A sermon preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on the first Sunday of Advent, November 30, 2025.
The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. (Genesis 6:5–14).[1]
It seems to me the modern Evangelical pastime is to lament the condition of our culture. We are seemingly surprised at the prevalence of the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life[2] in a world following the prince of the power of the air, who continues his work in the children of disobedience.[3] And yet, I am often asked, “Can you believe how bad’s it’s gotten?” To which I often reply, “Yes, almost as bad as the days of Noah,” which is of course sarcasm, since as bad as we perceive our age to be, we cannot say that every intention of the thoughts of our neighbors is only evil continually[4] (although perhaps a few we know come close). But really, think about it: What was the condition of the culture of Noah’s day? What dominated mankind’s thoughts? Only evil continually. What motivated his actions? Only evil continually. What did he do all day, every day? Only evil continually. Literally, “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5).
It’s a tragic account, especially considering that in the beginning when “God saw everything that he had made . . . it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). But after the Fall within only ten generations, “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and . . . regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart” (Gen. 6:5-6). What God created originally “very good” became God’s regret and grief.
To be clear, it was not what man, made in God’s image, accomplished that grieved the Lord, as he carried out the creation mandates, to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it, [5] and to work and keep creation.[6] Man built cities, organized food systems, forged tools, and played music,[7] but industry apart from righteousness becomes well-capitalized debauchery. For all man accomplished, he was still the son of Adam, a sinner by nature with the ever-present propensity to live it out. And so he did, and so he does, and so deserving the righteous judgment of God.
Righteous Judgment
When Moses says, “the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart” (Gen. 6:6), he is not saying that God made a mistake and regretted the results. Rather, he employs anthropopathic language, helping us better understand God’s character, as he is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. . . . good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made” (Ps. 145:8-9). While man’s “heart was only evil continually,” God was “grieved . . . to his heart.” Such is the distinct difference between man’s heart and God’s. While fallen man may relish sin, it grieves God’s Spirit.[8]
Nor does regret or grief connote acceptance or passivity. The apostle Peter reminds us not to define God’s patience as slowness, since “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (2 Pet. 3:8-9). All sin is deserving of God’s righteous judgment, to be meted at his sole discretion. Which, in the day of Noah, that day had come: “the LORD said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them’” (Gen. 6:7). God’s sorrow did not lead to pity but judgment, because the Lord is “a God of justice” (30:18).
As God promised so he did. As recorded in the seventh chapter of Genesis:
all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth (Gen. 7:21-23a).
What God’s justice demanded, his righteous judgment accomplished. Including this concluding statement: “Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark” (Gen. 7:23b). God regretted, God grieved, God was sorry, all because of the sinfulness of mankind, but Noah and his family were saved.
Why Noah? If “all have sinned and fall short or the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), why was he not drowned in the flood? Was he just a better swimmer? Could he hold his breath a little bit longer? 150 days is too long to tread water, so why didn’t he die with the rest of mankind? Some contend it was by his righteous merit, but Noah’s righteousness was preceded by something greater than the works of man: the sovereign grace of God.
Sovereign Grace
There are certain succinct verses in the Bible that speak loudly in their brevity. This is, I think, one of them: “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD” (Gen. 6:8). Such favor would mean the difference between life and death, not only for Noah and his immediate family but the continuing human race. But such favor is not found by us, as if we seek it, nor merited, as if we earn it, but grace was bestowed, before the foundation of the world, that Noah would be holy and blameless before God. Noah could have been found among the sons of disobedience or judged along with the children of wrath, but he was not, because in love God predestined him for adoption to himself.[9] Yes, Noah was righteous, blameless, and walked with God, but as the apostle Paul explains, these attributes of godliness “God prepared beforehand,” that Noah would live accordingly.[10] Noah was a righteous man because Noah was a chosen man, and so are you if you have savingly believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Noah, like you and like me, was saved by God’s sovereign grace through faith, not of his own doing nor his own works.[11] Otherwise, as Paul puts it, “grace would no longer be grace” (Rom. 11:6), and apart from grace there can be no faith. Hebrews tells us, “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Heb. 11:7). Like Abraham, Noah believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.[12] Trusting in the gift of God’s unmerited favor, Noah believed God’s promise and in “reverent fear” obeyed, constructing the ark. But that wooden ark, though it saved Noah and his family from God’s judgment, it was not an end in itself but pointed to an ultimate fulfillment in a wooden cross, where Christ became the ark of salvation for all who believe on him. And all who are in Christ are kept safe in this ark of salvation awaiting his second advent.
We, like Noah, who are saved by God’s grace through faith, live out our faith in faithful obedience, glorifying God with our lives.[13] We can only imagine what this must have been like for Noah, living in a culture defined as corrupt in God’s sight and filled with violence.[14] What did he do, how did he live? The apostle Peter calls him, “a herald of righteousness” (2 Pet. 2:5), but we have no record of him preaching. Given what we do know about him, perhaps Noah’s living and preaching were the same thing, described in this verse: “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God” (Gen. 6:9).
In context, “righteous,” or “just,” connotes faithful obedience, and “blameless” connotes integrity. Neither word implies sinless perfection, but in the same way Job was “a just and blameless man” (Job 12:4) so was Noah. But it is the third description that is perhaps the most telling: “Noah walked with God,” an expression used to describe only one other person in Scripture, the patriarch Enoch,[15] and Adam before the Fall, with whom God walked in Eden.[16] The expression connotes relationship, intimate fellowship with God. One who walks with God truly knows God and is known by God.[17]
And if you, by God’s grace, have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you have been invited to walk with him too. By faith, we too may know the intimate fellowship Noah enjoyed with God, especially through his ordinary means of grace. Consider, for example, the sacraments: As baptism sets us apart as one known by God, so also the Lord’s Supper, communion, is an intimate fellowship meal with the Lord. Likewise, we pray to our heavenly Father, as his children in Christ, as we share and submit our desires to his will, confess our sins, and give thanks for his abundant mercies.[18] And the Word of God that Noah heard and heeded is the Word of God we have been given in the written Scriptures, that we may know our Father in heaven and obey his will. Noah walked with God, and so may we.
Steadfast Love
A perfect example of this is seen in how Noah heard and heeded God’s Word. The world had never experienced a cataclysmic flood, but God said, “Make yourself an ark” (Gen. 6:14). From the beginning of creation, life on earth continued, but God said, “Everything that is on the earth shall die” (6:17). Animals had never been gathered for the purpose of post-apocalyptic preservation, but God said, “of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you” (6:19). God said all this to Noah, which was in direct opposition to what was being said in the world around him, but “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him” (6:22). Noah believed God’s Word, no matter how contrary to popular opinion, and obeyed. You can imagine the ridicule, the jeering, the condemnation that Noah endured simply for living for the Lord.
What would lead a man to walk with such faith, against all odds, and contrary to opinion, history, and culture? I contend that it was the love of God. And here is why: God said to Noah, “I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you” (6:18). This is the first time we hear this kind of language in the Bible. God is monergistically, unilaterally committing himself to Noah (the “you” in this verse is singular) and through Noah blessing mankind. The actual Noahic Covenant is not given until after the flood, when Noah offers a sacrifice of worship and thanksgiving for his salvation, and God gives the rainbow as a covenant sign.[19] But before the flood, before the ark, before the animals, before the deluge that meant death and destruction, God promised Noah, “I will establish my covenant with you.” Like Abraham, Moses, and David after him, when God made (or literally “cut”) a covenant, it was a sign of his “steadfast love.”
Noah could have sung (and perhaps did!) what David later would sing: “great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol” (Ps. 86:13). “Sheol” is the Hebrew word for “grave,” which the flood became, but Noah and his family were saved from its “depths” as “a remnant, chosen by grace” (Rom. 11:5). When God established his covenant with Noah, it was not a negotiated contractual arrangement but a statement of his steadfast love for Noah, a love that saved his life and the lives of his family, but more importantly pointed him to God’s promise fulfilled in Christ. In describing the faith of all the Old Testament saints, the writer of Hebrews says, “And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised” (Heb. 11:39), including Noah, because the promise had not yet come. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law” (Gal. 4:4), “Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). In love, God established his covenant with Noah, but the promise given was fulfilled in love himself, that we too “may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world” (1 John 4:16-17).
Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of Heav’n to Earth come down,
Fix in us thy humble dwelling,
All thy faithful mercies crown;
Jesus, thou art all compassion,
Pure, unbounded love thou art;
Visit us with thy salvation,
Enter ev’ry trembling heart.[20]
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] 1 John 2:16
[3] Eph. 2:1-3
[4] Gen. 6:5
[5] Gen. 1:28
[6] Gen. 2:15
[7] Gen. 4:17-22
[8] Eph. 4:30
[9] Eph. 1:4-5
[10] Eph. 2:10
[11] Eph. 2:1-9
[12] Rom. 4:3
[13] Matt. 5:16
[14] Gen. 6:11
[15] Gen. 5:22
[16] Gen. 3:8
[17] Gal. 4:9
[18] “The Shorter Catechism,” Q. 98, The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms (Lawrenceville: PCA Christian Education and Publications, 2007), 400-401.
[19] Gen. 8:20-22; 9:1-17
[20] Charles Wesley, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” Trinity Hymnal, Revised Ed. (Suwanee: Great Commission Publications, 1990), 529.
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