MCLEAN BIBLE CHURCH JANUARY 8, 2012 PASTOR LON SOLOMON

Transcription

1 MCLEAN BIBLE CHURCH JANUARY 8, 2012 PASTOR LON SOLOMON >> LON SOLOMON: You know, we're going to return this morning to our series in the book of Genesis and we're going to pick up today in Genesis 6 in part 11 of our series entitled the decline of the human race. But you know, it's been a few weeks since we've been in genesis, so I think a little bit of review is in order just to make sure we're all caught up. Remember that we saw in Genesis chapter 4 that Cain's anger, jealousy against his brother Abel boiled over and he brutally murdered Abel. And as a result God cursed Cain and exiled him. So we saw that Cain went out and established his own branch of human society and we saw that Adam and Eve had another son named Seth who established a second branch of human society. In Genesis chapters 4 and 5, the Bible told us that these two distinct branches of human society that they developed right alongside of each other, but to each one of them had their own unique characteristics. Cain's line was characterized by Godlessness and violence, and disobedience to God, while Seth's line was characterized by godliness and righteous behavior and obedience to God. Now, that's where we've been. And all of this brings us up to Genesis chapter 6 where, as we're about to see, something has gone drastically wrong. All right. Here we go, Genesis 6:5. And the Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had a become and every inclination of his heart was evil continually. And the Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain. And God saw how corrupt the earth had become. For all the people on the earth had corrupted their ways so God said to Noah, I am going to put an end to all people, fort earth is filled with violence because of them. Now, here in Genesis chapter 6 we learn that the entire population of the earth had grown corrupt. Not just Cain's ungodly line of people, but somehow, some way, even Seth's godly line of people had been dragged down into all of this. You say, well, Lon, how could that possibly have happened? Well, the Bible tells us how it happened. In the beginning of the chapter, chapter 6, Verse 1. The Bible says when man began to increase in number on the earth, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful. So they -- the sons of God -- married any of them, the daughters of men, that they chose. And the Nephilim were on the earth, these, the Nephilim were the heroes of old, men of renown. This is the Bible's explanation about how things got so bad on the earth. You say, well, Lon, I heard the words you just read, but what do they mean? I don't have any idea what it going on here. Friends, there's actually two explanations as to what's going on in the beginning of Genesis chapter 6. Let me share them with you. Explanation number one goes like this. The sons of God, in Genesis 6, are fallen angels, demons. Now, we know as a fact from the Bible that Satan was once an angel who rebelled

2 against God. And the Bible also tells us that there were other angels who followed Satan in his foul revolt. Jude 6 talks about the angels who did not keep their first estate, but left their proper place. And so some commentators say that the sons of God here in Genesis 6 are these evil fallen angels that the daughters of men are human women that these two groups had sexual relations, and produced a mutant race of human beings called the Nephilim. King James translates it giants. And these Nephilim, these half-breeds so corrupted the planet, and by the time -- Noah and his family were the only God-fearing people on earth. And the only way to purify human society was to wipe the Nephilim off the earth entirely and start over, which is exactly what God did with the flood. Now, this is explanation number one. You say, Lon, is this explanation right? Well, I don't believe so. And there are many reasons why I don't believe this is right. But let me just give you the major one, the key one. And that is what Jesus said in Matthew 22:30. He said in the resurrection, that is in heaven, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; instead they will be like the -- what? -- the angels in heaven. In other words, Jesus says here that angels are sexless beings. They don't marry because they don't pro create. There are no daddy angels, no mom any angels and no angelettes. If you understand what I'm saying. According to Jesus Christ, angels do not have sexual relations with other angels or with anybody else. And therefore by comparing scripture with scripture, we find that this theory of angel half-breeds, demon halfbreeds simply doesn't hold biblical water. And you say what is going on here? There's another explanation. Remember, I told you. And it puts much legs strain on the imagination. And it goes like this. Remember, we saw the earth had two separate races, two separate branches of the human race. We saw that there was Seth's godly line which here in Genesis 6 are referred to as the sons of God, and there was Cain's ungodly line which here is referred to as the daughters of men. Ann the way this explanation goes, for a long time these two branches of human society maintained their separateness, maintained their own personal characteristics. But as time wore on, they began to intermingle. And they began to intermarry. And as a result little by little, the moral excellence of Seth's line was surely, slowly but surely eroded away Cain's people. Until eventually what we have was no longer a godly line on the earth versus an ungodly line of people on the earth. Eventually what we get to is a few godly individuals left on the earth in comparison to almost an entire human population of people that are ungodly. These Nephilim. We don't know exactly what they were, but the Hebrew root, nephal, from which this word comes, means to attack people. Our best guess is they were bandits, desparados, violent people who dominated the earth. And thus by the time we reach Genesis 6, the only people on earth still walking with God on Noah and his immediate family. This is explanation No. 2. And I'm personally convinced that this is the correct interpretation of Genesis 6. So let's summarize. Are you still with me? You're awake. Okay. Just want to make sure. All right. Let's summarize. Assuming I've correctly exegeted Genesis 6 for you -- and I believe we have -- then the lesson we see here is that whether we're a

3 singer or an actor or a politician, or a student, or a business person, or a butcher or a baker or a candle stick maker -- doesn't matter -- when godliness intermingles with ungodliness, when godliness marries ungodliness, when godliness gets involved with ungodliness on any intimate level, it has no business getting involved with, the result is almost always the same: Godliness loses, and ungodliness wins out just as it did here in Genesis 6. Now, that's as far as we're going to go in our passage. Because we're going to stop now, we're going to ask our most important question. And this is a historic moment. Because this is the very first one of these in Yeah? And you know how you start the year has a lot to do with things. So we want to start like really good. Okay? All you folks at Loudoun and all you folks at Bethesda and the edge and everyone on the Internet campus and everyone here at Tysons, when I say 3, I want you to literally blow me back on my heels. Okay? 1, 2, 3. >> ALL: So what?! >> LON SOLOMON: Oh, yes. Wow. That was awesome. Wasn't that awesome? That was. And I know you feel better. (Applause) >> LON SOLOMON: Don't you feel better? All right. You say, Lon, so what? You say, I mean, this is interesting, but I -- when I -- I don't see how this applies to me on Monday morning. I'm going to help with that right now. I have been doing pastoral counseling in my office for over 30 years. The reason for that is because I have been a pastor for over 30 years. And I wonder what you think the number one issue is that people come into my office with, with their heart broken. You say, well, Lon, maybe it's drugs. Or alcohol. Or sex. Or pornography, or money. Or trouble at work. Or -- nope, nope, nope. None of the above. Know what it is? There's nothing even close. My friends, the number one thing is relationships. Especially romantic relationships. Problems in their marriage. Problems with a divorce. Separation problems. Engagement problems. Problems with husbands and with wives. Problems with boyfriends and girlfriends and fiances. And I have come to realize, after all these years, that romantic relationships and marriage have more raw impact on the average person's life than any other issue. And this is especially true when it comes to the spiritual side of our lives. Hey, marry the right person, and that person will encourage you spiritually, they will challenge you spiritually, they will spur you on to new heights spiritually. They will motivate you to love God and to serve God, and to obey God in every area of your life. But, you marry the wrong person, and that person will turn your good walk with Christ into a disaster zone, in a nuclear fallout area. When I think of this, I think of king Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel. He was married to a lady -- most of you will recognize her name -- she was a bad oreo. That's all I got to tell you. What was her name?

4 Jezebel. That's right. And I want you to see what the Bible says about king Ahab. He didn't start off so bad. But look what the Bible says, 1 Kings 22:25, it says there was never a man like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord -- watch now, look -- urged on by his wife Jezebel. I'll say it again. More good walks with Christ have been wrecked by a bad marriage partner than by all other reasons combined. You say, oh, man, Lon, brother, you know, you -- you are really stepping on some toes now. I mean, you have really crossed the line from breeching to meddling now. You show you know what I'm doing up there I feel like Clubber Lange, talking to Rocky. I got a lot more for you. I got a lot more for you. I'm not done yet. Hold on. Listen here, friends, for the wrong person to devastate our spiritual life, we don't even have to marry them. It could just be an ungodly boyfriend, an ungodly girlfriend, an ungodly fiance, an ungodly neighbor or business partner or best friend. Anybody that we allow to have spiritual influence in our life. If it's the wrong person, they can devastate our life. I think of Samson, Judges Chapter A real chosen man of God. An angel announced his birth for goodness sake. He was consecrated from God. From the day he was born, he was a deliverer of Israel. I was a mighty man of God. Everything was going great for him until -- until he developed a love for Philistine women. And his parents come to him in Judges 14, and here's what they say. His mom and dad say is there no acceptable woman among our relatives and our people that you must go and take a life from the uncircumcised Philistines? His mom and dad say you mean to tell us, there's not one girl in all of Israel that appeals to you? Some woman who loves the Lord, some woman who serves the Lord, some woman who knows the Lord, that you have to go marry some pagan woman who doesn't even have a clue who God is? Well, if you saw the movie with Victor Mature, you know how this thing turned out. You say, I read the book. Delilah seduced Samson away from his good walk with God and he ended up with his eyes gouged out, strapped to a wheel, grinding corn like a farm animal. And then I think of King Solomon. You know, I'm often asked by people, hey, do you think you're related to King Solomon? >> LON SOLOMON: You know what I tell them. I tell them, I don't know, I'm not sure, but the thing I can tell you absolutely is whether I'm related to him or not, I don't want to end up like him. Because he had a bad ending. He had a great beginning. He began with God's blessing on his life and he was as rich and wise, and he had this huge kingdom. He began fine. But look how he ended. 1 Kings 11:1, King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women. These women were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites you must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after other gods. Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. And as Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods. And his heart was no longer fully devoted to the Lord his God as the heart of David his father

5 had been. So he built altars for his foreign wives, to offer sacrifices to their gods. And by the way, I should tell you most of those sacrifices were child sacrifices. And the Lord became angry with Solomon. Folks, there's a verse you do not want on your resume. And the Lord became angry with Solomon. Because his heart had turned away from the Lord. And the Lord raised up enemies against Solomon. Now, friends, we could go on. But the point is clear, this is still happening to people today. People today, they're still around, who start out strong for the Lord, and then they get involved with the wrong people, and they end up in my office. >> LON SOLOMON: You say, wait a minute, Lon. Are you saying that God can't take a shattered life that ends up in your office and put it back together again? No, of course he can. It happens all the time. Friends, what I'm saying is that these shattered lives never had to happen in the first place. What I'm saying is they wouldn't have happened in the first place if only those people would have listened to God to begin with. You say, listen to God what? Well, glad you asked. Deuteronomy 7:3, do not intermarry with the peoples of the land whom the Lord is driving out before you. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. For they will turn your sons and daughters' hearts away from following me to certificate serve other gods. We don't even have to marry them. Listen to what Joshua said, 23:12 he said but if you ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations and intermarry with them, and even associate closely with them, they will become snares and traps for you. You say, but yeah, Lon, but that's all Old Testament teaching. I mean, that doesn't have anything to do with us today. Whew, not so, Kemosabi. No, no. 2 Corinthians, chapter 6:14, says do not be yoked together with unbelievers. The King James translates it, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. The revised standard version, do not be mismated with unbelievers. The Greek word here means to mismatch two animals as they're trying to pull the same plow, to inappropriately yoke two animals to the same plow. In other words, on the same plow, it just doesn't work to match a horse with an ox, or an elephant with a mule, or a donkey with a water buffalo. And by the same token, spiritually, God is telling us it just doesn't work to match a believer with an unbeliever in any major endeavor in life. A business venture, an investment scheme, an intimate friendship. And most of all, a romantic relationship and marriage. And this is why, in Genesis we're going to talk about that when we get there -- this is why Abraham sent his servant hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miles back to where his relatives came from to find a bride for his son Isaac, a woman who knew the Lord, a woman who loved the Lord. Her name was Rebecca, instead of letting Isaac pick a wife from the ungodly Canaanites where he was living because Abraham understood this.

6 Let me balance this out and say that I'm not saying, nor is the Bible saying that as followers of Christ we shouldn't have an acquaintanceships with nonbelievers. To the contrary. We should always be trying to build bridges with nonbelievers so that we can earn the right to share Jesus with them. But what the Bible is saying is that we should never allow those nonbelievers to become so influential in our lives that they begin to affect our behavior. That they begin to affect our value system instead of it being the other way around. So there are three so whats. Threefold so what for us here today. Number one, so what number one, is as Christian parents, the so what for us is that we need to teach these principles, these truths to our children early and often in life. And we need to pray for them to have the wisdom to obey what God is telling them. We need to watch carefully who their friends are and we need to pray for their future marriage partners, even while they're little children, that these future partners will be godly men and women who love the Lord and will encourage our children in their walk with Christ instead of leading them away from Christ. Secondly, a so what number two is for us generally, as followers of Christ in general, we need to be very discerning and very careful who we allow to have spiritual influence in our lives. To speak spiritually into our lives. Hey, you remember the old adage, garbage in, garbage out. Well, friends, the same is true when it comes to our spiritual life. If we let people speak garbage into our life, unbelief, doubt, disobedience to God, if we let them speak that into our life, what we are going to get out of our life is unbelief and doubt and disobedience to God. We need to be careful about who we allow to have spiritual influence over us. And finally, so what number three, is that if you're here and you're single adult follower of Christ -- never been married, not married now -- either way -- we need to see the foolishness of Samson's and the foolishness of Solomon, and the wisdom of Abraham and understand and listen to what God tells us about choosing a mate that the first and foremost issue is where they stand in their relationship with Christ. And if that's not right, nothing else will matter. The rest of it is inconsequential if this is not right. Now, let me say in closing to this last group, the group that is that you're here and you're not hitched up at the moment -- all right -- with anybody. I got three quick suggestions for you. You say are you picking on us? I'm not picking on you. I'm trying to help you, all right? Relax. Don't be so defensive. Okay. (Chuckling) >> LON SOLOMON: Okay. Three quick suggestions. Suggestion number one if you're a single adult follower of Christ, is we need to be honest about the purpose of dating. Dating, one on one dating is not just about meeting people and having fun. One on one dating has as its only real purpose, romance, love and ultimately marriage. So as a follower of Christ, if God says someone is disqualified as a marriage partner from the get-go, because they're a nonbeliever, then should we ever date them to begin with?

7 Now, that's not a real question. That's a rhetorical question. The answer is obvious: Of course we shouldn't. You say, well, Lon, what about missionary dating? You know, where you find somebody you like and you date them so that you can kind of get them close to Christianity and in the hopes that you do, they'll come to Christ? What about them? Friends, listen. What is the purpose of dating? The purpose of dating is not evangelism. >> LON SOLOMON: The purpose of dating is love, romance and marriage. So girls, if you want to evangelize some unsaved hunk, give him a CD. But you have no business dating him until he's a saved hunk. >> LON SOLOMON: You with me? All right. (Applause) >> LON SOLOMON: Now... you say, I don't really want to marry him, I just want to go out and have a little bit of fun with him or her. Yeah, well that brings me to suggestion number two. And that is we need to be honest about the emotional dynamics of love. Hey, love is not only blind, it is deaf, dumb, lame, mute and stupid. >> LON SOLOMON: It is. And what I mean is that once a person crosses that invisible line where emotion gets involved -- you know, the person's name is mentioned or you see them and your heart beat quickens and you get goose bumps and your eyes start to sparkle, once you go past that line, I'm telling you, friends, all logic, all godly advice goes right out the window. And we need to be brutally honest about this -- you say it will never happen to me. Oh, yes it will. Oh, yes, it will. And there are many a well-meaning Christians out there who's been swept away by this emotional dynamic. They've ignored all the advice and all the pleas of all their godly friends and their parents and pastors and everybody, and then they turn around one day and they feel like Samson. Listen, the best way to make sure -- listen to me -- the best way to make sure that you never get swept into a disastrous marriage with an unbeliever is to only date people whose spiritual lives to begin with are so strong and so solid that if you happen to fall in love with them when you're dating, it's no problem p you got to draw the perimeter out there. If you try to draw the perimeter in once romance gets involved, you will not be able to win that battle. You can't. Finally, suggestion number three, is we need to be honest as single adults about people's spiritual commitments. You know, we've all seen it where people, you know, say, well before we were married, he said I'm a Christian. You know. Or she said, I go to church. You know. I know the Lord. Folks, it's not what you're looking for. This is -- this is what you're looking for, somebody who says, I'm a Christian? No. No. No. You're looking for somebody who is strong in their faith, who's sold out in their faith, who's committed with their faith, who's on fire in their faith, who's vibrant in their faith. Somebody who is going to enter your life and be a spiritual source of motivation for you to -- towards

8 the Lord. This is your future. This is your children's future that we're talking about here. Be picky. You say, well, Lon, if I was that picky, I'd never get married. Na, don't you tell me that. No. There is a sovereign, all-powerful God up there, folks. And if you are supposed to be married, and you are picky and say I'm not marrying until the right person comes along, don't you believe he's capable of leading the right person to you at the right time? Come on. And remember, while you're waiting, that it's better to be single than to be married to a jerk. (Applause) >> LON SOLOMON: You say, wow, Lon, dude, you have stepped on some toes. >> LON SOLOMON: I love what John MacArthur said once, my good friend John said the only reason people's toes get stepped on when you're teaching Bible is because they're in the wrong place. Something to think about. Let me conclude with a story from the life Charles Haddon Spurgeon. And a woman said I'm going to marry a man that doesn't know the Lord. But I'm going to pull him up spiritually. And she came in to ask him what do to do with that plan. He said, ma'am -- he was a big guy -- come, let me to assist you as you climb up onto my desk. She said, what? He said, I want you to climb up onto my desk. He assisted her. He said reach out your hand. Which she did. He said, reaching up to her, grab my hand. She did. He said to her, okay, now, ma'am, pull me up. >> LON SOLOMON: And after she tried for just a moment, he unceremoniously yanked her off the desk. And he said, and I quote, there is your answer, my dear: We as Christians don't pull the world up, it pulls us down. End of quote. Folks, this is exactly what Cain's people did to Seth's people. Don't let anybody do this to you. Guard your spiritual life. Guard your heart. Be careful who you allow as Joshua said, to ally yourself with. Who you associate closely with. Be careful. And obey God. You'll be glad you did. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, you know this is a real life dynamic we're talking about here today. We all struggle with it. We don't want to be nasty to people, we don't want to be insensitive to people. Yet on the other hand we want to guard the folks that we let get close enough to us to affect our lives. And I pray you give us all wisdom to know exactly how to do this. And I pray for people here today who may need to cut back on some relationship because of what the word of God has said today. Lord Jesus, give them the courage, give them the fortitude they need to go out and make the hard decisions they may need to make.

9 But help them make those decisions in obedience to God and with the absolute confidence that you're going to reward them for doing if. Father, thanks for talking to us today; and I pray that the word of God would have an absolutely transformational effect on our lives. And we pray these things in Jesus' name -- what did God's people say? >> ALL: Amen. >> LON SOLOMON: Amen. Hey, have a great day. God bless you guys. *** This transcript is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) or captioning are provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. ****