The Lord's Response to Man's Wickedness

THE LORD’S RESPONSE TO MAN’S WICKEDNESS

An Exposition of Genesis 6:1-8

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: May 22, 2022

Series: The Book of Genesis

Note: Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Holy Scripture says:

¹ When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. ³ Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” ⁴ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

⁵ 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. ⁶ And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.⁷ 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.” ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:1-8)

INTRODUCTION

“The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.” (Psalm 14:2) Does anyone pass the test? “They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 14:3) This is an apt description of the ancient world, which was engulfed in great wickedness and was soon to be engulfed in a devastating flood.

THE SONS OF GOD AND THE DAUGHTERS OF MAN (v. 1-4)

We must begin, of course, with the marriage debacle in verses 1-4. Verse 1 sets the stage for the problem that is about to emerge: “When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them”. At the beginning God had instructed Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28). And so they did. In Genesis 4:17-24, Cain’s descendants are traced out to the eighth generation from Adam. In Genesis 5:3-32, Seth’s descendants are traced out to the eleventh generation from Adam. Even though there is a focus on sons, it is evident that daughters were also born. Cain found a wife (Genesis 4:17). Lamech found two wives, Adah and Zillah (Genesis 4:19). Lamech had a daughter named Naamah (Genesis 4:22). In Genesis 5:3-30, we are told that each of the nine men identified from Adam to Lamech “had other sons and daughters” (Genesis 5:4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 26, 30). So, from the very beginning of man’s multiplication upon the earth, “daughters were born to them” – and these daughters-who-became-wives-and-mothers were key to the ongoing multiplication process. However, the issue in Genesis 6:1-4 isn’t the mere fact that daughters were born to man, but that these daughters caught the eye of the sons of God: “the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.” (v. 2)

Who are “the sons of God”? Frankly, I don’t think it is complicated, although there are likely to be some disagreements on an issue like this. So let me be careful to publicly state that our fellowship with one another in the Lord is not dependent on seeing eye-to-eye on the identity of “the sons of God” in verses 2 and 4, or on the identity of the Nephilim in verse 4. Jesus is our firm foundation. The gospel of grace is our center of gravity. South Paris Baptist Church’s capacity to flourish as faithful believers who are bearing good fruit is not anchored in Genesis 6:1-4. Understanding the Nephilim is not the missing key to a faithful Christian life.

However, this doesn’t mean that Genesis 6:1-4 is unimportant. This passage is important, simply because it is part of Holy Scripture. These four verses are breathed out by God for our good, and God intends us to be helped by this passage. If we rightly understand verses 1-4, we will be edified.

Four reasons “the sons of God” refers to angels

So, let me give you four reasons why I believe that “the sons of God” is a reference to heavenly or angelic beings.

Reason #1: “Sons of God” doesn’t refer to men

Reason #1: In the context of verses 1-2, it is doubtful that the phrase “the sons of God” refers to men. It is unremarkable that men should find women attractive and marry them. That is just normal. Further, the genealogies in Genesis 4:17-24 and in Genesis 5:3-32 make it clear that the male descendants are the sons of man. Why now begin to refer to these male descendants as “the sons of God”? Instead, what seems obvious in verses 1-2 is that the author is drawing a contrast between man and “the sons of God”. “[Man] began to multiply… and daughters were born to them” – and within this unfolding multiplication it is implicit that men and women were pairing off in marriage in order to bring about the multiplication. But as we move into verse 2 it seems that a contrast is drawn, in that there were some persons other than man-folk who set their gaze upon man’s daughters: “the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive.” This contrast indicates that something out of the norm is taking place. Another indication that something unusual is taking place has to do with the offspring. If all that is happening is men and women marrying and having children, then we wouldn’t expect anything out-of-the-ordinary in their offspring. But out-of-the-ordinary offspring does happen: “The Nephilim” (v. 4); “the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown” (v. 4). Something abnormal is taking place.

Reason #2: The Lord is displeased with the marriages in verses 1-4

Reason #2: The fact that the Lord’s judgment upon man is proclaimed in the middle of the action of verses 1-4, indicates that the Lord is displeased with what is happening in verses 1-4. But in the context of Genesis 1:26-28, men marrying women and having children is not the sort of thing that would invite God’s displeasure. The proclamation of judgment in the middle of the narrative suggests that something troubling is taking place.

Reason #3: Elsewhere in the OT “sons of God” refers to heavenly beings

Reason #3: In the context of the Old Testament, the phrase “the sons of God” only occurs a handful of times, and elsewhere it refers to heavenly or angelic beings. Job 1-2 both refer to “a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD” (Job 1:6, 2:1), and what is clearly in view is an assembly of heavenly beings gathered in the Lord’s presence. Heavenly beings are probably also in view in Job 38, where the Lord tells Job that “all the sons of God shouted for joy” when the earth was being created by God.  

A similar phrase occurs in Daniel 3:25, when Nebuchadnezzar notices an unexpected fourth man in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Nebuchadnezzar comments that “the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods” (Daniel 3:25). In other words, from Nebuchadnezzar’s perspective the fourth man had the appearance of a heavenly being.

Since the phrase “the sons of God” or “a son of the gods” refers to heavenly beings elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, one would have to have a very good reason not to take it this way in Genesis 6.

Reason #4: The New Testament indicates that angels were sinning here

Reason #4: On two occasions the New Testament speaks about a grievous sin committed by angels in the distant past – and these passages are almost certainly referring to what happened in Genesis 6:1-4. In 2 Peter 2:4-8, Peter is drawing lessons from the Old Testament in order to instruct and encourage believers. In 2 Peter 2:6-8 he refers to the preservation of Lot amid the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (from Genesis 18-19). In 2 Peter 2:5 he refers to the preservation of Noah amid the destruction of the entire world (from Genesis 6-9). But right before referring to the ungodliness of that ancient world destroyed by the flood, Peter – in 2 Peter 2:4 – refers to angelic sin: “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment” (2 Peter 2:4). When did these angels sin? If Peter is referring to a known event recounted by Scripture, Genesis 6:1-4 is the most likely referent.

Jude refers to the same angelic sin that Peter does, but Jude adds an important detail that makes the reference to Genesis 6:1-4 more certain. The important detail that Jude adds is that both the angelic sin and the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah were characterized by unnatural sexual immorality:

“And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day–just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire [or different flesh], serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.” (Jude 6-7)

So now we know that the angelic sin involved “sexual immorality” and the desire for strange flesh. A man who shacks up with a woman not his wife is guilty of sexual immorality, but he is not guilty of “unnatural desire”, because God created man and woman for sexual union. But if an angel shacks up with a woman, the angel is guilty of transgressing the God-appointed boundaries of angel-kind and human-kind.

The combination of Peter’s reference to angelic sin and placing it right before his discussion of judgment on the ancient world (which we learn about in Genesis 6-9), and Jude’s reference to the same sin and describing it in terms of “sexual immorality” and “unnatural desire”, makes it almost certain that both Peter and Jude are referring to the events of Genesis 6:1-4.

“[The] sons of God” are angels who abandoned their proper sphere

For all of these reasons, we are on solid ground to conclude that in Genesis 6:1-4, angelic beings cohabited with women. These angelic beings are called “sons of God”: they were created by God; they had a privileged position of responsibility in God’s heavenly court; they likely had been entrusted with certain responsibilities in the earthly sphere. But instead of remaining within their God-appointed place, they abandoned it. This is what sin is: sin is abandoning your God-appointed place, your God-appointed sphere, your God-appointed responsibilities, and instead crossing the line in order to do your own thing. These angelic beings “saw that the daughters of man were attractive” – this wasn’t a mere observation of fact, nor was it a mere appreciation of aesthetics, but it ultimately took the form of sexual lust. Thus these angelic beings proceeded to “[take] as their wives any they chose.”

These angelic-human unions produced “Nephilim”

Moving to verse 4, these angelic-human unions produced offspring called “Nephilim”: “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days…, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them.” Further, these Nephilim continued to live upon the earth after the angelic-human unions had taken place: “The Nephilim were on the earth” – not only “in those days,” but “also afterward”. These Nephilim offspring “were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.” It is not surprising that angelic-human unions would produce a crop of elite, mighty, powerful, intelligent and famous men – men of great ability who accomplished great feats.

God’s Perspective on the Events of Genesis 6:1-2, 4

But the question we always need to ask is this: What is God’s perspective on these things? In verses 1, 2, and 4, the Bible is telling us what happened in a matter-of-fact way. When the Bible tells us what happened, we should be looking for God’s assessment of what happened. Is what happened good or evil? Is what happened praiseworthy or blameworthy? The text leaves no doubt.

In the midst of the narrative of verses 1-4, we hear the Lord speak a word of judgment on mankind. Of course, I already referred to passages in 2 Peter and Jude in which the Lord judged with great severity the angels who were involved in this sin. But the Bible’s main concern is not the Lord’s judgment upon angels, but the Lord’s judgment upon mankind. And mankind is not an innocent victim of angelic activity. Adam and Eve, instead of holding fast to God’s Word, were led astray by the serpent. Cain’s heart was captured by the same serpent. And frankly, one of the lessons of Genesis 4-6 is that once human beings walk away from the Lord, they are vulnerable to increasing levels of wickedness. When human beings are not living within the protective sphere of God’s gracious Word, then they are at risk for consorting with fallen angels.

A good man would do everything in his power to protect his daughters from rebellious angels, don’t you think? The problem, of course, is that most men weren’t up to the task. Just think of Cain’s descendant Lamech back in Genesis 4:18-24. Lamech had a daughter named Naamah (Genesis 4:22). The name ‘Naamah’ means ‘pleasant’. Let’s assume that Naamah was, in fact, pleasant, just like how so many “daughters of man were attractive” (Genesis 6:2) and pleasant. I have no idea if Lamech’s daughter is one of the women who entered into marriage with a rebellious angel. The only point I want to make is that Lamech is not the sort of man about whom we could have confidence that he would protect his daughter. Lamech himself had corrupted God’s design for marriage by taking two wives (Genesis 4:19). Lamech was a proud and violent blasphemer. The Bible says, “[Do] not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:26-27). Lamech wasn’t the sort of man who put away anger; instead, Lamech had given the devil a foothold. So don’t be fooled: the sin of Genesis 6:1-2 happened because other sins had already been established among mankind. When you turn away from God as your refuge, what you get is a howling wilderness of predators and evil spirits.

In the midst of the moral shipwreck, the Lord speaks: “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The word translated “abide” in the English Standard Version is sometimes translated ‘contend’ or ‘strive’ – as in, ‘My Spirit shall not contend with [or strive with] man forever’. There is uncertainty as to the root meaning of the Hebrew word, thus these two proposed meanings have arisen – both of which are sensible. But I’ll work off of the English Standard Version translation, which fits well in the context of Genesis 2-7.

Man’s life – even his physical life – depends on God’s Spirit, which can also be translated God’s breath. The breath of life is God’s gift to mankind and to every living creature upon the earth. Psalm 104 says, “When you send forth your Spirit [or breath], they [earth creatures] are created” (Psalm 104:30). But “when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.” (Psalm 104:29) God’s life-giving and life-sustaining Spirit is the reason that human beings as well as animals are alive in the first place and is also the reason that they continue to live. The statement “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever” points forward to a day of judgment when the Lord is going to withdraw His life-sustaining Spirit from mankind. It is one thing for the breath of God to abide in man-flesh when the man is godly and dignified and morally upright. But it is another thing for the breath of God to abide in corrupted man-flesh. Several verses later we read that “all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth” (Genesis 6:12). And here in Genesis 6:1-4 women had entered corrupt ‘one flesh’ unions with angels, and the offspring was compromised flesh. Thus God is going to withdraw the breath of life so that corrupt mankind will perish and so that the world will be cleansed of the corruption.

When was this judgment going to take place? In 120 years: “his days shall be 120 years.” The chronology of Genesis 5-7 shows that the flood judgment began in the year 1,656 – that is, 1,656 years after the creation of the world. This means that the Lord spoke forth this Genesis 6:3 word of judgment in the year 1,536.

THE LORD’S RESPONSE TO MAN’S WICKEDNESS (v. 5-7)

Now as we turn our attention to verses 5-7, we come to realize that the sin in Genesis 6:1-4 is not one isolated blemish in an otherwise morally beautiful world. Instead, the sin in Genesis 6:1-4 is one blemish in a world full of corruption.

One of the principles we learn in Scripture is that “the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) If a mere sinful man were to look on “the outward appearance” of the ancient world as it is described in Genesis 6:1-4, what would he see? Three things: beauty, strength, and transcendence. The beauty is typified in “the daughters of man” (v. 2). The strength is typified in “the mighty men who were of old (v. 4). The transcendence is typified in man’s daughters mingling with members of the heavenly court (v. 2). And what you and I need to understand is that man loves to make much of this kind of world: a world of beauty, strength, and transcendence. The ancient Greek mythologies, and modern-day superhero comics, are very much at home in the world of Genesis 6:1-4 – a world of heavenly princes, earthly beauties, apparent demigods, and spectacular feats. The rather boring secular version of this interesting cosmological universe is our raw preoccupation with sex, power, and money, alongside our pathetic attempts to bring justice to our troubled world.

The Lord sees man’s wickedness

True justice, however, can only happen if there is an accurate assessment of what’s wrong with the world. And while sinners are very much at home in the world of Genesis 6:1-4, God abhors it. God sees through the outward shell to the inward reality. God sees through the cultural forms to the moral foundations. God sees through the media headlines to the heart of every human being. And what does He see?

“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.” (v. 5)

The most important thing about us is what is going on in the depths of our heart. What ought to be coming out of man’s heart is an ocean of thoughts that are directed upward in love for the Lord and outward in love for other people. Such an ocean of thoughts would bear fruit in good conduct and in healthy communities. When the heart is right, what gets produced is visible righteousness, peaceful relationships, wholesome words and praiseworthy deeds. But for all the beauty, strength, and transcendence that was prized in Genesis 6:1-4, what God saw was visible wickedness in every direction, and that visible wickedness was rooted in wayward hearts – not occasionally wayward hearts, but in perpetually wayward hearts: “every intention of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil continually.” Every single day, when people woke up and started to have thoughts, their thoughts were immediately and consistently aimed in the wrong direction. They had ungodly, selfish, cruel, envious, angry, vile, and destructive thoughts. Romans 1:18-32 teaches us that a world awash in sexual immorality (see Romans 1:24-27) will always give way to complete moral chaos (see Romans 1:28-31).

The Lord is grieved

Since the Lord delights in righteousness and abominates wickedness, we can understand what follows in verse 6: “And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” A world without man at all is better than a world full of man’s wickedness. So, as the Lord saw a world full of man’s wickedness, He wished that the whole thing had never gotten off the ground in the first place.

Now the purpose of Genesis 6:6 is not to tell us the whole story of how God viewed His decision to make mankind. We know from other Scriptural passages that the Lord knows the end from the beginning, that He is working out all things according to the counsel of His own will, that Jesus the Messiah is the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, that God’s plan from the very beginning was to bring about a redeemed community of human beings through the saving work of the Messiah, and that God knew that He would succeed in bringing His plan to completion. So Genesis 6:6 must be interpreted within this larger framework. And when we interpret Genesis 6:6 within this larger framework, then Genesis 6:6 teaches us how much God delights in what is holy and wholesome, and at the same time how much God is grieved by wickedness.

Our God is not a God who delights in the mere existence of human creatures, as if their very existence makes His heart sing. Not so! From everlasting to everlasting, God has infinite joy in the blessedness and holiness and righteousness of His own Trinitarian fellowship. God created human beings to share in His blessedness and in His holiness and in His righteousness. God delights to see human beings of good character – men and women who reflect His character, who demonstrate faithfulness and steadfast love, and who use their minds and resources to serve other people and build strong communities. But when God looked upon this ancient world, He saw people in every direction who had rejected their call to share in the likeness of God, who had abandoned their responsibility to walk with Him, who had turned away from the fountain of living water – and He was grieved in His heart. Thus He looked upon that ancient world and wished that it had never arisen in the first place.

The Lord will judge mankind

But God did create mankind and the whole world – and in the beginning it was very good. Tragically, things had taken a sinful turn starting in Genesis 3, and thereafter things went from bad to worse. In view of man’s wickedness, the Lord was resolved to erase mankind:

“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.”” (v. 7)

Although man is the guilty party, the “animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens” were under man’s charge, as we learned in Genesis 1:26-28. So the idea here is that God is going to wipe out man and man’s world. The withdrawal of God’s Spirit from man (as promised in verse 3), and the blotting out of man (as promised in verse 7), are referring to the same act of judgment that is about to be described in Genesis 6:9–7:23. The withdrawal of the breath of life, and the blotting out of man, is exactly what happened through the flood (see Genesis 7:22-23).

NOAH FOUND GRACE (v. 8)

And yet, in the corrupt and dark world of Genesis 6:1-7, there was one man upon the earth who found favor in the sight of the Lord. The text has prepared us for this moment.

“[The] sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive.” (v. 2, italics added) But so what if you are favored by heavenly princes who are in highhanded revolt against the Lord?

The Nephilim were “men of renown” – men who were seen as important and memorable on the world stage. But so what if you are remembered and written about and mythologized, only to hear the terrible words “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23) spoken by the Lord at the final judgment?

“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth” (v. 5, italics added). The Lord sees the way things really are, and no one can hide: “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13) What hope can any sinner have?

Only this: that the same eyes that stare down a wicked world would look upon you with grace. “But Noah found favor [or grace] in the eyes of the LORD.” (Genesis 6:8, italics added)

Noah was not a sinless man, of course. But by the Lord’s grace, Noah had learned to humbly trust God.

Psalm 33 tells us that “The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth” (Psalm 33:13-14). That is just what the Lord is doing in Genesis 6:5-8. The Lord sees that everyone is a wretched mess, but the Lord breaks out in a smile over Noah:

“Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,

on those who hope in his steadfast love,

that he may deliver their soul from death

and keep them alive in famine [or through a flood!].” (Psalm 33:18-19)

The Lord breaks out in a smile over some of you, too – indeed over anyone who is humbly trusting in the steadfast love of the Lord.

TAKEAWAYS FROM GENESIS 6:1-8

I’d like to leave you with nine brief takeaways. Most of these takeaways are self-explanatory in light of Genesis 6:1-8, but I don’t want us to miss them.

Takeaway #1: Trust God’s Word even if it doesn’t make sense to your finite mind. There are things in Genesis 6:1-4 (the angelic-human marriages, the hybrid Nephilim offspring) that may not make complete sense to our minds. There are other things in Scripture that may not make complete sense to our minds. At such times, and always, our responsibility is to trust God and His reliable Word.

Takeaway #2: Don’t speculate beyond what is written. Genesis 6:1-4 may raise questions in our mind, and there can be a temptation to speculate or make conjectures or fill in the uncertainties with plausible theories or turn to sources outside the Bible for answers. And I’m here to say: be careful! The Bible is the only authoritative inerrant source of knowledge. God has revealed to us in Scripture what He intended us to know; there are other things that God decided not to reveal to us. Be content with what God has revealed, and don’t speculate beyond what is written.

Takeaway #3: Realize that what happens on earth is part of a cosmic spiritual battle. The serpent deceived Eve in Genesis 3. The serpent captured Cain’s heart in Genesis 4. Cain killed Abel in Genesis 4. In Genesis 6, angels sin against God and bring corruption to human marriage and human offspring. One way or another, the serpent and his demonic allies are at war against us. Therefore, stay close to Jesus! Apart from Jesus, the world really is a howling wilderness of predators and evil spirits.

Takeaway #4: Learn to see things from God’s perspective. The world is busy boasting in wisdom, might, and riches, but the Lord says in Jeremiah 9:23 not to be like that. Then the Lord says: “[But] let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 9:24) Become the kind of person who delights in what God delights in!

Takeaway #5: Be sobered by the knowledge that God hates wickedness and judges the wicked. The judgments that God pours out upon the world during the course of human history are previews of the final judgment, when every person will stand before the Lord. Live in such a way that you will meet with God’s approval on the last day! In other words: trust the Lord and walk in His ways!

Takeaway #6: Give thanks to God that there is much more spiritual light shining into our 21^st century world than was shining in the dark days before the flood. As dark as our 21^stcentury world, it isn’t as bad as the dark days before the flood. My point isn’t that today’s sinners aren’t as bad as pre-flood sinners. Instead, my point is that in comparison to the ancient world when only Noah (and his family) found the Lord’s favor, in today’s world there are many people all over the world who have found the Lord’s favor. We’re still a minority, to be sure, but there are still at least tens of millions (and perhaps hundreds of millions) of true believers. And through faithful Christians and faithful Christian families and faithful Christian churches and faithful Christian ministries and faithful Christian institutions, the light of the gospel is shining into our dark world. Be encouraged, and press on!

Takeaway #7: Take to heart that the condition of your heart is the most important thing about you. The Christian life is not about a checklist of dos and don’ts, and it’s not about making yourself appear a certain way. Instead, a healthy spiritual life means that the thoughts of your heart are directed unto the Lord and that the intent of your thoughts is to honor the Lord. When the heart is right, visible righteousness follows.

Takeaway #8: Don’t make excuses for yourself – it is possible to walk with God in a spiritually dark world. Noah lived in dark times, but he “walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). “Enoch walked with God” (Genesis 5:22, 24). Generally speaking, God’s faithful people have always had to learn faithfulness and continue in faithfulness even though the wider world was characterized by unfaithfulness. You also can find and enjoy the Lord’s favor in the midst of a spiritually dark world. God has given you the knowledge of His Son; God has given you His Word and His Spirit; God has given you His church and fellow believers to encourage you. So don’t make excuses, but rather lean on the Lord and walk with Him every day.

Takeaway #9: Be restless until you know that you have found favor in the eyes of the Lord, or marvel if you know that you already found it. There is nothing more important than where you stand with the Lord. You are either under His wrath (John 3:36) or you are under His favor and grace (Genesis 6:8). There is no middle position; there is no third alternative. If you are under God’s wrath and remain under God’s wrath, then you will perish. But if you have truly found God’s grace through the Lord Jesus Christ, then you will enjoy fellowship with the Lord forever. And if you have found the Lord’s favor, then you can take the following words upon your lips:

“I am not worthy the least of His favor,
But Jesus left heaven for me;
The Word became flesh and He died as my Savior,
Forsaken on dark Calvary.

“I am not worthy the least of His favor,
But "In the beloved" I stand;
Now I'm an heir with my wonderful Savior,
And all things are mine at His hand.

“I am not worthy the least of His favor,
But He is preparing a place
Where I shall dwell with my glorified Savior,
Forever to look on His face.”

Chorus:
“I am not worthy this dull tongue repeats it!
I am not worthy this heart gladly beats it!
Jesus left heaven to die in my place
What mercy, what love and what grace!”[1]

ENDNOTES

[1] Beatrice Bush Bixler, “I Am Not Worthy.” Words still under copyright.