“And He Died” – FBC Morning Light (1/3/2025)

Well, good morning to you, and just as a reminder, we've started a new Bible reading plan to read through the

Bible this year, and reading a couple chapters in the Old Testament, one in the

New Testament, and then one of the Psalms. So today's reading takes us to Genesis 5 and 6,

Matthew 3, and Psalm 3. And again, you can download this Bible reading plan on the church's website, faithbaptiststerling .com,

go to, across the top of the menu bar, there's a tab for resources, click on that tab, there's a drop -down menu for the

Bible reading plan, and then that opens up another page, and you can actually download the whole plan for yourself if you want, or you just keep coming back to the website.

I'd be glad for you to do that too. So whatever you need to do, I trust you'll follow along as we read through the

Bible this year. And so today we're in Genesis 5 and 6, and I wanted to focus on these couple chapters.

You know, we haven't looked at the earlier chapters of Genesis in our devotionals yet, but of course what happens is creation, chapters 1 and 2, and then the fall in chapter 3, the murder of Abel by Cain in chapter 4, and death, the cruelty of murder is brought into this world as the ultimate expression of sin that has been brought into the world through Adam and Eve's listening to the serpent.

But one of the things that God said would happen if they disobeyed

Him and took that fruit was that they would die, they would die. In chapters 3 and 4, you don't see death as a natural occurrence, you see it as a violent occurrence by the hands of others, and yet in chapter 5 that changes.

You have this genealogical record, and when you read through that, we might be,

I wouldn't say distracted, but we might become so enamored of the age of the people who lived during that period of time.

For example, Adam lived to be 800 years old.

Enosh, or Seth, he was 912 years old, and so on, you go through this genealogy and say, man, these people, they lived forever.

No, they didn't live forever. They lived a long time. Some have criticized the

Bible, saying, obviously, this is error. There's no way people lived to be that old.

There have been some good explanations as to why they were able to live to that age, and why we can't live that old.

But the point that I want us to get is, I think, the point of the Scripture, the passage, and that is that almost every one of them, all but one of the names mentioned in this chapter, have this at the end of the verse, and he died, and he died.

All the days that Adam lived, verse 5, were 930 years, and he died.

He died. All the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.

All the days of Enosh, verse 11, were 905 years, and he died.

Verse 14, all the days of Canaan were 910 years, and he died.

Verse 17, all the days of Mehalelel were 895 years, and he died.

Methuselah, all the days of Methuselah, verse 27, were 969 years, and he died.

Lamech, all the days of Lamech, verse 31, were 777 years, and he died.

This genealogical record testifies to the sad reality that death passed upon all men, for all have sinned.

All have sinned. And even though these antediluvian lives were extraordinarily long, they nonetheless came to the same demise that every man has since then.

Well, with a couple of exceptions, and one of those exceptions is mentioned here as a bright spot demonstrating the marvelous grace of God that is to be displayed to a small remnant of humanity.

Enoch. Enoch. He was 65 years old when he begat Methuselah, the father of Methuselah, 65 years old.

All the days of Enoch were 365 years. Well, he only lived 365 years, but it doesn't say, and he died.

Why? Because Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

There is a bright spot in this otherwise very dark period of time. There's another bright spot that shows up in the end of chapter five.

It says, Noah was 500 years old, and he begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And then you continue on into chapter six, and you discover this wonderful, wonderful truth that in verses eight and nine,

Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He was graced by God.

Out of all the humanity that was alive at that time, God chose Noah to be the remnant through which he would save the human race.

Even in darkness, there is grace, and we are grateful for that saving grace of our gracious God.

Even today, however dark this year becomes, however dark our history has been, there is nonetheless a glimmer of hope as God graciously saves a people for himself.

I am grateful that I trust you are one of those whom he has so graced.

Our Father and our God, we do thank you that even though death has passed upon all men for all of sin, that in the grace of God, there is eternal life through Jesus Christ.

We thank you for that amazing grace today. Bless these thoughts to our hearts, we ask in Jesus' name and for his sake.

Amen. All right, well, listen, may the Lord bless you the remainder of this day. Have a good one.