Saturday, February 23, 2019

2019.02.23 Hopewell @Home ▫ Genesis 6:1-5

Questions for Littles: Who began to multiply (Genesis 6:1)? Where? Who were born to them? Who saw the daughters of men in Genesis 6:2? What did they see about them? What did they take? For whom? How were they selected? Who responds to this in Genesis 6:3? What does He say that His Spirit will not do forever? What does He say that man is? How long does He give man? What three things does Genesis 6:4 tell us about the children that came from these marriages? But what does Yahweh see (Genesis 6:5)? How much wickedness? In what parts of their lives? And how many of those intentions? How often?
In the Scripture for tomorrow’s sermon, we see how quickly godliness can evaporate via poor spouse choices. After last week’s expressions of gospel faith in the line of the godly, we should be horrified to see the results of these unequally yoked marriages.

Notice how these marriages came about. The sons of God, the line of the godly, take wives from the wrong group of maidens. They go outside the covenant to “the daughters of men.” And they take wives according to the wrong criteria—the only thing that we are told that they are noticing is “that they are beautiful” (and not with the adornment of modesty, good works, or a gentle and quiet spirit, as the Scripture defines a woman’s true beauty!). Finally, they take wives independently. They take for themselves whomever they chose. There is no taking of counsel here, no sense of continuing the covenant line under the wisdom of covenantal forebears… just the picking of a wife according to personal fancy.

So, what is the result of choosing wives from the wrong line, according to the wrong criteria, via a foolish process? We go from the sons of God calling upon the name of the Lord, walking with the Lord, and living by gospel hope, to a situation where on the entire earth there was one man who was a man of grace. One converted man on the face of the earth!

Never mind, that this was the age of giants, physically and metaphorically. Mighty men. Men of renown. Is the Lord supposed to be any more impressed with that than He was with the line of Cain? All He saw was wicked in themselves, or righteous in Christ. And a wrong approach to marriage choices had filled the earth with those who were outside of Christ, aliens to the church, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world (cf. Ephesians 2:12).
What is your plan for helping the rising generation to make good spouse choices?
Suggested Songs: ARP127 “Unless the Lord Build…” or TPH128B “Blest the Man  Who…”

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