SPEAKER_00: It's good to see you guys.
SPEAKER_00: Real warm welcome to you.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know me, my name's Duncan.
SPEAKER_00: I'm one of the leaders here, and today we're looking at Genesis 4, the passage that was read.
SPEAKER_00: But let me pray before we come to it.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Loving Father, I thank you that we can come before you.
SPEAKER_00: That the very fact that we can pray to the Creator God is an act of grace towards us.
SPEAKER_00: I pray now that as we come to your word, would you speak?
SPEAKER_00: Would you uh declare the truth of who you are?
SPEAKER_00: Not into just our minds, but into our hearts, that we would know you, that we would experience your grace towards us through this passage.
SPEAKER_00: Through your name and your glory.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: On the 15th of March 2018 in Florida, there was a tragic moment where a bridge collapsed.
SPEAKER_00: It resulted in the death of six people and it injured eight people, and this was a horrible event.
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, we can understand that.
SPEAKER_00: You guys can understand this is a tragic thing.
SPEAKER_00: But what makes this event even more tragic is the fact that there was actually warning signs.
SPEAKER_00: That engineers had dismissed the deep structural cracks in the bridge.
SPEAKER_00: And even the crew themselves, who worked on the bridge and the project manager had raised concerns about this bridge.
SPEAKER_00: And this report after the bridge had collapsed said that there were so many missteps along the way of this project.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we see this reality that actually, if we ignore warning signs, it is tragic.
SPEAKER_00: And here in the opening chapters of Genesis, God is revealing how he has given warning signs to us, and yet people decide to go against it.
SPEAKER_00: That these warning signs are being ignored.
SPEAKER_00: And people have chosen to ignore what God has done, that he has been gracious to warn us, and yet Adam and Eve do not hear God's warning but reject it and eat of the tree.
SPEAKER_00: Cain doesn't hear God's warning, as we looked at last week, but he rejects it and kills his brother Abel.
SPEAKER_00: And the reality is, as we've been thinking, this idea of going east of Eden, the garden, is a place where we continue to wander away from God.
SPEAKER_00: We further wander into our own sin.
SPEAKER_00: And as we look at this end of this chapter, what we are gonna see is there's gonna be two types of people.
SPEAKER_00: There are those who reject God's grace and those who accept God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: See, the people who reject God's grace are people who are just ultimately selfish.
SPEAKER_00: They are orientated around themselves.
SPEAKER_00: And there are three ways in which I want us to see through this passage this plays out.
SPEAKER_00: These people are seeking self-reliance, self-glorification, and self-satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: Look with me at verse 17 as we see that they seek self-reliance.
SPEAKER_00: Cain knew his wife and she conceived and bore Enoch.
SPEAKER_00: When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch.
SPEAKER_00: Cain, as we know from last week, has been cursed by God in verse 10 to 12 of this chapter.
SPEAKER_00: And last week we considered how in envy Cain kills his brother.
SPEAKER_00: Envy consumed Cain and drives him to kill his own brother.
SPEAKER_00: And what is crazy for us as we look at Cain, how he responds, is you would think he would be sorrowful.
SPEAKER_00: You think he would be grieved at what has happened, his rebellion against God, the reality of his situation, knowing that he killed his own brother.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not the case.
SPEAKER_00: Cain is not repentant here.
SPEAKER_00: Because there is a difference between true, genuine repentance and self-pity.
SPEAKER_00: When I was young, uh my brother and I uh used to play rollerblade hockey.
SPEAKER_00: I'm very cool.
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry, this isn't a story of me killing him.
SPEAKER_00: Um but we used to play together across the road from our house.
SPEAKER_00: And one day we were playing, and you see, my brother is older than me, and that didn't always go in my favor because he won a lot.
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, he was there and we were playing, and he was absolutely thrashing me.
SPEAKER_00: He was hammering me and it was going bad.
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly he was coming towards my goal again, and he scores another goal.
SPEAKER_00: And my brother isn't like skating away, celebrating, he's not like rubbing it in, but I find myself chasing my brother down as he skates away, and I find myself hitting him over the back with my hockey stick.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the reality is in that moment, you you know what it's like.
SPEAKER_00: You find yourself doing something and you do it, and as soon as you do it, you think, What have I just done?
SPEAKER_00: What did I just do?
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly I was like, please don't hurt me, please don't come at me, please don't.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to get hurt the way I've just hurt you.
SPEAKER_00: Thankfully, he didn't, and thankfully we still talk today.
SPEAKER_00: But the reality is, my gut reaction in this, it wasn't one of true, genuine repentance, it was one of self-preservation.
SPEAKER_00: It was about me not getting hurt.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want a hockey stick across my back.
SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly like Cain.
SPEAKER_00: Cain was not sorry for what he did.
SPEAKER_00: But rather, what he does is he's sorry for the consequence of his sin.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't repent and seek forgiveness from God, but rather he continues to reject God.
SPEAKER_00: And this pattern is in him, but it's in his family also.
SPEAKER_00: Cain walks away from God and he continues to walk away.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 17, you see Cain builds this city, and this city isn't just insignificant, but it's actually really key for us.
SPEAKER_00: Because this city reveals his continued rejection of God.
SPEAKER_00: The original word for city here is fortification, a place of protection.
SPEAKER_00: Cain is not just building a city, but he's denying God.
SPEAKER_00: Because what had God said to Cain?
SPEAKER_00: Last week we heard in verse 15, the Lord said to him, Not so, if anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.
SPEAKER_00: After Cain kills his brother Abel, God in his mercy and grace says to Cain that he will protect him.
SPEAKER_00: Cain is worried that someone will kill him, and God says, No, no one will kill you, I will protect you.
SPEAKER_00: God promises to meet Cain in his need here.
SPEAKER_00: No one will touch Cain.
SPEAKER_00: And what does Cain do?
SPEAKER_00: He says, I don't need you, God.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need your protection.
SPEAKER_00: I will protect myself, I will build myself a city, I will sort myself out.
SPEAKER_00: The city in itself isn't evil or bad.
SPEAKER_00: Cities aren't evil or bad in themselves, but this heart reveals Cain.
SPEAKER_00: That Cain in building this city, his heart is being exposed to his utter rejection of God and the promise of God.
SPEAKER_00: That God would show grace towards Cain.
SPEAKER_00: Cain deserved nothing, and God said, No, I'll protect you, Cain.
SPEAKER_00: And Cain doesn't care.
SPEAKER_00: He runs and he continues to run away from God.
SPEAKER_00: And for us, we may feel as if we can stand and sit here and think, oh, what an absolute evil man.
SPEAKER_00: What a horrible man Cain is.
SPEAKER_00: But let's be honest, guys.
SPEAKER_00: How much do you find your security in yourself?
SPEAKER_00: In your plans?
SPEAKER_00: How much do you think your life is about you?
SPEAKER_00: In my shame, I am a lot like Cain.
SPEAKER_00: My natural bent is towards thinking that I will fix the issue.
SPEAKER_00: Towards seeing an issue and thinking, yeah, I'll sort it out.
SPEAKER_00: That is naturally the way I go.
SPEAKER_00: When situations go wrong in my life, when situations go wrong in your life, what do you do?
SPEAKER_00: Do you trust God?
SPEAKER_00: Your Heavenly Father that He has you?
SPEAKER_00: Or do you seek your own solutions?
SPEAKER_00: When work relationships break down?
SPEAKER_00: When it's hard, what do you do?
SPEAKER_00: When you lose your job, what do you do?
SPEAKER_00: When a health situation comes into your life, what do you do?
SPEAKER_00: When your children continually just push every single button, buttons that you didn't even know you had, what do you do?
SPEAKER_00: There are countless situations that we are gonna face because of our brokenness, because of the brokenness of others, because of the brokenness of our world.
SPEAKER_00: And the question is, how do you respond?
SPEAKER_00: How do you deal with those situations?
SPEAKER_00: Because the God of grace, the God of the Bible, calls us to rest in Him, to rely on Him, to know that He is faithful.
SPEAKER_00: Here are the words of Jesus, what does He say?
SPEAKER_00: He says, Consider the lilies, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin.
SPEAKER_00: Yet I tell you, even Solomon, Solomon, who was a key king in the Bible, a king of great wealth, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
SPEAKER_00: But if God so clothes the grass which is alive in the field today and tomorrow thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you?
SPEAKER_00: O you of little faith.
SPEAKER_00: In the moment of need, you will either trust God or mistrust him.
SPEAKER_00: Because what Cain has done here in his situation is mistrusting God.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord warned Cain about his sin, that sin was crouching, that sin was wanting to overcome Cain, and he just ignores God's warning and kills his brother.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord promised to protect Cain, and Cain responds by rejecting God.
SPEAKER_00: Your Heavenly Father delights to hear from you.
SPEAKER_00: He wants you in moments of need to cry out to him, in moments of joy to come before him, and everything in between.
SPEAKER_00: And he is the one who promises to meet us in our need.
SPEAKER_00: The one who will provide all we need.
SPEAKER_00: Don't think you know better than him.
SPEAKER_00: Don't think he doesn't desire good for you.
SPEAKER_00: That is such a lie.
SPEAKER_00: Our Father cares far more deeply for us, far more deeply than the lilies of the fields.
SPEAKER_00: So much more.
SPEAKER_00: We get to enjoy his kindness towards us.
SPEAKER_00: We get to enjoy his security, his provision for us.
SPEAKER_00: So rest in him.
SPEAKER_00: Know that all you have is from him.
SPEAKER_00: Because I know what it's like.
SPEAKER_00: I look at the Bible and page after page I will say, God is faithful.
SPEAKER_00: I see it through the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: I won't deny that to be true.
SPEAKER_00: I'll even look in my own life and I'll look at how God has been so faithful and good and gracious towards me.
SPEAKER_00: And then something comes along out of the blue, and I'm like, oh, God's not gonna be faithful.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna blow it.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna drop the ball.
SPEAKER_00: I know what it's like.
SPEAKER_00: But that is so tragic to mistrust him.
SPEAKER_00: Because he is the one who holds all things, he is the one who has you.
SPEAKER_00: Brother, sister in Christ, watch your heart, take care of your heart in the moment that you begin to think that God has not got you, in the moment that you think it is about what you will do, it is about your work, your energy.
SPEAKER_00: That is the moment you need to fall on your knees before him and acknowledge your need of him, your desperate need of him.
SPEAKER_00: And we see that Cain is also seeking self-glorification.
SPEAKER_00: This city is all about man, it's all about self-glorification.
SPEAKER_00: Look what I did.
SPEAKER_00: I will name this city after my son.
SPEAKER_00: This is declaring my glory, not the glory of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That is what Cain is doing.
SPEAKER_00: He builds this city without any reference to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He names this city without any reference to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: How much, though, do we long for our own glory like Cain?
SPEAKER_00: How much do we long for our lives to be about us?
SPEAKER_00: This is the very center of our sinful nature.
SPEAKER_00: The very heart of the fall is self-glorification, the longing to be worshipped.
SPEAKER_00: Adam and Eve in the garden they took the fruit to be like God, even though they were in his image.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted the glory due his name.
SPEAKER_00: Cain builds and names the city to receive glory due to God's name.
SPEAKER_00: This self-glorification though hasn't changed.
SPEAKER_00: Think about selfies on Instagram and Snapchat.
SPEAKER_00: People like, oh, just woke up, mmm, posing.
SPEAKER_00: And and they put a tag on it, like, looking so bad today.
SPEAKER_00: And what happens?
SPEAKER_00: Comments come in.
SPEAKER_00: No, babe, you look fab.
SPEAKER_00: Hun, you look gorgeous.
SPEAKER_00: Like Mark does this all the time.
SPEAKER_00: But how self-glorifying do we need to be?
SPEAKER_00: That we think it's all about us, and and maybe Snapchat and Instagram isn't your thing.
SPEAKER_00: But maybe it's your tendency toward achievement in your work or or in your studies.
SPEAKER_00: You're driving towards achieving these goals, these grades, this promotion.
SPEAKER_00: And though working hard is a good thing, along the way your motive has changed.
SPEAKER_00: You no longer desire to work hard to honor God, but your motive is for yourself to be honored, to receive glory, to recognize your efforts.
SPEAKER_00: And what about holy self-glorification?
SPEAKER_00: Because I know all too well in church how it is so easy for our hearts to desire self-glorification.
SPEAKER_00: The battle is when I come to preach, is prayerfully seeking that it wouldn't be about your response to me.
SPEAKER_00: How you would view me.
SPEAKER_00: The desire for you to react in a certain way or in a positive way.
SPEAKER_00: Because when I say holy self-glorification, I'm thinking about these things that look holy on the outside, but your heart isn't.
SPEAKER_00: Why do you put out chairs?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we do hospitality?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we sweep up?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we play in the band?
SPEAKER_00: These are all good things.
SPEAKER_00: But it can be so easy for our motives to go from a desire to serve God and serve others to a desire to be seen, a desire to be spoken of.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, what a servant-hearted person.
SPEAKER_00: To be praised.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to encourage you, keep serving, don't stop serving.
SPEAKER_00: But be careful.
SPEAKER_00: Watch your heart.
SPEAKER_00: What you and I need to know is our hearts are desperately warped.
SPEAKER_00: We may never build a city and name it after a child.
SPEAKER_00: But don't think we do not seek self-glorification.
SPEAKER_00: It's just happening in a different way.
SPEAKER_00: And our prayer, our longing should be more and more that as a people we would boast in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians says, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Let every word, thought, deed more and more be shaped by a longing for us to live our lives for Him, making our lives more of a boast in all He has done, all He is doing, and all He will do.
SPEAKER_00: Don't fall into this snare of self-glorification.
SPEAKER_00: This is the character of the people who reject God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: These people are longing after self-reliance, longing after self-glorification.
SPEAKER_00: And we see here that they're also longing after self-satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: To Enoch was born Erad, and Erad fathered Mehujel, and Mehujjal fathered Methushel, and Mehthusjal fathered Lamech, and Lamech took two wives.
SPEAKER_00: The name of one was Ada, and the name of the other was Zillah.
SPEAKER_00: This family, this line of Cain continues after Cain.
SPEAKER_00: In the same direction, this increase in their sin and their rebellion of God.
SPEAKER_00: Lamech is highlighted as almost as a representative of this people, this people who reject God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: It is highlighting how Lamech chooses two wives.
SPEAKER_00: And here is this man who seems so far from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And what he's desiring to do is deconstruct the very purpose of marriage itself.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord God had given the good gift of marriage.
SPEAKER_00: And here Lamech is going toward finding satisfaction in these women.
SPEAKER_00: It is a warped view of seeing women as objects of his own satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: And sadly, that's not a picture we have to go looking for in our world.
SPEAKER_00: Women are constantly being seen as objects.
SPEAKER_00: They're being objectified.
SPEAKER_00: And whenever you hear the lie that the Bible devalues women, you should reject that fully and completely.
SPEAKER_00: Marriage was a gift from God to both man and woman.
SPEAKER_00: The idea God ever sees women as lesser is a lie.
SPEAKER_00: Men and women are in equal image-bearers of the Creator God.
SPEAKER_00: Men and women are equal in value and worth.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord God is clear in the value and worth of women.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible is filled with women of faith, women of courage, as shown as examples of faith.
SPEAKER_00: And here we have this man, Lamech, misusing his manhood, misusing his strength, his power to create this culture of oppression.
SPEAKER_00: This is the starting point of polygamy, which is utterly destructive.
SPEAKER_00: Lamech is rejecting God's grace toward him in the gift of marriage and distorting it.
SPEAKER_00: He desires to find his own satisfaction in the relationship with his wives.
SPEAKER_00: He degrades the purpose and plan of marriage, which should be one of selfless love.
SPEAKER_00: But for Lamach, marriage is self-love.
SPEAKER_00: Marriage is about what he is able to gain rather than what he can give.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, how much do we desire for self-satisfaction?
SPEAKER_00: Our relationships consistently, constantly suffer when our hearts are ruled by self-satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: Because in every marriage, and because in my marriage, I will not be a lovingly loving husband.
SPEAKER_00: I will not lovingly lay down my life for my wife if my heart is captured by self satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: Our marriage will never display what God intended it to display if either of us is captured.
SPEAKER_00: By self-satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: I will not seek to come in and come home and see how I can serve if my heart is captured by me.
SPEAKER_00: When I believe the lie that our relationship should be about meeting my needs, I am just like Lamak.
SPEAKER_00: And you are too.
SPEAKER_00: When you view relationships in this way, when a relationship is oriented about what you can gain, what you can get, that is such a shallow view of relationships.
SPEAKER_00: And all our relationships have never been about meeting our needs in this way.
SPEAKER_00: Because as soon as we do that, we misplace the source of our satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: When you are not having your heart met by the satisfying order of Christ, you will constantly be in danger of seeking satisfaction elsewhere.
SPEAKER_00: This is exactly what Jesus himself says to the woman at the well.
SPEAKER_00: He goes to this woman, this outcast in the community, this woman who has been in multiple relationships with multiple men, and this woman who has been longing for satisfaction and yet not finding it.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says to her in John 4 everyone who drinks of the water will be thirsty again.
SPEAKER_00: Talking about the well.
SPEAKER_00: But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.
SPEAKER_00: The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: Do you hear the call of Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: The water, whether that is relationships for you, whether that's work, money, recognition, will never quench your thirst.
SPEAKER_00: We are just like Lamach, okay, seeking to find the quench of our souls longing in the broken ways of this world.
SPEAKER_00: It is Jesus we need.
SPEAKER_00: It is Jesus who gives this water that satisfies our deepest need.
SPEAKER_00: It is him himself we need.
SPEAKER_00: We need him daily, constantly, moment by moment.
SPEAKER_00: Praying to our Father, satisfy our souls by his Spirit through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It is the relationship with Christ Jesus that we so desperately long for.
SPEAKER_00: The rebellion of Lamech warns of our tendency to seek self-satisfaction, the utter failure in our efforts to be satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: Lamech is this man who reveals our brokenness in so many ways.
SPEAKER_00: And in verse 23 to 24, there's this song of Lamech showing how far people have fallen.
SPEAKER_00: He abandoned God's desire for marriage, and here he delights over his sin.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 23.
SPEAKER_00: Lamech said to his wives, Ada and Zillah, hear my voice, you wives of Lamech.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what I say.
SPEAKER_00: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.
SPEAKER_00: If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech's is seventy-sevenfold.
SPEAKER_00: The characteristics here of self-reliance, self-glorification, self-satisfaction are all played out in Lamach.
SPEAKER_00: As he boasts over this sin.
SPEAKER_00: He proclaims what he has done.
SPEAKER_00: And we don't get full details of the situation, but we see that he's been harmed in some way by this young man.
SPEAKER_00: But actually, the original word for young man, his adolescent, is boy.
SPEAKER_00: And the word for wound here is like a scratch.
SPEAKER_00: And the response of Lamech is murder.
SPEAKER_00: Like his forefather Cain.
SPEAKER_00: Lamech murders this boy, but there's an escalation.
SPEAKER_00: It's not even a man who he kills, but a boy.
SPEAKER_00: And there is no shame for Lamech.
SPEAKER_00: Cain at least didn't want to admit what he had done.
SPEAKER_00: Lamech boasts over his sin, his wickedness.
SPEAKER_00: And do you see what he is doing in verse 24?
SPEAKER_00: You see, God in his grace, in his mercy, decides to show mercy towards Cain.
SPEAKER_00: That no one will touch Cain, that he would avenge if anyone touched Cain.
SPEAKER_00: And here, Cain's vengeance is compared to Lamech.
SPEAKER_00: But Lamech says that he will be the one to take vengeance.
SPEAKER_00: The number seven being a number of completeness in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And Lamech is emphasizing his ruthless desire for revenge.
SPEAKER_00: He no longer thinks it is God who is judged, but he is judged.
SPEAKER_00: He no longer thinks it is God to impede his judgments, but he will have his revenge.
SPEAKER_00: Lamech is the one who will reject God and seek to be judge and ruler over people.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing will stop him.
SPEAKER_00: The picture of man consumed by self-reliance, self-glorification, and self-satisfaction and rejecting the grace of God toward him.
SPEAKER_00: And what I want us to see, what my heart has been for myself and for you, is that we grasp the emphasis of this passage.
SPEAKER_00: That actually it's not on Cain, it's not on Lamech, it's not even on human sin.
SPEAKER_00: These are all working towards, pointing towards the main focus of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: These people themselves receive grace even as they reject God.
SPEAKER_00: Because it is the Lord who gives the gift of marriage.
SPEAKER_00: It is the Lord who gives the gift of family and children.
SPEAKER_00: It is the Lord who gives the gift of creativity to build cities and to play instruments.
SPEAKER_00: It is the Lord who gives the gift of work to care for livestock and to forge instruments of bronze and iron.
SPEAKER_00: It is the Lord who gives the gift of community, food, places to live.
SPEAKER_00: It is the Lord and only the Lord who is able to show such grace in the face of such rejection.
SPEAKER_00: Because it is only gonna be because of the Lord that there ever will be a people of grace.
SPEAKER_00: In the face of rejection, God remains faithful.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth.
SPEAKER_00: For she said, God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel.
SPEAKER_00: For Cain killed him.
SPEAKER_00: To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh.
SPEAKER_00: And at that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: After all this sin, after all this evil, we see grace through the people who reject him, but in the people who accept him.
SPEAKER_00: It is that the Lord who promised to crush the serpent's head is faithful.
SPEAKER_00: This glimpse at the end of this chapter is one of hope because of the gracious hand and working of our Father.
SPEAKER_00: It shows his incredible grace that Seth is not just another child, but displays the hope of a different people.
SPEAKER_00: A people who accept God's grace, a people who acknowledge Him.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Eve sees with eyes of faith the plan of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.
SPEAKER_00: It is through the line of Seth, Jesus Christ will be born into the brokenness of our world to reveal the beauty of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: Often it is so easy for us to think that the devil has the upper hand.
SPEAKER_00: It seems as though the brokenness of this world is too broken.
SPEAKER_00: It seems as though evil people are too great.
SPEAKER_00: But the Lord is faithful, the Lord is gracious, the Lord is working.
SPEAKER_00: God meets human self-reliance with Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: God meets human self-glorification with Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: God meets human self-satisfaction with Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus does not say, My will be done.
SPEAKER_00: But in the Garden of Gethsemane with the cross in view, he says to his father, your will be done.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the one who deserves all glory, all praise, and he seeks, does not seek earthly self-glorification, but he humbles himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the one who completely is satisfied in himself and in his earthly life lays down his own comfort and says, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.
SPEAKER_00: It is only because of Jesus we become the people of grace as people who have received grace because he is gracious.
SPEAKER_00: Lamech declares the unrelenting desire to seek revenge.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, what does Jesus Christ do?
SPEAKER_00: The one who rightly holds judgment over all shows grace.
SPEAKER_00: Because consider what Jesus says to Peter when he's asking about forgiveness in Matthew 18.
SPEAKER_00: Then Peter came up to him and said, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him?
SPEAKER_00: As many as seven times.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, with the words, with the rejection of Lamech in his ears, responds, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
SPEAKER_00: The rightful judge, the one who deserves and rightly deserves to pour out his righteous judgment, his rightful anger upon us, shows the greatness of his forgiveness, the greatness of his grace toward us.
SPEAKER_00: In the face of our selfishness, the Lord lavishes grace upon us.
SPEAKER_00: Allow this grace to shape everything for you.
SPEAKER_00: Allow this grace to motivate and drive you.
SPEAKER_00: And as people who know such grace, let our lives be more and more marked by grace, His grace.