Genesis chapter 5. It's our third time in this chapter. And who'd know that we'd be three weeks in Genesis chapter 5. But there's a lot more in this chapter than meets the eye. We've already talked about it. I think a very straightforward meaning of the text. The first week we talked about how that Jew in the 15th century reading this, this is his genealogy. And it's a reminder that God made a promise to Adam and Eve that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head, and God keeps record and track of his promise. He shows us the family line of Adam, and then how that line continues in Seth, and then how it continues in Noah, and Abraham, and David, and God reiterates this promise that a Deliverer's gonna come, a Savior's gonna come, a Messiah's gonna come. And he shows us through genealogies, he's keeping track. So that when Messiah comes up, he's of the precise family that God has reiterated his promise to. A deliverer, a Messiah is coming. And Jesus fits that bill. And so last week, we pointed out how in the ages of these men, they were very long ages. They lived a long time, but they lived closer to the fall. They were of superior genetics. They lived in a world that had not suffered the effects of the sin as much as it has now. Sin has a compounding effect. But we also talked about how the gospel is transforming the nations and transforming people's lives. and he has promised to restore healing and eventually it will culminate in the destruction of death and there will be a resurrection. Well, this morning we're going to look at this text again from a less straightforward rendering of the text. And I've been hesitant to do this one, but it's so glorious and beautiful to me. I can't help it. I've got to share it. I didn't discover this. I heard a sermon of this when I was in high school. I remember mowing lawns and listening to the radio and hearing, I believe it was Chuck Missler on the radio. And what he talked about is the meaning behind the names of Genesis chapter five. If you take the meaning of Adam through Noah and you look at their meanings one after another, It tells the gospel. It's a gospel story. And this shouldn't be too big of a surprise because we see God doing this sort of thing all over the Bible, foreshadowing that pictures Christ. Recently, I've seen several different people bring it up on YouTube. It's come from different sources. I'm also aware of another theologian, Arthur Pink, who believed and saw the same thing. But I've been iffy about it because some of the names seem like it's a little bit of a stretch. And some of the names because there's debate on what these names mean. So I'm going to try to show you the verification that I found of these names. But it's really incredible that the names of Genesis chapter 5 point to Jesus. And it's just one more thing that points to the fact that the Bible is not of human origin. The Bible is of divine origin. It is inspired by God. It's not a book. It was, yes, written by the hands of many men, but those men themselves were pens in the hands of God. So what am I going to show you this morning? The names put together make this phrase, certain select meanings, man appointed mortal sorrow, the blessed God shall come down teaching, his death shall bring the despairing rest and comfort. When you take the first name Adam, which means man, on down to Noah, which means in the text rest or comfort, you put these names together and it points to something. It points to God himself, Becoming a man, taking on humanity and then being the sin bearer who brings us rest and comfort. He brings restoration. or as death was brought into the world by Adam. Let's all stand this morning for the reading of God's word in Genesis chapter 5. We again read the entirety of 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 that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. When Seth had lived 105 years he fathered Enosh. Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years and he died. When Enosh had lived 90 years he fathered Kenan. Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 850 years, 15 years, and he had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died. When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel. Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years, and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died. When Mahalaleel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. Mahalaleel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years, and he had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Mahalaleel 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. Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him. When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech. Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 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 a son and called his name Noah, saying, Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands. Lamech 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 Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth. You may be seated. Now on this last one, just summing up this last of the slides of our text this morning, something that sticks out here is that Noah, when he's given the name Noah, His father says, Lamech says, out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands. And the word Noah means rest, nuach in Hebrew means rest or comfort. And so when he names him, he says, this one's going to bring us rest. Now that's interesting because what happens, which Lamech would have already known, is he doesn't directly bring rest because what happens is the flood in his days. the destruction of humanity. So his name doesn't really seem to fit what happened. And yet we know that through Noah would come the Messiah. And even in the New Testament, it emphasizes that he gives us rest to our souls. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Also, in Hebrews chapter 3, it speaks of how Jesus brings us into rest. So it fits very well with Christ. It doesn't fit so well with the worldwide flood that destroys everything that breathes. The evidence of which is all over the world. And the rock layers is buried, as Ken Ham says, billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth. his lifetime came the flood and yet through Noah would come the Messiah who indeed brings rest to us. Now also is that Noah lives in very very evil wicked times and I think Lamech is lamenting the fact which we're going to see is significant to his name that the world is a dark place A grievous place, a place filled with violence. In the next chapter we'll read that man's heart was only continually evil. And so there's an evil in the land and he says this one will bring us rest when he's born. But it's an interesting thing that points out that there's significance, there's prophetic significance in these names. Names are very significant in Hebrew. When Adam gets his first job, you remember Adam's first job, what was it? It was the naming of the animals. Adam was put in the garden, he was given this job to look at the animals, evaluate them, and give them a name that was appropriate to them. Names are very significant in Hebrew. When a massive change happens in somebody's life, for example, Abram, which means father, father of a people, When Abram has this covenant with God, God changes his name from Abram to Abraham, which doesn't simply mean a father of people, but father of a multitude. And he gives him a promise. While he's an old man, he doesn't have any children at all, I'm going to make you a father of a multitude. A multitude of people are going to come from you. Kings are going to come from you. And the Messiah is going to come from him, right? He's going to be given a land. So all these great promises are made to Abraham. And to commemorate this promise, his name is changed from Abram to Abraham, from father to father of a multitude. Later on, Jacob, his name means like supplanter or deceiver. When he wrestles with God, he wrestles with God, and God gives him a promise and a change of heart, and his name is changed to Israel, which means prince. He says, because as a prince you have prevailed. And out of him would become, again, the Messiah. Isaac's name means laughter. And that's because they laughed when they said he would be born. Like, we're old. How in the world are we going to have children? And they laughed, and so they named him Laughter. But names throughout the Bible have significance. Peter, his name was changed from Simon to Peter, which means rock, or Cephas, which means like a chip of a rock to to an unmovable rock. Peter, many times in the Bible someone has an encounter with God and their name is changed. It has significance in Revelation. It talks about the one that believes in him will get a new name. that no one knows except the one that gave it and that person. It's a picture of a prophetic significance in everybody's life that God has a destiny. He has a plan. And so names have significance in the Bible. People already in the book of Genesis have been given names. And there's a declaration that goes with that name. It happens several times. So we're going to look at them. But let's start over in the chapter here. Let's start at verse one and look at the first one. Verse one. 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 Adam means humanity and and so he didn't just call Adam Adam, but he called humanity Adam because we all come from Adam and Something interesting in this verse, by the way, probably could have done a whole sermon on its own about it, is this phrase, this is the book of the generations of Adam. That exact phraseology doesn't really appear a lot. In fact, one other place it appears is in the genealogy of Christ. This is the book of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah. And it's interesting because this phrase, the book of the generations of Adam, We're either in Adam... or we're in Jesus. We either have the death that came upon all the world through Adam, we live under the curse, we live under the sentence of death, or we live in Christ, who Jesus means he shall save his people from their sins, means salvation. But here he's given the name Adam, and that becomes the name of humanity. So Adam means man, it means humanity. Now there are other things when in chapter In chapter 2, Adam is taken from the dust of the earth. And a little pun is taking place because the word for earth is adamah, and he is Adam. He is from the dust. Paul picks up on this in 1 Corinthians 15 and talks about how Adam was the man of dust, but Jesus is the man from heaven. And there's a contrast between the first Adam and the last Adam, which we've talked about in the past. Adam can also mean red. Red as in the Red Earth. Also, Adam contains the word Dom, which means blood in it, which is significant because Paul in Acts, he points out that God made of one blood, all nations, all of us come from Adam. All of us are born with his sin nature. And we are either going to live and die in that sin nature or we're going to become the children of God and be in Christ and receive a new nature. But Adam's name means So we're going to say, for the sake of this phrase that's coming about, that Adam's name means man. It has lots of other connotations, but as defined in this chapter, he named him man, humanity, man, mankind. We have the word human, human, humanity. We'll speak of man in a general sense as mankind, Adamkind. We are man. So for our phrase, gospel phrase, the name man is given. Let's look at the next one, Adam's son. 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 lived were 930 years, and he died. So Adam had many sons and daughters, but only one, the Messiah, was supposed to come through, and that was Seth. Now what does Seth mean? Seth means appointed. We saw it in the last chapter, chapter 4. Chapter before was the naming of Seth. It's actually given in verse 25. And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth. For he said, God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him. So Seth means appointed. That's what the word Seth means. And so we have so far man is appointed. Seth was appointed as a replacement for Abel who had been killed. Then in verse 6, it says, when Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years and he died. So in the last chapter right after the naming of Seth we have the naming of Enosh. To Seth also was a son born and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord. Now when we when I went through this before At this time, Cain's descendants are becoming more and more wicked, and men are despairing. And Seth, who's a replacement for Abel, has Enosh, and he names him Enosh, and men begin to call upon the name of the Lord. Now if you look up the name Enosh, one interpretation is simply another name for man. But it's not the word that's been used most lately. It's not Adam. It's a very different name. It doesn't even sound like Adam. And ish is a Hebrew word also used for man. And then we have the word male, zakon. None of those words sound like Enosh. So why is this a different word if it means man? Because Enosh means mortal, frail, sorrow. It's a word that implies sorrow, mortality, the brevity of life. Abel's life was cut short. His name means breath. As a breath he was here and he was gone and he had no children. And Seth becomes a replacement for him. And Seth names his son Mortal. Frail. Man is frail. Man's living what we would call a long time. But there's a recognition that man is frail. Our life is frail. It's so fleeting. It's here today. It's gone tomorrow. There's just this little hyphen between two dates. We're here and we're gone. And so Enosh implies mortal and frail. It's a reminder that we're going to die. It's a reminder that this world is filled with sorrow. And when he named him Enosh, men began to call upon the name of the Lord. We're told in the New Testament that those that call upon the name of the Lord in faith, trusting in Christ, shall be saved. It's significant that they began to call upon the name of the Lord. In verse 9, it says, When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years and he died. The word Kenan, it's debated what Kenan means. They look to different languages. So one meaning that you might just look up which would not support the phrase at all. If it's based on Aramaic, it would mean possession. If based on Hebrew, the root could mean destruction or sorrow. And in the book of Numbers, there's a prophet who does a little word play with another group of people, not from this fellow, but they were called Kenites. It's the same Hebrew word. And he does a little word play on the name of the Kenites, like those of the descendants of Canaan. And he says, and he looked on the Kenite and took up his discourse and said, Enduring is your dwelling place, and your nest is set in the rock. Nevertheless, Cain shall be burned when Ashur takes you away captive. And he took up his discourse and said, Alas, who shall live when God does? I missed part of the phrase there for some reason. It prophesies through destruction. Balaam makes a word play based upon the word in Hebrew, Kenan, talking about sorrow and destruction. For the sake of our phrase that we're making here, the word is sorrow. We're going to say it's sorrow. Now the next one, those are the couple iffy ones. The next one's very interesting. It says, when Kenan lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel. Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years, and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died. Now, you know the word hallelujah, right? Hallel. Lu, Yah, which is literally Hallel is praise, Le is to, and Yah is short for Yahweh. Praise to Yahweh or bless Yahweh. There's another word for bless. So it can mean praise or bless. It's a blessing that you say towards God when you say hallelujah. Well, the name Hallel means the praised God or the blessed God. The praise God. So El is short for Elohim. We've talked about that in weeks past. So his name, it means like the blessed God. The blessed God, for the sake of our phrase. Alright, moving on. When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and he had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years and he died. So this name Jared means shall come down, shall come down. In Genesis 11 5 it's used and it says, and the Lord came down, like the word Jared, to see the city and the tower which the children of man had built. So the name Jared means shall come down. Now we get to verse 18. 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. So the name Enoch has a couple different meanings. One could be dedicated, which wouldn't fit. Actually, it could fit very well in the phrase, just say it a little differently. But it also can mean teaching. And what Enoch does is he is one of the first of the preachers before the flood. Enoch actually prophesied the second coming of Christ. We read about it in Jude 1, 14 and 15. It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied saying, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way and all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him. So Enoch comes as a prophet and he's warning that generation of their wicked ways. He's teaching them of their wicked ways and he's instructing and we're going to see he prophesied in another way. He prophesied the coming of the flood through the name of his son. In verse 21, 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. Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him. This Enoch was a very special man. after he begat Methuselah. It says he walked with God after he begat Methuselah. When Methuselah was born, apparently a change happened in Enoch's life. And from there on out, he began to teach and to prophesy. What happened at the birth of Methuselah? Well, it seems to be that Methuselah's name itself is a prophecy. There are different renderings of the word Methuselah, and it used to confuse me, because I'd read different commentaries, and I'd be like, well, which is it? Because they sound very different. That's before I knew as much Hebrew as I do now. I've been studying Hebrew for years now. I'm not real great at it, but I know these words that make up Methuselah's name. And one interpretation of his name is Man of a Dart. Well, that doesn't seem very significant. a man of a dart and the other one is when he is dead it shall come or death shall bring. Now how do we break that down? Well the name Methuselah in Hebrew, the first syllable muth means death. And the last one, shalach, can mean, it means to send or to bring. So for example, if you send a dart out, like you shoot out a dart or you shoot out an arrow, that arrow is sent. And so it's debated, well, what does shalach mean here? Does it refer to the arrow that is sent or does it refer to something being sent? Well, when you do the math, of when Methuselah was born and when he had Noah, and you add up all the years that are given here, which I may get into in a future sermon, the year that Methuselah dies is the exact time that the flood came. If you look at it on a chart, Methuselah's death brings the flood. When he dies, the flood comes. In the same year. It all works out perfectly mathematically that Methuselah's death brings on the flood. So when Enoch has Methuselah, his name says, death shall bring. Bring what? Bring the flood. When he dies, the flood comes. In the exact year when he dies, the flood comes. And so it means his death shall bring, in his case, a flood, but in Jesus' case something else. Then we get to the name Lamech. I'm trying to go through this really fast. When Methuselah lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech. Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years and he died. So the word Lamech can mean despairing or sorrow. It exists in the English to this day in the word lamentation, sorrow. So sorrow, for the sake of our phrase that's being built here, his name means despairing sorrow or sorrow is the name of Lamech. And finally we come to Noah, nuach, which means rest or comfort. When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands. So the word nuach means relief, rest, or comfort. In this phrase, when we read, bring us relief, the Hebrew word is nakham. It has made up of the same, some of the same letters as Noah. So a little wordplay is going on here. We're naming him Noah because he's going to bring us rest and comfort. He's going to bring us nakham. Nuach is going to bring us nakham. In Hebrew, it sounds the same. It's a play on words. So what do we get when we put them all together? We get Adam, meaning man. Seth, appointed. Enosh, mortal. Kenan, meaning sorrow. Mahalalel, the blessed God or the praised God. Jared shall come down. Enoch, teaching. Methuselah, his death shall bring. Lamech, the despairing. And Noah, rest or comfort. Man is appointed. Mortal, sorrow. The blessed God shall come down, teaching. His death shall bring the despairing. Rest or comfort. Prophetic. Why? Because man, because Adam sinned. He brought death, mortality, despair, lamentation into the world. But when the blessed God in the incarnation, when the Word is made flesh, He will be he will come down. He will be teaching What do we see at the beginning of the Gospels? We see him teaching and the Sermon on the mountain the Sermon on the plain teaching and and His death shall bring the despairing that's you and I who are weary and heavy laden Mourning over our sins. He shall bring us rest or comfort come unto me all you that are laboring and on our heavy laden and I will give you a Rest. I will give you rest to your souls. There it is in the names of Genesis chapter 5, the gospel in a nutshell, which lacks the resurrection, but it has His atoning death. Now, I have tried to approach that with a good deal of skepticism, and I was hesitant to even preach on it. I just thought, man, it's such a beautiful thing. I've got to bring it out to light because it's so interesting to me. And I expect to see this sort of thing in Scripture because I see all over. I see that God foreshadows what He's going to do. I see types and shadows. Every sermon, every text that I have to preach on, there's pictures of Christ there. Because Christ isn't an afterthought. It's not an accidental connection. God had a plan. And already Adam, who's the man, has brought death and sin and sorrow into the world. Already in this book we have a lot of curses and death and sorrow and murder. and so man is pining away, man is grieved over the condition of the world and Lamech is lamenting the fallen world and they know that time is short and so he prophesies that Noah will bring nacham, comfort and rest. It will happen and it will happen through his seed. So how did this despairing mortality come into the world? God gave Adam a law. All the trees of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it. And I brought out in weeks past that when Adam partook of that tree, he broke the entirety of the Ten Commandments. It's very obvious he stole, right? It's the Eighth Commandment. It's very obvious he chose to believe a lie, which is bearing false witness against God. It's very obvious he coveted. It's very obvious he was covenantally unfaithful. It's very obvious that he didn't honor his father. So the law is given to show us our sin, to show us our frailty, to show us our lost moral condition. I want to go to a New Testament passage and speak with clarity, get something, a very clear passage here that deals with the law and the gospel. And 1st Timothy chapter 1, it says, Now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and their mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, purgers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine. So when we read the law of God, we should see ourselves not as victims of other men's crimes, but as perpetrators. The law shows us our sin. The law shows us our frailty. It shows us our errors. It shows us our fallen, sinful condition. Because like Adam, we've all broken the law. We've all willfully rebelled against God and did our own thing. We've all sought to be autonomous and independent from God. This is a very interesting list. He mentions sexual morality. He mentions homosexuality. He also mentions enslavers. Sometimes people say, well, the Bible is all pro-slavery. No, those that kidnap and steal other people and enslave them in the law were to be put to death in Exodus 21. And so this law is Paul is just giving his ancient Pagan world, the law of God right here. And the law shows us our sin. In verse 11 it says, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. We had that phrase earlier, Mahalalal, the praised God or the blessed God. In accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted, I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service. Though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent, but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Now, Paul, how did Paul see himself as a Jew? He sees himself as a blasphemer. He sees himself as a persecutor of the church. He sees himself as condemned by the law of God. Now that's very important for what comes next here. In verse 15, it's saying, This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I receive mercy for this reason, that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who are to believe in him for eternal life. To the king of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, the honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Paul says here that there's a trustworthy saying that all of us ought to adopt. All of us ought to adopt. What is that trustworthy saying? That Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. Our attitude as human beings should be to acknowledge as sons of Adam, as sons of man, that we are frail, like Enosh. That we are born for a life of sorrow, but we are morally bankrupt. We are the chief of sinners. Paul said, I am the chief of sinners. What he's saying here is he's saying, I don't see myself as better than the next guy. I see myself through the lens that I violated God's law and it's broken me. I see myself as a blasphemer. I see myself as lawless and disobedient. And it's very important that we see ourselves for what we are. Rebels, like Adam, who have broken God's law, like Adam. Because the law breaks us. The law shows us our sin. The law is not a set of stairs that we climb up to make our way to heaven. The law shows us our need, and then the gospel directs our eyes and our attention to Jesus Christ. Because he did come down. He did come down, he did come down teaching. And even when you read the Gospels, at the beginning of the Gospels, at the beginning of Matthew, you have the Sermon on the Mount. And Jesus is teaching. He went up into a mountain, and when He was set, He opened His mouth and He taught them. And what did He do? He expounded the law to them. He showed them their sin. He shows them that if you looked on a woman to lust after her, you've committed adultery in your heart. He shows them that if you're angry with somebody, you've committed murder in your heart. He shows us what blasphemy is, what breaking a covenant is, and he preaches the law to them. And what does that do? The law shows us our need, our frailty, our weakness, our sinfulness, our estrangement from God. Why? So that our eyes can now be diverted from ourselves to Jesus, the man who came down teaching, who would die for our sins to give rest to our souls. As long as we remain in a state of self-righteousness, comparing ourselves to others, telling ourselves we're better than the next guy, we'll never look to Christ. We will remain In our eyes, victims, but in God's eyes, perpetrators. It is essential that we see ourselves as the chief of sinners so that we quit looking at ourself for hope. We are to despair of hope in ourselves and to look right to Christ. Christ is the Lamb of God who came to take away our sins. And so here in Genesis chapter 5, it shows the gospel. Man is appointed mortal sorrow. We're all gonna die. But the blessed God shall come down teaching, his death shall bring the despairing rest and comfort. It points us to Christ. It points us to the Lamb of God who would be the sin bearer, who would die in our place so that we could have comfort to our souls. It's important, though, that we recognize our frailty, our humanity, our sinfulness, because we're all going to die. We're all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. All these men, they lived very long ages in comparison to us, but if they didn't know the Lord, it wasn't long enough. Because they've been in either heaven or hell for a very long time now. People will put off Put off getting right with God till later. Young people are known often to say, but actually older people quit saying it. The young people say, well, I'll serve God later. I'll serve God when I get older. I want to go out and I want to live for myself. I want to live for the world. I want to enjoy the world. It's kind of like I want, it's like dine and dash. You know what dine and dash is? People go into a restaurant, they eat the meal, and then when it comes time for the bill, they'll think, oh, I'll just slip out and I get a free meal out of it. I'll just steal. I'll just steal a free meal. That's people's attitude towards the gospel. It's like the gospel is being given you today. If you say, oh, Now, I think I want to go have fun, and then the last moment, I'll just call on the name of the Lord, and God will be obligated just to, I'll go, oh, I accept Jesus, and that's the end. Let me tell you something. To come to the Lord, you've got to have a heart of mourning and repentance. You've got to, there's got to be repentance. It's not, we don't believe the name of Jesus is a magic word. You just say on your deathbed, you just say, Jesus, I believe you now. Last minute, ha ha, I got in, the last moment. That's not the way we come. We have to come like the thief on the cross in his last hours of life. We come broken. We acknowledge our sin. We acknowledge our lost condition. And we throw ourselves upon his mercy and we put our trust in what Christ has done for us. Now the natural response to this, this acknowledgement that Christ loved me as a sinner. He died for me as a sinner. The natural response, the reasonable thing we should do is say, I want to live for you, Jesus. You died for me. I want to live for you. That's why in Romans 12, Paul says that, he says, I beseech you, I plead with you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, for this is your reasonable service. What's he saying is, Jesus died for you. It's reasonable that you should live for him. While you were yet a sinner, while you were yet a rebel, he died for you. Isn't it reasonable that you should live for him? But that's very different than, okay, here's the 10 steps to achieving heaven, like it's a reward to be won. We can't earn our way into heaven. It's too late for that. We've all transgressed, we've all broken the law, we've all shook our fist at God and said, God, I'm gonna do what I want, not what you want. The only thing left for us to do is to come to him and acknowledge our sin, acknowledge our rebellion, and to throw ourselves upon His mercy. Because God did come down, and He is the sin bearer. And those that will come to Him, confessing their sin, confessing Him as Lord, and confessing that He is their Savior and their only hope, they shall be saved. It's time to call upon the name of the Lord, to acknowledge our sin, and to turn to Him in faith, because the blessed God did come down, and it's our reasonable service that we should live out our life for His glory and honor. Let's pray. Father, we thank You, God. We thank You that You did not leave us to pine away in our sins forever. But Lord, You sent a deliverer. You sent the virgin-born seed of the woman who came to bear our sins and bring us comfort and rest and peace with you. Lord, I pray, Lord, in my frailty, my frailty as a preacher, that God, you would impress upon each of our hearts how beautiful it is that when we were yet without strength, you loved us and you gave yourself for us, that our hearts would be drawn to you with hearts of gratitude as we trust in you and we profess you before men. Thank you, Lord, for this glorious good news that Jesus the Deliver did indeed live the perfect life, die for our sins, and rise again that we might have salvation and faith in your name.