Methuselah & The Flood (Genesis Chapter Five - Part 3)

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. Amos chapter 3 verse 3 says, Can two walk together unless they are agreed? Are you walking with God this morning?

Are you walking with God? Anyone who professes the name of Christ is unlikely to say no, although some people I guess would if they're in a backslidden condition. But what does it mean to walk with God?

Part of it is you agree with God. You agree with everything that he says. In other words, you agree with everything that is in this book. So Enoch walked with God. See, every believer in Jesus Christ agrees with God.

But let's face it, there's some things we struggle with. There are some things in the Bible that are challenging. Some things we don't understand. There may be personal struggles that you have, but every believer is walking with God.

The way I understand this, Enoch was walking with God side by side, side by side, every moment of every day. When you consider that he was alive for hundreds of years, that's quite a thing. Maybe our walk with God, we're walking with him, the Lord is up there, but we're maybe 20 steps behind.

We're walking with God, but we're lagging behind 50 steps. Whatever the case, Enoch had a serious commitment. He walked with God, and he was rewarded in that God took him. Matthew Henry writes this about Enoch's walk, says, It included all the parts of a godly, righteous, and sober life.

To walk with God is to set God always before us, to act as always under his eye. It is constantly to care in all things to please God and in nothing to offend him. It is to be followers of him as dear children.

The Holy Spirit, instead of saying, Enoch lived, says, Enoch walked with God. This was his constant care and work while others lived to themselves and the world. He lived unto God. Isn't that so common with us?

We get caught up in our day and the things that we want and desire, and sometimes we don't even intend to do it, but we're living to ourselves. We're doing what we want. We want to accomplish our goals, and it's easy to lose sight of what God wants.

So Enoch walked with God. All right, we're getting close to the end of the chapter. Enoch's son, who was left behind, if I can say it that way, and that's no knock on him, because God, I believe, left him behind for a purpose.

Who's his son? What's his name? Methuselah. So Methuselah is the oldest man to ever live here on planet Earth. And the reason why God allowed him to live so long was to be sort of like an object lesson of God's patience in long suffering.

Turn to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3. So the idea is that God allowed Methuselah to live longer than anybody else, to be a picture of his long suffering before the flood, because when the flood came, it destroyed every person on Earth save Noah and his family.

And within Methuselah's name, I think there's a message, there's a prophecy. Of course, his father was who? Enoch, who was a prophet. So his father gave, Enoch gave his son the name Methuselah, which some interpret to mean when he dies, there shall be an omission, or when he dies, then it will be sent.

Many scholars have believed, although there is some debate about this, but many scholars believe that there is a prophecy built in to Methuselah's name. In other words, when Methuselah dies, what happens?

The flood, right? So by God allowing him to live, that's a picture of mercy. Look at 1 Peter 3, 18 through 20, says,. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient when the divine longsuffering, that's the word I'm talking about, the divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water.

You know, I think I said this last week, that God, he isn't just up in heaven waiting for people to slip up so he can lower the boom on them. That's not the way God is. God is merciful. He is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, the scripture says.

So through the preaching of Noah, the Lord gave mankind, who in the next chapter slips into rebellion once again, but for hundreds of years, God gave mankind a chance. You know, and I believe that God, since we're living in an age of grace, he is still giving people a chance to repent and come to the saving knowledge of Christ.

So mankind, in the days of Noah, he had opportunity after opportunity, because when Methuselah died, that's when that opportunity ceased. When Methuselah died in that same year, the flood came. And you know, it's like with anything else, at some point, it's going to run out.

God's patience is going to run out. Now turn to Matthew chapter 24. There may be some people listening today. God has been patient with you. And that patience you now recognize is a token of his grace and compassion for you.

And you're ready to give your life to him. But someone else may take that same patience and do something very different with it. Somebody could think, well, God hasn't done anything up until this point.

I've lived life on my own terms up until now, and God really hasn't done anything. Maybe I can get away with a little more, and a little more, and a little more. Some people do think that way. But again, at some point, that is going to run out.

And of course, it's totally the wrong way to think. Amen? Here's the point again. Methuselah lived longer than any other man as a sign of God's mercy. Look at Matthew 24, verse 36. Because there's another event that has gone on and on and on as a sign of God's mercy.

And what is that? The return of Jesus. It's been 2 ,000 years, and Jesus hasn't returned. Why? Because it's an age of grace. He's giving people a chance. Matthew 24, verse 36. Speaking of the return of Christ, he says,.

But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away.

So also will the coming of the Son of Man be. And it's a taking away in judgment he's talking about. He says,. And two men will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and the other left.

Based on this, watch, therefore, for you do not know what hour the Lord is coming. Well, it's been 2 ,000 years. I don't know that it's ever going to happen. I don't ever expect the Lord to return. Satan has deceived you if that's what you think.

All right, let's go back to chapter 5 and we'll close. So just as Methuselah, by God's grace, lived a long, long life, but eventually died, and then came the deluge, so it will be with the return of Christ.

Mankind has been living all this time in an age of grace, but one day the trumpet will sound, and there will be a day of reckoning. The Bible describes this as the day of the Lord. And if you want reading to do later on, 2 Peter chapter 3 kind of ties in all these subjects.

We don't have time for that. All right, Genesis chapter 5. Are you in chapter 5? Okay, let's start reading again.

We're almost done.

Verse 25, it says, Methuselah lived 187 years and begot Lamech. After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years, and he had sons and daughters. So all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.

That's a Bible trivia question. Someone's going to ask you one of these days, who is the longest living man you're going to say?

Methuselah.

Well, that's good. But how long did he live?

969.

Good, 969 years. And Lamech, it says, lived 182 years and had a son. And he called his name Noah, saying, this one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord has cursed.

You know what the name Noah means? It means rest. Noah means rest. And he would be a blessing in his generation. It's in 2 Peter 2 .5 that Noah is called a preacher of righteousness. He wasn't just building the ark all of those years.

He was preaching. Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears, but he was preaching. OK, so in conclusion, as Genesis chapter 5 comes to an end, just remember you have two lines. Back in chapter 4, the line of Cain.

Now you have a new godly line, the line of Adam through Seth through all the way down to Noah. And again, that's going to be crucial in understanding chapter 6. And just to give you a heads up, because this doesn't happen very often.

But when a pastor changes his doctrine, it doesn't happen every day. So I think I'll just give you a little teaser. I think I've reconsidered my position on a certain point of doctrine, but I'll save that for now.

Don't get too nervous now. It's none of the essentials of the faith we're talking about here. We'll talk about that next week. And I just want to end on that point. I want to be a person who can change his mind and be able to admit it.

Amen.

Almost done.

We are in a group. A few of us were talking about things that we've learned and how we've changed. And I asked the question. Some of these guys have been Christians for decades, many decades. And I just asked the question through it out there, what's one thing that you've changed on?

From the first year you became a Christian and you got your set of beliefs, name one thing that you've changed on. And around the group, some people gave, okay, here's one thing that I had wrong and I changed.

And then there were some people, and they probably, I'm not being hard on them. Maybe they just couldn't think of anything. But some people are like, I haven't changed on anything. I guess, you know, I was perfect and knew it all from the start.

That's really not the case. We always need to be learning. And I personally want to be teachable. I want to be teachable. I hope you want to be teachable. You know, even a little child can teach us some things.

So as we study the book of Genesis, a lot of preconceived ideas are being challenged. Things that maybe someone was taught in school or in college. Something that's popular in the culture or fixed in the culture on evolution, the big bang, and God's creative order.

We always want to be learning. Never get to that point where you think you know it all because if that's the way you're thinking, it just means you don't. Okay, let's pray. Heavenly Father, I just ask that you would teach us through your Holy Spirit.

If there's something that we're wrong about, I pray that you would show us and help us to be gracious to others. Knowing that we have our faults, we have our blind spots, and Lord, they do too. So help us to be gracious and kind as we walk with you and help us to walk with you similar to the way Enoch, he walked with God and then God took him.

And Lord, we know that in one way or another, whether it's the return of Jesus to this earth or by natural death, there's gonna be a day where you take us. And I pray that each and every one here has come to that point in their life where they have repented and trusted in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

I pray it all in his name, amen. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris 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, morriscornickchurch .com.

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