Men of God
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
-John Donne
Genesis is full of origins including creation, life, humanity, marriage, and sin, but one of the origins in Genesis is actually a sort of end as well. When Adam and Eve rebel against God’s good provision for them and seek to make themselves gods, one of sin’s consequences is certain death. But this death isn’t only for Adam and Eve, it is for all of humanity. Chapter 4 makes it clear that sin is congenital, Adam passed it on to Cain who passed it to his children through to Lamech emphasizing that we are all sinners needing to on the name of the Lord for deliverance. Chapter 5 makes it clear that death is congenital too. Did you notice the repetition in the genealogy, “And he died; and he died; and he died.” The differences between chapters 4 & 5 emphasize the reality of generational death.
In chapter 4 we are introduced to Cain, the first murderer, and his lineage who try to make a name for themselves without God. Cain tries to immortalize his name by naming a city after his son Enoch. Lamech’s kids make a name for themselves through their exploits, and Lamech himself brags to his two wives about his murder of two men. Chapter 4 is a lineage of those banished from the blessing of God and rebelling against God’s authority and glory. But chapter 4 ends with a new line, Seth and Enosh, and people humbly refusing to make a name for themselves and instead making God’s name great by calling on Him for deliverance from the chronic sin problem illustrated in Cain’s line. Chapter 5 follows with the line of Adam through Seth, a line that seems to be calling on the name of the Lord all the way through to Noah.
But these genealogies share some similarities as well. The genealogies share two names: one being Enoch. In Cain’s line Enoch is Cain’s son after whom he names his city, and in Seth’s line Enoch is the pinnacle of faith who walked with God. The other shared name is Lamech. In both lines, the only one who speaks is Lamech. In Cain’s line, Lamech is the pinnacle of sinfulness taking two wives and bragging about his murderous exploits, but in Seth’s line, Lamech humbly hopes that his son Noah will be the one to fulfill God’s promise to reverse the curse. The two lines share another couple of interesting connections: Both Enoch from Seth and Lamech from Cain are the same number of generations from Adam (seven), so the pinnacle of faith and the pinnacle of sinfulness both come in the seventh generation; also each genealogy ends with three sons, Lamech’s sons Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-cain in chapter 4 and Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japeth in chapter 5.
These connections between the generations emphasize that these genealogies were not intended to be isolated from each other; indeed, together they draw our attention to larger realities in this world. Sin and death are both generational. Sin becomes obvious in Cain’s line where nothing is said of death, but death becomes obvious in Seth’s line. We might think that perhaps Seth’s line is immune from death because they called on the name of the Lord, but even the righteous die; it impacts all of us.
So here we sit, around six thousand years later, and what do we see? Its the same generational death from congenital sin that affected Cain and Seth’s descendants affecting each of us. This weekend our society celebrates Memorial Day, a day set aside to remember those who have died for our country. It’s just another reminder of the reality of death. Day by day we hear of humanity’s sinfulness; day by day we are confronted with the realities of death, and so John Donne reminds us, “Send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee.” It’s only a matter of time for each one of us. We are all terminal.
For by me your days will be multiplied, And years of life will be added to you.
So what are we to do? We could let this reality paralyze us with fear, but we are reminded by Jesus that worry can’t change anything:
27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?
mt 6:
We learn elsewhere in Scripture that God ordains the days of our lives.
For by me your days will be multiplied, And years of life will be added to you.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For by me your days will be multiplied, And years of life will be added to you.
11 For by me your days will be multiplied, And years of life will be added to you.
16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.
Since worrying is a bad and ineffective option, and since God sovereignly controls how long we will live, the best response to the reality of sin and death is faith in God. Isn’t that the example we have here in Genesis? When faced with the reality of congenital sin and generational death, the line of Seth called on the name of the Lord. They recognized their need and sought help from God. They believed God and acted on it; so must we; thus it is this fact that I want you to take home with you this week:
In the midst of generational death from congenital sin, we must hope in God’s grace.
In the midst of generational death from congenital sin, we must hope in God’s grace.
Why must we hope in God’s grace?
There are two evidences of God’s graces in Seth’s line that provide us with hope that God can overcome death from sin.
God’s grace is evident in the defeat of death (v22-24)
God’s grace is evident in the defeat of death (v22-24)
Chapter 5 is Adam’s record of his family line. It starts out with short account of his creation in God’s image with God’s blessing before the genealogy begins.
1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created. 3 When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.
gen 5:1-The record that Seth was in Adam’s likeness seems to be a subtle reference to the fact that although sin marred God’s image in humanity, we still maintain that image since Adam was in the likeness of God and the Seth is born in Adam’s likeness. The line then settles into a pattern. This man lived so many years and had this son, after he had that son, he lived so many more years and had other sons and daughters, so that man lived the total years of his life, then he died.
The record that Seth was in Adam’s likeness seems to be a subtle reference to the fact that although sin impacted the image of God in humanity, the image wasn’t done away with. Then v3 begins a clear pattern: This man lived so many years and had this son, after he had that son, he lived so many more years and had other sons and daughters, so that man lived the total years of his life, then he died. You can see this pattern in v3-24.
3 When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. 4 Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters. 5 So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died. 6 Seth lived one hundred and five years, and became the father of Enosh. 7 Then Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters. 8 So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died. 9 Enosh lived ninety years, and became the father of Kenan. 10 Then Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years after he became the father of Kenan, and he had other sons and daughters. 11 So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years, and he died. 12 Kenan lived seventy years, and became the father of Mahalalel. 13 Then Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years after he became the father of Mahalalel, and he had other sons and daughters. 14 So all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died. 15 Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Jared. 16 Then Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Jared, and he had other sons and daughters. 17 So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died. 18 Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and became the father of Enoch. 19 Then Jared lived eight hundred years after he became the father of Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters. 20 So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died. 21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. 22 Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
We may be tempted to stop paying attention as we read this repeated pattern of names and years, but if we do we might miss v22-24 which stand out because they break the pattern. We expect v22 to say, “Then Enoch lived x number of years, etc.” But it doesn’t. It says, “Then Enoch walked with God.”
What does it mean to walk with God?
The phrase is relatively vague, but its implications help us derive an idea of what Scripture means. The only two people in the entire Old Testament who are said to walk with God are Enoch and Noah. Others are said to walk before God (like Abraham in ), and we often see the idea of walking in His ways (like Moses commanded the children of Israel in ). The idea of walking with God seems to indicate an intimacy of relationship, because relationships grow as two people walk together. This idea is perhaps lost a bit although not completely on our culture since we drive nearly everywhere, but when we were in Spain last fall with Seth and Crystal, we walked a lot. Most of our walking we spent talking and fellowshipping, and through those walks we built our relationship. I don’t think we are reading to much into Enoch walking with God to say it was intimate fellowship.
Walking with God thus also indicates salvation. Sin broke humanity’s fellowship with God because God cannot tolerate fellowship with sin. Consider
4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You.
2 Corinthians 6:14-15 seems to corroborate this point:
14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?
14 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
If God cannot tolerate fellowship with sinful humanity how could he tolerate fellowship with Enoch? The Bible offers only one explanation: faith. Listen to
If God cannot tolerate fellowship with sinful humanity how could he tolerate fellowship with Enoch? The Bible offers only one explanation: faith. Listen to
5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
The author of Hebrews indicates that Enoch believed in God’s existence and that God would reward those who seek Him. Enoch didn’t please God and fellowship with God because he was such a good guy. In fact both chapters 4 & 5 establish that every human is sinful and that we all deserve to die, but God can change all that because He provides righteousness to those who will trust Him for it. That seems like what Abraham did a few generations later:
6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
God only accepts and fellowships with the righteous, but since no one is righteous, we need God to make us righteous, and that is what He promises to do if we will depend on Him. He can do this because of death of His righteous Son Jesus.
21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
You can walk with God just as Enoch did if you will come to God in faith acknowledging that you are a sinner and can do nothing to make yourself acceptable to Him.
But Enoch’s story brings another question to mind: Why is Enoch the only one who doesn’t die? Even Noah, who also walked with God, died.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the answer to that question. The Bible says that God took Enoch, but it doesn’t say why he took Enoch and not Noah. We don’t get to know that information, but no matter why Enoch escaped death and Noah didn’t, God illustrates through the faithful line of Seth that death will not forever hold its grip on humanity, that one day death will be defeated and those who have fellowship with God will overcome it.
In other words, this is God providing reassurance of his capability and willingness to eventually reverse the curse. God drops other similar hints throughout history: We see God promising David a son who would reign forever; we see Elijah taken up to heaven in a chariot. We see others raised from the dead through His prophets and His Son Jesus, and ultimately, Jesus Himself rose from the dead. Because of Jesus’s resurrection, Paul says this,
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Enoch’s being taken up is evidence that God can and will conquer death and the grave. Thus later, the same John Donne who wrote the bell tolls for thee, wrote this:
Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and souls deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better than thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
The death of death provides us evidence of God’s grace; thus we can hope in God’s grace even in the face of generational death from congenital sin, but that is the not the only evidence of God’s grace in this chapter. We also see that God’s grace is evident in the confidence of believers.
God’s grace is evident in the confidence of believers (v29)
God’s grace is evident in the confidence of believers (v29)
The pattern returns in v25 for a short time until we reach v29.
25 Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and became the father of Lamech. 26 Then Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after he became the father of Lamech, and he had other sons and daughters. 27 So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died. 28 Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son. 29 Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.” 30 Then Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after he became the father of Noah, and he had other sons and daughters. 31 So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died. 32 Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
We don’t see this explicitly when we just look at the numbers, but if you map out the line of Seth on a timeline you’ll see that based on their length of life, each of the individuals mentioned in this chapter, except Noah, would have known Adam and Enoch. Enoch was taken only around seventy or so years before Noah was born. So Lamech knew Adam, Seth, Enoch, etc. and he saw their way of life, their walk with God. Perhaps he was discipled on Enoch’s knee, so when Noah is born, Lamech names him based on his confidence that God will keep His promise to reverse the curse.
The name Noah is a play on the word translated rest in the NASB. This verb is used in Scripture when God is said to have repented or regretted something. This idea emphasizes Lamech’s confidence that God would reverse the curse or turn it around. I also understand Lamech’s statement to be more of a prayer than a statement. I would translate it this way, “May this one give us comfort.” Lamech’s hope is that God will use Noah to turn the curse back and fulfill the promise to Eve.
Lamech would only pray this way if he had confidence that God would keep His Word. Lamech had probably heard the story from great-grandma Eve and great-grandpa Adam about their rebellion and God’s promise. Lamech didn’t just hear it though, he believed it. He believed it such that he prayed that his son would be the one to fulfill that promise.
Noah would provide some comfort, but not the kind that Lamech prayed for or expected. Noah’s comfort would come through believing God’s Word himself and building an ark at God’s command for the saving of his family. Noah is a kind of savior, but not for the world, only for his home.
18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
1 pet 3:
18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20 who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.
But even in saving his home
Now you may be saying, “Ok, I can see that Lamech had confidence in God’s Word, but how is that evidence of grace? Isn’t that Lamech’s confidence, not God’s?”
Well, I would remind you that faith is evidence of God’s grace. Think of the man in the gospels who came to Jesus looking for healing for his child; it’s in
22 “It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” 23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”
23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” 25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.”
23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”
This man understood that to believe like he ought to, he needed God’s help. also emphasizes that we won’t believe without God revealing Himself to us through His Word.
14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
And again,
It was God’s grace to Lamech that he knew Adam, Seth, and Enoch. It was God’s grace that Lamech heard God’s Word, and it was God’s grace that Lamech believed. You are here this morning hearing the truth of God’s Word; His call for you to hope in Him instead of yourself is His grace. And just as God helped that man who recognized his unbelief; he will help you if you will ask Him to help your unbelief too. But this takes a humble recognition of your sinfulness and confidence in God’s ability and willingness to help.
29 For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,
We all will die; We all are sinners; but God provides hope; we must trust Him.
We all will die; We all are sinners; but God provides hope; we must trust Him.
Where is your hope?
We live in a world where we face constant temptation to hope in things other than God. As we face death, we are tempted to hope in modern medicine, governmental safety regulations, and warning labels to keep us alive. Ultimately this is not hope in God; we are hoping in ourselves. We want to control the days of our lives, so we are paranoid that everything around us is making us sick and shortening our lives. Instead of trusting God to ordain how long we will live, we think we delude ourselves into thinking that we have a level of control of when we will die and our hope shifts away from God and rests in our own safety consciousness. You could take this to the other extreme and live carelessly and foolishly, but that typically isn’t our problem. It’s our assumption of sovereignty over our lives that is our chronic problem; we need more hope in God.
We do the same as we face our own and society’s sin, we are tempted to think we need the government to pass a law outlawing certain sinful behaviors or we need to cut off our arm or pluck out our eye to stop sinning. Ultimately these responses are not hope in God either; they reveal a hope in ourselves. If we can elect the right people to office, or if we can eliminate all our temptations to sin externally, we think that we are good, but this a failure to see the fundamental rebellion of our sinful hearts. The problem isn’t the external action of our sin, but our hearts that love sin and the world more than God.
Sin and death in us and in our culture are constant reminders that we need grace. But grace is available. Paul realized this when he wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:5
5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,
2 cor
He records God’s reminder of the same truth in 12:9
9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
God’s grace was enough for Seth and his progeny and it is enough for us when sin is overwhelming and death is unrelenting. You can hope in His grace; you can call on the name of the Lord and find grace and help in your time of need. May God’s grace make us aware of our own inadequacy, so that we might call on His name for deliverance.
ADVERTISEMENT