How God Views our Society

Back in 1983, a consultant for major US corporations by the name of John Nasibet wrote a book that was uncannily prophetic for its time. 1983, he wrote a book called Megatrends. And in that book he described the trends that would shape the future of American society. I pulled that book back off my shelf this week as I was thinking through Genesis chapter 6, our text for today, and it was amazing to kind of review that book. He describes the history of the United States in three stages. He says the United States history can be described by occupational changes. We have moved from farmer to laborer to clerk. We would probably call today an office worker or maybe even an IT person. He says we really have moved in our society over the last couple hundred years from an agricultural society to an industrial society to an information society. And he made a statement on page 24 of that book that was just amazingly prophetic. Remember in 1983 the personal computer is very rare. Hardening anyone at this point has a personal computer but he could see that that was the wave of the future. And he basically made this statement on page 24 of that book he said we will be drowning in information but starved for knowledge. What an amazing accurate diagnosis of our age. It reminds me of a couple of truly prophetic passages in the Bible where Paul in two sections of his writings describe what the future will be like in second Timothy 3. He describes in the last days there will be perilous times. And one of the ways he describes those last days in verse 7 is ever learning but never acknowledging the truth ever learning but unable to come to the truth. So drowning in information but sadly aware of true not not aware of true knowledge. Romans 1 is the other passage I'm thinking about and we'll get to Genesis 6 in a moment but in Romans chapter 1 Paul says that because of man's increasing wickedness he suppresses the truth about God. Even though God is plainly described and illustrated who he is even in nature man suppresses that doesn't want anything to have to do with God. So while we are drowning in information we are starved for true knowledge. I think that describes the culture in which we live. World universes of information available are fingertips but moving further and further away from the knowledge of God. There is a time in history, in human history that matches the decaying, the moral decay of our culture and that is the time before the flood. It's a time described in Genesis chapter 6 and I invite your attention to that passage this morning the 6th chapter of Genesis. We are in a series on beginnings. The first 11 chapters of Genesis lay the foundation for everything that is found in your Bible after that and we have traced in the very beginning how human culture has developed and started. We have traced man from his creation in chapters 1 and 2 to his fall into sin dragging the whole human race into sin in chapter 3 to the time that he begins to develop human society in chapters 4 and 5. When we come to chapter 6 by the time we get here hundreds of years have passed. Maybe even a couple of thousand years have passed. And what we find is that as civilization has spread and grown rapidly it has just as quickly become evil and corrupt. And the whole society all of planet earth, all of its inhabitants are evil and wicked. It is a corrupt society. By the way Jesus made a point to remind us that the days of Noah are similar to our time in history the days before the coming of Christ as the days of Noah where he said social that be in the coming of the son of man he's talking about the days of the tribulation time just before his second coming but we see increasingly and increasingly our culture moving into the category of the days of Noah. And so it's a fascinating insight to see in this passage and what we do see here is how God views human culture. We see first of all in chapter 6 how God views such a corrupt culture as the days of Noah and we will see how he views and responds to our culture as well. So we see here how God views such a corrupt society and how he responds to it. If it was true in the days of Noah where they mocked him at the building of the ark if it was true in the days of Noah it is so true in our day that we lived in an increasingly corrupt society so we can gain great insight from this chapter about how God views our society and about how he will respond to our society and our culture. If indeed we are rapidly progressing toward that time that Jesus spoke of when we will be living in days like the days of Noah or planet earth is increasingly getting to that point then we can gain a lot of insight about how God responds to such corruption and wickedness as we look at this chapter. What we find as God views human society and how he responds in chapter 6 of Genesis is first of all God's perspective we actually get a glimpse as to what he sees this is what God sees in chapter 6 of Noah's day three things the Bible describes here that God sees his perspective on human society is first of all one of increasing deviance he sees increasing deviance increasing deviance from his holy standards it's described in the first four verses when men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and they married any of them they chose then the Lord said my spirit will not contend with man forever for he is mortal that word can mean also corrupt his days will be a hundred and twenty years the Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterward when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them they were the heroes of old men of renown now you look at these first four verses and you find yourself asking what is going on here what are the sons of God who are they who are the daughters of women what's going on with this inner marriage who are these people called Nephilim what in the world is happening here well if you have questions about that please take comfort in the fact that you're not the first one who's ever had a question about that most everyone who's ever read this passage has had a question about that and has been the subject of great debate even among theologians for centuries so we're not going to solve all of those issues this morning if you want them solved come on Wednesday night actually we're doing a study on angels on Wednesday night and we won't get to it this week but eventually we will deal with this passage in much more detail than we're able to this morning this morning I'm preaching and so the purpose is to move us toward decision for God and so let's just briefly highlight what I believe is going on here some people think that the sons of God are angels who intermarry with humans and create this mongrel breed or race of people who are giants or Nephilim well the problem with that is that the Bible says here they married the daughters of men and Jesus had something to say about that in Matthew 22 and verse 30 it's on the screen for you in Matthew 22 30 Jesus said at the resurrection people neither married nor be given in marriage they will be like the angels in heaven Jesus seems to imply that angels don't marry and so this permanent marriage relationship between whoever the sons of God are and the daughters of men is probably not angels in addition the only people who are judged for this occasion and this sin are humans and so this has to be a human sin I don't believe these are angels so there are those who say well the sons of God are the godly line from Seth and the daughters of men are the ungodly line from Cain and there are huge problems with that way of viewing this passage as well so again if you come on Wednesday nights you'll get the answer eventually as to what is going on here what I really believe is in happening in this passage and really being impressed on us is this I think that the writer here is speaking of the princes of royal families people who rose to political and military power by abuse of that power and began to abuse their power in many different ways and one of those ways was bisexual perversion and by taking whoever they wanted for wives from whom ever they wanted doing whatever they wanted to them and with them and it became a corrupt society with sexual perversion pandemic throughout the culture people using their strength and prowess in military in political ways which increased violence upon the earth and from those people were born what's called the Nephilim now the way we get the idea of giants that word actually comes from the the Latin translation of the Old Testament the Hebrew word doesn't mean giants it means fallen ones so what happens is people are born into this situation of corruption of power and authority and military might and using everybody for their own sexual pleasures people who are born into that continue that reign of terror and they become men of renown heroes of old that's the way the world sees them but that's not the way God sees them God sees them as fallen ones corrupt ones sinful ones and by the way those who tend to rise to power through their own sinful means and abuse that power at the expense of others are also seen as heroes today just like they were in Noah's day and God doesn't see him that way whether they are entertainment stars or political leaders or people in the academic world or in the business world who rise to power through manipulation and violence God does not see them as heroes or people of renown he sees them as fallen ones so what I believe no matter how you understand the details of this passage what I think we're finding here is an increasing devious an increasing devious from God's standards God's holy standards and is that not what we also see in our culture today in our society today an increasing devious from the holy standards of God why it hasn't been but a couple of generations ago that most everyone recognized that sex outside of marriage was wrong and that living together before marriage was wrong that was against God's standards and most everyone in the culture a couple of generations ago understood that but you preach that today and you're laughed out of town why would anyone believe such quaint antiquated ideas come on we live in an enlightened culture where very few people believe that is sin anymore we have gotten to the point where we've gone way beyond those kinds of immorality or even adultery being considered wrong now homosexuality bisexual lifestyles transgender lifestyles are celebrated in our culture we have increasingly as a society violated every standard of holiness in God's word and we have deviated from his pattern of holiness and that also includes violence of every kind we are quickly becoming if we are not already there the kind of society that Noah lived in we're moving there quickly if we're not already there when God sees our society I'm not sure the disease anything different than what he saw in Noah's day a society marked by increasing deaviance but he also saw a society marked by increasing disobedience verse five increasing disobedience the Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time now that is quite a description I would have you to note first of all the first three words of that verse the Lord saw friend don't mistake this God is not absent from his creation God has not taken a vacation or removed his hands from what's happening on planet earth he is not preoccupied so that he doesn't see and he doesn't care anymore he is a force to be reckoned with the eternal God of the universe and he is to be taken seriously he still sees he still observes what's happening in our society on this planet and I think he sees the same thing he saw back in Noah's day notice verse five says he saw how great man's wickedness had become on on the earth had become and notice this that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart by the way the word inclination is the same word from which we get the word formed in chapter two where God formed man so what he's talking about here is how you form the thoughts and motives and intense of your mind and your heart the deep purposes and thoughts and motives of your heart God sees that and he sees them forming and what he was seeing in that day was that every purpose and motivation and formation every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time it's an incredible statement every inclination only evil all the time it is a description of a corrupt culture that is increasingly disobedient to God God sees God knows what is in our hearts and minds I wonder my friend as he looks down on us today what he sees I wonder what he sees of our culture of our area of our town I wonder what he sees as he scans this audience this morning market down he knows every inclination of your heart every thought and purpose and motivation that forms in your mind and heart he sees it all he knows it all and he knows exactly where you are today you may fool everyone else around you you cannot fool the all searching laser light view of God and his eyes penetrate into your heart he knows what is there what you see in your heart and mind my friend in this day in this culture of Noah God saw increasing deviance increasing disobedience but thirdly he also saw increasing destruction skittendiverse 11 where God further describes what he's viewing about Noah's society verse 11 says now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence God saw how corrupt the earth had become for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways so God said to Noah I'm going to put an end to all people for the earth is filled with violence because of them I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth three times God uses the word corrupt or corrupted two times he says the earth is full of violence five times in these three verses God describes a culture that is morally bankrupt that is corrupt the word corrupt is an interesting word it's the same word the same root word for the word destroy that God uses in verse 13 when he says I'm going to destroy the earth same idea in a culture that is self-destructing because it is so corrupt it is polluted beyond help and so God moves in to say I will destroy what is already destroying itself I will judge what rightly comes under my wrath and condemnation that's how God sees the culture of Noah's day unchecked violence incredible corruption that characterized the day of Noah and I'm convinced as God views our society today he sees more and more of the same thing it is only a matter of time until that which is decaying so quickly that it is imploding and self-destructing becomes the object of God's own judgment and wrath and he destroys that which is self-destructing already tell you what this passage kind of reads like our headlines doesn't it kind of reads like what we see on the evening newscast every evening all of you are aware this morning unless you've been on a trip to Mars the last couple of weeks all of you are aware this morning of the headline on our paper and on our news just a couple of weeks ago about a national survey that said Princeton was the most dangerous city to live in in West Virginia bluefield was ranked number eight I believe now that has been disputed by local leaders as you would expect and they may well be right I don't know I don't know how to measure those kind of things and I don't know how to evaluate those kind of national measurements but I think we would all agree danger is becoming more apparent all around us societies becoming more corrupt and deviating from God standards all around us and when God looks at Princeton West Virginia I think he's seeing an increasingly decaying culture one that is becoming more corrupt all the time I believe that when God looks at us nationally this is what he sees today much like what he would see in Noah's day God looks at the United States of America and sees a society marked by every imaginable sexual perversion and the celebration of it not only an entertainment now but in our government God sees a society of increasing violence and misguided solutions which punish law biting citizens rather than criminals God sees a society in a culture that is marked by herculean efforts to try to save the planet to try to save plants and animals with heavy fines if you damage any plants or animals especially their young while at the same time our government leaders publicly praise a national organization that takes apart human babies and illegally sells their organs on the black market God is increasingly looking at the United States of America our beloved country and seeing the same culture that he saw in Noah's day a culture of increasing deviance and disobedience and destruction a culture that is imploding morally and what does that lead God to do what does it lead him to feel these kind of headlines you might think God was just immediately like everybody dead and when we think of the flood that's kind of the way we view this but the very next statements in verses six and seven describe God's pain yes God's perspective is of a society that is increasingly corrupt and violent but notice if you will the description of God's pain verse six the Lord was greed that he had made man on the earth and his heart was filled with pain some of you may have a translation that says the Lord repented that he had made man on the earth and you might get the idea that God felt like he'd made a mistake God makes no mistakes the word here truly is the word for repented or changed and God does change his actions in response to the changing actions of his creature but I don't think that's really the thrust here you see there are two sides in the Bible to repentance the first step of repentance is to recognize something that is wrong and to be deeply grieved and pained about it that leads to a change in direction and I believe it is the first part of that word which is emphasized on God's part here it is the pain it is the grief of looking on human society which he has made to be in relationship with him and seeing where it has gone that deeply pain God's heart he has grieved there's anguish in his heart the only way I know to describe this is the anguish that a parent feels for a wayward child and I know from talking to many of you many of you feel that you know that pain I don't know that there's any deeper pain then to have a child walk away from the faith or a child walk away from that what you have taught them to do that which is the way you've taught them to live and the way you've prayed into them and poured your heart out to them to see a child walk away is to deep pain in the heart that's what God is facing as he looks down at those whom he has made those whom he loves and loves to shower his grace on and he sees them quickly descending into this morally bankrupt and corrupt and violent society his heart is broken that's the pain he experiences the pain God experiences is the same pain you experience or I experience as a parent as a father as a mother when we see our own children walk away from God it's that kind of anguish in the heart that cannot be adequately described can only be felt that's the pain you experienced but that leads to the punishment he executed in verse seven it does lead to God's punishment and judgment verse seven so because of the pain of his heart what he's seeing of mankind so in verse seven the Lord said I will wipe mankind who might have created from the face of the earth men and animals and creatures that move along the ground and birds of the air for I am grieved that I have made them please notice that last expression I think oftentimes when we think of God's judgment we think of a harsh unfeeling blast of wrath and anger no no my friend there is anguish in his voice there are tears in his eyes yes God is just he is holy and he must judge sin but he always does so from a heart of compassion and longing that those who deserve his judgment please come back I don't think there's any better expression of that than what God expressed to the prophet Ezekiel about the nation of Judah who had already gone into captivity for the most part by the time Ezekiel writes these words in Ezekiel 33 in verse 11 God says say to them say to the people of Israel as surely as I live declares the sovereign Lord I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather that they turn from their ways and live and then in this plenty voice full of the anguish of pain in God's heart notice he says turn turn from your evil ways why will you die people of Israel notice why do you insist on pursuing this path which will lead to certain judgment and death please turn turn I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked when God executes punishment when God sends judgment it is always with the pain of a father's heart who is grieved at the course his creatures have chosen at the courses that you and I people have chosen that's the way God judges his heart is full of anguish and grief and pain the idea the view of God that causes many people to walk away from the faith by the way the view of God that he angrily throws people into a hell into hell with the kind of thought that says there you go you deserve that is not a biblical view of the judgment of God yes he is holy yes he must judge sin and rebellion and corruption but he does so with a broken heart and a plea from his heart to turn turn from your wicked ways why will you continue to pursue that path God's pain is so evident in this passage and that leads me to a man called Noah because the next thing this passage describes about how God views society is God's pleasure God finds someone that he takes pleasure in his man his name is Noah in verses eight and nine and verse 22 we have four descriptions of this man Noah want you to notice them quickly look at verse eight the first description is that he is a recipient of the grace of God verse eight says but Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord please don't misunderstand that statement please don't misunderstand that to be teaching that Noah was really a pretty good man and he did a lot of good things and he was kind to his neighbors and he was good to his wife and his family and God looked at him and said wow you're such a good man I find you find favor in my eyes you're doing pretty good no that's not what this means this is not salvation by works or performance here the word favor carries with it the idea of grace and so I believe what we are seeing here is that Noah among all the people of his generation is open and discovers the grace of God that is being offered to all in the midst of a culture that deserves God's judgment God is reaching out to man in grace in love he is offering forgiveness and he's offering life and Noah willingly received that offer of grace so Noah found favor in the eyes of God in the sense that he discovered he was willing to respond to the grace of God that was being offered to everyone God willingly calling people to himself and Noah responded Noah responded by trusting the Lord as his God and thus was a recipient of God's grace in the same way God is looking for those today who will recognize that they cannot earn their way to heaven you cannot work your way into God's favor or God's good graces as the expression is often used the only way you can be accepted by God and the sin that you had blotted off your account is to find his grace and his grace is offered in Christ he sent his son Jesus to take the punishment for your sin to take all of his wrath and judgment for your sin and thus offered you grace I offer you freedom from sin pardon forgiveness freely you don't have to do anything to earn it my son's already done all the work on the cross all you need to do is trust what he did in the same way Noah responded to the offer of God's grace and God accepted him as one of his own the Lord was his God and he trusted him fully that's the first description of this man but there's more to it than just accepting Christ as your Savior my friend that's what it means to be right with God and to know that your sin is forgiven and you you're going to be in heaven someday but after that you got to keep living on this earth and what I find described of Noah is a beautiful path for us to consider as we think about how we will live our lives here's a man who's saved comes into our relationship with God through the grace of God but then notice the next description of him in verse nine this is the account of Noah Noah was a righteous man blameless among the people of his time two two words here righteous and blameless righteous means that he lived in in a way that he properly behaved to his fellow man he properly lived out his faith he represented God well to others around him treating them righteously justly not taking advantage of people living a righteous lifestyle but then he was also blameless among the people of his time the word blameless does not mean perfect or sinless but it does mean that he had a wholehearted commitment to God here's a man whose heart was sold out God and it showed in the way he treated other people in the way he lived before his neighbors and others in his area Noah was a righteous and a blameless man a godly man he decided to do that and to live in that way and that leads me to the third description of him there in verse nine and he walked with God he walked with God you know sometimes in the Bible the word walk is used as a description of your pattern of life the way you live the way you walk through life the way you conduct yourself in your daily life is your walk you can choose to walk one of two ways you can walk in tandem with this world system that is increasingly becoming corrupt and walking away from God or you can choose to walk with God walk in his ways walk in line with his word the walk with him means to live a life that pulls away from the downward corruption of our culture and lives in obedience to his holy demands in his word walking with God counter culture but with him with his word and that leads me to the fourth description of this man of God then in verse 22 you find it 22 says Noah did everything just as God commanded him what God had commanded him we skipped it's in verses 14 through 21 it's the instructions about building the ark and receiving the animals that God would bring to the ark and making provision for food in the ark verse 21 and so he gives all these instructions and that's what the Bible says Noah did everything just as God commanded him in other words this was a man who was not only a recipient of the grace of God a righteous and blameless man a man who walked with God he was an obedient man he lived in obedience to God's command and and could I remind you that God is expecting things and commanding things of of Noah that do not seem very rational it has never rained on planet earth up to this point and God is promising a universal flood and says for Noah to build a huge boat if I'm Noah I'm thinking could you say that again God I don't think I caught that are you serious and I don't know if Noah's first reaction was one of puzzlement but certainly his final reaction was one of obedience he was obedient to everything God told him to do even when it didn't make sense friend in this culture that is fleeing from every standard of God's word it can possibly find in this culture that is increasingly corrupt and morally bankrupt we need to keep obedience to God's word even when it doesn't make sense to everybody around us we must be obedient to God and whatever God says is the way that we must live not what the culture is telling us not what Hollywood portrays for us not even what the government may say if it is counter to God's word we must be people of obedience to God Noah sets a good example for us would ask you my friend have you discovered the grace of God have you understood that you can't get the heaven on your own merits and God offers you graciously salvation as a free gift if you will trust his son Jesus who died for you if you come to that point if you haven't you can do that today you can trust Jesus and give up your own efforts to get the heaven if you have trusted Christ as your Savior then let's set our course very directly like Noah did as the culture increasingly pulls us the other way let's be righteous blameless walk with God obedient to him and set with determination our course to be people like Noah and we will be found to be pleasing in God's eyes God takes pleasure in people who live counter culture who live as salt that stings to an open sore of a culture God delights and has pleasure in people who shine their light clearly in the darkness of the culture so God has pleased his pleasure is with his people when we live counter culture like Noah we will increasingly become a minority in our culture and we can expect to be further marginalized and seen as irrelevant and treated as out-of-date bigots for believing in this book we can increasingly expect that so how do we respond to that don't respond with fear don't respond with flight trying to find a cave somewhere you can get away from it all but respond with faithfulness not fear not flight but faithfulness that's what Noah did and if you are the only person left standing stand for God in your school in your place of business in your neighborhood in your family if you're the only person left just be faithful no need to fear or to run to flee just be faithful like Noah and you will be pleasure to the heart of God the pleasure of God but God also made a provision for those who like Noah would turn to him let's look quickly at God's provision the provision in verses 14 through 21 is the provision of an arc and the purpose of the arc as it's described here and I'm not going to read these verses or go into the description actually we'll do that next week when we get into chapter seven we'll actually see more information we'll pull it all together about what the arc was like so we'll get to that later but God basically told him you are to build a boat it gives him detailed distractions about what to build how to build it the animals he is to bring and the food provisions he is to make but the purpose of this arc the provision of the arc was to protect from God's judgment and deliver to a new world that was the purpose of the arc it was only if you were in the arc that you would be protected from the judgment of God on this decadent culture and this would be the way you would be delivered to a new world and so the arc is a beautiful picture of the provision of Christ because we live in a culture today that is much like the culture of Noah's the arc becomes a beautiful picture it's a literal boat we'll talk about that more next week but it becomes a beautiful picture of Christ because it is only if you are in Christ that you are protected from God's judgment and you are delivered to a new world heaven itself my friend the only way that you can escape God's ultimate judgment the only way you can escape eternal judgment and separation from him in a place of wrath called balacafire the only way you can escape that is to be in Christ in the safety of his protection and to be in Christ means just what we've been talking about that you realize you can't get to heaven on your own goodness but that God sent his son Jesus to be your substitute that when he died on the cross he died to take all of God's punishment and wrath and judgment for your sin and if you will place your confidence trust your faith in Christ as your savior then the Bible says you become God's child at that moment you're saved you're delivered from the wrath of God and you are placed in the arc of protection in Christ in Christ is the only way to escape God's judgment are you there my friend where are you this morning are you in Christ because I want to tell you you can no more escape the judgment of God on your own than the people of Noah's day could escape the flood nobody could run fast enough to escape the wave the water of God's judgment nobody could swim long enough to escape God's judgment and you cannot work hard enough or live long enough to pay for all of your sin you cannot do it you are just as hopeless as the people in Noah's day and so you got to get in the arc you got to get in the place of safety and protection you need to be in Christ God's protection so beautifully God's provision so beautifully illustrated here but there's one other detail about how God sees an increasingly corrupt and violent culture one other detail that we've kind of skimmed over and that is God's patience it's back in verse three kind of tucked away there so when you go back to verse three with me God's patience then the Lord said my spirit will not contend with man forever this is the the work of the Holy Spirit convicting people's hearts and minds dealing with them about their sin he says my spirit will not contend with man forever for he is mortal or he is corrupt his days will be 120 years but this is God's response to a corrupt culture he cannot tolerate this level of sin he cannot tolerate this level of deviance and disobedience and destruction of the culture morally he can't tolerate that he must judge it but he first of all gives time he gives time to repent he gives time for people to recognize their sin and come fleeing to the arc of safety in the provision God has made through his grace for salvation God gives time 120 years of time what remarkable patience and the New Testament highlights that when it discusses this time in 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 20 Peter says this to those who were disobedient long ago speaking of the people who lived in those days when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built in it only a few people eight and all were saved through water or saved through the judgment of water but he waited patiently and did God just wait patiently with no effort to reach people no no look at 2 Peter 2 5 which says it's on the screen for you if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people but protected Noah and then notice how he's described a preacher of righteousness protected this preacher of righteousness and seven members of his family Noah was a preacher of righteousness Noah was sent with a message to preach to people of offering the grace of God to know him to escape judgment not only was he building an ark he was also trying to recruit people to be on the ark with him he was preaching the righteousness of God to a lost and dying generation God was so patient for 120 years he pledged with people to come to him but the repentance did not come except on the part of very few and eventually the judgment fell my friend that's God's pattern throughout the scriptures he warns us first he gives us time with repeated warnings repeated understanding and exposure to his word he gives us time to repent to turn to him to turn from our sin and trust him as our Savior but if we continue to delay and put off that decision eventually judgment comes I plead with you this morning my friend do not abuse God's patience do not take advantage of God's patience do not mistake his patience for weakness or that he doesn't really care please do not make that mistake I think I've told you the story before about truck driver that pulled into an all-night truck stop in medicine bow Nebraska and he walks into the truck stop and orders cheeseburger and some fries and a cup of coffee shortly after he sits down and gets started eating three guys leather clad motorcycle guys Harley-Riden guys not not like the good hog drivers from our church now you you you're good folks but these guys are wild guys these are guys are gang-like guys they walk in and they spot this guy this truck driver and so they walk up to him ready to pick a fight one of them grabs his cheeseburger takes a bite out of it another one grabbed a couple of his french fries third one picked up his cup of coffee and started drinking it glared at him like okay what are you gonna do the truck driver didn't say a word just picked up his tabs ticket walk to the counter pay for his meal walked out the waitress who waited on him at the counter couldn't believe what she was witnessing she watched him go out the front door and get any truck she then walked over to the three motorcycle gang guys and started to serve them and they said he wasn't much of a man was he she said well I don't know what kind of man he was but he sure in the very good driver he just ran over three motorcycles out here in the bargain lot for him don't don't mistake God's patience as weakness don't don't you play and gamble with God's patience he will be patient with you continuing to offer you the chance to respond to his offer of grace through Christ but there will come a day if you continue to put it off either the day of your death or the day when Jesus comes back there will come a day when the patience will be finished and the judgment must come don't trifle with God's patience how does God look at human society how does God look at our society I believe the same way he looked at Noah's he looks down and he sees increasing corruption and violence and sin a decaying deviant disobedient self destroying culture and it pains his heart it greaves his heart so much so that he continues over time to offer grace to people who don't deserve anything from God he offers his grace and he willingly with a passionate broken heart calls for you to come to him and trust Christ as your Savior that's what he's doing this morning the provision is made for you the ark is ready you need to be in Christ and he patiently waits for you to come but don't gamble with his patience times now my friend the call is urgent for you to come to Christ and get in the ark of safety will you will you respond to God's grace and escape his judgment will you this morning my friend respond to God's gracious invitation to you to come and will you escape his judgment please bow with me in prayer father thank you that in the midst of increasing decay moral decay and corruption in our society you're still patiently calling to people to come to Christ to enter the ark of safety from your judgment father I pray that if you're putting your finger upon someone's heart this morning touching very gently their heart wooing and calling them to yourself I pray Lord they would not hold back they would not gamble with your patience but would come to Christ this morning and then father for those of us who've come to Christ help us not to fear or flee this culture that we live in help us to faithfully live as godly people walking with you and trusting you every day we ask in Jesus name amen