The Unbreakable Promises of God - Genesis 5:1-6:8

Genesis 5:1-6:8 The Unbreakable Promises of God INTRO I’ll open this mornings sermon with a question. What was God’s first promise in Scripture? Promise now…not Covenant. For there is a difference between the two— …..though they are very much the same. Covenant is an agreement between two parties that is based on promises and has a sign or seal of the covenant given to it. For instance,….next week we will be learning about the 1st Covenantal promise in the Bible and that is what….GOD made with Noah…the Noahic Covenant. The sign given for that covenant. The rainbow. A bit later in Genesis, we’ll hear about The Abrahamic Covenant,..the sign of that one is marked by…circumcision. Even the covenant of marriage between a man and a women, has this agreement, this promise between the two parties…sealed by….a wedding ring. SO,….Covenant is very much a promise whereas every promise made by God is not a covenant. Additionally, a promise of God’s does not need the word ‘promise' attached to it for it to be a promise. For EXAMPLE. God says “I will never leave you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:8, Hebrews 13:5). That’s a wonderful promise of God’s that does not have the word promise in it and furthermore, I would not say it to be a covenant. Similar for JESUS saying that He will return one day and take us home to be with Him forever. OR His promise to “build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18). Likewise the wonderful invitation promise of “Come to me….all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. found in…(Matthew 11:28) OR in (Matthew 6:33)“….seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things (every need of yours) will be added to you.” All of these,…are glorious promises of our God in Christ….but not covenants. SO, …….what would you say then is the first promise in the BIBLE? I believe it to be what follows His first commands. (Genesis 2:16-17) “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for (now here it is) for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” I hear that as a promise warning. SORT OF LIKE…“You touch that hot stove Judah, your gonna get burned…I could say “I promise you will.” But wouldn’t need say that to make it a sure word of mine. And if Judah were to reach out and touch that hot stove, ignoring my word…he would indeed be burned. Adam and Eve,….they reached out, ignored God’s Word, they took of the fruit they were told not to and-they-died,….just as God said they would. His promise wasn’t broken. They died spiritually in their intimate relationship with God and they would have died physically had not a type of covering for their sin taken place by the sacrifice of an animal to make clothing to cover their nakedness……..Foreshadowing a substitutionary atonement the Mosaic law under the Old Covenant instituted….and CHRIST ultimately fulfilled in His body that was sacrificed. They, Adam and Eve,..died….just as God said they would. God’s promise wasn’t broken. The next unbreakable promise in God’s Word comes shortly after when He is rendering the curses due to sin. When He addresses the serpent….what does He promise? (Genesis 3:15) “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Did you catch that? Ben spoke to this a couple weeks back. GOD saying to the serpent…. “The offspring of the woman, a man born of a woman,.. will bruise your head…an ultimate death blow…okay…He shall bruise your head - serpent…and you shall bruise his heel. NOT,…an ultimate death blow,…though it is speaking of the crucification of Jesus Christ carried out by the works of satan through lawless men. Bruise his heel…JESUS suffered the death and cruelty of crucifixion which served the purposes of God who,…through Jesus Christ,… forever defeated satan, sin and death by raising him, HIM JESUS, from the grave being that it was not possible for him to be held by death,…for JESUS fulfilled all righteousness.…meaning - death has NO hold on Him. (1 Corinthians 15:56). “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” JESUS lived a sinless life, He fulfilled all the righteous requirements of God’s Law rendering sin powerless over him and death void of strength to keep JESUS in the grave. The next unbreakable promise of God,….is His Word that what has gone wrong will be made right. That satan, sin and death will be done away with FOREVER. The first proclamation of good news of salvation. Protoevangelium. The fist proclamation of the gospel message of Jesus Christ. God’s unbreakable promise to His image bearers when they first sinned. And like all of GOD’S promises, they-are-un-breakable. Which is the TRUTH I aim to have forever sealed in your mind and upon your heart together with me this morning. The Unbreakable promises of God in Christ Jesus our Lord Using the analogy of how a rock hard diamond is formed out of coal over long periods of time while under intense pressure and heat. In contrast, we’ll see how the unbreakable promises of God in Christ who is our Rock… ‘withstand’ the test of TIME and the intense,….pressure and heat test,….of EVIL. The unbreakable promises of God in Christ Jesus our Lord …Point # 1 Withstand the test of time. BODY 1) FIRST POINT - (Genesis 5:1-32). Withstand the Test of Time God’s promises withstand the test of TIME. Looking at all of chapter 5. (Verses 1-32) The bulk of which is the genealogy from Adam to Noah,…the line through which the promised offspring - fulfilled in Christ - would come through to bruise the head of the serpent…to defeat satan. The opening two verses are a brief recap of the creation of man and bear repeating since….God repeats it. So let’s start there to hear once again the crystal clear open statement of truth from God’s Word. (verse 1-2) read From verse 3 to 32 now,…is a methodical break down of a specific man by name, the age he was when he had his first son and the name he gave them, and how many years he lived before he died after having other sons and daughters. And this sequence repeats then for the son whose name is given and on it goes all…the way to Noah. QUESTION - Who is to say that Eve didn’t think that God’s promise, of the “offspring of the woman to bruise the serpent’s head” who’s to say she wasn’t thinking it to be fulfilled in her lifetime? We even get hints of this in (Genesis 4:1). “…Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” Eve gave birth to the first child…the first offspring of a woman by the help of the Lord. 'Here is the help.’ The serpent’s head is going to be crushed by my offspring. “The offspring has arrived….In your face serpent…It’s over! Your time is short!” NOT SO, Cain turns out to be….a murderer. NOT GOOD. Not the one to bruise his head…rather more aligned with his head in the way of thinking and acting. How much time then?…HOW much time lapses before the promise one does come? This had to be a question circulating during this time as they shared the story over and over again with family….family that continued to be added to. They were fruitful and multiplied. More offspring came. Which one will bruise the serpents head and restore us to that garden place we have heard so much about? I see these conversations taking place… these questions being asked. I mean….Why wouldn’t they? NOW, to gain some perspective on what this time was and what it looked like….I did some math. Fortunately it was basic addition. I added up the age each man given at the time they first “fathered a son in their own likeness.” Adam was 130 when he fathered Seth…Seth lived 105 years at the time he fathered Enosh…and it continues. I believe that to be an accurate way to get a number for the years from the time of the curse….to the time of Noah. That number being - 1,556 years. 1,556 years since Adam to Noah. Since the first man was made to when Noah fathered his three sons. Now consider, within this 1,556 years….Adam lived a total of 930 years of it, Seth 912 years from the time Adam was 130, Enosh 905 from the time Seth was 105….point being….THE Majority of the offspring of Adam and Eve, are all still living within this 1,556 expanse of time when the average age of existence is somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 years… give or take a century. So time is passing…well over 1,500 years and counting….offspring are being born of woman over and over again. The serpent’s head is yet to be bruised. Do you think there were those wondering…. “Has God forgotten His promise?” Can you sense there must have been, by some, this waiting on God’s promise to be fulfilled. We’ll see evidence of this in the genealogy given in chapter 5 here. First off, though….Who do you think was the first to wait? I believe it to be God (Romans 3:23-25). Give us this insight….speaking of “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe….who are all justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood (the blood of Jesus), to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine, (now here it is Saints), because in His divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” Forbearance - a holding back, a delaying, a restraint. A restraint to what? A restraint to kill Adam and Eve who sinned against them and every sinner following them on the spot who God would be just in doing so. In His divine forbearance, HE withheld that just immediate punishment according to the time when Christ would come on the scene and fulfill His promise to bruise the serpent’s head… DEFEAT satan, sin and death. And even now God is still, waiting the promised second coming of Christ…God is still… “patient towards us, not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient towards us…desiring that everyone of His lost sheep would reach repentance” and thereby be safely and forever returned to Him. (2 Peter 3:9) God was the fist the wait. And we are to wait patiently along with Him on His unbreakable promises through the test of time. And there are 3 gems within this genealogy that I see to be helpful in us doing so. The FIRST is about a man who was so tight with God, (as Nathan stated it last week)….so tight with God that God just…..took him. Enoch didn’t die. God just took him. (Genesis 5:24) “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” MAN…. “God,…could that be my exit…could that be my exit from earth to heaven?” “I want to be that close to you that perhaps, in your good pleasure you decide to just take me to be with you in heaven.” What does Enoch show us? Of greatest importance, we know that He had saving faith. (Hebrews 11:5-6) tell us that “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever (now this is very important about faith…so pay attention)…without faith it is impossible to please Him (him God) for whoever would draw near to God…..must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” There is no walking with God without saving faith present. Even in the Old Testament. From the time humans first walked the face of the earth….faith was necessary for them to be accepted by God. And genuine faith commended by God OR pleasing to Him is one that believes that God exists and that He rewards those who - seek him. Isn’t that reminiscent of a promise of God’s? (1 Chronicles 28:9) “…know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If…(promise indicator) ‘IF’, If you seek him, he will-be-found-by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.”…… for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Genuine saving faith in action that is commend by God and necessary to draw near and walk with God….as Enoch did. To be tight with God whereby great help comes from Him to patiently wait the test of time upon His unbreakable promises. Notice also fun numeric observations that I believe carry insight. How many years did Enoch live before God took him? (Verse 23) - 365 years. How many days in a year? 365 days in a year. Enoch walked with God…365 years.. there are 365 days in a year. What can we glean from that? WALKING (which encompasses a sweet relationship between you and God that involves talking and listening - Prayer/ Meditation….and active reading of His Word. Active meaning you ask for His help to understand His Word and for His help that it would manifest in your life through obedience to it). That is walking with God….Which is to be daily,..ongoing,..continual. NOT something you step into here or there. To be tight with God means you are walking with Him every waking hour of every day. If you are not walking with God then the only thing that will restore you to being so is repentance. If you are not walking with God then you are walking away from God. I see no middle ground here and nor does the Bible. That’s why Martin Luther rightly ascribed the Christian life as one that is practicing repentance. Whenever it’s made known to you that you are not walking ‘with’… ‘with’ GOD, according to His will, doing that which is pleasing in His sight,… “fulfilling His purposes in your life” (Psalm 57:2)…when it is made known to you that you have veered…departed from that…then repentance is necessary. That’s why the Christian life balances this paradox,…if you will,…of feeling like a maggot, less then nothing,…having great disdain for your sinfulness,….while at the same time,….being filled with joy and wonder that Christ is being formed in you, that you are a child of God, sanctified by His Word and the work of the Holy Spirit in your life, forever secure in Christ who laid down His life for you that you may be a fellow heir with Him for all eternity whom (Romans 8:19-22) “the whole creation is waiting with eager longing,… groaning together with pains of child birth, waiting to be set free from it’s bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God….the revealing of the sons of God”….of whom you, church, whom you are in CHRIST. Is this not what we see balanced with PAUL in (Romans 7:16-25). “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want,…I agree with the law, that it (the law) that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right,….but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law…that when I want to do right,…evil lies close at hand. (There is that tension right?) For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Oh Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (The answer - pulling on the other end to keep proper tension in balance). The answer….Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!…” Aagh disdain, I dispise myself, “Oh wretched man that I am…who can deliver me from the body of death?” Do you feel his angst against himself? This is a healthy inward emotion to your own sinfulness. It ought to be felt…while, while…what does Paul then bring into the space of self loathing from the question he poses of “who can deliver me from this body of death?” “I thank Jesus Christ my Lord…” who then Paul goes onto say in (Romans 8) has set him free, no longer condemned but set free to set his mind on that which is life and peace…in other words, to walk with God according to the Spirit of Christ who dwells in him. And so it is with every Christian. YEA….this body…me Seth…you my fellow Christian…brother and sister in CHRIST “although our body is dead because of sin…..(as we feel it to be)….the Spirit of Christ who dwells in us is life because of righteousness.…His righteousness,..not ours. And so, If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Do you see…or should I say rather…do you feel that paradox? Loath my sinfulness while simultaneously rejoice in the life of Christ that dwells in me by His Spirit that assures me of every promise of God. A flourishing christian keeps this balance in proper tension. Leaning heavily to either direction will result in either a self…righteous…lofty-minded Christian, OR a spiritually paralyzed, inept, miserable Christian…Neither of which are welcomed company to be around. May we walk with God according to the Spirit of Christ who dwells in us with proper balance of that Christian paradox. (Luke 18:13) Balance that tension to be like the tax collector “… standing far off, who would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” Aaagh! BALANCED WITH … The great delight and celebration of God seen in King David who was (2 Samuel 6:16) “Leaping….LEAPING and DANCING before the Lord” May we have such a heart that have both dwelling together whereby great help comes to patiently wait the test of time upon His unbreakable promises. The second diamond nugget shining through as a help to us is another gem of faith seen a Lamech. For look at what Lamech says about the son born to him. (Genesis 5:29) Lamech “…. called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one….this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.” “…this one…” Does this not portray that Lamech had a hope. Hope is alive in Lamech who names His son on the very hope He had in God’s promise made to his ancestor over 1,500 years ago. The promise of God to make things right. Is that not FAITH. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not yet seen.” (Hebrews 11:1). I see substance there in Lamech…..I see FAITH. Glorious faith. The preservation of FAITH on the earth. God is preserving a remnant of His own throughout all time. By God’s grace, He preserves a FAITHFUL few among the many. He did then and He is doing so now. He promises so. Are you of the few? The last diamond sparkle,…shining through assuring us that God’s unbreakable promises will withstand the test of time is another numeric play. In God’s Sovereignty, look how God answers back to the boast made by the Lamech from the line of Cain. Do you remember him from chapter 4? His great, great, great grandfather CAIN…murdered his own brother ABEL. On this trajectory of death,…Lamech, in chapter 4, from the line of Cain,…makes this boast to his wives. “…..Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is….seventy-sevenfold.” 7…7 How many years did Lamech from the line of Seth live? Here in chapter 5….(verse 31) 777 The prior Lamech’s life represented death while the Lamech here in (verses 28-31) exhibiting faith represent life. It’s as if God is answering back to that boast made…. “My promises will completely be completed.” They are unbreakable…they will be fulfilled at the proper time. God’s time… no sooner….no later. The unbreakable promises of God in Christ withstand the test of TIME….and the intense,….pressure and heat test,….of EVIL. Our second point….as we move into chapter 6 of Genesis. 2) SECOND POINT (Genesis 6:1-7) - Withstand the test of Evil God’s promises withstand the test of evil Evil that is intense…Opposing pressure of Wickedness ever increasing. For look at (verse 5) of chapter 6 in the midst of the first 7 verses of this chapter that speak of this horrific state of the world. “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” A little over 1,500 years has lapsed and aside from some remnant faith preserved through that time, what does God who “looks upon the heart of man..and not the outward appearance”. What does He have to say about man? “…every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually..” It doesn’t get any darker or grievous in departure from how God made things to be at the beginning. “Man multiplies on the face of the earth” as (Verse 1) states. And this is where they arrived. NOW I find it important to clarify something here. Two different descriptions are given to man in these first 7 verses of chapter 6 that may cause confusion. They are: “Sons of God” and “Nephilim” “Sons of God”. Should simply be understood as image bearers made in the likeness of God. Glancing back to the beginning of chapter 5…. (verse 1) “…When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God….he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.” Bump a touch ahead to (verse 3) “When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.” See how this “made in the likeness of God”…. “fathered a son in his own likeness”, “after his image”… “named them”….see how this carries on starting from God..to Adam…then from Adam to Seth…and so on. In that manner of speaking,…we are all Sons of God…made in the likeness of God, after his image. This should mean nothing more,….in that context. Now, adopted son’s and daughter’s of God in CHRIST, filled with His Spirit, United to Him by Faith is a whole-other-category on it’s own,..don’t confuse one with the other. “Sons of God” here,…is speaking of being made in the image of God. And during these days, on the earth there were the Nephilim. None other than Giants or BIG…men which is what that word ‘Nephilim’…translated is. GIANTS. Not involving any angelic being…. “For in the resurrection…..As Jesus stated in (Matthew 22:30, Mark 12:25) they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” In other words - sexual intercourse is not something taking place in heaven nor of interest to angelic beings whether fallen or not. Sex is certainly leveraged by fallen angels with perversion and distortion to ruin the lives of men and women made in the image of God. But nothing more than that. SO, I understand the “Sons of God and the Nephilim to be none other than men whose every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually..” and those who were the Nephilim, or GIANTS in the land, had children who were likewise large…and were men of renown who by their sure size dominance over others, likely ruled as their evil hearts pleased. For consider….This is all before God’s law was established. No form of government was provided to man when they were driven out of the garden by God. Scripture provides no indication of such. SO,…how did ruling hierarchy get determined? Before advanced military weapons were made, when evil abounds, how do you think hierarchy is established in a society? Especially when the thoughts of man’s heart were only evil continually. BRUTE-PHYSICAL-STRENGTH. I believe the biggest of the men…were likely the ones to run things. Giants ruled by mere force. TAKE what they want when they want. Expressions of this are recorded in scripture…(verse 2) To be precise. “..the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.” Took…any…any they chose. They saw the daughter’s of men were attractive. And they take whomever as they please. No hint of courtship taking place here. Chivalry is not dead…it wasn’t even born yet. NOBLE qualities of honor, courtesy, justice and a readiness to help the weak were not in existence. SINFUL man governing themselves in the absence of God’s Law and the birth of Christianity is nothing short than barbaric. This has nothing to do with man’s intellectual ability and skill. We already have seen great skill and ability from the early stages of creation…..but that doesn’t determine ones character of heart. We saw this with Lamech and his boasting statements about killing a man and who also…took wives…similar to what we read here. These men are not courting a woman’s hand in marriage. No, they are taking whom they please with absolute disregard for human rights. Think about this. What does a bouncer at a bar look like? OR, and example for the kids…what does a security guard who doesn’t need a side arm? Not like me? Usually someone with Tim Wayda or Nathan Lundgren’s height and carries a Dehart’s bulkiness. Someone who looks like Dwaine Johnson - The ROCK. That guy is monstrous. OR….here is one. Picture Andre the Giant and Dear Wesley in hand to hand combat. Do you remember that scene in Princess Bride? The head circumference discrepancy seen when Wesley has him in a choke hold is comical in itself. IN REAL LIFE….my money is on Andre the Giant to defeat Wesley…and quite easily I might add. YES, David beat the Giant Goliath but only by the help of The Lord. SO, these men of renown, doing as they please with only evil thoughts and intentions of the heart continually,….ought to help paint a picture of the oppression and darkness of these days in which God,…looking upon it all is so grieved in the heart by it that HE decides to wipe the slate clean.. ….ANIMALS and all…who are not the problem…we are…sinful man…we are the problem…but sadly, they, the animals suffer because of us. This begs the question. Will God’s promise come through in the end in the face of such intense evil? (Verse 7) God’s Grace shines through - read Though God says in (verse 3) after seeing what has become of man on the face of the earth “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” His promise remains alive, unbreakable. For “Noah finds favor in the eyes of God.” A remnant of Faith is preserved on the earth through whom God shows himself faithful to fulfill His promise made at the beginning and every promise made since. His promises are unbreakable. CONCLUSION They ALWAYS COMES THROUGH IN THE END. God’s Grace shines through. And unlike a rock hard diamond forged over time through intense pressure and heat that itself can easily be shattered by the forceful impact of a hammer. THE unbreakable promises of God in Christ Jesus our Lord that withstand the test of TIME and the intense,….pressure and heat test,….of EVIL,…will shatter any forceful blow made against it. (Luke 20:18). A TRUTH, secured by the blood of JESUS, we can rest upon. - PRAY “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” “Seek…and you will find” “Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven” Ready Lord. I believe it’s time to cash in on this promise of yours. COMMUNION Promise to return. BENEDICTION Joshua 21:43-45 2 Corinthians 1:20