008 Here Comes Sin – part 3

Genesis 4:1-26 (16-26)

December 22, 2013

Many of you have seen the story unfold this week about the star of Duck Dynasty – Phil Robertson being fired by A&E

For his comments that homosexuality is a sin.

And Phil Robertson’s firing is just another example of our society

Doing the best it can to call evil good and good evil.

Even following this story on Fox News Thursday night I watched

As Sean Hannity asked a woman on his panel

If she thought pre-marital sex was a sin.

The woman quickly said, “No, I don’t believe it is.”

And none of that is shocking to us, we know those views are out there, however at times through stories like this

We are forced to acknowledge it again.

We live in a world that genuinely believes things like premarital sex, adultery, polygamy, homosexuality, and things like these are ok.

In fact the only thing that is not ok, is to say that those things are sinful.

And when faced with that reality many of us sit back in frustration and say, “What has happened?”

Well, let me introduce you to the third point of Genesis chapter 4,

And that is that, SIN SPREADS.

We have been studying through the book of Genesis,

And we have seen God’s perfect creation and man’s fall.

Presently we are looking at Genesis chapter 4.

It is a chapter we entitled, “Here Comes Sin”

It is a chapter that forces us to take off our rose colored glasses

And face the facts about sin in this world and sin in our lives.

Thus far we have seen two points, and I want to highlight them quickly

To pull this whole chapter back into context.

#1 THE SCHEME OF SIN

Genesis 4:1-9

The chapter started with Adam and Eve

Beginning their lives outside of the garden.

Eve gave birth to Cain and then Abel.

Cain worked the fields, Abel tended the flocks.

Both of these boys brought a sacrifice to God,

While God accepted Abel, He had no regard for Cain or his offering.

The reason is because Abel offered his in faith, while Cain did not.

· They could not have known that blood was required…

· They could not have known that God desired the first fruits…

· There was no Law yet to this effect.

But obviously Adam and Eve had taught the boys about the Lord

And that all things come from Him, and that we are to live our lives in obedience to Him

And to thank Him for His help.

No doubt, Abel did this.

Cain, on the other hand, obviously didn’t do that.

Instead, his offering was more of a manipulative and legalistic offering

Meant to motivate God to help more.

God saw through Cain’s scheme and did not accept his purpose.

This caused Cain to become angry and his countenance fell.

That moment brought about a great truth from God on the subject of sin.

Genesis 4:6-7 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it."

In those two verses God exposed the scheme of sin.

Sin is a hunter. Sin is a stalker.

Gone are the days in the garden, where all one has to do

Is avoid the tree and they will remain righteous.

It no longer matters if you are seeking sin,

Because sin is now seeking you.

Furthermore Cain needed to resist temptation and determine to do well.

Unfortunately Cain did not.

When he was in the field with Abel, Cain rose up and killed him.

Sin schemed against Cain and mastered him.

And we said, sin will do the same to you.

Last week we saw the second reality about sin.

#2 THE SIMILARITY OF SIN

Genesis 4:9-16

And the point here was simple.

Sin is not original, Sin is not innovative.

It has been doing the same thing to people since the beginning.

· What sin did Adam, it also did to Cain.

· What sin did to Cain, it would also do to the children of Israel.

· What sin did to Israel, it will also do to you.

In Adam’s sin

· We saw God confront him.

· We saw Adam receive a curse.

· We saw Adam receive the consequence of death.

In Cain we saw the same.

· God confronted him

· God cursed him

· Cain understood the consequence of death

John 10:10a “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…”

And to think that sin will do anything different in your life is just to be naïve.

Sin is a hunter and hunter’s kill.

· Sin is not looking to add fulfillment to your life…

· Sin is not looking to add pleasure to your life…

· Sin is not looking to bring prosperity to your life…

SIN IS LOOKING TO END YOUR LIFE

And that is what it has done for every single person

Since it entered this world.

Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned”

And yet that is not all.

This morning we find a third reality about sin.

#3 THE SPREAD OF SIN

Genesis 4:16-26

There is no denying that sin is bad, and there is no denying that

It always brings about the same consequences.

But here we learn what is perhaps the worst reality about sin,

And that is that it spreads.

Sin is more than a tragic accident, sin is an epidemic.

Sin is a plague.

It moves from one to the next.

It spreads among friends, it spreads down generational lines,

It infects and then moves on to infect another.

Our world has learned a thing or two about infectious diseases.

Hygiene is stressed to prevent spreading germs

In Africa True Love Waits is taught to prevent spreading HIV

And in some cases even quarantines are enforced to stop diseases

We have learned that things can spread from one human to another,

But none of those things spreads as rapidly or as dangerously as sin.

Moses taught us:

Exodus 20:5-6 "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

Moses was not, as some suggest, outlining a reality

Where children are punished for their father’s sins.

The reality is however that children often follow in their father’s footsteps.

And this is reinforced here in Genesis 4 as we see the lineage of Cain.

Cain was an ungrateful worshiper, turned murderer, turned apostate.

But it didn’t stop with Cain.

It spread from him throughout his entire lineage.

This morning I want us to look a little closer at this passage

And not only see that sin spreads, but HOW sin spreads.

· If we talked about how AIDS spreads we would talk about monogamy and abstinence

· If we talked about how Typhoid spreads we would talk about hygiene and clean water

Well, how does sin spread?

There are four ways.

All seen in how it spread through Cain’s family.

IT SPREADS BY:

1) PURSUING SELF (16-17)

We actually looked at verse 16 briefly last week, but it is important to look at it again

And understand exactly what is happening.

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

This verse details the apostasy of Cain.

An apostate is one who at some point in life

Claims to be a follower of the Lord, but then defects from Him.

That was Cain.

One day claiming to be a worshiper of God, the next day totally defecting from Him.

Cain was running away from the Lord.

WHY?

· Cain had no use for God’s instruction

· Cain had no use for God’s watchful eye

· Cain had no use for God’s requirements

He wanted a place of supposed freedom where God could not

SEE him or FIND him or INSTRUCT him or REBUKE him.

Of course there is no place like that:

Psalms 139:7-12 “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night," Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.”

It is impossible to get beyond God’s watchful eye.

2 Chronicles 16:9a "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His...”

God sees what is going on, but that didn’t stop Cain.

He is rebelling against God’s authority.

He is rejecting God’s sovereign rule.

Cain took off from God to try to live life as he desired.

There is no other word for this but selfishness.

(Cain certainly isn’t seeking God)

This is Cain looking for SELF-GRATIFICATION

He wasn’t interested in what pleased the Lord,

He was only interested in what pleased Cain.

And sin rests on this reality.

Take a person who only cares about what they want and not what God wants and you have a breeding ground for sin to rapidly spread.

We also see Cain looking for SELF-PRESERVATION

(17a) “Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city,”

Now that is not to say that building a city is necessarily wrong.

There is nothing sinful in building walls.

But with Cain we have more than that.

We have a man who is seeking to preserve his sinful life.

He has fled from God and now tried to fortify himself against God.

It is not only a desire to reject God’s will,

But also to protect oneself from God’s judgment.

It is Cain looking not only to gratify his sinful nature,

But also to protect his sinful interests.

And that still isn’t all.

We also see Cain looking for SELF-GRATIFICATION

(17b) “and he built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son.”

Psalms 49:10-12 “For he sees that even wise men die; The stupid and the senseless alike perish And leave their wealth to others. Their inner thought is that their houses are forever And their dwelling places to all generations; They have called their lands after their own names. But man in his pomp will not endure; He is like the beasts that perish.”

· The Bible calls Cain’s action pompous and arrogant.

· The Bible identified Cain as one who thought his “houses are forever and

[his] dwelling places to all generations;”

It is safe to say that according to Scripture Cain was full of himself.

Self-Gratification, Self-Preservation, Self-Glorification

That is how sin spreads.

It spreads by pursuing self.

If you want to stop the spread of sin in your life,

Then the first thing you have to do is deny self.

Throughout or study of the Holy Spirit we said it again and again.

There is nothing good in your flesh.

The flesh must be denied, starved, and put to death.

We were told to “walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.”

Sin spreads by convincing people to pursue selfishness.

“It’s time you get what you deserve…”

“At some point you need to think about your needs”

“Don’t you deserve to have…”

Entertaining thoughts like that

Will soon have you vulnerable to sin and its destructive ways.

If you want AIDS - sleep around

If you want cancer – smoke cigarettes

And if you want to sin – just start pursuing self

Sin Spreads by Pursuing Self

2) PERVERTING TRUTH (18-19)

Up until now, there has never even been a hint for humanity

That God ever intended marriage to be anything

But the union of one man and one woman.

But all of a sudden such realities were simply disregarded.

No doubt following a selfish inclination,

Lamech decided he needed “two wives”

So now, not only do we have lying, murder, and apostasy,

We also have the entrance of sexual perversion.

Apparently Lamech thought God’s order

Was old-fashioned, or boring, or just frankly didn’t care.

And sin spreads that way.

It spreads when God’s truth is perverted.

When you start allowing yourself to overlook or pervert the commands of God, you are sitting yourself up for sin to work in your life.

God’s commands are given for our protection.

As we said with Eve, God is not trying to keep the good life from you.

God created the good life.

God is trying to preserve the good life for you.

Every “Thou Shalt Not” in the Bible has God’s concern for you at its core.

But when you push those commands aside, sin is ready to flourish.

And this seems to really be the case in regard to sexual sin.

I don’t know of another sin in Scripture

That God has more thoroughly explained than sexual sin.

TURN TO: LEVITICUS 18

Throughout the Old and New Testaments we are continually warned

About the dangers of sexual immorality.

Phil Robertson even quoted one verse that got him in a lot of trouble.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.”

And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

We don’t have time to address every verse that rebukes sexual immorality.

And yet, sin spreads in our world

When people willingly overlook or pervert those truths.

I’ve heard people say:

· “Yes, but Jesus never said anything about homosexuality”

· “I’ve read Romans 1, but I think we can agree that Paul had issues”

· “Sex is just a normal bodily function, like breathing, it can’t be wrong”

Well, when you pervert truth like that, sin is sure to spread.

Sin spreads by Pursuing Self, Perverting Truth

3) PREOCCUPYING SINNERS (20-22)

Now here again, I am not going to say

That all of these actions were sinful in and of themselves.

· Having livestock is not a sin.

· Playing instruments is not a sin.

· Forging iron is not a sin.

But that is not the issue.

The issue is that Cain’s descendants

Were preoccupied with ways to make this life more enjoyable

And there is absolutely no mention of their desire to seek the Lord.

It is one thing to live in the world,

It is quite another to be preoccupied with it.

Philippians 3:17-21 “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

Setting your mind on earthly things is sinful behavior.

We are called to set our minds on the things of God.

And the reason is because becoming preoccupied with the things of this world will cause you to fail to see the things of God.

TURN TO: LUKE 14:15-33

Do you see the dangers of this world?

We could throw in there the Rich Young Ruler who loved his wealth.

We could throw in there the weedy soil of whom it says, “this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

Preoccupation with the world is a breeding ground for sin.

John said:

1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

Paul said:

1 Timothy 6:9-10 “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

When you are preoccupied with the things and comforts of this world,

Those things do not lead you to God.

Those things lead you away from the faith,

The result of that is that you are pierced with many griefs.

It’s not that livestock or music or bronze is bad.

It’s not. Those things are created by God for use in life.

But when those things become the focus at the exclusion of God

(as they were here) then we have a problem.

Sin spreads by Pursuing Self, Perverting Truth, and Preoccupying Sinners

4) PRESUMING JUSTIFICATION (23-24)

We talked about it last week, that God confronts all sin.

In fact God has created humanity with a built in convicter.

That is called the conscience.

The conscience was created by God as a sort of warning system

That you are in spiritual danger.

When we move beyond our normal boundary

The conscience rises up and produces guilt.

Guilt is to the soul what pain is to the body.

Pain tells you something is physically wrong, whereas guilt tells you something is spiritually wrong.

Guilt is not a bad thing.

(Now certainly there is such a thing as false guilt, whereby Satan accuses God’s children of being guilty when they are in fact forgiven)

But by in large guilt is a good thing.

However, to enjoy sin, a sinner must do something about this guilt.

A sinner must do something about their conscience.

And Scripture says that what men do is that they actually sear their conscience until it becomes calloused and hardened and ineffective.

Ephesians 4:17-19 “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.”

How do sinners sear their conscience?

You do something that your conscience says is wrong, and simply ignore it or justify it until your conscience no longer bothers you.

And that is precisely what Lamech did here.

(23-24) “Lamech said to his wives,"Adah and Zillah, Listen to my voice, You wives of Lamech, Give heed to my speech, For I have killed a man for wounding me; And a boy for striking me; If Cain is avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold."

We have again the shedding of blood and this time the justification of it.

It was God who said that Cain would be avenged,

but God didn’t say this about Lamech.

Lamech was justifying himself.

Lamech would have been the first to cry, “Judge not!”

He was convincing himself that his sin was ok,

That there was nothing wrong with it.

Now I doubt even Lamech initially believed that, but eventually he would.

And this is the most dangerous aspect of how sin spreads.

In Scripture the Bible has a very unique analogy to describe sin.

That analogy is with an illness, and that illness is leprosy.

Many times we see lepers with bandages or missing fingers or toes, etc.

But leprosy didn’t do that.

What leprosy does is numb the body to the natural pains around it.

A leper can step on a nail, but not know it.

A leper can put a hand in the fire, and not realize it.

The effects of the wounds cause the body to literally self-mutilate itself all because the sense of pain is numbed.

That is precisely what sin does to the soul.

By searing the conscience, the soul loses recognition of guilt and thus thrusts itself into destructive decisions without even realizing it.

That is what Lamech is doing.

That is what sinners do today.

No verse is more quoted today than “Judge not, lest ye be judged”

That is a great verse, but it is dealing with self-righteouness,

Not tolerance of sin.

In fact in that very section Jesus goes on to say that

Once you remove the beam from your eye,

You will then see clearly to remove the spec from your brother’s eye.

Jesus wasn’t saying to leave the spec,

Just make sure that you deal with your own sin as well.

Another popular story is the woman caught in adultery.

People love to say, “Let him who has no sin cast the first stone”

I actually had a friend from high school post this verse to me on facebook after I commented on a video he showed championing those who defended homosexuality. I posted Romans 1:32 that speaks of those who give hearty approval to sin. He responded with John 8 and the story of the woman caught in adultery.

So I pointed out to him that even at the end of that story Jesus looked at the woman and said, “Go and sin no more”

So I asked my friend, “Would I be wrong in telling a homosexual to ‘go and sin no more’?” Would it make me unlike Jesus for telling a sinner to leave his sin?

To my friends credit he relented and acknowledged it would not.

But that is where the world is.

They want to sin and then justify it.

But when that happens, sin is ripe to spread.

· When people Pursue Self…

· When people Pervert Truth…

· When people Preoccupy themselves with sin…

· When people Presume Justification…

Then an atmosphere is created where sin can easily spread.

And when sin spreads it brings with it

All the consequences that Adam and Cain already experienced.

We are looking to stop the spread of sin in our lives, not encourage it.

And that brings us to the final point of the chapter.

The Scheme of Sin – The Similarity of Sin – The Spread of Sin

#4 THE SOLUTION FOR SIN

Genesis 4:25-26

Here again we have the tremendous grace of God.

Cain killed Abel and Adam and Eve must have grieved daily, not only for the murder, but also for the apostasy of Cain.

And that makes this day a happy one

In which God replaced their grief with joy.

(25) “Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, "God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him."

And Seth would be no insignificant figure.

If you read Luke 3 you’ll find that Seth provided the line through which Noah, Abraham, David and Jesus Christ would come.

This was a gracious act on the part of God for sure.

We once again have a righteous line

To stand in contrast with the wicked line of Cain.

And for just a moment put yourselves in the shoes of Seth,

And it won’t be hard to do.

I grieved this week – I was angered this week

Not because Phil Robertson was fired, but because once again

I could feel the sin of the world being crammed down my throat.

I felt like Lot living in Sodom and Gomorrah.

2 Peter 2:8 “(for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),”

And it wasn’t just an anger, but a helplessness.

WHAT ARE WE TO DO?

Our culture is embracing sin at rapid rate,

And it feels like we are helpless to do anything about it.

But that is not true.

Seth and his line knew precisely what to do about it.

(26) “To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD.”

Seth had it right.

The righteous must pray.

Seth knew that he needed God’s help.

He needed God’s intervention.

There was nothing he could do to stop the spread, but God could.

And we know this don’t we?

2 Chronicles 7:14 “and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

And we have to remember this.

· Look, I told A&E I wouldn’t watch again until the apologized.

· I certainly appreciate others speaking out for the truth.

But even in all of that you and I must realize

That boycotts will not save our country.

We must realize that political action will not save our country.

Only God can save America.

· Speak the truth – sure

· Abstain from evil – absolutely

· Encourage those in power – of course

BUT ABOVE ALL PRAY THAT GOD WOULD INTERVENE

I’m reminded of the Psalm of David:

We’ll close here: TURN TO: PSALMS 11

The righteous don’t flee, they pray.

Calling on God is the only hope.

So there we have Genesis 4 and a tremendous sermon by Moses

To Israel about the dangers of sin and the solution for it.

Sin is scheming – it wants to kill you

Sin is similar – it only does one thing

Sin is spreading – through the selfish desires of men

But there is a solution – CALL ON THE LORD!

Romans 10:13 “for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."

God is a help and a shield in time of battle.

God can fix the problem.

Abstain from sin and cry out to God for help.