00:00 Welcome Back to Day Two!

00:28 New Year, New Gym Goers

02:09 Cain and Abel: The First Murder

05:45 Genealogy and Lifespans

09:27 The Wickedness of Mankind

11:34 Noah and the Great Flood

14:00 Concluding Thoughts and Prayer

Audio Only - All Participants:

Hey, everybody made it back for

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day two of the daily Bible podcast.

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We hope so.

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Anyway, welcome back.

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If you didn't make it

back, it'd be tragic.

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If somebody was like, I'm out, I'm

out after that, do that train wreck.

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No way.

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I can't do this anymore.

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It's just all bad news,

fall, everything else.

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Well, if that's your mindset, then it

doesn't get much better today, folks.

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Yeah.

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You'll have to listen to the

podcast from a couple of days ago

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to get to the really good news.

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Right, right.

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Just back up.

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Yeah.

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Um, yeah.

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Anyways, January 2nd,

everybody's getting back to work.

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I guess, I guess some offices maybe

are still closed on the 2nd, but most,

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most places are getting back to work.

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New Year's starting and, uh,

and things are taking off again.

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Pastor Rod, I know that you

are a, a purveyor of the gym.

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And so is this time of year.

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I assume there's a lot of people there

that are using machines wrong and

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trying to read instructions on the

machines that they've never seen before.

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You know, it's funny because I don't,

I mean, maybe here is different.

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I think in LA or Orange County, when

we still live there, I would notice

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a difference in The LA fitness that

he used to go to, you would see

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more people about this time of year.

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It wasn't always after the first,

um, you'd notice an influx pretty

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shortly after Christmas or in

December, November timeframe.

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So there'd be this massive influx.

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Um, and you'd have a pretty good drop off.

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I mean, you do see it.

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And let me, let me tell you, man, as a,

as a, as a gym goer, I, you know, I kind

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of like having access to the stuff I want

to get to, so it's, I'm not sad about it.

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Uh, if people do stick

around, you'll see it.

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I noticed because everyone goes at the

same time and you see the same people.

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So you kind of know who's

there, who's not there.

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Now, when you see someone new

show up and they keep showing up

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part of you is like, good for you.

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Way to go.

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The other part of you is like, Oh

man, I wanted to use that, that rack.

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Come on, hurry it up, move along.

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So yeah, I guess it's a little bit, not

as, not as bad as some studies show,

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but I do see it a little bit at the

old gym, far less here for some reason.

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Oh, fair enough.

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Maybe if you see our church goers show

up, you'll be like, Hey, I need that rack.

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You need to roll authority.

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That's right.

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I pull my card out.

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There you go.

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Flex the pastoral role.

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See what I did there.

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Yeah, you're welcome.

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Um, yeah, January 2nd.

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So let's jump in.

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We've got four chapters today,

four, four, five, six, seven.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Chapter four, uh, opens up with a

familiar story of Cain and Abel, um,

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and chapter four really is focused

on the continued fallout of the fall.

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Um, this is the first murder that

takes place here with Cain and Abel.

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You've got, uh, Cain, the older

brother, uh, which is significant.

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That was something that, that

I noticed this time reading

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through versus last time.

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But, uh, Abel is the younger

brother and Abel's offering is

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regarded, whereas Cain's is not.

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And what that means is that the,

the Lord was honored rather by

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Abel's offering because Abel's

offering Qualitatively was just.

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Better.

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He brought the first fruits.

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Whereas, uh, Cain was, uh, was, was

bringing the first fruit of the ground.

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Abel brought the first one of

his flock in the fat portions.

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It was just a more sacrificial,

more costly offering that

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the Lord was pleased with.

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This was not an indication that one

was better than the other in that life

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was over for Cain and yet Cain takes

it to heart so much that he rises up in

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jealousy and ends up killing his brother.

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Um, and the, the.

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Confrontation with Cain the question Cain.

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Where's your brother?

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Cain says am I my brother's keeper?

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And the blood of Abel crying out against

his brother which in the new testament

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that theme is picked up and it's uh,

said in the the book of hebrews that

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the blood of christ speaks a better

word than the blood of Abel because

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here the blood of abel is calling out

for justice and vengeance against his

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brother for the wrong done to him but

but chapter four from here and then the

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the You People that proceed from him.

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Uh, this is really just about the spread

of, of a broken and fallen humanity.

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That is, is the result of what we

saw take place in chapter three, the

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fall of mankind with Adam and Eve.

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One thing to note here is Hebrews 11,

four tells us one of the reasons, and I

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think it might be the reason that explains

Why Abel's sacrifice is more acceptable

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says here in Hebrews 11 for by faith

Abel offered to God a more acceptable

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sacrifice than Cain Through which he was

commended as righteous God commending him

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by accepting his gifts and through his

faith Though he died, he still speaks.

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And so, uh, Abel's, Abel's sacrifice

was better than Cain's because

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it was done by faith, right?

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He was giving God something.

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And consequently, because it was an act of

faith, the quality of it was also better.

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It was the first, it was the

best, and it was motivated by

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faith, which God loves to esteem.

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God esteems faith.

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And you already see it here in

Genesis chapter four, you're going

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to see it weaved all throughout

the old Testament and enter the new

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Testament more clearly and explicitly.

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Make no mistake, it is faith here

that is the cause for his acceptance.

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Yeah, the depravity is seen continuing

here, even down in verse 23, is one

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of the descendants of Cain, Lamech

says to his wives, Adon Zillah,

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hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech.

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I have killed a man for wounding

me, a young man for striking me.

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If Cain's revenge is sevenfold,

Lamech's is seventy sevenfold.

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So, murder is progressing

and continuing and, and, It's

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it's just it's it's not good.

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I think that the lone bright spot really

in chapter 4 is in verse 25 It says Adam

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knew his wife again, and she bore a son

and called his name Seth Seth is going to

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be the the purveyor of the line of Christ.

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And so if if We believe Adam and Eve

are literal figures, which we do.

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Um, then we would say that Adam and Eve

were the, the parents of all humanity.

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Well, that would include Christ as

far as his humanity is concerned.

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And Seth is the purveyor of the

line of Christ in Christ genealogy.

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So that's the bright spot here.

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And it's interesting because even

in says here of Seth, God has

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appointed for me another offspring

instead of able for Cain killed him.

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Eve had other children, but there's

something about Seth that causes her

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to say this is the replacement for

Abel, the one that Cain had killed.

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And so Seth is, uh, is a significant

name here to pay attention to as the

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story of Genesis continues to unfold.

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Speaking of names, chapter 5, we get

into a bunch of names in this genealogy.

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Like I pointed out yesterday, we have

the The reminder that God created man

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in his likeness in chapter five, verse

one, male and female, he created them.

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It's interesting in verse three, then that

we read when Adam had lived 130 years,

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he fathered a son in his own likeness

after his image and named him Seth.

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And so there the perpetuation of the

image of God, I think is, is at least

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implied here, uh, in that statement,

because it's not repeated that that's

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just only stated there with Adam

and Seth that in the image of Adam.

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Who was created in the image of God

came Seth and so thereby we can conclude

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that this is true as humanity is is

Reproducing that they are reproducing

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image bearers of God some names to note

in the genealogical list here Seth would

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be one obviously genesis 5 3 from reasons

already mentioned enoch in genesis 5

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19 is a man who Just we should aspire

towards being like enoch enoch walked with

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god If if that could be your epitaph if

that could be the thing that's on your

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headstone You This person walked with

God, that would be an amazing testimony

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to have, uh, and Enoch walked with God

such that he didn't have a tombstone.

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He was not for God took him.

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We believe that he's one of only a few

people that we find in scripture that did

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not die, uh, that were taken up rather

to be with God, which is, is crazy.

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And, uh, and that's because

of his righteousness.

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And so Enoch is commended there.

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Noah in verse 29 is another name,

obviously one of the most familiar names.

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And we're going to get into his

story in chapter six and seven here.

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And then finally Shem in 532, who

is again, the descendant of Noah,

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that's going to perpetuate the line

of Christ down through the ages here.

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What do we make of, speaking the

ages, uh, speaking of the ages, what

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do we make of these long time frames?

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I mean, Enoch, the one who walked

with God, walked for 365 years.

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Golly, talk about a long time frame, and

others here are much longer than that.

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So what do we do with

these really long years?

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Are they literal?

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Is this a different timing

keeping system here?

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What do we do with that?

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I take them as literal.

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I think whether we want to say, you

know, it's the environmental factors.

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Um, we want to say that their

diet, whatever we want to say

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contributed to the length of years.

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I do believe this is literal.

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Um, now in chapter six, verse three,

uh, this is something that Hit me afresh

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this time it says then the lord said my

spirit shall not abide in man forever for

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he is flesh His days shall be 120 years.

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So chapter 6 is opening with depravity

spreading even more so in in Things are

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we're going to get into the nephilim in

chapter 6 as well And so some have said

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well here god is shorting the time Time

span of a man's life his year shall be

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120 years and that's going to be the cap.

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The problem is That's not It's not

born out from this point forward.

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There are men that live longer than that.

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And so I think there's an alternative

reading of that, which would be

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rather than my spiritual not abide

in man forever, that word abide

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can also mean strive or contend.

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And so this seems to be what God is

saying here is it's going to be another

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reading of this could be, it's going

to be 120 years from that moment until

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the flood is going to take place.

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And I think that's what Genesis

six, three is, is talking about.

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But in that context of you asking about

these long years of life, and then we read

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his, Lifespan is going to be 120 years.

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I think 120 years is a time marker for how

long it's going to be before the flood is

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brought in verse three, not the length of

years that these men are going to live.

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But I take them as literal years.

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Do you have a different view on that?

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No, I'm much the same.

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And I think part of the explanation

that I've thought was most helpful

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is that this is antediluvian earth.

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So this is that timeframe, which

had a different ecosystem, different

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expectations, therefore, for how long

man would dwell or be able to thrive.

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And remember, God designed it at

least initially to be sustaining

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of human life for forever.

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So it would make perfect sense that these

guys have a, uh, a, a continuingly shorter

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and shorter period of our lifespan.

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Uh, so yeah, I would take them as literal.

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I don't take them any other way.

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I think it's a, Literal time frame just

because it's pre flood that causes the

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difference Well chapter six we do get into

the wickedness of mankind spreading It

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says in verse five the lord saw that the

wickedness of man was great In the earth

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and that every intention of the thought

of his heart was only evil continually

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Uh the the nephilim here in verse

four, I suppose we should hit on those.

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Who are they?

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They're the offspring it

would appear of relationships

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between angels and human women.

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Um, there's other views on that,

that without belaboring it too much

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in, in spending a long time in this,

uh, that's the view I think makes

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the most sense of the text though.

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It's maybe not the perfect, uh, checking

all of the boxes view that that's the

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view that, that I've always taken,

uh, in embrace there on the Nephilim,

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Pastor Rod, anything that you want

to throw out on, on these giants?

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I'm with you too.

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I think, I think it is angels and

women, and it's a hard Thing to

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wrap your mind around it is, it

is, but that's who it seems to be.

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They are characteristic of

just the general depravity.

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And that's in verse five, just the thing

I want to point out there, uh, just that

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the emphatic nature of the language here,

the wickedness in the man was great.

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And every intention of the thoughts

of his heart was only evil continually

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And it leads in verse six to the

statement the lord regretted now regret

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is not in the sense that the lord

says I made a mistake But the regret

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can convey a pain or an anguish and

I think that's what's going on here.

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The lord is is sorrowful Over

the sin of his creation in the

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wickedness of his creation.

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And so his conclusion is i'm going to

blot out mankind But there's a contrast

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in verse eight but noah found favor in the

eyes of the lord And so the contrast is is

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found there and noah is introduced to us

as one who is going to be different than

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Uh lost humanity all around him And so

Noah is signaled out for God's, uh, God's

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mercy and God's grace in that generations

of Noah are given, um, verses nine and 10.

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Shem, ham and Jth are his sons.

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Shem is the one that is gonna be

the, the son of the line of Christ.

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The others are not gonna do great,

as we will find out later on in our

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Bible reading in the coming days.

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But again.

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The emphasis here, the earth is

corrupt, that he's, God is going

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to make an end of all flesh.

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They've corrupted their way on the earth.

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The earth is filled with violence.

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And so God's instructions,

Hey, build this arc.

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And we went to Louisville this

summer and got to see the arc on

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our way around town out there.

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And it's, it's amazing.

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It's a, it's a sight to behold.

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The sheer scale of it is phenomenal

to stand there and say, wow, uh, Moses

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built this without modern technology is.

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Pretty amazing to see he promises

the judgment that's coming.

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The judgment is going to be the flood.

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Um, Noah's 600 years old in chapter seven,

when the flood comes upon the earth.

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And, uh, and one thing I think

is that's worth kicking around.

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We, we talked about the, uh,

literal six day creation, uh, Petra.

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Let's, let's kick this around then

to what about a universal flood?

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Is that for us as Christians, as

far as a point of orthodoxy for us?

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That's a good question, Pastor PJ.

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I would have to answer

probably for both of us.

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I would say we would not make it a

matter of orthodoxy, but we would say

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it's really important and the competing

sides are going to be the universal

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versus the regional, which is going

to be the right way to look at it.

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And we both say it's an important matter.

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Certainly it's worth our time and

attention to carefully handle.

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The text of scripture.

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So we have to ask the question,

what does the text actually say?

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And one of the challenges that we all

have when we come to scripture is that we

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bring our own ideas, our own backgrounds

and interpretations into the text.

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And so the good exegete will

ask, what does the text say?

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How do I take out from the text

rather than import into the text?

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And so for both of us, we're going

to say super important, but, we

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want to be sure we're understanding

what the, what the tech says.

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And for both of us, you and

I pastor PJ would agree.

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It's a universal flood, but there

are some godly, wise, and heavy

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hitting men and women, I'm sure,

who believe that the flood was

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regional, without denying orthodoxy.

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We would say that it's important,

but it's not going to have any

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fundamental implications for the church.

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Teaching of the faith, the, the

gospel or the, the justice of God.

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In fact, one of the bigger points of

contention with the regional flood

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is that, well, if it's only regional,

then doesn't that mean that some people

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survived here and there and other places

it was a no, because the flood, even if

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it was regional, still had a universal

application on humanity at the time.

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Remember they were not

scattered until after the flood.

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We'll get to that, I think

tomorrow, but all that said, this

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is an important topic, but not one

worth breaking fellowship over.

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Audio Only - All Participants: Yeah.

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So there you go.

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That leads us up through chapter

seven and then, uh, chapter

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eight, you're gonna pick that up

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that's right.

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And I can't wait to do it.

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Please join me tomorrow.

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Don't leave me by myself.

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I'd love to have all of you guys there.

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Audio Only - All Participants:

Let me pray and then we will

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be done with this episode.

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God, thanks for this day.

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And we just ask that you would allow

us to be those that, uh, that do.

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Apply ourselves to study and

understand the scriptures.

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We want to be good Bereans.

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We want to handle the word well

And so we thank you for your word.

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We thank you for your kindness to us

in that We should pray for a great

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rest of our day today in Jesus name.

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Amen Amen, keep reading your Bible

student again tomorrow for another

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edition of the daily Bible podcast.

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See ya