Now we are in our third week study on the week of Genesis . We are going look at the aspect of punishment . And how our progression of sin leads to punishment.
ADAM and Eve Sinned , what did they do? They ate the fruit which was not supposed to be eaten.
Now we see Adam and Eve have children , one was named CAIN , second was ABEL and third was SETH.
Let us look at the event of first offering and the first murder: The progression of sin
Cain was working in the soil and Abel was with livestock.
And we see here that Cain & Abel brought an offering to the Lord. The Lord looked at the offering of Abel in favour.
The best aspect, was that God’s presence was still there with Cain , Abel and Adam. Even after Adam and Even sinned , and they were moved out of the garden of Eden . God’s presence was still there with the entire family. Let us go ahead and read
Chapter 4:6
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
What does it mean? The desire to kill has come (sin) and God is asking to over come it. Rule over it .
Was this statement true for Adam and Eve as well in the garden of Eden? Yes, it was true for them as well but they sinned.
Chapter 4:14
14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
God’s desire was always to give life (like Enoch) and the first offering which was accepted . An offering was accepted in the cross as well.
From Adam to Noah
Cain > Enoch > Irad > Mehujael > Methushael > Lamech
Seth > Kenan > Enoch > Jared > Mahalalel > Methuselah > Lamech
Then we see another character Enoch. Who was Enoch? Enoch was the son of Cain . What happened to him? He was taken by God. He did not die.
(We talked about the two trees in the garden , one was a tree of Life and another one a Tree of knowledge of good and evil)
Lamech was the father of Noah.
The no of years each of them lived may be a literal number, a number which was multiplied by. But many of the scholars don’t believe that it was exact years.
Let us look at another event which changed the entire course of Earth.
The Great Flood:
Genesis 6:1,2
6 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
The phrase sons of God here has been interpreted to refer to either angels or human beings. In Job (1:6;2:1)
Job 1:6
6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
Others believe , Sons of God , Godly men marrying sinful women (as women were not called daughters of God in this context)
The Argument of Mortal
Genesis 6:3
3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with[a] humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
Someone, morally independent , gets access to the fruit of life . He will become immortal. Before this happened (fall of man) do we recollect anyone who was morally independent and was immortal? It was Lucifer.
He will be perishable , he will die (Gods intention was to give him life, not death).
Let us come to the verse
Chapter 6 Verse 4 ,
The Nephilim : People of great size and strength. The Hebrew word means , fallen ones. They were known as heroes of old , men of renown but in God’s sight they were sinners Fallen ones.
Verse 5 Total Depravity :
5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.
Just think of this or imagine it, happening at our homes with our closed ones , how do we feel?
Verse 6 Lord Regretted:
6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.
We saw last to last Sunday , God said it was very good. But because of wickedness , every human being became so corrupt .
Verse 8 , 9 :
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
This is the account of Noah and his family.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
Noah’s godly life was powerful contrast to the wicked life of others.
Let me make a point here, This did not imply sinless or perfection. As if, there was no sin in him , Because he was also in a fallen state.
The earth became so corrupt and it was full of violence
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
Because of man’s depravity, not only them, but all living creatures were subject to death.
What is the Theological lesson for us. What God is reminding us / re-instilling in our lives this morning?
The progression of sin :
For Cain , first he was upset / angry and then he killed Abel.
If we don’t deal with Sin, in the right time, it may became progressive and lead to our spiritual destruction .
(The definition of sin can be as simple as anger, lies etc and we all know here, what sin we are in?)
God’s heart grieves when he looks at us , if we are not leading in the right direction.
But his Grace is more , He is a gracious God. God made a provision for us in Jesus Christ like the ark. We escaped the punishment by the blood of Christ.
Virjil Selvan is Pastoring the New Hope Community. The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue.
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