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All right, now if you've got your Bibles, go and open them up with me to Genesis US.
Chapter five is where we are going to be this morning.
As you turn there, if you were here with us last week, you know, we kind of gave alluded to where we would be working through.
We're working through the Book of Genesis, kind of moving through some days chapter by chapter, some days sections of a chapter.
And today we're going to work all the way through chapter five of Genesis, and we are going to come into our first full Sunday of Genealogies.
All right.
And we had a little mini one last week, and then today we've got a full one.
So I've already had people asking me if I prepped up on the names, and we're working on that.
All right.
Two things about saying biblical names, I heard a guy say one time, if you say them confidently, no one will know that you mispronounced it because they don't know how to pronounce it either.
Right?
So that's number one.
Number two is this if you do know how to pronounce it and I pronounce it incorrectly, I'm just going to.
Ask grace all right.
For that.
Now, I do have a question.
I get asked a question often that I'd like to speak to as we get into Genealogies.
And as we we look at those and there will be more that we look at.
And the question is, why are there Genealogies in the Bible?
Why is that important?
In fact, not too long ago, we had this conversation at my house as my wife was working through her Bible reading plan, and she came across a genealogy.
And we had that conversation.
And so I want to start off by reading this in two, Timothy 316 through 17.
It says this all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
I will start with that because there are sometimes that we can feel, and I've even heard this taught, and I've definitely thought this before, right?
You hit a certain spot of Scripture, you hit a genealogy, or you hit all of Leviticus and you're like, I'm going to read it, but I just need to get through it, right?
It's like going to the dentist.
You know, you need to, but you're not happy about it.
So we just push through.
And there is the tendency I'm going to be honest with you, there's the tendency to preach through this, to say, well, there's the genealogy we're going to read.
And I told you guys this as we go through Genesis, we're going to read every word in Genesis to kind of read it and go, well, there's that.
And then we just kind of press forward and keep going.
But when we look at this, it says, all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, profitable for reproof, for correction and training and righteousness.
So when you're reading through, whether it's a genealogy or anything else in Scripture, you're like, I don't understand this.
What in the world is this talking about?
You might not understand, but the word of God is active and it is working and it is doing something in you, right?
So I would say maybe not, maybe don't take that section and say, I'm going to spend the next month here, but give the Holy Spirit the space to work in every passage of Scripture that you read.
So here's the question why are genealogies included in the Bible?
And there's four reasons of why we believe that we find genealogies in the Bible.
The first one is this that genealogies give credit to the Bible's historical accuracy.
They give credit to the Bible's historical accuracy.
We believe that God's word is an inspired spiritual work that is also historically accurate.
So when we read things like we will with the Flood, when we read things like the story of Job, when we read things like we did in creation, we believe, as we believe Scripture, that these things historically happened.
Just as we believe in the founding of the United States.
We believe these things to be true.
And so what historians can draw from throughout the course of history is these genealogies to point to this.
The second thing that genealogies do is genealogies confirm prophecy.
All right?
Now, Jesus was said to in the prophetic books was prophesied to come from the lineage or the line of David.
And so what we find as we read these genealogies, especially as we see the ones in the New Testament and we compare them to the ones in the Old Testament, we find out that yet again the Bible is true and that we can trust it because the Bible is never wrong and it is always true.
The third thing is genealogies show the detail oriented nature of God.
We see this in creation and you see this in experiences in your life.
There's not a single detail of your life that is not significant in the hand of God and that God would go through.
And we will see this today and give years and names of individuals that are never again mentioned in Scripture because God is in the details.
And then the fourth, and this is what we will see today that I think is going to largely be important for our message this morning is genealogies do often contain narratives of the people.
Who are listed, right?
They might not be long like what we think of with Abraham.
They might not be long of what we think of with Paul.
But they're enough detail in the genealogy of the narrative to cause us to kind of pause for a moment.
In fact, as we read through Genesis five, what you're going to see here in just a minute is a pattern and the pattern is significant.
And then the pattern is going to break and then the pattern is going to pick up again and the pattern breaks.
There's a narrative pattern and then it breaks for a different narrative pattern that we're going to kind of hold on to and hone in on today.
And so that's what we see with this, with Genesis five.
So it is my hope and encouragement for you that whether it's a genealogy, whether it's some of the law, whether it's part of revelation that you don't understand, whether it's something in Romans that you're like, I can't understand this and I've tried so many times.
So I'm going to skip over that you don't that you instead embrace that while our minds might be limited, the hand of God and the work of the Spirit of God is not limited.
And he can work and move and even in the things that we don't understand and that we can't comprehend.
So let's look.
There's kind of an introduction to chapter five.
Let's read verses one and two.
It says, this is the book of the generations of Adam.
When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God, male and female.
He created them and he blessed them and named them man when they were created.
Now, this is kind of a repeat if you've been here with us and journey on through through what you heard in Genesis 127 through 28, where we talk about the image that man is made in the image of God, that God in making man in the image of God, that he made them male and female.
And from the beginning, we see this designated sexes that we find in Scripture.
And so what we're going to kind of begin to draw from this we're going to look at this and I'm going to talk about looking at family, looking at family.
We're going to see where we came.
From as we journey through this.
In fact, I want to kind of read in a very wordy format.
Let me reread part of verse one to you as we kind of rework language to the original.
When it was written in the original, it says this is the genealogical record of the family, of everyone, is what it says.
So you ever have like, those embarrassing cousins?
We're going to read about them in Genesis.
Here's what I like about this.
The more I'm around my wife's family.
I promise this isn't bad.
The more I'm around my wife's family we've been married almost 20 years.
The more I'm around my wife's family, the more I understand who she is, the more for better or for worse, right?
And guess what?
The more she's around my family, the more she definitely understands me and how I am the way that I am.
And here's the truth of it.
If we were to be around your family and experience your family, we'd find out the same things about you, right?
The more that we see, the more that we understand family, the more that we can understand why we are the way that we are, why we struggle with what we struggle with while we go through the things that we go through.
And so when we get this genealogical record that's going to happen, we're going to be able to see this from us.
Now, scripture does.
Scripture takes us and teaches us what I love, and we're going to see this today.
Scripture takes us and teaches us about the heart, the character, the nature, and the power of God.
Always approach scripture with God in mind.
With God first.
But Scripture also reveals to us who we are apart from God and who we can become in him.
That's the story that it unfolds who we are apart from God and who we can become in Him.
So the genealogical record of the family, of everyone from Adam is what we see.
And then verse two, when we take this and we begin to understand the.
Words, here's what God says.
Genetically marked male and genetically designated female.
He created them, and as an act.
Of adoration, he blessed them and declares that they as mankind or are they.
As they are created to be?
I think, in the last six messages of this.
And it feels like, while I know that it wasn't solely written for these days and times, that we have to pause for a moment and recognize that in the formation of the world, in the creation of mankind, that God repeatedly, over and over and over and over again says, there's something called gender.
And I designed it.
Right.
And as believers, as believers.
The gender.
Debate is not a debate and an attack on your political ideology.
It's not.
It it's not.
The gender debate is an attack on God.
It's an attack on God.
And God wants us to know, to.
Believe, to confess, and to stand on as believers, to know right here that humanity, all of it, is made in the image of God, male and female, in equality, made in the image of God, and that humanity is made and marked with gender distinction.
And so when my son was born.
There were a lot of things we.
Did not know about my son, but we knew he was my son.
When my daughter was born, there was a lot of things we didn't know.
About my daughter, but we knew that she was my daughter.
And when we begin to attack at.
The foundation of these issues with where.
We find and all too often, too many churches are wavering on this, that gender is linked to god created by him.
And it is designated.
There are two.
And it doesn't change.
It's biological, it's not feeling.
And this is what God does.
And so what we find is that mankind made in the image of God.
And what we're going to see in chapter five from Adam to Noah.
So let's dive in here.
Let's look at verse three.
We're going to read some names.
There's a lot of repeating.
When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness after his image and named him Seth.
The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years and he had other sons and daughters.
Thus, all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died.
All right, look at that.
Verse three.
When Adam had lived a 130 years.
At 44 I'm tired.
Right.
Good one on you, right?
All right.
Two things that we see here.
Two things that we see.
We see the divine image and the.
Blessing of humanity at creation.
We see this.
We see the work in the hand of God.
Move.
We talked about this last week.
Where the issue with Cain and April?
This was not going to be the piece that held back the plan of God.
And so we find here that Seth and so we see that while mankind is made in the image of God, we see the sinful rebellion of that same humanity.
But even in this, we continue to see the blessing of God.
Now, it's interesting as we go through and as we see this, we no longer see created, but we see in verse three or verse four, I forget.
That it's no longer created, but that it is fathered.
Fathered Adam, Fathered Seth.
And so while the miracle of life is present, the means of the formation of mankind is now through reproduction.
And this was created also by God.
And with this now Seth receives the blessing given to humanity, but also inherits the consequences of the father's sin, which is death.
And this is what we see.
So here's the pattern that we're going to find.
Adam lived 130 years and Fathered Seth and then he lived another 800 years.
And at the age of 930 years old, he died.
May we never forget that when we walk through and that when we experience death, that death is the consequence for man's sinful rebellion.
Romans, chapter five, verse twelve tells us that sin reigned in death.
And so because of sin, you and I, we will die.
And let's see that this continues on.
Look at verse six.
When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh.
Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters.
Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years and he died.
When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Keenan and Enosh lived after he followed Keenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters.
Thus, all the days of Enosh were 905 years and he died.
And when Keenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalia, and Keenan lived.
After he fathered Mahalia 840 years and had other sons and daughters.
Thus, all the days of Keenan were 910 years and he died.
And when Mahalia had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared and Mahala lived.
After he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters, thus all the days of Mahalia were 895 years and he died.
And when Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch.
Jared lived.
After he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters.
Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.
Not too many songs written about this passage of scripture, right?
What do we know about this list of individuals?
Not a lot, not a lot.
But we see the pattern.
We see the pattern that is forming and the pattern that is formed.
We see in the genealogical record from Adam and Continued to Noah that there's this process of life.
And we look into this and we see the hope and we see the promise of life.
But we also find from this the all too often cold reality of the promise of death.
They lived, he fathered, he had other children, and he died.
The writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 927 says this and just as it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment.
So here's the truth that we begin to gain from this.
If we didn't already know this and wrapped our minds around this, this isn't this far fetched, out there idea that we don't need to cling to as a reality that just as is appointed for man to die once and then after that comes judgment.
Now, I promise in a minute we're going to get to some hope and happiness and goodness and grace of God.
But we have to come with and we have to wrestle with, and we have to embrace the idea, the concept, the truth that short of Jesus coming back, guess what happens to you?
Guess what happens to me?
We die.
And that's hard for us.
We know it.
But to believe it, we are going to die.
Not only that, but you and I are probably going to die unexpectedly.
Like, there's not that moment where you set the timer like a microwave when you're heating up some soup and it's almost done.
It's not the way that it works.
And the third harsh reality of death, not only are we going to die not only are we going to die unexpectedly.
But we could bury our children.
We see this in scripture, too.
We see this in life, too.
We've seen this in church, too.
And maybe you've already walked that path.
We die.
We don't know when it's going to be.
And unfortunately, all too often, men and women bury their own children.
It's the condition of life here on this earth that it will end.
And it's not left up to you or me to decide how that plays out or how that works.
You will die.
Not only will we die, but Hebrews 927 says that after that comes judgment, that you and I are accountable for our life.
And in judgment, we will render an account of it to God.
Now, hold there with me for a few moments, because this is why the gospel is so important.
And what you do with it personally matters.
What you do with it in the very fiber of your being, of who you are matters.
It matters to where we don't delay.
It matters to where we pray that you don't hesitate.
It matters at grave level of importance in your life.
But also it matters missionally.
It matters missionally.
It matters for these families who brought their son and their daughters up here.
It matters missionally for what we do, where we live, work, and where we play.
It matters missionally from where we carried the gospel to the ends of the earth, where the gospel has not been shared.
It matters what we do with the gospel because Hebrews 927 and just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.
But let's look at verse 21.
Here's going to come the break in the pattern.
Here comes the part that brings the smile on our face.
Verse 21 when Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered methuselah look at verse 22.
Enoch walked with God.
And after he fathered methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.
Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years.
Verse 24, if you missed it the.
First time, Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him.
You see the break.
And what we see here is this.
Life of spiritual intimacy that the scripture has not recorded for us of anyone else.
And then genealogical record going all the way back to Adam till we land on this guy named Enoch.
And there's not a lot that we're going to find out about Enoch.
But we do think, I believe a lot of people believe that Enoch is at least the first preacher that we see in scripture.
Because in Jude 1415 it says this it was also about these that Enoch the 7th from Adam prophesied, saying, behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that the ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
The truth of God's word.
And this is what we see.
But I want to talk about the differences when we look back of what we have read versus what we just read with Enoch.
Here was the pattern before this person lived, this person lived there's a lot that is filled in that one word lived.
This person lived.
But what does it say about Enoch?
Enoch walked with God.
The defining characteristic for us to know about Enoch was not just simply that.
He lived, but was that Enoch walked with the Lord.
When you see the word walked with.
God, it's metaphorical language to show that.
Enoch had a lifestyle that was characterized by his relationship with God.
You ever hear somebody say the phrase.
Or something similar to it?
Like, I'm just living my life?
Do you know what that typically means?
It means it when I say it.
So I'm a point fingers at me.
And it probably means it when you say it too.
I'm just living my life.
It typically oftentimes means I'm just kind of doing what I want to do.
Just living my life, man.
No consequences, no cares.
This is who I am, and this is what I'm doing.
And it says generation after generation after generation after generation that they lived.
But the note on Enoch was that he walked with God and that he walked with God in a depth of spiritual intimacy.
In fact, this word that we see.
With walked is the same language that we see in Genesis, chapter three, verse.
Eight, where it says, and they heard Adam and Eve.
They heard the sound of the Lord God what?
Walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden.
The difference between Adam and Enoch is this the Lord walked through the garden for intimacy with Adam and Eve, and Adam ran.
Adam ran from intimacy with the Lord, but Enoch pursued it.
Enoch pursued intimacy with the Lord.
I want to ask you a question.
What is your life marked by living your life, living the best life you know how to live?
Living with no excuses and no regrets or walking with the Lord and pursuing intimacy with him?
And then the second thing that the other difference is the pattern had been and he died.
And he died.
He lived.
He fathered.
He fathered some more.
He died.
These are the years that he lived, but not Enoch.
It says about Enoch, and he was not for God took him.
I don't know what this looked like.
I wasn't there.
But here's what we do know.
In the record of the generations, enoch's life is not marked by death, but instead that his life was taken.
And this word taken means this reception into the presence of God, right?
So he didn't die.
He was received into the very presence of the Lord.
It's what we see in Two Kings, chapter two, starting in verse nine.
And when they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you.
Taken?
And Elisha said, please let there be a double portion of your Spirit on me.
And he said, you have asked a hard thing yet if you see Me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you.
But if you do not see Me, it shall not be so.
And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them.
And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
And we believe that this is the historically accurate telling of this narrative in Scripture.
Here's what I'll say.
In Christ, your life is not intended to be marked by the finality of death, but is instead intended to be marked by the salvation of Christ.
Your life is not intended to be marked by death and separation from the Lord, but your life is meant to be marked by salvation and reception unto the Lord.
Look it back at Hebrews 927.
And just as it is appointed for.
Man to die once and after that comes judgment.
Now, stop.
And here's bad news, but verse 28 so Christ so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time.
Not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.
This is it.
This is what we're excited about.
This is the joy in this moment.
Just as it was appointed once for man to die, and then comes judgment.
If there's a period there, it is so sad for us.
But God and his goodness put on the history of this world a comma.
And in that comma it said, so Jesus.
And Jesus came and died once to bear the sins of many.
And he will appear a second time, not to deal with the sin, but to save those who were eagerly awaiting Him.
Because you and I, we will die.
Because we will die.
Christ died because we know whether it's in a hospital bed, whether it's at your home, whether it's behind the wheel of a car, or it's right in this moment, you and I will die.
So Christ died.
So Christ died in his death with an eternal purpose to bear the sins of many.
That on the cross of Calvary, as he was nailed to it, so too were your sins and my sins.
And he took on the ultimate penalty, the wrath of God in that moment.
And we praise Him, and we thank Him.
And he ascended.
And he will return.
And in his returning is the salvation for those who eagerly wait for Him, who look for Him, who desire Him, who through being transformed by the very Spirit of God, desire to walk in intimacy with Him, just as Enoch did, as Enoch walked with God.
And so let's wrap up this passage 25 through 32.
And when Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamek.
And Methusel lived after he fathered Lamek 800 782 years and had other sons and daughters thus all the days of Methusel were 969 years, and he died longest living person in the Bible, verse 28.
When Lamek had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.
And Lamek lived after he followed father Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters.
Thus all the days of Lehmik were 777 years, and he died after Noah was 500 years old.
He fathered Shim ham and Jabbath.
And the next week we'll get into Genesis six and what we're going to see here, the decision for you as we journey through this.
Is this question the world or the Word?
What is the foundation of your life founded on the world or the Word?
We see the generations of this world told by the inspired Word of God.
We see their lives told on the account of Scripture.
I'm going to ask you this, though.
How do you see your life?
The way that we view things through the world is often different than the way we view things through the world.
And I'm going to close on three comparisons that we're going to give.
And here's how the world sees us and God.
The world says, you know what?
We're pretty good, and we're getting better.
We're evolving.
We're changing.
We're becoming something new, something that our ancestors could not be, that through our own determination and will and morals as we define them, we are getting better.
And God, if you even believe in Him, he is bad and we judge Him.
That's what the world says.
But the Word says this we're bad and it's getting worse.
But God is good and he judges.
The world says, we know ourselves and we determine ourselves.
No one knows you better than you.
Who has the right to tell you who you should be or what you should do.
But the Word tells us that God knows us and that he knows us by name and that he, the perfect Creator, designed us.
The world looks at us and says, look out into the world.
See the oceans and the mountains and the people and the culture and the places, and this is as good as it gets.
Look what we have created for ourself.
Is what the world says.
But here's what the Word says without Jesus, this world is as good as it gets.
You can bank on that.
If you're here this morning and you do not have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, this world is as good as it's going to be.
But with Jesus as Lord and Savior of our life, what awaits for us is as good as it gets in this world.
Yes, an Amen is as bad as it's ever going to be because he will take us.
John says that Jesus's own words were.
I'll receive you unto myself, that where I am, you may be also.
And that's why we have hope, knowing that we're going to die, knowing that we'll walk through all of the mess of this world, but it will pass, and we get jesus, would you pray with me?
Lord, when we started out this week, Lord, I didn't know that this would be my prayer.
But, Lord, I thank you for Genealogies.
I thank you that in the picture, Lord, when we look at Genealogies oftentimes, Lord, what we see is the accomplishments of man.
But Lord, when we look at this through Your Word, what we see is not the accomplishment of man, but we see the very hand of God at work.
Lord.
I thank you for the life of Enoch.
Lord, I thank you that what we read in Your Word is true, and that he walked with God.
Lord, I pray that we would be a people of men and women of faith who seek and who desire to not walk our own walk, to not live our own life, but to walk with you.
Lord, I pray for every child that is in the building next to us right now.
Lord, I pray that as they're learning this morning, Lord, what is being set within them, it is a desire for something more than what this world has to offer.
And it is to walk in a way that is intimately connected with their Creator, with their Savior, with their King, with their Lord.
And Lord, I pray I pray that everyone who hears about the gospel of Jesus Christ, Lord, that their finality of life will not be marked with death and separation from you, but simply that we walk with God.
We were no more, for we were with you because you received us.
You took us.
We belong to you.
And now we are with you for all of eternity.
Lord, how sad is it if this world is as good as it's going to be?
Lord, may we be a light?
May we be a light in this world like Enoch.
Carrying the message of God, of repentance in a Savior.
And Lord, we have the blessing.
Enoch did not know the name, but we know the name Jesus.
Jesus, Jesus.
Lord, I pray for every individual here who has not made a decision to follow you.
Lord, I pray that the lie of.
Satan, of I'm not ready yet.
That the lie of Satan, that I can do this tomorrow, that the lie of Satan that I want to cling to the things that I have today, Lord, would not slow them down from their repentance before you in submission of.
Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
May today be the day that marks that this man, this woman, this boy, this girl walked with God.
Or open.
Our hearts to receive the truth of Your message.
Listen, Jesus.
Then we pray.
Amen.
Thanks again for listening and be sure to check back next week for another episode.
In the meantime, you can visit us@willowridgechurch.org or by searching for Willow Ridgechurch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
You.