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All right, Genesis chapter six, I don't know. I feel like saying it's a controversial topic, but it's not really. I don't think it's really controversial. But anyway, let's look at verse number two there. Genesis chapter six, verse two. It says that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair. The title for the sermon tonight is the sons of God. And obviously, because I didn't preach through Genesis on Sunday, I had the Mother's Day message. I'm covering Genesis six today so we can get onto Genesis seven this coming Sunday as well. But the title for the sermon is the sons of God. And before we get into the chapter, we already covered this to some extent in our last chapter, when we're looking at chapter five, and we're looking at what are the reasons somebody can be called the sons of God? And when we came up with sort of four possible options to Adam being called the son of God, and we had a look at, so just the different options out there, and the two options that you could remain consistent with, where you could call Adam a son of God, basically, we ended up saying, hey, you've got to be a believer, or you've got to be the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you take a consistent approach with your definition, they will always exclude the angels, always exclude the angels. And I was covering Genesis chapter five, I was telling you how just trying to build towards some of these things, so I don't have to cover all of it here in Genesis chapter six, because there's a lot to cover here in Genesis chapter six. So we put some building blocks in place. So as we get to Genesis chapter six, I want you to keep in mind that the sons of God are saved individuals. And this makes perfect sense because we've already gone through in chapter five, the lineage of Seth and his descendants, and we had a look at this lineage, this generation of family being a godly family, being a godly generation, a family that called upon the name of the Lord, that they were saved. And of course, we see Enoch, and we see at the end of it, we see Noah being born through this family, we start picking up the story here of Noah. So keeping that in mind, the sons of God are saved people. Let's look at this chapter and understand what is being taught here, okay? So Genesis chapter six, verse one, the Bible says, and it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God, so let's just stop there, that believers, okay? That believers, in this sense, it's gonna be men, you know, godly men, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose. Now, is there anything wrong with taking a wife? No, of course not, okay? That's what we're commanded to do as men, is to find a wife, and you know, we see here, but what we see here in verse number two is a differentiation between people that are called the sons of God and another group of people called the daughters of men, because obviously, as we're going through this lineage of Seth, and we're saying these people are the sons of God, these people are the believers, we see another category of daughters being born unto men, and these would be obviously those that were born outside of that lineage, okay? Maybe descendants of Cain, or other children, you know, descendants of other sons and daughters that Adam and Eve had. Eventually, these people who were, you know, being separated from being called the sons of God, they're being called here the daughters of men, and you'll soon see that this was a problem, okay? This created a problem in the sight of God, meaning eventually that God would cause God to want to destroy the earth, okay? Now, before we go into that, I'm just going to tell you very quickly, but all this is teaching is that saved men were taking wives of unsaved women, okay? That's what's happening here. That saved men are taking for themselves unsaved wives, okay? Now, keep your finger there, and turn to 2 Corinthians 6, please. 2 Corinthians 6. What's the problem with marrying an unsaved person? You know, in the eyes of the Lord, it's a significant sin. It's a significant problem that you're going to bring about yourself. Go to 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14, and a lot of you guys know this passage. It says, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers? For what fellowship have righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion have light with darkness? So you see, if you yoke yourself up with a nonbeliever, the Bible's asking you a question, what possible fellowship can you have with darkness? You being a child of light, how can you have any fellowship with people of the darkness, okay? And being yoked up isn't necessarily just going to work. You have to work with nonbelievers. Being yoked up is, you know, making your best friends with nonbelievers. Being yoked up is, you know, like marriage. Marriage is the greatest yoke you could possibly have till death do us part. And the Bible's telling us we should not yoke ourselves up with nonbelievers. Verse 15, and what concord have Christ with Belial, or what part have he that believeth with an infidel? So you see, it's someone that believes with an infidel, someone that is a nonbeliever. Verse 16, and what agreement have the temple of God with idols? Because the Bible says here, for ye are the temple of the living God. As God have said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. So this temple of God should not be defiled with idols. That's false religions. People that believe in a false God. And then here, verse 17. Wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. Now I want you to notice verse 18 as we've gone through this, okay? Is that what he says? Why is it so important that we stay unclean? Why is it so important that we stay holy and separated from the darkness of this world? Verse 18, and I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. You see, God, yes, when you're saved, you are a son of God, but in order for you to fellowship with God the Father, in order for him to be a father to you, in your daily walk of life, he wants you to remain a child of God in that sense. Not in salvation, but in your walk of the Lord. Having that close fellowship, the same way a child under the roof of their parents spends every day with mom and dad, right? And God wants us to have that fellowship every day with him as father and son. But the problem is when we fellowship with the darkness of this world, when we commit sin, when we walk the paths of the flesh, the sinful ways, we break that fellowship with the Lord, and we don't have that union as father and son in our daily walk with the Lord. This is a major issue that we see in the Bible play out. And if you guys can go to Deuteronomy now, the book of Deuteronomy chapter seven, Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse one, because we just looked at the New Testament, you know, the Lord is, you know, warns us, you know, especially marriage, I mean, that's the greatest yoke you could possibly have, right, not marrying a non-believer. Go to Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse one, Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse one, of course, this is after the Lord delivers Israel out of Egypt, and he passes down his commandments, and this is what he says in verse number one. It says here, when the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and has cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Gergeshites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou. And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shall smite them, and utterly destroy them. Look, God says, look, you gotta utterly destroy them, wipe them out, all right? Thou shall make no covenant with them, nor shall mercy unto them, nor shall mercy unto them, verse number three, neither shalt thou make marriages with them, thy daughter shall not, thou shall not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. Because why, why doesn't God want the nation of Israel here marrying with the other nations, why? Verse number four, for they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods. So will the anger of the Lord be kindred against you, and destroy thee suddenly. We see this warning that God gives. He says, you gotta wipe out these nations, okay? And the Israelites did some wiping out, but they didn't, when they went into the land of Canaan, they didn't really follow through. And these nations that they didn't wipe out, they became a real thorn on their sides, okay? Became a major problem with them. And you guys know your Bible pretty well. You'll find many times, many stories where men of God or just the nation itself, did marry women of other nations, okay? Ungodly women, women that served other gods, and the hearts of the men were turned against the Lord. We see that play out throughout the Bible numerous times. You guys are aware of it. But did you ever wonder why is it that God is so severe? He says, just wipe them out. And I'll tell you why, he's hearkening back, he's going back to Genesis 6. Remember, he had to wipe out the entire world with a flood, okay? And we start off the chapter by seeing the sons of God marrying the daughters of men, marrying women that are not children of God, okay? And this is the problem that we start here in Genesis chapter 6. Now we're going to skip verse number three, go back to Genesis 6, please. Back to Genesis 6. Back to Genesis 6. And we're just gonna skip verse three for now. We'll get back to verse three. Let's just drop down to verse number four. Now verse number four is where we get a lot of strange ideas, okay? Some real strange doctrines. Let's break it down. I can understand why, you know, I can understand why. But let's look at verse number four. It says, there were giants in the earth in those days. And also after that, okay, now, there were giants in these days. Now some people say, well, these giants, they must be, you know, the way we refer to giants, like really tall people, right? Really tall people. And, you know, I wouldn't say they weren't tall people. I mean, I wouldn't say that the people that lived in Noah's day, I wouldn't say that they weren't giants. They weren't huge. I'm sure they were huge. I'm sure they were strong. I'm sure they were, you know, biologically superior than us, okay? Because they were descendants of Adam and Eve, and they hadn't gone through all the corruption of, you know, our genetics that we have today. You know, and if what archeology is, you know, if what we see on the internet is correct, you know, people find large, you know, skeletons of people, you know, huge skeletons of people. So it sounds like there were definitely large people in that day, okay? Now remember, the book of Genesis is a book that was written by Moses. And so when you take it from Moses' perspective, you know, a few thousand years later, he's writing about this and he says, you know, there were giants on the earth in, you know, in the earth in those days, okay? So he's looking from his perspective back down to the time of Noah, and he says there were giants, then he says, but also after that. So even after this, there were giants, okay? Now what is this about? Is it about tall people? Now I don't believe that's the context of that verse, okay? But am I saying there weren't tall people, extremely tall people? I'm not saying that, there probably were, okay? But it says here, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bear children to them, the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown. So I believe verse number four gives us the definition of what is being said here about these giants in the earth. What is it that makes someone a giant? Now obviously the stature can make someone a giant, I understand that, but even today in our, you know, in the way we speak, we often talk about giants, okay? In the sense that we might say, you know, this man is a giant in the faith, this is a spiritual giant, okay? Or maybe a sporting superstar, you know, someone that excels in their sports and say, well, that's a giant of that sport, and that's a giant of that, you know, we use that term today to talk about someone that really stands out, the same way a tall person would stand out amongst other people, okay? And this is what I believe is being referred to here. It's not that they're giants in stature, but that they're giants in personality or in achievements. The things that they have achieved in their life, because look at verse number four again, it says at the end of it, the same, the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown. Now keep your finger there, turn to number 16, please. Number 16, numbers chapter 16, verse one, because I just wanna show you, maybe you already know, I just wanna show you what does it mean to be a man of renown, okay? What does that mean? Numbers chapter 16, verse one, numbers chapter 16, verse one, and this is the story of Korah, okay? In the rebellion against Moses, we won't really go into that rebellion, but just to see what it means here, in verse number one, number 16, verse one, the Bible says, now Korah, the son of Isha, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. Okay, what men did they take? And they rose up before Moses with certain men of the children of Israel, 250 princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown. What does it mean to be a renowned man or a man of renown? Famous in the congregation, right? People that are famous, okay? These are people that are men of renown. These are kind of like, you know, just well-known people, kind of like celebrities. People who look up to celebrities, you know, they're well-known. I guess what it means to be a man of renown, someone that is well-known, okay? And so what is it that makes them giants then? These are people that stand out. They're well-known, okay? Say, well, what are they well-known for? You know, this, going back to Genesis chapter six, back to Genesis chapter six, what is it that they're well-known for? Genesis chapter six, verse four, it's just said it before, it said, the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown, okay? And if you look at the term, the mighty men, it appears many times in your Bible, many, many times in your Bible. And more often than not, it's a man of war, okay? A skilled warrior, you know, a powerful warrior, commonly referred to as mighty men. But not only that, in the Bible, sometimes you'll find the reference of mighty men in wealth, people that are very wealthy, very rich. They're also known sometimes in the Bible as mighty men. Okay, so what I believe is being taught here in verse number four, that as the sons of God, as believers took non-believing wives, they had children, these same children became like celebrities, being known for their mighty acts, whatever it was, probably in warfare, okay? And they became celebrities in that sense. And I think this is the problem that we see here, is that from Genesis chapter five, we see this godly lineage, okay? Men calling upon the name of the Lord. And as we all know, in order for you to be saved, in order for you to call upon the Lord, you've got to be someone of humility. You've got to be someone that says, you know, Lord, I can't do this, I need to accept your sacrifice. But what we see developing, as godly men take on ungodly wives, we see that children become celebrities. We start seeing people looking and making a name for themselves. Instead of lifting up the Lord, they're lifting up themselves, they're becoming people that are very prideful in a sense. And this is the same thing with our celebrities today. Our parents, I would really encourage you not to allow your children to put up posters of celebrities, posters of pop stars or posters of sporting stars. That is basically idolatry. Putting up a picture of a man, it's just a man, probably an unsaved godly man, probably a very wicked man, okay. And, you know, I remember, you know, just in high school, a lot of girls would put up posters of, you know, the Backstreet Boys or something, right, on their walls and just, ah, I love this person so much. Probably a filthy pervert, that man, right, that they're putting up on their wall. I would strongly encourage you parents not to allow your children to do that, all right. Now let's keep going, because here in verse number four is where people say, no, no, no, you don't understand. These are people, these are giants in stature, which I don't have a problem with. They might very well be giants in stature, okay. But the idea here is, no, and when we covered this before, you know, why is it that we don't, I do not call angels the sons of God? You know, I've got several reasons for that, but what happens is some people say, well, these sons of God, they were angels. They were maybe fallen angels or this is when they fell, you know, and these angels came down and they took wives for themselves. And by this crossbreeding, as it were, between angels and a human being, they, you know, genetics, they had children that were giants. They became, you know, extremely giant men. And the reason why they were giant is because the seed of an angel mixed with a woman, okay. So we've got to cover this because it is a pretty prevalent teaching amongst Christians. Now, you know, just with anything, any kind of teaching that's off, you always have, you know, some thoughts that might sound innocent to begin with, but the further you go down that track, the further you get away from the truth and the further, you know, you start to get into some major heresies as you travel down that road. This is why I want to cover it today. This is why I've tiled with the sons of God. It's just so we can focus upon this part here, but let me give you several reasons why these sons of God in Genesis chapter six are not angels. Let me give you, what do I have here? I've got four reasons why they are not angels. Keep your finger there. Turn to Matthew 22, please. Matthew 22. And you say, why are you teaching on this? Fallen angels taking women as wives. Look, I only want to teach on this once, all right. And if anyone ever asks me in the future, I'm just going to point them to the sermon, all right. It's not something I really want to spend a lot of time on as a church, but let's go to Matthew chapter 22, verse 29. Matthew chapter 22, verse 29. And Jesus answered, or Jesus answered and said unto them, ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God, for in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. So in the resurrection, we're not going to get married. All right, we're not going to have marriage in heaven. And Jesus says that they're going to be like the angels in heaven, meaning that the angels are not given into marriage, okay. Now keep in mind what the Genesis chapter six say, it's not just that the angels committed fornication with women, that's not what it's saying. It's saying they took wives, okay. There was a marriage, okay. So there was, you know, if you were fallen angels, you know, as a fallen angel taking a woman till death do us part, you know, I do, I do. And someone, you know, doing that ceremony as it were exchanging of vows and they're married. It's not just this one time event where they, you know, committed some awful sin. No, they took wives, the Bible says, right. But the Bible tells us here, Jesus tells us that the angels of heaven do not, are not given into marriage, okay. So if the angels in heaven are not given to marriage, then it can't be the angels getting married in Genesis chapter six, all right. They're taking wives, they're getting married, all right. So that's reason number one. Now what I've heard as an answer to this, for those that want to believe this, they say, well, Jesus says in verse number 30, Matthew 22 verse 30, but are as the angels of God in heaven. See, these weren't angels of God, these were fallen angels, these were angels of Satan. So that's how they get around it, right. They were angels, the devil's angels that were given into marriage. Yes, I acknowledge the angels of God, the good ones aren't getting married, but maybe the evil ones, the fallen ones, they're the ones that got married. Well, let's keep reading, let's go to Matthew 19 verse four, Matthew 19 verse four, okay, Matthew 19 verse four. Let me just ask you this question, who created marriage with God, right? An institution of God, we see the first marriage in Genesis chapter two, it's kind of vague in Genesis one, we get a lot more detail of the first marriage of Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter two. And when the Pharisees come to Jesus to speak of divorce, we see that Jesus affirms what marriage is, all right. In Matthew 19 verse four, Matthew 19 verse four, Jesus defines marriage for us, okay. And he answered and said unto them, have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning, made them male and female and said for this cause, shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh. So according to the definition of marriage that Jesus gives, what is marriage? One man and one woman, okay, one man and one woman. Now think about this. If these were angels, well, first of all, it can't be angels, another reason, right, because they don't get married, but it can't be angels because they're not a man, okay. It was man that was created in the image of God and the angels were not created in the image of God, all right. So to say that the angels are getting married, God could not say that because God's definition of marriage is one man and one woman. Otherwise, God broke his definition and now is defining marriage as angel and woman, okay. So that's the other way. And then in verse number six, you guys are in Matthew 19 verse six, wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh, remember this is marriage, what therefore God have joined together, let not man put asunder. So what is marriage? A union that God has put together, okay. So if these are angels, fallen angels committing a sin and getting married to women, then you're saying, well, because God says here, he's the one that joins together. So is it then that God was joining the angels with the woman? No, it can't be, right. It can't be, you know, because people that try to teach us try to say that was an evil thing that was being done. But God is speaking of marriage in a positive sense that, you know, every marriage, whether you're saved or you're unsaved, it's God's institution. You know, God is the one that puts them together, you know, as one flesh. And of course, Hebrews chapter 13 verse four, you don't have to turn there. Marriage is honorable in all. Marriage is honorable in all. That would mean that if these were fallen angels getting married to a woman, that would be honorable. Why was this honorable in all? Okay, but we know that would be dishonorable. That'd be a major problem. And that would cause a lot of problems with your understanding of marriage, the doctrine of marriage. We have major problems if you start saying, well, angels and women can also be classified as a marriage. Okay, that's number one. Angels are not given into marriage, okay? Number two, please turn to Luke chapter 24 verse 39. And this one, you might not agree with me so much, but I'll try to prove my point here. Luke chapter 24 verse 39. I'll give you my second reason. Angels are spirits. They don't have a physical body, okay? Now, let me prove this to you. Luke 24 verse 39. Luke 24 verse 39. This is Jesus speaking after his resurrection. Pay attention to what he says. Behold my hands and my feet. Remember that they didn't believe that he was resurrected. And Jesus says, look, touch me, hold my hands, hold my feet that it is I myself handle me and see. Look at this, for a spirit have not flesh and bones as you see me have. So what was Jesus teaching? What did he wanna really drive home here? That his resurrection was not just a spiritual resurrection. There was a physical body, it was a physical resurrection. And he says, because I've got this physical resurrection, you can touch my body, I'm not as a spirit, which doesn't have flesh and bone, okay? Now, I'm just gonna read to you from Hebrews chapter one. We read these passages when we covered Genesis five. I'll just quickly read it to you. Hebrews 1, 13, Hebrews chapter one, verse 13. But to which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits? This is about the angels. Are they all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? You see, God calls all the angels ministering spirits. And Jesus said that a spirit does not have flesh and bone. Okay? Now, the first thought that might come to your mind is, but hold on. What about the angels that took, you know, a lot out of, you know, Sodom and Gomorrah? You know, what about the angels that, you know, you know, there was some physical interaction with those angels? Well, my understanding of that, it's not that the angels can just turn on and turn off a physical body, is that these events are some major events, okay? And God has allowed them to appear in a physical form. Okay? It's not that their natural makeup is a physical body. They are ministering spirits without flesh and bone, but that God allows from time to time, special occurrences for them to appear in a physical form. Okay? That's my best understanding. But Jesus Christ confirms it for us that spirits don't have flesh and bone. Okay? So if that's the case, what I mean, if they were fallen angels getting married, what are these women marrying exactly? What's going on there? That's reason number two, that angels are spirits, okay? Without a physical flesh and bone body, all right? Now, let me give you quickly just some other examples. This is why Satan, all right? He was a cherub, he was an angel. He was a fallen angel in that sense. That's why Satan has to appear through a serpent, right? Through a snake when he, you know, deceived Eve. And he has to then also, he used Judas Iscariot, you know, working through Judas Iscariot, and is also going to work through the Antichrist in the future. You know, we don't see any references, for example, of the devil coming in a physical flesh and bone form. Okay? He's always using some other vehicle to convey his message or to do his work. All right? So it's only the good angels that we see in the Bible with a physical form. And my belief of that is, well, God just allowed it for that period of time for whatever reason. Okay? We never see the fallen angels taking on a physical form. Okay? So let me give, and reason number three, I've read this to you last chapter, so you don't need to worry about it. Of course, three and four are the other reasons that I've already taught on that, you know, God says that angels are not his sons. You know, Hebrews chapter one, verse five, for unto which of the angels said he had any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son, question mark. Whenever, God says, whenever I ever said that, you know? Some people will point, well, here, God said, you said it here in Genesis chapter six. Well, no, God says, I never said it, okay? He's, you know, speaking in that rhetorical sense that you never said it. And of course, the final one that I have here is that we need to make sure when we read the Bible, you know, when we're looking for context, I'll encourage you guys, always look for the context in the same book that you're reading. I'm not saying never compare scripture with scripture, books from books, we do that all the time. But always when you start, when you wanna define something, you wanna work something out, try to stay in the same book or try to stay with the same writers, okay? Many times the same writers will talk about the same kinds of themes and things like that. But what we've learned already in the book of Genesis, guys, is that everything reproduces after its own kind, okay? Everything reproduces after its own kind. Have you guys in Genesis? Go back to Genesis chapter seven, verse 13. We know that when God created all things, you know, He created everything to produce after its own kind. But let's just go to Genesis chapter seven now. Genesis chapter seven, verse 13. The Bible says, in the self same day entered Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them into the ark. Now look at this, they, so what's they? That's Noah, his wife and his sons. They and every beast after his kind. So even not just the beasts, but even the human beings after his kind. Do you get that? It says they and every beast after his kind and all the cattle after their kind and every creeping thing that creep upon the earth after his kind and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. So one teaching that we get immediately, just from chapter one of the Bible and remains consistent even in the time of Noah, is that everything reproduces after its own kind, including human beings are being numbered here after their own kind, okay? So angels, they're not our kind. You know, the cherubs, seraphims, they're not our kind. They cannot reproduce with a human being and create other things. Otherwise they're reproducing, no, otherwise they're going against, you know, some of the basic building blocks that God has created for us in the Bible and also into our own DNA and sort of, you know, created bodies. So let me just go through those four reasons once again, why the sons of God are not angels, number one, because angels are not given into marriage, okay, and it was marriage, remember that, it was marriage. They were taken wives. Number two, angels are spirits without a physical body, except in some special occasions, you know? Number three, God says that the angels are not his sons and number four, because everything reproduces after its own kind, okay? And I think that should be enough. I mean, I probably could come up with some other reasons, but I think that there are enough reasons for us to determine, well, then these sons of God, they were just godly men, all right? Say, why do you have to cover this? Why do you have to cover this? I'll go into it in a minute. Let's go to the book of Job now. Let's go to the book of Job chapter one, verse six. Job chapter one, verse six. The book of Job chapter one, verse six, because this is where it gets a little bit confusing sometimes for some people. And I would say it's confusing, I've been confused about these references in the book of Job as well, okay? So, you know, if you're confused by it, I don't think you're an idiot, you know, I think it's some things in the Bible, you know, you need time to study and think about and meditate on and process. If we go to Job chapter one, verse six, Job chapter one, verse six, and if we just conclude that the sons of God are just believers, it's not hard to understand, right? We get to Job chapter one, verse six. It says here, So I believe this is obviously happening in heaven, they're presenting themselves before the Lord, they're in heaven. And it says here that the sons of God came to present themselves to God. Now, if we believe the sons of God are believers, we shouldn't have any problem with it, right? There were some Old Testament saints back in the days of Job, you know, this would be Enoch and this would be, you know, Noah, and this would be all these other people, Adam, you know, yep, you know, God's called them to come and present themselves for whatever reason. So they come and they present themselves before the Lord, and there comes Satan along, okay? You know, the accuser, the accuser of the brethren, you know, coming along as well for whatever his reasons are. Now go to Job chapter two, verse one, Job chapter two, verse one, Job chapter two, verse one, it says again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. So once again, it just seems like in heaven, God has an assembly once in a while, right? One assembly once in a while, getting all the brethren together to come and present themselves before the Lord. I don't know, they're having a church service, I don't know what's going on, but they come in to present themselves and Satan is always there tagging along, right? Tagging along. And this is where people get the idea, well, Satan's a fallen cherub. So maybe these sons of God are angels, maybe they're cherubs. And you know, Satan, because he's a fallen cherub, he's got to come along as well. But remember, you know, you start to take away, start to break away some of these other foundational things that we already have in the Bible. There's no problem with saying these are Old Testament saints. What's the big deal? What's the big deal? But here's the problem. Let me explain to you what the problem is. And this is where you're gonna find a lot of issues with our Baptist brethren, because a lot of independent Baptists are dispensational. Okay, a lot of independent Baptists, you know, when they read the Bible, they read it with dispensational goggles, with a dispensational lens. And according, if they're a strict dispensationalist, not all Baptists are strict dispensationalists, okay? But if they are a strict dispensationalist, they will say, well, the Old Testament saints, they never went to heaven. They don't believe anyone went to heaven until the Lord was risen from the dead, okay? And that the Old Testament saints went to a place which, well, they call, you know, Abraham's bosom of paradise, and we've already covered that before. And they believe they basically went to hell, but they went to a paradise in hell, okay? A nice place in hell. That's where they were during the Old Testament days. And then finally, once Christ comes and is resurrected, he takes them with him up to heaven. That's a dispensational teaching. So you can then see the problems that you'd come across here, because here we are in the Old Testament, and we see the sons of God presenting themselves. And if you got your dispensational glasses on, well, it can't be believers, because I know they're in Abraham's bosom, they're not in heaven, must be angels then. I mean, what else is there, right? So that's where it starts to build, right? That's where it starts to develop. It must be angels because of the dispensational glasses. And this is a teaching of the angels being the sons of God. This is a teaching that you'll commonly find in our IFB churches, okay? Now, let's go to Job 38, please. Job 38, verse four. Job 38, verse four. And I'm not going to go into all the reasons why the Old Testament saints went to heaven right now, okay? That needs a sermon in of itself, but Job 38, verse four. And this is another passage in the book of Job where it mentions the sons of God, and I can understand here why people start to think, well, this must be angels. Because let's read it, Job 38, verse four. Where was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth, declare if thou hast understanding? Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest, or who have stretched the line upon it? So we see there in verse number four that God starts speaking about the foundations of the earth, okay, and I do believe he's speaking about the creation here. When he created the earth, he laid some foundations first and built thereupon. And then it says in verse number six, whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened, or who have laid the cornerstone thereof, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? So the question here is, well, hold on, this is talking about creation. The Lord laying down the foundation of the earth, and then it says here that the sons of God shouted for joy, but we know man was not created till day six. So who was shouting for joy during the creation of the earth? It's gotta be angels. That's what they, that's the thought, right? It's gotta be angels. And that's again, the angels are the sons of God. But again, you start taking that approach, you're gonna have a lot of problems with a lot of other passages later on, okay? And I struggled with this a little bit, okay? Until I was able to break down verse number six just carefully and slowly, because many times in the Bible, God just goes from one thing to another thing, just very quickly, right? I mean, in the book of Isaiah, you've got the Lord coming, His first coming, and all of a sudden, He's talking about the millennial reign of Christ, and the Lord destroying the enemies. It's like time just disappears. You don't start to see the differences. Or sometimes the Lord many times uses types, foreshadowing, object lessons of Christ and what is to come. And also in the Bible many times, God speaks of the future as though it was present, or as though it was already past. Many times you see that in the Bible, the Lord just says something which hasn't yet come, but it's like, as far as God is concerned, it's already happened. It's as good as it's happened, because obviously God is outside of time, and He can see things from that perspective. So let's understand this. If the sons of God are believers, how do we understand when it says here, who laid the cornerstone thereof, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? What I believe is being taught here is that God is using the illustration of creation, of creating the foundations on the earth, and then speaking of Jesus Christ as that cornerstone. Because really Jesus Christ is the foundation of all the earth. Jesus Christ is the creator of all things. He is the creator of the earth. He is the one that created the earth and created all living things, but He's also the cornerstone of our faith. And so what I believe God is teaching here is going from a very physical lesson about the creation of the earth, and then moving on and teaching us about the Lord Jesus Christ as our cornerstone. And let me give you the reasons behind this. So this is not just me trying to wrestle with the word of God. It's beautiful when the word of God itself just answers itself. And let me just start off by saying that the word cornerstone, the word cornerstone only appears in your Bible four times, only four times. One time is what we just read. So the question is, well, what is that cornerstone? Is that the cornerstone of the creation of the earth? Is that what it's been referred to? Or is it something else? Well, this is why the Bible has given us three other phrases of that four times the word cornerstone is used. And all, every single time, it's always referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? So I'm gonna get you guys to turn to 1 Peter chapter two, 1 Peter chapter two, 1 Peter chapter two. And while you're turning there, I'm going to read to you from Isaiah 28. So we're gonna look at all the other references of the word cornerstone in the Bible, Isaiah 28 verse 16, Isaiah 28. I'm gonna be reading to you guys to go into 1 Peter chapter two. I'll read to you from Isaiah 28 verse 16. So this is a prophecy of Jesus Christ. It says here, therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a trite stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, he that believeth shall not make haste. God says, I'm gonna lay a cornerstone, a very precious cornerstone for you, okay? Speaking of the future. And you guys are in 1 Peter chapter two verse six, 1 Peter chapter two verse six gives us the New Testament commentary of Isaiah 28, 16, 1 Peter chapter two verse six says, wherefore also is contained in the scripture. What scripture? Isaiah 28 verse 16. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, what is this cornerstone? And he that believeth on him shall not be confounded unto you therefore, which believe he is precious. What is this cornerstone? It's something that God wants us to believe on, okay? In fact, it said there in, yeah, believeth on him in verse number six and verse number seven, which believeth he is precious. So this cornerstone is a he, this cornerstone is a him, referring of course to Jesus Christ and us having that cornerstone as our foundation when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you can now turn to Ephesians chapter two verse 19, if you have time, turn to Ephesians chapter two verse 19. The Bible says, now therefore, ye are no more strangers than foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and are of the household of God and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. So there it is, it just spits spelt out for us easily. Okay, that the chief cornerstone is Jesus Christ himself. All right, so all four references of cornerstone, three are clearly about Jesus Christ and one, the question is asked. Of course, we understand that the Old Testament prophets looked through as it were a glass, you know, darkly, okay? And we have been given fantastically the revelation of the New Testament. So we can look back and see these types, we see this foreshadowing, we see these things come to light. Now, in Job 38, it didn't just speak of the cornerstone. It said when that cornerstone would be laid, that the morning stars sang together. Now, I don't have a problem here. I believe, in fact, that the morning stars that sang together, I believe they're talking about angels. I have no problem with that. That the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. So what I love about that, it kind of talks about the morning stars singing, but then it says, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. So if the morning stars singing are the angels singing, then we see how the Lord just separates there, the sons of God shouted for joy. And if the sons of God are believers, that makes perfect sense. That when Christ came, the angels sang, and the believers shouted for joy. The Old Testament believers, from heaven's perspective, shouted for joy. Where do we see that happening? Go to John chapter eight, verse 56. John chapter eight, verse 56, please. John chapter eight, verse 56. Jesus here debating, or not debating, right, but arguing, I guess, with the Pharisees. John chapter eight, verse 56, he speaks of Abraham, and he says here, your father, Abraham, rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. Abraham rejoiced, the Old Testament say, Abraham rejoiced to see the day of Christ. Of course, Abraham passed away before the Lord came, obviously, okay? And we see that he rejoiced, which makes sense when it says here that the sons of God shouted for joy. That's what it means to shout for joy, to rejoice, okay? Now go to Luke chapter two, please. Luke chapter two, verse 13, because the question is, well, when did Abraham shout for joy? When did Abraham rejoice? You know, and I believe the answer is here in Luke chapter two, verse 13. Luke chapter two, verse 13, and this is when the birth of Jesus, this is when the Lord would be coming to the world, and the angels, you know, the story of the, you know, the Christmas story, the angels came to the angels and proclaimed the birth of Christ, right? It says here in Luke 2 13, and suddenly there was an angel, sorry, and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward man. So we see with this angel that proclaimed the birth of Christ to the angels, all of a sudden, suddenly there with the angel, and it says a multitude of the heavenly hosts, okay? Now, when it says the heavenly hosts, you could say, well, it's all the angels, they're praising the Lord, it's possible. But you know, the word hosts just means those that basically take up, you know, that are, it's that heaven's the host of these people. This could very well also include the Old Testament saints. There's no reason why it couldn't, okay? We know it's definitely angels, but it says here, what did it say again? A multitude of the heavenly hosts. You know what, when you're in heaven, you are part of that heavenly host. You make up those people that are praising the Lord, singing praises unto him and worshiping him in heaven. Okay, so it's very possible here that it's when the Lord was born is when the morning stars sang together, the angels, and the sons of God shouted for joy, okay? So if you start thinking that this, you know, sons of God, these are angels, you're gonna get into a really bad place, okay? Again, it starts innocently. Everything starts innocently. It's kind of like the oneness stuff that we've all sort of heard about, right? Jesus is the Father, you know? I mean, is that really a problem, saying that the Father's name is Jesus? But then you start to see how when people take things too far, something that sounds innocent that probably doesn't really matter all that much, you know, when you just keep it within certain boundaries, that there are some that are gonna take that same thing and push it beyond what it was ever meant to be, what it was meant to mean, okay? And you just get into major heresies. And let me just tell you some of the issues that I've seen in this teaching. I've seen some people just say, well, you know, in the book of Job, the sons of God are angels. That's pretty, I think that's pretty innocent. You're not gonna get into major problems when you start thinking like that. But then there are others that are gonna be those that take that idea and really run with it. Really, they'll really run with it and say, well, these giants that were born, they were half men, half angels, and like, or half demons, half demons, half men. And even today, we have half demon, half men, hybrids. And then, you know, this is where people start believing in the, what do you call them? The lizard men or something, right? Where you've got these people that are shape-shifters. They're really reptilian beings and they can shape-shift into human beings. And these are, you know, the product of this lineage or product of angels taking wives for themselves. I mean, start getting to really some crazy things. I mean, even to the point where, you know, when Cain killed Abel, I've heard that said, well, Cain was a product of Satan and Eve. And that's why he hated Abel, okay? So, you know, Cain was half demon, half human being. It just starts to get some really crazy teaching. And you gotta be careful. You gotta be really careful about this stuff because it takes you in a really bad place. I mean, think about, if you truly believe this, you truly believe that as you walk the earth, that some of the people you saw were half demons and half humans. Don't you think it'll affect the way you live your life? I mean, just the way you think, you know, it'll bring you in a really bad place. And there's no reason to go there. There's no reason. The Bible's already perfectly consistent. The Bible already is clear for us that the only believers can be called the sons of God. All right? Now, sorry to spend so much time on that. It's just that we do need to cover, we need to cover this topic. You need to go into sort of a lot of detail. Otherwise, some people say, well, yeah, you've missed this point. You've missed that point. And I tried to cover the main points. I'm sure there are other points that people say, well, you've missed that. But I think these are the major things we can think about and understand why only the sons of God are believers. Go back to Genesis chapter six, please. Genesis chapter six, verse five. And I'm gonna really try to hurry up now, guys. Genesis chapter six, verse five. And God saw, so this is, remember, the men taken, godly men, believers taken, ungodly wives. Okay? Making, and the children becoming focused, self-focused. Men are renowned celebrities. Verse number five. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually. So not only do we have the ungodly, but now even the godly are being corrupted by the ways of the world. And verse number six, and it repented. This is the first mention of the word repent in the Bible. Okay? And who repents? It's God. Okay? Can repent mean turn from your sins? No. Otherwise, you're saying that God turned from sins. You're saying that God had sins. No. God is holy. You know, God is without sin. All right? And here we see that the Lord repented. You see, repentance can mean many things. It just means you've turned, you've changed your mind from one thing to another. We've covered that before, but let's keep going. And it says here, verse number six, that he repented that the Lord had made man on the earth, and he grieved him at his heart. So what is it that causes God to change his mind? He grieved him. He grieved him to see man in such a bad place. Verse number seven, the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for it repented me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The best part of that, right? We see how angry God gets at the wickedness of man. He spent that time creating such a beautiful earth and heaven and all the things inside the earth, all the beautiful creatures. And he gets to a point now where he just repents and says, I'm gonna destroy it all. That's so wicked, okay? And this is the God of the Bible. This is the God that we worship. He hates wickedness, all right? He hates it when we defile and corrupt ourselves with sin. And he says, I'm gonna destroy it. It says here, and Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. You know what this means? This means Noah was saved, right? Because how do we find grace in the eyes of the Lord? For by grace are you saved through faith, okay? That's how you can find grace in the sight of the Lord is by placing your faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, Noah was a saved man, okay? And because of one saved man, the Lord was like, you know what? I'm gonna try to save what I can. He still destroys the earth, but through Noah, he's able to save a lot of the creation of the creatures and the human race. Let's keep going there in verse number nine. We get to know a little bit more about Noah here. And such great words here. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man. So we know that that means he's saved, he's just. He says, and perfect. Now, was he really perfect? Was he without sin? No, of course he had the imputed righteousness of Christ upon him as a saved person. Perfect in his generation, but not only that, and Noah walked with God. You remember the last person that we read about who walked with God? That was Enoch, remember? And God loved him so much, he did not want Enoch to see death. Noah also walked with the Lord, he fellowshiped with the Lord. He had great faith in the Lord. All right, and let's keep reading in verse number 10. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. We'll learn more about them later on. The earth was also corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. Now, pay attention to the next two verses. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt. Now look at this. For all flesh has corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. I just want you to focus on the words there in verse number 12 and 13. He says, for all flesh, verse number 12. In verse 13, the end of all flesh is come before me. Why would God say these words, that the end of flesh has come before him? I'll tell you why. This is why we skipped to verse number three. Go back to verse number three now. Verse number three. And it says here, and the Lord said, my spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh, yet his days shall be 120 years. So we see that the Lord makes this sort of this commitment, this promise here of restricting man's days for 120 years. Some people say, well, maybe because they will live in hundreds and hundreds of years, God's now really limited their life to 120 years. I don't believe that's what's going on here at all. I think this ties into what we just read about the end of the days of the flesh has come upon him. That he's made this commitment that from this point here in verse number three, 120 years is gonna be left for man, and then he's gonna wipe them out. And that's why those days have come, or the end of the flesh has come upon him now, is that he made this promise back in verse number three. So that would mean that from the time God realizes, man, I'm gonna destroy this place. This place is wicked. He's now given 120 years before he actually does pour out his wrath on the earth. Now, if you guys can go to Genesis chapter five, verse 32, let me just give you some thoughts around this. Genesis chapter five, verse 32. It says here, the first mention of Noah, we see in the Bible, or the first time Noah is sort of mentioned here, it says here, and Noah was 500 years old, and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. So it was 500 years old here, when it's just referenced as being 500 years old. And then it says, go to Genesis seven, please. Genesis seven, verse six. How old was Noah when the flood came? How old was Noah? Genesis chapter seven, verse six. And Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth, okay? So some people think it took Noah 100 years to build the ark. And I'm in that boat. I believe the fact that he's referenced here is 500 years, and then he completed the ark, or the floods came when he was 600 years, I do believe that means that Noah built the ark for 100 years, okay? But it's like there was an extra 20 years prior to God telling Noah to build the ark, that's when he made the decision to destroy the earth, okay? So that's how some people argue, was it 100 years that he built his ark? Was it 120 years that he built his ark? I believe it was 100 years that he built his ark, but that God made the decision 120 years before he destroyed the earth to destroy the earth, okay? And I believe that ties in perfectly with those verses that we saw earlier. Let's go to verse 14, please, verse 14. Make thee, so these are the words of God to Noah. Make thee an ark of gopher wood, room shall thou make in the ark, and shall pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shall make of it. The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, and the height of it 30 cubits. A window shall thou make to the ark, and in a cubit thou shall finish it above, and the door of the ark shall thou set in the side thereof, with lower, second, and third stories, I don't wanna say too much about this, but we see that the ark was three stories high. I mean, God gives really a lot of detail as to what the ark should be like, okay, three stories. And then verse 17, and behold, I and even I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. From under heaven and everything that is in the earth shall die, but with thee will I establish my covenant, and thou shall come into the ark, thou and thy sons and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee, and of every living thing, of all flesh, two of every sort shall thou bring into the ark to keep them alive with thee, they shall be male and female. I won't go into it now, okay, but no homos on the ark, okay, no homos, just male and female, you know, married people and one of each animal, okay. Number 20, verse 20, of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort which shall come unto thee to keep them alive, and take thou unto thee all food that is eaten, and thou shall gather it to thee, and it shall be food for thee and for them. So just quickly, so the ark wasn't just made up of animals, but God made sure that there was enough room for there to be enough food for the animals, for the humans, you know, for the length of the flood there. And we'll get into that flood into the next chapter, but we'll just finish on verse number 22. And this is the lesson, you know, that we should take from all of this, okay. Verse number 22, thus did Noah, according to all that God commanded him, so did he. So you say, I'm not gonna live in a time when, oh, actually you might, you might live in a time when God pulls out his wrath on the earth, but you know, God's never gonna ask you to build a, you know, physical ark and take all the animals with you and all those kinds of things. But what we can learn from the example of Noah, and we end here, guys, is that we should be like Noah. We should be like Noah and do everything that God commands us to do. And John 14, verse 15, Jesus says these words, if you love me, keep my commandments. You know what that tells me about Noah? If he kept all the commandments that God gave him, that tells me that he loved God. And he was a man who definitely loved the Lord, who definitely wanted to keep the commandments that God had given him. And we too, we need to be that way, guys. If you love the Lord, if you love the Lord Jesus Christ, what he asks from you is that you keep all his commandments. All right, let's pray.