Main idea: Worship the Lord, whose goodness has always endured in this fallen world.
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Good morning, faith, Bible Church,
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for those of you who don't know who I am. My name is Josh Gilchrist, and I am the college pastor, and get the privilege of working with our wonderful college students and college staff. Today we're going to continue our series in Genesis, and our passage today is Genesis 417, through 26 please stand for the reading of Scripture.
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Genesis. 417, through 26
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Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. To Enoch was born IRAD and IRAD fathered mahujael mahujel fathered Matthew. Father, Lamech. And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Ada, and the name of the other, Zilla. Ada bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who played the lyre and pipe. Zilla also bore tubal Cain. He was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of tubal Cain was NEMA Lamech. Said to his wives, Ada and Zilla, hear my voice. You wives of Lamech, listen to what I say. I've killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Kane's revenge is seven fold. Then la Max is 77 fold. And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son, and called his name Seth, for she said, God has appointed for me another offspring, instead of Abel for Cain killed him to Seth also, a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Lord we, thank you that we can gather freely and call upon your name, worshiping you and song and worshiping you and the hearing of your Word. Lord we, thank you for this church. Thank you for faith, Bible Church, and all the pastors and people who have created different resources that we can use for discipleship and and shepherding, that we have answers in your word Lord, Your Word is truly sufficient. Lord, it's a privilege to be a part of a place where people take your word seriously and to be able to bring your word, Lord, I pray that You would speak through me today. Lord, that your words would impact our lives and our heart. Lord, help us to be faithful, to apply it to our lives. We do acknowledge that our world is definitely fallen. Lord, there's, there's problems, there's there's fires, there's cancer, hernia and different sicknesses and illness. There's conflict in people who live their lives in bitterness and with a desire for revenge and vengeance. Lord, the world is not the way that you designed it to be Lord, but yet you are faithful, and you make a way for us to be able to call out to you to find salvation and redemption, Lord, and we cling to the hope Lord, that you are one who keeps His promises, and you will one day make things, all things new. Lord, we do lift up people in the Los Angeles area right now with the different fires going on and seeming to blaze out of control with no remedy, Lord, we just pray that you would make a way for people to be able to be innovative and find ways to extinguish those fires. Lord, so many people have lost their homes, or we pray for churches in the Los Angeles area that they would be an amazing light for Christ as they serve their neighbors and people in their community, we specifically lift up Grace Community Church, as I saw a post that as many as 10 families from that church have lost their homes with the fires. Lord, we just thank You, Lord that you are merciful and that you care for all people. We pray that you would work in that situation. Lord, be with us now as we look at your word in Jesus, name, amen, you may be seated. What legacy do you plan to leave for other people? What legacy do you plan to leave you? You all have influence, whether you realize it or not. You don't have to be a social media guru to have influence. You all have the ability to impact people, and we can often take that for granted, that we are influencers. Parents. You will impact your kids. It's guaranteed you're already impacting them. You're shaping them. You're leaving a legacy. And. Through that indirectly, you're going to shape your great, great, great grandchildren. Should the Lord tarry and life continue on this earth until then? I don't really know how to describe my sense of humor. I think that I have one. I tend to think that I'm funny. I don't know if my wife would agree with that, but I know that my son shares that sense of humor with me. I see it in him. He'll tell a joke, and as long as he finds it amusing, that's all that matters. It's funny, it's great. He'll laugh about it, and he's inherited that. For me, it's that self amuse. I guess that would be the way that I would describe it. But I know, I know that it's my fault because of the look that my wife gives me while my son will tell a joke. It's that look that says so many words, this is your fault. You're raising him this way. You're passing these things onto him. That's your legacy, Josh and Josh Jr, we do pass things on to the next generation. It's inevitable. In addition to mannerisms and senses of humor, we pass things along like work ethic, sometimes different career paths that people choose are passed on from generation to generation. Skill sets, character qualities, both good and bad, and vices we've been learning about God who made human beings in His image to reflect Him and to rule the word the world under his authority for His glory. We learn in Genesis three how that image was ruined as the serpent came and planted the lie inside of the minds of Adam and Eve and and Cain that they could be God. They didn't have to reflect Him. They could be him. They could be just like him. Cain bought into that lie, as Ian preached a couple weeks ago and he murdered his brother. As Ian said, The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Today, we're going to look at the descendants of Cain and the descendants of Seth, a brother whom Cain probably never knew existed because he was cursed to wander away from the presence of God. And we're going to see that despite Cain curse, that God was still good to Cain and his descendants and allowing them to be able to multiply, but also be inventive and innovative and create things that would help them to be able to multiply and subdue the earth better. God was serious about the Dominion mandate, where he wanted people to rule the world under his authority. We're going to also see God's goodness in preserving the line of Adam and Eve through a son named Seth and a grandson son named Enosh. And that God not only preserves lines, but that he causes people to call upon his name and worship independence. Our passage today is going to present two ways to live, and our big idea encapsulates the way that God would want us to live. And that's this worship the Lord, whose goodness has always endured in this fallen world, worship the Lord whose goodness has always endured in this fallen world, His love endures forever. He's good to both the good and the wicked. We're going to highlight three elements from Genesis, 417, through 26 that show that we should worship God because of his enduring love, even in a fallen world, and element number one is the goodness of God, and we'll see that in verses 17 through 22 Ian, like I said, covered the first part of chapter four. A couple weeks ago, Cain had murdered his brother in a fit of jealousy that God was having regard for Abels offering, but no regard for Cains, God warned him that sin was crouching at the door, seeking to mass master him, but he must master it instead. And he disregarded God's warning and took things into his own hands and killed his brother and made excuses for it. And so he was cursed to wander away from God and from the presence of God. To give you a little context. Verse 16, Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, East of Eden. The word nod literally has the meaning wandering in in exile. Cain was away from the presence of God. We know from the first half of Chapter Four that God was speaking to Cain that his presence was still there. Humanity, even in losing the privilege of the garden, didn't lose God's presence. God was still there. But Cain, in killing his brother, had lost the presence of God. Not that any of us can ever wander away from God's presence, who fills heaven in the highest heavens, who holds the world in the palm of his hands, who upholds all things by the Word of His power. But Cain had a broken relationship and was wandering away from that presence that he enjoyed before. Like I said, the world is never outside of God's presence.
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Even Kane's life continued, and even God was still working in the. IN and THROUGH Cain, not really in like spiritually, but just that God was good. God would continue to show His goodness by allowing his lineage to continue, and also by the human innovation that came from his mind. Verse 17 says that Cain had a wife. So far in the Bible, we've been given the names Adam Eve, Cain and Abel, but here we learn that the earth was more populated than that because Cain had a wife. It doesn't say when he got married, whether it was before the Cain and Abel story, or right before he wandered. It doesn't really say but we have to conclude that Cain married one of his sisters. It was necessary at first for the filling of the Earth, but it came to be forbidden in the law in Leviticus, chapter 18, cain's wife, whoever she was, conceived and bore a son named Enoch, and Cain, in turn, built a city in his name and named it after him. Now none of us can probably claim to have built a city, maybe on Minecraft. Kids, maybe built your own city there. But quite the accomplishment, he dedicated it to his own name, to the name of his son, and he was possibly trying to establish a new beginning or a sense of security from those who he feared would seek to harm him as he wandered as a fugitive. Very little is said about habitations outside of the garden, until we get to this point that Cain built a city. Some commentators say that Cain was violating God's God's punishment, his conditions for the punishment, by building a city. And Cain may have been trying to rebel against what God had said and building something for himself, but there was no direct prohibition against building a city. However, in building that city, he wouldn't create the sense of security and end to that wandering that he was cursed to have. Very little is said about Cain outside of this but his line continued on verse 18. Look there. It says to Enoch was born. I read and I read father mahushel and mahujiel fathered Matthew. Out of all those difficult names to pronounce, the only one who really gets mentioned and description is is Lamech. He would be the great, great, great grandson of Cain, five generations after him. So a lot of time has passed. Verse 19 says that Lamech took two wives for himself. Go ahead and turn back to Genesis, 224, we'll see that this is a violation of God's design for marriage. Moses wrote, through the Holy Spirit, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, not wives, but his wife, and they shall become one flesh. I'll talk more about his bigamy, being married to multiple wives a little later, but what's important right now is what happens with his his sons and with his lineage. Ada and Zillow were the names of the two wives which lament took, and ADA, the first wife that's mentioned, had two sons, and the first son's name was Jabal. He is described as the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. He was a pioneer of animal herding and caring for animals. Abel had been a keeper of sheep, but here Jabel is a keeper of livestock, probably a variety of different animals, cattle, goats and sheep. But he's the founder. He's the first and pioneer to do that. John Calvin says that Cain was not so accursed by the Lord, but that the Lord would still scatter some excellent gifts among his posterity. God didn't cut Cain and his people off from having talents and abilities to care for the world around them. He gives all kinds of people abilities and talents. And Jabal, like I said, is the pioneer. He's the father of those who dwell in tents and keep animals like a rancher or a farmer. They take the animals with them, and this would become a way of life for the patriarchs and for the people of Israel to where, when we get to the end of Genesis, you have the people of Israel journeying to Egypt to find relief from the famine, and they're required to stay in a separate land because animals are considered unclean, and the keeping of animals is considered unclean, it became a way of life. The passage doesn't say anything about the eating of meat and the killing these animals for meat, but they probably provided things like milk, eggs, wool and fur, all part of God's generous provision. So that was Jabal, the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. The next son is Jubal, who is the father of those who play the Lynn pipe. We have cities, we have animal. And now we have music. I think a lot of us love music. We have our favorite bands and musicians. It's normal. It's a wonderful gift from God. We begin our service and in music, seeking God and worshiping Him through that the word Jubal also relates to the rams horn. Now I promise my wife, who doesn't always find my sense of humor, amusing that I would not simulate the sound of a ram's horn or shofar, but you guys have heard those before. I'm so tempted to do it, but I'm not gonna do it. No, sorry, not happening. Okay, but the rams horn was, you're taking a part of an animal and making instruments out of it. So you have that you think of the words like jubilant, jubilant noise and Jubilee also related to the Jubilee year, where people during the 50th year would have their property returned to them and would be freed from servitude, and that year would commence with the blowing of a rams horn. And Jubal was the father of that, some people go so far as to say man music has to be evil because it comes from a descendant of Cain. But if we're going to follow that line of thinking, we'd have to say that farming and animal hurting is bad, living in a city is bad, making tools and using tools is bad as well. We know that God prescribed music for his worship and the blowing of trumpets to announce the beginning of years and also different feasts. Psalm 150 we sang about Psalm 150 earlier, where it talks about praising the Lord with different instruments and noises. Psalm 153 through five says, Praise him with trumpet sound, praise him with lute and harp. Praise him with tambourine and dance. Praise him with string and pipe. Praise him with sounding symbols. Praise him with loud, clashing symbols. Music is a gift from God, and it's a wonderful means to be able to praise him and give him the glory that he deserves. It also can improve the mood and be a real blessing to us. It moves our spirits and our souls, and it's memorable how many of us have memorized things through song, and we remember attributes of God and things that are true about him because of the songs that we sing. It's all because of God's goodness to Jubal, the son of Lamech, a descendant of the murderous Cain, who's the father of music, pardon me, Lamech, other wife, Zilla, had a son who is named tubal Cain. It's a unique name. I don't know any tubal Cain or jubals or jabals, but he bore part of the name, or part of his name was the same as his great, great, great great grandfather, Tubal Cain, had a sister from Zilla named nema. Not much is said about her. What innovation did tubal Cain bring about? He is the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron that would be useful for tools. He may have made weapons out of those. It doesn't really say and that could be the reason why Moses doesn't say that he was the father of those who make those instruments. But we can infer that he made some positive instruments that were useful for cultivating and tilling the earth, planting and reaping. Cain was cursed to be a fugitive and a wanderer, but God still allowed his family line to continue, and he allowed human innovation of animal herding, music and now metal working to come to pass through his line, and here we start to see the beginnings of culture and civilization. One commentator says that the Bible nowhere teaches that the godly should have all the gifts. God uses the abilities, intelligences and giftedness of all kinds of people to spread the common good and the common grace that He wants to show in kindness to human beings. We can be thankful for those things. We can thank our non Christian friends for how they contribute to society, so long as they're not doing something illegal and evil through it. But everyone has something to offer, whether it's a service they provide a thing that they build a thing, that they fix, ways that they help people. God has given all kinds of people different gifts. He's good in that Luke 630, 5b says that the Most High is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. He was that way, even to Cain,
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it was God's kind desire that human beings subdue the earth, having dominion over the animals, as Jabal did with his livestock, making melodious music, as Jubal did with the lyre and the pipe, and making instruments like tubal Cain did for the cultivating and tilling of the earth. People often with. Nathanly say that in early biblical times, there wasn't any technology, but here we learn of a city being built, of animals being herded, music and tools being made. God's always given human beings the ability to innovate. We'll see that in Genesis six through nine, when Noah builds the ark. It's amazing technology and an amazing feat, and we'll see it negatively in chapter 11, when mankind tries to band together to create a name for themselves and build the Tower of Babel. The question with innovation is whether we'll use that to glorify God, or whether we'll do that for selfish man centered reasons, whether we'll worship the Creator or the creation. When you drive by a farm and see cattle and horses, do you are you amazed at God who's made the keeping of animals and the care of animals possible, even when you look at your own pets, the ability to domesticate dogs and cats, when you hear a beautiful symphony or a melodious song or some beautifully written lyrics, do you marvel at God who gave human beings the ingenuity to invent instruments and to be able to play them and to write memorable lyrics? Or do you find yourself making the idol out of your favorite musicians? If you were working in your garden or your yard, do you stop and think about all the different innovators who've made that task so much more easier than it could be. You don't have to do it with your hands. There's tools that make it easier. It all began with Kane's descendants. God was kind even to the murderous Cain and his offspring. And with all these different things, all these different innovations, we should worship God for those things. And through all those things, God's goodness is clearly over all of his people, as we can see there in this fallen world, we see His goodness. But now we're going to look at the second element, the grievousness of man. In verses 23 to 24 we want to thank God for the different gifts and innovations and things that he makes possible. We certainly do, but we don't want to overvalue those things. And we see in these next couple verses how little all this innovation and inventions did for the spiritual state of Lamech. One commentator says the family of Lamech could handle its environment, but not itself. Being a part of something innovative or culturally fresh doesn't make any of us spiritually superior. In fact, often accomplishments lead to destructive pride and arrogance. You hear people boast about how far we've evolved and progressed as human beings. You hear people say things like, we don't need tradition or the past anymore. We have the iPhone. We have the iPad. Tradition in the past, the things from the past didn't help us create AI people go so far as to mock God and say that it's a fairy tale and that people who believe it are foolish and irrational. Verses 23 through 24 I don't know if you realize this or not, but it's a song. It's the song of Lamech, and it's not a very romantic song. He writes it for his wives, not the type of song I write. Those of you who know me a little bit know that I've written some lyrics in the past, and I wrote a song for my family once, and it was nothing like this, but he is writing this song for his wives. Little bit more about polygamy and bigamy. It was never mandated by the Lord, yet we know that it happens in the Bible. Man took this upon himself, and Lamech was the first to do that. As the book of Genesis unfolds, you're going to see that polygamy, being married to multiple wives, was less than ideal and painful for people, especially the women. But you see it with Abraham taking Sarah's maid servant, Hagar, and you see it with Jacob marrying both Leah and Rachel. God was still sovereign and accomplished his purposes, but that was never his, his mandate or plan. And so we have Lamech singing the songs to his wives, or read it for you again. Ada and Zilla. Hear my voice. You wives of Lamech. Listen to what I say. I've killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Kane's revenge is sevenfold And Lamech is 77 fold, if you look at the lyrics of that song, each couplet, each set of two lines, you'll see parallelism, which gives it a musical quality. He just keeps repeating ideas. And to give you the parallels, I'll just break it down for you. He says Ada and Zilla in the first line, and then in the second line, you wives of Lamech. It's the same. It's parallel. Hear my voice. Listen to what I say. Parallelism. I've killed a man, a young man, for wounding me, for striking me. Cains revenge and then la Max revenge doesn't use the word revenge seven fold and 77 fold. He wants his wives to listen up. He's just killed a man who wounded him, and anyone who tries to tries to harm him again is going to get it 77 fold, because he's going to take his own vengeance. We see just how extreme Lamech is here, how grievous his attitude is. He killed a younger man for wounding him, probably someone who is was vulnerable, smaller, not as is developed, but he kills him for a mere wounding, for striking him. He punches, he gets punched. He kills, kills the guy. This is not eye for eye, tooth for tooth type stuff. He is vicious and excessive. His lyrics are more like the lyrics of a gangster rapper. He alludes to Cain, and his lyrics, somehow, the words from chapter 415 have been passed along from generation to generation, all the way to Lamech. Those words that God had said were words when Cain complained, If anyone finds me, they're going to kill me, God said, in 415 not so. If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. Some might think that Lamech is just assuming that God will protect him because he's a descendant of Cain. But the problem with that thinking is that we don't see Lamech relying on God's protection. He's taking things into his own hand. He's taken his own vengeance and going extreme with it and threatening further violence in front of his wives. God had promised Cain that he would take vengeance against anyone who killed him. He didn't tell Cain and his descendants, like if someone harms you or strikes you, go go ahead and kill them. He doesn't say that. In fact, God wants to be the one who handles vengeance and repays evil. Deuteronomy, 3235 God says Vengeance is mine and recompense. He wants people to trust in him rather than taking things into their own hands. One commentator suggests that lame is either presuming upon God's protection, or he's being sarcastic and expressing, I don't need God's protection. I don't need it. And I lean toward the ladder, since we see him taking things into his own hands and not depending on the Lord. It's almost as if he's saying, Don't worry about what God would have done to someone who killed Cain. Someone messes with me. It's going to be 77 times worse. Just look at this young man that I killed, if you want an example, just like his father, Cain, sin had mastered him, and here he is bragging about it. There's not a lot of detail about how Ada and Zilla felt. This is speculation on my behalf, but I don't think that they're like, Oh honey. Thank you so much for writing us that song. Thank you for telling us, thank you for confiding in us about that. If you've ever been around people who tell stories about violent things that they've done, they're not usually looking to comfort you or to receive comfort themselves. They're looking to make a big deal out of themselves, to intimidate, to scare, to be impressive. They boast in the things that should give them shame. Ada and Zilla already had the humiliation of La max divided affections. And again, this is speculation, but you can sense a veiled warning behind his words. Ada and Zilla, what do you think I'll do to you if you ever harm me?
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Jesus would take lamechs words and turn them upside down in the book of Matthew Matthew 1821 through 22 when Peter asked, Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother who sins against me? We'll read that for you really quickly. Matthew 1821 to 22 then Peter came up to him and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him as many times, or as many as seven times. Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but 77 times, vengeance and taking your own taking things in your own hands was never God's design, but instead mercy and forgiveness time and time again. Matthew 18 continues with the parable of the unmerciful servant, where we're to live in light of what God has done and forgiving us. But here we see Lamech boasting about how vicious he had been and would be the sin of Cain had followed generations later. That was the legacy this. Despite the cultural innovation that was taking place with Lamech, sons were left with a picture of degradation and man's grievousness. God's design was that a man leave his father and mother and be married to one wife, but here he takes two wives for himself and terrifies them with his boasts of violence. Society was clearly digressing under Kane's descendants. Revenge is certainly popular in our culture. Just listen to the song lyrics and you'll hear it. We don't get mad. We get even. I wrote down a few lyrics from some songs that I don't really know. I know one of them, but first one, I'll sit and watch your car burn with the fire that you started in me, make me mad, and I'll burn your car up. I guess I'll follow you down to the sound of my voice will will haunt you. The bridges were burned now it's your time to cry like it has to be a getting even if you you wrong me, I'm gonna wrong you. Back in our culture, we easily make someone or something or some entity the problem very easily. We want people to pay for the problems that we see. Just recently, many of you heard in the news of a man who was frustrated with the health care system and the premiums and just the difficulties with that, and he allegedly goes and murders the CEO of an insurance company. And as if that weren't bad enough, you have people who are applauding that, as though that were some virtuous thing to do to take vengeance on the greedy. As sophisticated and advanced as our society may seem we can be just as barbaric as Lamech, our sense of vengeance just as strong as his, and we're blind to our own need for forgiveness and God's mercy. We're ignorant to how patient he is with us. This story seems hopeless when we look at our world in LA Max world is people live outside of God's presence and not really walking with him and acknowledging him. So we've seen the goodness of God seeming to be eclipsed by the grievousness of man with Lamech here. But there's one more element to our story today that tells us that God's goodness has always been over all generations, despite the fallenness of the world, and it's element number three, a glimmer of hope verses 25 to 26 we're going back in time. We've talked about five or six generations from Cain, but now we're going back to Adam and Eve, probably around the time when Cain wandered away. So we're going back in time a little bit. They had been bereaved of both their sons. When you stop and think about it, you can imagine the horror after being exiled from Eden. One of their sons kills. The other one. Death is now entered the story for the first time. But verse 25 says that Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth. The significance of the name Seth is that it sounds like the Hebrew word for appointed God had appointed another son to be born to them. It was his, his will, or it can also mean to grant or to give. Eve says in the ESV, God has appointed for me another offspring, instead of Abel, for Cain killed him. Cain had murdered Abel, and God's cursing of Cain and his subsequent subsequent wandering took both sons away. Cain was now a part of the offspring of the serpent, but God had said something to the serpent a chapter back. If you turn back to Genesis 315 and Adam and Eve heard these words. Genesis 315 I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Like I said, Adam and Eve heard these words, but when Abel murdered Cain, they're probably a little concerned and a little confused, like God. How is this going to work out? What offspring we don't have any offspring left. Where will it come from? But now, God graciously granted another offspring. There's hope and consolation after this terrible tragedy. Years later, Seth would have a son as well, and he called his name Enosh the lion, and the offspring would continue for Adam and Eve next Sunday, Dan is going to return. This will be awesome and a blessing. And he's going to talk more about the line of Seth, and he's going to introduce a new section of Genesis. Genesis is organized in Toledo, or generations. I am actually finishing a section. 10, which is the generations of the heavens and earth, which began in chapter two, verse four. If you look at the very, very beginning of chapter five, it says, this is the book of the generations of Adam. So Dan is going to continue talking more about the line of Seth. There's not a lot that we get, but we get something really wonderful here at the end of the generations of the heavens and Earth were left with a ray of light that compliments the excitement of this new offspring. The last half of verse 26 says, At that time, people begin to call upon the name of the Lord. To call upon what does that mean? It it can be taken to mean invoking the Lord in prayer and worship, or is proclaiming the revelation what God has revealed of himself. So for the first time, what was once spontaneous and individual like Abel bringing the offering before God was now becoming public and corporate, as people plural began to call on the name of the Lord together. The same phrase is used in Genesis 12, eight, when Adam builds an altar, not Adam, I'm sorry, Abraham builds an altar and calls upon his name. He was making a place for worship. There's very little information in this verse about exactly what that looked like, but it's a powerful contrast to what we see going on with the descendants of Cain. For sure, with Lamech, there was bigamy, murder and vengeance taking place the wrong type of multiplying. It wasn't fruitful, it was destructive and devil filled. But during the days of Enosh, people begin calling upon the name of the Lord, acknowledging him and praising him, possibly recounting what he'd already done and what he promised to do. One day, he'd made everything with the Word of His power, and he made everything good. He made Adam and Eve, and he gave them good purpose. They were blessed with the task of having dominion over the world, filling the earth and subduing it and making their mark on it for God's glory. Not only was God Creator, God had revealed himself to be merciful to Adam and Eve. Rather than wiping them out at the fall, he pursued them, and he provided for them, and he made a promise of a future seed who would come and crush the Serpent. He allowed them, and he allowed Cain to continue multiplying and subduing the earth. God could have easily taken away man's purpose when he fell, but he didn't. The fact that Cain had to leave the presence of God too shows that Adam Eve Seth and Enosh still had the privilege of that presence, and in that presence, they begin to call on the name of the Lord. The Lord's name, Yahweh is so revered by many that some are afraid to say it. They say Adonai instead, the name itself means it carries the meaning that he is, and he wills to be, I am, that I am. He's self existent. He has no beginning, no end, and he's eternal, and should be revered because of that. The Lord would reveal to Moses, the man who wrote the book of Genesis, the glory of his name, turn to Exodus. 34, verse five,
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I'm not really anything special because my name is Josh. People are like, wow, Josh, that says 1000 things. You have to get to know me. You have to know my reputation, my character, just like the name Barney is not superior to the name Chuck. Maybe you know a Barney and Chuck and you favor one over the other, but it's probably because of the reputation and what you know of that person. God's name does carry a powerful meaning, that he is self existent, that he is and he wills to be. But in Exodus 33 Moses asked God show me your glory. I want to see your glory. And God says, No man can see me and live. But I'll tell you what Moses, you go and hide in that cleft of rock, and I will cause my glory to pass by. You can't really look at it, or you'll die and shrivel up. I'm going to proclaim My name before you. And so in Exodus, 34, five. God five through seven. God reveals His great name, his great reputation, to Moses. It says the LORD descended in cloud and stood with Moses there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for 1000s, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But who will, by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and children's children to the third and fourth generation, we don't know. God had spoken to Seth and Enosh in this way, but God had nevertheless proven himself to be merciful and slow to anger, and Ian encouraged Cain to be slow to anger too, and people began worshiping him in the midst of this, one commentator says that Kane's first born and successors pioneered cities in the civilized arts, but Seth's first born and successors pioneered worship. They began to call on the name of the Lord. What does it look like for us to call upon the name of the Lord and worship Him? We have so much more revelation than Adam and Eve and Seth and Enosh did God would give specifics to the people of Israel as to how he was to be approached and worshiped. And by the time that Jesus came on, the time that Jesus came onto the scene in John 421, through 24 Jesus tells a Samaritan woman that it's not where you worship, but it's how you do that he wants his worshipers to worship with everything in spirit and truth, with with emotion and intellect, with with heart and mind. Romans 12, verse one gives us encouragement about how we're to live our lives and offer our whole selves as a living sacrifice, a sacrifice that doesn't have to die to live acceptably and worship Lee before him. We're to do whatever we do for the the aim of pleasing Him and glorifying Him. Psalm 105 verse one is in your notes, and I think that that gives us some practical exhortation for those who would seek to worship him and calling his name. I'll read it for you. Psalm 105 verse one Oh, give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples. There's three things in that verse that we can apply to our lives. Being thankful is a powerful way to call on his name and to acknowledge him. We shouldn't neglect to do this when you choose not to be thankful. It's a recipe for sin and discontentment. Don't neglect to give thanks to God for the many blessings that He gives you. Call out to Him in prayer and worship. Depend on him, but also offer him the praise that he deserves. Offer prayers of adoration for the perfections of his character, and then make known his deeds among the peoples, be a billboard, be a walking advertisement for the greatness of God and everything that he's done, everything that he's revealed and here, and the things that he's doing in your life. Do that with your families, do that with your neighbors, your classmates, your co workers. Those are ways that we can call on his name. We see a glimmer of hope in the midst of the story of Cain and his descendants. As the world became more civilized and urbanized, it got darker and more depraved, as witnessed by Lamech Kane's murderous tendencies were passed on, and it seemed to multiply, but nevertheless, God keeps His promises and won't let them fail. We see he's in the business of making a people for Himself by raising up a new offspring for the woman and causing them to be as true worshipers. We see two different ways to live with the offspring of Cain and Eve's in Cain offspring, we see cultural achievement which God graciously enabled. But rather than allowing those things to cause people to call on his name, it caused them to worship self instead of God. And we see that through Lamech, who took something that was God's right and prerogative vengeance, and took it upon himself because he believed that he could be like God. But Seth and Enosh and the people who lived during their time came to realize that they were the creation of a Glorious Creator, and so they chose to worship His name. God had told them that another offspring was coming who would crush the head of the serpent, and it's the Bible unfolds. There's war between the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman, where the serpent is always trying to destroy the woman's offspring. But God always makes a way. When tragedy robbed Eve of Abel, God provided another son, he appointed another son, Jesus would come as the second Adam, who would live perfectly under the father. And he set equality with GOD aside, even though he was God, that equality with God that Adam and Eve thought as something to grasp and lay a hold of, Jesus set it aside. He emptied Himself and humbled Himself by suffering death on the cross. He paid the penalty for the sins of those who trust in him and call upon his name. If you've never repented of your trust in the world and your trust in yourself, you can confess today that. Is the fulfillment of that promise. Who would crush the head of the serpent, and you can find forgiveness and salvation in his name. I want to summarize the application this passage is applicable to our lives. First, worship God by thanking him for innovation and glorifying him with the gifts that he's given you, rather than being prideful about the gifts and the talents that God has given you, acknowledge that he's the one that makes those things possible, whether you're a teacher or an architect or a music director, whatever it is that your hand finds to do, do it for God's glory and for the good of your neighbor, and find contentment in that second. Repent of vengeful tendencies. We all have them. We all have areas where we struggle to forgive, where we long to harbor that bitterness and we want to take things into our own, our own hands. We need to trust God to deal with people and to bring about justice and vengeance where necessary. We ultimately, they'll need to remember how merciful and patient God is with us and extend that to other people. Finally, worship God with thanksgiving, dependence and declaration. Call on His name, call out to Him, Lord, I need you. Oh, I need you. Every hour, I need you, bless me now my savior, I come to you every day express gratitude for the things that he's done, and exalt the great reputation of his name to everybody and anybody, we will influence others. The question is, will that impact point to our own selves and our own name or to the great name of our glorious God? Let's pray, Lord, we thank You that Your goodness is endured to all generations despite our rebellion against you. You're slow to anger and you're merciful. You're the giver of every good gift, every innovation that's ever taken place is all because of you. You've enabled human beings to organize and civilize the world around them. We see clearly in your word and in our world today how those things cannot save our souls. We take those things and we worship the creation and we glorify ourselves rather than you, but you, God, are the creator. You're worthy of all glory and worship. We thank you that you've enabled people to call on your name and worship independence, and thank you that you keep your promises, and you kept the offspring of Adam going all the way to the one who would bruise the serpent's head. Help us to exalt you and live for Your glory and all that we do in your glorious name, we pray amen.
Josh serves as Resident College Pastor for Faith's college ministry, Doxa. He and his wife, Pam, have three children.
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