Good morning, church.
This morning we're going to be looking at Genesis chapter 4.
That's page 3 in the Pew Bible, if you want to turn there.
We'll be walking through this chapter of Genesis together as we continue our series in these
opening chapters of the Bible.
As we turn to Genesis chapter 4, let me pray for us.
Oh, Father, what a prayer we have just sung, that you would be our vision, our wisdom,
our shield, the heart of our heart, our true riches.
God, we confess that we're often very far from that, and yet thank you that in your mercy
and in your grace, you continue to draw near to us and speak to us through your word so
that we might really know you and be captivated by who you are once again as we were created
to be.
So, Lord, help us now as we come to your word.
Give us ears to hear.
Give us hearts to receive what it is your spirit is saying to us, your church, now.
We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Genesis chapter 4.
Let me read this for us.
Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have gotten a man with
the help of the Lord.
And again, 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.
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, he had no regard.
So Cain was very angry and his face fell.
The Lord said to Cain, why are you angry?
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.
Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.
Cain spoke to Abel, his brother.
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?
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.
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.
You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.
Cain said to the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear.
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.
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.
Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch.
When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.
To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mahujael.
And Mahujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.
And Lamech took two wives.
The name of the one was Ada, and the name of the other, Zillah.
Ada bore Jabal.
He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.
His brother's name was Jubal.
He was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.
Zillah also bore Tubal-Cain.
He was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron,
the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.
Lamech said to his wives, Ada and Zillah, hear my voice.
You wives of Lamech, listen to what I say.
I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.
If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech's is seventy-sevenfold.
Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son, and called his name Seth.
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.
At that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord.
So let's do a little test.
I'm going to say a word, and you consider what's the first thing that comes to your mind.
And the word is sin.
Often we tend to view sin in two ways.
On the one hand, there's the religious or the moralistic view of sin.
That is, sin is some particular action or behavior that you know you shouldn't do,
but if you try a little harder, you can probably do better.
Usually in this view, we talk about sins in the plural.
Lying, cheating, stealing.
On the other hand, there's what we may call the irreligious or the permissive view of sin.
And in this view, we usually talk about sin when doing something that's especially fun or pleasurable.
Chocolate, so good, it must be a sin.
Sin in this view often becomes an adjective or an adverb.
Sinfully delicious.
You know, the interesting thing about both of these views of sin,
different as they may appear at first,
is that neither one really thinks that sin is that big of a deal.
On the one hand, sin is just an action we need to avoid.
And on the other hand, sin is just some sort of pleasurable activity
that we should only indulge in every once in a while.
But on both views, sin is something ultimately that we can handle.
No great danger.
Now, why am I bringing all this up?
Well, in Genesis chapter 4,
we have the first explicit reference in the Bible to the word sin.
It's in verse 7.
And what we see, not just in verse 7, but in the whole of chapter 4,
is that our popular views of sin are completely wrong.
Sin isn't merely breaking a few rules or indulging a few appetites.
Sin is a destructive power.
Chapter 4 of Genesis is about the power of sin.
Lao Tzu, the ancient Chinese philosopher, is quoted as saying,
there is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.
The reality is, I think most of us are underestimating the spiritual struggle we are in.
We're like the amateur surfer paddling out naively into 20, 30-foot waves
and then wondering why we come crashing back to the shore, battered and bruised.
Genesis 4 is here to help us not make that mistake spiritually.
So what is Genesis 4 teaching us first?
What we see here is the power of sin in the heart.
This is verses 1 through 7.
Now, this story may be well known to you.
Two brothers, Cain and Abel,
two offerings, one from the field, one from the flock,
two responses, one regarded, the other not.
What's the difference?
Why does God regard Abel's offering and not Cain's?
Well, I think the answer is actually found in verses 2 and 3,
if we look a little closer.
Consider, how is Abel's offering described?
Abel's offering, the firstborn of his flock,
the fat portions.
In other words, it's the best of the best.
But how is Cain's offering described?
It's just an offering.
You see, Abel gives his best.
Cain gives a mere token.
And these offerings reveal their hearts.
Hebrews 11, 4 in the New Testament,
looking back on this story,
we'll say,
by faith, Abel offered to God
a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain.
In other words, Abel's faith-filled heart
flowed forth in an offering of his best to God.
Cain's heart, however,
was much more conflicted.
But the Lord doesn't reject Cain because of this.
What does God do?
God actually approaches him.
God pursues him with a question.
Verse 6,
why are you angry?
With an invitation in verse 7,
come, change your heart, Cain,
and you'll be accepted.
There's a path for you to come back to me.
And then a warning in the rest of verse 7.
If you do not do well,
that is, if you do not bring a genuine offering
of faith and love,
if you do not do well,
sin is crouching at the door.
Its desire is contrary to you,
but you must rule over it.
So the first appearance of the word sin
in the Bible here in verse 7,
do you capture the picture,
the metaphor?
The picture is of a predator
stalking back and forth,
ready to strike,
like a lion waiting for its prey,
crouching at the door,
ready to pounce.
The phrase,
its desire is contrary to you,
we actually saw last week.
It describes a power struggle,
a battle.
And what this means is this,
since the fall,
sin is a power that is out to destroy us
from the inside out.
It's like the lid coming off of Pandora's box.
When our first human parents rebelled against God,
that lid was ripped off
and sin is now unleashed,
ready to consume.
And doesn't that actually ring more true
than our naive views of sin,
mere sort of bad behaviors on the one hand,
little indulgence in some of the other.
Because after all,
haven't you felt that inner battle at times?
Imagine driving a car,
and every time you want to make a turn,
the wheel lurches in the opposite direction,
and you have to pull with all your might
to make it go the way you want it to go.
Well, you'd think something was pretty wrong
with your car, right?
But is that not so often?
Our own hearts.
In Galatians 5,
Paul will talk about a war going on
in our hearts between sin,
our sinful nature,
and the Spirit of God.
They are opposed to each other, he says,
to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
And how does this inner battle
become visible in Cain's life?
Note how he responds to God.
He is angry,
and his face fell.
Two seemingly different responses,
but so often they live together.
Anger and self-pity.
Can I suggest to you this morning
that there is a spiritual battle
for your soul going on
in your own heart?
Can I suggest that sin is not a game,
but a violent beast ready to devour,
and if you don't see that,
you will live a very spiritually naive life,
tossed back and forth
between anger and self-pity,
and ultimately ending in ruin.
Because sin isn't just a destructive power
in our hearts,
it's also a destructive power
in our relationships.
This is verses 8 through 16.
Note the power of sin
in Cain's relationship with his brother,
and ultimately how selfish it makes Cain.
Verse 8.
Cain murders his brother.
In essence, saying that Abel's the problem,
not me.
Rather than deal with his own heart before God,
which is the real issue,
Cain blames Abel,
and his anger becomes murder.
Verse 9.
Cain denies any responsibility for others.
Am I my brother's keeper?
I'm not responsible for him.
Verses 10 through 13.
Cain expresses more remorse
for his punishment
than for his crime.
In fact, he only expresses remorse
for his punishment
and none for his crime.
Did you see that?
No regret,
no remorse
for having killed his own brother,
only a complaint
that the punishment's too much for him.
In other words,
sin makes us care more
about the consequences to ourselves
than the harm we've done
to other people
and the offense we've made to God.
Last, verses 14 through 16.
Cain would rather be alone
than repent.
God, in mercy,
puts a mark on Cain.
We don't know exactly
what that looked like,
but it basically protected Cain.
It was a visual warning
against anyone
who would kill Cain
in revenge for what he did.
And to be sure,
Cain would no longer be able
to cultivate the ground
like he did.
Part of God's punishment on Cain
is that the ground
would no longer yield
its fruit for him.
You see,
the ground once yielded to Cain
its fruit.
And what was Cain's response?
Cain would no longer be able
to shed his brother's blood back into it.
So God says,
no more.
Now Cain will have to hunt,
to gather,
and to be dependent on others.
But rather than humbly accept
that this sentence was fitting
because of his crime,
and rather than humbly repent
for what he did,
Cain leaves.
He'd rather be alone
than actually repent.
Do you see
how sin is a power
that destroys our relationships
and so quickly?
The sad thing
is that this whole incident happens
not ten generations after the fall,
not five generations,
but one.
And is that so far-fetched?
How many marriages dissolve
in just a few years?
How many roommates
have a falling out
in just a semester or two?
How many friendships crumble
in seemingly no time?
Now you might be thinking,
geez, I haven't killed anybody.
Is it really that bad?
Well, perhaps you haven't killed anybody.
That's a good thing.
I'm thankful for that.
But there are more ways
than murder
for sin
to ruin relationships.
And the underlying dynamic
is still the same.
Like Cain,
we come to believe
that I'm not the problem
they are.
And after all,
I'm not really responsible
for them anyway.
And I care more
about the consequences
of my own harmful actions
than the ones
I've actually wronged.
And I'd rather be alone.
I'd rather choose
isolation than restoration.
And when that happens,
we find ourselves
doing things
we thought
we would never do.
because sin
is powerful
in our hearts
and out into
our relationships.
But third,
we see the power of sin
in our human cultures.
This is verses 17 through 24.
The story of Cain's descendants.
We see here
the growth
of a broad family,
the growth of a culture,
if you will,
a whole interconnected way
of being and living
and making sense
of the world.
Now, the first observation
that we have to make here
is that there is much
common grace
amidst Cain's descendants.
In verse 17,
Cain marries,
has a child,
and they found a city.
Now, we're not told
where Cain's wife comes from.
This is one of the old
sort of like
Bible questions
of the ages.
Where did Cain find a wife?
It was just him and Abel.
Well, I think it's plausible
he married
one of his other family members
as Adam and Eve
kept reproducing
and growing
in the human family group.
If you want to talk more
about that after the service,
we can chat about
where Cain's wife came from.
But it's not important.
Genesis isn't really
interested in that.
The point is,
Cain marries,
has a child,
they found a city,
and isn't that exactly
what God had originally intended?
For humans to be fruitful
and multiply.
Common grace.
And then in verses 20 through 22,
we see Cain's descendants
as culture makers.
Dwelling in tents
and having livestock.
Playing the lyre in the pipe.
Forgers of bronze and iron.
In other words,
we see the advance
of agriculture,
of arts,
of technology.
These are good gifts.
God's common grace
hasn't abandoned
human culture making.
And I think we have to remember this
as the church.
Because in any city,
in any society,
there are going to be
these marks of common grace.
Things that we can approve of.
Ways in which God's hand
is still at work.
Are you able to identify
those things?
Are you able to give thanks
to God for those things?
To allow those things
to actually provide an avenue
for pointing our friends
and neighbors
to the source
of those good gifts?
There's much common grace here.
But there's also
another dynamic at work,
isn't there?
At one and the same time.
What we see also
in this sort of brief snapshot
of Cain's descendants
is that sin
becomes systemic.
Lamech,
the sixth generation
from Cain,
the seventh from Adam.
And what do we see?
Polygamy,
violence,
pride.
If Genesis 4 shows us
how quickly
sin creates death,
it also shows us
how deeply entrenched
it becomes
in our way
of being in the world.
Lamech rejects
God's design for marriage
and takes two wives.
And the rest of Genesis
will show us
how much pain
and heartache
such a practice creates.
Lamech is a brutal person
killing a young man
just for a minor run-in.
We had a scrape
so I killed him.
And to top it all off,
he boasts,
if Cain's revenge
is sevenfold,
mine is 77.
And so sin
is not some trifle,
some game,
but a destructive power
in our hearts,
in our relationships,
and even,
despite much common grace,
systemically invading
our human cultures.
So how would Genesis 4
have us respond?
If all this is starting
to ring true for us,
if we're starting to see
that sin is this power
unleashed,
crouching at the door,
ready to strike,
how should we respond?
Well, first we have to see
how God responds.
The chapter ends
with the birth
of another son.
Adam and Eve
call his name Seth,
which sounds like
the Hebrew word
appointed,
and they call him Seth
because they say
God appointed him
in the place of the son
they had lost.
So we see here
that in the midst
of the ruin,
there comes hope.
A new branch
of the family tree,
another offspring.
And that word
offspring is so
laden with meaning
when you go back
to chapter 3
and see the promise
about what God
would do
through Eve's offspring.
Another offspring
is here.
A new branch
of the family tree,
and this time
it's different.
Seth has a son,
Enosh,
and people begin
calling upon
the name of the Lord.
That is,
they become a family line
that worships God.
A new family
in the midst
of the old.
And it's through
Seth's line
that God's rescue
from the power
of sin will come.
Ages later,
when all of humanity
is still captive
under the power
of sin,
a new son
like Seth
is born.
A new start
is made.
Do you remember
how the New Testament
begins?
With a genealogy.
How many times
have you read
Matthew chapter 1
and thought,
what is going on?
The most important work
in all of human history
and it starts
with a list of names?
And yet,
how fitting.
Down through
the fallen human family,
one finally comes
to break sin's power
and set us free.
Jesus comes
appointed by God
like Seth.
But Jesus will do
what Seth
never could do.
You see,
Seth could never
really take
Abel's place,
right?
But Jesus,
fully human
and fully God,
could stand
in all of our place.
and like Abel,
Jesus'
innocent blood
would also be shed.
His own family members,
his own people,
his own brothers
would betray him
and in anger
and jealousy
they would kill him.
But the New Testament
book of Hebrews
again points
something out to us.
In Hebrews 12,
24,
the writer says
this curious word,
it says,
Jesus' blood
speaks a better word
than the blood
of Abel.
Abel's blood
cried out
to God
for justice,
did it not?
And yet,
Jesus' blood
cries out to God
for mercy.
Jesus died the death
that we deserve to die.
He died in our place,
the innocent
for the guilty
so that the guilty
could be forgiven.
And on the grounds
of his death,
his perfect
sacrifice,
when all of sin
and death
had come upon him
at the cross,
sin's power
was at last
swallowed
and defeated.
And three days later,
Jesus rose
from the grave
because sin
and death
could no longer
hold him.
And after spending
40 days
with his disciples,
the risen Jesus
ascended to the Father
and poured out
the Holy Spirit
at Pentecost
so that now
we might live,
all of us,
in the power
of his death
and resurrection.
This is what God
has done
in the face
of the power
of sin.
So now,
how do we respond
to the power
of sin shown us
in Genesis 4?
Let's walk back
through the passage
and consider
what this hope
in Christ,
this new power,
means
as we confront
the power
of sin
first
in our hearts.
And the reality
that we have
to address here
is quite frankly
that we need
new hearts.
And that is
what Christ
provides.
The power
to be born
anew
spiritually,
to be regenerated
as a gift
of the Holy Spirit
through faith
in Christ,
to go from
spiritual death
living under
the dominion
of sin,
to now
spiritual life
with the Holy Spirit
living in us
and the Spirit
waging war
against sin's power.
You see,
when we come
to faith
in Christ,
this frees us
not just from
the penalty of sin
but also from
the power of sin
because the Holy Spirit
now resides within.
So the question
is,
friends,
have you experienced
this new birth?
Have you turned
from seeking
to justify yourself
and pull yourself
up by your own
moral bootstraps?
Have you stopped
trying to do that
and have you surrendered
your life
to Jesus
as Savior
and Lord?
Until you do that,
your battle
against sin
will be a losing one
because you'll never
get to the root
of the battle.
Yes,
you may trade
one set of behaviors
for another
but you'll never
get down to the heart
of your resistance
to God.
You'll never get down
to the heart
of your self-reliance
and rejection
of God
as your only hope
and your only king.
And until you've come
to be born anew
through faith in Christ,
only then
through the Holy Spirit
by grace in Christ
will you get down
to that root
and real change
will begin to happen
because by the grace
of the Holy Spirit
you can put sin to death.
You don't have
to give in anymore.
You don't have to listen
to its voice anymore.
You can now set your mind
on things above
where Christ is seated
at the right hand of God
interceding for you
and you can live
a life full of the fruit
of the Holy Spirit
living within you.
A life of joy
and peace
and patience
and kindness
and goodness
and faithfulness
and gentleness
and self-control
and above all
a life of love.
And that takes us
to the second part.
What hope is there
in the face of sin's power
in our relationships?
Listen again
to 1 John chapter 3.
This is the message
that you've heard
from the beginning
of your faith in Christ
that we should love
one another.
We should not be like Cain
who was of the evil one
and murdered his brother.
We know that we've passed
out of death
into life
because we love
the brothers.
By this
we know love
that he,
Jesus,
laid down his life
for us
and we ought to lay down
our lives
for the brothers.
Do you see the dynamic
at work there?
You see,
friends,
there's one
who laid down
his life for you,
who looked upon you
not when you were innocent
but when you were rebellious.
There's one
who looked upon you
when you were
an enemy of God
and when I was
an enemy of God
and who saw us
in our sin
and our rejection
of him
and who was willing
to call us
brothers and sisters
when we didn't deserve it.
Jesus comes and says,
I am
my brother's keeper.
I am
my sister's keeper.
And he's faithful
for us
and to us
to the end.
And so,
knowing his love
for us,
how could we
not turn
to our brothers
and sisters
and love them
the same?
That's what
1 John is saying,
riffing on this passage
from Genesis 4.
You see,
sin wants us
to remain
self-centered.
I'm not
the problem
they are.
I'm not
responsible for them.
I care more
about myself.
No,
but Christ
through the Spirit
turns us
from self-centeredness
outward
in love.
Why?
Because we've
been loved.
sin.
And this life
of love
creates a culture.
In the third
part of Genesis 4,
we saw that amidst
much common grace,
sin still becomes
entrenched
in cultural patterns.
But Christ,
through the Spirit,
is creating
a counterculture
in the midst
of the world's
cultures.
In the midst
of common grace,
he's gathering
a people
to proclaim
and embody
saving grace.
You see,
when Christ
poured out
his Spirit
at Pentecost,
he launched
a movement
of renewal
upon the world.
And that movement,
that counterculture
is nothing less
than the church.
here,
us,
you and me,
the radical
beachhead
and spearhead
of the very
kingdom of God
sitting here
on these
uncomfortable
wooden pews.
Here we are.
You see,
friends,
we're not supposed
to do this
Christian thing alone.
We're meant
to be a body.
We're meant
to be a family
so that we can
display and become
something new
together.
A new kind
of family
in the middle
of the world's
families.
But this one's
now not defined
by who your
biological parents
were,
but whose father
you are.
Whose father
has become God
is now your father.
And now we're all
part of the same
family in Christ.
And together,
Jesus says,
you're going to be
salt and you're
going to be light.
Salt to restore,
to preserve,
to flavor,
and light to reveal,
and to warm,
and to grow.
And you know
one of the most
powerful ways
that we live
as this movement,
as this counterculture
of salt and light?
It's through the power
of forgiveness.
Lamech boasted
that if anyone
crossed him,
there would be
77 times
wrath to pay.
But Jesus,
perhaps echoing
this very passage,
said that for his
followers,
it would not be
revenge,
but forgiveness
that must be
extended 70 times
7.
The church is the
place where the
cycle of revenge
stops,
and where even
enemies are loved.
And friends,
that will create
a counterculture
like something
the world
has never seen.
Here,
under the cross
of Christ,
loving one another,
and loving
our enemies.
And so,
Genesis 4.
The power of sin
is real.
Let us not
underestimate it.
Let us not
be naive.
But let us
not over
estimate it.
The power
of Christ
working through
his Holy Spirit
in you,
in us,
is greater.
Sin is
crouching at
the door,
yes,
but Jesus
stands knocking
at the door.
Sin wants
to devour.
Jesus wants
to come in
and dine with
us and make
us his friends.
And through
us,
together,
to go out
and set
many captives
free.
Amen?
Let's pray.
Amen.
Why don't we
pause for just
a moment?
Take just a
moment of
quiet before
God together.
Lord Jesus, I know there are many of my friends in this room
who know firsthand what it's like
to experience the power of sin.
Lord, many trials, much heartache, many addictions, many broken relationships, many ways in which
the culture shapes us.
So, Lord, this morning we turn our hands open to you
and we ask for your help.
Lord, we surrender to you this morning.
And we give you thanks that you have not left us
helpless, hopeless, but you have come to us.
Oh, Lord, would you fill us with your spirit
this day, Monday, Tuesday,
out into this week, out through the rest of this month.
Lord, help us to keep in step with your spirit.
Fixing our eyes on you, Lord Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
So that we might not be oblivious to the power of sin, but that we might walk
in daily victory.
Not through us, but through you, Lord Jesus, our great victor.
Lord, we know that you hold the keys to death and hell in your hands.
Lord, one day every knee in heaven and earth and under the earth will bow to you
and confess you as Lord.
Jesus, that is what we do this morning in anticipation of that great day.
We call you Lord.
And we pray that more and more you would be the Lord of our lives,
that your kingdom would come and your will would be done in us and through us
on earth as it is in heaven.
Amen.
Well, friends, as the music team comes up, let's respond together by singing
in Christ alone, praising Christ for all that he is and all that he's done for us.
Amen.