Dale Partridge - Genesis 4_10-16 Marked but Not Repentant

00:00:00.000 Amen. Well, this text is great. I love it. I'm actually really excited to preach it.

00:00:10.260 Last week we examined verses 9 through 10. Today we get through 10 through 16.

00:00:18.320 If you remember, I pointed out that this passage teaches three particular truths.

00:00:24.020 The first was the design of blood and redemption, and we spent most of our time last week covering

00:00:32.580 that issue.

00:00:34.180 Number two is that unrepentant sin always results in covenantal expulsion or exile.

00:00:42.780 And number three, that God remains sovereign over vengeance and justice, even upon the

00:00:51.000 wicked in circumstances like we will read today. Now, in my previous sermon, again, we focused

00:00:57.360 heavily on the significance of blood. And last week, we looked at it around three angles.

00:01:03.980 Now, first, we saw that in Scripture, blood is not symbolic for life. Blood is life, and life

00:01:11.460 is in the blood. Essentially, when blood spills, life spills. And so, when the blood of Christ

00:01:19.260 spills, his life is spilled for you. Now we learn that because sin demands death, we know that I

00:01:27.100 think it's Romans 6 23, the wages of sin is death. That because of that, we need atonement. Atonement

00:01:35.600 is essentially the covering of sin. And that requires the shedding of blood. We saw this in

00:01:41.440 Leviticus chapter 17, God has given us blood for the atonement of sin.

00:01:47.440 Now, the Old Testament taught us this principle clearly.

00:01:51.480 We saw that blood was all throughout the Old Testament and that blood was essentially required.

00:01:57.420 And the problem was that blood was not sufficient to take away sins of mankind.

00:02:03.480 What humanity required was a human substitute, not an animal substitute, especially not a fallen

00:02:10.540 animal substitute. And so we needed somebody who could act as that perfect sacrifice,

00:02:18.360 who could stand in the place of sinners and bear their judgment, but not be dying for their own

00:02:24.400 sin, but be able to be a substitute that they might die for the sins of others. And so this is

00:02:30.320 essentially the doctrine of substitutionary atonement, which we learned about again last

00:02:36.520 week. Hebrews 9.22 says, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. So if

00:02:42.620 you're looking for the passage, there it is. Blood is a requirement for the forgiveness of sins.

00:02:48.380 It also adds a little bit later, one chapter later, it says, it is impossible for the blood

00:02:52.200 of bulls and goats to take away sins. And so again, we understand the beautiful passion behind

00:02:59.460 John's statement, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Now, only Christ,

00:03:08.080 who is essentially the sinless Son of God, could offer His blood once and for all as a perfect

00:03:14.860 atonement and sacrifice for this discussion that we're having around sin. We can't be saved by any

00:03:21.380 other blood but the blood of Christ. Now, we also learn that Cain's act of murder, his act of blood

00:03:29.020 guilt, as another term for that, was not simply a private crime. And I thought that was fascinating

00:03:35.860 as we saw Jesus apply the guilt to the Pharisees several thousand years later for the death and

00:03:43.720 murder of Cain. And in other words, we essentially saw that there was a larger covenantal conflict

00:03:49.740 between the two seeds. We saw the seed of the serpent and we saw the seed of the woman. And

00:03:55.900 these covenantal seeds were warring against one another. And the guilt of that covenantal crime

00:04:02.280 was not just on Cain, but was passed down to his covenantal descendants, which included the 0.66

00:04:09.100 Pharisees. I said last week, Cain and Abel were brothers by birth, but enemies by covenant. And I

00:04:15.740 think that summed it up quite well. Now, third, we learn that when it says that Abel's blood

00:04:22.200 speaks. It cried out both for what? Sufficiency and justice. For two things. Not just one thing,

00:04:30.740 but sufficiency and justice. Hebrews 12, 24 says, to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant,

00:04:38.240 and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Remember, we stopped

00:04:45.640 on that phrase, the blood of Abel. We thought, is it speaking the blood of Abel, meaning his blood

00:04:52.460 that came out of his body from being murdered? Or was it speaking of the blood of Abel, the blood

00:04:59.220 of his sacrifice that he made of his first lamb that was given to the offering of God? And we

00:05:05.240 concluded that it really was speaking and fitting to both of those realities. And so if you remember,

00:05:12.340 we concluded that this passage is speaking about Jesus's blood speaking a better word than the

00:05:22.620 blood of Abel. In one, it fulfills what Abel's sacrifice of his lamb anticipated, but was unable

00:05:31.360 to do. So Jesus' blood is a better sacrifice. It speaks a better word in the fact that essentially

00:05:37.540 the blood of the lamb that Abel was sacrificing was not sufficient, but it anticipated the blood

00:05:43.340 of a perfect lamb in Christ. And that's why Jesus' blood speaks a better word. It also,

00:05:49.180 number two, it satisfies what Abel's murder required. Means that it satisfied Jesus' blood,

00:05:57.620 satisfied and secured the justice that was demanded for Abel's murder. Now today we're

00:06:03.980 going to see how Cain's sin of murder actually brings greater physical pain and suffering

00:06:13.400 than Adam's sin of disobedience. So what we're seeing, we talked about this before, as we enter

00:06:19.320 into chapter 4 and chapter 5, we're leaving Genesis chapter 3, and the theme is sin continues on

00:06:27.780 after the garden. In fact, it intensifies, it magnifies, it gets worse. And there is a greater

00:06:35.760 requirement for that promised serpent crusher that was promised to Eve to come. And so it's again,

00:06:43.180 this great anticipation that starts building up pretty quickly right after the expulsion of the

00:06:49.120 garden. We're also going to see how Cain being cut off from the blessings of the earth as a fugitive

00:07:00.440 from his own family and his own descendants. He essentially has no peace. He has no rest.

00:07:07.400 Now this is again a physical that's mirroring the spiritual. And what that means is that it's

00:07:14.660 supposed to mirror his spiritual judgment being cut off from God and being cut off from the peace

00:07:21.020 and rest that comes from God. So what we see physically is actually a mirror of what's

00:07:26.020 happening spiritually. And we need to catch that as we're reading this passage of scriptures. Let's

00:07:30.920 read verse 11 together. It says, and now, this is God speaking to Cain, you are cursed from the

00:07:39.980 ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. Now, if you

00:07:48.400 remember my sermon from Genesis chapter three, it was titled God's curse on the serpent and judgment 0.86

00:07:55.720 on the sexes. That was just a few weeks ago. And I pointed out that although we call the fall

00:08:01.640 often the curse, there actually is no curse on man in the fall. There's only a curse on the serpent

00:08:11.460 and there is a curse on the ground. But there is no curse at this point in Genesis chapter 3

00:08:19.120 on man. And that's important. I'm going to read actually Genesis 3 17. It says,

00:08:24.120 and to Adam, he said, because of you, or because you have listened to the voice of your wife and

00:08:28.920 have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to. It says you shall not eat of it. Cursed

00:08:34.220 is the ground because of you. In pain, you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Now, why does 0.58

00:08:43.780 this matter? Why is this important to us right now? Well, because Cain is the first cursed man

00:08:51.140 in scripture. Cain is the first cursed man in scripture. And he is cursed by God through the

00:08:59.300 ground, through the ground. I thought this is a fascinating observation through the ground,

00:09:03.960 the very ground in which he fed his brother's blood. And so he's feeding the ground, his

00:09:11.440 brother's blood. And now the very ground will come up and curse him. Now, again, if you remember my

00:09:17.220 sermon also on Genesis chapter 3, I did a sermon that really talked about the poetic justice of

00:09:23.680 God. Now, as a reminder, poetic justice is how God punishes people. We see it all throughout

00:09:30.340 scripture. It's essentially using the very instrument of sin as a part of the consequence

00:09:36.040 or as a part of the judgment. And I'm just going to give you a few examples just to kind of refresh

00:09:40.800 your memory. The serpent used a tree to bring death. God uses a tree to bring life, not just

00:09:45.980 the tree of life, but also Jesus hanging on the cross, which is also called a tree. The serpent

00:09:52.500 used eating to destroy humanity. God uses eating sacramentally to redeem humanity. Eve sought to

00:10:00.480 rule over her husband. So God says that your husband will now rule over you. Adam was made

00:10:05.700 from the ground. After his disobedience, the ground essentially becomes an adversary or an

00:10:11.160 enemy of Adam, bringing up thorns and thistles, and in pain he shall eat of it. So there's this

00:10:17.820 trend of poetic justice that God uses the very things that they cause their sin to come up and

00:10:24.500 work against them. Now here in Genesis chapter 4, with the punishment and consequences of Cain,

00:10:31.840 we see the same pattern emerge again. So Abel was a shepherd. Who was Cain though? Well, Cain was a

00:10:41.120 tiller of the ground. Cain was a tiller of the ground. And when he poured his brother's blood

00:10:46.840 into the ground, the very ground comes up and curses Cain. Verse 12 says, when you work the

00:10:54.420 ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer

00:11:01.680 on the earth. Now, God's curse here is twofold on Cain. And I want you to feel the weight so that

00:11:09.440 you can step into Cain's world and understand the magnitude of the punishment that is being

00:11:18.440 given in this moment. First, the ground, which was cursed because of Adam, and it would produce

00:11:28.580 thorns and thistles, but it would still yield food through pain. So as hard as it is, he's going to

00:11:36.720 be farming, and it'll bring up thorns and thistles, and by the sweat of his brow, he will eat of it

00:11:42.500 out of pain, but at least he can eat of it. That's not the case for Cain anymore. Cain will work and

00:11:52.460 toil, and not just thorns and thistles, and he will somehow pull something out to eat. Nothing

00:11:58.160 will come of Cain's efforts to produce food for himself or his family. Now, this forces Cain to

00:12:07.700 be a functional scavenger. He's wandering the earth, being completely dependent upon other people

00:12:16.640 for his own sustenance. Now, second, we see that Cain is exiled. Cain is exiled.

00:12:26.420 Now, we often hear the phrase, not all who wander are lost. 0.96

00:12:32.560 I think that's a very foolish sentiment.

00:12:35.660 Warren Wiersbe, he actually said a line that I really appreciate. 0.96

00:12:38.980 He says, a wanderer has no home.

00:12:43.060 A fugitive is running from home.

00:12:46.580 A stranger is away from home.

00:12:49.780 And a pilgrim is heading home. 0.68

00:12:52.340 And I love those distinctions.

00:12:54.060 I think they're very helpful.

00:12:55.960 To be a wanderer is not to be desired.

00:12:58.880 It means you have no home.

00:13:01.140 And you are lost.

00:13:03.340 You are lost.

00:13:04.860 And once again, this is God using the physical to illustrate the spiritual.

00:13:10.100 You've got to catch that.

00:13:11.540 The physical is communicating the spiritual.

00:13:15.220 In fact, I would argue that this text teaches us a few things.

00:13:21.580 One is the fact that he is lost and has no home and has no connection.

00:13:25.680 It is showing that the same is true, that he has no God and he has no family and he has no connection with the spiritual world.

00:13:33.620 It is not to be desired.

00:13:36.680 The second thing that I want you to catch is in the inverse.

00:13:41.420 what a great blessing it is to have a home, to be connected with the ground,

00:13:48.260 and to be attached to your family. What a great thing that is.

00:13:55.440 It is a thing that is stripped from Cain, and it is one of those things that we often take for

00:14:00.320 granted. To have a home, to be connected to your own land, and to be attached to your family.

00:14:09.900 It's a good thing. Now I want you to feel the weight again because we are talking about Cain

00:14:15.980 and he's operating in what? An agrarian and a tribal culture. An agrarian and a tribal culture.

00:14:23.880 And so to have no connection to the land and no connection to family in an agrarian and tribal 0.94

00:14:32.120 culture is the ultimate punishment. You're completely without meaning or purpose. 0.73

00:14:41.020 Now, spiritually speaking, I was thinking about this fugitive life and it reminds me of how I

00:14:52.060 feel when I'm out of fellowship with God. I don't know about you, but you're walking in sin. You

00:15:00.600 feel disconnected from your family. Maybe it's a moment of anger. And even if it's a

00:15:06.380 short period, it's a couple hours. Do you know that feeling, that sense of lostness,

00:15:17.620 meaninglessness, no direction, instability? I think that's what Cain's experience was,

00:15:26.120 but it was perpetual and forever.

00:15:29.500 It's a really dark place.

00:15:31.180 It's a really heavy thing to think about

00:15:33.040 of having no home, no relationship with God,

00:15:36.080 no connection, no hope.

00:15:41.020 Now, if you ever feel like a wanderer,

00:15:44.480 spiritually,

00:15:46.160 I really appreciate Augustine's words.

00:15:51.260 He says,

00:15:52.060 You have made us for yourself,

00:15:54.520 and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee.

00:16:00.260 And what I want us to realize is that

00:16:02.420 we talk about this as if it's such a tragedy.

00:16:06.240 And it is.

00:16:07.740 But the reality is, how many people do you know

00:16:10.340 that are living a life of Cain?

00:16:14.020 I mean, they're just out there, wandering.

00:16:17.160 All they live on is pleasure and comfort.

00:16:20.600 That is their entire existence,

00:16:22.640 is to seek comfort and pleasure as a way to pacify the reality

00:16:29.280 that they have no hope, no purpose, no connection, no meaning, no direction.

00:16:38.860 It's a sad thing.

00:16:42.020 Outside of Christ and His will, there is no rest.

00:16:49.220 You will always toil.

00:16:51.340 You will always wander.

00:16:52.640 lastly just a couple points i want to make as we are on this verse just exegetically

00:17:00.700 i noticed that among all of the pre-flood patriarchs that we see only the line of cain

00:17:08.720 has no recorded lifespans cain marries and has children we're going to see that next week

00:17:14.820 All the scriptures record how his line culminates in basically debauchery, murder, the people who create cities, who create weapons.

00:17:28.580 Essentially, the only record of Cain's life is how it divulges into sin and death and destruction.

00:17:39.320 And what that means is that it's not just a curse to Cain.

00:17:43.500 Again, this is a covenantal curse.

00:17:46.340 It's cursing his descendants.

00:17:49.560 Verse 13 and 14 says,

00:17:53.520 Cain said to the Lord,

00:17:56.100 My punishment is greater than I can bear.

00:18:00.700 Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground,

00:18:05.800 and from your face I shall be hidden. 0.99

00:18:08.200 I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me. 0.94

00:18:19.160 Now what strikes me about this is that Cain is crushed by God's judgment,

00:18:25.580 but he's not crushed about Abel's murder.

00:18:31.020 He's crushed by the judgment. He's crushed by the consequences.

00:18:34.540 is he has no care about the sin at all.

00:18:41.980 2 Corinthians 7.10 says,

00:18:43.760 Godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation.

00:18:49.800 That is not what we see here.

00:18:53.880 Cain grieves the consequences, but not the sin.

00:18:59.180 I want you to look at the text.

00:19:00.120 Just look at verses, what is it, 13 and 14.

00:19:04.540 Cain's concern is entirely for his own safety and well-being.

00:19:12.180 That's what he's concerned about.

00:19:14.480 He shows no sorrow for the safety and well-being of Abel, who he just murdered.

00:19:22.580 And I think this is actually a very common response among, like, serial killers and psychopaths.

00:19:29.320 They have no genuine remorse.

00:19:31.220 when they get punished they essentially only have remorse over the consequences

00:19:37.680 they don't fear god they fear the consequences they fear the own their own pain in other words

00:19:44.520 i don't want you to confuse cain's sorrow as moral it's only self-preservation

00:19:52.920 and to think that anybody would interpret it the other way uh you might think is crazy but it's not

00:20:00.260 In fact, I actually looked at a video this morning.

00:20:02.840 Ben Shapiro says that Cain was the first one to repent in the Bible.

00:20:07.620 That was his interpretation of Genesis chapter 4.

00:20:11.560 And that the mark put on him is a mark of grace to protect him.

00:20:17.180 So again, bad exegesis, bad theology hurts people because it tells lies.

00:20:25.220 So this is a sobering warning for us when the Lord disciplines us.

00:20:30.260 okay you can look at this again as if it's some other guy and it's true yes it is at the same

00:20:40.200 time i want you to apply it to your own life what's your first response when you get caught

00:20:48.280 what's your first response children when you get in trouble do you feel sorrow for having

00:20:58.440 offended the Lord, or do you

00:21:02.480 complain about the consequences?

00:21:06.900 Now, it's easy to look at kids and go, what about, yeah, your mom's looking 0.99

00:21:10.500 over at kids. But when the Lord

00:21:14.480 disciplines you,

00:21:16.600 do you go, Lord, this is too much? Or do you

00:21:22.500 say, thank you for

00:21:26.420 disciplining me. I deserve much greater. I deserve death. Thank you for your grace and your mercy.

00:21:33.460 May it sanctify me and make me more holy. Imagine if that was Cain's response. Totally different

00:21:40.440 narrative. I want you to focus on the line at the end of this verse 14. It says, whoever finds me

00:21:49.060 will kill me. I think the most common question raised here among Christians is, who else is

00:21:56.200 going to kill him? Adam and Eve? Were there other people on the earth? I think the best answer is

00:22:03.080 that the scripture says that Adam and Eve had other children. In fact, it's Genesis 5, 4. It's

00:22:08.940 a chapter later. It says, the days of Adam after he had fathered Seth were 800 years,

00:22:15.220 and he had other sons and daughters, end quote. And so we don't really have a lot of clarity

00:22:20.120 here about these details. We're going to see again next week that Cain takes a wife and fathers

00:22:28.020 a son, which again presupposes some degree of a population. His wife was most likely a sister or

00:22:36.480 a niece. And we might go, oh my gosh, is that incest? Well, prior to the Mosaic law, incest was 0.53

00:22:43.120 not illegal to the law of God. Also, the arguments among Christian scientists, the genetics were so

00:22:51.820 pure that these types of relationships didn't have the kind of degenerative biological results

00:22:58.440 that it would have today. And so, Cain's concern about him being killed weren't about some random

00:23:08.900 other people that had no connection with Adam and Eve, but rather they were, again, was there even

00:23:15.120 a stranger at this point on the earth? Everybody was related to him, directly related to him. I

00:23:20.780 think his fear of someone killing him was a brother or a relative who wanted to avenge Abel's

00:23:28.580 blood on Cain. I think that's really, if you step into the context, I think that's the most

00:23:33.060 realistic interpretation. Now, verse 15 says,

00:23:36.980 Then the Lord said to him, Not so. If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be

00:23:41.100 taken on him sevenfold. And the

00:23:45.100 Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him

00:23:48.640 should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord

00:23:53.180 and settled in the land of Nod, east

00:23:57.000 of Eden. Now, this is where

00:24:00.840 we touch on the final point of this passage that I was talking about when I opened up.

00:24:05.440 God remains sovereign over human vengeance while still executing justice upon the wicked.

00:24:12.340 In some way, God made this warning. No one's going to kill you. He made this warning

00:24:19.660 known to the rest of humanity. We don't know how, and for anybody else who didn't know about it,

00:24:25.000 put a mark on him. And this term is sevenfold. You know, if anybody kills Cain, sevenfold.

00:24:31.820 There's a variety of interpretations on this. It could mean I'm going to kill or curse seven 0.98

00:24:36.900 generations. I think the best interpretation is that throughout the Bible, we see the number seven 0.98

00:24:42.580 a lot. It's typically, it means the fullness or the completeness, intense-ness. It's the model

00:24:50.800 of six plus one for the creation narrative. It's a full completeness. And I think we see that

00:24:56.780 pattern throughout scripture. And so as for the mark, many have speculated, is it a scar?

00:25:04.600 Is it a tattoo? I saw someone think it was a haircut. It was kind of wild.

00:25:10.860 Is it some sort of outward sign on Cain? Well, scripture doesn't tell us. All we know is that

00:25:17.140 It was a visible mark that made Cain identifiable and connected to the warning to not take his life.

00:25:26.380 That's what we know.

00:25:27.360 And I don't want to go beyond the text.

00:25:29.060 But what I do want to point out is you go, why didn't God just kill him?

00:25:33.160 Why didn't God just take his life?

00:25:34.540 Why didn't God allow someone to come and just have an eye for an eye?

00:25:39.720 Well, I think that, one, the consequence, I believe, was worse than death for Cain.

00:25:49.680 Two, I think Cain ultimately became a living memorial, a visible living memorial, a warning of God's judgment against evil.

00:26:02.800 Imagine just seeing that man and knowing that reality and go, oh my gosh, I do not want to be like him.

00:26:08.740 The last person on earth I want to be like is that man, King.

00:26:14.780 And so he lived, but he was spiritually dead.

00:26:19.800 He survived, yet had continual misery. 0.78

00:26:24.840 He was a cursed man, and everyone knew it.

00:26:28.120 And everyone watched it.

00:26:29.700 now as i close out here i think many of you are familiar with the popular american idiom

00:26:38.120 raising cane you might even be more familiar with the restaurant which is kind of a play on words

00:26:45.220 raising canes and this expression comes from this passage of scripture that's where it comes from

00:26:56.820 It's the idea to raise trouble or stir chaos.

00:27:02.200 That's where we get that phrase.

00:27:05.560 And only a society that has lost its fear of God would celebrate phrases about the rebellion and tragedy of Cain.

00:27:14.380 What a weird thing to promote and advertise.

00:27:21.140 Unfortunately, the phrase is more than an idiom.

00:27:25.400 It's more than a kind of a turn of the tongue.

00:27:29.780 It really is kind of a pattern in America.

00:27:33.800 Raising Cain or raising Cain's.

00:27:38.420 Too often it describes, I think, the American modern family.

00:27:43.320 And what do I mean by that?

00:27:44.400 Well, it's sons who are raised up and they reject God.

00:27:48.120 And what happens?

00:27:49.180 They sever themselves from their land and their own inheritance.

00:27:52.240 they ultimately abandon their families

00:27:55.760 and where do they move?

00:27:58.140 to a city

00:27:59.160 and they abandon their responsibilities

00:28:01.960 I think the vast

00:28:03.900 majority of New York City and Los Angeles

00:28:05.700 are made up of those people

00:28:06.760 it is a common trend

00:28:09.000 they're modern

00:28:11.920 day canes

00:28:12.800 many of them

00:28:14.260 the phrase America needs is raising

00:28:17.140 ables

00:28:17.700 it's weird that we don't have that

00:28:21.380 raising children who love God

00:28:25.240 and because they're so connected to their family

00:28:27.880 they remain local

00:28:28.900 because their parents were thinking multi-generationally

00:28:32.320 and they gave them a reason to stay

00:28:34.680 they're connected

00:28:37.900 they walk in faith

00:28:40.280 they have an inheritance

00:28:41.580 they're obedient

00:28:42.780 they take over and change cities

00:28:46.120 it's what we're trying to do here

00:28:47.360 the last thing we want is any of these boys

00:28:50.440 to become like Cain.

00:28:54.940 The scripture says,

00:28:57.140 train up a child in the way he should go.

00:29:01.860 And I'll tell you what,

00:29:03.420 the way he should go is not the way of Cain.

00:29:08.200 Amen?

00:29:09.400 Let's pray.

00:29:11.340 Father, we thank you, Lord,

00:29:12.820 for this example and understanding of these brothers.

00:29:17.100 Lord, the illustration of the righteous and the wicked.

00:29:20.440 Lord, we pray that you would bless our congregation, that we would not raise any canes or that

00:29:27.140 we would raise ables, that we would raise men of God, sons of honor and integrity.

00:29:34.980 Lord, we pray for a blessing, that we would have generations of faithfulness here in this

00:29:40.100 town and in this church.

00:29:41.920 We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

Dale Partridge - January 07, 2026

Genesis 4_10-16 Marked but Not Repentant

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