Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Jan 2nd, 2023 Grieving God

Today’s Passage  – Genesis 4 – 6 (Click on the reference to listen to the audio. Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers also read – Matthew 3 – 4; Proverbs 2; Psalms 6 – 10)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture Song – Joshua 1:8

Read the “0102 Evening and Morning“ devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Read previous posts from this passage – “Walking with God,” “Sin Lieth at the Door,” and “Shining Brightly in a Dark World.”

“5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that] every imagination of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil continually. 6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” (Genesis 6:5 – 6)

“11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.” (Genesis 6:11 – 12)

The spiritual condition of mankind prior to the flood was without doubt a time of complete depravity. Man had gotten as far away from God as they possibly could. Notice that “every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually.” And then, those wicked thoughts overflowed into actions because “the earth was filled with violence.” It got so bad that God actually says that “it repented [Him] that he had made man.” That means that mankind’s rebellion against God caused Him to change directions and destroy nearly all of the people on the earth with the Flood. Everyone was destroyed except Noah and his family. By the way, Noah was not perfect either, but he was a believer, and because of his faith in God, he “found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8).

Jesus says that the way things were in the days of Noah are the way things will be before Christ returns:

“26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:26 – 27)

The spiritual condition of our world today is pretty bad as well, but I do not think that we have devolved quite as far as they did prior to the flood. To be sure, we are a wicked people, but the restraining work of the Holy Spirit along with the light of Christians is holding back the evil somewhat.

My thought for this blog post, however, is not about how bad the world is getting, but rather about how our thoughts and actions grieve God. Believers can grieve God, and I believe it is very possible that when we sin, it may grieve God even more than when lost people sin, because we have the indwelling Holy Spirit of God within us. We can choose either to yield to our fleshly lusts and the pressures of this world, or surrender to the Spirit of God within us and submit to what He wants us to do.

“And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30)

I get it, we will never be sinless, but we can sin less. And, thank God for His grace and mercy toward us as He forgives our sins. He is also well aware of the fact that we can never be perfect, but we can, by faith, yield to Him. We can choose Him and what He wants over what our our old Adamic and sinful flesh desires.

We also can choose to think about things that are good, holy, righteous, and true:

“8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things. 9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you” (Philippians 4:8 – 9).

If we can train our minds to think about good things, then good things will come out of our lives via our actions.

Let us make it a goal – a resolution – in this New Year, not to grieve God.