After discussing Cain and Seth’s lines separately, it is time to combine the discussion. This devotional reading begins to set up the state of the earth pre-flood.
Nuggets
- God sees everything, so He saw how sinful mankind had become.
- The people in the days of Noah had made the choice and continued to choose wickedness — so they would suffer the consequences.
In discussing the righteousness of Seth’s line and the wickedness of Cain’s line, we really don’t get an idea of how many people that represented.
We did discuss that, leaving Enoch out of the mix, the men lived 895 to 969 years. That would have left ample time to have many sons and daughters, especially if some were multiple births.
Unfortunately, the world became really corrupted after the original sin.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the Creation’s Do-Over series
Increasing Corruption
“The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil” (Gen. 6: 5 NLT )
God sees everything, so He saw how sinful mankind had become.
God may no longer have “physically” revealed Himself to humans pre-flood, but He saw them. That is part of His divine nature.
How humankind had fallen since their days in the Garden of Eden! “When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers — the moon and the stars you set in place — what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor” (Ps. 8: 3-5 NLT).
The wickedness would have probably started out as neglecting the Sabbath and public worship. We remember in Genesis 4: 26, Seth and Enosh started worshiping God.
I doubt that Seth and Enosh’s worship service looked anything at all like ours do. What theirs looked like is something that has to go into the UNR book – understanding not required.
We said previously that the line of Seth chose righteousness while the line of Cain chose worldly things. Three of Cain’s descendants are credited with inventions. The only mention of Seth’s descendants other than numbers was Enoch’s walking with God.
Cain’s descendants chose ambition while Seth’s descendants chose righteousness.
But some of Seth’s descendants would have turned away to God, also. Had to have, but we’ll get into that in a couple of chapter
Since Cain separated from God, he would not have been worshiping God. That allowed their rapid descent into wickedness.
Sin had branched out from just disobeying God. Now it included, according to Gray, pride, sensuality, and idolatry.
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Boston told us what happened. He wrote,
“The will, that commanding faculty, which at first was faithful and ruled with God, is now turned traitor and rules with and for the devil. God planted it in man ‘wholly a right seed,’ but now it is ‘turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine.’”
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Wickedness was widespread on the earth. This was everyone – what would later be known as Jew and Gentile.
Yep. Everyone has a sinful heart. “For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander” (Mt. 15: 19 NLT).
Several passages in God’s Word address our sinful nature.
- “As the Scriptures say, ‘No one is righteous — not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one’” (Rom. 3: 10-12 NLT).
- “Only fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good! God looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God. But no, all have turned away; all have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one!” (Ps. 53: 1-3 NLT).
- “Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts. They have no fear of God at all. In their blind conceit, they cannot see how wicked they really are” (Ps. 36: 1-2 NLT).
- “Their feet run to do evil, and they rush to commit murder. They think only about sinning. Misery and destruction always follow them. They don’t know where to find peace or what it means to be just and good. They have mapped out crooked roads, and no one who follows them knows a moment’s peace” (Isa. 59: 7-8 NLT).
Make no mistake about it. Sin only comes from one place – Satan.
God didn’t like what He saw on the earth. Verse 6 says that “… It broke his heart” (Gen. 6: 6 NLT) that He had made humankind in the first place.
People were living corrupt lives. They were not following God’s laws and commandments.
Remember, Cain — the cursed son of Adam and Eve — built the first city. “… Then Cain founded a city, which he named Enoch, after his son” (Gen. 4: 17 NLT)Cities can be a breeding place for certain ideas to flourish. Good can flourish in some places; evil can flourish in others.
We can look at this as a worldview society promotes the spread of evil. At a minimum, that society allows the evil to take hold. At maximum, that hold is encouraged and even fostered.
Fuller argued that it was just a product of population expansion. Maybe.
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How many times have we rationalized sin by saying it was the norm? “Everyone” was doing it.
That isn’t right, though. Even if the majority of people commit the sin, that doesn’t make it any less a sin.
We each make our own choice whether to follow God or follow Satan. If we aren’t doing it God’s way, we have chosen and are following Satan.
God knew before the foundation of the world that mankind would sin. He created us anyway.
But being godly is an individual choice that starts with the heart. Wickedness is an individual thing — our own choice. We can’t blame our ungodliness on society.
Gray noted that, if it starts at the heart, it must be the whole package. He wrote, “the heart includes ‘conscience and consciousness, will and desire, intellect and emotion, understanding and affection.’”
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So, when God says He want our hearts, He means all of us.
Too often, pride and anger take up so much room in our hearts that there is no room for God.
Instead of those emotions, we should focus on gratitude for all that God has done for us. We should humbly fear God. Remember, fear of the Lord is reverencing Him.
The people in the days of Noah were not trying to please God and simply failing. They had chosen not to please Him.
I Will Wipe this Race from the Earth
“So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. And the Lord said, ‘I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing — all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them’” (Gen. 6: 6-7 NLT)
The people in the days of Noah had made the choice and continued to choose wickedness — so they would suffer the consequences.
Can God feel human emotion, or is this just us humanizing Him? No, He can’t so, we are.
Then why does God’s Word say He gets angry, feels joy, and feels sorrow? Well, if those were His emotions, then God would change.
God never changes.
- “I am the Lord, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed” (Mal. 3: 6 NLT).
- “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13: 8 NLT).
- “The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isa. 40: 8 NLT).
- “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?” (Num. 23: 19 NLT).
- “Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow” (Jas. 1: 17 NLT).
- “Your eternal word, O LORD, stands firm in heaven” (Ps. 119: 89 NLT).
- “But you are always the same; you will live forever” (Ps. 102: 27 NLT).
Not changing is just part of God’s nature.
When we talked about the attributes of God, we said He has attributes of wrath, jealousy, immutability, love, grace, and mercy. I can see anger, joy, and sorrow being expressions of those attributes.
We don’t want to humanize God. He is Sovereign Lord — divine, not human. He doesn’t have human emotions.
God is not our favorite uncle. He does not look at things our way.
“‘My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,’ says the Lord. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts” (Isa. 55: 8-9 NLT).
But what do we do when we bring God down to our level? We start to think humans are gods.
That is logical. We need to worship something. If it isn’t God, it is other humans or even ourselves.
Bottom line, when we do this, we are minimizing sin. We replace God’s laws and commandments with human standards.
Did God know He would do a complete redo before the foundation of the world? Did He know how much it would grieve Him?
Yes, and yes.
God made us anyway. But then He was fixing to do something about it.
Making the Connections
Let’s go back to the heart being evil. Simeon addressed this. He wrote,
“Every species of wickedness was committed in the most shameless manner. But more particularly, “the hearts” of men were evil; “the thoughts” of their hearts were evil; “the imaginations” of the thoughts were evil, and this too without exception, without mixture, without intermission; for every imagination was evil, and “only” evil, and that continually.”
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Repeatedly Filed to Reach the Mark
Since we have sin in us, we are not righteous. “But no, all have turned away; all have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one!” (Ps. 14: 3 NLT).
Even disciples continue to sin after conversion. “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our heart” (I Jn. 1: 8-10 NLT).
That means we repeatedly sin.
Wait! What???? How does that mesh with I John 3: 6?
“Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is” (I Jn. 3: 6 NLT).
It comes down to whether the sin was intentional or unintentional. We have to stifle the desire of sin.
- “So watch yourselves! If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive” (Lk. 17: 3-4 NLT).
- “Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace” (Rom. 6: 14 NLT).
- “Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins” (Heb. 10: 26 NLT).
Every Part Permeated with Sin
It is hard cutting out the desire to sin. Sin is in every part of us.
- “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please Gody” (Rom. 8: 6-8 NLT).
- “But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery it’s her in his heart” (Mt. 5: 28 NLT).
- “A grip goes around telling secrets, so don’t hang around with chatterers” (Prov. 20: 19 NLT).
- “There are six things the LORD hates — no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family” (Prov. 6: 16-19 NLT).
- “You must not testify falsely against your neighbor” (Ex. 20: 16 NLT).”
- “And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak” (Mt. 12: 36 NLT).
- “Gentle words are a tree of life; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit” (Prov. 15: 4 NLT).
- “Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut” (Prov. 10: 19 NLT).
- “A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even-tempered” (Prov. 17: 27 NLT).
- “And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself” (Jas. 3: 6 NLT).
- “You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say” (Mt. 12: 34 NLT).
- “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences” (Prov. 18: 21 NLT).
How do we combat that?
“We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ” (II Cor. 10: 5 NLT).
Sin Produces Devastating Results
We don’t want the consequences of sin.
- “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6: 23 NLT).
- “Don’t be misled — you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit” (Gal. 6: 7-8 NLT).
- “It’s your sins that have cut you off from God Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore” (Isa. 59: 2 NLT).
- “For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment. And God did not spare the ancient world—except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood. Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment. He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority” (II Pet. 2: 4-10 NLT).
God's Law Convicts Man of Sin
Yes, we still have God’s laws and commandments. They have nothing to do about salvation.
- “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3: 20 NLT).
- “Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith” (Gal. 3: 24 NLT).
- “The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins” (Rom. 8: 3 NLT).
This solidifies the fact that we cannot gain salvation by being a good person and doing the do’s and not doing the don’ts. We only gain salvation through admitting we are sinners, believing in Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer, confessing God as Sovereign Lord, and demonstrating our commitment to God by being submitting and obedient to Him.
How Do We Apply This?
- Live a life of purity.
- Watch with who we align ourselves.
- Pay attention to the convictions of the Holy Spirit.
- Humbly, show our gratitude and reverence to God.
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Father God. You have told us exactly how we are to live our live. We are to walk with You, not as the corrupt world walks. Help us to do that. Amen.
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