[0:00] Good morning and a warm welcome to the service this morning. Those who are watching online, those who are listening in on the telephone, it's good to have you and it's good for us to be able to come and worship God together. Intimations, just to say first of all that the evening service should be online just before 6pm tonight. The YF will meet as usual at half past seven on Zoom this evening and the prayer meeting will be on Zoom at half past seven on Wednesday.
[0:50] Also, I'm happy to say that we hope to be going back to church, come to the church building next Sunday the 22nd of November. Obviously with the restrictions we can't all come to church at the one time. We're limited to 50 people. So each of you will be contacted in the course of this week and be given the opportunity to come back to church and be given some direction on what that will look like and how that will be organised. So these I think are all the intimations.
[1:34] We worship God now and we'll sing to his praise from Psalm 1. Psalm 1 and we'll sing the whole of this psalm. That man hath perfect blessedness who walketh not astray in counsel of ungodly men nor stands in sinner's way nor sitteth in the scorner's chair but placeth his delight upon God's law and meditates on his law and meditates on his law day and night. The whole of this psalm to God's praise.
[2:02] That man hath perfect blessedness who walketh not astray in counsel of ungodly men nor stands in sin sin. He is the whole of this psalm to God's law and meditates on his law day and night. He He shall be like a tree that grows near planted by a river which in his season yields his fruit and his leaf fadeth never.
[3:18] And all he doth shall prosper well the wicked are not so but like thee are unto the chaff which wind dries to and fro.
[3:43] in judgment therefore shall not stand such as ungodly are nor in the assembly of the just shall wicked men appear.
[4:08] for why the way of godly men unto the Lord is known. Whereas the way of wicked men shall quite be overthrown.
[4:33] let's draw near to God in prayer. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father we thank you for another opportunity to come into your presence on your day.
[4:48] We thank you for another opportunity to come into your day. We thank you for another opportunity to come into your life. We thank you for your word which we have sung and which we turn to meditate upon. We thank you that as we meditate upon your law day and night we are like those who are planted by a river.
[5:08] We grow. We are fruitful. We thank you for another opportunity to come into your life. We thank you for another opportunity to come into your life. We thank you for another opportunity to come into your life. That they were to abide in him.
[5:19] To remain in the vine. And as they did and as we do. We thank you Lord that you ordain the degree of fruitfulness that will flow from our lives.
[5:32] and the places in which you would use us for your glory. So help us, Lord, we pray, to stay close to you. Help us not to walk astray.
[5:45] Help us not to yield to the temptation to sin that the enemy constantly puts before us, but enable us to live lives which are holy, lives which reflect Christ.
[6:00] And for any who have not yet trusted in Jesus, we pray that even today, as we open your word, that word that points to Christ, we pray that there may be some who would hear the voice of Jesus and who would come to him, who would follow him.
[6:21] We know that there is no other way, no other name, through which we can be saved, but only Jesus. So enable those who have not yet trusted in Christ to hear that voice and to come in faith.
[6:37] And we recognise, Lord, that even the faith which is saving, the faith that motivates us to reach forward and take hold of the grace of Jesus is a gift from God.
[6:50] And so we pray that you would be giving that faith to those who are gathered together, even in this way this morning. And for those of us who are Christians, Lord, we pray that you would help us to live holy lives.
[7:05] We know that we cannot live lives which are sinless. We know that we fall and we fail. We know that the only person ever to live a life where there was no walking astray and no sin was Jesus.
[7:21] And Lord, our faith is in him. And we pray that you would help us to fix our eyes upon him. And we ask, Lord, that through the power of your spirit, as we take time to be in your word and to be in prayer, we pray that you would be moulding us and shaping us, building us more and more into the image of those who reflect Jesus, that we would be conformed to the image of the Son.
[7:53] We pray, Lord, for those this morning who are struggling. We are conscious always of struggles that are around us and within us and in a world which groans under the weight of sin.
[8:07] We pray for places far from us. We think of the states where we see turmoil and where we see the potential for more unrest in the future days. And we ask, Lord, that your hand of restraint would be upon that country and that they would trust in God.
[8:26] We pray for our own nation in a time of pandemic, a time where there has been much confusion. We ask, Lord, that you would give wisdom and clarity of thought.
[8:39] And, Lord, that you would draw near to those who you have allowed to be in leadership over us. We recognise that they determinedly do not draw near to you.
[8:52] But we know that you have allowed them to be in these positions. And so we pray the prayers that perhaps they do not pray for themselves, that you would grant wisdom from heaven. And we ask, Lord, that you would give to us as a nation repentance, that we would turn away from our wicked ways, that we would turn away from leaning on our own understanding and that we would indeed trust in you.
[9:17] We pray for our own communities, for these islands. We thank you, Lord, for the degree of protection that we have felt from this virus over past months.
[9:29] And we ask, Lord, that you would continue to shield us and to give to us that protection that you are able to give. We pray for Harris House. We pray for the Home of Rest in Leverborough.
[9:42] We pray for nursing homes and places where those who are vulnerable live across Lewis and Uist. And we pray, Father, that they would know your hand over them and your presence with them.
[9:56] We pray for those in our own congregations who are struggling with illness, who are suffering with a weight of grief. For those who have troubles and difficulties that we know nothing of, but we thank you that you, as the God who knows all things, knows each need and is able to meet us at the point of our need.
[10:20] We pray for our young people. We thank you for them. And we ask, Lord, that you would minister to them at a time when we're not able to have them in the church as we once did.
[10:33] We pray that they would continue to be ministered to through the Sunday School and the YF broadcasts that go out. And we pray for the SU, as they hope to meet back again in the school that you would bless them, Lord, and that they would remember you, that they would trust you in the days of their youth.
[10:55] So hear our prayers and bless us, we pray. Lead us and guide us in the power of your Spirit. Help us to keep our eyes fixed upon Jesus, for we pray these things in Jesus' name.
[11:07] Amen. Boys and girls, I hope you're well today. And I hope you're having a good week. What have I got to talk to you about today?
[11:17] Well, I wanted to talk to you about Tarbert, the place that we live in. People would probably have said about Tarbert, and would still say about Tarbert, it's a quiet wee place.
[11:30] And that was true for a lot of the time. But the last wee while in Tarbert, it hasn't been very quiet, has it?
[11:42] There's always a noise. From the time you get up in the morning, through the day, even into the evenings, there's a noise, and we're here banging, and we're hearing scraping, and we're hearing lorries, and we're hearing the beep, beep, beep of machines going back and forth.
[11:56] Because the work at the harbour is getting busier and busier. And I've shown you pictures before, and videos of that work down at the harbour. You see it every day when you're passing. And I was passing there the other day, and I was speaking to one of the men who's in charge.
[12:11] And I said, how's things going? He says, oh, he says, actually we're starting to enjoy the job now. He said, for months all we were doing was just knocking things down, and clearing things out, and all it looked like was a big mess.
[12:25] He says, but now, we're starting to build things up. And we're starting to see things taking shape. And when he said that, as I was walking away, I was thinking, you know, that's a lot like how God works in our lives.
[12:44] Because when we trust in Jesus, when we ask the Lord Jesus to come and take our sin away, and come into our lives, then the first thing he does is he starts that clearing out.
[12:59] We know that we're sinners, and he shows us our sin, and as we ask him to, he takes our sin, and he clears it all away. He digs into all the dark, messy corners of our lives as we ask him to, and he starts to clear stuff away.
[13:14] And he gives us strength, his strength, to break bad habits. We've all got bad habits, and we all have things that we struggle with, that we know are sinful. And when Jesus comes into our lives, he gives us his strength to break these bad habits, whether it's bad language, or whatever it is you struggle with.
[13:35] And Jesus comes in, and he pushes the devil away, as we ask him to. But then what? After he's cleared away all the sin, and we know that happens day by day by day, but once he clears away the sin, once we ask him for the first time, please take my sin away, what happens next?
[13:55] Is that the end of the work that he does? Is it just always clearing away? Well, no. He doesn't just clear away, but he starts to build within us.
[14:09] You know, down at the harbour, we can see the plan that the guys there are working to. And at the wall, along the harbour side, we see where that posters are that show us what the finished job's supposed to look like.
[14:26] We can see what they're building towards, and we can see it starting to take shape as we look at the job. And you know, God has given us his plan for our lives.
[14:37] He's told us what he wants to build in our lives, or he's told us actually who he wants to build in our lives, who he wants to make us like.
[14:51] And who does he want to make us like? Well, if you were here, you would tell me. He wants to make us like Jesus. He's building us as we ask him to.
[15:03] As the Holy Spirit works in us, he is building us and he is shaping us and he's moulding us to be more and more like Jesus. It says in Romans 8 that God's will for us, when he saves us, he conforms us, he shapes us, he changes us into the image of the Son.
[15:24] The Son being Jesus. So boys and girls, as you're passing the harbour every day and you see all the work and you're hearing all the banging and the clattering, think about the work that God wants to do in us.
[15:41] And if you've never asked him to come into your life, if you've never trusted him, ask him today to come into your life, to clear away the sin and to begin, and for those of us who are trusting, to keep on making us more and more like Jesus.
[16:01] And we'll pray. Lord God, we thank you for your work in us and we thank you that it says in the Bible as well that the work that you begin in us, you don't walk away from but you see it through to completion.
[16:14] And we know that when it's finished, we will be like Jesus. So we pray that you would work in our lives, that you would come into our hearts, take away our sin and make us day by day as we take time to be with Jesus, enable us to become more and more like Jesus.
[16:35] So that people, when they look at our lives, would see Jesus in us and that we would be able to witness to them about your love for them just as we've come to know your love for us.
[16:49] And we ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's turn now to God's Word and we'll read from Genesis, the first book in the Bible. Genesis chapter 4 and we'll read from verse 16 through into chapter 5.
[17:08] We know from Genesis 4, the earlier part of the chapter, we've seen Cain and how Cain sins, how he murders his brother, how God comes to him and gives him the opportunity to repent.
[17:21] But Cain determinedly does not take it. And so in verse 16 of chapter 4 we read, So Cain went out from the Lord's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
[17:34] Cain lay with his wife and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city and he named it after his son Enoch. To Enoch was born Erad and Erad was the father of Mahujel.
[17:49] And Mahujel was the father of Methushel and Methushel was the father of Lamech. Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah.
[18:00] Adah gave birth to Jabal and he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all who play the harp and flute.
[18:12] Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain's sister was Nehma. Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, listen to me, wives of Lamech, hear my words, I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me.
[18:31] If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times. Adam lay with his wife again and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, God has granted me another child in the place of Abel since Cain killed him.
[18:48] Seth also had a son and he named him Enosh. At that time, men began to call on the name of the Lord. This is the written account of Adam's line.
[19:02] When God created man, he made them in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them man. When Adam had lived a hundred and thirty years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image, and he named him Seth.
[19:20] After Seth was born, Adam lived eight hundred years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years and then he died.
[19:32] When Seth had lived a hundred and five years, he became the father of Enosh and after he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years. and had other sons and daughters.
[19:44] Altogether, Seth lived nine hundred and twelve years and then he died. When Enosh had lived ninety years, he became the father of Kenan. And after he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years and had other sons and daughters.
[20:01] Altogether, Enosh lived nine hundred and five years and then he died. When Kenan had lived seventy years, he became the father of Mahalel.
[20:13] And after he became the father of Mahalel, Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Kenan lived nine hundred and ten years and then he died.
[20:26] When Mahalel had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Jared. And after he became the father of Jared, Mahalel lived eight hundred and thirty years and had other sons and daughters.
[20:39] Altogether, Mahalel lived eight hundred and ninety-five years and then he died. When Jared had lived one hundred and sixty-two years, he became the father of Enosh.
[20:51] And after he became the father of Enosh, Jared lived eight hundred years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Jared lived nine hundred and sixty-two years and then he died.
[21:03] When Enoch had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years and had other sons and daughters.
[21:15] Altogether, Enoch lived three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God and he was no more because God took him away.
[21:27] When Methuselah had lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, he became the father of Lamech. And after he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years and had other sons and daughters.
[21:40] Altogether, Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years and then he died. When Lamech had lived one hundred and eighty-two years, he had a son. He named him Noah and he said he will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.
[22:00] after Noah was born, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Lamech lived seven hundred and seventy-seven years and then he died.
[22:14] After Noah was five hundred years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Amen.
[22:24] And may God bless that reading of his word to us. Just as we turn back to God's word again, let's pray. Lord God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the promise that it will not return to you void, it won't return empty, but it will achieve all that you set out for it to do.
[22:42] And we ask, Lord, that you would be at work in our lives now through your word and the power of the Holy Spirit. Help us, we pray, as we gather around the scriptures. And what we pray for ourselves, we pray also for the congregations around us in this place and in these islands, in the nation, and across all nations.
[23:02] We recognize that the church of Jesus Christ is the worldwide church. And we pray that you would be working across the world to draw many more people to Christ as he is lifted up.
[23:14] May he be lifted up in all that we meditate upon now. And we ask this in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. There are some roads that we travel on and we may continue on one track for miles, like a motorway.
[23:37] You're on the one track, it's going one direction for mile after mile, but then you come to a fork in the road and the road splits two ways and you have to choose one. You can't go down the centre anymore, there is no centre.
[23:50] It splits two ways and you have to choose one of two ways. And that's the picture actually in the psalm that we sang to begin with, psalm 1. There are two ways to live.
[24:01] There's the way of blessing for those who do not walk away from God, who do not walk astray. And there's the way of judgment for those who determine they will walk astray willfully.
[24:15] The application from that psalm is you have to choose which way you're going to walk, bearing in mind that the way you walk in time will set your course for eternity.
[24:30] Today with Genesis 4 into Genesis 5 open, I want us to look at two roads or two ways to live.
[24:42] we see the way of Cain and the family of Cain within that way and we see the way of Seth and the family that Seth has.
[24:55] And as we look at these two roads, these two ways, these two families, let's be asking the question, which way am I travelling? Which road am I on?
[25:07] So first of all, we look at the way of Cain and we see from the way of Cain that Cain is wandering away from God.
[25:19] So what do we see in his life and in the life of his family as they move further and further away from God and the broad road that leads to eternal destruction?
[25:30] What do we see as some of the landmarks, some of the marks of being on the way of Cain? Well, we see various things and the first thing we see under this point and this way of Cain is that there's no desire for the presence of God.
[25:47] Cain and those who followed him had no desire for the presence of God. Remember, if we look back to the earlier part of Genesis 4, Cain is revealed against God.
[26:01] He's killed his brother because his brother sacrifice was accepted and Cain's was not. And even though the Lord comes to Cain and gives him opportunities to repent, he refuses them.
[26:17] He's angry with God and with all those around him. He hears God's voice calling him to turn away from his wicked ways and turn to the Lord.
[26:28] He's known something of God's presence. God's voice. But now that he's set his rebellious course, Cain wants to get as far away from God as he can.
[26:42] We see that in verse 16 of chapter 4. Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. Warren Weerspe, the commentator, says Nod means to stray, to wander.
[26:58] So the very land of Cain's choice speaks of wandering away from God. And Cain having wandered away from God willfully in chapter 4, we fast forward a few verses to the second half of chapter 4 and we scan the plot line to come.
[27:17] We see that there's no change in Cain. There's no desire on the part of Cain or any of his family to wander back from God. They've wandered away from God but there's no desire down the line to wander back and come in repentance to God.
[27:33] There's no desire whatsoever in Cain for the presence of God. And so that's the first mark, that's one of the marks of being on the way to Cain, the way of Cain.
[27:50] If we're on the way of Cain, if this is the track that we're on, we don't want to hear God's voice. We leave the Bible on the shelf.
[28:02] We don't want it to be opened. We don't want to be near God's people. We want to get away from God's people as quick as we can. So we'll do whatever we can to avoid going to church or tuning into church and when we are forced sometimes to go to church or sit through a service, what do we do?
[28:22] Well, we disengage determinedly. We don't want to know. There's many as a person who's come under protest to church but spends most of the hour, as far as I can see, in the land of Nod.
[28:39] That's where we find Cain. He's in the land of Nod. He's in the land that represents a wandering, a willful wandering away from God.
[28:51] That's the first thing we see in the way of Cain. There's no desire for the presence of God. The second thing that we see in the way of Cain is there's no thankfulness for the gifts of God.
[29:05] Just because Cain wandered away from God didn't mean that God cut off from Cain every good gift and left Cain with nothing, bankrupt. It's not what happened at all.
[29:18] Remember when I was in my mid-teens, I started growing my hair long at the front. It was back in the days when I could. And my parents didn't like it.
[29:30] And so as it started to approach my eyebrows and creep over my eyebrows, they said, go and get your hair cut. And I refused. I said, no, I don't want to get my hair cut. And so they said it again.
[29:41] Get your hair cut. And then they said it again. Repeatedly. Get your hair cut. And I refused. And then they said, I'll tell you what's going to happen.
[29:51] If you don't get your hair cut, we're going to cut your dinner money. And they did. So after three days of hunger, I decided I had to get my hair cut.
[30:03] See, if I didn't go their way, I wouldn't get their money. But God didn't do that with Cain. Now we could say he deserved that.
[30:16] But God showed him what theologians would call a common grace. Verse 17 says, and Cain knew his wife and she conceived and bore Enoch.
[30:29] And he built a city and called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch. Enoch was born Erad. And Erad begot Mahujel.
[30:40] And so it goes on. As time goes on here, we see with Cain, that God's gracious to him.
[30:52] And Cain's family, as they're growing, God is being gracious to them. Cain has a wife. He's able with his wife to have children and grandchildren galore.
[31:07] He's able to build a city and live in a city. And Cain's family, they did well for themselves in that worldly sense as we scan the verses from 17 to 22.
[31:20] Enoch was a builder with his father, I think. Jebel was a farmer. Jebel was a gifted musician. Tubal Cain was an expert craftsman.
[31:32] So we see here Cain's family, they were gifted. They did okay for themselves in terms of the ways of this world. But what's obvious here is that neither Cain nor any of his family recognized or gave thanks to the giver of every good gift.
[31:56] There's no mention from 16 onwards in chapter 4, there's no mention whatsoever of God. Yes, they have God's blessings, but there's no acknowledgement of the God who's blessing them.
[32:10] There's no remembrance of the Creator. No thankfulness. Last Sunday as I was driving to a church at Leverborough, there was a man who caught my eye.
[32:28] He was perched on the hill overlooking Nishebost and he had a tripod set up with an expensive camera in position and I expect he was trying to get the perfect picture.
[32:40] Mesmerized by the beauty of creation. But as far as I could see, you know, likely he had no word of the Creator.
[32:53] And that's the way of Cain. We take all the gifts, but there's no thankfulness to the giver of every good gift.
[33:05] We're amazed by the beauty of what we see in creation, but we have no acknowledgement, no thankfulness towards the Creator. It's the way of Cain. So we see in the way of Cain, he has no desire for the presence of God.
[33:21] He has no thankfulness for the gifts of God. The third thing is he has no regard for the Word of God. Verse 19, then Lamech, Cain's notorious son, Lamech took for himself two wives.
[33:37] Notice that, not one, but two wives. The name of one was Adah, the name of the second was Zillah. Now God had made clear his word already concerning marriage.
[33:49] In Genesis 2.24, God said, A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
[34:02] Marriage was to be a one man united to one woman. And even Cain had followed God's design on that, but as Cain's family wander further and further away from God, they have less and less regard for God's Word.
[34:22] So Lamech, Cain's son, he decides he's going to take for himself not one wife, but two wives. What Lamech wanted, Lamech would have.
[34:42] And no one, not even God, would get in the way of his sexual desires. It's the way of Cain.
[34:56] It was seen so clearly in Cain's son Lamech. It's the way of Cain. We set ourselves above God's Word. We become those who are self-appointed editors of the Bible.
[35:10] And if there's a rule that we don't like, a rule that perhaps curtails our sexual preferences, we'll throw it right out. It's the way of Cain.
[35:24] No regard for the Word of God. And the fourth thing we see here in the way of Cain is that there's no value for the lives of those made in the image of God. And we hear that in this dark song that Lamech sings.
[35:41] He said to his wives, Ada and Zillah, hear my voice. Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech. For I have killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me.
[35:52] If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold. That's Lamech's song. It's a pretty gruesome, dark composition.
[36:11] And when we think about that song in contrast to Galatians 5, 22-23, there's a very stark contrast.
[36:22] In Galatians 5, we have this list of the fruits of the Spirit. Spirit of God. And Paul, the apostle, says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
[36:42] These are the fruits of the Spirit of God working in a life. Now, as we look at Cain's son Lamech, we see a man who has, who's not a trace of these fruits.
[36:55] He's not gentle. He's not kind, but he's violent, and he's cruel. He thinks nothing of taking a life. Even the life of a young man.
[37:07] A child. And again, this is the way of Cain. And as we look at these marks that we see in the way of Cain, no desire for the presence of God, no thankfulness for the gifts of God, no regard for the Word of God, no value for the lives of those made in the image of God.
[37:32] What we see in this way of Cain is we see a steady decline. And the further Cain's family wander from God, the worse things get.
[37:43] The more sinful, the more selfish, the more brutal the world becomes. And as we look at these marks on the way of Cain, yes, we see the ancient world as it's portrayed in biblical history here.
[38:02] But we see our world, don't we? We see our own country. A country where we, who once were known for being the land of the book, have no regard now for the book of God's law, the Bible.
[38:26] In fact, we're told that this proposed hate speech may even have the consequences of banning the Bible.
[38:38] To how far we've gone down this track. We look around and we see that we live in a country where we have thrown out what God says about marriage.
[38:53] We've redesigned it to accommodate our own sexual appetites. And we live in a country where we have less and less regard for the lives of the young and the old.
[39:09] We live in a country where thousands of babies are murdered in the womb each year. And pressure groups currently are trying to change the law on assisted suicide and euthanasia. And so as we look around, not back to the beginning of biblical times, but as we look around in our day, in our place of life and experience, we see so many of the marks of being on the way of Cain.
[39:41] And we may even see them in our own lives as we ask God to search us and to know us by His Spirit.
[39:54] So what do we do? Do we keep on accelerating down that road? Do we keep on persevering down that way?
[40:09] No, we don't. We stop. As God shows us where we are, we stop.
[40:21] We repent. We change direction. We go off the way of Cain. And we go on to the way of Seth. That takes us to our second point.
[40:33] We've looked at the way of Cain and these marks of being on the way of Cain. And we move secondly on to the way of Seth. And that's a way that's marked by walking with God.
[40:53] Sometimes we can find that the way through to where we want to be and where we need to be is blocked. I remember going back a year or two here in Tarbert there was a landslide just across the road from where the church was.
[41:09] There was heavy rain there was fierce weather half the hill came down it was blocked there was no way through. And here we see from these early chapters in Genesis that Satan's desire was to block the way through to God to block the way through to life.
[41:33] And Satan knew that if this was to happen then the life-giving seed of the woman that was referred to in Genesis 3.15 would need to be snuffed out.
[41:45] And so Satan took hold of Cain. We don't see him at work but we see his fingerprints all over the crime. Satan takes hold of Cain and he uses Cain to kill Abel to block the way this path to life.
[42:00] So would that be the end of God's salvation plan? Would this seed this life-giving seed be exterminated once and for all?
[42:11] Is that the end? Well we see here that no it's not the end. Abel is dead but God's plan goes on.
[42:25] Verse 25 says And Adam knew his wife again and she bore a son and named him Seth for God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel whom Cain killed.
[42:42] So we see now that the way of salvation would be carried along on the way of Seth. And even Seth's name speaks to us about the reality of that.
[42:56] Seth's name means appointed one or substitute. So from the moment Seth is born he's pointing us to the appointed one of God.
[43:06] He's pointing us to the substitute, our substitute, our saviour, Jesus. So before we look at the marks that we can recognise on the way of Seth, let's be encouraged to know that there is a way.
[43:26] There's a way that's still open. Satan did his best to block it, but there is a way. There's a way for sinners like you and I to be saved. There's a way for us to be able to walk again with God.
[43:41] There's a way for us to know the life that he alone can give and it's the way of Seth that leads us to Jesus, the saviour. So what do we see as we look at Seth's life and of his family?
[44:00] What do we see as markers of being on this way of Seth? Well, we see first of all the people who call upon the name of the Lord.
[44:13] We see nothing of that in Cain. He walks away from God, there's no more trace of God. But in the line of Seth, in this way of Seth, we see a people who call upon the name of the Lord.
[44:28] Verse 26, As for Seth, to him also a son was born, and he named him Enosh, then began to call on the name of the Lord.
[44:43] So there's the first marker of those who are on the right road. Here's the first sign that we are on the road that leads to life.
[44:57] Here's the first sign that we are going on the way of Seth. We know that if we are people who call upon the name of the Lord.
[45:09] So what does that mean? Well, in the simplest sense, it means that we are people who pray. to call upon the name of the Lord is to pray.
[45:25] Those who are wandering away from God, Cain and his family, they don't pray. They have no thought of God. There's no communication with God.
[45:38] But those who are walking, not away from God, but with God, they, we, are people who pray. It's where our relationship with God begins, in prayer.
[45:53] The salvation that we need, Jesus paid for it. We don't buy it, we don't earn it. Jesus paid in full for it when he went to the cross.
[46:05] But for us to receive it, we have to ask for it. and we do that as we call upon the name of the Lord, as we pray.
[46:20] So can I ask us all in application that most obvious of questions? Have you and I called upon the name of the Lord?
[46:36] You know, if we have done that, if we have sincerely called upon the name of the Lord Jesus, if we have confessed our sin, if we are seeking genuinely, earnestly, the salvation that he alone can give, we can be assured that we are saved.
[46:55] And how can we be assured of that? Well, we can be assured of that because that's what it says in the Bible. Joel chapter 2, verse 32 says, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
[47:09] Acts chapter 2, verse 21 says, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans chapter 10, verse 13 says, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
[47:26] And so you get the message. If you've called upon the name of the Lord, you can be assured of that eternal safety that Jesus can give.
[47:43] And conversely, let me say, if you have not yet called upon the name of the Lord, you can be assured that you're not yet saved.
[47:55] But you're still in danger. You're on the wrong road. So why not call upon the name of the Lord now?
[48:11] Today is the day of salvation. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Do not persevere down the wrong way, but turn around.
[48:24] Let the Lord put you on that road to life that we find in the way of Cain. It's by calling on the name of the Lord that we're taken off the way of Cain and put on to the way of Seth.
[48:37] It's by calling upon the name of the Lord that our relationship with God begins. It's by calling upon the name of the Lord that our relationship with God also grows and develops. there's lots of things that have suffered under these restrictions that we've been going through in past months.
[49:01] There are lots of relationships that once were very close that are now cool and distant because we're not able to call on each other. but our relationship with God shouldn't have suffered because there's nothing that has stopped us from being able to call upon his name.
[49:26] There's nothing that has stopped us from being able to draw near to him. And yet I know that's easy to say but it's not always easy to live out.
[49:40] So a meeting this week and another minister was speaking about some of the struggles and the challenges of this time and he said what I need to do in my week is I need to plan to pray.
[49:54] He says because if I don't plan to pray I become so busy doing the Lord's work that I don't do the Lord's work. Now that sounds like nonsense. The point he was making is that the Lord's work first and foremost is to pray.
[50:10] The Lord's work is first and foremost done when we are not on our feet but when we are on our knees. As we call upon his name. That's where the battleground is.
[50:24] That's where the place of work is. That's where we who are Christians grow. As we call upon the name of the Lord in prayer.
[50:37] So be encouraged as we travel on the way of Seth to be those who pray. To be those who keep on calling on the name of the Lord.
[50:51] So we see on the way of Seth that we are people who call upon the name of the Lord. It's the first marker on this way of Seth.
[51:02] As we walk with God we call upon the name of the Lord. The second thing we see on the way of Seth is that we are those who are conformed who are being changed into the image of God.
[51:16] As we look at Genesis 5 at the beginning of the chapter it says this is the book of the genealogy of Adam and the day that God created man he made him in the likeness of God.
[51:30] He created them male and female and blessed them and called them mankind in the day they were created and Adam lived 130 years and begot a son in his own likeness after his image and named him Seth.
[51:48] So we see the connection there. That repetition regarding the likeness, the image of God that's transmitted on. The beginning God made Adam in his image.
[52:01] Although sin came in and distorted still the image of God was seen in Adam and then it's seen in Seth. And if we trace the line of Seth forward we see a family line that continues to bear the likeness of God from generation to generation until ultimately through Seth's line the saviour, the life giver would come.
[52:25] God and he would be the perfect image of the invisible God. That's what we're told in Colossians 1.
[52:39] So you could say that Seth's life and Seth's family were to show out something of the likeness of God.
[52:51] A likeness that would be perfected in Jesus. And you know that's our purpose too. That's the purpose of our lives also.
[53:03] If we are those who have called upon the name of the Lord, if we are those who have been saved, then the purpose for which we have been saved is that we would become more and more conformed, more and more changed into the image of God, the likeness of Christ.
[53:32] Our calling is to show the likeness of God through holy living. It's not what saves us.
[53:45] But if we are saved, it's what we're called to. It's one of the evidences of the fact that we are saved. we have that desire, that determination to show Jesus in the way that we live.
[53:58] The Apostle Paul made that crystal clear. He was dramatically saved. He went from being one who sought constantly to crush the name of Jesus to being one who called upon the name of Jesus.
[54:13] And then day by day he's being conformed into the image of Jesus. He writes about that in Romans 8 and verses 28 and 29. He says, And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.
[54:32] For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. And that's no easy mission to have in life.
[54:50] Because the sin that came in with Adam, it wars against that work constantly from within us. But our ambition, our prayer, is that with God's help, as we seek to walk his way, the way of Seth, our prayer, is that he will conform us, he will change us more and more into the image of God.
[55:19] And that's ultimately where the Christian is going. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 2 says, the apostle John, in his letter, he says, Dear friends, right into Christians, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known, but we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him.
[55:50] That's our ultimate destiny. We shall be like Christ. And so that's our ultimate destiny. That should be our day-by-day ambition, as we continue along the way of Seth.
[56:12] So we see in the way of Seth, we see those who call upon the name of the Lord. We see those who are being conformed, who are being changed into the image of God.
[56:24] We see finally those who have communion with God. And again, note the absence of that in the line of Cain. there's no mention of God.
[56:36] There's no communion with God. They're committed secularists. What defined them was their work as builders and farmers and craftsmen and musicians.
[56:51] But in Seth's line, we don't hear much about their work and play. I'm sure they did have jobs. I'm sure they did have interests and hobbies. I'm sure they did enjoy music and the arts and these things.
[57:02] I'm sure these things were part of their lives. But it wasn't the central thing. It wasn't what defined them. The central thing about those who are found travelling along the way of Seth is that they called upon the name of the Lord and they walked with God.
[57:30] Which is another way of saying that they had communion with God. They had intimacy with God. And let me ask the question just before we move towards a conclusion here.
[57:43] What is it that defines you and I? Is it our work? Is it our family connections? Is it our good looks?
[57:56] Is it our sporting or academic gifts? Is it our personalities? What is it that defines you? Is it these things, the things that we do, the way that we look?
[58:10] Or are we known, are we defined as someone who knows Jesus? Who walks with God? God. Those in Seth's family and Seth's line, they walked with God, not away from God.
[58:28] There was faith that passed from generation to generation. But in this closing section, there's one name that stands out.
[58:40] There's a particular focus, there's a purposeful focus on Enoch. And just as in Cain's line, Lamech stood out as being particularly sinful, Enoch here stands out as being particularly close to God.
[58:58] Verse 18. Jared lived 162 years and begot Enoch. After he begot Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had sons and daughters.
[59:11] So all the days of Jared were 962 years and he died. Enoch left 65 years and begot Methuselah.
[59:23] After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God. Enoch walked with God 300 years and had sons and daughters.
[59:35] So all the days of Enoch were 365 years and Enoch walked with God and he was not.
[59:48] For God took him. That's his testimony there. Enoch walks with God for 300 years.
[60:01] That's consistency, isn't it? That's a picture of perseverance. perseverance. And when we go to the gallery of the faithful in Hebrews 11, Enoch is there.
[60:13] Hebrews 11 5. So what did he do? Enoch? Is he a king? No, he's not a king. Does he have some high profile ministry?
[60:26] Well, not that we know of. Does he have this huge portfolio of good works and religious accompaniments? not as far as we know. So what did he do?
[60:39] That puts him in the gallery of the faithful in Hebrews 11. What did he do? He walked with God. There's a striking simplicity about Enoch's life.
[60:51] He walked with God day by day by day by day. He walked with God for 300 years.
[61:03] Didn't walk astray. He didn't get off track. He wasn't sinless. But he determinedly walked with God.
[61:16] In faith and repentance he walked with God. And because he did, he pleased God. That's what it says in Hebrews. And so much did he please God that Enoch didn't die.
[61:31] at the young age of 365 it says he was not because God took him.
[61:44] And that's both a historical reality but it's also a picture of what God was doing and would do. See sin's curse has taken hold and because of that even though they're in Seth's line this life giving line even in that line because of the sin that had come into the whole of the world we keep on reading this phrase in Genesis 5 in respect of all these people and he died and he died and he died and he died the wages of sin which is all through the world is death and so we see death but Enoch didn't die God took him and the communion that Enoch knew in time as he walked with God would be perfected and continued eternally and so Enoch showed to us the beginning of the hope that
[62:51] Jesus would bring to all who walk in faith with him there is the promise of eternal communion with God there is the promise of eternal life so let me ask you as we close are you are you and I walking with God do we know that close communion with God that's found in the way of Seth pleasing God it's not about what we do it's not about what we accomplish it's not about how notable how remarkable how how productive our lives are it's about a day by day trusting and walking with God so we see there are these two ways the way of Cain which leads away from
[63:59] God away from life to eternal death it's the road to hell and we see the way of Seth for those who are walking with God and it's the way which leads to eternal life it's the way to heaven so which way are you on which way are you on we'll pray heavenly father we do pray that you would show us where we are help us to see clearly which direction we are traveling in whether we are wandering from you in that place of danger towards eternal danger or whether we are walking on that way of Seth we are walking with God on that path that leads to eternal life we thank you that there is opportunity still if we are on the wrong road to turn around to repent and be saved if there is anybody who is listening to this who is watching this who has not yet turned around in response to the call of the gospel may they may each of us even now
[65:23] I know the blessings of the salvation the life that came through Seth's line but was delivered through Jesus our Savior we pray these things in his name and for his sake Amen Oh for a closer walk with God a calm and heavenly frame a light to shine upon the road that leads me to the lamb where is the blessedness I knew when
[66:23] I first saw the Lord where is that soul refreshing view of Jesus and his word what peaceful hours I once enjoyed how sweet their memories still but they have left an aching void the world can never fill return return oh holy dove return sweet messenger of rest
[67:31] I hate the sins that made thee mourn and drove thee from my breast the dearest idol I have known what dare that idol be help me to tear it from thy throne and worship only thee so shall my walk be close with God come and serene my frame so pure a light shall mark the road that leads me to the lamb and
[68:53] I may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit be with us all both now and forever more Amen