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Genesis 6- People relating to God part 3
You got mud in your ears or what?
Genesis 6
Gus and Call have ridden into San Antonio to find a new cook after Old Ball would not cross the river and quit his job.
They had been successful and Poe Campo was gathering his stuff to go with them.
The Captains go into a local saloon to quench their thirst and most likely just reminisce and relax for a bit before they head back to the herd and continue on their epic journey
Gus orders a drink for each of them
And
The bartender ignores them
He just ignores them
Acts like he does not even hear them
Then
Gus says
You got mud in your ears or what?
I guess what he means is why you are not listening to me?
Hey I’m talking to you
If you know Lonesome dove
You know the rest of this scene
Gus ends up whacking that surely bartender with his walker colt
I can sympathize with Gus
We all want to be heard when we talk
Whether we are in a restaurant ordering a meal
In the doctor’s office telling the nurse our symptoms
At school asking questions
In all of our relationships
We want to be heard
And when we are not heard
We often wish we could pull out our pistola’s and whack someone upside the head
But we know that behavior is Rude
And Both Captain Call and God hate rude behavior so we just steam a bit instead
We are made in God’s image
So it should not surprise us much that if we want to be heard
That God wants to be heard as well
Today we are continuing our study in Genesis
People relating to God
And
As ya’ll know we are covering the same scriptures in different ways
In the Morning Round Pens and the Sermons at our Gathering
These sermons and studies are designed to grow us in Christ
And
So we are building
Kind of stacking one lesson on another to get a good picture of how God
Relates to us
And how we
Relate to him
To quickly recap
This morning the world is in a tight spot—on the brink of destruction
Adam and Eve made a bad choice and introduced sin
Into their lives
Our lives and the lives of all humanity
We saw the consequences of their sin
We saw God’s plan
Looked at Stan’s evil plan
And
Prayerfully gained some knowledge to avoid his tactics and lies
The next week we looked at Cain and Able’s sacrifices
How they were received or rejected
The emotions that rejection brought up
The acting on those emotions/feelings
Once again we see that without doubt all sin has consequences
Cain let his mind control his actions
God called him on it and Cain plugged his ears
Like that bartender in San Antonio
He was not listening
He had mud in his ears
As a result of his refusal to hear
He turned his back on God
Separated himself from God
And he started a chain of events
That eventually caused God to hit reset
Sin had completely consumed all but just a tiny piece of the earth and of humanity
This is where we are this morning
Genesis 6:5-7
5 The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. 6 So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. 7 And the LORD said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.”
Adam and Eve had listened to the wrong voice – the snake
Cain had listened to the wrong voice---- his emotions
And
Now
Just a few generations later
We had a whole society
Actually
Almost the entire human population of the world that had mud in their ears
All except Noah and his family
Ya’ll all know the story of Noah and the ark
We all know the story of the animals
The flood
The water
The dove and olive branch
If you were here this morning you learned just a bit more
If not you missed out, please pray about joining us
But
Instead of rehashing your old Sunday school days telling the same stories
We are going to concentrated for just a bit on those who did not get on the boat
They were stuck
Like Inky the Dinky Donkey from our children’s message this morning
Stuck in their sin
How did this happen
Why did this happen
How could they not see?
How could they not hear?
How did it happen to almost the whole world?
How does it happen to us?
And
How do we avoid it?
In order to find this out
We have to back track once again
Adam and Eve’s decision to sin
Their decision to disobey God
Their choice to hide from God
Caused the ears of their heart to close
I know there is no song called open the ears of my heart
But
Our hearts have ears just the same
We hear God speaking inside of our hearts
This is where the Holy Spirit indwells us
How he guides us
But
Because of disobedience their heart ears were closed
The problem is their mind ears were wide open
Remember
We talked about Satan’s plan verses God Plan
Satan’s plan involved doubt
Let me ask you
Do you fully listen to someone you doubt
If you think they are lying
Confabulating or even elaborating
You
As I do stop listening
I mean you may hear but you are not giving the sounds any credence
Just more words
More lies
More half truths
So because They doubted
Adam and Eve stop hearing
And unfortunately their son Cain followed their lead
Remember we talked about Cain
We talked about his mind
About how he let his thoughts guide his actions—thoughts cause him to sin
Remember Genesis 4 verse 7
You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”
God told Cain how to be restored
Do what is right- control your mind
Don’t listen to your mind calling you to sin
Admit
Repent
Be restored
But
Cain had stopped listening to God
His disobedience had plugged his ears to the truth
His sin had deafened him to God’s love
To God’s plan
To God’s redemption
His failure to listen to God
Caused separation
And that separation grew and grew
Cain knew about God
The bible says before he shut down he talked with him
But now
God’s voice would not or could not be heard by Cain
And as a result
God or his laws was no longer talked about
God and his love was not taught to his kids or grand kids
Soon
The descendants of Cain could not or would not hear God
Maybe mostly because they did not even know about God
Or even know that they were supposed to be listening
You see
The Sin of Adam
The Sin of Eve
The sin of Cain
Muddied the ears of their family
Fortunately
Adam and Eve had another son
Actually they had many other children
They were fruitful and multiplied and filled the earth
But let’s focus on just one
They only had other son who is named in the bible
Seth
And apparently he listened to God
How do I know this you may ask?
I know this because in Genesis 5 we see the generations of Seth
Genesis 4-26
26 When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. At that time people first began to worship the LORD by name.
Cain had mud in his ears
But Seth
Did not
His son Enosh heard about God from his dad
He listened to his dad and I believe he listened to God
As the bible says they worshiped the Lord by name
We see that each of the generations of Seth carried this habit of listening to God
Fellowship with God
Worshiping God
All the way to Noah
Unfortunately Cain must have have had a huge family
And
Seth not so much
Because by the time we get to Noah
The bible says there was but one righteous man in the entire world
Noah
Genesis 6:9
9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.
One man out of thousands
One man in a sea of evil
One man who listened to God
One man who did it right
It would have been so easy for Noah to have given in to peer pressure
It would have been so very easy for Noah to give up
Give in
Go along with the crowd
But he did not
He listened to God
And verse 22
So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.
Noah listened to God and then he did what God said
One man
Just one man
Standing against all the evil of the world
One man listening to God and following instructions
Continuing God’s plan for humanity
So
What does this mean for me?
How do I use this in my life?
Let me step this out for you
One step
One building block at a time
let’s skip forward to the book of Hebrews
Hebrews 11:6
6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
Without faith it is impossible to please God
Faith
We must have faith
But how do we get faith?
What does this have to do with mud in my ears?
Romans 10:17
“So faith comes from hearing that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.”
Faith is necessary to please God and faith comes by hearing
Seeing a pattern here?
You can’t have faith unless you listen
And you can’t listen with mud in your ears
Preacher what do you mean mud in my ears?
I took a bath a couple of days ago
My ears are clean—kind of
I am talking about the mud of the world
The people in Noah’s day were focused on all the wrong things
I have no doubt Noah tried to tell them
It took him quite possibly about 100 years to complete the ark
I am sure almost every day someone came by
I am sure everyone thought he was crazy
But I also have no doubt that because Noah was righteous
Because he listened to God
That he told them everyday
About the rain
The flood
The coming judgment
Told them to repent
But they were to focused on their lives to hear his words
They were having too much fun
To be bothered with such things
They let the mud of the world clog their ears
So can you and I
Life is complicated
In this day and time
We as Christians and even non Christians are inundated with stuff
Buy this
Eat this
Drink this
Wear this
Go here
Go there
Do this
Do that
In our world
Doing what is wrong has become cool
It’s the “in” thing
Kids ya’ll are constantly faced with things that try to clog your ears
Take your focus off of God
Sex
Drugs
Alcohol
Pornography
It seems that everybody is trying to tell you
Try this
It won’t hurt you
Do this it feels good
But what does God say?
What does God say?
If you are letting the mud of the world stick in your ears
You have no idea what God is saying
Cause you can’t hear him
Adults
You are faced with the same things
But sometimes compounded
Fudge on the bid- skim a bit
Looking don’t hurt nothing
Just a little innocent affair
Move in and live with me
Mud of the world
Mud in your ears that blocks the voice of God
What if Noah had let the mud clog his ears?
Think what would have happened had he not listened
So
How do I listen?
How do I hear God?
Back to basics
The three legged stool
God speaks to us thought his word—read it – study it- memorize it
Use it
We speak to God thought our prayers
Pray
Pray
Pray
Ask God for guidance
Ask him for strength to defend against the mud of the world
Ask him for strength
For wisdom
Fellowship
come to church
Come to bible studies
Come to activities
Surround yourself with believers. Many ears are better at hearing that just a few
So
Brother Randy
What if I have already let my ears get clogged?
What if I have not been listening?
What if I am already going the wrong way?
Living the wrong way
Bending to the pressures
How do I change?
How do I hit restart in my life?
God created you because he loves you
And because he loves you
And
Because he knows you
He knew you would make mistakes
So
He sent his Son Jesus to pay the price for your sin’
The bible says that the wages of sin is death
And it says we are all sinners
And that all sin will have to be paid for’
But in his love and mercy he sent his son Jesus to pay for our sin
To forgive us
To save us
Close from the heart
Pray
