Genesis chapter 5 is our text for this morning Genesis chapter 5. and it's interesting as we look through this this book and you know my responsibility as the the pastor for preaching is to do the rhetorical analysis of the different uh materials that we're preaching through to break them into their various teaching sections and and then we sort of dish out the assignments uh for who's going to preach what and this is one that that nobody really wanted because how do you preach a genealogy you know this guy was the father of this guy and then this guy died and then this guy was the father of this guy and then this guy died how do you how do you do that how do you handle this whole genealogy thing well it's very interesting in in looking at this text and spending time with this text it became obvious that there was a lot more Happening Here than just this guy fathering this guy and dying there was a lot more involved in this process and there's a lot more that we needed to be aware of so if you'll join me here in Genesis chapter 5 genesis chapter 5. let's begin there at that first verse in Genesis chapter 5.
this is the book of the generations of Adam when God created man he made him in the likeness of God male and female he created them and he blessed them and named them man when they were created when Adam had lived 130 years he fathered a son in his own likeness after his image and named him Seth the days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years and he had other Sons and Daughters thus all the days of Adam were 930 years and he died when Seth had lived 105 years he fathered enosh Seth lived after he fathered enosh 807 years and he had other sons and daughters thus all the days of Seth were 912 years altogether now and he died when Enoch had lived 90 years he fathered Kennen enosh lived after he fathered Kennen 815 years and he had other Sons and Daughters thus all the days of Enos were 905 years altogether and he died when mahalil lived 65 years he fathered Jared can we skip somebody we skipped somebody yes when Kenneth had lived 70 years he followed my hello Kennen lived after he fathered mahel a little 840 years and he had other Sons and Daughters thus all the days of Kennen were 910 years and he died very good when mahalel had lived 65 years he fathered Jared mahela lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other Sons and Daughters thus the days of mahalel were 895 years and he died when Jared had lived 162 years he fathered Enoch Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other Sons and Daughters thus all the days of Jared were 962 years and he died when Enoch had lived 65 years he fathered Methuselah Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other Sons and Daughters thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years now immediately we see boy this is a short lifespan compared to the rest of his ancestors thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years Enoch walked with God and was not for God took him when Methuselah had lived 187 years he fathered Lemak Methuselah lived after he fathered Lemak 782 years and had other Sons and Daughters thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years and he died when lamech had lived 182 years he fathered his son and called his name Noah saying out of the ground the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other Sons and Daughters thus all the days of lamech were 777 years and he died after Noble was 500 years old Noah fathered Shem ham and japheth now these are the ten Generations from Adam to Noah these 10 Generations that take place over a period of nearly a thousand years from Adam to Noah now our first tendency when we look at these Generations is to do something like this we're going to look at this passage and we're going to study this passage therefore we're going to pay attention to the individuals in the list who are exceptional that is why there's usually only two or three guys in this list that we talk about we talk about Enoch why do we talk about Enoch because Enoch's the only one in the list who doesn't end with that phrase and he died he walked with God and so much so that he didn't taste death God took him he was translated if you will and so we talk a lot about Enoch and what it means to walk with God newsflash Genesis chapter 5 is not about Enoch Genesis chapter 5 is not about what it means to walk with God Genesis chapter 5 is not even about escaping death it's not what it's about or the other individual that we talk about a lot in Genesis chapter 5 is Methuselah the reason we talk about Methuselah is because of trivia Methuselah happens to be the oldest man recorded in the Bible at 969 years Lord have mercy and so we talk about Methuselah and how long Methuselah lived and if we talk about Methuselah and how long Methuselah lived then this sermon is something about you know the age of the Earth and the condition of the antediluvian Earth and what the air was like before the flood and what the water was like before the flood and what the nutrients and the food were like before the flood and that's the angle that we go if we talk about Methuselah or we focus on Noah but usually we don't focus on Noah in Genesis chapter 5 because Noah's big debut really comes in Genesis chapter 6 and Genesis chapter 7. and so all of a sudden we look at Genesis chapter 5 and we're either talking about Enoch because he was translated or Methuselah because he was the oldest man in the Bible neither one of those is what Genesis chapter 5 is about that's not the point I mean really who cares that one guy lived 969 years compared to another guy who didn't make it the whole 969. what difference does it make how old Methuselah was is it an issue it's an issue and it's something that we think about but that's not the point what we have to address this issue of their age because it is an issue so we'll address that and then we'll get to the point of Genesis chapter five listen to this from John Gill though the length of time they lived May in some measure be accounted for by natural things as means such as their helpful uh Constitution simple diet the goodness of the fruits of the Earth the temperate air and climate they lived in their sobriety Temperance labor and exercise yet no doubt it was so ordered in Providence for listen to this the multiplication of mankind for the cultivation of Arts and Sciences and for the spread of True Religion in the world and the easier handing down to posterity such things as were useful both for the good of the souls and bodies of men that's why it was important and so from Gil we get these three issues as it relates to the longevity here because there is a point about the longevity and there is a point to the longevity and the point to the longevity you know as much fun as we have talking about you know what the the the canopy must have been like before the flood and what the conditions must have been like before the flood as much fun as it is to talk about those things as I said that's not the point of Genesis chapter 5.
and besides Genesis chapter 5 doesn't answer those questions we're just told how long these individuals lived we're not told why they lived this long but why would it have been important and guilt points out these three and I've seen two of them before but the reason I chose this quote from Gil is because one of them I hadn't seen before but one for the multiplication of the race that's why it was important for the multiplication of the race you're going to start the world with two people and you're going to get to where where we are okay what is it 8 billion now on the Earth there has to be a a multiplication of the race and if you're going to see multiplication of the of the race and a maximized multiplication of the race you're going to need extended life cycles so that people can have more children amen so you get the multiplication of the race through these extended life cycles there's no telling how many children each of these individuals could have been responsible for or how many children that their children could have been responsible for in these first 10 Generations I mean we could we could have had hundreds of thousands if not Millions in these first 10 Generations from Adam to Noah we could easily have gotten to Millions in the first 10 Generations from Adam to Noah because of the extent of the life cycles so there is education of the race there's this second issue that he raises though and that is the preservation of the Arts and scientists I hadn't thought about that one before the preservation of Arts and Sciences imagine this if you will okay imagine if imagine if Da Vinci had gotten 300 more years imagine what da Vinci could have done with 300 more years I mean they're they're still great impact because of Da Vinci's work but imagine if he had had 300 more years or imagine if Einstein had gotten 400 more years think about that for a moment think about the discoveries of Einstein and imagine him applying himself and applying his god-given gifts and talents and abilities for another 400 years imagine that if you will think about the great scientists great musicians think about think about Beethoven if Beethoven had been given 800 years can you wrap your mind around that one the kind of music that would have been produced Mozart if Mozart had been given 969 years can you imagine what would have developed from the mind of Mozart in all of that time as he continued to play his trade and so we have Adam this original man 930 years the most pristine mind ever on this Earth aside from Christ of course the most pristine mind ever the most unpolluted mind ever perhaps the keenest human intellect ever because it was completely unhindered and he gets 930 years for what well he's got to learn how to hunt he's got to learn how to gather he's got to learn how to build shelters he's got to learn how to organize a family he's got to learn how to organize a community can you imagine how effective and efficient you would become at those basic things over a lifespan of 930 years here's the way the world works now the way the world works now a great mind comes along and that great mind implies its trade for maybe 40 or 50 years in whatever area technology engineering in whatever area for 40 or 50 years they get to apply their trade and they get to pass that on to as many people as they can perhaps not even for those 40 or 50 years because in their early years they're not passing those things on to anybody they're just working and they're making money it's only at the end of those careers that they're passing it on to other people so all of a sudden at the end of their life they get to pass on whatever they've developed to a few people maybe over the period of two decades and then people learn as much as they can from them Master it as best they can and take it a little bit further and then they get 40 or 50 years to do that and then another person and another person and another person and eventually we get these unbelievable uh breakthroughs as far as science and Technologies and the Arts but take that 40 or 50 year period and turn it into 700. 800. 900.
you get in the picture you get better at what you do and you influence exponentially more people than you would have influenced otherwise and thirdly this idea of multi-generational faithfulness multi-generational faithfulness the idea of passing on the faith without the bricks think about yourself you may have people some of you have discovered some of you came from families where you weren't raised as a follower of Christ your parents weren't followers of Christ but then you've did some searching on your own genealogy and perhaps you found two three generations ago there were there were pastors and there were missionaries and all of these people what's your first thought oh I wish I could have met great great great great great great grandpa so and so who was this unbelievable Godly Man but somehow that was broken and then you came along listen this is what just blew my mind when I did this and I know many of you have already done this you've got kids and most of the kids in this church or homeschool kids so you figured this out a long time ago but just let Pastor voting have his moment okay I'm doing the math and I'm going okay by the time Lemak was born if you do the math Adam was only 774 years old there's only one person in this whole list that Adam wouldn't have been alive to see born and that's Noah everybody else everybody else would have had a minimum of 150 years with the first Man created with a man who walked with God in the garden in the cool of the day Enoch didn't have to hear about Adam from somebody else Enoch could have known Adam in his prime because Adam would have just been a little more than halfway through his life by the time Enoch was born so the first nine Generations from Adam they're not hearing about what Adam did they're not hearing about the fall they're not hearing about it through stories and fables that were preserved imperfectly through other Generations before them they had the opportunity to sit at the feet of Adam themselves now that is multi-generational faithfulness amen some of you have told stories and a lot of people around here just sort of Envy those of you who sit here and talk about great grandparents that you have who were Godly and then grandparents who are Godly and parents who are Godly and some of you have had the opportunity for your grandparents or great-grandparents to even tell you some of your family history and it is an unbelievably Rich experience and all of us listen to it you know and and we try not to violate the Ten Commandments and covet but we can't help it because we just covet that oh what it would have been like to sit down and hear my great great grandfather talk about the old days and to give me that information firsthand Lemak is nine Generations removed from the man who was created by the hand of God and he had a hundred and fifty years to get to where Adam was and to listen to him personally firsthand firsthand so for at least these three reasons those long lifespans are very important and we could go on and on and on about why these lifespans were so long and it's great I'm not devaluing that at all it's wonderful but but it's not the point what's the point in Genesis chapter five the point is The Unbroken link between Adam and Noah that's the point The Unbroken link between Adam and Noah that's what Genesis chapter 5 is about it begins with Adam and it ends with Noah it is about how we got from Adam to Noah that's what Genesis 5 is about Genesis 5 contains long life spans but Genesis 5 is not about long life spans Genesis 5 is about the sons of Promise that's what it's about the significance of genealogy is about the sons of promise and how we get from one to the other that's the answer to the question what's Genesis 5 about so how do we get there and what do we learn about the sons of Promise first of all we learn the sons of promised are revealed when the promise is fulfilled the sons of Promise are revealed when the promise is fulfilled quick what's your genealogy you think about it right now right now right now right now what's your genealogy well if I ask you that question what's your genealogy the first thing you do is you go to your parents and then you go to their parents and then you go to their parents you always go up you don't go down with your genealogy you always go up so the significance of your genealogy is how did you get to you that's the significance of your genealogy the significance of anybody's genealogy is how did they get to me how did we arrive at me and so you go through that list and ask the question how did we arrive at me when you find a genealogy in the Bible here's the question there is a person whose genealogy is being given how did we arrive at that person and what is significant about how we got there this genealogy is about how we arrive at Noah the great deliverer and how Noah is a descendant of Adam but not just any descendant of Adam he's a descendant of Adam through the line of Seth here's what's important go back with me to that first verse this is the book of the generations of Adam when God created man he made him in the likeness of God male and female who created them and blessed them and named them man when they were created when Adam lived 130 years he fathered his son in his own likeness after his image and his name was Seth it's interesting doesn't say his name was Cain it says his name was Seth It also says he had many other Sons and Daughters as well as everyone else in the list they had many other sons and daughters but which son because you traced these genealogies through Sons if a guy's got ten Sons or in these cases you know 150 200 400 however many sons why this one why this one for example when you talk about Seth the next one after Seth is enosh why is enosh next in the list it says Seth had many more sons and daughters so why is the next one in the list enosh and not some other son or some other daughter I'll tell you why because we're trying to get to Noah that's why these names are only important because they're the link between Adam and Noah do you see that that's what we're trying to get to here it's not about how many kids each individual had because we don't have those numbers it would have been just as easy for God to give us the number of children Adam had and the number of children Seth had and the number of children Enos had the number of children for Canon and for Jared and for mahela and for Methuselah and for Enoch and it would have been wonderful and it would have been easy for us to get the number of children that each of them had so that we can then go back and do the math and we can go by the time the flood came there were this many millions and hundreds of thousands and billions of people on the Earth by the time the flood came great what's that have to do with my Redemption what does that have to do with the glory of Christ nothing just a nice little piece of trivia this stuff in your head this chapter is not about trivia that you stuff in your head this chapter is about the sons of promise this chapter is about how we go from Adam to Noah that's what this chapter is about that's why the only Sons mentioned are the sons who are part of The Unbroken chain between Adam and Noah you can only understand the significance of the sons of promise and the identity of the sons of promise when the promise is fulfilled secondly the sons of Promise are determined by Covenant not Merit the sons of Promise are determined by covenant not Merit there's only one guy in here and this is what we look at Eno look at verse 21. when Enoch had lived 65 years he fathered Methuselah Enoch walked with God after he had fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other Sons and Daughters thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years Enoch walked with God and was not for God took him I mean you look at that don't you think there could have been more there I ass just juicy he walked with God what does that mean tell us about his life we get a little bit of a glimpse for example in Jude about the life of Enoch but other than that we don't get this picture and the writer of Genesis Moses does not give us the Deeds of Enoch and why Enoch was Godly you notice that we don't get that we don't get the Deeds of Enoch and we don't get why Enoch was Godly why because Genesis chapter 5 is not about Enoch it's about the link from Adam to Noah Enoch is important in Genesis chapter 5 because he's seventh in the chain from Adam to Noah that's why Enoch is important here we learned something from Enoch and for about you know translated we learned something about that we learned something about that theologically and we'll get to that in a moment but the point here is about the sons of promise that bring us to the Fulfillment of God's covenantal promise and the sons of Promise are determined by Covenant and not by Merit and why is Enoch so important in that regard because Enoch's the one who's talking to who's talked about here as Walking with God now here's what we would think we would think that you get to be a son of Promise by being a person who walks with God and so God looks down and he says okay this one's Walking with God therefore I will make them the next Link in the chain okay now that one's Walking with God therefore I will make them the next Link in the chain okay that one's Walking with God therefore I will make them the next Link in the chain nope nope not at all some of these guys are probably scoundrels look at the genealogy of Jesus was it just all the most godly people in the world who earned the privilege of being in the genealogy of Jesus nope you got Scoundrels in the genealogy of Jesus you don't earn your way into being a son of Promise because it's the promise of God not the promise of man they're determined by Covenant and not by Merit let's look at a couple of these there's Ishmael and Isaac go with me to Genesis chapter 17. Genesis chapter 17.
and look at 15 to 21 in Genesis chapter 17. there's this same principle God said to Abraham ask for Sarai your wife you shall not call her name Sarai but Sarah shall be her name I will bless her and moreover I will give you a son by her I will bless and she should become Nations Kings of peoples shall come from her then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old shall Sarah who is 90 years old bear a child and Abraham said to God oh that Ishmael might live before you he's already got a son named Ishmael right he's the firstborn certainly the son of Promise would be the firstborn right I mean that's the one who traditionally gets the blessing and gets the inheritance so certainly it would be the firstborn God said no but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son and you shall call his name Isaac I will establish listen to this my Covenant with him as an Everlasting Covenant for his offspring after him could Isaac have done anything before he was even conceived by Sarah to earn his way into being a son of promise absolutely not it's not about Merit it's about Covenant Isaac was the son of Promise because God said so not because Isaac was worthy of it it's about Covenant next Jacob and Esau look at Genesis 25 Genesis 25 well actually we're not going to look at it Genesis 25 21-23 is where you see this promise about Jacob and Esau but go to Romans chapter 9 where this promise is repeated and we get some theological ramifications of this promises Genesis chapter 9. I mean not Genesis Romans chapter nine I'm sorry Romans chapter 9.
and let's look at verses 6 through 13. among the most controversial passages in the whole Bible Genesis chapter 9 just gives people fits I mean Romans chapter 9 just give people I keep doing that don't I that's all right Romans chapter 9. it's why we have editing Romans chapter 9.
and listen to this beginning verse six but it is not as though the word of God has failed for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring but through Isaac shall your Offspring be named this means that it is not the child of the flesh or the children of the flesh who are the children of God but the children of the promise are counted as Offspring for this is what the promise said about this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son and not only so but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man our forefather Isaac though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad in order that God's purpose of election might continue not because of works but because of his call she was told the older will serve the younger as it is written Jacob I loved and Esau I hated the sons of Promise are determined by Covenant and not by Merit they're determined by Covenant and not by marriage these individuals in the lineage between Adam and Noah are not there because they earned the right to be there they are there because God is working out his plan and he determined to use them in the process amen finally finally we see this borne out in the CH in the choosing of Israel Over other nations look at Deuteronomy chapter 7. I mean yeah Deuteronomy chapter 7. Deuteronomy 7 verses 6 through 11.
here let me seven beginning in verse 6. for you are a people holy to the Lord your God the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the Earth it was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord has set his love on you and chosen you for you are the fewest of all the peoples but it is because the lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of pharaoh the king of Egypt know therefore that the Lord your God is God the faithful God who keeps Covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his Commandments to a thousand generations and repays their to their face those who hate him and Destroy excuse me by destroying them he will not be slacked with one who hates him he will repay him to his face you shall therefore be careful to do the Commandments and the statutes and the rules that I command you today I chose you people not because of what you do I chose you because of a promise I made to your forefathers not because this world was the greatest in fact Israel was the weakest not because Israel was full of perfect people and therefore they got to be in the line no no there are many of you today who are the result of the promise of God to faithful people Generations ago amen not because of your Merit fourthly the sons of Promise reveal the Providence and Justice of God they reveal the Providence and Justice of God we see that also here in Genesis chapter 5. there was a phrase that we repeated we repeated that phrase eight times as we read Genesis chapter 5.
it was said of Adam and all of the rest of his descendants with the exceptions of two Enoch and Noah by the way Noah gets his in chapter six and that phrase is and he died what's that statement about that statement is about the justice of God you eat from this tree and you will surely die really have we experienced Much Death up to this point in Genesis chapter five well Abel was killed by Cain and so maybe it could have been said well yeah because of that a person can die and you know it Cain killed Abel and yeah because of that that he dies but we got these long life spans do we really believe that every person has to die do we really believe that Adam lives 930 years but this phrase is said of Adam and he died it said of everyone who comes after that and he died we see the justice of God no matter how many years you get you will die every one of us in this room will eventually die unless the Lord returns for us first amen come Lord Jesus but it's inevitable we will die how many times have we heard for example of people who were in The Greatest shape of their life because maybe we say okay but if we just stay in great shape we can live for a long time and we'll get a hundred years and this and that and the other but you know we hear about these individuals who are marathon runners best shape in the world you look at them and they're just they're Elite athletes and they go out for a run and never make it home they die they die every time we go to a funeral we're reminded of the justice of God everyone dies without exception they die it's the justice of God but the sons of Promise also remind us not of the justice but also of the Providence of God we see the Providence of God in two ways here number one in that we get from Adam to Noah and who's Noah Noah's the deliverer so there's the Providence of God so the justice of God says you're going to die and all of your descendants they're going to die but the Providence of God says I'm going to bring about a deliverer but here's the Providence of God also and here's where Enoch is important if there is no Enoch in these first 10 Generations what do these people believe about death you live and then you die you're dead like a dog there's nothing beyond that but God takes Enoch as if to say to all the people then and all the people now death is not the end the Providence of God provides for us in life and in death that's the Providence of God people so through the sons of promise we see the justice of God in that they all die why do why do we need this this link between Adam and ultimately between Noah because everybody's going to die between Adam and Noah and Noah's going to die too the justice of God will be meted out but all of a sudden we also see the Providence of God God has made a promises Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15. and lamech understands this promise listen to his first phrase here in chapter 5 and verse 29. and he called his name Noah saying out of the ground the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands where does he get this phrase remember at least 150 years he's alive while Adam is alive Adam was there and heard the curse from God and the curse was about this toil in the land Lemak believes that there's going to be a deliverer because in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 we have the the proto-evangel if you will the First Gospel Proclamation that there's going to come a deliverer the enemy will bruise his heel but he will crush the enemy's head like believes that and he names his son in accordance with that believing that a deliverer will come and a deliverer does come there was a deliverer he's the son of promise Enoch is a sign of the promise that there is something Beyond Death that this is not as good as it gets this is not the be all to end all it's not the end finally not only are the sons of promised revealed when the promise is fulfilled and determined by covenant not Merit not only do they reveal the justice and the Providence of God but finally the sons of Promise are always a foreshadowing of Christ Noah's a foreshadowing of Christ the theological term is he's a type of Christ not that you know he's one type Jesus is another type no that that word type means he's a symbol of Christ Noah comes and he's the son of promise and it's through this son of promise that deliverance and rescue comes he's the son of promise Christ is the ultimate son of promise and so when we see Christ in Matthew Where Do We Begin and what do we begin with a genealogy a genealogy just like in Genesis chapter 5.
this genealogy though in Matthew connects Jesus to whom David because Matthew is trying to demonstrate that Jesus is the son of Promise as it relates to Israel and the throne amen hallelujah praise the Lord he is a king just like David was a king that's what Matthew says but then we get to Luke that's my favorite genealogy why because Luke goes back further than David he goes back all the way to Adam what is he saying when he gives the genealogy of Jesus and goes all the way back to Adam here's what he is saying there was a promise made in Genesis chapter 3. that a deliverer would come and crush the head of the adversary and throughout this time of Covenant between God and man there have been signs as God has raised up a deliverer to say I'm still God and my promise is still real when Noah came and the floods came Noah was God's way of saying I am still God and my promise is still real when Moses came as the deliverer from Egypt God was saying I'm still God and my promise is still real but we read in the book of Hebrews that Jesus is superior everyone who came before why because they were just types and they were just Shadows but there is one ultimate son of promise and his name is Jesus and just like God gave us a genealogy to show us that Noah was a son of promise there in the Book of Luke genealogy to show us that Jesus is the son of promise and every other son of Promise was merely a foreshadowing of this son of promise that's what Genesis 5 is about so when we get bogged down in what it would take for a man to live this long we're missing the big picture the big picture is Jesus I don't care how long Methuselah lived he's not going to live longer than me amen because I will live forever with the ultimate Son Of Promise Jesus Christ what's a thousand years to the Lord a thousand years this is a day and today as a Thousand Years by the way I don't run from from second Peter 3 9. I don't run from that at all the Lord is not slow the way some consider slowness concerning his promise by the way this comes right alongside that statement about a day being as a thousand years and a thousand years being as a day no he's not slow he's patient she's not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance and people look at that and they go well wait a minute if it's God's will that everybody come to repentance how come everybody doesn't go to heaven that's interesting maybe we're reading the verse wrong who's the all there all those in the lineage of the son of promise I look at second Peter 3 9.
and here's what I read everybody's looking for a deliverer Noah comes and he's the deliverer and everybody's going now no not now Moses comes and he's the deliverer and everybody's going now and here's what I see here's what I see God's not slow concerning his promise and you wish and I wish that God would just sort of sum this thing up but in the mind of God and in the economy of God I just happen to believe if there's a little guy by the name of Asher that he desires to see come to repentance and he ain't summing it up yet because that hadn't happened because if it's in the plan of God that before things are wrapped up little Asher comes to Faith in Repentance it's not going to be wrapped up until the last year comes to Faith in Repentance by the way you can put in the name of any little person or older person for that matter that you're praying about coming to Faith God's not slow as it concerns his promise if he hadn't wrapped things up yet he's not finished yet amen second Peter 3 9 is not about God pining oh oh oh I just hope oh I just hope oh I just hope no second Peter 3 9 is about God saying I am in control of the sons of promise and I am in control of the Covenant and the children of the Covenant I am in control of how history Works itself out and it is not random I was in control from Adam to Noah I was in control from Noah to Moses I was in control from Moses till David and I was in control from David till Jesus and I'm still in control until I wrap this thing up and the number of my elect are complete that's the God I serve not some weak pining God but the god of the universe who works all things according to the Council of his own will and when we look back through the corridor of time we can measure that through the sons of promise and through the covenants that God makes with them and that is what Genesis chapter 5.
