Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Genesis

Genesis 5:1-32 02/10/02

Intro: What are some things that you find boring...really boring? And no one can say listening to a sermon.

1. Watching Golf, Nascar, Baseball and tennis on TV
2. The history channel
3. Waiting...for anything, anyplace, anytime, waiting
4. English grammar
5. Family albums

 Oh and there is one I missed because few Christians who want to look spiritual will ever admit this. Reading Biblical Genealogies....the begats..am I right? Come on!

 At first glance, Genesis 5 with it's list of unpronounceable names, and their unbelievably long lives, may seem really boring. But I think that is because so many of us don't really read them, we just skip over these passages when we come to them in the Bible.

 Are genealogies found in the Bible? Are they a part of God's special revelation? Does 2 Tim. 3:16 'All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.' apply to the genealogies found in the Bible? As we take a closer look at this genealogy this morning, we will find hidden  treasure in this chapter that will be applicable to our lives today. And I hope it won't be boring. Let's begin!

Read: Genesis 5:1-2

 This is the book  of the genealogy of Adam. It is his family tree...how does it start? With God. It reminds the descendants of Adam that God created Adam and Eve and He created them in God's own likeness. God not only created Adam and Eve but He called them and Blessed them. They were God's very special treasure.

Read: Genesis 5:3

 Notice the phrase 'in his own likeness'. Adam and Eve were created by God in God's likeness but Seth was born of Adam and Eve in their likeness, not in the likeness of God. Is there a difference? Yes! Adam and Eve were created perfect but fell because of their choice to sin. Seth was born in the likeness of his parents.he was born in sin. The principal image for mankind is now sinfulness. Not godliness

Read: Genesis 5:4-20

ILL: In the Middle Ages it was not unusual for a scholar or man of prominence to have a human skull on his desk. This was to remind them that they like the unfortunate victim they had on their desk, must die. The Latin name for that skull was 'Momento Mori'..'a reminder of death'... of the shortness of life and the certainty of facing God when dead.

 The Memento Mori of Gen. 5 is the phrase 'and then he died'. It occurs 8 times. If one was to question whether the wages of sin is death, they need only look at Gen. 5. Here we find the first evidence that physical life will eventually come to an end because of our sin.  Death is the only certain thing in life. Sin and death reigned over mankind in Gen. 5. Sin and death still reign in the year 2002 but through Jesus Christ  the Believer can reign in life.

Rom. 5:17 'For if by the trespass of the one man (Adam) death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in the life through the one man, Jesus Christ.'

 Gloriously by the power and great love of God we know that Jesus experienced death for us when he died on Calvary's cross.
     He paid the penalty and took the judgment for our sin.
     Jesus died for those who receive Him, who believe his death was for them.
     When we commit our lives to Jesus Christ by faith we will never die.

John 5:24 ' I tell you the truth whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life'.

 When the moment comes for us to leave this world, quicker than the blink of the eye God will transfer us, we will cross over into his presence.  I believe we will never lose consciousness of being alive, never know what the experience of death is like. Because we have already crossed over from death to life.

ILL: The great Baptist preacher Spurgeon once said this...' there may be some of you who stand today like a man standing upon the shore when the tide is swelling towards his feet. There came one wave and it took away the grandmother, another came and a mother was swept away, another came and the wife was taken and now it dashes at your feet. How long shall it be ere it breaks over you - and you too are carried away by the yawning wave into the bosom of the deep of death...Children, husbands, brothers, sisters prepare to meet your God!'

 Have you received Christ as your Savior, the one who forgives your sin? Then be of good cheer, when the wave comes you will pass through it into the presence of the Lord your God.

 If you have not received Christ as Savior and if your sins have not been forgiven by Him then be forewarned, when the wave reaches you , it will overcome you and take you under to the place of eternal death. What can you do? Accept  now the call of God in Christ, confess your sin to God and turn to Him for forgiveness. And never fear death again.

Read: Genesis 5:21-24

 What stands out here and bites you on the nose? Enoch did not die. 'He was no more because God took him away.' Whoa!
Didn't I say that everyone dies, it is the only thing that is truly certain in life?  Yes I did...but there is an exception. Enoch.  Why did God take him? The text tells us, it was because Enoch walked with God. Let's spend a bit of time here because I think it is very important for us to understand and glean as much as we can from this godly man.

1. Did Enoch always walk with God?
     It seems that Enoch walked with God after a very   special event in his life occurred ...the birth of his son  Methuselah. 'And after he became the father of  Methuselah , Enoch walked with God 300 years'
        Did the responsibility of raising a son in such an evil time so convict him that he gave his life over to complete dependence upon God? We don't know, the text doesn't say. But don't    many parents with the birth of children decide it is time for church...for the good of the children?  And very often they themselves come to know the Lord as Savior as well.

2. In the Bible to 'walk with God' indicates a close, personal relationship and fellowship with the Living God. There was a special communion between Enoch and God, not because Enoch was sinless, but because  of God's calling upon his life and Enoch's response of     faith.

What does it mean to walk with God?

3. To walk with God involves
 1) A Conversion.
  Enoch was born a sinner to sinful parents  just like everyone else of his time. Something happened however to bring him to a place of repentance, of feeling sorry for his sin and turning to God for forgiveness.This something changed his life. What was it?  The work of the Holy Spirit called conversion. It was sparked, perhaps, by the birth of his son but the change was brought about by the work of the Holy Spirit.
    Matt. 18:3 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless you be converted and become as little children, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven'.

Convert from and to what?
    -From a life of sin to a life of godliness
    -From a future ending in death to a future with life.
    -From being an enemy of God to being  God's friend and   beloved child.
    -From judgment and condemnation for your sin  to  forgiveness, mercy and love for your faith in Christ    Jesus.

To walk with God involves
 2) Believing in God and diligently seeking Him.
     Heb. 11:5-6;  Ps. 105:4
    One who walks with God believes in him, looks for God wherever that may lead and continues to seek the face, the will of God every day of their life.

To walk with God involves
 3) Living a holy life as a testimony for God
    Enoch lived a holy life when most everyone around him did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. God is holy and those who walk with God must live holy lives. We don't know about Enoch's testimony here in Gen 5 but we find that out in Jude 14-15.
 
    Ungodly, ungodly, he says over and over again. Here is a man living among the ungodly but repelled by their acts and lifestyles. He called sin sin.

  I wonder what he would say if he came to us today? I am sure his message would not have changed...ungodly, ungodly. Ungodly is the single most appropriate word describing our time. And what was the end of those in Enoch's day? The Flood. Is there a similar judgment awaiting humanity today for their equally ungodly lives? Yes!. To walk with God means we live holy lives and give testimony, we tell others of the coming of Christ, that He will convict  and judge the world of sin.

To walk with God involves
 4) Persistence
      Enoch's walk with God lasted 300 years...that was taken in minute by minute steps without taking any detours or rest stops. It lasted his lifetime. And should last ours as well.

ILL: Matthew Henry said to walk with God 'Is to set God always before us and to act as  if we were always under God's watchful care. It is to make God's Word our rule and His glory our end in all our actions. It is to make it our constant care and endeavor in every thing to please God and nothing to offend him. It is to comply with his will, to concur with his designs and to be workers together with him.

What was Enoch's reward for his lifelong walk with God?

4. Enoch was no more,  for God took him away.

     Some see Enoch's pre-flood 'rapture' as a picture of the church being taken to heaven before God sends the Great Tribulation on the earth mentioned in 1 Thess 4.
 
    Some believe this was God's intended way to take people to glory had the Fall not happened.

     Some say that Enoch's walk with God was so precious, so intimate, so passionate that God chose to simply transfer him to a walk on a higher, heavenly plane.
 
    I believe it is a picture of what happens when the Believer dies...he is not for God takes him...through the valley of the shadow of death to the bright and morning star...Jesus our Lord.

Read: Genesis 5:25-27

     Methuselah means 'he dies' or a sending forth of a deluge.' Methuselah lived longer than any one and as he did his very name gave testimony of what God had planned for sinful mankind. The fact that he lived so long with this message showed God's patience with sinful mankind before acting in judgment for humanities sin.

Read: Genesis 5:28-32
 
    Lamech, not of Cains line but of Seths line, was tired and he saw the toil and burden of humanity around him as the result of the curse.  Lamech's naming his son Noah was an act of prayer to God for a deliverer to come to bring rest to the tired and weary godly ones. He had no idea that through Noah and his descendants the godly would hear Jesus say 'Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened and I will give you rest' (Matt. 11:28)

Application
     In closing, remember when I said that this genealogy was a family tree? I want to draw your attention to the word FAMILY. This is a genealogy, a list, a family tree of godly people. The most obvious thing is that they were all FAMILY, they were related to one another.

     Listen...godly parents taught their children about God, to follow Him, to worship Him and live for Him.
 All these people mentioned in this genealogy were believers and they were all members of the same family. That is awesome!

     While it is true that some children never followed in their parents footsteps, it seems that many did and for that we should praise God.

     Many Christians throughout history have had deep roots in godly families...Polycarp, Chrysostom, Augustine, John and Charles Wesley, Cotton Mather, William Carey, David Livingston, Elizabeth Elliot, Billy and Ruth Graham. All came from godly families.

     How about here? The Simpson, Driscoll, Miller, Nagel, Sculthorpe, Crawford, Whalen, Joyce...many others here this morning have believing parents and grandparents... am I right?

     How important then is it for us to take with utmost seriousness, the implications of how we live in front of our children and grandchildren?
 
    How much more accountable are we than we know.

     God thinks in the long term and we must as well.
 
     So, we work hard to invest in the faith and godliness of our children as if their lives depended on it for they do and not only their lives but lives for many generations after them.

Ps. 103:17-18