The Ten Generations (Adam – Noah)

In contrast to Cain's rebellious city, the line of Seth called on the name of the Lord, living before God in a culture of prayer, worship, and obedience.

Scripture:  Genesis 5

Sermon Notes:

1. In Genesis 4 the lineage of Cain builds a culture away from the Lord, which despite its advancement is characterized by lust and evil.
2. To Adam and Eve Seth was born renewing hope in the promised Saviour; people began to call upon the Lord.
3. Genealogies have a function, from a literary perspective, to narrate history very quickly.
4. From Adam to Noah there are ten generations signifying perfection or completion.
5. The structure of the genealogy also says something to us about history: God is sovereignly ordering and structuring creation. Nothing is by chance.
6. Despite the curse of sin and death, God allows families to grow and to enjoy His blessing. God repeats His blessing of children and He is faithful to future generations.
7. God held back the curse of death for a time, allowing Adams descendants to live to a great age.
8. Moses wished to point out the inescapable punishment and indescribable wrath which is on all mankind. So even in the righteous lineage of Seth they died.
9. In contrast to Cain’s rebellious city, the line of Seth called on the name of the Lord, living before God in a culture of prayer, worship, and obedience.
10. God created man in His image, male and female, and He blessed them with fruitfulness.
11. Made in the image of God, Adam ('earthling') was formed out of earth, and placed in the garden as a priest-king to care for it and tend it.
12. Human culture is the culture of image bearers. It's meant to reflect God and it says something about God.
13. There are three elements in all human cultures which serve God: A) the recognition of male and female reflected in godly marriage  B) the blessing of children in godly families and C) the godly rule, subduing, ordering, and filling the earth.
14. So the image of God is not just something inherent in us. It's something we do.
15. Enoch walked with God.  In Scripture walking with God implies peace with God, continual fellowship, and movement forward (cf. Psalm 23; 73:21-28).
16. To be saved we must call upon the name of Jesus in repentance and faith (Acts 2:21; 4:12).
17. Repentance is to accept God's judgment that your sin deserves death. Faith is to trust that Jesus died in my place.
18. The goal of our walk is that when Christ returns He will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body at the  resurrection.  With the Holy Spirit at work in your life you are being transformed even now.
19. To maintain our walk with the Lord we need to regularly listen to God’s Word (Ps. 1), pray in secret (Matt. 6:6), obey God’s Word, and be in the company of believers at church.
20. Enoch represents Christ’s culture of life with its right understanding of our place in God’s world and God's plan for our lives.

Application Questions:

1. What are the characteristics of the godly line of Seth?
2. What does it mean to walk with the Lord?  How do we maintain our walk?
3. What are the very basic elements of godly human culture?
4. Compare and contrast repentance and faith.
5. What is the image of God?  How can we “do it”?