Genesis 4_1-8 - Cain and Abel and the War of the Seeds
Episode Stats
Words per minute
132.98698
Harmful content
Toxicity
13
sentences flagged
Hate speech
17
sentences flagged
Summary
In this sermon, Pastor Ken teaches about the fall of the Garden of Eden and the impact it had on Adam, Eve, and their descendants, Cain and Abel, and the war of the seeds. God's plan for the Garden and the creation of the earth is revealed in Genesis chapter 4.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
Well, you might be wondering, why on earth are we talking about the murder of Abel Christmas
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.
00:00:37.160
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
00:01:09.600
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.
00:03:20.260
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.
00:03:31.400
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.
00:03:44.660
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thought...
00:03:54.760
Every, every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continuously.
00:04:07.780
And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
00:04:24.300
And I want to show us how fast we go from the innocence of the garden to the depravity outside of the garden.
00:04:33.720
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
00:04:42.780
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
00:05:12.980
Many of you have maybe heard this passage from Shakespeare.
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.
00:05:34.400
And so he truly is the focal point of this section.
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.
00:05:51.220
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,
00:06:11.700
And usually there's some divine connection or prophetic connection there.
00:06:17.900
The second half is especially striking because I really believe it is an evidence of faith.
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.
00:06:55.200
Now as Christians, we already know that life comes from God.
00:07:04.660
But from the very beginning, Scripture makes it clear that all life comes from God.
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.
00:07:35.740
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
00:08:39.980
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
00:09:02.460
for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering had
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,
00:10:12.820
Cain, as we know in 1 John 3, tells us that Cain is of the evil one.
00:10:23.340
And Cain is the one that's laboring in the cursed ground.
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
00:11:33.180
you know, removed from the physical presence of God,
00:11:39.460
the shocking reality is that people are still worshiping.
00:11:46.740
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.
00:12:44.780
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.
00:14:59.560
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.
00:15:12.040
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?
00:15:57.460
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.
00:16:15.020
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.
00:16:31.040
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
00:17:29.800
He says, for you will not delight in sacrifice or I would give it.
00:17:36.580
Are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.
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
00:18:43.860
Not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a
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
00:19:05.780
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?
00:19:21.420
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.
00:19:45.460
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.
00:20:03.820
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.
00:20:49.840
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.
00:20:57.400
Consider the depth of depravity in Cain at this moment.
00:21:13.360
No conviction to improve the state of his offering to please his creator.
00:21:18.300
Instead, his heart burns with murderous anger towards his brother.
00:21:28.820
You're sitting there, you're watching this all go down, and you could see the heart.
00:21:53.120
If you just come on to any of my social media accounts, you can see it too.
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
00:22:23.120
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,
00:22:53.800
But he's speaking with God and he still has a hardened heart.
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.
00:24:02.400
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.
00:24:26.760
People are sitting there listening to Jesus, watching him regrow limbs.
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.
00:25:02.060
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.
00:25:26.900
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.
00:25:42.620
At some sense, it's freeing as an evangelist because you go,
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?
00:26:16.300
No, you have to realize the real miracle is why does God save anybody?
00:26:44.600
So it's a very important understanding that without God's regenerating grace,
0.99
00:26:56.920
And this is what all these intellectual apologists do.
00:27:10.020
In fact, we see in the next verse, instead of offering wrath for Cain's sin,
00:27:17.500
He even extends him like an informative counsel.
00:27:23.480
But without God changing his heart, Cain stays in his evil state.
00:28:16.740
but you want to know who are just really 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
00:29:19.220
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.
00:29:42.240
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
00:30:41.980
It only intensified his hatred rather than producing repentance.
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.
00:31:20.560
we can presume that the location matters in this text
00:31:48.040
it really is one of the darkest moments in history
0.99
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.
00:32:31.720
Because his own deeds were evil, and his brothers were righteous.
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.
00:33:15.840
And they burn with indignation for their righteousness.
00:33:30.360
It's exactly what we've seen with many, many murders throughout church history.
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.
00:34:09.080
Without Christ, under the right circumstances, all of us are capable of murder.
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
00:35:24.060
God looks at the heart and goes you murdered him in your
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,
00:36:23.040
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.
00:37:09.000
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,
00:37:15.720
I think this passage helps us understand why the promised seed.
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
00:38:33.000
And when you realize that the resurrection of Christ
00:38:39.740
and that we should expect the restoration of the world
00:39:21.400
and lord we recognize this this week as we praise in this advent season in jesus name amen