You are your brothers keeper

Take off: Just to give you all some context. In the previous chapter, Adam and Eve committed sin which brought death into the world. Both were kicked out of the garden where they had perfect fellowship with God. Essentially were the first King and Queen of the Earth. Adam and Eve had two boys. The first was Cain and then came Abel the youngest.

Chapter 3 is where we see the root of sin. In chapter 4 we see the fruit of sin.

Read Genesis 4:1-17

Genesis 4:1–17 ESV

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel 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 the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

We see here is the first instance where the first tithe was presented to the Lord. Keep in mind that this is before the Law was given.

In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

God regarded Abels offering meaning God considered it or thought of it in a different way. Why did He regard Abel’s offering. Lets keep digging.

It says that Cain brought to the Lord “an offering” of the fruit of the ground. Abel brought the “firstborn” of his flock. So we see here Cain brought a portion but it was not the first of his produce. Abel brought the first. It is all he had.

Abel brought his all. Abel brought his best. Cain did not. I dont believe there was faith in Cains offering but there was faith in Abels. Think about it. Cain gave a portion of what he had. In the end it all belonged to God not to him. Abel gave all that he had the only thing he had trusting that the Lord will provide.

Hebrews 11:1–4 ESV

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

If i get paid on Friday and most of it there is trust. The point that I am driving is not about tithing.

Do you bring God your best? Are we sold out for God? Are we sacrificial with our worship? Are we bringing what is the best and costly to us? Which has faith?

Cain became jealous.

Point #1 - You must keep your devotion with the Lord

Cain became Jealous of his brother even though he could have had that but his heart did not allow it so he became jealous that jealousy grew to anger

Cain did not have a devotion to the Lord. Definition of devotion is love, loyalty, or enthusiasm for a person, activity.

How we treat one another is a direct reflection of our relationship with God. Our devotion to God effects everything. It flows throughout all of our relationships. In the workplace. In our marriage. in our parenting. In our friendships.

Application: Our heart is clear with our brother that there is nothing there. Attitudes that are bad attitudes. How do we clear our hearts? Confession. Confession to our brother.

Point #1 - Keep your devotion with the Lord

Point #2 - Keep your heart

He failed to check his jealousy. Even when the Lord came to Him and warned Him. His heart became extremely hard and grew to anger. If we tolerate sin in its infancy it grows to maturity. If you play with fire you will get burned. If you don’t deal with sin it will deal with you.

Matthew 5:8 ESV

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

The promise here is that we shall see God when we have a pure heart. Jesus is also making a point from Matthew 5-7 which is that you are in need of a Savior. You need Jesus. You cannot attain a pure heart apart from Him and the cross.

Look what Jesus says of what happens when we tolerate sin.

Matthew 5:21–22 ESV

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Cain murdered his brother. Here Jesus is saying that murder begins in the heart and is already committed even before the act. It is the same.

How do we guard our heart? Have you ever heard the saying you are what you eat? The body and the soul are not separate the principles are the same. if I eat mcdonalds for breakfast, lunch and dinner. What is going to happen? I am going to get fat it is going to effect my health. We have to have discipline. What are we listening to? What are we watching? I am not going to get legalistic and say dont watch this or listen to this or hang out with this group of people. It effects you.

I go to the gym and for a good while I would listen to non Christian music. Angry music because I believed it helped me. I noticed that my attitude was not a good one. I remained angry and I was like what is going on. My wife was like it feels like I am married to the Hulk. I spoke to my Pastor about my anger. You know what he asked me? What music are you listening to? I was shocked. I told him and he encouraged me to listen to worship music. He said that everytime he noticed his kids with bad attittudes he asked them the same question. Once they switched their music he noticed a change. We are what we eat not only in the physical but also in the spiritual.

Point 1 - Keep your devotion with God

Point 2 - Keep your heart

Point 3 - Keep a short list with God and with one another.

What do I mean by that? We are always confessing? We are not letting things build up. We are walking in transparency with God as if we have nothing to hide. We are asking God to search our hearts. To reveal to us sin that we may be overlooking.

Jealousy became anger and anger became murder. What is tolerated grows into maturity and becomes destructive. It was in Cains ability to deal with it and he didn’t and he paid the price.

Genesis 4:5–8 ESV

but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

The Lord knew what was going on. As a good Father came to Cain to talk to him. God warned him. Cain gave into his sin and killed his brother. James in the NT testifies about what sin produces and he says,

James 1:13–15 ESV

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. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Sin produces death. Period.

What should we do? How should we respond?

James 5:16 ESV

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

1 John 1:6–10 ESV

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

I want to make something clear about sin. First, sin is not isolated. We see here from Genesis 3 and in Chapter 4 it destroys families.

If you remember in Genesis 3 when God is pronouncing the curses to Adam to Eve and the serpent. He says this to Eve, your desire will be for your husband you will want to usurp him take his role and he will rule over you he will be harsh.)

Second thing about sin. Even when we think we are hiding something it is not hidden from God.

It is not just Abel who suffered but Cain as well. We see that sin isolates. You can see Cain being excluded. He was kicked out just like his parents. Even though there is grace in his life he still had consequences for his decisions.

Even though we are forgiven of our sins we still have to pay for the consequences of our sin. Unlike Cain who did not take responsibility we do not have to follow in his footsteps but should take responsibility.

Cain said something very interesting.

Genesis 4:9–10 ESV

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.

Am I my brothers keeper?

Look around. I am going to say to you all that Yes you are your brothers keeper.

The very same verses God says, “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.”

Abels blood was crying for justice.

When I read the bible with my oldest I ask him 3 questions. One of them is, “Where is Jesus?”

The author of Hebrews answers that.

Hebrews 12:24–25 ESV

and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.

The blood of Jesus speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. What is that word?

Thomas Constable says, “Jesus' blood is better than Abel's because Jesus' blood did not cry out for justice, retribution, and revenge as Abel's blood did. It satisfied God's demands and secured

God's acceptance of believers.

It "speaks better" because it cries out to God for mercy and pardon on behalf of those for whom Jesus shed it .1 Their blood is a figure of speech for their death. Both deaths were violent and

involved the shedding of blood.

Jesus shed blood for our sin. Each one of us like Cain are murderers. We are liars. We are thieves. We have broken Gods law. The payment for that crime is our death not only our body but our soul as well. But God. He sent his Son to take your punishment. The wrath of God upon Himself in exchange we are provided forgiveness of sin, reconciliation, sonship, eternal life.

Like Abel we have to come with faith. He didnt just believe it reflected in his actions. The faith that pleases God is one that works. I am not saying that we are saved by works we are saved through grace but this faith produces action. Amen.

Today. Be your brothers keeper.