He Created Them Male & Female (Genesis Chapter Five - Part 1)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. So once again, let's turn to the book of Genesis. This week we will be in Genesis chapter 5, which is titled The Family of Adam.

The Family of Adam and the Genealogy from Adam to Noah

The Family of Adam. So several important characters are mentioned here. We touched on briefly last week Seth, who was born to Adam and Eve, their third son, although he may actually not have been number three.

But Seth basically started a new godly line because the godly son Abel was killed by his brother Cain. So Cain's line was wicked and corrupt. But Seth started a new godly line, a new generation where men began to call upon the name of the Lord.

A few more characters are introduced in this chapter. We see Methuselah, who is the oldest man who ever lived. We'll talk about him. Also Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. We'll also spend some time on this character Enoch and the significant statement that we see in verse 24.

You can just take a look at it briefly. It says,. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. But before we begin reading, let's open in a word of prayer. Our Father, as we approach your word this morning, I ask that you would bless it by applying it to our hearts.

Cause our ears to be attentive and our spirits willing to receive instruction. Lord, create in us a clean heart and a teachable one, I pray. It's in Christ's name. Amen. Genesis chapter 5 verses 1 through 8 says,.

This is the book of the genealogy of Adam in the day that God created man. He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them and called them mankind in the day they were created.

And Adam lived 130 years and begot a son in his own likeness after his image and named him Seth. After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were 800 years and he had sons and daughters. So all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died.

Seth lived 105 years and begot Enosh. And after he begot Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and he had sons and daughters. So all the days of Seth were 912 years and he died. And it kind of goes on like this, that someone is born, they live and they die.

They're born, they live, they have children and they die. So that's enough for us to get an idea of how this chapter reads. But if you read through the end, it connects Adam to Noah. And that's the significant thing going forward, connecting Adam to Noah.

So 10 families are mentioned in all, but these are in no way the only people or the only families that came from Adam. Since in verse 4, it makes the general statement that what? He had sons and daughters.

In other words, he had many, many other sons and daughters. So this is what some people call a representative genealogy, not a complete genealogy. Now, you probably noticed that phrase or I highlighted it.

It keeps getting repeated. A man would live so many years. He had had children. This is how long he lived. And then he died. Then his child would live so many years. He had had children. And then he died.

And this pattern is through the whole chapter. It only gets interrupted once. And who is that where it gets interrupted?

Enoch.

Right.

Because Enoch doesn't die. He walked with God and then God took him. But we'll come back to that. You know what happens when people read genealogies in the Bible or when they come across a genealogy in the Bible and they don't read it?

That usually is what happens or they'll skim over it briefly. People have the idea that why do I need to know all this information? Well, the one thing I know for sure is if it's in the Bible, God determined it's important, number one.

And what is the scripture? Second Timothy 316, that all scripture is inspired by God and it's profitable. I remember hearing a story of a man who was unconverted at the time and he was reading his Bible and he got to one of those genealogies, I think, in 1 Chronicles.

And admittedly, it is kind of hard to read through. And the names are hard to pronounce and all the rest. But he kept reading. And he saw that this person was born, he lived, and he died. This other person was born, he lived, and he died.

This other person was born, he lived, and then he died. And all of a sudden, it hit him that one day, I'm going to die. I'm going to die. And then what? The point is God used that. He used a genealogy to bring that man to faith.

So all scripture is profitable.

Amen?

So let's go through some of this. Chapter 5 begins. This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Now the Hebrew word Adam, depending on the context, can either be translated as Adam, the individual man, or it can be translated as man, as in mankind.

So Adam can refer to either one. So it is, based on that, it is legitimate to say that both Adam was created in God's image, and everyone who came from Adam, that's all of us, we are, you were created in the image of God.

And just to engage in a little apologetics for a moment, because I think that's necessary when we go through Genesis. You remember what apologetics is? It's not, well, hey guys, I'm really sorry I'm a Christian, please forgive my ignorance.

Well, that's not what apologetics is, it's defending the faith. So this genealogy of Adam, if there was ever any doubt before, it should cause us to realize that Adam is a historical person. Adam was a real man.

Metaphors don't have genealogies, do they? But some would like to claim that Adam wasn't actually a real person, that this is just a story to try to teach people something. Here's the thing, if Adam wasn't a real person, then he wasn't really made in the image of God.

And what would that mean? It means neither are you. Neither are any of us. The worldview that accepts evolution, you have to realize it has serious implications, has serious consequences. And I think we're feeling the effects of that in the culture right now.

So this chapter is important, and for no other reason it should put to bed once and for all the idea that the first few chapters of Genesis is just an allegory. That it's just a poem, it's just a story.

Again, metaphors or allegories don't have genealogies. So, Adam is a historical figure. He was a real person. He was the first man. And both Adam and all of his descendants, us, we have value.

Why?

Because God gave us value. We have value because we are made in the image of God. And then in verse 2 it says he created us, what? Male and female. Now no one ever thought that could be a controversial statement.

But in the year 2022, it is. So God created us, he created us, male and female. Now just as the historicity of Adam and Eve is under attack today, even this most basic truth is under attack.

Why?

There's a lot of reasons, and we don't need to go into them all. But we have to understand that God's creative order is always being attacked. In one way, shape, or form. I was listening to one preacher, and he asked the question, and I mean this respectfully, okay.

But he asked the question, he was going on and on about how people view gender these days. And he asked the question, is the Bible oppressive? Is it oppressive towards those who think that gender is fluid?

And we've heard that stuff. So he asked the question, is the Bible oppressive? And this is an evangelical pastor. And he said, well, you know, that's a difficult question. Well, it's not a difficult question.

But how we minister to those who are kind of caught up in that view of things, that is difficult in how you minister to people. We know how it's being portrayed today that there's two sides. There's two camps, and you need to fall into one or the other.

There's the haters, and there's those people that celebrate it and are pushing for it. You know, there's more than two camps, because we're not haters. Yeah, this is a very challenging thing. Especially for young people.

So we need to strike that balance between being for people and wanting what's best for them, but not joining in with the rebellion against God's creative order. The people in power who are pushing this, who want surgeries for children and giving them powerful drugs, of course, of course, this church and the Scripture and God opposes that.

But for the people that are caught up in it, and especially young people, we need to have compassion on them. Growing up as a teenager in a preteen, some of you remember those years, they're difficult.

You know, you're confused about a lot of things, especially after kids were locked up for a year and a half during COVID, and they couldn't leave their homes, and the depression is going up, and the anxiety is going up, and they're confused anyways, and now they're offered this option.

And along with that brings affirmation and friends. So it's not right, but you can understand almost how someone could be caught up in it. So we need to have compassion on those who have been deceived.

Genesis 5 -2, though, it says God created them male and female, and there is no third option, despite what Facebook says with their 58 different gender options. So men and women, here's the thing, men and women are made in God's image.

Women are made in God's image as well. But the fact that people go against this, it shouldn't be a surprise. People always go against what God says, what God desires. If God makes a commandment, there will be people who will oppose it, you know, just because sometimes.

So we look to what the scripture says. And what God has created and has blessed and has called good, the serpent wants to corrupt that. And that's what we saw back in chapter 3. Okay, let's continue on verse 2.

He created them male and female and blessed them and called them mankind in the day they were created. And Adam lived 130 years. And then verse 5, it says that Adam lived a total of how long?

930 years.

And then he died. So some people don't take the Bible literally. They don't take the first few chapters of the book of Genesis literally. This is one of the reasons they think, well, you know, come on.

930 years, obviously that's not true. Obviously that's impossible. And as I always say, with God, all things are possible. God could cause a person to live forever. And actually, if Adam continued to eat of the tree of life, he would have lived forever.

How is that possible, though? Let's do some more apologetics work. Back then, you didn't have disease. Disease wasn't a thing. The environment back then was pure. It was pure. Radiation from the sun was likely blocked from the canopy of water in the earth's atmosphere.

We touched on that briefly in our study from chapter 1. Before the flood, man lived a long, long time. Those waters above, however, that canopy of water above was broken up at the time of the flood. So when Noah and his family get off the ark, then life expectancy, it just plummets.

But before the flood, people are living hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. So while the earth is not a perfect environment, the fall has occurred, it's still near perfect. So originally, even after the fall, man lived, you saw it, 900 years, some of them.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Moores Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, moorescornickchurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.