{"id":18570,"date":"2021-01-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-31T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/genesis-024-my-three-sons\/"},"modified":"2023-06-01T16:15:05","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T21:15:05","slug":"genesis-024-my-three-sons","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/genesis-024-my-three-sons\/","title":{"rendered":"Genesis 024 – My Three Sons"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[12],"series_event":[511],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18570","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-genesis","series_event-genesis","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Genesis 024 - My Three Sons","sermon_date":"20210131","sermon_month":"01","sermon_year":"2021","sermon_notes":8774,"sermon_slides":8775,"sermon_mp3":8778,"sermon_id":"131211254163364","series_or_event":511,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":12,"chapter_and_verse":"5:28-32","sermon_transcript":"

Genesis #024<\/h4>\r\n

\u201cMy Three Sons\u201d<\/h4>\r\n

Genesis 5<\/h4>\r\nLet's take our Bibles, if we could, and open them to the Book of Genesis 5<\/strong>. The title of our message this morning is \u201cMy Three Sons.\u201d<\/em> You say, \u2018Andy, you watched way too much TV growing up.\u2019 <\/em>The young people are saying, \u2018What is he talking about<\/em>?\u2019 Does anybody remember that show, \u201cMy Three Sons<\/em>?\u201d \u00a0Okay, good.\r\n\r\nAs you're turning to Genesis 5:28<\/strong>, I just want to let you know of one of our greats who went to be with the Lord. \u00a0I don't know if any of you know Tom, Dr. Tom McCall, who worked a long time with Zola Levitt in ministries related to Israel, Hebrews\u2014reaching the Jews for Christ. \u00a0He was the first, if I have my story right, the first graduate of the Old Testament department at Dallas Seminary. \u00a0So I knew Tom, Dr. McCall for a number of years through my association with the Pre-Trib Study Group, and just want to let you know that he has been graduated unto heaven. \u00a0So keep his family, if you could, in prayer during this time.\r\n\r\nWe continue to move through the Book of Genesis<\/strong>. The first major part of the Book of Genesis<\/strong> is the beginning of the human race. \u00a0This has four parts: Creation, Genesis 1-2<\/strong>, and it's in creation where we learn that God created a world without sin in it, and everything was functioning perfectly\u2014until you get to the second major category, which is the Fall, Genesis 3-5.\u00a0 <\/strong>In Genesis 3, <\/strong>everything changes: \u00a0the fall of man. \u00a0Yet that chapter, as depressing as it is, is really the first chapter that gives us hope because there we learn that there's coming One from the seed of the woman Eve, who is going to crush Satan's head, and will restore everything to God's original design before things went awry in Genesis 3<\/strong>. \u00a0That's your first prophecy\u2014in Genesis 3:15<\/strong> of a coming Messiah.\u00a0 It is so necessary to understand that verse, to understand everything that's now happening, not just in the Book of Genesis<\/strong> as we move through it, but in the entire Bible. \u00a0Because what Satan does in Genesis 4<\/strong> is that he influences Cain to murder Abel. \u00a0Satan, in his darkened mind, believed that this Messiah was coming through the line of Abel. \u00a0Satan says, \u2018I'll stop this right now.<\/em>\u2019 \u00a0Cain murders Abel, and Satan, through Cain's descendants, constructed a society without God in it at all. \u00a0Satan built the New World Order, Genesis 4:16-24<\/strong>, and it looks as if Satan won until you get to the last two verses in the chapter where we learn that there's going to be a substitute for Abel. \u00a0His name is Seth; through Seth is going to come a godly line that's going to lead ultimately to Jesus Christ. \u00a0That's the godly line that we have been studying in Genesis 5<\/strong>. \u00a0So Genesis 5<\/strong>, as we have been looking at, I'm hoping, Lord willing, that we'll finish Genesis 5<\/strong> today.\r\n\r\nSo the Flood will start coming next week, in other words. \u00a0But Genesis 5<\/strong> is the line through which the Messiah is going to come.\u00a0 \u00a0It's a line that starts with Adam and extends all the way to a man named Noah, the last person mentioned in Genesis 5<\/strong>. \u00a0It's interesting that when you move through this line, these various patriarchs\u2014 we call these the antediluvian patriarchs, the pre-Flood patriarchs, have a knowledge that a Messiah is coming. \u00a0Some of them, as we're going to see today, name their own children accordingly. \u00a0They were aware of the promise of Genesis 3:15<\/strong> as it began to be passed down via oral tradition.\r\n\r\nSo we've looked at an outline of Genesis 5<\/strong>; it's an outline, as you move through it, that's sort of monotonous. It keeps reading the same way over and over again. \u00a0As we've tried to emphasize, it repeats about six things for ten different patriarchs, and we've tried to emphasize that there's actually a method to the madness. \u00a0It keeps repeating the same things until you get to the last three names on the list, and then it goes outside of the pattern. \u00a0The reason you know it's going outside of the pattern is because you keep reading the pattern, but then in the last three names, something goes outside the pattern, and the Holy Spirit then taps you on your shoulder and says, \u2018Pay attention to these deviations, because I want to teach you something here that you can't learn anywhere else in the Bible.\u2019<\/em>\r\n\r\nThe pattern gets violated, as we saw last week, with a man named Enoch. \u00a0The last three names give us hope in the midst of perpetual death. \u00a0It keeps saying, \u2018\u2026and he died and he died and he died.<\/em>\u2019 \u00a0And it's somewhat depressing, but suddenly you get to this man named Enoch, and it says, \u201cGod took him.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 So he didn't die physically, as the rest did, and it gives us hope that one day, even that last enemy called death itself is going to be abolished.\r\n\r\nAnd we looked from there at a man named Methuselah. \u00a0The meaning of Methuselah\u2019s name as we have talked about, is as follows: \u2018\u201c...when he dies, it shall be sent\u2019\u201d<\/em> meaning that God attached the coming Flood to the death of a man named Methuselah, and you could imagine if you had a kid like that with that kind of name that every time he scraped his knee, you'd get nervous. \u00a0But Enoch\u2019s father who was a prophet, gave him a prophecy according to his own name. \u00a0The name of Methuselah is \u201cwhen he dies, the Flood will come<\/em>.\u201d \u00a0We have emphasized that it's no coincidence Methuselah is the oldest living man. \u00a0He lived to the ripe old age of 969, and that shows you the character of God\u2014how God is reluctant to judge. \u00a0God is long-suffering. As the book of Romans<\/strong> says, \u2018He reaches out all day to a disobedient and obstinate people,<\/em>\u2019 and He is not a trigger-happy God at all. \u00a0He is long-suffering, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.\r\n\r\nAs we speak today, in the year 2021, that is the reason why the judgment of God has not yet come to this well-deserved earth, an earth ripe for judgment. \u00a0Why hasn't judgment come? Does that mean judgment will never<\/em> come? \u00a0No. \u00a0What it means is that God is long-suffering, and maybe today, within the sound of my voice, somebody's going to get saved. \u00a0Maybe God has held up judgment just for that individual. \u00a0Maybe that individual is you. \u00a0That individual was me in 1983; that's when I got saved. \u00a0God looked out through the corridors of time, and He saw my salvation, and He postponed judgment so I could enter the metaphorical ark. \u00a0He did that for you, and He\u2019s doing that today for others. \u00a0And so \u201cwhen he dies, it shall be sent,<\/em>\u201d the Flood's going to come when Methuselah dies, but it's no accident, no coincidence that Methuselah is the oldest living man in human history.\r\n\r\nWhat we move into now is the final two names on this list: \u00a0a man named Lamech and then a man named Noah. \u00a0Notice, if you will, Genesis 5:28-31<\/strong>. \u00a0It says, \u201cLamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son. \u00a0Now he called his name Noah..<\/em>..[Now, notice this is outside the pattern<\/u><\/strong>]... Now he called his name Noah, saying \u201cThis one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground, which the LORD has cursed<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Genesis 5:30,<\/strong> \u201dThen Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after he became the father of Noah, and he had other sons and daughters. \u00a0So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years and he died<\/em>.\u201d\r\n\r\nNow here's the same repetition for six pieces of information. \u00a0You have this man named Lamech. \u00a0His name actually means warrior<\/em> in Hebrew, or conquest<\/em>. \u00a0\u00a0He had Noah. \u00a0Lamech is Noah's father. \u00a0He was the ripe old age of 182 when his seed-son Noah, was born.\r\n\r\nThen, after the birth of Noah, Lamech lived an additional 595 years. \u00a0It's interesting in 5:30<\/strong> as it talks about how Lamech, during that 595-year period, had other sons and daughters besides Noah who would be Noah's siblings. \u00a0Now this is getting serious because that group right there, the siblings of Noah, will perish in the Flood. \u00a0These are real people with real circumstances in a real situation.\u00a0 You could imagine the anguish of Noah after 120 years of warning as he went into the ark with only himself, his wife and his three sons.\u00a0 By the way, his three sons are mentioned in 5:32<\/strong>. \u00a0Hence the title of this sermon, \u201cMy Three Sons<\/em>\u201d and their respective wives, eight total in the ark.\r\n\r\nYou can imagine the anguish that Noah went through with his own siblings perishing in this Flood. \u00a0Lamech lived a grand total of 777 years and he died. \u00a0Now what's interesting here is the deviation; this is the only time this occurs in the entire list. \u00a0It says in 5:29<\/strong>, \u201cNow he called his name Noah.\u201d <\/em>\u00a0This is Lamech naming Noah. \u00a0\u201cThis one shall give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.\u201d<\/em> Here is what's recorded for us, something that's not recorded elsewhere for any of these other names. Lamech names Noah; he gives him a name. \u00a0Now, that in and of itself shows you that you cannot have missing generations between Lamech and Noah. \u00a0I bring this up because the great thrust of many people, because they're trying to harmonize the Bible with what their college professors or elementary school teachers taught them: that this earth has been here for 4.5 billion years. \u00a0People they think that's a scientific fact, and then they get saved, and they try to make the Bible fit with what they think<\/em> is science. \u00a0\u00a0I know this for certain because this is what I tried to do for years. \u00a0\u00a0I was taught going through my public school system that evolution was a scientific fact, and then I got saved, I looked at the Bible, and I said, \u2018Uh oh, I've got to find some missing years here because evolution has to have billions of years for it to work<\/em>.\u2018 \u00a0So one of the games that people do is to try to stretch these genealogies out, and try to find a missing thousand years here or a missing thousand years there between Lamech and Noah and these other names. \u00a0As my professor, Dr. Toussaint used to say, \u2018That dog won't hunt.\u2019<\/em> \u00a0Why is that? \u00a0Because Lamech is naming Noah. Parents name their own children, don't they? \u00a0I mean, it's typically not the grandparents that name kids. \u00a0Now, I know we've got some possessive and \u00a0controlling grandparents out there in the world, but grandparents don't name the grandkids\u2014they may want to. \u00a0Great, great, great grandparents don't name the great, great, great, great grandkids. \u00a0It's the parents\u2019 job to do that, and if Lamech is naming Noah, then obviously there's no missing generation between Lamech and Noah.\r\n\r\nBack up to Genesis 4:25,26<\/strong>. \u00a0Notice the first two names on this list. \u00a0It says, \u201c...Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named Seth, for she said, \u201cGod has appointed me another offspring in the place of Abel, for Cain killed him.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nNow you'll notice that Adam and Eve named Seth so there can't be a missing million years between Adam and Seth. \u00a0Then look at Genesis 4:26<\/strong>. \u00a0It says, \u201c...To Seth, to him also\u00a0 a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. \u00a0Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nNotice again that Seth names the next one, Enosh. \u00a0I don't think there's a missing million years between Seth and Enosh. \u00a0And if all of that weren't clear enough, Jude 14<\/strong> calls Enoch the seventh from Adam. \u00a0So just start with Adam being number one and count down seven, and you come to Enoch.\r\n\r\nNotice that the Lord's half brother, Jude, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says that there are no missing generations between Adam and Enoch. \u00a0I bring this up because at some point you have to decide what you believe; who has authority in your mind. \u00a0Is it all of these teachers and professors that are arguing from the goo to you by way of the zoo over billions of years? \u00a0Or is it what the Bible says? \u00a0The interesting thing about God and His Word<\/strong> is that He is not interested in fitting into another man-made system. \u00a0The great temptation of the Christian is to synchrotize (attempt to reconcile) the Bible<\/strong> with pagan<\/em><\/strong> beliefs, but the more interested you become in the Bible<\/strong>, the less you see you have an ability to do that.\u00a0 There's less wiggle room, so to speak, and you have to make a choice.\u00a0 I had to start making that choice as a teenager as I was growing in my faith. \u00a0The Bible is more impressive to me than all of these so-called scientists, who by the way, weren't even present 4.5 billion years ago, and frankly, have no idea how everything started\u2014they\u2019re pontificating; guessing as non-eyewitnesses. \u00a0Yet God, Himself was an eyewitness.\r\n\r\nSo notice that Lamech names Noah, and Noah's name actually means comfort<\/em>\u2014there's a reason for this.\u00a0 I have these three mentioned here on this slide, [see slide on Genealogy: Adam to Noah<\/strong>] because these are the three names that go outside the pattern, and they actually give us hope:\u00a0 hope that death will be done away with one day, Genesis 5:24<\/strong>, They reveal to us the long-suffering of God\u2014Methuselah\u2019s very name: \u201cwhen he dies, it shall be sent.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nThe third deviation from the pattern is right here when Lamech actually gives a name to Noah. Now, why would somebody make this statement about their son? \u201cThis one<\/em>,\u201d[their son, Lamech, speaking of Noah,] \u201cThis one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nWhy would Lamech say that about Noah and name him after the name, comfort<\/em>? \u00a0It's because all of these ancient patriarchs had a knowledge of Genesis 3:15.\u00a0 Genesis 3:15<\/strong>, the first messianic prophecy was understood. \u00a0It was spoken in the presence of Eve, and it was passed down through the generations. \u00a0All of them, in some form or substance, believe that there was coming a Messiah one day who was going to reverse what went wrong in Genesis 3.<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIn fact, this is what Eve said when Cain was born. \u00a0Genesis 4:1<\/strong>, \u201cNow, the man had relations with his wife, Eve, and she conceived and she gave birth to Cain, and she said, \u2018I have gotten a man child with the help of the Lord<\/strong>.<\/em>\u2019\u201d When we were in Genesis 4:1<\/strong>, I had you note the fact that \u201cwith the help of<\/em><\/strong>\u201c is in italics. \u00a0\u00a0I'm reading from the New American Standard Bible<\/u><\/strong>. \u00a0\u00a0When your English translation puts words in italics<\/em>, what does that mean? \u00a0It means that those words are not in the original Hebrew text, but have been supplied by the translators to smooth over the translation to make it easier in English to read what's happening in Hebrew. \u00a0The translators generally do a pretty good job, but here's an area where I think they really goofed it up because when you remove \u201cwith the help of,<\/em>\u201d the meaning which I think is obscured by the translation becomes clear. \u00a0What does it say without the italics<\/em>? \u00a0It says, \u201cNow the man had relations with his wife, Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, \u2018I have gotten a manchild the Lord.\u2019\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nIn other words, she thought that her baby boy, Cain, (sounds like a typical mom, by the way), was the Messiah.\u00a0 Boy, talk about parental disappointment. \u00a0He was not the Messiah.\u00a0\u00a0 He was the world's first murderer. \u00a0But where did Eve have this idea in her mind that from her seed, from her lineage, a Messiah would be born? \u00a0Well, she had it from Genesis 3:15<\/strong>, because she was there in Eden when that prophecy by God, was spoken and articulated.\r\n\r\nSo this knowledge of a coming Messiah keeps getting passed down through the generations, and this is why Lamech gives Noah the name that he gives him. \u00a0It says again, Genesis 5:29<\/strong>, \u201cNow, he called his name Noah, saying, \u2018This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.<\/em>\u201d\r\n\r\nIn other words, what Lamech thought of Noah was that Noah was the Messiah, and Noah was the one that was going to, as the Messiah is supposed to do, Genesis 3:15<\/strong>, Noah was going to be the one who was going to reverse the curse. \u00a0In fact, when you back up in the Bible, to Genesis 3:17,<\/strong> this is the only other time that the word cursed has been used thus far. \u00a0It says,\u2018\u201cCursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.\u2019<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 This is the circumstance that humanity is in due to the fall of man, and it's very depressing to think about that until you realize that there's coming a Messiah who's going to reverse the curse.\u00a0 Eve thought that Cain is the guy; Lamech thought, Noah is the guy, and consequently gave Noah his name. \u00a0The name of Noah actually means comfort<\/em>.\r\n\r\nArnold Fruchtenbaum describes Lamech\u2019s naming of Noah as follows. \u00a0It says, \u201cThen comes the break from the norm. <\/em>[In other words, the pattern is being broken]. \u00a0In Genesis 5:29<\/strong>, Lamech names his seed-son: He called his name Noah: saying, This [man] same shall comfort us. \u00a0The Hebrew word for comfort is nacham<\/strong>; hence Noah means \u2018comfort.\u2019 \u00a0Here again is a word play that only works in Hebrew. \u00a0The name was given on the assumption that Noah was the Seed of the Woman or the Messiah: \u00a0This same shall comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, which comes because of the ground which Jehovah had cursed, in reference to the [<\/em>original] Adamic curse.\u201d <\/em>\r\n\r\nArnold Fruchtenbaum goes on and he says, \u201cLamech made the same mistake that Eve made.\u00a0 When Cain was born, Eve thought that he was the Messiah. When Lamech sired Noah, he recognized that Noah was going to play an important role in human history. But he misinterpreted that role, and Lamech thought that Noah was the Messiah and would remove the Adamic curse from the earth. \u00a0So Lemach recognized that Noah was a special person in the will and plan of God, but made the wrong application.\u201d <\/em>\r\n\r\nThis knowledge of a Messiah keeps getting passed down and everybody is so aware of it that they actually think their own kids are going to be a fulfillment of it. \u00a0Not to subtract or detract from anything that Noah did, because Noah was a tremendous man of God, and he walked by faith. \u00a0Had it not been for God's work in and through Noah, the whole human race would have perished in the global Deluge. \u00a0Noah was no Messiah. That's why in the post-Flood world, Noah's drunkenness is recorded for us. \u00a0Eventually, we'll get to Genesis 9:20-21<\/strong>, which says, \u201cThen Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. \u00a0He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself in his tent<\/em>.\u201d \u00a0You say, \u2018Well, why do I need to know that? \u00a0I mean, I had a pretty high opinion of Noah until I read that. \u00a0Why does God have to ruin it by telling us the man's sins?\u2019 <\/em>\u00a0There's a simple reason for it. \u00a0Moses, the writer of the Book of Genesis<\/strong>, records this so nobody gets the mistaken impression that Noah is somehow the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15<\/strong>. \u00a0\u00a0Noah had skeletons in his closet like the rest of us do.\r\n\r\nCain is no fulfillment of Genesis 3:15<\/strong> because of the first murder. \u00a0Noah isn't either because of his drunkenness. \u00a0So if Cain is not the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15,<\/strong> and if Noah is not the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15,<\/strong> where should I look for the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15<\/strong>? \u00a0Keep looking onward and forward because there's coming into the world a Man who will be uncorrupted by a sin nature who won't commit murder. \u00a0Nor will He be involved in drunkenness, and He will live a perfect life in your place as only a Messiah can do, and He will absorb the sin debt of the entire world. \u00a0That coming One is none other than Jesus Christ who would come. \u00a0He came 2,000 years ago.\r\n\r\nSo the reason that the problems of Noah and of Cain are recorded for us is it's to keep us\u00a0 pushing our eyes forward to this coming Messiah.\u00a0 Don't put your eyes on man as your Messiah. \u00a0Put your eyes on the coming One, Jesus Christ Himself. \u00a0This is why Daniel 11:37<\/strong> says what it says about the future Antichrist. \u00a0It says this of the coming Antichrist, \u201cHe will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women.\u201d <\/em>\u00a0\u00a0I've heard a lot of speculative although interesting sermons on Daniel 11:37. <\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u2018Well, there it is in the Bible, the Antichrist is going to be a transgender.\u00a0 There it is in the Bible. \u00a0The Antichrist is going to be a homosexual because he won't have the desire of women.<\/em>\u2019 \u00a0Think about this for a minute. \u00a0What was the desire of women in Old Testament times? \u00a0\u00a0What was the desire of every Jewish woman? \u00a0What was the desire of Eve? \u00a0What was her desire? \u00a0What was the desire,\u00a0 no doubt, of Lamech\u2019s wife?\u00a0 \u00a0They all wanted to be the one who would give birth to this Messiah.\u00a0 That honor was not given to any woman, only to Mary. \u00a0So when it says the Antichrist \u201c...will show no regard for the desire of women<\/u><\/strong><\/em>,\u201d the desire of women is a synonym for the Messiah.\u00a0 So when the Antichrist comes, it's not saying here that he's going to be a homosexual or a transgender. \u00a0It's saying that he will show no regard for \u201cthe desire of women<\/u><\/em><\/strong>,\u201d which is the Messiah. \u00a0He will try to replace<\/em> the Messiah. \u00a0He will be one in opposition<\/em> to the Messiah.\r\n\r\nYou continue to read this, and 595 years pass after this birth of Noah. \u00a0There is a record here of Noah's siblings that perished in the Flood. \u00a0Lamech lives to the ripe old age of 777 years, \u201cand he died.\u201d<\/em> That ancient enemy called death is still there, and other than for Enoch who was miraculously translated into heaven, death comes for every single person because in Adam all die. \u00a0Yet, as you watch people die, I just mentioned earlier Dr. Tom McCall's death. \u00a0It's difficult and painful to see a friend die. \u00a0At the same time, the Christian lives with hope that the blight of death, the curse of death, is going to be reversed one day by this coming Messiah. \u00a0As Christians, we know that Messiah came 2,000 years ago. \u00a0As we trust in Him and Him alone for salvation, you can look death right in the eyes and not be afraid of it because he came into the world to eradicate death.\r\n\r\nNow we come to 5:32<\/strong>, which is the very last name on the list. \u00a0Notice what it says of Noah, the descendant of Lamech. \u00a0It says, \u201cNoah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth<\/em>.\u201d \u00a0Noah's name means comfort<\/em> or rest<\/em>; we've explained why that is. It was a mistake in naming him thinking that he was the Messiah, and by the time he hits the age of 500, he has three other sons. \u00a0There's where my sermon title comes from. \u00a0Three other sons are born by that age of 500, and those sons are named Shem, Ham, and Japheth. \u00a0Those are the three sons who will come out of the ark following the global Flood, and they will repopulate the entire earth. \u00a0Shem\u2019s name actually means name<\/em>, and you have to keep your eye on Shem because God made a promise, or will make a promise to Shem in Genesis 9:26.\u00a0 <\/strong>It says this of Shem: \u00a0He also said, \u201cBlessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.\u201d <\/em>\r\n\r\nSo this messianic line that's been carefully traced for us \u2014 now we learn that it's coming through, Noah; through Noah's three sons, not all<\/em> three sons, but one<\/em> son; that son is named Shem. \u00a0That's why in the genealogy leading to Jesus Christ in Luke 3<\/strong>, you will see the name Shem.\r\n\r\nWhen we get to Genesis 11<\/strong>, there's going to be a second genealogy, a post-Flood genealogy, just like we're studying here, a pre-Flood genealogy, and that genealogy will start with Shem.\u00a0 Why Shem?\u00a0 Because God says the Messiah is going to come through Shem. \u00a0Through that line in that second genealogy, Shem is at the beginning, and a man named Terah is at the end. \u00a0You say, \u2018Well, why is Terah significant?\u2019<\/em> \u00a0Terah is the father of a man named Abram, who would later become Abraham, and it's through this man, Abram, later Abraham, that God is going to form a special nation, the nation of Israel through which the Messiah, or Jesus Christ, is going to ultimately be born. \u00a0Shem\u2019s name means Shem, and it's from the name Shem that you get the word semitic<\/em>. \u00a0This is where we start to learn that the Messiah is going to come from the semitic people groups of the Earth.\u00a0 We're not told yet that it's Israel, but the semitic people groups would include the Jews, the Arabs, the Assyrians, the Syrians and the Babylonians. \u00a0The Holy Spirit is saying, \u2018Keep your eye on that group, the semitic people groups, because one of these days a Messiah is going to come from that group.\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>Later biblical information pinpoints what people group we\u2019re talking about within that mass of humanity:\u00a0 a special nation called Israel, the Hebrews, or the Jews.\r\n\r\nNow, you'll also notice here there's another son named Ham. \u00a0Ham's name means hot<\/em> and from Ham is going to come a group of people called the Canaanites. \u00a0The Canaanites are going to occupy an area called Africa, and they're also, if you look at our map here, and if your eyes are good, you will see that they're also going to occupy an area called Canaan, which later would be designated as the land of Israel. \u00a0There's something that's going to go on with the inhabitants of Ham, or Canaan in Genesis 9<\/strong> related to wickedness<\/strong>.\u00a0 They're going to commit a sin of uncovering their father's, [Noah] nakedness. \u00a0That group who went into Canaan is under a curse. \u00a0Now, listen to me very carefully:\u00a0 they're not under a curse because of race. \u00a0Nor are they under a curse because of genetics<\/strong>\u2014that is a mishandling, or a misapplication of that verse.\u00a0 \u00a0Many people use that verse to justify racism and slavery; \u00a0nothing could be further from the mind of the biblical writers, but Ham, or Canaan, learned some bad stuff from their forebear, Ham, and as the saying goes, \u2018the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.\u2019 <\/em>\r\n\r\nBecause of the sinful behavior learned from Ham, they are going to be under a curse. \u00a0Now, why would this information be necessary?\u00a0 Because the person writing it is Moses, and he's trying to prepare the Joshua generation for the conquest of Canaan centuries later. \u00a0God is going to say to Joshua, \u2018I want you to go into the land of Canaan, and I want you to eradicate the Canaanites\u2014man, woman, child, animal. \u00a0Just destroy all of them.\u2019<\/em> \u00a0Unless you have this background in terms of what's going to happen in Genesis 9<\/strong>, put yourself in Joshua's shoes. \u00a0\u2018What did the Canaanites do that was wrong?<\/em>\u2019 \u00a0\u00a0Well, they did a lot of things that were wrong. \u00a0They were involved in unspeakable evil, and it has nothing to do with their genetics. \u00a0It has nothing to do with their race. \u00a0It has to do with a behavior<\/em><\/strong> that they learned from Ham.\u00a0\u00a0 Ham settling in Africa and then in Canaan from that standpoint becomes very significant. \u00a0This is an apologetic, in other words, for the eradication of the Canaanites read about in the book of Joshua<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nSo Genesis<\/strong> is the root of all of these subsequent doctrines that are coming. \u00a0Then there's another son named Japheth. \u00a0His name means beauty<\/em>, and from Japheth is going to come the European nations, and ultimately, the North American continent.\r\n\r\nAnd so from these three in the Ark with their wives and Noah and his wife, eight total in the ark\u20142 Peter 2:5<\/strong> tells us \u2018Noah and seven others.<\/em>\u2019 \u00a0And 1 Peter 3:18-20<\/strong> tells us of eight people in the ark. \u00a0The whole world is going to be repopulated in the post-Flood world. \u00a0That's why\u00a0 those names are significant.\r\n\r\nAnd that takes us to the end of the chapter, and you say, \u2018Well, praise the Lord, that means we're done, right? \u00a0We're finally going to beat the Baptists to the cafeteria today.<\/em>\u2019 \u00a0No, not quite, because I want to give you, in Genesis 5,<\/strong> three concluding observations:\r\n\r\nThe first<\/strong> observation is this: \u00a0What in the world was the world's first language? \u00a0Have you ever asked yourself that question? \u00a0After all, we know that the world just spoke one tongue or one language, and that didn't change until the Tower of Babel. \u00a0It says in Genesis 11:1<\/strong>, \u201cNow the whole earth used the same language and the same words.<\/em><\/strong>\u201d Have you asked yourself this question:\u00a0 what was that language?\u00a0 People email me and want to know what that language was. \u00a0My answer prior to this week was, \u2018I don't know. \u00a0I wasn't there.<\/em>\u2019 \u00a0I really didn't take a view or a position on it. \u00a0I just didn't see how it really mattered. \u00a0But you'll notice I've been using the commentary of Arnold Fruchtenbaum, and he makes a statement that I had really never thought about before. \u00a0He says, \u201cA second observation is that all these ten names <\/em>[and we've given you the meaning of each of these names as we've gone through this; the meaning of all of these names...] are Hebrew names and only make sense in Hebrew, although Jewish history has not yet begun.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 [Jewish history, of course, would not begin until Genesis 12<\/strong>]. \u00a0\u00a0\u201cMoreover, all these people and their names existed prior to the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11<\/strong>, again indicating that the first language was the Hebrew language.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nArnold Fruchtenbaum, being a Hebrew scholar, notes that all of these names have meaning like Noah's name, meaning comfort<\/em>, only<\/em><\/strong> in Hebrew. \u00a0So it wouldn't at all surprise me to learn one day that the very first language that existed all over planet Earth was the Hebrew language. \u00a0I hope you understand something about the Hebrew language: \u00a0It's a miracle<\/strong> language.\r\n\r\nIt's interesting that Rome speaking Latin pushed the Jews out of their homeland in AD 70, and look at how different things are today. \u00a0Rome is gone as a world power, Latin is a dead language, and tiny Israel remains<\/strong>, and<\/strong> Hebrew itself has been brought back to life.<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0How has it been brought back to life? \u00a0It's a very interesting study when you look into a man that lived from 1858 to 1922 named Ben Yehuda in Israel. \u00a0It's largely he who was responsible for reviving the Hebrew language. \u00a0He would not allow any of his children in his household to speak any other language than Hebrew. \u00a0Of course, there are many modern words that didn't have Hebrew equivalents. \u00a0So he started to compile his own dictionary, giving new Hebrew names to new ideas that the ancient Hebrews knew nothing of\u2014names like computer<\/em>, internet,<\/em> car<\/em>. Through this process of simply trying to revive Hebrew and having the language of Hebrew only spoken in his home, it\u2019s interesting what God has done; He has brought back the Hebrew language to life, and that is now the language of Israel today!\r\n\r\nIf Hebrew is a miracle language, it really wouldn't surprise me one day to learn that at one time in human history, Hebrew was the first language spoken of. \u00a0Now, would I start a new church over this?\u00a0 Not necessarily. You can't be dogmatic on something like this, but I just find it very interesting to think about\u2014that perhaps Hebrew was the first tongue.\r\n\r\nSomething else, in terms of an observation I'll point you to is this: \u00a0isn't it interesting how all of these antediluvian or early patriarchs, pre-Flood patriarchs, lived through successive generations?\u00a0 Look at our chart here, and look at Adam's life, [see slide on Genealogy From Adam to Noah<\/strong>] how he lived to the age of 930. \u00a0That would take him through Seth\u2019s life, Enosh\u2019s life, Canaan\u2019s life, Mahalalel's life, and Jared's life, and it would even bring you into a little bit there, of the life of Lamech. \u00a0Think of living like that through multiple generations. \u00a0This is an abnormality to us today. \u00a0If you have grandparents or great grandparents, you're considered fortunate. \u00a0But think of having people that you could talk to in your own family line that would go back multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple generations. \u2018Gee, you know, Grandma, what was Grandpa like? \u00a0Well, let's go talk to his parents, or let's go talk to his grandparents,\u2019<\/em> or to put it sort of in modern day vernacular, you\u2019re studying the Declaration of Independence which was written by Thomas Jefferson, and come to a phrase in the Declaration of Independence that you don't really understand, and you get into a big debate about what Thomas Jefferson meant by this phrase. \u00a0Finally someone says, \u2018Okay, everybody, let's just\u00a0 forget the debate. \u00a0Everybody get in the car. \u00a0Pack up the kids, and let's just take a family trip and visit Virginia, [<\/em>I believe], and talk to old Tom about this, and ask yourself, what did he mean by this particular phrase?<\/em>\u2018\u00a0 You could see the knowledge capital that could easily be passed down through the generations.\r\n\r\nArnold Fruchtenbaum puts it this way, \u201cAdam lived until the 56th year of Lamech, the father of Noah.\u00a0 This means the tradition as told from Adam to his descendants was once removed from Lamech and only twice removed from Noah.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nThink of the knowledge that could be gained. The problem with this crowd is they became increasingly wicked on a global scale. \u00a0They became technological giants but ethical midgets; they didn't know what to do with their knowledge capital that had accumulated because Genesis 6:5<\/strong> says \u2018every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.\u2019<\/em>\r\n\r\nThis is a circumstance\u2014there are multiple generations that apparently is going to be revived in the millennial kingdom. \u00a0Isaiah 65<\/strong>, look at our chart there, the second advent, go to the right, the 1,000-year kingdom. \u00a0This circumstance here prior to the Flood of people living through multiple generations is something that's actually brought back to life in the millennial kingdom itself. \u00a0Isaiah 65:20<\/strong> says, \u201cNo longer<\/em> [concerning the millennial kingdom] will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred\u00a0 And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred will be thought accursed<\/em>.\u201d \u00a0Today when someone reaches the age of 100, we say, \u2018Wow, they've lived a long life.\u2019<\/em> \u00a0But that's not what it is going to be like in the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 \u00a0Someone will die at the age of 100, and everybody will sit around and say, \u2018What a tragedy such a young man died.\u2019<\/em>\r\n\r\nIsaiah 65:22<\/strong> says, \u201cThey will not build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree...,<\/em>[think about that\u2014a tree that outlives multiple human generations today] ...For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And my chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nThink of buying or building a new house.\u00a0 Typically, you leave that house to your descendants in your will because it's understood that you're going to wear out and die much faster than that house will.\u00a0 But in the millennial kingdom, the life spans of people are so long that you say, \u2018Well, that new house we just bought and built, I guess we need another one because we're still here and the house has worn out.\u2019<\/em> \u00a0That's the kind of thing that was happening prior to the Flood, and that is the kind of thing that is going to be happening one day, once again, in the millennial kingdom. \u00a0If people that are creators or inventors or the dispersers of knowledge are still alive, think about the knowledge that was passed through the generations just prior to the Flood.\r\n\r\nWe've already made reference to the fact that the Canite line was very technologically sophisticated dealing in both bronze and iron. \u00a0Apparently that level of sophistication continued right up on into the Flood as the human race became tremendously knowledgeable. \u00a0But the problem is, as their knowledge increased, there was no corresponding check on their sin nature. \u00a0It's a dangerous thing when somebody has great knowledge, but at the same time, great wickedness. \u00a0God cannot allow that situation to continue on much longer. \u00a0Genesis 11:6 <\/strong>says of this great knowledge that they possessed, The Lord said<\/em>, \u201cBehold, they are one people, and they all have have the same language. \u00a0And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.\u201d<\/strong><\/em>\r\n\r\nGod, here at the Tower of Babel says, \u2018I've got to put the brakes on things because this knowledge that everybody has, there's no corresponding curb to the sin nature and the knowledge can be abused.\u2019<\/em>\r\n\r\nOnce you start to understand this, you start to understand why God sent the Flood. \u00a0There was a problem in the pre-Flood world. \u00a0There was great knowledge passed down through the generations, and yet man's thoughts and man's heart was continually wicked and they were taking that great knowledge and were using it for abusive purposes.<\/strong> \u00a0Finally God said, \u2018That's it. \u00a0I'm going to bring judgment.\u2019<\/em>\r\n\r\nI think there's a great parallel for our day because look at the technological insights and innovations that we're sitting on. \u00a0Look at what they're talking about today with this vaccination, and some argue of its potentiality to alter the DNA of human beings. \u00a0Look at all of these great insights, all of these technological leaps, the problem with us is though we're technological giants, ethically, we are still midgets. \u00a0That's a combination apparently, that God doesn't allow to exist for very long. \u00a0Eventually God says, \u2018I've got to destroy everything. \u00a0I've got to bring judgment, or else these people will abuse themselves and others to death.\u2019<\/em>\r\n\r\nYou know, the only difference with Adolf Hitler, who almost conquered the known world, and today is just the \u201cT\u201d<\/em> word\u2014 Technology. \u00a0If Hitler had possessed the type of technology that we have today, you can see how his ambition of worldwide conquest could have been achieved. \u00a0Yet here we are. \u00a0Our nature hasn't changed, and we're sitting on all this technology, and biblically, the Bible<\/strong> tells us that one of these days there's going to come one, the man of sin, the man of destruction, the Antichrist, who will use that technology to enslave the world. \u00a0As that unhealthy combination exists between depravity and vast technology, God says \u2018I can't allow it to go on much further.<\/em>\u2019 \u00a0The judgment of God comes. \u00a0Did not Jesus say, \u201cAs it was in the days of Noah,..<\/em>.\u201d [which is what we're reading about here] \u201cso it shall be at the coming of the Son of Man.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nLet me give you one last<\/strong> observation, and with this, we will conclude for today. \u00a0It has to do with modern archeology. \u00a0One of the things that you'll discover as you work your way through the Book of Genesis<\/strong> is that there are actual archeological discoveries which mirror very, very closely, the kind of things that we read about in the Book of Genesis<\/strong>. \u00a0Most people are shocked to learn this, that the story of eight in an ark that survived a global Flood, which is what we read about in the Book of Genesis<\/strong>, is in what we call at least 300 Flood legends all over the world. \u00a0We are not the only people that have a Creation account. \u00a0\u00a0Other cultures\u2014get into Enuma Elish or the Gilgamesh epic. \u00a0You have Babylonian creation accounts, Babylonian Flood accounts, Akkadian creation accounts, and Akkadian Flood accounts. \u00a0You read those and you say, \u2018Wow, except for a few points, it sure sounds very similar to the Bible.\u2019 \u00a0<\/em>With this list of long living patriarchs and the sudden termination of a Flood, that story occurs elsewhere in modern day archeology in something called the Sumerian King list.\r\n\r\nArnold Fruchtenbaum says, \u201cThe eleventh observation is connected with archeology. There are two kings\u2019 lists from archeology that reflect what is happening in this chapter<\/em> [Genesis 5<\/strong>]. \u00a0The first is the Sumerian King List from Sumer .<\/em>..\u201d [which is basically the area between the rivers Euphrates and the Tigris\u2014modern day Iraq] \u201c... the<\/em> two kings\u2019 list in Mesopotamia, dating from about the year 2000 b.c. \u2026\u201d<\/em> [Now, that would be roughly the time of Abraham]. \u00a0\u201c\u2026 The first is the Sumerian King List from Sumer in Mesopotamia, dating from 2000 b.c. <\/em>\u00a0\u00a0It lists a total of ten kings,<\/em> [sounds like our list] with a total of 241,200 years. \u00a0That's an average of about 24,000 years per king. <\/em>\u00a0[Now, their ages are a little bigger than ours in Genesis 5<\/strong>, but notice that in this particular list, which comes from pagan<\/em><\/strong> culture, there are people living\u2014ten patriarchs living as kings to an advanced age]. \u00a0Fruchtenbaum says, \u201c...Therefore, the concept of longevity of ten generations is something reflected in the Sumerian King List. <\/em>\u00a0\u00a0It is also interesting that after the list of the ten kings, it then adds, \u2018and then the Flood came.\u2019\u201d [<\/em>That sounds like what we're reading about here in the Bible]. \u00a0\u201cThe Flood came with the tenth<\/em> [generation], just as it is in the Genesis 5 passage<\/em>. [Now, the Sumerians aren't the only ones with a king list]. \u00a0He says, \u201c...The second<\/em> [King List] is the Berussos King List. \u00a0Berussos was a Babylonian priest of the third century b.c., and he also lists ten kings [that come] before the Flood.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nWhat do you do with this kind of information? \u00a0What do you do with pagan<\/em><\/strong> Flood accounts, pagan<\/em><\/strong> Creation accounts all over the world, and even a pagan<\/em><\/strong> ancient kings list, not from the Bible, but from pagan<\/em><\/strong> accounts that sound an awful lot like the stories that we're reading about in the Bible.\u00a0 Here's what the unbelievers want you to think about those pagan<\/em><\/strong> accounts, and this is why I'm bringing this to your attention. \u00a0They want you to believe, and this is what their teachers are telling your kids and your grandkids, and when you watch A&E and Mysteries of the Bible, and television, they will promote this view. \u00a0What they want you to believe is that Moses had no original thoughts. \u00a0Moses as a representative of the only monotheistic nation in the Middle East, didn't have two brain cells to rub together. \u00a0He had no original thoughts, and so obviously Moses stole his ideas from these pagan<\/em><\/strong> accounts. \u00a0After all, Moses didn't write until at least 1500 B.C., and this King List that we're talking about here is already on the books six centuries later. \u00a0So obviously, Moses stole his material from a pagan<\/em><\/strong> King List. \u00a0They do the same thing with the Flood. \u00a0They find these pagan<\/em><\/strong> Flood accounts, and they say, \u2018Notice that those were written earlier than the Book of Genesis<\/strong><\/em>.\u2019 They find pagan<\/em><\/strong> creation accounts. \u00a0\u2018Those are written earlier than the Book of Genesis<\/strong> was written\u2014about 1500 B.C., and so poor Moses just stole all his ideas and brought them into the biblical text, because after all, if these accounts existed before Moses wrote, he's obviously plagiarizing material.\u00a0 So your Bible is not a special book. \u00a0It's not authentic. \u00a0It doesn't come from God.\u2019<\/em>\u00a0 And that's the only view that they'll give.\r\n\r\nI'm here to tell you that there's a completely different way of thinking about this. \u00a0Those pagan<\/em><\/strong> accounts exist because the things spoken of in the Bible<\/strong> actually happened, and when the Earth was repopulated through Noah's sons, and God confounded the language at the Tower of Babel, those groups all took an element or a remembrance of truth, and they brought it into their respective cultures. \u00a0Now when they brought those truths into their respective cultures, they adapted things to fit their paganism<\/em><\/strong>.\r\n\r\nSo the pagan<\/em><\/strong> Flood accounts deny monotheism. \u00a0They promote polytheism, and what they say is that the gods had a council meeting, and they were upset about noise on the earth because they were trying to take a nap, and they sent the Flood. \u00a0Now they still have a Flood that covered the Earth. \u00a0They still have an ark. \u00a0They still have eight people saved in the ark. \u00a0So they kept some of the story intact, but they altered a few details because after all, \u2018We're not monotheistic, we're polytheistic, and after all, we really don't believe in sin. \u00a0God didn't send a Flood because of sin and wickedness and technology out of control. \u00a0He sent the Flood because the gods wanted to take a nap.\u2019 <\/em>\u00a0So you see what they've done?\u00a0 This is true with the Sumerian King List, the pagan<\/em><\/strong> Flood accounts, the pagan<\/em><\/strong> creation accounts; that's my explanation of them.\r\n\r\nAll of these things exist in the world of archeology because the events of the Bible<\/strong> actually happened. \u00a0There was a Genesis 5<\/strong> list terminated by the Flood. \u00a0There was a worldwide Flood. There was a Tower of Babel. \u00a0There was an ancient creation account, but when they got out of the ark, and the world was repopulated through Noah's three sons, and God confounded the language of the Tower of Babel, not all of the people were believers, but they knew enough of history to take the biblical account passed down to them through oral tradition into their cultures, and they just started to rewrite the details.\r\n\r\nSo when God had Moses pin these words in 1500 B.C., what Moses is saying is that all of these pagan<\/em><\/strong> renditions are wrong. \u00a0I mean, they're accurate at points, but they've been paganized<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0\u2018Let me tell you what actually happened.\u2019<\/em> \u00a0Moses retells the story; he republishes the story; he refocuses the story through God's vantage point and not paganism.<\/em><\/strong>\r\n\r\nSo you see what I've done there? \u00a0I've explained the similarities between the Bible<\/strong> and these pagan<\/em><\/strong> accounts without rushing to the conclusion that Moses stole his ideas. \u00a0What they all want you to believe is that Moses stole his ideas, and I'm saying that there's a completely alternative way of thinking about this. \u00a0It's actually called the Common Source Theory<\/em>:\u00a0 these things actually happened, but the pagans<\/em><\/strong> kept part of the story in place and paganized<\/em><\/strong> other parts of it. Doesn't Romans 1:18-32<\/strong> tell us very clearly that that's what pagans<\/em><\/strong> do? \u00a0They suppress the truth of God.\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>\u2018So let's take the exact same story and let's just change a few things around. \u00a0\u00a0Sin out, monotheism out. \u00a0Flood, we\u2019ll keep that; ark, we\u2019ll keep that. \u00a0Eight survivors in the ark, we\u2019ll keep that.\u2019<\/em> \u00a0Then you turn on the History Channel, and you've got some guy from Harvard telling you that Moses stole all his ideas, and they won't let anybody else on to give a countervailing explanation. \u00a0You're sitting in churches where all they give you is three points in a poem every week, so the pastor is not equipping anybody, so the kids and the grandkids are swept into unbelief.\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>Yet my job as a pastor is to equip you so you can share your faith with others, and particularly, rescue your children and grandchildren from unbelief by just telling them, \u2018There's a completely different way of thinking about that. \u00a0It's the Common Source Theory.\u2019 <\/em>\r\n\r\nAnd I'll say more about this as we continue on in our study in the Book of Genesis<\/strong>. \u00a0Look at this. \u00a0We've gone all the way through that list, and we finished a whole category. [See slide on Genesis Structure]<\/strong>\u00a0 Can you believe it? \u00a0We're no longer talking about Creation, Genesis 1,2<\/strong>.\u00a0 We're no longer talking about the Fall, Genesis 3-5<\/strong>. \u00a0What are we getting into beginning next week? \u00a0If the Lord tarries, by the way, the Flood, the third major event in Genesis 1-11<\/strong>. \u00a0Genesis 6<\/strong>: \u00a0events before<\/em> the Flood. \u00a0Genesis 7<\/strong>: \u00a0the Flood itself. \u00a0Genesis 8,9<\/strong>: \u00a0post-Flood events<\/em>.\r\n\r\nI know you're probably not as excited about it as I am, but I'm excited about it. \u00a0Amen. And what is all of this about? \u00a0It's all about maintaining a genealogy leading to Jesus, who, through His death, burial, resurrection and ascension, stepped into history and lived a life in my place that I could never live. \u00a0Cain could never live it, Noah could never live it, but Jesus lived it. If that weren't enough, He stepped out of eternity into time to absorb in His body, my violations of failing to live a perfect life. \u00a0And if that<\/em> weren't enough, He rose bodily from the grave to vindicate who He claimed to be.\r\n\r\nAnd that, in essence, is what we call the gospel\u2014where Jesus did it all as our substitute. \u00a0His final words on the cross were, \u201cIt is finished.<\/em>\u201d \u00a0He leaves humanity with just a very simple message\u2014this is what we call the gospel or good news. \u00a0He says \u2018Trust<\/em><\/strong>,\u2019 which is another way of saying faith<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0\u2018Trust in what I have done for you. \u00a0Don't trust in your works, don't trust in your religiosity, don't trust in your best efforts. \u00a0Trust in Me because I've done the work in your place.\u2019 \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The moment a lost sinner trusts<\/em><\/strong> in the transaction of Jesus Christ is the moment<\/em><\/strong> they're made right with God.\r\n\r\nThat's the gospel and why we conclude our services by exhorting everyone within the sound of my voice, even people listening online or people listening via archive long after the fact, to fulfill the single condition that's required for a loss sinner to be saved, which is faith alone in Christ alone<\/u>.<\/strong> \u00a0We exhort you, we implore you to do that right now, as I'm speaking, if you've never done it. \u00a0It's not something you have to raise a hand to do, join a church to do, walk an aisle to do, give money to do. \u00a0It's a matter of privacy between you and the Lord, where the Holy Spirit places the lost sinner under conviction; He convicts them of their need to trust<\/em><\/strong> in the Savior.\u00a0 You respond to that good news by trusting in Christ, and you fulfill the single condition <\/u><\/strong>necessary to be justified before a holy God. \u00a0We exhort you to do that right now, even as I speak, and if it's something you need more explanation on, I'm available after the service to talk.\r\n\r\nShall we pray? \u00a0Father we are grateful for these historical events and how they pave the way towards the person of Your Son, which is really what human history revolves around. \u00a0Help us as we try to keep these things in focus and in context this week. \u00a0We'll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. \u00a0We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God's people said.\u00a0 AMEN!\r\n\r\n ","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t