I want to begin reading here
Genesis chapter 6 and read a few verses. This is where we've come
to in our study. I wanted to title this this evening.
I'm not for sure if this is a proper title or not. But we've come to this portion
here in the book of Genesis where there's obviously a great falling
away. And I wanted to entitle this
message, The Falling Away of the Ancient Church. But as I
thought of that, I thought, is that a proper title? What does
that even imply? The falling away of the church.
That would seem to imply that believers, the body of Christ,
could fall away. If we're going to entitle this,
we probably better entitle it, The Falling Away of the Ancient
Professing Church. Because we know that it's impossible
for the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ to fall away. But nevertheless, this is where
we've come to here in our study. We know something took place
here on this day. Let me read us a few verses here
in Genesis chapter 6, and we'll look at this. Genesis chapter
6, and we'll begin in verse 1. And it came to pass, when men
began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were
born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men,
that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which
they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit
shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh. Yet his days shall be one hundred
and twenty years. There were giants in the earth
in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came
in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them,
and the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually. And it
repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it
grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy
man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man
and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air, for
it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of
Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and
Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem,
Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before
God. The earth was filled with violence.
And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for
all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said
unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth
is filled with violence through them. And behold, I will destroy
them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Room shalt thou make it in the
ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch." And
therefore we'll end right there. We'll pick up there, Lord's willing,
next week. But I wanted to look at this
passage, and I was interested in it because We're told that the last days
will be like the days of Noah. As it was in the days of Noah,
so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man. As it were
the days before the flood, so shall it be in the coming of
the Son of Man, the days of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So I'm interested in this because these days resemble one another. And I'm interested in this because
we're told in the last days before the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and one of the things, to be honest, that initiates
His coming is a great falling away. The Apostle said the day
would not come. He said, don't be shaken in mind
that the day of the Lord is at hand, for that day shall not
come except there come a falling away first. And as we read about
the fallen away in the New Testament, we find that it means a general
departing from the faith of the gospel. Men going away from the
body of truth. Speaking lies and hypocrisy,
Paul said, having their conscience seared with a hard iron, truce
breakers, and all of these things will come to pass in the last
day. And he mentioned these two things, that there would be a
form of godliness. Men would have a farm of godliness,
and yet in spite of that farm of godliness, we're told that
the last days would be a day of violence, perilous times. And that's one of the things
I read to you here in this chapter, that the earth was filled with
violence. So when we consider the last
days and consider these days here in chapter 6, they seem
to be the same. They resemble one another. And
the Lord's complaint against this day is found here in verse
3 that I read to you, and that is that man is also flesh. That's what He said of him there
in verse 3. The Lord said, My spirit shall always strive with
man, for that he also is flesh. And you here this evening that
know anything about fallen flesh, you can relate to what He's saying,
can't you? The earth is flesh. What is flesh? What is fallen
flesh? It's nothing. It's sinful. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. The carnal mind, the flesh, is
enmity against God. The natural man, the flesh, receiveth
not the thing of the Spirit of God. And I read these verses
here to you in chapter 6 and verses 5 that every imagination
Now, if you can imagine this, it reached the point that when
God looked upon the earth, upon the thoughts, the minds, the
hearts of individuals, every man that He looked upon, the
thoughts, the imagination of that man's heart was only evil
continually. And we're told here that sometimes
this imagination, it broke out. And when evil imagination breaks
out, it's either breaking out in the corruption, we see that
all around us today, don't we? Look at the corruption of the
flesh that's in our day. Or it's evident in violence.
Fleshly corruption, open and profane sin, are violence. And we see that here in this
chapter. And it reached the place here
in chapter 7, in verse 1, where the Lord said that Noah, And
his family was the only one that was righteous in that whole generation. Probably no one. Maybe two of
his sons. We know one of them was a pervert.
But this is why we say there had to be something that happened.
There had to be a falling away. Now if I told you there was a
time in this old world before the flood that there was a large
church I may or may not be telling you
the truth. Nobody knows how many saints there was in these days. But if I told you there was a
church, I'd be telling you the truth, because there was. There
was a body of believers that knew the Lord, that walked with
God, and that worshipped Him. We're told in chapter 4 verse
26 that you and I looked at a few weeks ago, Then began men to
call upon the name of the Lord. We don't know how many there
was. But they began to call upon the name of the Lord. They began
to come together as a group of believers and call upon the name
of the Lord. And we're told here in verse
2 of chapter 6, Of the sons of God they saw the daughters of
men. And who is the sons of God? Well,
I don't believe as some that they're angels. I think it would
be utterly silly to say these men are angels. I think they're
children of God. I think they're believers. And
we're told here in chapter 5 that Enoch walked with God. In chapter
6 we're told that Noah walked with God. We know that they offered
sacrifices. I think what chapter 5 is telling
us here, when it gives us the descendants of Seth, It shows
us that this is the holy seed that God preserved. These were
those who believed in the Lord, and they walked with God, and
they worshipped Him, however many there was, as opposed to
Cain and all his descendants, which were reprobate concerning
the faith. And notice what he says here
in chapter 5, verse 28 and 29. Notice here in verse 28, And
Lamech lived an hundred and eighty years, eighty-two years, and
begate his son, and called his name Noah, saying, This saying
shall comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands,
because of the ground which the Lord had cursed. He had Noah,
and he called his name Noah. Because he said, the Lord is
going to comfort us. I don't know how many us's there
was. But there were some us's. Being the positive man that I
am, I would say there's many. There's many us's. But we don't
know. But my point is this. There was
a church. There was a body of believers
in that day. And yet, we come to chapter 6
and the first portion of chapter 7. And we find out, out of all
of those ones who had lived, finally there was only eight
people saved in an hour. So there had to be a falling
away. And can we determine, I think
we can to some degree, what happened. And I think what will help us
this evening is the limited information that we have here in the history
of the old world. If we had probably a hundred
books written of what took place in the Old Testament before the
flood, we'd never be able to siphon through those and find
out what happened. We'd despair to think about it. But we've
got such a limited information, it's easy to go here and read
just about three and a half chapters and just a few places in the
New Testament that tells us and gives us any record of what took
place Before the flood and back to the creation of man, you know,
we've got a unique Bible The Bible is a unique book. It's
the only book that tells us anything Of what was said or what was
done? From the creation up until the
flood. There's nothing written Except it comes from the Bible.
That's a unique book. The only book in this world that
tells us who created this world is the Bible. And how it was
done? The first man and his sin and all the consequences of it.
The first man that was translated and taken from earth up to heaven.
Just this Bible is the only book that tells us that. So what can
you and I attribute it, the fallen, away to? And it may sound simple. It may sound simple. And you
say, Bruce, I don't think it can be that simple. But you know
sometimes difficult questions have some simple answers. And
I think it's simple. I would contend the chief cause,
if not the whole cause, of this falling away is found here in
the first portion of chapter 6, here in verses 2 and 3. Let me read it to you again.
In verse 1, it came to pass, when men began to multiply on
the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the
sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair,
and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord
said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for he also
is flesh. And the fact that this account
is so brief is very important. We are not told how long a span
it was in these few verses. If it was 1,000 years or 1,500
years, we're not told. The important thing for us to
learn here is the sons of God did something. They did something
and there was an eventual consequence. It's not important how long it
took for this falling away to reach a climax. What's important
is this. We see a behavior here by the
sons of God that eventually had consequences. And the consequences was the
falling away. Now you say, Bruce, you're telling
me that what caused the falling away was These believers, these
sons of God, taking unbelievers, the daughters of men, to be their
wives? And that was the reason, the cause of the falling away?
No, that's not what I'm saying. There's something beneath that.
There's something more important beneath that. We can't just stop
and look at that. There's something deeper than
that, that caused it. But while we're on that subject,
let me show you a verse or two of Scripture. Look over in Deuteronomy
chapter 7. You hold Genesis chapter 6. Look
over in Deuteronomy chapter 7. Deuteronomy chapter 7. In regards to these believers,
these sons of God marrying the unbelievers. And I would imagine
what the Scripture seems to imply here, that the sons of God, the
descendants of Seth, begin to marry. the daughters of Cain,
the descendants of Cain. That's what the Scripture there
seems to imply. And I think this verse here in
Deuteronomy chapter 7, verses 3 and 4, is the general rule
for believers and unbelievers not to wed. Now look what he says here in
verse 3. This is in regard to the children
of Israel coming into the land of Canaan. In Deuteronomy 7,
verse 3, neither shall thou make marriages with them, with the
Canaanites, and those seven nations. Thy daughter thou shalt not give
unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take
unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son
from following thee. that they may serve other gods,
so will the anger of the Lord be candle against you, and destroy
thee suddenly." Now, I have seen this happen, and you have too.
I have seen an unbeliever marry an unbeliever, and you think,
well, maybe that believer will be a light to the unbeliever.
Maybe that believer will be a witness to the unbeliever. Maybe the
unbeliever will eventually be saved by that. But what I have
witnessed, and you probably have too, it's usually the other way
around. Evil communications corrupt good
manners. Evil companionship usually wins
the day, doesn't it? Instead of the good influencing
the evil, the evil so many times influences the good, and instead
of the believer, at least the professed believer, winning the
unbeliever. Sometimes it's the unbeliever
winning the believer, and it's a hindrance to them. Wouldn't
it be discouraged if you had a spouse who wanted to go drinking
and partying, and you wanted to go to worship? Wouldn't that
be discouraging? If your wife didn't share with
you the deep conviction of the things of God and of Christ,
wouldn't that be disappointing to you? On the one hand, you're
told to come out of the world and be separate. Don't be conformed
to this world, but be yet transformed. You're told to walk in the light
as He is in the light, and yet you have a spouse that's dead
and trespasses and sins. that has no regards for the things
of the Lord? You have no communion with your
spouse whatsoever? Wouldn't that be discouraging?
And think this, brothers and sisters, about a believer married
an unbeliever. What kind of lie is it to the
church? What kind of lie is it to this
world that you say, I have these personal convictions I love the
Lord Jesus Christ. I believe on Him. He's my life. And yet you join yourself and
become one with someone who doesn't even love or know your Lord. Sort of contradictory, ain't
it? So I think this general rule holds true all through the Bible
that a believer is free to be married only in the Lord. Only in the Lord. And I think
when that rule is sought, in general, it'll be a blessing
to the family. It'll be a blessing to the family. When I'm ill of
a night to pray, most of the time my wife and I pray together.
And I imagine most of you do, too. Most of you do, too. I thank
Cindy. I may misquote her here, but
I think she told me something one time about she asked the
Lord to send her somebody that loved Him. Is that what you said,
Cindy? You send me somebody that loves you. That's the priority. If he loves you, he'll love me.
Is that what you said? He'll love me. He'll love me. Marriage is a serious business,
ain't it? Matter of prayer. Matter of prayer. When you marry
somebody, you're stuck with them the rest of your life. And you
want to enjoy them if you can. Enjoy them if you can. But in
Genesis chapter 6, the problem is more serious than just what
these sons of God did. It's more serious than that.
That was serious. I don't want to underestimate
the seriousness of it. But the problem goes deeper than
that. It's why they did it. It's why
they did it. And look back here at my text
again. Look back here at it again. Let's just read it, and look
at it as we read it, and slowly and carefully, and notice how
the Holy Spirit phrases this. And let's look at it this way.
The believers, the Christians, the children of God, they saw
these unbelieving women, the daughters of men, that they were
fair. And they took them wives of all
which they chose. They made this decision to marry,
and ain't that a serious decision? And yet they based it solely
upon what appealed to their fleshly, carnal senses. Boy, don't some
bells start going off. Don't some stop lights flash
there. Here are these serious decisions.
Marriage. And how did they choose their
wives? Boy, aren't they beautiful. Man,
aren't they beautiful. Fleshly senses. They saw, they
took, they chose according to their fleshly carnal senses. And you know, we read many places
that other people have did this, and every time it's done, it
has horrible consequences. It ain't been long ago we studied
about it. Eve saw the tree. Remember that? She saw the fruit. That it was pleasant to the eye. And then she took of it. And
what was the consequence? We're told of another man, Lot.
Remember him? He lifted up his eyes and he
saw the plains, that they were well watered. He saw And He chose
them just like they did. What was the consequence? Remember
Achan? And the language that describes
what Achan did fits this passage so well. Achan was a man who
brought a curse upon the children of Israel there at Jericho. Remember he took that cursed
gold and silver that he wasn't to take? And here's what he said
about that. When they brought him up before
the judges there of Israel and asked him to explain what he'd
done, and he said, I saw this beautiful Babylonian scarlet. And this wedge of gold and silver,
and I coveted it. And I took it. I took it. There's the same language that
we find here in this passage. They saw They took, they chose. They did that deliberately. And
this is the cause that began this falling away. The sons of
God deliberately walked after the flesh. That's where it began. I would contend that it's here
in this very place, brothers and sisters, where the Holy Spirit was first
breathed. And the graces of the Holy Spirit,
at least in measure, were weakened and lessened, and the comfort
of the presence of the Lord, at least a manifestation of that
presence, was lost. It's right here. And notice what
he quickly adds here in verse 3. After they had did this, the
Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man. That word strive means to minister
to. My Spirit will not always minister
comfort, and direction, and support, and light, and assurance. Why? Because He also is flesh. If we walk after the flesh, we
shall die. Ain't that what the Scripture
tells us? And right here we see the beginning.
The beginning of this fallen away. You say, Bruce, surely
it can't be that simple. And surely such drastic consequences
wouldn't come out of this. But brethren, here is the problem. Here is the problem. When you
and I walk after the flesh, there is where the Holy Spirit is grieved. And there is where we lose to
a measure the graces of His Holy Spirit and the manifestation
of His presence. Then what happens to us? If we grieve the Spirit, how
can we go on? We can't do anything without
Him, can we? We can't repent. We can't believe. We can't worship. We can't have confidence or assurance. We can't work. What can we do
without the Spirit of grace? The Spirit of Christ. Grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God by which you are sealed until the
day of repentance. Look over here with me in Luke
chapter 21. This seems so simple. It really
seems simple. And I think that's the whole
problem that you and I face in Luke chapter 21. The dangers that the church faces
is subtle. If we set our hearts upon things
that are lawful, I mean marriage. Marriage is
lawful. Among all nations ordained of
God. Eating and drinking and building
and buying and selling. All of these things are lawful
in and of themselves. If we don't make this the end
for which we labor and live, that's the danger. That's the
danger. Look here what he tells us in
Luke chapter 21 and verse 27. Look what he says. He's speaking
here of the coming of the Lord Jesus. And then shall they see
the sign of the Son of Man coming. Then shall they see the Son of
Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And look what
he says here now in verse 34. Look at this. in the light of
His coming, the last days. That's what we're looking at.
The falling away in the last days and the cause of it. And
take heed to yourselves. In other words, pay attention
here. Pay attention here. Let this hold your mind. Keep
this in your memory. Be cautious. Apply yourself here. Give regard to this. Take heed
to yourselves. Lest at any time Never let this
happen one time. Never one time at all let this
happen. Lest your heart, your mind, your
thoughts, your affections be overcharged, overburdened, loaded
down to excess with surfeitim. With surfeitim. Did you ever
eat too much and you get so full that you feel so bloated, that
you get lazy and drowsy and sleepy. That's what this word serpentine
means. The result of excess is what
it is. And look at this, and drunkenness,
intoxication. A lot of times we think of alcohol
when we think of that, but you know, You know, a lot of this
world is drunk on the world. It's possible for a man to be
drunk on the world. There's the wine of fornication,
the wine of pleasures, the wine of cares, and all these things.
And look at this, and the cares of this life. Boy, I tell you, the cares of
this life can be subtle. Did you know that? You can't escape the cares of
this world to some degree. If you live in it, and you're
married and have a family, you've got cares. You've got to care
for your family. If you've got a house, you've
got to keep it up. If you've got a job, you've got to work
it. There's cares that we have in this world. We can't live in this world without
it. But the danger is this. Get it overloaded. with access. And then we get bloated. Spiritually
bloated. We get spiritually drowsy. Spiritually
sleepy. And then we go to sleep. And
then we go to sleep. See, there's the danger in it.
And it's so subtle. It will slip up on you. And look
here over the last word He said. He said, Take heed and beware
of these things. Keep your heart with all diligence.
Don't let the cures of this life overwhelm you. And so that day
come upon you unawares, that you so went to sleep, you forgot
about it. You forgot about it. Ain't that
what we're told about the days of Noah? The Lord Jesus said
they married, They were given in marriage, they eat, they drank,
they builded until the day that Noah entered
into the ark and they knew not. They knew not. There was such
a fall in the way that the judgment was pending and nobody was aware
but these eight souls that were building that ark. Nobody knew
it. What happened? Everybody went
to sleep. Where did it start? Where did
this start? I would contend it started right
where we said it started. When the sons of God, the church
if you will, began to walk after the flesh and not after the Spirit,
and the Spirit was grieved and the graces of the Spirit to a
great measure was lost, and the presence of the Lord was lost."
Boy, that says something to you and I, doesn't it? It says something
to you and I. I don't want to be involved in
a falling away. I don't want to be the cause
of it. Do you? I don't. Let me give you four things right
quickly in closing. If you and I don't want to be
involved in it, and we don't want to be the cause of it, then
let me give you these four things. Number one is this. Let us live
our daily lives in the fear of God, in the fear of His judgments. The Scripture says, Noah being
warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear. prepared in an ark to the saving
of his house. If you and I, brothers and sisters,
want to be a Noah, then let us fear like Noah did. Let us keep
before our eyes all the day long God's judgments, especially the
judgment that's pending upon this world right now. Without
fear, there's no grace. Without fear, there's no faith.
Without fear, there's no escape. Noah escaped because Noah feared. He moved with fear. If you and
I would not be the cause of this falling away, then let us keep
this holy fear of God's judgment upon our hearts all the day long. Look around you. Be often looking
around you. Everything that you see, everything
that you own, your house, your car, your job, all your relationships
are under this judgment of God. All of these things that you
see are temporarily. They'll be coming to an end very
soon. Either the fire is going to burn
them or they're going to cease to be. God's judgment is coming. This world will be burned. It's
reserved unto fire against the day of judgment. Therefore, seeing
all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons are we
to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Fear the Lord,
brothers and sisters. In a day where we see it on our
t-shirts, no fear. Let us fear God. Pray God give
us more reverence for Him and His judgment. Somebody said,
I'm not afraid. I am. I am. I ain't afraid of
man. But I tell you, I fear God. I
fear the judgments of God. Number two, let us watch. Let us watch. It's a difficult
thing to watch, ain't it? You have to stay awake. You've
been on watch. Clarence, you know what it is to say. It's
tough, ain't it? Peter couldn't watch one hour. Watch! Watch therefore, for you know
not when the Son of Man shall come. Be always ready, for in
such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man shall come. If
the good man had known in what hour the thief would come, he
would have watched, and his house would not have been broken up.
The day of the Lord, the Scripture says, will come as a thief in
the night. Let us, therefore, not sleep
as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep,
they sleep in the night. And they that be drunken are
drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day
be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an
helmet, the hope of salvation. And what I say unto you, the
Lord Jesus said, I say unto all, watch. Watch. Noah was a watching man. If you
and I would not want to be the cause of this falling away, then
brothers and sisters, let us watch. And thirdly, let us live
by faith. I mean by the exercise of it.
By faith, the Scripture says, Noah built that ark. God gave him a diagram to go
by. And by faith he put those boards together, hammered every
nail in them, pitched it within and without with this confidence
that he was preparing an ark to carry him and his family through
that flood. By faith he looked to that which
would carry him through the judgment of God into a new world. That's
the faith you and I should live by. We're not preparing an ark. but our faith in an ark that
has already been prepared. The Lord Jesus Christ. Live by
faith in Him, brothers and sisters. Live by faith upon Him. Every
day be looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. There we will not be
involved in the falling away. And lastly is this, and I want
you to turn with me for the reading of this Scripture over in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5. All of these are regarding the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look in 1 Thessalonians chapter
5. Here's what you and I should
do. Get a strong confidence. Have a strong confidence in God's
decree of election. Have a strong confidence in God's
decree of election. Live in fear of God and the fear
of His judgments. Watch. Live by faith upon the
Lord Jesus, our true Ark. And get a strong confidence in
God's decree of election. Look what He said in verse 8
of 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. But let us, who are of the day,
be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an
helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but God has appointed us to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, God has His decrees, brothers
and sisters. And He's decreed who will be
saved. And it's a sure decree. And if you can find yourself
in Christ tonight, you can be sure He's appointed you to salvation.
And His decree is so sure that you'll be saved at last. You
walk in that confidence. You walk in that confidence daily.
And I'm telling you what, you'll not be involved in the fallen
away. And you won't be the cause of it either. May God bless His
Word. Let's pray.