WICKEDNESS That INVITES REPERCUSSION-IV—Genesis 6:1-8
Attention:
Back in the day, before digitization, Tony & his best friend devised a brilliant & creative plan for mischief. They decided to break into the basement of the local dime store, but they did not plan to rob the place(Sunday School boys would never do that sort of the thing). Their plan was to change all the price tags on the items in the store.
They imagined radios selling for a quarter & bobby pins at five dollars each! What great fun! Of course the boys had no thought of the fact that the owner of the store would lose income & his ability to pay his employees, along with his reputation.
Self-service, self-love, & flesh-driven feeling wreak the same kind of havoc on us. In Noah’s day most everyone had effectively swapped price tags by not considering their Creator.
Likewise today, when Christ is considered inconsequential to a person’s or nation’s life, vitally important matters are treated as though they were of little worth. Simultaneously, other things become elevated to the place of indispensability, taking Christ’s place as Head. If we are not very careful to honor Christ, we find ourselves making great sacrifices for that which has no eternal value, for the sake of temporal satisfaction.
From: Jeff Strite, Church of Christ at Logansport, IN. Citation: Anthony Campolo’s book, "Who Switched The Price Tags?"
If people would take it upon themselves to heed God’s warnings, they would not be considered ‘wicked’ & suffer the consequences of missing His presence!
Genesis records the wanton wickedness of humanity & its repercussions.
Repercussion—An unintended consequence occurring some time after an event or action, esp. an unwelcome one.
Wanton wickedness invites repercussion.
How/When does wickedness invite repercussion?
7 channels thru which wickedness invites repercussion.
7 aberrations of wickedness that invite repercussion.
We have seen previously that Wickedness invites Repercussion thru (An) Aberrant...
1. RELATIONSHIPs(:1-2)
2. BURDENs(:3)
3. STANCE(:4)
4—Wickedness invites repercussion thru An Aberrant...
CONTINUITY(:5)
Explanation: (:5) Persistence
:5—“Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, & that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
As a result of humanity’s course, recorded in :1-4, the enormity of its overall “wickedness” can no longer be overlooked & allowed to progress & flourish. The wickedness had so taken the whole of mankind that it is said to be abundant(“great”) “in” the whole of the “earth.” The wickedness had spread as a disease to every corner of mankind’s habitation.
Indeed, “every” framing of the contrivances, plans & purposes of men’s “hearts” was solely directed toward “evil” every day of their lives.
Everything about man’s machinations was against God’s personal purpose & desire as they were against His overall purpose & desire for man.
“And what God saw when He looked at these evil people was not just their behavior, but behind it was their thought. It wasn't that they were really good people. They were well-intentioned, just kind of fumbling & stumbling & being messed up by their environment, that's the modern definition of sin that man is basically good & he's noble, he's just crippled by the people who are around him & the debilitating circumstances. And if we can get him enough money & enough education & take off the pressure & those people who want to hold him to strict moral laws & free him up a bit, he'll become noble all on his own.”.... “The Bible definition of man is that what's wrong with him is not really his behavior, that's only a symptom. What's wrong with him is [his] nature.”—John MacArthur
“God looked into the heart of man & He saw that everything formed there, everything developed there, everything designed there, everything conceived there, every image,every idea, every ideology, every thought pattern, every philosophy, every self-styled religious view, all of it, everything that was formed in man was only evil continually, everything.”.... “this is not to say that every man is equally as vicious, every man is as equally murderous, every man is equally as proud, every man is equally as angry, every man is as equally violent, every man is as equally as vengeful as to every other man. But it is to say that every human being to some degree, only relative within the framework of his depravity, every human being is at heart a sinner, unable to form, or shape, or conceive, or design anything in himself that is not wicked. Even his philanthropy is conceived as a way to pacify his guilt or to demonstrate that he's better than others for the purposes of pride.”—John MacArthur
“It's not just the behavior of man that is depraved, it goes right down to the very thinking of man, right down to the very forming of all of his viewpoints. And it extends to every human being & it is in the heart of every human being all the time & only that. And then you can add that it's aggravated by unions with demons.” & non-God-fearing men. “The only people who aren't like that are the people who have been transformed”, redeemed, bought by the substitutionarily shed blood of THE Son of God—John MacArthur
“Saw”—har raw-aw’—Qal Imperfect—1) To see, look at, inspect, perceive, consider—1a) (Qal)--1a1) To see, 1a2) To see, perceive, 1a3) To see, have vision, 1a4) To look at, see, regard, look after, see after, learn about, observe, watch, look upon, look out, find out, 1a5) To see, observe, consider, look at, give attention to, discern, distinguish, 1a6) To look at, gaze at. Strong—a primitive root; To see, literally or figuratively(in numerous applications, direct & implied, transitive, intransitive & causative).
“Wickedness” & “Evil”—er ra` rah OR fem.--her ra`ah—
Adj.—1) Bad, evil—1a) Bad, disagreeable, malignant, 1b) Bad, unpleasant, evil(giving pain, unhappiness, misery), 1c) Evil, displeasing, 1d) Bad(of its kind - land, water, etc), 1e) Bad(of value), 1f) Worse than, worst(comparison), 1g) Sad, unhappy, 1h) Evil(hurtful), 1i) Bad, unkind(vicious in disposition), 1j) Bad, evil, wicked(ethically)—1j1) in general--Of persons, of thoughts, 1j2) Deeds, actions.
Noun Masc.—2) Evil, distress, misery, injury, calamity—2a) Evil, distress, adversity, 2b) Evil, injury, wrong, 2c) Evil(ethical). Noun Fem.—3) Evil, misery, distress, injury—3a) Evil, misery, distress, 3b) Evil, injury, wrong, 3c) Evil(ethical). Strong—Bad or as noun--Evil(natural or moral).
“Great”—br rab—1) Adj.—Much, many, great; Adv.—1i) Much, exceedingly; 2) Noun Masc.—Captain, chief. Strong—Abundant(in quantity, size, age, number, rank, quality).
“Every”—lk kol—1) All, the whole. Strong—properly--The whole; hence--All, any or every(in the singular only, but often in a plural sense).
“Intent”—ruy yay'-tser—1) Form, framing, purpose, framework. Strong–A form; figuratively--Conception(i.e. purpose). Used 9X.
*“Thoughts”—hbvxm makh-ash-aw-baw' OR—tbvxm makh-ash-eh’-beth—Noun Fem.—1) Thought, device—1a) Thought, 1b) Device, plan, purpose, 1c) Invention. Strong—A contrivance, i.e. concretely--A texture, machine, or abstractly--Intention, plan(whether bad, a plot; or good, advice).
“Heart”(See :6)—bl leb—1) Inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding. Strong—The heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will & even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything.
“Only”—qr raq—Adv.—1) Only, altogether, surely. Strong—properly, Leanness, i.e. (figuratively) Limitation; Only adverbial, Merely, or conjunctional, Although. Used 16X.
“Continually/All the time/‘Daily’”—Mwy yowm—Noun Masc.—1) Day, time, year. Strong—from an unused root meaning to be hot; A day(as the warm hours), whether literal(from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative(A space of time defined by an associated term), [often used adverb].
Argumentation:
1Jn. 1:8-2:6—“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, & the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful & just to forgive us our sins & to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, & His word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, & not for ours only but also for the whole world. Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” & does not keep His commandments, is a liar, & the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”
Jn. 5:2-15—“Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool & stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, & knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed & walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, & walked ..... But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, & said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” The man departed & told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.”
*1Jn. 3:1-10—“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; & it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, & sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, & in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; & he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In this the children of God & the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”
Rom. 1:17—“For in it[the Gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith...””
Though this verse describes a Christian context of shared “faith,” literally ANY ‘faith’(even ungodly) is shared & men Persist/Continue in it!
**Before Jesus, I had this strange but largely ubiquitous idea in my head that everything would ‘work out okay’...That personal involvement was not required of me...That a distant God was acceptable because that’s the way everyone was...& that Christians were just humanistic pretenders.
Illustration:
Our son Matthew had some thoughtless habits as an older teenager while living at our home/He had no regard for turning off the lights—I was always going behind him to turn them off/He would leave the TV on for the dogs!(Who does that anyway?!...Oh, yeah, his mother still does!)/Matt would leave the garage doors open on overly hot or cold days(overusing our heat & air)/He would turn the thermostat a few degrees when nobody is looking/But the real clincher for me was that he would leave the shower running while he did something else besides bathe—he would turn it on & be gone for over 5 minutes sometimes before he even got in the shower!/We were continually reminding him of ‘the right thing’ to do...to no avail/Aberrant CONTINUITY
Amazonian clear-cutting practices/Entrepreneurs destroy acre upon acre of trees for the wood but do not replant/Attempt to appease the people by selling the cleared land(for a profit) cheaply to would-be farmers/But the land is unfit for farming & will fail within 2 years/It is a very limited, specific & delicate rainforest ecosystem/The businessmen know this yet they persist in their practices/Aberrant CONTINUITY
Application:
?You invited Divine Repercussions thru Aberrant CONTINUITY?
?Your Wickedness invited God’s Repercussion?
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
The boys who wanted to change all the price tags on the items in a local store.
If we are not very careful to honor Christ, we find ourselves making great sacrifices for that which has no eternal value, for the sake of temporal satisfaction.
Action:
Wickedness invites repercussion thru (An) Aberrant...
4. CONTINUITY(:5)Persistence
1. RELATIONSHIPs(:1-2)
2. BURDENs(:3)
3. STANCE(:4)
Pt. 4 only! Presented 10/23/2016am to:
FBC C’belle
206 Storrs Ave. SW(Ave. A)
Carrabelle, FL 32322
Pts. 3-5 Presented 01/08/2012am to:
Needmore Baptist Church
1620 Mt. Vernon Rd.
Woodleaf, NC 27054
