If you will, open your Bibles
again to Matthew 24. There are so many mysteries here in this
chapter, which Brother Frank read for us regarding the return
of our Lord. But some of us believe that the
coming of the Lord is near. I believe so. Many other ministers of the gospel
believe that the return of Christ is near. In reading 1 and 2 Timothy and 2 Thessalonians,
there seems to be two very strong signs of the Lord's return. I know he gives us many in this
chapter, but many I do not understand, I just can't comprehend. And
when they occur, I think we'll recognize them. As Peter said
to the people at Pentecost, he said, this is that of which the
prophet Joel wrote. None of them understood what
the prophet Joel meant until it took place, and that's when
they recognized this is what he said. And so Matthew 24, the
day is coming when All of us will be able to say, well now,
this is what our Lord was talking about. But to me, there are two
strong signs of the Lord's return in Paul's epistles to Timothy
and the church at Thessalonica. One is the general apostasy of
religion. And that's certainly taking place
in this day. I know a little bit about church
history. I've read with interest much about church history. And as far as I can tell, religion
has never been in as bad a shape as it is now. Religion is plentiful,
but truth and grace is very difficult to find. There's plenty of ceremonies
and law. Through Moses, grace and truth
came by Jesus Christ, and there's plenty of laws and rituals and
ceremonies and religion, but grace and truth is very difficult
to find. And that's evidenced by the fact
that many of you drive miles and miles and miles to get here
to church, and you pass dozens and dozens and dozens of churches,
dozens of them, but you don't stop. You come to where the food
is, where the truth and grace is, and it's hard to find. Now, there's people all over
this country that have no place to hear the truth, no place.
The second strong sign and evidence of the Lord's coming is the wickedness
and evil which dominates our earth today. Wickedness has always been here,
but it's never been advertised and promoted and indulged openly
like it is today. If you have any principles at
all or any integrity or any modesty, you're offended every time you
turn your television on. I mean, every time you turn it
on, there's something that offends your delicate ears or eyes. heart, and you pick up your newspaper,
and you just have to go through to find something. Maybe they're
comics, but they're rotten too, some of them. But the two things here, they
will always be God's elect. You look at Matthew 24, verse
30 and 31. Matthew 24, verse 30. You have it there, "...then shall
appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then shall
all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of
Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."
And there's going to be some elect here on this earth when
he comes, because it says in verse 31, "...and he'll send
his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they'll gather
together his elect." From the four winds, from one end of the
heaven to the other, they're scattered everywhere. But God's
got some shit out there. Because he said if it were possible,
all these false religionists would deceive the elect, if it
were possible. But it's not possible. It's not
possible. They know Christ and they're
not. But they'll be here when he comes. When the Son of Man
comes, will he find faith on this earth? Some. It won't be in dominating, but
it'll be there. Here's a lecture gathered. Now,
here's the next thing, down here in verse 36. But of that day and hour knoweth
no man, I know that, not even the angels, but my Father only.
But I'll tell you a sign. But as the days of Noah were,
so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For in the days
of Noah before the flood, they were eating and drinking, prosperity,
plenty, giving in marriage, polygamy, sensualism, great wickedness
until the day that Noah entered the ark. And they didn't even
have a suspicion. They didn't even have a clue.
They didn't even have a sign. They knew not till the flood
came and took them all away. So shall it be in the coming
of the Son of Man. Maybe tonight. That's right. Well, my text now,
my subject, is as it was in the days of Noah. How was it? Well, let's go back there and
see. Genesis 6. Let's see. This was so interesting
to me, and I hope it will be to you. I've never, never preached
verse by verse a message from these verses because I didn't
have a lot of light on them, and I wasn't as interested in
them then as I am now. As it was in the days of Noah,
so shall it be in the days leading up to the coming of our Lord.
All right, let's read it. Verse 1, Genesis 6. It came to
pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth. Men
began to multiply. Daughters were born to them.
Now this men began to multiply primarily are the descendants
of Cain. Cain's people, his descendants,
were a people destitute of the knowledge of God, destitute of
the fear of God, and destitute of the worship of God. If you
look back at Genesis 4, it tells you what Cain did when he killed
Abel. Genesis 4, verse 16. Cain went out from the presence
of the Lord. He left his influence of his
home, his father, mother. He left God. He was angry at
God. Cain, where's your brother? Am I my brother's keeper? He's
angry. Cain didn't repent. He didn't
change his mind. thought the way to God was by
his works. And he went out from the presence of God. And look
at verse 17. Cain knew his wife, she conceived
him by Enoch. Now that's not the Enoch that
walked with God. And he built a city, called that
city after the name of his son, Enoch. And Enoch was born, listen,
let's read on here now. And unto Enoch was born Irod,
and Irod begat Mahujeyo, and Mahujeyo begat Methuselah, and
Methuselah begat Lamech. Lamech took him two wives. Now
polygamy, this is Cain's outfit. You see, God gave Adam and Eve his instructions. He said there
will be man and woman, the two shall be one flesh. The man will
be married to a wife, and from the beginning, one wife. King's
descendants, he went out from the presence of the Lord and
began to multiply, multiply, multiply, and they followed his
leadership. He was the daddy of the whole
bunch. It's his descendants. Polygamy was one of the first
things they started. Wives, all, centralism, centralism,
polygamy, took two wives. The name of one was Ada, the
name of the other was Zilla. Barry Jable, he was the father
of such-as-dwell-in-tents. Now these fellas weren't dumb.
They didn't live in caves. These smart people. I want you
to listen to what kind of people they were. They were cunning,
clever, crafty, smart inventors of things. Listen. He was the
father of such-as-dwell-in-tents and of cattle. His brother's
name was Jubal. He was the father of all that
handled the harp and the organ. You mean back then? Yes, sir.
These men were brilliant. inventors, sharp. And Zilla, she also bore Tubal
Cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron. These fellows, you talk about
brass works and iron works, they built a city, called it by the
name of his son, Cain. Powerful. And Laman said to his
two wives, Ada and Zillah, Hear my voice, ye wives of Laman. Hearken unto my speech. I have
slain a man to my wounding. There are killers too. A young
man to my hurt. It came to be a being sevenfold
to the Laman, seventy and sevenfold. A bad outfit. And that's what
he's talking about here in Genesis 6. came to pass when men began
to multiply on the face of that natural man, descendants of Cain. All of these went out in the
presence of God. Wow, a wicked bunch. And there's
lots of them. Daughters were born too. They'll
have sons too, but these girls are mentioned. Most of the writers
agree that they're mentioned because of their great beauty
and immodesty, or both. Wild men, wicked women. And the next verse observes these
women. They were attractive, they were
beautiful. The next verse says the sons of God saw the daughters
of men that they were fair. You see, these were powerful
people. This is a wicked bunch, a degenerate
bunch, an immodest bunch. Sensualism reigns. Now, who are
these sons of God? Well, it's not angels like some
foolish people have thought. Heavenly beings cohabiting with
you. That's the most foolish thing anybody ever invented.
Who are these sons of God? It's the other son of Adam. Seth,
his descendants. Watch this now. Go back to Genesis
4 again. Genesis 4 gives you, see it doesn't
give the genealogy of the sons of Adam together, it gives Cain
separate and Seth separate. Cain departed in the presence
of God, the wicked, degenerate outfit and left. Look at Genesis
4.25, Adam knew his wife again, she bore a son called his name
Seth. For God, said she, hath appointed
me another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew, and to Seth,
to him also that was born a son, he called his name Enosh. Then began these men to call
on the name of the Lord. These descendants of Seth, and
in your margin it says they called themselves by the name of the
Lord. Now a while ago I read you about some of Cain's descendants,
that bunch of crooks and thieves and wild people. Let me name
a few of Seth's descendants. Look here in chapter 5. Let's
see about Seth's descendants, the house and lineage of Seth.
Let's go down here to verse 1. Three, Adam lived 130 years and
begat a son in his own likeness called his name Seth. And the
days of Adam after he begat Seth were 800 years and he begat sons
and daughters. And all the days of Adam lived
were 930 years and he died. Seth lived 105 years and begat
Enosh. And Seth lived after he begat Enosh 807 years and begat
sons and daughters. And all the days of Seth, 912
years, and he died, and Enosh lived 90 years and begat Cainan. And Enosh lived after he begat
Cainan 815 years and begat sons and daughters. And let's go on
down to verse 18. And Jared lived 162 years and
begat Enoch. Who is Enoch? This is the Enoch
that walked with God. See, he's in this with these
people calling on the name of God. He begat Enoch. And Jared lived after he begat
Enoch 800 years, begat sons and daughters, and all the days of
Jared were 962 years, and he died. And Enoch lived 65 years,
begat Methuselah. Oh, there's a John. There's another
one of those men walking with God. Enoch walked with God. He
was the great-great-grandson of Saithon. God took him to glory. Methuselah walked with God. And
Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years and
begat sons and daughters in the days of Enoch were 365 years. And Enoch walked with God. He
was not. God took him. And Methuselah lived 180 and
7 years and begat Lamech. And Methuselah lived after he
begat Lamech 782 years, begat sons and daughters. And all the
days of Methuselah were 969 years. He died, watch it now, and Lamech
lived 182 years, begat a son. His name was Noah. You see the difference in these
two houses, the lineage. And when it says here in Genesis
6, it came to pass, men began to multiply on the face of the
earth, and daughters were born to them who were a wicked bunch. These sons of God, these men
who call on God, and their people saw these daughters
of men, that they were fair. These people who called themselves
by the name of God, They saw these daughters that they were
fair and they married them. Took them wives of all they chose. They've gone into this polygamy
stuff too. These men who called themselves by the name of God
compromised the faith. They intermarried with the pagans.
They were separate. They had giants for leaders.
They had great leaders. Methuselah, Enoch, Laman, and
now Noah. But they're compromising their
faith, and this angered the Lord, verse 3. It's one over a period
of ten years now. We've read about the ages of
these men. It's over a period of a lot of
years, hundreds of years. But the Lord said in verse 3,
the Lord said, he didn't say it He's not talking to Noah here.
He said within himself, God speaking unto himself, My spirit shall
not always strive with man. Now that word strive, the Hebrew
word strive, what does it mean? It means to contend. It means
to judge or to warn. It means to abide in some way
or some measure. How does God contend with men?
Well, one way is the inward motions of the conscience. That's what
Paul said in Romans, when the Spirit of God contends with or
strives with an individual, it starts right here in the conscience. And secondly, he's talking about
these sons of Seth here. That's who mainly he's talking
about. I'm not going to contend with them. I'm not going to abide
with them. I'm not going to strive with
them anymore. I'm not going to work in their hearts. And then
another way that God contends or strives with people who call
themselves by his name is through preachers. Noah was a preacher. Enoch was a preacher. Methuselah,
Lamech, these men were godly men. Seth, these men knew God. And these people were supposed
to profit by what these men had to say. Another way God strives
or contends is not only the inward motions of conscience in the
mouth of godly men and godly fathers and mothers, but by threatenings
and judgments. And you say, well, how do you
know he's talking mainly about Seth's outfit, the sons of God,
the believers? Because he says that in verse
3, listen. The Lord said, My spirits are not always content,
and strive, and warn, and abide with these people, for he also
is flesh, just like that outfit of Cain's. They've gone to wear Cain, all
of them, but this is his people. These are folks called by his
name. These are people that beginning with Seth were following Adam's
example of offering a sacrifice of blood. But this outfit of
Kings, what's going on there appealed to them. And they're
compromising. Over a period of years, it's
getting, it's like today, the church is, you know, if you turn
on your channel, I shouldn't talk about these folks. But you
turn on that religious channel, and until you turn the sound
down, you won't know whether you're watching a rock concert
or a gospel singing. Now, that's the truth. It's just
they changed the words. The church and the world, there's
no difference. There's no difference. And the
patience and long-suffering of God, He says, My Spirit's not
going to warn them anymore. I'm not going to fool with them
anymore. Man's days are going to be 120 years. I asked the question when I read
that, well, why didn't you just cut them off right there and
just whack? The Lord's long-suffering and
patient. And he always warns me. We get
warning after warning after warning. God's patient. Give him 120 years. Now, let's look at verse 4. There were giants in the earth
in those days. Some people who translate this
as the sons of God went into the daughters of men who were
born to them giants. If we just take time to look
up the Hebrew word giant, it solved the problem. The Hebrew
word, I don't speak Hebrew, but I know where to find the meaning
of these words. The word translated giant here is nephil, which means
a bully. That's the first word, a bully,
a tyrant. Ruthless. Size, yes. They were big. They were big
men, powerful, violent men. Cain was a violent man. He was
a bully. He killed his brother. He was
a ruthless man. So these men, these giants, it's
not just giants in size, not like Goliath. They were ruthless. Talents. Violent men. But they were mighty men, we
don't. In those days, also after that, when the sons of God came
into the daughters of men, they bear children the same way. Mighty
men, what do you mean mighty? They were strong, they were valiant,
they were warriors, they were powerful, they were intelligent. I just read you about, they were
inventors. Men built cities, powerful men. They were men of renown. Men
of position, individuality, honor and fame, much talked about.
Powerful men, worldly men, wicked men, bullies, tyrants, violent
men. In verse 5, God says he saw their
wickedness was great in the earth. They were intelligent, they were
strong physically, mentally, powerful, they were violent,
ruthless, wickedness of men. He saw their wickedness was without
restraint, great, indescribable, indescribable. I read the other day that here
in this country on the internet there are a hundred, did they say a hundred thousand
child pornography outlets on the internet? I believe that
was the figure. Astounding. Our day is just as
wicked as this day here, I believe. I really do. I believe it's just
as wicked as this right here. Without restraint, degenerate. Matthew Poole says, every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually. Listen
to this. People were perpetually either
doing or thinking evil. Either doing or thinking evil.
His heart He says every imagination of the heart is evil. His heart,
that's the seed of his affections. Wicked. His soul, that's supposed
to be the noblest part of our whole being. Fountains of iniquity. No hope of amendment. Wholly,
completely given over to flesh with no fear of God before their
eyes. God saw the wickedness of man
was great in the earth. every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart, evil continually. As it was in the days of Noah,
so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man.
And verse 6, watch this. And it repented the Lord that
he made man on the earth, and grieved him at his heart. Well,
now, what are we going to do with that? It repented the Lord
that he made man. Well, properly speaking, God
can't repent. Let's turn to Numbers 23. Let's see if we can find out
what this is talking about. Numbers 23. God cannot repent. God's unchangeable in his nature,
in his counsels, in his purpose. It says here in Numbers 23, verse
19, God's not a man that he should lie. Neither the Son of Man that
he should repent? Hath he said, shall he not do
it? Hath he spoken, shall he not
make it good? Let us try 1 Samuel 15. Turn over to 1 Samuel 15. Let us see about the word repenting
in reference to God. Then came the word of the Lord,
1 Samuel 15.10. Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel,
saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king.
He told Samuel. The Lord told Samuel that. It
repenteth me that I have made Saul to be king. He has turned
back from following me. He has not performed my commandments. That grieved Samuel. He cried
unto the Lord all night. Now turn to the same chapter,
verse 26. Samuel is crying to the Lord
about Saul, and Samuel said unto Saul, I'll not return with thee,
for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath
rejected thee from being king over Israel.' And as Samuel turned
about to go away, Saul laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle,
and it rent. And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent
the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to
a neighbour of thine that is better than thou. But what does
it mean when it says God repented? Well, most of the writers say
this. This is spoken of after the matter
of men. We experience and feel sorrow
when something has taken place that is bad. We feel a sorrow. We feel a pain about it. We're grieved over it. And the
writers say that this is speaking of God in the manner of men,
just like when it says the eye of God is in every place. Well,
God's spirit, but still his eye is in every place. And when it
says the hand of God is upon us, the hand of God, that's speaking
like a man, so we can understand. When God says, you're a smoke
in my nose, when he says, I'm holier than thou, stand back,
he said, you're a smoke in my nose. So evil is grievous to God, that's
what he's saying, it's grievous to God. Evil is grievous to God,
wherever it's found, and it must be destroyed. And
here God is dealing with the descendants of Adam, and Seth,
and Methuselah, and Enoch, and Lamech, and it grieves the Lord. And that's the best I can do
on it. Evil is grievous to God wherever it's found. Grieves
the Spirit of God. Like our Lord Jesus, as I preached
not long ago, he wept. He saw the unbelief of Mary and
Martha, and he wept. He saw and entertained the thought
of bringing Lazarus back here, and he wept. And he saw the unbelief
of the Jews that when Lazarus arose, they still didn't believe,
and he wept. I just say that this is speaking
like a man. I'm going to show you in a few
minutes that all of this is in the permissive will of God. And in the purpose of God, even
the evil of man will accomplish the purpose of God. That's right. Hang on to that. All right. So
the Lord said, verse 7, the Lord said within himself. I'll destroy
man whom I have created. Now listen carefully to this.
I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the
earth. Boat, man and beast, creeping things, fowls of the air, it
repenteth me that I have made them. It grieves me that I have
made them. Matthew Poole said this. God
is speaking within himself, and he says, I'll destroy man from
the face of the earth. I made him from the earth, and
I made him Lord of the earth, and I am determined to show my
anger with his wickedness. And for the honor of my justice,
I will destroy him like a potter destroys a ruined vessel. And
I will wipe both man and beast off the earth like so much dust
and dirt, with a flood with water. Man was made from the dust. He
came from the dust. He is dust. Yea, he sinned for
dust and ices. So God sent a flood and just
washed him away. Washed him away. But, verse 8, but found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. Did Noah just now find grace
in the eyes of the Lord? When God is angry with everybody,
he says, well, I'm going to show grace on one. This man and his
family, like Enoch before him and Methuselah before him, was
the only exception to the general apostasy. He'd already found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. He was God's man at this time.
Was not Noah a sinner? Oh yes, he was a sinner, yes
indeed. If Noah was without sin, if he was without sin, he wouldn't
have needed grace. Grace is for the guilty. Grace
is for sinners. Noah was a sinner just like everybody
else. But God's sovereign grace rested
upon him and had rested upon him for a long time. Let me give you six things about
this grace business. First of all, that grace that
Noah found in the eyes of the Lord, he found it before the
foundation of the world. It's eternal grace. It's eternal
grace. That's what Paul said writing
to Timothy. He had called us and saved us,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace which was given us before the world began. So this
man Noah, when God's going to destroy man, he said, I made
man out of the dust and I'll wipe him off this planet just
like water washes the dirt away. But Noah found grace. eternal grace in the eyes of
the Lord. God chose him in Christ before
the world began. Secondly, it's not only eternal
grace, it's restraining grace. Noah would have messed up just
like these other fellows if it hadn't been for God's grace.
What kept Noah true to God all these years? It says here Noah
lived 595 years. In all, 500 years old, when he
begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the fellows that helped him with
the ark. He lived, he walked with God
500 years, he did. And God restrained him. You know, when David, in 1 Samuel,
you can read this sometime, David, he was going to, who was that?
Let me look it up, 1 Samuel 25, David was going to kill all those
fellas down there and Abigail's husband, he was going to go down
and kill all the men and the little babies, the boy babies.
He said, get on your sword and go down and kill every male,
every male from the cradle to the old age. And he's on his
way down and Abigail stopped him. And then over here in 1
Samuel 25, verse 32, David said to Abigail, "'Blessed be the
Lord God of Israel, who has sent thee this day to meet me, and
blessed be your advice, and blessed be thou who has kept me this
day from coming to shed blood and avenging myself with my own
hand.'" That's restraining grace. And you threw out your life and
my life. God restrained us. God kept us. He kept Noah. Eternal
grace, restraining grace, and then there's a word, prevenient
grace. I looked this up in the dictionary
again today, and it's in the dictionary. Prevenient grace. That's right, old Webster said
a few things pretty good. And his definition of prevenient
grace is grace before grace. He says, preceding any human
action. That's what I believe, that God's
grace precedes any human action. It's the cause of our good action,
and it's the cause of restraining us from bad action. Prevenient
grace. So, Noah found grace. What kind of grace? Just momentarily?
Oh, no. Eternal grace, restraining grace,
prevenient grace. Regenerating grace? The wind
bloweth where it listeth, you hear the sound, you know where
it came from, or where it's going. So are they that are born of
the Spirit. No one seeking the Lord, the Lord sought him, just
like he did you and me. That's regenerating grace. And
then there's keeping grace, reserved for you who are kept by the power
of God. Through faith, under salvation,
kept. The Lord Jesus said, Father,
I've kept them. Those that you gave me, I've kept them. Now
I come to thee. Father, now you keep them. He
kept old Noah. Noah didn't have to think about
it except God. The grace of God. He kept Noah,
and then I tell you, he gave old Noah sufficient grace. to bear up under what he had
to bear up for 120 years, building that ark. Don't you know, oh
my, you talk about a thorn in the flesh. He was the laughing
stock of his whole community, building an ark on dry land.
He said, there's going to be a flood. It never had even rained
on this earth at that time. It never had rained. God watered
the earth other ways, didn't he? Just a fool, for Christ's sake.
But God gave him that sufficient grace. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And when the overflowing scourge
came through, Noah was safe in the heart, in Christ. And that's
our hope. As it was in the days of Noah.
So shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man."
They were marrying and giving in marriage, eating and drinking,
until the flood came and took them all away, and he didn't
know. Now let me give you something to think about before we go,
just a few minutes. Here are some things I know. The eternal kingdom and covenant
of God, which is a new heaven and a new
earth, and a kingdom of people like
Christ. That's from the beginning. That
was decreed and purposed before he made the earth as we know
it today. Or as Noah knew it, or any of these people, the earth
that these people lived on. Back before the foundation of
that earth, God Almighty purposed to have a people, all like Christ,
in the kingdom of his Son, And a new heaven and a new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness. And when this new heaven and
new earth comes to pass, this old earth and old heavens are
going to melt with a fervent heat. They're going to pass away.
Let's read about that in 2 Peter. I know this now. This is according
to the Word. The old heaven and old earth
are going to pass away. There's going to be a new heaven
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. 2 Peter 3. God's not going to destroy it
with a flood, he's going to burn it up, melt with a fervent heat. There's not going to be anything
left. 2 Peter 3.12, looking far and
hastening unto the coming of the day of God, when the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look
for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
New heaven, new earth, populated by people. Us, the elect. from every tribe, kindred, nation,
tongue of the heaven. I know those two things. Here's
the third thing I know. Our Lord said there's none good
but God. None good but God. That's always
been so. When God made Lucifer and the
angels and Adam and all the other people that were born. None good
but God. G-O-O-D, good. Holy, but God. Can it be? And in all of this
first creation, all that, now that kingdom's purpose back yonder
before the world began, it's sitting on ready, on hold. Names
in the Lamb's book of life, Christ the Lamb slain, the kingdom of
his dear son waiting till this outfit here runs its course and
is wiped out. Then there's going to be a new
heaven, new earth. Can it be, I'm just thinking, that this
first creation the Lord is revealing evil as it is. He's dealing with
evil as it is. He's disposing of all evil so
that there will be no more evil and no more potential of evil
when that new creation comes. He said over here in Isaiah 65,
listen, I create new heavens and a new earth and the former
shall not be remembered, they'll come to mind. Well, in this creation, evil
is turned up everywhere, in every situation. Back before he made
the earth, evil happened in heaven. Lucifer, he said, I'll be like
God. I'll be like God. I'll put my
throne above the stars of God. I'll ascend into the heights
of the clouds. That was Lucifer. That's for this world was made
and for Adam was made. And he fell from heaven like
lightning, Christ said. And a bunch of angels followed
him. And then God created the earth and put Adam on it, and
he fell. And then along came Cain's descendants, and they
all collapsed. And then along came Seth's descendants, and
they collapsed. And along came Noah and God's
son, Satan, and he got drunk. And his son sinned greatly. Then
along came David, the greatest king God ever raised up, and
he messed up. And then along came Solomon,
and he built a bunch of altars to other gods. Everywhere you turn, there's
nothing good but God. Even sane people, they're not
good. So what are we going to do about
this new earth and new heaven? When we come to occupy this new
heaven, new earth, you know what the difference is going to be?
Adam was made from the dust. You weren't made from the dust.
You were created in Christ Jesus. When God brings us from the grave,
there's not going to be any remembrance of the dust and the dirt from
which Adam came. Everything, those angels that
fell, that Lucifer, all these people were made from material
things. But we're born of God. We're
sons of God in much the way that Christ is the Son of God, who
cannot sin. That's right. Sons of God, born
of God, not of the earth, not of the soil, not of the dust,
born of God. new creatures created in Christ
Jesus after the image of him who created him. Now turn to
1 Corinthians 15. There's not even going to be
any remembrance of sin, possibility of sin, potential sin. We're
all going to be in the image of our God. We're going to be
sons of God. I'll be satisfied when I wake
with your likeness. conformed to his image. 1 Corinthians
15.42, listen carefully now. So is the resurrection of the
dead. Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption. Sown in dishonor,
raised in glory. Sown in weakness, raised in power.
Sown a natural body, what's this? Sown a spiritual body. There
is a natural body, but there is a spiritual body. As it is
written, now listen, here's the clue, here's the key. The first
man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam a quickening spirit.
Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which
is natural, and afterwards that which is spiritual. The natural
is done away with. The first man is of the earth earthy. The
second man is the Lord from heaven. He wasn't made from the earth.
He wasn't made from a man that was made from the earth. He's
the Lord from heaven. Read on. And as is the earthy,
such are they that are earthy, as is the heavenly, such are
they that are heavenly, like him. And as we have borne the
image of the earthy down here, one day we're going to bear the
image of the heavenly. We don't bear it yet, but we
will.