The decesion at the door Genesis 4: 1-16

1 Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

15 But the Lord said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

THE OFFERINGS

We do not exactly know why God accepted Abel’s offering and didn't accept Cains.

could it be that God prefers Shepard's to gardeners? That animal sacrifices are better than food offerings? eh, I do not think so. God told Adam to have Dominion and rule over the animals in Genesis 1:28 but in Genesis 2:15 God tells Adam to work and take care of the Garden

The Bible is its best interpreter and the New Testament Does give us some insight . Hebrews 11:4 says “4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.”

There was something about Abel's posture as he presented these offerings to God that illustrated his faith in God and exemplified his righteousness. This was not the case for Cain. There was something about the quality of Cain and Abel’s offerings that reflected the attitude of their hearts.

It says that Abel brought Fat portions from the first born of his flock. The best of the best. In Leviticus 1:3 This became the standard for later sacrificial law that emphasized that only perfect, unblemished animals should be offered in sacrifice.

over the course of time Cain simply brought fruit from the ground Deuteronomy 26:2

It is not that God prefers sheep to vegetables. We are instructed to tend to both in the garden. What matters is the heart towards God as one presents an offering to him.

Abel presented his offering by faith and righteousness. Cain was simply fulfilling a duty.

We can be doing an act that is worshipful and still be doing it for the wrong motives.

Transition: The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Sa 16:7. God does not look with favor on Cains offering. He rejects it. how does Cain respond?

Cain's Response

Genesis 4:5 So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

He was angry at God. God recognizes this and like a parent warns him.

(illustration) I have two boys one about to turn two and another 8 months old. My 8 month old is becoming mobile and crawling around and my two year gets jealous anytime I’m holding my 8 month old or he is going for one of his toys. And his big rebellion right now is throwing things. if he gets angry or jealous he pouts and wham he throws somethings. As soon as we see the pout we go to him and tell him. Enoch you need to make a good choice right now and control your body. We have to be kind and share. if you throw that you are going to be in trouble and go to time out. This is what God is doing to cain in this moment on a much grander scale.

Genesis 4:6-7 Why are you angry? If you do well will not be accepted? There was something fundamentally wrong with Cain’s offering as he presented it to the Lord and the Lord saw that. The Lord tells Cain there is still an opportunity for him to get back on the right track.

He continues if you do not do well, if you continue the way you are going in anger, sin is crouching at the doors and it desires to have you but you must over come it. IF cain does not change something then sin is there getting ready to take over cain.

The word crouching in this verse is the Hebrew word ravats and it commonly refers to lying in wait like a predator does when waiting for prey. That is the imagery that this text is supposed to bring to our minds. Sin is crouching at the door like a predator waiting to ambush its prey. It is a wild beast eager to force its way into Cain’s existence. and this sin that is crouching and waiting has a desire.

I want to focus on this word desire for a moment. There are so many parallels in this passage to genesis three and this is one of them. The same word that is translated to desire in this passage is the same word use in Genesis 3:16 where God is giving out the curses to Adam and eve and to eve he says “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” In both Genesis 3 and 4 the word is used in a negative context. The desire represents something to be resisted, as it is connected to sin.

By using the same word, desire, God is reminding cain of the curse he gave to eve his mom because of their sin.

transition: Cain had a choice. A choice to open the door to sin or do well. Each choice will have results—acceptance by God on the one hand and dominance by sin on the other. God is clear; Cain must not allow sin to rule his life. So how does cain respond to God’s warning?

the murder

The very next line Genesis 4:8 we see cain bring his brother out to a field and kill him. Premeditated murder directly ignoring the Lord’s warning. Sin has taken a hold of him.

Where eve had to be talked into sin by the serpent Cain could not be talked out of sin by God 1 John 3:12

1 John 3:12 NIV

12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.

Side note: Anytime a person is filled with envy and anger over God’s blessing on others, there will be disaster if that anger is allowed to run its course.

Gen 4:9 When God questions him it, giving him a chance to confess, cain lies and completely denies it. “ am i my brothers keeper?”

This is another parallel to Gen 3:9 -12. When God walked in the cool of the night and asked Adam “where are you” they confessed that they ate of the tree that they were not supposed to. Here Cain does not confess, but lies, God already knows what he did and he lies anyway. Already we see humanity spiraling out of relationship with God. ( maybe add story of parenting and punishments being worse if i ied)

This is what James, the brother of Jesus says when he writes a letter to the churches talking about temptation in James 1:13-15

James 1:13–15 NIV

13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

there is that word desire again

This is still true today. Being a slave to sin, and letting sin fulfill its desire to overtake you brings death, it my not be the physical death of something but the death of a relationship or friendship, of emotional health, death of experiencing all that God has for you. It may be physical death , many people today die because of drug overdoses, kidney failure from over drinking, and gun violence. Sin brings death

Cain kills his brother, a man made in the image of God and God curses Cain. Genesis 4:10–12“10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”” He says that he will not be able to produce food from the ground. Yet another parallel to genesis 3 In the original sin of Adam and eve God curses the ground. Gen 3: 17 he curses the ground here in four he curses the person of cain.

this is Cain’s livelihood. He is a farmer. Without being able to produce food from the ground he will not be able to survive.

Cain protests his punishment he pleads to the Lord that his punishment is to much for him to bear, but he never repents. He never says God I am sorry for what I have done. Only that the punishment is to much to bear and God shows him some mercy by protecting him while he wanders from people murdering him. but lightens the punishment by promising that if anyone should kill Cain they will themselves experience severe retribution. God will be Cain’s keeper, in contrast to Cain’s failure to be his brother’s keeper.

Then cain leaves the presence of the Lord.

Jude writing about the sin of ungodly people says in Jude 1:11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain;

Jude 11 NIV

11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

The Lord rejects Cain’s offering. Cain becomes angry, rejects the Lord's advice, kills his brother, denies knowledge and responsibility of his crime, and protests the punishment for it. This is the way of cain in Jude 1:11

Transition: there is so much that we can dive into and study in this chapter. You could do a whole series but this is the first thing we are going to focus on tonight. It is a warning to the wicked of the penalty of rebellion against God. Sin brings death and continual sin wll lead to being outside the presence of the Lord. Some people here may need to hear that. The life that you are living rebelling against a God who loves you is not going to lead to anywhere good.

Never end a sermon without the Hope of the Gospel.

But God told cain if you do what is well or what is right you will be accepted. Well what is that and how do we do that? Well first lets look back to the creation story. The best interpreter of the bible is the bible itself

Do what is well (genesis creation)

God creates humanity in perfect relationship with him

He gives them everything they need and asked them to not eat of one tree

He gives them a choice because he wants creation to choose him, to be obedient to him, to love him because to loves someone is a choice

I choose to love my wife, even when we bicker or are arguing or making a tough decision and do not agree. I actively choose to Love my wife. To Love is an active decision to make. To love my wife is lead her well, to continually point to Christ, to humble myself and confess when I have wronged her, to encourage her in the gifting the Lord has given her, to be kind and gentle.

The Lord gives us a choice to Love him. The same way he gave Adam and eve a choice. The way we make that choice is to obey him. John 14:15

John 14:15 NIV

15 “If you love me, keep my commands.

The Lord is not going to force us to pick him and be obedient because that is not real love. We must actively make the choice to choose and obey him. Why should we choose to love him. Because of what he has done for us.

Humanity rejected God, dismissed him, and yet he came down in the person of Jesus and paid the price of our sin which is death so that we could be in restored relationship with him. To accept this we have to choose him and be obedient,

This is the posture that Abel had in his offering. One where he worshipfully offered sacrifice to the Lord rooted in love and faith.

Transition; Romans Five talks about how there is salvation from sin through Jesus and ends in verse Romans 5:21

Romans 5:21 NIV

21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6 well

Romans 6 talks about how if we are united with Christ and he has overcome the power of sin and defeated sin . As we are united with Christ in his death we are also united with him in his resurrection through our proclamation of who he is , our belief and faith in him, and our entry into the church through baptism. and his resurrection conquered sin and death.

This is what Romans 6:6-14

Romans 6:6–14 NIV

6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

In this freedom we choose to obey God by offering every part of ourselves as an instrument of his righteousness as a response to a place

Transition: Cain had a choice. A choice to open the door to sin or do well. Each choice will have results—acceptance by God on the one hand and dominance by sin on the other. God is clear; Cain must not allow sin to rule his life. We have choice a choice to open the door to sin and let it’s desire overtake us. Or a choice to do what is well. To love the Lord and offer every part of ourselves as an instrument for righteousness. To obey him and serve with our lips but with our lives.

church planting insert

ENDING

to the wicked their is a warning but to the righteous there is an encouragement to continue to serve God in piety. That is how one is separated from those who only appear outwardly religious , as cain did as he gave his offering, and those who keep sin at bay that as we are living in Gods grace we become more like him

Those who worship must have as their goal always to please God so that they will not allow sin (envy and hatred) to work its ruinous ways in their lives.

As this story progresses Cain leaves the presence of the Lord, wanders, and establishes a city. He has sons who are the founders of tent making, animal herding, agriculture, music. They tried to enhance their lives to supplement being outside the presence of God. This is the start of culture. And it is still true today that all of culture is rooted in wickedness. but this is how genesis 4 ends Genesis 4:25-26

Genesis 4:25–26 NIV

25 Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.

Eve had another son named Seth, which means appointed. and he remembered the Lord and called upon his name. Through his line came Noah. And from there Abraham , David, and jesus. The one who offers us salvation from the death of sin. amen

Related Media

Related Sermons