Hillary and Bill Clinton decided to go for a drive one weekend to see the beautiful countryside and take a break from politics. After a while, they needed to stop for gas. They pulled into a tiny gas station, and out walked a man to help them. Hillary looked up and screamed at the top of her lungs, "Charley! Is that you? I can't believe it!" She jumped out of the car and gave the man a big hug, and proceeded to talk with the man for a long time. After they were finished talking, they hugged again, and Hillary got back in the car.
As they were driving away, Bill turned to Hillary and asked "Honey, who was that?"
"That was Charley, an old boyfriend of mine," she responded. "We dated for a long time, and almost got married."
"Just think," said Bill. "If you had married him, today you would be the wife of a gas station attendant."
"No," said Hillary, "If I had married him, today he would be the Ex- President of the United States, helping his wife to get elected!"
As we been studying Adam and the generations following him, we are left with a lot of if’s. If Adam had not disobeyed God, what would our world be like?
As we begin today looking at the genealogy of Jesus, let’s get current on the world situation that exists at this time.
Adam, Seth, Enosh, and Mahalalel have all died. Kenan is 731 years old. Jared is 596 years old. Enoch has disappeared, walking into heaven with God. Methuselah is 369 years old. His son Lamech is 182 years old. So it’s in the 10th generation that Noah is born. At the age of 500, Noah would father Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
I find it interesting that all three are named when it is only one of them that the lineage of Jesus will come through. Perhaps they were triplets since Noah was 500 when they were born. Also it is safe to assume that Noah was the father of other sons and daughters as were his ancestors. Just because they are not mentioned does not mean they did not necessarily exist.
We are told in Genesis 6 that the people began to multiply on the earth. The sons of God saw beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives. We are told that whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times. These children were called Nephilites, which meant giants.
Now, we are going to chase a rabbit trail here because someone is going to ask later. Who were these sons of God? Were they fallen angels? No. Angels are spiritual created beings, unable to reproduce.
To understand these sons of God we must go back to
Genesis 4. Cain has killed his brother Abel. God has discovered the murder and cursed Cain. He settles in Nod, east of Eden. It was one of his descendants that first introduced music into the world. Another introduced making tools from bronze and iron.
When Cain’s brother Seth had a child named Enosh, they instituted the worship of God by name. This was the holy lineage through Adam who was referred to as the son of God, since he had no earthly beginning.
The future generation of Adam, the sons of God, began to marry the daughters of Cain’s future generation. This was corrupting God’s plans to keep pure the generation of Adam designed to worship him. These offspring would become the heroes and warriors of ancient times.
What was God’s reaction to this intermingling?
Genesis 6:3 “Then the Lord said, ‘My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years.’”
I have heard it asked a lot if the years of Adam and the others were actual years like those that we know or perhaps seasons. I feel certain they were actual years. So when you are asked why we don’t live as long as they did, here is the answer. God can’t put up with us much longer then what He allows us to live.
Here is our first lesson. God is not impressed with our accomplishments.
Man had learned how to make music and forge tools. They had become heroes and warriors. God was looking for worshipers.
He still is.
There are people who go to church to make a name for themselves in the community. That is not worship. There are people who give abundantly of their finances so they can control the church. That is not worship. Church is not a social club or a business opportunity. It is a place of worship. It is a place to sing to the Most High. It is a place to hear the teachings from his Book. It is a place to be ministered to by his Spirit. Anything less is lacking.
God looked at his creation. Man was consistently and totally evil. He was sorry He made man. So He made a decision to destroy every living thing on the earth. All humans, animals, and birds would die. All but one.
Second lesson Our actions can shape the future generations.
Genesis 6:8 “But Noah found favor with the Lord.
One thing I have learned is, you cannot earn favor. You can be a good person. You can be nice to everybody. You can be a great Christian example. But none of that will earn you favor. People can decide to show you favor or not show you favor. It’s their decision.
Favor from God is given. It’s not based on merit. It’s not based on performance. But I believe that favor from God can be influenced by his compassion based on a relationship He has had with our ancestors.
King Solomon became a worshipper of many foreign gods so God decided to take the kingdom away from him. But He decided to wait until Solomon’s death to do it. The reason God gave was “for the sake of your father David.” When the Assyrians were going to attack Jerusalem God told the prophet Isaiah that it would not happen “for the sake of my servant David,” who had been dead for a number of years by now. Noah found favor because of Adam.
God had already determined to destroy mankind. Methuselah was 369 years old when Noah was born. And his name meant, “when he dies it will come.” For the sake of Adam, God decided to preserve one man and his family. Noah found favor with the Lord.
Our actions can influence God’s favor on future generations. Jerusalem would have been destroyed if not for David’s relationship with God. King Solomon would have seen his kingdom destroyed if not for David’s relationship with God. Mankind would have been destroyed if not for Adam’s relationship with God. Future generations can win favor with the Lord because of us. Let’s move on.
Genesis 6:9 “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.”
Third lesson Faith will bring about righteousness.
Where does our righteousness come from? Philippians 3:9 states
“I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.”
Romans 4:1 states, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
Hebrews 11:7…By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.
We must believe in the sacrifice of Jesus. We must exhibit our faith in his sacrifice by the way we live. Abraham believed God would deliver on his promise to make his descendants a great nation although he was fatherless. God declared him righteous for his faith.
Noah was a righteous man because of his faith. He did not have Christ since Jesus was not born yet. He did not have the promises of Abraham to look forward too. So what brought about his righteousness? It would have been the faith of his ancestors.
His great grandfather would have told him the story of his grandfather Enoch and how he walked with God into heaven. He would have had his great-great grandfather and his great-great-great grandfather around to tell him first hand about Adam and the garden. Can you imagine being able to sit down with relatives from hundreds of years past and getting first hand accounts of God? Would that affect your faith?
We have those accounts here before us. We, through faith must believe they are true. We, through faith, must believe they are accurate. If we don’t have faith in Christ, then we are not righteous.
Forth lesson We can be blameless and not perfect
Noah was not a perfect man. We will see evidence of that later in his life. Being blameless is not the same as being perfect. Jesus was the only perfect man to walk on earth. So what does it mean to be blameless?
It means “without defect in the eyes of the beholder.”
A couple had been married for 35 years. The wife gave her husband a grapefruit for breakfast every day of their married life. One day, she ran out of grapefruit and apologized passionately to her husband. The husband replied, "That’s okay dear. I never liked grapefruit anyway."
In her husband’s eyes, the breakfast choice was not perfect but it was blameless. He knew her intent was to shower him with love.
Noah lived in an environment much like ours. He was surrounded by people who’s every thought and imagination was evil. Their influence was strong on the culture. He navigated through these times by not allowing himself to become engrossed in the ways of the culture.
Did he stumble at times? I’m sure he did. But God looked beyond his actions into his motivations to determine whether he was blameless in the society he lived in.
We live with those same temptations. Are we spiritual giants? I know I’m not. But the Bible says that God looks at a man’s heart, not his stature.
We can be blameless before God by having a pure heart. A heart that cares for those less fortunate. A heart that cares for those in need. A heart of compassion for the loss.
We can be blameless before God by having pure thoughts. We can think on spiritual things. We can stay from thoughts that lead to sinful actions.
Most importantly, we can be blameless before God by following Jesus. We accept his gift of salvation and ask him to be our savior. We repent of our sins and ask for forgiveness. Then we are sure to be found blameless.
Fifth lesson We need to walk with God as close as possible.
Noah never met his great-great grandfather Enoch. I am sure his grandfather told him of the close relationship Enoch had with God. He probably shared examples with Noah of Enoch’s walk with God. He probably told him of the day when Enoch went out on his daily routine of seeking God and never came back. Perhaps he was a witness to Enoch’s sudden disappearance.
But it stirred something in Noah that birthed a desire to be like Enoch. He never achieved that closeness. We know because he never vanished. But he did walk so close that God decided to spare him from the impending doom. Not only him but also his wife, three sons, and their wives.
Genesis 6: 9 states that Noah was the only blameless person living. That means Methuselah, Lamech, Shem, Ham, and Japheth was not blameless but as guilty as the rest of the world. It was Noah’s walk with God that spared these three sons, their wives, and his wife.
Enoch”s walk with God would also keep his grandson and son from dying in the great flood. Lamech would die at the age of 777 years old. He lived a shorter life than any of the others. He died 5 years before the flood. Methuselah would die in the year of the flood but not in the flood.
Adam’s walk with God would ensure that none of the descendants of Adam that we have mentioned perished in the flood.
Our walk with God will have a positive influence on generations to come. We see it to be true in this group from Genesis. We see it to be true in the life of David. We have a responsibility to generations that we will never see to leave a legacy. Not just a written or verbal legacy, but also a spiritual legacy that will cause God to say, “I should do this but I won’t for the sake of -------”
