Question: Could not and did not men find favor with God without regeneration? What was it God found favor with from man?
You tell me?
Who did God find "favor" with before regeneration? What sort of "favor" are you talking about? God does not seek out men and find favor with men based on what they do...
Rom 9:11 for though {the twins} were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to {His} choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls,
Rom 9:12 it was said to her, "THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER."
Rom 9:13 Just as it is written, "JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED."
God does not call
because of works, but He calls
according to His purpose.
Rom 9:15 For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION."
Rom 9:16 So then it {does} not {depend} on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
No man can find favor with God on his own accord-
Isa 64:6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
All of our good deeds cannot possibly win favor, for they are like filthy rags. I understand the verse is in reference to Israel, but:
Rom 3:9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;
and
Rom 3:10 as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
Rom 3:11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
Rom 3:12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE."
Rom 3:13 "THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING," "THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS";
Rom 3:14 "WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS";
Rom 3:15 "THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD,
Rom 3:16 DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS,
Rom 3:17 AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN."
Rom 3:18 "THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES."
God does not "favor" one over another before regeneration based on our works, if that is what you are getting at.
Eph 1:3 Blessed {be} the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly {places} in Christ,
Eph 1:4
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.
Not all of humanity, you can't get that here. All humanity has not been "blessed with every spiritual blessing". These are the elect, those who were chosen before the foundation of the world.
How then does one win "favor" with God, based on who he is and what he has done, if He was chosen before he had ever made a choice, or further, ever existed?
P.S. Don't say Noah, because you have no way of telling when Noah's regeneration occurred. You don't know if Noah's favor was based on the fact that he was elect and was "walking with God".