The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me. He murders his brother and then he lies to God.
Isn't that so true of us? One of the first things to follow sin is a lie. Children lie to parents because they're living in sin. Parents lie to children to justify perhaps their sin. Husbands lie to wives and wives lie to husbands.
Why? Because they're sin at the door. And to cover it, to cloak it, we begin telling one lie after another and soon it multiplies and becomes a tangled web.
Then we begin wondering, what did I say? Once sin entered into the world, things disintegrated rapidly. It only took one generation for there to be the first murder in human history when Cain killed his brother Abel. We're going to explore that account today here on Wisdom for the Heart. Stephen's going to remind you that obedience to God isn't just the best way to live, it's the only way to live.
This is Wisdom for the Heart. We're in the middle of a series from our Vintage Wisdom archives entitled Origins. It's a series from the early chapters of Genesis. Stephen called this message the Curse of Cain. Genesis chapter four provides the only authoritative account of early civilization. And this is a little different, of course, than what you might find in the scientists' accounts or the anthropological writings, who would suggest that early man was a caveman that walked around carrying a club, dragging his woman by the hair on her head.
That isn't exactly true. As a matter of fact, early man was incredibly intelligent. They were geniuses. As we will find, the ancestors of Cain, the first and second generation of Adam and Eve, they were creating incredible things. They were inventing musical instruments, metallurgy. They were inventing all kinds of things that would take a primitive society and rapidly move it toward the kind of society that you and I enjoy in many ways today. So don't be fooled by what society says of early men. They were not dumb cavemen.
They were brilliant men, as we'll discover in this chapter. When studying the life of Cain, you always hear, Where did Cain get his wife? And usually that's the person who doesn't want to talk about anything related to the Gospel, but they will say, Well, where did Cain get his wife? Explain that for me and I will believe the rest of the Bible. Now, before the law came, when God gave these genetic boundaries and thus the penalty for breaking these boundaries, men and women were married within the family.
It was the command of God to multiply and fill the earth. Obviously, Adam and Eve were the only parents. Now, we know from Genesis chapter 5, look over there, Genesis chapter 5 verse 4, Adam lived for 900 some years.
And you notice what happens during those hundreds of years. He has a lot of children. And the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were 800 years. And he had other sons and daughters.
He multiplied his little corner of the earth. His quiver was full and so Cain undoubtedly had quite a selection. And he chose one of his sisters.
Now, the more important question is addressed in chapter 4. Let's begin with verse 1. Now, the man had relations with his wife Eve and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. And she said, I've gotten a man child with the help of the Lord.
And that's interesting because I believe that that is a simple statement of faith that Eve is resting on the promise of God to bring a man a seed from her womb that would be the Savior. Of course, it isn't Cain. Afterward, verse 2, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks. He was the first herdsman. He was the first shepherd. But Cain was a tiller of the ground. That is, he was the first farmer.
And both of these are worthy occupations. And these are ones that they chose. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground and Abel on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering. But for Cain and for his offering, he had no regard.
Now, let me answer one question. Why is it that God refused the offering of Cain? Because it was bloodless.
We read in the New Testament book of Hebrews chapter 9 that there is no atoning or remission for sin apart from the shedding of blood. Where did Cain and Abel know and learn that they were to bring an offering to God? I think this is an argument of course without text, but I think God instructed them by their parents Adam and Eve.
Let me give you another reason why I believe that the reason it was rejected was because it was without blood. The second thing is that they both came at an appointed time. Notice again the phrase in the course of time. And what I'm trying to do here is prove that God gave them revelation as to bringing sacrifices to God. The phrase, it came about in the course of time. That could be literally translated at the end of days, a reference to the Sabbath day. These men brought their offerings on the Sabbath day. Was that coincidental?
No, absolutely not. It was a result of revelation. And I think that revelation thirdly would be given in chapter 3 verse 21.
Look at what it says there. Now the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and personal. He clothed them. I think what had happened in the garden as we studied earlier, Adam and Eve tried to cover their sin with fig leaves and that wasn't sufficient because that was the work of their own hands. And so God kills some animals and takes the skins and he comes along and clothes them.
And I think in that clothing he gave them added revelation. There is only one way to atone for sin. You cannot cover it with the leaf of a tree. You must cover, atone for. By the way atonement means covering. You must do that by the shedding of blood, by the giving of another life.
Fig leaves will never atone. So I think God refused Cain's offering because first of all it was bloodless. Secondly, because it was the fruit of his own hands. It was the fruit of his own hands. And this is the religion of the world from the time of Cain. We will approach God by the works of our own hands. We will seek to satisfy a holy God by something that we do. And that was insufficient because our own works can never atone for sin.
Thirdly, I think it was because it was the fruit of the ground. Cain ignored the curse. Chapter 3 verse 17. Look back with me at the passage we studied earlier. Then to Adam he said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying you shall not eat from it. Note the curse. Cursed is the ground because of you.
In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. The earth had been cursed. There is nothing from this earth by the works of our hands that can ever satisfy a holy God. And Cain replied. I think he rebelled against known revelation.
Revelation from God. Seen in the fact they both brought an offering on the Sabbath day. Now, notice what happens when God confronts Cain. But for Cain, verse 5 of chapter 4, and his offering, God took no regard that as he turned his back on the offering. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry?
Why is your countenance falling? Again, it's almost as if God says Cain, you know what you're supposed to do. Why now that you've disobeyed are you angry at me? Notice what he says.
If you do well, what would that be? Obviously if you do what I tell you to do. Will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not well, sin is crouching at the door.
The word crouch is used by the ancients of a lion who is crouching and ready to pounce on his prey. He says if you disregard my will, my revelation, my word, sin like a lion is crouching at your door ready to pounce, you are open prey. And notice what he says in the next phrase. And sin's desire is for you.
Does that ring a bell? Do you remember in chapter 3 of verse 16, notice what God told the woman. To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth and pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband. Same phrase here in referring to Cain's sin. In other words, your sin has the desire to control you. Just because of the fall, women now try to control their husbands.
It's part of the fall, part of the curse. It is part of sin where a woman tries to manipulate and control her husband, so you disregard my will and sin will manipulate you. Sin will control you if you disregard my will. Now I want you to notice the five full results of Cain's sin. By the way, Cain's sin was not murder. Cain's sin was disobedience. Murder is the first of five results of his sin.
If you're taking notes, that's the first result. Five things happen because Cain disobeyed God's revelation. The first thing, he murdered his brother. Look at verse 8. And Cain told Abel his brother. What was he telling him? He was telling him about God. Perhaps he was arguing that God was playing favorites.
We don't know. And it came about when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. The Bible refers to Abel as a prophet. Perhaps if we could go back in time, we could watch two men out in the field, and we can't hear what they're saying, but we note that there's a heated argument going on, and Cain is raising his fist to heaven, and Abel perhaps is pleading that he repent. And finally, Cain, in his heated passion, picks up a blunt instrument or even takes his hands and he beats Abel to death there in the field.
He rose up and he killed them. Now, I want you to notice the second result of his sin, and that is, if you're taking notes, he lied to God. Then the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel, your brother? You know how when Adam sinned, God comes along and asks him a question? Well, here again, he's talking to the second generation, and he gives him a chance to repent. He says, where is Abel, your brother? Note Cain's response. I don't know.
That's a lie. He knows the exact spot where he's buried Abel so that no one will discover his sin. And so he lied. He says, I don't know. And then he asks the question, am I my brother's keeper?
By the way, let me ask you a question. What is the answer to that? Am I my brother's keeper?
Is the answer yes or no? The answer is yes, you are your brother's keeper. You and I have a responsibility for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. Yes, I am my brother's keeper. There is a great sense where I am to know and I am to be concerned about where my brother is spiritually, where his life is, where she resides in a relationship with God. Yes, I am my brother's keeper. And he said, verse 10, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. He murders his brother and then he lies to God.
Isn't that so true of us? One of the first things to follow sin is a lie. Children lie to parents because they're living in sin. Parents lie to children to justify perhaps their sin. Husbands lie to wives and wives lie to husbands.
Why? Because there's sin at the door. And to cover it, to cloak it, we begin telling one lie after another and soon it multiplies and becomes a tangled web. And then we begin wondering, what did I say? He said, you never have to worry about what you said if you tell the truth. And so he began lying. I want you to notice the third effect of his sin. He lost his first love. He lost his first love. Look at verse 11.
And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you cultivate the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. There's a breed of men out there called farmers and they love the earth. Their greatest joy is watching the stalks of corn, waves and debris. They get no more satisfaction out of anything other than knowing their barns are filled with fresh hay. They love the ground. They love it.
It's their love, their life. Cain chose the occupation because he loved the ground. He loved the earth. It was his greatest joy to plant seed and see it grow and multiply. And he brought to God the best thing his hands had produced by his labor.
He loved it. And God took it away from him. And in effect said, Cain, the earth is cursed, but now the earth is going to ignore your hand. The tragedy of sin. I want you to notice, fourthly, that Cain lost his sense of permanence and direction. The last part of verse 12, you shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.
In other words, you're going to leave this place and you're going to spend the rest of your life wandering around. And there again, we cannot help to understand this unless we think in terms of what a farmer is like. I was born in Worthington, Minnesota, just next to Butterfield, Minnesota. It's a farming community.
I haven't been back in 10 years, but we used to go every summer. And I can still remember in my mind's eye that little main street, the general store that was run for many decades by my aunt and uncle. All of the people in town knew each other. They were people of the earth. They farmed. In fact, my father was raised in a farmer's home and he sold his inheritance and joined the Air Force and moved to the city. And that's how I was raised in the city.
But there in that little town of Worthington and Butterfield, life is so simple. They live close to the ground and you know their roots are deep. They've lived all their lives. There's a real sense of permanence.
Nothing really flamboyant ever occurs. It's simply you get up and you farm, you eat, go to bed. And yet they love it that way.
I want you to think in terms of that when you think of cane. Perhaps you read, and I'm sure you heard about all the farmers over the last decade that have lost their farms. You and I will never understand unless you've been raised on a farm the agony of their hearts to auction off what's been in the family for decades, generations, years. This is their life, their roots.
They live in the same home where grandpa and grandma lived and now they're losing it. See that's how he felt. That's the tragedy of sin. Because God would virtually tell Cain, yank up all the roots, from now on you wander. No more permanence.
No more stability. Fifthly, the last effect of his sin was that he lost his fellowship with God. Cain said in verse 13, now I hope you can understand this a little better. Cain said to the Lord, my punishment is too great to bear.
Behold, thou has driven me from this day from the face of the ground and from thy face I shall be hidden and I shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth and it will come about that whoever finds me will kill me. So the Lord said to him, therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord appointed a sign, not a mark, but a sign for Cain. We don't know what it was, but something whereby when everyone saw, they knew they weren't to touch Cain. Cain was to live under the curse for his entire life. Then verse 16, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord.
There's the phrase. Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and he dwelt in the land of Nod. Nod is the Hebrew word which means the land of wandering. He would wander the rest of his life. It's interesting that Cain rebelled against the curse because the text tells us that he tried to build a city to gain some kind of permanence. The Hebrew text indicates this is not a completion of the work.
In other words, he began to build. He never finished. His children probably finished for him and he continued wandering. A fugitive from God. No sign of repentance. No sign of confession. You never hear Cain say, okay Lord, just a second, I'll go and get a lamb and I'll be right back.
Uh-uh. He took his basket of fruit and we have every indication that he walked away from God forever. It tells us in verse 18 of his family. Teunuch was born Ered and Ered became the father of Mahujel and Mahujel became the father of Methujel and Methujel became the father of Lamech and Lamech took to himself two wives. The name of one was Atta, the name of the other Zilla and Atta gave birth to Jabel. He was the father of those who dwell in tents.
This guy invented the tent. He took us home with him and have livestock and his brother's name was Jubal and he was the father of all those who play the lyre in the pipe from which we get our English word Jubilee. As for Zilla, she also gave birth to Tubal Cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron. You know what?
It didn't take millions of years for them to discover how to use iron and bronze. And the sister of Tubal Cain was Naima and Lamech said to his wives in his proud heart, he said, Atta and Zilla, listen to my voice you wives of Lamech. Give heed to my speech for I've killed a man for wounding me and a boy for striking me. If Cain is a vain sevenfold than Lamech's seventy sevenfold. In other words, I am more wicked than my father and I am proud of it. And Atta had relations with his wife again and she gave birth to his son and named him Seth. For she said, God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel for Cain killed him. And to Seth, to him also a son was born and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord. Let me give you two thoughts before we conclude. Two thoughts from the life, the biography of Cain.
It's brief and yet it's painful. A man who rejected the revelation of God took his own approach to God in his own hands and he said, I'll come to you God my way. And like those today who say they will approach God their way, God rejects them. The first thought is this, disobedience to God never makes sense.
The price is too great. The penalty is more severe than any enjoyment you and I can ever receive from sin. Disobeying God never, never makes sense. I can remember growing up listening to my father at the Friday night Bible study and he would ask the question and I used to chuckle because I knew what was coming. He would ask the question, men give me three logical reasons why you sin.
And it was great. These guys pop up their hands, you know, the devil made me do it, you know, all these things. He'd go around and finally he would prove to them there was no logical reason, no sensible reason why you and I would ever disobey God. Disobedience never, never makes sense. Secondly, obedience to God begins with a choice. Obedience to God begins with a choice.
I want you to note and I haven't spent any time on this thought but this is perhaps a sermon in itself. Both boys were born into the same home. Both boys had the same advantages. Both had the same amount of revelation from God.
Yet they proved to us that obedience is dependent upon choice. One chose to follow the revelation of God, the other one chose to disobey the revelation of God. One came with pride, the other one with humility.
An interesting thought. One came the way God suggested, the other one came his own way. I love the story and we'll close with this of Charlotte Elliott who was a very troubled lady, young lady. She was not a Christian, in fact was rebelling against what she knew was true. She'd been raised in a godly home. And finally one evening her parents out of desperation invited a visiting preacher into their home for dinner and he came in and began talking about the Lord at the table and they were asking questions that he would answer that would perhaps probe into the heart of their daughter so that she would come to Christ. And finally she blew up and in a rage stomped off and they finished their meal in silence. Finally she, sorry for her outburst, came back to the table.
The family had been dismissed and only the pastor, the preacher was there. He began urging her to choose Christ. But she was so overwhelmed with all of her pride, with all of her sense of worth that it took some talking to reveal to her that she was in fact a sinner. Finally after an hour or two of discussion the record reads that she broke down. And then the greatest obstacle to her mind and heart was the fact that she was too sinful for God to ever accept her. She was too filled with herself, her own works. And the pastor began saying, Charlotte, you've got to come to God just like you are. Come to God just like you are.
Still the light didn't break and he left. She stayed up all night with those words ringing in her mind until finally the Spirit of God made it clear. And her own testimony is written in a way that we sing and I want to read you the words that Charlotte Elliott wrote. Just as I am without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me and that thou bits me come to thee O Lamb of God I come, I come. Just as I am and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot to thee whose blood can cleanse each spot O Lamb of God I come, I come. Just as I am though tossed about with many conflict, many doubts, fightings and fears within and without O Lamb of God I come, I come. Just as I am thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve. Because thy promise I believe O Lamb of God I come, I come. The hope for our lives, men and women as you well know, is the hope that Abel found in coming to God his way just as he was a sinner. We found the obedience of one and yet the rejection of another because he came in the way that he wanted and oh what a delight to know that when I come to God by the way of the cross just as I am. And by the way Jesus continually accepts us on that same basis that we just as we are have gone to him. We can rest just as we are in Christ, forgiven, pardoned and relieved.
And what a relief that is. I'm so glad you joined us today here on Wisdom for the Heart and I hope this time in God's Word has been an encouragement to you. Our Bible teacher Steven Davey is in a series called Origins. It's a series from our Vintage Wisdom Library that Steven first taught back in 1988.
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