Genesis 6

The wickedness of man (vs. 1-7)--The story of the greatest geological cataclysm in earth’s history begins here and continues into chapter 9. Humanity became more and more wicked when the “sons of God” married the “daughters of men.” Some have suggested that these “sons of God” were angels, and that appears to be the case in the first two chapters of the book of Job. But not here in Genesis 6. What would angels be doing marrying humans? Angels don’t marry, period (Matthew 22:30). The “sons of God” were the godly line of Seth and they began to intermarry "the daughters of men," i.e., the wicked line of Cain, and as the Bible tells us repeatedly, “evil companionships corrupt good morals,” (I Cor. 15:33). If you marry a child of the devil, you can expect trouble from your father-in-law. Devout men being led by the nose by profane women—it won’t be the last time in the Bible it happens—and the world plunged into spiritual darkness.

"Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord" (vs. 8-13)--Thus, man’s wickedness became so great that God was sorry He ever made man (Genesis 6:6). He would give humanity 120 years (v. 3), and then the destruction would come. One man, and his family, would be spared—“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord,” (v. 8). This the first time the word “grace” is found in the Bible.

The obedience of Noah (vs. 14-22)--God tells Noah about the impending flood and then instructs him as to what he must to be saved—build an ark, the exact dimensions of which are given. Notice that grace did not mean that Noah would be saved without doing something. What if Noah had reasoned, “Well, since I’m saved by grace, then God will save me whether I do anything or not”? Obviously, he would never have survived the flood. And God’s instructions were precise: “’Make thee an ark of gopher wood…” and so forth (vs. 14ff). Suppose Noah had decided to build the ark out of pine instead of gopher wood. Do you think it would have floated? “Well, yes, God said use gopher wood, but this pine is handy, and I like the smell of it better. I’m sure God won’t mind.” Folks, if Noah had reasoned like that, you and I wouldn’t be here today because all of mankind descended from him. Well, God perhaps would have found another way to perpetuate humanity, but it sure wouldn’t have been through Noah. But, thankfully, Noah was a man of faith: “Thus did Noah; according to ALL that God commanded him, so did he,” (v. 22). And that’s exactly what we should do. Noah found grace in God’s eyes, he believed what God told him, and He did what God commanded—all in order to be saved from the flood. What’s so difficult about that? And yet, so many, many preachers and people in the denominational world simply cannot get those principles into their heads. That's a greater tragedy than the flood.