Repent At Once

“When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days — and also afterward -- when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled” (Genesis 6:1-6, NIV).

An American pastor-theologian was quoted as saying, “Preferring anything above Christ is the very essence of sin. It must be fought.”

And if we realized, we committed or done anything that displayed our preference more than Christ, we need to repent now as pointed out in Acts 17:30, “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.”

So, this time, let’s have a bigger picture for the need to repent, as we discuss our topic… REPENT AT ONCE, as we focus on our text (Genesis 6:1-6).

So, aside from being commanded, why is there a need, especially for God’s children, to repent at once when they realized they sinned?

After Cain killed his brother Abel and Cain “went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden,” we read in Gen 4:25-26, “Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, ‘God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.’ Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD” – this suggests that the family line of Seth and Enosh is righteous; the family making its petition and praise in the name of the Lord.

In chapter 5, it was recorded that Adam lived 930 years before he died; Seth lived 912 years; Enosh lived 905 years. Other names were mentioned who lived for many years and the longest was Methuselah who lived for 969 years.

Now, the account in our text, God is portrayed in different ways. And as He is portrayed, we could also see the need why we have to repent at once. Why?

I – God is not going to plead forever (verses 1-3).

We read verses 1-3, “When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

When men began to increase, sin also would increase. And the sin that particularly addressed here was when the “sons of God” – those men who were in the family line of Seth – would marry those women in the family line of Cain. “They married any of them they chose.” They married just based on the outward appearance. They were beautiful.

So, what did God say: “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever…” – “contend” is also translated “strive” – meaning, “devote serious effort or energy”; also translated “plead.”

In the New Living Translation, verse 3 is translated: “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.”

God will not strive or plead with sinners for a long time. Since, men are just mortal, He decreed that they will live not more than 120 years.

Thus, sinners could not just go on sinning. For the Holy God would not just allow them to go on and on without end.

In the book of Acts 17:30-31, Paul told his audience:

“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

We read that “…now …(God) commands all people everywhere to repent.” For the unbelievers, they need to realize that God “has set a day when He will judge the world with justice…”