Sermons

The Story of God: Sin Fills the Earth
Genesis 4-11

 We’re talking about the story of God – who is God and what is He up to?  We started with Eternity Past – and saw that God has always been – and that He has always been full of joy in beholding His glory as displayed in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Then we saw that God’s joy in His glory caused him to create – so he could go public with His glory, and share with others the joy of beholding His glory.

So God created a universe and a world and Adam and Eve: they saw God’s immensity in the fact that he spoke into being over 50 million 100,000 light-years-wide galaxies; they saw God’s nearness in how He talked with them and cared for them; they saw God’s mercy in how he freely gave them life and bodies and each other and everything they needed and most of all – the joy of communion with Him.  And He said that if they would trust Him to guide them, provide for them, and satisfy them with Himself, then all this would continue.  But if they didn’t trust Him, they would die and lose it all.

So what happened?  They didn’t want to be told what to do.  They wanted to be in charge.  So they turned their backs on their Creator and declared independence from him.  As a result they lost paradise, eternal life, and fellowship with God.  But God showed mercy, in promising to change their hearts so they would turn back to God, and in making them clothes and providing for them in other ways.

And all of this was purposefully allowed by God, because all this would powerfully display His glory, so that He can share with us the joy of beholding His glory.  So what happens next?

To answer that, let’s turn to Genesis 4.  If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand.  Genesis 4 is on page 3 in the Bibles we are passing out.  In Genesis 4-11 Moses shows us the tragedy of how sin fills the earth.  But first he wants to give us a powerful picture of God’s mercy – in having us ask: how does God respond to the first sin after The Fall?

Here’s what happens in Gen. 4.  Eve gives birth to Cain, and then to Abel.  Abel raised sheep, Cain grew produce, maybe corn.  Adam regularly brought the family together to thank God and celebrate His goodness, and part of this was bringing God offerings, not because God was hungry, but as a way to declare God’s goodness.  Then they would eat the lamb and the corn in celebration.  So Cain brought some corn, and Abel brought a lamb.  And God was pleased with Abel’s lamb, but not with Cain’s corn. 

What was the problem?  The problem was not that Cain should have brought an animal sacrifice, because all through the Old Testament God is pleased with offerings of produce.  But we can see what the problem was by how Moses describes these offerings in vv.3-4 –

3 In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, ⁴ and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.

Abel’s offering was the first-born of the sheep and the fat portion -- the best part of the sheep.  But Cain’s was not the best of the corn – it was left-over corn, small-eared corn, half-ripe corn.

What does this show?  Both Cain and Abel knew about God’s immensity and goodness and wisdom and mercy -- but they responded differently.  Abel trusted God; bent the knee to God; had his heart filled with the joy of knowing God.  And because of his joy in God he brought his best to God.  But Cain turned his back on God.  He was not interested in God.  He just wanted to do his religious duties and then get on with what really interested him – being in control, calling the shots – so Cain just brought the minimum he could get by with. 

And God was pleased with Abel’s offering, and was not pleased with Cain’s offering.  And that made Cain very angry.

So here’s the first sin after the Fall.  And how does God respond?  Does God punish Cain?  No.  God comes to him and talks to him and invites him to be forgiven for the guilt of his sin and freed from the power of his sin.

You can see that in v.7.  Look at what God says:

If you do well [if you turn from your independence, and trust me to guide you, provide for you, satisfy you], will you not be accepted? [you will be accepted by me,  forgiven by me, have the joy of knowing me]  And if you do not do well, [if you don’t trust me] sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, [sin will end up overcoming you] but you must rule over it [by trusting me, or it will overpower you]."

So here’s God’s response to the first sin after the Fall.  God invites Cain to trust Him and be forgiven for the guilt of his sin and freed from the power of his sin.  Can you see the mercy of this?  This is amazing! 

So how does Cain respond to God’s mercy?  V.8.  Cain turns his back on God, walks away from God, finds Abel, and kills Abel.

So here Moses gives us another picture of sin – Cain’s sin, and our sin.  Why wouldn’t Cain turn to trust God – and be forgiven and have his heart freed from sin’s power?  The problem isn’t lack of evidence – Cain knew all about God.  The problem isn’t lack of communication – Cain knew exactly what God offered.  So what’s the problem?  The same problem I have had, the same problem you have had – we don’t want to bend the knee before God.  We want to call the shots.  We want to be in control.

This should frighten us worse than any horror movie.  The power of this sin in Cain, the ugliness of this sin in Cain, is the same ugly power of sin that’s been in my heart and yours.  God can overcome it – through Jesus -- if Cain and you and me -- would just turn to trust God.  But at this point Moses wants us to feel the ugly power of sin.

So what results from Cain’s sin?  First of all, in 4:17 through 24 we see that Cain’s offspring are sinful.  We can see that specially in the story of Lamech who is a proud, violent polygamist. 

But then starting in 4:25 we see something hopeful -- God gives Adam and Eve another son to replace Abel – Seth.  And in v.26 we read that Seth, and his son Enosh, are linked with people beginning to call on the name of the Lord – which means that multiple families started gathering together to worship God and celebrate His goodness.  So Seth and Enosh are obviously trusting God – which is a hopeful sign.

And this hopefulness continues in ch.5, as we can see Enoch in vv.22-24, who walked with God, which means he trusted God.  And to help us understand that if we trust God, because of Jesus, there’s life after death, God took Enoch to be with him so Enoch didn’t even need to die.  So in ch.5 we have Seth’s offspring who are trusting God. 

But then in Gen. 6:5 we see that something horrifying has taken place --

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

So sin has spread through the earth, so much so that when you skip down to vv.8 and 9 you see that there’s only one man on the entire earth who’s trusting God and walking with God – Noah.

So what happened to Seth’s godly offspring?  The answer is in 6:1-4, which is a difficult passage.  I think Moses is talking about how the sons of God – the godly men in the line of Seth as described in ch.5 – married women purely for the sake of their looks, without regard to whether they walked with God.  The result was that many of these men were drawn away from love for God, and their children ended up far from God.

Now there’s a crucial lesson here for us: if you love God, if your passion is heart-communion with Jesus, then marry someone who shares that passion.  It’s not enough if someone says they are spiritual, or if someone goes to church.  So did Cain.  Is his or her heart-passion communion with Jesus the Son of God who died for our sins and rose from the dead and is coming again?  Is the passion of his or her life advancing Jesus’ mission with other brothers and sisters?  That’s who God wants you to marry.

But that’s not what the men in the line of Seth did – and the result is that everyone on the earth was only evil continually – except, as we read in v. 8, for Noah.

So what happens with Noah?  In v.6 we see God looking down on His creation – that which He created to display His glory so He could share with us the joy of beholding His glory.  And instead – except for Noah – everyone’s thoughts are only evil continually.  No one is trusting God to guide them, provide for them, or satisfy them.  Which means they are all shouting to the universe – God is not wise, God is not good, God is not glorious!

And so God is sorry that He created – He is grieved to His heart.  What does that mean?  You could think that God has lost control, that God has made a mistake.  But that would be wrong.  In 1Sam 15:29 we read that God is not a man that he is ever sorry about what he’s done – but here in Gen.6:6 we read that God is sorry about what he has done.  So how can we put this together?

What’s helped me is to understand that God looks at every event from two different perspectives.  He can see an event as it is in itself – so here’s everyone on earth except Noah shouting to the universe that God is not good – and because that dishonors Him and profanes His holy name it grieves him to his heart.

But God can also see an event from the perspective of what it will lead to.  God has purposefully allowed this to take place because it will bring an even greater display of His glory – and give us even more joy in His glory – as we see God the Son choosing to be born in a manger and hang on a Cross to pay for our wickedness, and as we see God the Father being willing to punish His own Son for our wickedness.

So as God looks just at the sin of the world He is grieved to his heart.  But as he looks at this sin leading to the Cross and an even greater display of His glory – He is not grieved.  He is rejoicing in the glory that will be displayed.

But at the same time, God is just, and so in v.7 He decides to punish sin by killing everyone except Noah and his family.  So here in the early chapters of Genesis God gives us a clear picture of what sin deserves: God kills everyone except for eight people – Noah and his family.

So let this sink in.  This actually happened.  Only Noah was righteous, and God had Noah build an ark for himself and two of each animal, so Noah and his family and the animals could be saved.  And then God drowned everything else that lived on the earth.  Thousands and thousands and thousands of men and women drowned – killed – punished by God.  That shows us what sin deserves. 

So if God has punished everyone except 8 people – and starts over with humanity -- is sin gone?  Sadly, no.  We read in Gen 9:18ff that some time later Noah turns from God and gets drunk.  Noah’s drunkenness does not mean Noah’s not saved.  Saved people are changed but not perfect.  There’s still some sin remaining in Noah.

And there’s sin in Noah’s son, Ham -- because when Ham sees Noah lying drunk and naked on his bed, Ham mocks him.  Ham has seen Noah be the only man who walked with God on the earth; he’s seen Noah build an ark; he’s seen everyone else killed for their sin.  But it’s clear that he places no importance on any of this, because when he sees Noah’s nakedness he mocks him.

So even though sin has been punished, sin survives, in Noah, and in Ham.

So where does this leave the earth?  The answer is in chapters 10 and 11.  Now when you read these chapters, it’s clear that ch.11 takes place before ch.10, because in ch.10 the nations are all dispersed, but in ch.11 they are all together building the tower of Babel.  So why does Moses write it like that?

I think Moses does this to build the drama of what’s happened.  We’ve just had the flood, where God destroyed everyone but Noah and his family.  But we’ve seen that there’s still sin on the earth – at least in Noah and his son Ham.  Then in ch.10 we see Noah’s sons spreading throughout the world – and Moses wants us to wonder -- are the people spreading through the earth godly like Seth and Enoch and Noah, or godless like Cain and Lamech? 

And then in ch.11 we see the horrifying news – they are all godless people, not just rebelling against God individually, but uniting together to rebel against God in building the tower of Babel, so God has to confuse their languages and disperse them. 

So at the end of chapters 10 and 11 we are left with the whole world filled with people who are all are living in rebellion against God.  There’s no hint of godliness anywhere in chapters 10 and 11.  There’s no people calling on God; no Enochs walking with God; no Noahs trusting God.  Moses leaves us with a world in which everyone is rebelling against God – and their rebellion has spread throughout the world.

Questions?

 

So how does God respond to this?  Again, when God looks at this from the wide-angle perspective, He’s not worried.  He’s purposefully allowed all this to take place.  He’s doing all this in order to display His glory – and the highest display of His glory is mercy.

So what does God do to a world in which everyone is living in complete rebellion against Him?  Through what Jesus would do thousands of years in the future, God chooses to save a rebellious moon-worshiper (Jos 24:2) named Abram.  God brings His power upon Abram, changes His heart, gives him faith – and look at what God says to Abram in Gen 12:1-3 –

1              Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

2              And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

3              I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

In chapters 10 and 11 all the families of the earth are in rebellion against God.  So will God destroy them and curse them?  No.  God promises to bless all of them.  How?

God saves a moon-worshiper named Abram.  And God promises that through Abram’s lineage – through a baby born of a virgin whose great, great, great, great grandfather is Abram – through this baby people from all the families of the earth will be blessed.  People from every people group on the earth will receive the blessing of knowing God.

In Gen. 10 and 11 no one anywhere in the earth has the blessing of knowing God.  But God saves this moon-worshiper, and through Abram’s offspring, through Jesus born of Mary in the line of Abram, God will bring the blessing of knowing Him to people from every people group.

What a God!  What mercy!  Because of Jesus this blessing can be yours.  Turn to God as He is revealed in Jesus.  Trust Him.  And just like God said to Cain, you will have the guilt of your sins forgiven, and the power of your sins broken.  And you will have the blessing of knowing God.  This is why you were created.  This is why you are here.  Turn and trust Jesus now.  Trust Him to guide you, to provide for you, to satisfy you with His presence.  Trust Him now.