Dale Partridge - Genesis 4_1-8 - Cain and Abel and the War of the Seeds

00:00:00.000 Well, you might be wondering, why on earth are we talking about the murder of Abel Christmas

00:00:09.380 week?

00:00:10.680 And I'll tell you, the magnificence of Christ shines most brightly on the backdrop of sin.

00:00:21.660 And when you see the absolute necessity of Christ through this passage of Scripture,

00:00:29.480 I think you'll understand how beautiful it actually connects.

00:00:33.480 Today we begin Genesis chapter 4.

00:00:37.160 And I've titled the sermon, Cain and Abel and the War of the Seeds.

00:00:43.600 Now, as you may remember, we just finished this Edenic narrative that had the temptation of Eve,

00:00:51.680 the fall of Adam, the curses pronounced on the serpents, the judgments pronounced on the sexes, 0.81

00:00:58.960 The promise of a serpent crusher that's going to come from the seed of the woman. 0.93

00:01:04.140 Their expulsion from the garden and their banning from the tree of life. 1.00

00:01:07.400 That's where we left off.

00:01:09.600 And here we are now entering into the post Edenic section of the Bible.

00:01:17.000 And chapter four now introduces us to the descendants of Adam and life after Eden.

00:01:26.740 in fact actually this point forward you don't actually hear of adam and eve in the narrative

00:01:32.960 any longer there's references to them but they are no longer part of the narrative

00:01:38.340 genesis turns their attention to their children to their offspring to their descendants

00:01:42.760 and really the unfolding story of humanity and its need for redemption and so the main takeaway

00:01:50.080 of this passage is this if you just want to write it down it's right here this is what we're going

00:01:53.980 be talking about. Sin did not end with Eden or with Adam. It did not end with Eden or with Adam.

00:02:02.900 It was passed down through birth. And more than that, it was magnified. That is really what we

00:02:10.300 see here in this passage of scripture. This text confirms that God's promise of ongoing conflict

00:02:18.440 between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, that promise that God said would occur

00:02:23.400 is confirmed here. And how the fall of man essentially immediately affects

00:02:34.740 Adam's children, his family and interpersonal relationships, the way they worship, all of

00:02:41.840 these things becomes very apparent. In fact, if we just zoom out for a moment, I think this will

00:02:46.340 be helpful for you as we kind of prepare ourselves to go further into Genesis. And I'm going to try

00:02:50.440 to do larger swaths of scripture so that we can get through sections faster. But there's really a

00:02:56.720 general theme of Genesis. Genesis chapter 1 through 3 is life of creation of the garden.

00:03:01.760 We've been there. Genesis 3 through 5 is also about the fall. It's really heavily about the fall.

00:03:11.580 So we're still talking about the effects of the fall. Chapters 6 through 9 are the flood.

00:03:17.720 And we're going to get there shortly.

00:03:20.260 And so the effects of the fall are not limited to chapter 3.

00:03:23.300 I think a lot of pastors and a lot of Christians really think the effects of the fall just kind of end with chapter 3.

00:03:27.800 No, this is the extension of chapter 3.

00:03:31.400 The effects, the manifestation of what was said in chapter 3.

00:03:34.620 We're about to see it unfold in chapter 4, 5, and then eventually 6 through 9.

00:03:41.360 In fact, Genesis 6, 5, God says,

00:03:44.660 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thought...

00:03:52.560 Just stop right there.

00:03:54.760 Every, every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continuously.

00:04:06.440 Seven verses later, he says,

00:04:07.780 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

00:04:14.660 Just absolute plunging into depravity.

00:04:20.060 And so let's go back to verse 4-1.

00:04:24.300 And I want to show us how fast we go from the innocence of the garden to the depravity outside of the garden.

00:04:32.560 Verse 1 says,

00:04:33.720 Now Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying,

00:04:38.680 I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. 0.90

00:04:41.700 Let's just stop there.

00:04:42.780 As we prepare to launch our classical Christian school

00:04:49.360 We're getting ready to launch that here on January 5th

00:04:51.380 I have been reading and thinking about Shakespeare

00:04:53.820 Shakespeare is one of the great classics

00:04:57.600 One of his famous quotes that I've remembered

00:05:00.120 It says, quote, all of the world's a stage

00:05:03.860 And all the men and women are merely players

00:05:06.660 They all have their exits and their entrances

00:05:09.760 One man in his time plays many parts

00:05:12.980 Many of you have maybe heard this passage from Shakespeare.

00:05:16.980 Cain is the focal player right now.

00:05:19.480 He's the focal player in this narrative, this chapter of God's story.

00:05:23.040 And Adam was the first man, but Cain was the first baby.

00:05:26.800 Cain was the first baby born on this earth.

00:05:30.900 He's mentioned actually 16 times.

00:05:32.960 Abel's only mentioned six times.

00:05:34.400 And so he truly is the focal point of this section.

00:05:37.940 Now, this verse can be divided into two parts.

00:05:41.320 The first part really speaks of Eve's conception.

00:05:44.600 And the second part really speaks to Eve's acclamation of praise.

00:05:50.000 And so we're going to look at them together.

00:05:51.220 So regarding the first part, one commentator notes, and I thought this was really wise, and I thought it was really discerning.

00:05:56.340 He says, Eve's name means life-giver, and here she lives up to her name.

00:06:02.040 And so we know that names are biblically prophetic.

00:06:05.900 Generally speaking, if there's a name, you've got to realize,

00:06:09.380 huh, I wonder why they have that name.

00:06:11.700 And usually there's some divine connection or prophetic connection there.

00:06:16.940 Eve is no exception.

00:06:17.900 The second half is especially striking because I really believe it is an evidence of faith.

00:06:24.980 Eve has faith.

00:06:28.400 That's very important.

00:06:31.460 Though Eve is the vessel through whom life comes,

00:06:34.780 She recognizes that God is the one who gives life.

00:06:40.180 In fact, in the English it says, with the help of the Lord.

00:06:43.680 In the Hebrew it actually says, by the Lord.

00:06:45.760 It just says, by the Lord.

00:06:47.820 I got a man by the Lord.

00:06:50.300 Came from God.

00:06:55.200 Now as Christians, we already know that life comes from God.

00:06:58.640 I mean, we have the entire Bible.

00:07:00.960 We've read the scriptures.

00:07:02.180 We know the New Testament.

00:07:03.060 I mean, we understand these things.

00:07:04.660 But from the very beginning, Scripture makes it clear that all life comes from God.

00:07:09.100 I think about Acts 17, verse 25.

00:07:12.080 It says, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything.

00:07:15.580 And it says right here, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

00:07:25.520 Everything comes from God.

00:07:30.040 Name a thing that you have.

00:07:32.300 It's from the Lord.

00:07:35.740 Now, Eve's joyful declaration of praise, it was it was likely bound up in the hope that God would bring that promised serpent crusher.

00:07:45.240 Right. She's just going, hey, I got this promise that there's a serpent crusher going to come from the seat of the woman. 0.89

00:07:50.640 That's me. And then look, God has now given me a baby.

00:07:55.500 So you've got to believe that she's got this hope wrapped up that maybe Cain is this serpent crusher that may restore them back to the garden.

00:08:09.440 But the enthusiasm seems to fade because no similar praise is recorded for the birth of Abel.

00:08:18.020 If you just look to the text, which we'll read in a second.

00:08:20.460 it just says and again she bore her brother Abel

00:08:25.000 and again I think it might signal we don't know for sure but

00:08:30.280 there was certainly at some point some recognition that this is not

00:08:34.160 the promised Messiah but this child

00:08:38.260 is just like us

00:08:39.980 it says in verse 2 and again she bore his brother Abel and now Abel was a keeper of sheep

00:08:46.380 and Cain was a worker of the ground in the course of time

00:08:50.040 Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel

00:08:54.300 also brought the firstborn of his flock and the fat

00:08:58.160 portions. And the Lord had regard

00:09:02.460 for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering had

00:09:06.140 no regard. So Cain was very angry,

00:09:10.140 and his face fell. Alright, Cain's

00:09:14.260 name in Hebrew means possession or acquired. Again, I think this is

00:09:18.200 probably probably why Eve maybe or Adam and Eve named them because maybe there's a connection

00:09:25.460 that he was the promised seed we've acquired the promised seed Abel's name by contrast means breath

00:09:33.580 or vapor and again this may be prophetic to some degree speaking to the brevity of his life that

00:09:40.820 he would be taken quickly and especially when people are living 800 or 900 years and Abel is

00:09:46.580 taken. Now, Abel was a shepherd and Cain was a farmer. That's what we see here. Both are

00:09:56.820 honorable vocations. I think they're both created under God's order. But it appears

00:10:04.280 to be some sort of deeper symbolic reality. I think this is just maybe me being a theologian,

00:10:08.700 But I want to bring something to light.

00:10:12.820 Cain, as we know in 1 John 3, tells us that Cain is of the evil one.

00:10:19.840 So we've got to keep that in mind right here.

00:10:21.420 Cain is of the evil one.

00:10:23.340 And Cain is the one that's laboring in the cursed ground.

00:10:29.020 Cain is the one laboring.

00:10:30.440 He's the one dealing with the thorns and the thistles and the sweat of the curse.

00:10:35.460 now abel on the other hand is exercising his dominion over the animals more like the instruction

00:10:45.840 that was given by god to adam and again this is just an observation but maybe there's no intention

00:10:53.000 from god here but maybe there is genesis 4 3 records this first act of sacrificial worship

00:10:59.580 after the fall. If you look to verse 3, it's the first act of sacrificial worship

00:11:05.040 after the fall. Now, why is that important? Why is that important for us to notice that

00:11:10.760 they're all of a sudden now bringing portions to sacrifice and offering to God? Why does

00:11:17.440 that even matter? Because it shows us that sin did not erase humanity's impulse to worship

00:11:25.400 or to bring something to God.

00:11:29.160 Now, you might think, even in a fallen world,

00:11:33.180 you know, removed from the physical presence of God,

00:11:39.460 the shocking reality is that people are still worshiping.

00:11:42.780 People are still coming to God.

00:11:44.300 People are still making offerings to God.

00:11:46.740 That sin had not broken the relationship between God and man

00:11:50.340 to such a degree that we don't want anything to do with God at all.

00:11:53.540 No, here we have two men, one that's fallen, coming and approaching God and bringing offerings.

00:12:04.740 Now, I think there's another observation I want to make here.

00:12:07.740 One is that we will worship, people worship.

00:12:11.580 It's not whether but which.

00:12:13.980 It's not what but who.

00:12:16.400 But we will worship.

00:12:17.460 just as physical beings must breathe

00:12:26.200 spiritual beings must worship

00:12:28.240 that is a fact

00:12:29.660 that is something that I've seen over and over

00:12:32.040 I think of C.S. Lewis' quote

00:12:33.820 he says

00:12:34.260 our desires and functions

00:12:37.160 well I'm actually going to sum it up

00:12:39.780 because it's kind of long

00:12:40.740 basically he says

00:12:43.360 our desires and functions

00:12:44.780 essentially point beyond themselves we have a stomach and we hunger because food exists

00:12:53.080 uh we we have air because lungs exist it's a reverse examination and an interesting philosophical

00:13:04.540 point um we worship because there is a god to worship essentially uh the spiritual things that

00:13:14.340 we see in the world, the spiritual things that we do, the prayer, the rituals, the worship that

00:13:20.740 you see all around us, they're essentially, they don't create the spiritual realm. They testify

00:13:27.880 that the spiritual realm exists. Do you know what I'm saying here? Is that they're evidence that the

00:13:33.020 spiritual world exists. You know, the presence of sound testifies that we have ears. Again, like the

00:13:40.420 presence of oxygen testifies that we have lungs. It's this thing that we will worship. Everybody

00:13:45.480 around you worships. It's not whether you'll worship, but who you'll worship. Find an atheist

00:13:50.460 and find out what they worship, right? Find a pagan and find out what they worship. It may not 0.92

00:13:57.060 be God. It's something else. It's themselves. It's their comfort. It's their pleasure. It's their

00:14:01.680 sexual life, whatever it may be. It might be demonic. It might be the earth. It might be

00:14:07.300 creation, but whatever you're going to do is you're going to find out that people worship.

00:14:13.760 I forgot the quote, but it was something like, I have traveled

00:14:16.780 countryside and country, and I have seen places with no banks, and I've seen places with no stores,

00:14:23.400 and I have seen places with no schools, but one thing I have not seen is a place without a place

00:14:28.800 of worship. People worship. No matter where you go, you're going to find people worshiping.

00:14:35.920 The atheists are the biggest idiots on earth because they're the only ones that don't realize that they're worshiping. 1.00

00:14:49.020 Verse 3 includes this phrase, in the course of time. 1.00

00:14:52.080 In the course of time, they start bringing these offerings.

00:14:56.440 Some might translate it at an appointed time.

00:14:59.560 And some might suggest that these weren't spontaneous acts,

00:15:02.900 that God essentially gave them some sort of mandate that's not written in Scripture.

00:15:06.460 Maybe that's the case, but the text does not tell us that.

00:15:08.660 The text does not tell us that.

00:15:12.040 The central question is, why God accepted Abel's offering but rejected Cain's?

00:15:19.080 That is the question that you read this and you go, huh, what's going on here?

00:15:24.240 Why did he accept Abel's offering and not Cain's?

00:15:28.820 and the only explicit

00:15:32.240 distinction in the text itself

00:15:33.860 is that Abel brought the firstborn

00:15:35.980 of his flock

00:15:36.720 Cain did not bring

00:15:39.980 the first fruits of his

00:15:41.300 of his agriculture

00:15:43.780 that's the only thing you get

00:15:45.920 in the text

00:15:46.620 now just one thing I want to clarify

00:15:51.940 is that God does not favor offerings

00:15:53.940 based on whether they are

00:15:55.080 animals or agriculture

00:15:57.460 I don't think that's something that we see in Scripture.

00:15:59.580 In fact, Scripture consistently teaches that God does not discriminate between meat

00:16:02.780 or between grain offerings or between any other types of offerings.

00:16:07.300 He discriminates between faithfulness and faithlessness.

00:16:11.200 That's it.

00:16:12.540 Between faithfulness and faithlessness.

00:16:15.020 God looks not at the external, but looks at the heart.

00:16:17.680 Doesn't mean that we don't obey the external, we do.

00:16:20.340 But what really matters to the Lord is what's inside of those offerings.

00:16:24.580 How those offerings are delivered.

00:16:31.040 I think there's a pastoral connection to be made between the sacrifices of the Old Testament and the giving of the New Testament.

00:16:40.500 I think that's maybe the closest connection that we can make.

00:16:42.660 We have sacrifices. Give something that you will rely on sustenance for to the Lord.

00:16:48.560 Well, for us who are not living in an agrarian culture or under the sacrificial system,

00:16:56.340 we are giving our money, we're giving our time, we're giving our obedience, we're giving our resources away.

00:17:00.560 So the closest connection is this Old Testament sacrifices to New Testament giving.

00:17:09.060 And Jesus makes it clear when he praises the widow who gave the widow's mites, right?

00:17:14.980 saying her offering was greater than the larger gifts of the wealthy

00:17:18.980 because what? She gave it from faith.

00:17:21.520 She gave it with a correct heart.

00:17:25.860 David echoes this truth in Psalm 51.

00:17:29.800 He says, for you will not delight in sacrifice or I would give it.

00:17:34.520 The sacrifices of God are what?

00:17:36.580 Are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.

00:17:39.720 Oh God, these you will not despise.

00:17:42.880 that is the central matter before the lord i don't care what you bring to god

00:17:50.900 if it doesn't come with a right heart god doesn't accept it

00:17:55.860 so the application i think is twofold first when you give to the lord again whether it's your time

00:18:04.700 whether it's your resources whether it's your obedience what is the posture of your heart

00:18:09.080 just examine yourself are you giving reluctantly are you giving out of duty are you giving out of

00:18:17.620 presentation so that other people can see you are you giving out of fear or are you giving out of

00:18:27.140 gratitude and faith i think this is why paul exhorts believers he says in second corinthians

00:18:35.720 9, 7, each one of you must give as he has decided

00:18:39.720 where? In his heart.

00:18:43.860 Not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a

00:18:47.700 cheerful giver. So the second

00:18:51.800 application would be, religious activity has

00:18:55.800 nothing to do with religious sincerity. Religious

00:18:59.840 activity has nothing to do with religious sincerity. There's all types of people who have

00:19:03.820 come to the church and never come to Christ.

00:19:05.780 There's all types of religious people who have no sincerity of heart.

00:19:11.820 That's why Jesus says to the people that go, 0.97

00:19:15.300 Lord, Lord, haven't we cast out demons in your name?

00:19:17.320 Haven't we done all these things in your name?

00:19:18.700 Performed wonders? Prophesied in your name?

00:19:21.420 And Jesus says, away from you? I don't even know you.

00:19:26.880 Is that Christian activity does not mean Christian security.

00:19:33.820 And this stumbles the legalist.

00:19:36.620 This really does.

00:19:39.620 Because it's not what you do.

00:19:41.960 It's what's been done.

00:19:43.620 It's believing in faith.

00:19:45.460 Yes, you have great works that come from a good heart.

00:19:48.600 Good, faithful men and women will do good things.

00:19:52.120 But it's not the good thing that makes you saved.

00:19:56.600 Gerhardus Voss said famously,

00:20:00.140 Legalism lacks the supreme sense of worship.

00:20:02.540 It obeys.

00:20:03.820 but it does not adore. Cain obeyed. Abel adored. That's the difference. Cain obeyed. Abel adored.

00:20:14.300 And that's what we get systematically in the scriptures to understand more about this passage

00:20:19.500 of scripture that we do not have time to go into. But in the end of verse 5, it says,

00:20:25.460 So Cain was very angry, very angry, and his face fell.

00:20:33.300 So instead of talking to God, and he doesn't accept your offering,

00:20:40.960 instead of a contrite spirit, Cain was not only angry, it says that he was very angry.

00:20:47.720 Very angry.

00:20:49.840 And just for a second, just put yourself in the situation.

00:20:52.840 You're watching, you're standing there in the field.

00:20:55.460 And you're watching this.

00:20:57.400 Consider the depth of depravity in Cain at this moment.

00:21:02.020 A creature made by an infinite and holy God.

00:21:07.160 He feels no holy fear.

00:21:09.560 Not at all.

00:21:11.320 No conviction to repent.

00:21:13.360 No conviction to improve the state of his offering to please his creator.

00:21:17.120 Not at all.

00:21:18.300 Instead, his heart burns with murderous anger towards his brother.

00:21:26.440 Just think for a second.

00:21:28.820 You're sitting there, you're watching this all go down, and you could see the heart.

00:21:33.320 Think about how dark and wicked this is.

00:21:41.620 Here's the catch.

00:21:43.960 This posture is not reserved to Genesis 4.

00:21:51.020 I see this thing every day.

00:21:53.120 If you just come on to any of my social media accounts, you can see it too.

00:22:00.200 Hollywood openly mocks God in films and media.

00:22:05.100 Politicians blaspheme God without any shame. 0.98

00:22:10.580 Transgender individuals are placed in pulpits and homosexuals are leading worship to God in churches. 1.00

00:22:17.300 Wicked, wicked stuff without any remorse. 1.00

00:22:23.120 people will come in and comment to me and other people death threats and they'll send us hate 0.85

00:22:32.860 mail, wicked, terrible things. In other words, at first it seems like almost unbelievable that

00:22:44.580 that Cain could speak with God. Like he's speaking with God. I don't know if it's visually,

00:22:50.720 It doesn't say.

00:22:52.240 We don't know.

00:22:53.800 But he's speaking with God and he still has a hardened heart.

00:23:00.140 It's an amazing thing.

00:23:06.860 Now think about this for a moment.

00:23:08.960 Sin is so powerful that even direct conversation with God does not guarantee repentance.

00:23:17.520 and before you think well it would for me you're wrong and let me tell you why because we see this

00:23:25.920 in the ministry of jesus over and over again people witnessed his miracles they heard his

00:23:34.620 teaching they are speaking to god in the flesh jesus is telling them before god i am

00:23:41.000 And people still didn't repent, they still didn't believe, and they still wanted to kill him.

00:23:52.420 It was Richard Baxter who said, remember that Judas heard every one of Jesus' sermons.

00:24:00.080 Think about that.

00:24:02.400 You can't be persuaded in the kingdom of heaven.

00:24:05.400 If Jesus can't persuade you, how in the heck do you think that I will?

00:24:11.000 What is, it's a crazy idea to think that we can intellectually persuade people into the kingdom of God.

00:24:18.900 Cain is sitting there talking to God.

00:24:22.560 And yet no repentance is granted.

00:24:26.760 People are sitting there listening to Jesus, watching him regrow limbs.

00:24:33.980 And they're not repenting.

00:24:41.000 Ultimately, this passage teaches us that repentance of faith is not a lack of evidence.

00:24:47.180 But a lack of ability apart from God's regenerating grace.

00:24:53.340 If God doesn't give you regenerating grace, you'll never repent.

00:25:00.080 You just won't.

00:25:02.060 If God doesn't give your sister or your brother or your neighbor or your co-worker regenerating grace, they're not going to repent.

00:25:08.720 I know you wish that you could just get in there and give the best calculated theological exposition of the gospel.

00:25:18.080 And maybe, maybe you will intellectually persuade them into the kingdom of heaven.

00:25:21.560 You won't.

00:25:23.720 It doesn't mean that you don't try.

00:25:25.240 It doesn't mean that you don't do that.

00:25:26.900 It doesn't mean that God might not use that as the means of grace to facilitate a conversion.

00:25:31.300 But the reality is that without the Holy Spirit coming into a person and regenerating the heart, nothing will change.

00:25:39.340 That's the hardest part.

00:25:42.620 At some sense, it's freeing as an evangelist because you go,

00:25:46.680 if someone does come to faith,

00:25:50.300 well, let's just say it this way.

00:25:51.820 If someone doesn't come to faith, it wasn't because I failed.

00:25:56.980 It's because God has not seen that his mercy is to be extended to this person.

00:26:06.080 Now, you might go, well, isn't that mean that God is unjust?

00:26:10.840 Isn't it unfair that God only saves some, but not everybody?

00:26:15.020 No.

00:26:16.300 No, you have to realize the real miracle is why does God save anybody?

00:26:25.020 There is no injustice.

00:26:28.560 There is just justice and mercy.

00:26:32.760 God decides to save some.

00:26:35.080 And he decides to leave the rest to justice.

00:26:38.140 There is no injustice there. 1.00

00:26:40.140 We all deserve death and hell. 0.93

00:26:44.600 So it's a very important understanding that without God's regenerating grace, 0.99

00:26:51.000 go try to be evangelists without Christ.

00:26:54.200 Go try to do the work of an apologist.

00:26:56.920 And this is what all these intellectual apologists do.

00:26:59.580 They try to persuade people with facts.

00:27:03.040 And it's not effective.

00:27:05.080 It's not effective.

00:27:10.020 In fact, we see in the next verse, instead of offering wrath for Cain's sin,

00:27:14.820 God extends mercy.

00:27:17.500 He even extends him like an informative counsel.

00:27:20.880 He's like, hey, why don't you try this, Cain?

00:27:23.480 But without God changing his heart, Cain stays in his evil state.

00:27:30.360 Let's go to verse 6.

00:27:31.440 the Lord God said to Cain

00:27:35.020 why are you angry

00:27:36.380 and why has your face fallen

00:27:40.020 again

00:27:41.960 it's not that God doesn't know why

00:27:43.980 right these are rhetorical questions

00:27:46.140 to give Cain an opportunity to examine

00:27:48.320 and repent

00:27:48.820 if you do well will you not be

00:27:52.140 accepted

00:27:52.580 and if you do not do well

00:27:56.360 sin is crouching at the door

00:27:59.660 its desire is for you

00:28:02.640 and you must rule over it

00:28:05.920 alright I want to point out

00:28:10.020 the ungodly are angry people

00:28:12.260 again I think it's something we already know

00:28:16.740 but you want to know who are just really angry people

00:28:20.560 look at the people who hate Christ

00:28:22.580 they're very angry people

00:28:23.780 uh they like anger from the ungodly is as inseparable as darkness is from night

00:28:33.340 like you just can't take away the two um they have no peace they have no hope they have

00:28:41.100 uh their sins are dark their hearts are darkened their minds are darkened and

00:28:49.220 they have no remedy.

00:28:52.780 They have no remedy.

00:28:55.760 Charles Spurgeon says of Cain,

00:28:57.600 he says, here,

00:28:59.200 you have a man

00:29:00.520 who is utterly without God,

00:29:03.680 but he is not without sorrow.

00:29:07.320 That's what you get as the ungodly.

00:29:10.100 You get all the

00:29:11.620 consequences of sin

00:29:13.800 and none of the benefits

00:29:15.800 of redemption.

00:29:19.220 there is no persuading someone out of this condition.

00:29:25.180 Now, verse 7 is often misused by the legalist to suggest that acceptance with God comes through doing better works.

00:29:31.440 But God is not telling Cain to improve his effort.

00:29:34.940 He's not saying, you know, just do better.

00:29:38.360 He's calling him to imitate Abel.

00:29:42.240 He doesn't bring a lot of clarity there, but we can assume this, and I'll tell you why in a second.

00:29:45.960 He's calling us, or he's calling Cain, imitate Abel.

00:29:49.220 why do we know this well because Cain's inability to be like Abel becomes the very motive for

00:30:00.380 murdering him that's where the connection is one theologian said and I love this quote he says

00:30:10.440 this is not an issue of persuasion but of possession Cain was of the devil

00:30:16.340 Eve had to be talked into her sin by Satan

00:30:20.280 but Cain could not be talked out of his sin

00:30:23.160 even by God

00:30:23.960 in other words Cain's problem was not

00:30:29.200 ignorance but allegiance

00:30:30.200 he was possessed 0.99

00:30:32.880 he was of the seed of Satan

00:30:35.900 his heart was in bondage

00:30:38.240 and when righteousness confronted him

00:30:41.980 It only intensified his hatred rather than producing repentance.

00:30:49.940 So verse 8, last verse here.

00:30:56.480 Cain spoke to Abel his brother, and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

00:31:05.980 kind of to return to my Shakespeare reference

00:31:12.020 Cain is not only the first baby

00:31:14.740 but also the first murderer

00:31:16.900 and he's also Abel is the first martyr

00:31:20.560 we can presume that the location matters in this text

00:31:27.660 it implies some sort of premeditation

00:31:30.000 Cain goes and talks to Abel

00:31:33.100 and then when they were in the field

00:31:36.920 maybe it's just to draw him out

00:31:39.620 away from mom and dad

00:31:42.200 from people

00:31:44.000 let's come out here 1.00

00:31:45.440 where I can murder you in the dark 0.99

00:31:48.040 it really is one of the darkest moments in history 0.99

00:31:52.780 it's the introduction of death to the world

00:31:54.660 it's also the revelation that sin is

00:31:58.000 far greater

00:31:59.360 than maybe Adam and Eve even knew

00:32:03.160 One pastor wrote, sin is a good mathematician, for it quickly multiplies.

00:32:11.520 1 John 3, verse 12 answers the question, why did Cain kill Abel?

00:32:21.140 John says, we should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother.

00:32:28.420 And why did he murder him?

00:32:31.720 Because his own deeds were evil, and his brothers were righteous.

00:32:42.800 Throughout history, it's pretty common.

00:32:45.840 It's not always bad people murdering bad people.

00:32:48.940 In fact, it's often bad people murdering good people.

00:32:54.980 It's why we have the persecution of the church.

00:32:58.140 If you've read Fox's Book of Martyrs, you'll quickly understand what I mean.

00:33:02.200 Is that there is a reality that when people don't have Christ, there is a resentment.

00:33:11.180 They look over to that person who does good.

00:33:15.840 And they burn with indignation for their righteousness.

00:33:20.060 Their light offends the people's darkness.

00:33:24.380 And they hate it.

00:33:25.980 And they will hurt you.

00:33:28.140 It's exactly what we saw with Charlie Kirk.

00:33:30.360 It's exactly what we've seen with many, many murders throughout church history.

00:33:34.880 It's exactly what we see with Christ.

00:33:41.080 Ultimately, Cain is not merely a figure from the Old Testament.

00:33:45.800 He's really a picture of you and me and our family and friends apart from Christ.

00:33:53.280 I know you might be thinking, well, that's a big statement.

00:33:56.300 I don't know if my mother, who doesn't believe in Christ, would kill someone.

00:34:01.140 Well, let me tell you, under the right circumstances, she would.

00:34:06.000 All of us would.

00:34:09.080 Without Christ, under the right circumstances, all of us are capable of murder.

00:34:15.260 I don't know if you remember

00:34:22.080 but Moses, Jeremiah, Ezekiel

00:34:26.680 and Elisha all prophesied

00:34:29.560 that those who reject God

00:34:32.300 that the mothers of those people

00:34:36.120 some of them would eat their own infants 1.00

00:34:39.820 okay that that's how dark 0.98

00:34:46.660 the heart is of a sinner 0.94

00:34:50.380 that's how corrupt we are without christ in addition to that i want to say that 0.73

00:34:59.140 murder can be bloodless bloodless murder have you heard someone ever say you're dead to me

00:35:05.260 Jesus says you have heard that it was said you shall not murder

00:35:12.860 but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother

00:35:15.960 will be liable for the judgment of it

00:35:19.260 just because you don't murder them physically

00:35:24.060 God looks at the heart and goes you murdered him in your

00:35:28.260 soul and you will be judged equally

00:35:32.820 for those two acts.

00:35:36.900 Without being made new, humanity is broken.

00:35:41.580 Yeah, we know that society is restrained.

00:35:43.600 It's not as evil as it could be

00:35:44.640 because it's been restrained with God's law.

00:35:47.040 It's been restrained by the civil magistrates.

00:35:49.660 There's consequences.

00:35:50.460 There's prisons.

00:35:51.780 There's police officers.

00:35:53.640 So there's a restraint there.

00:35:55.880 We also know that we're not as evil as we could be

00:35:58.560 because God's common grace is restraining evil in the world.

00:36:02.820 but remove those restraints, and the world is filled with people like Cain.

00:36:14.540 Now, God still is a God of redemption, and I'm going to read a comment that I found while my study,

00:36:20.920 while I was studying for this passage.

00:36:22.260 He says,

00:36:23.040 Death did not first strike Adam, the first sinful man, nor Cain, the first hypocrite.

00:36:32.820 But death struck Abel, the innocent and righteous.

00:36:38.660 The first soul that was met with death overcame death by the death of Christ.

00:36:46.480 The first soul that parted from the earth went to heaven.

00:36:51.620 In other words, from the very beginning, God shows us that redemption would not come through the strength or success of sinners.

00:37:01.100 but through the suffering of the righteous.

00:37:06.900 I think I understand when Jesus says,

00:37:09.000 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,

00:37:11.880 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

00:37:15.720 I think this passage helps us understand why the promised seed.

00:37:21.340 I want you to imagine for a minute Eve

00:37:23.820 when she heard of Abel's death.

00:37:27.000 do you think she longed more for that promise seed

00:37:33.120 i think so i think actually if we see after the birth of seth which we will see later

00:37:40.120 it says that for the first time people began to pray it says for the first time they began

00:37:47.440 calling upon the name of the lord and what were they calling on him to do

00:37:51.420 to fulfill the promise that was given to eve

00:37:55.160 please give us back

00:37:59.660 this serpent crusher

00:38:00.660 we're dying

00:38:03.500 we're in pain

00:38:05.240 we're murdering each other

00:38:08.720 and it lays this groundwork

00:38:11.700 for Christmas

00:38:12.480 it lays this groundwork

00:38:15.240 for centuries

00:38:16.720 millennia

00:38:17.700 of the anticipation

00:38:20.300 of this

00:38:22.660 baby

00:38:24.080 that will start to reunite us with one another

00:38:28.160 and us with God.

00:38:33.000 And when you realize that the resurrection of Christ

00:38:37.040 is more powerful than the fall of Adam

00:38:39.740 and that we should expect the restoration of the world

00:38:43.900 through the proclamation of the gospel,

00:38:46.320 we have great hope.

00:38:48.580 And that hope is seen this week in Christmas.

00:38:51.640 Let's pray.

00:38:52.040 Father we thank you Lord

00:38:55.520 It's hard to thank you for

00:39:01.680 A text like this

00:39:03.680 But Lord it is a mirror

00:39:07.040 And it helps us understand

00:39:09.740 The human condition

00:39:11.400 And gives us more gratitude for the salvation

00:39:14.260 That we've received in Christ

00:39:15.480 Lord we thank you for your son Jesus 0.99

00:39:18.260 Who is sent to reverse

00:39:20.260 The effects of the fall

00:39:21.400 and lord we recognize this this week as we praise in this advent season in jesus name amen

Dale Partridge - December 24, 2025

Genesis 4_1-8 - Cain and Abel and the War of the Seeds

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript