The Wickedness of the Human Race
Text: Genesis 6:1-8
Core Idea: God is our only hope against the problem of sin. He alone is able to rescue us from evil, guard us by His grace, and empower us to do what is good. Do you truly believe this today? If so, let’s turn to Him and celebrate His grace that has saved us, is sustaining us, and will carry us home.
INTRODUCTION
Well, we are currently going through the Book of Genesis – looking at how all things started. And last week, we saw how God providentially prolonged the lifespan of Adam and his descendants to help them multiply, cultivate, and pass down their faith effectively. But no matter how many years they got, they couldn’t remove the shadow of death looming over them. No wonder the phrase, “And then he died,” was peppered throughout the genealogy. Now, this must have brought great fear, pain, and sorrow to their hearts, knowing that death will one day come and bring an end to everything good in their lives. Death would force them to say goodbye to everyone they love and rob them of everything that mattered to them – all that they pursued and gained would become absolutely meaningless in the presence of death. But for the first time in history, there was someone who did not experience death – making people wonder, “Maybe death is not the end. Maybe there’s something I can look forward to even after death.” Enoch had brought a glimmer of hope to them. But for us, this is a reality we can celebrate and be confident of because we know that Christ had died to pay the penalty of our sin and conquered the grave to remove the sting of death – which means that if we’re in Christ, though we may die, it will not be the end of us. In Christ, our story will continue to eternity, for our life is secure in Him. Now, you would think that this hope of overcoming death would’ve caused more people in those days to call on the name of the Lord, but today’s passage will actually expose us to the dark reality of the world. So, with that in mind, please open your Bibles to Genesis 6:1-8 – and I will read this for us.
1 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days – and also afterward – when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. 5 The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD regretted that He had made human beings on the earth, and His heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created – and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground – for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
Amen. This is the Word of God for you today.
Now, it’s been said that this is one of the most complicated, confusing, and debated passages in the entire Bible – and after studying this, I understand why. It’s because it contains terms and concepts that may be ambiguous and even strange to us. So, naturally, people flocked to this passage with the desire to figure out what they mean. But because they were so caught up with these intriguing ideas, many of them ended up missing the actual point of the passage. Now, I’m not saying this to wriggle myself out of having to address the difficult parts. In fact, I’ll take a significant portion of the message to explain everything that may be unclear – which, by the way, is the reason why the first point could sound more like a lecture than a sermon. So, I need you to pay attention because I don’t want you to get lost in the details. Regardless, I will tie everything up in the end so that we can apply this truth to our lives. All that to say, follow my lead as we navigate through this – and to help us do that, let me point out three things from this passage:
· OUR WICKEDNESS
· GOD’S GRIEF
· GOD’S SOLUTION
1) OUR WICKEDNESS
Let’s look to verse 1 again, “When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.” On the surface, this doesn’t seem all that different from what we have seen so far in that mankind continued to enjoy the blessings of childbearing. It’s true that sin brought great pain to childbirth, but it could not rob us of our ability to give birth. So, the fact that they were able to multiply and fill the earth was a sign of God’s favor upon them – which is why what we read next could seem a bit odd. Listen to what God says in verse 3, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” The word “contend” in Hebrew literally means “remain or abide” – which means that God was telling mankind, “I’m not going to stay with you anymore because you are corrupt (that’s what the word “mortal” also means). I’m going to take away My presence from you – and your days will be 120 years.” Now, there are two possible ways to understand that last phrase. First, it could mean that God was limiting the lifespan of mankind. Because of the growing evil in the world, He decided to reduce their lifespan as a way to take away their opportunities to sin. Then, considering that many of them lived around 900 years, this would’ve been a drastic change. Now, those who reject this interpretation point out the fact that there are plenty of people who lived more than 120 years – for example, Abraham lived 175 years, Isaac lived 180 years, and Jacob lived 147 years. These examples are important to point out because they argued that this could make God look incompetent. So, they suggested that God was actually giving mankind 120 years to repent. He was basically saying, “I’ll give you 120 years to turn from your sins. If you don’t respond, I will bring judgment against you” – foreshadowing the flood. If this is true, we shouldn’t take this to mean that God was threatening or intimidating His people – as if He was saying, “You better stop, or else.” But we should take it as a display of His grace and patience for us. 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” The truth is that He could’ve just wiped them out that day. In fact, He didn’t even have to give them 120 years – but He did because He was being patient with them. He wanted them to turn back. And that really is how we should perceive our lives as well in that every day we have is an opportunity to repent and live for the Lord. Now, I think both interpretations could fit the context – so there’s no need for us to determine which one is right or wrong. Either way, this is telling us that God did not like what He saw – and that He wasn’t going to tolerate their evil. Now, as readers, we can’t help but feel a little confused because verses 1-2 seem to be talking about God’s blessing – but all of a sudden, God seems furious. What’s going on here? Well, in order to make sense of this, we have to understand who the sons of God and the daughters of humans were.
There are two main ways of interpreting this. I told you this text is very complicated. Now, some of you may be thinking, “I really don’t care about these details. Just get to the point.” If this is you, I completely understand because it’s true – there’s no point in arguing since there’s no consensus on how we should understand this verse. So, to some degree, this could feel like a waste of time for you – you just want to know how this relates to you personally. I get it. But I would ask you to be patient because this could really help some people process this better. It did for me. All that to say, stay with me, and I’ll try to make it as concise and clear as possible. So, first, some argue that the sons of God were fallen angels (demons), and the daughters of men were all the women on earth. This actually is the oldest view in that a lot of church fathers like Tertullian, Josephus, Origen, and Ambrose supported this. Their argument came from two principles. Number one, the exact expression “the sons of God” has been used four other times in the other parts of the OT (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:6; Dan. 3:25) – and all of them refer to angelic beings. So, they argued that it must have been used in the same way in the Book of Genesis as well. Number two, a couple of the NT passages that refer to this incident seem to identify the sons of God as angels. For example, 2 Peter 2:4-7 says, “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless.” What we see here is that Peter gives two pairs of examples – the first being negative and the second being positive. Fallen angels are negative – Noah is positive. Sodom and Gomorrah are negative – Lot is positive. Now, the account of Sodom and Gomorrah goes with the narrative of Lot. Then, it’s natural to assume that the account of fallen angels must be connected to the narrative of Noah. So, they said, “Since the NT writers interpret the sons of God to be angels, this is how we should understand as well.” But there are four problems with this view. Number one, God does not punish angels. If angels truly were guilty of this sinister action, it seems unfair that God simply goes after mankind. Number two, God doesn’t do anything to stop them from repeating this sin again. If this was incredibly heinous in the eyes of God, He doesn’t do anything to guard His people – women are left vulnerable. Number three, Jesus said in Mark 12:25 that angels don’t marry. If the sons of God in Genesis 6 were truly fallen angels, does this mean that Jesus didn’t know how to interpret Scripture? Of course not. Number four, Genesis 1 clearly tells us that everything in creation reproduces “according to its kind.” Darwinian evolution believes one species can evolve into a different type of species over time, but not the Bible. If it’s true that these fallen angels got married to the daughters of men and had children, it must mean that they were producing a completely new being (half angel, half man), which doesn’t make sense. The second interpretation: some argue that the sons of God refer to the godly line of Seth and the daughters of men refer to the ungodly line of Cain. Contextually, this makes sense because God has been constantly dividing mankind into two groups since the fall – the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of Eve. We saw this in Genesis 4 through Cain and Abel – and again in Genesis 5 through the line of Cain and the line of Seth. So, it’s natural to think of the sons of God in Genesis 6 as those who called on the name of the Lord, the descendants of Seth, while seeing the daughters of humans as the descendants of Cain. If this is true, we could understand verse 2 to mean that the people of God were marrying those who did not honor the Lord. Then, considering that God was willing to prolong the lifespan of mankind for the purpose of seeing the faith passed down, this would’ve greatly displeased the Lord. In fact, if they married these women simply for their physical beauty, not their inner faith, as it says here, they were truly living by sight, not by faith. No wonder God was furious. Now, if you ask me, I lean toward the second interpretation, but you wouldn’t be wrong if you think the first interpretation is true – there are a lot of great Christians who believe that as well.
Thankfully, it doesn’t really matter which interpretation you hold because it doesn’t affect the main point of this passage – that these people were deeply immersed in sin. Look closely at verse 2 again, “The sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.” Doesn’t this sound familiar? Maybe this will help. The word “beautiful” in Hebrew literally means “good” – and the word “married” in Hebrew literally says “took wives.” Saw, good, and took. What does this remind you of? Genesis 3:6, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.” Do you see what’s happening? These people were determining for themselves what was good and did whatever it took to get them. There was no regard for God. Just as Eve did in the garden, they were also just living for themselves – doing what they thought was good for them, doing what made them happy. In fact, this is why the Nephilim are mentioned here. Some argue that the Nephilim were the offspring of fallen angels and women – but if you read the verse carefully, you cannot come to that conclusion. Verse 4, “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days – and also afterward – when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.” It just says that they were there when these sons of God were marrying the daughters of humans – and that they were there afterward as well. In fact, there’s one more reference to the Nephilim in Numbers 13:33 – this is after the twelve Israelites spied on the Promised Land, “We saw the Nephilim there. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” What’s going on, then? Were these fallen angels still reproducing with the daughters of humans? I don’t think that’s what’s happening because the word “Nephilim” literally means “fallen ones.” Then, considering that verse 4 says they were the heroes of old, men of renown, it must mean that they were just these mighty warriors who had fallen away from the Lord and promoted violence in all that they did. All that to say, the point is that they lived to please themselves – they were those who wanted to make a name for themselves, just as Cain did, Lamech did, and the sons of God did. Again, exposing the dark reality of the world back then – saw, good, and took. In fact, this is the pattern of sin we see throughout the Bible. For example, Achan said in Joshua 7:20-21, “It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them.” And 2 Samuel 11:2-4, “One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, ‘She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.’ Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her.” Again and again, this pattern was evident in the lives of the people who fell into sin – and sadly, it is true of us as well. Brothers and sisters, who is determining what is good in your life? You really only have two choices – it’s either you or the Word of God. Your heart will continue to tell you, “Do what’s best for you. Do what makes you feel good. Who cares about others? It’s your money, your time, and your body. You’ve earned it. No one should tell you what to do.” But God will tell you, “Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, and soul – and love your neighbors, for this is what you were created to do. Remain in Me as I remain in you. You’ll find rest in My presence, for I’m the only One who can give you life and life to the full as your Creator.” In fact, that’s exactly what God did in Genesis 1. Six times, it says, “God saw that it was good.” Now, what did God do with what He perceived to be good? Take it for Himself? No, Genesis 1:29, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” God gave it to us. Then, friends, believe that God alone knows what’s good for us. Believe that He won’t be stingy but will abundantly give us what He deems good for us. In fact, even when things are not working the way you desire, don’t be quick to take matters into your own hands – believe that He is working all things for our good. Then, the way we combat sin isn’t necessarily by cultivating a strong will to resist temptation but simply by learning to trust the Lord. He’ll give us the strength we need to fight the good fight of faith.
2) GOD’S GRIEF
Verse 5, “The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” When God saw the world, He no longer saw something good but evil. Look at the words that were used – “every inclination of their thoughts was only evil all the time.” The truth is that this doesn’t just apply to the world before the flood but to our world as well. Sin is everywhere we look – twisting and distorting the good things God created. In fact, we just need to look at ourselves to see that this is true – because of sin, we lie, we covet, we steal, we manipulate, we take advantage of, we betray, we destroy, we kill, we demand, we pretend, we judge, we slander, we gossip, we quarrel, we divide, and we hate. Of course, I could go on – but the point is that sin impacts everything we do. The Bible calls this total depravity. It’s not that we can’t do anything good – but it’s that every aspect of our lives has been corrupted. Romans 3:10-18 explains it this way, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Left to ourselves, we won’t do anything good, and more importantly, we will never seek God, who is the source of all good things – which is why the idea that people are born good is not a biblical truth. The Bible clearly teaches that we have inherited the legacy of sin from Adam – no wonder we are wicked to the core. The tragedy, of course, is that the world does not see the gravity of sin – and unfortunately, many Christians also take their sins lightly. Paul Tripp wrote, “I am afraid we are so used to a sin-stained world, which is so much a part of our normal daily lives, that we lose sight of the fact that it has messed up everything in our lives. I am afraid that what should deeply disturb us doesn’t disturb us at all. I am afraid that what was never meant to be has become what we now expect. I am afraid that things that should get our attention and break our hearts are so routine that they barely get our attention anymore. I am afraid that we learn to live alongside of what we should mourn and abhor. I am afraid that the presence of sin in us and around us is so familiar that it doesn’t make us as afraid and sad as it should.” Friends, are you taking a casual approach to sin in you and sin around you? Have you gotten used to the horror of sin? God didn’t. Verse 7, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created.”
Now, the thought of God’s judgment could make some of you feel uncomfortable – even angry. “How could a loving God do this to His own creation? If this is true, it must be that the God of the Bible is not really loving – and He doesn’t deserve my worship.” If this is you, I want you to look at verse 6, “The LORD regretted that He had made human beings on the earth, and His heart was deeply troubled.” When it says, “His heart was deeply troubled,” it literally means that He felt great pain. Do you feel disturbed by the fact that God was going to judge the world? God is even more distressed than you are. He’s more upset that it had to come to this. His heart is broken. Why? Because His heart has been bound up with us. No wonder the Bible considers sin as spiritual adultery. We have forsaken our allegiance to God and offered our hearts to other lovers. And since our God is not just loving but holy as well, He justly declares judgment against the world. If you still think, “That’s not fair. He should forever be loving.” But anger is not the opposite of love. If someone were to hurt my sons, I would respond with anger out of my love for them – which is why the opposite of love is indifference, not necessarily anger. Remember that our God is patient with us, but it won’t last forever. There will be a day when it will end, and Christ will come to judge the living and the dead. Now, you may be wondering, “What does it mean that God regretted? Is He admitting He made a mistake? If He were given another chance, would He do things differently? In fact, doesn’t this mean that God doesn’t know all things? If He did, He wouldn’t have made mankind. Why would He do something He would regret? Well, the word “regretted” in Hebrew can also be translated as “be sorry, suffer, or grieve.” In other words, He was lamenting, feeling remorse, and grieving over what had happened. Think of it this way. If I discipline my son for disobedience, and he cries, I may feel some remorse over disciplining him – not in the sense that I disapprove of what I did, but in the sense that I feel some sorrow that discipline was necessary to teach him an important lesson. If I had to do it over again, I would still discipline him. It was the right thing to do – even if it meant that he may not want to talk to me for a season. So, I approve of discipline from one angle, but I also regret discipline from another angle. In the same way, God did not regret creating mankind because He loved them – but on the other hand, He lamented creating mankind because their wickedness pained Him greatly.
Well, what could we learn from this? One thing’s for sure – we need to learn to grieve over our sins. We need to learn to have our hearts broken. James 4:8-9 says, “Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.” Now, this is not saying we all need to cry and be depressed – but it is saying we need to intentionally, regularly take some time to feel sad, disgusted, and broken over our sins. Then let me ask you, “When’s the last time you’ve taken the time to weep over your sins? The sins that you have committed in anger. The sins that you have committed in secret. The sins that we are constantly justifying. When have these sins turned your laughter to mourning and joy to gloom, knowing that they have greatly troubled God’s heart?” Friends, let’s learn to mourn over our sin – and let’s desperately turn to Him, knowing that our wickedness is not curable apart from His work in our lives. We cannot fix this problem on our own. Think about it – these people who lived 900 years couldn’t figure it out. God alone is our only hope.
3) GOD’S SOLUTION
Verse 8, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” The word “favor” in Hebrew literally means “grace.” Noah found God’s grace. God’s grace found Noah. He didn’t earn this, but it was rather gifted to him – this privilege of fulfilling God’s promise. I briefly mentioned this before, but the truth is that God had no obligation to save mankind. They sinned against God. They grieved God. So, as a holy God, it was just for Him to bring destruction against mankind – which means that our history should’ve ended right there. We shouldn’t be here – and yet we are. Why? Because God was determined to keep His promise out of His love for the world. What promise? Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.” Then, choosing Noah was God’s way of saying, “I haven’t forgotten about My promise. The serpent-crusher will one day come and save My people. Even if everyone perishes, I’ll make a way so that the line of Seth will continue.” That’s why the genealogy in Genesis 5 was important – it was to show that Noah truly was a direct descendant of Seth.
Now, if you’re wondering how this story ends, you’ll have to wait until next time to see how God used Noah to deliver the world from His judgment – but here’s a question we can reflect on as we finish our time together. Do you realize that what brought us here, what sustains us now, and what will carry us home is His grace? If so, are you daily celebrating this wonderful news? Is your heart filled with overwhelming joy and gratitude every time you think about grace? Or do you find the message of grace dull in any way? Do you find yourself saying, ‘I heard this already – tell me something new’?” Brothers and sisters, as people who have been redeemed by grace, as those who have found favor in the eyes of the Lord, the thought of grace should always cause us to sing, rejoice, and give thanks to the Lord. He made a way when there was no way. How can we be silent about this? How can we be bored?
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, God is our only hope against the problem of sin. He alone is able to rescue us from evil, guard us by His grace, and empower us to do what is good. Do you truly believe this today? If so, let’s turn to Him and celebrate His grace that has saved us, is sustaining us, and will carry us home.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) The text describes a pattern of sin – seeing, determining something as good, and taking it. How have you seen this pattern play out in your life or the lives of others? What does it mean to let God determine what is “good” in your life? How can we resist the temptation to take matters into our own hands?
2) The text emphasizes God’s grief over human sin. How does this deepen your understanding of God’s character? What is your reaction to the idea of God’s judgment, and how does understanding His grief shape your perspective on it?
3) How does the message of God’s patience and the call to repentance inspire you to live differently today? How can we cultivate a stronger awareness of sin and its consequences without falling into despair or legalism?