WEBVTT 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:20.000 My name's Mark. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:22.480 I'm one of the leaders here at City. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:23.600 You're very welcome. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:34.320 If you are new or visiting, we uh it's our normal practice that we go through books of the Bible, and so sometimes you come across a passage and think, well, what can we learn from that? 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:35.840 And it turns out quite a lot. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:39.600 So why don't we pray and uh we'll dive right into it. 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:54.719 Father, we thank you uh that all scripture is indeed uh breathed out by you and profitable for our learning, uh, that we as men and women of God might be competent, equipped for every good work. 00:00:54.960 --> 00:01:00.159 So would you uh be about that work by your spirit through this passage in Jesus' name? 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:01.119 Amen. 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:05.680 Think about your your natural disposition. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:11.439 Uh, are you a uh a glass half full or a glass half empty sort of person? 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:15.120 Yeah, I'm probably glass half full most of the time. 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:17.120 Uh, but what about what about you? 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:20.000 Glass half full, glass half empty. 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:23.680 You mostly optimistic, mostly hopeful? 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:27.599 You mostly kind of think, no, this will probably not work out. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:29.040 Mostly think, no. 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:32.400 Bad will triumph over good. 00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:36.719 What about our world? 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:40.319 What about the news that you digest? 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:42.560 Does it tend to be optimistic or pessimistic? 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:45.760 It tends to be pessimistic, right? 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:50.560 Uh everything is a crisis. 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:56.319 You have the Brexit crisis, you have the farmers crisis. 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:01.680 You've been uh aware of what's been going on in the countryside in Ireland. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:04.000 You have a constitutional crisis. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:07.120 Pick your country, pick your constitutional crisis. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:12.479 You can have one in the UK, or apparently there's one every time Donald Trump speaks in the US. 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:15.039 There's a constitutional crisis. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:17.680 Everything is a crisis. 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:20.400 Human beings are destroying the world. 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:22.479 The climate crisis. 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:31.039 Brexit is a racist disaster that's gonna destroy the UK's economy and our economy, the Brexit crisis. 00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:33.039 Everything's a crisis. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:34.800 It's wearying. 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:38.479 Let me give you some good news stories. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:44.159 If you take nothing else away, I've brought balance to the force of all of these crises, right? 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:48.400 I'm gonna give you three good news stories from this week, right? 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:59.039 First, there is a new drug that has just been approved by the FDA in America called Aducanimab, or a Duncanamab, named after Duncan over here. 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:09.840 Aducanimab, that it's been approved by FDA for human trials because it stems the onset of Alzheimer's disease. 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:12.879 That's a good news story, right? 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:21.919 Second, there are more trees on the planet today than there were 35 years ago. 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:23.840 We've been planting trees. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:24.719 That's a good thing. 00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:26.800 Everybody's like, we're losing all the trees. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:28.960 We've got more trees than we did 35 years ago. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:30.560 Nobody's reporting it. 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:33.280 There you go, good news story. 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:34.319 Lego. 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:37.120 Need to say any more. 00:03:56.479 --> 00:03:57.759 That's my favorite one. 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:02.240 Rather than it sticking to my foot, I get paid to ship it back to Lego. 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:06.319 So it would help other children. 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:10.319 Because the world isn't just all crisis. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.000 There's joy and there's beauty. 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:16.240 But it isn't just all beauty. 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:19.920 There's tragedy and suffering. 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:21.920 It's just awful. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:32.319 You know, Sarah was praying this week for or praying just now with the people who suffocated to death in the back of a container, Laurie. 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:34.079 It's just awful. 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:35.839 Just tragic. 00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:41.279 But the world isn't just suffering and tragedy. 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:55.360 You see, if you're a glass half empty sort of person, if you're a pessimist, your tendency can be to lose sight of the goodness that's in the world, of the hope, the joy, the beauty that there is. 00:04:56.160 --> 00:05:01.600 If you're a glass half full sort of person, if you're an optimist, what's your problem? 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:04.959 Your problem is you can be given to a little bit of naivety. 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:10.959 You not really prepare yourself for suffering and tragedy coming your way. 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:28.879 Genesis 5, rather than just being a list of names to be read and forgotten, outlines the rhythm of our world, the double heartbeat of joy and tragedy, blessing and curse, life and death. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:30.879 So Genesis 5 shows us. 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:32.560 It's always been true. 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:36.639 It was true for these generations, and we're no different. 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:43.360 This double rhythm pulses away in our world still yet. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:46.480 So what can we learn from this? 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:50.000 First of all, blessing endures. 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:53.600 Optimist, we're gonna start in glass half full, okay? 00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:55.600 Blessing endures. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:58.000 And that's no small thing, right? 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:01.920 So Genesis 5, 1, this is the book of the generations of Adam. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:04.959 When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:10.560 Maid and female, he created them and blessed them and named them man where they were created. 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:14.160 So we're looking back, we're looking back to Genesis 1. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:15.759 We're looking back pre-fall. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:22.000 And that's a big deal considering where we've just come from, because we've come through Genesis 4. 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:23.680 What happens in Genesis 4? 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:25.839 Cain kills his brother. 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:31.360 First human being born into this world, Adam and Eve were created. 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:35.360 First human being born into this world is a murderer. 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:40.480 And then, second half of Genesis 4, you get Lamek. 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:43.920 Lameneck's not a nice guy, right? 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:49.920 Lamek, he kills a young boy from the essentially for a scratch on his cheek. 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:52.560 Genesis 4 is blood soaked. 00:06:52.959 --> 00:06:56.160 It's full of suffering and darkness and death. 00:06:56.399 --> 00:07:00.160 And God doesn't give up on humanity. 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:02.399 He doesn't just go, do you know what? 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:04.800 This isn't working for me. 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:06.160 I'm gonna start again. 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:08.240 God doesn't give up on humanity. 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:14.560 That's no small thing that God would endure with humanity. 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:20.480 He blesses us even in our sinful state. 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:24.399 He blesses us in three ways. 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:26.079 I think this, well, in many ways. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:29.360 I think this passage lists or explains three ways. 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:30.399 Let me give them to you. 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:35.600 Three ways in which God's blessing endures in humanity. 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:38.399 One, we're still image bearers. 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:42.399 We still bear God's image. 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:44.079 And that's a huge deal. 00:07:44.319 --> 00:08:02.480 Because that means that we have a value and a dignity and a worth that is inherent, that cannot be taken away by circumstance, that is not based upon our achievement, it's not based upon our ethnicity, or our race, or our sexuality, or our age, or any of those things. 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:04.720 It is bestowed upon us by God. 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:08.480 We are still image-bearers, each and every one of us. 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:12.959 That is wonderful news for humanity. 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:29.360 God creates Adam in his image, and when it says in verse 3 that Adam fathered a son in his own likeness, what it's communicating is that that image-bearedness is being passed on down the generations and it comes to us now. 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:41.039 Human beings, you and I, after the fall, after Genesis 3, we're we're like we're like mirrors. 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:46.240 Being from Northern Ireland, I have to say that word very carefully, or else I just say myrrh. 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:51.360 We're mirrors made to reflect God. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:57.519 But we're mirrors that have been cracked by sin. 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:03.039 And so we reflect something of his image, but it is distorted. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:06.240 It is not as clear as it could be. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:08.159 It is not perfect. 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:11.759 But we are image-bearers nonetheless. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:17.200 And that dignity, that value endures. 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:20.559 That's God's blessing to us. 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:32.399 And I think that that explanation for how human beings are, I think that that's actually a better explanation than the major contenders that might rival it. 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:35.759 So the first one would be something like evolution, right? 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:41.600 Evolution would say that what matters is survival. 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:43.759 What matters is winning. 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:46.960 Survival of the fittest. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:48.480 Self-preservation. 00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:50.639 But actually, what does self-preservation look like? 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:53.120 Self-preservation looks like Lamek. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:56.320 Lamech was a survivor. 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:00.639 Lammock was one who he won. 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:06.480 He went on to perpetuate his genes with not one but two wives. 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:23.120 Evolution would prioritize self-preservation, survival, winning, but it cannot account for self-sacrifice, altruism, beauty. 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:35.279 Being an image-bearer means, though, that while we are marred by sin, while that image is tainted and distorted and broken, there is still beauty and kindness to be seen. 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:41.840 The other contender for what people believe about human beings would be described in humanism. 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:47.120 Humanism is the idea that human beings in and of themselves are essentially good. 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:49.759 And the human problem is one of circumstance. 00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:52.159 That what we need is more education. 00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:55.360 We need more opportunities. 00:10:55.519 --> 00:10:59.039 We need better circumstances, and then human beings will flourish. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:00.240 What's the problem with the climate? 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:02.320 The problem ultimately is education. 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:04.799 If we educated people, then the world would get better. 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:06.559 What's the problem with social dysfunction? 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:07.440 It's education. 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:14.879 If we educated people to know how to how to act and all of these the values that they should have, if we educated them, then things would get better. 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:16.240 But people are essentially good. 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:20.159 They just need to be taught how to live, they need to be given the opportunities for flourishing. 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:27.759 And that's true to a certain degree, but again, it is just half the story. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:37.039 Human beings are capable of incredible feats, but they are also capable of great evil. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:52.639 And again, this idea that we're image bearers, image bearers after the fall, with this broken, distorted image, I think that makes better sense of what human beings are like and what they you know, what we see in the world around us than the other narratives the other worldviews offer. 00:11:55.600 --> 00:11:59.039 We reflect the beauty of God. 00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:09.279 And yet it is distorted and twisted by our own self-love. 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:17.279 Human beings, though, are blessed because we are still image bearers of God. 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:18.000 That's the first thing. 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:18.799 How are we still? 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:19.919 How does blessing endure? 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:21.120 We're still his image bearers. 00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:23.039 Secondly, how does blessing endure? 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:25.279 Fruitful multiplication. 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:27.519 That's what the genealogy shows. 00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:39.840 Verse 2 reminds us of that that he blessed them. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:40.879 What was that blessing? 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:44.960 That blessing was to fill the earth, subdue it, have dominion. 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:48.639 And here we see in this genealogy, it's coming to pass. 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:50.000 God again hasn't given up. 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:53.840 He doesn't say, Well, you know, you're not having, uh you're not multiplying. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:55.440 We don't want any more of you. 00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:01.440 He said, No, fill the earth with these image bearers. 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:05.279 The genealogy follows a particular line. 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:07.919 You know, it's Adam, Seth, Enosh. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:11.519 It's coming down a particular line because we're going to get to Noah. 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:14.080 So it's kind of deliberate in that sense. 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:18.960 But one of the repeated phrases here is that they had other sons and daughters. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:24.159 And so there's just exponential growth filling the earth. 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:32.720 To have more of us is a good in and of itself. 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:45.360 To be a human being alive right now is good. 00:13:47.679 --> 00:13:55.840 And I think that's important to say because some people say things like human beings are a cancer on the planet. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:13:58.480 That's an awful thing to say. 00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:00.080 What do you do with cancer? 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:01.360 You eradicate it. 00:14:04.559 --> 00:14:08.799 In the Bible's mind, in God's mind, it is good to be to be you. 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:12.000 It's good to be alive. 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:18.000 It's good to have all seven or so billion of us alive. 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:34.879 Dan Salvage is a uh social commentator and activist uh from the USA, and he was in Australia a few years ago at a uh at an ideas festival, and he was asked to give a talk on um the most controversial idea that he could think of. 00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:43.360 The idea being that you would present a controversial idea and uh defend how if it were implemented society would flourish more. 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:46.080 Dan's controversial idea was this. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:48.559 Uh call him Dan, like Mr. 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:49.279 Savage. 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:51.679 Uh his controversial idea was this. 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:59.279 So he said, I am pro-choice, but in my darker moments, I am anti-choice. 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:02.879 My controversial idea is that abortion should be mandatory. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:06.320 There are too many damn people on the planet. 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:12.720 His idea is that there actually should be fewer human beings. 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:15.600 That that would be a good. 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:22.080 That's not the Bible's mind. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:28.879 Quite apart from whether or not you believe the Bible, I think that's a profoundly anti-human idea. 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:41.039 But the God of the Bible says that you being here, all seven billion of us being on this ball, is a good thing. 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:44.799 I think it's worth remembering how good that is. 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:49.759 In all of our diverse expression. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:54.000 The third way that blessing endures is long life. 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:55.840 You can't have you can't escape it. 00:15:56.559 --> 00:16:02.480 Adam lives for 930 years, Methuselah, for 969 years. 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:04.559 What's going on with that? 00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:06.320 Come on. 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:08.799 That can't really be true. 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:11.039 Like you can't really believe that, can you? 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:14.960 Well, I think you've got three possibilities when it comes to the ages. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:22.000 First possibility is that the writer, which I take to be Moses, because Jesus said it was Moses, and if it's good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me. 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:27.759 Uh one possibility is that Moses got his years and his months mixed up. 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:34.960 Because if you take 930 years and say, no, it's actually 930 months, you kind of say he's about 81. 00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:36.559 Oh, that's plausible. 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:39.840 81 still, it's a still a fair stretch, right? 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:42.000 Uh, but it's not quite 930. 00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:43.279 So that's your first option. 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:47.840 The problem with that is there's no other examples of anybody getting their years and their months mixed up. 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:54.240 Um and Roses writes other genealogies and doesn't seem to get his years and his months mixed up there. 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:56.240 So I'm not too sure about that one. 00:16:56.399 --> 00:16:59.440 Second one, this only works if you're a mathematician, right? 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:05.599 I'm about to kind of I'm about to kind of run up right to the very edge of my ability to comprehend mathematics, right? 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:11.359 Um apparently, if you are operating, so we operate in base 10. 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:14.319 Don't even know what base the what that phrase base 10, what that means. 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:15.359 Don't know. 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:20.720 But that's what we operated in, but the ancients, they operated in base 60, like 60 minutes, right? 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:27.200 Apparently, if you operate in base 60, you can do some acrobatics with the with the ages and come up with something else, right? 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:29.119 And you can say that they're symbolic ages. 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:30.640 I'll leave that to the mathematicians. 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:34.960 You can go and find the secret Bible code and come and let me know what it is. 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:36.559 But you're probably wrong. 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:42.240 Um the third option, the third option that's open to us is that they're literal ages. 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:47.039 Here's the thing about accepting them as literal ages. 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:50.160 If you're a skeptic here this morning, we're so glad you're here. 00:17:50.240 --> 00:17:58.400 Like we like engaging with people's questions, and people, people when they're exploring Christianity, have legitimate questions, right? 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:02.240 Shouldn't be just, thus says the Lord, and just believe it, right? 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:04.640 People have legitimate grievances. 00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:07.440 But here's the thing that Christianity stands and falls on. 00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:13.279 Christianity stands and falls on whether or not Jesus was raised bodily from the dead in history, right? 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:16.240 The resurrection of the Easter. 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:20.319 That's what Christianity stands on or crumbles on. 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:23.680 And I happen to believe that that's true. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:27.680 I happen to believe that a physical man came back from the dead. 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:30.480 He was actually dead and he actually came back to life. 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:32.319 And I think there's really good reasons for that. 00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:32.880 Okay? 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:34.720 Now, here's the thing. 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:41.839 If I accept that, a little problem with God extending the life of people for 930 years. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:44.160 I'm a supernaturalist anyway. 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:46.400 I already believe the miracles happen. 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:48.480 So why do I really have a problem with the age? 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:54.400 I believe in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, but 930 years of that I couldn't accept. 00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:55.279 Like, come on. 00:18:56.079 --> 00:19:00.160 Kind of string like gnats and swallowing camels at that point, you know? 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:05.599 We believe that there is a God who stands behind that stands behind the laws of this universe. 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:07.200 What is a miracle? 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:10.400 A miracle is tinkering with the laws of the universe. 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:13.119 God has both the power and the prerogative to do that. 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:19.680 If he wishes to extend the life of Methuselah to 969 years, then he can fill his boots. 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:43.920 Regardless of whether or not you go for two or three, the reason why these long ages are, why these people lived such long lives, is because in the Bible's mind, long life is always a symbol of God's blessing. 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:49.839 Length of days is always a sign that you have been blessed by God. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:58.319 We might not be able to reach the heights of Methuselah and few of us would want to. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:18.880 But it is a reminder that each of our days, each of our years, is given to us by a gracious God who continues to bless us, even though we so often turn our backs on him in treason and run after other things. 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:24.319 It's such a gracious reminder of his patience to us. 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:33.599 I've cut out a bit, but I'll put another bit in. 00:20:34.559 --> 00:20:36.640 There's a great story of a guy called Polycarp. 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:39.039 Polycarp was the Bishop of Smyrna. 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:44.160 He was basically one of John's disciples, so apostles to John, and then Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna. 00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:47.680 And they came to him, he was about 85 years old. 00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:52.480 And they came to him and said, Recant your faith, or we're gonna burn you at the stake. 00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:54.799 You know what Polycarp said? 00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:04.400 He said, eighty young, eighty long years I have served my Lord who has loved me. 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:06.799 How can I not turn my back on him? 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:10.400 Each year that we have is a blessing from God. 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:12.160 And so they burnt him. 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:17.599 That leads me, actually, by easy stages, into our second point. 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:21.839 The while blessing endures, death reigns. 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:24.799 That's the thing, isn't it? 00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:29.519 There's much to be thankful for in our world, and yet death reigns. 00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:35.200 There's this rhythmic reality check all the way through this passage. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:37.119 Verse 5. 00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:43.839 Thus the days of Adam were 930 years, and he died. 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:49.440 Verse 8, thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died. 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:59.440 Verse 11 Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died, and each of those. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:05.680 And he died, and he died, and he died, are supposed to land like a hammer blow. 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:13.440 Because we're only two chapters parted from the fall of humanity. 00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:20.720 Humanity was destined to live forever, to eat from the tree and enjoy presence with God forever. 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:27.279 And now, because of their treasonous turning, they taste the bitterness of death. 00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:30.880 And then he died, and then he died, and then he died. 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:35.119 This is the double-edged sword of our human experience. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:40.000 Curse and blessing walk hand in hand in this life. 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:44.079 Those who we love. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:47.039 Those who we admire. 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:49.200 Great men. 00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:50.799 Great women. 00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:56.640 They all have or will taste death. 00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:04.880 For some of you, death has visited your household already. 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:09.279 In tragic and painful ways. 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:13.279 It is a relentless force. 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:18.720 Why do zombies walk slowly? 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:22.000 I don't mean one time. 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:23.839 There aren't any out there. 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:25.759 This isn't the start of a zombie apocalypse. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:31.680 But you know, in the Romero movies or The Walking Dead, if you're a fan like me, why do they walk slowly? 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:35.200 Because they don't need to rush. 00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:37.839 They'll get you eventually. 00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:40.720 Eventually you'll wear out. 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:43.119 Eventually you'll wear down and they'll get you. 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:45.759 Death like that. 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:48.160 Death doesn't need to rush. 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:50.160 It'll get you eventually. 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:54.480 Have a great afternoon, everyone. 00:23:55.440 --> 00:23:56.160 Do you know? 00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:11.440 The pessimist, the glass half-full sort of person, will see this relentless creep of death and just be driven to despair. 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:18.559 The optimist will try to forget it. 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:22.000 Try to pretend that it's not a reality. 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:25.440 Not really think about it, not really contend with it. 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:35.519 It's the optimist that that pens poems like, I'm not dead, I'm just in the other room. 00:24:38.240 --> 00:24:40.799 Then why does grief feel so hard? 00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:48.240 What's the Christian response? 00:24:50.880 --> 00:25:00.400 The Christian, rather than being driven to despair or pretending in naivety. 00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:04.559 The Christian, rather, will weep. 00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:12.799 The Christian will weep at the consequences of sin, just as our Lord Jesus wept at the grave of his friend. 00:25:13.759 --> 00:25:20.240 He or she will weep for the life that they have lost. 00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:28.319 They will weep for the pain that they endure. 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:37.599 They will weep for the grief that feels so unbearable. 00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:42.799 And then they will wash their face. 00:25:43.680 --> 00:25:49.200 And they will go back downstairs, and they will continue to hope in God. 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:57.519 That's how the Christian deals with the double heartbeat, the double rhythm of our humanity. 00:25:58.720 --> 00:25:59.599 We weep. 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:01.359 We hope. 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:09.759 Do not be blindsided by the reality of suffering and death. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:17.599 But do not let that darkness steal your joy. 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:22.400 Yeah, darkness so consumes people. 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:26.240 Don't you know those people, those widows, those widowers? 00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:31.359 Who no light ever shines in their eyes again. 00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:42.720 What is it that Galadriel says to Gimli when they reach the forest of Lothlorien, after they had lost their friend Gandalf? 00:26:44.960 --> 00:26:51.599 Galadriel looks at Gimli and says, Do not let the darkness of Khazadum fill your heart, Gimli, son of Gloyne. 00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:56.960 As a Christian, do not let the darkness of death fill your heart. 00:26:57.680 --> 00:26:59.599 There is still hope. 00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:03.759 And hope shines in this passage. 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:17.039 Because while the rain of death falls as a hammer blow through most of this passage, the narrative is disrupted, isn't it? 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:19.039 Verse 21. 00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:23.920 When Enoch had walked for sixty-five years, he fathered Methuselah. 00:27:24.160 --> 00:27:31.519 Enoch walked with God after he had fathered Methuselah for three hundred years, and had other sons and daughters. 00:27:31.680 --> 00:27:35.599 Thus all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:41.359 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. 00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:08.720 Verse 21, when Enoch had lived for 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:13.680 Enoch walked with God after he'd fathered Methuselah. 00:28:13.839 --> 00:28:16.480 Every other person says, so look up verse 19. 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:17.839 Jared lived. 00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:20.079 Mahalel lived. 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:21.759 Canaan lived. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:22.880 Enosh lived. 00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:25.839 Seth lived, but Enoch walked with God. 00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:34.960 It's possible to live and to not be alive. 00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:48.160 It's possible to live and not be alive if you don't walk with God. 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:49.519 See the contrast? 00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:51.119 Many people were alive. 00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:55.599 His whole city is full of people who are alive, but so few of them walk with God. 00:28:55.759 --> 00:28:57.200 Enoch walk with God. 00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:03.680 Enoch walked with God, verse 24, and was no more. 00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:05.200 There's a disruption in the narrative. 00:29:05.279 --> 00:29:07.440 It's not, and he died, and he died, and he died. 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:09.920 He said he was no more, for God took him. 00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:13.119 Death was not the final word over Enoch's life. 00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:20.400 And Enamuk stands as a contrast to Lamanek back in chapter 4. 00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:23.680 Because they are both the seventh generation. 00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:29.200 Lammonek is the seventh generation from Adam done in the Canaanite line. 00:29:29.839 --> 00:29:33.599 And Enamuk is the seventh generation from Adam dumb in the seventh line. 00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:35.680 And we're supposed to compare them. 00:29:35.839 --> 00:29:36.480 Why? 00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:41.680 Because Lamnech's life spoke of death. 00:29:43.359 --> 00:29:45.119 But Enoch's life. 00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:52.400 It speaks of eternal days, of intimacy with God. 00:29:54.160 --> 00:29:56.960 And what motivated Enoch to walk with God? 00:29:57.440 --> 00:29:59.759 Well, the book of Hebrews tells us. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:05.119 Because Enoch shows up in that great list of those who have faith. 00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:06.240 Let me read it to you. 00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:12.400 Verse 5 of Hebrews 11 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death. 00:30:12.640 --> 00:30:15.279 And he was not fine because God had taken him. 00:30:15.440 --> 00:30:21.119 Now before he was taken, taken, he was commended as having pleased God. 00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:27.759 What motivated Enoch to walk with God? 00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:29.279 It was his faith. 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:32.240 He believed in God. 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:36.960 Verse 6 says, And without faith it is impossible to please God. 00:30:37.359 --> 00:30:43.599 For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:46.960 That's what faith is. 00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:55.759 Believing in the God who is, and entrusting yourself to him by faith. 00:30:56.240 --> 00:30:58.559 Enoch entrusted himself to God. 00:30:59.359 --> 00:31:03.039 He established with him an intimate relationship. 00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:03.519 Why? 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:06.480 Because we're told that he walked with him. 00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:14.079 Other people like Moses, God comes to Moses and says, Walk before me and be blameless. 00:31:15.599 --> 00:31:18.000 But he comes to Enoch and says, Walk with me. 00:31:18.319 --> 00:31:19.920 Walk with me, friend. 00:31:20.799 --> 00:31:24.319 Let's go for a hike through eternal days together. 00:31:27.839 --> 00:31:34.559 Enoch stands as a beacon, a beacon of hope in this genealogy. 00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:39.599 That the reign of death is not permanent. 00:31:39.920 --> 00:31:42.079 That curse is not the final word. 00:31:45.279 --> 00:31:49.920 In this genealogy, the reign of death is disrupted. 00:31:54.160 --> 00:31:59.039 But he not points to one in whom the reign of death will be destroyed. 00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:07.119