But anyway, where was I? I'm thankful for all of you. I really mean that. It's really an encouragement to know that there's a church that I know personally, all the people, and that I know that you're praying for me. I don't know how to describe the encouragement, so I'll just leave it at that. It's very encouraging, and I'm very thankful for you all. But just an update on what's going on at the center. Marty, he had shoulder surgery. I think you all know that. He's recovering well from that. In fact, yesterday we had a board meeting and he said that it was the first day he was able to lift up his soda that he had with his arm that he had surgery on. He was real proud of that. So it's getting better. And then I'm sure you all are familiar with Andy Farrier, our missionary that we have up in Michigan. He has cancer, and I think we were told it was stage 4 skin cancer. So I'm not super familiar with all the details of that, but just pray for Andy and his wife that the Lord would provide for them during this time. And Andy has been meeting with a young guy up there in Michigan who is interested in Jewish missions. So just pray, his name is Alex, so pray for him that their meetings would go well. And then for myself, I've been I've been trying to build some relationships with Jewish people in the St. Louis area. On Tuesdays, every Tuesday, I'm at the Jewish Community Center at this bagel shop that they just opened called Lefty's Bagels. And so I sit there, and I'm still in school, so I'm at Brooks, and I'm taking Hebrew and Greek and church history and economics class this semester, but I sit there, in the bagel shop, and I have my Hebrew Bible, and I'm studying it for my class. We're translating Ruth right now. So I'm sitting there with my Hebrew Bible open here, and pencil and paper here, and I'm writing down in Hebrew the book of Ruth. And people stop and ask questions. And there's one of the ladies there. I haven't seen her in a few weeks, because I think they changed up the schedules, and they're new people. But she stopped and asked, what are you doing there? Why are you doing that? And I was able to tell her, well, I'm studying scripture because that's what I do. I'm a Bible teacher, and I love it. It teaches me how to have a right relationship with God. And I was able to have a really good conversation with her. And she said, oh, that's wonderful. I'm a linguist. And she said that her specialty is in Arabic, and she knows modern Greek. And her husband is Israeli, so she speaks Hebrew. And so every time I go in there, although not the last few times because she is not there right now, but she would always ask, hey, how's your Hebrew class going? How's your translation work going? And so that's been good. And I'm noticing some of the regulars that are there every time I'm there, and I'm trying to have conversations with them. So pray that the Lord would open doors there while I'm there. Yeah, pray that the Lord would help me with my classes. This is the last difficult semester that I have at Brooks. And it's scary. And actually, there's one more thing, and it'll kind of transition into what we're going to be looking at today. I had the privilege last, this previous Monday, I was invited to this Bible study. And I didn't know anything about it whatsoever, other than I met this guy at a pickleball game. And I was asking him about where he goes to church, and he told me, and I said, I think I know the people there. I think the principal of the elementary school I went to goes to that church. And so I wanted to go and see him, and he said he had a Bible study that he was going to the next day on Monday. And I said, well, can I come? And he said, sure, that'd be great. And so I show up, and I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought it was going to be just the church's weekday Bible study. It wasn't. It was a bunch of young men my age and younger, and they just were getting together all on their own to study scripture. One of them leads every week. He teaches something, and then he sort of alternates throughout the group of someone studies something and brings a message for the group. And it was just really encouraging. And at the end, you know, they asked me, what do you do? So I told them. And at the end, they had a whole bunch of questions that they wanted to ask me about Israel and what the Bible says about the Jewish people. And it was just this really, really strange set of circumstances that had me there, and then it seemed like the Lord wanted me there to answer a lot of questions about Israel. And then I found out that most of these people, these young guys, were students or children of teachers I had in elementary school. It was kind of interesting. But anyway, one of the questions that Eli asked me at this Bible study was, We're supposed to support Israel. The Bible says that God loves Israel. But on the other hand, we see that, you know, they don't always do the right thing. They sometimes do evil things. But we're supposed to support Israel. But they do evil things. How does that work? And it was a really good question. And the basic answer that I told him was, well, right now, the nation of Israel, the Jewish people as a whole, they don't know the Lord. They're a wicked people. And wicked people do wicked things. That's how it is. But at the same time, we're supposed to love the nation of Israel with the same kind of love that God loves Israel. And I brought him to Romans 11. And you can turn there if you want. I should have had it marked, but I didn't. But Romans 11, verse 28. Romans 11, verse 28 says, from the standpoint of the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. This is talking about the Jewish people, the nation of Israel, the people of Israel. From the standpoint of the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But from the standpoint of God's choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. And so that's the tension that's there when it comes to the question of what do we as the church do with the Jewish people, with the nation of Israel? Well, on the one hand, there are enemies because they oppose the gospel. But on the other hand, we love them because God loves them. But why does God love them? It's not because they're good. It's not because they're doing the right things. It's not because they make the best choices. It's because He chose them. It's a love of choice. It doesn't have anything to do with what they do. It's entirely on God. And when it says that they are beloved for the sake of the fathers, what does that mean? Well, that's referring to the fact that God made covenants with them. God made promises to them. And it's not about them keeping anything. It's not about them doing righteousness because they don't have any righteousness. It's entirely about the fact that God made promises to this people and he chose to love them. And so that's what we're going to be looking at today. Kind of. It's going to be a little different. I think it says Genesis 12, one through three. We're going to get there. We're not going to spend a whole lot of time going through the text itself of Genesis 12, 1-3. What I want to focus on today is, why is Genesis 12, 1-3 important? We're going to be talking about the context of Genesis 12, 1-3. So let's read that, Genesis 12, 1-3, which is, this is what Paul is referring to when he talks about how this people is beloved for the sake of the fathers. Genesis 12, one through three. Now the Lord said to Abram, go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house to the land, which I will show you. And I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great. And so you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you. And the one who curses you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. So that this is the beginnings of the Abrahamic covenant. And this is the launching off point for pretty much the rest of scripture. All of the other wonderful things that happen in scripture, all of the promises, all of the blessings, they come from this. But why is this here? Why, what is, who is this Abram guy? Why is God telling him to leave the place where he's at? What is this great nation that he's going to be making? And when it says all the families of the earth, what does that mean? You know, so why? Well, first I want to ask you, how does God interact with humanity? Well, first of all, there's humanity itself. There's us, people, all of humanity, all the people that have come from Adam and Eve, right? Deals with us on a global scale, all people. He interacts with us that way. But there are different levels beneath that. Let's talk about the divisions. There's all humanity, all people, everywhere, all time. But then you have the individual. That's me. That's you. That's you. That's you. That's you. The individual level. God interacts with us on the individual level. But what's in between? So you start with all of humanity. What's below that? Well, there's nations. There's the different political units that are made up of things. But there's families. There's tribes. And amongst that, there are different cultural groups. You have different races of people. You have different people from all different places in the earth. But you have nations. You have families. or tribe would be a better word. Tribes, you have families, like the nuclear families within each tribe. You have the individual. God is working on saving all of it. He's not focusing just on the individual. He's not focusing just on all of humanity, all people everywhere. God is in the business of saving all things. Now, not all people everywhere are going to be saved, but God is focused on restoring a whole complete world. And because not just humanity itself, above that is the creation itself, the universe, the earth and all that's in it. God is saving all of that and everything in between. And we see that in Genesis 1, God made all these things. And what we're going to do is, we're going to be going through just like a bird's eye view of Genesis 1 through 11, or 1 through 12, 1 through 3. And we're going to notice some patterns. And we're going to notice some concepts, all with the intention of finding out why is Genesis 12, 1 through 3, important. Does that make sense? Okay. Let's go. Let's see if I can do it in the correct amount of time. So if you go to Genesis 1, it's at the very beginning of your Bible. It took me a while to find it. But it says, you know, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was foremost in void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, let there be light, and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness, and God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And there was evening, and there was morning one day. And so you see the beginning of the physical world. You see the beginning of the world as we know it, the universe, the earth, creation. So you start, you have nothing but God. And he decides to create this, the creation, the universe, the earth. Why? For his own good pleasure. He had no need to do it other than because he wanted to. And he creates it, and you'll see throughout Genesis 1, we're not going to read all of it for time's sake, but he creates things, and he says it's good. And he divides things, and within the divisions and the proper order of things, the order of creation, it's good. It's without flaw. And then you get down to... Then God said, God created man in his own image. In the image of God, He created them. Male and female, He created them. God blessed them. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Then God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree that has fruit yielding seed, and it shall be food for you. Into every beast of the earth, and every bird of the sky, and everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food, and it was so. And God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning the sixth day. So here, if you're thinking about those levels of things, you've got creation. He made the heavens and the earth. Then he started populating it. Then you've got humanity. That's us, man, right here, created in verse 26. Why were we created? What's our purpose? Well, we were made in the image of God. That's our purpose. We're image bearers. We are created to reflect, to represent the God of the universe to his creation. That's our job. And within that job, we're to rule over it. Adam, this man that he made, was a king, and he was to be the king over all the earth. He was supposed to cover it, he was supposed to be fruitful, multiply, it says here, and he was supposed to subdue it. He was supposed to take control, all the while representing the God that made him to that creation. That's what we're here to do. But what happens? And also, I want to point out some things that we're going to see throughout the next few chapters. This idea of being fruitful and multiplying and fill the earth, that's really important. So just put a pin in that. And then you'll notice that God, he creates all these things in the earth, the trees, the plants, the animals. He creates them with the ability to reproduce. God makes an earth that he wants to continue. He wants it to be able to go on. But keep in mind that mankind is supposed to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. And then chapter two, it focuses in on the creation of man. And we won't spend too much time there, but what we get out of chapter two is that God placed man in a place that was ripe for living. I mean, there was food, there was water, there was lots of natural resources. It was a place ready for mankind to flourish. Not just physically, but also intellectually. I mean, there are all these sorts of things, resources, building blocks for mankind, for Adam to go through there and discover how to use them, how to put things together, how to build in this world, how to live life, and how to interact with this world. It's the perfect place. But then we get to chapter three. things change. And it says that, starting in verse 1, Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Indeed has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, from the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat. But from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden God has said you shall not eat from it, or touch it, or you will die. And the serpent said to the woman, you surely will not die. For God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate. And she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. And then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made loin coverings. Mankind sinned, they disobeyed God. And it was done after being tempted by the serpent. Well, what do they do about it? What does mankind do about it? And I think it was either the last time I was here or the time before that, we looked at Psalm 32, where David, he sins, and he says that he covered up his sin, he hid it, and the Lord disciplined him. Because he was trying to cover it up. He was trying to do something about it himself. And all it brought was more pain and suffering. But what he needed to do, in Psalm 32, he says, I confessed my sin to the Lord, and he forgave me. And he flourishes after he lets the Lord do something about it. Here, mankind, and this is one of those things that I want you to put a pin in it, mankind tries to do something about the problem, whatever the problem is, here it's sin, they try to do something about it themselves. and it doesn't work. Here it says that, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of God among the trees of the garden. And the Lord called to man and said to him, where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself. And he said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded you not to eat? And the man said, the woman you gave to be with me, She gave me from the tree and I ate. And the Lord said, and the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that you have done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate. And this is really important, these next few verses for what we're looking at. The Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you will go and dust you will eat all the days of your life. And here, really pay attention to this verse. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel. And to the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your pain and childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children, yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. And then he said to Adam, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat from it. This is also very important. Cursed is the ground because of you. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life, both thorns and thistles that shall grow for you. And you will eat of the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you will eat bread. till you return to the ground, because from it you are taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." So we have this, we were created with a purpose, we failed at that purpose. And now, mankind, we're separated from God, we've sinned, and God comes in, and he says that we're gonna die. That's what it is. We're going to return to the dust. And our life here, until we die, it's not going to be pleasant. Well, that was sad. What are we going to do? We've sinned, we're going to die. What hope is there? Well, that's verse 15. I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." This is the first gospel message. Everything has gone wrong. I mean, something incredibly new. Sin, death, pain, suffering. Very hard to deal with things have entered into the world. I'm sure they had no clue what to do. Obviously they didn't. They sewed together fig leaves to try to fix it. Didn't work. But God says, amidst this curse that's here, he gives hope. I will put enmity between you and the woman. This part of it, I believe, is talking about the ongoing struggle that's going to take place between, for lack of better terms, good and evil, between the righteous and the unrighteous. But then it focuses in a little bit. It talks about he, to get specific, he shall bruise you on the head, talking about the serpent, and you shall bruise him on the heel. So, God says that there's going to be this ongoing struggle between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, or the seed of Satan. And amidst that struggle, there's coming one who's going to bruise the serpent on the head and be bruised by the serpent on the heel. So there's hope. There's one coming. There's this struggle and there's one coming. Keep that in mind. And that's what the rest of this section we're going to be looking at is going to be tracing. So mankind, everything has failed. Everything has gone wrong. Now there's death, there's pain, there's suffering. What are we going to do? Well, God says there's one coming that's going to fix it. Okay, so what happens? Chapter four. Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. And she said, I have gotten a man child with the help of the Lord. Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. So this is why I believe that Adam and Eve are saved, because they heard this gospel message, this good news that there's one coming that's going to fix everything, and then they start having kids, because they know that one of their kids is going to fix all these things. So they believed God, that God was going to provide someone, and they did their part. But now you have two kids. You have Cain and you have Abel. In verse 3 it says, it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground, and Abel on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offerings, but for Cain and for his offerings he had no regard. And so Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. And the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? Why is your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it. And Cain told Abel his brother, and it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him." Things are going very wrong. This is far from Eden. This is far from the paradise that mankind had. And it doesn't look like we're doing our job of being fruitful I can't talk. Being fruitful, multiplying, fill the earth, subdue it. Doesn't look like we're doing that very well. But you do see that there is seed of the woman now. There's two children. You see that between these two children, the Lord has regard for the offering of one of them, for Abel. And later on, we find out that it's because he offered a better sacrifice. And then you have Cain. And so if we go back to 315 and we see that there are these two lines, the seed of the woman and the seed, the ungodly line, the seed of the serpent, not physical seed in this sense, you start to see the representatives. You've got Abel. The Lord has regard for his sacrifice. It seems like he has a relationship with the Lord, but Cain, well, what does Cain do? I mean, he kills someone. He kills his brother. He gives in to sin. So you start to see this struggle between righteousness and unrighteousness. It's beginning. But now you have hope. There's Abel. He has offered a sacrifice that's acceptable to God. So there's hope. Is Abel the one? Is Abel going to bring about redemption for mankind? Well, he died. So what hope is there? The ungodly line, Cain, he's alive. But what about godliness? The godly line? He's dead. And Abel, it does not say that he had kids. So the godly line, the one that just from this section of chapter four makes you think, you know, this is where the Redeemer is coming from. It's been cut off. So what hope is there? Everything has failed. Everything has gone wrong. What's going to happen? And so we have Cain, we have the ungodly line, he killed his brother, and he talks to the Lord about it, and the Lord curses him. Verse 12, when you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you. You will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth. And Cain responds that, Lord, that's too much. Someone will kill me. And so the Lord, He extends His grace even to this ungodly person, this murderer of Cain, and says, if anyone kills you, I'll avenge you. Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken upon him sevenfold. And so God's grace extends even to the ungodly line. And then it says that Cain, verse 16, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. And Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch and he built a city. I keep saying put a pin in things. Put a pin in the fact that Enoch built a city. This is going to be a common thing, building a city. But he built a city and he called the name of the city Enoch. Okay, he names a city after himself. Or he named a city after his son. Yeah, after the name of his son. But it gives several more verses of how Cain's line continues. Why does it seem that the ungodly line is prospering? And they're building cities, they're having lots of children. And you get down to Lamech. It says in verse 23, you have Lamech, who's one of these children of Cain. Lamech said to his wives, Ada and Zill, listen to my voice, you wives of Lamech, give heed to my speech. For I have killed a man for wounding me and a boy for striking me. If Cain is of N sevenfold, then Lamech 77 fold. So this is this ungodly line. You have, first of all, it begins with a murder. God has grace even to Cain. And Cain, he goes out, and he does what? He starts having kids, and he builds a city, and he has lots of kids. And his son, or one of his sons, Lamech, well, he continues the patterns of Cain. Kills people. I have killed a man for wounding me and a boy for striking me. He kills people. He's like his father, Cain. We're seeing attributes of this ungodly line. He killed people like his father, Cain. He wanted to make a name for himself. I mean, that's what he's doing there. He's saying, listen to me. Listen about me, Lamech, and all the things that I've done. And then he's talking about all these ungodly things that he's done. That's what he's characterized by. And he's taking advantage of the grace of God. I mean, it was grace that would have caused Cain to be avenged if he were killed. And Lamech, he's openly saying, yeah, I've killed people, and if someone kills me, I'll be avenged 77-fold. He's abusing God's grace here. And he's taking pride in his sin. And he wants to make a name for himself. Keep that in mind. That's very important. He's making a name for himself, making himself known. So the ungodly line's prospering. The godly line, it seems, is dead because Abel died. Mankind is dying. We're separated from God. The promise that God made that the seed of the woman would bring about redemption doesn't seem like that's going to happen because that line was cut off. What hope is there? What hope is there? Verse 25, Adam had relations with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son named Seth. For she said, God has appointed me another offspring in the place of Abel. For Cain killed him. And to Seth, to him also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord." So you're in this situation of everything has gone wrong. It seems like the promise of God is not going to be fulfilled. And God does something about it. He provides someone in the place of Abel. He does it. And he provides it in such a way that his promise is going to be fulfilled. And then you see that Seth, he has kids. He has kids, so his line can continue. This line that's going to bring about the Redeemer, it hasn't been cut off because though Abel died, one was provided in his place and he had kids. And then men began to call upon the name of the Lord. This is another reoccurring thing that you're going to see. But my point in going through all this is you see a lot of patterns of things that start in these early chapters. That's really important for you to understand Genesis 12, 1 through 3, which we will get to. Men began to call upon the name of the Lord. This is what's going to characterize the godly line. And so, where are you at by the end of chapter 4? Everything is ruined because of our sin. We're separated from God. There's pain, suffering, death. God makes a promise, through your seed, through the seed of the woman, a redeemer is going to come and he's going to undo all these things. He's going to crush the head of the serpent. But until that time comes, there's going to be this rivalry between godliness and ungodliness. Seems like the ungodliness is going to win, like the world is going to win. But God does something about it in an almost miraculous way. And then you get chapter five, the descendants of Adam. This is the book of the generations of Adam. And it goes through and it's a genealogy. Some people think they're very boring. But there's a lot of really fascinating things in here. Adam lived 130 years and he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image. Those are things that man, Adam, when he was made, were said to be of him, but about God. So Adam is made in the image and likeness of God. Adam's son is in his image and likeness. And so this line, it continues through Seth. This role of being an image bearer of God continues through Seth. But verse four, then the days of Adam after he became a father of Seth were 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. Okay, well, we knew Adam was going to die. God told him, you're going to return to the dust that you were taken from. But what about Seth? Seth lived 105 years and became the father of Enosh. Then Seth lived 807 years after becoming the father of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Seth were 912 years. And Seth, after him, people began calling upon the name of the Lord. Is he the one? Is he the one that's going to redeem us? And he died. It's not Seth. Enosh. Could it be Enosh? Well, at the end of verse 11, and he died. Kenan. What about him? Well, at the end of verse 14, and he died. You see the pattern. It's none of these people, but the line is continuing. And it goes through, and some of these things, like with Enoch, in verse 21. Enoch, he became the father of Methuselah. He walked with God. 300 years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Verse 24, all the others say, and he died. But Enoch, Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. He didn't die. So there's something unique, even in this boring genealogy, something unique about Enoch. First of all, we see that this godly line is continuing and we know that as it starts, these are men who call upon the name of the Lord. This is that line. And Enoch, he walked with God. It speeds up and it slows down to focus on important attributes. So this one that we're looking for, it's someone who walks with God. Then in verse 28, you have Lamech. This is a different Lamech than the other one. And although I think it's possible that this Lamech may be named after the first Lamech, the son of Cain, indicating that maybe the world had gotten kind of corrupt. I mean, this is... Lamech is the father of Noah, so the world was getting kind of corrupt at that time. But Lamech says in verse 29 about his son Noah, That sounds really hopeful. Is Noah going to be the one? I mean, clearly, he's going to give us rest from our work, from the toil of our hands rising from the ground. And so, then you have Noah. And he lived to 500 years, verse 32, and he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Okay. So, all the stuff that we looked at leads you to Noah. And Noah is going to give us rest. But, chapter 6, it came about when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took wives for themselves from whoever they chose. And then the Lord said, My spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh. Nevertheless, his days shall be 120 years. And the Nephilim were on the earth in those days. And verse 5, The Lord saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent and thought of his heart was evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. And he says, I will blot out man whom I have made who I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I have made them." The godly line, they're continuing, but the whole earth is wicked again. Wickedness is abounding. So much that God is going to destroy the whole earth. What hope is there? It seems like evil is going to keep winning. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. He found grace. And it says that Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time. And Noah walked with God. And the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God says he's going to destroy the earth. And you know the story. He has Noah build an ark. And through this ark, he lifts up this godly line. off the face of the earth, away from the flood, so that they're safe, and he carries them through it. And that's what the next few chapters describe. And God, he wipes out everything that lives. Everything that has the breath of life, it all dies. But then the flood ends. Then you get to chapter 8, that Noah built an altar to the Lord. Actually, verse 17, bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds, animals, creeping things, that they may breed abundantly upon the earth and be fruitful and multiply. Noah built an altar to the Lord, verse 20, and he took the clean animals and he offered them, and the Lord smelled the soothing aroma and he said to himself, I will never again curse the ground on account of man. For the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth, and I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done." Okay, so you have the beginning, you have Eden, you have the fall, you have the promise of God, you have the curse because of the fall. Part of that curse is the ground is cursed. And you see the progression of how things go, and it seems like evil is going to keep winning, but then God does something about it. Evil is going to keep winning, God does something about it. And God did something about it in providing Noah. He cleansed the earth with the flood. And through that, he ended the curse of the ground. Things are a little better now. And he sort of restarted things. There's a beginning again. There's the commands to be fruitful, multiply. There's a new family. And they're righteous. Is that it? Are things better? Is Noah the one that is at the extent of the redemption of the earth? First of all, the first half or so of chapter 9 is where you see all these commands again to be fruitful, multiply, eat things from the ground. But you get down to verse 20. Noah began farming. he planted a vineyard and he drank of the wine and he became drunk and he uncovered himself in his tent and Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father and his two brothers outside but Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father and their faces were turned away so they did not see their father's nakedness and when Noah awoke from his wine he knew that his youngest son, what his youngest son had done to him." And then we'll read the next section in just a moment, but God has done all this to redeem the earth. Curse of the ground is gone. You have a righteous family. Are things over? No. Evil is still there. Noah, the man who found grace in the eyes of God, favor in the eyes of God, who was a righteous man, who walked with God, He got drunk, and he had uncovered his nakedness. This nakedness, I don't know what that is, but it hints at something sinful. And I don't want to know what it is, but it indicates that Noah was doing something that was not right. And so did his son Ham. So evil's still there, even after the flood. But Noah says, cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants, he shall be to his brother. He also said, blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem. That indicates something. Who's the next line? He has three sons. Well, God apparently is the God of Shem. And Shem was one of the sons that did right and covered their father. and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem and let Canaan be his servant. And Noah lived 350 years after the flood, all his days were 950 years, and he died. So, you've got this line, you trace it through all these people, you trace it through Enoch, you trace it through Noah, and now, you've got Shem. We know that this Redeemer is going to come from Shem. But, in chapter 10, you get the descendants of Noah. These are the generations, this is the genealogy of all his sons. And this is where all the nations of the earth come from. And I'm not gonna read through all of chapter, and I've already taken up a lot of time, but through all of these nations here, come all the nations of the earth, all the people that each one of us are descended from, all the families, wherever our families came from, came from chapter 10 here. This affects all of us. This shows how, you know, this wickedness, this evil, the sin that's within us has spread to everyone. Because we see that even Noah was a sinful man, and we all come from Noah. But back to this ongoing struggle. Even in chapter 10, you see it. Especially in the Sons of Ham. Chapter 10, verse 6, the sons of Ham were Cush, Mitzrayim, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, let's see, there was one I was looking for. Yeah, verse 6, the sons of Ham were Cush, Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim is Egypt. Put and Canaan. If you know your Old Testament, you know that what we know becomes the godly line, the nation of Israel, which we will get to in chapter 12. They seem to have a lot of problems with Egypt, or Mitzrayim, and Canaan. You see the beginnings of this ungodly line continuing on into the future and affecting the rest of history. But another thing is, verse 8, now Cush became the father of Nimrod. Nimrod, he became a mighty one on the earth, and he was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord, the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Akkad, and Chalna, in the land of Shinar. And from that land, he went forth into Assyria and built Nineveh, and Rehoboth, Ir, and Qala, and all of these other names for cities that are hard to pronounce. And in Qala, it says, that is the great city. So actually, one thing we missed in chapter 6 is that the Nephilim, and these men that were there, and the wickedness of the world, when the whole world was wicked, They were known. They were men of renown. They were men of a great name. And they were mighty men. And that's characterized of the ungodly line. Cain, Lamech, Lamech, I've killed a man and a boy for striking me. It's this idea. And also Cain, he built a city. And he named it after his line. Okay? You see that continuing here. This idea of this ungodly line. They keep doing this. They keep wanting to do something. Several things. They want to make a name for themselves. They want everyone to know about them, about me. Nimrod, I mean, here it says that he was a mighty hunter. And it's a saying. Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord, he made a name for himself. He was mighty. He was known for being powerful here on the earth. Another aspect of this ungodly line. And another thing, as strange as it sounds, he built cities. There's nothing wrong with building cities, but it's a characteristic of this ungodly line. They keep going around and they build these cities. And we see in these cities certain names that are, we notice them, we recognize them. That's the word I'm looking for. Babel, we're about to see that in chapter 11. Akkad, that's important. Assyria, he went into Assyria and built Nineveh. That sounds oddly like a name of a city and an empire that you know, wage war against God's people later on. You know, so you start to see these things here. So that's chapter 10. We call it the Table of Nations. And after each son of Noah is listed, it says, like in verse 20, these are the sons of Ham according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, by their nations. You know how I was talking about there are these different levels within human society? They're mentioned here. This is important. This is all just to get you to chapter 12. Because all of these words, all of these ideas that I'm pointing out to you are essential to understanding Genesis 12. And so you have all the nations of the earth. You have the flood is over. There's still sin in the world, but at least they're the godly line. At least there's some semblance of righteousness there. But you get to chapter 11, and it says that the whole earth used the same language and the same words. And it came about as they journeyed east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. And they used brick for stone and they used tar for mortar. And they said, come, let us build for ourselves a city. That sounds familiar. Let us build for ourselves a city and a tower whose top will reach into the heaven. in recent history to them. Their father, their grandfather, just went through a global flood where everything died. And so now they're saying, okay, we want to build ourselves a city, a place where we can stick together, which is the opposite of being fruitful and multiplying, spreading out. They want to stick together. And in doing so, they're expecting God to flood the earth again. They're not believing the promise of God that, where he said that in chapter 8, that he would never do that again. So there's this thing to notice. Ungodly people, they don't believe the promises of God. They don't believe the promises of God. They disobey the commandments of God. See, they're building a city, they're sticking together, they're not spreading out, filling the earth. And they're trying to do something about it themselves. They're trying to protect from God's wrath themselves. They want to build a tower that will reach into the heavens. Yeah, God's going to flood the world again. We've got to escape it. They're trying to do something about it themselves. And, let us make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth. This is the ungodly line. This is just like Genesis chapter 6, right before the flood, where God, he destroyed everything because of it. Now he cleansed the world. He saved this righteous line. And now the whole world is wicked again. Everyone's doing evil. How is it that this evil just seems like it keeps on, like it's just going to keep winning? And now what do we do? Well, the Lord, he goes down and he confuses their language and he scatters them. And that's how you get all the people groups in chapter 10. Talking about Psalm 32 again. At the end of Psalm 32, it talks about how, you know, don't be a stubborn mule that needs a bit in its mouth to pull it near. because God will pull you near, forcibly. This is God saying, I've had enough of you people. And he's making them do the thing that he told them to do. And he spreads them across the whole earth. But this city, its name was called Babel, which was like Nimrod, who founded the city of Babel, who was probably leading this whole thing. But what do we do? Is it over? The whole world is wicked again. They're disobeying God. They're not believing God's promises. Well, then you have the descendants of Shem. Again, these genealogies are really cool if you spend the time to understand their purpose. But you have Shem, and there's just a few names in here that are really important. Like verse 14, Shelah became the father of Eber. Eber is where we get the term Hebrew. And you have Eber, and it goes down through to verse 26, Terah. Terah lived 70 years and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Okay. I'm going to get here. We're almost done. We're almost there. We can see the finish line. You have this, Genesis 3.15, you have this promise of two lines. The godly line, we trace it. It seems like it's never going to win, but then God does something about it, and he causes it to succeed and to prosper. And we trace it through all these different people, through Noah, and then we see that God is the God of Shem. It's coming through Shem. Now we have the genealogies of Shem. And who do we see? We see Terah. Then we see Abram. And we see that Abram, he had a wife, and his wife, verse 30, was Sarai, and she was barren and she had no child. Just seems like the godly line just can't catch a break. Because how is this line going to continue if the wife of the person at the end of this godly line can't have kids? It says, verse 30, that she was barren. But Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, and his son Abram's wife. And they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan. And they went as far as Haran and settled there. And the days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran. So we see the state of things at the end of Genesis chapter 11. The earth is wicked. Evil is abounding. But there's still this godly line. God's working through this particular group of people. And he's been causing it to continue. And he's been saving them from the evil that keeps getting infiltrating into it. And now they're living in Ur of Chaldeans, which was a really prosperous town. It was a renaissance city in the day. I mean, all sorts of art and culture and beauty and trade goods, luxury goods. I mean, it was the place to live. And so it seems like they're doing well. Seems like they're prospering. But it was also a city of idolatry. And God says something. He says in Genesis 12, verse 1, we're here. Now the Lord said to Abram, go forth from your country, from your relatives, from your father's house. You have Abram. He's this godly line. And you see, you have the ungodly line, and they keep trying to make a name for themselves. They keep making themselves mighty. God is saying, don't be like them. I'm separating you from all that. Leave it. Leave it all behind. Leave your country. Leave the land where you're from, the place you know very well, the place you have connections, the place you have a home, where you have resources, where you love the land, where you know all the places that are there. Leave all that. Set it aside. From your relatives, all your family, all this thing that makes your tribe powerful, having all this people. Leave that. Your father's house, your inheritance, your name, all those things, leave that. Leave it. And do something instead. Go to the land which I will show you. God is going to replace the land that he's leaving with a new land. God is going to provide a land. As we've seen in this experience that we've been going through this morning, God provides. He provides for this godly line. He doesn't want them to do it themselves. That's what the ungodly line does. God is going to provide a land. Go to the land which I will show you, and I will make you a great nation. All the ungodly line, all those people, Nimrod, he made himself a great nation. And what happened? The Lord came down and he spread his nation, this empire that he built, all across the face of the earth. God is going to make Abram a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great. Nimrod. He's Nimrod, the mighty hunter. The Nephilim, they were men of renown. They were men of name. Great name. Lamech. Everybody listen to me, who I am. I'm Lamech. And I've done all these great things. Or mighty things. God is here. God is going to make the great name. And so, you shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you, and the ones who curse you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." And so, what does this mean for us? And what does this have to do with that question I was answering at that Bible study on Monday night about what do we do with the fact that Israel does evil things and yet we're supposed to love them? What does this have to do with what Romans 11 says about how they're enemies, but yet they're beloved for the sake of the fathers? Well, this is the fathers here, the head of the fathers, Abraham. This is the promise. This is where God chose this people group, this line, Abraham. And he makes them into a great nation, which we see becoming the nation of Israel as we read through Genesis. And so keep in mind that promise in Genesis 3.15, that it's through this line that God is going to crush the head of the serpent. He's going to restore things. He's going to redeem things. So it's through this great nation now that God is going to bring about restoration. And he's going to bring through this great nation, the one that's going to crush the head of the serpent. We see through this great nation, that there's a blessing associated with it. And at the end, at the end of verse 3, in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. Paul says in Galatians 3 that this is the gospel, that this is the gospel being preached in Genesis 12, way before Christ came to earth and took on flesh. The gospel is that all the families of the earth will be blessed through this great nation. There's the great nation, and then there's all the families of the earth. They're two separate things. And the great nation is what is going to bless all the families of the earth. The great nation is what becomes the nation Israel. How is it that they bless all the families of the earth? There are several ways. And we're gonna go to the New Testament now, and we'll probably close with this. Romans chapter nine. Actually, let's see. Actually, Romans chapter three, just for one verse. What advantage has the Jew or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect, first of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. This people group, that this great nation brought us this. God used them to provide us scripture, his word. It's that, Romans nine. I am telling the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, and I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were a curse separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh." Who is this? Who are Israelites, to whom belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, the promises, We're partakers of those now. We're saved because we partake of the blessings of the New Covenant. The New Covenant was made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It's through this great nation that we receive our salvation from God. Okay? Whose are the fathers? From whom is the Christ? According to the flesh, who is overall God blessed forever. Amen. So God is, all those families in Genesis 10, all those wicked nations that we come from, okay? God is, his plan is to save the nations. His plan is to save the great nation. He's saving all of it. And he's doing so by working through a particular people group. That's how God works. He selects a people, and he uses them to reach the rest of the people. And throughout most of history, and in the future that is to come, that people group is the nation of Israel. So how do we deal with the fact that right now they do evil things? Well right now, They're not the people that God is using to reach the world. Romans 11, it talks about how a partial hardening has happened to this people group. It talks about how that has happened so that the gospel can go to the nations. It's until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. It talks about how through their disobedience, we have salvation, we have riches. There are many ways in which this great nation is blessing all the families of the earth. But it's happening. It has happened. It is happening. And it is going to happen. Because one day, God is, you know, we believe that God is going to rapture the church. He's going to take us up. Because right now the church, we're that people group that God is using to reach the world. But one day we're going to be taken up. And then what happens? Then God returns to using the nation of Israel. He saves 144,000 Jewish men, and he uses them to preach the gospel to the whole world. And what happens? This is where we'll end, I promise you. Revelation, chapter 7. If you'll excuse me, I can't find the verse in my notes. I'll hear it, it's right in front of me. Revelation chapter 7, verse 9. And after these things, I looked and behold a great multitude, which no one could count. From where? From every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and palm branches were in their hands. And they cry out with a loud voice saying, salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. That's because God used this great nation, this righteous line. The plan wasn't just to save this righteous line, but to save people from every nation, all tribes, all peoples, all tongues. So why do we love the nation of Israel even though they are wicked people right now? Well, because God loves them, because he made promises to them. He chose them as his instrument to reach the world. Hope that makes sense. And I hope this was valuable to you. Genesis 12, 1 through 3 doesn't make a whole lot of sense, unless you understand the fact that God is not just talking about Abraham. He's talking about the whole world, everyone, right after, you know, the whole world becomes the whole world in Genesis 11. So, think about that throughout this week. Think about how God worked in history to bring about the salvation that we have, the salvation that is to come. Think about how the pattern that we see that evil always seems to be winning, and then God does something about it, and he provides for salvation, he provides for the righteous people, he provides for the right thing. Think about this throughout the week. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, thank you for providing for us. Thank you for doing something in history to provide for the salvation of people from all tribes, all nations, all tongues. And thank you for Christ, who is the one that provides the salvation for us, who died for us so that we didn't have to die the death that we deserved. And Father, I pray that as we think about you, that we would remember your constant love and providence for mankind and your faithfulness to take care of us, even when we are wicked and evil and we go against you. So, Father, I just pray that you'd help us to think about these things throughout the week and apply it to our lives. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you.