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 world’s 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, let’s 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 God’s nature cannot co-exist with
sin.
(1) It does so in some limited fashion
because of another attribute of God,
MERCY.
(2) However, God’s 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 demands—judging 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 God’s overseer,
God’s taskmaster.
b. Grace takes all of the tools of God’s 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 builder—at 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 animals—and their food.
(4) It was God’s 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
Noah’s message.
ii. If God’s 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 God’s 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 Israel’s northern kingdom
\\#2Kings 17:20-23\\.
3. Grace ran out for Israel’s 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. I’d like to say that we are inching toward that event
every day, but we aren’t. 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.
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