If you have your Bibles, turn
please to Genesis, the fourth chapter, beginning with verse
23 and read through the end of the chapter. The title of my
message tonight is The Division. Genesis chapter four, verse 23. And Lamech said unto his wives,
Ada and Zillah, hear my voice, you wives of Lamech. Hearken
unto my speech, for I have slain a man to my wounding and a young
man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
surely Lamech seventy and sevenfold. And Adam knew his wife again,
and she bare a son, and 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, there
was born a son, and he called his name Enos. Then began men
to call upon the name of the Lord. Let us pray. Our Father, we come in the blessed
name and through the shed blood of that perfect sacrifice, our
blessed substitute, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came
down here laying aside his glory, took upon himself the form of
a person, the likeness of sinful flesh, yet without sin. lived
righteously and perfectly before thee for thirty-three years and
gave his back to the smiters and his face to them that pluck
off the hair went to that cross on Calvary
and there paid the sin debt of all his people so they owe you
nothing but a debt of eternal gratitude We thank you that he
satisfied you completely on behalf of your people. We praise you,
Father, for this grand scheme of grace. It still boggles our
minds as we consider that you chose a people that were entirely
and completely and utterly ruined, not a worthy one in all the bunch. You chose them to show the glory
of your unmerited favor, and we thank you for it. We pray
for those who are sick. Remember Brother Wayne and Brother
Robert. Brother David Ledford, we pray
that you'd continue to minister to him and those who minister
to him. Pray for Ethel Connelly and for Peggy Lambert. Father,
we pray for Mr. Armitage. We're glad for the
report that he's going to be able to come home. We pray for
ourselves tonight as we gather here that you might be pleased
to meet with us in the presence of your spirit, to take the things
of Christ and reveal them unto us, to show us your word, to
reveal us your truth. Give us minds to receive and
hearts to believe. We pray in Christ's name, amen. Now these are the final verses
of chapter four. And they are a reminder that the division
that the Lord had made between light and darkness between those
whom he has considered in grace and those whom he has considered
in wrath. Two characters emerge as the
exemplars of that division here in these last four verses. One
is a man named Lamech. He is the descendant of Cain,
and he boasts of his entitlement before God. Enos is the other,
a son of Seth, whose generation began to call themselves by the
name of the Lord or began to call upon the name of the Lord.
or begin to identify with God as He is revealed in Jesus Christ,
the Savior. We have here a picture of the
flesh and the spirit, the two elements that are throughout
the scriptures. The cursed man and the blessed man, or the carnal
man and the spiritual man. These are set forth throughout
the Word of God. Now Lamech was already, as we've
already seen, does not care for God's order of things. He has
taken two wives against the precept of a marital relationship. In
chapter two and verse 24, our Lord said, therefore shall a
man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto
his wife and they shall be one flesh. With three people, that's
impossible. That's just impossible. They
shall be one flesh. You see, that relationship that
the Lord established early on in Eden was formed to reflect
Christ and his bride, the church. Now, our Lord has been singularly
dedicated and true to her since before the foundation of the
world. His love is centered in her and he has eyes for no other
but her. Bigamy and polygamy are insults
to the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ because
he gave his life for his church. to present her without spot or
wrinkle or any such thing and his church is his mystical body
and he is her head and the two are one so much so that he is
not who he is without her and she is not who she is without
him for Jesus Christ came as the Savior it says in Ephesians
chapter 1 speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 22 that
God has put all things under his feet he has dominion over
all things and he gave him to be head over all things to the
church he's the head of the church and the church which is his body
which is his body the fullness of him that filleth all he filleth
all and the church is his fullness which simply says that unless
everyone for whom he died becomes a part of that body, that mystical
body of Christ, then he's not full. His fullness is her. I don't pretend to be able to
explain that mystery completely. I hit it a lick every once in
a while and try to figure it out, but it still is an amazing
thing. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the very God of very God, the
very man of very man, the one who came down here and died in
the room instead of his people, said, my fullness is my church,
my elect, my chosen, my sheep. Lamech is a son of Cain and carries
on the nature of one who produced him after his own kind. Simply
stated, Lamech is a rebel. He's a rebel against God just
like Cain was. Now concerning what Lamech said
in verses 23 and 24, there's a number of views and the wording
does not always lend itself to easy interpretation. Let's read
these verses. Verse 23, and Lamech said unto
his wives, Ada and Zillah. Hear my voice, this was an exclamation.
He came in and he shouted. He wanted them to pay attention.
You wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech, for I have slain
a man in my wounding and a young man in my hurt. If Cain shall
be avenged sevenfold, surely Lamech seventy and sevenfold. Now the key to understanding
what this is about is found in the promise of protection. of
Cain and the vengeance that would be applied to any who would dare
harm Cain, found in verse 15 of this same chapter. It said,
the Lord said unto Cain, therefore whosoever shall slay Cain, vengeance
shall be taken on him sevenfold. Now this is the verse that he's
quoting from. This is the word of God that
Lamech is quoting from. And the Lord shall put a mark
upon Cain lest any find him and should kill him. Now in regard
to the act, that Lamech perpetrated, it must be seen as his response
to being injured, his response to being injured or hurt by someone
perhaps seeking to slay or murder him. Because it's a response
that he's talking about. Some say that Lamech killed two
men, but it was probably just one man. One man, the phrase
that he added, a young man. probably means that he's talking
about his own powers, more about him than it is about anybody
else. He's boasting that he has defended himself and slain a
young man, one who is vital and strong, asserting that he is
powerful indeed. Remember what his name is, what
his name means. Lamech means powerful, and he's
living up to his name. There's no doubt that he was
boasting and bragging in this, but his words are in poetic form,
in poetic form in the original language, and may have been a
partial quote from an existing poem of that day. Many Jewish
writers say that it was, and if that is the case, we see that
The digression of depravity has reached a point that the poets
are writing about killing people. Killing people and that the promise
given to Cain may have declined to the descendants of Cain to
the point of a kind of justification for personal revenge. Because
this is what is taking place here. Remember God said, I will
avenge. anyone who harms Cain or slays
Cain. Lamech's the one who's doing
the avenging here and claiming to have done so. Lamech is speaking
of self-defense, a principle that is reasonable and justified.
However, it is clear that Lamech was boasting as he was entitled
to do what he did because God had promised to avenge Cain.
in this matter. God had put no mark of protection
on Lamech. You'll not find that anywhere
in scripture. It was only on Cain. It was only on Cain. But
Lamech took the promise as his own and used it to enhance his
own reputation and live up to his name, and in effect claimed
that God sanctioned his action. That's what he's really saying.
That's what he's really saying by these words, how he uses them.
It's akin to the false notion of universal redemption, where
religion espouses that the promise of salvation for the elect actually
applies to all mankind. and thus put salvation into the
hands of men because they make Christ's death on the cross an
effort to save everybody or an effort to provide salvation for
everybody but actually saving no one and therefore if a person
is to be saved he himself must somehow implement what Christ
has done and give power to it and effectiveness to it in order
to be saved that's the universal idea of universal redemption
Paul handled that quite well in Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter
8 verse 34. After he had said the great things
that God had done from verse 28 through verse 33, he said
in Romans chapter 8 verse 34, he said this, who is he that
condemneth? Now remember that he starts out this chapter by
saying this, there is therefore no condemnation to them that
are in Jesus Christ. There is no condemnation to them
that are in Christ. Now he says, who is he that condemneth?
And the reason he gives that God's people cannot be condemned
is that Christ died. Just simply that. So we surmise
that he died for them. There's no doubt about that.
But when people say he died for everybody, then everybody can
stand at the judgment and say, you can't condemn me because
Christ died. No, Christ died for his people,
and that's how they cannot be condemned. His people are clearly
declares, or those whom he foreknows, and did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover those he predestinated, he also called,
he also justified, and he also glorified. So those are his people
and that is who he is talking about. The fact is religion says
well that applies to everybody but it doesn't. It applies to
whom God says it applies to and it applies to his sheep. Now
for a man to take a promise of God that was made to a particular
person and make it his own though it wasn't made to him the same
principle applies it is God who promised vengeance here it is
God who promised vengeance to Cain and it was Lamech who took
vengeance and used the promise of God to justify his actions
this is the reason for Lamech's hyperbolic expression found in
verse 24 well if Cain If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly
Lamech shall be revenged seventyfold and seven. He is saying that
he has defended, he has propagated the promise given to Cain to
such an immense degree that his killing of this young man was
as if God had avenged him ten times as much as Cain. Much like
false religion, he said, we're doing God's work. I find some
politicians saying that today from the pulpits in the higher
halls of Congress saying we're doing God's work. They don't
know God from a goose, but they're talking about doing God's work.
That's what Cain is saying. I have done God's work. A man
tried to hurt me. man tried perhaps to murder me
and I killed him and he wasn't just any fellow he was a young
powerful young man I killed him so I've done God's work I've
avenged I've avenged Cain's promise is what he said saying that he
defended the promise of God this hubris and this self aggrandizement
it is in no small way self deification who was going to avenge Cain's
death God was who avenged Who said he avenged that promise?
Lamech did. He's the one that brought about
the avengement. This is the course of the descendants
of Cain. This is how God ends this chapter,
by separating these two characters. The course of the descendants
of Cain, the headlong plunge of the seed of the serpent into
utter religious depravity. Men and women ordained to this
condemnation is what God calls them. It is important to remember
that the elect, by nature, are the same. You know, sometimes
we get mad at these clouds. I look at Lamech, I just want
to slap him around and say, wake up and get some sense. And then
I realize there's no difference between Lamech and me by nature.
We're exactly the same. And our Lord says that in Ephesians
chapter two, verse three, he says, among whom we also all
had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh of the mind and were by
nature. And those two words are very
important. as we are born, were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others. By nature we're no different
from anybody who perishes in hell. By nature we're exactly
the same. We are lamex by nature. But thank God for grace. Thank
God for grace. Praise the Lord for His grace.
Though the elect are by nature the children of wrath, even as
others, by grace they are the children of God. They are given
eternal life. They are given faith. They will
never taste anything other than the love and the kindness and
the tender mercies of Almighty God their Savior. This is found
in verses 25 and 26. And Adam knew his wife again,
and she bare a son, and called his name Seth. For God, she said,
hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
And to Seth, to him also that was born a son, and he called
his name Enos. which then began men to call
upon the name of the Lord, the name of the Lord. Seth was born
to Adam and Eve and the name he was given means appointed,
appointed. He was thus called because Eve
saw him as another seed to replace Abel whom Cain had slain. She
said that he was appointed, an appointed seed. probably referring
to the promise seed that would root the serpent head, even Christ.
Remember she said when she got Cain, I've got the man. That's
the word, that's the original. She used the Devon article. What
man? The seed of woman. That's what
she thought Cain was. He proved out to be a murderer.
Now she's got a replacement, a man named Seth. But she was
referring probably to that promise seed. In doing so, the true religion
would be preserved and the promise of the Messiah would be maintained.
You see, Adam and Eve believed God concerning the seed. There's
no doubt about it. She said it. He's replaced that
seed whom Cain slew. She believed the seed. You remember
what it was said of Abraham who believed concerning the seed?
Genesis 15, we'll get to that one of these days. God accounted it to him for righteousness.
because he believed God concerning the seed. Galatians chapter 3
verse 21 says that seed that Abraham talked about was Christ. It says, it doesn't say could
be, it might be, it probably was, it says that seed that Abraham
talked about was Jesus Christ, the Messiah. So Adam and Eve
believed God concerning the seed and they taught their children
that. They taught Cain that. He didn't believe it. They taught
Seth. Seth taught Enos. To Seth there
was a boy born named Enos. His name means mortal man. Oh,
how important that is. Now you think about that. There's
not a whole lot that God has said in the day ye shall die,
but mortality has not really been discussed up to this point.
Nobody seems to have died except for one of God's elect, named
Abel. But here, this is his name. He's
born. to a believing man and he calls him a mortal man
in the Arabic translation his name is a sociable mortal man
a sociable mortal man each interpretation of that name is significant by
naming him a mortal man his father was declaring that he understood
the truth that sin had entered into the world and death by sin. He understood, he's a mortal
man. Not saying he's gonna live forever,
he's gonna die. He's gonna die as a result of
the curse of sin that has been placed upon the earth. Scripture
says the soul that sinneth it shall die. Also it's a declaration
that man cannot help or remedy his own situation. He's a mortal
man. No matter what he does in all
his years of mortality, it's not gonna change his situation,
he's still gonna die. Still gonna die. He had been
taught, as Abel was, that the only answer to death is a substitutionary
death of the blood sacrifice, which brings immortality to light
and life, according to Scripture. Notice that in the final passage
of verse 26, it says, then began men to call upon the name of
the Lord. then became men. Mortal men began
to call upon the name of the Lord. There's no inclination
of that in Adam or in Abel or in Cain or in Lamech or the others
that are born. There's no inclination of anybody
to call upon the Lord. Now because man begins to see
his own mortality he gets a sense that there's more than life than
this and he calls upon the name of the Lord. This applies to
the sociable aspect because it says men call on the name of
the Lord. The plural men is used here and
that suggests a gathering of people, a gathering of people. It is perhaps the first suggestion
of public worship in all of scripture where men gather together and
call upon the name of the Lord. That's what we do when we meet
together before we have the message, before I preach. We always pray
and we pray for folks. We gather together as a unit,
as one people. We pray with each other about
what we want, what's the desires of our heart. And here men begin
to call upon the name of the Lord. Now this also reads this
way. They begin to call themselves
by the name of the Lord. So they begin to identify as
those who called upon the Lord. They've been identified as the
Lord's people. Now both readings apply as they
speak of men identifying themselves with the Lord, worshiping Him,
because they belong to Him. Because they know their only
hope is Him. And they are, after all, mortal men. And now they
call upon the Lord. They belong to Him. Why do they
belong to Him? Because they're bought with a
price. They're bought with a price. Note that the name Lord is in
all uppercase. That's important. Who are they
calling upon? Are they calling upon Elohim?
No. Are they calling upon Yahweh?
No. Who are they calling upon? Capital
L-O-R-D throughout the scripture is Jehovah Savior. Jehovah God. Jehovah the Savior. They're calling
on the Savior. They're calling out the Savior
to help them to in their mortal dying condition, mortal dying
condition, Jehovah the Savior. So in worshiping Him and identifying
themselves by His name, this meant that they were declaring
themselves mortal. They were declaring themselves
dying and dead men whose only hope was the Savior. This is
where they begin to call. This is why we pray in His name.
This is why we pray unto God through Jesus Christ the Lord.
We pray through our Savior. And we know that our Savior is
actually God incarnate. We know that our Savior, the
fullness of the Godhead rests in Him. God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Ghost. They're all the Lord Jesus Christ.
We pray to Him. He's the creator, sustainer,
and consummator of this universe. The government rests upon Him.
His shoulders, his name shall be called wonderful. The mighty
God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Now he's
talking about a child, Jesus Christ, being the everlasting
Father and the mighty God. That's Genesis chapter nine,
verse six. Mortal men. I think it was old
Baxter said, I'm a dying man preaching to dying men. And that's
the case when we stand before men and declare the gospel. We're
dying, I'm a dying man. I'm not what I used to be and
I'm gonna be a lot worse off if I live much longer. I know
that's the case. You're dying me and what do I
have for you? Shall I tell you to stop dying? Is that gonna help you? That's
not gonna help you. You can't do that. Shall I tell
you your works? If you work real hard, God's
gonna accept you. I'll be lying to you if I said that. What can
I say? You're dying. What you need is
life. you need eternal life because
it's not your life is going to come to an end and your only
hope for that is Jesus Christ who is our life. Our life is
hid with him in God according to Colossians chapter three he's our savior and that's Enos
the mortal man then men be called begin then when when they found
out there's mortal man when that hit home, when that registered
in their brain they begin to call upon the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ Lamech didn't mention God in all the things he said
he didn't mention God except in a cursory manner in the attribution
of vengeance to God Enos mentioned God in the name of the Lord,
the Savior Lamech called attention to himself and to his prowess
Enos confessed his own mortality in utter need of a savior. This
is the division of light and darkness, of evening and morning. This is the division that prevails
in the world to this very day. Paul said preaching the gospel
reveals it. Preaching the gospel reveals
it. A fellow wrote on Asked me a question
on Facebook the other day about that very subject. He said, is
the gospel only for the elect? I said, only the elect will hear
it, to the salvation of their souls. I said, but the gospel's
for everybody. And the results are ordained. To some, it will be a saver of
life unto life. to others it will be a savor
of death unto death. What's that? That's Lamech and
that's Enos. This is the division. Men are
followers of the seed of serpent or they are followers of the
seed of woman. That's just how it is in this world. Father bless
us to understand and we pray in Christ's name. Amen.