WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.199 Morning, church. 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:03.200 Um, my name is Alex Gutierrez. 00:00:03.759 --> 00:00:06.480 Um, what a cool little spot, huh? 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:07.519 Good morning. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:08.800 It is a good morning. 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:12.000 We're reading out of Genesis 6, 1 through 8 today. 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:24.719 When man began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw the daughters of man were attractive, and they took them as their wives, any they chose. 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:30.879 Then the Lord said, My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh. 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:34.159 His day shall be one twenty a hundred and twenty years. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:43.679 The Nephilim were on earth those days, and also afterwards, when the sons of God came into the daughters of man, and they bore children to them. 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:48.079 These were the mighty men who were old, the men of renown. 00:00:49.359 --> 00:01:02.560 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, and the Lord regretted that he had made man on earth, and he grieved them to his heart. 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:15.599 So the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things, and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them. 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:18.799 But no one found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:20.400 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:21.599 Please be seated. 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:25.040 All right. 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:26.480 Thanks, Alex. 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:27.680 Uh thanks, Bill. 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:28.640 Thanks, everyone. 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:31.040 Uh that wow, we're here. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:32.480 Oh man. 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:34.640 All right, let's call it a day. 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:40.319 Uh my name is James Rathman, I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:42.159 Uh this is where we meet. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:45.040 Um in this building. 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:58.640 Um we uh we're preaching on uh like the absolute strangest passage of scripture that we possibly could have ended up on today, but we're just preaching through Genesis as a church right now. 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:01.519 Um and so congratulations, welcome to Redemption Church. 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:02.879 It's gonna get weird. 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:13.599 Um we uh uh you know, endings and beginnings um seem to always they come right on top of each other. 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:19.439 Um you know, you uh are engaged and you look forward to the wedding day. 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:27.199 Uh and then uh at the uh once the wedding day is over, then all of a sudden you realize, oh wow, now we're married and we have to figure out how to be married. 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:29.199 Um and so the work begins. 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:41.280 Uh and uh then uh my my wife and I have had one son, and uh I uh we you look forward to the day that he's he's finally gonna be born. 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:44.879 And I remember it was like this terrible labor for me. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:58.319 And uh you're so exhausted, uh I was, and they hand you this little baby, and then you and you're like, oh, it's finally over, it's finally done. 00:02:58.560 --> 00:02:59.840 But no, it's not. 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:04.319 Because now it's like, oh, we will never sleep again. 00:03:04.639 --> 00:03:06.800 Uh there will be no recovery from this. 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:10.159 Um and then in and this is kind of a biblical principle. 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:12.639 We see this, this is just kind of the way life is. 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:28.479 When uh the Israelites finally make it into the promised land, when Joshua finally takes them over the river and they go into the promised land, um they uh it's not like, oh great, this place is all ready for us, this is perfectly prepared. 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:34.479 It's like, oh no, this is a place full of in uh other people that think this is this is where they live. 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:37.439 And God's like, yeah, go take the land from them. 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:47.199 Uh and so this glorious ending of this long journey is at the same exact moment, uh, the beginning of a whole new journey. 00:03:47.360 --> 00:04:00.479 And that's why God, in moments like that, he always calls his people to build some sort of an altar or commemorate this uh this glorious ending um in some way. 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:10.319 Because if we don't commemorate it, then we'll just get swept up into the new beginning and we'll forget that it's his faithfulness that brought us here. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:15.840 It's his faithfulness that allowed us to come into this glorious new type of moment. 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:22.560 And so this morning is one of those moments where we need to build that monument. 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:25.040 Uh so let's all head outside. 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:34.959 But it we we obviously aren't you know going to build anything, but just in our minds, we're just gonna kind of take a moment to cement that this is uh a beginning. 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:46.000 And our offices aren't set up yet, and the sound system's not installed, we're still just doing pop-up church, and we walk in and Krista is running around like a thousand miles an hour. 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:51.120 Like, we'll do this and we'll do this, and then we'll change the carpet and we'll get the rid of the pews and we'll do you know all these things. 00:04:51.360 --> 00:05:01.519 Um uh and uh uh uh we need to take a second to mark. 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:24.480 A year ago, as Zach alluded to, a year ago at this time, uh uh Megan and I were uh uh skiing one day, and we got a call from um Jarrett, who handles our church's finances, and he had said, hey, we're we're like five grand short for this month. 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:27.920 Um and we're probably not gonna be able to make rent this month. 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:30.879 Um so James, it's time to start making some phone calls. 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:40.160 And so you know, I get out a list um of like you know people that are committed to our church and start making calls, and and I had to make one call. 00:05:40.639 --> 00:05:43.519 Um and somebody just covered us. 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:46.800 And that happened the next month, also. 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:50.639 So I'm like, okay, last month we just had to make one call. 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:59.600 This month I know this is gonna be this is gonna be the real deal, and we're gonna have to make some more calls to be able to fade this thing and keep this this fragile thing together. 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:06.000 And uh got out the list, and it's like we're getting ready to make some calls again, and and uh once again I just made one call. 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:08.240 And the person was like, we got it. 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:09.759 You're covered. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:23.920 Throughout this season and throughout the from the start of Redemption Church, the uh prayer that I've had in mind from from the very beginning, it's it's felt like something that like the Lord gave me. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:26.160 Um and I don't really talk like that. 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:37.439 Uh, but I really felt this was true, and and it's uh a smoldering wick, he will not quench, and a bruised reed, he will not break. 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:44.240 And we our church, I don't know that if it's felt this way, it's felt this way for seasons for us in leadership. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:47.519 There's been these times where we've just been the smoldering wick. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:56.480 Um and when I hear like why people have stuck around um throughout these past two years, it's these bizarre reasons. 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:02.079 There's no like grand narrative of like, well, we stuck around because of this obvious thing. 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:05.839 It's just like, yeah, we don't really know why we stayed either. 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:11.360 It just kind of seemed like something was happening here. 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:16.800 Uh and that's been true for me as well through a lot of the season. 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:19.920 It just seemed like something was happening here. 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:24.079 Uh we're a church, we're not a building. 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:28.399 Um but we were a church looking for a building. 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:42.160 And uh as soon after that season of making calls to try and fade fade some rent, um uh uh met with uh Corbin Hobbs from the Heights Church. 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:50.399 And he sat down and he was like, look, we're we want to buy the building, um, but I understand that it may be uncomfortable for you to for us to buy this old building. 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:54.639 So this is the building that you're the, you know, uh that you guys have started in. 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:56.800 And I was like, no, that would be wonderful. 00:07:56.879 --> 00:07:57.600 I think you should. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:05.759 And we both saw together, you know, out of this, out of the the Heights Church, um, sorry, this is becoming a little inside if this is your first time. 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:07.519 I'll tell you the story later. 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:22.079 Um uh and we kind of imagined together at uh um a coffee shop off 6th that uh, you know, there could really be two thriving churches that come out of this. 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:25.279 Um and let's start to hope and pray for that. 00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:30.399 And they're thriving on the east side of Denver in the building that we moved out of. 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:35.120 And I think we're gonna be thriving uh here on the west side of Denver. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:43.200 Um God multiplied his church um through this season, and it's just been a wondrous thing to be a part of. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:49.919 Um this is a flyer that historic Berkeley Regis made for the building. 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:55.360 Um uh you guys if you guys need help with graphic design, you can call us. 00:08:56.399 --> 00:09:01.200 Because these gr these graphics are uh are taped on here. 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:05.200 The which is uh adorable. 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:06.879 We really appreciate it. 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:08.320 We appreciate the work. 00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:13.120 And uh Krista, uh Krista, could you stand up just so everybody knows who I'm talking about? 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:14.240 That's Krista. 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:32.080 Uh Krista got a stack of these and she brought them in my office, and this is just like a couple of weeks or maybe a month or six weeks or so after um we had we had kind of seen this building on the horizon and started dreaming about it. 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:39.279 And uh we teach a class here called Gotham, which is uh like a faith and work sort of development discipleship class. 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:46.480 And so we are we are teaching through these sections that were describing how like we're called to hope as Christians and to hope recklessly. 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:48.799 So that means you're not guarding your heart. 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:53.600 Um you're you're just gonna hope that the things that you think God is showing you that will happen will happen. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:56.879 Um and if they don't happen, God will be there to comfort you then. 00:09:56.960 --> 00:09:58.480 But for now, our job is to hope. 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:01.200 So I was like, okay, this is foolish. 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:08.159 This is a foolish thing to hope for, but I'm gonna take this flyer and I'm gonna stick it up right above my desk. 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:11.440 Um and I'm just gonna hope that we end up in this building. 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:16.159 Because that seems like the the best place we could end up of the places that we had seen. 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:19.120 And so we hoped, like idiots. 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:22.720 And uh here we are. 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:32.000 Um so uh we just praise God who who meets us in our foolishness, um, because it's not foolish to him. 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:35.279 Uh ones that hope in the Lord would not be disappointed. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:38.799 Um so this is this is a wonderful moment. 00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:42.799 Let's mark the occasion of our new church here. 00:10:43.039 --> 00:10:47.120 Um so uh we waited patiently for the Lord. 00:10:47.360 --> 00:11:01.039 He inclined to us and heard our cry, he drew us up from the pit of destruction out of the miry bog, he set our feet upon a solid rock, he made our steps secure, and he put a new song in our mouth, a song of praise to our God. 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:05.120 So let's pray some praise to our God this morning. 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:09.440 Father, you are glorious in your provision. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:13.600 Your care for us is amazing, your tenderness is unthinkable. 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:24.879 You dwell in the heavens and uh the earth is your footstool, but Lord, you make your dwelling place with the lowly and the contrite in heart. 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:32.080 Uh Lord, we praise you that uh we have a God who makes his glory known in his humility. 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:42.559 And uh what what a humble thing for you to do, Lord, to find a space for a small church like ours, um that uh we might make your glorious name great. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:12:07.360 Um, Father, we pray that uh we would be effective servants in that way, that the community would be blessed by our moving in here, that uh we would move in with the same humility that you move, um, that we aren't coming in as saviors, certainly not, uh, but uh come in as people who want to be a part of this community and point towards the one who has shown us to be our savior. 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:10.559 Lord, uh we lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:11.440 Amen. 00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:13.120 Okay. 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:17.679 So this year we've been moving through the book of Genesis. 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:30.480 And about two weeks ago, I said the reason that we preach straight through books is so that I don't have the opportunity to skip over parts of scripture that I don't want to preach. 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:39.840 So I thought, if I said that two weeks ago, that means this morning we're just gonna have to preach the text that's up next. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:48.559 So the text that is up next happens to be about the Nephilim, uh, which are uh, well, we'll get into it. 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:55.759 If if you've read it through uh your Bible before, if you've ever thought, I'm gonna read through the Bible, I'm just gonna start in Genesis and start trekking through. 00:12:55.919 --> 00:13:00.559 Things, stories might be familiar, a snake talks, that was probably weird. 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:18.720 And then you get to this bit right before Noah, and it describes uh the sons of God uh see the daughters of men are beautiful, and they come down and then they take them for themselves, and then they have these children, which are giants called the Nephilim, and God was like, Well, enough of that, I'm going to flood the earth. 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:21.519 And you're like, okay. 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:34.879 I guess that's not the way I remember the Noah's Ark story when they when Steve Corell made that movie about it. 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:40.399 Uh but uh here we are. 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:47.279 What we see in this story is sin having its complete effect. 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:53.679 We we see sin, which just entered the story just a couple of weeks ago. 00:13:54.320 --> 00:14:04.559 It enters in a way and it starts to develop and has a complete effect on humanity, so that uh God must address it now. 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:08.639 And God addresses it in an ultimate sort of way. 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:10.639 So that's what we're going to see today. 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:19.600 We're going to see what does sin mean when it has its complete effect, and then we're going to see God's response to that effect. 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:21.440 So let's begin. 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:24.559 Genesis 6, 1 through 3. 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:36.080 When man began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive, and they took as their wives any they chose. 00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:41.679 Then the Lord said, My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh. 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:45.679 His days shall be 120 years. 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:52.399 So, right off the bat, we see some language that's become familiar throughout the book of Genesis. 00:14:52.559 --> 00:14:54.879 Uh we see man multiplying. 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:58.399 And we remember that this was the way that God blessed humanity. 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:03.759 He called them to be fruitful, multiply, take dominion over this creation. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:16.159 The point of humanity was to draw out the flourishing that was built into God's good creation, so that the world is better for having people in it. 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:22.480 Before sin enters the world, it even says that there are trees and plants of the ground that wouldn't grow. 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:28.320 And the reason was because there weren't humans there to yet till and cultivate the land. 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:33.679 So the presence of humanity is meant to bring flourishing to the world. 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:38.799 But this type of multiplication starts to become negative. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:48.320 Sin enters the garden with Adam and Eve, and then in one generation, their uh sons, one of their sons murders the other son. 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:55.200 And we see sin start to multiply in the degeneration that we see take place in the world. 00:15:55.360 --> 00:16:09.840 And so here, this multiplication, which had this glorious connotation of a flourishing that's meant to spread throughout the world, now that sin has entered the world, we see this type of evil multiplies as humanity multiplies. 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:18.799 And this multiplication of evil, it takes place in the spiritual realm as well. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:25.919 Now, just so you kind of have a context, we're going to look at this in terms of just what it says, and then we'll get to what it means soon. 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:34.639 So hang in there, because the what it says part is uh stranger than uh I had even known at the beginning of the week before studying it. 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:41.919 Now, it says the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive, and they took as their wives any they chose. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:47.039 Now, sons of God, there are two interpretations of this that are sort of the classic interpretations. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:52.799 One is that the sons of God represents the children of Seth. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:17:00.240 Now, Seth is the son that Eve was given to replace Abel, because Abel had been murdered. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:08.160 And so there's this hope at the end of that chapter, which is that through the line of Seth we'll see goodness start to come into the world. 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:15.519 And so some interpreters have interpreted this as the sons of God refers to the children of Seth, this new good line. 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:28.000 And the problem then, what takes place here, is the children of Seth, the sons of Seth, start to intermarry with uh the Canaanites, though Cain was the murderer's son. 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:31.839 And it's that intermarriage that is wrong. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:43.759 Now, that interpretation sounds wonderful because it's far less weird than angels coming down and uh reproducing with women in the world. 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:54.720 Um unfortunately, as bizarre as that second interpretation is uh for our experience, uh I have never known anyone to have such an experience. 00:17:54.880 --> 00:18:04.319 Um the first interpretation of these as the sons of Seth is actually far more bizarre in terms of the language of the text. 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:10.480 Um where does the text ever refer to uh uh Seth's descendants as the sons of God. 00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:14.000 It has nowhere taught us to refer to them as the sons of God. 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:23.680 The sons of God is a technical term throughout scripture, and it refers to angels or these spiritual beings, and it always refers to those things. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:32.799 And so, and then as we see the way that the text continues, uh it seems to be that very clearly this is what's being said. 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:41.680 Uh that the sons of God, these angels, see the attractiveness of women, and they come down and and and reproduce with them in this way. 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:46.559 And the offspring are uh what's referred to as the Nephilim, which are like these giants. 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:48.960 Welcome to Redemption Church Denver. 00:18:53.200 --> 00:19:03.599 If you would like to become a member, look, you get what you get. 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:14.079 So we're we're left with this language of this sort of interpretation, like, look, this is what happens. 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:16.960 So what do we do with this? 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:22.559 You know, what does this what does an event like this mean if we understand the narrative of scripture? 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:24.000 Well, a couple of things. 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:33.359 First of all, we see this forced wedding of heaven, the spiritual realm, and earth. 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:46.079 And it's this forced wedding of those two things in order to create a sort of eternal existence on earth apart from God. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:57.599 And so what we see is heaven and earth, the spiritual and the physical, coming together in this way to create an eternal existence on earth apart from God. 00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:02.720 It's a perfect opposite for the kingdom of heaven. 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:08.720 The kingdom of heaven is throughout all of Scripture, it's what is being arced towards. 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:29.200 It's this hope that uh God's reign will take place in our hearts and on the earth, with God's very presence being on the earth with his people, so that we are in communion with him, and then we'll live eternally with him in real physical bodies, the way that we were designed and created to be. 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:43.920 And there's this commingling of the spiritual and the physical that's taking place in this situ in this section of scripture to try and dwell eternally on earth, but without the presence of God. 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:53.039 Right after Adam and Eve sin, we see that uh God says uh they need to be removed from the garden. 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:58.319 And they need to be removed from the garden because the tree of life is in the garden. 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:09.759 And God says, we need to take them out and it will put the cherubim to guard the garden so that they can never get back in, because if they eat from the tree of life, then they will live forever. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:12.880 Now, why would that be a curse for Adam and Eve? 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:16.960 It's a curse because Adam and Eve were trapped in their sin. 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:26.559 And eternal life apart from God is eternal death. 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:38.240 Eternal life apart from the source, being cursed to live forever, apart from the source of all goodness and joy and patience and kindness and love is just hell. 00:21:39.440 --> 00:21:52.799 And so what's being created here with this uh in the spiritual realm and in the physical realm on earth, what we see happen when sin has its full effect, hell on earth is created. 00:21:53.519 --> 00:21:59.599 You see that it's very weird, but when you put it in the context of the narrative. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.319 It actually makes a lot of sense. 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:07.680 And so God immediately responds to this by saying, okay, you know what? 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:08.960 120 years. 00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:14.640 It says, and then the Lord said, My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh. 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:17.759 His days shall be 120 years. 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:22.559 See, it's in the same way that God blocks them from the tree of life. 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:49.759 When there's this intermingling of these eternal angels and these physical humans, then God makes the same sort of barricade for the protection of his creation, which is to say, look, this hell on earth, this eternal hell on earth that is being driven towards by the angels and humans together, by the entrance of sin into the world, I'm going to cut that off. 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:52.880 And it's going to have a timeline, and that's 120 years. 00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:59.359 Now, this is not referring to 120 years will be the typical lifespan of humanity from now on. 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:04.640 What God is saying is in 120 years, I'm going to cleanse the earth. 00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:07.519 In 120 years, the flood is coming. 00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:08.720 Steve Corell. 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:14.240 That's what's being said here. 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:17.279 So, so I don't skip over them. 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:18.799 Genesis 6, 4. 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:26.960 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of man, and they bore children to them. 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:30.480 These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. 00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:34.720 Okay, so Nephilim is a word that is just transliterated here. 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:37.359 Because we don't really know what it means. 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:41.759 Sorry, I'm laughing because it's bizarre. 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:43.279 It's completely bizarre. 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:46.960 It's elsewhere used to refer to giants. 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:53.920 But what's described here is this certain type of creature. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:24:03.599 And the way that these words are picked up on later throughout the rest of chapter six, it'll say the world was full of violence because of them. 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:06.880 The them refers back to these Nephilim. 00:24:07.279 --> 00:24:14.079 So what we see is this very this mighty creature that is full of evil and violence. 00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:20.000 And so what the world had become is this culture of just might equals right. 00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:24.240 The only governing system was power. 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:28.000 And if you had the power, you were the one who was in control. 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:30.880 You were the person of renown. 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:34.319 That is hell on earth. 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:37.039 That's what's described here. 00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:41.599 Might equals right is hell on earth. 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:44.079 Every man for himself. 00:24:44.319 --> 00:24:47.519 That's what's being described before the flood. 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:54.000 Anti-deluvian creation, that means before the flood, but I love that word and so I wanted to use it. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:25:00.799 Anti-deluvian creation becomes a violent hell on earth. 00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:02.960 And that's what's being described here. 00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:15.599 Scripture takes us to this ultimate end to show us how far humanity can degenerate when we have abandoned God. 00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:19.920 That's what's being shown in this pre-flood narrative. 00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:21.200 Okay. 00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:28.480 So let's talk a bit about what this means, but first we need to we need to do some work together. 00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:37.440 Um there's uh we're at a strange uh moment in the text, and so we need to uh do a bit of, we need to check our privilege a bit. 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:40.240 Uh thing thing one. 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:47.359 Uh first of all, we just talked about angels having children with women and those and producing giants, and that's why God floods the world. 00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:49.519 In case you just showed up. 00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:55.200 Uh so our impulse is to say this is so weird. 00:25:55.359 --> 00:26:00.640 And uh scripture is bizarre and archaic, and what are we doing preaching through something like this? 00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:04.480 This is a very strange way to open a new location. 00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:28.160 And uh so here's point number one: to deny uh the possibility of this is to deny the spiritual realm generally that a creature like an angel could exist or a creature like a demon could exist is to deny a uh general understanding that scripture has uh throughout uh from Genesis to Revelation. 00:26:28.400 --> 00:26:34.799 It's a general understanding that we see even Jesus have of just the way the world seemed to work. 00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:43.599 In fact, throughout so much of the Jesus narrative, what's shocking to people about Jesus is that the demons listen to him. 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:45.839 He's able to cast them out. 00:26:46.160 --> 00:26:53.680 So, for example, if you heard of a person who was able to cast out demons, the first thing you would probably say is, What? 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:55.039 Demons are real? 00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:57.599 But none of them said that. 00:26:57.839 --> 00:26:59.359 Instead, they were just like, What? 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:00.559 They listened to him? 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:03.440 They never listen to me. 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:09.359 He has authority over this realm that we can't seem to reach into and touch. 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:20.559 So it takes for granted a general understanding of the view of the world that Scripture has from beginning to end, the very view that Jesus himself had of the world. 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:40.559 Secondly, if we deny the reality of a spiritual realm or spiritual existence like this, we are putting ourselves in the vast minority of people who are living in the world today and in the vast minority of cultures throughout all of world history. 00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:51.920 The vast majority of people and cultures have assumed that there is a real spiritual, spiritual I gotta learn how to say that word if I'm gonna make it in this job. 00:27:54.160 --> 00:27:56.559 There's a real spiritual realm. 00:27:57.200 --> 00:28:01.839 And uh that's been the basic assumption, the basic worldview of humanity throughout history. 00:28:01.920 --> 00:28:04.079 Now that's not something to just be written off. 00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:23.599 What we're saying, if we do just write that off, if we say this can't be because that simply doesn't exist, we're saying that uh Western people since about the 1700s have the most accurate view of the world in history. 00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:34.240 And Western educated people have been able to transcend the archaic views of most of the world at most of the time, and most people even now. 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:36.480 And so, what would our job then be? 00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:38.720 To go out and civilize them. 00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:49.039 Now, uh uh I'm not much of a history buff, but uh that lens on culture it typically doesn't end well. 00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:50.880 Are you with me? 00:28:51.599 --> 00:28:59.440 So uh part of what we need to see here is we just need to say, okay, what reflex am I having against this? 00:28:59.920 --> 00:29:05.200 Perhaps it's one that's grounded more in my culture than it is grounded in reality. 00:29:05.359 --> 00:29:14.880 And if I happen to be in another culture, uh, in fact, in in any of the other majority cultures of the world, then I would likely be seeing this differently. 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:17.359 So it's just one check we need to have on ourselves. 00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:18.400 Uh so it's point two. 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:21.599 Point three, the world is very weird. 00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:23.839 Point four. 00:29:28.079 --> 00:29:33.359 Heaven and earth, I did have more there, but it's you guys get it. 00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:35.039 Point four there. 00:29:35.279 --> 00:29:46.000 Uh heaven and earth relate to each other, the spiritual and the physical, relate to each other at a closer proximity than we typically give them credit for. 00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:56.000 Our normal view that we have uh of the way that heaven relates to earth is heaven is up there and the earth is down here. 00:29:56.400 --> 00:30:02.880 But when Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven, he says things like, uh, the kingdom of heaven is in your midst. 00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:10.160 So that means the kingdom of heaven is something that can take place in the world as we know it here. 00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:18.559 It's something that can, in a sense, twist into or fold into the creation as we experience it. 00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:32.640 When Jesus ascends to the right hand of the Father, right before he ascends, he says, and I will be with you always, or always, depending on your translation. 00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:34.559 And I will be with you always. 00:30:34.720 --> 00:30:37.519 So those things are related. 00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:47.440 Heaven is the type of thing that, the type of place that when you're in it, you can be present everywhere on the earth. 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:54.400 I wish I had a good analogy for it, but I think it's a very complicated type of thing. 00:30:55.039 --> 00:31:03.279 So when Jesus ascends into heaven, because he's in heaven, he's able to fulfill this promise that he can be with us always. 00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:15.519 When we understand that the purpose of creation was that God was creating a place that he would dwell with his people. 00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:35.599 When we see that this physical world was designed for us as these physical creatures to be in communion with God, so that this world, so that it would be, to borrow a phrase, on earth as it is in heaven. 00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:51.039 When we see that that's the trajectory of creation, then the like opposite to that would be that we would try and create this eternal existence in the world apart from God. 00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:58.640 And that would mean hell on earth, on earth as it is in hell. 00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:02.720 That's what we see before the creation. 00:32:03.839 --> 00:32:08.000 Now, this has terriful, terrible implications for the human heart. 00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:21.920 In Genesis 6, 5 through 6, it continues on, and it says, 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. 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:27.759 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 00:32:28.160 --> 00:32:41.119 Okay, so this maximum description of hell on earth, which we saw in the picture of the Nephilim, is then met with a maximum description of godlessness and sin's corruption in the human heart. 00:32:41.359 --> 00:32:43.039 Listen to the sentence. 00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:49.519 Every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:56.480 That has got to be the maximum thing you could say about the way sin could corrupt a human heart. 00:32:56.799 --> 00:33:00.000 Only, it's not even the outcomes. 00:33:00.160 --> 00:33:04.559 You know, it's not even like we're accidentally, everything always seems to work out bad for us. 00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:06.000 No, it's the intention. 00:33:06.559 --> 00:33:11.440 And it's not some of the intentions, it's it's every one of the intentions. 00:33:11.519 --> 00:33:14.240 And they're only evil, and it's all the time. 00:33:14.400 --> 00:33:16.960 This is the maximum statement. 00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:31.759 And then this maximum statement is met with this maximum response from God, which in which he says, it says, the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 00:33:33.279 --> 00:33:43.759 Now, the theologians among you are probably thinking something like, the Lord regretted, but he didn't see this coming. 00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:51.680 Uh omnipotent, omniscient, all-knowing, all-powerful, and he was blindsided. 00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:55.599 So we're not really talking about God here, are we? 00:33:55.839 --> 00:34:01.039 This is just some ancient text of people reflecting their own humanity into it. 00:34:01.200 --> 00:34:01.519 Right? 00:34:01.599 --> 00:34:06.480 This is not the word of God accurately describing what's taking place in the consciousness of God. 00:34:07.920 --> 00:34:08.239 Okay. 00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:15.599 The Bible will use language that is completely uncensored. 00:34:15.840 --> 00:34:27.199 Okay, the Bible will use language that it pushes to the extreme, saying things about God that we wouldn't say because God to us is more theory than he is person. 00:34:28.239 --> 00:34:37.920 And when we relate to God as theory and we say that he regretted, that means that he's violated one of the principles that we've set out to define him. 00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:46.239 But this phrase is used elsewhere in scripture, and it's used right next to this other verse. 00:34:46.480 --> 00:34:52.639 Right after Samuel had so Samuel is a prophet who anoints King Saul. 00:34:53.119 --> 00:34:55.280 King Saul is a bad king. 00:34:55.679 --> 00:35:02.639 And so he's sent later by God to tell King Saul, uh, you're a bad king, you are no longer king. 00:35:03.199 --> 00:35:16.400 Uh right six verses before Samuel goes to Saul and says to him, The Lord has regretted that he made you king. 00:35:16.960 --> 00:35:29.519 Six verses before saying that, Samuel says this the glory of Israel, it's God, will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man that he should have regret. 00:35:31.199 --> 00:35:33.199 So what does that teach us? 00:35:33.679 --> 00:35:36.480 The Bible's full of contradictions and can't be trusted. 00:35:36.719 --> 00:35:38.960 Oh, come on, we can be better readers than that. 00:35:39.920 --> 00:35:50.480 What it's doing is it's teaching us how to understand what the emotional state of God is when it's being described to us in human terms. 00:35:50.960 --> 00:35:56.400 When we hear regret, it's a very linear experience, when we experience regret, it's a very linear experience for us. 00:35:56.559 --> 00:36:01.280 We didn't have all the information, we did something, now we look back and we realize it was a mistake. 00:36:01.519 --> 00:36:03.840 Well, God doesn't experience things like that. 00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:12.400 But God does experience something that for humans to understand it, the best way to say it is to say the Lord regretted doing this. 00:36:13.039 --> 00:36:22.880 The Lord regretted that he saw people living in this way and that he had created them and that they are they are now creating this hell on earth that is multiplying. 00:36:23.039 --> 00:36:26.719 That filled the Lord with something like regret, and it grieved his heart. 00:36:26.880 --> 00:36:39.280 And then, lest you think that God is just bigger and stronger, you, Scripture also tells us explicitly, the Lord is not a man that he should have regret. 00:36:41.599 --> 00:36:47.599 God is transcendent, he is not like us, he is not a man. 00:36:47.840 --> 00:36:51.679 His regret is not something where we should say, it's just like my regret. 00:36:52.320 --> 00:36:56.639 But he is also imminent, he is present with us. 00:36:57.199 --> 00:37:04.400 And in his imminence, we see that he does have these real experiences of pain. 00:37:05.599 --> 00:37:05.920 Okay. 00:37:08.480 --> 00:37:17.599 The point of us seeing the Lord's regret here is that when sin is left to its own devices, it leads to a total degeneration. 00:37:18.320 --> 00:37:24.480 And the total degeneration is met with God Himself having this ultimate response. 00:37:24.800 --> 00:37:29.280 The ultimate response is described here in the next verse, Genesis 6, verse 7. 00:37:29.519 --> 00:37:41.440 So the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals, and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them. 00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:47.440 God's response to evil is to annihilate it. 00:37:47.920 --> 00:37:51.599 God's response to evil is to get rid of it, destroy it. 00:37:51.840 --> 00:37:56.400 We do a lot of mental gymnastics to try and understand the problem of evil. 00:37:56.800 --> 00:38:03.519 Uh, how does pain and suffering make sense in a world where uh God is all-loving and totally in control? 00:38:04.400 --> 00:38:12.960 Well, the way that we see God respond to that problem throughout all of Scripture is with perfect justice, a justice that is unrestrained. 00:38:13.119 --> 00:38:32.719 And look, this is our ultimate hope that all evil will one day be done away with, that there will be no more crying, no more pain, no more tears, no more no more sorrow, adultery, suffering, all those things that are experiences, brokenness in our hearts. 00:38:32.880 --> 00:38:42.000 Right now, we're not gonna we're not doing communion this morning because there's a virus that's moving through our our city in the world. 00:38:43.760 --> 00:38:46.880 All of that will be done away with. 00:38:50.079 --> 00:38:54.239 Um, and they're describing how children experience trauma. 00:38:54.800 --> 00:39:00.000 And there are two components that are required for a child to really experience trauma. 00:39:00.400 --> 00:39:05.039 And uh one of them is that something something bad happens. 00:39:05.760 --> 00:39:07.199 It's a technical term. 00:39:09.440 --> 00:39:18.800 The other is that somebody who should have defended them, who should have stepped in, didn't. 00:39:19.920 --> 00:39:36.480 If you experience something bad that happens, but a close friend or a family member steps in and defends you and protects you when they had the opportunity, then it's unlikely that you will experience any remaining trauma. 00:39:38.159 --> 00:39:45.280 It's the abandonment of someone who should have defended you that causes the trauma. 00:39:47.920 --> 00:39:54.880 God never ignores the injustice that we experience. 00:39:55.679 --> 00:39:59.199 He never abandons, he never turns his back on it. 00:39:59.360 --> 00:40:08.960 There is not a square inch of evil that takes place in our world that he doesn't step up and fight against and look to remove completely. 00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.159 Do you see how that is our hope from a God who is a perfect father? 00:40:15.840 --> 00:40:17.760 But it's also our terror. 00:40:18.079 --> 00:40:20.320 And we know why it's our terror immediately. 00:40:20.480 --> 00:40:30.719 Because look, if we were just walking around purely victims of sin and purely victims of the evil that takes place in the world, then we would be able to say, great, let's just get rid of that and things will be better. 00:40:30.880 --> 00:40:34.079 But we aren't just victims of it, we're also perpetrators of it. 00:40:34.239 --> 00:40:36.559 We're participants in it. 00:40:37.280 --> 00:40:48.719 We're the ones that it moves in our hearts and it causes us to act selfishly, to act every man for himself, to act might equals right, to take advantage of the power that we've been given and to use it over others. 00:40:48.960 --> 00:40:51.199 We're not just victims of it, we're perpetrators. 00:40:51.360 --> 00:40:57.199 So all of a sudden, God's perfect justice becomes not just our hope, but our terror. 00:40:58.320 --> 00:41:01.039 Something horrifying and to be avoided. 00:41:01.280 --> 00:41:08.639 And so when we hear God is going to blot them out, we think we don't stand a chance. 00:41:09.280 --> 00:41:17.920 And when sin is taken to its maxim before a perfectly righteous God, the reality is we don't stand a chance. 00:41:18.239 --> 00:41:20.800 Let's look at Genesis 6, chapter 8. 00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:24.800 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 00:41:26.880 --> 00:41:29.280 Okay, here's the dilemma of scripture. 00:41:30.960 --> 00:41:34.079 God's response to sin is ultimate and complete. 00:41:34.320 --> 00:41:35.119 That's our hope. 00:41:35.360 --> 00:41:43.840 And when sin is left to its own devices, it degenerates into unthinkable things, into unsustainable societies. 00:41:44.639 --> 00:41:52.719 And God, in the midst of that, in the midst of his perfect justice, he saves. 00:41:54.880 --> 00:41:56.320 He rescues. 00:41:58.000 --> 00:42:01.679 He has no half measures. 00:42:02.800 --> 00:42:06.559 There's no political expedience with God. 00:42:07.440 --> 00:42:10.000 His justice will be ultimate. 00:42:11.599 --> 00:42:16.000 And amidst that ultimate justice, he offers salvation. 00:42:16.960 --> 00:42:30.239 So this dilemma plays out throughout the rest of Scripture because we'll see the people of Israel, they'll go through this cycle where, like right here, it's beginning, they are the ones that are evil, and Noah is chosen. 00:42:30.719 --> 00:42:35.519 And it's not because of anything particularly in Noah, it's just God said, I'm going to choose Noah. 00:42:35.679 --> 00:42:39.119 And he chooses Noah and He rescues his people through Noah. 00:42:40.320 --> 00:42:47.360 And then we'll see a spiral again, and they'll become enslaved, and God will rescue them out of the slavery in Egypt. 00:42:47.599 --> 00:42:50.480 And then we'll wander around in the wilderness. 00:42:50.559 --> 00:42:56.000 And in the wandering, there will be a turning away from God again and a corruption into evil. 00:42:56.079 --> 00:42:59.519 And so a whole generation won't be able to enter the promised land. 00:42:59.840 --> 00:43:09.599 And then when they finally enter the promised land, then they'll be told, All right, take over this whole land, conquer the whole land of Canaan, settle it for yourself, and they won't conquer the whole land of Canaan. 00:43:09.679 --> 00:43:18.800 And we'll see a spiral of judges that become more and more wicked, a spiral of kings that become more and more wicked, and yet God continues to rescue them. 00:43:20.239 --> 00:43:22.800