In this lesson, Pastor Dave Capoccia examines the account of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:1-15 and looks to answer three main questions: why did Cain become angry to the point of murder, why was Cain’s sacrifice rejected when Abel’s was accepted, and from where did Cain get his wife?
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good morning let’s begin Sunday school with a word of prayer Lord God what a wonderful day to study your word even the parts Lord that present sad happenings they are very instructive for us so I pray that you would instruct your people today through me and that we all would be blessed because of it in Jesus name amen we spent the last two lessons looking at a very critical piece of Earth’s history that sea of the Seven Seas of history and answers in genesis’s outline called corruption about 6,000 years ago the very first two humans Adam and Eve they changed their minds about God as to whether God is really good God is really holy God is really worthy of all worship and obedience they thus exalted themselves they rebelled and they ate the forbidden fruit this was the fall last week we more specifically examine the effects of the Fall man in his world were comprehensively cursed yet God also showed mercy and even promised a saving seed to come these effects of the Fall were inaugurated immediately after the first sin and God’s confrontation of man and woman but the greater illustration of these effects would only come later through the passage of time and in today’s lesson we’re going to see a dramatic example of just how much had changed for man as a result of the Fall the title of today’s lesson in our series the consequences of sin is Cain kills Abel this account is of course another one of the great tragedies of human history but it’s also another clear display of the goodness of God and the hope of the Gospel so in examining this historic EP episode we will see just as Israel did or was meant to see we will see more about who we are as sinners in desperate need of God but we will also see more about who God is as the holy and Merciful Savior here’s our agenda for today’s lesson we will first examine the account of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4 then we’ll more specifically ask and answer why did Cain get angry and why was his sacrifice rejected and then we’ll discuss an important apologetic question and that is where did Cain get his wife let’s start by turning to and reading the account of Cain and Abel in Genesis 41-15 take your Bibles and head to that very early passage it’s just page four if you’re using the Pew Bible Genesis 41-15 and we will read now the man had relations with his wife Eve and she conceived and gave birth to Cain and she said I have gotten a Manchild with the help of the Lord that is the Hebrew Yahweh again she gave birth to his brother Abel and Abel was a keeper of flocks but Cain was a tiller of the ground Abel on his part also brought of the I’m sorry script verse so it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh of the fruit of the ground abelon his part also brought of the first slings of his flock and of their fat portions and Yahweh had regard for Abel and for his offering but for Cain and for his offering he had no regard so Cain became very angry and his countenance fell then Yahweh said to Cain why are you angry and why is your countenance Fallen if you do well will not your countenance be lifted up and if you do not do well sin is crouching at the door and its desire is for you but you must Master it Cain told Abel his brother and it came about that when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him then Yahweh said to Cain where is Abel your brother and he said I do not know am I My Brother’s Keeper he said what have you done the voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground now you are cursed from the ground which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand when you cultivate the ground it will no longer yield its strength to you you will be a vagrant and a Wanderer on the earth Cain said to Yahweh My Punishment is too great to Bear behold you have driven me this day from the face of the ground and from your face I will be hidden and I will be a vagrant and a Wanderer on the earth and whoever Finds Me will kill me so Yahweh said to him therefore whoever kills Cain Vengeance will be taken on him Sevenfold and Yahweh appointed a sign for Cain so that no one finding him would slay him a familiar story but let’s come at it again with fresh eyes starting with just basic observations of the passage notice that these events take place very soon after an after Adam and Eve are cursed and driven from the Garden of Eden and notice what happens notice what takes place in verse one a son is born a son is born to Adam and Eve this is wonderful news the human race indeed gets to continue God has kept his promise and who is the first born Cain the name Cain sounds like the Hebrew word for acquired or gotten thus Eve says I have gotten or I have acquired a man literally man translated Manchild with the help of Yahweh and notice that Eve soon has another son in verse two Abel his name is not explained but the name Abel sounds just like the Hebrew word Havel which means breath Vapor or even more figuratively vanity if you remember Ecclesiastes and that phrase vanity of vanity is all is Vanity that’s the word Havel it looks just like the name Abel considering what happens in our accounts the name Abel is sadly appropriate for the Second Son notice that each son takes up an occupation in verse two Cain becomes a farmer Abel becomes a shepherd and notice that each son brings an offering to God in verses 3 and four Cain brings an offering of the fruit of the ground meaning what okay but what is the fruit of that ground even if it is cursed yeah fruits vegetables grains crops anything a farmer might produce from the ground these are plants Meanwhile we’re told Abel brings firstlings from his flock including their fat portions what’s a firstling okay it’s certainly an animal but what kind of animal firstborn that’s right he’s bringing firstborn animals and what’s fat portions it’s literally the fat part of the animal meat which would be considered the most precious part in those days now notice that in verses four and five God accepts Abel’s offering but he has no regard not even a little he has no regard for Cain’s and how does Cain respond to God’s rejection in verse five it says he was very angry and he had a fallen countenance what’s a fallen countenance sad yeah he was sad but how did you know he was sad it showed up on his face uh Fallen Countess is a dejected look like one is too angry or too depressed to look at anything but the ground that was Cain’s reaction and notice God goes after Cain and he gives gain counsel in verses 6 and 7 he reminds Cain that Cain too could be accepted if he would do what is right if he would do well God warns Cain that sin seeks to control him and God urges Cain to rule over the sinful desires but how does Cain respond to God’s counsel well certainly he was initially very sad and angry but we don’t see any word response from Cain to God speaking to him actually the next thing that we see is he murders his brother which means he totally ignored God’s counsel then the very next verse Cain murders his brother Abel then God comes to Cain in verse 9 and asks Cain where his brother Abel is and notice Cain’s two responses in that same verse he says I don’t know which is what a li that’s a lie and he says am I My Brother’s Keeper that’s not actually a question that’s sarcasm I would say that’s even angry sarcasm with the expected answer of no am I My Brother’s Keeper surely you don’t expect me to keep track of my brother all the time the answer must be no but what a way to answer the God of the universe lie to him and then be angrily sarcastic with him and in verse 10 God reveals feels that he actually knows where Abel is and he knows what Cain has done God then punishes Cain for Abel’s murder in verses 11 to 12 but not by putting Cain to death notice two curses God pronounces on Cain in verse 12 he said your farming is cursed the ground will no longer yield to you Cain and you also doomed to be a fugitive and a Wanderer notice Cain’s response verses 13 to 14 Cain does not confess his sin he does not repent he does not cry out for forgiveness but what does he do yeah he cries out that the punishment is too harsh the punishment is too severe besides his farming being cursed besides being a Wanderer he also mentions that he’s being driven from God’s presence and he also mentions a specific fear that whoever finds him will kill him now why would someone want to kill Cain yeah to avenge the death of the family member and who would be the ones wanting to do that yeah his siblings the rest of Adam and Eve’s family because after all there are no other people on earth except for those from Adam and Eve we saw in chapter three that Eve is named as she is because she is the mother of all living so Cain had great reason to fear he killed a person who is related to everybody else who’s alive on the earth though his whining in fear about King being killed by a family member when he did that himself he just killed a family member himself that makes his plight a little hard to sympathize with and to Cain’s complaint God could have said tough you reap what you so but that amazingly that’s not what God does God actually puts Cain’s fears to rest with a double provision in verse 15 he gives a distinguishing Mark of divine protection to Cain and he also promises to avenge Cain Sevenfold should someone kill him considering verses 1 to 15 as a whole you may notice there are many parallels in this account to the account we just eded in chap 3 of The Fall both accounts feature sins involving a pair of people both episodes involve the destruction of another Satan trying to destroy the human race Cain destroying his brother before each tragic Choice there is a warning from God Adam and Cain both willfully rebel against God’s commands and counsel yet God goes after both Sinners first by asking questions to which God already knows the answers yet neither Cain nor Adam respond in confession or repentance to God’s questioning instead they avoid their own responsibility or they shift blame both are cursed by God and Punishment and driven in some measure away from God’s presence both receive tangible merciful Provisions from God for Adam it was the animal skins for Cain it is the mark and and amazingly both are allowed to continue to live all right these are just basic observations but now let’s collect these and consider some questions of interpretation of this passage why does Cain kill Abel yeah it comes down to jealousy the passage doesn’t explicitly identify jealousy as the motive but we can easily see it we can infer it based on Cain’s anger and the fact that Abel’s AC sacrifice was accepted by God while Cain’s was not Cain was filled with hatred he was so filled with hatred toward his own brother for receiving what Cain wanted but didn’t receive that Cain was willing to C kill Abel over it but let’s take that question a step further what was the root of Cain’s jealousy because unless we identify the root we might think that mere circumstances forced Cain to be angry and jealous that seeing someone else succeed when you don’t that automatically makes you jealous but that’s not the truth what was the root of Cain’s jealousy and what really as is at the root of all sinful anger Danny okay it is gonna I think ultimately connect to anger towards God but why even be angry at God okay God had no regard for his offering Judy what were you going to say oh that’s okay oh Judy yeah so he wanted to do things his own way I think we can collect what we’ve just said into basically two categories what motivates all sinful anger pride and idolatry usually they are Allied together I want to do things my own way because I think there’s something that I should get because I’m me but it’s been denied me therefore I have the right to be angry and I have the right to enact Justice to punish those who’ve gotten in my way or to change the situation so that it’s the way I think it should be and is not Pride manifest in Cain in the rest of the passage when he when God comes after him even after he’s murdered his brother he lies to God and then is angrily sarcastic with God how can you do that unless you have an exalted view of yourself and isn’t this doesn’t this connect in a weird way with some of the things our society teaches today our society tells us that criminals bullies abusers they have low self-esteem feel bad about themselves that may be true in a certain way but ultimately the truth is the opposite and and Studies have even confirmed this evildoers actually have a very high view of themselves they have high self-esteem they are sure that they deserve better than what they’ve received that they should have access to something that they don’t have or should not receive something that they do have therefore they feel Justified and acting out against others especially anyone who’s in the way of what they want anyone who even makes the evildoer feel bad about himself Cain treats the Creator God the holy judge like God is a nobody and a nuisance which is insane but this is because Cain has become God in his own mind and that’s not unique to him as Danny mentioned we can see that Cain’s anger ultimately is not just against Abel it’s really against God since God ultimately was the one who was in control and didn’t give Cain what Cain thought he deserved yet this Twisted thinking it isn’t so foreign to us is it have you ever gotten angry at others when they get what you want and think you deserve you ever been jealous and resentful of others when they succeed and you don’t have you ever gotten angry at God and even tried to spite him because you he didn’t do what you think he ought to have done didn’t give you what you wanted what you felt you needed what you felt was right in a certain situation If we’re honest I think we have to confess the answer is yes to those questions we have been jealous we have even been angry with God but again realize what is the source of that anger it’s Pride when you are doing that when I do that we are making ourselves out to be greater than God we’ve become entitled in our own minds like James 4 says we find some Idol some source of happiness or security outside of God that we feel like we need or deserve and we become zealous to enjoy that that but when others get in the way of us and our Idol we exercise a warped sense of justice that condemns those persons and even condemns God leading us in our hearts to feel justified in sinting against the other person in other words as I was saying pride and idolatry they go hand inand because both are really about the self rather than God what we’re seeing here in this account of Cain and Abel is another clear picture of what man is as a result of the Fall we see again the depth of Humanity’s Darkness here a man commits murder he even kills his own brother just because that brother received a blessing that Cain wanted and just because his brother was more righteous than he was yet this same Darkness as witnessed all over the Bible and is especially manifest against the righteous Before the Flood just thinking about other passages God laments that the world is filled with what violence people viciously attacking each other Esau he seeks to kill his brother Jacob Over The Inheritance Joseph’s 11 Brothers out of jealousy they seek to put him to death ultimately sell him as a slave Uriah a righteous Soldier one of David’s own Mighty Men He is murdered by his adulterous King so that that King can get away safely with uriah’s wife and our Lord Jesus Christ who came to save men is lynched at the request of a self-righteous religious Elite a senseless mob and a self-serving Governor so the darkness wasn’t just in Cain he’s not just a bad apple the darkness has been in all people throughout the Bible and is still evident today we see it in the headlines if we care to look men and women killing each other even killing their own family members their spouses their children beyond that we always or every once in a while we hear the news of pastors missionaries simple Christians being brutalized and killed in different places why is this why is there this murderous impulse this murderous quality to people what’s wrong with us this is the horror of sin this is the Fallen human heart on display this is what we are all capable of this is where we end up when we reject the goodness and and worthiness of God unless mercifully restrained by God we become cruel wannabe despat just like Cain and if this is what we become as a result of the Fall then who will rescue us who will rescue us from this darkness of heart this body of death we get back to that question but clearly Cain has been extremely Wicked anyone who commits murder that’s obviously extreme wickedness born from Pride born from self-exaltation born from an idolatry to get his own way it deserved utmost punishment I mean if Adam and Eve deserved death for what they did then certainly Cain deserved even more actually it’s not too much longer in the scriptures that God will ordain this is right after the flood that anyone who kills another person must be killed Genesis 9:7 whoever sheds man’s blood by man his blood shall be shed for in the image of God he made man but God doesn’t kill Cain and God doesn’t call for Cain to be killed quite the opposite when Cain expresses worry that someone might kill him God provides for Cain’s life why why does God do this what do you think yeah GL how did know the typ of sacrifice he supped to and not okay hang on we’re actually gonna get to that question Glen ask how did Abel know the sacrifice to offer and why didn’t Cain offer the right sacrifice that’s an important question we’re going to come back to it one thing at a time though why does God show Mercy to Cain it’s just because of who God is he here again we see God’s kindness God’s goodness God’s mercy on display we saw it in the garden right after the fall we’re seeing it again here it’s just who God is to be a merciful god and he chose though Cain did not deserve it he chose to spare Cain and to give Cain an opportunity to repent God is a radically merciful god way more than we expect or think he is it’s not as if God was worried about the population getting too low there are definitely going to be other Sons and Daughters from Adam and neither is it because Cain showed a change of heart we see from Cain’s response to God there was no change of heart in fact even after the whole episode there’s no evidence that Cain ever confesses his sin or repents it’s then Cain is merely concerned over his crime the punishment of it God my sin is too much to be or no let me say it this way instead of saying as he ought to have God my sin is too much to be endured by your Holiness he says God my punishment is too much for me to endure he’s still focused on himself he doesn’t see the magnitude of his sin he’s filled with regret and sorrow surely but not repentance he has the sorrow that 2 Corinthians 7:10 says only produces death and again this is something that we see in our world today all over the place don’t we so often man doesn’t confess to his wrongdoing and even when he does it’s no confession at all it’s merely regret about the outcome of some action these are regret and sorrow that do not save and moreover they are an affront to God who is only righteous and just and we must confess that we have sometimes embodied this kind of repentance with others and with God this is what Kanan is doing and yet God is still kind to Cain we have on the one hand Cain demonstrating man’s radical depravity and then we have God demonstrating his own radical kindness God says to Cain though I must judge you with a curse for the sake of my own Holiness I will continue to let you live and I will personally ensure that no man will ever Avenge the crime that you have committed when men see this Mark I place on you whatever that is we don’t know what it is there’s not enough information to determine that what that is whenever people see this Mark I place on you they will will fear my judgment that’s shocking kindness from God yet is that not one of the themes of the Bible God is a god of shocking kindness but we often Call It by another name Grace Grace God’s grace points us to the worthiness of God to be loved and sought after why is it that you should repent of sin and seek the Lord with all your heart not just because there are consequences if you don’t but because of how great God is especially in his great patience and compassion toward you Romans 23 and4 Romans 2 3 and4 say but do you suppose this oh man when you pass judgment on those who practice such things that is various kinds of sins and do the same yourself that you will escape the Judgment of God or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance God always meant for his kindness to lead you to repentance to lead you to seek him love him turn from your sin and follow him but to ignore God’s kindness or to sin even more because of it that is an infinitely egregious crime before a holy God that is why his wrath against the unrepentant is so unquenchable so important application for you to consider today is how do you respond to God’s kindness do you in Foolish Pride use God’s patience and kindness towards you as an excuse used to avoid repentance some people they see that they’re not getting caught in sin or that they don’t have consequences for it or that the consequences aren’t so bad and they say well guess I can continue in this God doesn’t seem to mind no God’s kindness is leading you to repentance are you actually responding the way you ought to have you humbled yourself before God recognizing the Great evil you have done towards him first of all and also others that you respond appropriately to his kindness we may we must never use the grace of God as a license to sin we will only build up judgment for ourselves if we do that now let’s come back to the question that Glenda asked or Danny you want to say something is that’s right yeah so Danny is just saying isn’t repentance actually for our good brings us to the greatest joy of course I mean this is another way that we see the kindness of God it’s not merely because look what I’ve done for you look how patient I’ve been with you you ought to repent but repentance itself is a kindness because it brings you back to God I mean consider how differently this situation with Cain might have turned out if he were willing to repent maybe the sentence could have been lightened maybe things could have been different but he didn’t even attempt that with God he just says you’re driving me away okay probably didn’t even want to be didn’t care so much for God’s presence did you want to say something to Mark yeah just in um to further expand what Danny was saying it’s really that we would experience his life yeah you know says in Acts I think it was Paul or Peter said you know repent and return that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord Proverbs it says you know Turn Away From Evil um it will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bon yeah so I I think you know in our world repentance gets a bad rap it tends to be associated with something negative and lifeless and I always like to associate as the Bible does repentance and refreshing because it really leads to life yeah so just summarize your comment there is a repeated Connection in the scriptures of repentance and refreshment or repentance and life because you’re coming back to the god of life if you don’t repent you can’t stay away from the god of Life how are you going to experience benefit one of the metaphors I I like to think about uh thinking about the parable of the prodical son is the banquet of repentance God always says the banquet of repentance is open to anyone who will turn immediately you can enjoy my bounty but a lot of people like you said they associate repentance with just misery oh I don’t want to repent that’s just the path of sorrow and of things getting darker and darker no that’s the way to the light our flesh and the evil one they try and persuade us otherwise but let’s now come back to the question that Glenda was Raising why was Cain’s sacrifice rejected and Abel’s accepted before we attempt to answer that we should ask as she was also getting at how is it that Cain and Abel knew to offer sacrifices in the first place there’s no instruction in Genesis 2 and 3 about that formally weren’t sacrifices something God first instituted with Moses we don’t get the specific details to answer that question in our Bibles how mankind first started offering sacrifices to God but apparently it was a very early concept because we see it elsewhere in the Bible before the time of Moses Noah offers sacrifices After the flood even of what are called clean animals where did he get that concept we only hear about it later in the Mosaic law job offers sacrifices on behalf of the sins of his family Jacob offer sacrifices after leaving laan in Genesis 31 this is all before the time of Moses so there must have been certain Concepts about Sin cleanness and sacrifice that even the first family of Earth understood God must have at some point communicated this information to mankind perhaps perap it was in remembrance of what God did for man even at the fall with clothing them with animal skins perhaps it’s also an anticipation of God’s future promise to save man from the scheme of the serpent he says here’s what I’ve done here’s what I will do and so I want you to offer sacrifices to me as part of a remembrance of that it is interesting that even outside of biblical religion this concept of sacrifice is all over the world all the early religions of the world they have this concept of let’s just say all or I I think it’s mostly all of them they have this idea that you need to sacrifice to God and apparently this comes even from the first family but back to our question what was so wrong with Cain’s sacrifice oh Dwayne you want to say something okay yes very good we’re going to get to that Hebrews 11:4 yes an important verse um this is all tied up in the answer to this question I’m just about to ask what was wrong with Cain’s sacrifice that caused God to reject it we don’t know the specific requirements that God had already indicated to Cain and abble in those days so we can only tentatively answer this question but when we compare even as as Dwayne was leading us to do when we compare the brother sacrifices to what God would say later in the scriptures especially to Israel recall Cain offers crops Abel offers animal meat Cain offers just some of the crops while Abel offers a specific kind of animal and a specific part of that animal meat the firstlings and their fat now before we jump to the conclusion oh it’s because Abel offered an animal and Cain offered plants God didn’t like the plants wait a second in Exodus and Leviticus we read that God did ordain for Israel to offer crops as part of sacrifices to God there was the grain offering there’s the offering of first fruits that is your first harvest of the ground these were expected of God these were pleasing to God bloody animal sacrifices they are also ordained and we remember those first and foremost but they aren’t the only kind of offering that God ordained so that that’s not the particular issue so what is the issue well let’s consider some other scriptures like Hebrews 11:4 which uh Cain or not Cain Dwayne was just mentioning Hebrews 11:4 says by faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous God testifying about his gifts and through faith though he is dead he still speaks so catch the first part of that statement by faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain consider also 1 John 310 to12 1 John 3:10 to12 by this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God nor the one who does not love his brother for this is the message which you have heard from the beginning that we should love one another not as Cain who was of the evil one and slew his brother and for what reason did he slay him because his deeds were evil and his brothers were righteous few other verses 1st Samuel 15:22 1st Samuel 15:22 Samuel said has Yahweh as much delight in bird offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Yahweh behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams hoseah 66 for I Delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice and in the knowledge of God rather than and burnt offerings Proverbs 158 the sacrifice of the wicked is an Abomination to Yahweh but the prayer of the upright is his Delight what did these verses that I’ve just read emphasize to you when it comes to sacrifice the heart of obedience that’s right the heart the heart of faith and the life of obedience are actually more important the sacrifice is important but the heart of faith and the life of of obedience are more important God Delights in right sacrifice when it is offered from a right heart but a right Sacrifice from a wrong heart it gains no favor from God it only gains the disgust of God so now we can see partly for sure why Cain’s sacrifice was rejected it was not the fact that Cain’s sacrifice was a crop but because Cain did not truly love and believe in the Lord as is shown in Cain’s subsequent actions hang on a second ultimately it was about Cain’s heart Cain did not seek the Lord in faith and this is why Abel is praised in the book of Hebrews Abel offered his sacrifice in faith in true belief in the greatness goodness and faithfulness of God this belief was lacking in Cain therefore even if his sacrifice was offered rightly it was to be rejected perhaps though it wasn’t offered rightly perhaps Cain’s poor attitude poor heart attitude towards God it showed up in the way he offered to God because as we noted Abel brought of the firstlings and the fat portions these are the first animal and the best parts of the animals we don’t see first fruits mentioned as can sacrifice so perhaps he just brought any old fruit any old grain whatever he thought would be fine for God instead of the best instead of what God actually required Abel likely purposefully sought to honor God with his sacrific choices but Cain apparently didn’t think highly enough of God to show the same purpose and Care in his selection of offering and you know what this is true of all those who offer Works to God when they don’t really love him you see what we’re seeing here in Genesis 4 is not just the first appearance of murder on the Earth but it is also the first appearance of false religion because isn’t Cain displaying the formula that is evident in all false religions offer the necessary fa sacrifices do the right Works say the right prayers and God will accept you God will bless you God will give you money God will give you a good harvest God will give you kids God will give you a wife God will give you a long life God will give you salvation whatever it is you want if you just plug in to the formula God will output what you want you see in this system you don’t have to love God at all you don’t have to believe him worthy of total devotion total worship actually quite the opposite God can be satisfied with the bare minimum he’s not that Holy he’s not that great you can do enough to satisfy such a God and when you do you’ll get what you really want and what you’ve earned what you deserve and for people in such a system who is it that they usually end up hating most people who are in a works-based system who don’t really love God who is it that they usually end up hating most they do hate God but genuine worshippers of God why because they expose false religion for what it is those who have true faith in God are the ones most hated by those who actually in false religion and so is it any Wonder then that Cain so despised Abel Not only was Cain pridefully jealous of Abel’s success but Abel’s righteous example was a living reproof of Cain’s whole false religious system Cain really is the epitome of all those who believe in Works based salvation he did not truly love God he loved himself and therefore he ultimately hated the true God and he hated those who truly belong to that God in Cain’s murder of Abel then Adam and Eve are witnessing the beginning of the Fulfillment of part of God’s curse on the serpent not the arrival of the promised saving seed though they would have wished for that but instead the enmity that God himself would put between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent the murder of Abel by Cain was just the first episode in a long history of the sons of the devil opposing the sons of God now praise God that the children of God will Triumph in the end in Christ but the children of the devil will definitely rage in the meantime just as Cain did they will War they will slander they will even hurt and kill the children of God but let’s consider another piece of application you see it on the screen which are you when it comes to these families are you a Son of God or a son of the devil do you walk in the footsteps of Faith filled Abel or according to works-based Cain do you go through the motions of sacrifice and worship as Cain did even though you do not really love God do you make yourself come to church read the Bible offer the necessary prayers do acts of service but all really so that you can get God off your back feel better about yourself get God to give you what you really want or is God himself your Delight do you love him more than life itself because he is life do you trust in God’s promised rescuing seed Jesus Christ to do what you can never do to pay off your infinite sin debt to credit you with his own righteous life do you believe in Jesus alone to make you acceptable to God rejoicing in how God has shown Unthinkable Mercy to you a sinner you don’t shy away from repentance you run to it because you say that’s how I get God and he is my life does it result and you delighting in all manner of Good Works especially to love your brothers and sisters not to earn God’s favor but because you are so grateful and because you believe God is so worthy to be worshiped and enjoyed in that way really when God gives advice to Cain In this passage he’s also giving advice to us if you do well that is if you come to God according to the way he’s ordained according to Humble dependent faith in Jesus Christ will not your countenance be lifted up the lifegiving light will shine on your face but if you do not do well if you reject God’s only way and inaugurate Your Own Way sin is crouching at the door it’s desirous for you it will rule you and it will ruin you Cain rejected all calls to repentance and was Mastered by sin to his own destruction he is a cautionary tale you do not want to follow his path you do not need to follow his path rather God calls you God calls me as he did Cain to turn from our sins and from our own way to embrace Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior and to submit every part of life to him so in summary of the examination of the account what do Cain and Abel show us today they show us more of the devastating horror of sin and our need to be rescued from its curse they show us more about God’s holy Justice and his radical kindness to us to undeserving Rebels and show us more about the only saving gospel which is salvation by faith alone in Christ alone not in self-made hypocritical really self-serving Works did you want to say something Arthur or did I end up saying wa something that you were getting at well um I I kind of had a slightly different take I I when you mentioned works and Grace what I was going to say is there’s elements if you go back to where God curses the ground and Cain was offering a sacrifice from the ground which was cursed the ground being cursed meaning and anyone knows that you’re a farmer or whatever if the ground is cursed it takes a lot more work to get uh produce from it and so the idea of Works where where I was going to say is we already see um election we see special Grace because God is chosen is choosing what kind of sacrifice will please him but um the idea that that Cain would have to work really hard to get produce from the ground and then have it rejected I I would think his first emotion was hurt that he felt hurt hurt can lead to anger um so that part and then um because if you look later in Scripture and it talks in Exodus where God has a provision if someone is SL if where God talks about if I if I deliver someone into your hand or if there’s the idea of God not intervening God did not intervene um that’s in Exodus chapter 21 verse 13 and 14 where it talks about um where it talks about a manslayer or something like that but the idea that imagine Cain’s and his brother talking about it um and they got into an argument and because of Cain’s hurt his anger of God rejecting him um imagine how strong the older brother might have been you know and um and it could have led to a fight and and Cain killed his brother but what I was going to say what I was what I was going to say when you were bringing it up how I take a slightly different take on it is that we definitely see where God is making that choice because later it says After the flood the ground is no longer cursed so grain offerings or offerings from the ground would become acceptable at that point because prior to the flood the ground was cursed and then God curses Cain as far as the ground is he curses Cain what was it he even curses him even more so so um so what I was going to say is it shows that we can never please God no matter how hard we work to um to to uh get God’s favor it will never it never it’ll never happen because that’s not the way God works you know so um so Abel can’t take any credit for it because it was God’s choice and that just comes along with faith okay so you got several ideas there again I don’t think I can recapitulate everything you just said and we are going to have some different interpretations um maybe we can talk about it another time but I would say that the ground was still cursed even after Noah’s flood but that the ground being cursed was did not mean that a crop offering to God was going to be unacceptable it is interesting though you mentioned idea that maybe Cain felt hurt because he had worked so hard and God had rejected it we don’t have the full story but that certainly is the way that some people treat God today even though they are ultimately motivated by pride and their own idea of what is acceptable to God when God doesn’t do things their way they feel like God has wronged them like God I did things the way that they should have been done and you didn’t pull through and this is where the idea that some people need to forgive God I need to forgive God what he what he did to me maybe Cain did feel that way and we have to be careful because just because somebody feels hurt does not mean that they’re justified in the way that they respond to God or the way they respond to other people maybe as you say Cain felt hurt when he went into the field with Abel though for different reasons there might be based on the language of the Hebrew of that verse about Cain told his brother Abel it might mean he was lying in wait for his other his brother Abel so this wasn’t like an accidental fight that turned into murder this was probably his intent to kill him from the beginning that’s another story but even if he had felt hurt when he was speaking with Abel or going along with Abel that did not justify his action of course it was still totally reprehensible sin uh Faith sorry I forget the other things but um some interesting ideas that you brought up let me keep going with the final part of our lesson and that is the apologetic question we need to address before we close this frequently brought up question where did Cain get his wife verse 17 right after our passage ends or two verses after our passage ends verse 17 of Genesis 4 that says that Cain had relations with his wife and then he fed a line of descendants from what we discussed earlier where must must have Cain gotten his wife if we take seriously what the Bible has declared up to this point that Eve was the mother of all living that these were the only two men and wom who were created at first and everyone came from then then for Cain to have a wife it had to have been one of his close relatives perhaps a sister or perhaps a niece but these are considered close relatives according to the scriptures and this only makes sense if they if they’re only two people to start and the human race is going to continue to multiply well then they’re going to have to interent marry in close relations at the first and certainly Adam and Eve had more children than Cain Abel or even Seth who was raised up as a replacement seed to Abel and Cain Genesis 5:4 says that Adam had other sons and daughters but someone will say but didn’t God prohibit such close marriage relations in the Old Testament how then could God have allowed incestuous relationships in Genesis well it is true that God did prohibit close marriages in the law of Moses even to a sister even to a niece but this prohibition did not exist for at least the Earth’s first 25 200 years or at least it was not codified in any law that we are aware of even among the Patriarchs we see close post marriage relationships which are later forbidden a Abraham marries his half sister Isaac marries a first cousin why did God make a change why did he change it so that allowable marriage relationships later were forbidden and not just forbidden forbidden to the point of death why did God make a change can’t say for sure though part of the answer surely lies in God’s wise determination that the whole human race descend from Adam and Eve for sin and Redemption to function the way that they ultimately needed to there could not be any other first parents for Humanity besides Adam and Eve and to keep this important spiritual reality intact God ordained God allowed that close marriages would be how Humanity will multiply in the beginning it was a temporary provision just so man could continue to live and multiply and that an ultimately important spiritual reality would remain intact though there is another interesting aspect to this answer based on the discovery of modern genetics knowing the original originally perfect state of creation one reason God might have allowed close marriages to exist in the beginning is that genetic problems due to close marriages likely would not have been present in humanity at first first today marriages between close relatives can result in dangerous genetic disorders in The Offspring this is because human DNA has accumulated small errors over the generations you’re likely to have the same genetic errors as your close relatives so combining your DNA with a close relative is almost certainly going to result in serious problems for any resulting child however if the DNA errors that you and your spouse are very different from one another then you are much less likely to have a serious genetic error manifest in your child close to the beginning of the human race you wouldn’t have had these issues of genetic errors or at least it would have been much much much more minor the DNA has not yet had much of a chance to mutate God then may have mercifully permitted close marriages until genetic errors started to accumulate substantially in the human race and then in compassion God forbid men and women from marrying close relatives now there’s probably more to it because when you look at the way the law is stated in the Torah it talks about not seeing your close relatives nakedness so there’s a there’s a greater spiritual reality to this that God also is working with but certainly the Practical needs of the human race the ultimate spiritual reality that is going to be communicated with uh last adom saving all those in the first adom and also the reality of accumulating genetic errors they show us part of how part of why perhaps God made this change but certainly there is no need whatever the full answer to this question is there is no need to contradict Genesis as some attempt to do and suggest that oh well God must have created or allowed a separate race allowed to evolve a separate race of men and women for Cain and Adam’s descendants to Mary no the account of Creation in Genesis 1:2 is sufficient and trustworthy Cain must have gotten his wife from among his close relatives because as the human race was starting out that was not yet forbidden by God so it’s no gotcha to be like hey where can’t get his wife Evolution must be true or otherwise you’re justifying incest no no that’s that’s not where the answer needs to go it was God allowed this provision at first only 2 minutes left of class so there’s not really time for more questions but I appreciate your comments and questions as we went along if there are other things you can email me or catch me at some point uh I have to go get the rest of my family before we proceed to the rest of the service today but that’s it for today’s lesson next week we’re going to step out of Genesis for a moment and take a broader look at a Biblical topic that we’ve broached several times in the last few lessons including today’s lesson and that is the heart of man talk about the the heart of man and we’ll close in prayer for today Lord every time I hear about or read about a murder in the news it’s always so Grievous to Snuff out other human life someone made in your image it is indeed a terrible terrible crime and our imperfect Justice systems can not fully address the great crime that murder is but where does it come from doesn’t come from Bad upbringing ultimately doesn’t come from anything genetic doesn’t come from socioeconomic circumstances where does it come from it comes from our proud sinful Hearts so that even those who have not committed physical murder can be justly assessed as murderers because of the angry pride in our hearts every time we get sinfully angry against another person we manifest that murderous impulse that if we are not in Christ is part of our nature but if we are in Christ it is no longer part of our nature it’s part of the old man that seeks to cling to us and drag us back to the old way of living God I pray that as a result of today’s lesson as a result of your word as a result of the work of your spirit that we would repent of our pride that we would repent of the idolatrous thinking that says God’s not going to be my ultimate satisfaction I’m allowed to choose what I want to satisfy myself I think this is going to be my satisfaction I’m going to serve this Idol and when anyone gets in the way I’m going to get angry at them and I’m going to punish them God we can turn even good things into Idols even gifts that you’ve made for our enjoyment we can turn them into Idols I pray that we would repent of those things that we would not follow in the way of Cain but we would follow in the way of Abel that says even what I give to God is already his he deserves the best he deserves all of me and I want his life more than anything in this world I want him Lord he was killed for his righteousness Lord help us to be willing to suffer and even to die Lord for the sake of you let us not suffer as murderers let us not suffer because of our own angry and Foolish Pride let us suffer for righteousness sake even for those who mistreat us and let us not hold anything against you you do all things well Lord I pray that we would humble ourselves before you and say whatever you choose from me God is right I will follow after you protect us from the evil one continue to make us more like Jesus Christ in Jesus name amen thank you everyone