Genesis 6:1-8 – Cameron Jungels - Sun PM, March 9, 2014

“Descent into Decadence”- Genesis 6:1-8 – (Eastside Baptist/Sun PM/March 9, 2014)

 

When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them,  ² the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.  ³ Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years."  ⁴ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days-- and also afterward-- when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.  ⁵ The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.  ⁶ The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.  ⁷ So the LORD said, "I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created-- and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground-- for I regret that I have made them."  ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:1-8, NIV)

 

1. After the Fall, the human race continued to decline into moral decadence.

 

When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.  (Genesis 6:1-2, NIV)

 

Sethites and Cainites

v  ‘Sons of God’ = Sethites

v  ‘daughters of men’ = Cainites

v  Sin = improper inter-marriage of godly line of Seth with ungodly line of Cainites

v  Result = corruption of the godly seed and wickedness

 

Human Nobles and Harems

v  ‘Sons of God’ = Royal Rulers

v  ‘daughters of men’ = peasant class of women

v  Dynastic rulers marry ‘any they choose,’ forming harems in which they magnify their status and fulfill their lusts.

 

Angels and Humans

v  ‘Sons of God’ = Angelic beings

v  ‘daughters of men’ = human women

v  Some form of cohabitation or intermarriage between ‘kinds’

v  Resulting in ‘giants’ or ‘heroes’ mentioned in verse 4.

 

And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all, And to destroy all the ungodly: and to convict all flesh of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. (1 Enoch 1:9)

 

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (Jude 14–15, NIV)

 

And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.‘ (1 Enoch 6:1–2)

 

And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: who consumed all the acquisitions of men. (1 En. 7:1–3)

 

And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. (1 En. 8:3)

 

Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spake, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, and said to him: 'Go to Noah and tell him in my name "Hide thyself!" and reveal to him the end that is approaching: that the whole earth will be destroyed, and a deluge is about to come upon the whole earth, and will destroy all that is on it. And now instruct him that he may escape and his seed may be preserved for all the generations of the world.’ And again the Lord said to Raphael: 'Bind Azâzêl hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dûdâêl, and cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may not see light. And on the day of the great judgement he shall be cast into the fire. (1 En. 10:1–6)

 

And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling-- these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 6–7, NIV)

 

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; (2 Pet. 2:4–6, NIV)

 

After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits--to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, (1 Pet. 3:19–20, NIV)

 

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days-- and also afterward-- when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:4, NIV)

 

We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." (Num. 13:33, NIV)

 

The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. (Genesis 6:5, NIV)

 

2. God’s longsuffering patience will not endure human sinfulness forever; he must judge sin.

 

Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years." (Genesis 6:3, NIV)

 

The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the LORD said, "I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created-- and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground-- for I regret that I have made them." (Genesis 6:6–7, NIV)

 

3. The only hope that the human race has to be saved from God’s wrath is his unmerited grace.

 

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:8, NIV)

 

Main Idea: God must judge our sinful depravity, but he has extended grace by which some are saved from his wrath.