In his sermon titled 'Getting to Noah,' Jason Dohm explores the genealogy in Genesis 5, emphasizing its dual purpose: to connect Adam to Noah and to prefigure the lineage leading to Jesus Christ as seen in Luke 3. Dohm highlights the omission of Cain and Abel, indicating that the genealogy is not a catalog of firstborns but rather a direct line to Noah, setting the stage for the narrative of the global flood. Methuselah's longevity is noted, with his name suggesting a prophetic countdown to the flood. The phrase 'and he died' is repeated to underscore the fulfillment of God's warning that sin would result in death. Lamech's hopes for his son Noah, whom he names 'Rest,' are discussed, with Noah's righteousness and faith providing comfort amidst the toil of life. The sermon concludes with applications, urging believers to trust in God's sovereignty, seek comfort in Christ, and influence others through their relationship with God.

The title of the sermon this morning is Getting to Noah. It's the title because, as I've been saying, the immediate purpose of the whole chapter is to get us from Adam to Noah and the generation of the flood. And the more distant but even more important purpose is to eventually get us to the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you take chapter 5 and look at every name in chapter 5 and you go to Luke chapter 3 and the genealogy of Jesus in Luke chapter 3 you find every single name that is named in Genesis chapter 5 in Luke chapter 3. So the chapter has a very immediate purpose and it's important it's to get us from Adam to Noah so that we can get to the history of the global flood but the more distant and even more important purpose is to lay out to the genealogy of the promised Savior the Lord Jesus Christ So these things are all in view in this text.

The chapter started with Adam, the first man who ever lived, and then the next name on the list is his third son, Seth. So his first two sons, Cain and Abel, are totally skipped over here in chapter 5. We've seen them in Genesis, but here in chapter 5 we look at this genealogy. It's Adam and then skipping to the third son, Cain and Abel are skipped over. So we know this is not a catalog of firstborns.

It can't be because it goes right from Adam to Seth. So this isn't a catalog of firstborns. And Then there are six names between Adam, Seth, six more names, and that brings us to our text today, the last verses of this chapter. Last week we ended with Enoch who walked with God and Moses our author says it twice and anytime things are repeated in Scripture our antenna goes up we know this is important all the other people it says and he lived and he lived and he lived and he lived. You get to Enoch and it doesn't say and he lived.

It says and he walked with God and then it's repeated and he walked with God. This was the defining characteristic of the life of Enoch and so important that Moses deviates from the pattern and says it twice. What do you need to know about Enoch? He walked with God. Then last week we ended with his Enoch's son, Methuselah.

That's right where we pick up this week with the life of Methuselah and we'll get to Noah and his three sons. So this week is Methuselah, Methuselah's son Lamech, Lamech's son Noah, and then the name of three of Noah's son and Then everything will be in place to start the history of the global flood next week So this is the bridge to the global flood next week and when we're done with today we'll be completely ready for that. Let's ask God to help us with this text. God, I thank you for your Word. Where would we be without it?

We would know nothing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our minds would be so far off in so many categories, but you have revealed yourself to us in the scripture, and you have revealed so much truth in so many categories in scripture. Thank you for revealing yourself and revealing truth in your word. Now help us as we come to this text. Help us to squeeze every last drop of good out of it.

We pray in Jesus name, Amen. Alright, so let's subdivide the text. I'm going to reread Genesis chapter 5 verses 25 through 27, and we'll take that subdivision and work on it for a bit. Genesis chapter 5 verses 25 through 27 read along with me. Methuselah lived 187 years and begot Lamech.

After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Methuselah were 969 years and he died. So here in these verses we have Methuselah and his son Lamech. So if you're taking notes on the handout, filling in blanks, Lamech fills in the blank. Methuselah and his son Lamech.

So this week's text starts with this three verse set. That should sound familiar if you were here last week. This three verse set conforms exactly to the rigid pattern of the first five three verse sets that we encountered in last week's text. So three verses, three verses, three verses, they go together in sets. That's the pattern that we saw in last week's text and I'll remind you of the pattern because we're seeing it again in this three verse set.

Each three verse set starts with a name and this set the name is Methuselah. Then there's a number of years lived before fathering a certain named son. We get the name of the son in each one of these sets. That's the pattern. In this case, it's 187 years that Methuselah lived and then he had this named son.

Then we were given the name, Lamac. Then in the pattern we have a statement of the number of years lived after the certain named son. In this case, Methuselah lived 782 more years after he had this son, Lamech. Then we have a total number of years, as in all the other instances. We could have done the math ourselves.

You have the number of years lived before a son who's named, and then the number of years after. You could add those up yourself, but Moses doesn't leave us to do the addition. He actually gives us the total number of years, and the math is always right. In this case, Methuselah lived 969 years. And then we have in every case in this pattern, we have the drum beat and he died.

Now the Bible has a lot of genealogies. There are many genealogies in the Bible. Genesis chapter 5 is the only one where each instance in the genealogy ends the same way with the exception of Enoch, but, and he died. So it occurs eight times in this chapter. And he died, and he died, and he died.

The repetition of it. And it is the drumbeat of death. Now why the drumbeat of death? Because in Genesis chapter 2, God had said, if you eat the fruit from this tree, you will surely die. The devil contradicted that and said, you will not surely die and now we have the drum beat in this chapter he died he died he died he died eight times over and so Moses our author is giving us that God told the truth that sin would bring death into the world and as Paul says in the New Testament, the wages of sin is death.

So Moses is not going to let this genealogy go by without beating this drum eight times that the wages of sin is death. That what God said was true is actually true. The wages of sin is death. Now, a few comments. Let me give you three comments about this three-verse set.

First, Lamech is likely not the firstborn. So like Seth, at the beginning of the chapter, was not the firstborn of Adam, Lamech is likely not the firstborn. His dad, Methuselah, has already lived 187 years. It's almost certain that he's already had children. We're not given any names.

But this, again, this isn't a catalog of firstborns and Lamech is likely not the first born. Lamech is the father of Noah and that's why Lamech is the named offspring of Methuselah. We're just getting from Adam to Noah in a straight line and that's why Lamech is named here. Not because he's the firstborn, but because he's the father of Noah and the whole point of the chapter is to get us to Noah. Also I should say this, we encountered a Lamech in chapter 4.

This is not the lambic that we encountered in chapter 4 who was the descendant of the murderer Cain. Same name, different person. So we have A couple of Abigail's in this room. They have the same name, but they're different people. We have the same phenomenon today.

We encountered a lamic in chapter 4. This is not the same lamic. Please don't think that it is, because it would be very confusing if you think that it is. This is a different lamek with a different father. Second, Methuselah is the oldest recorded person to ever have lived.

So if there is an older person who ever lived, we don't know it. This is the oldest person on record. If you're ever playing a Bible trivia game, remember Methuselah in 969. Because if you play that game long enough, you will encounter. Who's the oldest person on record?

It's Methuselah, and it might say how many years and it's 969. So file that away. It might help you on a Bible trivia day. But also remember that the oldest recorded person to ever have lived still died. And he died.

He lived to what to us is a mind-blowing age, 969 years, and he died, I would say, but he still died. What should we glean from this? If Methuselah couldn't outrun death, you're not going to outrun death. You can't outrun death. You won't outrun death.

Now it's possible to be morbidly preoccupied with the thought of your death. You just think about your death all the time. That's not healthy. That's not good, but it is much more common to think and to live like you're never going to die and that's worse by far. So a morbid preoccupation with your death, always thinking when am I going to die, when am I going to die, oh no I'm going to die.

You'll make yourself crazy doing that and that's not good, but that's also not very common. Most of us are on the other side of it. We never think, my days are numbered. So we don't live like our days are numbered. We don't act like our days are numbered.

That's even worse than a morbid preoccupation. I will quickly re-quote two verses from last week's message. Psalm 90 verse 12. Psalm 90 is actually the Psalm written by Moses. Same author, Moses wrote Genesis, what we're reading, and Moses wrote Psalm 90.

Here's what Moses says in Psalm 90 verse 12. He says, teach us to number our days. God, Please teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. So just knowing that though you don't know the exact number, there is an exact number on your lifespan. It's measured in days and there's an exact number and there will be nothing you can do to add or even subtract the number from those days.

God knows the exact number and so Moses is crying out to God, God help us to be wise by teaching us that I have a definite life span, teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. A consideration of Methuselah, the man with the longest life span on record, but he still died, teaches us to number our days for sure. And also this one, Hebrews 9 verse 27. Listen to Hebrews 9 verse 27. It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.

So the problem with never thinking about your lifespan and that there is a termination point on your life on earth and so that you never act like there's a termination point. You never think that way, you never act that way. After that termination point of your life on earth, Hebrews 927 says, it's appointed for you to die once, but after this the judgment. If you never think like that, then You never act like that, and you don't prepare for what is after that termination point to your life on earth. We are going to stand and give an account.

If you're familiar with this, This is the standard of good. So the more I read the Bible, the more familiar I get, and the more I recognize that this is the standard, I think two thoughts. Thought number one, man is God right about what's good? The more I study the standard, the more I think this is this is dead on. Everything that God says is good is so good and everything that he says isn't good is so bad, all of what God says here is right.

So that's my first thought. Like, God you nailed it! As if he needed my approval. But when I read it I say, wow, all this is born out in all of my experience. Secondly, if that's the standard, there can only be one verdict on my life.

If we're not talking about amount of good versus the amount of not good and somehow weighing this, but justice doesn't work like that. Justice is just a matter of guilty or innocent. Well, this is the standard. Everything that he says is good is actually very good. Everything that he says is evil is actually very bad and I actually don't meet up to the standard.

So if we're just going to render a verdict on my life and it's not, well we have a pile of this, we have a pile of this, which weighs more, but justice actually works in a very different way. It's just guilty or innocent. I would have to say the verdict on my life is guilty, guilty every day of my life, guilty. Now what are we going to do about that? So Hebrews 9.27, It's appointed for a man to die once and then the judgment makes me think, oh no!

An all-knowing God will have to render a guilty verdict on me. This of course sends us to Christ for mercy. All this is designed to help us to feel the weight of that guilty verdict which an all-knowing, all-good, all-righteous judge would have to render a guilty verdict. Oh no! Is there no hope for me?

No, the Bible actually says there is hope for me, but only in fleeing to Christ for mercy. It sends me there. The contemplation of all these things sends me there to Jesus Christ. Oh God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Third, Methuselah's name is significant.

It's very possible to overdo the meaning of names in Scripture when the text itself makes nothing of the meaning of the name. You can actually turn this into a whole discipline and certain theological streams have turned like the name means this in the ancient language, but the text doesn't mention anything about that and you can make a whole discipline out of it, and I don't think we should. So it's possible to overdo the meaning of this, but in this case scripture tells us that Methuselah's dad was a prophet. So to me that changes things. Methuselah's dad was a prophet.

Who was Methuselah's dad? Enoch. And in the New Testament in Jude verses 14 and 15, we learn that Enoch prophesied against the ungodly of the age in which he lived. So he was prophesying against the ungodly and against all of their forms of ungodliness. That's what we learn in Jude verses 14 and 15.

So Enoch was a prophet and he had a son, and I believe that it's not a stretch to say he named his son prophetically. Let me give you two data points and ask you to consider them together. So data point number one is the name Methuselah means he dies and the dart, or he dies and the arrow. So first death, then the arrow, or he dies, then the sending forth. So that's the meaning of his name.

So this is data point number one. Data point number two. If you look at the time markers in Genesis, Methuselah died in the year of the flood. So Methuselah dies in the same year the global flood comes in judgment on the rebellion of mankind and wipes out all but eight people from planet Earth. So now think of the global flood and then think of this man named, he dies, then the arrow, and him dying in the year of the flood.

I don't think it's a stretch to say that in the naming of the prophet son, God is counting down to the global flood. Methuselah's life is essentially a countdown to the global flood. God is the God who declares the end from the beginning, from ancient times, things that are not yet done. I quoted that last week. That's Isaiah 46, Isaiah chapter 46 verse 10.

God declares the end from the beginning. In other words, before any wheels have been set in motion, God says, I'm taking all of this to this point. And then the wheels go in motion. He declares from the beginning, He declares the end, He says what the end will be before any of the wheels are set in motion. He declares from ancient times things that are not yet done.

That's Isaiah 46 verse 10. God is setting everything in place to respond to the increasing rebellion and evil in the world and Methuselah is the countdown clock. He'll die and then the arrow. He'll die and then the sending forth. So that is the oldest man on record, Methuselah, and his son, Lamech.

If you win a Bible trivia contest, send me some of the proceeds. Next section, verses 28, we're still in Genesis 5, now verses 28 through 31. Follow along as I reread that subsection. Genesis 5, 28 through 31. Lamech lived 182 years and had a son, and he called his name Noah, saying, This one will comfort us concerning our work in the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed.

After he begot Noah, Lamech lived 595 years and had sons and daughters. All the days of Lamech were 777 years and he died. In these verses we have Lamech and his hopes for his son Noah. If you're taking notes on the handout by filling in blanks, Hopes fills in the blank. Lamech and his hopes for his son Noah.

Now we learn of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the grandson of Enoch, and one of Lamech's sons and daughters, Noah. So Lamech has sons and daughters. We don't get any of those names. We get one name like the whole rest of the chapter. We get one name.

That name is Noah, though it says Lamech has other sons, plural, and daughters, plural. Noah was born when his father Lamek was 182 years old. Very likely that Noah also wasn't the first born. Lamek named this son very much on purpose. So we know that, you know, sometimes we Google like what are popular names and we look at the 100 and we look through like oh I like that one.

Okay. Lamek is doing his naming differently. He's naming this son very much on purpose. The name was a statement. The name came with a declaration.

Here's the declaration. It's right here in our text. This one, this sun, will comfort us concerning our work in the toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord has cursed." So this statement, this declaration, has two parts to it. The baseline is an acknowledgement of the world that Lamech lived in. So you have this father, Lamek, and he's living in a world, he's having this life experience, and the baseline of this declaration is Lamek's life experience.

It was and is a world of work and toil. A world of hard labor. So, Lamech is 182 years and a lot of that has been work and toil, has been hard labor. Does anybody know anything about that? The older you get, you think, wow, all of life seems, sometimes all of life seems like hard labor, work and toil.

God made the world good, good, very good. Remember creation week, day one. God looks out on it and says that's good. Day two, God looks out on it and says that's good. Day three, that's good.

Get all the way to day six, mankind is created in his image and likeness. He says all of this is very good. So how did God make the world? Good, good, very good. Then God put mankind in a garden with an abundance of fruit trees that Adam and Eve didn't even plant.

So They just arrive and are placed in a garden where God already planted the trees and it's an abundant of fruit trees. They just have to tend and keep mature fruit trees. The food is there for the picking. But all of that was before Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Things changed dramatically, drastically, terribly after they ate the forbidden fruit.

When they did that, they were put out from the garden and the world fundamentally changed. I want to just take you back to chapter 3 and God's pronouncement after Adam and Eve did what God said, don't do that, and they did it. And this is Genesis 3 verses 17 through 19 just a reminder of where we've been Genesis chapter 3 verses 17 through 19 then to Adam God said because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it, cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the herb of the field.

In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken for dust you are and to dust you shall return." Lamech is now the ninth generation from Adam. Adam heard God say those words that I just read with his own two ears. Now we're the ninth generation from Adam, and Lamech is 182 years, and what God said in Genesis 3 is his experience. So it's not a conceptual pronouncement from God.

It is the lived experience of Lamech and everybody who's alive on earth. That's really true today as well. The Apostle Paul describes it this way in Romans 822. Listen to Romans 822. The Apostle Paul says, For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

Paul looks out on the earth and says, everything's groaning. All this sin and the consequences of sin in the world makes everything groan and labor with birth pangs together until now. Paul ends up saying Jesus is the solution to this. So there's that. The baseline is the lived experience, what God said in chapter 3 is being lived out by Lamech.

But the other part is a sense of expectation of comfort. So If we only got that first part, that would be a bummer. The other part is a sense of expectation of comfort. Lamech expects to receive comfort. He sees comfort as available and there's an expectation to receive it.

Yes, sin has brought hardship and suffering and sickness and death into the world, But that isn't all of the story, is it? I mean, we're living, we have experience, we know that's part of the story, but we also know that isn't all of the story. We're still made in the image and likeness of God. So sin brought corruption into that image and likeness of God and so it looks warped from the original creation, I would say, harmed but not destroyed. The image and likeness of God in mankind has been harmed, corruption has come into our nature, but it's not destroyed.

That's why you see human beings doing all sorts of unbelievable things. Believers, unbelievers doing unbelievable things because human beings still bear the image and likeness of God. We can still walk with God. How do we know that? Because in last week's text, Enoch walked with God and it was said twice so we would know.

You can still walk with God. Sin is in the world, suffering is in the world, death is in the world, but you can still walk with God in this life. We can still experience the goodness of marrying and they are in this genealogy and the goodness of having children and they are in this genealogy. So life has hardships, but it certainly isn't all bad. It just isn't the unmixed goodness that God originally intended and created it to be.

The garden was unmixed goodness. Now it's mixed with a lot of hardship and suffering. Toil, hard labor. Lamech understands this and Lamech is hoping for comfort from his son who he names Noah, which literally means rest. So he names his son Rest.

We did this by sinning. Mankind did this. We brought toil, hard labor into life, but Lamech sees rest as receivable. We can receive rest. He has a hope for it, an expectation for it, So he names his son Rest.

I'm expecting comfort to come through this son. The ESV study Bible has this note. I thought it was helpful. The ESV study Bible has this note. Lamech expects that Noah will bring both rest and comfort from the painful toil of working the soil.

182 years of working the soil. Now he has a son and He expects that Noah will bring both rest and comfort from the painful toil of working the soil. We don't know any more about what specifically Lamech was hoping for. Comfort is pretty broad, so We don't know anything more specific than that. Being named Rest is pretty broad.

But these things we know. So here's Genesis chapter 6 verse 9. We know this. Genesis 6 verse 9. This is the genealogy of Noah.

Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. Would that be a comfort to you if your son was described that way? He was a just man. He was perfect in his generations and he walked with God.

What a comfort that would be. We know that about him. Here's what the New Testament says about Noah. This is Hebrews chapter 11 verse 7. Listen to Hebrews chapter 11 verse 7.

By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, So being divinely warned that the global flood is coming. "...moved with godly fear, prepared an art for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." Noah received the righteousness which is according to faith, not self-righteousness. Noah didn't get his act together, but his faith was in God and so righteousness was accounted to him, just like Abraham, Just like me. Not self-righteous, but trusting in Christ. So righteousness put in my account.

In 3 John, verse 4, Listen to what the Apostle John says. 3 John verse 4. The Apostle John says, I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth. My guess is, the Apostle John is talking about spiritual children, but whatever. For purposes of this, when a parent hears that their child is walking in truth, there's no greater joy.

And Lamech experienced that in his son Noah. Returning to our text. You never left. I left for Hebrews. You never left.

I'm returning to our text. Let me reread verses 30 and 31. After he, this is Lamech, after he begot Noah, Lamech lived 595 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Lamech were 777 years and he died. So Noah's father Lamech, lived a very long life compared to anything we have a frame of reference for.

777 years, but Lamech's life was considerably shorter than those around him in this genealogy, who were consistently living into their 900s. The people around Lamech might have thought, oh Lamech cut down in the flower of youth at 777 years old. Everyone else living into their 900s, poor Lamech doesn't even make it to 800. Again, if you look at the time markers in Genesis, in this case especially Genesis 7 verse 6, which says that the flood happened when Noah was 600 years old. Then Lamech died 500 years before, excuse me, died five years before the flood.

Lamech died five years before the flood, which means that he died before his father Methuselah died. So Methuselah outlived his son Lamech. So that is Lamech and his hopes for his son Noah, and those hopes were realized in his son Noah, must have been a comfort to his father, a rest, a source of rest for his father. The final verse, verse 32, Genesis chapter 5 verse 32, and Noah was 500 years old and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth. In this verse we have the names we know from the ark.

If you're taking notes on the handout by filling in blanks, names fills in the blank. The names we know from the ark. There's only four names we know from the ark, and we know they all had wives, but we don't get their names. So there's only four names we know, Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. That's what we have in this verse.

Now Noah goes from being the son of Lamech, in the earlier section he was the son of Lamit. Now he's the father of three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. As you know all of chapter 5 is the genealogy from Adam to Noah to bring us to the generation of the global flood, And in every other instance besides this one, meaning if we go back to the very start of chapter 5, every instance beside this one there is only one child named. Now we have three named. Every other instance, one named son, and it's always added with every other father in this chapter down to this point and had sons plural and daughters plural.

In this case there's none of that. So we never got any of the other names of any of those sons and any of the other daughters, but in every case we had the blanket statement that each father named had sons plural and daughters plural, but with Noah it's not so. We just get these three names. If Noah had other children, Scripture doesn't tell us. We have no warrant from Scripture to say that he had other children.

Three sons are named and that's setting up the history of the flood in chapter 6. So why are three sons named here where other children haven't been named? Because they're going to figure prominently into the histories that follow. That's why. By the way, in relation to the general pattern of the genealogy, Noah's entry deviates considerably.

It's not like the other entries in this genealogy, obviously, because we now go right into the history of the global flood. But listen to how chapter 9 ends. So that history of the global flood will go through chapter 9 and chapter 9 ends this way in chapter 9 verse 29. It's the last verse of the chapter. So all the days of Noah were 950 years and he died.

So you get this history, but then Moses brings us right back to the general pattern where you get the final number of years in the lifespan and this phrase, and he died. Now before we close with a couple of applications, I want to consider the influence of two men within this genealogy. So chapter 5 is a genealogy. I want to consider the influence of two men that are part of this genealogy. Adam and Enoch.

Why Adam? He wasn't born like the rest in this genealogy. He was an adult on day one. God formed him out of the dust and breathed life into him and Adam was just created. Everyone else was born.

So I want to talk about his influence. Why Enoch? Because Moses goes out of his way to say twice, Enoch walked with God. The thing you need to know about Enoch was that he walked with God. So I want to talk about his influence.

In verse 5, Adam lived to 930 years. So when we think about the genealogy, don't think about rigidly sequential. A dad, he dies, that's the starting point for his son, he dies, that's the starting point for his son. No, no, no. These are overlapping lifetimes.

Like, like often great-grandparents get to meet some of their great-grandchildren. We have overlapping lifespans too. When you live to 930 years, you overlap a lot. That's what we have here. That means, Adam living to 930 years, means that Adam lived into the early years of Lamech's adult life.

So he essentially overlaps the whole chapter with Noah being the exception. He was dead before Noah, but everyone else named in the chapter, Adam was alive during their lifetime, and even Noah's dad, Adam was alive into the early years of Lamech's adulthood. So you have to keep that in mind. Methuselah, Noah's grandfather, was more than 200 years old when Adam died. So what?

Well listen to what Matthew Henry says. I think this is worth thinking about. Matthew Henry says this, all the patriarchs here except Noah, so he's talking about the whole chapter, every name in the chapter except Noah, all the patriarchs here except Noah, were born before Adam died so that from him, from Adam, they might receive a full and satisfactory account of the creation. Adam's there in creation week. Paradise?

Adam was in the garden. He could describe life in the garden to everyone in this genealogy except Noah. Did he? We don't know, but he could have. The fall, the influences of the serpent being led into sin, being tempted into sin, falling into sin, the curse, the promise.

So we don't know. We're not given an expanded view of exactly how Adam influenced the generations that came after him, But we should believe that this man, this first man, who had a face-to-face relationship with God in the garden. Remember in Genesis chapter 3, God is walking in the garden in the cool of the day. So he had a relationship with God that we have no frame of reference for, but Adam did, and Adam lived during the time of the life. So it's not reasonable to say Adam never talked about creation week.

Adam never talked about the garden. Adam never talked about the fall into sin. Adam never talked about the promise that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. That's part of Genesis chapter 3, is this first gospel promise. So, we should believe that God was talking about these things to the succeeding generations.

I'll just read the Matthew Henry quote again briefly. All the patriarchs here except Noah were born before Adam died, so that from him they might receive a full and satisfactory account of the creation paradise the fall the promise for Enoch let me say this we're talking about Enoch's influence. Let me say this. Lamech's grandfather walked with God. That's Enoch.

Enoch is Lamech's grandfather. Lamech's grandfather walked with God and Lamech's son walked with God. Noah is his son. So I want to reach out from Lamech, this dad mentioned in the genealogy, reach up to his grandfather, a man who walked with God, and reached from this Father Lamech down to his son, who Genesis chapter 6 verse 9 says Noah walked with God, and say this, I don't think that's a coincidence at all. Now we tend to think of walking with God in terms of the vertical.

What do I mean the vertical? Well I mean God is in heaven, I'm here, I walk with God, It has to do with me and my relationship with God in heaven. That is a vertical relationship. I walk with God, that's vertical. So it is.

But we don't tend to think of its impact on the horizontal. Meaning, I got all sorts of people around me. I have a wife who's closer to me than anybody else. And then one ring out from my wife is my children. One ring out from that is people I go to church with and my neighbors, and then there's a ring out from that.

People who walk with God, who are drawing from a vertical relationship with God, desire to influence and subconsciously move to influence their vertical, their horizontal relationships. So they're drawing from their vertical relationship in walking with God to have influence with the people who are closest to them and others. So, Enoch walked with God and had a son who had a son who had a son who walked with God. I'm saying we shouldn't be surprised by that at all. Enoch walked with God and you know it was his dearest desire.

Anybody who walks with God knows it's your dearest desire if you can if God would give you grace to do it to pass on walking with God to your children that they would pass on walking with God to their children that they would pass on walking with God to their children and we see this year and we shouldn't be surprised by it. A vertical relationship with God bringing influence to bear in the horizontal relationships around it resulting in this. Does it always know? That grieves us, but we desire it to and we should never be surprised when we see it. Okay, applications, I'll give you three.

Number one. Application number one, Methuselah's name applied means that God knew how he would work in Methuselah's life a thousand years before it happened. Let's take his name and let's apply it. What's his name? He dies and the arrow.

Here comes the flood. He dies in the sending forth. Now apply that. It means that God knew how He would work in Methuselah's life a thousand years before it happened. That's why the prophets named His son that.

Now take that knowledge for yourself. You're dealing with all sorts of challenges. You got all these life circumstances going on. So, God knew all about them a thousand years ago. He actually knew about them from eternity past.

We don't want to limit it, but we work well with round numbers. I work well with round numbers. A thousand years ago, God knew all the challenges that seem insurmountable to you right now. Does that help? It helps me.

It helps me. We get such tunnel vision on our life circumstances and we become practical atheists. What's a practical atheist? Well, an atheist is someone who says there is no God, but we wouldn't dare say that, but a practical atheist thinks about things as if there wasn't a God. If you're an atheist, the Bible calls you a fool, the fool says in his heart, there is no God.

But most of us are in certain ways at certain times practical atheists where we draw a picture of reality and there's no God in it. As if God didn't know a thousand years ago the challenges that would be in your life now. Just knowing that he knew that and that he decreed the end from before any of the wheels were set in motion will allow you to just trust God and act on principle. Trust and obey. There's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.

It's a good imp. Apply Methuselah's name to your own life. He knew a thousand years ago the relationship hiccups that you're experiencing now. Just trust him, obey him, he knew all about it, He knows how to bring you through it. As Paul says in Romans 8, he works all things together for the good of those who love Him.

He works all things together for the good of those who love him. He works all things together for the good of those who love him. Just love him and walk with him. Number two, The search for comfort and rest is not a feudal search. This is not just optimism, you know, turn the frown upside down.

Oh look, a smile. The search for comfort and rest is not a futile search. Yes, our sin has brought hardship and all manner of challenges into the human experience, but we can still walk with God in this life. So much good comes from walking with God in this life. Number three, draw from the vertical and then exert influence on the horizontal.

There is so much good that can be drawn from your vertical relationship with God, strength and comfort and joy and sustained ability to keep going. So draw from that well. We keep calling it a bottomless well and so it is. What doesn't God have? God has it all.

So there's never a bottom to that well. I keep drawing buckets of water out of this well, but the water level never goes down. That's God. Congratulations. Draw from the vertical, then exert influence on the horizontal.

Bring the kingdom of God into your relationships. That's what we're supposed to be doing. That's what Christians are supposed to be doing. Bringing the kingdom of God into our horizontal relationships. The closer you are, the more you ought to be bringing.

You ought to be bringing so much of that into the relationship with your spouse, and so much of that into the relationship with your kids, people you go to church with, your neighbors, your co-workers. All right. Let me pray. God, thank you for this text. Thank you for so much.

It can even be pulled out of genealogies. Your Word is a bottomless well. So much wisdom here. Pray that you would help us just to have our thinking shaped by your word. So much more by your word.

So much less about influences that are irrelevant, that are around us. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.