Sunday School - Roger Phipps - From Creation to Deluge

[0:00] Okay, Genesis chapter 6, we begin with verse 1, we left off there. Look at your first five or first four verses there.

[0:13] To remind yourselves, or remind ourselves. Now we've just come through.

[0:26] So, we've just come through the listing of Adam through Seth down to Noah.

[0:41] There's a progression there. And then it's going to come from Noah. If you pursue it, you will see another progression, the descendants of Noah.

[0:51] And they will take you to, yes, and even clear to Abraham. So, we know that this progression tells us the heritage of the Israelites, right?

[1:14] Okay. But, before we get there, we go through. We aren't going to go together through this, but metaphorically.

[1:26] But we're going to go up to the time that Noah enters the ark. So, why, by the way, why did Noah enter the ark?

[1:38] Well, we're going to read about that, aren't we? So, yeah, we're going to read about that right now. So, what happens in those first four verses?

[1:50] People begin to what? Multiply on the earth.

[2:00] Now, these, the originals from Adam, Adam lived approximately how many years? Well, Adam lived how many years?

[2:13] I think I heard it. 930.

[2:25] 930 years. Think about that. I see some shaking your head.

[2:37] I'll repeat something I read from Andy Rooney from years ago. He said it's interesting that everyone, everyone desires a long life, but almost no one wants to go through old age.

[3:01] Think about 900 years. Now, we think of it in our perspective, don't we? Geez, how'd they do that? You know, I'm only, I'm only 70 and I feel like this, right?

[3:14] But, that's, that's not anything. So, these, these, these patriarchs are living 900 years. And they're, the, the lineage that we read was only about one son, right?

[3:32] But it, the recurring theme is, and they begat other sons and daughters. So, we're talking about a large population already, and it's escalating.

[3:47] Now, if, if you're living 900 years, and, presumably, because some of them weren't having children until they were 100 years old, or at least the one that is in line is recorded when he's 100 years old, these people are procreating for a long time.

[4:10] So, we have a large population. We have a large population. So, tell me about that population. We, we, we need to roll fast, because if I don't get done today, then I'm going to have to call Joe, or when he comes in, I'll tell Joe that he's going to finish it next week.

[4:33] But, I'm sorry he's not here to hear that. What, tell me about that population. The son, okay, let's go, I'll, you finish me.

[4:47] The sons of, saw that the daughters of, were comely or beautiful or attractive, and they, oh, we could go better than this.

[5:09] They had a bunch of kids. Now, now, it's the kids that caused me to stumble. Now, there, what's, what's your verse in there? There, if you read the King James, there were giants in the earth in those days, and also after.

[5:27] Right? Now, if you read the New American Standard, and I'm not sure about the others, I haven't checked the others, they don't attempt to define the word.

[5:41] They just anglicize the word as Nephilim. So, the Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and the same became mighty men of old, men of renown.

[5:57] Right? And shorten their lifespan. And God's going to shorten their lifespan. Yeah. He, now, he didn't shorten it yet, because Noah lived 900, was he 930 or 980?

[6:16] I don't remember. 930? He was a long time. 930.

[6:27] 950. 950. We'll cut it right to the middle, right? 950 years, give or take a couple. So, but, the Lord said, my spirit will not always strive with men.

[6:47] The number of his days are going to be 120. Now, that doesn't mean that every man's going to die at 120. But that means that's an approximate age.

[7:00] That's an approximate age. So, who are these Nephilim? The word, we didn't get to it last week. The word Nephilim does, I am told by the scholars that I've tried to research, the word Nephilim is related to the verb that means to fall.

[7:26] So, that, some have read that to say, well, these are fallen angels. That, the sons of God were fallen angels.

[7:36] And there's some credence given to that, because there's, there, in Job, the sons of God were called to come before the Lord.

[7:49] And Satan was there with them. Elsewhere in Job, the sons of, when God told Job, where were you?

[8:02] When the sons of God sang for joy. talking about creation. And then, in Daniel, when Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace, he said, didn't we throw three guys in?

[8:19] I, I see four in there, and one of them is like to a son of God. So, those almost certainly, that one in Daniel is either a Christophany of the Lord Jesus, or, pre-birth, or, it means an angel.

[8:38] In any case, he had the appearance of a man, but not a, not a, regular kind of guy. He had some appearance that made Nebuchadnezzar remark about that.

[8:51] Now, the word Elohim, which is there, the sons of God, that, that word for God is Elohim, it is not always used of Jehovah God.

[9:07] It is sometimes used of men as judges, sometimes used, it was used of Abraham, when he bought the field, and, I'm sorry, I, I forgot his name, but, he said, what's that to us?

[9:29] He said, he said, you are a mighty prince among us. You are a, Elohim prince. You are, so, it was used of Abraham, it was used of judges, as in, take him before the judges, and whatever the judges decide, that will be the punishment, as far as theft, that came at Sinai.

[9:53] So, it's not always, it's not required to be used of Jehovah God. So, these, so, there are various ideas about who the Nephilim were.

[10:05] Now, the Nephilim, the word Nephilim, appears only a couple of times in our scripture. It appears here, and then it appears in Numbers chapter 13.

[10:22] If, if you're interested, it appears in Numbers chapter 13, verse 32, and, let's see, 32 and 33, it actually appears in verse 33, but, these, these are, when Moses sent them, sent 12, spies, into the land, to spy out the land, right?

[10:53] I want you to tell us, tell us what the land looks like. Tell us what kind of crops there are, tell us what the cities are like, are they fortified, or are they open?

[11:04] That kind of thing. Okay, the 12, this is speaking of the 12, and they brought up an evil report of the land, which they had searched under the children of Israel, saying, the land through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof, and all the people we saw in it, are men of a great stature.

[11:30] In verse 33, there we saw the Nephilim, the giants, the sons of Anak. So the Anakim, when you read it in scripture, are referring to these people, which come of the Nephilim, so the Anakim come of the Nephilim, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

[11:58] Now, I didn't read the whole report. They did, in fact, bring back clusters of grapes carried between two men, and that kind of thing. They said, it indeed does flow with milk and honey, but it eats the inhabitants.

[12:10] It devours the inhabitants. Now, Nephilim being related, the word being related to fall, some have said that these people, whoever they were, the Nephilim, are called such, because they fell upon men.

[12:33] They were predatory, if you will. Now, we don't know any more than what's listed here.

[12:45] We do know that giants are mentioned in the scripture. Now, usually they are mentioned as Rephaim, and that would be in Genesis 14, 5.

[13:02] this is when Cher, I know I'm not going to pronounce this.

[13:13] This king came from the north, and he attacked the area of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain, where dwelled who at that time?

[13:25] Lot. Lot was there. So, he came and attacked them, and took captives, and among those captives was Lot, and Abraham said, oh, man, I wish that hadn't happened.

[13:46] No, Abraham got his men together, and said, we're going after them, and he retrieved it, and then you have that wonderful picture that God gives us of Christ, because on his way back, Abraham stops at what will afterward be called Jerusalem, and he meets there the priest of the most high God, whose name is Melchizedek.

[14:19] See how it's all weaving together here. So, the Rephaim were in the land when that king came and fought against them.

[14:37] And then in Genesis 15, 20, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Rephaim, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Gergesites, and the Jebusites. And then later in Deuteronomy, Moses is saying, is talking about the land, and he says, the Amim dwelt therein in time past, a people great and many and tall, as the Anakim.

[15:02] Remember, the Anakim are from the Nephilim, which were counted as giants, Rephaim, as were the Anakim, but the Moabites called them Emim.

[15:16] So, when we see the word Emim, or Zumin, or Anakim, they're all talking about people of, they're basically talking about giants.

[15:27] Now, two giants are actually described. We're not going to go to the Apocryphal books, unless Nathan makes me, but we're not going to go to the Apocryphal books, which give a very fanciful description of them.

[15:45] But, we are going to go, at least to the scripture, to see something about them. You know of two. Who were they?

[15:55] I'm sorry? Goliath? We'll see about his heritage and why he's called that. He's not called either Nephilim or Anakim, but we know from where he came.

[16:12] He came from Gath. And that's where the remnants of the Rephaim, when Joshua drove them out of the land, they settled on the coast there in Gath and intermingled with those Phoenician people that we call the, okay, Goliath was fighting for the Philistines.

[16:48] Right. So, who's the other one that we know about? Og.

[16:59] King of Bashan, a remnant, now he is called a remnant of the Rephaim. Now, Deuteronomy 3.11 gives us something about him.

[17:14] He had a bedstead made of iron. It was pretty big. How long was it? It was approximately 13 and a half feet.

[17:30] The scripture gives it in cubits, and that's using the short cubit, the 18 inch cubit. that most people are saying a cubit runs approximately 18 and a half to 24 point something.

[17:52] So, using the short cubit, his bed was 13 and a half feet long, and how wide was it? Six feet wide. He's a big guy.

[18:04] He's a big guy. Now, that is a king-size bed, isn't it? Assuming. But, and then Goliath was not that large.

[18:22] How tall was Goliath? Approximately. About nine and a half feet tall. Now, we do know something about him. There is a disease that we have in modern day called giantism.

[18:38] That's not what a doctor would call it, but that's the only word I can pronounce. But, this is not the same thing as that disease, because usually, people with giantism have a couple of notable things.

[19:00] What are they? they are very tall, they are very tall, but there's a bone problem, a joint problem, a muscle problem usually, and they have a short lifespan.

[19:15] Now, a warrior has a short lifespan too, but not for the same reason. these people that are being described are warriors.

[19:30] So, Goliath carried a spear. What, describe it. The shaft was like a weaver's beam.

[19:42] This is, this is a pretty good piece of lumber. And the spearhead, we are told how much it weighed.

[19:56] Now, how many of you have ever had to wield either a good-sized shop hammer or a sledge hammer or something like that?

[20:07] So, you understand it. You understand what that weighs like out on the end of your handle, right? Now, think about this.

[20:18] His spearhead weighed approximately 17 pounds. So, his chainmail weighed 125 pounds approximately.

[20:33] So, these are athletic people. So, that kind of gives you a picture. Now, the question is, what happened to him?

[20:48] Well, that's Goliath. Goliath got stoned. That's what Ron said. But, anyway, what happened to the Rephaim or the Nephilim as a people?

[21:11] Probably the same thing that's happened to other people groups that are no longer around, right? They...

[21:22] When you... Why did they start breeding cattle selectively?

[21:32] We call them polled. Now, I don't know what questions they were asked, but... Okay, I'm sorry, dear. What's a polled Hereford?

[21:45] Hornless. Okay. Did they cut their horns off or what? They bred them that way. How? Come on, let's keep...

[21:57] We have to move through this because you're going to be challenged with this someday by someone. Right. Well, actually, in cattle, horns are dominant.

[22:13] Horns are not dominant? Pole is dominant. Pole is dominant? Okay, so... But we do know this. If you select...

[22:27] You start breeding the gene down, down, down. And eventually, it doesn't present itself, or at least not very often.

[22:43] The other thing is, what do we know about, let's say, relatives of elephants? You know of any relatives of elephants that were larger?

[22:55] I'm not talking about humans. mastodons, woolly mammoth, especially the mastodon. Where are they?

[23:09] They're extinct now. So, that's not a hard thing to understand if they're, you know... So, let's bring this home a little bit.

[23:23] Does... if the arguments... I use that word carefully. If the arguments for were these giants or were they not giants, that's just a word that got used, or a myth, if you will, but were these giants or were they not, if the argument is based on God's word, does it matter?

[23:54] Maybe not. If the argument is based on my speculation, does it matter?

[24:08] Well, it matters because I'm wrong. Or, at least, if I'm right, it's by accident. it. So, as long as the argument is according to the word of God, we're not always given every little detail, are we?

[24:33] Now, my personal view is, yes, there were people of large stature. These were giants. Yes. But, they're not 300 feet tall.

[24:47] They're not 30 feet tall. But, some of them were 14 feet tall or very nearly. So, um, you know, think about that.

[25:07] Think about, boy, what about feeding them? What about shoes? But, but anyway, that, the important thing is, the important thing here is, what's happening?

[25:28] And, we're going to see that. Look at, we'll go to verses 5 and go to the end of the chapter. Read that. Okay.

[25:59] Okay. Starting with verse 5, God says something pretty powerful in verses 5 through 7.

[26:14] What is it? Okay. Now, I have a little problem now, don't I? Did God make a mistake?

[26:27] Is that what he's saying? Okay. Is he saying, I wish I'd done it differently? Would someone look up Psalm 147.5?

[26:48] Hold up your hand if you're willing to do that. Actually, not just look it up, I'm going to ask you to read it. Okay, we have that one taken. How about Isaiah 46.9?

[27:02] Thank you. You saw me look pleadingly. Revelation 13.8.

[27:18] 1 Peter 1.18 through 21. 1 Peter 1.18. And Ephesians 3.8.

[27:32] Thank you. Read Psalm 147.5, please. What about God's understanding?

[27:56] No limit. What about, so, what does God know? Isaiah 46, verses, the last part of verse 9 and verse 10, please.

[28:13] Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times, things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.

[28:28] God says, what does he know? How long does he know it?

[28:47] And what about my decisions does God say? Not my decisions as a person, and I'm, what does God say about his decisions?

[29:00] My counsel shall so stand. My counsel shall stand. Now, Revelation 13, 8.

[29:12] Revelation 13, 8. God's eternal purpose in Christ is what?

[29:34] The salvation of mankind. To offer salvation. God's eternal purpose in Christ is to save me, is that not amazing?

[29:57] 1 Peter 1.18 through 21, please. Okay, I'm going to interrupt you.

[30:12] Knowing that you were not redeemed, by corruptible stuff like silver and gold. But? But with the blood of Christ.

[30:25] But with the blood of Christ. Go on. He was indeed, he was for a nation, for the nation, for the nation.

[30:37] Okay, so, God's eternal purpose in Christ is salvation, but it did not please God to give that all at one time, right?

[30:51] That is, the revelation of Christ is not now. We can look back and see pictures of our redemption from the very beginning of the fall, can't we?

[31:08] Adam and Eve hide from God. Why? they're naked. Who told you you were naked? Have you? So, what did God do?

[31:22] He made skins to cover them. That is a picture of what Christ does for me, isn't it? He covers me. We can, but I have to come from this dispensation and read back into it.

[31:38] He did not reveal to Adam and Eve the Savior yet. There's, there's, you have to be careful to say, well, why did they not know this?

[31:53] Because they didn't. It pleased God to do what God did, and what I need to do is to trust him and believe him.

[32:07] Because you will encounter somebody that says, well, why didn't God show him something? Well, he did.

[32:21] He did. And he says, I want you to believe the witnesses. You, you trust Christ not because he revealed, he, he came up to you and said, look at me, I'm the risen Christ.

[32:38] you trust Christ because of what you read and the Holy Spirit entered, convicted you that what he said is true.

[32:51] Faith cometh by and hearing by the word of God. That's, the scripture is important. God's word is important.

[33:02] Okay, and Ephesians 3, Ephesians 3, 8 through 11, please. Ephesians All things this grace was given to be fixed to the kingdom of the uncanable, the earthly power.

[33:20] The drink to life, but again, the grace given us to the Lord and the Savior, and the gift from God to be saved also. So that the man of hope of God might now be made of the curse, the wounds of the miracle of the kingdom that we take.

[33:38] This was the purpose of the eternal purpose that was carried out in the kingdom. How long was the purpose in Christ Jesus?

[33:52] He just read it. What? Eternal. It's eternal purpose. Now, was it revealed then? We just read it.

[34:05] It was not revealed. The eternal purpose wasn't revealed in Christ back here. But it was always in God.

[34:18] Our salvation and Christ's death, burial, and resurrection was not an afterthought or a, oh no, I look, man messed up.

[34:32] Now what do I do? God didn't make the mistake. My lack of understanding doesn't mean God made the mistake.

[34:44] But there is an important thing here. It does say that God, let's come back to Genesis, God was what? God grieved in his heart that he made men.

[34:59] Now, was God saying, I made a mistake. We just went through this to see. No. Because he's going to show himself to be just and the justifier.

[35:17] He is going to show himself to be, as Ron said, in the church, he is going to lead the church, as it were, in a progression before authorities and powers.

[35:29] We're talking about angelic beings. And we are, as God's redeemed church, going to be led, as it were, a parade to display what?

[35:47] His grace and his mercy. The attributes of God he will display. And we're part of that.

[36:00] We're part of that. But my sin matters. And it grieves God.

[36:13] He's not making, he's not saying I made a mistake. He's saying it hurts, it hurts me. It hurts.

[36:25] And it costs dearly. Didn't cost me anything, but it costs him. That's what makes grace.

[36:38] Part of what makes grace so amazing, isn't it? The magnitude of the difference of the righteousness of God and my sinfulness, I can't even begin to comprehend.

[36:59] And the fact that the righteous God became flesh and died for me and took my sin so that he could impart his righteousness upon my life, is the amazing grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[37:23] It's a wonderful thing. It's a wonderful thing. God is grieved that he made man.

[37:35] Now, what is he purposed to do? I'm going to destroy him from the earth.

[37:52] And he's going to destroy, what's he going to destroy? Does he destroy everything? All the terrestrial life.

[38:10] He doesn't necessarily destroy the fish. That's not stated. He doesn't.

[38:21] And the fish weren't on the ark. Terrestrial animals were on the ark. Or will be on the ark. I'm jumping ahead, I know. Okay.

[38:32] Okay. The whole creation suffers because of the sin of man. Problems with the earth are the fault of men, but not because you drive a car.

[39:02] Seriously. It's because of my sin. You want to do something about it, do something about it, but you've got the wrong area.

[39:17] You're working on the wrong end, aren't we? Okay. So, now, if you're down by verses 8 through 13, you'll see something different is said, something wonderful is said about Noah.

[39:35] What is it? He found favor in the eyes of the Lord. He found grace in the eyes of God.

[39:53] Now, God regarded Noah as what? Righteous and in his time, in his day.

[40:08] God regarded him as such. Was Noah sinlessly perfect? What man has ever been since Adam was created?

[40:24] Yeah, Jesus. One man. Which is why he is the one that had to go to the cross. No one else.

[40:36] Lots of people were crucified. But none for my sin. Okay. Okay. Okay. It will be said of Noah here in these verses, he will be the last one of which this will be said.

[40:56] And Noah walked with God. He will be the last one of which this will be phrased in this fashion.

[41:12] Now, what does God say about the earth? It's corrupted. It's corrupted.

[41:25] And it is filled with violence. And so I'm going to clean it. This is a picture of the coming judgment.

[41:39] In fact, Peter is going to use this, isn't he? He's going to say, look, in the last days, scoffers will come and they'll say, hey, where is he coming?

[41:52] Everything's the same as it always has been. But they forget this. There was a judgment at the flood. And there will be another one.

[42:05] It won't be a flood. It will be, yeah, the creation is held. For destruction by fire.

[42:19] So, but the judgment, Peter says, look, God's delay is patience. But don't take God's patience to mean he's not going to do it.

[42:33] It is coming. There is coming a time of judgment. Thankfully, for those in Christ, we don't stand in that judgment.

[42:44] The white throne judgment will only have those who are not written in the Lamb's book of life.

[43:00] Right. Those are the only ones that are going to stand for judgment according. And then they will be right. The person who says, well, you know, I basically live a good life.

[43:19] They will be judged according to their deeds. The problem is their scale's wrong, isn't it? See, when I do that, I put what I consider the general population.

[43:36] I usually use the lightweights, right? I use them on this side of the scale, and I use me on this side of the scale and say, well, we balance out, you know, pretty well. But that's not how God's judgment works.

[43:50] God's judgment is going to be his righteousness against mine. Now I'm in trouble. Except for who goes over here?

[44:05] Christ. Christ. And that's what is so wonderful about that. So we're going to finish up. I'm going to make sure that you don't have to listen to me again.

[44:19] God says to him, here's what you're going to do, Noah. What? Make an ark. You build an ark, and he gives him. And who's going on that ark?

[44:36] His family is going on that ark. So it's going to be Noah and Mrs. Noah. Shem and Mrs. Shem.

[44:50] And Japheth. Okay? Their family. Eight humans. Now, by the way, I'm going to end chapter 6 right here, because there's a phrase there that is good for me to remember.

[45:16] What is it? The last verse in chapter 6. Thus did Noah. He did everything that God told him to do.

[45:28] Boy, I wish I did that. But that doesn't mean that I should ignore what he says for me to do, does it?

[45:40] It means that I should strive that way, because my actions matter. Now, in chapter 7, you're going to see that God's going to tell them to do what?

[45:52] Get in the ark. And he's going to do what? Yeah, he's going to. Now, how much trouble did Noah have wrestling up all those animals?

[46:16] None. Why? God brought them. Noah didn't go fetch the animals. God brought them.

[46:28] God not only provided the way, but he did all the work. It's a picture of my salvation again, isn't it?

[46:39] He provided the way. He told me what I needed to do. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus kind of, again, I can read back into it, when, when the Jews came to Jesus, and they said, tell us how we can do the work of God, in John, and, and Jesus says to them, this is the work of God, to believe on him who is sent.

[47:16] Do I work for my salvation? Well, only in a picturesque way, to believe what God said. It's been a wonderful trip.

[47:29] God bless you. Have a great week. Next, I was hoping that Joe would be here, would be able to be here, to give a pitch for his Sunday school.

[47:40] he's going to do the cure for poverty, the poverty cure. And it's going to be God's biblical pattern for taking care of not eating.

[47:56] No Tong사� улиraphen shit. No Tong사�oo, there's no hunger matter, that's food because it's cool. I think it's too, so we're going to have the crash to the power root for our salvation, that's what...

[48:09] Yes, you later. But I wanted the angels to achieve defeat little power sin. She's coming to the same mandate.

[48:20] She's coming to Michael Neil Jeff When Legion