Genesis #5: The Beginning - Distracted from grace

Magic trick… slight of hand

I have a couple of friends who are magicians. One of them came and did a program last year I think for our Ageless Wonders and some kids from the elementary school.

I was taught when I was a kid that magicians were evil or of the devil. I guess that might be true for some, but trust me my friends who are magicians are clear, they don’t make anything appear. In fact what they do is really just a matter of slight of hand. And frankly that’s the most effective kind of magic in my opinion.

They can have you look right at the card or the toy or whatever and you miss how they do the trick. It’s pretty amazing how our eyes can deceive us isn’t it?

they take advantage of an age old problem - As the famous prophet Don Henley of the Eagles put it… you can’t hide your lying eyes.

Our eyes tell us that what appears to be happening is actually happening. Or more often… what we can’t see isn’t possible. We quickly rule out what our eyes don’t see.

It’s where we get the phrase, seeing is believing. It’s true…what we see we tend to believe, but often times what we see is actually a lie.

That’s what we will see going on in our text today but first, I want to help you avoid it happening to you. I want to help you because there is a lot going on in this text and if we aren’t careful, we will get caught up in all the details and miss the point… as they say we will miss the forest for the trees.

So let’s start in the text, it’s a short passage; we will work our way through and come back and look at the main point… which is.

Grace doesn’t have to but grace does

Genesis 6:1 NIV

When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them,

If you remember Chapter 5 told us the of the generations to follow Adam. Now here in Chapter 6 we see how that is happening.

You may remember, the ancestors following Cain, the first born of Adam and Eve, were rebellious as Cain. But with the ancestors of Seth, that people began to call upon God.

Living their lives, having children.

Then Verse 2 tells us...

Genesis 6:2 NIV

the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.

You hear that? Who is the writer talking about here? This is the first distraction in the text that will preoccupy you from the point of the text… what do I mean?

Distraction #1: Sons of God and Daughters of man

Who were the “sons of God and daughters of men”?

There are 3 major camps… ways of understanding these words that people generally buy into.

First, Sons of God refer to angels. The idea is that angels came to earth, took on the form of men and married women.

In other places, angels are refereed to as son’s of God… but I still have a couple problems with this view… you probably guessed that because I had it first… But my main problem is that Jesus, in discussing angels said that they were neither given or received in marriage. Angels are spirit beings, without form and substance. Yes there are images given by God to represent them, but they are spirits. How can a spirit marry a woman? can’t. So I see this as an over spiritualizing of the phrase in this instance. Besides, later we will see that humans were punished for this… why not teh angels since they seemed to be the ones taking wives as they chose.

The second explanation is that these sons of God are actually sons of rulers. We saw Cain’s ancestors building cities, kingdoms. So these are politically powerful people taking the daughters of common families because of their beauty. I’m sure this happened. But I don’t think it fully addresses all of what is going on. Besides, wasn’t it Cain’s family who were the rebellious ones? Remember Enoch, in the line of Seth was the one who Walked with God.

So the third explanation is that the sons of God were the sons of Seth… the family of those who called out to God. And they are taking as wives the daughters of Cain… the daughters of men. I believe this absolutely fits with what is going on in the story.

So put that in your notes… sons of God=sons of Seth - daughters of men=of Cain.

I’ll get back to in a moment, but let’s continue through the text.

Genesis 6:3 NIV

Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

I’ll circle back this passage because it’s important, but right now let’s get to

Distraction #2: What’s with 120 years?

A lot of people get caught up in 120 years…

Many believe this is how long people would live… I did for a long time.

But as we read on, we will see that people actually live much longer than that for a while. So what did God mean?

Catch this… God is saying in 120 years… 3 generations… he was going to judge the people of the world. They had 120 years.

Why 120 years? Good question I guess. The best answer is… well, because God said so. As we will see in just a moment, sin was rampant, and God set a date of expiration on it.

Let’s continue:

Genesis 6:4 NIV

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

Distraction number 3 is

Distraction #3: Who are Nephilim?

Seems to be a tribe of people or maybe a description of people who were alive at the same time as these sons and daughters were coming together and having children. The evil of the Nephilim was also clear as they were men of renown… that is men with a name… or as we might say it today, men living to make a name for themselves.

We know people like that don’t we… people living to make a name for themselves? Of course we do. and to that the writer goes on?

Genesis 6:5–7 NIV

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. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”

These are distractions that have the potential to keep you from seeing what is really happening in the text. Just like my silly card trick. We get caught up looking at what doesn’t really matter.

So what really matters here?

What’s really going on here?

Remember, Chapter 1 told us about God, his nature and character. Chapter 2 told us about how we were related to God, who we were created to be in relationship with him. Chapter 3 told us how that relationship was broken, eating the forbidden fruit. Chapter 4 and 5 told us how that original sin began to infect the world. And now in Chapter 6 we see the explosion of our fascination with sin revealed in what people think of others.

We see first that

I have an amazing potential to make life all about me.

To take what God made as good and use it for evil.

God created women to be partners in marriage… but now it was about desire. Women were being taken and used for selfish purposes.

If you read

Matthew 24:36-39

you will read Jesus describing what was going on here.

The world was filled with

Sexual perversion

Violence

corruption

And the men of God were choosing to turn from God, no longer seeking the Lords will as Enoch and taking what looked good for their own.

Becoming what Paul described in

2 Corinthians 6

as being unequally yoked

But they weren’t concerned with the spiritual realities. The women were attractive, they wanted them, they took them.

They were committing the same sin their grand parents had… they liked the fruit and so they ate it.

This selfishness, this wickedness had a spiritual reality to it.

Sort of like my card trick. There was more going on than what we could see.

And in the Genesis story, the sin created by our making ourselves out to be the point of the story…grieves the heart of God… and not only grieves his heart, but demands his judgement.

Sin grieves the heart of God and demands His judgement

I’ve heard it said that God wished he hadn’t created man. I don’t think that’s the sort of regret that’s going on here.

Think of it if your children rejected your love. You show your love by providing for them, blessing them and they take your blessings and begin to use them as they choose… not as you desire. In fact, they don’t even regard you any more, but rather see your intent as to be avoided rather than considered, let alone obeyed.

How do you feel? Regret.. deeply saddened, grieved.

But we would more than likely allow them to go on with their lives, always waiting for them to return.

Why is this?

Believe it or not, the reason is the same reason magic tricks work… Think about it. It’s the same reason we are always tempted to believe what we should know is a lie.

The “good” employee who always has an excuse for being late.

The “respectful” child who consistently points blame at friends.

The friend who says they don’t have a drinking problem, you must be imagining things.

I did some reading this week and one researcher I read explained it this way and I it seemed to provide me some clarity…

We want to believe what we see, because to question it is a form of conflict and we almost always look to avoid conflict.

Think about that. If we see something that isn’t right, we might have to do something about it… so we just accept it… we just go along with the “scam”.

That way everyone seems happy… at least for now.

But God can’t play this game. God doesn’t have the luxury of avoiding conflict in relationships. As holy and Just, he can’t avoid who he is and his responsibility.

So God’s grace was given a deadline

Genesis 6:7 NIV

So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”

2 Peter 2:4–5 NIV

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;

2 Peter 2:10 NIV

This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings;

God judges sin. Plain and simple. and we are all guilty. Every one of us.

As I said last week Jesus said, “no one is good, not even one”.

We all have a sin problem. A problem that demands judgement, and we can’t fix it. Sure we might be able to be good for the next moment, but what about the sins of the past?

We have no way to make up for the past.

There’s nothing I can do to change my heart.

When it comes to sin… We are helpless, but we are not hopeless.

God wants to redeem the world

We are right at the cliff… God has given us 120 years… and it’s about up.

and look out at the horizon, what is that… it looks like a person walking toward us… it’s hard to tell… but is that. It looks like. Well It sure is, I never would have guessed it.

Look at who appears just in time. Noah

Genesis 6:8 NIV

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

But Noah wasn’t the key. Remember all mankind was evil… Here’s a test for you math minded people. When we say all… do we mean 50%? 75%? 99.9%.

No when Scripture says that every thought of every heart was evil… all means 100%

and yet Noah found favor…

How did that happen? Did God miscount?

No… Noah found favor with God.... that word favor is the Hebrew word for Grace. Unmerited favor of God. It’s God deciding that he will save, he will bless, he will provide.

It’s not dependent on Noah, it’s because God willed it.

Noah had found what we Methodists love to talk about … grace.

Grace doesn’t have to but grace does

God’s grace was extended to him and Moses responded... Moses found it.

It had been there all along, in the beauty of creation, the wonder of the heavens, the depth of the waters. It had been there for everyone to see. Generations had begun to seek it. Enoch had found it, and now Noah had found it.

Grace was the thing that makes God’s plan work and Noah saw it.

Like the “magic cards” once you saw it, you knew.

And once you know… you have a choice. Noah had a choice. He could deny it and obey the desires of the world

Getting more for him

Working harder

Building his name

Growing his kingdom

and cause God grief or

he could receive it and walk with the Lord. We see that Moses chose to walk with the Lord, but Moses didn’t know his choice was so big.

IF he had who knows what he would have done. we are going to talk more about Noah next week, but today, I want us to close recognizing that Noah chose freely to walk with the Lord, not so he would become famous… or become the saviour of humanity. No he walked with the lord because he had found grace.

That was all it took.

That’s still all it takes.

John 4 tells us that Moses worshipped what he didn’t know… but with Jesus, we are able to worship what we do know.

John 4:23–24 NIV

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Grace saves and it changes peoples lives.

Romans tells us how Grace changes our life.

When we believe...

Romans 8:5–6 NIV

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

Romans 8:9–10 NIV

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.

Romans 8:12–13 NIV

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

You say, well I still struggle with sin… you haven’t put it to death. It has no power over you, yet we continually take it out and give it air and light… don’t. When faced with a temptation to sin, worship. Call out to the Lord, invite Jesus to take over your life. Be fascinated by Him and His grace… and the desires of our flesh will fall away.

You want your spouse to be saved… what they need to find is God’s grace that leads to repentance.

You want your child or grandchild to change… they need to find God’s grace that leads to repentance.

You want your church to be revived… we need to find God’s grace that leads us to repentance.

God’s grace changes hearts… you can’t do it but Grace does.