Selfish and Rebellious to the Core...

This week, we are looking at a section of the very first letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Genesis. Yesterday we saw the Lord proclaim that since humanity had clearly demonstrated, by their very nature, that they are more than willing to selfishly rebel and reject Him, that in 120 years, He would exercise His right and just response to their selfishness and rebellion. Today, we see this reality revealed for us in stark detail beginning in Genesis 6:5:

 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that 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.

As the Lord looked at the state of humanity on the planet, He came to two conclusions based on the evidence He witnessed. First, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth. In other words, humanity acted in an evil and perverse way toward God and one another. Humanities actions placed themselves in opposition to God.

Second, the Lord saw that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now when the Bible uses the word heart, this word refers to center and the seat of our emotions and our will. The heart refers to the core of what makes up our being.  And as God looked at the core of humanity, what God saw was that every intent; every thought; every desire was on evil continually. In other words humanity was selfish and rebellious to the core. Humanities attitudes, desires, and actions were consumed with selfishness that willingly placed themselves in opposition to God.

And God’s conclusion based on the overwhelming evidence, led God to a response. And God’s response was twofold in nature. First, the Lord was sorry that He made man on the earth. God was filled with sorrow. You know that sorrow that comes when the person you have been pursuing rejects you. That hurt and pain that comes from betrayal. The Lord had created humanity for relationship with Him and one another and humanity responded by rejecting that relationship. And God was sorry and filled with sorrow.

Second, the Lord was grieved in His heart. What is interesting is that the word grieved here, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to be vexed or bitterly indignant. God was grieved in the sense of being outraged. The Lord was outraged that humanity would rebel and reject Him openly and defiantly.

You see, God is holy and God is just. God does not simply look the other way at wrong and injustice. And as the Lord recognized that humanity was selfish and rebellious to the core, God, in His holy justice was outraged to the core. God was filled with sorrow and God was filled with a right and just anger at humanities rebellion.

Now the reason that this is significant is because God is everlasting and never changing. And God looks at selfishness and rebellion today the same way that He looked at selfishness and rebellion in this story. God is just and God is right. And when humanity selfishly rebels and rejects God and the word of God, God is filled with sorrow and God is filled with outrage. And God’s sorrow and outrage leads God to a response, which Moses records for us in Genesis 6:7:

The LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from 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."

God’s response to the selfishness and rebellion of humanity was pointed and powerful: "I will blot out man whom I have created from 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." The phrase to blot out literally means to wipe out by washing. This phrase is a word picture of taking a wet dish cloth and wiping a counter to clean off the dirt and grime off a table.

All of the creation that had been corrupted as a result of the curse that the selfishness and rebellion of humanity brought to the creation was to be wiped out. God was going to exercise His right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion that filled His heart with sorrow and outrage. God was going to wipe the planet clean of the dirt and grime that selfishness and rebellion had placed on the planet. God was going to rightly respond in justice. And God was going to respond in a way that reflected another aspect of His character in verse 8:

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

The word favor here is the same word that is also translated grace in our Bibles. As God looked over selfish and rebellious humanity, God chose to extend grace to one man and his family. You see, it has always been about grace. It has always been about God’s pursuit and rescue from selfishness and rebellion. And here God chose to extend grace and rescue Noah and his family from the judgment that was to come. Moses then launches into one of the most familiar stories in the entire Bible beginning in verse 9:

 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now 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 had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.

Here we see Moses begin to share the story of Noah and the ark. At least that is how we tend to refer to this story, don’t we? This is a story about Noah and his family and animals and a really big boat. This is a story that we tend to memorialize on the walls of our children’s nursery, don’t we? But let’s take our time and notice how God tells the story through Moses.

Moses begins by stating that Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time. But why was Noah righteous? What did Noah do to be right with God? The answer is nothing, because just a few verses earlier, we saw that as God looked at the core of humanity, what God saw was that every intent; every thought; every desire was on evil continually.

In other words all humanity, including Noah was selfish and rebellious to the core. Noah was right with God because Noah found favor in God’s sight. Noah was right with God because God extended grace to Noah. Noah walked with God because God pursued Noah and extended grace to Noah. When Moses says Noah was blameless, that does not mean Noah was sinless; it means that Noah lived a life of integrity that was based on his relationship with God that was the result of God’s activity in Noah’s life, not Noah’s activity for God.

As God looked at the reality that the world had been ruined as a result of the violence and wrong that resulted from humanities rebellion from God, Moses reminds us of God’s conclusion and response. When Moses uses the phrase “the end of all flesh has come before Me” this phrase literally means “I am resolved and have decided that it is time to destroy humanity.” God is saying “it is time to wipe humanity from the planet because of the dirt and grime that their selfishness and rebellion had placed on the planet.” Just as humanity had ruined the world because of the curse that their rebellion brought to the planet, God was going to ruin humanity.

Friday, we will see God communicate this reality and His response…