If I don't feel like I'm when it comes to preaching, if I have my choice, I wouldn't be a preacher. And I mean that in the sense of if I did my choice when being a preacher and a teacher, I enjoy the sort of the teaching and the cartoon, you know, like, hey, check this out more. So in the morning, I'm going to preach and in the evening, I think I'm going to go back to what I used to do when we were in the NPR and do more of it, it'll be all Bible, but it'll be teaching more teaching oriented than just sort of a monologue. So, and if I ask you for feedback, you judge yourself whether or not you want to give it. So, what we're going to be looking at is Genesis 4, 1 through 16. Let me read that to you. It's the story of Cain and Abel. Let me, I'm just actually going to read to you the first seven verses. So I said, you hear the word of God. Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain saying, I've gotten a man with the help of the Lord. And again, 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 fruit of the ground and Abel also brought of the first born 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 when Cain was very angry, his face fell, and 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. It's desirous for you, but you must rule over it. Cain spoke to Abel as brother, and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Father, pray that as we consider your word right now that you, in fact, would teach us and that you would make clear more than anything, the gospel of Jesus through it all. In his name, we pray these things. Amen. Amen. So if you've been here, really just by way of review, if you remember asking the question, when and why did Moses write this book of Genesis? And he wrote it probably when Israel was just left Egypt, and he's trying to persuade them that they did the right thing, and it was really communicating to them, the gospel to them, and that was God's promises. In other words, he promised to get you out of Egypt, and he did that, and the second part of his promises to get you into the promised land. And if Israel had the same problem that we do is they believed the first part, but they didn't believe necessarily the second part. In other words, they weren't sure that God was going to finish the job, and since they weren't sure they did what a lot of people in church do, and that is they complained. So second thing, what was the first great commission? I don't know if we looked at that as we've gone through this, but remember what God told Adam and Eve when he created them. He gave them a couple of mandates, and one of them was to be fruitful and multiply, to go through, to fill the earth with my image. Same thing Jesus says at the end of the gospel of Matthew. The reason that's important now is because this passage is when they start getting busy, right, being fruitful, and multiplying, and filling the earth with their image. But we see immediately what is wrong with their image. It's marred. In other words, unlike us, they didn't produce perfect children. And so, yeah, tell more jokes this way too. What is faith? Remember that last week we asked if Adam and Eve were Christians, if you will, if they really believed what God said. And I made the case last week that Adam and Eve actually did believe the gospel, at least as much as they had it, because God promised he was going to crush Satan under their feet, and he promised them that they were going to, that their seed would crush Satan's seed. And Adam, if he didn't believe, he could have named Eve something horrible, right? He had to name her. And what he in fact named her was the mother of all living. God, you said you're going to redeem everything. And so the woman you gave me, I'm going to name the mother of all living. And we're going to see today another evidence that I think shows that they actually believed that God was not only going to redeem all of creation, but that he was going to redeem all of creation through them specifically, or at least through their offspring. So what's the first thing we'll look at, the outline that we're going to check out today, Genesis 4, 1 through 16, there's lots of great art, by the way, if you do like a Google search of Canaan Abel, it's amazing. It seems to be one of the most desirable subjects for ancient and medieval painters, so there's tons of art. Canaan Abel are going to be presented, offerings are going to be distinguished, then Abel is going to, as we affectionately say in our house, he'll be taking a dirt nap. And then God's curse and Canaan's protest, Canaan's management, that sort of fell flat, I see. All right. Canaan Abel presented what happens here. Eve has just now, Adam knew Eve is wife, and she conceived and bore Canaan 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 cane a worker of the ground. You could do a whole Sunday school class on those two verses. We're not, but let's see what happens here. The first question that comes up is she has, remember God told Adam and Eve that your seed is going to basically redeem mankind. Through your seed is going to crush the seed of Satan. And so as soon as they have their first child, Cane, what do they name him? Was Cane the one? Maybe. That's what I, in their minds. The name Cane means something like, here he is, or it means gotten. So in other words, God says, one of your seed is going to, going to crush the head of the serpent who tempted you. And the first kid that's born, what do they name? Here he is. This is the one. I think that in my minds, bespeak some of their faith. The other thing that could make the case is that where the text says, remember Eve says, I've gotten a man with the help of the Lord, it could also be read like this. I've received a man, namely the Lord. That's, it could be read one way or the other way. I think the biggest issue is the fact that they, what they named him. Here he is. He's the man. So what happens next? We find out what the brothers do. Who is able? Able is a keeper of sheep. And if you're in Israelite reading this from the very beginning, you know that there's going to be trouble at this point right here. You didn't have to read anything else and you know that there's going to be trouble for able. Why? Because Israel, remember, Israel is the audience and Moses is trying to persuade Israel of God's promises in the past. He's going to be faithful in the future. And Israel was odious in the sight of the Egyptians for one reason. They were shepherds. Israel was odious in the sight of the Egyptians because they were shepherds. And in the ancient Near East, if you're going to be a shepherd or a farmer, the thing you, the better thing is always the farmer. The shepherd is the low man on the totem pole. And if you go all the way through the Old Testament, we see David, which we talked about last year, David was a shepherd. Shepherd is not a good thing. At least as far as status goes. So Able is a keeper of sheep. There's going to probably be trouble here. And who is Cain? Cain is a worker of the ground. Now it's interesting because Cain's a worker of the ground. Here's the first son. Remember what Adam's job was. Adam was also a worker of the ground. Adam was a gardener. So in other words, Cain, first born son, he's taken over the family business in the ancient Near East. That's what the first born son would have done. So Cain's a worker of the ground. It's important because what you see happens to him later on in the text. So what does happen? They do their offerings. And in the course of time they brought their offerings and the fruit of the ground. Able brought the first born of his flock and the fat portions and Lord had regard for Able and his offering, but for Cain and his offering, he had no regard. So Cain was very angry in his face fell. What's interesting is you read this. We tend, I think when you hear a kid's Sunday school class, you often hear that Able brought the first fruits and Cain didn't bring. And Cain didn't bring the first fruits. In other words, that Able brought the best that he had and Cain didn't bring the best that he had. The text doesn't say that. All it says is that Able brought the best that he had. You don't know whether what Cain brought was the best or whether it wasn't. So in other words, it says that Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground. It might have been the first. It might not have been the first. So the question is why did the Lord regard one and not the other? And the reason, you know, the reason I bring this up is because when you often say you go to a kid's Sunday school class, the reason that you're often taught that Able was accepted and Cain wasn't accepted is because Able was good and Cain was bad. It's all about at the end of the day is being good, correct? No. And the reason that God had regard for Able's offering was not because he was good and it was not because he was better. Can you imagine why he had regard for Able's offering? The New Testament actually tells us why which is why the New Testament is important in looking at the Old Testament. So you look at them on your right is Cain and on your left is Able. And so Cain brings the fruit of the ground. It may or may not have been the best that he had. Let's assume that it was the best. And then you have also Able who brings the fattest of his firstlings. And for one, Able's God has regard and for Cain's God has no regard. What is the difference between these two brothers and the New Testament gives us the answer? Able's offering was offered by faith and Cain's offering was offered out of duty. God had regard for the offering that was offered by faith and he had disregard for the one that was presented by duty. Let me show you what the New Testament says is from Hebrews 114. It says by faith Able 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 he died. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. So we know that Able presented his offering by faith. That's why God had regard for it. Now how do I know that Cain offered his just out of a sense of duty? Because the New Testament doesn't say Able presented it by faith and Cain presented his offering by duty and therefore it wasn't accepted. The way that you know Cain presented his offering and it was just out of a duty, out of a religious sort of compulsion to say, you know, I got to do this, right? Whether it's like, you know, for many Christians it might be like tithing or something. You know, I got to do it. It's no big deal. How do we know is a duty and not faith and the answer is because of the way he reacts to God's reaction to it. And I'll show you what I mean and you can tell whether or not you do things out of faith or duty by your own reaction. Okay, that's Cain right there and you can see his face. He's upset. Why the anger, you know, his hair is must up. But for Cain and his offering, he says he had no regard. So Cain was very angry and his face fell. Now ask yourself this question. Why do you get angry? Why does anyone get angry? The answer is really simple. And those of you who have heard me teach before, you know that I think there's almost the 99.9% of the anger in the world is not righteous anger. It's just anger. There is righteous anger and Jesus certainly had it. But really at the end of the day, what makes you angry? And the answer is just this, called the graphically. Generally speaking, we become angry when we don't get something we think we deserved or we do get something we think we didn't deserve. So Cain offers up this offering very beautiful and he thinks because I did my duty, God is going to now accept me and God says I'm not going to accept it. Cain didn't get something he thought he deserved and therefore became angry. And the question is what makes you angry? Because whatever makes you angry is what you think you deserve or what you think you got something you didn't think you deserved. Like say, for example, you get sick or you lose your job and the question is if you're a sinner, what do you really deserve at all? As a sinner, we don't deserve anything. And when you keep that in mind, you begin to understand God's grace a little better. So what was God's response to Cain's anger? God says the Lord said, Cain, why are you angry and why is your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at your door. It's desires for you, but you must rule over it. Okay, what does God mean there? A lot of the key, I think, is in that section where it says it's desires for you, but you must rule over it. If you've been here the past few Sundays, do you remember what that sounds like? It's almost the exact same language that God said when he punished Eve. Remember she said your desire will be for the man, yet he will rule over you. And I made the case then that it wasn't so much that Eve's desire would be for Adam as in she would be like really like wanting him all the time. If you know what I mean, but it would be against Adam, that word can be used either way, your desire will be for or against. Here it's the same thing when he's talking about sin, it's desire is for you or against you, but you must rule over it. Okay, so in other words, this thing called sin is always going to be grabbing at you. It's desires always going to be against you. It's desires always going to be to bring you down, but you must rule over it. Maybe that might be what he says. It might not be. There's three ways where it says you must rule over it. There's three ways that that might be translated as well. One is a command where he just says you must rule over it. In other words, sin is always going to be there, but you need to just not do it. Now let me ask you a question. How well do you do it that? Right? I mean, I do pretty good. I mean, that's why I'm a pastor. It just, it almost doesn't make sense experientially. In other words, that sin is always going to be there, pecking at you and grasping at you and trying to drag you down, but you've just got to do it. Not do it. And the more you try not to do it, almost the more you end up doing it. So maybe it means something else. The other way to read that is as a promise. You shall master it. In other words, sin is right there and it's going to happen. You're going to master it. Now is that the case? Probably not because we know from this story that Cain doesn't master it. And we know that all people ultimately know and ever really masters sin completely except one guy. Jesus, he mastered it. So the question is, what could it mean something else? And the answer is, I think the next is it's more like an invitation. You may master it. That's a valid translation as well. In other words, sin is crouching against you and you may master it. What does it take to master it? And the answer actually is in next Sunday morning's sermon. So I'm not going to tell you everything entitled what not to wear. But that's true. The issue is, is there a way you can master your sin? And the answer is yes. And the answer has to do with, of course, Jesus. The question is, will you humble yourself and submit yourself to him and accept what he's done? Or are you going to try and do it yourself? That's basically where Cain finds himself. Cain is going to have to say, am I going to submit to God and say, how am I going to do this? Or am I just going to sort of say, I can't do it so I'm not going to. Well, you'll see his response. He murders his brother. So Cain spoke to Abel's brother and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Now, did you notice God didn't, that you're going to see throughout as you look at Cain's life? If God said to you, you know, Tommy, sin is crouching at your door. Like it desires to just kill you. It eats you devour you like a lion. And but there is a way you can master it. What would you say? If it was me, I go throw me a boat. How, how can I do it? Show me. What do I need to do to master my sin? And what does Cain do? He doesn't ask a question. He doesn't ask anything. He just goes and kills his brother. I know how to master my sin. I'll get rid of the thing that's sort of hacking me off my brother. It's what he does. And so he murders him. I don't know if he killed him with a shovel. I thought that was a cool picture though. So God, the next thing you see after Cain murders his brother, which is basically the climax of this text, you see God coming much like he did to Adam. Remember God came in the garden with Adam and Eve. Adam, where are you? He gives him a chance to fess up and be to come clean and they don't. And Cain's protest. That's Cain running out of the way you can see it says, then the Lord said to Cain, where is able your brother? And he said, I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper? The Lord said, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying out 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 should no longer yield to you its strength. And you should be a fugitive and wanderer on the earth. And 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 should be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth and whoever finds me will kill me. So what is God's curse basically? The first thing he comes in and he asks questions, you know, what happened here? And the second thing that happens is that Cain basically lies and is obstinate. I'm going to read that to you. Cain says, your curse around Cain basically says, my punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me away from the ground from your face, I shall be hidden. The Cain never submits, really. And so God basically says, cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to your brother's blood. Now remember Cain inherited Adam's job. And Adam's job was what? To be a gardener. And when Adam sinned, God said, be a gardener. Now Adam is going to be tough. It's going to be hard. Before it was going to be a joy and worship. And now it's going to be toil and hardship for you all the time. And he says, but now it's going to be tough. Cain inherits that tough job. And now what is he? He's now jobless. He's now, he now has no vocation. He has no sense of calling his life. He has nothing. He's just now a wanderer. And he says now that I'm a wanderer, I'm just going to be killed. And it's really almost an accusation against God. You've taken away from me anything that would, would help me. And he's going to be a vagrant and a wanderer, which is not a good thing. Cain's protest. Cain said to the Lord, my punishment is too great to bear behold. You've driven me to stay from the face of the ground from your face. I will be hidden. I'll be a vagrant and a wanderer. Whoever finds me will kill me. Now what is God's response to this? God could say to Cain, yep. That's probably what I would have said to be honest with you. If he did that, and I was God, and he said, throw it. Yo, my gosh. You know, he lied to me. Now you're just going to make me a vagrant or wanderer. You know, my life is over. Whoever finds me kills me. And I would say, basically, yeah, sums it up. You deserve what you get, right? He does. But God doesn't say that really. Cain says you're driven me to his face of the ground. Your God's face will be hidden from him. I'll be a vagrant and a wanderer. Whoever finds me will kill me. And I just want to point out before we go to the next slide, that Cain never shows remorse or sorrow for his sin. In spite of the fact that the God basically lays this stuff out, in spite of the fact God gave him a chance before sin is crouching at your door. You want a little help with that? No, I mean, I go kill my brother. Now God has busted him. And instead of, instead of saying, you know what, you're right. I'm a horrible person. I need help. He never shows remorse for his sin. And what does God do to the person who never shows remorse for his sin? The answer is surprised you, I think. He shows common grace. So the Lord said to him, therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord appointed a sign for Cain so that no one finding him would slay him. What is common grace? The Cain deserves to die. And God could have let him die. But instead, he basically shows him common grace. In other words, you know what Cain, I'm just going to let, I'm not going to slay you. I'm not going to kill you right now. I'm not going to punish you right now. I'm just going to let you be what you are. Now on one hand, that's common grace that God, you know, the rain falls on the just and on the unjust and that the people who are Christians get cancer, just like people who are not Christians get cancer. So in that sense, God is showing his grace to Cain. On the other hand, is he showing him another kind of grace. And that is special grace. And what is special grace? Special grace is the forgiveness of sins that can only be found in Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ comes and where Cain was disobedient, Jesus is the brother who was slain. But Jesus is also the brother who was obedient on our behalf. Jesus is slain and takes our sin that we deserve what we're sort of walking around in our common grace lives. Still guilty. And yet we're enjoying benefit and offers us complete forgiveness of sins. That's what special grace is. And the question is does Cain experience special grace? Like I think Adam and he did. And the answer I think is probably not. What's the New Testament's verdict on Cain? And this is what I'll close with. This is from 1 John 3 verses 11 through 12. It says, for this is the message that you've heard from the beginning that we should not that we should love one another. 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 brothers were righteous. So John's verdict on Cain is that at the end of the day Cain was of the evil one. And so what does that say for us? And maybe if you're not a Christian here, what does that mean? Most of the time you go to church, if you're not a Christian, oftentimes you hear like, if you don't repent right now, you're going to hell. And the answer is just the answer to that question, if you ask it, is if you don't repent ever, you will go to hell. On the other hand, right now you're experiencing God's common grace. Would you not consider whether or not you need special grace? Are you like Cain? Are you like evil? Are you a jealous, angry person? Or are you not? You want to be less and less like that? The answer lies in special grace, not in common grace. Think about that. Let me pray for us. Father, I pray that you would, you would just speak to our hearts even now that you would help us to understand whether you were Christians or not. What it means to trust you that Abel offered is offering by faith and Cain didn't. And the question is, do we get angry with you? Because you don't do all the things we expect you to do. And is that because we do these things out of duty? I pray that we'd more and more do things out of faith. And Christ's name, we pray these things. Amen. Amen.