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Okay, is everybody ready? Last Wednesday night and then we're taking a month off, so let's go ahead and pray. Father, thank you for this time to be around your holy word. What a privilege, what a joy it is to have the scriptures in our own possession and to have no doubt about what happened in the past and when it happened. And you are so gracious to us to tell us these things and there's no way we could know them if you did not reveal them to us. So we thank you for that. for raising up prophets, for speaking through them, for preserving these words throughout all the generations down to us today so we can read and understand them and take them into our hearts and understand your ways, your character, and your mercy and grace that you've shown in Jesus Christ. And we thank you for what he accomplished 2,000 years ago in entering into the broken covenant of works and keeping its righteousness perfectly and satisfying its penalty and conquering its penalty. by rising from the dead the third day. We bless your name and praise you for that. So help us understand what we're able to get through here this evening and our last meeting for a little bit before we have a break. And I just thank you for the folks who have been here and for the discussions that we've had and for the fellowship that we have as we study your word together. In Jesus name, I pray, amen. All right, we're on Genesis three, verse four. So here we have the fall of man into sin And the results of that are really important. So Genesis 3 verse 4. And the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So that's really more deception. He's acting like God is withholding from you this great knowledge that you would be so wise if you had it. And so God doesn't want you to know good and evil. So he's holding things back from you. And so you need to be more open-minded, Eve. You need to explore the world and understand it a little bit better. It's kind of like asking a fish, you know, jump up out of the pond onto the desert and see how it goes out there. Maybe that'll go really well for you. Okay, verse six. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Okay, so apparently, who else is there for this? Yeah, Adam. Adam apparently is right there, seems to be. And we know from 1 Timothy chapter 2 that she was deceived, but was Adam deceived? No, he knew what he was doing, he just rebelled. He rebelled and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and he plunged himself, all of us, and her into sin. If he had withstood that temptation, in a sense, he would have represented her and redeemed her, because he represented the whole human race, including her. Okay? Eve's sin that brought misery into the human race, it was Adam's sin that did. It was through one man's disobedience that many were made sinners, Adam. Okay, so look at verse seven. So here you have this tragic, terrible moment. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. What does that kind of symbolize there? They sewed fig leaves together, made themselves covering. They're ashamed, what else? Trying to hide their sin, what else? Yeah, kind of trying to cover up their sin or cover themselves by their own work, something they made. There's a lot symbolized there. They're ashamed of their nakedness and they're also trying to fix it themselves by sewing fig leaves together. Okay, so verse 8, and they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. So, isn't that a sad verse? So, they must have had, a lot of commentators think, they must have had a time where they met with God. appearing in some kind of human form, and they would fellowship and have communion and spend that time together as friends. But now, here comes God walking towards them in this, you know, some kind of physical manifestation of his presence, and they're afraid. They're scared. And so they hide. And anyone here, if you have kids, you know, have you ever had kids hide from you because they know they're in trouble? Okay, and you can like see where they're hiding and they're trying to hide from you? Same thing here, really. That's kind of iconic, isn't it? That's kind of what mankind's been doing ever since, hiding from God, from the God that they know they're in trouble with, okay? Okay, verse nine. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, where are you? So he said, I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. And he said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? And the man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I ate. So what's significant about that? He's passing the buck. Yeah. It's the woman's fault. Yeah. But it's really God's fault because God gave her to him. Yeah. He's really. God's fault. Yeah. He's actually blaming her and God. The woman, you gave me, gave me of the treat and I ate. Okay? And isn't that kind of the way we all are? You know, sweetheart, yeah, I'm sorry that I sinned against you, but you made me do it. Sorry I got mad, but you provoked me. Sorry, I'm really sorry for the ways I've let you down. but you're one of the hardest people to get along with in the world and you're horrible. And I don't know how any human being could possibly not be mad at you all the time. That's not how we do repentance, right? We're supposed to own our sin and leave it at that. Okay. Yeah, right, right. And I've gotten apologies like that. I've gotten written apologies and it's like five pages of how horrible I am. And somewhere in there, if you look carefully enough, there's an apology somewhere. But that's not how we do this. You don't blame other people for your sin. The woman you gave to be with me, she gave of me of the tree, and I ate. And the Lord God, verse 13, said to the woman, what is this you have done? The woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate. So there's the devil. The devil made me do it. And yet, why do we do what we do? Because we choose to, right? We live. in a culture of victims and blame shifters. Everybody thinks that all of their bad decisions somehow, some way, are someone else's fault. Someone mistreated me. Someone did this to me. That's why I made all these decisions. That's why I've done the foolish things that I've done in my life. The simple fact is, if you think that way, you will never change. It's only when we take responsibility for the decisions we make that we really will begin to change. As long as we're blaming someone else, we'll always be justifying what we do. But the fact is, when I behave in a selfish way in my family, in my marriage, if I behave in a bad way, it is no one's fault but mine. And I will answer to God for it. And I cannot blame anyone for the things that I do, that I freely do. We have to learn from this. Man is ashamed of himself, and we should be ashamed of ourselves, but we're constantly trying to soften how evil we really are by saying, somehow, you know, my dad got mad at me too many times, or my mom was insensitive to me. I felt like I was loved conditionally, and that's why, at the end of the day, the decisions we make are our decisions. The decisions that we make are the things that we freely choose to do. And that's the beating heart of coming to true repentance and coming to know Christ. Because as long as I'm blaming someone else for the things that I've done, then I'm not really going to understand why I need him for my own evil, my own wickedness, my own sinful, evil heart. Someone sent me a screenshot today of a saying. He pulled it off Facebook. It is Princess Diana saying, only do what your heart tells you. And then the next little caption shows like a rotten heart that says, go sin. And that's what your heart tells you. What did Jesus say? What did he say is in the heart of man? Murder, blasphemy, adultery, theft, covetousness. He said, these are what's in the heart of man and they defile a man. All right, so they're already playing the blame game and So yes, sir. One thing that's interesting is if you just look at what they say, it's hard to deny, OK, that is the fact. The serpent did deceive. Yeah. It's just so you don't have to make things up and lie. That's true. You can do that, too. in such a way that it ships the blood. Because nothing that's said there, you'd say, well, that's, it's just not the full truth. And it doesn't address the most vital part of the question, which is, I've sinned. What is this you've done? I chose to rebel against you because I'm bad. That's a lot harder than the woman you gave to be with me. or they tricked me, the devils deceived me. Which, like you said, those are true things. And we can do the same thing, say a bunch of things that are true, but at the end of the day, no one is holding a gun to my head, no one is forcing me to do anything. I remember learning the Westminster Confession, looking at what scripture says, that in God's decree, there's a chilling phrase, violence is never done to the will of the creature. And really thinking about what that means, God never forces anyone to do anything. We always do what we want to do. And so that's why we're responsible for it. Because we desired to do it, that's why we do what we do. Because we want to. So that's a critical thing to remember. All right, so verse 14. So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Why is verse 15 one of the keys, really, not only to understanding the rest of the Bible, but the rest of human history? Verse 15 is critical. It's one of the most important verses in the entire Bible. There's only two kinds of people. That's right. Believers and not believers. That's right. And what kind of relationship do they have according to this passage? enmity, that Hebrew word evah means hatred from the seat of the serpent, hatred against the seat of the woman and those that know the true God, hatred with a desire to kill. That's what that means, evah. And it's actually the leading word, enmity, I will put between your seat and her seat. Okay, and of course, yes sir. Yes, of course. Yeah, isn't that interesting? How come they don't make fun of Islam? How come they don't make fun of Buddhists? How come they don't make fun of Hindus? Why is it just Jesus? That's right. But none of the others are a threat to them. It's almost like they know that the righteousness that is held forth in the Bible and the Christian faith, that's what they despise. And they want to mock and suppress. But there is a real hatred there. There's a real hatred. And in fact, what happens in the next chapter of Genesis? Genesis 4. Say what? Cain murders Abel. Okay, look at 1 John 3, verse 10. So just keep your finger there in Genesis. Turn over to 1 John 3, 10. Hebrews, James, 1 2 Peter, 1 John 3, verse 10. 1 John 3, verse 10. In this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Like Jim just said, there's only two kinds. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain, who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous. What a strange reason to kill somebody. Isn't that odd? Like, isn't that just so striking? He murdered his brother, not because he picked on him growing up or anything like that. It was, I'm evil and he's righteous. I'm going to kill him. Pretty amazing. Okay. That same enmity, that same hatred, Is gonna be experienced by all true believers. That's why Jesus said that in John 15 18 and following if the world hates you remember hated me first and If you were of the world the world would love it some but because you're not of the world the world hates you Okay, so if you are a true Christian, you just need to be prepared for that There are gonna be people that really don't like you Because they know that you stand against the things that they love and serve okay, and the temptation of is going to be, well, we want to live as a witness. Well, we don't want to be too offensive. We don't want to unnecessarily put stumbling blocks. But the fact is, if you're going to be a distinct Christian, you're going to experience that opposition at some point in your life or another. It's going to happen. And you just need to be prepared for it. You're going to have that hatred of the unbelieving world, especially if it's clear to them where you're coming from, what you believe in, what you stand for. Okay. Okay. So verse 15 there is a key verse. And what does it say the seed of the woman will do? Yeah, it's going to smash his head. Now, how does the head smashing analogy come up throughout the rest of Scripture? I'm sorry? Yeah, David and Goliath. Hit some right square on the head, kills him. What are some other heads that get smashed in Scripture? Sisera Jael remember Jael. What does Jael do with Sisera tent peg to this head? Mm-hmm when a Bimelech is trying to take over all Israel woman throws a millstone out of a tower smashes his head Okay, where's Jesus crucified? What is what is the place called? place of a skull Okay, and so this this head smashing thing is it comes up a lot But in the process, the seed of the woman's gonna have his heel bruised, or crushed, the term actually means crushed. Now, a crushed heel is a wound you can survive, a crushed head is not. Okay, so it's gonna cost, but I think that's the thing to take away from this. Our redemption from this, from this rebellion is gonna be costly. The seed of the woman is going to be brutalized in the process, but not destroyed, obviously. And I've often wondered if we will, in heavenly glory, see his scars too, if we'll actually be able to see them the way the disciples did. I think that he'll carry those forever. I think that'll always be a reminder of what it costs for us to be saved. Because he'll still be in that human nature for all of eternity. God the Son will be joined to that human nature, that federally, covenantally represented as people. And I think that we'll be able to see what this is talking about. His heel was bruised in the process of saving us. Okay, so important verse, it comes up again and again. You see that hostility, that hatred with a desire to kill. Where do you see the hatred of the devil and the hatred of God's enemies overflowing in murder? Where do you see that in scripture? In Bethlehem? Where else? Old Testament. What does Pharaoh issue a decree to do? Kill, kill, kill. Satan is following that genealogical line all the way down to, he is trying his best to extinguish that line. And that's why there's death and there's murder all the way there. And then when Jesus is successfully born into the world, Satan targets him to try to get him to sin, fails. But then after the church really starts to explode and the apostles go out and evangelize, then what do you see? You see more persecution, you see the devil animating the Jewish people, you see him animating Rome against the people of God, okay? And the church is always gonna have enemies until the end of time when God finally makes the ultimate separation between believer and unbeliever in heaven and hell. As long as we're mixed together on this earth, we're gonna be fundamentally opposed to one another in our worldview. Now, we should love our enemies and love those that are opposed to God and to show them the light of Christ and be a witness to them, but they're not gonna be our closest friends. My closest friends, once I got saved, were not unbelievers anymore. When I came home from college, I didn't hang out with anybody I used to hang out with anymore. You know why? We had nothing in common. We had nothing to talk about anymore. We had nothing to do anymore. Okay, and that's the way it is. What fellowship has light with darkness? Is a believer with a non-believer? All right, verse 16, to the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you. And that really, there really is a connotation there that the woman is gonna desire in a sense to kind of control and have dominion over him, but he's the one that is supposed to be the head of his family. He's the one that rules over her. And so there's always gonna be this struggle in the home. Marriage is gonna be much harder now. But it is pretty amazing to think that you have to wonder, what was Adam and Eve's marriage like for the short time that there was no sin in the world? It must have been pretty extraordinary, pretty amazing. No issues, no breakdowns of communication, no hurt feelings, no nothing. They communicated perfectly and all was well, but now it's gonna be more difficult. It's gonna be more difficult. Okay, verse 17. Then to Adam he said, because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. I used to think about that because I was a computer programmer. And I thought, well, I don't have to worry about thorns and thistles. because I'm not a farmer, I don't do agriculture, but no, there's thorns and thistles in computer programming, big time. Like people that don't document their code and things like that, right? People don't tell you what they were doing to try to protect their job, you just wish you could find where they lived and blow up their house or whatever. So there's thorns and thistles in every kind of work that you do. You shall eat the herb of the field, in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return. Okay, so cursed is the ground. One thing that we know for sure, a lot of Old Earth creationists, and I think that's kind of an oxymoron, really, an Old Earth creationist, try to say that the only thing that was really impacted by the fall was man, that everything else is the same as it was then. Yeah, people are going, seriously? Yeah, there are people who seriously think that. But what do we know? We know that God cursed the ground, right? Cursed everything. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, Romans 8, 20 and following. In fact, let's look at that real quick. When Ken Ham and Jason Lyle debated Walter Kaiser and Hugh Ross on the John Ankerberg show years ago, that's the only time I've ever heard Ken Ham yell. Because Hugh Ross said, there's nothing in scripture about creation being redeemed. He doesn't say, the Bible doesn't say anything about this. And Ken Ham yelled at him. Yes, it does. And then they turned, I was like, wow, he got mad. So look at Romans 8.20, and he quoted this passage to him. For the creation was subjected to futility. And folks, that's what Genesis 3 is saying. Cursed is the ground, creation is subject to futility. not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now." Okay, so think about what are some ways that we know the created order itself is in bondage to corruption? Yeah, animals ripping each other to shreds, killing each other, getting diseases. How else is creation? We see it in bondage and corruption. Volcanoes, tsunamis. Volcanoes, tsunamis, natural disasters, sure. Rust. Rust, yeah. The fact that I walk weird, I have my whole life, I will eventually rub a hole in the shoe right there. Every pair of shoes I've ever owned, I turn my foot slightly every time I take a step. I've consciously tried to stop doing it, but I wear my shoes out in the same way and I've done it my entire life. Your shoes wear out. Okay? Your shoes wear out. Things wear out. Your clothes wear out. Like Amy finally made me get rid of the shirts I had in eighth grade. Because they're all threadbare and, you know, they're sentimental. But everything wears out. Everything wears out. Everything gets old. Everything dies. Everything gets diseases, like our cars wear out and our bodies wear out. I mean, have you noticed that? I mean, yeah, everything starts not working. I mean, I had to get reading glasses. I had to get reading glasses, because there's a very specific font size and distance I have to put things to be able to read them. But you know what, in God's providence, 11 point font that I write my sermons in, where I'm standing on that pulpit, is perfect. And I always think, that's fine, because if I was like this, I couldn't read it. And if I was a little far away, I couldn't read it. And it's like, I appreciate that very much. I don't have to wear glasses just yet. But also hearing. You guys always tell me you talk to me and I don't say anything. Am I actually getting that? OK, she's smiling at me. But they do that. They'll be yelling at me, and I can't hear them. I have tinnitus. My ears ring all the time. They didn't do that when I was younger. Everything's breaking down. Everything's breaking down. But that's the way it is. The whole creation is cursed. Man is dying. We're all eventually going to die. That really hits home. The first person in my life that I ever lost that I was really close to was my father. And I remember him when he was 40 and then 50. I remember when he was strong and then watching over time, the fall doing its thing in his life and seeing it eventually take his life. And that's going to happen to me. It's going to happen to all of us. We're all going to die because of this. So we have to work. We have to toil. We have to sweat. Thorns and thistles are going to be in whatever kind of work you do. In the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. So you get to work until you die. And then you're going to be buried in the ground. Out of the dust you were taken. Dust you are. To dust you shall return. So there's all the results and the impact of the fall, the way God spells it out here. Now, throughout the rest of the Old Testament and the New Testament, we also are given a lot more revelation from God about the way the fall affected us. How else did the fall of man affect us from a spiritual perspective? How did it affect us? Yeah, we're spiritually dead. Okay, we're not sick or wounded. Man can't see spiritual things. Remember what Jesus told Nicodemus that shocked him so much? What did he tell him? That's right. Or enter it. He's telling him, if God doesn't do this first, you're lost. And Nicodemus is incredulous about it. He just can't believe that. And yet the condition of man is that serious. It's that bad. It requires God to act upon our souls directly to make us born from above. And if he doesn't do that, we can't see, we can't enter the kingdom of God. Okay, so that's good. All right, let's look at verse 20. And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Also for Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them. Why is that significant there? I'm sorry? Blood, death, something died. Okay, now they would never have seen something die before. Okay, so that itself had to have been traumatic for them to see a creature that had been there in the garden killed and then its skin covering them. And what's that kind of a foreshadowing of? That's right. Clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He takes away their fig leaves, the fig leaves of their own making. God is gonna make the garment that's going to cover you, okay? So you see already the first announcement of mercy there in Genesis 3.15, and you just see it step by step. God keeps revealing little bits more, little bits more, until you have the full revelation of it in the New Testament. But it's also there very clearly in the Old Testament too. And they'd almost covered their sin, but it didn't take them away. That's right. That's right. All the animal sacrifices only covered sin. That's right. Only the death of Christ took the sins away. Right. And the fact that they constantly had to offer more animals was a testimony to the fact that it didn't actually cleanse their sin. But once Jesus dies, now we don't have an altar upon which we make offerings. We have a table where we remember the one offering that actually does bring peace with God. and actually accomplished it. Okay, so verse 21, the significant verse there. Okay, verse 22, then the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like one of us to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever, therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So he drove out the man and he placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden A flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life So what is Adam not allowed to eat? because he sinned from the tree of life and remember back in Genesis 2 verse 9 it says and God planted a Garden eastward and Eden and in the garden there was the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil So there's those two trees the one is going to be the probation, the test, the other would be the reward, the pledge, if he keeps that covenant of works. Once he sins, he's not allowed to go eat from it, and God stations an angel. Isn't that interesting? The very first weapon that could be used to kill someone was made by who? God made a sword and stationed an angel armed. You can't come in here anymore, okay? That's significant too, it's very serious. Someone's gotta start over and do this right so we can eat from the tree of life and eat and live forever, okay? All right, any questions about Genesis 3? There's a lot packed into there, and every phrase in there is significant. Yes, sir? When he's walking with them and appearing to them and things, Most look at it that way, yeah, because he's the one who reveals God in that sense. No one has seen God, meaning a father, at any time, but Jesus Christ is the one who reveals him to the world. So yeah, the angel of the Lord, or the Lord God here, most would take to be a pre-incarnate Christophany. Okay, good. Yeah. Yeah, a weapon to slaughter it, yeah. Yeah, you wonder, it raises so many questions. What exactly did they see? Excuse me, but they knew it was the skins of an animal, tunics of skin. That's kind of graphic and gross, but that's, God has to make it and God has to clothe them. So, okay, very good. All right, chapter four. Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain. You know what Cain means in Hebrew? It means, here he is. Here he is. She thought this is it. This is the seed that's gonna crush the head of the serpent. And of course, who is Cain? The first what? Murderer. The first Antichrist. Okay? Cain. And said, I have acquired a man from the Lord. And she bore again, this time his brother, Abel. Does anyone know what Avel, Abel, means in Hebrew? It means vanity, meaningless. That word is used over and over and over again in the book of Ecclesiastes. Everywhere you see the word meaningless, vanity, it's the exact same word, Avel, Abel. And I wonder, why did she name him that? We don't know why exactly. I think she realized as Cain came of age, this is not gonna be seed of the woman. I think she knew that and maybe she was cynical then, I don't know. But she named him meaningless. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Verse three, and in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord, Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry and his countenance fell." Now there's a lot that's been written about this. This does come up in the book of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 11. We do know that Abel, by faith, offered his offering. Cain obviously doesn't have saving faith. Some have pointed out, although there's no explicit directions for it yet, that Abel appears also to bring the correct offering of an animal of some kind that would shed blood and die, and Cain brings of the fruit of the ground. But either way, whatever the case, I think Abel, there's no question, we know from Hebrews 11, Abel did have true faith in the true God. So that's how he made his offering. And God accepts and respects Abel's offering but does not respect Cain and his offering. And look at the last part of verse five, and Cain was very angry and his countenance fell. Okay, so what is someone's countenance? Their face, okay, he looked very mad. Verse six, so the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? Why is your countenance falling? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door, and its desire is for you or to master you, but you should rule over it. Now Cain talked with Abel, his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel, your brother? He said, I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper? Isn't that crazy? He's smarting off to God. Verse 10, and he said, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond, you shall be on the earth. And Cain said to the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear. Surely, You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground. I shall be hidden from your face. I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth. And it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me. And the Lord said to him, therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. Now, do we know what this mark was? We don't. Okay. And there's no point in speculating about about what it was, people are grinning. Everyone's heard weird stuff about this, right? Mormons. Yeah, we're not even gonna go there. Okay. Okay, verse 16. Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, most famous woman in history. Who's that? Who's Cain's wife? She was from Mars, right? No. It was one of his sisters. How old did Adam live to be? 930. Yeah, 930. And they had a lot of kids. And the gene pool was not, it would not have been dangerous. They didn't have, they weren't filled with mutations like we are. And so it was not dangerous for them to marry their sisters back then. Yeah, could have been someone who's a little bit more distant relative. Sure, sure. So, I mean, it's a little more significant. I mean, for us, it's like, you know, if you marry someone who's a lot younger. But I suppose someone 400 could marry someone who was 100. I mean, would that be like, oh, I can't believe you married someone who's 100. Well, you know, that's really robbing the cradle or whatever. Or 300, an 800-year-old marrying a 500-year-old. I mean, yeah, anyway. OK. To Enoch, OK. And he built a city and called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch. To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech, and then Lamech took for himself two wives." Okay, so what do we have at the beginning of here? Polygamy. Bad idea, really, really, really bad idea. And what this is showing is the speed with which the human race became just hopelessly corrupted. Because what's about to happen here in a couple chapters? I'm sorry? The flood, Noah. Yeah, because it's going to be, it's going to be, which that's bad too. But things are going to be so bad that God's going to destroy every man, woman, and child on earth. except eight in the ark. It just shows the nosedive that man took into corruption and evil was so quick. They're already doing polygamy now. And I love his wife's names. The name of one was Ada, and the name of the other was Zilla. I wonder if he filled in the rest of the alphabet as time went on. A to Z, yeah. And Ada bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and of livestock. His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute. And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah. Then Lamech said to his wives, Ada and Zillah, hear my voice. Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech. For I have killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold." So what's he boasting about here? Killing somebody. Taking vengeance. Okay, he's a tough guy. Nobody messes with me. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then anyone that messes with me is 77 fold. And I've killed someone for wounding me or insulting me or upsetting me. Okay, so the human race is really taking a downward turn here. Okay, verse 25. And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore him a son named Seth. And the name Seth means elect one. For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed. And as for Seth, To him also a son was born, and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord. Okay, so there's a little ray of light in there. Men began to call on the name of the Lord. Okay, now chapter five, key important chapter here. This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them mankind in the day they were created. And Adam lived 130 years and begot a son in his own likeness after his image and named him Seth. After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were 800 years and he had sons and daughters. So all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died. Now, people have a problem with this. Why do people have a problem with how old people are said to be in Scripture? It's not like it is today, so it's impossible. Right. They judge it by the way we are. Surely, no human being could ever live to be almost 1,000 years old, right? Why do you think they live so much longer than we live? The genetics were cleaner back then. Yeah. The environment was cleaner. Yeah, the environment was cleaner. There weren't as many diseases, probably. We know that even fossilized animals that have counterparts today used to be a lot bigger used to be a lot more robust. Even plants used to be bigger. And everything used to be older, would live longer, and was bigger and stronger. And that's why when you see the saber-toothed tigers, they're just a lot bigger than tigers are today. Wooly mammoths, I mean, they call them mammoths because they're so big. They're so much bigger than animals today. I remember reading books on creation and evolution many, many, many years ago. That's one thing that the creation books I had access to mention. Everything used to be so much more robust looking and so much bigger and stronger looking. And I think that humanity was too. We weren't as mutated as we are now. In fact, I read recently, I can't recall where I read this, but someone, a creationist, said if we did not have the advances in medical technology that we have right now, the average human lifespan would be about the mid-30s because we're that We're not healthy. We have so many things wrong with us. We have a lot wrong with us because of our genetics. So, okay, so Adam lived to be 930 and he died. Okay, look at verse six of chapter five. Seth lived 105 years and begot Enosh. After he begot Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Seth were 912 years and he died. Enosh lived 90 years and begot Canaan. After he begot Canaan, Enosh lived 815 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enosh were 905 years and he died. Canaan lived 70 years and begot Mahaloel. After he begot Mahaloel, Canaan lived 840 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Canaan were 910 years and he died. Mahaloel lived 65 years and begot Jared. After he begot Jared, Mahaloel lived 830 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Mahaloel were 895 years and he died. Jared lived 162 years and begot Enoch. After he begot Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Jared were 962 years and he died. Enoch lived 65 years and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were 365 years and Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him. Isn't that interesting? So what happened to him? He didn't die. God just took him to heaven. No, not really, not quite that. Yeah, translated into heaven. He didn't die. And you just think, I remember looking at that and wondering, Why is there just this one guy, God took him at the tender young age of three, what was it, 365 years old? And it just says, the Hebrew there, I remember looking at this when I preached through Genesis years ago, it just says, and he was not. He was not, for God took him. So Enoch went to heaven without dying, and one other person did too, who's that? Elijah. Anyone here read the Pilgrim's Progress? Remember when Christian and, hopeful, get to the River of Death, and the Shining Ones come down and talk to them, and they ask him, is there any other way around? And the Shining Ones say, no, you've got to go through the river. There have only been two, to wit, Enoch and Elijah, who have not had to cross here to get to the Celestial City. So it's like, Okay, so they have to walk through the river of death, and he tells them, you will find it deeper or shallower as you believe in the prince of the place. So Christian walks in and boom, immediately sinks underwater, and Hopeful's like, eh, ground feels great. You know, his faith is really strong, and he's like holding him, trying to pick him up out of the water, and Bunyan, in his own experience as a pastor, a lot of godly Christian people, they really do despair somewhat at the end of their life. They just, there's no way God could save me, Others are just quiet and totally confident. Jesus paid it all, and I can't wait to meet him. So everyone's different. Everyone's different in terms of how they die. But I love that. There have only been two, Enoch and Elijah, who have not had to cross here. So you guys have no other way of getting to the gates, so you gotta die. So I just love that. You think, well, why did God do that? Because he can. So like someone asked Guy Watters when I took Johanna in literature and seminary, Why did Jesus spit on the ground and anoint that guy's eyes with mud and tell him to go wash? Why did he heal him like that? And water says, because he chose to that time. I don't know, because that's what he chose to do. He's free and sovereign, he can do whatever he wants. Okay, look at verse 25. Methuselah lived 187 years and begot Lamech. After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Methuselah were 969 years and he died. Now, what's significant about Methuselah? Yeah, as far as we know, he lived to be the oldest of anyone who's ever lived. Like right after he died? Yeah, yeah, if you do the math. That's right, they point... That it's right after he died? Or like right when he died? Oh, he actually died in the flood And then the flood happens, okay Yeah, I think that's up at Creation Museum or at the Ark Encounter that they mentioned that about Methuselah Okay, so look at verse 28 Lamech lived 182 years and had a son and he called his name Noah Saying this one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord got which the Lord has cursed and After he begot Noah, Lamech lived 595 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died. And Noah was 500 years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Okay, so how old is Noah when the flood happens, you remember? Yeah, he's 600. And then after the flood, how long does Noah live, you remember? Another 350 years. Noah was 950 when he died. So he lived 600 years before the flood and 350 after the flood. I just think that's incredible that he would have seen two different worlds, you know? Although the text of scripture, we need to stop here. Has it ever struck you as so odd? What does Noah do right after the floodwaters recede and they finally come out of the ark? What does he do? Plants a vineyard. Plants a vineyard and does what? Gets drunk. Gets drunk. Have you ever wondered why he'd do that? I don't know why, but I've wondered, what would it be like? Every person you ever knew for 600 years is dead. You don't recognize anything. Every monument, every valley tree, everything's dead. As far as the eye can see, you don't recognize anything in the new world. It would be pretty traumatic, mentally traumatic. I wonder if that's why he did that. I don't know why, but it's like, wow, what a strange part of the narrative there is that he does that, but we're not told why he did that. Okay, we'll read the first few verses of chapter six and then we'll stop there. Now it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them. that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful, and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord God said, my spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh, yet his days shall be 120 years. There were giants on the earth in those days. What does that word mean? Nephilim? Yeah, big people. I think, is what they are. That's what Nephilim is. Okay? Because you also see Nephilim in Jericho. I also think Goliath. Goliath was not someone, you know, occasionally there'll be someone who's like eight and a half or nine feet tall, but they usually don't live very long and genetically they could never be a warrior or anything. How tall was Goliath? He was nine feet tall. And he had been a warrior from his youth. He would have been a big, burly, athletic, strong man. Okay, so Nephilim is just really big people, big, strong, scary people. Yes, sir. Goliath, yeah, yeah. That's right, and one of them had Goliath's sword, too, or somehow had some of his stuff. Maybe, to get Goliath and all of his brothers? Yeah, I don't know, I don't know, it could be. I've always thought the Philistines should have had a football team. That would have been awesome. Okay, so look at verse four. There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, those were the mighty men of old, men of renown. Okay, so have y'all heard of the angel infestation theory and all that kind of stuff? You can go listen to the sermon I did on it. It's one of my most downloaded sermons I've ever preached on the Nephilim. I've gotten more email about that from people who think angels actually crossbred with humans and their offspring were the Nephilim. And that's why God destroyed the world because there were all these monsters on the earth. But folks, look at verse 5. And the Lord God saw that the wickedness of who? Man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord God was sorry that he made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. So the Lord God said, I will destroy man, whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The reason God was angry was because of the sinfulness of man, not because there were giants or monsters or anything like that on the earth. Also, I remember I was contacted by someone else who told me that when it says that all flesh was corrupted on the earth, that Noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives were the only humans left on earth. That the cross breeding of angels and humans had led to Monsters on the whole earth except Noah and his family and there were no humans left, but them And I thought man, I'm never preaching on that again like ever So, okay any any thoughts or comments No, I preached on the prodigal son the parable of the prodigal son I at a homeless shelter in downtown Jackson, Mississippi for a class. Myself and three other seminary students went down there. It was my turn to preach. So this room was just filled with homeless people. It was an old chapel. And I preached my heart out to them. And what we would do afterwards is when we were done preaching, we'd go mingle with them and hang out and talk with them. Because to stay at the shelter, they had to go to chapel and listen to us preach. And the first question, the first question, one of them asked me, where did Cain get his wife? After preaching on the parable of the prodigal son. I thought, I was not expecting that after preaching on that issue. But yeah, so people do wanna know. So how would you answer him? You preach at a homeless shelter, someone, so where did Cain get his wife? Yeah, he just married a distant, someone related to someone that was a descendant of Adam and Eve. Okay, those two people are, we're descended, everyone in this room, in God's image, is a descendant of Adam and Eve. We all are, okay? All right, well, let's close in prayer then. Father, thank you again for this time to be together, and thank you for each person here, and I thank you for giving us your holy word. Thank you for helping us understand and see why the world is the way it is, why we have the problems that we do, the health issues, why we're aging, why we're all mortal, we're all going to die one day. But Lord, it's such a blessing to be prepared to die, trusting in the finished work of Christ, our Savior, the second Adam, who did just the opposite of what the first Adam did. He obeyed. His righteous act, that obedience, justifies us and makes us right with you and clothes us in his divine righteousness, that robe of righteousness that you've prepared for us and have put upon us by faith in Christ alone. So help us be thankful, Lord, for him, and I pray that you would save all of our covenant children, young and old, and I pray, Lord, for any that are struggling. that they would repent of their sins, and that they would trust in Jesus, and that we would always, every day, renew our commitment to following Christ, and to studying your word, and to growing in grace. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you all. Appreciate your faithfulness.
Genesis 3:4-6:4 Corruption
系列 Genesis Readthru
讲道编号 | 731242344214957 |
期间 | 54:51 |
日期 | |
类别 | 周中服务 |
圣经文本 | 神造萬物書 3:4-6:4 |
语言 | 英语 |