Turn with me over to the book of Genesis chapter 5. I'm going to do something I've never done before. I'm going to preach through 32 verses in one sermon. But I think it would be good if we read these verses. If you have your Bibles, Genesis chapter five, if you're visiting with us together, we're studying through the first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis. And chapter five is a conclusion to a first half of the first 11 verses. Chapter six, we'll go into another section in the history of the early portion of Genesis and humanity. And then we'll take the month of December and walk through some Christmas sermons and some Christmas texts through the month of December. And in Genesis chapter five, let's read. This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him. Male and female created he them and blessed them and called their name Adam. in the day when they were created. And Adam lived 130 years and begat a son in his own likeness after his image and called his name Seth. And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were 800 years and he begat sons and daughters and all the days of Adam lived were 930 years and he died. And Seth lived 105 years and begat Enos. And Seth lived after he begat Enos 807 years and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Seth were 912 years and he died. And Enos lived 90 years and begat Canaan. And Enos lived after he begat Canaan 815 years and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Enos were 905 years and he died. Canaan lived 70 years and begat Mahahalel. And Canaan lived, after he begat Mahahalel, 840 years and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Canaan were 910 years and he died. And Mahahalel lived 65 years and begat Jared. And Mahahalel lived after he begat Jared 830 years and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Mahalalel were 890 and five years and he died. And Jared lived 160 and two years and he begat Enoch. And Jared lived after he begat Enoch 800 years and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Jared were 960 and two years and he died. And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty and five years. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. And Methuselah lived an hundred and eight, eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech. Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech 780 and two years, and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Methuselah were 960 and nine years, and he died. And Lamech lived 180 and two years, and begat a son. And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because the ground which the Lord hath cursed. Lamech lived after he begat Noah 590 and five years, and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Lamech were 770 and seven years, and he died. And Noah was 500 years old, and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, I ask that you would help us as we look at this text, encourage our hearts, and would we obey the word of God? And Lord, as we walk through this cemetery, Lord, would you help us to realize the reality of being human? And would we also remember what it is like to walk with God? Those who have walked with God before, and would we be in fellowship walking with you today? In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I don't know how many of you have been down to Maple Hills Cemetery in downtown Huntsville. As I walked through that cemetery not too long ago, I think it's probably one of the largest, if not the largest, city cemetery that I've ever been in. It was established in 1822. It has over 100 acres, and in the process, they're expanding in the back corner portion of that old cemetery. There are over, and this is the website, over 80,000 people buried in that cemetery here in Huntsville. You can get lost in that cemetery. You get over the hill. You can't see the whole cemetery from one spot. And there's a lot of ways getting in and out of there, and you can try and figure out where you're going. I believe the largest cemetery that I've ever been in is Arlington National Cemetery. How many of you have been to Arlington before? Okay. There are over 400,000 soldiers and their relatives buried in that cemetery. It was established during the Civil War on the property of Robert E. Lee, down right in the front yard of his home. And there are many famous people, there's the tomb of the unknown soldier, as well as many others who are buried there. And just to walk through that cemetery is a very sobering reality of our country and those who have given their lives for our country. In Genesis chapter five, we are walking through a family cemetery. Just down the road here, there's a cemetery on Indian Creek. And on our way to church, I pass a cemetery. And just reminded that the, a family plot of land where people purchase, and you walk through in Genesis five, and it's like you're going from one headstone to the next. You have Adam, you have Seth, you have Enos. You have, as you walk through this list of 10 names, you realize that there's a headstone for each one of them. In verse 5, the phrase, and he died. Verse 8, and he died. Verse 11, and he died. Verse 14, and he died. Verse 17, and he died. Verse 20, and he died. Verse 27, and he died. This chapter is filled with a list of people who died. The fact is, death is a reality. The word in the Hebrew, and he died, is all one word. Because sin has brought into this world, a consequence of sin is death. Adam chose to disobey God, and because Adam chose to disobey God, his consequence for disobedience with God is separation from God, death, but it was also a physical death. And because of one man's sin, sin entered into this world, so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned. Death is the debt that man owes in this life. and it is the debt that we pay. You see, life produces hope, someone said, only to see it dashed by the all too real finality of death. You see, the cycle goes on and on and on. The cemetery is continuing to pile up as the verses go on. In many, many years that go by, We continue to go to another funeral, another funeral, another funeral, no matter how long these people lived. They died. In fact, the ages of these pre-flood patriarchs, many of them, several of them living over 900 years old, the oldest of Methuselah who continued to live 969 years, the youngest 777. with a span of being able to bear children at the age, the youngest, the age 65, and the oldest at Noah at the age of 500, 65 to 500, a span of being able to have children. The longevity of these men who have lived, and yet, no matter how long they lived, the years went by, and I'm sure Adam looked back after 900 years and said, it was just like yesterday. I mean, as the years pass by, then he gets closer. 929 years. And he has his 930th birthday. And then all of a sudden, he breathes his last breath. And as his 930 years, his life flashes before him, and he realizes how quickly it went by. You see, we are reading two types of lists. In Genesis chapter five, we are reading a list of obituaries. You're pulling out the newspaper and there they are. Oh, can you imagine? He died. He lived to 900 years. He died, I thought he lived forever. Boy, he was old. Not only were we reading a list of obituaries, but we are also reading a genealogy. We are reading of the descendants of Adam through the line of Seth. Last week we went through Genesis chapter four and we read the line of Adam through Cain. And we saw, as I believe, chapter 4 and chapter 5, these men who lived in the same time as these lists would pile up, and these men who lived. In Genesis chapter 5, we're not given the ages, in Genesis 4, we're not given the ages of the descendants of Cain. There's not a formula that comes. In fact, the formula that we see in chapter five is, he lived this long, beget his first son, then he lived after he beget his first son, this long, then he lived a total number of this long. There are three numerical numbers that are given to each person. How old he was when he had his first son, how long he lived after he had his first son, and the conglomeration of both of those numbers together, the totality of his life. And it goes on like that, one after another to help us to understand that God was continuing on a line of Adam through, however, Seth. then Adam again bear a son. Look in chapter four, we have a commentary in verse 25 and 26, a precursor to chapter five. I didn't read those verses because we read them last week. Verse 25, and Adam knew his wife again. And she bare a son, and called his name Seth. For God, she said, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. And to Seth, to him also, there was born a son, and he called his name Enos. Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. Now Moses here, in these two verses, gives us a little bit of commentary, a precursor into chapter five of what Adam and Eve, remember, their sons, their first two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain has slain Abel. Abel was the one who was faithful to the Lord, who brought his offering and his sacrifice to God, who walked before the presence of the Lord. Cain was the one in his anger and his arrogance and his pride. came with a sacrifice to God of his own hands, of his own doing on his terms, and he rebelled against the Lord. Because of that, he got angry at God and took his anger out on Abel. What a disappointment it was to Adam and Eve to see the first two boys in this life turn out in such a way, one a murderer, the other murdered. However, the grace of God and the mercy of God to Adam and Eve in verse 25. And Adam knew his wife again, and she bare a son. I believe what we see from Eve is a second time we are seeing the faith of Adam and Eve in verse 25 of chapter 4 in the promise of God. Eve declares a clear dependence on the Lord and God's plan for mankind. Again, God has blessed me with a promised seed since Abel was taken from me. God had replaced what Cain had taken away. God had replaced what the line of Cain and the seed of the serpent had tried to destroy. What we are seeing here is we're seeing the sovereignty of God that cannot be destroyed and His plans that continue through no matter what happens and what attack that it comes from Satan or those who follow Satan. You see, Satan can try all he wants. He can deceive. He can use man, he can work on man, he can trick man into believing a lie. He can use people like Cain and those who follow Cain to try and attack the seed of the woman and the plan of God. He can put all his efforts and attempt to change God's plan, but no matter what happens and how hard he tries, he cannot thwart the plans of a sovereign God. Again. God steps into history and says, my plan, my promise will be fulfilled. God always wins. God's plans cannot be messed up no matter what Satan does or no matter what man does. You see, when we ended chapter four before these verses, we saw an ascending humanity into sin and evil. We come to Genesis chapter 6 and we realize that because of the seed of the serpent and because of the evil of mankind that they may have advanced intellectually, they may have advanced materially, they may have advanced in industry and invention, they may have advanced in cities and building and politics and families and having children, but what they have not advanced in is morality. They have continued to walk away from God, and evil was growing, but even despite the evil day, verse 25 of chapter four shows us that God still has a plan, and he still has a small group of people who he can work through despite the evil and wicked day. You see, the march towards the Messiah continues on. Hope for humanity in an evil day continues on. God's plan for humankind and redemption continues forward despite the attack of the devil. And that's a good lesson for us to live and to learn that in our wicked day, even though we see evil advancing very similar, if not even worse, some ways and yet God's plan continues forward. Verse 26 of chapter 4, Seth to him also were born a son and he called his name Enos. You see Seth now is the blessed line of God's promise. He has another seed. Another son. The term seed that is used here in this verse is reminding us of Genesis 3 and verse 15. It reminds us of the seed promise of God who would come and send someone who would redeem mankind. God's blessed line is now not going to be through Abel because Abel is dead. It's not going to be through Cain because Cain has rebelled against God and his line is in rebellion and is the seed of the serpent. but it will now follow through Seth, and from Seth, Enos. It is in this family line and it is through this family that men begin to call upon the name of the Lord. Look at that, the end of verse 26. Then began men to call on the name of the Lord. What does it mean to call on the name of the Lord? It means to worship. This phrase is used in Psalm 116 and verse 13. In Psalm 116 and verse 17, listen to what the psalmist says. I will offer to thee a sacrifice of thanksgiving. This is a good season to read that verse. I will offer to thee a sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of Jehovah the Lord. And in Zephaniah 3 and verse 9, this same phrase is used in the Old Testament. You see, in the Old Testament, this phrase, calling upon the name of the Lord, means a worship of Jehovah. You see, God always has a remnant of people who will worship and call upon His name. Calling on the name of Jehovah means faith. It means dependence. It's a reverence, a fear of the Lord. You see, this line, the line of Seth, chooses to align themselves with Jehovah. They find relationship with God. They find forgiveness. They find mercy, unlike the line of Cain, who chose to do things their own way. This family decides they're going to honor the Lord. They're going to seek His face. This speaks of conversion. You see, you cannot find peace with God without calling on His name. Calling on the name of the Lord means agreeing with God. And who he is and who man is. Calling on the name of the Lord. The Hebrew phrase here is by or in this. Notice what it says here at the end. It said, then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. As they were calling on the name of the Lord, in the name of the Lord. It marks an identity of God. They chose to take the name of the Lord for theirs.