Sin's Tragic Consequences

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Lord Jesus, we want to thank you that your name, it's powerful, Lord.

More powerful than we could imagine.

We thank you that it's not just your name that's powerful, but it's it's it's this Bible and the words in it also have the power of life and death, Lord.

And I pray this morning as we study it and when we try to sift some some some truths and some of you out of it, Lord, would you come and would you would you speak to us?

Encourage us where we need encourage, challenge us where we need challenge, God.

We're here this morning because we want to know you more, Lord.

We want to grow closer to you, Jesus.

So would you come and would you do that?

In your name I pray.

Amen.

You guys may be seated.

Hey, we're gonna be in Genesis chapter four this morning.

If you want to go ahead and turn there, it's the story of Cain and Abel.

Genesis chapter four, verses one through sixteen.

So I'll go ahead and read it and we'll get started.

So Adam knew his wife Ede, Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I've 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 is your face falling?

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's 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've 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.

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.

Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

So that's God's text for us this morning.

Let's get started.

Last week, Neil was speaking to us, and at the end of the passage, he mentioned that Adam had named his wife Eve, which means life giver.

And that was a sign, like that was Adam showing, I still have faith in God.

I have hope that he's still gonna be faithful to us.

Despite our sin, he's still gonna work through us.

And Adam put his faith in the right place.

God does work through him.

I mean, Adam knows his wife Eve, and she conceives, and she bores, she bears a son named Cain.

It's interesting that the text uses this word, uh, no.

That means they had they had sex together, but I I think it's interesting because uh a marriage relationship, it's not exploitive.

It's a relationship where you fully know each other.

And as you're getting to know each other better and better and getting more intimate, children and multiplication just naturally comes out of that.

And so Adam knows his wife Eve, and and and she says, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.

And so Eve is giving credit to God and saying, God did this, and and I have a son now, and I'm sure, I mean, you all remember when you had, if if you've had children, your first child, how joyful that day was.

It's one of the best days of your life.

They're probably full of joy.

And this chapter is off to a great start.

Um, but we'll keep going.

Again, she bore his brother Abel, so another son.

I mean, they're blessed.

God, God's working in their family, they're being multiplied.

Abel's a keeper of sheep, and Cain is a worker of the ground.

And there's nothing wrong with either of these occupations.

They're both good, faithful occupations.

Uh, Abel's taking care of sheep, and Cain's a worker of the ground.

That's actually the same occupation that Adam, his father, had had.

So there's nothing wrong with that.

They're both doing well, and their sons are doing great.

And so now in verse 3, we're gonna come to a spot where Cain and Abel decide they want to offer something to God.

They want to give a sacrifice or an offering to God.

And this is the first time in all of Scripture this has happened.

And so I think because of that, there's there's some significance behind it.

So let's see what happens.

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.

And so I think the question here is why does God regard one of these offerings and say, This is good, I accept this.

And the other offering, he's like, Yeah, that's that's not gonna work.

I I think there's some evidence if if we look at scripture, now they wouldn't have had the scriptures yet, but we can look at some other scriptures and kind of see God's heart toward this.

One would be in Leviticus chapter 22.

Leviticus 22 · chapter mention

In Leviticus chapter 22, it tells us what kind of offering you should offer.

Leviticus 22 · chapter mention

In uh Leviticus 22, verse 21 to 22, it says, When anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, to fulfill a vow or as a free will offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted, it must be perfect.

Leviticus 22:21–22

There shall be no blemish in it.

Animals that are blind or disabled or mutilated or have a discharge or itch or scabs, you shall not offer to the Lord, or give them to the Lord as food offering on the altar.

And so we see here that when you're offering something to God, he doesn't want like your your sloppy seconds, he wants your best, right?

Like he wants you to give of your best, and we see that is what Abel's doing.

He's giving the firstborn of his flock, the best of his flock.

That's what he's offered to God.

The next part it says he he also gave fat portions.

And I think in our culture today, when you cook a steak on the grill, usually you don't eat the fat.

You cut the fat off, and you're like, that's not good.

And that's kind of what the the medical medical communities told us that you shouldn't eat fat.

Some of you are shaking your head, no, you like fat, and that that's good.

That's you're more the Middle Eastern culture back in that time, they thought the fat was the best part, right?

And and that was the really good stuff.

And so you can see again, if you go to Leviticus chapter 3, chapter 3, verse 16, it says, The priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering with a pleasing aroma, all fat, any any fat that you offered in sacrifice, it was all the Lord's.

Leviticus 3 · chapter mention

All fat is the Lord's.

And so we see here that Abel has brought this offering and he has brought his best, and he has offered his best to God, and he's doing that simply because he he loves God, and this is a natural outflow of his heart.

And I think what God's trying to teach us here is there's a there's a there's a meaningful way to you get for you to give an offering to me, and there's a way that doesn't mean near as much to me.

Okay?

I remember when I was a little kid, um, I would get I got in trouble a good bit.

My mom doesn't remember, she thinks I was a perfect kid now, but that's not true.

I wasn't a good kid.

Um, and so I had a little brother and a little sister, and we get in fights all the time.

You know, I get in trouble for calling them names, I get in trouble for hitting them, and invariably what would happen is eventually my parents would come, and you know, they're kind of the referee, and they step in and they say, What happened?

I don't really answer.

I'm just in the corner, angry.

And so my brother or sister would answer in tears.

He hit me or he called me a name.

And eventually it would get to the point where my parents would say, Okay, Brent, like, did you do that?

Is that true?

And I would say, Yes, I did.

You know, I'd I'd I called him a name, that's true.

And I'm I'm still just angry.

And um, they'd say, Well, Brent, you need to say you're sorry to your brother or sister.

And so I I just muster up what I could because I was, I didn't feel sorry at all, but I'd say, you know, through clenched teeth, I'm sorry, you know, and and then they'd say to my brother or sister, you need to accept his apology, that's important.

And they'd they'd still be crying and they're like, I forgive you, you know.

And that's kind of how it went.

But see, the issue there is our hearts weren't in that.

And I get that when you're parenting, there's some things you're trying to teach your kids and and all of that.

What April and I do now is we've actually discovered this.

We make our kids hug each other for a whole minute, and by the end of it, they're usually laughing.

So that that seems to work a little bit better, but even that doesn't always work.

But my point is God doesn't want us offering him stuff and giving things to him when our heart's not in it.

He wants things that that actually cost us something and mean something to us.

If you go to Amos chapter five, Amos chapter five, verses twenty through twenty one, it says this.

It says, I hate, I despise your feast, I take no delight in your solemn assemblies, even though you offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them.

And the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them.

There's there's that thing about the fat again.

Take away from me the noise of your songs to the melody of your harps, I will not listen, but let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

What was going on in the book of Amos is is there most of the people in Israel at that time they're worshiping false gods.

In addition to that, there's a ton of social injustice in the land.

There are people that are very wealthy and they're eating good and living good, and there are people that are very poor and they're not doing well.

And so what's happening is these wealthy people are still going to church, they're still worshiping, they're still offering their offerings, but they're not doing a thing about their neighbor that lives right next to them and is has nothing to eat.

And God says that that's not okay.

Like you can't live that way.

There can't be this uh this division in your life between who you are and how you worship.

Those two things need to come into alignment.

So I don't want your songs, I don't want your offerings until justice starts to roll down in this culture.

That needs to happen, and then I'll accept your worship, right?

Samuel says, even clearer, in 1 Samuel 15, 22, the prophet Samuel he says, and Samuel said, Has the Lord as a the Lord has great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as is in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rams.

And what we're seeing here is that what God's really after isn't us giving him stuff or our gifts or our offerings.

What he's really after is our heart.

He wants our heart.

He wants all of our heart.

But the way that Cain is trying to interact with him, and the text is gonna, you're gonna see as we go through this, is gonna bear this out.

Um, he's trying to interact with God transactionally, right?

Like he thinks, uh, this would be modern day thinking, he thinks, you know, maybe he's at work this week and he gets too mad at one of the employees and cusses the employee out and he feels bad about it, or maybe you're out with your friends one night and you're drinking and you have a few too many drinks and you feel bad about that.

Or maybe you have a girlfriend and you're out with your girlfriend and you're trying to stay pure, but you don't do good this night.

And you feel bad.

And so you say, Well, I'm gonna make this up.

On Sunday, I'm gonna go to church and I'm gonna put some money in the offering, I'm gonna put extra money in the offering, and then I'm gonna serve at the soup kitchen, and if I do that, God will he'll accept me and he'll be happy with me.

And that's not how God works.

He doesn't, God doesn't operate with us transactionally.

See, what what Abel does is he just loves God, and out of the love in his heart, he's just bringing him an offering of his best, of something that cost him something.

And and he wants God to see, I love you.

And and if you look, Hebrews 11:4.

Hebrews 11:4

Hebrews 11 4, it talks about Abel.

It says, By faith, Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did.

He brought a better offering.

By faith, he was commended as righteous when God spoke well of his offerings, and by faith, Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

I remember back when April and I was about to get engaged to her, and I'd been studying her and trying to figure out, you know, I wanted to get engaged to her in a way that was um that was memorable for her, that was meaningful.

I wanted to do something amazing.

Like I wanted an amazing evening with her, was what I wanted.

And so I'm studying her and trying to figure out what that would look like.

And as I'm talking to her, I'm realizing she loves music, and she particularly she'd like a new guitar.

And what she would like is an acoustic Martin guitar.

That would, that's her dream guitar.

That's what she would love.

I'm a missionary at the time.

I don't really have money for an acoustic Martin guitar.

But I get on the phone, I call my dad.

April doesn't know I'm doing this.

I call him up and I say, hey man, I need an acoustic Martin guitar for April because I think I could use this in the engagement.

And so I tell my dad, what's up?

And he and my dad's actually a musician, he's in a band.

He was in a band.

And uh he says, Yeah, I'm on it, man.

I'll I'll figure it out.

So he finds somebody in our town and they give us a great price, and we're actually able to get her a Martin acoustic guitar, right?

And so it's almost Christmas time, and she and I go out for the evening.

I think it was Christmas Eve, and she didn't know that this was the night we were gonna get engaged, but it was the night we were gonna get engaged.

I'd also bought a ring, and what I did with the ring was I put it in the guitar place where you keep the picks, right?

And so it's all set up.

And so we're driving around, and uh I um I said, Hey, there's a park over there.

I used to play basketball at.

Let's go over there.

I just want to show it to you.

You know, I'm just trying to, it was her first time at my home.

And so we went over there and we sat on a bench and talked a little bit.

I said, I know it's Christmas Eve and not Christmas, but I have a gift I want to give you tonight.

Can you sit here and just close your eyes and put your arms out?

And so she does that.

I come and I put the guitar in her lap, and she's overjoyed.

She couldn't be happier that she's gotten this guitar.

And I said, Well, hey, if you like it, why don't why don't you open up and start to play it?

And so she's like, Well, it's cold, but yeah, I'll try.

So she she opens it up and she finds in there the wedding ring.

And now she had it's exactly the reaction I wanted.

She starts crying and she's just overwhelmed and so blessed that I went to this thought for her.

Why did I do that?

Did I do that because I she owes me now?

Or like, did somebody tell me, like, you better be good?

It was just out of my heart.

I just loved her, right?

And and I wanted her to know how much I loved her, right?

Cain, on the other hand, when he brings a gift to God, it's kind of the opposite.

I'm gonna date myself a little bit here, but anybody remember the TV show Seinfeld?

There's an old comedy, if you're too young for that.

But Seinfeld, there's this episode where they they get a Christmas gift and they start re-gifting their Christmas presents.

So they get, I think they get a sweater, and they get this sweater that they don't like, and they're like, I don't want this, and they have this whole thing about not wanting it.

Then they're like, well, I'm just gonna regift it.

So they rewrap it, take it to another Christmas party, and give it to somebody else.

And it's this whole episode about regifting.

I think, in a sense, this is really what Cain has done in this passage.

You know, he had some extra grain laying around, and he said, Well, this will work for an offering.

I'm gonna take that and I'm gonna basically re-gift this to God because it's not costing me anything, but he'll be blessed by it.

And he thinks he can interact with God in this transactional way.

And so God accepts Abel's offering because it's good, it's out of his heart, but he's not gonna accept Cain's offering.

And so people look at this often and they'll be like, Well, God's not being fair here.

Like, why will he not accept Cain's offering?

God's being mean.

But I think as the text goes on, you're gonna see Cain's heart is not right.

There's no point in this text where you ever see any kind of repentance or remorse or sorrow for anything that he does.

Remember back to chapter three.

When Adam and Eve sin, what's the first thing that they do afterwards?

They start sowing fig leaves together because they're ashamed at what they've done.

And then God comes, and when God comes, what do they do?

They hide because they're ashamed of what they've done.

We see none of that from Cain.

There's no shame, there's no remorse in this entire text.

Let's let's let's look.

Verse five.

Second half of verse five.

So Cain was very angry.

Notice that very, he he's very angry, and his face fell.

And the Lord said, Why are you angry?

And why has your face fallen?

And and I gotta imagine in in him asking these questions, what God's really after is Cain's heart here, right?

Like he wants to he wants to help Cain just kind of sort through this.

And what he wants Cain to get is, I don't care about your gift.

I want you.

I want all of your heart, not just a part of it, I want all of it.

Right?

And and Cain's Cain's just not, he's not getting that.

He's not understanding how God operates with people.

He's he's very angry.

Have you ever given somebody a gift, and maybe even a gift that's a little bit lame and you kind of know it's not the greatest gift, and they call you on it?

They're like, Yeah, I don't really want this gift.

You ever had anybody say they don't want your gift?

When somebody says they don't want your gift, how do you feel?

I would say the more pride you have in your heart, the angrier you are.

Because you're like, what's wrong with you?

I gave you a gift, you should be grateful right now.

And that's what's going on with Cain.

He's like, I gave you a gift.

Why aren't you grateful, God?

What's wrong with you?

Verse six.

Why are you angry?

Why is your face falling?

If you do well, will you not be accepted?

And if you do not do well, sin's crouching at your door.

It's desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.

And so God's so gracious with Cain.

He's trying to provoke this change of heart.

He's pursuing Cain's heart.

And then he he warns Cain.

He says, if you do well, you're gonna be accepted and you're gonna be part of my family.

But but if you don't, you need to understand that this situation right here, it can get ugly quick.

Sin is crouching at your door, it wants to master you.

But Cain, you have the power through me to rule over it.

You can do that.

Cain within himself, he he has at this point, he has the free will and he's capable of doing the right thing.

What's he gonna choose?

And I think for all of us, each and every day, this is what we're faced with, right?

Like we we we we often know the right thing to do, and we have this struggle.

Am I gonna do the right thing?

Am I gonna go God's way?

Or am I gonna do the wrong thing and go my way?

Which one am I gonna choose?

That that that's really where Cain is at right now.

I remember when I was a little boy, I was probably about six or seven years old.

I was hanging out with my older cousin.

He was like two or three years older than me.

And this cousin, he was, he was like my hero.

Like when he got a haircut, I got the same haircut.

When he got a bike, I got a bike.

He started playing basketball, I started playing basketball.

I just I wanted to be everything that he was.

I wanted to do everything he did.

So our whole, our families were hanging out together, my aunts and my uncles, and my grandparents, we're all hanging out, and he and I were outside playing.

We're playing, we're having a good time, and and he picks up a stone.

And he says, Hey, why don't we take these stones?

I picked up a stone right away, too, because I want to be like my cousin, right?

So I have the stone in my hand too.

I'm like, what are we gonna do with this?

He says, Why don't we take this stone and let's throw it at our uncle's truck?

Wouldn't that be fun?

And in my heart, I'm like, yeah, it'd be fun, but I think there's gonna be some consequences of that.

I don't know that that's gonna go real well.

He's like, Oh, let's just do it.

It'll be great.

And so I have it in my hand and I see that he's got his arm up like this.

I'm like, okay, well, I guess we're doing it.

And I just let that thing rip and it hits the truck and dents it.

I look over at my cousin and he's dropped his stone, didn't throw it, and he's laughing at me now.

I'm like, uh-oh, I'm in trouble, and I was in trouble.

We both got in a lot of trouble that day.

That was not good.

I mean, we dented the truck.

It was not, it wasn't one of my better moments.

I deserve to get in trouble that day.

But see, I think for each of us, each and every day, this is these are the kind of choices that we face.

Are we gonna choose to go God's way, or are we gonna pick up a stone and just let it rip?

Right?

Verse 8.

Cain spoke to his brother Abel, and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother.

Notice how many times it says brother in this text.

So many times it's in here.

And notice one other thing to notice, Abel never speaks.

He's silent.

Brother, a lot of times, Abel never speaks.

Cain rose up against his brother Abel and he killed him.

First murder in all of scripture.

Chapter three, Adam and Eve sinned, right?

They just all they did was eat a fruit.

It didn't seem that bad.

But it opened the door to sin, and now just a chapter later, we have a murder, and not just a murderer, it's brother against brother.

And and I think it's even worse than we realize because if you remember back in chapter 1, verse 27, it says that each and every one of us is created in God's image.

And so this is a crime against that.

This is a killing of an image-bearer of God.

Why does Cain do this?

Why does he do it?

I think he's jealous of his brother, I think he's envious that his offering was accepted and his wasn't.

Verse 9.

The Lord said to Cain, Where's Where's Abel, your brother?

He said, I don't know.

Am I my brother's keeper?

Cain's interaction with God here is I don't think it's the greatest.

So here's what happens.

When you don't deal with your sin, when you don't repent and make things right, that sin will get in your heart, right?

And once it gets in your heart, unless you repent, there's no stopping it.

It's it's gonna like Satan wants to kill, steal, and destroy everything about you.

He wants to ruin your family, all that.

He wants all of that to happen.

And so here's it here's the truth about sin.

Sin will take you farther than you want to go, it'll keep you longer than you want to stay, and it will cost you more than you want to pay.

And you can insert any sin into that, and it's it's true.

Gossip will take you farther than you want to go.

It'll cut it'll keep you longer than you want to stay and it'll cost you more than you want to pay.

Um, stealing, stealing will take you farther than you want to go, it'll cost you more than you want to pay, and uh uh it'll It'll keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay.

Or uh greed, like greed.

Greed will take you farther than you want to go.

It'll keep you longer than you want to stay and it'll cost you more than you want to pay.

And you can fill in the blank with pretty much any sin.

And that is true of what sin does in our lives.

And that is what is happening to Cain here.

God warned him he had a choice, and he allowed the anger in his heart to simmer, lead to bitterness, hatred, and eventually he is able to justify in his heart killing his brother.

So God comes to him, he says, Where's Abel your brother?

Where's he at, man?

Like, what's going on?

And I mean, God knows exactly where he is, right?

This is God trying to interact with him and trying to get him to come to a place where he's willing to say sorry and show a little bit of remorse.

Um, the interesting thing is in scripture, if your brother gets killed, it's it's expected that if you're the brother, you should you should defend him.

Like you should go out and and seek vengeance for your brother that was killed.

That's what that's what Cain should do.

And we get the complete opposite response.

Am I my brother's keeper?

Adam and Eve, they send the last chapter and they showed a brokenness, a humility, they were ashamed.

And with Cain, we see we see none of that.

There's no repentance, there's no remorse.

Um, he's defensive.

And something I don't think we think about with this passage, but do you realize God Himself is audibly speaking to Cain?

And and this is how he's responding to God.

That that's uh that's that's a level of sin that there's a pretty crazy amount of pride and hubris in his heart.

If you look at 1 John chapter 3, verses 11 and 12, it says this.

1 John 3:11

It says, This is the message you've heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his own brother.

Why did he murder him?

Because his deeds were evil and his brothers righteous.

It's true.

He was, he chose to be of the evil one.

Verse 10.

The Lord said, What have you done?

The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.

Abel never speaks in this passage, but his blood cries out from the ground.

And I think when we have sinned in our life, you know, that the effects and the damages of our sin, I think that also cries out to God.

You know, I mean, we we live in a world where a lot of people they eat plenty of food and they go to bed full every night, and and there's other people they don't get near enough food and they go to bed hungry every single night.

And and God hears their cry, he hears their prayer.

Some one day he's gonna be just and he's gonna make that right.

We live in a world where women aren't treated the way they're to be treated.

They're taken advantage of, they're raped, they're murdered, and mistreated, and and and God sees that.

He hears that, and one day he's gonna make all of that right.

We live in a world where men and women, we cheat, we lie, we steal, we do all this in the name of making a dollar, getting more power, getting more control.

And God sees that, he hears that, and one day he will be just and make things right.

We live a we we live in this world, and our God is a gracious God, but he is also a God of justice.

And so justice is gonna now come for Cain.

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 work the ground, it'll no longer yield to you its strength, and you shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.

So the ground is cursed, and I think this goes beyond Adam's curse.

I think if if Cain tries to plant anything in the ground, I don't think anything's coming up.

I think that's something God's just gonna like supernaturally do to him.

And at this time in history, there's no grocery stores, okay?

So that's that's that's tough for him.

Um he's also he's cast out.

I mean, they've already been cast out of the garden, but he's now cast away from his family, even farther from the garden.

And I want you to think about that.

He he can't spend time with his family anymore.

He he is now cast away from them.

That's that's a hard price, but an even harder price is he now no longer has relationship with God.

He is cast out of God's presence.

And I think we look at that and we say, God, that's that's not fair.

That's a that's a little bit harsh.

But guys, we we know God's character.

If Cain at any point in this text or at any point in his life would have been willing to repent, would have been willing to say, God, I'm sorry, I should not have killed my brother.

This is a heinous, grievous sin.

Please forgive me.

God is full of grace, full of mercy.

He he would have been forgiven.

Um, you know, when I was back in Taiwan, I was teaching in this discipleship training school.

And so we had a week where the whole week was the gospel.

So this guy comes in, he teaches on the gospel all week.

And at the end of the week, we always did this thing where we'd say, we'd ask the class, we'd say, What did you learn this week?

Could you just share with us?

I want to bless the speaker.

I want them to hear what they what you learned from him.

And so people were saying, you know, I learned this and that.

And there was this one uh young man, he's in the front row, and he had previously been a gangster.

Like we got him, he was in prison before the school started.

He came from prison straight into this discipleship training school.

And so he says, What I learned this week is even if I kill someone, God can forgive me.

And I'm like, that is not a typical student response for this week.

But and we didn't say anything, I'm just in the back, like, yeah, that's true.

God, God will forgive you, even for that.

God's arms aren't so sure that he can't reach that.

He could, he can forgive even a murderer.

That is true.

And so Cain could have been forgiven.

But if you choose not to follow God and you walk in rebellion against him your whole life, and you think you can do it your way, it doesn't go well for you.

13 to 16.

So we see Cain's response to this.

He says to the Lord, My punishment's greater than I can bear.

Behold, you've 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.

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 anyone 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.

So Cain's alienated from God at this point.

And when you get alienated from God, you also your fear of man will grow.

The more alienated and farther from God you get, the more you'll begin to fear man.

And conversely, the more you know God and the closer to God you get, the less your fear of man will be in your heart, right?

And so what's happening with Cain is his fear of man is growing because he's realizing how far away from God he is.

And he starts complaining about the consequences, but there is no remorse in this text.

There's no, yeah, I'm sorry, I maybe shouldn't have done that.

There's there's none of that.

It's just he's upset about the consequences.

And we just want him to be a little bit sorry, a little bit brokenhearted, but it's not there.

Have you ever gone to talk to a family member or friend, and and it's one of those conversations where you want to correct them?

Like you know that they've done something wrong, they know that they've done something wrong, and you go to confront them about this issue, and they say, Nope, I haven't done anything.

You ever had that happen?

Because if you've had that happen, you know how how destructive that can be in your family.

Because once somebody says, Yeah, I haven't done anything, what are you talking about?

There's a break in relationship there.

The only way that can be healed is for them to actually admit what they've done wrong and then you can reconcile.

But if they won't do that, you're kind of stuck, right?

I mean, you can choose to forgive them, but you can't have the same relationship you had before.

And that's what's happening here.

It's it this is a person who will not deal with their sin.

He's just saying, you know, that that's not fair.

So God drives him out from his presence and and he says, he says, I'm gonna put a mark on you.

Here's what I think the mark is.

This is just Brent's opinion.

I think he put like gold, like glowing lettering on his forehead that says, Don't kill Cain or you'll die.

I think that'd be really because God could do that, right?

Like supernaturally, just don't kill Cain or you'll die.

But maybe not.

I mean, commentators, they hate there were all kinds of options.

Somebody, some people thought he got tattooed, other people thought there was a dog with him all the time, and that kind of people signaled to people not to kill him.

I don't know.

But somehow God makes it really clear you shouldn't kill this guy, or you're gonna be messing with me, and it's not gonna go well.

And so that that protects him for the rest of his life.

But there's something in this text that I think we haven't thought about yet.

I think we haven't thought much about how this would have affected Adam and Eve.

You ever thought about that?

Their oldest son is killed by their younger son.

So not only have they lost a son, I mean, some of you have have have lost children, and you know how painful this is.

It's a mark that like it's probably never gonna completely be removed until you get to heaven.

Like there's a pain that comes with that that we can't even fathom.

But to also have the pain of not just your son died, but your older son killed him.

And then not just that, but the older son, you're not gonna have relationship with him again.

He he has been cast far from God's presence.

I bet Adam and Eve spent the rest of their life just there was a grief that was with them, right?

There was a there was a sorrow.

There was, they were probably praying and hoping that one day Cain would would come back to God, but I don't think it ever happened.

This is the kind of thing that if this happened in this day and age, and and you lived here in Sugarland, you'd be like, we just need to move.

This is too shameful for our family.

I can't deal with it anymore.

Let's go to Alaska, Florida, California, whatever.

Like, we we just need to get out of here and start again.

It's too painful.

You ever think Adam and Eve thought, why do we eat that fruit?

And I think it's easy to get kind of on Adam and Eve's case and be like, yeah, why did they eat that fruit?

Why have they done this to all of us?

But when you're saying that, do you do you not realize what you're doing?

If you were in Adam and Eve's place and you had the exact same opportunity as them, I'm telling you, I know I would have done it.

I probably would have done worse.

I think you guys would have done it as well.

The problem isn't Adam and Eve, the problem is human beings, right?

And so I think Adam and Eve, I think, you know, I don't think they're like, God, man, this isn't fair.

You're allowing all this bad stuff to happen to us.

This is so terrible.

I don't think they think that.

I think Adam and Eve are more like, yeah, this is what we deserve.

This is this is where sin leaves.

We brought this into the world.

We're not better than Cain, we're just as bad.

We started it.

I think this chapter's in the Bible to show us the weight of sin, to show us how destructive and how much sin will destroy our lives.

Do you realize how much family drama Adam and Eve have?

I mean, you can you don't get worse family drama than this.

Does anybody here have a little bit of family drama in their life?

I have family drama.

My family's far from perfect.

We have sin in our lives, and our sin affects other people, and it's it's a mess sometimes.

So here's kind of my question at the end of this passage.

How do I avoid this, God?

Like, is there an opt-out button?

Because I don't want to end up where Cain ended up, right?

Like, I don't want anything to do with it, I don't want my kids to have anything to do with this.

I want out of this situation, God, I don't want this.

Let's look at 425 and 26.

I think there's a glimmer of hope.

Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son, and she called his name Seth, for she said, God has appointed me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.

To Seth, also a son was born, he called him Enosh.

At that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord.

And so we see that this doesn't end things for Adam and Eve.

They still have hope, they still have a relationship with God, and she has another son.

But note that when she has this other son, she says, you know, God's appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.

She hasn't forgotten.

She still carries that pain with her, I think, everywhere she goes.

But the interesting thing is at the end of the passage, it says the people began to call upon the name of the Lord.

So people still chose to worship God.

They still thought he was worthy of worship and they still wanted to follow Jesus.

There were still some people that did that in that time and in that day.

So how do you opt out of this?

The good news is that God, hundreds of years later, what they had to put their hope in is hundreds of years later, God's gonna send his son.

And his son's gonna lead a perfect life that Cain and Abel and Adam and Eve could not lead, that you and I cannot lead, that he's gonna live a perfect life, and then he's gonna die as a sacrifice for each of our sins, for everyone's sin.

Cain, Abel, Adam, Eve, you, me, everyone's sin.

And then he's gonna rise again, conquering sin and death.

And the Bible says that if we repent and we believe and put our faith and our hope in Jesus, that he'll forgive us and we can be free of our sin problem, right?

And so repentance is really the key word here.

And repentance is like you're going this way, right?

And you're you're you're doing your own thing, you think you're doing great, and you realize this isn't working, I need to do something different, and you realize what Jesus is calling me a different way, and you completely turn and you you just start to stumble and fall, and and and you're trying to follow Jesus with everything you have.

That that is what you need to do.

And how do you opt out of this?

I think when people come to you, because Cain, God came to him a couple times, he he has multiple chances in this passage to repent.

Someone came to him and was bringing correction into his life, he didn't hear it.

Right?

He he did not hear it.

If you look at uh Proverbs chapter 15.

Proverbs 15 · chapter mention

Proverbs 15.

Chapter 15, verse 12, it says this.

It says a scoffer does not like to be reproved, he will not go to the wise.

So a scoffer is a foolish person, and they don't enjoy being reproved.

They don't like somebody coming and correcting them.

1510, it says, uh, there's severe discipline for him who forsakes the way, God's way.

Whoever hates reproof will die.

If you don't like somebody coming and correcting you, you'll die.

That's what happened to Cain.

He didn't he didn't physically die, but spiritually he died.

Um, Proverbs 29, 1, it says this.

It says, He who is often reproved yet siphons his neck will suddenly be broken beyond healing.

So I think probably the biggest way that you can opt out of this is is how do you respond when somebody comes and brings correction to you that says, you know, I don't think you're walking the way you need to be walking, I think you need to be going this way.

So I had a friend, we'll we'll call him Bob.

Um he he he came to a discipleship school, and I'm I'm I'm discipling him, and man, he was he was so teachable.

His life was a complete mess.

And he starts to get things turned around.

He he he he's growing and learning, and he even started a ministry for skateboarders in Taiwan, and he he reached some of these young men for Christ.

They said, Yeah, I want to follow Jesus.

And he was doing great.

There was just one area of his life where he was still struggling, it was the area of pornography.

And so he and I, we were doing everything we could to try to get free of this, right?

Like we're trying everything, we're trying to get free, and and we kept trying and trying, and eventually it got to a point where Bob said, You know, I don't know if pornography is actually that bad.

And so he's dating a girl at this time, and she was a beautiful girl, a girl that was way out of his league, and and they had a good relationship, and she wanted to marry him, and he wanted to marry her.

But he had to be honest with her and say, Yeah, I think porn's fine.

I think God's okay with me looking at it, it's not an issue.

And and and the reason he's choosing this is because he can't get free of it, and so he's just kind of giving up.

And people would correct him and he wouldn't hear it.

Eventually he ends up leaving his girlfriend and him break up.

He and him leave, he leaves the mission field.

He's now back in the states, and uh he he lives with his girlfriend back here in the States, and he leads a podcast on the new age.

I I still really love this guy, and I want to see him change, but when you don't receive correction, this is where you can end up, right?

Like Genesis 4 can start to take place in your life.

God's grace is real, it's there, but if you're rebelling against it, it it won't go well for you.

So here's two questions that I want you to think about, and then some more will come up in a minute.

How willing are you to hear correction from somebody else?

How willing are you to hear correction?

Like, what if there's somebody younger than you?

Are you still gonna hear it from them?

What if there's somebody that's not as educated as you?

What if there's somebody that's from a different culture than you?

Will you still hear what they're bringing into your life?

Will you respond to it?

How about your hearts right now?

Is there anywhere in your hearts that you're allowing some bitterness or anger to start to take root?

Because if you allow bitterness and anger to take root, it will slowly destroy you.

It won't just destroy you, it will be your family.

It will cause problems that you don't even want.

So is there anywhere, even a little spot where you've allowed some angeress or bitter to just kind of take root?

Some more questions are gonna come up on the screen.

I want you to just think through them and just ask God, what's got my name on it?

What should I respond to this week?

Lord Jesus, I thank you for this message today, Lord.

I thank you that you're such a gracious God.

I thank you that you were gracious with Cain.

He sinned grievously, Lord.

But you came to him and you you asked him questions and you probed his heart and you tried to get him to a place where he would repent, but he he chose not to, Lord.

I pray for us that we would not respond as Cain did.

But we would be a people who know what you have done for us, Lord.

And we'd walk in that.

And we'd know it's not based on our righteousness, but it's it's this free gift that you've given us.

We're we're righteous in you, God, so we don't have to try to prove ourselves anymore.

Would we be a people that are quick to admit when we've messed up, that are humble, that walk with you, Jesus?

In your name I pray.

Amen.

So take a minute and look at this, pray over it, and I'll be back.

Lord Jesus, I pray that as we just looked over these questions and sat and just spent some time with you, I'm trusting that you spoke to us, Lord.

I'm trusting that people are gonna, they're gonna respond and they're gonna obey.

Because obedience is better than sacrifice, Lord.

You want a people whose hearts are soft towards you, that want to follow you, that love you with all that they have.

And you don't want just a part of our heart, you want our whole heart, Jesus.

And so I pray we give our whole heart to you and we'd walk in your grace this week.

Your name I pray.

Amen.

So there's a lot going on here at the church, and there's a quick video here that I want you guys to take a look at.

Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes are available on the front of the stage.

Each year we ship hundreds of these boxes to children around the world.

Take a box, follow the instructions inside, fill it up, and drop it off in the lobby before November 14th.

Be sure that if you take a box, that you fill it up.

For more information, check out Samaritanspurse.org.

The Pregnancy Resource Medical Center is one of our mission partners.

They are hosting their annual fundraising gala on November 9th.

Register at prmcfortbend.org.

The Kids Advent Choir is happening on December 12th.

If your child is five years or older and interested in singing, sign up at grandparkway.org slash events.

If you're new or would like someone to pray with you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

In the back of your chair, there's a connect card, right?

And so if you're new here, we'd love to get to know you.

If you fill that out, we'll follow up and and and hopefully try to get lunch or something with you in the next week or two.

Um, as well, if you want to worship by giving, there are boxes by each of the doors.

That is where you would put that.

And uh I thank you for coming this morning.

Would you stand with me?

I want to pray a prayer blessing over you.

Lord Jesus, it was a heavy passage today, Lord.

But I thank you that if we're followers of you, your burden is light, Lord.

And so I pray you you'd lift that burden and that weight of sin from us, Lord.

I thank you that you've done that, Lord, that you have lifted the burden and the weight of sin from us.

And we can now walk in freedom with you, Lord.

Free from sin, free from the shackles that chained us down, Lord.

Come and work in our lives this week, Lord.

Help us to be a gracious people.

In your name I pray.

Amen.

Thanks, guys.