Hello and welcome to our broadcast. Once again, we are looking in the book of Genesis. We're going to talk today about the enticement to sin and the effects of sin. Stay tuned for our broadcast. Well, the enticement to sin. What is enticement? It is something used to tempt someone to do something. And we have seen in our early study in the book of Genesis exactly how that happened with Adam and Eve. However, we not only have the enticement of sin, we have the effects of sin, which means a change or a consequence as an action because of the enticement. So, beyond that, we have the evidence of sin, the fact that God's Word is true. God said, if you do this, That is going to happen. Well, that happened. We get into the next part after Eden and we see misery and suffering and heartache and sorrow and wars and rumors of wars and murders and all of it as a result of an enticement which led to the effects of sin, and certainly the evidence of sin is all around us today. Well, the Bible gives us an example of two men after Eden, and that was Cain and that was Abel, and of course Cain chose to leave the presence of God, and he chose to leave the plan of God for his life. And the Bible tells us in the book of Jude, Woe unto them, for they have gone the way of Cain, referring to this age in which we are living in today, this age of apostasy, when men are doing exactly that. They're leaving the presence of God. They don't want God involved in anything. Oh, we'll throw a little bit of religious nonsense into the Christmas story and act like, you know, we believe in the Savior and all that. They don't want God's presence in their life. and they don't want God's plan in their life for the main part. Well, we see that chapter 6 we get the results of what happens when we go the way of Cain. In verse number 5 of chapter 6 we read, And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. That is the effects of sin. That is exactly what's going to happen. Well, we get God's final warning in verse number 3. God said, My spirit shall not always strive with men, for that also is flesh, yet his day shall be a hundred and twenty years. Now that's a lot of mercy. For a hundred and twenty years, God had his witnesses out there. He had men like Methuselah. He had men like Noah and his family, his three sons, who were telling the people the truth. But no, no, no, we're going to go the way of Cain. We don't want that. Well, in verse number seven, we read the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and the creeping things and the fowls of the air. For it repenteth me that I have made them, I will destroy men. But Noah, verse 8, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And it tells us in verse 9 that Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation and Noah walked with God. Now we read back in chapter 5 in verse number 22 that Enoch walked with God. There's two people in an age of apostasy that walked with God. And you can walk with God in an age of apostasy if you determine you're going to do it and get God's help to do it. Now, the Bible is very plain, and it tells us that in the days just before Christ returns, it's going to be like it was in the days of Noah. And in the days of Noah, there's not too many people here, just Noah and his family, the only ones who get on the ark. Eight people out of the millions and millions of people in the world. Only eight of them got on that ark. The Bible says that in the last days there's going to be very few who are interested. Now, I'd like us to go to the book of Matthew for a minute and just see how Jesus spelt this out for his disciples in Matthew chapter 5 when he was starting out his ministry. And he took the disciples, look at Matthew chapter 5 and verse number 1, and seeing the multitude, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth, and he taught them, saying, and he went on for three chapters here, and in chapter 8 and verse number 1, it says when he was come down from the mountain, Great multitudes followed him. So he saw the multitude and he said, now men, if we're going to do the next thing we're going to do for the next three and a half years, I want you to understand what is really going on here. So seeing the multitude, he took his disciples aside and he taught them. Now he said to them in verse 11, blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. So he said you better prepare yourself for that because that's what it's going to be like. Then in verse 13 he said ye are the salt of the earth. He didn't say that to any Roman soldiers or any unsaved Gentiles or any Jews that weren't saved for that matter. He was talking to his own people when he said to these disciples, Ye are the salt of the earth. Then in verse 14 he said, Ye are the light of the world. He's talking to his disciples. He said in verse 16, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. He is talking with the exception of Judas, who he said he knew was a hypocrite. He is talking to Christians here. He said, I'm talking about you in relationship to your Father which is in heaven. No unsafe people. He's not talking to unsafe people here. He said in verse 18, for verily I say unto you. He said in verse 20, for I say unto you. He said in verse 22, but I say unto you. He said in verse 28, but I say unto you. He keeps saying this over and over again, so we will get it in our heads that he is talking to those few people who really want to travel with him and do what he's going to do for the next three years. He said in verse 32, I say unto you. 34, I say unto you. Verse 39, I say unto you. Verse 44, I say unto you. Are we getting the idea here that he is talking only, only to those people who are going to be serving him and working with him? He said in chapter 6 and verse number 2, I say unto you. He said in verse 5, I say unto you. Why does he keep saying this over and over again? Because he wants us to understand that he is talking only to Christians. He is only talking to those few who are going to follow him and do what he says to do. Notice also in verse number 45 of chapter 5 he refers to this little group and he talks about them and he says that ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven. And then in verse 49 he says about their father which is in heaven. And then in chapter 6 and verse number 1 he talks about your father which is in heaven. And he says in verse 6, pray to thy father, and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. He's not talking here to unsaved people. Now look at verse 8, he says, your father knoweth what things ye have need of. Then in verse 9, our father which is in heaven. Verse 14, your heavenly father. Verse 15, your father will forgive your trespasses. then in verse 18 twice you have the phrase thy father which is he's in secret thy father shall reward thee openly and then in verse 26 your heavenly father and then in verse 32 your heavenly father know what you have need of and then in chapter 7 and verse number 11 your father which is in heaven and then he says again in verse number 21 your father which is in heaven Do you get the idea that he is talking to people who have a heavenly father in heaven? That is, he is only talking to Christians. You say, well, what's so important about that? Well, what is important about that is found in chapter 7 and verse number 13 where he is still talking to these Christians and he says, Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. and many there be which go in thereat, because straight is the gate and narrow is the way that which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." He is still only talking to Christians. Now you can check every commentary you can find and it'll tell you that this is talking about people getting saved. It has nothing to do with people getting saved. The context of it here has to do with few Christians who will find a narrow way like Noah and his family did in the age of apostasy. And he is not talking about unsaved people finding the narrow gate. He is talking about those of us who named the name of Jesus Christ. He says, enter ye in at the straight gate, and enter ye in at the narrow path, because few there will be that find it in this age of apostasy that we are living in today. And that is absolutely the way it is today. Jesus says, when I come back, it's going to be like it was in the days of Noah. Few Christians there be that are going to be walking the narrow way. Well, back in Genesis chapter 6, we read in verse number 11, the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. Well, we're certainly living there today. And it says in verse 12, And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me. for the earth is filled with violence through them and behold I will destroy them with the earth make thee an ark of gopher wood and he said now you make this ark and he gave him the exact instructions as to how he should build it and as we saw in a previous broadcast in verse number two of chapter six It says, Thus did Noah according to all that God commanded him, so did he. And then down in chapter 7 and verse number 5, And Noah did according unto all the Lord commanded him. That's all we need to do today. Well, he's talking to those disciples back there in Matthew, and he says, are you going to do what I command you? Few there be that find it. He's talking to Noah, and he says, are you going to do these instructions? I'm giving you the details on how to build this boat. Here's how you can save your family, Noah. And the Bible says that Noah did according to all that God commanded him. So did he. And what did Cain do? As we have seen? Ha! Forget that. I'm going out here. I'm going to build me a big city. I'm going to make me lots of money. And he raised his family and he built the city and the flood came and destroyed them all. Noah built a boat and he saved his family. What are you building today? What are you doing today? Few there be that find it, Jesus said. Well, in chapter 7 we read, And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Come on in. Notice that God was on the inside. And so in chapter 7 we have those who responded to God's commands and we have those who rejected God's command. The responders were delivered, the rejecters were destroyed. Well, in verse number 13, we read, And this elf same day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark they went in. And the Bible says in verse 16, as we mentioned previously, The Lord shut them in. He didn't shut anybody out. He shut them in. Well, the waters prevailed, the Bible says, for forty days upon the earth. And the ark was lifted up above the earth. And now all those people who are rejecting out there banging on the side of the boat. No, my spirit will not always strive with man. You don't just call on God like you call on a bellhop to take your luggage up to your room in a hotel. No, when the Holy Spirit speaks, you listen. You better listen if he's speaking to you today. He might not speak again. Well, in chapter 8 we read, And God remembered Noah and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged. It's so interesting. It says here that God remembered Noah. God's pretty busy. He's got the universe to run. But He didn't forget those who will do His will. Well, it came to pass at the end of the 40 days, we read in verse 6, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. And we read here that he sent for the raven and he sent for the dove. Well, the raven didn't come back. Why? Well, the nature of a raven. He goes out there and finds, oh, look at this corpse and all this decaying stuff. Oh, googly googly, let's get some more of that. And he's quite satisfied to live in that environment. Not the dove. You never see a dove in the middle of the road eating roadkill, but you'll see the ravens there after it. No, the doves, he came back, and this was a sign that things were not ready for them to get out of the ark as yet. So, on verse 10, he stayed yet another seven days. Again, he sent forth the dove out of the ark, and the dove came unto him in the evening, and the dove had an olive leaf in his mouth. And so, in another seven days, we find Noah and his family getting off the ark. Well, we're out of time again. Tune in again tomorrow. May the Lord bless you in the meantime.