Genesis 4:1-26 - Remember God’s Faithfulness (despite our sinfulness)

Knoxville, TN wedding

That did not go like I thought it would.

You expect the day to be flawless, then your eyes get wide when it isn’t.

On the other hand, many of you tend to overthink something and you go to the worst case-scenario.

You get yourself all built up, then it goes a way that you didn’t think it would.

Context

The same is true of God’s love.

Sin has entered shattered the cosmos.

Adam and Eve had sinned and rebelled against God.

Humanity is now inherently sinful.

We are sinners at the core of our being.

We do not sin to become sinners, we sin because we are sinners.

Humanity has been expelled from the garden of Eden, and now we have to figure out what life looks like after Eden.

What we’re going to see is:

Big Idea: God is faithful despite our sinfulness.

Stand to read

Genesis 4:1–7 ESV

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 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, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 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.”

Leader: This is God’s Word.

Everyone: Thanks be to God.

This account starts optimistic

God had given Adam and Eve a son

Eve praised God for her firstborn: “I received him from the Lord!”

Although childbearing would be painful because of disobedience, the joy was well worth the pain.

In addition to this, God gave them another baby boy—Abel (v. 2a)

We clearly don’t have many details on their upbringing, but Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd.

Then when the time came to offer sacrifices

Abel’s was accepted by the Lord, but the Lord had no regard for Cain’s offering (v.4-5a).

Why didn’t God acknowledge Cain’s offering?

The difference was a heart posture

Abel came to God with a humble heart.

Hebrews 11:4 “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.”

Abel presented to the Lord by faith.

Cain was the captain of his own heart.

This was written all over Cain’s face (v. 5b).

Cain grew deeper in his resentment toward God.

God leaned in gently with Cain (v. 6-7).

God’s seeking to do some remedial work and get Cain back on track.

“Cain, if you humble yourself and do well, will you not be accepted?”

Gives Cain a vivid picture.

Sin is a beast. If you do not master it, you will be its victim.

There’s a natural opposition between brothers.

My family and I took a vacation to Gatlinburg when I was in 8th grade.

I was such a jerk. I made it hard for everyone to have a good time.

One night, I was annoyed, we were sitting at the trolly station in Gatlinburg and I was trying to read the board of times because we had been there longer than I wanted to be.

Braeden wanted to be a pest, because that’s what he was.

He was the favorite at the time, he was the baby.

He put himself between me/the board.

So I punched him in the stomach.

AND THEY GROUNDED ME.

He deserved it! If I knew I was going to get grounded, I would’ve made it count.

I was consumed by myself and what pleased me, that Braeden was a casualty of my sin.

The sin within Cain was growing and was going to consume him.

He’s standing at the edge of hell and instead of repenting and turning to the Lord, he willfully jumped.

Genesis 4:8–9 ESV

8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”

Cain’s unchecked and unrepentant sin boiled over into the first time human blood was shed.

Cain killed his little brother.

They shared a mother. A playset. A childhood.

This was Cain’s best friend.

This wasn’t an impersonal killing like with a gun/bomb

This was a personal, violent murder.

He looked his brother in the eyes.

Cain didn’t hate Abel.

Cain killed Abel out of hatred toward God.

Is this not where the basis of all of our sin begins?

Indignation toward God?

You’re holding out on me.

God calls Cain on this and Cain answers in arrogance.

“Am I my brothers keeper?”

Genesis 4:10–12 ESV

10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 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 is cursed, just like the serpent.

Cain now shares the same distinction as the serpent.

Beyond just wandering the earth, now all of his relationships with his family was broken.

More than that, the earth is his enemy now.

The ground he used to work, he watered with His brothers blood.

Cain is now to wander the earth as an enemy of God.

Church,

Our sin leads to judgement

When we approach God with arrogance because He exists in a way we don’t agree with, this will inevitably lead to indignation toward God which leads to sin.

God’s holiness will not stand for our arrogance.

The Lord had given mankind everything, yet repeatedly we tell Him it isn’t good enough.

We’re not satisfied. “God, you and what you have given are not enough.”

“God, you need to accept me on my terms/give me what I want because I know what’s good better than you do.”

When we begin to believe that we know what is good better than God knows what’s good, we are setting ourselves up to be just like Cain.

Genesis 4:13–14 ESV

13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 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.”

My first year of college I had a ‘97 Nissan Maxima.

I was broke and couldn’t afford a real car.

This was a clogged toilet of a car.

I had crashed into this ladies’ front fender and the control arm in the car was destroyed.

I took it to a garage and the balance just kept rolling up.

They essentially said that everything is wrong with this car.

I didn’t know how I was going to afford this, I didn’t know how I’d ever get home, I was in an absolute panic.

I called my dad just weeping “I don’t know how I’m going to do this. I just want to go to sleep.”

This car broke down on me, this garage had taken so long, and it cost me so much more than I was able to pay.

This is what sin does.

It slowly takes us away from God and seeks to kill us.

It crouches at our doors, and we often don’t recognize it.

Sin will always take you farther than you want to go—Keep you longer than you want to stay—Cost you more than you want to pay.

Say this again together.

Transition

Despite Cain’s murder, the Lord is kind and faithful to Him.

Cain realizes that he deserves to be murdered for what he has done and that he has sinned against God, and he falls to pieces.

Cain is so worried that someone will do the same to him, but God shows Him intense mercy.

Genesis 4:15–16 ESV

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. 16 Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Any vigilante would be severely judged, and then God marked Cain with a distinctive sign.

It wasn’t going to be a premature death, to shorten the judgement

God removed the fear of a violent death from cain.

Cain spent the rest of his natural life separated from God’s presence.

Although Cain was cut off and separated from God, He was guarded by God.

This was God’s mercy to the unrepentance.

Did Cain ever repent? Probably not.

But God approached Him as a merciful Father and showed him an intense amount of grace

Cain was released and became a “walking sermon” of God’s mercy and sin’s consequences.

Church, despite our sinfulness

God is faithful in His mercy

Your past does not determine God’s ability to be merciful to you.

Do you deserve condemnation for your sin? Yes.

Would God have been just to have Cain suffer the most terrible violence? Yes.

But God is not waiting for you to mess up, then when you do jumps on you.

The Lord is not out to get us.

His natural bend is toward grace, despite our wickedness.

This was the entire point of Jesus coming.

Gospel presentation

God sent His Son Jesus to pay for your sins.

Cain shed Abel’s blood out of anger toward God, God shed Jesus’s blood out of mercy toward us.

Jesus died on the cross so that you and I could be forgiven of all our sin.

Jesus went to the cross and was murdered, just like Abel.

Like Abel’s covered the ground, Jesus blood covers our sins and cries out to God!

Abel’s blood cried out for justice—Jesus’s blood cries out for mercy!

Pause and Say together “Mercy”

Hebrews 12:24 “24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”

The blood of Jesus declares us righteous before God because He paid the penalty for our sins!

Now, by believing in Jesus, we can be forgiven of our sins and become children of God through faith!

If you’re not a Christian, when you repent of your sin and look to Jesus’s death on the cross for salvation you will be saved by God’s mercy!

God is merciful and it would delight Him to save you today.

Transition

After addressing the lineage of Cain, Moses goes back to another bloodline…

Genesis 4:25–26 ESV

25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” 26 To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.

Gospel presentation

God had made a promise—there will be an offspring.

Genesis 3:15 “15 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.””

God gave Adam and Eve another child to replace the murdered Abel.

God had preserved the line of the woman, and through that line sent His Son to redeem the brokenness of humanity.

God had made a promise to send a Savior to redeem you from your sin.

Church, despite our sinfulness, God is faithful and has given us a wonderful salvation.

Does this make us perfect? No.

But it reveals that God is faithful to show mercy to those who trust in Jesus who gave His life so that we could be made right with God again.

Take the Next Step

What do you need to repent of? How do you need to receive God’s mercy?

Invite someone to receive God’s mercy.

There are people you know who willfully live like Cain.

They live separated from the presence and blessing of God.

They don’t know the good news that Jesus shed His blood to save sinners like us and restore us to a right relationship with God!

Bring them here, I’ll tell them.