Genesis 6:1-3 – When Grace Runs Out – Bible study

Genesis 6:1-3 When Grace Runs Out I am going to speak to you on a very hard topic this morning. It is one of those sermons that I do not really enjoy preaching, but it is truth and people need to be warned. The title of the message is, When Grace Runs Out. Most know this story. It has only been six chapters since God created the human race and only three since man introduced sin to the world, but already man had become so wicked that God was going to destroy all but eight of the worlds population. In verse three, God gave a deadline. The flood would come in 120 years. The title of the message drops some hints about grace, some important hints. We need to spell those hints out. This morning for a few moments, lets consider three thoughts as we seek to better understand grace and what it does. I. What Is Grace? A. A good many people think that grace and mercy are synonyms for one another. That is, that they basically mean the same. B. Others think that they are twins to one another that is, that them mean almost the same. C. However, I believe the Bible actually defines grace for us. Phi 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 1. I believe grace is when God works to accomplish His good pleasure. 2. Notice several words: a. Grace is God working to accomplish His GOOD pleasure. (1) Grace is not about God bringing judgment, In fact, grace is God working to avoid judging people. (2) It will come as a surprise to some, but God takes no pleasure in judging sin. (3) Judgment is something that must be done for several reasons: (a) Because Gods nature cannot co-exist with sin. (1) It does so in some limited fashion because of another attribute of God, MERCY. (2) However, Gods mercy as great and wonderful as it is, has limits. (3) Mercy can only protect sinners for so long then it must give way to judgment. (4) In Genesis 6:3, God put a time limit on His mercy, 120 years. (b) Because sin allowed to exist unchecked always becomes more sinful. b. WORKETH (1) Grace is God working. (2) I love mercy, but mercy is not God working. (a) In fact, mercy is just the opposite. (b) Mercy is God not working, not doing what His very nature demandsjudging sin. 3. While mercy is one of the many tools that grace may use, grace does far more than just show mercy. a. When I think of grace, I see grace as Gods overseer, Gods taskmaster. b. Grace takes all of the tools of Gods goodness to work to produce goodness. (1) For example, grace uses mercy and forgiveness to forge salvation. (2) Think of mercy as the anvil and forgiveness as the hammer, but something is missing. (3) Something must heat the sinner up to make him pliable, moldable. (4) So grace uses the match of holiness to light the coals of the Word of God and create the fire of conviction. (5) Then God takes up the tongs of faith and moves the sinner from the flames of conviction to the anvil of mercy to be hammered upon by forgiveness. (6) But the fire must stay hot so graces uses the preaching of the Word of God to stoke the fire of conviction and keep it hot, while mercy and forgiveness create the work of salvation. b. But that is just the first work of grace. (1) Grace then turns the sinner over and with salvation, restoration, and renewal, grace forges a new life for the sinner. (2) Still laying on the anvil of forgiveness and being shaped by the hammer of mercy, grace instills life, hope, joy, peace, and purpose. II. Grace Runs Out A. Back to the title of the message and the hints implied by it, "When Grace Runs Out." B. One of the more obvious hints is that grace does run out. 1. In Genesis 6:3, God set a time limit on how long grace would work. 2. The limit was 120 years. 3. That was a long time and it provided many opportunities. a. The 120 years provided time for grace to build the ark. (1) You thought Noah built the ark. Well, he did, but Noah could not have built the ark if grace had not been there. (2) Noah was no boat builder. In fact, no one was a boat builderat least not on the scale of the ark. (3) The ark was massive and had to be built to withstand the stress of the flood and to carry the weight of all those animalsand their food. (4) It was Gods grace that gave Noah the specifications, that helped him hew and plane the wood, shape it, assemble it, into a boat that would float. (5) The perfect ratio for floating: 30 to 5 to 3. http://apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=13&article=562 b. The 120 years also provided time for grace to offer salvation to many. (1) Remember that grace works for GOOD not BAD. (2) Grace does not work to bring judgment. (3) Grace uses mercy to hold judgment back while it works to forge a salvation. (4) For 120 years, grace preached that a flood was coming but God would provide salvation through the ark that was being built. (a) You thought Noah was the one who preached the message of salvation. (b) Well, he did, but Noah could not have preached salvation if grace had not been there. i. It was grace that built the ark and grace that warned the people of the flood and grace that kept Noah preaching year after year when no one-absolutely no one, believed Noahs message. ii. If Gods goodness is being accomplished then grace is there doing it! 4. But, the 120 years did end and grace did run out. 5. One of the sad truths is about grace is that grace does run out. C. But there is a second hint in the title of the message. 1. When grace runs out, judgment begins. 2. The title of the message, "When Grace Runs Out." a. The first hint is that grace runs out. b. The second hint is that when grace runs out, judgment begins. 3. \#Ge 7:15-24\ You can see the judgment in this account. a. They went into the ark, grace ran out, and judgment began. b. What a horrible judgment: (1) Death by drowning (2) Perhaps even worse, seeing it coming, watching as your family and friends were swept away into the raging and rising waters. (3) You say, "That is horrible. Why would God be so cruel?" (4) Get this: When grace runs out, every good tool that grace uses stops as well. (a) Mercy ran out. (b) Kindness ran out. (c) Goodness ran out. (d) Forgiveness ran out. (e) Salvation ran out. (f) I want to say even Gods love ran out. D. Someone says, "Well thankfully, that only happened once." No, it has happened many times in human history. 1. Grace ran out of the Canaanites in \#Deut 7:2, Josh 6:21\. 2. Grace ran out for Israels northern kingdom \#2Kings 17:20-23\. 3. Grace ran out for Israels southern kingdom \#2Chron 36:17-20\. 4. Grace ran out of Israel again when they rejected and crucified Jesus \#Matt 21:33-41\. Matt 21:40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? 41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. 5. The truth is that history is filled with examples of grace running out for kingdoms, nations, and even individuals. III. When does Grace Run Out? A. Now, that is the question of the hour. 1. No one knows for certain the exact time. 2. This, to my knowledge, is the only time God ever gave a specific time period, 120 years. B. However, we do know some specific times when grace will run out. 1. For every human being, grace runs out at death. (Grace can actually run out before death, but it always runs out at death.) Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 2. For the world, grace runs out at the rapture of the church. a. The rapture of the church is when God removes the church from off this planet. b. That will begin a time period of intense judgment on this planet, judgment like the world has never seen. c. Id like to say that we are inching toward that event every day, but we arent. We are running toward it with might and furry. d. In an articles published by Fox News this past week, it was reported that the IRS has granted the Satanic Temple tax exemption status. https://www.foxnews.com/us/satanic-temple-irs-has-designated-it-a- tax-exempt-church 3. But for you, grace may run out today if you reject Jesus Christ as your Savior.