Hope in Heaven and Heaven's God

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:06.719 Few are able. Please remain standing, and let's turn our attention to Genesis, 2 00:00:06.759 --> 00:00:17.429 chapter four, verses Seventeen through twenty six. Genesis four, verse seventeen. 3 00:00:31.100 --> 00:00:38.009 Genesis seventeen. Kane knew his wife and she conceived and bore Enoch. 4 00:00:38.969 --> 00:00:42.130 When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the 5 00:00:42.210 --> 00:00:47.530 name of his son, Enoch. To Enoch was born Ir Rad, and 6 00:00:47.770 --> 00:00:57.320 irrad fathered Mahouahjel and Mahoujael fathered Mathushla Mathushale, and mathushale fathered LEAMIK and Laimeek 7 00:00:57.399 --> 00:01:02.359 took two wives. The name of the one was Adda and the name of 8 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:07.430 the other was Zilla. Odda bore Jabal. He was the father of those 9 00:01:07.469 --> 00:01:11.310 who dwell in tense and have livestock. His brother's name was Jewball. He 10 00:01:11.590 --> 00:01:15.269 was the father of all who, those who play the liar and pipe. 11 00:01:17.189 --> 00:01:22.620 Zillah also bore Tubalkane. He was the forger of all instruments of bronze and 12 00:01:22.659 --> 00:01:27.780 iron. The sister of Tubalkane was not Alma. Lamek said to his wives 13 00:01:29.340 --> 00:01:33.129 Adah and Zillah, hear my voice, you wives of Lamek. Listen to 14 00:01:33.250 --> 00:01:37.170 what I say. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young 15 00:01:37.329 --> 00:01:42.010 man for striking me. If CAINE's revenge is sevenfold, then lamex is seventy 16 00:01:42.090 --> 00:01:49.040 sevenfold. And Adam knew his wife again and she bore a son and called 17 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:55.319 his name Seth, for she said God has appointed for me another offspring instead 18 00:01:55.319 --> 00:01:59.719 of Abel, for Cain killed him. To Seth also was born a son 19 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:05.349 and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon 20 00:02:05.430 --> 00:02:30.490 the name of Jehovah. You may be seated. These last lines in the 21 00:02:30.610 --> 00:02:35.169 song that we've just sung, a mighty fortresses our God, serve as an 22 00:02:35.210 --> 00:02:42.250 appropriate transition between the passage of scripture just before the one we read in Genesis 23 00:02:42.449 --> 00:02:46.879 A, Chapter Four. The beginning verses we read of Cain killing his brother 24 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:52.840 Abel and, as we considered before, this is in many ways a great 25 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:57.479 threat to the promise of God, God's promise that of Eve would be born 26 00:02:57.719 --> 00:03:01.629 offspring that would come and would set things right, would crush the head of 27 00:03:01.669 --> 00:03:08.669 the serpent, although bruised on himself in his heel. And so this offspring 28 00:03:08.710 --> 00:03:13.979 that was born cane, we find, instead of doing the right things, 29 00:03:14.060 --> 00:03:17.580 in the good things, instead of fighting evil, is the very manifestation of 30 00:03:17.620 --> 00:03:23.620 it. I'm he is, I'm evil. He is of this father of 31 00:03:23.740 --> 00:03:29.849 lies and a murderer who was from the beginning. On top of that, 32 00:03:30.330 --> 00:03:34.449 he kills his other, his brother Abel, and that's where we come to, 33 00:03:35.530 --> 00:03:38.449 as I put it, this line in a mighty fortress is our God. 34 00:03:38.689 --> 00:03:44.840 The body they may kill, God's truth abide is still his kingdom is 35 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:49.319 forever. So we're here. We have a two brothers, one dead, 36 00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:53.840 the other a murderer, sent away, I'm from from God and from his 37 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:59.590 presence, cursed, and just as Adam, I'm his father was. But 38 00:03:59.789 --> 00:04:03.990 though Abel was dead and in many ways it seems as if the promise would 39 00:04:04.030 --> 00:04:10.020 be dead, we read that though they kill the body, God's truth Abideth, 40 00:04:10.300 --> 00:04:15.899 his promises are always sure, they always come true. His Kingdom is 41 00:04:16.100 --> 00:04:24.180 forever, and we get the the fulfillment of that in the last verses that 42 00:04:24.259 --> 00:04:29.050 I read in Genesis, for where Adam knew his wife again and she bore 43 00:04:29.129 --> 00:04:32.529 a son and called his name Seth, and she said God has appointed for 44 00:04:32.610 --> 00:04:39.720 me another offspring instead of able, for Kane killed him to seth also was 45 00:04:39.800 --> 00:04:43.439 born a son and he called his name Enosh. At that time, people 46 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:47.519 began to call upon the name of Jehovah. You See, here God is 47 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:53.829 establishing his kingdom, he's working in the world. Despite the work of Man 48 00:04:54.110 --> 00:05:00.069 Against Him, despite Satan's continuing work to destroy the offspring that is supposed to 49 00:05:00.110 --> 00:05:05.629 destroy him, God continues to keep his promise. His Kingdom is forever his 50 00:05:05.790 --> 00:05:15.980 promises and his word always abide. In between these two things, God's a 51 00:05:15.139 --> 00:05:19.699 promise interrupted, we might say, or at least seemingly so, we have 52 00:05:19.819 --> 00:05:27.170 another kingdom that is built, a kingdom or a city of Man, his 53 00:05:27.290 --> 00:05:30.810 kingdom by Kane. And when, as we consider this, the city, 54 00:05:30.970 --> 00:05:36.160 in this legacy that is being built up under Kane and his children, what 55 00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:40.839 we realize and come to see is that sin, just as it was passed 56 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:46.240 on to Adams children, such as Kane and Abel, Kane, also passes 57 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:53.149 it on to his children. Instead of going away, sins strong a strangle 58 00:05:53.269 --> 00:05:58.069 hold on man is just growing tighter and tighter. And you see this in 59 00:05:58.149 --> 00:06:05.379 the way the end of this this genealogy, with laymeck putting himself far above 60 00:06:05.939 --> 00:06:12.180 any expectations and things we have seen so far, in many ways setting him 61 00:06:12.180 --> 00:06:16.300 side outside of so many orders. God has already set up. I'm even, 62 00:06:16.300 --> 00:06:23.089 in many ways, seeking to be a god himself. As we consider 63 00:06:23.170 --> 00:06:26.970 these things, what we see is that there really is only one way to 64 00:06:27.129 --> 00:06:31.329 live. There's only one way to live, and that's under the authority of 65 00:06:31.449 --> 00:06:38.680 God and for the glory of God. That's how Adam was made, that's 66 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:42.480 what he was made for, that's how he and all of us are designed 67 00:06:42.519 --> 00:06:46.870 to be, to live under God's authority and to Live for God's glory. 68 00:06:48.269 --> 00:06:53.189 If we were fish, this would be our water. This is where we 69 00:06:53.389 --> 00:06:57.310 live, this is where we thrive, this is the environment which God has 70 00:06:57.389 --> 00:07:02.819 made us for. But an Adam sin he makes that impossible, impossible for 71 00:07:02.980 --> 00:07:08.540 us, impossible for his children after him, for Caine, for Sath, 72 00:07:08.699 --> 00:07:14.139 for Lamick, for Zilla, for Auda, for you, for me, 73 00:07:14.579 --> 00:07:17.410 for all of us. After Adam and Eve sinned, we fell into this 74 00:07:17.529 --> 00:07:24.089 estate of sin and misery, as we confess in our catechism. We fall 75 00:07:24.209 --> 00:07:30.399 into this state where we are bound and and and and enslaved in a way 76 00:07:30.519 --> 00:07:33.240 that takes us out of that water, so to speak. It takes us 77 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:39.360 out of this environment in which we were made to thrive. And we see 78 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:44.279 that in these early chapters, first and canes lies in his murder and his 79 00:07:44.389 --> 00:07:47.310 false worship and his anger, and then it just goes on and on and 80 00:07:47.430 --> 00:07:53.709 on, continuing. Now in Caine's children we see more of these sins in 81 00:07:53.790 --> 00:07:58.899 the image of man. Instead of living under his authority, in and for 82 00:07:59.100 --> 00:08:05.620 his glory, man is more and more in open rebellion against God, with 83 00:08:05.779 --> 00:08:09.379 the exception of Seth that we see later in the chapter, because of God's 84 00:08:09.459 --> 00:08:15.209 working in working among men. We see what man does. He does not 85 00:08:15.449 --> 00:08:18.209 call on the name of the Lord, but he calls on the name of 86 00:08:18.290 --> 00:08:24.889 himself, naming cities after himself, establishing culture in his name and like a 87 00:08:24.930 --> 00:08:33.320 fish pulled out of water, his death is not far off. When a 88 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:37.120 fish is pulled out of water and they don't often seem like they're going to 89 00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:41.029 die. They flop around, they're very strong in many ways, they seem 90 00:08:41.029 --> 00:08:45.549 as if there's a lot of life in them, and it's like that here 91 00:08:45.669 --> 00:08:50.309 with Kane and this this this civilization that he and his children are building. 92 00:08:50.070 --> 00:08:56.620 There is great strengthen them and even good things, and we see that many 93 00:08:56.659 --> 00:09:01.700 of these things God will employ, even in the worship of in his temple 94 00:09:01.860 --> 00:09:07.500 and other things I'm to care for livestock, to build culture, to build 95 00:09:07.620 --> 00:09:11.690 societies and work with the various things that God have given us. These are 96 00:09:11.730 --> 00:09:18.250 all wonderful and good things, but Kane and his children aren't not doing that 97 00:09:18.409 --> 00:09:22.529 in the way that God designed them to do. Things start normally enough, 98 00:09:22.570 --> 00:09:28.200 a testimony to God's continuing kindness and mercy to those that don't deserve it. 99 00:09:30.519 --> 00:09:39.149 But very quickly we have this figure of Lamech Laimek, you see, transgresses 100 00:09:39.230 --> 00:09:48.710 God's law in a number of ways. He transgresses God's law in the in 101 00:09:48.909 --> 00:09:54.059 his desire for power. You see that in many ways. I'm you see 102 00:09:54.100 --> 00:09:58.100 that. For example, and is taking two wives. The first instance of 103 00:09:58.179 --> 00:10:03.580 polygamy is not with Abraham or the other or other saints, but it is 104 00:10:03.700 --> 00:10:09.169 here in this sinful line of kin. Mean and Kane takes two wives for 105 00:10:09.289 --> 00:10:15.889 himself, though God has always commanded and an example has always been a one 106 00:10:15.970 --> 00:10:20.649 man and one woman our as being what was designed for marriage. Lay Mack 107 00:10:20.730 --> 00:10:26.279 transgresses that and he takes two wives. On top of that, he he 108 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:33.519 executes justice in an incredibly improper way. Notice what he says in this prideful 109 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:41.070 commands boast. He says I've killed a man for wounding me, a young 110 00:10:41.269 --> 00:10:45.629 man for striking me. You See, lay mack is not saying hey, 111 00:10:45.669 --> 00:10:48.789 I just want to let you know this happened. I'm filing a report. 112 00:10:48.190 --> 00:10:54.460 He's boasting here. He's saying, look how powerful I am. This young 113 00:10:54.620 --> 00:11:00.539 man came and he wounded me, he offended me, he struck me and 114 00:11:00.659 --> 00:11:03.570 I killed him. That's the kind of man that I am, that's the 115 00:11:03.649 --> 00:11:07.570 kind of power that I am. And he says that not to his wife 116 00:11:07.649 --> 00:11:11.809 and his children, but to his wives and to his children. In many 117 00:11:11.850 --> 00:11:16.049 ways, this is often what polygamy is, not only a demonstration of man's 118 00:11:16.450 --> 00:11:24.840 lusts and passions, but also his lusts for power, to have more than 119 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:31.919 belongs to him. And so he stands here having done this terrible thing, 120 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:37.149 having committed murder, killing unjustly, and he says this to his wives and 121 00:11:37.269 --> 00:11:41.029 instead of repenting for this, instead of running for his life, instead of 122 00:11:41.110 --> 00:11:48.820 being afraid, he says, if CAIN's revenge is sevenfold, which was what 123 00:11:48.019 --> 00:11:54.860 God promised those who would might, anyone who might kill Kane, lay mix 124 00:11:54.139 --> 00:12:00.940 is seventy sevenfold, a kind of way of speaking of not only a complete 125 00:12:01.019 --> 00:12:05.049 judgment but almost an eternal judgment, a judgment that will go on forever and 126 00:12:05.169 --> 00:12:11.889 ever. Laymick is taking the very prerogatives of God to himself. He is 127 00:12:13.009 --> 00:12:18.080 living in his own way, and we see then, that as sin controls 128 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:24.240 mankind. Man, instead of living under the authority of God and for the 129 00:12:24.360 --> 00:12:31.029 glory of God, lives against God, lives in an atheistic way. He 130 00:12:31.909 --> 00:12:37.710 he clamorous, I'm for his own glory and for his own authority. LAYMEX 131 00:12:37.750 --> 00:12:43.950 actions shouldn't surprise us. They are as common as the cities that we dwell 132 00:12:43.029 --> 00:12:48.779 in. People continue to push the boundaries of sex in ways that pursue their 133 00:12:48.820 --> 00:12:56.940 sinful pleasures and seek after power and control rather than in God's design, whether 134 00:12:56.980 --> 00:13:05.809 that's polygamy, adultery, homosexuality, pornography, rape, the list of the 135 00:13:07.009 --> 00:13:13.840 evils in this one category go on and on and on and on, evils 136 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:18.360 that we have to take very seriously and and and consider in our lives and 137 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:22.519 how we live with them, how we deal with them. People push the 138 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:28.110 boundaries and all kinds of other ways, taking God's creation, the things that 139 00:13:28.269 --> 00:13:33.549 he has made, and using it for purposes that are against him, against 140 00:13:33.669 --> 00:13:37.350 his law and for their own glory, whether that's the materials of the earth 141 00:13:37.750 --> 00:13:45.940 or instruments that we make, all kinds of things. And then, of 142 00:13:45.980 --> 00:13:52.500 course, we see today abuse of power as well, unjust sentences, lawlessness, 143 00:13:52.019 --> 00:13:56.009 people who don't deserve to be judges standing and as judge over men, 144 00:13:56.730 --> 00:14:01.769 I'm using their strength to their own advantages, doing what they can simply because 145 00:14:01.889 --> 00:14:07.210 they can, and all these things. We see what sin does, and 146 00:14:07.370 --> 00:14:11.320 we have to take this very seriously in our own hearts. This is not 147 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:16.200 just something that is out there in the world. This is also in there, 148 00:14:16.679 --> 00:14:20.200 in here, in our hearts. This kind of pride, this kind 149 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:26.269 of control, this kind of rebellion. That's what sin is. That's what 150 00:14:26.429 --> 00:14:28.669 it was on or Adam, that's what it was under Kane and it's what 151 00:14:28.830 --> 00:14:37.750 it was under laymk. It's what sin does. It captivates our desires for 152 00:14:37.870 --> 00:14:41.899 evil things. It makes us covet and want to control things that don't belong 153 00:14:43.100 --> 00:14:46.539 to us. It takes away the checks that God has given on man and 154 00:14:46.659 --> 00:14:54.210 society and seeks to live by one's own why, one's own rule, and 155 00:14:54.370 --> 00:15:01.490 in that sense, atheism is really methism, isn't it? It's not just 156 00:15:01.809 --> 00:15:09.039 being against God, but it's making oneself into God, taking your God's rule 157 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:15.440 and his authority on yourself and saying I am powerful and I am great, 158 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:22.070 and in many ways this seems to go very well for Laymik. There's nothing 159 00:15:22.230 --> 00:15:26.110 here in this chapter that seems to counter that or call that into question or 160 00:15:26.149 --> 00:15:33.149 or accept. For the counter example of Seth, so small, so weak, 161 00:15:35.419 --> 00:15:39.299 seth and his son, we read in that time they began to call 162 00:15:39.460 --> 00:15:45.539 on the name of Jehovah. This is a pattern we're going to see throughout 163 00:15:45.620 --> 00:15:50.009 the book of Genesis and really throughout all of history that often times the greatest 164 00:15:50.169 --> 00:15:56.129 civilizations and the greatest things that are built are are not built by God's people. 165 00:15:56.970 --> 00:16:02.250 God's people are found in places of weakness and suffering. Not Always, 166 00:16:02.289 --> 00:16:06.360 of course, he's often pleased to bless us and take care of us and 167 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:12.639 many marvelous ways, but at the same time the flourishing of evil is a 168 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:19.789 constant something David refers too often in the psalms, something solemn and refers to 169 00:16:22.389 --> 00:16:26.070 in Ecclesiastes, I'm something that's lamented and many times, in many ways, 170 00:16:26.789 --> 00:16:33.460 why is it that the righteous suffer and the unrighteous prosper? There is this 171 00:16:33.899 --> 00:16:38.019 way in which life seems to go on for the evil but, as will 172 00:16:38.059 --> 00:16:41.659 continue to see, and as we read the rest of the story, we 173 00:16:41.340 --> 00:16:45.659 actually don't even have to go all that far. We realize that, despite 174 00:16:45.659 --> 00:16:52.769 all this blustering and Saber rattling and supreme foolish confidence in ourselves, at any 175 00:16:52.929 --> 00:16:59.649 moment God can bring a sinner to his knees and even to his grave. 176 00:17:00.090 --> 00:17:07.200 We'll see that in Noah, in just a few chapters, will see how 177 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:11.720 this great city and civilization that Kane is establishing will grow and grow and grow, 178 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:18.430 until it's so bad that God says, I'm going to destroy the whole 179 00:17:18.509 --> 00:17:23.349 earth. Genesis's thirteen says, I have determined to make an end of all 180 00:17:23.549 --> 00:17:29.309 flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I 181 00:17:29.509 --> 00:17:36.180 will destroy them with the Earth. This is the trajectory that sin takes us 182 00:17:36.299 --> 00:17:41.660 on. It takes us to destruction. LAMAC feels like he's sitting pretty, 183 00:17:41.740 --> 00:17:48.130 but God promises that he will not wink, and I'm injustice that he doesn't 184 00:17:48.170 --> 00:17:53.609 let Abel's blood rye in the ground without vengeance. He will, and he 185 00:17:53.769 --> 00:18:00.039 does, make an end to all all who rise up against him in this 186 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:06.519 rebellious way. You see this not only in the generations following Noah, but 187 00:18:06.599 --> 00:18:11.920 of course an Adam sin that we've already discovered or considered, and also in 188 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:18.069 the final judgment. God has promised that there is coming a time when the 189 00:18:18.470 --> 00:18:22.349 earth, when he will shake not only the earth, as he did in 190 00:18:22.430 --> 00:18:26.869 the days of Noah, but also the heavens. That's a quote from Hebrews 191 00:18:26.910 --> 00:18:30.539 twered and twenty six. He says, I will shake not only the Earth 192 00:18:30.660 --> 00:18:33.299 but also the heavens, and the descriptions of this time, this day of 193 00:18:33.339 --> 00:18:40.059 the Lord, that we considered in second Thessalonians, are powerful. God talks 194 00:18:40.099 --> 00:18:45.529 about the heavenly things being shaken like a like a garment, so that the 195 00:18:45.690 --> 00:18:52.289 things that remain can and remains steadfast. Jesus Talks about this in Matthew Twenty 196 00:18:52.410 --> 00:18:57.599 Four. I'll turn there and read his words of Matthew Twenty Four, verses 197 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:03.440 thirty seven through thirty nine. He makes this comparison between Noah and the last 198 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:07.839 day himself, he says, for as were the days of Noah, so 199 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:11.069 will be the coming of the son of man. For in those days before 200 00:19:11.109 --> 00:19:15.950 the flood they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage until the 201 00:19:15.990 --> 00:19:22.549 day that Noah entered the Ark and they were unaware until the flood came and 202 00:19:22.789 --> 00:19:26.420 swept them all away. So will be the coming of the son of man. 203 00:19:26.460 --> 00:19:33.299 And so, you see, we are not to be foolish about these 204 00:19:33.339 --> 00:19:38.690 things and not to act like those who act like those who lived in the 205 00:19:38.730 --> 00:19:45.089 days before Noah acted. If we are enslave to our sin, if we 206 00:19:45.170 --> 00:19:48.930 are living our lives outside of God's authority and outside his law, we can't 207 00:19:49.049 --> 00:19:55.079 just continue on and pretend as if nothing's going to happen, because judgment. 208 00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:59.519 God has already shown himself in the history of the world to be a powerful 209 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:03.519 judge, and the judgment that he's is coming, he says, is even 210 00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:07.309 greater. Like the days and the days of Noah soul will the days, 211 00:20:07.990 --> 00:20:11.069 so will the day be when the son of man comes, and yet even 212 00:20:11.109 --> 00:20:15.750 more so. Yet, once more, I will shake not only the Earth 213 00:20:15.869 --> 00:20:22.700 but also the heavens also. There's one more place that we see God's anger 214 00:20:22.740 --> 00:20:27.579 against this kind of sin, this kind of this kind of living outside of 215 00:20:27.619 --> 00:20:33.059 the water in which we were created to live, and that's in Christ's death, 216 00:20:33.259 --> 00:20:38.369 this final destruction of the world, this great judgment that is rained down 217 00:20:38.490 --> 00:20:44.410 upon all that God has made. I'm came in a first installment, you 218 00:20:44.450 --> 00:20:48.809 might say, on the Cross of Christ, when God judged all those whom 219 00:20:48.849 --> 00:20:55.440 he had chosen to save there in Jesus, the great judgments of the last 220 00:20:55.480 --> 00:21:00.240 day being poured out here on on Jesus Christ. We know this from many 221 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:04.829 passages, one thing, one place you might consider as Romans four hundred and 222 00:21:04.829 --> 00:21:11.430 twenty five, when we read that he was delivered up for our trespasses and 223 00:21:11.589 --> 00:21:18.309 raised for our justification. Jesus went to the Cross to die for our sins, 224 00:21:18.259 --> 00:21:22.380 for the sins that we commit, just like Laim it committed, just 225 00:21:22.579 --> 00:21:26.819 like came committed, and many more that we might consider and we will as 226 00:21:26.900 --> 00:21:33.609 we read on in God's word. Here we see in all these places, 227 00:21:33.049 --> 00:21:38.569 in God's judgments of Adam and God's judgments of the earth, in Noah and 228 00:21:38.730 --> 00:21:44.329 God's judgment and on the last day, and in God's judgment not of Christ 229 00:21:45.450 --> 00:21:49.559 but of us in Christ, in all of these ways in which God execute 230 00:21:49.720 --> 00:21:55.079 justice, even on us in his son, we see that God does not 231 00:21:55.400 --> 00:21:59.559 wink at evil. The Lay Mak and people like him boast and our so 232 00:21:59.720 --> 00:22:03.710 feels so strong and so sure. God is promising over and over and over 233 00:22:03.750 --> 00:22:11.910 again that he will make things right and he will bring about justice against those 234 00:22:11.950 --> 00:22:21.500 who sin against him. But in Christ's death we also find hope and good 235 00:22:21.619 --> 00:22:26.019 news, because when we read that he was delivered up for our trespasses, 236 00:22:26.980 --> 00:22:33.490 we read that he was delivered up for our trespasses to know that our justification 237 00:22:33.809 --> 00:22:38.450 has already happened, that judgment for our sins has already passed for us in 238 00:22:38.490 --> 00:22:44.359 Jesus Christ. Well, that's good news, isn't it? And that's the 239 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:48.200 kind of news that seth and his children and all who have been faithful to 240 00:22:48.279 --> 00:22:53.279 God and called upon his name. That's the news they were hoping for and 241 00:22:53.480 --> 00:23:02.309 hoping in. The judgment for sin of men in Christ is a substitutionary judgment, 242 00:23:02.390 --> 00:23:07.549 a mediatorial judgment, which our fancy ways of saying he died for you. 243 00:23:08.710 --> 00:23:14.819 He endured the cross. Jesus endured the cross for you. He became 244 00:23:15.099 --> 00:23:21.380 the offspring of Adam. He became the one that would be born from eaves 245 00:23:21.819 --> 00:23:27.529 womb for you. Jesus Christ became man so that he would go to a 246 00:23:27.650 --> 00:23:33.490 cross and die, so that he would come and not only fulfill what Adam 247 00:23:33.569 --> 00:23:40.289 failed to do. But also take on the punishment that Adam deserved. Christ 248 00:23:40.450 --> 00:23:45.440 was perfect, a perfect man. He lived every moment of his life under 249 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:49.200 the authority of God and for his glory, and you hear that constantly throughout 250 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:52.960 the Gospel's don't you? I come to do my father's will. I come 251 00:23:53.079 --> 00:23:56.789 to do my father's will, not my will, but yours be done. 252 00:23:57.990 --> 00:24:03.670 He does this because that's how the law is kept, and he keeps it 253 00:24:03.630 --> 00:24:11.619 for you. He died for those who didn't do this, who didn't fulfill 254 00:24:11.779 --> 00:24:14.619 God's law, and this is, of course, God's great gift to us. 255 00:24:15.259 --> 00:24:21.259 This is God fulfilling his promise, first here in with Seth and e 256 00:24:21.339 --> 00:24:26.210 Enosh, and continuing on and on and on until the Christ is born, 257 00:24:26.089 --> 00:24:33.329 the Messiah comes, and it's through this gift of the son of God that 258 00:24:33.650 --> 00:24:41.920 you are made, as scripture puts it, children of the promise. When 259 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:47.680 Seth was born and Enosh after him. This, as eve points out, 260 00:24:47.839 --> 00:24:52.640 is the work of God. She says, we'll read it again. She 261 00:24:52.759 --> 00:24:59.430 says, God appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Kane Killed 262 00:24:59.470 --> 00:25:07.380 Him. We see here that the difference between Seth or able or enosh and 263 00:25:07.579 --> 00:25:11.940 kine and lay meck and his line. The difference between these two is not 264 00:25:11.140 --> 00:25:22.250 something that's inborn in them. Seth is born, just like came sinful and 265 00:25:22.329 --> 00:25:26.049 bound to sin. What's the difference? The difference is what Eve says. 266 00:25:26.529 --> 00:25:34.049 God has appointed, God intercedes and does something special. That's why we seek 267 00:25:34.289 --> 00:25:38.400 God. That's why we, who are the children of the promise, call 268 00:25:38.599 --> 00:25:42.319 on the name of Jehovah. We don't call on our own name, we 269 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:47.799 don't call on ourselves, we don't live to our own glory, because God 270 00:25:48.039 --> 00:25:53.910 has worked, because God has brought us a gift life and life in Christ. 271 00:25:56.990 --> 00:26:03.150 We don't please God by picking up Adams work. We receive Christ's work 272 00:26:03.990 --> 00:26:08.619 and we call on his name. Paul says in Romans nine eight, this 273 00:26:08.819 --> 00:26:12.500 means it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of the 274 00:26:12.619 --> 00:26:18.009 God of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 275 00:26:21.569 --> 00:26:26.170 So in this sense we see that God's promise to Eve about offspring is a 276 00:26:26.250 --> 00:26:30.809 promise that needs fuller explanation and is given here in Genesis. For that it's 277 00:26:30.890 --> 00:26:36.960 not just being born of Eve that's going to make the difference, but it's 278 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:41.799 being born of God, it's being born through Christ and the work of the 279 00:26:41.880 --> 00:26:47.789 Holy Spirit. It's God again interjecting himself into the world and acting in this 280 00:26:47.990 --> 00:26:52.710 saving and redeeming way that is going to change things. We see it with 281 00:26:52.789 --> 00:26:56.069 Seth and Enosh, and we'll see it with Noah when that as the whole 282 00:26:56.109 --> 00:27:02.740 world is destroyed in judgment, God promises to save a people for himself, 283 00:27:03.140 --> 00:27:07.339 and he does that Noah and his family, Genesis. For then, in 284 00:27:07.420 --> 00:27:15.140 the context of scripture, is God's message to us that he keeps his promises 285 00:27:15.130 --> 00:27:22.890 and that those who die in Adam's sin can live in Christ's righteousness. And 286 00:27:22.089 --> 00:27:26.809 this has a powerful effect on our life, doesn't it? It makes us 287 00:27:27.049 --> 00:27:33.240 call on the name of Jehovah. We do so because we are a changed 288 00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:37.680 people. As those who are no longer bound to sin, we call on 289 00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:41.799 the one to whom we should call. We obey God in this way and 290 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:45.509 we seek his face in this way. We do these as those who have 291 00:27:45.670 --> 00:27:52.789 passed through judgment and who have received a city that cannot be shaken, Mountain 292 00:27:52.789 --> 00:27:57.309 Zion. This is what God promises to us. He promises and us not 293 00:27:57.470 --> 00:28:03.259 only life in Jesus Christ, but a city, a dwelling place, a 294 00:28:03.819 --> 00:28:07.180 kingdom of God that is eternal, that is everything that it was supposed to 295 00:28:07.259 --> 00:28:14.569 be from the beginning lay mack and Caine, and that whole project is going 296 00:28:14.690 --> 00:28:18.849 to end. It's going to be burned up, washed away. But God 297 00:28:19.089 --> 00:28:26.240 promises to give us something that cannot be taken away. Eight thirty Romans, 298 00:28:26.599 --> 00:28:30.759 thirty two. He who did not spare his own son but gave him up 299 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:36.359 for us all, how will he not also, with him, graciously give 300 00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:41.079 us all things? Paul says that as we die in Christ, we also 301 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:45.549 live and reign in him. We do our work, we work in this 302 00:28:45.710 --> 00:28:48.869 world and we do it for God, but we do it in the hope 303 00:28:48.950 --> 00:28:55.710 for something lasting, as Hebrews says. A continuing on to quote from Hebrews, 304 00:28:55.779 --> 00:28:59.900 here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city to that 305 00:29:00.059 --> 00:29:04.140 is to come, the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, 306 00:29:06.500 --> 00:29:10.930 beloved. This is the message of God's grace, this is the message of 307 00:29:11.009 --> 00:29:15.849 God's taking you and your rebellion and your sin and just giving you something that 308 00:29:15.970 --> 00:29:21.609 you'd never deserved, that you are fighting against and that you are working against 309 00:29:22.690 --> 00:29:30.240 in Atheism, atheism, in Metheism, and setting yourself up over and against 310 00:29:30.279 --> 00:29:34.759 God to establish your own pitiful kingdom. The one day burn and judgment, 311 00:29:37.160 --> 00:29:42.710 God rescued you, that false king and brought you under the Authority of Christ 312 00:29:44.990 --> 00:29:49.349 by dying for you, by raising for you and by causing you to live 313 00:29:49.750 --> 00:29:55.099 and reign in him. And that is why we call on the name of 314 00:29:55.180 --> 00:30:00.299 Jehovah and not the name of ourselves. That's why we seek after him and 315 00:30:00.420 --> 00:30:03.980 him alone, and and not ourselves. That's why we find our strength in 316 00:30:04.059 --> 00:30:10.450 him. He is our rock, he is our redeemer. Jesus Christ is 317 00:30:10.569 --> 00:30:17.210 the offspring that we were seeking. Let us pray now and ask that God 318 00:30:17.529 --> 00:30:18.410 would establish us in these things.