Intro:
1. Tozer, "The rise of a new religious spirit in recent years is marked by disturbing similarities to that earlier "revival" under Constantine.
Now as then a quasi-Christianity is achieving acceptance by compromise. It is dickering with the unregenerate world for acceptance and, as someone said recently, it is offering Christ at bargain prices to win customers.
The total result is a conglomerate religious mess that cannot but make the reverent Christian sick in his heart....
The sum of all this is that religion today is not transforming the people; rather it is being transformed by the people. It is not raising the moral level of society; it is descending to society's own level and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory because society is smilingly accepting its surrender."
2. The godly line of Seth is now intermingling with the ungodly line of Cain. If Satan cannot stop the seed-line by it's Demise, then maybe he can destroy it through Compromise.
3. The High Cost of Compromise.
Trans: 6:1-7
Carson, "People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord.
We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith.
We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.
I. FIRST, IT COST THEM THEIR SANC-TI-TY. 6:1-2
Sanctity - "The condition of being considered sacred or holy, and therefore entitled to respect and reverence."
A. There was a Population Explosion. v.1
Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them - why?
1. First, because people lived longer in those days - hundreds of years! Obviously if you live that long you can have more children.
IF - a couple have just 4 kids, and lived to see his kids, have kids, within 5 generations, his family would number 96 people. In 10 generations, the population would jump to 3,070. In 20 generations, the population would soar to 3 mil, 120 thousands, and in 30 generations, you would have 3 billion, 220 mil people.
The population in Noah's day, like ours, was in the billions...
2. Add to this polygamy and immorality [sex outside of marriage] and you have a population explosion.
Thought: From the Flood, which reduced the population to just 8 people with a very limited life expectancy - it took until 1876 to reach the 1 billion mark; But, it only took from 1867 to 1935, less then 100 years to reach 2 billion; and from 1935 to 1965 to reach over 6 billion. It is estimated that by 2012 we will reach the 7 billion mark.
Trans: This vast population was divided between the Godly and the Ungodly. The godly line of Seth and the ungodly line of Cain were to remain separated - distinct. They were not to intermarry or intermingle with their beliefs.
This is an abiding principle - Israel was to be distinct from the rest of the world:
"3 "Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. 4 "For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you." Deuteronomy 7:3-4
The same is true of the church - we are to be separated from the world of unbelievers.
"A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband is dead, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord." 1 Corinthians 7:39 (NASB)
"14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. 17 "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you." 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 (NASB)
The Bible warns us, "Be not conformed to this world" (Rom.12:2), but Satan seeks to make the things of this world attractive.
Many of us remember the Beatles song, "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds"
"Picture yourself on a train in a station
With plas-ti-cine porters with looking glass ties
Suddenly someone is there at the turn-stile,
The girl with ka-leid-o-scope eyes
Lucy in the sky with diamonds"
Producer George Martin, for over 9 months, the super group worked on the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. When finally released on June 1, 1967, the album was a giant step into the surreal, turning the music world upside down and inside out.
It remained on the U.S. best-seller charts for an amazing 113 weeks.
Of the many outstanding cuts on the album, the psy-che-delic "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" stands out. Written by John Lennon, it depicts an apparent LSD trip with lavish verbal imagery. The song was created during a time the Beatles were experimenting with LSD and studying the works of the drug's major proponent, Timothy Leary.
Many felt the song title's initials stood for LSD, but John claimed the song was inspired by a crayon drawing made by his four-year-old son, Julian. He denied any drug references until the day he died.
However, more than 35 years later, Paul McCartney finally admitted the song was about LSD. The Beatles knew that admitting the truth would restrict the album's airplay, thus affecting sales.
Many listeners recognized this as a hal-lu-ci-nation in poetic form. Everything is bright and sparkling, from the porters' mirrored ties to the girl's flashing eyes. This has always been the allure of psychedelic drugs: They will blow your mind; you will see the world as you've never seen it before; your senses will be enhanced.
People on LSD and similar drugs have "Trips." They have memorable experiences that are vivid and exciting and sometimes frightening. Decades after the acid-washed sixties, there are many former drug users who still find it difficult to focus on reality.
Reality is the key. Drugs promise an escape from reality, and they temporarily deliver. Take a drug trip, and for a time, you can forget about doing your homework, paying your mortgage, or patching up a rocky relationship. But does that really help you?
Satan wants to take us away from the real world, from consequences of sin, and from realizing this life is preparation for eternity. Christianity alone allows us to see the world as it really is - a lie, a Satanic deception.
Leupold, "Here now it the natural sequence of thought - after the Cainites, were observed to be going, in one definite direction [and that direction away from God] in their development; and the Sethites, too, were seen to be going in an entirely different direction - these two streams of mankind, were strictly keeping themselves apart from each other. This was because they were so utterly divergent in character, but now the two streams begin to commingle."
B. Therefore you have the Problem of Eradication. 2
that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose
1. The Consensus - the majority identify the "sons of God" as fallen angels.
I DO NOT FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:
The term "sons of God" is not just used of Angels as some would have us to believe.
a. It is used of Adam - Lu. 3:38...
b.It is used of Angels (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7) but never of fallen angels. Always of unfallen angels unless our passage is the exception...
c.The concept of the godly being called "sons of God" is not odd at all:
"I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' And to the south, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth, Isaiah 43:6 (NASB)
"For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." Romans 8:14 (NASB)
d. The context - is the establishment of the godly line. If you come to this passage with no preconceived ideas, you would never think of these "sons of God" as angels. Angels are not mentioned or even hinted at in the passage or its context.
2. Some say the giants that are produced by this union proves that the "sons of God" are angels intermingling with human woman. They say why would just godly men and ungodly woman produce giants!
a. According to Leupold the giants are not grammatically linked. "Note now the simple fact that v.4 does not follow v. 2...Verse 4 begins without a conjunction. It does not try to show what manner of persons the children of the mis-alliance of v. 2 were...But v. 4 speaks of another class of ungodly men of olden times, setting the noun "nephilim" first by way of emphasis to make the new more prominent."
b. The word nephilim is "From a root word meaning "to fall;" i.e., to fall upon others, because they were men of strength. Evidently they were in the earth before the marriages of Gen. 6:2, and were not the offspring of those marriages who became mighty men."
c. Also the same word is used in Num. 13:33, this is after the flood, so are we to assume fallen angels cohabited with woman to produce these?
d. The word is best translated nephilim coming from a root "to fall upon." It can refer to an attack (Josh.11:7), and likely has the idea of someone violently attacking someone (Gen. 6:11,13).
3. Some use 2 Pet. 2:4-6 and Jude 6-7 to support the view that the "sons of God" are fallen angels who had sexual relationships with woman. But those passage can simple be referring to the original fall of Lucifer and his angels.
CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:
(1) It says that they "took wives" but Jesus said that angels do not marry (Mt. 22:30).
(2) The judgment is on man - not one word about angels being judged in the Flood.
(3) The view that the "sons of God" being angels is widely held today, but the view that it refers to the godly line of Seth was held by such men as Martin Luther; John Calvin; Augustine; etc.
McShane, "It is not easy for some of us to believe that sexless spirits would lust after women and that they would vacate heaven in order to gratify their passion. It takes some stretch of imagination to conceive that bodiless beings could be plagued with fleshly lusts.
Is it not strange that it took almost 1000 years for them to behold the beauty of women? Why did they not take hold of Eve, for they witnessed her creation, and she must have been the most beautiful of all women? Are we to think that their heavenly abode meant so little to them as to leave it to become subjects of the limitation of a cursed earth?
Wiersbee, "Satan is doing his utmost to keep the promised Redeemer from being born. This was Satan's purpose throughout all the OT history. After all, he didn't want to have his head crushed, by the coming Savior.
Satan's plan for defeating Gods purpose in Noah's day, was to entice the godly line of Seth ["sons of God"] to mix with the ungodly line of Cain ["daughters of men"] and thus abandon their devotion to the Lord."
2. The Focus - "saw...were beautiful"
They were focused on the external and temporal and thus had neglected that which is internal and eternal.
We always get in trouble when we focus on the wrong thing!
"16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NASB) Heb. 12:2
The key is to focus on Christ and the things of God (Col.3:1-4).
On November 15, 1993, 71-year-old Dr. Tom Amberry stepped up to the line in a local gymnasium and sunk 2,750 free throws in a row. He walked away without a miss—they were closing the gym and asked him to leave.
This amazing feat, which took 12 hours to accomplish, was witnessed by 10 people who submitted sworn affidavits to the Guinness Book of Records. The record was accepted by Guinness and he is now listed as the greatest free throw shooter of all time.
Dr. Tom, at age 81, coaches college and high school players and even the Chicago Bulls professional basketball players. He has had "shoot outs" against NBA players and has never lost. He has appeared on many local and national TV shows including "David Letterman" and "NBC Nightly News."
So, what's his secret? Dr. Tom said, "Focus and concentration, when I'm shooting a free throw, I don't think of anything else. I am 100% positive I will make the basket. Never have a negative thought on the free throw line."
The problem with Noah's generation is the same as our generation - a lack of focus upon that which is right.
3. The Exodus - they intermarried.
Has not much of the church intermarried with the world?
Stowell, "All across North America, countless couples divorce, and in doing so, have now elevated statistics for "Christian divorce" to a level almost equal with non-Christians. Polls reveal so-called "social drinking" is about the same with "Christians" and that of unbelievers."
One survey found, "Christian thinking and non-christian thinking is virtually the same! Both believe in the need to thing well of self; live for the present, with little or no regard for eternal things; living for pleasure; glorifying man's choice; seeking revenge instead of forgiveness; a focus on getting ahead rather than giving to others;"
When we can no longer tell the Christian from the non-christian something is drastically wrong. It cost our Sanc-ti-ty, we are no longer considered - holy, different, godly...We can become like Lot.
"Lot went to the men who were engaged to his daughters and said, "Hurry and get out of here! The LORD is going to destroy this city." But they thought he was joking, and they laughed at him." Genesis 19:14 (CEV)
II. FURTHERMORE, IT WILL COST US OUR SERENITY. 3
3 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."
Man was created to be in harmony with God, but not there is a striving. It is used here in the sense of "quarreling" with someone.
"Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker— An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, 'What are you doing?' Or the thing you are making say, 'He has no hands'?" Isaiah 45:9 (NASB)
Compromise always removes our peace of mind!
Billy Graham, "Advertisers promise happiness and fulfillment, if only, we will use their products. Philosophers and self-improvement gurus promise, success and inner peace, if only, we will buy their books or tapes.
Pundits and politicians promise, abundance and world peace, if only, we will listen to their wisdom or vote for them. Their promises, however, always fall short...they have tried everything in their desperate search for happiness - sex, drugs, alcohol, fame, money, possessions, power, success - you name it. Each path promised contentment and peace, but those promises turn out to be false."
Peace only comes from Commitment to Christ! Isa. 26:3
C. S. Lewis, "A car is made to run on petrol [gasoline], and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on himself. He himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.
That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about [Him]religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing."
III. THIRDLY, COMPROMISE COST THE SOCIETY. 4-5
A. Society becomes filled with Violence. 4
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown - vv. 1-13 present a picture to that of violent gangs; terrorists; governmental oppression of the poor, weak and elderly."
Butler, "The word "giants" is translated from a Hebrew word meaning "bully, a tyrant" (Baker). It indicates great cruelty in might. "They [the giants] achieved a reputation the world over by their violence" (Leupold). They were the Caesars, Hitlers, Stalin's, and Mao's of their day. When sin abounds power will be corrupted and used for cruelty not for justice."
We have set God aside and the violence has escalated - from Road Rage to school shooting to gangs to sporting events to you name it...The Middle East is exploding with violence! Nobody ask "if" there is going to be another Sept. 11th but when....
When we turn from God - we must of necessity turn to something else. We see violence on TV which encourages violence...notice when Egypt decided to rebel against the government, that rebellion spread like wildfire.
Things like video game are encouraging violence. David Grossman, a retired US Army psychologist, did research on this and wrote a book called On Killing.
He noted that about 85% of soldier during WW I & II never even fired their weapons.
David said, "Hard wired into the brains of most healthy members of most species is a response against killing their own kind. To solve this problem the Army desensitized soldiers by having them shoot at human-shaped targets made of wood. As technology improved, the military began using video games to simulate the killing of other human beings."
David believes that many of the modern day video games are having the same effect on our young people.
David Walsh, director of the National Institute on Media and the family agrees:
"What happens when a teen spends a lot of time playing the violent video games is [that] the aggression center of the brain activates, but the emotional center of the brain deactivates - exactly the combination that we would not want to see."
Michael Carneal, of Kentucky opened fire in the lobby of his high school - injuring 5 classmates and killing 3 students. Police said that years of playing violent video games provided Michael with the emotional training he needed to kill human beings.
Satan not only has been successful in removing God, but is conditioning people to be insensitive to hurting and killing other human beings.
B. Decadence reigns in a society that leaves God out of the picture. v.5
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually - the message Bible puts it like this:
"GOD saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil—evil, evil, evil from morning to night." Genesis 6:5 (MSG)
Philips, "The narrative describes growing anarchy. The word for imagination is from a Hebrew root, relating it to pottery; it means "to fashion as a potter." Men fashioned wicked philosophies, they form obscene artifacts, they eagerly espoused filthy causes, they made fashionable vile sins, they poured society into their mold."
Compromise of truth opens the door to tolerance of every sort of perversion. Cable TV and the Internet provide a steady no-stop flood of filth into our homes...
Trans:The foundation of this nation is the family - it is being destroyed by immorality. Homosexuality - is rotting both our military and marriage.
A avowed homosexual Representative Barney Frank said recently, "We are on the verge of major breakthroughs,"
He pointed to President Barack Obama's decision last month to stop defending a law that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, and a vote by Congress that will lead to an end of the ban on gays serving openly in the military.
He said, "I can foresee now an end to legal inequality based on sexual orientation and gender equality some time in my lifetime,"
Sexual lyrics set to music is effecting our youth. A survey done in 2001 of 1,461 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 years old. Found the following:
"Most of the participants were virgins at the beginning of the study. Between2002 and 2004, the researchers did follow-up interviews to track the sexual activity of the teens. About 51% of teens who collected sexually degrading music began having sex within 2 years of the 3 year study, compared to 29% of those who did not listen to such music.
Natasha Ramsey, editor of sexect.com said, "A lot of teens think that's the way they're supposed to be. They think that's the cool thing to do. Teens will try to deny it; and they'll say, "No it's not the music." But it is the music! It is one of the biggest impacts on our lives."
Truth is the real problem is turning away from God - people cannot live in a vacuum. People were created by God and for God and that emptiness will be filled by something.
IV. FOURTHLY, THE COST OF COMPROMISE IS THAT IT MAKES GOD SORRY. 6
The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart - how sad that we should grieve God!
Grieve is a love term - if I hear about some stranger dying of a drug overdose that will bother me. But if it is one of my own children that would grieve me!
"7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, 8 DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, 9 WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. 10 "THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, 'THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS';" Hebrews 3:7-10 (NASB)
"Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." Ephesians 4:30 (NASB)
Spurgeon, "The Spirit of God is in your heart and it is very very easy indeed to grieve Him. Sin is as easy as it is wicked. How do we grieve the Holy Spirit? If you set your heart upon anything that is evil, the Spirit of God will be grieved.
Then is He sometimes so grieved that He takes His flight for a season, for the dove will not dwell in our hearts, if we take loathsome [rotting flesh] there...Again, if we neglect prayer, if our closet door is cobwebbed, if we forget to read the Scriptures, we grieve Him. If we live merely for ourselves and not for Christ, then the Holy Spirit will be grieved...
And then, He is grieved because He sees that you love worldly things better than you love Him. Ingratitude tends to grieve Him. Again the Holy Spirit is exceedingly grieved by our unbelief. When we distrust the promise and doubt His power."
Tony Evans, "TO GRIEVE the Holy Spirit is like letting corrosion build up on a battery so that the power of the battery cannot be accessed. In the life of a Christian, when the Holy Spirit is grieved, the charge and power available declines or is lost."
V. FINALLY, THE COST OF COMPROMISE IS TO FACE GOD'S SEVERITY. 7
The LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them" - we like to talk about God's mercy...but there is also the severity of God.
"Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off." Romans 11:22 (NASB)
God in His patience apparently gave man 120 years to repent - after that Judgment was inevitable.
Unlike other countries that have a pay-as-you-use toll system on major roads, Switzerland expects drivers using its auto-route system to pay an annual fee of 40 Swiss francs. When you pay, you get a windshield sticker you display for the rest of the year.
Traditionally, traffic police give motorists the whole month of January to purchase the sticker. There is no penalty for driving without it during that month—it is a month of grace.
But when the first days of February come, expect to see the traffic police on the auto-route exit ramps checking for cars without the sticker. No more excuses are accepted; no more time is given. The grace period has ended.
Con:
1. The High Cost of Compromise.
2. It will cost our Sanctity; Serenity; Society; make God Sorry; and will release His Severity...more importantly it will cause us to dishonor Jesus Christ.
3. Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, recently offered WGN Chicago Radio sports-talk show host David Kaplan $50,000 to change his name legally to "Dallas Maverick."
David declined, so Mark offered him $100,000 and another $100,000 to his favorite charity if he took the name for 1 year. But David still refused.
He said, "I'd be saying I'd do anything for money, and that bothers me. My name is my birthright. I'd like to preserve my integrity and credibility."
Our name is Christian - it is our new birth right. We have a responsibility to live in a way that brings honor and glory to that name.
Johnny Palmer Jr
StrugglingThruScriptures.ning.com
Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Bentonville, Ar, for over 25 years.
