Passing the Baton of the Gospel – Part 1

Here's Ann Graham Lutz. So this is interesting to say to you. God has no grandchildren. You have to come to Him yourself. Put your faith in Him. Grasp the gospel for yourself.

So when did you do that? Welcome to Living in the Light with Bible teacher Ann Graham Lutz. Passing the baton of the gospel is the title of Ann's message today. It's taken from Genesis chapter 5. There, Ann will reveal how this baton of the gospel started with Adam and Eve. They both received the baton while being face to face with God.

Then it was their responsibility to pass the baton to Cain, Abel, and Seth. We'll also discover in today's message the consequential penalty when the baton is dropped. Here now is Ann with more. Haven't given this message before so it's not familiar. So I'm going to stumble through it but I believe it's what God has put on my heart for you and for me.

So this is for me too. Just because I want you to know I know I need Him. Pray with me. Lord Jesus we bow before you now and oh how we thank you for your presence. We thank you for your grace that has led us to know you in a personal living loving relationship. We thank you for the gospel and so we're asking now Lord that you just awaken our hearts and open up our spiritual ears and our minds to understand what you're trying to convey to us as grandparents and parents. I ask please for your blessing Lord and we don't deserve it but I'm asking for it. In the name of Jesus I know if you don't bless us if you don't bless this message we're not going to be blessed because all blessing comes from you. So would you just give us everything that you have for us and we'll give you all the glory and praise in Jesus name.

Amen. One of the blessings of being this age is that I can look back and of course I can see God's fingerprints in my life and the way He was moving and arranging my life according to a pattern that I didn't know at the beginning of my life but what else I can see are the generations that pass and at this point I'm more or less the matriarch in my family. I never expected to be in this position but my parents are both in heaven, my husband's parents are both in heaven, my husband is in heaven and so I'm the eldest. I have three children, three grandchildren and pray that I'll live to see great-grandchildren but I'm aware that the generations are moving on. Have you felt that maybe when you're at the grave of a loved one or just you've had your own health issues and you know that the generations are moving on. It reminds me of one of my favorite sporting events it's the four by one hundred relay race so I don't know if you follow sports or the Olympics perhaps is where we watch it but it's made up of several teams but each team has four runners in the team and they're staggered along the track and the first runner is in the starting box he's gripping a baton and when the gun goes off that first runner runs as fast as he can gripping the baton when he comes to the second runner he's out stretches his arm the second runner is already in motion he reaches back to grab the baton they pass the baton the second runner runs his lap as fast as he can gets to the third runner and the third runner passes of the fourth and so on until the race is finished and the race is won not only by the team that runs the fastest but who passed the baton the smoothest because if you bobble the baton you lose precious seconds and if you drop the baton you're disqualified at this stage looking back on my life I can see the baton I'm going to label the baton the gospel it really is the truth that leads to faith in Jesus Christ and you and I are given the baton the gospel and we are to pass it to the next generation and the next generation and the next generation so when I look at our world and I look at the next generation coming along I just wonder if we are bobbling or dropping that baton because the next generation seems so lost something but to illustrate this point and the necessity of what this means I've chosen as my passage Genesis chapter 5 if you have your Bible or you have it on your device or your smartphone if you'll turn to Genesis 5 but I want to go back to the beginning you know that in the beginning God created everything and he created Adam and Eve for the purpose of knowing him enjoying fellowship with him working with him for the purpose of having a personal relationship and think about it Adam and Eve could see the light in his eyes when he would come into the garden to greet them they could hear the sound of his audible voice they knew the touch of his hand they worked with them in the garden so they had access to his strength and his wisdom and his guidance and it was heaven paradise on earth and they enjoyed the personal relationship with the creator of the universe in a rich wonderful perfect way and Adam and Eve decided there was something better what could be better you know the story they sinned and were removed from the garden their sins separated them from God but what I want you to pick up on is that before they were removed from the garden God killed an animal and clothed them in its skins covering them in their nakedness their shame their guilt and the Bible doesn't tell us but because of what happens in the next generation he must have taught them that the way back into reconciliation with him the way that you approach God now when you're separated from him is through a blood sacrifice he taught them in a very old testament very beginning way the gospel and we see that when they had their sons coming along they had three sons and Cain was the oldest Abel was the second and Seth was the third and they had other sons and daughters but those are the three that I'm going to talk about Cain was taught by his parents to approach God through a sacrifice and you know he was taught to approach God through a blood sacrifice even as God had taught Adam and Eve and this is something that I just want to point out because I'm going to pull it through that Adam and Eve received that baton of the gospel face to face okay God gave it to them and now once they're out of the garden it's relayed faith to faith so Adam and Eve relayed it to their son Cain but Cain decided you know something my best is good enough I don't have to come to God the way he says I'm going to bring him my best fruit my best grains my best harvest and you know God you just need to meet me on my terms and God didn't accept this sacrifice and can I just tell you there are a lot of Cain's out there in our world today who just think you know God if I am sincere enough religious enough doing good things my good works outweigh my bad works you owe it to me to accept me and let me into heaven that was Cain and God did not accept Cain's sacrifice and he will not accept a sacrifice that comes to him like that Abel on the other hand was the second born son Abel offered God a blood sacrifice and I'm not sure why but Abel was grasping that baton of the gospel for himself and I believe that he learned that in the home and you know sitting around in the evening after the toil and sweat of the day that Adam and Eve must have talked about what it was like to live in God's presence and to know him in that personal relationship and to enjoy him and serve with him and work with him and somehow Abel was quickened and he wanted that for himself and so he approached God through the blood sacrifice and God accepted Abel's sacrifice so if I can just ask you when did you grasp that baton of the gospel for yourself why did you was it something that you saw in your parents was it something you saw in your grandparents was it something maybe a church through a pastor or something you saw in some other context but when have you approached God through faith in Jesus Christ claiming the blood sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for yourself I can't remember the year but it was eight or nine years of age I remember it was on a good Friday I'd watched a picture a movie about Jesus on television and when it was over I knew that he had died for me I can't explain that I just believe the Holy Spirit worked in my heart and I was convicted of my sin I got down on my knees in my bedroom at my parents house and I said Jesus if your death didn't benefit anybody else I want it to be worth it for me and I'm sorry for all the wrong things I've done and I ask you to forgive me I want Jesus to be my savior and come into my heart I invited him into my heart I didn't know all the things I know now to say but I was repenting of my sin asked him to come into my heart and I believe he did so I believe as a young girl using a new testament phrase I was born again into God's family because just because I'm Billy Graham's daughter doesn't mean I'm a member of God's family right so this is interesting to say to you God has no grandchildren you have to come to him yourself put your faith in him grasp the gospel for yourself so when did you do that and you know this is something I wondered have you ever told your children and your grandchildren about that moment in time have you ever told them when you received Christ by faith as your savior and I wonder if you haven't I want to challenge you to do that my husband left very quickly he's in heaven and it was horrific and it was sudden and I was so thankful that he had already told all of us when he was a little boy of five years of age in vacation bible school the leader gave him a verse he ran home he claimed Jesus for himself he was born again into God's family and it was such a comfort when I sat there beside him in ICU and we had to disconnect him and let him go on to heaven to know that this life is not all there is that I would see him again I remember his doctor came in I put my hands on his doctor's shoulders and I sort of shook him and I said if you were in this situation would your family know you're saved that you're going to heaven have you ever told them that you've been born again he told me that he had come to faith but but have you ever told your family so that's just a challenge to you okay and what I see in Abel is an a very powerful witness because he sacrificed in the way God required and let me just underscore this again if I can what is the gospel for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him would not perish but of everlasting life there's no other name given under heaven among men whereby you can be saved except Jesus Jesus said I'm the way the truth the life no man comes to the father except through me now that's the truth and people can say what they want and in our woke cancel culture they can come up with all their other things but we stand firm on the gospel and Abel stood firm amen amen Abel stood firm and his brother called him out in the field and murdered him Hebrews 11 4 says by faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did because it was the one that God required by faith he was commended as a righteous man when God spoke well of his offerings and by faith he still speaks even though he's dead so if you follow Schofield's timeline that was at least 6 000 years ago so for 6 000 years Abel's blood has been speaking what is his blood saying and I think his blood is saying you and I need to stand up for the gospel we need to speak out for the gospel even if it means we risk rejection from our family even if it means we risk persecution because the gospel is worth living for and the gospel is worth dying for amen so it was a powerful witness and Abel's witness reverberated through the generations that we see in chapter 5 and I believe today you read stories today of people I won't get on a rabbit trail but people in the Muslim world in particular who are coming to faith have Jesus dreams and then they meet somebody who tells them what it means and they come to faith and they know when they put their faith in Jesus it's a death sentence they're told that when you put your faith in Jesus you very probably will die for that relation and they do it anyway coming to Jesus by the thousands maybe the millions it's just thrilling to see what's happening in the middle east but I just say that because we've had it so good here we don't risk our lives we're just afraid our neighbor will raise their eyebrows or we won't be invited to a social event it's time to lay that aside and you grasp that baton of the gospel and wrap yourself around it take a stand on it and yes we present it lovingly and winsomely and share what Jesus means to us and then I think when the world is melting down today there are a lot of people that want to hear and one way I've tried to bear witness is when I go into a restaurant and have a meal and I'll just ask the waiter or waitress if I can pray for them and I've only had one and that was recently she said no she was okay but I've had waiters and waitresses stand there tell me how to pray for them and wait until I took their hand and prayed with them for them tears coming down their cheeks people are looking for hope they're looking for peace they're looking for love it's a wonderful time today take that gospel that's in your hand you pass it on to somebody else never mind if it's not your child or grandchild okay we just pass it to the people that God brings across our path so Abel had a powerful witness and he was single so I think he must have been murdered before he married and had children we're not told if he had a family implication is that he did not but he had a younger brother he had a little brother Seth and Seth was born after Abel was murdered but Seth you know heard the story that Adam and Eve told and Seth could see the difference between his brother Cain and his brother Abel and Seth chose to grasp that baton and pass it to his son and it's his son that I want to pick up on his son is Enosh so not Enoch we're going to talk about Enoch in a moment this is Enosh where they got these names I don't know but they're tongue twisters but anyway chapter five verse one when God created man he made him in the likeness of God he created the male and female and bless them and can I just stop for a minute all right you get it okay God does not make mistakes so for people out there who are struggling with their gender God loves you can I just say if God loves you yes he does he has a plan and purpose for your life but he doesn't make mistakes you were born the way he designed you to be verse six when Seth had lived 105 years he became the father of Enosh now you go back up to chapter 426 you pick up a fact about Enosh that I want to emphasize Seth also had a son he named him Enosh at that time men began to call on the name of the Lord so I'll label Enosh as one who not only witnessed but he worshipped and calling on the name of the Lord that's prayer for sure but it's worship dwelling on his names and the meaning of each one he's God he's Elohim he's the creator he's the Lord he's Jehovah you know four years ago I was diagnosed with cancer and so I went to the hospital about 30 minutes away and went through surgery and then chemotherapy for I can't remember months and months way too long it seemed like and then radiation every day for a month my daughters Maro and Rachel Ruth went with me and one of the things we did I started out as a game just to distract me in the car as we drove over but we'd go through the alphabet and we'd come up with as many different names for Jesus for each letter of the alphabet as we could and since then I have used an alphabetized list of the names of Jesus when I can't sleep at night when I'm worried when I feel oppressed when the evil in the world when I watch the news at night or catch it online and I just you know how you feel and say the names of Jesus I may forget the alphabet you'll have to help me okay he's the alpha he's the bread of life he's Christ the creator of the universe he's the defender of the weak the deliverer he's Emmanuel he's a friend of sinners gee he's God he's the holy one he's the I am he's H I J Jesus Jehovah K king of kings lord of lords Messiah master the Nazarene he is the omega he's the prince of peace he's the quickener and a new life he's the redeemer he's our savior and I couldn't think of one for you so I'll just say he's undefiled okay it's not really a name it's an adjective and v he's the victor w he's the wisdom of God xyz I put together he's exalted to sit at the right hand of the father where he ever lives to make intercession for you and me so amen call on the name of the lord in second chronicles 20 Jehoshaphat was facing this huge army and the enemy had come after him and he didn't know what to do his eyes were on the lord but before he went to battle he sent the choir out first and the choir preceded the army and they were singing praises and the enemy was defeated there is power in praise power in the name of Jesus and Enosh when he worshipped other people gathered and worshipped also and I don't know what caused Enosh to grasp that baton for himself but this is where I wonder if he looked at the difference between his uncle Cain and his uncle Abel because Cain when God had come to him and said Cain sin is creeping at your door you need to deal with it he didn't and he murdered Abel and he was filled with jealousy rage anger bitterness he never had peace he wandered from place to place but this is interesting he built an incredible civilization it was Cain's descendants that were the artists the musicians the builders the warriors the craftsmen his genealogy is in chapter 4 but God doesn't pay much attention to it Adam is not in that genealogy and that's the civilization by the way that these 10 men in chapter 5 are living in and it's the same civilization in chapter 6 that God said the intents and thoughts of their hearts are evil all the time thoroughly saturated in wickedness and rebellion and sin they actually are the ones that provoke the judgment of God in the flood so Enosh in the middle of all of that chooses to be more like Abel Abel who believed so much in the gospel that he would take a stand for it and he would worship and approach God in the way God said and give his life for it and Enosh chose to call him the name of the Lord so Jesus said in John chapter 4 verse 24 he told the woman at the well God is seeking those who worship him in spirit and in truth and to worship him in spirit means that you're indwelt with the Holy Spirit because you're invited Jesus to come live in you and and the Holy Spirit is Jesus in you but also in the sweet spirit a sincere spirit you're authentic in your faith and then in truth so according to the truth of who Jesus is that you've claimed Jesus as your savior but the truth of God's word and so you worship God in spirit and in truth and that kind of worship an authentic life of faith lived out privately publicly is contagious in Revelation chapter 4 I love this scene but the Lamb of God is seated on the throne and around him are four living creatures and they're the ones that did all sorts of work in the Old Testament but it says they never ceased to worship holy holy holy is the Lord God almighty so you think is that a contradiction because it says they never ceased to worship but at the same time we know they took visions and dreams to Ezekiel and to Daniel and whatever but I think it's as they worshiped they did their work their worship never ceased they cultivated that presence of God in their lives and then the 24 kings seated around the lamb they fall down on their faces and worship him and then the millions of angels fall down and they worship him and then it says every creature on heaven and on earth falls down and worship the lamb who's seated on the throne and all glory and power to him who sits on the throne all glory and power and wisdom and honor and praise be unto Jesus and the universe rocks and praise I think it's at that moment that every knee bows and every tongue confesses Jesus is Lord whether people want to or not there's no there's something about praise of Jesus especially if it costs you something so can I tell you what disaster has come into your life have you been diagnosed with a life-threatening disease or maybe you've gone through a divorce maybe the death of a loved one a spouse I don't know you know what it is but do you ever say God why and why has this happened and I don't and I don't deserve this and I've been trying to serve you and I don't but but I want to flip your thinking for a moment because Peter says in chapter one verses seven and eight you may have had to suffer grief at all kinds of trials but these are that your faith may be proved genuine may result in praise glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed and he's revealed to your children and your grandchildren when you go through something really difficult and you're still praising Jesus genuinely still in love with Jesus genuinely I knew when I was diagnosed with cancer God was so good because he gave me an incredible sense of an assignment that this cancer was for his glory and I didn't know if I would die from it I don't know if I'd be healed from it I didn't know if I had to go through all those horrible treatments but but I knew he'd given me a platform so that I could show anybody who was watching that bad things happen to those God loves and I knew God loved me so that wasn't in question and this bad thing had happened but was it for the purpose of showing other people that he can allow bad things to go through our lives and we maintain our worship and we maintain our witness and encourage others who were in a difficult journey because we're promised aren't we in Psalm 23 4 when you pass through the valley of the shadow of death I'll be with you Isaiah 43 when you go through the river you won't be overcome I'll be with you and I can testify through all the hard things in my life robbery the death of my husband my own cancer journey and many other things I won't take time to share but God has been with me living in the light is a weekly study in God's word with teacher and author and Graham lots learn to listen to his voice then start making the choice to keep on going and believing and trusting who God is go to and Graham lots.org take advantage of the many helpful free resources to get you started join us again for living in the light.