Untitled Sermon (2)

Genesis 4 (NASB95)

Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain (To acquire), and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.” [ Thought: Every good and perfect gift comes from the LORD. Eve recognized that giving birth was beyond her power but through Gods power and help she was able to ACQUIRE a child. - Application: Everything we have, whether small or great, comes from the Lord. So always be thankful.]

Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground.

Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering;

but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?

“If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about 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?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.

“Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

“When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.”

Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to bear!

“Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

So the Lord said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord appointed a sign for Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him.

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

Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son.

Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad became the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael became the father of Methushael, and Methushael became the father of Lamech.

Lamech took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah.

Adah gave birth to 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 lyre and pipe.

As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah,

Listen to my voice,

You wives of Lamech,

Give heed to my speech,

For I have killed a man for wounding me;

And a boy for striking me;

If Cain is avenged sevenfold,

Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”

Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, “God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.”

To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord.

Adam and Eve Had 2 sons. Cain the oldest and Abel the youngest. Cain killed Abel and God told Cain he was going to be a wanderer and Cain feared that others would kill him but God promised to set a hedge of protection round about him that no one would kill him.

The interesting thing to note here is that Cain and Able were the only 2 children the scriptures identified here. Did Adam and Eve more children during this time and just not mentioned? Otherwise, how is it that Cain was afraid that someone would kill him after he killed his brother and became a wanderer and who was God protecting him from if he was the only other man on the scene besides Adam. Seth wasn’t born until Adam was 130yrs old. But the scriptures doesn’t specify how old the were when Cain and Able was born... The Bible says Cain move to Nod, got MARRIED and had Enoch. After this occasion the Bible speaks of Seth being born replacing Able. So both Able and Cain had to be old enough to get married and understand right from wrong, etc. If that’s all taken into consideration, it seems as though there were other people on the earth or Adam had other children before Seth. But most theologians classify Seth as the 3rd child.

What geographical location were Adam and his family live during this time?

The Garden of Eden is associated with four rivers. Tigris, Euphrates, Pihon and Gihon. Note, Tigris and Euphrates still flow through what we know as Iraq today. In the Bible it is said to have flown through Assyria, which is known as Iraq today. Assyria: A Semitic Akkadian kingdom centered on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia, modern northern Iran existing from the 25th or 24th century BC to 605 BC. Also: Asshur; Assur; Assyrian; Empire of Assyria Pihon and Gihon location is unknown, but it is said that Gihon is associated with the land of Cus, which is Northeast of the Persian Gulf. So it safe to say the Garden of Eden was located in the Mesopotamia

The Bible speaks of Adam and Eve being placed in the Garden of Eden. So that means the genealogy of Adam and his descendants where all living in Eden or the Mesopotamia.

Now Cain he settled east of Eden in the land of Nod. It is important to note that East of Eden signifies being “OUTSIDE OF EDEN”. Nod is said to be referring to a state of Cain being a Wanderer. The word Nod in Hebrew mean “wandering”. So in essence Nod could be a symbolic term, meaning wandering. Interesting thing to note also is that Cain met his wife in Nod, which begs the question, “was she out wandering as well”?

Application:

Cain sinned, and cain didn’t do the right thing. Cain’s actions caused him to be alienated from his people and which inevitably caused him to be outside of Gods will. We see that in the symbolism of him leaving out of Eden and wandering. When you are outside of God’s will, you’d feel alienated from the people of GOD for separated from where you supposed to me and you’d find yourself wandering aimlessly. I remember giving my life to the lord and fire at that. Somewhere down the line I lost focus and like Cain I allowed sin to creep in which led to more sin. Because the Bible is true when it says a little leavening or yeast leavens to whole loaf of bread. Like Cain instead of mastering sin by addressing the issues, it mastered me. As a result I found myself saying I love God but my actions proved differently. I was sleeping around, breaking hearts, moving from state to state, can’t settle with a job. Changing career paths, acting off of impulse. Just simply wandering with no direction. SIN WILL CAUSE YOU TO WANDER WITH NO DIRECTION. Being in God’s will, by obeying him, is the safest place in the whole world. God was in Eden. His presence was there. When Cain killed his brother, that sin separated him from God literally by leaving Eden and spiritually. Sin separates us from God. That’s why the Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life”. It’s figurative sense mean the payment of our sins is being ETERNALLY SEPARATED from God. But the gift of God. What is the gift of God? God’s gift was him giving his only son to die in our place. We just have to now appropriate what he did for us.