OPEN: The story’s told of an old Scottish minister who was reading from the opening chapter of Matthew. He started reading, "Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judah…"
Then it suddenly occurred to him how long this list was and, not certain he wanted to read all of that, he looked up from his text and said “and they kept on begetting one another all the way down this page and halfway into the next.”
About a month ago or so, I was in a meeting with some of the staff and one of the young men said that he had determined to read the whole Bible through, but he didn’t really want to read the "boring parts".
I explained to him that there weren’t really any boring parts of Scripture. All it took was a little studying and even the dryest parts of the Bible would come alive. To prove it I challenged him to give him the boringest passages he could think of and I would preach a series of sermons using those texts.
Today’s sermon is the first of three based on the boringest parts of Scripture he could think of.
As I was growing up I was led to believe that the Bible was a boring book. I didn’t get that impression from my church or my family, but my hometown was a college community, and there were many people there who held that opinion.
In fact this is such a widely held belief (that the Bible is boring) that it’s one of the main reasons many folks don’t read it.
And it was one of the reasons I hadn’t read it during my youth either. When I went to Purdue University, I finally decided I should read the Bible all the way through. I figured “Hey, since I want to be a preacher I really ought to read this thing”
So, before I began to read I made a deal with God. I told Him "I’ll read everything but the prophecy, the poetry and the ’who begat who’s’." (Of all the boring parts of Scripture I could think of… these had to be the boringest I could imagine).
So, for the next few months I made my way through the history portions of Scripture… and guess what? Far from being boring, these stories were powerful and fascinating. I could actually visualize the people that were described in those pages. I could see them living the lives they lived, making the choices they made and making the mistakes they made.
ILLUS: Years later I remember reading the novel Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. I so liked the book that when I noticed an article by one scholar on that book it caught my attention. This scholar said “Ivanhoe” was considered one of the first truly modern novels.
But long before Sir Walter Scott set pen to paper the Bible was THE great historical novel of the ages. It’s that well written and that powerful in its message.
So (anyway) here we are in one of the boringest parts of the Bible I could think of - the "who begat whos" - and guess what??? Even this isn’t boring.
Now granted it’s not a page-turner like some of the exciting stories such as David and Goliath or Daniel in the Lion’s Den. BUT there’s still some intriguing things to learn here - it’s just a little more subtle in how it tells its story.
The First thing to notice is found in Genesis 5:1-3
“This is the written account of Adam’s line.
When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them ’man.’
When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.”
Notice it says Adam was made “in the likeness of God”
BUT when Adam had a son, his son was “in (Adam’s) likeness, in his own image” in vs. 3
Adam had been the perfect man, created in the image of God. But when he and Eve sinned, they tore a hole in the fabric of that perfection. Now that they had children, those children became like them. They had the same strengths and weaknesses Adam/Eve now had.
Adam’s descendents still bore the image of God in their lives, but it had become warped beneath the sin that Adam had committed. The most obvious example of that was his 1st born son.
Do you remember who that 1st born son was? (Cain)
And do you remember what Cain is known for? (he murdered his brother)
Cain was the very first child of Adam and Eve, and he showed just how warped people could be who were in the likeness of Adam.
Now, we get the impression that Seth was a better son than Cain had been but even he was ONLY in the image of his earthly father.
And things didn’t get any better as time progressed. By the time of Noah, the Bible tells us that:
“The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” Genesis 6:5
And things haven’t changed that much over several 1000 years. Romans 3:23 tells us “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
And Romans also tells us that this sin has a price"
"The wages of sin is death…” Romans 6:23
And that’s exactly the lesson Genesis 5 drives home to us. Again and again Genesis 5 tells us about a father begetting a son… and he dies!
You see it in verse 5, 8,11,14,17,20,27,31
This man died… and that man died… and that man over there died.
Eight times in Genesis 5, God tolls the bell of death.
The descendents of Adam were all mortal and God repeatedly tells us they all died.
And so shall we - because the wages of sin is death. Mankind tries to avoid it, tries to stave it off… but we’re all going to die.
ILLUS: Tony Evans observes that funerals used to be solemn but crude affairs. The dead were placed in a wooden box and lowered by ropes into a 6 foot deep hole.
Nowadays, it is a far more stylish arrangement. The funeral home is an elegant mansion. The casket is no longer a wooden box but a polished bronze bed with cushions. Makeup artists that can make you look better in death than you ever did in life.
A whole bunch of people show up to take a look at you and honor you with their presence. A preacher gets up and says all kinds of nice things about you.
Then when the ceremony is over, you get to ride in a limousine down streets where police stop traffic for you and you run through red lights. Cars on the other side of the road pull over, just because you’re coming.
Then they pull into the cemetery and instead of crude ropes, they lower your body into the grave using silver toned winches.
It’s all very beautiful, tasteful, elegant.
Then Tony Evans paused: "But you know (he says) dead is still dead."
We will all die a physical death - because the wages of sin is death.
Well now… since we’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God
AND since the wages of sin is death, we’re pretty much all doomed – don’t you think?
Makes you wonder: did God have a plan to deal with this tragedy?
Well did He?
Of course He did, and it’s revealed right here in Genesis 5.
There are nine men mentioned here in this genealogy
Adam - Seth - Enosh - Kenan - Mahalalel - Jared - Enoch - Methuselah - Lamech - Noah.
According to Ray Stedman - each of their names had a special meaning:
Adam meant Man
Seth means appointed
Enosh means mortal
Kenan is sorrow
Mahalalel = the blessed God
Jared means shall come down
Enoch means - teaching
Methuselah declares his death shall bring
Lamech means the despairing –
And Noah means rest or comfort!
You put that all together and this is the message you get:
Man appointed mortal sorrow (man is destined to die)
The blessed God shall come down teaching
His death shall bring the despairing rest or comfort.
(from a sermon by Ray Stedman on Genesis 5)
Isn’t that interesting?
And that’s from one of the "boring" parts of Scripture!
Several times throughout the Old Testament, God declared that His intention was to heal mankind of the damage that sin had caused us. And in Isaiah 53, He made it clear that this healing would come through the death of someone who would take our punishment for us.
“… he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:5-6
So WE had a problem (called sin).
God had a plan (called a Savior).
God came down teaching us how to live the life He wanted us to have.
And then He died so that we who despair could have His rest.
But that wasn’t all there was to the message in Genesis 5.
Even though the repeated message in that chapter was "this man died… and that man died… and the other man died."
Even though that theme was repeated 8 separate times, there was one man who didn’t die.
Do you remember who that was?
That’s right, his name was Enoch.
In verse 24 we’re told "Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away."
Hebrews 11:5 explains it further:
"By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God."
A little girl heard this story in Sunday School and explained it this way to her mother: "Enoch used to take long walks with God. One day he walked so far that God said to him, ’It’s too far to go back; so why don’t you come on home with me.’"
Now, I want you to notice that it doesn’t say that Enoch walked “a good life”. He didn’t go home with God because he walked a "moral" life. Now I’m sure that he did do those things (you can’t walk with God for very long without some of it rubbing off on you).
But Enoch didn’t impress God because he lived a moral life.
He didn’t get to go home with God because he kept all the rules.
He cheated death because he WALKED with God.
Too often people believe that God will be impressed with them if they follow all the rules. They believe that if they do enough good things it will balance out all the bad they’ve done. And thus, when their time comes to face God, they’ll walk up to the pearly gates, tip their hat to God, and stroll right on in - because they’ll have EARNED their place in heaven. They DESERVE their spot in glory.
But the Bible repeatedly points out it doesn’t work that way.
Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us "…it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no-one can boast.”
You can’t earn it, you don’t deserve it.
You’ll never be good enough.
You can’t be good enough to be good enough to get into heaven.
To get to heaven you’ve got to walk with God.
If you don’t walk with God… you aren’t going home with Him.
And God tells us we can have that relationship with Him when we become Christians.
When we believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God
When we decide to turn away from our self-centered way of living
When we decide to make Him the Lord and owner of our lives
When we allow ourselves to be buried in the waters of Christian baptism
AND rise up to WALK in newness of life with God.
Then we become children of the most High God
NOT because we’re righteous… but because HE is.
And since He is righteous, we’ve decided to walk with Him in the hopes that some of His goodness will rub off on us.
The last message from Genesis 5 is this: God wants to give us rest.
That’s what Noah’s name meant.
And that’s what Jesus promised us as well
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28
God’s promises us rest, because God He wants to give us His blessings and help us to deal with the stress and frustrations of this life in His way..
In his book “50 Days Of Heaven” Randy Alcorn (p.61) explains that’s part of God’s plan for us.
Alcorn says that words beginning with “RE” (like “rest”) show up a lot in Scripture.
He wants us to Return to Him
He wants to Reconcile us
Redeem us
Restore us
Recover us
Renew us
Regenerate us
And Resurrect us.
Alcorn noted: “Each of these biblical words begins with the re- prefix, suggesting a return to an original condition that was ruined or lost. For example, redemption means to buy back what was formerly owned. Similarly, reconciliation means the restoration or re-establishment of a prior friendship or unity. Renewal means to make new again, restoring an original state. Resurrection means becoming physically alive again, after death.
God wants to “RE” us.
God wants to restore us, so that we can have His kind of rest from our anxieties and stress
But the story of Noah tells us something else:
In order to get God’s rest we need to make a decision
Through Noah, God wanted to offer comfort to the people of that day. But the only way for those people to receive what God offered was for them to make a decision. They had to decide to leave the life they’d always known.
During all the time that Noah was building the Ark, he preached to the people of his day begging them to make the decision to leave the things of this world behind and take refuge on God’s ship of grace.
Noah’s message was: make a decision.
Make a choice.
Decide to accept God’s free offer to escape judgment.
But everyone refused… and then they died.
II Peter tells us “…by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” II Peter 3:5-7
There’s another judgment coming
Not by water this time… but by fire.
So the question God asks is this
Will you make a decision?
Will you make a choice?
Will you decide to accept His free offer to escape the judgment of your sins?
CLOSE: The story’s told of an ambitious university student was talking with his uncle.
His uncle asked him, " Joe tell me – what do you plan to do after you graduate from college."
And Joe said "Oh, I guess I’ll start my career,".
"That sounds prudent," said the uncle. "What then?"
"I guess," said Joe, "I’ll get married and have a family."
"That’s wonderful," said the old man. "What then?"
"Well," replied Joe, "I guess I’ll work hard at my job and make my fortune."
"Good for you," said the uncle. "What then?"
"Then," said Joe, "I’ll buy a country home and retire."
"That sounds inviting," said the uncle. "What then?"
"Well, I suppose," said Joe, "that one day I’ll die."
"That’s true," said the uncle. "What then?"
