The Danger Of An Unstable Father Series

As human society develops, as civilization becomes more and more advanced, as people enjoy the blessing of families and children and all that goes with it, life is punctuated finally by death and it’s a series of obituaries brought about by sin. From the Fall into Genesis chapter 6, is development of human civilization but you also have the escalation of corruption. As man becomes more creative musically, as he becomes more creative economically, as he becomes more creative poetically, as he becomes more creative in terms of what he can do with human resources, the resources that are in the earth as he develops his skills, as he moves along and advances, he also advances in his wretchedness. He advances in his wickedness. And so here we are coming into chapter 6 and the Lord is going to introduce to us a judgment that is going to fall. By the time you get to Noah, the sin of man has reached shocking proportions and only one family on the planet can be considered righteous.

God designed the family to be the first line of defence against sin and evil. It should be an environment of learning, nurturing and protecting. Our example last week in the Sharifa murders show that it does not always function as God intends. A father abuses his responsibilities in harming his family yet for a father to have a hands off, lassez-faire attitude, is a serious neglect. It is basically opening up the gates to the enemy. But to seek out evil in entertainment or a mistaken spirit of openness is an abuse beyond measure.

In Genesis 6 we see that the wickedness of man had reached such proportion that they had engaged themselves in demonic relationships. Not only did they not seek God, not only did they not endeavour to know God, but they pursued demons. It is a warning for Today’s family in allowing the world to dictate standards and the chaos that will result . In Genesis 6:1-4 we see a picture of a warning that: 1) An Unstable Father is Too Permissive (Genesis 6:1), 2) An Unstable Father Loses Control (Genesis 6:2), 3) An Unstable Father Tests God’s Patience (Genesis 6:3), and 4) An Unstable Father Reaps What he Sows (Genesis 6:4)

1) An Unstable Father is Too Permissive (Genesis 6:1)

Genesis 6:1 [6:1]When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them,

At this point in Genesis, the world was already full of sin. For humanity there was murder, polygamy, pride, anger, and vengeance. We have seen quite a catalogue of sins before we ever get to chapter 6. But here in chapter 6 the level of human evil has reached such a point that there is an engagement with the very powers of hell, the very demons themselves. In fact, it is apparently sought out. With the passing of years the seed of Serpent became ever more numerous. The seed of woman—righteous mankind—diminished to the point of being represented by one man, his three sons and their four wives. The opening verses of Genesis 6 point out the contrast between these two communities (Smith, J. E. (1993). The Pentateuch (2nd ed.) (Ge 6:1–10). Joplin, Mo.: College Press Pub. Co.).

Moses interrupts his genealogy of Adam’s descendants in order to describe the awesome catastrophe God sent on earth’s inhabitants during the life of Noah. Here he traces the developments that led to God’s decision to send the flood (Jeske, J. C. (2001). Genesis (2nd ed.). The People’s Bible (74). Milwaukee, Wis.: Northwestern Pub. House.).

When verse one begins: "When man began/ Now it came about," is an indefinite phrase, it doesn’t tell us what time, it just gives us a general reality, Some time during the pre-Flood 1656 years, at some point along the way, and not just one point but perhaps. it started and just kept going on, at some point man began to multiply on the face of the land. This has the sense that they were spreading out, expanding from the original place of creation. They began to populate the earth.” (Reyburn, W. D., & Fry, E. M. (1997). A handbook on Genesis. UBS handbook series (141). New York: United Bible Societies.).

The motif of multiplying is first introduced by God in 1:28, where it is presented in a very positive light and viewed as necessary to fulfill God’s plans for the earth:

Genesis 1:28 [28]And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (ESV)

The present passage, however, reveals that this God-mandated task leads to increasing wickedness on the earth as the population expands (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (61). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.).