Open your Bibles first of all
this morning to the book of Genesis. I want you to look in chapter
5 first of all. I want to read a couple of verses
here in Genesis 5. the first and second. This is the book of the generations
of Adam. In the day that God created man,
in the likeness of God, made he him. male and female, created
he them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam in the
day when they were created. You might know about, or you
might even have read a book that was written by the now retired
newsman by the name of Tom Gokal. But he wrote a book after he
retired called The Greatest Generation. And it was a book about the generation
of my mother and father. And I am sure that there would
be many things in that book I'd find myself in complete agreement
with. As far as men go, that really
was a great generation. But we know that such titles
as this can never go to any group of people based on what they
have done. Can't really call them the greatest
generation. But I do believe that there is
a generation that such a title fits, and a generation that is
spoken of in the Bible whose greatness is in another, the
Lord Jesus Christ. This fifth chapter of Genesis
begins by going back and restating how Adam and us came to be. And these first two verses, they
provide and prove to be a kind of early reference point on a
great number of things. Things that in our day need to
be gone back to, and read, and believed, and be restated. These verses remind us that man
is not his maker, and therefore he cannot be his master. Somebody said this, the self-made
man has a fool for a creator. And that's about the way that
it is. And they remind us also that
we are not as God made a race. Adam came by creation. and whose descendants came by
generation. We are the descendants and the
fallen descendants of Adam and Eve. If you go back and look
at how God created Adam and Eve, it should take away such lame
for our sinfulness as we offer when we say, well, I'm just the
way God made me. That is not true. In Genesis 1, it said God created
man in his own image, In the image of God created he him,
male and female created he them. And then we read this in the
book of Ecclesiastes. Lo, this only have I found, that
God hath made man upright, that they have sought out many inventions,
evil inventions. God made that first man upright
and with immutable righteousness, but he immediately fell into
sin and in doing so sought out many inventions. That is our state and the state
of all the generations of Adam. And these and many other verses
declare to us what God created man to be. It says, male and
female created he them. One or the other, And any deviance
from that is a perversion of God's creation and the consequence
of sin. Male and female created he them. So in that respect, one can say,
in seeking to be the other, that this is how God made me. Male and female created He then. And what we find in the Bible
is that such things as homosexuality, whether it be of male or female,
is not the created thing, but is rather the result and the
consequence of idolatry and of rebellion against God and a defiance
against God and his right as the creator, a defiance of his
sovereignty. Because our sex, as well as our
own individual personalities, they are the marks of God's sovereignty
to us. In other words, just like that
tree in the midst of the garden. which was in so many ways no
different from any other tree in the garden except for one
thing and that is it represented God's right to be God. It was what it was and men were
to regard it for what he said it was simply because God said
so. And anything else As our father
Adam proved, anything else is simply open rebellion, defiance
against God, and brings a consequence and judgment. Now the amazing
thing is that in the blindness of men, in our day such things
go on as this, at the funeral, of a soldier who has died in
battle and been brought back to this country. At his funeral
service, he gathers a group of religious people and they protest,
saying such things as this, that these dead soldiers are God's
judgment on this nation as homosexuality. And that's
how far apart men go and fall in blindness and ignorance to
the truth. The truth is that these individuals
who defy such things and such moral crimes by and in the name
of religion, they both shall spend eternity together, both
in defiance against God. One in one way, and the other
in another way. One as an immoral, and the other
as a so-called moralist, but both denying the truth and gospel
of Christ. You see, if you look over in
Romans chapter 1 with me, turn to Romans chapter 1, and you
see exactly what the apostle says to us with regard to this
very thing. Romans 1 and verse 18. He says, by the Spirit of God,
for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. There is a revelation of God
into creation. And then deny that, even in that
way, as well as deny the gospel. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them. He manifests that witness that
there is a God, that this God of the Bible is God, and they
have this witness in them, in their conscience. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen. being understood
by the things that are made, the things that God made, even
his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. because that when they knew God,
they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became
vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened,
and professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. How was that foolishness and
blindness manifested? Well, they changed the glory
of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible
man and to birds and forfeited beasts and creeping things. That is, it resulted in idolatry. in that they imagine God to be
something or someone different than he reveals himself to be
in creation and in his gospel. Wherefore, For this reason, God
also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own
hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. In other words, all of these
perversions are the natural consequence of idolatry, of religion without
God. who changed or who exchanged
the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature
more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause, God gave them
up unto vile affections, for even their women did change the
natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise
also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their
lust one toward another, men with men working that which is
unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error,
which was meat. And even as they did not like
to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind to do those things which are not convenient. being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters
of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient
to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural
affection, implacable, unmerciful, who knowing the judgment of God,
that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only
do the same, but have pleasure in them. Have pleasure in them
that do them. Reformation is the consequence
of rejecting light and the truth of God, whether in the creation
or in the gospel. And he says here, male and female,
he created us. And this not for just some reason
unknown to us, but for a reason that he declares, and that's
so as to show in a picture the spiritual thing, the union and
the relationship of Christ and the church, his God. You see, these things are done
not only to glorify God, and not only to display His sovereignty
and His right to do with His own what He will, but to show
and to signify spiritual things, the things of His grace in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the distinctions that God
made and has made, they were not made so as to make one sex
thing inferior or superior to the other. but rather they are
to show spiritual things in our roles as either male or female
in the world or in the marriage relationship or in the church
simply to show how we are to be submitted to Him and to represent
to us the spiritual things of His grace. When I ever counsel young people,
in this business of marriage. The one thing that I try to stress
upon them in that they should marry and be married and how
that every other thing, regardless of how society accepts it, is
not acceptable in the sight of God, is because of what it represents. Turn over to Ephesians chapter
5. What do these things represent? Male and female. Or husband and
wife. What do they represent in God's
purpose and will? Look down in verse 22. Paul says, wives, submit yourselves
unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is
the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church,
and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything."
Then, husbands? love your wives, even as Christ
also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth
it and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church, for we are
members of his body. of his flesh and of his bones,
and for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother,
and shall be joined unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh."
What does that mean? That's talking about the union
of Christ and his church as one flesh. or as one in the side
of God. But look at the next verse. This
is a great mystery that I speak concerning Christ and the Church. These aren't things that are
just important morally or socially. They represent Christ and the
Church. Nevertheless, let every one of
you in particular so love his wife even as himself, and the
wife see that she reverence her husband." Not only because God
says so, but because these things represent spiritual things. They have to do with Christ and
the Church. And these verses that we read
here in Genesis, they also show us how God views us with regard
to Adam. What did it say? It says, God blessed them and called
their name Adam. their name. He called their name
Adam, and it is here that we begin to see something of what
is called federal headship, or representation so that God showed
in that that he viewed and he dealt with them as one. Nothing happened when Eve ate
of the fruit, but when Adam ate of that fruit of the tree, They
were both cast out of the garden and out of the presence of God. God showing how that he dealt
with them as he deals with mankind and these generations of Adam. They live or they die in that
one representative man. As a matter of fact, What we
find in this book is that God has only ever dealt with two
men in this race. And they are described in scripture
as this, as the first Adam and as the last Adam. In other words, he blessed them,
or he dealt with them, and he deals with all men and women
on this principle of representation and federal headship and substitution,
which rather than a curse, is the blessing of God. Now we can't deny our connection
to the first Adam. We're all involved sometimes
in trying to find out our genealogy. We're always kind of emphasizing
and proud of the things that distinguish us and separate us
from another. But the truth is, we all can
go back in our family tree and find a trace to this very couple. So what does the scripture say?
Well, it says this in 1 Corinthians 15, for since by man came death,
by good man came death, by good man came also the resurrection
of the dead. Then the next verse says, for
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ. All who are in Adam died in Adam,
and all who are in Christ shall be made alive. He goes on, and
so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul. God created him, and it says,
and he breathed into him the breath of life, and he became
a living soul. But the last Adam, he's a quickening spirit. He's the life giver. He's the
one who's called the life. Again, how be it that was not
first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward
that which is spiritual. The first Adam is natural. The last Adam, Christ, is spiritual. or earthly. The second man, you mean there's
only been two men? Only two that represented this
race before God. The second man, listen to this,
is the Lord from heaven. He's that son, the eternal son. that he was a child that was
born into this world. He's the son that was given,
not born. He's the Lord from heaven. And this word that we read here
in our text, this word generations, is used many times in scripture. And here it is not speaking of
the origin of Adam, but of what came forth from Adam. His generations. Many generations. We go from
Adam to Seth and from Seth to Noah and his family so that every
person in the present world descended from them since they were the
sole survivors of the flood. And we're in these generations
by nature. But as this goes on, we see the
preservation of a spiritual line. When he says here, this is the
book of the generations of Adam, This points forward at what follows
in Adam's history, or this is the story, or this is the book
of the story, and the word book here. As it is in the Hebrew,
this word book refers to any document, whether long or short,
as long as it is complete in itself. This is the book of the generations. In other words, it's written
down. The names are inscribed in it. This is the book of the
generations of Adam. Everything that has come out
of this family, Adam and Eve, this man Adam, the first Adam,
this is it all together. And he begins and goes forward. And this particular phrase is
found only right here in the Old Testament. These are the generations, but
it's also found once in the New Testament. Come over to Matthew's Gospel in that first chapter. These are the kind of verses
and such that we read over quickly as if we can get on to something
more important and better as we read. But oftentimes, one
of the most important things is established in that first
verse. Matthew 1 and verse 1, the beginning
of the New Testament Scriptures, the work of the generation of
Jesus Christ. Now it goes on to tell that natural
lineage by which Christ came, born of Mary, and establishing
in that language all the details that the prophet said concerning
him and these individuals that he was identified with, the Messiah
being identified with all these people that follow. But it doesn't say generations,
does it? These generations that are named
They simply identify the character of the Messiah who is Jesus Christ. But this book, meaning the whole
book, is about the generation of Jesus Christ. And while it may be true that
the ones that are named here, that they may surely and most
likely were the objects of his free and sovereign grace, they
are not the entirety of his generation. We read about the generations
in Adam, that there is a generation in Christ. Now I read that 24th chapter
of Matthew, where the Lord Jesus Christ gives
all of these prophecies and predictions all together that are to precede
his coming. And then men run into something. that they find hard to deal with. Let me read that 34th verse to
you again. He says, Verily I say unto you,
this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. And so they take that to mean
the generation and the day in which Christ lived on this earth.
And they went back to try to put places and faces and times
and all on all that long list of things that he listed there
that precede his coming. And inevitably they run into
trouble. What he's saying is this generation,
the generation of Jesus Christ, that generation, all these things
will be fulfilled before he comes and this generation shall take
place, be born, be manifested prior to that time. What is that? Is that related to the Jews,
or is that related to the Gentiles? That's related to God's elect.
That's the generation of Jesus Christ. Turn back to Psalm 22
a minute. Psalm 22, and look down in Psalm
22 and verse 30. The Bible is full of this. Psalm
22 and verse 30, it says, a seed shall serve him. It shall be accounted to the
Lord for a generation. Isn't that something? The Lord
Jesus Christ will have a people. The Messiah will have an offspring. He'll have a seed. And that seed
will be accounted as a generation before the Lord. Look on over into chapter 24
at verse 6. The psalmist says, This is the generation of them
that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob, or O God of Jacob. Why in the world would the holy
God identify himself to this generation and connect himself
with this generation as the God of Jacob? That's all of what we are by
nature in our Father Adam. That's all we are, sinners and
connivers and such. That's what they all are by nature
this generation. They have no hope in themselves.
They're just like all of Adam's race, as far as their nature
and their sinfulness is concerned. They're all by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. But he'll bring them to seek
him, to seek his faith. That's his favor. All right,
look over in Psalm 102. Psalm 102, and look down at verse
18. This shall be written for the
generation to come. Not generations to come, but
for the generation to come. And the people which shall be
created shall praise the Lord. Well, I thought Adam was the
only one created. These people will be new created. They will enjoy a spiritual creation. They will be born of God. Look down in Psalm 112. Psalm 112, and look at this second
verse. His seed, who? The Lord's seed,
the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah Jesus. His seed shall be mighty
upon earth. The generation of the upright
shall be blessed. That's the greatest generation. The seed of Jehovah Jesus. The children of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because you see, the scriptures
set them forth in this way. This generation was chosen in
Christ before the world began. Peter, writing in his first epistle,
writes to believers, writes to those that he identifies as God's
elect. He says that you are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people,
that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Chosen generation. chosen by God in that everlasting
covenant and given to Christ, given to him as a people, so
that he is distinguished elsewhere as himself the everlasting Father. Why? Because these are his children,
his generation. They were lived because of him.
They have spiritual life, they have eternal life because of
him, their chosen generation. In Hebrews, the apostle says,
that he says, and again, I will put my trust in him, and again,
behold, I am the children which God hath given me. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death, his death, he might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is, the devil. They're his generation, his seed. He gives them life in the only
way that sinners can be given life, and that is through his
death in their place for their sins. His generation, his offspring,
his children are not by physical union. There's a ridiculous novel
that has been written whereby the writer, in his wild rambling,
somehow tries to present a case, a case that cannot be presented,
that Christ and Mary Magdalene entered into a union or married
or something and had children as a result of that. That is
the most ridiculous, unbiblical, thing you could imagine. You see his seed are a spiritual
seed. And they were his, listen to
this, they were his before he became flesh. Before he ever
took on himself human flesh. before he ever came as the one
that was made flesh and brought among us, he already had this
generation chosen in him, given to him,
loved by him before the world was. Not only that, this generation
was redeemed. by the Lord Jesus Christ. They were redeemed by Him on
the cross, just like Isaiah said they would be. Isaiah writes
in chapter 53, He was taken from prison and from judgment, and
who shall declare His generation? In other words, if He dies, How's
he going to have this offspring? How's he going to have this generation?
He's cut off. But he was cut off out of the
land of the living, and God says, for the transgression of my people. My people being his offspring,
his generation, was he stricken. And so the apostle, or rather
Philip, I believe it was, in Acts chapter 8, when he's talking
to Enoch, who has been reading this very same passage of scripture
in Isaiah, when he talks to him, he says, in this humiliation,
his judgment was taken away, and who shall declare his generation
where his life is taken from the earth? The eunuch answered
Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaks the prophet this? Of himself or of some other man? And then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him, Jesus. He in his death, he in his burial,
and resurrection. He declared His generation. And He declared them righteous. You read in Isaiah 66. It says, Before she prevailed,
she brought forth. Who's He talking about? He's
talking about the church here. The bride. But this strange language. Before she travailed, she brought
forth. Before her pain came, she was
delivered of a man-child. Who hath heard such a thing?
Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring
forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at
once? For as soon as Zion prevailed,
she brought forth her children. She brought forth, as is pictured,
this man. And in the man, the man Christ
Jesus is all of his children, all his people. You see, this generation is the
fruit of his sufferings and his death. And this generation is
righteous before God because they're made the righteousness
of God in Christ. There's a statement found in
Psalm 14. Within the generation of the
righteous, And therefore, he is the righteousness of the generation. If we're united to Christ, that
he's the one who has made sin for us, that we might be made
the very righteousness of God in him. We are in him by an imputed
righteousness, by God declaring us righteous by virtue of our
association with another, the last Adam. We're as righteous as he. As
a matter of fact, the Apostle John says that. As he is, so are we in this world. Now while we might not be in
the end generation, we might not be in a whole lot in the
modern generation, but if we're in the generation, we're in the
greatest generation. And we can pray like Christ to
our Father, all righteous Father. You see, the book of the generation
of Jesus Christ is simply called elsewhere, the Lamb's book of
life, the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. That's the book of the generation
of Jesus Christ. That's those names that we read
about when he says those names that are written in heaven. Those
disciples, they were running around, they were happy because
they were able to cast out demons and do miracles. He said don't
rejoice in these things. Rejoice because your names are
written in heaven. You're written in the book of
the generation of Jesus Christ. God has, in sovereign mercy,
looked upon you, received you, blessed you, taken you, chosen
you, loved you, predestinated all things concerning you, all
together in Christ. The favorite Romans 5, and I'll
try to close this up. Romans 5. Here in Romans 5, this view of
God and his grace of us being either in one man or the other is as clearly stated as I think
it can be. Romans 5, and look down at verse
15. But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. That means
something like this. There are many similarities in
the offense into which we came and Adam. There are many similarities
to death and the gift that we came to receive in Christ. Similarities,
but great differences also. For if through the offense of
one, many be dead, in Adam all die. Much more, the grace of
God, and the gift of grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ,
hath abounded unto many." Now, he's talking here about all those
who are in Adam, which is us all. And all who are in Christ,
which is this people, this generation. And not as it was by one that
sinned, so is the gift. For the judgment was by one to
condemnation, but the still gift is of many offenses unto justification. In the one we were condemned
and declared guilty, in the other we were justified and declared
righteous. For if by one man's offense death
reigns by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace
and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus
Christ. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Even so,
by the righteousness of one, the free gift came and put all
men under justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. And in the Greek there it sets
things forth as definite. For as by one man's disobedience
thee many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
thee many be made righteous." By Adam's disobedience, we became sinners. and only in
the obedience in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ are
we made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound to show sin for what it was sinned, but
where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Isn't that
marvelous? Him we lay helpless, dead in
trespasses and sin, just like all of Adam's race. But God,
in mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ, who wrote our names in the Lamb's
Book of Life, determined to show mercy and be gracious to us as
it pleased Him. that is seen hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. All this generation shall all
be born of God. So as in John wonder he came
unto him his own, and his own received him not, Period? End of story? Not exactly. Next
line. But as many, wait a minute now. Why? But as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name. This is what distinguishes the
generation of Jesus Christ in this world. They believe on his name. They don't believe on what men
merely say his name is. His name has to do with who he
is and what he actually accomplished in this world. They believe on
his name as it is revealed in Holy Scripture. You know, it's amazing how we
can hear this business of, well, we really all believe the same
thing. We've got the same Bible. The way to show how foolish that
is, is let's sit down and just take verse by verse and see if
we believe the same thing. I can say, I believe what this
book says. End of story. The most come to
this book and they labor with great difficulty to make it say
exactly the opposite of what it says. This book says that
God declares himself this way. He says, I kill and I make alive. And somebody says, no, just wait
a minute. It doesn't really mean that. That he actually has some power
to do, but he doesn't really resist. He says, I kill and I
make a lie. I do all things. Can there be
evil in the street? And I haven't done it. Can anything
go on and you not be behind it all? He's God. And this generation is born of
God's Spirit. They're brought from this disobedience
and rebellion. They're made willing in the day
of His power, and they believe on His name. In other words, they trust the
Lord Jesus Christ for everything, and their believing on his name
doesn't put them in that generation. It's because he has already put
them in that generation and done all things necessary to their
salvation, and he reveals it to them in the gospel. Even to them that believe on
his name, which were born. not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Paul said, for ye are all the
children of God by faith in Christ. He said that writing to believers
in Galatia. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male
nor female. For you are one in Christ Jesus,
and if you be Christ, then are you able and seed and heirs according
to the promise." The generation. This is the book
of the generation of Jesus Christ. Which one? The one that came
down through this prophesied, God-ordained lineage to be born
of this woman without an earthly father. And the one who is associated
with all the details of the prophecies concerning the Messiah that came
by these individuals. But the book of the generation
of Jesus Christ is that Lamb's book. Lamb's book of life. is by virtue of the Lamb, the
Lamb of God that was slain, suffering as the just for the unjust to
bring them to God. This generation, it says, looks
to Christ, finds all their hope and all their righteousness in
God alone. They believe on him. They rely on him. They believe his gospel because
it gives him all glory. They believe his gospel because
it's the only message that has ever given them true hope. They
believe the gospel because it addresses them in that character
that they are in naturally in fallen Adam. And it's the message that the
Spirit of God uses to speak peace to their conscience. This is the generation of Jesus
Christ. And it is truly, in him, the
greatest generation. That name fits them perfectly. Because they are made the very
righteousness of God in him. Because all of their sins have
been totally put away and are no more. Because they believe
the truth of the gospel which glorifies and honors God, which
was the end and goal of man in the beginning. And how thankful they ought to
be. How thankful we ought to be if God has given us a revelation
of his son. and faith to believe on Christ. Faith to trust Him and Him alone. To cast off every other hope. And to sing on Christ, the solid
rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. I dare not trust
the Swedish frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name." God help us to do that, to rest
in his Son. I, dear Father, we pray this
morning that you would bless us for his sake, that we might among this generation. This generation that is set in
contrast to another generation, that wicked and adulterous generation
that always seeks after a sign. that always travels in the name
of religion without God, that always brings as its consequence
all of these various vile and wicked things in societies. Grant that we might be found
in his generation, his people, For his name is called Jesus,
as the angel said, for he shall save his people from their sins. Father, we ask again that you
would, in your great mercy, for your own glory, bless Hugh as he goes to the
test tomorrow. We pray that you might use these
days and this experience as a means of revealing the truth to his
own heart, how helpless we are in every
way, how dependent we are for the very least of things. We ask that you would bless and
help each one of us We pray it all in Christ's name. Amen.