So just grab your Bibles once again there and just keep it open to Genesis chapter 5.
And as we're going through Genesis 5, I'm sure you're wondering, how's he going to preach
in this one, right?
How's he going to preach in this chapter?
It's all these names, the genealogy of Adam.
Let's look at verse number 1, Genesis chapter 5 verse 1, the Bible says, this is the book
of the generations of Adam.
The title for the sermon this morning is the generations of Adam, alright?
So let's keep reading there, verse number 1, this is the book of the generations of
Adam in the day that God created man in the likeness of God made he him.
Male and female created he them and blessed them and called their name Adam in the day
that they were created.
So what I want to stop there and talk about is just in verse number 2, it says on the
day that God created Adam and Eve or man and woman, he called their name Adam, okay?
So as far as God was concerned, if you remember, it was Adam that gave his wife her name.
He called her Eve.
But as far as God was concerned, he called Adam and Eve Adam, okay?
He said, why is that important?
Well, the reason, I don't know if you knew this, but the reason we have the tradition
when a man and woman get married, the woman takes the man's surname, okay?
You know, when Christina got married, before she got married, she was Christina Rodriguez.
When she got married, she became Christina Sepulveda.
She took on my name and after we got married, you know, when the pastor announced us as
husband and wife, he announced us as Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Sepulveda, okay?
And the reason we have that tradition in our Western culture is because we've taken that
from the Bible.
We've recognized once you've been united as husband and wife, you are one flesh and in
many ways, you are also the one name, okay?
As far as God is concerned, we looked at Adam and Eve, he saw Adam, okay?
And when he sees me and Christina, he sees Kevin Sepulveda.
We're one flesh.
We're a team.
You know, we're not separate individuals as far as God is concerned.
We're part of one family unit.
So I just want to show you where we get that tradition from because I know today that there's
a push to move away from that.
Why do I have to take on my husband's surname?
Why can't I keep my own name?
Or you see the hyphen, you know?
For example, if Christina wanted to keep her surname, the culture today, many people will
say, well, just call yourself Christina Rodriguez hyphen Sepulveda or something like that, right?
Some people do that.
But when people start doing that, I don't know if they recognize they're moving away
from the standard that God has.
And I want you to just remember that if you're married, as far as God sees you, you're one
flesh.
All right?
Whatever your wife does, you may not approve of it.
You might not like it, hey, but you're responsible.
You're one flesh.
You can't say to God, well, that was my wife doing it.
No, you're the head of your wife.
You're the head of your family.
God looks down and sees Adam, all right?
Let's keep reading.
Verse number three.
And Adam lived in 130 years and begat a son in his own likeness after his image and called
his name Seth.
Now you may remember when I was going through this, I said, look, Adam and Eve could have
easily been in the garden for 100 years.
Okay?
I'm not saying he was.
I'm just saying it could have easily been because it wasn't, this is the first time
we get a date where Seth was born 130 years after Adam lived.
Now that might sound unusual to you.
You might get the idea, well, were they withholding from relations?
Why did it take so long for them to have children?
Well, this chapter kind of gives us that answer.
Okay?
Kind of gives us that answer why it took so long.
It wasn't that there was any sort of nefarious reasons.
It's just that as we go through this lineage, you will notice, you know, sun after sun,
when they start having children, they have children at a very old age.
All right?
Well, what we would consider an old age.
But keep in mind, these people were living for hundreds of years.
So we don't know exactly how their biology was.
We don't know exactly how they developed.
But we see a pattern.
We'll see this.
Just pay attention.
As you look at the ages of the time they were having children, you will notice there is
definitely a pattern emerging here.
All right?
Now let's keep reading verse number four.
And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth for 800 years, and he begat sons and
daughters.
And all the days of Adam lived were 930 years and he died.
So obviously Adam lived in a 930 years, almost a thousand years, all right?
So obviously their bodies were different.
Obviously their bodies aged differently, you know.
And you know, I believe this is the reason why they had children so late.
Their biology was different, okay?
They developed differently to the way we understand man today.
Now before we get into the rest of this chapter, I want you to keep your finger there and let's
go to Luke chapter three.
Luke chapter three.
We've already gone through the book of Luke, all right?
And if you remember in Luke chapter three, we have the genealogy of Jesus Christ, okay?
Now the reason I want to turn here is because the genealogy that we see of Christ parallels
the genealogy that we have here, the descendants that we see here of Adam.
It follows the same line.
Go to Luke chapter three verse 23.
Luke chapter three verse 23.
And if you remember, this genealogy was following his mother's line, Mary, okay?
Following Mary's line.
Let's look at this.
Luke 3, 23.
And Jesus himself began to be about 30 years of age being as was supposed the son of Joseph,
which was the son of Heli.
Now I'm not going to rehash my sermon, but Heli was the father-in-law of Joseph.
So Joseph could be rightly called the son of Heli because Joseph became the son-in-law
of Heli, all right?
So I'm not going to go through all of that again, but this is following the line of Mary.
So Heli was Mary's father, okay?
The father-in-law of Joseph.
Now drop down to verse 36.
Verse 36.
And as we go through, we start seeing this, which was the son of, which was the son of,
which was the son of.
And if we look at verse number 36, it says, which was the son of Canaan, which was the
son of Arphaxad, which was the son of Sem, which was the son of Noe, which was the son
of Lamech, which was the son of Methuselah, which was the son of Enoch, which was the
son of Jared, which was the son of Meleliel, which was the son of Canaan, which was the
son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of
God.
So I just want to show you there, in verse number 36, it had the son of Noe, okay?
That's Noe.
That's the name that Noe is given in the New Testament.
And so what we see there is, as we look at this chapter, we're going to end on Noe.
But if we backtrack, it's going to be the same lineage, obviously, that we saw in Genesis
chapter five.
So it's an important lineage.
It's the lineage of which Jesus Christ would ultimately be born, okay?
This is why the Bible gives us two times the same lineage being followed in the Bible.
So we understand that this is the line that Jesus Christ was born of.
Now you're still in Luke chapter three, look at verse 38 again.
Now there is a phrase here in verse 38 that a lot of people struggle to understand, okay?
And I'm going to give you four options or four possibilities of interpretation of this
passage.
And verse number 38, it says, which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which
was the son of Adam, which was the son of God, okay?
So a lot of people wonder, what does this mean?
How can we rightly say that Adam was the son of God, okay?
Why isn't anyone else in the Bible, besides obviously Jesus Christ, but why isn't anyone
else sort of referred to as the son of God?
Now I'm going to go through the four options that I'm familiar with, okay?
The four rules.
And this is important as we go through, later on as we go through the rest of this chapter,
but also when we get up to Genesis chapter six, okay?
I'm setting some groundwork here now, so when we get to chapter six, you know, we don't
have to rehash the same kind of things here.
But there are four options.
Let me go through the four main options that I know of, you may know of others, to understand
in what sense was Adam the son of God, all right?
Number one, the first one is that this verse of Adam being the son of God is speaking of
Jesus being the son of God by extension of this family lineage, okay?
Now the thought behind that, you guys are still in Luke chapter three, go to Luke chapter
three verse 31, Luke chapter three verse 31, let me give you the thought behind this.
Verse 31, it says, which was the son of Meliah, which was the son of Menon, which was the
son of Metaphor, which was the son of Nathan, which was the son of David.
So obviously, as we read this passage, Nathan was the son of David, but we also know that
Jesus Christ many times in the Bible is called the son of David, for example, okay?
So in a sense, you might say, well, you know, yes, we're following the lineage of this family,
but you could also rightly call Jesus the son of all these other people along the way.
You know, even when we get to Abraham, and we know that there's a passage in the Bible
where it talks about Jesus being the son of Abraham, okay, or even the seed of Abraham.
So that's one thought behind it.
And so when we eventually get to Adam, the son of God, that's really speaking by extension
that Jesus, all the way from the beginning, is the son of God, okay?
That's one thought behind it.
Now, my problem with that interpretation is that, well, because in Luke chapter three
we're following Mary's line, you know, we could say, you know, Heli, of course, was
the father-in-law, and so Joseph was the son of Heli, but once you get to verse number,
let's see, verse number, yeah, verse number 23, you can't say that Jesus was really the
son of Heli, okay?
I mean, I don't think there's a term that we're familiar, that the Bible uses, that
we use being grandson-in-law or something like that.
There's no kind of reference to that.
So my problem is, yes, when we get to, by the time we get to King David, you could in
a sense rightly say everyone behind that is, you could say Jesus is the son of these people,
but then those that came afterwards that follow the mother's line, you can't rightly call
those people the son of Jesus, Jesus the son of those people.
That's where it falls short for me, that option, okay?
Now you're wondering, why are we going for these options?
I'll make sense of it later on, all right?
So I reject that interpretation, I don't think that one's right, okay?
I think it's a good attempt, but it's not right, okay?
The second one that I'm familiar with is that Adam can be called the son of God because
he was directly created by God, okay?
Him having no earthly father or earthly mother, okay?
And of course, Jesus Christ, the son of God, yes, when he came, born in the major, he had
an earthly mother, but of course, we know that Jesus Christ is from eternity past, and
he has no father and mother in that sense, okay?
But if we have a look at, if we consider that, the reason some people take this approach
is what Adam can be called the son of God because he was directly created by God, is
then they expand that to say, well, the angels, they were created directly by God, and so
the angels can be called the sons of God as well, okay?
So when you have that interpretation directly created by God without earthly father and
mother, therefore, the sons of God, then you consider Adam being the son of God, you consider
angels being the son of God, say, well, why don't you take that approach?
Because they're not the only beings that were created directly by God without father and
mother, okay?
Because in Genesis, the book of Genesis, we see the land animals being made out of the
earth, we see the whales, the fish, the birds being made out of water, they also, the first
dog, the first whale, the first shark, they were also created directly by God, okay?
They had no earthly father and mother, then why don't you call them sons of God?
Of course, no one would, all right?
So that falls short, you cannot remain consistent with that view, that you're called the son
of God because you were directly created by God without an earthly mother and father,
otherwise you'd say all the animals, the first animals anyway were sons of God as well, okay?
And nobody sort of makes that claim, but that's what you'd have to do if you were to remain
consistent with that view.
So I don't believe that view either.
The third option, why is Adam called the son of God here, is similar to option number two
with a bit of a twist, okay?
So the third option, and I think this one's a good option, it's not my favorite option,
but I think it makes sense, is once again, yes, Adam can be called the son of God because
he had no earthly father or mother, but also because he was created in the image of God,
okay?
Because Adam was created in the image or the likeness of God and had no earthly father
or mother, then potentially that's why he can be called the son of God, because once
again, if you guys, you don't need to turn there, where can I get you to turn?
I'll get you guys to turn to Hebrews chapter one, please, Hebrews chapter one, you can
move away from the book of Luke, Hebrews chapter one, but while you're turning there, I'm going
to read to you from 2 Corinthians chapter four, verse four, it says, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
We know that Adam, in Genesis chapter one, was created in the image of God.
The Bible also tells us that Jesus came in the image of God, you guys are in Hebrews
chapter one, verse one, let's have a look at this, Hebrews chapter one, verse one, God
who at sundry times and in diverse manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, having these last days, spoken unto us by his son, whom he ever appointed heir
of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who be in the brightness of his glory, and
the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when
he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
So we see that Adam, something was similar with Adam and Jesus Christ, you know, they
didn't have the earthly father or mother, because we know once again Jesus was before
his birth, but they were also, they also came in the likeness or in the image of God.
Okay, so potentially that could be the reason why Adam is called the son of God, and of
course why we call Jesus Christ the son of God as well.
Now the problem that I have with that position, and it's not a problem, I don't have a problem
with that position at all.
I think that's a solid interpretation, that's a solid interpretation, but remember there
are some that want to call the angels, the heavenly hosts, the cherubs, the seraphs,
the sons of God as well.
Now if you hold to this position, which I think is solid, you'll see, you can understand
now why angels would not be considered the sons of God.
Well, why?
Well, first of all, yes, they were created by God, they had no sort of earthly father
or mother in that sense, but they were not created in the image or the likeness of God.
When we were going through Genesis chapter one, we saw that the only created beings that
were made in the image of God was man, and by extension, obviously woman, because she
was taken out of man, and then we have scriptures that confirm for us that Jesus Christ was
made, or not made, but Jesus Christ is the image of God the father, and so once again
we can say, hey, this is consistent, we can be consistent with this, but when we take
this approach, then that cannot include angels, because the Bible never confirms or says to
us that angels were created in the image of God.
Now the fourth position, which is my position, now there's nothing wrong with the third position,
I think it's pretty good, I don't think these two positions are mutually exclusive, I actually
believe you can hold to option number three and four at the same time without any contradiction,
but my view of option number four is that Adam is called the son of God because he was
the first man to be saved, because he was the first man to be saved, and you guys remember
the story, when Adam and Eve sinned, when they had eaten from that tree of knowledge
of good and evil, that they were ashamed, they had sinned, they tried to cover themselves,
and what did God do?
God came and provided a covering, God came and shed the blood of an animal, and they
accepted that covering, they accepted what God had prepared for them as a covering of
their sin and shame, so they placed their faith on God's way of covering sin and shame,
and so Adam and Eve became the first people that ever needed salvation, they're the first
people that ever got saved.
So in that sense, that would make sense with the rest of the Bible as we're familiar with
it, especially the New Testament, because we can all call ourselves children of God,
we can all call ourselves sons and daughters of God, because we believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, because we've all been saved as well, so that would remain consistent with that,
that Adam is called the son of God because he was the first person to be saved.
Now you guys can stay in Hebrews chapter one, and let me just think about this, can you
keep your finger in Hebrews chapter one, and turn to Galatians chapter three please, Galatians
chapter three.
And while you're turning, I'm just going to read to you from John chapter one verse 12.
The Bible says, but as many as received him, to them gave you power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name.
So we can all become the sons of God when we believe on Jesus Christ, okay, and then
it says, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God.
So the reason we call the sons of God is because we were born of God, we were born again, and
that new man that is born in us, that can be rightly called the son of God, alright.
You guys are going to Galatians chapter three verse 26, Galatians 3 26, the Bible also says,
for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
So how do you become a child of God?
You place your faith, you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, okay, and if you guys can go,
just take your finger and go back to Hebrews chapter one please, back to Hebrews chapter
one.
I'll continue reading that passage that we were reading, but the reason I believe this
is so important to understand this, and this is my position, I believe the reason it's
called the son of God is because he was saved, because if you remember in Genesis 4 26, the
last verse before we, last week when looking at the last verse, it said, and to Seth, obviously
Adam's son, to him also there was born a son, and he called his name Enos, then began men
to call upon the name of the Lord, okay, and we talked about how that was a spiritual lineage
through Adam to Seth to Enos, and following that this family line would be believers,
this family line would call upon them the Lord, and so this family line could be rightly
called the sons of God, alright, and look at Hebrews chapter one verse four, Hebrews
chapter one verse four.
So what about the angels, you know, do we consider angels then, with this option, with
this option number four, this way of interpretation, Hebrews chapter one verse four, being made
so much better, remember talking about Jesus Christ being made in the image of God, being
made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent
name than they, for unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son?
Which day have I begotten thee?
And again I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.
So the Bible says here, and he's comparing Jesus Christ to the heavenly hosts, he's comparing
Jesus Christ to the angels, and saying that Jesus Christ is so much better, he's the creator
of all things, in fact he's God, we see in this chapter later on, but it's comparing
the angels, and it says that God never said to the angels, thou art my son, okay, he never
said to the angels here, and he shall be to me a son, okay, we don't have any references
in the Bible that ever calls angels the sons of God, okay, and I know there is a teach
and there is a belief out there that's quite prominent, you know, I came from a church
that had two pastors, and I was there for nine years, two pastors, right, we had one
pastor who believed the sons of God were just believers, and obviously Jesus Christ, through
Jesus Christ we can become sons of God, we had another pastor that believed that angels
were also the sons of God, alright, so it's quite prominent, and it's not like it was
ever a big issue or anything like that, and it's not like we saw the pastors fight about
it in church or something like that, okay, but there were a lot of Christians that actually
believed this, that angels are the sons of God, but the Bible never teaches this, okay,
so when we look at those four options, I don't know if there's any other options to understand
as Adam as the son of God, but when you look at the first two, you can't remain consistent
with those positions, and when you look at options three and four, which you can remain
consistent with, both times it doesn't include the angels, you cannot include the angels
within that category, okay, so why are you talking about this?
When we get to the next chapter you'll understand a little bit more, okay, but look at verse
number, sorry, what did we read, verse number six, Hebrews chapter one verse six, and again
when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, that's Jesus Christ, he saith,
and let all the ages of God worship him, okay, so the first begotten means that there are
other begotten of God, right, if he's the first begotten, there must be other people
that are begotten of God, there must be other people that are born of God, that's us, okay,
it's through the power of Jesus Christ as the first begotten, we have the ability of
being born again, okay, let's drop down to verse number 14 now, we won't read the whole
chapter, but verse number 14, it says here, are they not all ministering spirits, speaking
of the angels, sent forth to minister for them who shall be the heirs of salvation,
you know what you are, you are an heir of salvation, you know what the angels are to
you, they're there to minister to those that are heirs of salvation, does that, what's
that saying then, that the angels are not heirs of salvation, okay, because if they
were, yeah, I guess they could be called the sons of God, but they're not heirs of
salvation, Jesus Christ came to die for man and woman, not to die for angels or any other
creatures, okay, so why have I spent so much time here, once again, just to, you know,
I'm not really trying to come to give you a dogmatic lesson, this is why Adam is called
the son of God, I'm just trying to give you the options out there and show you why the
angels cannot be considered the sons of God, that becomes important as we get into the
next chapter, alright, but what I also, the other reason I want to look at this, guys,
is just to show you as we go through this genealogy in chapter 5, it's such a beautiful
thing that we can see a genealogy of saved people, okay, now I don't know if all these
men were great men of God, we know a couple of them were, we know a couple of them in
this chapter are prophets, are preachers of God, I don't know if they were all great men
of God, but one thing that we definitely see is that the fear of God, the gospel was
being passed down generation to generation, and what I like about this chapter is so many
times in the Bible, you see other great men of God, prophesying, doing great works, doing
great wonders, but then they turn out to be lousy fathers, okay, they don't pass down
the teachings, the doctrines of the children, the children grow up without having a fear
of God, I mean just one that comes to my mind is Samuel, the prophet Samuel, great
man of God, used mightily by God, but his children, they messed up, I feel like do we
blame the children or do we blame the parenting, I think we blame the parenting, right, eventually
the children get to an age where they're responsible, but at the end of the day, if Samuel had done
a good job, his children would have also followed after his ways, and so what I get encouragement
by here is we see generation to generation passed down, calling upon the name of the
Lord until we get to Noah, okay, and we see that Noah lived, we see this next chapter
that he lived in terrible times, you know, in horrible days, and yet he still had the
grace of God upon him, alright, so an encouragement to you guys, please, fathers, mothers, pass
down what you've learnt to your children, you know, encourage them, show them the fear
of God, discipline your children with the rod of correction when they disobey, okay,
that's going to cause them to understand if mum and dad will correct me, surely God will
when I sin, when I break his laws, and bring about that fear of God into their lives.
Psalm 103, you don't need to turn there, Psalm 103 verse 17 says, but the mercy of the Lord
is from everlasting to everlasting, upon them that fear him, and his righteousness
unto children's children, you see, God wants to have mercy on your children, and your children's
children, but why is that?
It said upon them that fear him, you have to teach your children the fear of God, okay,
Proverbs 13 verse 22 says, a good man lives an inheritance to his children's children,
and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just, hey, what inheritance are you leaving
for your children, and your children's children, you say well, I've got a house, I've got investment
property, I've got money in the bank, I've got, I mean, if you've got those things for
your kids, that's good, I'm not against that, but what inheritance do you think is so much
more important?
Obviously the inheritance of salvation, obviously the inheritance that comes, the eternal rewards
in heaven, that comes first and foremost, and if you teach your children right, you
teach them to fear God, you teach them to follow after the commands of God, they have
the new man in them, God can lead them, they can walk in the spirit, then they're going
to pass that teaching down onto their children, and if you live long enough, you'll be able
to see your grandchildren, not only can your children teach their children, hey, you can
teach your grandchildren, and if you're blessed long enough, you can see your grandchildren,
your great-grandchildren, your great-grandchildren, right, and if you're really blessed, you might
be able to see your great-great-grandchildren, and there's some people that see them, right,
and you can still have an influence on these people, and the reason I bring that up is
because obviously Adam lived long enough to know Lamech, okay, and we look at these generations,
we say, okay, they lived this long, they had these kids, it seems like they passed away
and they move on, but really, Adam lived long enough to know Lamech, who was Noah's father,
okay, so I have no doubt that not only was this passed down generation to generation,
but we always had, you know, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather,
you know, passing down the teachings of God, passing down the commandments of God, which
we see here in Genesis chapter five, okay, and you might say, well, you know, I didn't
grow up in a Christian home, I didn't have Christian parents, you know, I didn't get
the benefit of being passed down this from generation to generation, yeah, but you can
start it now, you can start it with your children and your grandchildren, and so on, okay, let's
look at verse, let's go back to Genesis chapter five now, Genesis chapter five, verse six,
Genesis chapter five, verse six, and this is just, I just want you to see the pattern
here in verse number six, and Seth lived 105 years and begat Enos, so Adam was 130 when
he had Seth, Seth was 105 when he had Enos, and why they waited so long? It's just, it
seems like it's their biology, right, I mean, you'll see this, you'll start to see the time
they have kids will start to decrease, okay, but 130, 105 here, so I don't think there's
anything wrong with them, it's just the way their bodies were, I mean, I don't know what
it'd be like if we lived for 900 years, and I don't know how long it would take for our
bodies to develop, obviously it would be very different to the way we are today, okay, verse
number seven, I guess there'd be no rush, I mean, if you're living for 900 years, I
guess you're not really in a rush to have kids anyway, right, I mean, the body will
determine when the right time is anyway, verse number seven, and Seth lived after he begat
Enos 807 years and begat sons and daughters, and all the days of Seth were 912 years and
he died, and Enos lived 90 years and begat Canaan, so now we have Enos living 90, he
was 90 years old when he had Canaan, and Enos lived after he begat Canaan 815 years and
begat sons and daughters, and all the days of Enos were 905 years and he died, and Canaan
lived 70 years and begat Mahaleliel, okay, so 70 years, we see this drop keep coming,
right, but still, I mean, it's very old, right, for us, the way we look at it, you
know, it's very old, but for them, I'm probably sure it's just the right time to have kids
at that age, right, verse 13, and Canaan lived after he begat Mahaleliel 840 years and begat
sons and daughters, and all the days of Canaan were 910 years and he died, and Mahaleliel
lived 65 years and begat Jared, and Mahaleliel lived after he begat Jared 830 years and begat
sons and daughters, oh sorry, Mahaleliel was 65 years old when he had Jared, right,
then verse 17, and all the days of Mahaleliel were 890 and 5 years and he died, and Jared
lived 160 and 2 years and he begat Enoch, and Jared lived after he begat Enoch 800
years and begat sons and daughters, and all the days of Jared were 960 and 2 years and
he died, and Enoch lived 60 and 5 years, so you keep seeing this pattern slowly dropping,
Enoch lived 60 and 5 years and begat Methuselah.
Now let's focus our attention on Enoch.
So we see all these names, we don't know much about them, we don't really know much
about them, I know some people have sort of gone look at the meaning of their names and
come up with things, I mean, yeah, I guess that's profitable, you know, but what we
see here is the Lord pauses at Enoch, and he has something important to tell us about
Enoch, ok?
It says here in verse 21, and Enoch lived 60 and 5 years, oh sorry, what am I up to,
verse 22 I think, and Enoch worked with God, so let's look at this, and Enoch worked
with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years and begat sons and daughters, and all the
days of Enoch were 360 and 5 years, so Enoch lived 365 years, that's a long time, but
when you look at everyone else, he lived the shortest, ok, why, why?
It says in verse 24, and Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him, ok?
So Enoch did not die a natural death like his forefathers, he was taken by God, ok?
He walked with God, he was taken by God, say why was he taken by God?
Glad you asked, keep your finger there, go to Hebrews chapter 11 now, Hebrews chapter
11, Hebrews chapter 11 verse 5, Hebrews chapter 11 verse 5, the hall of faith once again,
it tells us a little bit more about Enoch here in the New Testament, Hebrews chapter
11 verse 5, it says by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, you see God
took Enoch, he enjoyed his fellowship so much, he enjoyed walking with Enoch so much, Enoch
was so godly, Enoch was so faithful that God said you know what Enoch, I'm going to reward
you, you're not going to see death, and he took him, he took him to heaven to be with
him, ok?
So that was the purpose for Enoch, that he would not see death, ok?
He was taken by God, and then it says and was not found, so it's like where's Enoch,
he's gone, he's not found, because God had translated him, for before his translation
he had this testimony that he pleased God, what a testimony, I mean, I don't know if
this is going to happen, but I would love it on my tombstone, right, you know how people
write things, how people just write, Kevin pleased God, I'd be so happy if that's all
he had, right, I mean he doesn't have, he was the pastor of New Life Baptist Church
for this many years, you know he accomplished all these things in his life this many years,
if all my tombstones said that Kevin pleased God, I'd be rejoiced and I'd be over the
moon, right, because I'd be numbered amongst others like Enoch, we need to strive to please
God, ok, that's what our lives should be about, we see that God, you know, rewarded
Enoch, gave him a special privilege to go to heaven early, ok, not to see death, because
you know God was trying, was withholding him from that, because he pleased God, now look
at verse number 6, now how do we please God?
It tells us in verse number 6, but without faith it is impossible to please him, ok,
in other words if we want to please God, what do we must have?
We must have faith in our Lord, you say yes I've placed my faith on Jesus Christ, I'm
saved, praise God, that's one way to please him, hey but we're meant to go from faith
to faith, we're meant to walk in faith, like it spoke of Enoch, he walked with the
Lord, you know he walked in faith, he was a faithful man, you know he always knew that
God would answer, he always knew that God was there with him, he maintained a close
walk and fellowship with the Lord, and it says, verse number 6, for he that cometh to
God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
So what does that tell us about Enoch once again?
He was diligently seeking after the Lord, ok, we speak of David being a man after God's
own heart, seems like Enoch was very similar, always seeking after the Lord, seeking to
be faithful to the Lord, and it was such a stand out in this family that God took him
and translated him.
Now some people teach that Enoch was raptured, ok, I've heard people, preachers say there
are seven raptures in the Bible, for example, there's Enoch, rapture number 1, rapture
number 2 is maybe Elijah when he's taken up in the whirlwind, just trying to think
where they are, you know, number 3 could be Jesus, you know, resurrection, number 4
could be the rapture, number 5 could be, I don't know, maybe the Jews rapture or something,
people come up with all these raptures, right, they say well he was raptured here, well no
because the rapture is the resurrection, ok, when we receive, when the rapture time comes
we're going to receive our resurrected bodies, the Bible calls it the resurrection, ok, Enoch
was not resurrected, ok, and people say well no he means there, Enoch was translated, that
means he was, you know, he received his resurrected body and he went up to heaven, he was like
an early rapture, and this pictures a pre-tribulation rapture, right, because before God floods
the earth, before God asks Noah to build the ark and destroys the earth, he pours out his
wrath on this earth, we see Enoch as a picture of the pre-trib rapture, well first of all
he was not raptured, he was not resurrected, ok, second of all he was taken of God long
before, long before God poured out his wrath, ok, it's not 7 years or anything like that
like a pre-trib is teach, ok, let's understand what does it mean to be translated, if you
guys can go to Colossians chapter 1 please, Colossians chapter 1 verse 12, Colossians
chapter 1 verse 12, Colossians chapter 1 verse 12, the Bible says, giving thanks unto the
Father which have made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,
who have delivered us from the power of darkness and have translated us into the kingdom of
his dear son, you see if you're saved you have also been translated, ok, so what does
it mean to be translated, we talk about Bible translations, we're not talking about taking
one language to another language, though there's a similar etymology behind that, but what
it's saying is you're taken from one place to another, when the Bible uses the word translated
in that sense, you're taken from one place, you're taken to another place, this is not
talking about a resurrection, ok, with Enoch he was taken from the earth and he was taken
to heaven, when you've been saved, God took you, what does it say here, from the power
of darkness and he translated you, he's taken you to the kingdom of his dear son, the kingdom
of God, ok, the kingdom of God within you, that first phase, the spiritual phase, being
born again, that new man has already entered as it were the kingdom of God, ok, you've
been translated from the power of darkness, that's what it means, it doesn't mean we've
been raptured, it doesn't mean we've been resurrected as it were, ok, it just means
we've been taken from one place to another place, so don't fall into the trap of saying
Enoch was raptured, well he wasn't, ok, and the reason behind this, go to 1 Corinthians
15, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20 please, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20, the
Bible says, but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that
slept, ok, so we know that Christ was resurrected from the dead, we know that Christ received
his resurrected body, and the Bible calls Christ the first fruits of them that slept,
ok, why is that important, verse 21, for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection
of the dead, ok, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive, now
look at verse 23, hey we serve an orderly God, ok, the Bible tells us in verse 23, but
every man, every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits, who's the first to be
resurrected, Christ, ok, Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ's
at his coming, that's the rapture, ok, so all of you, all of us will receive resurrected
bodies at his coming, hey that's going to include Enoch, that's going to include
all the Old Testament saints at his coming, they're also going to receive their resurrected
bodies, alright, are they in heaven now, yes they are, but they're without their
resurrected bodies, they're in heaven by in soul and spirit, but one day at the resurrection
they're going to receive their new bodies as much as we are, ok, and then it says in
verse 24, then cometh the end, so at the end of all these things, it says when he
shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, this is at the end of the millennium, even
the father when he have put all rule, put down all rule and all authority and power,
this will be the final resurrection of the saints that lived after the first rapture,
ok, after the first resurrection, they're going to be resurrected again at the end,
alright, but we see that God is orderly, Christ first, then those at his coming, then cometh
the end, alright, so Enoch, now Enoch was not raptured, ok, yes he had a special privilege
of being taken up to heaven, but he's going to receive his resurrected bodies at the same
time that you are, ok, it's going to be awesome to see Enoch and see these Old Testament saints
in the clouds with God forever, alright, now go to Jude chapter 14 please, Jude chapter
14, Jude chapter 14, Jude chapter 14, because it's not obvious from the book of Genesis,
but Enoch wasn't just a man that walked with God, Enoch was a preacher, Enoch was a prophet,
ok, these are the signs of someone that walks with God, these are the signs of someone who
pleases the Lord, these are the signs of someone that has faith in God, listen, when you have
faith in God, when you're pleasing him, when you're walking in his ways, you can't help
but speak his word, you can't help but preach his word, and look children, ladies, you can
all be preachers, not behind this pulpit, but you can all go out there preaching the
gospel door to door, ok, this is the sign of a man who walks with God, Jude 14 please,
did I say chapter 14, I always say that, Jude 14, Jude 14, verse 14 of course, Jude verse
14, it says here, and Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these saying, behold
the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, alright, now you don't need to turn
there, I'm going to read to you from first Thessalonians chapter 3, but when does God,
when does the Lord come with ten thousands of saints, when?
First Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 13, it says, to the end he may establish your hearts
unblameable in wholeness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ with all his saints, and if you know first Thessalonians, it goes into chapter
4 about the rapture, ok, say, you know, who's going to be raptured, who's going to receive
the resurrected body, he's already covered it, all of us, including Enoch, because when
Christ comes, everyone that has gone to heaven, everyone that has died a death year and is
in heaven, including Enoch who didn't die, but including Enoch, they're going to come
with the Lord Jesus Christ, it's not just going to be Jesus Christ alone, he's seen
in the clouds, he's going to come with the ten thousands of his saints, alright, and
they're going to be resurrected first, those that have passed away, they're going to receive
their resurrected bodies first, they're going to be caught up into the clouds first, and
then those that remain, the rest of us, if we're still alive during those days, we're
going to be caught up together with them in the clouds, and so shall we ever be with the
Lord. What did Enoch preach? The rapture, he preached the second coming of Christ, ok,
what else did he preach? What else did he preach? Look at verse number 15, yeah, Jude
15, he preached, so after the resurrection, what's he going to do? To execute judgment
upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which
they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken
against him. So he preached in verse 15, the judgment of God, ok, he preached that we're
going to be raptured, Christ is going to come and take his saints with him, and then
he says he's going to execute judgment on the ungodly. He preached the wrath of God.
Man, Enoch must have been a hate preacher, right? Preaching the wrath of God, coming
upon the ungodly, obviously that includes the antichrist and those that take the mark
of the beast, we have further information, you know, we probably have more information
to us today about all these events than what Enoch, what God had revealed to Enoch, but
we see he preached the wrath of God. Oh man, he was preaching the love of Christ, he was
preaching the wrath of God on the ungodly, ok? What does that, that tells us that preachers
that please God, preachers that have faith, they preach on the wrath of God as well, ok?
They preach on the anger of God as well. Verse number 16, it says these are murmurers, complainers,
walking after their own lusts, and their mouths speak of great swelling words, having men's
persons in admiration because of advantage. So it says these are, these are the people
that he preached against, and if you get the context of Jude, you know that this was written
about false prophets, ok? Enoch preached against false prophets. Enoch preached against false
teachers. Now this is hard for us to wrap our minds around, but what does that tell
me? It tells me that even in Enoch's day, so early, so early, right, the seventh generation
from Adam, there were already false prophets, there were already false teachers in the world
at this time, ok? And we see that God had a man in Enoch to preach against these false
teachers, right? To preach against these false prophets of God, alright? And once again,
spirit-filled men will preach against false prophets, ok? If you go to church and go,
why do we hear about the wrath of God? Why do we keep hearing about his anger? Why do
we keep hearing about false prophets? I want to move on. Hey, this is a man that pleases
the Lord that preaches these things. If you go to church and they're preaching against
the false prophets, they're naming names or whatever, they're preaching about the anger
and the wrath of God, you should rejoice. Say, hey, this man pleases God. This man reminds
me of Enoch in the Bible who was taken, who was translated so he would not see death,
ok? This is what we see in the Bible here in Genesis chapter 5. Now let's go back to
Genesis 5 verse 25. Genesis 5 verse 25. We're almost done here. Genesis 5, 25. The Bible
says that Methuselah lived in a hundred eighty and seven years and begat Lamech. So remember
Lamech was the father of Noah. And Methuselah lived, after he begat Lamech, seven hundred
eighty and two years and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred
sixty and nine years and he died. So Methuselah was nine hundred and sixty nine years. He's
the man who lived the longest in the Bible, ok? And I believe he died, I didn't double
check this, but I believe he died the same year of the flood, the flood of Noah. He died
in the same year, ok? Let's keep reading, verse 28. And Lamech lived an hundred eighty
and two years and begat a son and he called his name Noah. Now this is someone you're
probably all familiar with, right? Noah. Saying, now look at this, Lamech was also a preacher.
Lamech, Noah's father, was also a prophet. Ok, what does it say? When he had Noah, he
had a prophecy to speak of him. He says, this same, so this same Noah, shall comfort us
concerning our work and toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord hath
cursed. So Lamech recognized that the Lord had cursed the ground, was seen coming judgment
as well from God, and he says this same Noah will comfort us of our work and toil. Work
and toil of our hands. What's that about? Well, we're looking at this generation of
godly men. This generation where the fear of God was being passed down generation to
generation to generation. Lamech, whatever God had revealed to him, knew that God's judgment
was close. Ok, but he said, look, I'm comforted to know that the same son of mine, Noah, will
continue the work that we've continued. He's talking about laboring in the vineyard. He's
talking about laboring, you know, in some job. No, the labor of work that's been passed
down generation to generation, the fear of God, the teaching of his coming, you know,
the doctrine of the Bible. They would be comforted to know that this would be passed
on through Noah because obviously we know that Noah would see himself through the flood
and he would spawn a new generation of people. Ok, so, you know, one thing we can look at
Noah and be thankful that God, you know, that Noah found grace in the eyes of God, that
Noah was saved because without Noah, the earth would have been totally destroyed, right?
Without Noah, we wouldn't be here. Without Noah, we wouldn't know the teachings of God.
They wouldn't have been continually being passed down. And so just a reminder once again,
guys, is how important it is for us to pass down the teachings of God to our children.
And you don't need to turn there. I'll read to you from Hebrews chapter 11 verse 7, the
same chapter we were looking at before. It says, by faith, Noah, being warned of God
of things not seen as yet, moved with fear. And we're talking about the fear of God being
passed down. Hey, Noah had a fear of God. He had a fear of the judgment of God. He just
prepared an ark to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became
heir of the righteousness which is by faith. Ok, so we see that Noah was a man of faith
and he prepared an ark for his house. Ok, of course we know that's talking about the
ark of Noah, you know, to save them from the floods. Ok, but let's take the spiritual
meaning here, guys. Fathers, have you prepared an ark for your house? You know, have your
children entered the ark of Jesus Christ? Are they saved? Have you taught them the word
of God? And if you have done that, hey, at least you've done the step as Noah has, right?
Prepared an ark for his house. It's the same thing. That's the same job that we ought to
have, guys. Ok, so our children, we as heirs of righteousness can pass down that righteousness
to our children. Let's look at verse number 30 now. Genesis chapter 5 verse 30. Genesis
chapter 5 verse 30. And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred and ninety and
five years and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred
seventy and seven years and he died. And Noah was five hundred years old and Noah begat
Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Alright, so we'll just leave it there. I don't have much more
to add there. We'll go into the story of Noah next week. But I hope you guys try to
remember the things we covered at the beginning about the sons of God. Alright, so that's
going to be important as we get into chapter 6 next week. Let's pray.