The Downward Spiral of Sin

PRAY FOR JOSH

Intro - Write down the Gospel.

Big Picture Themes

Sin Leads to Death

Romans 6:23

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What we’ve seen in the first 4 chapters is that when Adam and Eve were to eat the fruit, they would surely die:

Genesis 2:16-17

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die

God’s Mercy and Grace

Psalm 103:8

"The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

God’s Sovereign Will

Isaiah 46:9-10:

"Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’"

Overview of Genesis 4-11

There is so much that happens in chapters 4-11.

We see Adam and Even give birth to Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-2)

We see that God loved Abel and how he gave the proper and best sacrifices. (Genesis 4:4-5)

We see Cain get jealous, envious, and angry at Abel and Cain murders Abel. Sin Leads to Death (Genesis 4:5-8)

God actually shows Mercy and Grace to Cain. God doesn’t kill Cain right there and then as he could justifiably do. He makes a command for no one to kill him. God shows grace to Cain.

Genesis 4:15: "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.”

We see Adam and Eve give birth to another son and his name is Seth. Seth will continue the line of the Israelites and this is the lineage that Jesus will descend from. The prophecy of this descendant that we talked about last week continues to be at work in our human timeline. The lineage continues of Adam and Eve for this Jesus to bruise the head of the evil one. (Genesis 4:25-26)

We see the world has populated and great evil, wickedness, and sin has inhabited the earth. This was so bad it says that God relented His creation and will destroy it. God floods the earth and destroys everything except for those on the ark. Sin leads to death. (More detail on this later)

God makes a covenant to Noah, called the Noahic Covenant which is a promise that God will never destroy the world by a flood again, and that’s why we have the rainbow, to remind us of that.

Genesis 9:11: "I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."

Genesis 9:13: "I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth."

We then have the story of the tower of babel and how people all gathered together to build a tower that would reach the heavens. God confuses their language so that they may no longer be able to communicate them. They are rebelling against him by not being dispersed amongst the earth but gathered together in one spot. They are wanting to be God and we’ve already seen what this does with Satan and Adam and Eve. Sin almost lead to death again. God shows mercy to them. He prevents them from repeating the same mistake prior to the flood and he confused their language and they disperse. (Genesis 11:4, 7. and 8)

Through all of this, we see God’s Sovereign Will. What does Sovereign Will mean?

Sovereign will refers to God's ultimate authority and control over all things. It means He has the supreme power to determine and direct everything according to His divine plan and purpose.

We see God’s Sovereign Will because time and time again, humans rebelled against God and wanted to do what they wanted to do but God had and has His plan that will be done.

You would think Abel would have been the one that would have been the direct lineage as God was pleased with Abel, yet Cain killed him. God wanted the lineage through Seth. The name Seth means “substitute”. What an awesome name to symbolize the ultimate substitute that will come through Him, Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV): "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

You would think God messed up as he kills all of creation but the lineage continues to Noah as God intended.

And then we see in the Tower of Babel how humanity is trying again to be God and God intervenes and stops them. God’s Plan will be done. He is Sovereign and knows what will happen. We use this fun word, ordain, which means God will establish it, God ordains things to be. Does this mess with free will? No. We see how all of these people who died, truly were wicked and sinful and chose to rebel against God.

Prepare the Way for the Gospel

1. Cain vs Abel’s Sacrifice

1. Quality of the Offering

Abel’s Offering: Abel brought “the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions” (Genesis 4:4). The firstborn and fat portions were regarded as the best and most valuable parts of the flock, indicating that Abel offered his best to God. This is important as Genesis we see is the origin for us, but I would say more importantly the origin for Israel. This was the standard in Israel to sacrifice the firstborn. You’ll see these sacrifices throughout the Old Testament. Cain’s Offering: Cain brought “the fruit of the ground” (Genesis 4:3). The text does not specify that Cain’s offering was the best of his produce, suggesting that it may not have been as carefully chosen or valuable as Abel’s.

2. Faith

Hebrews 11:4: "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.” This verse explains that Abel’s offering was “by faith” and was more acceptable. Abel’s act of worship was characterized by genuine faith and sincerity, which made his offering more pleasing to God.

3. The Heart of Worship

Genesis 4:4-5: God’s regard for Abel’s offering and His lack of regard for Cain’s suggests that there were specific divine standards or expectations for what constituted an acceptable offering. Abel’s offering met these standards, while Cain’s did not. 1 John 3:12: "We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.” This verse contrasts Abel’s righteousness with Cain’s evil deeds, implying that Abel’s offering was more aligned with righteousness and moral integrity, whereas Cain’s actions reflected a lack of righteousness.

This passage helps prepare the way to the gospel as Jesus will be the perfect lamb, the perfect sacrifice.

2. How Awful Sin Is

Widespread Corruption: "Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence" (Genesis 6:11). Violence: "The earth was filled with violence" (Genesis 6:11). Human Wickedness: "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). Nephilim: "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown" (Genesis 6:4).

A word that has been in my mind is the word disgust. For some reason, wickedness is a bad word, but disgust, hits differently. The world was just utterly disgusting. Reading this, does not do it justice.

I find this similar to war (Explain war, Hacksaw ridge)

Sin is awful. Sin leads to death. Sin is a poison and you see it slap into every ounce of the earth. Sin is terrible and we must flee from it. Let this be a reminder that through Jesus Christ, you are no longer a slave to sin. But it still is in this world and want no part of it.

Romans 6:12-14

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

This passage reminds us of the need for the Gospel, the need for Jesus Christ. The world is corrupt, only Jesus can save us.

3. Genealogies

Herrera will teach next week and we get introduced now to Abraham. There are 3 places in this section Genesis Chapter 5, 10, and 11, that reference these genealogies. These genealogies are descendants of people and we will see how this all prepares the way to Abraham.

Genesis 5:1-32: The genealogy from Adam to Noah, showing the line of the righteous leading up to Noah.

Genesis 10:1-32: The Table of Nations, detailing the descendants of Noah's sons, setting the stage for the spread of nations and the establishment of Israel.

Genesis 11:10-32: The genealogy from Shem to Abram (Abraham), connecting the post-flood world to the patriarch Abraham.

These genealogies prepare the way to the gospel as God prophesied salvation and hope through Adam and Eve’s descendants.

Genesis 3:15 (ESV): "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."