. Now, the ark reminds me that you can find grace in the chaos of

the demonic world, even in a world that is rushing headlong toward judgment, grace is

available in Christ and only in Christ. You don't want to miss the boat. You don't want

to miss Christ. God has a way. The scripture also says that God has patience. God has patience.

When we read verse three, you saw something that might have gotten your attention. Verse

three says, my spirit, this is God speaking, my spirit will not strive with man forever

because he is also flesh. Nevertheless, his days shall be 120 years. Now, often we read

this verse and say, oh, God means that from that moment forward, man can only live a maximum

of 120 years. And I'm thinking, who wants to live 120 years? The reality is even after

God made that statement, men live for hundreds of years beyond that timeframe. But here's

what God is saying. God is saying you still have time to repent, but not long. I will

not strive with mankind beyond this 120 year mark. And do you know that it took about 120

years for Noah to build that ark? You know, God never sends judgment without warning.

Have you ever noticed that about God? How many of you have ever been warned by God about

something you needed to avoid? Would you raise your hands if that's happened to your life?

I remember being warned by God several times in my life, and each time I knew it was a

serious moment where the Holy Spirit was speaking to me in a powerful way and telling me to

turn from something or to turn towards something. And I remember thinking, if I don't listen

to him, I'm going to miss it in a big way. Before God judges, God warns. I remember as

a young man, I remember vividly at the age of about 21, God bringing a warning into my

life and telling me if I did not turn from a certain sin, that I would not be useful

to him in ministry in the days ahead. And I knew he was serious, and I turned from sin

at that moment and never turned back. Because God warns us before he judges us. What an

important moment for you and I to know that God does that individually. It's not just

through men like Noah. It's not just through what you would call biblical heroes, but

it's in a personal way. God has patience and God gives warnings. Now the building of

an ark during that time is fascinating to me, even though we don't have all the details.

Some say that Noah began planting the trees that would be used for the ark at that point.

And he let them grow for 30, 40, 50 years. All the time he was letting those trees grow,

he would be preaching righteousness and repentance to the people who needed to turn to God during

that time. Now that's a long time, but it takes time for trees to grow. I mean I'm not

very old at all, but I've planted trees that have grown to full maturity. I know what that

looks like. I know what that may be like. It could be that Noah planted those trees

early on, but whatever he did all during the time of the preparation in the building of

the ark, we find that this man was a preacher of righteousness. He was warning people. He

was telling them God has patience, but it's not as long as you think. There is a day when

he will stop having patience. You know what I believe? I believe that God is withholding

his final judgment now. I believe there's nothing that prevents God from coming back

in power and glory in Jesus Christ, but he's waiting and he's patient and he's willing

to wait for people to come to faith in Jesus. In reality, we're really not punished by his

justice, but our stubbornness, our refusal to turn to him when he's making a patient

way for us to come to him. God gives us time, but we don't know how long that it is. How

long will we put off the God of the universe who asks us to come? So my statement to you

today is while there is time, repent today. Come to him today. So the patience of God.

In 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 20, here's a verse that talks about in the New Testament what

1 Peter 3:20

was happening in the Old Testament. It says, the patience of God kept waiting in the days

of Noah during the construction of the ark in which a few, that is eight persons were

brought safely through the water. I am so glad God is a patient God, and I'm so glad

God's been patient with me. I'm so glad God has been patient with you. But this third

thing you need to hear clearly, God has a deadline. God has a deadline. You see, at

some point God says, that's enough. He did this with the ark. He's done this with others.

In chapter 6 verse 17, God says, behold, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the

earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under heaven. Everything

that is on the earth shall perish. There's a tendency when we read about Noah and the

ark for people to discredit the whole story because of how uncomfortable it makes people

feel. If I'm not in friendly cooperation with God, and if I'm not in the ark of salvation

myself, and if I've not entered into life with Christ, then I'm going to be disturbed

by this picture of a God who draws a line and says, I'm going to say enough someday

about your life. I'm going to say enough someday about creation itself. But the fact

that the creator God can act and wipe out all of civilization reveals that we're very

small in this world and that we have no control at all. We like to control our life, but I

want to remind you, you can't control your past, you can't control your present, you

can't control your future. You have no control at all about what happens to your life. And

you can't control those who might intersect with your life, collide with your life, affect

your life, infiltrate your life. You have no control at all. So I'm glad, even though

it seems that God does things in a drastic way, I'm glad somebody's in control and that

somebody is God. And it means that I want to be in friendly cooperation with this God

who is in control since everything else is out of control. So it's important today that

you look, that God has a deadline and says there will be a day when all the other options

are gone. This is so real. Let me tell you why this is real. This is so real that the

gospel writers thousands of years after Noah and the ark actually took place, write with

these words, Matthew chapter 24, for the coming of the son of man will be just like the days

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

of Noah. You remember reading this? Just like the days of Noah, for as it is on those days

before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the

day Noah entered the ark and they did not understand until the flood came and took them

all away. So will the coming of the son of man be. So here we are 2,000 years on the

other side of that incredibly prophetic statement made in the gospels. Well, let me ask you,

you look at God's past judgment, you look at the statements about future judgment and

you read the connection between the past and the future. Does it make you today want to

quit arguing with God and turn away from everything else in order to embrace this God who is in

control? Put yourself in the shoes of the man that was watching Noah build the ark.

You hear the message of repentance he's preaching. You see the evidence that this is of God.

All of a sudden the ark rises out of the ground with Noah's building it. You see the animals

coming from near and far, the birds flying in. You see evidence that this is of God.

So do you stand there and rail your fist at God and shout about his injustice or do you

reach out for the hand that says, come join me in the ark where there's safety? I think

you know the answer to that question. You don't want to miss the boat of grace. You

don't want to miss the boat. You know the very fact that this story is here and that

fact that we're reading it today tells us that God wasn't through with mankind then.

And the very fact that we're here today says he's not through with mankind today. The

very fact that you are in this building today listening to this message means God's not

through with you yet either. He's got a plan for you, maybe a warning for you, maybe a

deadline for you. I don't know what God is saying to you but I can tell you that he's

still here and you're still here and he still calls you to the same call to put your faith

and trust in him, to obey him and follow him. Come into the ark, come into Christ and allow

him to be the Lord and Savior of your life. God isn't through with you. He invites you

to come to him. I don't know if you have it come to him yet. Come to him today. Come

to him today. You know we end our services with three invitations that I will give you

today. And those three invitations are first of all to come by our decision station to

talk to someone about the decision you need to make today. We're at the back of our building.

We place them there so that you can conveniently find them on your way out. And I want to invite

you to stop and talk to someone about your salvation. Have you put your faith and trust

in Christ? Are you sure you've been forgiven? Are you sure you're following him? Maybe it's

some item in your life God is speaking to you about. We're more than happy to pray with

you and talk with you about that. That's the first invitation. The second invitation is

to come to a guest reception room just outside the center exit doors across the hallway.

I'd love to meet you if you're a guest. I'd love to talk to you about our church for a

second. And the third invite, the third invitation is for you to come back next week with somebody

with you who needs to hear the message that God is giving us here in this church. Those

three invitations I want to give to you. God is moving, God is working, God is speaking

to us. We don't want to miss that. Father today in Jesus' name I am so very grateful

to be in this place today. Thankful for every person in this room. Thankful for the decisions

that we're making today with student ministry which will impact us for years ahead. Thank

you Father for providing through Greg Garcia. Lord I pray today that this message will not

be easily forgotten Lord that the story of this man named Noah in the ark will be a story

that all of us sense conviction from. Father in a day of chaos remind us constantly that

we can find grace in you. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.