This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Genesis 1-6” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 26, 1978.

I do have a concern that we should change over and over again to understand that it is your words that do the talking, probably without the pardoning of your son. We stand at the risk of a trifle, particularly Peter, to declare the truth of God, but we have the words of eternal life.

So, Lord, you have asked this question as well, to whom shall we go? Certainly, Lord, there is no one who can know twice the life that You lead. In that life that You offer, there is a abundance of joy, there is a fulfillment, and there is delight immeasurable. Coming to You, Father, we are satisfied. We would ask, Father, that You would ever train us to be satisfied with what You do.

We pray this in Your name. Amen. Now, we’re never going to work through this package in Genesis 5 and 6, as it comes to focus now on Chapter 6. We suggested that for the statement of this package of scriptures in Genesis, that there is a theme. And the theme seems to be strife. Theme. Last week, we discussed what Lenin saw, Lenin, the father of Noah.

He, as a representative of the religious community of his day, what did he see in his father? Particularly, when his son was born to him, a symbol of his strength and power. He saw in his son the hope of the world. He saw in his son the realization of his own expectation and hope. He saw in his son the salvation that had been promised by God. Yet, though a man of faith, his faith was too focused upon this world. His faith was too much drawn to the works of the flesh. And in this land of faith, there was too much of a place for His own strength, His own power, and what was produced in that power, mainly, His own son.

As you would notice, then, in verse 2 of chapter 6, it speaks about the sons of God. What are they to deal with the sons of God this morning? But you’ll notice there that it speaks of the sons of God in terms of what they thought. It says that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful or that they were good, and they took wives for themselves whenever they chose.

So not only does the religious community see the origins as when it spoke, but also there is the community at large with which it sees, the community at large sees, and sees in terms of the things that are present in this world. We’ll be discussing that a little bit more later on. Does he see, also, that in verse five, not only does man see, not only does the religious community see, and of course it is the Pope, not only does man in general see, the sons of men or the sons of God, as they are spoken of here in this passage, but God sees.

God sees, in verse five, the wickedness of men. So in time he will come to deal with how God sees. And finally, in verse 8, we notice that this passage speaks about, in spite of God, the eyes of the warriors. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the warriors. That’s the pattern of our consideration. How does the religion of community speak? How does man and devil speak? How does God see man and devil? How does God see those who are the objects of His grace?

Now, there’s another dimension to this being we cite, to this being, to this passage, and that is the being that predominates this entire section of Genesis. You remember how we progressed through Genesis, taking Genesis 1.1 through Chapter 2, Verse 3, and suggesting that there we have a very definite Concentration on the theme of time, and then from Chapter 2, verse 4, through the end of the fourth chapter, verse 25, we said that the theme of that section is play, time and play.

But now we enter into a new section, chapter 5, verse 1, and that’s going to carry us through the end of the ninth chapter generally. I would suggest to you this morning that the theme, the overriding theme of that section of Scripture is power. Power. Things that would relate to that through the scriptures would be kingdom, sovereignty, strength, might. And very interestingly, in this section, the theme of sight and seeing play a very important role.

Maybe to suggest to you the direction that we might go in considering this theme and its relationship to sight, which we brought together for us in that quote famous of New Testament passages, John Chapter 3, where both sight and sovereignty are brought together in a rather remarkable way. Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night, has some very wonderful things to say about Jesus, and Jesus puts him off with these words.

Lest a man be born from a frog, he cannot seize the kingdom of God’s sovereignty. Sovereignty is science, not jealousy. And Jesus giving that orientation, which truly we need to hear, and need to hear today in proper portion. Unless a man is born from a thought, he cannot see the kingdom of God’s thought. That certainly gives us a lot to think about. doesn’t give us a lot of direction to consideration of this poisonous fiction.

So, it’s more than what I want to do with you, as I suggested to invest in the picture, is engage in a bit of digression. And that digression is going to focus upon the use of this term, or this phrase in chapter 6, verse 2, the sons of God. The passage begins, Now it came about that men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful.

And they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Again, it might be apparent to you that what is in view here is this combination of strife and sovereignty. The sovereignty that he’s been exercised to this day is something, I guess, made along the lines of, well, maybe the caricature of a caveman. Power exerted itself in such a way that these men of strength looked out on the world, they followed Him as they wanted, and they took that for themselves.

Certainly fodder for the organization of women and women’s will today. Now, my digression this morning deals with the matter of marriage. You see, it is getting tough for many to interpret this passage, but what we have here is the first example of the intermarriage between those who belong to God and those who belong to God. Suggested here, they say, is the fact that the sons of God are indicative of those who belong to the line of promise, the line of faith, and that these were essentially covenantal people, men who belonged to the covenantal fellowship and assembly, men who were of the believing line.

And they were looking out on the world, and they saw the beautiful women that had been born to the sons of men. And they went and they took them whomever they wished. And this was part of the reason for the downfall of even that last race, which left in its conclusion only one family who was perfect in its generation. I’m not suggesting that there isn’t a possibility for this interpretation. But I don’t believe, you see, that that’s what is being said here.

If we were to check throughout our Old Testament, we would see that the title, Sons of God, really refers to a special class of people, not those that are essentially believers or of the believing line, but those who are recognized in the world as having the position of authority and rulership. These Sons of God are those who stride about the world as God. They were men who took with themselves the authority and the power that belonged to God alone, and who demanded that they should be treated as gods in the world. And they went out in the name of that power and authority, and they did pretty much what they wanted to do, including the taking of women. This passage, then, does not deal with the intermarriage between believers and unbelievers.

But I want to take this opportunity to deal with that subject this morning, because I think it is vital. It is vital for us to be clear on this matter. It is vital for us to be instructing our children in this matter. And so, therefore, I think it is appropriate for us to spend some time this morning looking into this matter. Even if we are denied the use of this passage in our defense of the position that believers should not marry unbelievers, there is the overwhelming testimony of Scripture with regard to that matter.

The patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were all equally concerned about who their children would marry. We remember the story of Isaac and Rosetta, how much they were put out because of a little These analogies narrate those who were of the surrounding tribe, who were practicing the most horrifying customs in their religion. They did not want that faith to also lead Jacob, and they sent him north to their family so that he might find a wife from amongst their own tribe. We think of the stories in the times of the Exodus. How it was true that the Israelites, when they were wandering about, were seduced by We think about the commandments that were given in the law, how the Israelites were forbidden to enter Mary with the Canaanites and with the tribes that surrounded the land. We remember the tragedy of Solomon and how he took to himself poor and wise, and how those poor and wise, because of their devotions, their devotions to other gods led to the demise of the southern kingdoms. And we also think of how Israel, when it re-entered the land, came under the judgment of God, executed by Exodus 3, because they were intent upon marrying the unbeliever that surrounded them.

You might say, well, that’s the Old Testament. The New Testament assumes the Old Testament. And we could nearly turn to some passages in the New Testament that suggest to us that, according to the apostolic word, Marriage in the Lord is the only marriage that is permitted for Christians. You could look, for instance, at 1 Corinthians 7, verse 39. A wife is bound as long as her husband lives, but if her husband is dead, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, but only in the Lord. And that phrase, in the Lord, is indicative of a believing relationship between whomever she marries and God.

Some years ago, it’s true that the United Presbyterian Church, in its Book of Orders, dropped this provision. Its introduction to the Churches up to a few years ago was that marriages conducted in the Church are to be open to the Lord, believer with believer. That was the position. That position has been changed. And as we know, the United Presbyterian Church has progressed much further than that in recognizing what kind of relationship our maturity is working in.

The pastor sits in a Sunday school class in which there are many families represented, but there are no married couples there together. There is no husband and wife scene, and he listens as the individual members of the family flat out about the guilty of marriage. His heart is broken because he knows that there isn’t one alone with an accident. And the reason why they’re unhappy is because in every day, twenty, fifteen, twelve years ago, they married unbelievers. It was a rule, in fact, which they rationalized at the time. Love conquers all. You know the propaganda. But now, the tragedy has set in.

A youth leader, meeting with his group on a Sunday evening, is discussing with the youth of the Church the matter of marriage and trying to give them direction. He encourages them to search out the Scriptures with regard to the matter of whom they should seek at the navel. He tells them that they should seek out the Christian youth. One that will support them in their worship, in their attitudes, in their heart relationships with God. He’s a bold man, this day. Two weeks later, there is no reason. It’s a heartless fault, I know that, especially in our day of liberty and freedom, to guarantee the Constitution and human rights. I know this is hard language. This is heartless fault.

But first of all, we have to recognize that the Church given him the ability to do this, In fact, we only marry because we’ve been granted that right by the state. And because the state grants the Church the right to marry, that we marry. Even in ancient Israel, marriages were not Church services. They were not Church weddings, they were civil ceremonies. But in our day and age, because of the development of the Church in Western and Eastern societies, we now have the privilege to be proud of a state, to offer marriage, but to whom?

To anyone who comes knocking on our door? How many times did my first pastor, in a small community, I would get up from the dinner table to answer the phone or to answer a knock at the door, And there’d be a young man or a young woman standing there, or someone like that on the other end of the phone, walking me to perform a ceremony for me.

Who were they? I didn’t know. Where did they come from? I didn’t know. Were they Christians? Well, yeah, they were Christians. And when I would question them more deeply on that matter, they could not dig in this patient’s face. They did not understand the grace of God in Jesus’ presence. It was evident that they were not Christians at all. And yet, they wanted a marriage through Church. They thought that they were deserving of the blessing of the Church in their youth, even though they did not recognize Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Now, this is the age of honesty, is it not? This is the age in which we’re all putting off our hypocrisy, is it not? Why should we, if we are not Christians, want a Church of prayer? Why should we stand in the Church and ask that we have Christ’s blessing pronounced upon us in our union if we have no love within this Church to begin with? It really doesn’t make much sense, does it?

But I know the thoughts that go through our heads. Church weddings are so pretty. I love the sound of the organ. My sister had a church organ. I want you to know that it is your pastor that they should have conviction. And unless a couple can give me convincing testimony with regard to their relationship to Jesus Christ, I will not support them. We should be encouraging today our children to make professional faith in Jesus Christ, to come to a knowledge of the truth, So that in future years, when we’re faced with embarrassing circumstances, we’re not in the position of being outraged because we were denied what we felt was a legitimate service on the part of the Church as a Catholic Latter-day Saint.

I think that there’s a public space, and so there are people trying to convey this to me. Hey, don’t worry about it. I think that there, in conclusion, I’d like to speak about another matter that is somewhat related. And this is a sermon in itself, but I just want to briefly mention it because I have been asked about it by a number of the people in this church. I read this section from 1 Corinthians 7 today, not simply because it’s the most confusing passage of the whole Bible, but because, as well, it sets priorities. And it not only sets priorities for people who are thinking about marriage, and for married couples, but it sets wonderfully priorities for people who are single.

And that’s why I want to speak about this matter this morning in conclusion, as an extension of what I’ve already said in regards to them. I don’t think our modern society, nor our Church, especially the Protestant Church, understands what Paul is speaking about in 1 Corinthians 7. The reason they don’t is because they have an inadequate view of heaven. Paul encourages these three entities to take upon themselves, or to assume the condition that he himself is experiencing, to remain as he is.

He is famous. He thinks that that’s the best state. And he does. Why? It’s not because if you’re single you can give all your time to the church. It’s because of what Jesus has said in Matthew 22. You might want to look at that. In Matthew 22, Jesus gives us an argument. Yes, Jesus argues. Jesus gets into an argument with the Sadducees, and the Sadducees in the letter call him to leave the resurrection. And they put him in this precocious situation.

They say, Teacher, Moses said in verse 24, this is Matthew 22, verse 24, If a man dies having no children, his brother that makes his kin shall marry his wife, and raise up an offspring for his brother. Now, there were seven brothers in this, and the first married and died, and having no offspring, left his wife and his brothers.

So also the second, third, and the seventh. And last of all, the woman died. Now, verse 48, this great conclusion. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven shall she be? For they all have it. But Jesus answered and said to them, you are mistaken, not understanding, or not seeing, not seeing the scriptures, or the power, sovereignty of God, themes of sovereignty and seeing, again brought together by Jesus. For in the resurrection, They neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are wife to angels and angels.”

Do you understand the argument of Paul now? The single person among us is privileged, and that person is treated as privileged with the utmost respect. Why? Because that person, even today, is a picture of the final state in heaven. A picture of resurrection and heaven on earth. Don’t you any longer allow yourself to look down on a new person who is going to the same place. You give them a special place, and you see in them the sermon that eloquently comes forth from them, that they truly picture to us today of the eternal state. That’s why their condition is best among us.

Our Father in Heaven, we ask you that you would teach us about this very difficult matter of marriage. That you might help us to understand, that you might demonstrate to us all the worth in our relationships with our husbands and our wives. And we pray, Father, that you could really Since we are in a state where we believe in Our Lady’s presence, we ask You to be gracious to us, and that You inspire the words of Your love to bring about a wonderful reconciliation in Christ. Amen. We pray, Father, that the position of the Church might become ever more clear to the settlers, and that in this church we might not become outraged when our pastor is constrained by the principles of the Word to do things which we disagree. We pray that the Lord that we might understand and begin to prepare our children for the days to come. so that they might make confession of same-self, and that they might begin to develop within them those attitudes and perspectives that will help and encourage them in choosing a mate. We pray, as well, that You might encourage our cleansing and our respect and our love for those who are sinless, and that we might see in them today a glimpse of eternity. and that we might rejoice in their ministry among us, and how they and their persons are help and servants to us of this very day. Do forgive us of our sins, keep us from evil, guard our way, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.