Voddie Baucham - The Sons of Promise The Gospel Significance of the First Genealogy
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Speaker 1: Genesis chapter 5 is our text for this morning. Genesis
chapter 5. And it's interesting, as we look through this book,
and you know my responsibility as the pastor for preaching
is to do the rhetorical analysis of the different materials
that we're preaching through, to break them into their various
teaching sections, and then we sort of dish out the
assignments for who's going to preach what. And this is
one that nobody really wanted. Because how do you preach
a genealogy, you know? This guy was the father of
this guy, and then this guy died. And then this
guy was the father of this guy, and then this
guy died. How do you do that? How do you
handle this whole genealogy thing? Well, it's very interesting. In
looking at this text and spending time with this text,
it became obvious that there was a lot more happening
here than just this guy fathering this guy and dying.
There was a lot more involved in this process, and
there's a lot more that we needed to be aware of.
So if you'll join me here in Genesis chapter 5,
Genesis chapter 5. Let's begin there at that first verse
in Genesis chapter 5. This is the book of the
generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him
in the likeness of God. Male and female, he created them.
and he blessed them and named them man when they
were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered
a son in his own likeness after his image and
named him Seth. The days of Adam after he fathered
Seth were 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. Thus,
all the days of Adam were 930 years. And he died.
When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. Seth lived,
after he fathered Enosh, 807 years. And he had other
sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Seth were
912 years, all together now, and he died. When Enosh
had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. Enosh lived after
he fathered Kenan 815 years. And he had other sons
and daughters. Thus all the days of Enosh were 905
years altogether. And he died. When Mahalalel lived 65 years
he fathered Jared. Did we skip somebody? We skipped somebody. Yes.
When Kenan had lived 70 years he fathered Mahalalel. When
Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years, and he
had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of
Kenan were 910 years, and he died. Very good. When
Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. Mahalalel lived
after he fathered Jared 830 years, and had other sons
and daughters. Thus, the days of Mahalalel were 895 years,
and he died. When Jared had lived 162 years, he
fathered Enoch. Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years
and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days
of Jared were 962 years and he died. When Enoch
had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with
God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other
sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Enoch were
365 years. Now, immediately we see, boy, this is a
short lifespan compared to the rest of his ancestors. Thus,
all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked
with God and was not, for God took him. When
Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech. Methuselah lived,
after he fathered Lamech, 782 years. and had other sons
and daughters. Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years,
and he died. When Lamech had lived 182 years, he
fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, Out
of the ground the Lord has cursed. This one shall
bring us relief from our work and from the painful
toil of our hands. Lamech lived after he fathered Noah.
595 years, and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all
the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.
After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham,
and Japheth. Now, these are the 10 generations from Adam
to to Noah. These ten generations that take place over
a period of nearly a thousand years from Adam to Noah.
Now our first tendency when we look at these generations
is to do something like this. We're going to look
at this passage and we're going to study this passage,
therefore we're going to pay attention to the individuals in
the list who are exceptional. That is why there's usually
only two or three guys in this list that we
talk about. We talk about Enoch. Why do we talk
about Enoch? Because Enoch's the only one in the list
who doesn't end with that phrase, and he died. He
walked with God. And so much so that he didn't
taste death. God took him. He was translated, if you will.
And so we talk a lot about Enoch and what
it means to walk with God. Newsflash. Genesis chapter 5
is not about Enoch. Genesis chapter 5 is not about
what it means to walk with God. Genesis chapter 5
is not even about escaping death. It's not what it's about.
Or the other individual that we talk about a lot
in Genesis chapter 5 is Methuselah. The reason we talk
about Methuselah is because of trivia. Methuselah happens to be
the oldest man recorded in the Bible at 969 years.
Lord have mercy. And so we talk about Methuselah and
how long Methuselah lived. And if we talk about Methuselah
and how long Methuselah lived, then the sermon is something about,
you know, the age of the earth and the condition
of the antediluvian earth and what the air was like
before the flood and what the water was like before
the flood and what the nutrients in the food were
like before the flood. And that's the angle that we
go if we talk about Methuselah. Or we focus on Noah,
but usually we don't focus on Noah in Genesis chapter
5 because Noah's big debut really comes in Genesis chapter
6 and Genesis chapter 7. And so all of a
sudden we look at Genesis chapter 5 and we're either
talking about Enoch because he was translated or Methuselah because
he was the oldest man in the Bible. Neither one
of those is what Genesis chapter 5 is about. That's
not the point. I mean, really, who cares that one
guy lived 969 years compared to another guy who didn't
make it the whole 969? What difference does it make
how old Methuselah was? Is it an issue? It's an issue,
and it's something that we think about. But that's not
the point. We have to address this issue of their
age because it is an issue. So we'll address that,
and then we'll get to the point of Genesis chapter 5.
Listen to this from John Gill. Though the length of
time they lived may in some measure be accounted for
by natural things as means, such as their healthful constitution,
simple diet, the goodness of the fruits of the earth,
the temperate air and climate they lived in, their sobriety, temperance, labor,
and exercise, yet no doubt it was so ordered in
providence for, listen to this, the multiplication of mankind for
the cultivation of arts and sciences and and for the
spread of true religion in the world, and the easier
handing down to posterity such things as were useful, both
for the good of the souls and bodies of men.
That's why it was important. And so from Gil, we
get these three issues as it relates to the longevity here.
Because there is a point about the longevity, and there
is a point to the longevity here. And the point
to the longevity, you know, as much fun as we
have talking about, you know, what the canopy must have
been like before the flood and what the conditions must
have been like before the flood. As much fun as
it is to talk about those things, as I said,
that's not the point of Genesis chapter 5. And besides,
Genesis chapter 5 doesn't answer those questions. We're just told
how long these individuals lived. We're not told why they
lived this long. But why would it have been important?
And Gil points out these three, and I'd seen two
of them before, but the reason I chose this quote
from Gil is because one of them I hadn't seen before,
but one for the multiplication of the race. That's why
it was important, for the multiplication of the race. You're
going to start the world with two people, and you're
going to get to where we are, okay? What is it,
8 billion now on the earth? There has to be
a multiplication of the race. And if you're going to
see multiplication of the race and a maximized multiplication of
the race, you're going to need extended life cycles. so
that people can have more children. Amen. So you get
the multiplication of the race through these extended life cycles.
There's no telling how many children each of these individuals
could have been responsible for, or how many children that
their children could have been responsible for. In these first
10 generations, I mean, we could have had hundreds of thousands,
if not millions, in these first 10 generations from Adam
to Noah. We could easily have gotten to millions in
the first 10 generations from Adam to Noah because of
the extent of the life cycles. So there is the
application of the race. There is this second issue that
he raises, though, and that is the preservation of of
the arts and sciences. I hadn't thought about that one before,
the preservation of arts and sciences. Imagine this, if you will, okay?
Imagine if Da Vinci had gotten 300 more years. Imagine
what Da Vinci could have done with 300 more years.
I mean, there's still great impact because of Da Vinci's work,
but imagine if he had had 300 more years. Or
imagine if Einstein had gotten 400 more years. Think about
that for a moment. Think about the discoveries of Einstein
and imagine him applying himself and applying his God-given gifts
and talents and abilities for another 400 years. Imagine that
if you will. Think about the great scientists, great musicians.
Think about, think about Beethoven. If Beethoven had been given
800 years, can you wrap your mind around that one?
The kind of music that would have been produced. Mozart.
If Mozart had been given 969 years, can you imagine
what would have developed from the mind of Mozart in
all of that time as he continued to ply his trade?
And so we have Adam, this original man. 930 years,
the most pristine mind ever on this earth. Aside from Christ,
of course. The most pristine mind ever. The most unpolluted
mind ever. Perhaps the keenest human intellect ever. Because it
was completely unhindered. And he gets 930 years. For what? Well,
he's got to learn how to hunt. He's got to
learn how to gather. He's got to learn how to
build shelters. He's got to learn how to organize a family.
He's got to learn how to organize a community. Can
you imagine? Can you imagine? How effective and efficient you
would become at those basic things over a lifespan of
930 years. Here's the way the world works now. The
way the world works now, a great mind comes along.
And that great mind plies its trade for maybe 40
or 50 years in whatever area. Technology, engineering, in whatever area.
For 40 or 50 years, they get to ply their trade.
And they get to pass that on to as many
people as they can Perhaps not even for those 40
or 50 years because in their early years, they're not
passing those things on to anybody. They're just working and
they're making money. It's only at the end of those
careers that they're passing it on to other people. So
all of a sudden, at the end of their life,
they get to pass on whatever they've developed to a
few people, maybe over the period of two decades. And
then people learn as much as they can from them,
master it as best they can, and take it a
little bit further. And then they get 40 or 50
years to do that. And then another person and another
person and another person. And eventually, we get these unbelievable
breakthroughs as far as science and technologies and the arts.
But take that 40-year, 50-year period and turn it into 700, 800, 900.
You getting the picture? Sure. You get better at what
you do and you influence exponentially more people than you
would have influenced otherwise. And thirdly, this idea of multi-generational faithfulness.
Multi-generational faithfulness. The idea of passing on the faith without
the bricks. Think about yourself. You may have people, some
of you have discovered, some of you came from families
where you weren't raised as a follower of Christ. Your
parents weren't followers of Christ. But then you did some
searching on your own genealogy and perhaps you found two,
three generations ago there were pastors and there were missionaries
and all of these people. What's your first thought? Oh,
I wish I could have met great, great, great, great, great,
great grandpa so and so. who was this unbelievable, godly man.
But somehow that was broken, and then you came along. Listen,
this is what just blew my mind when I did this.
And I know many of you have already done this.
You've got kids, and most of the kids in this
church are homeschool kids, so you figured this out a
long time ago. But just let Pastor Votie have his moment, okay?
I'm doing the math, and I'm going, okay, by the
time Lamech was born, if you do the math, Adam
was only 774 years old. There's only one person in
this whole list that Adam wouldn't have been alive to
see born, and that's Noah. Everybody else, everybody else would
have had a minimum of 150 years with the first
man created. With a man who walked with God in
the garden in the cool of the day. Enoch didn't
have to hear about Adam from somebody else. Enoch could
have known Adam in his prime. Because Adam would have
just been a little more than halfway through his life
by the time Enoch was born. So the first nine
generations from Adam, they're not hearing about what Adam did.
They're not hearing about the fall. They're not hearing about
it through stories and fables that were preserved imperfectly. Through
other generations before them, they had the opportunity to sit
at the feet of Adam themselves. Now that is multi-generational faithfulness. Amen?
Some of you have told stories, and a lot of
people around here just sort of envy those of you
who sit here and talk about great-grandparents that you have
who were godly, and then grandparents who were godly, and
then parents who were godly. And some of you have
had the opportunity to for your grandparents or great-grandparents to
even tell you some of your family history. And it
is an unbelievably rich experience. And all of us listen
to it, you know, and we try not to violate
the Ten Commandments and covet, but we can't help it
because we just covet that. Oh, what it would have
been like to sit down and hear my great-great-grandfather talk
about the old days and to give me that information firsthand.
Lamech is nine generations removed from the man who was
created by the hand of God. And he had 150
years to get to where Adam was and to listen
to him personally, firsthand, firsthand. So for at least these
three reasons, those long lifespans are very important. And we
could go on and on and on about why these
lifespans were so long. And it's great. I'm not devaluing
that at all. It's wonderful. But it's not the point.
What's the point in Genesis chapter 5? The point is
the unbroken link between Adam and Noah. That's the point.
The unbroken link between Adam and Noah. That's what Genesis
chapter 5 is about. It begins with Adam and it
ends with Noah. It is about how we got from
Adam to Noah. That's what Genesis 5 is about. Genesis
5 contains long lifespans. But Genesis 5 is not about
long lifespans. Genesis 5 is about the sons of promise.
That's what it's about. The significance of genealogy. is about
the sons of promise and how we get from one
to the other. That's the answer to the question. what's
Genesis 5 about? So how do we get there and
what do we learn about the sons of promise? First
of all, we learn that the sons of promise are
revealed when the promise is fulfilled. The sons of promise
are revealed when the promise is fulfilled. Quick, what's your genealogy?
You think about it right now, right now, right now,
right now. What's your genealogy? Well, if I ask you
that question, what's your genealogy? The first thing you do
is you go to your parents and then you go
to their parents and then you go to their parents.
You always go up. You don't go down with your genealogy.
You always go up. So the significance of your genealogy
is how did you get to you? That's the significance
of your genealogy. The significance of anybody's genealogy is how
did they get to me? How did we arrive at me?
And so you go through that list and ask the question,
how did we arrive at me? When you find a
genealogy in the Bible, here's the question. There is a
person whose genealogy is being given. How did we arrive
at that person and what is significant about how we
got there? This genealogy is about how we arrive at Noah,
the great deliverer. And how Noah is a descendant of Adam,
but not just any descendant of Adam. He's a descendant
of Adam through the line of Seth. Here's what's important.
Go back with me to that first verse. This is
the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man,
he made him in the likeness of God, male and female,
who created them and blessed them and named them man
when they were created. When Adam lived 130 years, he
fathered a son in his own likeness after his image,
and his name was Seth. It's interesting. It doesn't say
that his name was Cain. It says his name was Seth.
It also says he had many other sons and daughters,
as well as everyone else in the list. They had
many other sons and daughters. But which son, because you
trace these genealogies through sons... If a guy's got 10 sons,
or in these cases, you know, 150, 200, 400, however
many sons, why this one? Why this one? For example,
when you talk about Seth. Seth. The next one after
Seth is Enosh. Why is Enosh next in the list?
It says Seth had many more sons and daughters. So
why is the next one in the list Enosh and
not some other son or some other daughter? I'll tell
you why. Because we're trying to get to Noah. That's why.
These names are only important because they're the link between
Adam and Noah. Do you see that? That's what we're
trying to get to here. It's not about how many
kids each individual had because we don't have those numbers.
It would have been just as easy for God to
give us the number of children Adam had and the
number of children Seth had and the number of children
Enosh had. The number of children for Kenan and for
Jared and for Mahalalel and for Methuselah and for Enoch.
It would have been wonderful and it would have been
easy for us to get the number of children that
each of them had. So that we can then go
back and do the math and we can go, by
the time the flood came, there were this many millions
and hundreds of thousands and billions of people on the
earth by the time the flood came. Great. What's that
have to do with my redemption? What does that have
to do with the glory of Christ? Nothing. Just a
nice little piece of trivia to stuff in your head.
This chapter is not about trivia that you stuff in
your head. This chapter is about the sons of promise.
This chapter is about how we go from Adam to Noah.
That's what this chapter is about. That's why the only
sons mentioned are the sons who are part of the
unbroken chain between Adam and Noah. You can only understand
the significance of the sons of promise and the identity
of the sons of promise when the promise is fulfilled. Secondly,
the sons of promise are determined by covenant not merit.
The sons of promise are determined by covenant, not merit.
There's only one guy in here, and this is where
we look at Enoch. Look at verse 21. When Enoch
had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with
God after he had fathered Methuselah 300 years and had
other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch
were 365 years. Enoch walked with God and was not,
for God took him. I mean, you look at that.
Don't you think there could have been more there? That's
just juicy. He walked with God. What does that mean?
Tell us about his life. We get a little bit
of a glimpse, for example, in Jude about the life
of Enoch. But other than that, we don't get this picture.
And the writer of Genesis, Moses, does not give us
the deeds of Enoch and why Enoch was godly. You
notice that? We don't get that. We don't get the
deeds of Enoch, and we don't get why Enoch was godly. Why?
Because Genesis chapter 5 is not about Enoch. It's about
the link from Adam to Noah. Enoch is important in
Genesis chapter 5 because he's seventh in the chain from
Adam to Noah. That's why Enoch is important here. We
learn something from Enoch about, you know, translate it. We
learned something about that. We learned something about that theologically,
and we'll get to that in a moment. But the
point here is about the sons of promise that bring
us to the fulfillment of God's covenantal promise. And the
sons of promise are determined by covenant and not by merit.
And why is Enoch so important in that regard? Because
Enoch's the one who's talked about here as walking with God. Now,
here's what we would think. We would think that you
get to be a son of promise by being a
person who walks with God. And so God looks down
and he says, okay, this one's walking with God, therefore
I will make them the next link in the chain. Okay,
now that one's walking with God, therefore I will make
them the next link in the chain. Okay, that one's
walking with God, therefore I will make them the next
link in the chain. Nope. Nope, not at all. Some
of these guys are probably scoundrels. Look at the genealogy
of Jesus. Was it just all the most godly people
in the world who earned the privilege of being in
the genealogy of Jesus? Nope. You got scoundrels in the
genealogy of Jesus. You don't earn your way into being
a son of promise because it's the promise of God,
not the promise of man. They're determined by covenant and
not by merit. Let's look at a couple of these.
There's Ishmael and Isaac. Go with me to Genesis chapter 17.
Genesis chapter 17. And look at 15 to 21 in
Genesis chapter 17. There's the same principle. God said to Abraham,
ask for Sarai, your wife. You shall not call her
name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will
bless her. And moreover, I will give you a son
by her. I will bless her and she shall become
nations kings of peoples shall come from her then Abraham
fell on his face and laughed and said to himself
shall a child be born to a man who is
a hundred years old shall Sarah who is 90 years
old bear a child and Abraham said to God oh
that Ishmael might live before you he's already got a
son named Ishmael right he's the firstborn certainly the son
of promise would be the firstborn right I mean, that's
the one who traditionally gets the blessing and gets the inheritance,
so certainly it would be the firstborn. God said, no,
but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and
you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish, listen
to this, my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant
for his offspring after him. Could Isaac have done anything
before he was even conceived by Sarah to earn his
way into being a son of promise? Absolutely not. It's
not about merit. It's about covenant. Isaac was the son
of promise because God said so, not because Isaac was
worthy of it. It's about covenant. Next, Jacob and Esau.
Look at Genesis 25. Genesis 25. Well, actually, we're not
going to look at it. Genesis 25, 21 to 23
is where you see this promise about Jacob and Esau.
But go to Romans chapter 9 where this promise is
repeated and we get some theological ramifications of this promise.
It's Genesis chapter 9. I mean, not Genesis, Romans chapter 9.
I'm sorry. Romans chapter 9. And let's look at verses
6 through 13. Among the most controversial passages in the
whole Bible, Genesis chapter 9 just gives people fits. I mean,
Romans chapter 9 just gives people, I keep doing that,
don't I? That's all right. Romans chapter 9, that's why
we have editing. Romans chapter 9. And listen to this,
beginning of verse 6. But it is not as though
the word of God has failed. For not all who
are descended from Israel belong to Israel. And not all
are children of Abraham because they are his offspring. But
through Isaac shall your offspring be named. Amen. This means
that it is not the child of the flesh or
the children of the flesh who are the children of God,
but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
For this is what the promise said. About this time
next year, I will return and Sarah shall have a son.
And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived
children by one man, our forefather Isaac, Though they were
not yet born and had done nothing either good or
bad in order that God's purpose of election might continue,
not because of works but because of his call, she
was told, the older will serve the younger as it
is written, Jacob I loved and Esau I hated. The
sons of promise are determined by covenant and not by merit.
They're determined by covenant and not by marriage. These individuals
in the lineage between Adam and Noah are not there
because they earned the right to be there. They are
there because God is working out his plan and he
determined to use them in the process. Amen? Finally, finally,
we see this borne out in the choosing of Israel
over other nations. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 7. I mean, yeah,
Deuteronomy chapter 7. Deuteronomy 7, verses 6 through 11. Deuteronomy 7,
beginning at verse 6. For you are a people holy
to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has
chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession
out of all the peoples who are on the face
of the earth. It was not because you are more
in number than any other people that the Lord has
set his love on you and chosen you, for you
are the fewest of all the peoples. But it is
because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath
that he swore to your fathers. that the Lord has
brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you
from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh,
the king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your
God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and
steadfast love with those who love him and keep his
commandments to a thousand generations and repays to their face
those who hate him by destroying them. He will not
be slack with one who hates him He will repay
him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to
do the commandments and the statutes and the rules that
I command you today. I chose you, people. Not because
of what you do. I chose you because of a
promise I made to your forefathers. Not because Israel was
the greatest. In fact, Israel was the weakest. Not because
Israel was full of perfect people and therefore they got
to be in the line. No. No. There are many
of you today who are the result of the promise
of God to faithful people generations ago. Amen? Not because
of your merit. Fourthly, the sons of promise. reveal the
providence and justice of God. They reveal the providence and
justice of God. We see that also here in Genesis
chapter 5. There was a phrase that we repeated. We
repeated that phrase eight times as we read Genesis chapter 5.
It was said of Adam and all of the rest
of his descendants, with the exception of two, Enoch and Noah.
By the way, Noah gets his in chapter 6. And
that phrase is, and he died. What's that statement about?
That statement is about the justice of God. You eat
from this tree and you will surely die. Really? Have
we experienced much death up to this point in Genesis
chapter 5? Well, Abel was killed by Cain. And so
maybe it could have been said, well, yeah, because of that,
a person can die. And, you know, Cain killed Abel. And, yeah,
because of that, he dies. But we got these long lifespans.
Do we really believe that every person has to die?
Do we really believe that? Adam lives 930 years. But
this phrase is said of Adam. And he died. He died.
It's said of everyone who comes after that. And he died.
We see the justice of God. No matter how many
years you get, you will die. Every one of us
in this room will eventually die. Unless the Lord returns
for us first. Amen? Come Lord Jesus. But it's inevitable.
We will die. How many times have we heard, for example,
of people who were in the greatest shape of their life?
Because maybe we say, okay, but if we just stay
in great shape, we can live for a long time
and we'll get 100 years and this and that and
the other. Well, you know, we hear about these individuals
who are marathon runners. Best shape in the world. You
look at them and they're just, they're elite athletes. And
they go out for a run and never make it home.
They die. They die. Every time we go to a funeral,
we're reminded of the justice of God. Everyone dies. Without exception.
They die. It's the justice of God. But the sons
of promise also remind us, not of the justice, but
also of the providence of God. We see the providence
of God in two ways here. Number one, in that
we get from Adam to Noah. And who's Noah? Noah's
the deliverer. So there's the providence of God. So the
justice of God says, you're going to die, and all
of your descendants, they're going to die. But the providence
of God says, I'm going to bring about a deliverer.
But here's the providence of God also, and here's where
Enoch is important. If there is no Enoch in these
first 10 generations, what do these people believe about death?
You live and then you die. You're dead like a dog.
There's nothing beyond that. But God takes Enoch as if
to say to all the people then and all the
people now, death is not. The end. The providence of God.
He provides for us in life and in death. That's
the providence of God, people. So through the sons of promise,
we see the justice of God in that they all die.
Why do we need this link between Adam and ultimately
between Noah? Because everybody's going to die between Adam and
Noah and Noah's going to die too. The justice of
God will be meted out. But all of a sudden,
we also see the providence of God. God has made
a promise in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15. And
Lamech understands this promise. Listen to his phrase here in
chapter 5 and verse 29. Verse 29. And he called
his name Noah, saying, out of the ground the Lord
has cursed. This one shall bring us relief from our
work and from the painful toil of our hands. Where
does he get this phrase? Remember, at least 150 years
he's alive while Adam is alive. Adam was there and
heard the curse from God, and the curse was about
this toil in the land. Lamech believes that there's going
to be a deliverer because in Genesis chapter 3 and
verse 15, we have the proto-evangel, if you will, the
first gospel proclamation that there's going to come a deliverer.
The enemy will bruise his heel, but he will crush
the enemy's head. Lamech believes that. And he names his
son in accordance with that, believing that a deliverer will come.
And a deliverer does come. Noah's a deliverer. He's the
son of promise. Enoch is a sign of the promise
that there is something beyond death, that this is not
as good as it gets. This is not the be-all
to end-all. It's not the end. And finally, not only
are the sons of promise revealed when the promise is
fulfilled and determined by covenant and not merit, not only
do they reveal the justice and the providence of God,
but finally, The sons of promise are always a foreshadowing
of Christ. Noah's a foreshadowing of Christ the theological term
is he's a type of Christ not that you know
he's one type Jesus is another type know that that
word type means he's a symbol of Christ Noah comes
and he's the son of promise And it's through this
son of promise that deliverance and rescue comes. He's the
son of promise. Christ is the ultimate son of promise.
And so when we see Christ in Matthew, where do
we begin and what do we begin with? A genealogy.
A genealogy. Just like in Genesis chapter 5. This genealogy, though,
in Matthew, connects Jesus to whom? David. Because Matthew is
trying to demonstrate that Jesus is the son of promise
as it relates to Israel and the throne. Amen, hallelujah,
praise the Lord. Amen. He is a king, just like
David was a king. That's what Matthew says. But then
we get to Luke. That's my favorite genealogy. Why? Because
Luke goes back further than David. He goes back all
the way to Adam. What is he saying when he
gives the genealogy of Jesus and goes all the way
back to Adam? Here's what he is saying. There was
a promise made in Genesis chapter 3. that a deliverer
would come and crush the head of the adversary. And
throughout this time of covenant between God and man, there
have been signs as God has raised up a deliverer
to say, I'm still God and my promise is still real.
When Noah came and the floods came, Noah was God's
way of saying, I am still God and my promise
is still real. When Moses came as the deliverer from Egypt,
God was saying, I'm still God and my promise is
still real. But we read in the book of Hebrews
that Jesus is superior to everyone who came before. Why?
Because they were just types and they were just shadows.
But there is one ultimate son of promise and his
name is Jesus. And just like God gave us a
genealogy to show us that Noah was a son of promise,
there in the book of Luke, genealogy to show us
that Jesus is the son of promise. And every other
son of promise was merely a foreshadowing of this son
of promise. That's what Genesis 5 is about. So when
we get bogged down in what it would take for
a man to live this long, we're missing the big picture.
The big picture is Jesus. I don't care how long
Methuselah lived. He's not going to live longer than me. Amen?
Because I will live forever with the ultimate son of promise,
Jesus Christ. What's a thousand years? To the Lord, a
thousand years is as a day. And a day as
a thousand years, by the way, I don't run from
2 Peter 3.9. I don't run from that at all.
The Lord is not slow the way some consider slowness
concerning His promise. By the way, this comes right alongside
that statement about a day being as a thousand years
and a thousand years being as a day. No, He's
not slow. He's patient. He's not willing for any to perish.
But for all to come to repentance. And people look
at that and they go, well, wait a minute. If
it's God's will that everybody come to repentance, how come
everybody doesn't go to heaven? That's interesting. Maybe we're reading
the verse wrong. Who's the all there? All those in
the lineage of the son of promise? I look at
2 Peter 3.9 and here's what I read. Everybody's looking
for a deliverer. Noah comes and he's the deliverer. And
everybody's going, now? No, not now. Moses comes and he's
the deliverer. And everybody's going, now? And here's what I see.
Here's what I see. God's not slow concerning his promise.
And you wish and I wish that God would just
sort of sum this thing up. But in the mind
of God and in the economy of God, I just
happen to believe that there's a little guy by the
name of Asher that he desires to see come to repentance.
And he ain't summing it up yet because that hadn't happened.
Because if it's in the plan of God that before
things are wrapped up, Little Asher comes to faith in repentance.
It's not going to be wrapped up until little Asher
comes to faith in repentance. By the way, you can
put in the name of any little person or older
person for that matter that you're praying about coming to faith.
God's not slow as it concerns his promise. If he
hadn't wrapped things up yet, he's not finished yet. Amen. Amen.
2 Peter 3.9 is not about God pining, oh, oh, oh,
I just hope, oh, I just hope, oh, I just hope. No.
2 Peter 3.9 is about God saying, I am in
control of the sons of promise, and I am in
control of the covenant and the children of the covenant.
I am in control of how history works itself out,
and it is not random. I was in control from
Adam to Noah. I was in control from Noah to Moses.
I was in control from Moses till David. And I
was in control from David till Jesus. And I'm still
in control until I wrap this thing up and the
number of my elect are complete. That's the God I serve.
Not some weak, pining God. But the God of the universe.
Who works all things well. according to the counsel of
his own will. And when we look back through the
corridor of time, we can measure that through the sons
of promise and through the covenant that God makes with them.
That is what Genesis chapter 5 is about.