Genesis chapter five, I'll read the entirety of the chapter. This is the word of God, regardless of what you might think about the fact that he included these kinds of things in his word, he did, and therefore it's for us. All scripture is inspired by God, it's profitable, including Genesis chapter five, and so let's hear from our God as we read his word this evening. Genesis five, I'll read the entirety of the chapter. 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. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness and after his image and named him Seth. The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years and he had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died. When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and he had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Seth were 912 years and he died. When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years and he died. When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years and he died. When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch. Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Jared were 962 years and he died. When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech. Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Methuselah were 969 years and he died. When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands. Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died. After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Amen. This is the word of God. There is this interesting quote that I came across as I was thinking about the salient subject matter, the theme, as it were, of this fifth chapter. It goes like this. Death is the shadow that hangs over human life. It is the judgment, it is God's evaluation of your life and mine. Though impossible to do so, we are constantly attempting to escape the fact of death. The late William Randolph Hearst forbade anyone to use the word death in his presence. What a contrast to Philip II, king of Macedon, and father of Alexander the Great, who commissioned a servant to come into his presence daily and solemnly announce, remember, Philip, thou must die. If this passage teaches us anything, it teaches us that death is a reality due to sin. It is therefore important that you and I are right with a holy God before we die. It is also important to live as though death were imminent, yet even in the face of bad news, death, we have a sure and steadfast hope that death cannot truly beat us. Why? Because Christ has destroyed the power of death. Now, as we consider this fifth chapter of Genesis, a genealogy in which we see death repeatedly stated, and if you were listening carefully as I read it, I emphasized those lines as we moved through the chapter. But as we consider this chapter, I wonder, do you give much thought to death? I'm not up here seeking to be morbid. The fact remains, and it's true nonetheless, that death comes from us all. Now I know that some of you in this room who are older in age probably think about it more than others. As your body aches, it creaks, and the pains of this and that show themselves. But what about you younger people? I know you think that you've got a million years in front of you and there's plenty of time that death can't possibly be a factor for you at this particular juncture in your lives, because after all, you're young. But the fact remains that death is imminent for everybody, young or old. Whether you live as long as Methuselah, 969 years, or whether you only live a few moments, death is imminent for us all. Are you living in a way that finds you every moment living under the rubric of an imminent death? Only what is done for Christ is gonna last. Only what is done for him will matter on that great day. And it is too easy, I think, for us to think buy into the delusion and the deception that death is not something that could happen right now to each of us. Death comes for us all. It comes because of sin, a sin that was highlighted, of course, for us in Genesis chapter three and has then advanced even further through that wicked and ungodly line of Cain as we considered last week. But here in this fifth chapter, now we turn, as it were, a corner. In some sense, we turn a corner to look at and consider the godly line, the line by which the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent, that line in which the Messiah will eventually come, the line that comes through Seth, not Cain, certainly not Abel, for he is gone, But a line that comes through he who is the appointed one, that's what his name means in the Hebrew, the one that would bring eventually, the one who would destroy the fear of death and the consequence of our sin before a holy God. So this evening, I wanna show you the technical aspects of the godly line and the practical principles you should draw from it. I wanna show you the technical aspects of the godly line as given here in this lengthy genealogy. 10 generations are given to us here in Genesis chapter five. That's not accidental. We'll consider some of the technicalities of it. Hopefully I won't bore you to death. And then I'm going to glean from it a few practical principles that we can apply into the lives, into our daily lives, even from this chapter that seems so obscure. and frankly irrelevant, but it's hardly that. Two points as we consider this entire chapter. We're gonna consider the line and the principles. Very simple outline. The line, that is the godly line, and then the principles that we learn or can draw from this genealogy. Let's consider first this godly line that is articulated for us at the pen of Moses As we saw in Genesis 4, that line was one of seven generations, that line of Cain. It is seven generations highlighting the rebellion of Cain. It is the ungodly line. It is the very seed of the serpent that sought to destroy the very kingdom of God and the coming Messiah as promised in Genesis 3.15, that very seed of the woman. But in contrast to this ungodly line in Genesis 4, we have given to us a godly line. God quickly comes along and he says, hey, don't fret, don't worry. I haven't forgotten my promise. That through that seed of the woman, I will indeed bring a one who will reverse the effects of the fall, the curse that came to all men, and death itself. So we have it here in this chapter, Genesis chapter five. We have some very specific and technical specifics of this genealogy. There's eight of them. There's probably more than eight, but these are eight that I have picked to work through. First, it is the line that began to call on the name of the Lord. We note that at the end of chapter four, as it seems so out of place as it were, remember the chapter divisions are not inspired. But at the end of chapter four, the very end of that last verse, we read, at that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord, whether it was in public worship, probably, whether it was in prayer, probably. Whatever it was, we have who the people are that are doing that. And it's given to us in this chapter. It's not the only people. It's selected people. is given to us in the genealogy of chapter five. Second, it is a reminder that man was made in God's image. We read that in the very beginning of the genealogy itself. This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Now, the fact that sin has entered the world has not changed that. It has done damage to the image of God in man that he made in perfect righteousness and holiness, but it has not obliterated it. And when the fall occurred and sin entered, it might be tempting to think that, but it didn't. It was badly damaged, it has been corrupted, but it is still there in every single person, regardless of whether they're a Christian or not. And this is why they know right from wrong. And this is why they have a conscience that tells them right from wrong. And this is why they know whether they acknowledge it or not, that there is a God in the heavens and he is just and he is holy and he will not trifle with sin. And we are reminded here at the beginning of this godly line that God made man in his image and the fact of the fall has not changed that. Third, As the text plainly tells us in the very beginning, this is the book of the generations of Adam. This is the book of the generations of Adam. You might rightly ask, isn't Cain in the line of Adam? And why is he not listed? And it's true, of course, genetically that he is, but he is not spiritually. It is certainly true, but the purpose of this chapter is to contrast the wicked line with the godly one. And as you read through the chapter, you note that there isn't a wicked name mentioned. Not one. Fourth, it is a creation. It is a new creation. Moses forces us back to the creation of man in Genesis 127 when he says in verse two, male and female, he created them and he blessed them and named them man. Literally, he named them Adam. That's the Hebrew word there. And so it forces us back. It reminds us of that initial creation account in Genesis 127 before the fall and where we read, so God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him male and female. He created them. Put a different way, it is a recreation. It is the beginning of the recreation that will come through the work of Jesus Christ himself who makes us new creatures. Fifth, it is part of the record of perfection. This is much harder to see in the English translations, but Genesis 5 contains the second of the 10 Hebrew word, toledot. Now you might say, who cares? It's not that important. Well, no, it is important. A toledot in the Hebrew language often indicates a change in direction, a change in subject matter, or introduces a new line in the narrative. And we note that, of course, at the very end of the chapter when we see the introduction of Noah. Noah, of course, takes center stage and we'll consider his account later. but it is part of the record of perfection. We don't see this idea of the toledot in our English Bibles, but it's there nonetheless. The first one is found in Genesis 2.4. The second is here in Genesis chapter five. Some scholars argue that it demonstrates a perfection. I'll leave that to you to wrestle with. Six, it contains the mention of blessing. Again, this echoes back, it causes us to think backwards to the original statement given in Genesis 128, which included procreation. Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And this is what's going on. This procreation, however, differs from the one before it, because in this procreation, there's a godly line being established that will eventually produce the Messiah himself. Seventh, it is incomplete. That is, it is a selective genealogy designed to highlight the godly line of Seth leading to the Messiah, contrasted with the ungodly line of Cain leading to damnation. And finally, eighth, it is a well-defined pattern In each of the statements, the formula goes as this. When X had lived Y years, he fathered Z, son. Thus, all the days of X were P years, and he died. That formula is followed for each reference except one. And that's the reference of Enoch, who is the seventh generation from Adam. More on him in a minute. Well, having considered some technical things that you probably will long forget, let's turn our attention to some exegetical specifics of this line itself. I'm not going to deal with every name because there's not much to deal with, but there are a few names that jump off the page in this genealogy that we need to consider. First, we note that it begins as a book of the generations of Adam. Adam, who was made by God, who was created by God, male and female, two sexes, not 22, not 72, not 172, two. The ESV says that he named them man. Literally, it is the Hebrew word adam. Then we come to this son, Seth. We skip over, of course, Abel. He is dead. We skip over Cain. He's wicked. He's not in the godly line. We move to Seth. The text tells us that Adam fathered Seth in his likeness. And that same idea is carried on to every act of procreation. Every single time mommy and daddy have a child, the likeness of God is transferred to them. The Imago Dei is placed in them, and they carry that likeness as well. And so Seth carries the very likeness of God in him, and that image of God is passed to him. And as I mentioned earlier, the Hebrew name for Seth literally means he appointed. It gives you the idea in his naming that he is the expected one by which through his seed after him would come one who would reverse the effects of the fall. Third, we come to Enosh. I don't have much to say about him. Then Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared. And then we land on the seventh generation from Adam. And as you note from the text, as you look there at verse 21, when Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. We know about him, he's the oldest guy in the Bible, right? Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years. Wow, what a faithful servant of the Lord, 300 years. And had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him. Notice the formula changes. It's unique to him and him alone here in this passage. Other than Noah, who's not told that he dies yet, but he will eventually die, Enoch does not die. Within the context of the ungodly line of Cain and the godly line of Adam, we find some very interesting characteristics. The contrast between the seventh from Adam and the seventh from Cain is striking. The seventh from Cain we find in chapter four in verse 23, that is the character we know as Lamech. We know that he was a murderer and he was an evil man, and not only was he that he boasted as to his sin, Enoch walked with God. In direct contrast to the seventh of the line of Cain, here in the seventh from the line of Adam, the godly line, we have a man who walked with the Lord. The verb in a Hebrew expression is in the stem, this is just technical, you'll forget this, who cares, it doesn't, well, I'll tell you anyway. The verb is in the hithpiel. Now what does that mean? Well, in Hebrew, there's seven stems and all the technical nonsense, but it means one of duration, a force of consistency and constancy. When we read that he walked with God, we read and we note that his life was marked as one who walked with his creator. Who leaned upon him and served him all of his days. He communed constantly with the God who made him. He walked with God and he was not. The Septuagint renders this phrase as was not found. Again, both phrases are not all that helpful, but the point that is that he did not die like the rest. When we look at even what the writer to the Hebrews tells us about this man in what we call the chapter of faith or the hall of faith, call it whatever you like, it's Hebrews chapter 11, And there in verse five, we read, 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. This is a godly man who walked with the Lord, and as such, he did not taste death. This is very significant as we consider the work of the Messiah. He walked with God, he was not, he did not die, and he's given to us in this genealogy, a genealogy that can be dark in some sense because we read of death all the time, eight times we read of death in this chapter. We come across this guy Enoch and it should encourage us, not discourage. Because those that walk with God are those redeemed through the work of Christ. You see, you can't rightly say, I'm walking with the Lord, if you don't know him. You cannot rightly say, I'm walking with the God of heaven, if you are not a child of the living God. It's impossible, functionally. Two cannot walk together unless they agree. And until this point, all we read about is death. One after the other, after the other, they lived so many years and then they died. but not Enoch. One commentator puts it this way when he says, quote, one of the principal purposes of God's actions with regard to Enoch was a demonstration that life continues beyond this world. and eternal glory with God for the righteous seed. In writing on Enoch's life, Moses' aim was to communicate hope. Death is not the final answer. For Enoch, God overruled death itself. And for all those who love and adore the Lord Jesus Christ, have been purchased by his blood, that should be the way we think of it. Oh yes, you may die. It's not likely you're going to experience what Enoch experienced or Elijah experienced. But you don't have to fear it either. Where is the sting of death for the believer? The grave has been conquered by a much greater one than Enoch. The eighth generation from Adam, we run into this guy, Methuselah. Most people know him, mainly because he's the oldest person in the Bible. That's about all we know. Lamech follows after him, and then we come to the 10th generation, of which we are introduced to Noah. And for the next few chapters after this, we are going to deal with the life and narrative of Noah and all that he does. But this 10th line from Adam signals the perfection of the godly seed and leads to the narrative that will show God's gracious act of preserving a people for himself. And I'll show you in a biblical theological way why the entire flood narrative in the ark itself is indeed Christ working. Well, so much for the exegetical issues, the technical issues. What are some principles then therefore that we can draw from when we consider at least the salient overarching concepts of this genealogy? First, there is a repeated refrain. Now, I've mentioned it already, but I'm gonna mention again, and I want you to listen, because I don't think we take this seriously enough, and we ought to. But that repeated refrain is, in fact, death. It's hard to read this genealogy and observe, and not observe the constant references to death, except in the case of one person. Eight times in the passage, it's mentioned. Adam lived so many years and he died. Seth lived so many years, he died. Enosh lived so many years, he died. Kena lived so many years, he died. Mahalalal lived so many years, he died. And it just goes on and on. It's just death after death, after death, after death, after death. Why? Why? Why is there so much death? You see, man wasn't made to die. When man was made and placed into the Garden of Eden to commune with the God of Heaven, they were made to live forever. And had they obeyed the very command of God, perpetually in obedience to Him, they would have been given the tree of life, and they would have eaten, and they would have lived forever, but that's not what happened. Sin comes in, and because of sin, we know what occurs. Lots of things, none of them pleasant. Sickness, sorrow, and misery, and relationships that are destroyed and fractured, church splits. Struggles with the world in which we live and and a host of other things but certainly the great enemy the final enemy is death itself What does the word of God tell us about this in Romans chapter 3 in verse 23 a verse we all know for all of sin It comes short of the glory of God. And what does that sin require? What does that sim introduce it induces all the things I've said in deed introduces death Romans 6 23 for the wages of sin. What is it that you're owed? We all know what wages are I Work I get paid you work you get paid. That's a wage and guess what you're owed death. I Why? Because you're a sinner because of sin. Sin brings death. Through one man's sin, sin entered the world. Why does man die? Because of sin. Why does man die? Because they're a sinner. It's as simple as that. But it also introduces another reality in this genealogy. Everyone dies. In Hebrews 9, 27, we read of that. It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment. You and I are gonna die someday. It could be tonight because death is imminent for every one of us because we do not know the day or the hour by which God has ordained the very millisecond that he has ordained for our lives to come to an end. We do not know when that will be. I strongly suspect, in fact, I would probably bet, if I were a betting man, that the people that got on that ill-fated flight from Wichita, Kansas, to Reagan National Airport, was it Tuesday night, Monday night, I forget, doesn't matter, I doubt seriously it was on their calendar that they were gonna die. I doubt seriously the Black Hawk helicopter pilots even considered, even thought about it when they lifted off from the ground that night. How about the people that got on the plane coming out of the airport in Philadelphia that crashed into the earth like a missile? None of them thought about it. It wasn't on their calendar. They weren't planning it. They weren't purposing to plan it. We avoid the thought of it. And we shouldn't. It is a reality of the word of God. It is a reality for all creatures made in God's image. Because of sin, everyone dies. The problem is, brothers and sisters, that too many of us live as though we are not going to. Too many of us live as though death is not imminent. The fact is that death comes for us all. Don't be misled by the length of life of these people. You read of it and you think, maybe as I would think, I'm not really interested in living 969 years, thank you very much. I want off this rock and this veil of tears in which we live in as Christians. I'm an alien here, I'm in exile. But don't be deceived by the length of years. God is gonna cut that short soon and very soon. In fact, the next chapter, he's gonna cut the years of man short, why? Because of their evil ways. Death may be right around the corner as it was for them, as it was for the people that got on those planes, as it is for any person that's breathing right this very moment. But too many live as though they have forever to do what they ought to be doing. What does that mean that we should do? What is it that we should remember if we are seriously considering the imminency of death and the judgment and standing before a holy God? What is it then we should do? We should redeem the time. Time is a gift that God has given. Life is a gift that He has given. And He expects His children to use it to His glory, even as Enoch did, to walk with the God of heaven, to not waste a moment. to serve the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Live in every moment for Christ. You do not want Him to come for you and find you are idle and lacking in your labors for His glory and kingdom. That's why you were saved. That's why you were redeemed. That's why He purchased you with Christ. This was not a small price tag that you might number the days that he has been pleased to grant you. If you have been alive for 80 years, it's because of God's grace. If you've been alive for 10 minutes, it's because of God's grace. He owes you nothing. Therefore, we must live with the idea that says, death is coming, and as such, I must live today while it is still day, because night is coming when no man can work. Death will come for me, and I do not want to be found idle. as I seek to serve the king of kings who purchased me and freed me from the imminency of the awfulness of what death brings. And so we live every moment like Enoch, we live every moment for Christ. Laziness and idleness is not becoming a child of God. Wasting time is an affront to God. Because you don't know how much time God has given you. We must be diligent. We must labor. We must work. Because tomorrow we may not be able to. I'm reminded of some of the resolutions of Jonathan Edwards. If you don't know who Jonathan Edwards is, then I pity you. You should. He was affectionately referred to as the last Puritan. Now, whether he was or wasn't doesn't really matter, but he was an American theologian and pastor. He preached many sermons. The most popular, of course, is the Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, in which he makes that point in that sermon in which we all live, as it were, in our lives as though we are being suspended over a fire, and the only thing keeping us from falling into it is God. as he holds onto it with his fingers. Jonathan Edwards, when he was very young, was moved to pen a number of resolutions about his life. And I picked a few out that highlights the importance of recognizing that death comes for us all, therefore we must live as though tomorrow we will die. His resolution number six, he says, resolve to live with all my might while I do live. Resolution number five, resolve never to lose one moment of time. Did you catch that? One moment of time. But improve it the most profitable way I possibly can. Look, there are zillions of distractions in the world for the Christian today. Zillions. Most of them are unprofitable waste of time. Yeah, I suspect if Jonathan Edwards were here today and he were to talk about this fifth resolution about improving the time in the most profitable way possible, I suspect strongly he would tell us all to dump our social media. Far too much time is wasted by God's people, including me, on it when we should be doing other things. It has its benefits, but when we find that we spend four, five, six, seven, eight, nine hours on it every day, we are wasting time. God has us to do business of his kingdom. Third, resolution number seven, resolved never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life. Can you imagine if we all lived that way? If God were to tell you right now, you are going to be dead at 9.07 tonight, it's a mercy he doesn't say that to us. But imagine if he did. How different might you live the last hour and a half of your life? How quickly would you be to reconcile with somebody that you have offended or been estranged with? How quickly would you be to talk to your mother or father, your son, daughter, your friends about the Savior? Because your life is about to end. How quickly would you be to do the things that you should have been doing anyway? Resolved never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life. Perhaps we should all sit down and resolve, like Enoch resolved, to walk with God, to not waste time, to recognize death is coming, and to use the time in a way that God would be pleased to see us use. So much for the repeated refrain embedded here in this genealogy is also a sure hope. Death, death, death, that's what we read, but there's hope. It's here, it's in the passage. You may wonder at the taking up of Enoch and the words related to Noah in the passage, and we see that in both accounts, in both the life and genealogy of Enoch, as well as the introduction of Noah, we see a sure hope. First, Enoch did not see death. Why? Because he was such a great guy. No, it had nothing to do with how great a guy he was. He walked with the Lord, why? Because the Spirit of God caused him to walk with him. And God took him. Put a different way, God conquered death in the grave in him. And through Christ, you and I as Christians, we may taste death, we may die, you probably will. Unless the Lord returns before you die, you will taste it, you will see it, it'll come for you. but in Christ, it doesn't have any reign over you. And all those who are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, death is not to be feared. Where is thy sting, Paul says, O death? If you are a child of the Most High God, you are protected from that last great enemy, death itself. Enoch is a picture of that. To all those that are loved by God with that eternal love and love Him in return, do not have to fear death. That great enemy may come, but it has been conquered. It has been destroyed by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, Noah was appointed. Lamech himself hoped, as the text tells us, that his son Noah would be the one who would free them from what? The curse of sin, including death. the toil and the sweat of our daily labors and all that sin brought into the world, Lamech hoped that Noah would be the one and had anticipation that he would be and he will be in part and picture, but he is not the one. But he does indeed typify the Savior himself when he builds an ark. And through the means of that ark, a people are redeemed from the wrath of God and the judgment to come. Because when death shows up, when death makes its appearance, It is only the redeemed that will be able to stand before the Holy God, that fiery wrath that He alone possesses, and stand and be sustained by it because we are clothed with the impenetrable righteousness of Christ. But for the unredeemed, for the unregenerate, for those who do not know Christ, death is to be feared. It is a terror beyond measure. and they will experience that terror for eternity. That's what happens in the life of Noah. How many millions of people died at the judgment of God because of their sin, and how many were spared? Spared in an ark, the ark that was Jesus himself. These two characters, Enoch and Noah, they give us hope, they give us comfort, they are designed by Moses, by the Spirit, to encourage us in our walk with Christ and not fear death, although death is there and it's imminent and we recognize and we need to be faithful to labor in our daily lives to serve and redeem the time that God has given us. But all of it really pales in comparison when we think of the greater picture that this chapter must point us to. And that picture, of course, is the Savior himself. For he will be the product of the godly line that comes as we work our way through the Old Testament, the one who tasted death himself. Death itself came for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, but death did not hold him. It couldn't. He conquered the grave, and thus we conquer it in him. He, like Enoch, ascended to his father, because he walked with his father, doing all that his father commanded him to do. He was obedient in thought and word and deed, spoke only that which his father told him to do, did only what his father told him to do. He walked with his father all of his days, and his father accepted his sacrifice and raised him from the dead and brought him back to where he was and restored to him that glory that he had from eternity past, a glory that we await. He who is the true seed that will result from this godly line, the Savior of sinners, He is the one that will reverse the effects of this cursed world and veil of tears. Death is not a fun subject. People spend an exorbitant amount of money Labor to avoid it. Every company that sells vitamins, every health club, every health thing is all designed that we might try to escape the imminent reality that death is coming regardless of what we do or don't do. But for people who know Jesus Christ, there is hope in him and death is not to be feared. So as we conclude this genealogy, and God willing, have drawn some strength from it and even been challenged in some ways, I want to leave you with the words of a hymn. The title of the hymn is Why Should Cross and Trail Grieve Me? The words are as follows. Why should cross and, I said trail, it's trial. Why should cross and trail grieve me? The words, why should cross and trial grieve me? Christ is near with his cheer. Never will he leave me. Who can rob me of the heaven that God's son from my own to my faith hath given? Death cannot destroy forever. From our fears, cares, and tears, it will us deliver. It will close life's mournful story, make a way that we may enter. heavenly glory, amen. Our Father in heaven, we thank you again for your word, and though we often ponder as to the reason why you include certain things, we ask that you would use this chapter to encourage us, to move us, to motivate us, to strengthen us, and to keep us busy, laboring while we still can. Now the sake of your kingdom and your glory, for death is nothing to be feared, for only the glory of heaven awaits after that. And so make us faithful, cause us to measure our days and redeem our time, and cause us to place our hope solely in he who has conquered death in the grave, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.