O God, our Father, God of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God of the prophets, priests, and kings. God of Isaiah and Jeremiah, God of Daniel and Ezekiel, God of Moses and Joshua, God of David. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, your only Son, our Lord, begotten, not created. We give You praise, and now we ask for your blessing, that we might have ears to hear and understand and obey Your Word aright. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

We come this morning to Genesis chapter 5. First book in the Bible, the fifth chapter. It’s one of great things about preaching verse by verse, chapter by chapter, through the Bible, is that you don’t just get to pick the sections that are the obvious high points from Abraham almost sacrificing Isaac, Joseph and his amazing technicolor dream coat. No, you get all of it. You get the genealogies, you get the names, you get the lists, you get the numbers, and that’s important because all of Scripture is breathed out by God, and all of it is profitable for us.

And actually, to let you in on a little secret, as a preacher I kind of like the passages that don’t seem obvious on the face of it because I think, “I’m gonna learn something, maybe I can teach these people something that they haven’t learned before.” So I’m excited to dive in to this genealogy, the first of several in Genesis and many, many of them in the Bible.

Follow along as I read from Genesis 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 815 years and 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 Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Mahalalel 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,