NOAH FOUND GRACE

Genesis 6:8

By Winston Pannell

In the Nineteenth Chapter of Luke, V1-10, we have the record of the regeneration and conversion of Zacchaeus, hated tax collector for the Roman government. There are many parallels in this man’s conversion and that of God’s Elect. To introduce the message today, I want us to look at several.

· V-2 Zaccheasus was rich in possessions but spiritually bankrupt. As “chief” tax collector, he gained much wealth by defrauding Israel. All taxes he collected, over Rome’s required percentage was his to keep. He was free to set his own percentage and the Jews had no choice but to pay. With this leverage he was able to gain much wealth. Lost sinners exert much effort at religion and morality to “gain” spiritual wealth with God by a standard they have set, ignorant of His standard, and thereby defraud God of the worship due unto him, all the while bowing down to an idol of their imagination. But, as the wealth of Zacchaeus provided no spiritual gain to him, the “works of righteousness which we have done”(Titus 3:5), fail to satisfy a Holy God’s law and justice against us and gain absolutely nothing for us.

· V-3 Zacchaeus was disadvantaged by his stature. He couldn’t see Christ for the throng that followed him. Before regeneration and conversion, God’s people are disadvantaged by our sinful stature. We can’t see Him in his proper character as a Just God and Savior. The large crowds and huge edifices lured us into idolatry. The lie of Satan that “bigger is better” gave us a false sense of peace. All we could see was the religious throng and we gladly and zealously followed in what Matthew 7:13 calls “that way which leads to destruction.” We “had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof.” 2 Timothy 3:5)

· V-4 Zacchaeus was positioned by God to be able to see Christ. God “ordered his steps” to climb up the sycamore tree. The justified sinner has been brought to the place “where Christ was to pass” and positioned there by God under the gospel where he can see Christ clearly. It is no accident when one of God’s Elect is brought under the sound of the gospel because that is where salvation is experienced.

· V-5 Zacchaeus was confronted by Christ who “must abide today at thy house.” Christ “must abide” at the house of every sinner for whom he died. This word “must” is the same word Jesus used in John 3:7, where he told Nichodemus; “you must be born again,” and again in John 4:4, where “he must needs go through Samaria.” Why? Because he had lost sheep in both places. Jesus said this in John 14:23; “If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” Why? The Father must have all his sons. We must abide together.

· V-6 Zacchaeus “made haste and came down and received Christ joyfully.” Zacchaeuss was “made willing in the day of his power.” (Psalm 110:3) And all God’s people shall come down off their lofty and legal works of religion and morality and receive Christ’s finished work of redemption as their only salvation. “To as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12)

· V-7 Zacchaeus was accused by the crowd of being a sinner. God’s people in this church, and in other congregations have been called wicked and evil men for our stand in the gospel. We were ungodly sinners by nature and practice, but God justifies the ungodly and we are made holy by his righteousness imputed to us. Paul said in I Timothy 1:15; “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” Christ said of himself in Luke 5:32; “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” “They that are whole need not a physician.” We who are justified are sinners, but sinners loved of God and adopted and accepted into the family of God.

· V-8 Zacchaeus evidenced regeneration and conversion. He “gave half his goods to the poor and restored fourfold any man he had falsely accused.” To falsely accuse means to ignore the set standard. In his case, it meant to overcharge. Fourfold was the requirement of the Mosaic Law, which Zacchaeus was still under at this time. He saw the necessity of the Law being satisfied. (Exodus 22:1) The greatest evidence of true conversion is repentance over ever thinking we could satisfy God’s law and justice by our obedience. It is seeing law and justice satisfied in and by Christ’s obedience unto death and the establishment of a righteousness, whereby God justifies the ungodly. Restoring four fold received a temporary blessing under the Law of Moses. Pleading Christ’s satisfaction to Law and Justice is the essence of eternal blessings.

· V-9 Zacchaeus was a “son of Abraham.” Abraham had two sons; Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was the son of the bondwoman, Hagar. Isaac was the son of the free woman, Sarah. Read Galatians 4:21-31. Jesus told Zacchaeus in V-5 that he “must” abide with him today. Why? Because he is a son of Abraham and all sons of Spiritual Abraham must be saved, and “today is salvation come to this house” for Zacchaeus. Even the name “Zaccheaus” in the Greek means “pure or justified.” He was predestined a Son of God, even to the giving of his name. He didn’t become a son of Abraham at regeneration. He was that by eternal election, representation and would be in justification at the cross by the blood of Christ and made known to him this day in regeneration. God’s Elect are the spiritual sons of Abraham also. Our name is “the Lord our righteousness” (Jeremiah 33:16), which means pure and justified before God, and some day, maybe today, is salvation sure to come to the home of all of Abraham’s spiritual sons.

It is safe to say, and according to God’s testimony that Zacchaeus “found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Nothing done in him, produced by him or anything he was enabled to do contributed in any way, to any degree, to this grace in salvation.

Today I want us to look at another man who found grace in the eyes of the Lord. His name is Noah. Genesis 6:8 say’s; “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

What does that mean? What did he find when he found grace? What is grace? We quote this verse frequently but do we really understand what it is saying?

Today I want us to see how Noah found grace

· In a Sovereign God. Grace has its source and supply in God.

· In a satisfied God. Grace is the gift of a satisfied God.

· In a Saving God. The sons of God experience the grace of God.

1 Noah found grace in a Sovereign God.

The Hebrew word for grace is “khane” which means “favor or acceptance.” Noah found that God looks on sinners with favor and acceptance of their persons. That is a staggering truth when you think about it. How can a Holy God favor such a vile sinner as Noah? We know he was a sinner; else he would not have needed grace. How could God, who, according to the Prophet Habakkuk (1:13); “is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity,” remain just and do anything but curse and condemn Noah? The answer: He’s a gracious God. He told Moses; “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious” (Exodus 33:19). “They only, to whom I will be gracious, experience my grace.”

Noah found that a sovereign God, the God of grace, who is the source and supply of all grace, can and does fellowship with sinners. He found that the Sovereign God of this universe acts within himself, without any outside influence from anyone or anything to dispose of his will to fellowship with sinners. Noah found that grace excludes the recipient of it from any claim on it as of merit; that it comes as pure charity, and at first, unwanted or desired by the Elect of God. They have to be “made willing” to receive it. Noah found that grace was unmerited and unsought. Roman’s 3:24 say’s; we are “justified freely by his grace.”

Noah found that grace is eternal. Since grace is of God, and is an attribute of God, it is as old as God. Grace is in the eternal purpose of God, as was all the recipients of His grace. Read 11 Timothy 1:8-10.

God was obligated to provide this grace to all the heirs of grace. Noah found that God obligated himself when He determined He would have a people for himself, a people just like His Son. Noah found that, since sinners by nature are ignorant of grace, want no grace, can’t produce grace and cannot live without it, must experience grace from the only source of grace; God himself. And God, being a Just God and Savior must extend his grace to all the objects of his love. He can’t have any stillborn children. He must bring everyone He chose and Christ redeemed to final glory in heaven. The only way to accomplish this was through grace. And God freely and willingly extends it to whosoever He wills. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, Paul records for our learning God’s promise to him that “my grace is sufficient for thee.” God’s grace is sufficient in all things temporal, spiritual and eternal to all the objects of his love.

In Hebrews 4:16, God’s throne is called a “throne of grace.” “Let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we might obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of trouble.” This throne is that of a Sovereign God, hence a throne where “grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:21)

How sufficient is this grace? God say’s in Roman’s 5:20; “Moreover, the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” There is sufficient grace from this throne to satisfy any need of any sinner who wants salvation by grace. There is sufficient grace from this throne to remove every obstacle standing in the way of final glory in heaven for all the objects of God’s electing love. We have example after example of sinners of the worst sort who were rescued by the grace of God. King David was an adulterer and a murderer. Saul of Tarsus was a God hater and murderer of Christians. Consider yourself before, if you are one of the justified. Wicked and evil in your self-righteous religion, bowing down to an idol of your imagination, going about to establish a righteousness of your own, thumbing your nose at God. But you found grace in a sovereign God who turned you from your idols to serve the true and living God.

The God of all grace, reigning from a throne of grace, administers freely his amazing grace to all the heirs of grace. “Noah found grace in a sovereign God.”

2 Noah found grace in a satisfied God.

Noah found that the grace of God is not given at the expense of his holiness and justice. Noah found that God must be just when he justifies sinners. He found that if God were to judge him based on his best attempts to worship and work, holiness would demand his eternal death. But God who sits on the throne of grace, is not only a Just God, he is a Savior also. He is both because of the satisfaction made to his Holy Law and inflexible justice. Grace has provided what His holiness and justice demands and his wrath is removed from those to whom His grace is directed.

Where is satisfaction to be found to the Law of God we have broken? Will our “works of righteousness” render satisfaction? Will our repentance; our tears of remorse over our sin bring satisfaction? Will our promises to do better satisfy a Holy God? Will a new sinless nature within us render satisfaction? If, as some claim, we were infused with a sinless nature at regeneration and conversion, we would have no need of grace. If sinners are made as holy as Christ, what need have we for grace? If we are sinless, why the admonition to “to grow in grace and knowledge?” The truth is; there is only one satisfaction to Law and Justice.

What will wash away my sin? What can make me whole again: Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing but his obedience, suffering and death, his righteousness charged to me. “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” He found grace in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He experienced the grace of God, which “shined in his heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)

The scriptures declare of Noah that he was blessed of God. In Genesis 6:6, God say’s that he “was a just man and perfect in his generation.” In Genesis 6:8, “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” In Genesis 6:9, “Noah walked with God.” In Genesis 7:1, God said of him; “I have seen thee righteous before me.” In 2 Peter 2:5, Noah is described as “a preacher of righteousness.” In Hebrews 11:7, the testimony of the Holy Spirit concerning Noah is this; “by faith, Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”

Was God’s grace extended to him because of his conversation in this world outlined in the verses just read? Did God call him a righteous man because he was obedient in building the ark? Was he a just and perfect man because he preached the gospel to his generation? That’s what false religion declares. False religion equates favor from God to the sinner’s obedience to God. Noah was an obedient sinner to the commands of God. He was a preacher of righteousness. He was perfect in his generation. But none of these was the cause of his being blessed by God.

Noah was a “Just” man. V-6. He was “perfect in his generation.” How can this be when the scriptures declare that “there is not a just man upon the earth, that doeth good and sinneth not.” (Ecclesiastees 7:20) He was justified the only way a sinner can be so; He was perfect the only way a sinner can be perfect; by the satisfaction made to God’s Holy Law and Justice rendered by the impeccable Christ in his obedience unto death and the establishment of a righteousness God charged to Noah’s account. By the exchange of Noah’s sin to Christ and Christ’s righteousness to Noah by imputation only, God declared him just and perfect in His sight. The works and worship Noah performed were not the cause of his salvation, because salvation is not of works but of grace. His works evidenced him to be a recipient of grace. He was “accounted righteous” through the “forbarance” of God toward him until the righteousness Christ would establish for him was accomplished and imputed to him on the cross, millennia later. He was given the privilege of walking with God as a justified sinner even before the righteousness of God was established, because of grace alone. Grace was given to him because God was satisfied with Noah’s sin bearer, the Lord Jesus Christ, “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Noah found grace in a Sovereign God. He found grace in a satisfied God, and

3 Noah found grace in a Saving God.

“Noah found grace.” Salvation is a personal matter. It doesn’t matter if your family is saved. It doesn’t matter if your friends are saved. You must be born again.

Although the sins of God’s Elect, past, present and future were put away at the cross, by the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness freely imputed to every one he represented then and there; and although everything necessary to bring that sinner to final glory in heaven has been accomplished by Christ’s death, there remains the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration and conversion as the result of this finished work, to reveal Christ in the sinner. Every justified sinner must be made to know and value this work for him through the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the gospel. Those for whom Christ died will be made to see how God is just to justify them based on the finished work Christ accomplished when, “in the fullness of the time God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of Sons.” Read Galatians 4:4: Notice the last phrase in this verse. “That we might receive.” Our adoption was accomplished at the cross by Christ’s redeeming work for us in establishing righteousness charged there to us. God was pleased with us, accepted us in the Beloved and adopted us there at the cross into his family. We didn’t “receive the adoption” until regeneration and conversion. The word “receive” is from the root word “lam-ban’-o in the Greek which means to “take up”, to “lay hold on”. Before regeneration and conversion we were ignorant of, had no desire for and actually opposed the adoption God had purchased for us in Christ. But when the light of the gospel shined in our hearts to reveal the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, we gladly received what had been purchased for us by grace at the cross. Christ’s finished work to redeem us guarantees the Holy Spirit’s work to regenerate us.

As sure as the Spirit’s work in the world is to “convince the world of sin, righteousness and judgment; (John 16:8) “He will guide you into all truth, (V-13) for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.” Every sinner who enters the Kingdom of Heaven will do so with his eyes wide open. The mystery of Godliness will be revealed to them and they shall know God in his redemptive character as a Just God and Savior. They will have “found grace” in a saving God. It is then, according to 1 Thessalonians 1:8-10, we experience Gods grace, evidenced by our conversion from idols. This is where we see our adoption as already accomplished.

Read 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11. Here, Paul gives a description of us all by nature as unrighteous. Some are so vile in character and conduct it’s beyond speaking. V-11’ “And such were some of you.” But out of this mass of sinful humanity, God, the sum and source of all grace, and Christ, the channel through which the Holy Spirit administers that grace under the gospel preached, finds all the heirs of grace. “Noah found grace.” The truth is, grace found Noah. Then Noah found that grace to be “in the eyes of the Lord.” He found it to be in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Noah found grace in a sovereign God.

Noah found grace in a satisfied God.

Noah found grace in a saving God.

Have you found grace? Zaccheaus did. He found it in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Read Romans 5:15. “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”

Read Romans 5:17. “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”

Read Romans 5:21. “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ, our Lord.”.”

Zacchaeus found grace in the eyes of the Lord. I found grace in the eyes of the Lord. What about you? Have you found grace in the eyes of the Lord?