Keep sharing good news without ads.
Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/matthew-cain/methuselah/
Good evening. We're going to read once in the old and once in the new. We'll start in 2nd Peter Chapter 3 if you have a Bible, please turn there. Our main reading will be in Genesis, but I'd like you to Notice an important principle from 2nd Peter chapter 3 and we're going to read it verse number 9.
2nd Peter 3 and 9. The Lord is not slack. He's not behind schedule concerning his promise as some men count slackness. But his long-suffering that means he's patient. God is patient to us word Not willing that any should perish but that all Should come to repentance.
The Lord is patient Not wanting anyone to perish. But that everyone would come to repentance. Now, we're going to read in Genesis chapter 5. We're going to do an ancient history lesson. I know that I'm not sure if it's for all of you or just most of you that your school year has ended and Your minds are already on holiday mode, but we're going to shift back in for a history lesson.
I love history. So we're gonna do a little history. This is I think this is over 5 ,000 years ago. This is ancient history. We're going to learn a lesson from a man named Methuselah. So let's read about him in Genesis chapter 5 verse number 21 and Enoch lived sixty and five years and begat Methuselah and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years and begat sons and daughters and all the days of Enoch were 360 and five years and Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him and Methuselah lived in hundred and eighty seven years and begat Lamech and Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech 782 years and had sons and daughters and all the days of Methuselah were 969 years it's the longest living record we have in the scripture 969 years and He died.
Lamech lived a hundred and eighty two years and begat his son and he called his name Noah. Which means rest or comfort because Noah. Concerning Noah, he said this same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord our God hath cursed chapter 6 verse 5 and God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every Imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart and the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth both man and beast and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air for it repenteth me that I have made them but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Now we're gonna think about Methuselah. Maybe Noah a little bit later. Methuselah lived 969 years. I want to be careful with whom I make eye contact when I say this but Some of you remind me of Methuselah, but it's not necessarily the older ones.
It's like this row of young people right here. You remind me of Methuselah. And you remind me of Methuselah because you are great pictures and great lessons of the patience of God remember that to nine names in Bible times were very Significant.
They chose a name because of what that name meant. That may be the custom of some of you. It's not everyone's custom. It wasn't really our custom. We had a son born three months ago, and we named him Winston.
I didn't really care what the name Winston men. I looked it up to make sure it didn't mean anything too bad. We thought it sounded nice. He's not he's not named after anyone in particular. We like the name.
You may not like the name doesn't bother me in the least. We like the name and we called him Winston. Well, Methuselah was born one day and can you imagine his mother and his father? Enoch and they need to choose a name for him and maybe his mother says I think he looks like a Mahala leal or maybe a Jared and Enoch says well, I'm not sure what he looks like.
I think we should call him Methuselah. Oh No, no, he doesn't look like a Methuselah. No, of course. He doesn't look like a Methuselah, but that's his name. I think that Enoch has chosen this name with divine Revelation because the name Methuselah means this when he dies.
It shall come. When he dies it shall come do you know what the it is? When he dies Judgment will come. This is not only a history lesson. This is going to be a math lesson as well. Can you do a little math with me?
Some of you look a little bit discouraged at that, but follow me now Methuselah Was a hundred and eighty-seven when he fathered a son named Lamech and Lamech was a hundred and eighty-two when he fathers a son named Noah.
Apparently starting your family late is not only a modern thing. It was all the rage in Noah's day and 182 plus a hundred and eighty-seven equals 369 so Methuselah is born 369 years later his grandson Noah is born and you remember what happened?
600 years after Noah was born chapter 7 verse 6 tells us it was when Noah was 600 years old that the flood came so 600 on top of 369 equals 969 that's exactly the age that Methuselah lived until. So Methuselah lived 969 years and then he died and then it came the flood came God's judgment.
Against sin came the year that Methuselah died 969 years the longest living man that we know of in the Bible and God allows this man to live 969 years because God knows that when this man dies his judgment is going to fall and God is patient.
Not wanting anyone to perish. But that everyone would come to repentance. So God waits and he spares the world as he allows Methuselah to live 969 years. It's no coincidence then that Methuselah lived so long.
That was God Withholding his judgment. God through Enoch had said that when he dies it will come. But God spares him 969 years. So that that judgment is held back. It's held back. It's held back because God is patient.
Not eager to judge but wanting everybody to repent and turn to him in faith. And you remind me of Methuselah because you also are a picture of God's patience. We have already been reminded that sin leads to death.
Sin deserves death so Ezekiel 18 and 20 the soul that sins dies. Romans 5 and 12 by one man. Sin entered into the world and death by sin. Death has passed upon all men for all sins. James chapter 1 says that when lust has conceived it gives birth to sin and when sin is fully grown it produces Death.
Romans 6 and 23 says the wages of sin is death. Now we have all sinned and that sin has separated you from God. But the wages of that sin is death and so what God is teaching us is this our sin deserves death.
Why why then does a holy God who hates sin? Why does he allow you? to live another day. Why does God spare you and enable you to sit in another gospel meeting to hear the voice of God from the scriptures again?
Why does God not instantly condemn you to hell if you have sinned and sin deserves death, this is the same reason. That he did not send me instantly to hell. God is patient. He is long-suffering. Not wanting anyone to perish.
But desiring every single person to come to repentance. That's the character of God. God is slow to anger. He doesn't want you to perish in your sins. God knows that if you died in your sins in the very next moment you would be in hell and condemned to the lake of fire for eternity.
God spares you. That he might save you. God speaks to you again and again to make you think about eternity and salvation because he wants you to repent and be saved. God is a patient God. Methuselah lived in very evil days.
Remember what we read in Genesis 6 the wickedness of man was great. The earth was filled with violence. It upset God it hurt the heart of God, but God remains Patient amidst all that iniquity and sin that was covering the face of the earth.
You remind me of Methuselah because you are also living in days of great moral wickedness and violence characterize our society and God is patient and God waits and sometimes people say I know there's lots of bad things around there.
Why doesn't God do something? Why doesn't God judge all the wickedness? I'll tell you why God doesn't. You're the reason that God doesn't you're the reason. Because if God was to judge all the wickedness of unbelievers, then God would need to judge your sin as well.
And God is patient. Not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. You remind me of Methuselah Living in evil days. In fact wickedness and violence Characterize all of our hearts.
The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked God says but God remains patience. He waits because he wants you to be on the inside. God takes no pleasure at the death of those dying in their sins.
He wants you to be on the inside safe from that judgment secure of heaven. He wants to bless you. He wants to see you repenting and so God is patient slow to anger not willing that any should perish. Desiring all to come unto repentance.
He has he has appointed a day That he's going to judge the sin. Acts chapter 17 says God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness. By that man whom he has ordained and he has proven it to us by raising him from the dead that day begins when the Lord Jesus Unleashes his judgment of tribulation times upon the earth.
Maybe you have read or heard a little bit from the book of Revelation. In that that horrible period that the Bible says is actually the worst period of the world's history is yet future seal judgments and trumpet judgments and bold judgments and it's all Unleashed upon the earth and it's such a horrible time that people will will hide under rocks and the wish that they were dead.
They they don't want to be exposed to the wrath of God against sin in that day. That's judgment against sin that is coming on our world. God is patient. That day hasn't come yet. He doesn't want to punish you for your sins.
He wants to save you. He is patient not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. And I don't want you to get the wrong idea from the message. I don't want you to test God's patience.
I don't want you to test God's patience. I'm not sure if it's common on your Interstate highways around here if I'm in the States I'm more likely to be in New England and in the New England States number of the highway systems are toll highways.
And you come to each Highway toll and you pay your 25 cents or 50 cents or a dollar. But other highways have the option of you buying a like a monthly pass or an annual pass. I read about a highway was this was I don't this was over in Switzerland and and and in Switzerland you bought an Annual pass you put a sticker on your windshield you paid Swiss francs or a number of euros and that gave you free pass on Their toll highway through the year.
It would be a calendar year January to December. You could drive freely on the highway when the next January came. You should get a new sticker but traditionally the police would allow a month of grace a month of patience and They would allow you to drive on that highway all through the month of January even though you should have had a sticker on January the first they'll let you drive all through the month of January and they would Not ticket you they would be very patient with you it's grace and When February the first comes around if you still haven't got a new sticker the patience has ended and You have to pay the fine.
God is patient. But his patience has limits. And I know that we think well at least I'll have for sure Until the day of my death and that's got to be in the distant future, isn't it? But in a sense not even everyone will have until that moment.
For if the Lord was to commence his tribulation judgment shortly There will be people on the earth and Instead of worshiping God, they they will worship the man of sin and in giving their allegiance to him.
They will be condemned still living but unable to repent. Patience will have ended. Or maybe it's someone who was growing up hearing the gospel and you come into your teen years. And you're still outside of Christ and you grow a little bit older and you're still outside of Christ.
And maybe you're just working on the farm and there's there's an accident with the equipment on the farm and you're still alive. But there is a there's a brain injury. You are now no longer able to think clearly no longer able to grasp the truth of God and you have had your Opportunity and it would seem that that the patience has ended.
And so there is also a promise of judgment. And Methuselah pictures God's patience, but his name is proof of the certainty of judgment. And and I love the fact that when Enoch When Enoch fathers Methuselah and Methuselah is born Enoch began to walk with God at the birth of his son.
He understood the end was coming and because he saw that there was an end coming Enoch's ways were changed and he begins to walk with God. That would be wonderful if your life was changed as you thought about the same that you recognize.
There is an end to all of this. There's an end to my life when it is appointed unto me once to die and there's judgment on the other side and I need to do something about it and Thinking about the end it could change your ways tonight and you could begin to walk with God through faith in the Lord Jesus.
Methuselah lives 969 years and he died he died and you remind me of Methuselah. Because it is appointed unto men and women and boys and girls once to die and after this the judgment. God knows what that day is.
And you and I don't know what that day is. God is patient. But God says now is the accepted time. Behold today is the day of salvation. He says this present time is is your opportunity. No better time for you to be saved than tonight.
No greater time for you to be saved than in this meeting. In recognizing that you're in your sins. You're on the outside. You're on a dangerous course. You're exposed to God's judgment. The end lies ahead of you and you could make sure that that end will just lead into Unending glory in heaven with the Lord Jesus if you trust him.
Maybe you have years ahead of you. Maybe you don't. What I know is that eternity is certain. I Don't know how long in the future we'd have to go maybe in coming decades. Maybe the the lifespan of mankind is going to continue to grow but maybe it's it's fairly safe to say that a hundred and twenty years from today.
Every single one of us will be in heaven or in hell a hundred and twenty years and it may be much less. Every single one of us will have entered an unending eternity and it's either an eternity of judgment or it's an eternity of peace and joy and Blessing in the presence of God and that's what he wants for you.
Not wanting anyone to perish but all to come to repentance. And that coming of the Lord was bringing judgment it will bring judgment on the earth just as the Lord promised judgment at the form of a flood in the days of Noah and I don't want you to be left on the outside.
God is sparing you that he might save you. God wants you to be like Noah. Because Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Genesis 6 what we have seen what we have read is that the sinfulness of men and women was bothering God immensely.
It grieved him at his heart. God is perfectly righteous and sin was growing Exponentially and so God says that mankind is going to be destroyed. Methuselah dies, but Noah finds grace. Have you ever found grace.
The first time you read of grace in the Bible and it's salvation from judgment for sin. God says it is by grace that people are saved through faith. It's not of ourselves. It's a gift of God not of work so that none of us are boasting or bragging in God's presence.
Our salvation isn't going to be from our being born in the right family. It's not from the good works that we do. It's not from how well I've attended Sunday school. It's not that my parents are Christians if you're going to be saved.
It's a gift of God's grace through your acknowledging your guilt and you trusting in the Lord Jesus and him alone. By grace, we are saved. And Noah is told to build an ark and that ark is a lovely picture of God's grace.
Because God has promised judgment. But he has made a way of escape from that judgment. But the only people that are going to escape God's judgment are those that are on the inside and People on the inside will experience salvation by God's grace.
So Methuselah dies one day and maybe Noah stood at the tomb of Methuselah His grandfather and then maybe a little while after that. The skies began to darken and rain began to fall. And waters from beneath exploded through the surface of the earth.
And God's judgment is being unleashed and Noah and his family are safe because they're inside the ark. And there's one way for you to be safe from God's judgment against sin and that's that's by you being inside of Christ.
Whoever has the Son of God has life he who has not the Son of God does not have life. But when we turn and trust in the Lord Jesus God has placed us in Christ and we're safe in Christ from the storm that is coming because the Lord Jesus is like the ark that went through that storm.
Can you imagine the rain that is just pouring down? I don't know if did you have a little thunderstorm here on on Thursday evening? We had one down in Cedar Rapids and Marion huge raindrops heavy rain for 10 minutes maybe.
What would it have been like when day after day after day it's pouring buckets of rain and The water levels are rising and the storm is beating down upon that ark that boat and Noah's inside. He doesn't feel any of it.
The ark is taking the brunt of it and the ark is is Continuing to float through it and the ark passes through all of that judgment from God and it rises above it and it comes out the other side the Lord Jesus on the cross.
He felt the full weight of God's judgment against our sin. God's judgment against sin was poured out. It was unleashed upon the Lord Jesus and he felt it all he bore our sins in his own body on the tree.
His soul was made an offering for sin and he took that weight that Punishment that that weight of God's judgment upon him. The chastisement of our peace. Isaiah 53 says the punishment that brings us peace.
It was laid upon him and with his stripes. We are healed and the Lord Jesus like the ark He took all of God's judgment against sin and he comes out the other side. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised again the third day according to the scriptures and he was seen as A testimony that the Lord Jesus has triumphed over death and has defeated sin.
He bore the weight of it. He has conquered it. He's a victor and if you're in Christ, you're safe for eternity. And if you're outside of Christ you're destined for judgment against sin. God is patient Not wanting anyone to perish.
But that all would come to repentance and So Methuselah's very name Signified that judgment was going to come. The name Jesus signifies that salvation was going to come. Call his name Jesus He will save his people From their sins.
And the Lord Jesus hung upon a cross to provide salvation for us. He's died our death. He has taken our place. He has borne God's judgment for our sin. And if you face your sin and you put your confidence in the Lord Jesus and rest on him God brings you inside the ark of safety and You're safe forever.
And if you don't trust him you're on the outside and If the Lord Jesus comes To take his church home to heaven shortly thereafter that period of judgment will be unleashed. Judgment against sin on this earth Will be unleashed and it's appointed unto us once to die and after this the judgment.
And God spares you tonight Because he wants to save you. God is patient Not wanting any to perish. But all to come to repentance. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and I hope you would find grace there tonight as well.
Let's pray.