Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message.
Speaker: If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, fbccolumbustx.org. And now, take your copy of God's timeless Word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
Speaker: Welcome to Growing in Grace. I'm Victor Morrison. I'm the pastor at First Baptist Church in Columbus, Texas. I'm so glad you're listening today. Hey, have you ever considered raising Cain?
Speaker: yeah There's a trick behind that. It's found in Genesis 4, Genesis 4, verses 1 through 16. I wonder, have you ever struggled with jealousy or anger to such a degree that it almost seemed out of control.
Speaker: Well, the life of the biblical character named Cain answers the question of what could happen if sin were left unchecked.
Speaker: Cain was the firstborn son of Adam and Eve. He was the first person born into a world where sin had already entered.
Speaker: He would be the first man to commit murder when he killed his own brother, Abel. Cain's punishment, we'll find in this chapter, was severe as he was forced into exile, alienated from his family,
Speaker: and faced as a farmer by trade with land that was cursed due to his disobedience to God. Let's take a closer look at Cain in the fourth chapter of Genesis.
Speaker: Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain saying, I've gotten a man with the help of the Lord. And again,
Speaker: She bore his brother, Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain, a worker of the ground. In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground.
Speaker: And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering,
Speaker: He had no regard. So Cain was very angry and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, why are you angry?
Speaker: And why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door.
Speaker: Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it. Cain spoke to Abel, his brother.
Speaker: And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel, your brother?
Speaker: He said, I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper? And the Lord said, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.
Speaker: And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength.
Speaker: You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. Cain said to the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear.
Speaker: Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth and whoever finds me will kill me.
Speaker: Then the Lord said to him, not so. If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.
Speaker: Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden, Wow, such an incredible, almost a horrifying type story that we find this time in God's Word, a true story, a real account of what happened.
Speaker: But oh my goodness, it's like you see sin at its worst stage where you would take someone else's life, even the life of your own brother, just because you're angry, just because you're jealous and envious that God accepted His offering and not your offering.
Speaker: So God pronounces a judgment, but notice that even in judgment, God still has mercy. When Cain says, it's too much for me, everyone will want to kill me now.
Speaker: And so God puts a protective mark upon Cain so that he can be saved. I want us to look at this passage of scripture and see what we can learn. You know, ah there's so much already that we've talked about with them, but I want us to go back through these verses, a verse at a time, and see what can we learn from this passage.
Speaker: You see, the fourth chapter begins with a reference to the holy intimacy between a husband and wife with the simple words, now Adam knew Eve, his wife.
Speaker: This was one part of the purpose and privacy of marriage that God intended from the very beginning. Just go back and reference chapter two in Genesis, verses 24 and 25. This is the way that man was to procreate across the face of the earth.
Speaker: And whenever Eve says, it says here, she conceived, Well, whenever that happened and she says, I've gotten a ah man with the help of the Lord, do you know what that was?
Speaker: Verse one begins with a voice of praise, a voice of thanksgiving. You see, this man and his wife, especially at this point, this wife, this brand new mother, she's so thankful.
Speaker: She's so happy that God has blessed her with a child. You know, the verse tells us that out of the oneness that Adam and shared with his wife, it says she conceived.
Speaker: That's a beautiful picture of how God commanded the human race to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. That's the way it should happen.
Speaker: And after the birth of their first child, Cain, Eve said, i have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. See, she actually made a pun with his name because in the Hebrew, Cain's name means to possess.
Speaker: And she says, I possess, I've gotten a man with the help of the Lord. When I was preparing for this study, I found out that many Bible scholars, they believe that Eve thought, she assumed that this was God's answer to Genesis chapter three, verse 15.
Speaker: The very first messianic promise that's found in the Bible. Let me read it for you. I will put enmity between you and the woman And between your offspring and her offspring, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.
Speaker: Speaking about the Messiah, bruising the heel of Satan, the old serpent. And so this was the first incredible promise. And so some scholars say she was so happy giving thanks to God and praising God because she assumed this is the answer to God's prayer. Already with my firstborn son, this is the answer.
Speaker: But she was wrong if she concluded that Cain was the coming Messiah. No, she had every right though to give thanks for her son because he truly was a blessing.
Speaker: Well, let's move to verse 2. Dr. John MacArthur acknowledges that it is possible that other children were given to Adam and Eve as well. Only based on Genesis chapter four, verse two, Cain was followed by the good news of the birth of his younger brother, Abel.
Speaker: So once again, I'm sure that Eve and Adam as well were so thankful that God had blessed them with these you know two fine boys. Perhaps after the boys were born, Adam and Eve were also blessed with daughters based upon Genesis chapter 5 and verse 4.
Speaker: where it says the days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. So maybe you've never realized that before. But what I wanna focus on with our second observation is the vocations, the vocations for these two sons.
Speaker: It appears that the two brothers chose different career paths. Cain chose farming and work the ground, while Abel chose to raise sheep or to be a shepherd.
Speaker: I suppose these two would be perhaps the two oldest professions in the history of the world. You see, Adam most likely taught both of them what he knew from caring for the animals and tending to the Garden of Eden.
Speaker: But these two sons chose two different vocations. But notice also in verses 3, 4, and 5 that there was variety to the kinds of offerings that they offered up to God.
Speaker: Cain and Abel chose different types of offerings, Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on the other hand, gave the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.
Speaker: The unexpected twist in the biblical record is that God, quote, had regard, end of quote, for Abel's offering, but for Cain's offering, he, quote, had no regard, end of quote.
Speaker: I wonder why. Have you ever thought about that? What was it that caused God to not accept, to not have regard for Cain's offering of the vegetables from the ground, and yet for Abel's offering, he did have regard.
Speaker: God accepted it. I wonder why. Well, there are many different reasons that we could find in scripture and have been brought out by scholars through the years, but some of the ones that I've heard, Abel's heart longed to give God the best.
Speaker: That's why it says that he gave the firstborn of his flock, the firstborn and of their fat portions. So the best part he offered up to God.
Speaker: Do you think that's significant to God when someone's heart longs to give God not the leftovers, not something that is diseased or or rejected or something like that by the owner, but something that's very special to the owner, and yet they offer it up to God?
Speaker: Others point to Hebrews 11, verse 4 and say, no, it was related to Abel offering his offering with faith.
Speaker: There was something missing when Cain offered his offering and that something, according to Hebrews 11, 4, was faith. He did not offer his offering in faith.
Speaker: Others have said, well, I believe it's because Abel offered a blood sacrifice, like it speaks of in Hebrews 9, verse 22. There's no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood.
Speaker: And so whenever Abel offered this ah firstborn from his ah herd, from his sheep, from the flock, flock I believe God said, that's that's the only way for there to be forgiveness.
Speaker: Cain offered what he wanted, is what some say. Not what God wanted, but Cain offered what he wanted to give to God. And so that was just some of the vegetables they had available.
Speaker: Jude 11, Jude in verse 11 would make that point clear. But For whatever reason, God accepted the offering of Abel.
Speaker: He rejected the offering of Cain. As we go into verses six and seven, we see that this had a very um important effect upon Cain.
Speaker: It says, the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And why is your face fallen? The previous verse had just told us in verse five, so Cain was very angry and his face fell.
Speaker: So now God is talking to him about that. You see the voice of intervention. God's always gonna talk to us and communicate with us. And here's what he says to Cain, why?
Speaker: Why? Why are you angry? And why is your face fallen? And then God says to him in the next verse seven, he says, if you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door.
Speaker: Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it. You know, the, um, The Bible speaks some about this.
Speaker: I wondered in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, verses 25 to 32, you'll remember that when the prodigal son left home and then he went through some hard times and he decided, I've got it way better back at the ranch with dad. So he turns around, he goes back. He's got this speech all memorized that he wants to give. So he gets ready to give the speech and the father embraces him. The father is so glad that the son returns to the father.
Speaker: So we he doesn't wanna hear the rest of the speech. he He's seen enough that this son comes back to him in repentance, back to him in humility, back to him by returning.
Speaker: But the older son, the older brother to the prodigal son, he didn't like it. The father had a welcome home party. But this older brother in the parable, he refused to to even go into the party.
Speaker: But you know what the dad did? The dad lovingly came out to call to the older brother. Why don't you come in? Come in for this son was lost and now he's found.
Speaker: Something very similar seems to be happening, doesn't it? In verses six and seven, God lovingly comes to call Cain back to himself through repentance in verses six and seven.
Speaker: Think for a brief moment on the mercy represented in God's intervention. The apostle John gives additional additional insight regarding Cain in 1 John 3, verse 12, where he says of him, because his own deeds were evil and his brothers righteous.
Speaker: Ah, right. So now we're getting deeper into this thing. Genesis chapter four, verse five tells us that since God did not accept Cain's offering, Cain was very angry.
Speaker: His face fell. His internal contemplations were furious. His external expressions revealed his disappointment.
Speaker: God asked him what had caused these two symptoms in verse six. In verse seven, God presents the disgruntled brother with two choices.
Speaker: Do the right thing and acceptance will follow or choose to do the wrong thing and face the crouching beast of sin. God commanded him, rule over his impulse to sin.
Speaker: i find that same thing mentioned in Romans chapter 6, verses 12 through 14, where we are told to present our bodies to God, where we're told, present your bodies to God as an instrument of righteousness. Don't allow sin to reign over you.
Speaker: James 1, verses 14 and 15 describes the growth of sin from its conception to its sad completion. You see, the truth of the matter is, each person is responsible for their own actions.
Speaker: We're accountable to God for our sin. But now let's look at verses 8 through 16. Now we see violence brings a curse.
Speaker: Notice that after Cain loses his temper and kills his brother, God was aware of the evil. He always is, you know. God always knows when evil is being done and he knows what has happened.
Speaker: And he comes to him and he calls upon Cain to admit his deed. But what does Cain do? Cain refuses to admit it. His sin brings a curse upon his life.
Speaker: The ground will no longer yield to his work in the soil. He's gonna have to find a brand new way of life. Have you ever seen anyone commit some sin or break some law to such a degree that they lose their way of making a living.
Speaker: In addition to this judgment, Cain would also be ah fugitive and a constant wanderer. So what happens? Well, I'll tell you what happened.
Speaker: Fear gripped Cain's heart that others would put him to death. So he put his brother to death and now he thinks everybody will be out to get me. So what did God mercifully do?
Speaker: He didn't have to do this, but God in mercy chose to put a protective mark upon Cain Isn't that a glimpse of grace and mercy?
Speaker: Even in the midst of his rebellion, it's sad that the last thing we're told is that he went away from the presence of the Lord. Whoa, that's always a sad thing to do, to walk away from the presence of the Lord.
Speaker: That's what it says in verse 16. Then Cain went away, Oh goodness. oh my goodness It's so sad.
Speaker: And the sadness keeps going. It keeps going when you read verses 17 through 24. You'll see that Cain eventually settled in Nod, which means wandering.
Speaker: His posterity took the lead in producing cities, music, weapons, agricultural implements. In a word, you know what Cain did?
Speaker: He developed civilization, but it would be a dark Cainite culture that descended as it ascended.
Speaker: True, he was able to accomplish a lot of things. But what good are the accomplishments if the moral depravity grows worse and worse? We're given in verses 17 through 24, five generations of Cain's descendants.
Speaker: One was Lamech. who chose polygamy in verse 19. And he wrote a savage song that glorified killing a kid.
Speaker: Hebrews, ah the the word in Hebrew means a child. Out of vengeance, he says he killed this child for past wrong that could go 77-fold.
Speaker: Wow, it's so sad when you see the verse of the song, when you realize it didn't end. It's like Cain's example continues to filter down through the family tree.
Speaker: And oh, how sad it is to see that even with Lamech, He's still killing people and still so excited and boasting about it even.
Speaker: But you know, something else happened in verses 25 and 26. And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth.
Speaker: For she said, God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him. to Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh.
Speaker: at that At that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord. Finally, we see victory through Seth in verses 25 and 26.
Speaker: You see, these closing verses in our chapter remind us that Adam and Eve were entrusted with another son named Seth, which means gifted, granted.
Speaker: Seth and his wife give birth to Enosh, And notice notice the legacy that Enosh leaves. Of course, we're talking about different branches, right? Different branches of the family tree.
Speaker: Down that family tree of Cain, you find Lamech. He's killing a young boy. He's boasting about his killing. He's even writing songs about killing.
Speaker: But then you see Seth born. Seth has a boy, and that boy ah was named Enosh. And what was it that was his legacy?
Speaker: At that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord. What a wonderful legacy that from that child's legacy,
Speaker: days on forward into his into the future, they were going to start calling on the Lord in prayer. That's a great legacy to leave behind rather than a legacy of murder and a legacy of anger and a legacy of boasting and all these different things that Cain was known for.
Speaker: So we see before us, it's like there's two trails, right? There's two paths. So one path, Abel started the path, but then Seth is gonna have to continue that path because Abel, he died early when he was killed by his brother, Cain. So now we have Seth's path and we have Cain's path.
Speaker: which path would you wanna follow? Do you wanna have a path that leads to wholesome families, that leads to families that call upon the name of the Lord, that make a positive difference?
Speaker: Or would you say, no, I would rather follow in Cain's footsteps, be able to accomplish great things, But what if you accomplished great things at the expense of morality, at the expense of people's lives?
Speaker: What if accomplishing great things and bringing forth more in terms of civilization meant that you had to kill young people to get there, to get those things?
Speaker: I don't know about you, but I know which path I want to follow. I'm going to say the same thing that Joshua said long ago to take a quote from another biblical character.
Speaker: Joshua said, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. But he said, choose for you this day whom you will serve.
Speaker: But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. What about you, your children, your grandchildren, and those who will follow into the future? Which path would you want them to work to walk on? Well, I think we can pray in that direction, whichever one it is. I pray that you will follow in the footsteps of Abel and Seth because they're leading in the right direction and Enosh, of course. So let's pray together to close our time out together today.
Speaker: Lord, I thank you so much for the wonderful example we have in scripture of Enosh. There he is from his day until this day. People pray and they call upon the name of the Lord.
Speaker: I'm so glad that that that discipline came into my life. I'm so thankful that I can pray every day. and lift up praise. I can thank you for the blessings. I can even confess my sins, that since Jesus died on the cross for me and shed his blood, I don't have to take the life of an animal, that I can find forgiveness because of the perfect shed blood of Jesus Christ on my behalf.
Speaker: And I know that many of those who are listening, they may have put their faith and their trust in Christ as well. But I'm so glad that on a daily basis, when we do blow it, when we get angry, when we lose our temper, or when we say something we shouldn't say, when we do something we shouldn't do, it can be completely cleansed. For your word says, if you confess your sins, then he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us.
Speaker: from all unrighteousness. We're so thankful for promises like that. But also, Lord, we know that we can pray with prayers of petition, lifting up different needs that we have in our family.
Speaker: But we can also pray prayers of intercession, where we can pray for others that are outside of our family. What a wonderful tradition and discipline that Enosh left to us that people could call upon the name of the Lord. And so we pray, we pray for our neighbors, we pray for our coworkers, we pray for those that live on our street, those that live down the road if we're in the country. We pray for those that live in our county, in our city, in our community. We pray for those that live ah in our country, for those that are in our nation.
Speaker: And we pray for those who live on distant shores, at different nations, other people groups other than ours. We know that when Christ died on the cross, He died for all.
Speaker: And so now we're given this great commission to go and make disciples of all the nations. And so we pray you would turn these nations in the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker: I thank you, Jesus, that now we have one that's even better than Seth. better than Enosh, better than Abel, that we can follow in Christ's footsteps and you will lead us in the right direction.
Speaker: So for our friends that are looking for guidance, please guide them. Perhaps Lord, someone is listening and they feel much like a cane. They feel like they've made bad mistakes in their life, serious mistakes. Would you forgive them? Would you bring cleansing to them? Help them to turn in repentance and faith, trusting Christ as Lord and Savior.
Speaker: I thank you so much for always intervening, for speaking through your word, just like you did. You talked with Cain when he made his mistakes. But we love you, Lord. Thank you for first loving us. It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Speaker: Amen. Well, thank you so much, my friend, for listening today. I pray that God's blessed you through this message. Maybe it's a message you would share with someone else. But anyway, God bless you. Have a great day.
Speaker: This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.
