Genesis 4:25-26 - The First Civilization and Society (Part 2)
Introduction:
The ungodly seed or descendents of Adam have just been pictured for us. Scripture has just shown how the ungodly seed of humanity began and grew at the beginning of human history, how they founded the ungodly civilizations and societies of the world. From the very beginning there was an ungodly line or branch of people upon earth, an ungodly line that still exists and will exist until Jesus Christ returns to earth and ends human history as it is known today.
Now in the present passage, Scripture shows us how the godly line continued upon earth. Adam, the first man upon earth, began the godly line. His son Abel lived a godly life, but he was killed by Cain, apparently before he was able to have children. Consequently, God had to give another son to Adam and Eve, another son through whom the godly seed or descendents would continue. This is the subject of the present passage. This passage shows us how God gave Adam and Eve another son...
· the son who was to carry on the godly line.
· the son whose godly descendents were to give birth to the Savior, the single seed who was to save man from death and eternal judgment.
This passage, along with the next passage (Genesis 5), pictures the birth and growth of the godly seed or descendents upon earth.
A. The godly line was set in place and appointed by God: Through Seth (v.25).
1. “Adam knew his wife again… she bore a son and named him Seth…” (v.1a).
a) Adam and Eve have a son (v.25a).
(1) Adam and Eve wanted another son to carry on the godly line, godly descendents through whom God’s promise of a Savior could be fulfilled.
(2) Does this mean that Adam and Eve had no other sons who were godly, that there were no other people upon earth living godly lives?
(a) This is most unlikely. What it probably means is the particular seed—the person who was to be appointed by God to head up the godly line—had not yet been born.
(3) When the son came, both Adam and Eve knew that God had answered their prayer. They knew their son was to be...
(a) the godly seed and descendent through whom the branch of godliness was to continue upon earth.
(b) the godly seed and descendent through whom the Savior of the world was to come.
2. “God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel…” (v.25b).
a) Eve names the son Seth: Acknowledges that God gave the son (v.25b).
(1) This is the reason Eve named the baby boy Seth. The child had definitely been given by God.
(a) The name Seth (Sheth) means set, settled, placed, appointed. The idea is that Seth was appointed by God to head up the godly seed or descendents upon earth.
(b) Some commentators say that Seth also means substitute, that God was actually substituting Seth for the murdered Abel
(2) The point is this: the very name Seth shows how strongly Eve recognized God’s hand in the birth of Seth. God was actively involved in the boy’s birth.
(a) God was faithful to His Word and promise.
(b) God actually set in place and appointed Seth to continue the godly seed or line of descendents upon earth.
(c) God actually substituted Seth for Abel, actually sent a substitute to continue the godly seed or descendents upon earth.
!!!! b) The difference between Eve’s attitude at Cain’s birth and at Seth’s birth.
(1) When Cain was born, Eve said:
In Genesis 4:1 “I have gotten [brought forth] a man from the Lord” (Genesis 4:1).
(a) The emphasis is upon “I.” “I have gotten....” Eve recognized God’s hand in the birth of her child.
(b) She apparently felt somewhat self-sufficient, as though she and Adam had a great deal to do with fulfilling the promise of God for a godly seed and Savior.
(2) When Seth was born, Eve said:
In Genesis 5:25 "God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.”" (Genesis 4:25, NASB95)
(a) Eve had learned one of the great lessons of human history: total dependence upon God.
(b) No man and no woman, not even a combination of men and women has the power to take the place of God and fulfill the promises of God for this earth.
c) The total dependence and trust upon God for our own lives (1Kings 8:56).
(1) Total trust and dependence in God is a lesson that every person must learn.
(2) No person will ever know the promises of God unless he casts himself totally upon God.
B. The godly line recognized the weakness and mortality of man (v.26a).
1. “For Seth, to him also a son was born, he named him Enosh…” (v.26a)
a) The weakness of man.
(1) Seth was 105 years old when his son Enosh was born (5:6). “Enosh” means “man” and comes from a Hebrew word that means “frail, weak.”
(2) It’s the word for man that emphasizes how fragile and weak we really are in ourselves.
(3) A remarkable thing is recorded in connection with the birth of this boy:
(a) at that time, people began to gather together to worship God, proclaim His name, and pray. There was a revival of public worship and believing prayer as the descendants of Seth met together in the name of the Lord.
(b) while the worldly Cainites were boasting of their strength and valor (4:23–24), the godly Sethites were giving glory to the name of the Lord.
b) The faithfulness of God.
(1) Throughout sacred history, it has been the godly remnant that has kept the work of the Lord going in this world.
(a) After the Flood, Noah’s small family was the remnant God used to people the earth.
(b) The Prophet Elijah thought he was alone in serving Jehovah, but 7,000 people in the land re-mained faithful to the Lord (1 Kings 19:9–18).
(2) So, when the work of the Lord looks like it’s failing, and you feel like you’re the only one left to serve God, remember Enosh and the godly remnant in his day that called on the Lord.
Jonathan said in 1 Samuel 14 “For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few” (1 Sam. 14:6, nkjv).
C. The godly line confessed God and called upon God with a renewed spirit (v.26b).
1. “Then men began to call on the name of the Lord (v.26b).
a) Revival in the hearts of the godly seed.
(1) What does Scripture mean when it says, “then began men to call upon the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:26)?
(a) It means that Adam and the godly line—those who were truly following God—rededicated their lives to God with more fervor than ever before.
(b) They began to seek and to call upon the Lord more than ever.
(2) What would cause such a revival among Adam and the godly seed?
(a) A deeper sense of the frailty and mortality of human life.
(i) Adam had been living for 235 years and Seth for 105 years when Enoch was born. Both must have witnessed suffering and death time and again.
James comments on the brevity of life by saying "Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." (James 4:14, NASB95)
(b) The birth of Seth and the birth of Seth’s son.
(i) Seeing the godly line actually being appointed and set in place by God.
(ii) Seeing it continue on for three generations—was enough to stir Adam and then Seth and then Enoch to recommit their lives to God.
(c) The worldliness of the ungodly seed of Cain and their rejection of God.
(i) This is always true of those who truly live godly lives and bear bold witness to God.
(ii) Sin and evil—seeing the lost hurting, suffering, and dooming them-selves—always stir the godly to worship and witness more than ever.
(3) I believe that Adam and the godly seed were witnesses to all that we just talked about. Experiencing these must have caused a revival in their hearts.
b) Revival in our hearts today (1 Samuel 7:3-6).
(1) Lamenting after the lord (v.2).
(a) The idea of being broken and feeling wretched because of one’s circumstances
James puts it this way, he says Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom." (James 4:9, NKJV)
It is exactly the feeling expressed by the tax collector spoken of by Jesus who “was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner! ’ (Luke 18:13).
Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." (Matthew 5:4, NKJV)
(2) Returning to the lord with all your hearts (v.3).
(a) This Calls For A Self Examination!
Lamentations Let us examine and probe our ways, and let us return to the Lord” (Lam. 3:40).
Through Ezekiel, the Lord says of the genuinely repentant man: “Because he considered and turned away from all his transgressions which he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die” (Ezek. 18:28; cf. Ps. 119:59; 139:23-24).
Paul admonished the Galatians, “Each one must examine his own work” (Gal. 6:4)
And to the Corinthians, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” (2Cor.13:5).
(3) Putting away of foreign gods (v.3).
(a) The inward was more important than the outward, and it had to come first.
(b) That is why Samuel first called Israel to return with all your hearts, and then told them to put away the foreign gods.
(4) The preparation of the heart (v.3).
(a) John the Baptist was to prepare the heart of the people for the work that Jesus was going to do.
John said that he was “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”" (Luke 3:4-6, NKJV)
King Rehoboam ‘did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord." (2 Chronicles 12:14)
(5) We are to serve the lord only.
(a) Israel did not feel they were rejecting the Lord God; they felt they were only adding the worship of other gods to their worship of the LORD. But this was totally unacceptable;
As Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." (Matthew 6:24, NKJV)…
(b) Samuel was calling Israel to turn their backs on these other gods and serve Him only.
(6) The great need of the church and believers today is for revival, to confess God and to call upon God with renewed fervor.
A Jew by the name of Apollos "This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John;" (Acts 18:25, NASB95)
One of the greatest things we can do for revival is to follow the words of Paul in Romans 12 "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:1-2, NASB95)
Remember "Do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." (2 Corinthians 4:16, NASB95)
Timothy needed some encouraging words for his timidity, that is why Paul said "For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands." (2Tim.1:6)