Genesis 6:5-7

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.
And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

These are heavy verses.

The Lord looked at man and saw that wickedness was not occasional. It was not rare. It was not a few bad people doing a few bad things. The wickedness of man was great in the earth. And more than that, every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

That is a terrifying diagnosis.

The problem was not merely what man was doing with his hands. The problem was what was filling his heart. The imagination of his thoughts was evil. Break that word down and you get close to the heart of it: images. The inner life of man had become polluted. What he was picturing, craving, fantasizing, and meditating on was corrupted through and through.

That always matters.

Sin does not begin in the streets. It begins in the heart.

It does not begin outwardly. It begins inwardly.

A society falls long before it collapses publicly. It falls in the imagination first. It falls when men become fascinated with evil, entertained by evil, and drawn toward evil in the secret place of the mind.

That is why this feels so painfully current.

In the Old Testament, idols were often worshiped in groves of trees, hidden places planted to cover the shameful things being done there. There was always a connection between false worship and shady behavior. There was secrecy. There was darkness. There was corruption hiding under cover.

I cannot help but think of our own day.

Now the groves are glowing screens.

Now the images are not hidden deep in the woods, but streamed into living rooms, phones, tablets, and televisions hour after hour. And the tragedy is not only that evil exists, but that evil imagery has become normal. People sit in front of continual images of violence, lust, perversion, greed, mockery, and corruption, and after a while they stop being shocked by what should grieve them.

That is dangerous.

Because whatever fills the imagination eventually shapes the heart. And whatever shapes the heart eventually governs the life. If the inner world is fed on uncleanness, the outer world will not stay clean very long. What a man allows himself to dwell on is never a small thing.

That is what Genesis 6 is showing us.

And then comes one of the saddest lines in all of Scripture: it grieved him at his heart.

Think about that.

Man’s sin did not merely violate a rule. It grieved the heart of God.

That tells us something important. God is not cold. He is not detached. He is not unmoved by what sin does to His creation. The Lord saw what man had become, and He was grieved. The One who made man in beauty now looked at what sin had done and felt grief in His heart.

That is how serious sin is.

We live in a time when people laugh at sin, market sin, celebrate sin, monetize sin, and call it freedom. But heaven does not laugh. God is grieved. He sees what lust does. He sees what violence does. He sees what corrupted imagination does. He sees how man tears apart what He made, and it grieves Him.

Then judgment comes into view.

The Lord said He would destroy man from the face of the earth. That is not because God is unstable. It is because holiness cannot forever ignore evil. Patience is real, but it is not endless. Mercy is wide, but when mercy is despised and corruption hardens, judgment comes.

That is the warning here.

But even in these dark verses, there is something we must not miss. The fact that God is grieved means He still cares. The fact that He speaks before He judges means He still warns. The fact that Noah is still in the story means grace is still about to appear.

And that is where hope comes in for us.

Maybe you look at the culture and feel sick at heart. Maybe you look at the endless stream of images in this age and think, This world is drowning in corruption. That is not an overreaction. That is seeing clearly. But do not stop there. Let the grief drive you toward God, not into despair. Let it make you guard your heart more carefully. Let it make you more serious about what you allow into your eyes, your home, and your mind.

Beloved, if evil images shape a culture, then holy fellowship with God is what keeps a believer steady in the middle of it. We cannot drink from the sewer of this age all week long and expect our hearts to stay tender before the Lord. We have to be careful what we behold. We have to be careful what we feed the imagination. We have to be careful what we call harmless.

Because God still sees.

God is still grieved by evil.

And God still honors the man or woman who chooses to walk clean in a filthy age.