Sermon

Death reigns (for a time)

May 26, 2024 Grace Evangelical Church Newcastle - Sermons

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Genesis 5.
This is the book of generations of Adam.
When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.
Male and female, he created them.
And he blessed them and named them man when they were created.
When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness.
After his image and named him Seth.
The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years and he had other sons and daughters.
Thus, all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died.
When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh.
Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters.
Thus, all the days of Seth were 912 years and he died.
When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan.
Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters.
Thus, all the days of Enosh were 905 years and he died.
When Kenan had lived 70 years and he fathered Mahalalel.
Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years and had other sons and daughters.
Thus, all the days of Mahalalel.
Thus, all the days of Kenan were 910 years and he died.
When Mahalalel had lived 65 years and had other sons and daughters.
Thus, all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years and he died.
When Jared had lived 162 years and he fathered Enoch.
Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters.
Thus, all the days of Jared were 962 years and he died.
When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah.
Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.
Thus, all the days of Enoch were 365 years.
Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him.
When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech.
Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters.
Thus, all the days of Methuselah were 969 years and he died.
When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying,
Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work
and from the painful toil of our hands.
Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters.
Thus, all the days of Lamech were 777 years and he died.
After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham and Japheth.
When men 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.
Then the Lord said,
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterward,
when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them.
These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
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.
And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart.
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 heaven,
for I am sorry that I have made them.
But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord.
Good morning.
Just testing the sound.
Yep, it sounds good.
We are glad that Don was able to give the kids' talk.
Actually, he was quite sick last week and he didn't know that it was on for the kids' talk.
He did well, didn't he?
Until the end, I thought I need to do resuscitation on him.
Isn't it great that in the church we can joke about death
because we can look at death and know that he has no power over us anymore.
And today we are going to go through this passage in Genesis
and hope that that will encourage us.
Let us pray first before we go.
Dear God, we are so thankful that you have delivered us from being enslaved to death
and that we can look at life in a different way to live it for your own glory,
not for our own glory.
Thank you, Lord.
May you teach us your way today.
We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Hebrews 9.27 tells us that there's a point for men to die once
and then comes judgment.
And that's why everyone dies.
Death is not even the end.
There's judgment as well.
So there's two things.
There's both death and judgment that we are facing.
We know that since the rebellion of Adam and Eve,
then they were expelled from the Garden of Eden.
Death is inevitable because we can't assess the tree of life
and our body would die eventually,
regardless of how long people would live on.
Even then, we know that death is not natural.
We have the sense that life should go on.
About two weeks ago,
when I looked at the Facebook posting,
I was dismayed and surprised to find that a person called Mudan Takao died.
I was following his wife's post.
His wife, I mean, Leia and I knew about the wife,
I knew a wife about 35 years ago
when we were serving with Borneo Evangelical Mission
with the literature part of it.
And the wife of one of the board members.
And so I've been friends with her
and she's been posting about where they have been.
They travel a lot, this Mudan Takao and the wife,
because Mudan is a politician
and he visited many places on behalf of the government.
And he actually had a heart attack
when he was overseas representing Malaysia.
He didn't die straight away.
He eventually came back to Malaysia
and then he died a few days later.
It was a shock to me
because Mudan is a unique person.
He is the Lung Bawang.
Lung Bawang is one of the indigenous people
in the state of Sarawak.
And he's a very rare Christian
in the parliament of Malaysia.
He was recently elected as the president of the Senate.
And he's done a lot for his people,
both the whole Malaysian,
and his people, the indigenous people,
and the Christians as well.
What is sad to me is that Mudan has got an older brother
and the brother was also a politician.
He was actually a doctor and then serving his people.
And that brother also died 20 years ago
in a helicopter accident when he was visiting a village
on behalf of the government.
So the father has got these two sons
and both sons die in the service
of the government.
Some of you may have heard me saying
about the Lung Bawang people.
Lung Bawang people were considered
the worst of the people in Malaysia
about 100 years ago.
The British rulers
has given them up,
leaving them to extinct
because they were a people
that is very superstitious, lazy,
and they were drunk most of the time.
Most of the children died anyway
because they didn't get taken care of.
And so the government was saying
just let them be and let them extinct.
But Borneo Evangelical Mission went in
and in a few short years,
the whole tribe became Christian
and they became the most successful people
or tribes in Malaysia.
And Mudan and his brother Jackson,
their testimony for that,
they were highly educated
and they became the leaders
in the government
and in the church as well.
But hearing about their death,
I have this sense,
I think you can sense that
these people shouldn't die.
that there's a sense that
at least good people
shouldn't die
and that should not be
the end of these things.
And as you look at
chapter 5 of Genesis,
that is what it's saying.
These people in chapter 5,
at least,
they shouldn't die.
I mean,
they still die.
in chapter 5,
it's a genealogy of
the descendants of Seth.
And we only see the record
of their birth
when their father
gives birth to them
and then they die
or who they get birth to.
That's all.
Compared to chapter 4,
when we look at
the descendants of Cain,
you can see that
they talk about
the achievements
like Jabba was
the father of all those
who have livestock
or livestock farming.
Juba was the father
of musicians.
Tubacan was the father
of blacksmiths.
And about all their achievements
and their characters,
a bit about
Namek's anger
in killing someone.
But there's no mention
about their death.
Why is such a difference
between these two lines?
You see,
the descendants of Cain,
first of all,
to mention that
there are two Namek's
in each side
and then two Enoch's as well,
so don't get mixed up
on this.
So descendants of Cain,
the people who
live for their own dreams,
for their own kingdoms,
that's why they are
quite industrious,
and they invent things,
they want to improve life.
And they are not bad things,
but at the same time,
they do not believe in God,
and so they do
their own things,
they can kill people
to achieve what they want,
and so there is no
morality in that sense
to follow.
And these are the people
of the world.
I suppose they will
fear death themselves,
and they will invent things
to prolong their life,
and I won't be surprised
if there's no death
in that tribe
until the flood comes in.
Maybe,
I'm not sure,
but in any case,
their death is not
relevant to us,
and that's why
it's not mentioned.
But unlike in chapter 5,
when they come to
the descendants of Seth,
their deaths are mentioned,
and that's why
it's sort of been
precious in God's eye
in that.
Seth is born
in the image of Adam,
and Adam was made
in the image of God.
So there is a
real difference.
Adam has been made
in the image of God,
but he damaged
that image
in his rebellion
against God,
and Seth was born
in the image of Adam,
so he inherited
whatever Adam has.
So how did Adam,
what's the relationship
between Adam and God
after he sinned against God?
we,
when we come to
the New Testament,
Luke chapter 4,

Luke 4 chapter mention
chapter 3,
verse 38,
we talk about
the genealogy,
and it's mentioned
Adam,
the son of God.
So despite the fact
that Adam
sinned against God,
Adam was
considered
as the son
of God.
and from there,
we can say
that
Seth
is also
considered
as a son
of God
because he
inherited
Adam's image.
And so
that line,
the firstborn
son
of
Seth's descendants
all inherited
that
image of
Adam,
and we can say
that they are
the sons of God,
the children of God,
and that is
a relational
term that is
God relate to them
as their father.
And that's why
the achievement
in life
is not that important.
It's not
recorded
because
what is important
is how
they relate
to God.
We can
think about
that
when we
do die,
how would
we want
people to
remember us.
I suppose
most people
would want
people to
remember
our
achievements,
what we
have done.
Consider
the Apostle
John,
when the
Apostle
John dies,
if you ask
him what
he would
like to
remember
as,
I don't
think he
would like
to remember
as someone
who has
the Apostle
who had
written the
book of
John,
or the
Epistles
or Revelation
or started
whatever church,
I would
think from
his writing
he would
want to
remember us
the disciple
who was
loved by
Jesus
because that's
why he
called himself.
And that's
enough.
That's enough.
That's more
than enough.
It doesn't
matter what
you and I
have done
in life
if we
are loved
by the
Lord Jesus
Christ
and we
are relating
to God
as he
is our
father.
But still,
they die.
And the
fact that
the death
is written
in there,
it means
that the
author of
Genesis
is saying
that no,
they shouldn't
die.
They are
God's
people.
Why should
they die?
And we
also can
go back
to chapter
3,
verse 15
when God
sort of
promised
that there
would be
someone who
would come
who was born
of the woman
who would
crush the
servant's
head.
That means
to reverse
the curse
that God
has put
on this
world.
And we
see that
in the
line of
Seth,
people,
they are
waiting for
this person.
to come.
But Adam,
after living
930 years,
he dies.
Seth,
912 years,
and he
dies.
Enosh,
905 years,
and he
dies.
And it
keeps going
on until
the seventh
generation when
Enosh came
along.
And that is
a change
in that.
Enosh,
what we've
got,
300 years,
then he
was not.
God has
taken him.
So was
Enosh the
person who
was going
to reverse
this death?
Was he
good enough
to do that?
You know that,
no, he
wasn't.
God took
him, but
the future
generation,
they also
died.
Why wasn't
Enosh
sufficient?
I think
at least
there are
two things.
First of
all,
Enosh was
born in
the image
of Adam
as well.
And so
he already
inherited
Adam's
sinful
nature.
And so
he's not
qualified to
do that.
And he
walked with
God only
after his
son was
born at
65 years
old.
The second
reason is
that Enosh,
paradoxically,
because Enosh
didn't die,
so he
couldn't be
the person
who reversed
the curse.
The person
who can
reverse the
curse is
the one
who needs
to die.
But from
the story
of Enosh,
this gives
us hope
that death
is not
necessarily
inevitable.
There's at
least this
person who
didn't die.
In actual
fact,
think about
it,
when we
said,
Enosh
walked with
God 300
years,
what does
that mean
to walk
with God?
Actually,
Enosh did
die symbolically
because he
died to
himself.
If we
want to
walk with
God,
we need
to die
to ourselves.
It's no
longer I
who live,
but Christ
who live
in me.
And Enosh
in that
way did
die and
live for
God.
But he
died happily
in that
way because
he was
attracted
by God
and not
been forced
into it.
He did
that joyfully.
So there's
Enosh and
then three
generations
later,
we come
to another
break.
There is
Noah.
Noah,
when
Namek
fathered him,
Namek
said that,
I'll call
him Noah,
hopefully,
he said,
out of this
land that
the Lord
has cursed,
this one
shall bring
us relief
from our
work and
the painful
toys of
our hands.
Namek's
prediction
tells us
that these
people,
they've been
waiting for
this someone
to come.
He said,
finally,
this one
should be
the one.
And
also,
what has
been troubling
them is
the work
of their
hands,
the painful
toys.
It's
painful to
work because
it takes a
lot of
effort to
get any
return from
the land.
Not only
that,
in the
world,
in that
time,
I think
there were
a lot of
restlessness.
Even if
you get
some return
from the
land,
somebody
else will
come and
rob it
from you.
It's a
lot of
fighting,
competition,
quarrels in
the world,
and people
have said
enough of
living like
that.
And they're
waiting for
this someone
to come,
and they
hope that
Noah was
the one.
Because Noah's
name means
rest.
Would Noah
bring rest
to the
world?
Think about
it.
I think
in some
way he
did.
Not that
he, I
mean,
his time,
not that
he didn't
bring through
by Noah.
The rest
came by
the death
of everyone.
When there's
no one,
nobody
fighting
with anyone,
so there's
rest.
It's not
a satisfactory
rest, but
it's still
some sort
of rest
to the
world, at
least,
when everybody
dies.
There's no
more pollution,
there's no
more fighting.
And so,
in a way,
the prophecy
came true,
not in the
way that
people would
hope it
was,
it would
be.
And so,
the world
was facing
destruction
in Noah's
time,
but there's
still many
years to
come before
this will
come true
because he
needed to
build an
ark which
would go
there next
week.
But why
was the
flood
necessary
in terms
of why
we
find it
very hard
to imagine.
I suppose
the world
at that
time was
not as
big as
the world
now in
the case,
but still
a lot of
people would
die from
it.
And that
will bring
us to
chapter 6
of Genesis.
In chapter
6, there
are three
difficult
verses to
understand.
But through
these three
verses, we
can also
understand
God's heart
and why
this needs
to be
done.
The first
thing is
to do
with the
sons of
God and
the sons
of man.
You talk
about the
sons of
God,
seeing the
daughters of
men being
beautiful,
attractive,
and they
marry them,
and then
they produce
this giant.
Who are
those people?
And there's
a lot of
interpretation
in this
area.
Some will
say that
the sons
of God
are the
angelic
beings who
come down
to earth
and marry
children of
man,
and then
produce this
giant.
I think
to fit
into the
storyline,
the sons
of God,
as I
mentioned,
would be
the
descendants
of Seth,
and the
sons or
daughters of
man,
the descendants
of Cain,
and their
intermarriage
just corrupted
the whole
world.
Even the
descendants of
Seth would
be a
group that
would call
upon the
name of
God,
as the
end of
chapter 4
tells us.
But with
the intermarriage,
even them
have been
corrupted,
and the
whole world
becomes
unbearable
to live.
It's more
like hell,
as the
people
turning into.
And so
the destruction
is necessary
to cleanse
the world.
The second
one is
God
regretting,
God
seems to
have to
regret
created
human beings
seeing it
comes to
this
stage.
And then
we will
have trouble
understanding
could God
regret what
he's done?
We need
to think
about our
regret compared
to God's
regret.
When we
say we
regret
something,
we can
look back
in the
past what
we have
done or
not done
that we
regret now,
but we
can't do
anything about
it because
the chance
to do
it is
over.
We can
only regret
about it.
But would
God look
back and
say I've
done something,
a mere
mistake,
and I
can't fix
it?
First of
all,
we've got
there's no
time.
There's no
looking back
for God
in a sense.
God
always is.
And so
even time
wise,
God cannot
be like
us.
We look
back in
time and
say,
regret,
I haven't
done
something.
Because
to God
there's no
time,
a restriction.
Secondly,
if you
say God
has made
mistake,
then who
is the
one who
judged
God and
said,
this is
the way
you should
do?
Whoever,
if we
judge God
about what
is the
right thing
for God
to do,
then we
will become
God
ourselves.
And so
whatever God
does,
it is
best,
regardless
of what
we think
it is.
And so
in that
way,
God's
regret is
unlike our
regret.
I would
think it
would be
more consistent
for grief,
God's
grief about
this thing
come to
this stage
and the
action that
he is going
to take
for the
world.
If we
go to
Jeremiah,
we might
have this
sense of
God's
grief.
Jeremiah,
as a
prophet,
has been
telling the
Israelites
to return
to God,
otherwise
the Babylonians
would come
and conquer
them.
Nobody,
I suppose,
almost none,
maybe only two
people in the
book of
Jeremiah,
that would
listen to
Jeremiah.
The whole
nation didn't
listen to
him.
And so
the Babylonian
came,
and then
Jeremiah wanted
to stay,
but he was
forced by
people to
run to
Egypt.
So Jeremiah
had a very
hard time
as a prophet.
He was
mistreated by
his own
people,
even to the
end.
And his
scribe,
one of those
who supported
him,
called
Baruch,
he started
to complain
against God
in the sense
that it's
not fair.
I mean,
we have been
serving you
faithfully
all this
time,
and now
enemy came,
we are
forced to
go to
Egypt to
run,
run away,
even though
Jeremiah knew
that they
should stay
in Jerusalem.
And so
God,
in reply
to Baruch
in Jeremiah

Jeremiah 45:4
chapter 45,
verses 4
and 5,
God said,
Behold,
what I have
built,
I am
breaking down,
and what I
have planted,
I am
plucking up.
That is
the whole
land.
Do you
seek great
things for
yourself?
Seek them
not,
for behold,
I am
bringing
disaster
upon all
the flesh
declares
the Lord.
Can you
sense or
feel what
God was
feeling?
I mean,
God didn't
delight in
destroying
his people,
but there's
something that
is necessary.
If you ask
why there's
necessary,
we can
understand some,
but we
cannot
understand
fully.
We
couldn't
see the
whole
history.
we are
not
God.
The
third
problem
in this
verses
is
120
years.
Men
shall
not
live
more
than
120
years.
So,
we can
understand
that as
God said,
from that
point of
words,
people
would not
live so
long.
The most
is 120
years,
and they
would die,
which is
possible.
people,
but then
we know
that even
after the
flood,
there are
people who
live a
long time.
Many
generations
later,
Abraham
lived 175
years.
His
grand
child,
Jacob,
lived
147
years.
So,
it's not
very
consistent
to say
that men
cannot live
more than
120 years
from that
point of
course.
Possible.
But I
would think
to be
consistent
with the
coming of
the flood,
men
cannot have
about 120
years before
the flood
would come,
and then
they would
die.
And that
also tells
us that
the flood
didn't come
suddenly.
God gave
people a
long time
to repent.
And we
know that
from 2
Peter
Noah was
a preacher.
He was
preaching as
well while
he was
building the
ark.
And there
is plenty
of time
for people
to repent,
but nobody
listened,
except for
the family
of,
except for
Noah and
his family.
But still,
we are
thankful that
Noah and
the family
obeyed,
and that
gave us
another hope,
that is
judgment,
is not
inevitable.
So,
Enoch tells
us that
death is
not
inevitable,
Noah tells
us that
judgment is
not inevitable
because Noah
and the
family escaped
the judgment,
though they
did die
later.
And we
are thankful
that Noah
found favor
in the
eyes of
God,
and that
gives us
hope for
humans.
And this
is a new
world after
Noah has
come by.
and the
genealogy
of God
continued on,
and he
continued on
for many
generations,
until after
66 generations
later, the
Lord Jesus
Christ came.
And the
Lord Jesus
Christ was
the last
one in
this
genealogy.
Why was he
the last
one?
Because he
was the
one who
everyone
had been
waiting for.
Jesus was
born in
the image
of God.
And so
he is
qualified to
reverse the
curse of
God.
So
in Jesus
we see a
better
Enoch,
because Jesus
didn't only
walk with
God himself,
he helped
other people
to walk
with God.
In Jesus
we see a
greater
Noah,
because
Jesus
didn't
only
save
himself,
he saved
others.
In Noah's
time,
rest came
by everybody
dying.
In Jesus
time,
rest came
by Jesus
himself
dying.
And in
Jesus,
death
can no
longer
enslave us.
death.
And in
him,
the worst
that death
can do
is the
best that
it can
do for
us.
Because
when
death
take away
this
earthly
tent,
this body
from us,
God is
going to
give us
a new
house that
will enable
us to see
him face
to face.
So we
don't need
to fear
that.
in Christ.
And the
genealogy
actually goes
on even
after Christ,
but it's
a different
genealogy.
And it's
generally with
so many
people that
it can't
be written
because it's
too many.
And it
wouldn't
be just
right to
say that
Wudan
Takao,
father,
two sons
and a
daughter,
and he
dies at
age 65.
And at
the end
he would
add,
and in
Christ,
he lived
again
forevermore.
And that
would apply
to all
who are
in Christ.
With
that
knowledge,
what does
it,
how does
it make
us live
differently?
In
1928,
three men,
Hudson
Southwell,
Frank
Davidson,
and the
last one
is
Carly,
1928,
they
sell from
Melbourne
to
Borneo.
And they
were the
ones who
brought the
gospel to
the Lung
Ba Wan
people.
You
might not
be able to
imagine how
difficult it
would be.
I mean,
the selling
trip would
be bad
enough.
if you
go to
the
Lung Ba Wan
villages at
that time,
there are
diseases
everywhere,
very dirty.
There's no,
I'm not sure
how they
survive,
actually.
And there
are still
head hunters
around the
area,
and they
don't
know the
language.
But they
went.
Why did
they do
that?
Because
death is
no longer
a problem
for them.
Judgment is
no longer a
problem for
them.
And they
want other
people to
know that
the Lord
Jesus Christ
is the
life and
the
resurrection.
And
through them,
that brings
such a
change to
many people.
And among
those people,
one who was
born during
the time was
called
Takao,
Wudang
Takao's
father.
Wudang,
the son of
Takao.
Takao is
91 years
old, and
he stood
up during
Wudang's
funeral.
He wasn't
actually scheduled
to talk, but
he wanted to
talk.
Isn't it
sad?
A father
who had
two such
good sons
and both
died before
him.
But when
he talked,
he didn't
say much
about their
achievements.
He talked
a lot about
the Lord
Jesus Christ,
about their
hope in
the Lord
Jesus Christ.
And he
called out
asking people
to believe
in the
Lord Jesus
Christ.
You may
not know
how difficult
it is.
The
service was
attended
by many
long Christians,
many high
power people
in their
miniatures.
In ordinary
times, you
say that I
suppose you
would get
jailed in
Malaysia.
But he
didn't care
because he
had that
hope and
he wanted
other people
to know
that too.
If this
knowledge, I
hope that if
you are not
in this
genealogy of
the Lord
Jesus Christ,
I hope that
you would
want to be
in John 1,
John 1,

John 1:12
verse 12
says that
for those
who receive
him, who
believe in
his name,
he gave
the power,
the right
to become
children of
God.
And if we
are already
in this
genealogy of
the Lord
Jesus Christ,
I hope that
we will learn
to walk
with God
like he
not did.
let us
pray.
Let us
pray.
Almighty God,
we are
thankful that
we can call
your Father
and have
this renewed
relationship with
you in the
Lord Jesus
Christ.
Lord,
may you
attract us,
help us to
see your
glory in
the face
of the
Lord Jesus
Christ.
That we
might walk
with you
joyfully.
Thank you,
Lord.
We pray in
Jesus' name.
Amen.