sons of God – Praying Pint

35.u. “When man began to multiply on the face of the land”

Genesis 6:1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

There are numerous thoughts on the Nephilim and where they came from or were a product of. In general these are two of those paths of thought.

The Nephilim were the heroes of old, men of renown. The people of the world were in a state of moral decay, and had fallen spiritually. The word nephilim is not a name title, and it should have been translated as the “fallen ones.”. It is referring to those who have fallen spiritually and are in moral decline.
The Nephilim (“fallen ones, giants”) were the offspring of sexual relationships between the sons of God and daughters of men in Genesis 6:1–4. There is much debate as to the identity of the “sons of God.” It is our opinion that the “sons of God” were fallen angels (demons) who mated with human females or possessed human males who then mated with human females. These unions resulted in offspring, the Nephilim, who were “heroes of old, men of renown”

I don’t find it important to have conclusion on Nephilim coming from sons and daughter of Seth marrying sons and daughters of Cain or sons and daughters of Seth and Cain marrying with fallen angels. What is important is the moral decay that takes place when God is cast aside and mankind determines their own paths in life. Man, void of God and things of God will always decay to a culture / society that is perverse, its moral compass lost, and where evil is the norm. The longer man lives apart from God the worse his state of mind and affairs. Man, apart from God, will devise plans, ideas, and earthly forms of right and wrong. Though the whole world claim something is right and true, if it is wrong in the eyes of God, it is wrong and false. Though the whole world claim things of God are wrong and false, if it is right in the eyes of God and God ordained, it is right and true. This is why it is important to know things of God, study His Word, and humbly serve, trust, obey, follow, and rely on Him. When we understand that our sole purpose this side of eternity is to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all we think, say, and do, it is then we will walk paths that are pleasing to God in whom we find true peace, joy, hope, courage, meaning, satisfaction, grace, mercy, and love.

30.v. “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,”

Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Psalms 120:6  Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace.

Romans 12:18    If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

James 3:16-18   For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.  And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Romans 14:19    So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

Hebrews 12:14   Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

2 Timothy 2:22-24   So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.  Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.  And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,

Galatians 5:22   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

James 1:19-20    Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

Ephesians 4:1    I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

“The verse which precedes it speaks of the blessedness of ‘the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ It is well that we should understand this. We are to be ‘first pure, then peaceable.’ Our peaceableness is never to be a compact with sin, or an alliance with that which is evil. We must set our faces like flints against everything which is contrary to God and his holiness. That being in our souls a settled matter, we can go on to peaceableness towards men.” (Spurgeon)

We commonly think of this peacemaking work as being the job of one person who stands between two fighting parties. This may be one way this is fulfilled; but one can also end a conflict and be a peacemaker when they are party to a conflict; when they are the offended or the offender. (Guzik)

We will always have the opportunity to offer peace. It can be an encouragement to be peaceful to someone who has been offended, hurt, chided, etc….. and is not at peace about it. Our encouragement might be to help them see it from another view. It might be to just let them know we understand and encourage them to be peaceable in their situation for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ. Last year I watched unrestrained riots, looting, and destruction. Those in the leadership of these cities, in the guise of trying to bring peace, tried to defend allowing these actions to go unchecked or stopped. This by all means is not being a peacemaker. It is weakness and cowardly. This same mindset would allow a person to be raped if the offender seemed to have a reason for their offense. Utter foolish thinking and leadership. Being a peacemaker may mean we will have to jump in and restrain during an offense. Protecting the weak or outnumbered or overpowered is also being a peacemaker.

Discernment is critical. When you hear what is proclaimed through social media and other media news outlets on their take on what brings peace, rest assured they are basing it on false worldly ideas that run contrary to Scripture. Peace is never obtained by divisiveness. What they are proclaiming may make worldly sense and may even sound like it could be right. This is why it is critical to have God’s Word in your life, written on your heart, mind, and soul. How else will you be able to discern worldly from godly? When there is no acknowledgment of God, Jesus Christ, and Scripture, people will do what seems right in their own eyes. Be a workman of God who is able to rightly divide the Word of Truth from worldly passions and ideas from what is right and wrong. Peacemakers must be rooted firmly in Jesus Christ, and continually learn more and more understanding and knowledge from God’s Word, with a desire to learn and apply it. Discernment will not come to those who are not seeking it.

19.u. “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God”

Romans 8:12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Paul constantly reminds us that living after the flesh ends in death. We need the reminder because we are often deceived into thinking that the flesh offers us life. We have no obligation to oblige or pamper fleshly and worldly desires. Our debt is to the Lord, not to the flesh. Paul tells us that not only are we saved by the work of the Spirit, but we also must walk by the Spirit if we want to grow and pursue holiness in the Lord. We cannot be like some among the Galatians who thought they could begin in the Spirit but then find spiritual perfection through the flesh. Paul didn’t say, “As many as go to church, these are the sons of God.” He didn’t say, “As many as read their Bibles, these are the sons of God.” He didn’t say, “As many as are patriotic Americans, these are the sons of God.” He didn’t say, “As many as take communion, these are the sons of God.” In this text, the test for sonship is whether or not a person is led by the Spirit of God. (Guzik)

We are led as we cooperate with the leading. “It does not say, ‘As many as are driven by the Spirit of God.’ No, the devil is a driver, and when he enters either into men or into hogs he drives them furiously. Remember how the whole herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea. Whenever you see a man fanatical and wild, whatever spirit is in him it is not the Spirit of Christ.” (Spurgeon)

Where does the Holy Spirit lead us?

· He leads us to repentance.

· He leads us to think little of self and much of Jesus.

· He leads us into truth.

· He leads us into love.

· He leads us into holiness.

· He leads us into usefulness.

A surrendered soul with a desire to honor and glorify Jesus will have their eyes focused on Jesus Christ and their hearts that are listening for the leading of the Holy Spirit.

4.l. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

Revelation 12:9-10 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Satan the deceiver and accuser. The false one. The liar. The tempter. How many have never seen the love of Jesus Christ because of this liar? How many have been tempted away by his lies? How many have believed his accusations? Satan will try to deceive us. He will show us the tempting shining lights of health, wealth, prosperity, and fame. He will accuse us and tell us we are unworthy of the Love of Jesus Christ. He will tell us we are a failure. He will tell us we are not or cannot be forgiven. He will tell us God can’t help us or won’t help us. Satan is very real. He knows are weaknesses, pride, jealousy, envy, greed, and hatred. He will prowl looking for the opportunity to attack us with lies and temptations for he knows our sinful nature much better than us. How are we to stand against this foe?

Are we worthy of the grace, mercy, and love of Jesus Christ? No. Are we good enough to warrant forgiveness? No. Have we done anything that Jesus Christ should grant us eternity with Him? No. Have we sinned? Yes. Do we sin? Yes. Does Jesus Christ know all of our sins past and present? Yes. Satan will use questions like these and offer answers that seem to proper and true, but they are lies intended to confuse, intimidate, worry, pleasure, gratify, and delight self-worth, self-esteem, self-regard, self-respect, self-love, self-importance, self-satisfaction, and self-reliance. He does this to get us to reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to live self-centered lives that are blind and deaf to the leading of the Holy Spirit and the awesome power, might, strength, and love of God.

Jesus went to the cross while we were yet unworthy sinners. He did this for us as we were and are. He did this because He loved us. He did this to give us hope. He did this to give us purpose. He did this to give us opportunity of forgiveness, joy, peace, strength, grace, mercy, and love in and through His redemption made possible and perfect through His sacrifice on the cross and the promise of the indwelling Holy Spirit to all those who believe in Him, confess their sin, repent, and by faith cling to, rely on, and trust in Him. “Greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world!”

John 3:16-21 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

1.h. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

1 Chronicles 21:1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. And David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, Go, number Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know the sum of them. And Joab said, Jehovah make his people a hundred times as many as they are: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? why doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of guilt unto Israel? Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem. And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword. But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them; for the king’s word was abominable to Joab. And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel. And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing: but now put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

Job 1:6-12 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”

Zechariah 3:1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.

Matthew 4:3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

John 13:2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,

Acts 5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?

James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Satan is very real. Satan temps us and is able to see weaknesses within us. Satan is able to temp our lust for sex, want of and reliance in wealth and intelligence, and exploitation of our anger, pride, honor, and need for recognition, and a host of other self-seeking, self-centered fleshly and earthly desires. Do we think we are immune to these attacks? Do we even know when we are being attacked? Is it possible that we give in so easily to our sinful nature that we don’t even need to be tempted?

If God’s word is not in our heart, mind, and soul there will be a good chance that we will yield to our sinful natures’ desires rather than needing to be tempted by Satan. If God’s word is in our heart, mind, and soul then we need to be mindful of Satan’s temptations. Satan’s attacks and temptations are to get us to yield to our sinful nature. The only way we will know these attacks, is by knowing God’s word and testing our thoughts, actions, and words against it. We need to seek to be filled with the wisdom and understanding of God’s word through time in it and yielding to the indwelling and filling and leading of the Holy Spirit.

God’s word within our heart, mind, and soul will strengthen us to be courageous, empower us to be victorious, and give us hope and faith to rely on, cling too, and trust in Jesus Christ. Do not yield. Do not give in. Stay in His word and learn what is sinful nature and what is tempting to it. Combat it with the word of God and an intentional choice to live humbly serving, honoring, following, trusting, and obeying Jesus Christ.