Genesis (Part 11)(BST 8-24-08)

Genesis (Part 11)
Bible Study Time 8-24-08
(From James Roberts 10-13-96)

Last week in our Journey Through the Scripture, we saw something of the longsuffering of God in the days of Noah. God had told Noah to build an ark, and so for 120 years Noah did exactly that. But all of the time that Noah was building the ark, he was faithfully preaching to the people and warning them of the coming judgment of God.

Prior to Noah, God had a prophet by the name of Enoch who was the seventh from Adam. Enoch had a son whose name was Methuselah. Not much is said in the scriptures about Methuselah, but Methuselah is unique in that he lived longer than any other person who has ever lived on this earth. Methuselah was almost a thousand years old when he died, and this shows something of the longsuffering of God because his name means, when he is dead, it shall be sent.

Methuselah’s name stood as a prophesy to the people of his day concerning the coming of the great flood judgment. Undoubtedly, when Methuselah was born, God spoke to Enoch and said, when this baby dies, the great judgment of God will come. So, from the time that Methuselah was born, Enoch walked with God and was a faithful preacher and teacher. He was a faithful prophet concerning the coming judgment of God.

The people before the flood had the preaching of Enoch for 300 years, and they had the living object lesson of Methuselah who was living right there in their midst. Every time they saw Methuselah, his name would remind them of what God had told Enoch concerning the judgment that would come at Methuselah’s death. These people also had the preaching of Noah as he built the ark for 120 years. But in spite of all these warnings from the Lord, we find that none repented. Not one turned to the Lord.

When Noah finished the ark, God told Noah to bring into the ark seven of each kind of clean animal and two of each kind of unclean animal. With this task accomplished, God told Noah to “come into the ark.” It is very important to see the language that God used here. God did not tell Noah to go into the ark. That would have indicated that God was going to remain outside the ark while Noah and his family went inside.

The Bible makes it clear that God was already in the ark when He invited Noah to come into the ark. God said, come into the ark, and when Noah and his family were safely inside, God shut the door to the ark, and the day of grace was over for the people of that day.

After the door to that ark was shut, God opened up the windows of heaven and the water that had been reserved in the heavens for that day of judgment came pouring out. Then, the waters that were being held in reserve underneath the earth came gushing forth. This tremendous flood of water rushed across the face of the earth for forty days and forty nights.

This year we have seen the damage that the hurricanes and tropical storms have caused along the eastern seaboard. Well, the surge of water caused by these storms was but a little sprinkle in comparison with the great volume of water that was produced during the flood of Noah’s day. The flood of Noah’s day was so great that it covered the whole earth in a little over a month. This was a universal flood that covered even the highest mountains of the earth. As a result of this flood, the earth and everything in the earth perished.

After forty days and forty nights of rain, Noah had to remain in the ark because the flood waters were still covering even the mountains. Noah waited in the ark for 150 days, and then the Bible says that God remembered Noah. Isn’t that a beautiful thought?

God remembered Noah, and how could he forget Noah when He was right there with Noah in the ark. God had invited Noah to come into the ark, and when it was time for Noah to leave, God told Noah to “go out of the ark.” He did not say, come out of the ark. Once again, this shows that God was in the ark with Noah all of the time that Noah and his family were in the ark.

What a place of safety! What a place of security! Right there in the ark was the very presence of God as the ark was being tossed about by the flood waters. And may I say this to you? There may be times in your life when you feel that you are being tossed about by the flood waters of life. You may have to face some trials or temptations or afflictions that seem overwhelming.

But remember this. If you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you can rest assured that God is with you. He said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. The book of Philippians tells us that the Lord is at hand and anytime there is trouble, we can go to the Lord. He tells us to come boldly before His throne of grace to ask for help in the time of need. You and I can cast all of our cares upon Him for He cares for us.

God remembered Noah because God was right there with Noah in the ark. God knew every emotion, every problem, and He was right there with them to help them. He was there to supply every need.

Noah had built the ark according to the blueprints that God had given him. The ark was a three story ark which had a window in the top that looked up into heaven. There was only one door by which believers could enter the ark. But the ark, itself, is also a beautiful picture if the Lord Jesus Christ.

First of all, the ark was built with wood and then it was covered within and without with pitch. The word that is translated pitch is the word for atonement which means a covering. Throughout the Old Testament, God provided a means of atonement for the sins of the people so that their sins would be covered.

When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, He died, not to cover our sins but to take away our sins. No longer was there a need for a covering. When Christ died on the cross, He took away our sins. So the pitch that was on the ark speaks of the atonement that was for those Old Testament saints, and it points us to the redemption that Christ has provided for us through His death on the cross.

The three stories in the ark also represent the kind of salvation that we have in Christ today. The Lord Jesus Christ is the ark, and we enter into Christ by means of the one door which is faith in the work of Christ upon the cross. On the first floor of the ark, we find that we are saved from the guilt and the penalty of sin. We come into that ark burdened down with sin, but the very moment that we put our faith in Christ, God takes away our burden of sin. The death of Christ on the cross takes away our sin.

As we move to the second story of the ark, we find that we have been delivered from the power of sin. This speaks of the safety and security that believers experience in Christ. We live in a world that is hostile to believers. We find ourselves on a spiritual battlefield, but the victory is ours through the power of the Holy Spirit. As we yield to the Holy Spirit, we are delivered from the power of sin. When Christ died for our sins, our old sin nature was put to death so that we would no longer have to serve sin. We can be delivered day by day and moment by moment from the very power of sin.

The third story is beautiful because it speaks of the aspect of our salvation that will be fully realized in the future when we are delivered from the presence of sin. One day the Lord is going to take us up to be with Himself. One day the last member of the Church which is the Body of Christ will be added to the Church, and that very moment God is going to catch up the Church to be with Him in heaven.

Those who have died in faith are going to be raised up to receive a glorified body as they ascend into heaven. As for those who are alive and remain at the time of this catching up, they will be given a new body as they ascend into heaven, but they will never see death. Whether dead in Christ or alive in the world, all believers will be taken up to be with the Lord where we are finally saved from the very presence of sin.

I trust that you can see this threefold salvation that we have Christ. We are saved from the guilt and the penalty of sin when we put our faith in Christ. We are saved from the power of sin as we daily walk by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. Then one day we will be saved from the very presence of sin when the Lord Jesus takes us up to be with Himself in the glory of heaven.

Now, there is another aspect of the flood that I would like for us to see. When the rain stopped after forty days and forty nights, Noah remained in the ark for another 150 days. Then at some point after that 150 days, Noah let two birds out of the ark. One was a raven, and the other was a dove. The raven flew off and was never seen again. The raven was a scavenger, and so it was able to live off the dead flesh that was no doubt in great abundance after the flood.

However, when Noah sent out the dove, the dove could not find any place for the soul of her foot to land. She could not stand to be around the old dead flesh, so she returned to the ark. When Noah saw the dove, he put out his hand and took the dove back into the ark. Seven days later, Noah sent out another dove, and this time the dove returned to the ark with a freshly plucked olive branch which showed signs of new life.

The dove is a picture of the person who knows the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior. As believers endeavor to live for the Lord, they find no rest or peace in the dead things of the world. Believers are dead to the things of the world because the old nature is crucified with Christ. Though believers choose to stay close to Christ, they carry a wonderful message with them of the life and the peace that can be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In sharp contrast to the dove, the raven found plenty to feast upon in the death and corruption that was so prevalent in the world that had been judged by God.

As we close the broadcast this morning, may I ask you which of these two birds would represent you? Are you like the dove in that you have come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? Do you feel uncomfortable when you drift away from the ark and find yourself among the dead things of this world, or are you still feasting upon the dead things of the world as the raven did? True peace and joy can only be found by those who forsake the world and choose to stay close to Jesus Christ.

Well, I see our time is gone for today. Be sure to tune in again next week as we look at Noah and his family after the flood. Until that time, we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Genesis (Part 10)(BST 8-17-08)

Genesis (Part 10)
Bible Study Time 8-17-08
(From James Roberts 10-6-96)

In our Journey Through the Scripture last week, we met a man by the name of Noah. I’m sure that you are very familiar with the account of Noah in the Bible. Noah was divinely warned of God about the judgment that was coming. God said that His Spirit was not always going to strive with man, but that He was going to give man a hundred and twenty years before the great judgment would come.

God gave to Noah the blueprints for the ark. Then, as Noah built the ark, he warned the people of the judgment to come. In the book of 2 Peter, Chapter 3, Peter compares the rebellion of the people in Noah’s day to the rebellion of the people who will live in the last days before the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Peter says that in the end times there will be many scoffers who will laugh at those who warn them of the judgment that is sure to come. Notice in verse 4 of 2 Peter 3 that these scoffers will say:

2 Peter 3:4-9 NKJV
4 . . . "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."
5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water,
6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.
7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

At the Lord’s second coming, He will bring a great judgment upon the earth that will culminate in the Battle of Armageddon. The Jesus Christ will establish a kingdom of blessing upon the earth that will last for a thousand years. However, at the end of that thousand year kingdom, there will be one final rebellion before Satan is cast into the lake of fire. At that time God will bring one final judgment upon the earth that will destroy the heavens and the earth as they now exist. Then, out of that destruction God will bring forth a new heaven and a new earth that will be filled with righteousness.

In 2 Peter 3, Peter indicates that before both of these end time judgments, there will be many scoffers on the earth, just as there were scoffers in the days of Noah before the flood. These scoffers will say, where is the promise of His coming; we don’t see any sign or anything in our past experience that would lead us to believe that judgment is coming. They will say that everything has continued without change since the time of the creation.

Peter says that in this thought these scoffers will be willingly ignorant of one thing, and that is the flood judgment of Noah’s day. All things have not continued without change since the beginning of the world. The flood of Noah’s day was a cataclysmic judgment which resulted in enormous changes in the creation. Many of these changes are with us to this day.

The doctrine of evolution is based on the concept of uniformitarianism. Those who hold to this idea believe that everything in our natural world has remained the same over the billions and billions of years since the beginning of time. This concept does not allow for the occurrence of any catastrophes which could change the natural environment of the earth.

Because of this uniformitarian presupposition, many scientist today feel that they can accurately date every archeological find with carbon dating. They believe that all of the natural laws that we observe today have always been in effect without change even through all of the processes of evolution that have occurred over billions of years.

This presupposition is based on the very idea that Peter warned about in regard to the end times. He said that in the end times, people will say that everything has remained the same since the beginning of creation. Peter says that people who say such things are willingly ignorant of the facts concerning the flood.

Indeed, many people today are willingly ignorant of the flood and its consequences. They call the flood a myth. They say that the account of the flood is just one of those stories that was placed in the Bible to teach a moral lesson. They refuse to accept the flood as a literal, historic event.

We have to conclude that these scoffers are willingly ignorant of the flood because there is ample evidence that the flood did take place and that it permanently altered the natural environment of the earth. The earth, as it was before the flood, perished, and therefore we cannot assume that the natural laws that we observe today would have been valid before the flood.

Just think of the pressure that was exerted upon the face of the earth when the whole earth was covered with water. The volume of water at that time was so great that it covered even the highest mountains. This intense pressure would most certainly have destroyed everything that was, and it would have permanently altered the natural environment of the earth.

Peter says that the people of the end times will be willingly ignorant of the facts concerning the flood because they don’t want to face the truth of God’s future judgment. During the end times, people will ask, where is the promise of the Lord’s coming? They will say, I haven’t seen any kind of judgment in my lifetime. I haven’t seen anybody call down fire from heaven. And I haven’t seen the earth being destroyed by water or by any other means.

Peter would remind us that just because we have not seen such judgments, that does not mean that it hasn’t happened. And it doesn’t mean that it won’t happen in the future. Peter says that God is not slack concerning His promise, and that what God has said will take place, will take place. God will perform that which He has promised.

It was the power of God’s word that held the judgment waters of Noah’s day in place until the time for judgment came. However, when God spoke, the windows of heaven opened up and water came pouring down out of heaven for forty days and forty nights. It was a constant deluge of water that had been reserved in heaven for that time of judgment. At that same time, the fountains of the deep were broken up so that the earth, as it was before the flood, was destroyed.

Now, in the days of Noah, the people scoffed at the idea of God judging the earth with rain. They had never seen the judgment of God, and in fact, they had never seen rain. Everything had been going along pretty well, the same as it always had. They were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, but then the flood came and took them all away.

You see, God is not going to be mocked. God is not slack concerning His promise, but He is longsuffering, and He is not willing that any should perish. The reason that the judgment of God has not come upon us today is not because men don’t deserve it. It’s because God is longsuffering and patient. God does not want any human life to be destroyed. Indeed, He wants all of humanity to repent and return to Him in faith.

As we apply this lesson to our own situation today, we must bear in mind that as members of the Church which is the Body of Christ, we are not headed for the judgments of the end time. We are not headed for the Battle of Armageddon or the fiery judgment that will take place after the thousand year kingdom.

The next thing on God’s agenda for us is the catching up of the Church to be with Christ in the glory of heaven. One day the Lord is going to finish building the Church which is the Body of Christ. When the last person is saved and added to the church, Jesus Christ is going to take the church home to be with Himself in the glory.

Those who have died are going to be raised up from the grave, and they will be given glorified bodies as they ascend into heaven. Then those who are alive and remain on the earth will be taken up, and they too will be given bodies that are like the glorious body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The rapture of the Church is our hope today, and just as Noah could look up through a window in the top of the ark to see the heavens, even so you and I today are to keep looking up, because we are to look for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The book of Philippians tells us that:

Philippians 3:20-21
20 . . . our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Beloved, the flood came. The flood destroyed the earth and every living thing that was upon the earth. All of the plant life and all of the animal life, all of that perished. But God saved Noah and His family. Before the rain began, God told them to come into the ark, and when they got into the ark, God closed the door so that Noah and his family were sealed inside. They were safe, but it was too late for anyone else to get in.

Notice, if you will, that God did not just let Noah stand outside the ark so that he could try to hold onto the ark and save himself when the waters began to rise. I’m sure that when the floods came, many people did get up on the ark, and they probably tried the best they could to hold onto the ark, but everyone of them perished. Only those who were sealed inside the ark were safe.

Today, when a person comes to Jesus Christ and accepts by faith that Jesus Christ died for his sins, God puts that person inside Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the ark of safety for us today. When God places us into Jesus Christ, He seals us with the Holy Spirit of promise so that the door is shut behind us. As believers, we are safely protected inside the Lord Jesus Christ from the future judgments of God.

I’m glad to know that I am safe and secure inside the Lord Jesus and that I don’t have to just try to hold on in the midst of a world that is tempest tossed and full of turmoil. I’m glad that it’s not up to me to try to keep myself safe, but that it is God, Himself, who preserves me and keeps me as one of His children.

Well, we have seen something of the ark and the safety that God provided for Noah during the great flood judgment. Next week, we are going to pick up again with Noah as he exits the ark to receive some new instructions from the Lord. Until that time, we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Genesis (Part 9)(BST 8-10-08)

Genesis (Part 9)
Bible Study Time 8-10-08
(From James Roberts 9-29-96)

Last week in our Journey Through the Scripture, we met a man by the name of Enoch. Enoch was the seventh from Adam, and we found in the book of Jude, verse 14, that Enoch was a prophet. He prophesied of the ungodly deeds of the people of his generation, and he warned them of the judgment to come.

Enoch had a son by the name of Methuselah who lived longer than any person who has ever lived. Even in our day and time, people make reference to Methuselah when they talk about someone who is very old. They may say, he is as old as Methuselah. Some of these people don’t even know who Methuselah was, but nonetheless, Methuselah did live to be the oldest person on record.

This is significant because Methuselah’s name means, when he is dead, it shall be sent, which is talking about the great flood of Noah’s day. God allowed Methuselah to live for such a long time because God wanted to put off this flood as long as He could so that He could warn the people through prophets such as Enoch and Noah. But Methuselah did ultimately die and then the flood came.

That brings us in our study today to Noah, who was the great grandson of Enoch. Let’s begin reading in the book of Genesis, Chapter 6:

Genesis 6:1-8 NKJV
1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,
2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
3 And the Lord said,"My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."
4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
7 So the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them."
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

After this, we find that God speaks of the genealogy of Noah. We see that Noah was a just man. He was perfect in his generations, and he walked with God.

At this time there was an ungodly connection between the sons of God and the daughters of men. It appears that God had previously warned the people about the dangers of such a connection, but His warning went unheeded. As a result, a supernatural kind of race came into being on the earth. The men of this race were giants, and the Bible calls them mighty men of old.

I believe that these men were primarily mighty in knowledge and understanding. They must have been brilliant. They were no doubt also giants in stature. They may have been like Goliath in the days of David. But most certainly, these men were giants in their wickedness as well.

There was only one person who was different from these wicked giants and that one person was Noah, and Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This does not mean that Noah was sinlessly perfect. He did not come directly from the hands of God to stand before God as Adam did in the original creation. Noah was born of Adam, in Adam’s likeness. He was a sinner, but he had a heart for God.

The Bible says that Noah was a just man. The word just is used to show that Noah was one who was justified, one who was upright before the Lord. By nature, all men are unjust. The book of Ecclesiastes says that there is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. So the only way Noah could have been just is if God made Him just according to His grace. Therefore, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Noah did not deserve to be justified; by nature he was a sinner. But God was able to justify Noah according to His own standard of justice. As with Enoch, it seems evident that God spoke to Noah and Noah believed what God said. It was on the basis of Noah’s faith that God justified Noah. Hebrews, Chapter 11, says:

Hebrews 11:7 NKJV
7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household . . .

Noah was justified because of God’s grace. Noah was not sinlessly perfect, but he had a heart for God. The other people of Noah’s day had hearts that were continually evil.

One of the things that we find in the book of Matthew, Chapter 24, is that these evil people just went about their daily activities without any thought for God. They ate and they drank and they married and they were given in marriage. They simply paid no attention to any of the things that God was saying to them through Enoch and Noah. Enoch and Noah warned them of the judgment to come, but none of them listened.

May I say this to you. It may be that you are going about your own way today, without any thought for the things of God. You just go about your daily activities, getting up, going to work, coming home, watching TV, going to bed. Then you just repeat this routine day after day.

Some of you are planning to get married, some of you have been married for 5 years, 10 years, 25 years, maybe even 70 years. You’re just going your own way without one thought for God. That’s an ungodly act. That’s an ungodly act because God created man for His glory, and God wants us to give Him the place that He deserves in our lives.

You may be just drifting along with the world like everyone else, not paying any attention to the Enoch’s and Noah’s of our day who teach us the word of God. You don’t hear the word and mix it with faith, and believe to the saving of your life by trusting the Lord Jesus as your Savior. I trust today that you are not just going along with the flow and drifting along, but that you will stop and believe what God has said in His word.

Well, the earth was so wicked that God decided to destroy the earth, but before the great flood came, God gave the people ample warning. He provided 300 years of warning through Enoch and 120 years of preaching by Noah. The book of I Peter, Chapter 3, says that Noah was preparing the ark for 120 years, and God said in Genesis 6 that His Spirit was not always going to strive with man but that his days would be 120 years. Therefore, we can safely conclude that Noah was building the ark and preaching for 120 years.

For the 300 years of Enoch’s ministry, the Spirit of God was striving with man. Do you know what that means? The Holy Spirit was taking the word that Enoch was giving, and He was putting it to the hearts of the people and striving with them to get them to hear what Enoch was saying.

While Noah was preaching, God was striving with man. I can just hear them as Noah was building that ark. Hey, Noah, whacha’ doin’? I’m building this ark. What’s an ark? Well, it’s a boat that God is going to use to save people from the judgment that’s coming. What kind of judgment; I don’t know what judgment is; I’ve never seen any kind of judgment. Well, God’s going to bring a flood. What’s a flood?

You can just hear this conversation going on with the people sneering and scoffing at the words of Noah while the Spirit of God was striving with them, convicting them of their sin and of their need to trust in the word of God and repent of their ungodliness.

God said, I’m going to strive with these people for 120 years, and then I’m going to destroy them. So during that 120 years, Noah was preaching the word of God.

Now, please notice that God told Noah to build the ark, and He gave specific instructions as to how Noah was to build it. In Hebrews 11, we read:

Hebrews 11:7 NKJV
7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

You see, as Noah was building that ark, he was preparing the ark for the saving of his house. Noah had three sons and their wives, and then there was also Noah’s wife. So Noah was preparing the ark to save eight people from the flood.

But as Noah was building the ark, he was also judging the world, because at a certain point God brought Noah and his family into the ark and then closed the door. After that door was closed, the windows of heaven and the fountains of the deep opened up.

I believe that there was a canopy of water in the heavens that had been there since the time of the creation. God created this canopy of water for this particular time of judgment. He created this canopy of water in the heavens, and He created the fountains of water underneath the earth so that when He put Noah into the ark and shut the door, He could simply open up the windows of heaven and open the fountains of the deep to flood the whole earth.

This was not just a rain. It was like someone opened a door that had been holding back a wall of water, and when that door was opened, the water poured out. This flood of water came gushing out for forty days and forty nights. The water came pouring out from the heavens above and gushing from the earth beneath so that the whole earth was covered with water.

The book of 2 Peter tells us that the earth perished along with every living thing that was on the earth. That means that after the flood, the earth and the things of the earth were completely different. The flood changed everything.

But before God ever brought the judgment of the flood, He prepared the way of escape. God respects human life and he gave the people of that day plenty of warning. 300 years in the days of Enoch, and 120 years in the days of Noah, and then it would appear that God postponed the death of Methuselah in order to postpone the flood. Clearly, God is not willing that any should perish, and so God provided the ark for the salvation of all who would enter by faith.

God brought Noah into the ark, shut up the door, and then brought the flood. After all that time the judgment did come. People today often resist the idea of the judgment of God, but judgment is coming. However, God has provided an ark of safety for you and for me. It is the ark of the Lord Jesus Christ who provides salvation. In a sense, He is a three story ark, who is able to deliver us from the guilt and penalty of sin, from the power of sin, and then finally from the presence of sin.

There was only one door to the ark, and it was closed at a certain point. In like manner today, there is only one door into the presence of God and into that salvation that He has provided, and that is faith in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.

There was one window in the ark and that was on the top so that Noah and his family could keep looking up. My father-in-law used to preach on the radio, and he would close each broadcast by saying, keep looking up. We today need to keep looking up as we look for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Well, I see that we have come to an end in our journey today. The Lord willing, we’ll take up again next week in this journey. Until that time we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Genesis (Part 8) (BST 8-3-08)

Genesis (Part 8)
Bible Study Time 8-3-08
(From James Roberts 9-22-96)

The past few Sundays we have been on a Journey Through the Scripture. At our last stop, we looked at the book of Genesis, Chapter 5, and there we saw the genealogy of Adam. In the first two verses of this chapter, we saw God’s original plan and purpose for mankind. God created man in His own image, in His own likeness. Male and female He created them, and He called them mankind. In the book of Psalms, Chapter 8, the psalmist says:

Psalms 8:4 KJV
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

When the psalmist looked at all of God’s creation and the magnitude of God’s creation, man just seemed so insignificant. So the psalmist asked the question, what is man that thou art mindful of him?

Then the Psalmist goes on to describe God’s plan and purpose for man. He says that God crowned man with glory and honor and gave him dominion over the earth and over all of the things that were in the earth. In this we see that God had a uniquely glorious plan for mankind. Man stands separate and apart from the rest of the creation. God created man, male and female, and only mankind is said to have been created in the image of God.

Now something happened between the time that God created man in His own image and today. We read in the book of Genesis, Chapter 3, that man disobeyed God so that man became a sinner. Indeed, man became a sinner the very instant that he disobeyed God. As a result, man’s fellowship with God was broken, and man lost some of the glory and honor with which he was crowned when he was first created.

I do believe, however, that even though man has fallen and has become a sinner, he still retains certain aspects of the glory with which he was endowed at the time of his creation. By God’s decree, man still has dominion over the earth, and man is still the only created being who was created in the image of God.

We see throughout the scriptures that God has a unique and special regard for human life. With this in mind, we too should value human life. No one has the right to take the life of a human being. God created man, He gave man his life, and God is the only one who has the right to take a life.

Now in Genesis, Chapter 5 and verse 3, we see that Adam begot a son who was born in Adam’s likeness, after Adam’s image. The book of I Corinthians, Chapter 15, tells us that all of us were born in Adam’s image. It says that Adam was of the earth; he was created from the dust of the ground. That means that all of us were born with a fallen nature. When Adam sinned, he became a sinner, and you and I, as members of the human race, inherited that sin nature from Adam.

Ephesians, Chapter 2, tells us categorically that we were dead in trespasses and sins before we were saved through faith in Jesus Christ. David said that he was conceived in sin and shaped in iniquity. This statement does not imply that David’s parents did anything wrong when David was conceived. In this statement, David simply acknowledges that he was born with the sin nature that Adam passed down to all of his descendants.

Now in the book of Genesis, Chapter 5, we see a common characteristic of all of the descendants of Adam except one. In every case but one we read that they were born, they begat sons and daughters, and then they died. Again and again it says, and he died, and he died. But there was one notable exception to this and that is found in a man by the name of Enoch. Notice as we begin reading in Genesis, Chapter 5 and verse 21:

Genesis 5:21-29 NKJV
21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah.
22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.
24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
25 Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech.
26 After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters.
27 So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.
28 Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son.
29 And he called his name Noah, saying, "This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed."

Here we see that Enoch did not die. After Enoch begot Methuselah, Enoch lived for three hundred years, and then it says that Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him.

Hebrews, Chapter 11, says that:

Hebrews 11:5 NKJV
5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, "and was not found, because God had taken him"; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

Enoch walked with God by faith and was not found because God took him out of this world to be with Himself. All the people looked for Enoch, but they could not find him because God took him. The reason that God took Enoch is that Enoch had pleased God.

If we look in the book of Jude, we find that Enoch was a prophet. Something happened in Enoch’s life that caused him to be different from the other people of his generation. Rather than living according to the ungodliness of his generation, Enoch went out preaching and prophesying.

It is interesting to see in the book of Jude that Enoch not only prophesied to the people of his own generation, but he prophesied to a generation that is, even for us, still in the future. This future generation will be very much like the evil generation of Enoch’s day. Jude, verse 14, says:

Jude 14-15 NKJV
14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints,
15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."

Enoch recognized the ungodliness of the people of his generation. He heard the harsh things that they spoke against God. So God called Enoch to prophesy to these people for 300 years. Enoch told his contemporaries that someday the Lord would come with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all those who live in such an ungodly way.

Well, what was it that caused Enoch to become a prophet of God instead of being conformed to the ungodly ways of his own generation. Undoubtedly, God spoke to Enoch, because we find that it was by faith that Enoch walked with God, and we know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

So what do you suppose it was that God told Enoch that caused him to turn his back on the ungodliness of his generation? What did God say that caused him to speak out with such authority about the coming judgment of God?

We find of hint of what God said to Enoch in the name of Enoch’s son. Enoch named his son Methuselah which means, when he is dead, it shall be sent. Now, we know from the next chapter what this name was referring to because the next chapter tells us about the great flood of Noah’s day. As Enoch predicted, the great flood of Noah’s day came when Methuselah died.

Now, whether Enoch knew that God was going to judge the world with a flood, we don’t know, but we do know that he knew that a great judgment from God was going to come when Methuselah died.

God must have instructed Enoch to go out and preach to the people about their ungodly ways and about the harsh words that they were speaking against God, and no doubt, God told Enoch to warn the people of the judgment that was just ahead. Methuselah’s name stood as a constant reminder to the people of Enoch’s message.

We can see so vividly in this passage the respect that God has for human life. In spite of all of their ungodliness and all of their harsh words against God, God instructed Enoch to warn these people for 300 years about the coming judgment. That’s a long time, in fact, it’s longer than our country has had its independence. For 300 years, Enoch walked among these people and prophesied of the judgment that was going to come when Methuselah died.

Actually, Noah labored under much the same situation as he was building the ark. During the 120 years that he was building the ark, he warned the people about the coming judgment of God. For 300 years Enoch warned the people, and for 120 years Noah warned the people.

As for Methuselah, he lived longer than any person on record. God postponed the great flood as long as He could to demonstrate His longsuffering and His patience with sinful man. God warned the people, and He postponed the flood for so many years because He is not willing that anyone should perish but that all should come to repentance and be saved.

God was the one who created these people. He loved them and sent prophets to warn them of the judgment to come. He begged them and pleaded with them to turn from their ungodliness, all because God is not willing that any should perish. But eventually the judgment did come.

And may I say this to you, God is not willing that any should perish today. He has sent His Son to bear the judgment for your sins and for my sins, and when we come to Him and trust Him as Savior, He will give us eternal life and deliver us from the judgment to come.

Well, I see we have already completed this stop in our Journey Through the Scripture. Next week, we’ll continue our journey. Until that time, we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Genesis (Part 7) (BST 7-13-08)

Genesis (Part 7)
Bible Study Time 7-13-08
(From James Roberts 9-15-96)

At our last stop in our Journey Through the Scripture, we saw that Adam and Eve had two sons named Cain and Abel. In the process of time, as Cain and Abel became responsible for their own sacrifices to the Lord, they each brought a different kind of sacrifice.

In Genesis, Chapter 4, we find that Abel offered the first born of his flock. The language here indicates that Abel offered the fattest of his flock. Cain, on the other hand, brought the fruit of his own labor, the fruit of the ground. When Cain and Abel brought their offerings to the Lord, the Lord accepted Abel’s offering, but Cain’s offering was rejected. As a result, Cain became very angry with God.

When God confronted Cain, God said, if you do well, you will be accepted, but if you do not do well, a sin offering is lying right at the door of your tent for you to rule over. Undoubtedly, God was saying, Cain, you have the opportunity to bring the very same kind of sacrifice that Abel brought. It’s right at the door of your tent. All you have to do is slay it and bring it to me; I will accept it.

But I’m sure that you remember what Cain did. Cain not only got angry at God, but he also got angry with his brother, Abel, and killed him. The book of I John tells us that the reason Cain killed Abel is that Cain’s deeds were evil while Abel’s deeds were righteous.

Ultimately, God called Cain into account and said, where is your brother? Cain said, I don’t know where Abel is; am I my brother’s keeper? Then God declared that Abel’s blood was crying out from the ground.

Here we see the first indication of God’s viewpoint toward human life. God sees life as sacred; it is given by God. Human life in particular is a special creation of God in that man was made in the likeness of God. God regards human life as sacred, and so He punished Cain for killing his brother.

At this point, let’s try to understand why God accepted Abel’s offering but rejected Cain’s offering. The book of Hebrews tells us that it was by faith that Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. According to Romans 10:17, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So how did Abel hear God’s word?

Undoubtedly, while Cain and Abel were growing up as young men, Adam offered sacrifices for his family and as he offered those sacrifices he probably taught his sons the exact procedure that God required. Adam must have told his sons everything that was relevant to what God required from those who would offer a sacrifice to God. Abel believed God, but Cain rejected God’s word. Cain thought he had a better way.

The book of Jude says, woe to those who walk in the way of Cain. The way of Cain is the way of self-righteousness; Cain represents the way of religion. There are all kinds of religions with all kinds of ideas about how to approach God, but the Bible tells us that there is only one way for a man to approach God.

God had only one way by which Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel could come to Him and be accepted, and that was through the blood sacrifice of an animal. Their acceptance by God was based on their faith; it was based on their willingness to believe what God had said and then act accordingly.

May I say this to you? There is only one way by which we today can be accepted by God, and it’s not by offering up animal sacrifices the way Adam and Eve did. Those animal sacrifices were but types or pictures of the one sacrifice that God accepts today as the payment for man’s sins: the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, on the cross of Calvary.

Today, you are merely walking in the way of Cain if you have never come to Jesus Christ and accepted His work on the cross for your sins, believing that Christ died for your sins and was buried and then was raised from the dead. Those who walk in the way of Cain are saying, the cross of Jesus Christ is not enough for me; I have no choice but to trust in the works of my own hands; I have to believe that there is something that I can do to make myself acceptable in the sight of God.

But God says, everything that is necessary has already been done. My Son has already finished the work of redemption for you. If you want to walk in the way of Abel, you must walk by faith and believe the gospel of God’s grace. You must believe that it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but it is according to God’s mercy that He saves us, by the washing of regeneration. It’s by grace that we are saved through faith and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.

So Abel believed God. That’s the way of Abel. In fact, the only way that God has ever accepted anyone is on the basis of faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Faith is not something mystical. Faith is simply believing and trusting what God has said in His word. Faith is simply a matter of hearing God’s word from the scriptures and then believing it. Faith is a matter of resting in the word of God.

Now, we see in Genesis, Chapter 4, that God gave Eve another son by the name of Seth to take the place of Abel, and in Genesis, Chapter 5, we see the genealogy of Adam as far as the line of Seth is concerned. There are some very interesting things for us to see in this genealogy so let’s begin reading with verse one of Genesis 5.

Genesis 5:1-2 NKJV
1 This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
2 He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created.

Notice this very carefully. Here is a special creation called Mankind. It is a special designation that God gives to humanity, those who were created in the image of God. Man is a separate creation altogether from the animal life. We should be kind to animals and we should be very careful in the way we treat animals, but animals are here for man’s good. Humanity is a higher order of creation, the highest of God’s creation. We’re not just a part of the animal life. God has designated us as mankind, and both male and female constitute what is known as mankind.

Now, please notice. Mankind was made in the likeness of God, or in the image of God. Animals are never said to have been created in the image of God. Only man was created in the image of God. Don’t believe the evolutionists who say that we just started from a little speck of protoplasm in the ocean that grew and then finally came out of the ocean onto the land to evolve from a lower class of animal life to a higher class of animal life. This is not so. Mankind was created in the image of God.

In Psalms, Chapter 8, we see that God created man to have dominion over the earth and all things that are in the earth. In the beginning man was crowned with glory and honor, but something happened in the garden that weakened man’s dominion. Mankind disobeyed God and became a sinner; then he passed that sin nature on to all of his descendants. That’s why we read in verse 3 of Genesis 5 that:

Genesis 5:3 NKJV
3 . . . Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

The book of I Corinthians tells us that we have born the image of Adam, and we are told that those who are in Adam die. That’s why we read in this genealogy of Adam that in every case but one, the same statement follows each person’s history which simply says, and they died.

How refreshing it is to see in verse 23 of this chapter that Enoch walked with God, and He was not, for God took him. When it says that Enoch was not, it carries the idea that Enoch was not found. The book of Jude tells us that Enoch was a prophet. He prophesied against the ungodly deeds of the people who lived at that time, so God took him.

Undoubtedly, they searched for Enoch, trying to find out where this troublemaker was, but they couldn’t find him because God had taken him. Hebrews, Chapter 11, tells us that Enoch was translated into heaven so that he would not see death.

The primary application that we take from this today is that believers today have been translated out of Adam into God’s family and because of that we will not see death. We will escape death because of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I trust today that you have put your faith in Jesus Christ and that you are resting in the assurance that you will escape the judgment to come.

Well, I see that we have already come to another stop sign. We’re going to have to stop on our journey for today, but we’ll take up again next week with our Journey Through the Scripture. Until that time, we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Genesis (Part 6)(BST 7-6-08)

Genesis (Part 6)
Bible Study Time 7-6-08
(From James Roberts 9-8-96)

In our Journey Through the Scripture last week, we saw Adam and Eve having children named Cain and Abel. In these two children we see a very good picture of mankind today in that some choose to walk with God by faith, while others rebel against God and choose to walk according to their own human wisdom and logic.

Last week we also saw in a dramatic way, the fact that God does change the way He deals with mankind when circumstances arise which warrant such a change. Before Adam and Eve sinned, God walked with them in the garden in the cool of the day. This indicated the type of close, intimate fellowship that they experienced with God there in the garden. But when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, God drove them out of the garden because they were sinners and because they were conscious of their sin.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they passed on to all of their descendants the nature to sin. The book of Romans says:

Romans 5:12 KJV
12 . . . by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men . . .

That’s why David said in Psalms, Chapter 51, that he was conceived in sin and shaped in iniquity. It wasn’t because his mother and father had sinned when he was conceived. No, it was because David knew that even when he was born, he was born with a nature to sin. David was simply acknowledging that he was born with the old sin nature.

Mankind today does not like to accept the fact of the old sin nature. Men today baulk at the idea that they are fallen creatures and that their actions are displeasing to God because their actions come from that old fallen nature. The Bible teaches that God requires a sacrifice for sin before man can be brought back into fellowship with God.

In Genesis, Chapter 4, we find that in the process of time, Cain and Abel brought their offerings to the Lord. Undoubtedly, when Cain and Abel were children, their sins were covered by the sacrifices that Adam offered on their behalf. When Cain and Abel became adults, however, each had to assume individual responsibility for his own relationship with God.

And so it is with you and me. Each one of us is responsible for our own relationship with God. By nature we are dead in sin, but God has provided a way for us to be brought back into a place of acceptance and fellowship with God through the death of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

When it came time for Cain and Abel to offer their sacrifices to God, it seems that they had to bring them to the gate of the Garden of Eden where the Cherubim were. These Cherubim had flaming swords that turned in every direction. I do believe that the very presence of God was in this place.

When Cain and Abel brought their offerings, God had respect to Abel’s offering and probably showed His good pleasure by consuming Abel’s offering with fire. However, God did not accept Cain’s offering; Cain’s offering just sat there on the altar.

This made Cain furious. I can just see Cain ranting and railing against God, saying, I brought You the very best that I have to offer; I worked hard to raise this beautiful fruit, but You won’t even acknowledge it; You accepted Abel’s offering even though he had to do nothing but go out and kill a lamb.

The book of Hebrews, Chapter 11, presents God’s perspective which is totally different. It says that it was by faith that Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. That means that God must have given Cain and Abel specific instructions about what to bring and when and where to bring it. Romans 10:17 says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, so Abel came to God in faith, offering his sacrifice in accordance with the word of God.

As Cain and Abel were growing up, they probably watched Adam as he offered sacrifices to God, and they would listen as Adam explained to them exactly what he was doing and why. Adam must have taught them the word of God concerning the kind of offerings that God would accept and when and where they were to offer their sacrifices.

Well, as Cain grew up and became responsible for his own sacrifices, he decided that God probably wouldn’t be all that strict about the kind of sacrifice that He would accept, so he decided to bring some of the beautiful fruit that he had grown from the ground. After all, why wouldn’t God be pleased with such a beautiful offering?

When God refused to accept his offering, Cain rebelled and refused to acknowledge his sin. Instead, he accused God of being unjust. But notice the gentle nature of God’s response to Cain. God said, Cain, if you do well, I’ll accept you, but if you do not do well, sin is at your door, and you shall rule over it.

When God said, sin lies at your door, He may have been saying that a sin offering was lying at the door. This would mean that God had provided an offering for Cain and that this offering was lying right at the door of Cain’s tent. God indicated that it was a gentle lamb in that Cain would be able to rule over it.

Oh my, what a gracious offer. God was willing to provide an offering for Cain, and this offering would require no work on Cain’s part. All Cain had to do was pick up the offering and bring it to God by faith. But Cain refused to accept God’s offer. Instead, Cain asked Abel to meet him in the field, and there in the field, Cain killed his brother, Abel.

The book of Hebrews says that Cain killed Abel first of all because Cain’s deeds were evil and secondly because Abel’s deeds were righteous. You see, Cain hated Abel simply because Abel believed God and was accepted by God. In fact, in his state of rebellion against God, Cain hated both Abel and God.

After Cain killed Abel, God came looking for Cain, asking, “Where is Abel your brother?” Instead of acknowledging his sin, Cain said, “I don’t know where Abel is. Am I my brother’s keeper? Then God confronted Cain and said,

Genesis 4:10-12 NKJV
10 . . . "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground.
11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
12 When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth."

Until that time Cain had been a tiller of the ground, and undoubtedly, the ground had produced beautiful fruit for Cain. But God said that from this point on, the ground would no longer produce fruit for Cain. God said that Cain would be a vagabond and a fugitive, and then God placed a mark on Cain so that no one would kill him. In fact, God said that He would personally take vengeance on anyone who killed Cain.

At this point I would like to just say that in spite of man’s fallen nature and in spite of man’s rebellion against God, God still sees great value in human life. I believe that there is a strong application in this lesson for us today. Some people today take abortion very lightly, and we are told that 95% of abortions are done simply as a means of birth control. They are not done because the mother’s life is in danger or because of rape or incest. They are done simply because people don’t want the child.

We see clearly in the scriptures that God has always held people responsible for murder, and even in the case of a guilty person such as Cain, God still values human life. That being the case, how much greater is God’s condemnation of those take the life of an innocent, unborn child.

As we look further in Genesis, Chapter 4, we are faced with somewhat of a dilemma. God had promised that a Redeemer would come from one of Eve’s children, but now Abel was dead and Cain had gone out from the presence of God. So from what line was the Redeemer going to come? As it turned out Eve had another son by the name of Seth, and God determined that the Redeemer would come through the righteous linage of Seth.

But what about Cain? Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, but how does a person go out from the presence of an omnipresent God? David said, if I go up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in the grave, You are there; if I go to the uttermost parts of the earth, You are there. How could Cain go out from the presence of the Lord?

Well, this stands as evidence that God had established His presence at a certain place, probably at the gate of the Garden of Eden. This is the place where people would come to offer their sacrifices to the Lord. When the Bible says that Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, it simply means that Cain went far away from this place where God’s presence was. Having left this place, Cain was no longer in a position to fellowship with God.

As we move on into Genesis, Chapter 5, we see the genealogy of the descendants of Adam. As we look at this genealogy, there is one thing that stands out and that is that after each person’s mini-history there is one final epitaph which reads, “and he died.” All the way down the list we read, and he died, and he died, and he died.

Every person in that list died except one person and that was Enoch. Next week in our Journey Through the Scripture, we’re going to talk about Enoch, and we’re going to see that Enoch was a man who walked with God in the midst of an ungodly generation. Enoch did not die, but everyone else did. According to Hebrews 9:

Hebrews 9:27
27 . . . it is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment:

Unless the Lord comes to take all believers up to heaven before we die, we will all certainly face death. Every day we are getting closer to the time that we will die. We have no claim on life. The genealogy says, and he died, and he died.

Romans 5:12 KJV
12 . . . by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin . . .

You and I have no claim on life, and I trust today that you are like Abel and Enoch in that you are walking by faith and walking with God even though you live in the midst of an ungodly generation. If you walk with God by faith and believe what He has revealed in His word, you are a child of God, and you can rest assured that when you die, your spirit will go to be with the Lord in heaven. The Bible says that we should comfort ourselves with this thought.

Well, we’ve come to a stop sign which means we’re going to have to stop in our journey for today. But next week, the Lord willing, we’ll take up our journey once again. Until that time, we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Genesis (Part 5)(BST 6-29-08)

Genesis (Part 5)
Bible Study Time 6-29-08
(From James Roberts 9-1-96)

This morning we’re going to continue in our Journey Through the Scripture. We trust that you have gotten on board with us as we take this Journey Through the Scripture each Sunday morning at 8:30. We are now at Genesis, Chapter 4, where we see Cain and Abel, the children of Adam and Eve. Let’s begin by reading Genesis, Chapter 4 and verse 1:

Genesis 4:1-12 NKJV
1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, "I have acquired a man from the Lord."
2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.
4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering,
5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
6 So the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."
8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said,"I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?"
10 And He said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground.
11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
12 When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth."

When God created Adam and Eve, He placed them in the garden where He dealt with them in innocence. Every day He came into the garden, and He walked and He talked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. This speaks of the great time of fellowship that they had one with another.

But Satan came into that garden and tempted Eve. She disobeyed God and then gave to her husband the forbidden fruit, and he ate. Then, suddenly they became conscious of their sin, and they knew that they were naked.

Later, when God came into the garden, He called out for Adam, saying, Adam, where are you? God sought for Adam and asked Adam what he had done. When their sin was confessed, God placed a curse upon Adam and Eve and upon the ground and upon the serpent.

A part of the curse which was placed upon the serpent was that the Seed of the Woman would bruise the head of Satan, even though Satan would bruise the heel of the Seed of the Woman. This was actually the first promise of the Redeemer who would come as the Seed of the Woman.

Now we know that the prophecy concerning the Seed of the woman was fulfilled when the Lord Jesus was born. He came as the Seed of the Woman who was born of the virgin Mary. When Jesus Christ came into the world, He suffered on the cross and this bruised the head of the serpent who was Satan. In the book of Hebrews, we read that Jesus Christ took upon Himself flesh and blood that He might destroy or set at naught the work of Satan. In His death, burial and resurrection, Christ bruised the head of Satan.

As Christ suffered on the cross, Satan was also able to bruise the heel of Jesus Christ. Satan did this by causing the people to reject the Lord Jesus and nail Him to the cross. This was a nonfatal wound, however, because Christ was raised from the dead. Satan did not realize it before the cross, but it was the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus that was going to seal Satan’s fate in the lake of fire along with all those who follow after him.

Eve knew very well this prophecy that the Seed of the Woman would bruise the head of Satan. So when she had her first son, Cain, it seems that she thought that Cain was the promised Seed. At the time of Cain’s birth, she said:

Genesis 4:1 NKJV
1 . . . "I have acquired a man from the Lord."

Eve may have thought at first that Cain was the promised Seed, but she would soon learn that that was not the case. We now know that the fulfillment of that prophecy was not to come for many centuries. In fact that prophecy was not fulfilled until the Lord Jesus was born. However, it’s wonderful to see that Eve did believe God when God said that one of her descendants would bruise the head of the serpent.

Later, when Eve conceived another son, she called his name Abel. It seems in verse 3 that Cain and Abel are adults because we see that Abel was a keeper of sheep while Cain was a tiller of the ground, and we read in verse 3 that:

Genesis 4:3-4 NKJV
3 . . . in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.
4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering,

When this says that Abel brought of the fat of the flock, this probably means that Abel brought the fattest of all the sheep of his flock. As it turned out, God accepted Abel’s offering, but God did not accept Cain’s offering.

For the rest of the time that we have this morning, I’d like for us to think about the three things that God required of those who brought an offering to the Lord. First of all, God had a prescribed a time. Verse 3 says that in the process of time Cain brought his offering. God also had a prescribed place where they were to offer their offerings, and then God also prescribed the kind of offering that they were to bring.

The book of Hebrews, Chapter 11, tells us that it was by faith that Abel offered up a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. How is it that Abel offered up his offering by faith? Undoubtedly, God had told Adam what was required of those who would approach God and be accepted by God in fellowship.

Before the fall of man, Adam and Eve had walked in fellowship with God without any kind of prescribed offering, but now that they had been driven out of the garden because of their disobedience, they had to offer up a sacrifice which would bring them back to the place of fellowship with God.

Undoubtedly, as Cain and Abel grew up, they saw Adam and Eve offering sacrifices to God, and so they knew what God had prescribed. It is likely that as Adam offered his sacrifices, he would explain to Cain and Abel what God had instructed him to do.

In the process of time indicates two things. First of all, Cain and Abel had become adults who were responsible to God for their own sacrifices. Before they became adults they were covered by the sacrifices that Adam offered for his family. But in the process of time indicates that Cain and Abel had grown to adulthood so that they were responsible to God for their own sacrifices.

May I just say this to you? From the fall of Adam, man has been individually responsible to God for his own relationship to God. Nobody can be accepted by God because of the faith of their parents. Each person is individually responsible to God for exercising faith in what God has revealed.

God had revealed to Cain and Abel the prescribed sacrifice through Adam and Eve. They were to bring the firstborn of the flock of the herds. This indicated the shedding of the blood of an innocent animal. At the prescribed time and at the prescribed place, God had them to bring the prescribed offering. Abel believed God, and he brought the sacrifice that God had ordained for him to bring.

It is important for us to realize that today there are not many, many ways to be accepted by God. There is only one prescribed way whereby man can be accepted by God, and that is the way of the cross. There is a prescribed time. There is a prescribed place. And there is a prescribed offering today.

We can now see as we look back at the writings of the New Testament scriptures that there was a prescribed time for the coming of the Lord Jesus. In the process of time, at the very moment that God ordained, the Lord Jesus came to be born of a woman. He came to go to the cross which was God’s prescribed place for Christ to die. The cross was a place of shame where criminals were crucified, but the Lord Jesus came and was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The death of the Lord Jesus upon the cross was God’s prescribed offering for your sins and for mine.

This was all ordained by God in eternity past. The book of I Peter speaks of the Lord Jesus as the Lamb that was slain since before the foundation of the world. It was in God’s eternal plan that the Lord Jesus would come at a particular time to go to the cross and there die for your sins and for my sins.

However, there are many people today who are going in the way of Cain. They want to bring their own offerings to God. They want to bring whatever seems right to them.

Because Cain was a tiller of the ground, it seemed perfectly logical to him that he should bring the first fruits of his harvest to the Lord. So Cain brought to God what was probably the very best of what he had raised. But God could not accept Cain’s offering because Cain had walked in his own way rather than walking in the way that God had prescribed.

As we leave the air today, I want to ask you this question. Are you walking in the way of Cain? Do you have something in your hands that you are trying to bring to God, expecting God to accept you because you have done this and this and this? Or have you come the way of Abel, coming to God, accepting His offering of the Lord Jesus Christ who died for your sins and was buried and rose again? If you have accepted God’s offering of the Lord Jesus as your sacrifice for sin, God has saved you and has made you one of His children.

Well, I see our time is gone. The Lord willing the next week, we will continue in our Journey Through the Scripture.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Genesis (Part 4)(BST 6-22-08)

Genesis (Part 4)
Bible Study Time 6-22-08
(From James Roberts 8-25-96)

In our previous lessons in our Journey Through the Scripture, we saw how God presents Himself as the creator of all things. Make no mistake about it, the heavens and the earth and man and all of the things that are in God’s creation did not just happen to be. The creation did not just come about through some accidental joining of certain elements. In the book of Genesis, God presents Himself as the creator who by a divine purpose and a divine will created the heavens and the earth.

After the rebellion of Lucifer, who was the highest of all of God’s angelic creation, there was chaos that came into the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

Then God began to recreate the heavens and the earth. He created the animal and the plant life, and then He created the highest aspect of the creation, even man himself.

God placed the man and his wife in the Garden of Eden, and He gave them only one prohibition and that was that they were not to eat of the tree which was in the midst of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God said:

Genesis 2:17 NKJV
17 . . . in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

In Genesis, Chapter 3, we saw that Satan came into the garden and tempted Eve, so that Eve disobeyed God. Then Eve gave the forbidden fruit to her husband, and he also disobeyed God. As a result of this disobedience, all of Adam’s descendants became sinners.

That first rebellion by Lucifer brought sin into the universe, but the sin of Adam brought sin into the human race. The book of Romans tells us that:

Romans 3:23 KJV
23 . . . all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Romans 5:12 KJV
12 . . . (for) by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

This disobedience of Adam brought also a curse upon all of God’s creation. The book of Romans, Chapter 8, tells us that the creation itself groans and travails together under this curse but that God placed the curse in hope. The creation will continue its groaning and travail until the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, comes back.

In the regeneration, when the Son of Man comes back in His glory, He will set things right, and the curse will be lifted. Instead of briars and thorns, the desert will blossom like a rose, and the myrtle and the fig tree will blossom; paradise will be restored once again.

With the pronouncement of the curse in Genesis, Chapter 3, we also find the promise of the Redeemer. In verse 15, God speaks to the serpent and says, you will bruise the heel of the Seed of the Woman, but the Seed of the Woman will bruise your head.

Throughout the Old Testament scriptures, we find hints and types and shadows of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ was going to come into the world as the Redeemer of the human race. It was part of God’s plan for the Lord Jesus to bring man out from under the curse of sin and bring him back into a place of fellowship and righteousness with God through His death.

God knew even before the time of the creation about this plan of redemption, but this great truth was hidden in the scriptures. In the book of I Peter, we read that the Lord Jesus came as the Lamb that was slain since the foundation of the world. We read that the prophets could not understand God’s plan for man’s salvation, and in fact, even the angels desired to look into this great truth because they could not understand it.

This truth was in the scripture, but it was covered in such a way that Satan, who is an astute student of the scripture, could not see the fact that it would be the death of the Lord Jesus Christ that would crush the serpent. Satan knew only that the Seed of the Woman was going to destroy him. In other words, He knew that the Seed of the Woman was going to bruise his head and set his work at naught.

All through the Old Testament scriptures, we see Satan trying to do away with the Seed of the Woman so that he can prevent His work of redemption. When Jesus Christ appeared on the scene, Satan thought that the crucifixion of Christ would be the perfect opportunity to put the Seed of the Woman to death. Satan thought that if he could put the Seed of the Woman to death, the Seed of the Woman would not be able to bruise the head of the serpent.

However, Satan did not know the details of God’s perfect plan concerning the work of Christ on the cross. The fact that Christ would come to die on the cross for the sins of man had been carefully hidden in the Old Testament scriptures because this was the very work that was going to bruise the head of Satan.

Jesus Christ came to be made a curse for us by taking our sins upon Himself. The work of Christ on the cross makes it possible for man to be set free from the curse and to be set free from the dominion of Satan. This great promise concerning the coming of the Redeemer was first given in Genesis, Chapter 3 and verse 15.

In all of this I trust that you can see the changes that God makes in His dealings with the creation in different circumstances. God remains the same but His dealings with the creation change as the circumstances change.

This is a pattern that we are going to see many times in our Journey Through the Scripture. God is the same yesterday, today and forever, but He deals with man in different ways in different time periods. In the book of II Timothy, Chapter 2 and verse 15, we are told to:

2 Timothy 2:15
15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

On aspect of this right division is to see the different ways in which God deals with the human race in accordance with His eternal plan and purpose. So let’s review a few of the changes that we have already seen in our Journey Through the Scripture.

God created the heavens and the earth as a perfect creation which was meant to be inhabited. God also created the angelic beings with Lucifer as the head or the highest of the creation. However, when Lucifer rebelled against God, he was cast out of heaven, and he became Satan, which means adversary.

Instead of guarding the throne of God as Lucifer, the highest of the creation, he became Satan, the adversary of God. God began to deal with Lucifer in a completely different way after Lucifer’s rebellion. God remained the same but His dealings with Lucifer changed.

God created the heavens and the earth to be inhabited, but the earth became chaotic as a result of Satan’s sin. Therefore, God began to recreate the heavens and the earth. God made man in the image of God, and man lived in an innocent state. Man was undoubtedly covered with a garment of light which reflected his innocence. At this point, man did not know good and evil; he lived in perfect harmony with the creation and with God.

However, when man disobeyed God, man became conscious of his sin. At that point, man lost the garment of glory which had covered him, and he knew that he was naked. He sewed fig leaves together to make for himself an apron. He ran to hide from God, but God sought him out and placed the curse. What a difference this made in God’s dealings with man.

As we continue on in Genesis, Chapter 3, we read that:

Genesis 3:20-21 KJV
20 . . . Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

Notice here again a difference in God’s dealings with man. Man is no longer an innocent being who displays the perfect likeness of God. Man has lost the spiritual glory of the image of God so God makes garments made of animal skin for them to wear.

Genesis 3:22-24
22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever:
23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Once again, notice the change in God’s dealings with mankind. When man became conscious of good and evil, God drove him out of the Garden of Eden. Even though God, Himself, remains the same yesterday, today and forever, God’s method of dealing with man changes according to man’s circumstances.

However, any time God changes His method of dealing with man, these changes are always in accordance with His eternal plan and purpose. God is omniscient. Nothing takes God by surprise. God knows the end from the beginning, and God formulated His plan for the ages even before the foundation of the world.

In Genesis 3:24, we read that God drove man out of the Garden of Eden, and He placed a guard there so that man could not get back into the Garden of Eden. At one time, God placed man in the garden, but now God has to place man outside the garden. At one point, God had fellowship with man in the garden, but now God places a guard at the gate of the garden with a flaming sword which turned every way to keep man from going into the garden.

Personally, I believe that this gate became the appointed place that God gave to Adam and Eve so that they could continue in their fellowship with Him, and by the animal sacrifice God provided the way whereby they could come to that place to have fellowship with God. Next week we are going to see how that two of Adam and Eve’s children represent the two main categories of people that exist outside the Garden of Eden.

I trust that you have been able to see today that even though God is the same yesterday, today and forever, He has changed His method of dealing with man from time to time. At one point, God dealt with man on the basis of man’s innocence, but now God deals with man on the basis of man’s knowledge of good and evil.

I trust today that you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, as the promised Redeemer who has now come to provide the way for us to have fellowship with God. Well, I see our time is gone. The Lord willing, we’ll be back with you again next week so until that time we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Genesis (Part 3)(BST 6-15-08)

Genesis (Part 3)
Bible Study Time 6-15-08
(From James Roberts 8-18-96)

Now we’re going to continue our Journey Through the Scripture. If you missed the first two Sundays, you have missed a couple of miles on this journey, and we would like to encourage you to get your Bibles and study along with us today and then to be with us each Sunday morning as we continue this Journey Through the Scripture.

On the first Sunday of this journey, we saw God set forth as the creator of the universe. God is not the creation. Rather God is over and above the creation; God transcends the creation. From the very beginning, Satan has tried to get man to worship the creation rather than the creator. Pantheism tells us that God is the creation, but the Bible declares that the creation is the handiwork of God. The creation did not just evolve from nothing, but God created the heavens and the earth.

Last week, we saw something of the creation of man when God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. In this we see first of all a refutation of the devilish doctrine of evolution.

Secular science tells us that man just evolved from a speck of protoplasm that was there in a primordial slime. It says that over billions of years this speck of protoplasm evolved through the dinosaur stage and all of the other stages until man evolved into what he is today. I want to tell you that this doctrine is of the devil. The devil wants man to deify man in order to displace God from His throne. According to the Bible, man was created by God, Himself.

Another reason that the doctrine of evolution is so devilish is that it does away with the necessity of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Redeemer. You see, if there was no first man, Adam, who was created by the very hand of God, then there is no need for the second Adam, the Lord from heaven. If there was no literal, historic Adam, then there was no historic fall by which man became a sinner; and if man is not a sinner, then he has no need for a savior. However, the Bible declares that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

In the first week of our Journey Through the Scripture, we saw how Lucifer became Satan, the enemy of God, or the adversary of God. This occurred when Lucifer introduced sin into the universe. We also saw that God created man in His own image. By a direct, creative act He formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life so that man became a living soul. This happened instantaneously, not by means of evolution through ions of time, but as an instantaneous, creative act of God. As God breathed into his nostrils, man became a living soul.

In our studies we have seen that the first man, Adam, disobeyed God and through that act of disobedience all of Adam’s descendants became sinners. Well, that’s where we left off in our journey last week, and I want us to take up with that thought this morning as we move on into the next truly significant event in the scriptures.

Before Adam sinned, God was accustomed to walking in the garden in the cool of day, communicating and having fellowship with Adam. But when Adam disobeyed God, Adam felt the need to run and hide. When God came looking for Adam, God called out, saying:

Genesis 3:9-11 NKJV
9 . . . "Where are you?"
10 So (Adam) said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself."
11 And (God) said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?"

Now, did God ask this question because He didn’t know what Adam had done, or was He simply trying to bring Adam to the place of acknowledging his guilt? I believe that it was the latter. God knew that Adam had been disobedient, but He came into the garden, seeking Adam, so that He could draw Adam back into a place of fellowship with God. So what was Adam’s response the Lord?

Genesis 3:12 NKJV
12 Then the man said,"The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."

In so many words, Adam said, God, this is all Your fault because You gave me this woman. I ate the fruit only because she gave it to me.

Well, then the Lord turned to the woman and asked:

Genesis 3:13 NKJV
13 . . . "What is this you have done?" (And) The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

Clearly, Eve was trying to put the blame on the serpent, saying that she had eaten the fruit because the serpent deceived her.

Here we see that even at this time, Adam and Eve were doing what man is doing so effectively today. They tried to portray themselves as victims rather than confessing their guilt.

Today we often see people who are brought up on some kind of charge, whether it’s murder or lying or some other charge, and they will try to place the blame for their actions on someone else. They may claim to be the victim of society or the victim of child abuse or some such thing. They will go to any length to keep from admitting that they are the guilty party.

Here in Genesis 3, the man said, the woman that You gave me, she gave me the fruit and I did eat. Then the woman said, the serpent deceived me and I did eat.

Admittedly, there was a little bit of truth in both of these statements, but neither statement expressed the whole truth. It was true that the woman did give the fruit to Adam, but in fact, Adam was a free moral agent. He had the ability to choose, but he chose to disobey God. Therefore, he was the guilty party. Not God. Not the woman.

According to Genesis 2:18, we read that in His goodness and mercy God created the woman for Adam because God saw that it was not good for man to live alone. God made the woman as the perfect companion for Adam, but Adam cast a reflection upon the goodness of God by stating that the woman that God had given him had caused him to eat the forbidden fruit.

The woman said, the serpent deceived me, and that was true, but the woman had the word of God that forbad her from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Therefore, she was guilty of sin even though she was deceived.

If you have sinned, don’t allow yourself to play the victim. When you sin, don’t blame someone else. That is just following in the footsteps of Adam. God wants us to acknowledge our sin before Him, and He tells us that:

1 John 1:9 NKJV
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

In verses 14 and 15 of Genesis, Chapter 3, we see God’s goodness and grace to mankind in His promise of a Redeemer. Because the serpent did deceive the woman, God placed a curse upon the serpent, saying:

Genesis 3:14-15 NKJV
14 . . . "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."

In this first promise of a Redeemer, we find that the Redeemer was to come into this world as the Seed of the woman in order to bruise the head of the serpent. This prophesy was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 4 says that:

Galatians 4:4-5 NKJV
4 . . . when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

You see the Lord Jesus Christ had no earthly father; He was the Seed of the Woman. The serpent did bruise the heel of the Lord Jesus by orchestrating the crucifixion of Christ. However, the crucifixion of Christ was all a part of God’s overall plan and purpose which we find hidden in the scriptures such as Genesis 3:15. According to Genesis 3:15, it was part of God’s eternal plan that one day the Seed of the woman would come into this world to bruise the head of the serpent with a deadly wound.

We read in the book of Hebrews, Chapter 2, that by the grace of God the Lord Jesus Christ became a partaker of flesh and blood so He could taste death for every man. This chapter goes on to say that by doing this, Christ became the destroyer of the one who has the power over death, even the devil.

This passage in Hebrews carries the idea that God will set the work of the devil at naught. The serpent bruised the heel of the Lord Jesus by orchestrating the crucifixion of Christ, but it was the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus that inflicted a mortal wound upon the devil, destroying the devil’s master plan to overthrow the plan and purpose of God.

Because of the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the doom of Satan is sealed. One day the devil will be cast into the Lake of Fire where he and all of those who follow after him will remain day and night, forever and ever. However, those who put their trust in the Redeemer and believe that Christ died on the cross for their sins will have eternal life and will live with God for all eternity.

In Genesis 3:16, God places a curse upon the woman and institutes the headship of the man over the woman. He says:

Genesis 3:16 NKJV
16 . . . "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you."

Then, to the man the Lord says:

Genesis 3:17-19 NKJV
17 . . . "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.

18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return."

We see that a curse was placed upon the earth, but someday that curse will be lifted; and when that curse is lifted, the earth will be blessed forever and ever. This time of blessing will be made possible by the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus and this is pictured for us in Genesis, Chapter 3, when God offered up a lamb to provide coats of skin for Adam and Eve. After being clothed with the clothing that God provided, Adam and Eve were once again able to fellowship with God.

As the Lamb of God, Christ shed His blood to provide the clothing of righteousness for those who believe in the Lord Jesus. The blessing of fellowship with God is now available to those who wear this clothing of God’s righteousness, but someday even the curse that is upon the earth today will be lifted and all of creation will be redeemed by the blood of Christ. Today, God is simply waiting for the perfect time to bring His glorious plan of redemption to its ultimate conclusion.

Next week, we’re going to continue our Journey Through the Scripture. I see our time is already gone for this morning. We’ll look forward to being back with you again next week. Until that time we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/