Transcript Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s And unto God

IN THE BEGINNING
Genesis from the Creation
to Abraham
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• v.1-7
• Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she
conceived and bore Cain, and said, "I have
acquired a man from the Lord." Then she bore
again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel
was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of
the ground. And in the process of time it came
to pass that Cain brought an offering of the
fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also
brought of the firstborn of his flock and of
their fat. (cont,)
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• v.1-7 (cont.)
• …And the Lord respected Abel and his
offering, but He did not respect Cain and his
offering. And Cain was very angry, and his
countenance fell. So the Lord said to Cain,
"Why are you angry? And why has your
countenance fallen? If you do well, will you
not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin
lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but
you should rule over it."
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Eve said that she had gotten a man-child
with the help of the Lord
– Perhaps she expected this child, Cain, to
completely fulfill the promise of God of
redemption for her, Adam, Cain and the
land
• Eve gave birth a second time to Abel
– Abel tends animals
– Cain is a crop farmer
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Both men brought offerings to the Lord:
– Abel brought an animal
– Cain brought a grain or other crop
• Abel’s offering was accepted, but Cain’s
was rejected by the Lord
– Very likely God had told them what
kind of sacrifice is was to be
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Heb 11:4
• By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained
witness that he was righteous, God testifying of
his gifts
• Abel had faith because of God’s words, what he
had heard God tell him, and he obeyed
• Rom 10:17
• So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God.
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Abel’s gift was an animal offering, a type
of later sacrifices that pointed to Christ
• Heb 9:22
• And according to the law almost all
things are purified with blood, and
without shedding of blood there is no
remission.
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• God did not reject Cain’s offering just because
it was grain
– Grains were also used in the sacrifices
established later by the Lord
• Cain must have brought an offering different
than what God had requested
– Being a crop-farmer, it would have been
easier to bring produce than to arrange an
animal sacrifice (but not impossible)
– He would have had to ask for help from his
brother
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• God had regard of Abel and his offering,
but not for Cain and his offering
• Cain became angry
• The Lord asked Cain “why,” and gave
Cain another chance to “do well” –
perhaps bring another, correct offering
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• God perceived Cain’s anger and hurt, so He
warns Cain that if he continues in the anger
and self-pity, there will be problems:
• Gen 4:6-7
• So the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you
angry? And why has your countenance
fallen? If you do well, will you not be
accepted? And if you do not do well, sin
lies at the door. And its desire is for you,
but you should rule over it."
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• “Sin lies at the door.”
– Perhaps a metaphor
– Perhaps sin personified – a demon or
Satan
• The Lord warns Cain “its desire is for
you, but you should rule over it."
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• “Sin lies at the door” for all of us
• Spiritual warfare (Eph. 6):
– Defensive
• truth
• righteousness
• peace
• faith
• assurance of salvation
– Offensive
• the Word proclaimed
• prayer, ministry, service
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Eph. 6:13
• Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that
you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and
having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having
girded your waist with truth, having put on the
breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your
feel with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
above all, taking the shield of faith with which you
will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the
wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and
the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God;
praying always with all prayer and supplication in
the Spirit…
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Note: three of the parts of the armor the soldier
has on all the time, in camp (having put on…)
– The belt, the breastplate, shoes (truth,
righteousness, peace)
• The other three the soldier must pick up and
put on during battle (taking…)
– Shield, helmet, sword (faith, assurance of
salvation, the Word)
• The only really offensive weapon is the Word
– For exposure of Satan, for declaring the Blood
and the Cross: human, physical actions will fail
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• The battle is for our minds (souls, spirits),
with Satan trying to create in us
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Fear
Obsession
Accusations
Deception / delusion
Torment
Temptation
Depression
Distraction
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• How we are attacked (and put on the
defensive and must defend against)
– Blinded
– Deafened
– Afflicted
– Deceived
– Tempted
– Resisted
– Hindered
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• How we war offensively
– Prayer
– Ministry
– Exposure of demonic activity
– The cross and the blood
– Follow and then obey the Spirit’s lead
• Who do we war for:
– Self, family, friends, bosses, leaders,
church, nation
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• v. 8-16
• Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to
pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up
against Abel his brother and killed him. Then the Lord
said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said,
"I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" And He
said, "What have you done? The voice of your
brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground. So
now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened
its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your
hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer
yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond
you shall be on the earth…” (cont.)
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• v. 8-16 (cont.)
• …And Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is
greater than I can bear! Surely You have driven me
out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be
hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a
vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone
who finds me will kill me." And the Lord said to him,
"Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be
taken on him sevenfold." And the Lord set a mark on
Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. Then
Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt
in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Cain killed Abel
• God asks Cain, “Where is your brother?”
– Cain’s response, “Am I my brothers’
keeper.”
– The correct answer to this question, for
Cain and us, is “Yes, not no.”
• Cain is given the opportunity to confess this
sin—the murder of his brother
– He evades God’s question and lies
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• God knew about the murder because “the
blood of his brother cried out from the
ground.”
• God has relationship with all of His creation,
including “the land,” not just us humans
• Jer. 2:7
• I brought you into a bountiful country, to eat
its fruit and its goodness. But when you
entered, you defiled My land and made My
heritage an abomination.
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• II Chron 36:20-21
• And those who escaped from the sword he
carried away to Babylon, where they
became servants to him and his sons until
the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill
the word of the Lord by the mouth of
Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her
Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate she
kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• The blood of Abel cried out for justice
• The New Testament teaches that the blood of
Christ also cries out to God: for justice and for
mercy and the hope of a resurrection:
•
• Heb. 12:24
• ..(you have come) to Jesus the Mediator of the
new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling
that speaks better things than that of Abel. See
that you do not refuse Him who speaks.
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Cain is a type of a carnal man of the
earth--not a spiritual man
• Cain’s offering was from the sweat of
his brow: his works; an attempt at
“works righteousness”
– His grain sacrifice did not acknowledge
the presence of sin and the need for
atonement
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Cain was the first religious man
– He chose to come to God on his own
terms
• Cain is the father of all religion in the world
other than that which looks to Christ and
his grace
– Cain become the first persecutor and
murderer of those who trust in blood
atonement
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Abel’s offering was acceptable worship
(based in symbol on Christ’s sacrifice and
our faith in it)
• John 4:23-24
• But the hour is coming, and now is, when the
true worshipers will worship the Father in
spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such
to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who
worship Him must worship in spirit and
truth.”
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• In all the world’s religion, man reaches up
to God, to try to find Him, to try to please
Him
• In Christianity, God reaches down to us,
and we respond to His offer, His plan and
will for us
• True religion comes from the one true God
and is according to His pattern, His grace
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GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Moses was instructed to build the
tabernacle exactly as the Lord directed
• Ex. 25:40
• And see to it that you make them
according to the pattern that was
shown you on the mountain.
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• The Lord speaks another curse: this one
on Cain:
– The ground would not yield produce
for Cain
– Cain would be hidden from God’s
face
– Cain would be a wanderer, a vagrant,
a fugitive on the earth
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Cain argues that this is too great to bear
• God counters that Cain would be given a
mark, that if killed, there would be justice
– A small consolation
• Cain’s response—to flee and build the first
city to protect himself
– Now, just a short time after the Garden,
man needs clothing and a city, whereas
before he only needed God
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Verse on poor Cain:
• I John 3:10-12
• In this the children of God and the children of the
devil are manifest: whoever does not practice
righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does
not love his brother. For this is the message that
you heard from the beginning, that we should love
one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked
one and murdered his brother. And why did he
murder him? Because his works were evil and his
brother's righteous.
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Cain killed Abel because Abel was
righteous
• The murder of Abel was the first of
centuries of persecution and murder of
those who seek righteousness by faith,
not works, and who love peace
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Cain experienced the pain of separation
from God and other humans
– From birth, because we are sinners, we
all carry the feeling of being alienated
from God, like Cain
• It is only through a relationship with Jesus
that we can be freed from this sense of
rejection and separateness from God
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• St. Augustine wrote in his Confessions:
• “You have made us for yourself, O Lord,
and our hearts are restless until they rest
in you.”
• “I once was lost, but now am found.
Was blind, but now I see.”
John Newton
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Cain’s murder of Abel was no small
matter
• Even though Adam and Eve introduced
sin to the world through disobedience,
the murder of another man--a man made
in the image of God--ratcheted up the
sin experience
– There are more consequences to sins
against others, than “victimless” sins
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• v. 17-24
• And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and
bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the
name of the city after the name of his son-Enoch. To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot
Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and
Methushael begot Lamech. Then Lamech took for
himself two wives: the name of one was Adah,
and the name of the second was Zillah. And Adah
bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell
in tents and have livestock. His brother's name
was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play
the harp and flute… (cont.)
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• v. 17-24 (cont.)
• …And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain,
an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and
iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was
Naamah. Then Lamech said to his wives:
"Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; Wives of
Lamech, listen to my speech! For I have killed
a man for wounding me, Even a young man for
hurting me. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold."
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Cain settled in the land of Nod (means
“wandering”), east of Eden, built a city,
named it after his son, Enoch
– Cain took a wife (probably one of Eve’s
daughters)
• Cain’s descendants became the fathers of
livestock raising, musical instrument
making, workers of bronze and iron
– The Masons venerate Jubal and TubalCain as their models or ancestors
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• Lamech, five generations after Cain is
highlighted:
– He had two wives (the first recorded
polygamist)
– He killed a man (the second recorded
murder)
– He brags about it
• The sins of Cain are passed down to his
children and their children
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• v. 25-26
• And Adam knew his wife again, and she
bore a son and named him Seth, "For God
has appointed another seed for me instead
of Abel, whom Cain killed." And as for
Seth, to him also a son was born; and he
named him Enosh. Then men began to call
on the name of the Lord.
GENESIS CHAPTER FOUR
• The value of calling on the name of the Lord:
• Ps 145:18-19
• The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who
call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of
those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and
save them.
• Ps 50:15
• “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you,
and you shall glorify Me.”
• Ro 10:13
• For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be
saved.”