Last time we were together in the book of Genesis, we were looking at chapter four at the descendants of Cain and then a very short reference to Seth being born to Adam and Eve in place of Abel. We looked at the two humanities, a godly humanity with Seth, an ungodly humanity with Cain's line and the civilizations that they each had, and that That difference, those two humanities live right on to this day. We have to choose which group we want to be in. So we cross over to chapter five. We go to the generations of Adam through Seth. The Bible is going to trace now those generations. And so we begin in chapter five and verse one. 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. He blessed them and named them. He named the man or Adam when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness 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 nine hundred and thirty years, and he died. When Seth had lived one hundred and five years, he fathered Enosh. Seth lived after he fathered Enosh eight hundred and seven years and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Seth were nine hundred twelve years, and he died. When Enosh had lived ninety years, he fathered Canaan. Enoch lived after he fathered Kenan, 815 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Enoch were 905 years and he died. When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel. Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel, 840 years and had other sons and daughters. And thus, all the days of Kenan were 910 years and he died. 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 he had lived 65 years. He fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. That's all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him. Verse one tells us this is the book of the generations of Adam. We've seen that reference to the generations of earlier. We saw it in chapter two and verse four, the generations of heaven and earth. We're going to see it again in chapter six and verse nine when we are referenced to the generations of Noah. Basically, the term refers not so much to generations as the history, the record, if you will. And then you see, in this case, this is called the book of the generations of Adam. The book. You go to the verb form of that, it means something that's written, something that's written down, the scribes were the so farim, these are this is something there, something written down. So it refers to a document, a written document. It can be long or short. So here we have the written document of the history of Adam. So I want us to see, while that's the kind of language we just kind of briskly go by, that this refers to the official documents of Adam's history. Not just folklore, not just legend, not just myth, these are the official documents. And as you read down through and look at the language, Although many want to say that there are probably long breaks between these generations, that these are just representative, the language doesn't allow for that. If we're going to take the language at face value, and we are, if we believe the Bible to be breathed out by God, then there are no breaks here. This indicates an official record with no breaks. And as you follow it down, because of the long lifespans, Adam actually lived 56 years beyond the birth of Noah's father, Lamech. So when Noah's father was alive, Noah's father lived 56 years before the death of Adam, the very first man ever created. Now, what that means is you not only have official documents here, you have persons alive who can bear eyewitness testimony to those official documents right down to the time of Noah's father. What Noah passes on from then, therefore, is not something that's been passed down over many, many, many generations is actually only second generation testimony. And these are written documents. So this is an important section, and it tells us something about this time of the pre flood era. And I have chosen, therefore, the second part of the title to be called what the records show. I want to note that this is on the basis of the official documented record of the history of mankind. Prior to the flood, this is the generations, the history of Adam, the book of that generations. Now. Many of you read through the Bible every year or at least strive to do so, and you know that When you head into the sections that are genealogies, it's a little tough going through those, particularly since many of the names are foreign names to us. And we often struggle with what kind of blessing we're supposed to derive. But I want to encourage you that genealogies in the scriptures do have their purposes and there's much to be gained. And that is certainly the case in this one. Let me just note a couple of things in the introduction here, things that that provide kind of insight into the value of these genealogies. First of all, those names. Those names indicate that God is interested in individual persons. In fact, he's a whole lot more interested in those individual persons than we are, right? I mean, unless someone's in our family or someone we've gone to school with, somebody that is our next door neighbor, somebody we have some kind of relationship with, we really don't care that much about names or just names on a page, but not to God. These names indicate that God has personal interest in individuals, not just in masses of humanity. We find this throughout the scripture. You find the psalmist talking about being poor and needy. And yet the Lord thinks upon me, he's he's he's focused on me. That's an amazing thought of the creator. God would even know where I am or who I am. And the scripture tells us that God even knows when a sparrow falls to the ground and that we're more value than a sparrow, that God knows the number of hairs on our head and that changes constantly. Right. He knows that God has numbered our days before we're even born. God has an interest in individuals. Our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Scripture talks about them being engraved on his hands. No wonder then we're called to pray and not fret that we're reminded that it matters to him concerning us. And so these genealogies do make a point. However, however, bored we might be with the names that God's not bored with the names and that God's paying attention to individuals. Also, as you look at a genealogy, you want to look at the patterns and there are some striking patterns in this particular list, this these records, these genealogical records. There are some patterns here that will teach us something about life, the human condition, what the records show. And then we ended with a striking exception, a break from the pattern and where you see breaks from the pattern, there's often a point to be made, a point that God is making for us. And on the basis of those patterns and those exceptions, we're going to look at the human condition. This is what it is to be a human being. This is what it's like, and we're basing. We're basing our understanding of the human condition on what the records show. This is not someone just philosophizing in some ivory tower. You know, I think life is this way. This is on the basis of the records. This is what human life is like. And for that reason, this passage is really valuable to us to understand what human life is like, what the records demonstrate, to understand we're part of this history. And therefore, our lives are going to bear resemblance to this as well. There are three words that we're going to to kind of categorize this this section under and versus one and two. We have this glorious beginning. We know that as human beings, we are privileged, privileged. Man has a really a stunning beginning. And even after the fall, there is a relationship possible with God. a connection to God that that is unlike anything else in the universe. And therefore, we are greatly privileged as human beings. Secondly, in verses three through 20, I want to use the word cursed. It's not totally accurate because there's a lot of those verses that that is not really a curse, but it's that cadence that you can't avoid, no matter how long you live, no matter how many children you have, no matter what you get done in life, it still ends the same way. And he died and he died and he died. And so we're going to kind of categorize that section as cursed. We're privileged, but we're cursed because of sin's entrance into the human race. There's fallout from that, that we really can't escape on our own. And then versus 21 to 24, in the case of Enoch, I want to use the word rescued. rescued. He walked with God and God took him. There is no cadence and he died, so that these three heads privileged, cursed and rescued, we want to understand something about what it is to be a human being. In this portion of human history, after the fall, before the consummation of all things, and thus get a handle on how we're supposed to be living our lives. So before we go any further, let's ask God to help us as we look into his word. Father. We are a fallen race, we are weak, we are dying. Those gathered with us this morning that. That very possibly next week won't be here. Being glory. We just don't know. Lord, we're grateful for your word. We're grateful for the reliability of the records that you have given to us here. And for the significance of those records, what they teach us about human life, and we pray, Father, that we would. Sort of wake up and smell the coffee, we would we would pay attention. To life as it really is, that we might seek you before it's too late. That we might find A communion with you for which we are created through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Father, I pray you'd help us to gain from this passage what you want us to gain, which in Christ's name we pray. Amen. First, I want to remind us this morning from this passage, verses one and two, that as human beings, we are tremendously privileged. We are tremendously privileged. We're going to get to the curse. We're going to get to the cadence of things. The reality is that as human beings created in the image of God, we are tremendously privileged. We're told that God created man. It was a direct creation and he made him in the likeness of God. In other words, he made him to fellowship with God. He made man in a way that man could interface with God. There are many today that say, well, you know, who knows whether God even exists, that God's infinite. You can't see him with your eyes. He's so vast and and man is so limited, there's no way we can really know. Well, right from the beginning, God tells us I made you. You're a human being. I made you in my image, in my likeness so that you could have a relationship with the God who created you. A tremendous privilege. That is, that is our created purpose in life. That that's the purpose that drives everything. That's the purpose we seek to be restored to. As sin is barred the way to the kind of fellowship for which we were created, the second thing that we see in this, that we were not only created for fellowship with God, but we're told that male and female, he created them. God created us not only for fellowship with God, but for fellowship with one another, and in particular, in the marriage relationship, one man, one woman. To have a close fellowship with distinct roles, distinct gifts, personalities, abilities, but nonetheless complimentary. Filling in the gaps where man was lacking, woman was a helper suitable for a mutually beneficial relationship, relationship of great love. of self-sacrifice, of service to one another, capable of procreation, of carrying on the race. God created it that way from the beginning before there's even any sin. God created it that way. And therefore, the fellowship we enjoy, husbands and wives in a good marriage. Even beyond that, the fellowship we enjoy is those that are human beings, and then particularly those that are redeemed by Christ. That horizontal kind of fellowship, man was created to enjoy that kind of thing. We are social creatures. We are made to have our hearts knit with other people. We are made for fellowship with one another. And then we're told that God blessed them. And if we were to turn back to those earlier chapters, we studied this earlier. We we saw the contents of that blessing was to be fruitful and to multiply, to fill the earth, to subdue it, to have dominion. Man was was told that he was was to have children. He that there would be a continuation of the race. It wasn't going to die, even though sin had entered the race and. He was to fill it. He was to exercise the dominion over creation. Man is not some kind of of squatter on God's green earth, taking from the animals and the trees and the birds what what he doesn't deserve to have any part in. Rather, man has been given dominion to exercise over the earth. Now, he typically does a poor job of that because of our sin. We often misuse the earth, but Particularly those that know Christ, the Savior, that are subjected to the Creator, submitted to him and seeking to fulfill his purposes, we are to use the material universe were to manage it in a way that makes the best use of it and that fulfills the purpose God has given to us to subdue it and have dominion. And that's the talks about the animals, the fish of the sea, the plants, all that kind of thing. The Garden of Eden was pristine kind of environment for them to exercise that when you only had two to begin with. But we know with the life spans, with the being fruitful and multiplying, that man was spreading out over the earth and very possibly, as we saw earlier in our study, could have been a population as much as six, seven billion people by the time of the flood, given the life spans and just a normal procreation pattern. So God blessed them. And there's an extension of that blessing. He says, I've given you every plant yielding seed and the fruit that's there. And and also the animals. He blessed the animals. He said, I've given you every green plant. There were no carnivores to begin with. There was no death. And so the animals were eating where they were vegetarian. And basically, man was, too, until God made it legal to eat meat after the flood. God gave man food. So God bless man. He bless man. with fruitfulness, continuation of the race. He he blessed man with with with a job to do a dominion to fulfill. He blessed man with that which would sustain him, his food. God's done all this for man and their sin has marred the universe and sin has marred us. We nonetheless have a similar role blessed by God as a human race. We've been greatly privileged, not only created for fellowship with God and for one another, but blessed by God to do what he's given us to do and to be sustained in it. And then it also says that he named them man Adam. When you name something, it would indicate that you have the right to do so. You own it. You've created. He owns us by virtue of creation. And and beyond that, I think there's a there's another when you look at the fact that this is a genealogy and the next person to name someone is is Adam. You know, Parents name their children. And Adam is called the son of God in that God created him, God named him. Adam had life, life that was directly from God. And so there's an ownership. There's also a fatherhood. We are privileged in that not just that God owns us by virtue of creation, but that God really treats us as a father. And this is true. This is true even of those. who have yet to put faith in Jesus Christ that are estranged from him. He still calls, has the rain fall. He still provides needs. He still treats human beings with gentleness and kindness, a father of the human race, if you will. And then the fact that he calls him man or Adam. Remember, Adam is not only a proper name for the first man, but it's also a name for the race. And it's a term that That refers to where Adam came from. He came from the dust of the ground. He came from the dirt. And that's what it means. We're basically privileged dirt. We're privileged dirt. And. I think it's really important for us to understand this about ourselves as human beings. Just as a believer, like the psalmist says, is to remember he was he was dug from a miry pit. We need to remember that we are privileged dirt. That basically what we're made of, you want to know what we're made of? Well, just put a dead body in the ground and give it a little time. And it basically will be indistinguishable from everything else in the ground. We're made of minerals and the stuff. We're made of dirt. And God, God taking us, fashioning us, giving us life directly, blessing us. is is a privilege that dirt doesn't deserve. We don't deserve this kind of privilege, and so the very name of the race just shouts to us that we. We are greatly privileged that we had, you know, you and I had no nothing to do with coming into existence. How many of you remember coming into existence, remember what that was like? Yeah. Your parents remember something about it, but you don't. Well, we had nothing to do with coming into existence. And when we die and our bodies lie in the grave there and unless we've got somebody who still remembers who we were to put flowers on a grave, you know, another hundred years or so, nobody can even know we're there. We're dirt, we're privileged dirt. And that really corrects the whole notion, both of man's arrogance against God and and pumping up of how great he is. And at the same time, it would drive us away from despair. We have no right to despair, we who were just dirt. That God is privileged to be made his likeness, to be blessed to have a purpose in life. We are greatly, greatly privileged. Well, that's not the whole picture, though, as we read through this genealogy and read through this history, it's it's obvious that we are also cursed. And as I said before, this is not the complete picture. Because you have living and giving birth to children and but you have this. This refrain at the end of every life and he died. I mean, it it pesters you. It's like this this this low, subliminal drumbeat, no matter what the melody might be. There's this drumbeat that says you're going to die. You're going to die. You're going to die. And he died. But let's look at the whole picture, even though we're categorizing this under the curse. And we say the curse, because remember, man wouldn't be dying at all if he hadn't sinned against God. And God pronounced the curse, and he did that in hope that we would realize our need and turn back to him. But first, let's look at at the verbs that are here. Remember, we want to look at the patterns. Here's one of the verbs that we see over and over. We see he lived so and so lived. X number of years, and one of the things that's so striking to us is the long lifespans, I mean, an average of nine hundred and twelve years, except for Enoch. In just a moment, we'll deal with, well, where there's really long lifespans or is this the stuff of legend? But. It strikes me first that that long lifespan. When you consider that, God said to Adam and Eve in the day that you eat of the fruit of the tree, the knowledge of good and evil, you shall surely die. That those long years, 900 plus years. Make the point with like a millennial underscore. That God is gracious. I mean, Adam did die. Adam began the dying process, but God gave him over 900 years, average of nine hundred and twelve years here in the pre-flood era. Nine hundred and twelve years speak of God's grace. You shall surely die, but God gives him nonetheless nine hundred. twelve years. So, well, were these really long lifespans? And as you read the commentary literature, even among those who, for the most part, believe the scriptures, they kind of choke on this one and they they kind of subtly try to come up with ways around it. I would remind you, first off, that this is early history. That the curse has not been in place very long, the mutations have not built up as significantly as later. And therefore, you just have a healthier race overall. It is also the pre-flood era. You say, well, what difference does that make? Well, as you as you look at the record in this same book, if you were to cross over, for instance, into Genesis chapter 11, you would see that the life spans after the flood steadily decline. Noah lives the typical pre-flood life span, but his sons are living into the 500s. In other words, lifespans are cut about in half after the flood. And they descend from there. By the time you get down a number of generations down to Abraham, he lives to be 175. Isaac, 180. It drops to 147 by the time you get to Jacob. He dies there in Egypt. And by that point, you're getting pretty close to the lifespans, the longest lifespans that we have today. So it tells us that when you read the kinds of things that happened in the flood, and we're going to get to get to this as we get to the description of the flood, the fountains of the deep breaking up the rain for the first time. You have a total remaking of the Earth's atmosphere and the surface of the Earth, significant changes in climate and environment. And these had tremendous impact. I mean, it makes sense. It all hangs together. Now, if you say, well, I've been I've been taught evolution and I've been taught long ages and whatever, and you try to force that into this record, it won't fit. But if you take this record, since it is a record, the evolutionists don't have a record. They're doing what would be more analogous to forensic science. This is a record. These are the official documents of what was going on here. You look at the record, you can understand why there would be a big drop in lifespans when you see how the flood is described and you see the effect of that flood. And we have a further thing, just logically, if these lifespans are inflated, what do we do with the lifespans that later are close to the current norms? You know, in some third world countries today, the normal lifespan is in the 30s and 40s. I had a grandfather that lived to be 102. Someone might say, oh, there's no way a person could live three times a normal lifespan. Well, it depends what normal changes depending on your environment. and the kind of healthcare, the kind of genetics, and that kind of thing. Many people are living well over 100 today, not just in Russia. You hear about those? But just the other day, I was talking with a person that talked about in South Carolina, there's a growing number of people that are living past 100. Even, I think he said like 110 new some people in that region. So this is an official record. These aren't years or somehow different kinds of years. We've seen that God set the weeks up right from the beginning. Days were days. Years are years. Seasons are seasons. And so these are long life spans. Now, think for a moment. Think for a moment about whatever your skill is, whatever your profession is, whatever you think your gifts are, and think about the time it took to develop to where you were. You really felt like you hit your your your prime. Okay, it took a while, and then we all grappled to try to stay prime, right? And if we really work at it, we try to stay up in our field and try to keep our health decent and that kind of thing, we might get 30, 40 years of really, really productive right in our prime. That's not the only time we work, but that'd be our prime. Can you imagine what it would be like if your prime were not 30, 40 years, but 600, 700 years? Can you imagine how good you would be at what you do? I mean, don't you find, I mean, I'm to an age now where it's like, well, wait a minute, I'm getting, you know, the age when some people retire is way too close now. I have friends that are grandparents and they're, you know, wait a minute, we graduated from college last year. This is not possible. And we find ourselves just when we feel like we're starting to get it down, we start to decline. And I know that you're frustrated with, well, I feel like I find I'm getting a handle on some things and now I can't even do what I used to be able to do because I'm starting to decline so much physically and in other ways. So these long lifespans made for a really a tremendous pre-flood civilization as we looked at last time. So lived. is one of the words that we see, and then we see fathered. We have. Adam and all those who followed him, fathering sons and daughters who told that Adam fathered a son in his own likeness after his image and named him Seth. And so you see both a portrayal of God's blessing. that they would continue to multiply as he had told them to do. And God's promise, because you remember the deliverance from sin and death was going to come through the seat of a woman who had crushed the serpent's head. And if there was going to be the offspring of a woman down the line who would crush the serpent's head, there had to be offspring. And so what you find in the record is that God's God's promise is going to be made good here because there is offspring. In this godly line, but then you see this cadence and he died, the cadence of death. As a hymn writer has written, time like an. Ever rolling stream bears all its sons away, they fly forgotten as a dream dies at the opening day. That's hard to watch. I'm old enough now that those that I remember, you know, growing up with my My friends in high school and whatever, I remember their parents and their their forties and just. You know, in their prime of their life, and I kind of just have that in my mind of them that way, and so I was talking to one of them the other day and he said, I'm seventy nine. That's seventy nine. You know, to my mind, it's like perpetual 40 or mid forties, because that was the age when I was growing up that person was. Despite all the fathering of children, the living, there is a dying. However long you live, however much you accomplish, you'll always be the same. And this is one of the things that's very frustrating about life. Solomon talks about it in Ecclesiastes. He talks about the fact that it's the same for all. This is Ecclesiastes 9, 2. The same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As a good one is, so is the sinner. And he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. This is an evil that's done under the sun. The same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of men are full of evil and madness is in their hearts while they live. After that, they go to the dead. Says the living know that they will die. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished. Forever, they no more share in all that's done under the sun, that cadence of death. Well, what is the conclusion he draws? Says, therefore, remember your creator in the days of your youth. Before the evil days come in, the years draw near, of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them, he says, Chapter 12, verse seven, the dust returns to the earth as it was in the spirit returns to God who gave it. And therefore, he draws it all to conclusion, the end of the matter, all has been heard, fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man, for God will bring every deed into judgment. with every secret thing, whether good or evil. That cadence of death reminds us that the party is going to end. Doesn't matter how much money you have, how much skill you have, how many children you have, how happy or sad you've been during your life. Death is coming and you better be ready. You have to be ready for it. How can you get ready? Well, that's why this last point is so important to us. Remember our term rescued? As we look at the life of Enoch, we're going to take up Enoch's prophetic ministry when we cover the rest of the chapter. He's referred to in Jude, and when he names Methuselah, he's actually prophesying something. But we see that Enoch also lived, but he has the shortest lifespan of all, 365 years. The shortest life, but the best life. You know, it really doesn't matter so much whether you live to be 15 or you live to be 110. If your life can be characterized the way Enoch's life is characterized. The shortest life, but the best life, he was the seventh from Adam, Jude calls him, because there was another Enoch in Cain's line, the third from Adam. That Enoch was wicked. You remember, Cain evidently saw the birth of his Enoch as a new beginning. He tried to answer his own rootlessness as a wanderer by building a city. This Enoch is righteous. who will call people to repentance and will find his roots in his relationship with God. He also fathered a son, Methuselah, who had the longest lifespan and other sons and daughters. But the thing that's underscored, that's given to us twice, is that he walked with God. He walked with God. Now, as I read that, I was thinking there's somewhere else I've seen something like this. In the book of Genesis, this reminds me of something. And sure enough, there is a reference to God walking. And at least the implication that Adam and Eve walked with God at one point before their sin. In Genesis three, eight, remember, Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called the man and said to him, where are you? So last picture we had in reference to walking and God and man was man hiding from God. And God walking through the garden saying, where are you? They were hiding from the presence, from the face of the Lord, they were running from God, but God was seeking them. You might be running from God. But God is seeking you. He's not saying, where are you, because he doesn't know where you are, he knows your name. He's saying, where are you, because he wants you to know. That he desires fellowship with you. And Enoch understood that Enoch walked. With God, he lived his life with God. It probably doesn't mean that God came down in some form and Enoch actually walked with him on the dust of the ground, but rather using the terminology, using the rest of Scripture, that that he had a communion with God. He lived his life in God's presence, to God's purposes. Well, what kind of what does a life like that look like? We some people think that to live a life like that, you have to withdraw from public life. You you you shouldn't get married. You should live in a monastery somewhere. Is that the way Enoch walked with God? Well, no, it didn't mean Enoch withdrew from public engagement. We know that he confronted the wickedness of his age. He was out there among the people preaching against the wickedness of the age, calling for repentance. It also didn't preclude a normal family life. He had children. He wasn't celibate. He wasn't an ascetic. These things don't make you more spiritual, they don't help you walk with God. He walked with God. He had communion with him, even though his life in other ways was normal. Well, does God want us to walk with him? Absolutely. I'm reminded of 1 John 1, 5 through 7. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light. And in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. So the key to having fellowship with God is somehow dealing with your sin. Sin is what broke the fellowship with God. That's why Adam and Eve were hiding from God. And so something has to happen to that sin if I'm going to have communion and fellowship with God. Well, the text tells us that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. How can he be faithful and just to do that? Well, right from the beginning, as soon as Adam and Eve sinned, remember, he slew the animals. He gave them a covering. And we find, as we enter into the chapter with Cain and Abel, that they're already making sacrifices. Take an unblemished lamb, pouring out its lifeblood, pointing to the Lamb of God that would take away the sin in the world, who would make fellowship with God possible. Fellowship with God is possible only through sacrifice, not our own sacrifice for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, because his sacrifice, his blood being shed, pays for our sin. It breaks down the barrier. So so faith in Christ, faith in that promise seed makes the fellowship possible. Walking with God is the purpose for which we are born. If you think about it, this is really a recovery of our created purpose. We are tremendously privileged, but we lose a lot of that privilege because of our sin. If we can somehow deal with our sin, then we can recover the privilege. The greatest privilege of your life. Will be the communion that you have with God. For you to actually have a relationship with the creator of heaven and earth, for you to actually know God's mind and God's heart, to actually accomplish God's will for your life that that make that rescues the human condition from just. Despair and pointlessness, I mean, I want to live for something more than just feeding my face. Now, what did you do with your life while I earned money so I could put food in my mouth so my body would stay alive until it died? That's that's no purpose to life. I want a purpose beyond that, I want a purpose for which I was created to walk with God. We're told that he was not, for God took him. There is no and he died. As the poet has put it, crossed the gap another way. He changed his pace, but not his company. He just kept walking with God. God took him. We have two other instances of this in Scripture. You have Elijah who was taken up into heaven before he died. You have the rapture yet to come. First Thessalonians four, where we are taken up, the dead in Christ rise first and we which are alive and remain are caught up together with them in the clouds. Some conjecture that Enoch and Elijah may be the two witnesses of revelation that come back and are are killed by Antichrist then and then raised after three days. We don't know absolutely for sure. What is most helpful, however, is Hebrews reference to Enoch Hebrews, chapter 11, verses five through six, the great chapter on faith. It tells us that 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. How do you please God while he walked with him? And without faith, it's impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God. Can we put it this way? Whoever would walk with God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. So in Enix life, we really have the secret that that rescues us from this curse of death. On a privileged race. In Enix life, we learned that We need to put faith in God, faith in his word, faith and how he has provided a way for us to have fellowship with him. That we need to believe that he really is and believing that we seek to draw near to him and when we do so. Through his son, we find that we do please God, we bring God pleasure. He uses those words of his beloved son, whom I'm well pleased in those that have joined themselves to Jesus Christ, the son. Find that his merits go on their account and his power becomes part of their life, says that he rewards those who seek him. His reward for Enoch is that Enoch was caught up, he was not, for God took him. It's a way of God saying in this cadence of death, he says it through Enoch. He shows the mankind that there is a better life beyond this one and that human beings can, in fact, take part in it. The records show that they can. You were made not just for the cadence of death. You were made to be rescued from it, but but you you have to believe that God really is there and that he rewards those who seek him and you have to seek him in a way that he is prescribed. To the blood. The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. He was twelve one and two goes on to say, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and send which clings closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Our race is shorter than nine hundred years. And most people, when I say, what would it be like to live 900 years, they just groan and they think, I think I prefer the shorter lifespan. Life's too hard. But let us run with endurance, the race is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame. He counted the shame, though it was great. He counted it of small value compared to what he would gain and is seated at the right hand of God. Jesus Christ has made a way. for you and me to be rescued from this case of death, from the curse, to have fellowship with God, to walk with God and for that walk to continue right on to glory. Most of us will pass through the gates of death. We're told to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord, and that if you believe in Jesus, you really never die. You come right up to it and then The next moment you're there with the Lord. We know the rapture is coming, our bodies will be resurrected and all that. There is a rescue from all this. And really what you have in these genealogies, you know what the records show? They said the gospel is true. That the gospel was true back in the pre-flood era, the gospel is still true today. You are part of a privileged race. You lost a lot of that privilege. You and I lost a lot of that privilege and that we're sinners by birth and by choice. But God has provided a way. For us to be reconciled to him through Jesus Christ. So we could walk with him, recover our creative purpose and live eternity. In an escape from death. And all that sinners brought into our universe. This is the human condition. Privileged, cursed, rescued. This is what the records show. Now, best I can tell, everyone gathered here today is part of this human race. You're part of the continuing record of that race. God knows your name. God knows your lifespan. You're part of a created race, cursed by sin. But offered, offered the rescue that's in Jesus Christ. Now, my question to you is, do you hear the cadence? Do you hear the drumbeat? Isn't it obvious that you're not going to escape death any more than anyone else will escape death on your own? And that if you don't find rescue, if you don't start walking with God. There's no hope for you. Where are you this morning? We know that you're living. We know that you'll die. Somewhere between that birth date and that death date. Have you begun to walk with God by being reconciled to Jesus Christ? Because then you'll be rescued, then you'll be rescued. Perhaps this morning you realize, you know. I'm in trouble because I have no such relationship with God. I haven't availed myself of God's way of entering that relationship, but I want that. My heart tells me this message resonates with my heart that I want that kind of relationship. I was created for that. Well, let me call you on the authority of God's word. To. To take to yourself the means by which you enter that relationship only through Jesus Christ's son. To put your faith in God's only son. That the perfect life. Who died a complete death, paying for your sin, bearing the wrath of God for you and rose again. And it's coming back. He's the only Savior. He's the only one who can rescue you, who can deliver you from this cadence of death. Will you put your faith in him? Will you believe that this is the only gospel there's ever been? The only good news. Will you believe that? Will you put your faith in Jesus Christ if if if you've been convinced of that today? Won't you just tell God that? I want you to say right there in your seat, Lord, I believe I I am trusting your way of deliverance. Jesus Christ saved me from my sin and my death. If you will believe. You put your faith in him, you will be rescued. Just as Enoch was, just as all who put faith in Christ will be and many of you have done that. Sometimes the cadence of life gets us down. We need to never forget that we're a privileged race. And that we've been rescued. That it's not all minor key. And we need to remember that the best is yet to come. Because we were made for glory. Just like Enoch was taken. He was not for God. Lord. Thank you for the The frankness, the honesty of the scriptures. Thank you, Lord, that you haven't left us into the dark as to the way life is and why it is that way and how we can be rescued. From the dark side. Lord, thank you for the rescue that is available to us in Jesus Christ, and I pray that this day we might walk with you. That every day till we see you face to face, we might walk with you. As those that are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Help us remember that history is your story. It belongs to you, that you have established the times and the boundaries. And that all things are going to happen just as you planned. And that we are tremendously privileged to belong to you and to serve you during our time. And we do so to your glory and to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.