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Sermon
Genesis

Generations, Degeneration, and Divine Grace

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November 12, 2023
Genesis 5:1-6:8
Steven Lee
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

Sin & The Fall

The Sovereignty of God

Death & Dying

Hope

Transcript

0:12Let me encourage you to keep your Bibles open 'cause we're gonna be flipping through it a fair bit this morning. And we are continuing our series in Genesis. Won't you join me as we pray, father in heaven, we wanna see what you want us to see in your word this morning. So open our eyes by the power of your spirit so that we would behold you in your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. If you were tracking with what was read this morning, we come to some weird parts of the Bible this morning. We come to a less familiar passage of Genesis. We know the story of creation. We, we love that story. We know the story of the fall and, and some of us may even remember the flannel graph growing up of Noah's arc and the animals, but somewhere nestled in between our chapters five and the beginning of six five is probably the section you skimm over in your Bible reading plan or you just think, okay, I've read it before the ages seem mythical, a lot of names that we can't pronounce and the history just feels so far removed from us.

1:28Most of us don't know the history of our grandparents or great grandparents, much less of ancient generations. Uh, on the other hand, Genesis six, one through eight are some of the most confusing, strange and debated verses in the Bible. We have the sons of men, the daughters of man, the Nephilim, the mighty men of old God, saying that he regretted and grieved over his creation. And so the questions in this section abound. We could probably preach multiple sermons just on verses six, one through eight. And while it's easy to get lost in the trees, I wanna just back up for a moment and see the forest.

2:08I, I think it's really simple to explain this whole section. Genesis five advances our story by fast forwarding through history to bring us from Adam all the way to Noah to set the stage for the flood God's judgment. And it traces the descendants from Noah through Seth, the righteous line, all the way Adam's descendants through Seth all the way to Noah. Now, Genesis six, one through eight is the continuation of evil, increasing evil that we saw in Genesis four. If you look at Genesis six, verse five, it says, the Lord saw that every intention of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually.

2:59The image is that of corruption of mankind. And together with Genesis five, it sets the stage for the worldwide flood. So this passage traces the people and the growing evil that will climax in judgment. So my plan this morning is to look at both of these two halves, these two parts, and first we see generations of mankind in Genesis five. And then we're gonna look at the degeneration of mankind in Genesis six, one through eight. And in the text we'll see two different bright spots of God's grace. So now look with me at Genesis five verse one. It says, this is the book of the generations of Adam.

3:42We talked about that earlier in chapter two, where it's translated todo, it's, it's the word for generations and there are 10 of them in Genesis, and they serve as the backbone or as the structure of the entire book of Genesis. And, and it's showing the continuation of the line, the seed of the woman that would ultimately give rise to the one who will crush the head of the serpent. So let me just give a few brief words about genealogies that I think will help us. First, the Bible often records genealogies in sevens or tens or in multiples of sevens or tens. So Genesis four traces Adam Ec in seven generations.

4:25Genesis five traces Adam to Noah through the line of Seth. In 10 generations, Genesis 10 traces the nations that descend from Noah as 70 nations. Genesis 11 traces sheem to Abraham in 10 generations. Jesus genealogy, if you'll remember in Matthew, are three sets of 14. Why does the Bible do this? It conveys the significance about the lineage and it follows this common biblical pattern of creating genealogies writing gene, uh, recording genealogies in multiples of seven and in 10. Now the second thing we wanna see is that biblical genealogies will use father and son or begat or fathered in a more elastic or expansive way than we would in English.

5:10So for example, God says to Jacob in Genesis 28, 13, I am the Lord the God of Abraham. Your father was Abraham, the father of Jacob? No, it was Isaac, but it he was his grandfather. But that is pretty common in biblical literature where it talks about son or fathered or briga. It could be an ancestral relationship. The third thing we wanna see about genealogies is that genealogies are often not comprehensive, meaning that they can be open or telescoped, meaning that they skip generations in between. So for example, in Matthew's genealogy that leads to Jesus, there are three sets of 14, but there are several generations that are skipped.

5:55And this is a stylistic choice of the writer that signals theological significance. So we may not have every generation listed the, the reason this is important is because in our genealogies we may have certain generations that are missing, but he's crafting it in a particular way to convey a certain message. And so the biblical authors are not striving for accuracy the way that we think about it. They're communicating theological truths and following the conventions and the pattern of recording genealogies of their day. Now with that outta the way, I wanna give seven observations about Genesis five, seven observations.

6:39The first is in verses one and two, intentionally echo Genesis one, look with me at verse one and two, it says, this is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God, male and female. He created them and he blessed them and named them man when they were created. Do you see the echoes of Genesis one? It mentions God creating mankind, making them in his likeness, making them male and female, blessing them and naming them. Man, what this is trying to say as is that this is still God's creation. Man is still made in the image of God. Despite the fall, despite the increase of evil in the world, the divine image and blessing continues.

7:29And this is good news. The second thing we wanna observe are the sons and daughters. The the creation mandate is being fulfilled, mankind is fruitful and multiplying and filling the earth. Look at verse four. It says that Adam fathered Seth and then what he had other sons and daughters. And that phrase, other sons and daughters is repeated of almost every generation. Verse seven, verse 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 26 and 30, God blesses Seth's line by filling the earth with image bearers. The third observation is that each patriarch is a father to a son. So unlike Kane's descendants where we actually learn of what some of them did that they were herder of sheep or uh, metal workers or whatever it may be, we don't get any achievements listed about Seth's line.

8:28All that is told about them is that who they fathered. So each patriarch's greatest contribution in a sense to society is having a son that will continue the line of blessing. So this is emphasizing the continuing seed of the woman, which is so key to our entire story. The fourth thing that we see is that these patriarchs live extremely long lives. Methuselah lives the longest at 969 years almost a millennium. Can you imagine living that long? There are two ages that stand out. Did you notice which two Enoch lived 365 years? Exactly the number of days in our solar year and Lamek lived 777 years.

9:21So three sevens. And I think in both instances the author is drawing attention to their lives suggesting fullness or completeness of life. And, and we'll also notice something else about both those individuals. The fifth observation of our text is the steady drumbeat of death. At the end of each paragraph, do you see what it says? And he died and he died and he died. It's like a steady drumbeat. They all died. It literally is the last word in each of those paragraphs, the warning that came in chapter two, if you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will surely die is now coming to pass.

10:13You can imagine how Adam was feeling a, as he was getting into his 500th year, 600th year, 700th year, 800th year, 900th year, he's thinking, well, maybe we won't die. And then they die. God's word is coming to pass and they would all eventually die except one. And we'll talk about that. The the sixth observation is that there's this contrast between the two lines. So between the line of Cain and Genesis four and the line of Seth and Genesis five, there are two names that are repeated. It's referring to two different sets of people, but the names are common. And so we see lame who's the seventh from Adam through Cain.

11:03He's the murderous polygamist who's boasting of his evil and he's the epitome of the seed of the serpent. And we see a intentional contrast with lemek in eth line. And what do we learn about him? He's the father of Noah and he lives 777 years. So there is a contrast where ec in Kane's line says, if anyone messes with me, I'm gonna punish them to the 77 times seven fold, right? And and here we see the EC of Seth's line living 777 years. So there's this contrast between the wicked and the righteous. And then in verse 29, we see this about mik out of the ground, that the Lord is cursed. This one shall bring us relief or rest from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.

12:00So lame is foreshadowing the unique role of Noah that is to come. The other contrast that we'll see is how both of these genealogies end in chapter four and in chapter five. So in chapter four, verses 19 to 22, it ends with the three sons of Laic, Jabal, Jule, and tubal cain. And how does Genesis five end? We get the three sons of Noah, Shem, ham, and Jfi. This again is contrasting these two lines. The seventh and final observation is that of Enoch. He's the bright spot in this entire genealogy. Enoch is the other name that's repeated in both genealogies. He's the first born of Cain in chapter four verse 17.

12:51Cain names a city after him I think trying to establish his own legacy. But Enoch is also different person. Same name, the seventh from Adam in the line of Seth. And verse 24 says this about Enoch. Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him. This is the singular bright spot that deviates from the drumbeat of death that comes in this passage. And he died and he died and he died. And then all of a sudden there's this skip. It's like if you have turntables where it scratches for a moment and you think, wait, someone didn't die, we're supposed to notice that. What does it mean then for Enoch to have walked with God?

13:39I think it means that he was devoted to God. He was a friend of God. He experienced communion and intimacy with God like Adam did. That phrase walked with God is only used to describe Enoch and Noah. One commentator says, walking with the Lord was a step above mere living. He was on friendly, intimate terms with God. Now, how did things fare for Enoch? If you go to Hebrews 11, which speaks, which is often called the Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11, five and six, it says, by faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death. And he was not found because God had taken him. Now, before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God.

14:24And how did he please God? Well, the following verse says, without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. So what we see here is that Enoch lived by faith, he drew near to God believing that he would reward him. And God was pleased with that. Now you might be wondering, so what, what, what? What's the big deal of a genealogy? What's the significance that I can take home today from this passage? Uh, I think it's this, the drumbeat of death reverberates today we will all die. It doesn't matter how healthy you eat, how much you work out.

15:13It doesn't matter what our technology advances become. If they put your corpse in a tr cryogenic chamber, we will all die. Whe whether tomorrow or several decades from now, we will all succumb to death. But Enoch and Elijah later on in the Bible, they serve as reminders that if we walk with God, we will live for. And the reality is that all will die. But few truly live. Paul writes in Romans six, nine, that Christ was raised from the dead and he will never die again. This means that Jesus has conquered death itself. It has no dominion or no power over him. And all those who are in Christ who have died with Christ, who have been raised with Christ, we too now have victory over death.

16:14That's why Paul can say in one Corinthians, death is swallowed up in victory. Even though we will die physically, it means that we will walk with God. We will have fullness of life in Christ. Enoch is pointing forward to the hope that we will walk with God by the blood of Christ. There's hope, there's life, there's relief. There's an offspring who is to come. And on this side of the cross that offspring has come. And so this morning, wherever you may be, if death is on your door or you have many decades to live, walk with God in the time that you have, we abide in Christ. This genealogy anticipates Noah's role in preserving the seed of the woman, yet wickedness continues to increase in the world.

17:17And now this leads us to our second part, degeneration of mankind in Genesis six, one through eight. These are some of the strangest passages in the entire Bible. It describes the inner marriage of the sons of man and the daughters, the sons of God, excuse me, and the daughters of men. And verses five through eight record God's angry sorrow over the corruption of the world. And nearly every verse comes with significant interpretive questions. But I think the main point, if we back up just for a moment, is really clear. The main point is this, of this section, the world grows more wicked and God must act.

17:59The world grows more wicked and God must act in wickedness grows as the global population increases. And God is determined to bring judgment to blot out man from the face of the earth. Now let's tackle verses one through four. The the main question that arises is who are the sons of God and the daughters of men? And how we understand that question informs how we understand the Nephilim in verse four. So the first view is that the sons of God are heroic tyrant kings, human kings of old, so judges or rulers. So these kings are taking royal harems. That's what's being suggested here. And the sin then is of polygamy.

18:44Now the text itself does not necessarily make that clear that they were taking multiple wives. And the weakness with this view is that no group of kings is ever called the sons of God in the Old Testament or in ancient near Eastern texts. It would also be unusual to all of a sudden introduce kings to this text. And if you think about it, king Solomon, whose David's son further on in our Old Testament, how many wives did he have? 700. How many concubines 300. And he's not condemned quite like this where God says, I need to wipe out the face of the earth because Israel's king is corrupting. So if there were these ancient heroic tyrant kings that were taking royal harems, it seems unusual or disproportionate in terms of the punishment that God would bring.

19:34So I don't think that view is likely. The second view is that the sons of God are the descendants of the righteous line of Seth and the daughters of men are the descendants of the wicked line of Cain. So these two different lines, and it's their children and grandchildren, it's these lineages. And the sin is the intermarriage between the righteous and wicked offspring. I also think this is unlikely because intermarrying between the two lines was not prohibited in scripture. There's nothing explicit that talks about that. And nowhere in the Old Testament are the descendants of Seth called the sons of God.

20:12Now, the attractiveness of this view that some people do take is that it avoids any supernatural interpretation. And in this view, the Nephilim are just mighty men that are known for their exploits. And so the the picture is there's this inner marrying between those who called upon the name of the Lord and those who didn't. And, and yet we see Israel committing those same sins throughout their life and God does not quite punish them in that same way. So I think this leads us to our third view, which is the oldest view. This view is taken by many modern commentators like Tom Shriner, early Jewish exegesis, the LXX, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament and Philo and Josephus and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

20:56And many of the early church fathers. I'm telling you this because it's really weird. So buckle up this view interprets the sons of God as referring to divine beings or heavenly creatures like angels or demons, the way that we often understand them. So the offense becomes really obvious if you take this interpretation of the sons of God. So these spirit or divine beings are guilty of unnatural sexual unions with human women which produce the Nephilim in verse four. Weird, right? So I think this view actually makes the most sense and I'm gonna show us from several texts of scripture. So kind of get your Bibles ready because we're gonna be flipping all, all over a little bit.

21:42So the, the main question then is where else is the sons of God used in the Old Testament and who does it refer to? So turn with me to job. So Job is the book of the Bible right before Psalms, job chapter one. And often people believe Job is early writing. Job chapter one verse six, and it's speaking, describing this day. Now it says Job one six. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came among them. So just note that for a moment, there's this heavenly gathering of the sons of God where Satan is present. I think this is describing various divine spirit beings.

22:31Look down at chapter two verse one, job two verse one again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. So I think this is referring to this divine counsel of created spiritual beings that were made by God, but they were gathered before him. Now you might be wondering, well is there anywhere else in the Bible that speaks of a, a divine counsel? That sounds weird. We don't talk that way often. Well, I'm glad that you asked turn to Psalm 82. So Psalm 82, so that's the book of the Bible right after job.

23:14Psalm 82 verse one says, God has taken his place in the divine counsel in the midst of the gods, he holds judgment. So I think again, this is describing the sons of God that are gathered before God. So the these are divine spiritual angels and demons that have been created by God and gathered before him. Now look down at verse six. It says, I said, you are Gods sons of the most high, all of you. I think again, what is being referred to here is that these are divine lesser spirit beings. We often understand them as angels or demons that are created by God who possess some level of, of some level of authority over the nations.

24:01Trump or Longman, uh, old Testament scholar says, referring to Psalm 82, it is preferable to understand the reference as to the spiritual powers and authorities whose task it is to carry out God's work among humans. So he's saying, uh, that divine counsel is probably referring not to a group of kings, but actually to these angelic beings. Now I think this makes the most sense so that when we get to passages like Ephesians 1 21, Jesus is described as being given dominion over all rival power. So Ephesians 1 21 says that Jesus has all rule and all authority and all power and dominion. And we would say, well of course he's the son of God.

24:44He he's God incarnate. He's always had that, hasn't he? And we would say, well I I think Jesus was uniquely given authority and power after his death, his resurrection being seated at the right hand of the Father. And then he was given all power and dominion and rule and authority. And you would say, well over what other things over these spiritual authorities and powers and dominions in the heavenly realm. Now some of you either think I'm crazy or you're tracking with me so far. And so why don't I uh, have us turn to Jude. This is the second to last book of the Bible. I think there is ample New Testament evidence to what I just articulated, Jude, which has only one chapter.

25:32So there's no chapter delineations Jude six. So verse six says, this is the second to last book of the Bible right before Revelation Jude six says, and the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. So here we have angels that didn't stay in their proper authority, position of authority, but they left that proper dwelling and God has punished them. Now we're left to wonder, well what did they do? We're not entirely sure but then look with me at verse seven of Jew 'cause he links it.

26:16He says, just as so similar to just as Sodom and Gamora and the surrounding cities which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. So what, what is Sodom and Gomorrah judged for unnatural sexual immorality, homosexuality. And now Genesis six, one through four is describing unnatural sexual immorality of divine spirit beings cohabitating with human women. And he links those two things just like Sodom Gomorrah, there was these angels that didn't not stay in their proper dwelling but came out of that and committed some heinous sin.

27:05Now go a few books earlier to second Peter two, four, I think second Peter two four speaks of a very similar speaks in a very similar way of the same event I believe. So second Peter two, four says For if God did not spare angels when they sinned but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness. See that same phrase, chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment. So and if you keep reading you can see if he did not spare the ancient world but preserve Noah a herald of righteousness with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly. So again, he's referring to this event that took place long ago where angels sinned against God and they were kept in chains of gloomy darkness.

27:58'cause many people will point out that it seems unusual that the flood was the punishment for angels disobeying. And what we read both in Jude and in second Peter, is that angels sinned against God and they were judged, they were imprisoned until this judgment and the flood was to punish mankind as well as to eliminate the the nephilim from the earth. Now turn one book earlier to one Peter three 18 to 20. We actually preached this passage in 2020 and we took this view then you can find it on the Bethlehem website. But one Peter three verse 18 to 20 says this about Christ. Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit in which he went and proclaimed the spirits in prison because they formally did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, when the ark was being prepared, in which a few that is eight persons were brought safely through water.

29:09So what happens there is that Jesus, when he died, somehow went to proclaim to spirits in prison. What were these spirits? I think it's referring to the angels that fell from their place in heaven that committed this heinous sin against God with human women that were cast into this gloomy darkness in chains. And Jesus goes to proclaim his victory and it says because of God's patience waited in the days of Noah. So again, it's referring back to this Jesus proclaimed his victory over those fallen angels that disobeyed God in the days of Noah. Now I think all of these texts together help us interpret and understand Genesis six, one through four.

29:56Now you might say, well what are the counter arguments to this? Like what's the best counter argument? It would be this Matthew 2230. It's the Sadducees. They come to Jesus and they say, you know, this woman married this man, the man died and then she married his brother and then there are seven of 'em whose wife will she be in heaven? And Jesus says in Matthew 2230, for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven. And so many people point to this and say, see angels don't get married in heaven. And and I think that's right. Jesus knows heaven better than anyone else.

30:31And yet we know that angels can take on human-like characteristics. In Genesis 19, two angels visit lot and the wicked townspeople say, bring them out that we might know them sexually or Hebrews 13, two we're told not to neglect to show hospitality to strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. So I think angels can take on human characteristics and it just means that angels don't get married in heaven. But perhaps they saw human marriages and came down and and married these human women. This sin would've transgressed the norms of creation. Do you remember what was said throughout chapter one?

31:16The animals reproduced according to their kind and the plants are said to reproduce according to their kind. But what necessitates God's fierce judgment in the flood to wipe out nearly all of mankind is this interspecies reproduction that is most unnatural, that is not according to its kind. Now let me just pause here 'cause I know this is weird and maybe some of you have never heard this before. What's the takeaway? Like, why does it matter? There are many more important amazing things throughout the scriptures and yet what this tells us is that the world is more screwed up and wicked than we could possibly imagine.

32:03Is it not? And and sometimes we think, oh man, I, I can't go to Brian Lichty, the counseling pastor because if he heard what I struggle with, if he knew the state of my mind or heart or what I've done in my past, he, he would recoil in horror. I can't tell my pastors can't tell my small group because they would just recoil in horror. I can't even tell God because he would be so grieved and disappointed at my sin. And what this passage tells us is that God is not surprised by any manner of sin. The world is so much more broken than we could possibly imagine, even in the heavenly realm where we think things are just perfect up there and yet we have Satan and we can't fully explain it all.

32:54We have passages like this and that reality points us to this greater reality that God's grace is even more amazing than we could possibly imagine. That despite your patterns of sin, despite your past, despite what you have done even this week, despite your thought life or what you have seen, God is not surprised by sin. But he has made a way for sins to be atoned for through the blood of Jesus. And that is amazing. Jesus saw the state of our broken fallen sin filled world and he said, I'm going down there to bring about redemption to reconcile man to God once again. He did not recoil in horror but he said, let me go down to be among them.

33:55The gospel is more glorious than we can possibly imagine than in the midst of such a broken world, our own broken lives. God's grace is amazing Now God declares his judgment in verse three. He says, my spirit shall not abide in man forever. For he is flesh, his days shall be 120 years. There's two ways to understand that. 120 years, the first view is that God is gonna graciously delay his judgment. The flood for 120 years. We don't know the exact date of everything, but we know that Noah was 600 when the floodwaters came. That shows up in chapter seven verse six. The second view is that God is withdrawing his spirit.

34:41He says that my spirit shall not abide a man forever. He was, he's withdrawing his spirit in life that enables their long life. And I think it's this second view that the judgment is gradually implemented just like the curses of Eden. So Noah still lives a long time. Shem one of his sons lives 600 years, but Abraham lives 175 and Isaac 180 and Jacob 147. But by the time we get to Moses who likely wrote all of this, how long does he live? 120 years and very few others exceed 120 years. Aaron lived 123. But we know that both in scripture but also in human history, up to this present day, uh, I don't know if you have any grandparents or great grandparents, you know she's been going chugging along at 600, probably not, not, probably not.

35:35Now, if we take this interpretation of sons of God, then the Nephilim in verse four are their children. The Nephilim verse four were on the earth in those days. And also afterward when the sons of God came into the daughters of man and they bore children to them, these were the mighty men of who were of old the men of renowned nephilim, which means fallen of the offspring of this interspecies marriage. And they were probably unusually large and strong and powerful. They're only mentioned in Genesis six four and in numbers 1333. And this is one of the counter arguments, people say, well numbers 1333 talks about them.

36:12And that's in the context of these 10 spies that go in to spy out the promised land and or the 12 spies, excuse me, 10 spies come out and they said we were like grasshoppers And what do they say? They say, we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anec who come from the Nephilim and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers. So we seemed to them, I don't think they're describing the same nephilim that we saw in Genesis six four because they all died out in the flood. Instead, I think what these 10 spies are doing is they're using exaggeration, a scare tactic to show how small and weak they felt in light of these men that they were afraid of that were large or were strong.

36:56It's figurative language like we might call something a monster or a giant or a beast when in reality we're making a statement about our fear of that particular thing. Verses five through eight reveal God's grief and sadness over the evil of the world and his intention to destroy it. Now there there's one other kind of exegetical issue that I want to wrestle through here in this text and it's what do we make of how God is described here? The Lord says he regretted that it grieved him and that he's sorry that he made them. So we see the grief and the sadness and the pain of the creator. God does not rejoice over this growing evil and he's saddened by the degeneration of his good creation.

37:41But we also have passages like one Samuel 1529 which says, and also the glory of Israel, which is referring to God will not lie or have regret for he is not a man that he should have regret. So God doesn't regret God, doesn't change his mind. And yet we get this passage. Uh, this can get very philosophical, but there's the doctrine of impassability which teaches that God does not have passions. This means that God cannot be emotionally blackmailed. God doesn't get overwhelmed or angry such that he breaks out into a rage that he wouldn't have foresaw. God has affections and inclinations, but he's also unchanging in his goodness and his love and his justice.

38:27So God isn't subject to passions, it doesn't mean that he's a robot. God is intimately engaged with his creation. So what do we make of this language? Well, often the Bible will use anthropomorphism. So God has described as having human attributes like eyes and ears and face and nose and a arm. And so it's a way for helping us to understand how God is invisible. He's a spirit, but he's at work. He speaks, he upholds us with his righteous right hand. That's an Anth anthropomorphism. He, he speaks to us like we were five-year-olds when we're trying to explain something, this is an example of Anth Anthropopathism.

39:06It's where attributes of God are human attributes of God are attributed to him of feelings or emotions. So we can speak of God regretting or grieving or sorrowful or rejoicing or forgetting or remembering our sins. No more so as far as the east is from the west. That's how far he's separated His, our sins from us or God forgets our iniquities. Well, does God actually forget? Well, not quite in the way that we do. And so it's a way of speaking that God doesn't hold it against us anymore. These are an anthropopathism. We say that God grieves, he regrets, but not in a way that undermines his sovereignty, his power, and his perfect wisdom.

39:51God doesn't newly discover these things, but he knows them. He knows they will come to pass and he has chosen to engage mankind with his love and justice. We get a concluding note of hope in verse eight, but Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. This is our other bright spot in our passage. God preserves Noah in order to preserve the line of the offspring and to continue to unfold his plan of redemption. And we'll see that next week Pastor. Ben's gonna preach Genesis six through nine, the rest of six. And so let me encourage you to read that at home so that we can be ready to engage that together.

40:31Now we've traced Adam to Noah and we've seen the continued degeneration and even unnatural wickedness of the world. And God places a limit to mankind's existence. The main point is that despite the drumbeat of death and multiplying evil, God preserves Noah and preserves his plan of redemption. Despite degeneration, God displays his divine grace. He preserves Enoch to show what would have been and what can now still be. We can walk with God. He blesses Noah to preserve the offspring of the woman. These two bright spots of hope in our story are rays of light that point us forward to the renewed hope of intimacy that we can have with God.

41:25Even now this morning, despite sin, wickedness, brokenness, and the steady drumbeat of death and imminent death for all of us because of Christ's death, his resurrection, his ascension, his seated at the right hand of the Father, we can now by the blood of Jesus go into the Holy of Holies and walk with God. We can know God, we can love him, we can be known and loved by him. And the amazing thing about what Jesus has done is that in Christ we have favor in the eyes of God. Hear the words of Galatians 3 25 and 26. But now that faith has come faith in Jesus, we are no longer under a guardian, which is the law for in Christ Jesus you are.

42:26And what does he say? You are all sons of God through faith, not the weird angelic sons of God. We are adopted children, sons, and daughters of the most high God. And how do you hopefully approach your earthly father? My children feel free to come into my room almost all the time, climb up into my lap, at least the little ones and and they, they just have an open door to their father. And so it is with us because of what Jesus has done. We are sons and daughters of the most high King. And in the unseen spiritual realm, the things that give us nightmares and the wars that rage around in our world, king Jesus is on his throne.

43:19He has been given power and dominion and rule and authority at the name of Jesus. Every knee will bow. It doesn't just say on earth, which would make sense to us 'cause that's all the knees that we see. But he says, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He has been given all authority and power and now we can say it is done. It is finished. No more debt do we owe. Paid in full, all sufficient merit. Now my own Father, we ask that you would cause these truths to sink deep into our hearts. We want to see you as you have revealed yourself to us, and we want to know you rightly so.

44:12Help us, we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Jump to live

Jump to live

Sermon Text

Genesis 5:1-6:8

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