The Horror Of Sin (Genesis 4)
Here is the video for the sermon. If you’d like to read it instead, just scroll on past it.
Genesis 4 is a genealogy. But that is so far from what catches the eye that we don’t notice it at first. It is a genealogy that is covered with the horror of sin. And it is a genealogy that would end when the flood wiped this part of the family off of the face of the Earth.
There is something very real that we can gather from this text that greatly pertains to us today. And that is the horror that sin brings.
I think we’ve all seen this in one way or another. The relative who can’t stay out of prison tells this story. The person who was abused as a child and lives to abuse others tells this same story. Drug addiction and alcoholism that seems passed down from one generation to the next tells this very same story. And, one can also see this story in a family that has seemed to be good and righteous has one child that chooses the path of sin and wrecks everything and everyone around him.
Sin is a horror.
We see this in our society as well. As our country throws off a biblical understanding of just about everything, we see the horror of sin growing in our midst. It has caused an uneasiness for most of us as we’ve watched it grow. As sin grows the horror grows, and we see this in the genealogy of Cain.
And, if we are not careful, we will see it in our personal lives as well.
What we will see today is that we should be people who flee to Christ and live faithfully, for where sin reigns so does destruction.
Our text begins with the hope of the Messiah. Remember, there had been promised one who would come and crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). Eve’s words, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord” (Genesis 4:1 ESV), help us to see that she gave God credit for giving her a child, and she had high hopes for this one. The child’s name was Cain. She trusted God’s promise and believed that it was already here. But her hopes would be dashed to the ground, because of what was to come. For he would do what was yet unthinkable to his brother Abel.
The horror of sin that began with being banished from the Garden would grow. So, we need to be people who flee to Christ and live faithfully, for where sin reigns, so does destruction.
Live By Faith Before The Lord (Genesis 4:3-5)
The first order of business for us is to discuss what happened with Cain and Abel. This is no small matter, for it has been the topic of many discussions throughout the ages. When this kind of thing happens, I find it helpful to pool together what we know and work from there.
Here is what we know from the rest of Scripture. We know that Abel was righteous and Cain was evil. We expect this because Cain killed his brother. But notice how the two are discussed throughout the rest of Scripture. Jesus called Abel, “righteous Abel” and counted him among the righteous that have been murdered through the ages (Matthew 23:34-35). And John makes a very hard statement about Abel’s wickedness.
“We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.” (1John 3:12 ESV)
This text gives us a bit of insight that is helpful concerning the situation. The reason for the murder, according to John, was that Cain’s “deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.” With that undergirding our understanding we can look at the text and see what is happening.
“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.” (Genesis 4:1-5 ESV)
Hebrew story telling was not like J.R.R. Tolkien. He fills in every detail for you. That is not how Hebrew storytelling worked. They gave you information and your mind was to fill in many of the details. But there is enough information there to get the details, you just have to work a little harder in thinking through it. Some details emerge that are meaningful that allow us to understand what happened.
The first thing to consider is that both professions were honorable. Both keeping sheep and working the ground are good professions.
The second thing to consider is that both offerings of animals and grain were given in the Temple. Therefore, I would argue, both types of offering are good.
And so far, we have answered no questions. But then the difference comes in.
“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 the fat portions.” (Genesis 4:3-4a)
Some time passed and Cain brought “an offering”. But Abel brought “of the firstborn of his flock and of the fat portions.” Do you see the difference?
Cain just brought something as an offering.
Abel brought his best. It was the “firstborn” and “of the fat portions”.
The difference is not animal vs. plant. The difference is that Abel brought his first fruits and best while Cain offered an afterthought to the Lord. Abel set aside the best of what he had to offer to the Lord. Cain’s offering was an afterthought.
Both men were seeking God’s approval. But only one was doing it with a heart toward worshipping the Lord. Therefore, God “had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.” (Genesis 4:4b-5a ESV) It seems that Abel was worshipping the Lord in thankfulness and gratefulness and that Cain brought forth an afterthought that he hoped would be just enough to please the Lord.
Understand this, God is worthy of your best. We need to give Him our best. And this is about our entire lives as offerings to the Lord. We give Him our best.
There is a major difference between Cain and Abel here that needs to be understood. Abel lived by faith. He trusted the Lord. He trusted God’s promise of redemption found in Genesis 3:15. He believed that one would come that would crush the head of the serpent and bring God’s people back into Eden. So, he lived in that faith. He didn’t know a lot about that promise. Because of where we stand in history, we know a lot more.
We know who the snake crusher is and what He did in history. He was God the Son. He took on human flesh and dwelt among us. He lived a perfect life by doing everything He should have done and not breaking any of God’s commands. Though perfect and completely without sin, He died on a Roman cross and paid the punishment owed for sin by all who would ever believe. And three days later, He rose from the grave and conquered the power of sin and death. He defeated the serpent and reversed the damage that he did on this Earth. And everyone who trusts in Him will be brought back into God’s presence.
Though Abel did not know everything, he trusted God’s promise. And he lived by that faith in God’s promise and brought a better sacrifice. And we should as well.
There is a monetary application to this sermon. And I want to tell you that this has been a struggle for me plenty of times in my life. I make this application to this message because I have made this mistake myself on numerous occasions. And so, I will spend a bit of time here.
When the car breaks down, or we need a new appliance in the kitchen, it is easy to think that I will just take it out of the money I’d usually give in worship to the Lord and try to make up the difference later. But the harsh truth of the matter is that in doing so I am behaving as Cain and not as Abel, who was righteous. And believe me, there have been plenty of times that I have done so in my life. I should have set aside the first fruits and not given God my leftovers and afterthought.
But this doesn’t just apply to money. Think about how this applies to things like, the way I budget my time and my attendance at church. If I just come to church when I have time for it, then I am behaving in the manner that Cain did, and not Abel. I’m not talking about taking a few weekends off to go on vacation with the family. I am talking about people who know they need to be in church and that God commands it, but for whatever reason didn’t budget the time to get here.
What about our prayer time? It is easy to just say that I’ll get around to praying later, to put it off until later. But we should be people who offer up prayer to the Lord. It is not good for us to set it on the back burner until I can get around to it. Although, I do think that there is an important thing to say here to parents of young children. They need so much attention that you may just have to squeeze in prayer time when that little bundle of joy finally falls asleep. And that’s not really what I’m talking about here. How may times have you said that you would pray later and prayed falling asleep with your head on the pillow having not actually spent any time in prayer? Know this, our prayers are offered up to the Lord. What is your offering like?
“And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.” (Revelation 8:3-5 ESV)
When you give to the Lord that offering of prayer, do so like Abel. Offer that better sacrifice that speaks of our love, thankfulness, and dependence upon the Lord!
When you come to worship the Lord, to sing praises to His name, to hear His message preached to you, and to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Don’t just do it when you can! Offer that better sacrifice that speaks of our love, thankfulness, and dependence upon the Lord!
When you make your budget for the month. Don’t just give God whatever spare change you have at the end of the month! Offer that better sacrifice that speaks of our love, thankfulness, and dependence upon the Lord! Budget for it.
And teach these things to your children.
Teach them that when they earn money to give the first bit to the Lord, and to keep the rest.
Help them to develop times of prayer, with you as a family and later, on their own.
Help them to have a love for church by making it a priority yourself and helping them to see the importance of being a part of a body of believers.
Sin Seeks To Destroy You (Genesis 4:6-7)
What happens next is very informative for us.
Cain’s response was anger. He was angry that God had accepted Abel and his sacrifice and not him and his sacrifice. And God responded to him by saying,
“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.” (Genesis 4:6-7 ESV)
Rather than mending his ways, he was jealous that the Lord accepted Abel’s offering and not his own and he was incredibly angry. But God gave him a chance to repent here and also gave him a clear warning that we need to consider today.
Sin doesn’t play nice. It does not have good intentions for you. We discussed this text a few weeks back because of the similarity in wording to Genesis 3:16, and so you probably already know what I am about to say. Sin is seeking your destruction. It seeks to dominate and conquer you.
When God told Cain that sin was crouching at the door and that it had desires for him, this was not some way of saying that the sin he was considering in his heart was going to be easy on him. It was an obvious statement that the sin he was considering would dominate him.
There are two points of application for us in this today.
The first is the world’s hatred of the righteous. The world hates Christians. It always has and it always will. But rather than mending her ways, it will hate us even more. Like Cain, the unrighteous world will hate righteousness and the righteous people of God. And that can be seen in the news almost daily.
But the second application is the one that I want to focus on today. Sin does not play nice. It will attempt to dominate and conquer us. And we must come to grips with that. Sin and temptation do not have small plans for you, they seek to conquer you.
Consider the things that we have already discussed today.
Slighting the offering this much doesn’t seem to be a big deal, so we eat our a few more times and give less this month. Next month will not be easier, for you only thought it would be easier. It will be more difficult. You might even spend more money on something and that will make it even harder to give. Maybe you had to put some things on the Credit Card because the finances just weren’t working out. Do you see what has happened? Sin desired to dominate you and it is progressing toward that very thing.
Putting off praying until you laid down to sleep didn’t seem to be a big deal until a few weeks went by and it was so incredibly difficult to make necessary changes to your life to make time for prayer that it became a big ordeal. Do you see what happened? Sin didn’t play nice with you, it sought mastery over you.
Skipping church occasionally didn’t seem like a big deal. Until it became easier and easier to skip church. And one day you found yourself struggling to even get there because, again, sin wasn’t playing nice. It didn’t have good intentions for you. It sought mastery over you.
And think about this in other areas of life.
Men, pornography doesn’t play nice. It seeks mastery over you. It seeks addiction. And if you give in to that temptation, it will not play nice. And it’s mastery is so prevalent in our society that the most common time of day for it to be used now is during work hours.
Laziness does not play nice. It seeks to be master over you. It seeks for you to be forever unproductive. And seeks to bankrupt you. Don’t give in. Do not let sin have that mastery over you because it is seeking your destruction.
Living outside of roles in marriage is not a small matter. A few weeks back we talked about the Fall and the great disruption that took place due to the curse in the relationship between a husband and wife. Know that the desire to usurp and dominate each other is not a sin that is trying to be kind to you. It is a sin that seeks to destroy you. Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church. Wives submit to your husbands. And when we move away from this and harbor that animosity long enough you will destroy your marriage and possibly the entire family.
Sin does not play nice. It is seeking your destruction.
Do not let your children think that sin is a small matter. Help them to understand that sin is a big deal. Do not let them think that their sin does not matter. We can quickly develop habits of sin that are hard to break and these sins can eventually ruin our lives. Sin is seeking their destruction as well.
Sin Does Destroy (Genesis 4:8-16)
The first sin was eating from the tree, now we see the first murder. Corruption has grown and advanced in the human race. Rebellion against God is always evil, but this growth in wickedness in such a short time is startling. And even the callous response of Cain to the questioning of God gives us an understanding of the destructive nature of sin.
There are a lot of parallels between the story of Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden and Cain’s murdering of Abel. Notice that God confronted both of them. While Adam, even if he tried to blame Eve, did fess up to what he had done. Cain responded with what my parents often called a “wise remark” just before I received the punishment due for such a response.
“Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 2:9 ESV)
What an incredibly callous response! He murdered his brother and his response to the Lord’s questioning was, “I don’t know. I didn’t know that I was supposed to be keeping up with him.”
And when we think about the actions of Adam and Eve after the Curse, they seemed repentant. They accepted the punishment given. But Cain was upset about the punishment and gave little to no thought concerning the murder of his brother.
“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 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.” (Genesis 4:9-14 ESV)
He doesn’t seem to give one thought to the death of his brother. But he is distraught about being sent away as a fugitive and a wanderer from God’s people and his family’s presence. And he was sure that the banishment would be the ruin of he and his family.
God did give him a mark of some sort that was intended for his safety. I am certain that Cain feared that people from his family would come and seek revenge. But God assured him that would not happen. Though we are not told what the mark is, it was given so that Cain would not be murdered by someone for what he had done to Abel. And he left to live life away from God, his family, and away from God’s blessings.
A person who gives in to sin and temptation will eventually be destroyed by it. And this can be seen with a variety of examples that could take place within our own lives. Therefore, Cain’s life stands as a stark warning for us.
A person who just keeps spending more money than they have will end up in a pile of debt they can never get out of.
A person who leaves the church and never returns will end up far from the Lord and from His people. And it will possibly prove that, in the end, they were never really part of God’s people in the first place.
A person who continuously looks at what they ought not look at on the internet will end up looking for worse and worse things and abandoning their families to continuously look at it. If you think I’m exaggerating look up the statistics. Some of them floating around on the internet place pornography as one of the leading causes of over 50% of all divorces.
We’ve all seen how being a drunkard or drug addict can destroy a person’s life.
We’ve seen what happens to the serial adulterer. They can’t control their self and they seem to spiral out of control and into a horrible life.
We’ve seen what happens when husband and wife have a power struggle within their home for years. Everyone is unhappy and if nothing changes, destruction happens.
We’ve also seen what happens when a person chooses laziness rather than diligence in their life. As Solomon says,
“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.” (Proverbs 6:10-11 ESV)
The seemingly small decision to rest, eventually turns into a rather large decision that will cost you your life at the hands of poverty.
And consider your own children. A life of sin will destroy them as well. A child who grows up bucking his or her parent’s authority will find their self rebelling against authority as an adult. A child who is allowed to be lazy will probably be lazy when they are an adult. As a parent we must take sin in our children seriously. We must train it out of them. And by the grace of God, they will grow up to be adults who can contribute to society.
We must be people that take sin seriously. If not, it will destroy you.
As John Owen famously said in the opening of his tremendous book, “The Mortification of Sin”, “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”
Sin Destroys Everything It Touches (Genesis 4:17-24)
I might be reading a little too much into things here, but it seems to me that settling down in the land of “Nod” which means “wandering” was an attempt to run from the curse. Whatever the case may be, they build a city there and raised a family.
It may very well be that the reason for building a city, and he would have been the first to do so, was out of fear. He was still afraid that someone would seek to avenge the death of Abel and so he built structures around himself to keep himself safe. I am not sure, but it was there that he raised a family.
The people in the lineage of Cain were created in God’s image, so they brought beauty into the world. We see in the music, and metalworking that was brought forth in Jubal and Tubal-Cain. We also see this in the shepherding of Jabal. These were people who were created in the Image of God and because of that they had tremendous things to offer the world. But that is what makes this story so difficult to read.
The destruction of sin seems to be growing among Cain’s family at a remarkable rate. And we see this most clearly in Lamech.
The first thing we notice about Lamech is that he flaunted the institution of marriage and took two wives (Genesis 4:19). The emphasis on the number “two” here seems to indicate that he was completely off base in having taken two wives. This distortion of marriage would hang around for many years and would be something that was seen often among the people of Israel, especially among their rulers. And it was introduced by Cain’s family.
The second thing that we notice about Lamech is that his murderous ways are worse that Cain’s were. Notice what he says to his wives.
“Adah and Zilla, 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.” (Genesis 4:23-24 ESV)
Cain killed Abel. But Lamech killed a man and would do so and brag about it. And this was after he had rejected God’s design for marriage.
The typical sermon stops with the story of Cain. And the reason for that is easily seen. There is a lot in the story of the murder of Abel that we can learn from. But this is a genealogy, and we see the sinfulness of Cain did not stop with Cain. It grew through the generations of Cain.
In one sense we understand this all too well. Adam sinned and this was passed down to us. We all now are sinners in need of a Savior because of what one did long ago. But there is something else at work here as well.
There was some beauty brought about through the lineage of Cain, but there was incredible evil. Noteworthy beauty was to be foudn in Jubal, who brought great music, and Tubal who began metal-working. But overall, we see a disintegration of the ways of God within the lineage of Cain.
I am sure that you’ve also seen something similar as you’ve observed the world around you. You’ve seen the abusive father who creates abusive sons. You’ve seen the parents who care nothing for laws, or the Law of God live out their lives in rebellion only to raise little rebels who grow up to be big rebels themselves.
And here is the danger of sin that people don’t often consider. It destroys everything and everyone that it touches. We don’t just destroy ourselves when we cherish sin, we destroy everyone and everything.
The alcoholic father destroys everyone he loves. And his children are more likely to be alcoholic.
The drug addicted parents destroy the lives of their children. And oftentimes the children fall into the same pattern of behavior.
The abusive parent destroys the lives of his family and produces people who oftentimes abuse other people.
The man who watches pornography doesn’t just damage himself. He causes his wife to think she is unlovely and damages his marriage. He damages his whole family in the process. And he normalizes the deviant behavior to his own children, which causes them to more likely partake of it when they grow older.
Sin is a devastating horror.
A lot of depressing information has been discussed this morning. But, at the end of this chapter there is a glorious glimmer of light. And that light is in another child that Adam and Eve had, Seth.
Seek To Be Faithful (Genesis 4:25-26)
The lineage of Seth is here introduced as the faithful lineage. Abel was a man of faith.
“By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.” (Hebrews 11:4 ESV)
Abel trusted the Lord and so he brought a better sacrifice. And Seth was like Abel. He trusted the Lord. And so, he left a legacy of faithfulness that was passed down through generations.
I want you to see that this is the language of faith. He didn’t know a lot. He did not have as much information as we have today. But he did know and trust the promise that God had given in the Garden. God promised that one day, the serpent slayer would come and make a way for those who trusted the Lord to be back in His presence.
We know the rest of the story because of where we are in history. Because we live after the cross, we know what this promise was all about. We know that God the Son took on human flesh and dwelt among us. And that He lived a perfect life and accomplished all righteousness. He then died on the cross and paid the punishment for sin and rose from the grave three days later. And He now sits at the right hand of the Father. We also know that one day Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. All those people who trust Christ today are part of God’s family.
We have all sinned and fall short of God’s standard. There is not a single person on earth who has not been stained by sin. We are all fallen. And we all need the Savior. So the call upon everyone is to turn from ruling your own life and trusting in your own ability to save yourself and trust in the Savior.
And we are to be people who live faithfully for the one who saved us from sin, death, and Hell. We are to act upon that trust and live lives of faithfulness before the Lord. And we are to raise our children in that faithfulness while all the world follows Can and his ways.
Christian, this leads us to ask a lot of questions about ourselves. We want to be people who live faithfully like Abel and Seth, and we do not want to live in rebellion like Cain and Lamech.
Seth’s family was not sinless. But we see in Seth the beginning of a lineage of trust and faithfulness to the Lord. They trusted the Lord and lived in their faith and worship of Him. Abel was not sinless either. He trusted the Lord and worshipped Him in grateful faith in Him.
And here we have two ways that we should live set before us. On one side you have the ways of the world, which are typified by Cain and Lamech. And on the other you have the way of faithfulness, which is seen in the lives of Abel and Seth. And the challenge before you today is to trust Christ and live in Him.
Seek to be a people of faithfulness.
Conclusion
Where sin reigns, so does destruction. And that destruction can be viewed from many different angles in our day. And it may be visible in some of our lives. What I want you to see today is that sin is a horror and it is to be fought, not coddled. We need to be people who flee to Christ and live faithfully, otherwise sin will destroy us and possibly our family.
But we are not people without hope. Sin may have destroyed you already. It may have ruptured your family and caused you deep scars that will not fully go away this side of the New Heavens and Earth. There is hope. Christ has come and defeated sin, death, and Satan himself. Like Abel and Seth, trust the Savior. He can save you. He can bring you out of the mire. Trust the Savior.
And Christian, this world is dark. And it seems to be growing darker. Live faithfully in this dark world. Pray for the help of the Holy spirit and walk in the ways of the Lord. And pass this down to your precious children who also must live in these dark days. And work toward a heritage of faithfulness to the Lord.
R. Dwain Minor