007 Here Comes Sin – part 2

Genesis 4:1-26 (9-16)

December 15, 2013

Last Sunday morning we began looking at Genesis chapter 4.

And it is quite honestly a pretty disturbing chapter.

It is a chapter that paints the true reality about sin.

In our day the word “sin” has lost its darkness.

· The thought of “sinning” doesn’t concern most people.

· Being labeled a “sinner” isn’t a concern.

We are a society that has taken a really unconcerned view of it.

If you tell me that what I am doing is considered sin, I just say,

“Oh well, we’re all sinners”

Whole communities rally together to fight “cancer”

Society is outraged over things like “bullying”

We unanimously grieve over events like “shootings”

But society continually fails to recognize the source of all of those things.

We hate the consequences of sin, but still have

Failed to recognize where all of those consequences came from.

Things like cancer, bullying, shootings, death;

Would not even be here were it not for sin.

Sin is the reality behind it all.

And yet society really isn’t concerned about it.

We’ve said it several weeks, but I’ll reiterate it again.

THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO WORSE THAN SIN

And without a doubt that is the point

That Moses is trying to drive home to the children of Israel.

All you have to do is read Moses’ other writings to realize that

SIN IS THE ISSUE MOSES IS DEALING WITH THE MOST.

Exodus is filled with God’s commands regarding what sin is and how “Thou Shalt Not” do it.

Leviticus is filled with the high cost of sin as Moses shares in detail the sacrificial system required to atone for it.

Numbers laments the consequences of Israel’s sin as the wander in the wilderness for 40 years never quite seeming to “get it” that sin is messing everything up.

Deuteronomy spells it out one more time as Moses reminds them of the consequences of their sinful choices and that if they don’t choose obedience those consequences will never subside.

Sin is the issue.

And Moses is doing everything he can to try and get through to the children of Israel that sin is always a bad idea.

And that is what we are looking at here.

We first saw sin through Adam and Eve.

Eve took the fruit and gave some to Adam and instantly sin was upon us.

· First came Shame

· Then came the Curse

· Eventually comes Death

It is horrible what sin did to Adam and Eve.

But it is important that you understand that

That was not just a onetime thing.

What sin did to Adam and Eve is what sin does to everyone.

What sin did to them is what sin will do to you.

And to prove that we get Genesis chapter 4,

Which is a chapter revealing how sin always works.

Sin’s plan isn’t complicated.

John 10:10a "The thief comes ONLY to steal and kill and destroy…”

Sin only has one purpose

It always does the same thing

That reality is why Paul could say:

1 Corinthians 10:13a “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man…”

Sin is a lot of things, but unique is not one of them.

Nor is sin innovative or changing.

Sin wants to kill you, it wants to destroy you, and that will never change.

And through Genesis chapter 4

Moses wants Israel to see that if sin is not mastered,

It will never get any better.

And let me just sort of set that reality for you here real quick.

Right now we are Genesis 4, and sin is a relatively new concept.

Let me take you to the end and show you that

Nothing in regard to sin changes.

TURN TO: REVELATION 5

Many of you have recently studied this in Sunday School

So we won’t spend much time here.

This event has not yet occurred.

The events in Genesis 4 occurred thousands of years ago,

This event has not yet occurred.

So we see sin working in the beginning

And the effects of sin all the way to the end.

The scene unfolding here is that we have God on His throne holding the title dead to the earth.

If you will remember God gave dominion to the earth to Adam.

He was to rule over the earth and subdue it.

However, the enemy usurped that authority from Adam.

Scripture now calls Satan the god of this world.

And since that day, man has waited

For the earth to be redeemed from the enemy.

That is what they are looking for here.

(1-2) All of creation is waiting for someone (anyone) who can come and open the scroll and redeem the earth.

(3-4) But no one can and John weeps bitterly.

The weeping of John is because it appears that sin will never be defeated.

John is losing hope that things will ever change.

W.A. Criswell wrote of this verse:

[John’s tears] represent the tears of all God’s people through all the centuries. Those tears of the Apostle John are the tears Adam and Eve, driven out of the Garden of Eden, as they bowed over the first grave, as they watered the dust of the ground with their tears over the silent, still form of their son, Abel. Those are the tears of the children of Israel in bondage as they cried unto God in their affliction and slavery. They are the tears of God’s elect through the centuries as they cried unto heaven. They are the sobs and tears that have been wrung from the heart and soul of God’s people as they looked on their silent dead, as they stand beside their open graves, as they experience in the trials and sufferings of life, heartaches and disappointments indescribable. Such is the curse that sin has laid upon God’s beautiful creation; and this is the damnation of the hand of him who holds it, that usurper, that interloper, that intruder, that alien, that stranger, that dragon, that serpent, that Satan-devil. “And I wept audibly,” for the failure to find a Redeemer meant that this earth in its curse is consigned forever to death. It meant that death, sin, damnation and hell should reign forever in the hands of Satan. (sited in: MacArthur, John, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Revelation 1-11, Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1999, pg. 165)

That is the reason for John’s tears.

John is seeing the end, and one thing that is clear

Is that over the centuries, nothing changed.

The sin that wrecked creation under Adam and Eve never got any better.

The rejoicing comes in verse 5 that Jesus can open the scroll.

But the point I want you to see is that throughout history

Sin never gets any better.

It never stops stealing, it never stops killing, it never stops destroying

Sin never has enough, and it never changes its mind.

And as we study Genesis chapter 4

That reoccurring theme becomes evident.

· Sin is doing the same thing to Cain that it did to Adam,

· Sin will do the same thing to Israel that it did to Cain,

· Sin will do the same thing to you that it did to Israel.

You cannot get a complacent attitude about sin.

You’d be better off to:

Eat a greasy cheeseburger

While drinking straight liquor

While smoking a cigarette

While laying in a tanning bed

That is being drug behind a semi, one icy roads, driven by a blind dog.

Than to mess with sin.

At least in that situation there is a chance for survival.

But not with sin.

It always destroys.

And if what happened to Adam and Eve was not enough to convince you,

Then let’s look at Exhibit B.

The Prosecution would like to admit as evidence – THE LIFE OF CAIN

Last week we began studying Cain’s life.

We saw:

#1 THE SCHEME OF SIN

Genesis 4:1-9

To be more specific we saw that “sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you,”

· Eve gave birth (with God’s help) to a manchild named Cain.

· She gave birth again to his brother named Abel.

· Abel tended the flocks, but Cain fought the curse every day of his life.

· Cain was a tiller of the ground.

It came about that both of those boys decided to offer a sacrifice to God.

There was no command in this regard

That revealed what type of sacrifice was required.

But we recognize that Abel and his offering were acceptable

While Cain and his offering were not.

Hebrews 11:4 “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”

The indication is that Abel brought his sacrifice

With the correct motives, while Cain did not.

Abel’s was done out of gratitude, and out of faith.

Cain’s was not.

Cain was obviously trying to manipulate God to make life a little easier.

“I’ll give a little produce if You’ll multiply my harvest…”

God refused to be so treated, and Cain was angry.

In fact Cain’s countenance fell and God recognized his anger.

That is when God gave Cain a stern warning.

· Cain had better open his eyes and see what is going on.

· He is being hunted, sin is working on him.

· Sin is trying to master him.

· Cain had better choose to master sin…

· Cain had better choose to “do well”…

· Cain had better not allow himself to fall prey.

However, Cain ignored the warning.

And despite the fact that Abel entered the field with Cain to help him in his toil, sin got the better of Cain and he rose up and killed Abel.

Cain chose sin.

Sin stalked him, sin hunted him, and sin devoured him.

That was the scheme of sin.

This morning we move forward in the story.

I want you to see the plan that sin had for him.

So Cain sinned…

So what?

Well in order to keep you from having a complacent attitude regarding sin,

Let me show you “what” happened to Cain.

The Scheme of Sin

#2 THE SIMILARITY OF SIN

Genesis 4:9-16

Just as we did last week, we need to break this point down a little farther

So we can better see what is going on here.

Let me show you what sin did for Cain.

1) CAIN’S CONFRONTATION (9-10)

In case you don’t immediately recognize it, this scene is eerily similar

To the one that Adam faced immediately after his blunder.

Adam ate from the tree and then went into hiding.

However, God knew what happened and confronted Adam.

Genesis 3:11 “And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"

That confrontation has striking similarities to this one.

(9) “Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”

And again, don’t get the assumption that God had lost Abel.

God knew precisely what happened.

No, this was God confronting Cain.

This was God letting Cain know that someone saw him.

This was God letting Cain know that his sin had found him out and it wasn’t ok.

This is God confronting sin.

AND MIGHT I POINT OUT THAT THIS ALWAYS HAPPENS.

God always confronts sin.

In fact, God created man with a conscience equipped to do this very thing.

Romans 2:14-16 “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.”

God has given man a conscience to make sure

He does not sin and feel good about it.

Now, some do in fact sear their conscience to help ignore the confrontation,

But everyone gets it.

In fact, when Romans 1 talks about God’s wrath against unrighteousness, part of that wrath is because they knew better but did it anyway.

Romans 1:18-19 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.”

And again:

Romans 1:32 “and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

I hope you get the point.

GOD CONFRONTS SIN.

No sin is ever overlooked.

No sin is ever just forgotten.

Unless that sin is atoned for.

Now, by in large, people don’t like this.

They don’t like to have their sin confronted.

Most of the time they hate the person who does it.

Well, might I remind you that if you don’t like

Having your sin confronted, then stop sinning.

Remember what God told Cain?

Genesis 4:7a "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?”

· If you don’t like your sin confronted then stop sinning.

· If you don’t like being under conviction, then quit transgressing the Law

of God.

But people don’t like it.

Well, Cain didn’t like it either.

(9) “Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Well, if you are keeping score, there is sin number 2.

For Cain just lied to God.

I suppose sin #3 would be the arrogance by which Cain shot back at God.

“Am I my brother’s keeper?”

That is to say, “That’s not my job, that’s your job”

It’s really a merciful wonder that God didn’t

Squash Cain’s smart mouth right then and there.

Cain didn’t like being exposed.

Adam didn’t like it either, but at least Adam fessed up to it.

Cain is arguing.

“Am I my brother’s keeper?”

And incidentally just to make sure we all have a proper understanding, the answer to that question is “YES, YOU ARE”

Galatians 6:1-2 “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.”

In fact “keeping” your brother was precisely what Jesus had in mind

When He spoke of discipline.

Matthew 18:15-18 "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. "But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. "Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”

The idea is that we are most definitely supposed to “keep” or watch out for our brother. We should be concerned about the way they live their life.

James 5:19-20 “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”

So yes, you are your brother’s keeper.

And that is why God is confronting Cain.

But Cain says he doesn’t know what happened to Abel.

So God responds:

(10) “He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.”

And again, don’t assume that God didn’t know what happened.

He was fully aware.

He is just pointing out to Cain that he sin has found him out.

Cain may have thought he was alone when he slew Abel,

But even the ground cried out against him.

Abel’s “blood” was “crying” to God.

You don’t get away with it.

· It doesn’t matter if it was Moses killing the Egyptian and being exposed…

· It doesn’t matter if it was David killing Uriah and being exposed…

God knows and sin gets confronted.

What you may not realize is that even without an eye witness,

The innocent blood itself cried out to God.

Really?

Oh yeah, you have studied Revelation.

You have seen God’s fury.

Do you know why He is so angry? (that one event that sets Him off)

Revelation 6:9-11 “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.”

Immediately following that event, God rips the sky in two and allows the wicked of the earth to see Him on His throne and they start begging for the rocks and mountains to fall on them and cover them from God.

Later:

Revelation 8:1-5 “When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”

Those are the same prayers as mentioned earlier.

Following that comes the blasting of 7 trumpets

Which include everything from fire, blood, demonic locusts and death.

The point is that innocent blood cries out to God.

And incidentally (I think it needs to be addressed)

Our nation had better be particularly concerned about this issue.

22% of all American pregnancies end in abortion.

Since 1973, (40 years) over 56 million babies have been aborted.

In our nation, 3288 babies are aborted every single day.

That is one baby every 26 seconds.

And don’t think for a second that the guilt just goes away.

That innocent blood cries out to God for vengeance,

And the number of that army is increasing every minute.

Sin gets confronted.

Cain’s Confrontation

2) CAIN’S CURSE (11-12)

Again, the pattern is strikingly similar.

Adam gets his sin confronted and then Adam gets a curse.

Here it is again.

Don’t think for a second that sin has a different plan for you.

It hasn’t changed.

What is Cain’s curse?

“Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wonderer on the earth.”

Cain’s curse was the ground would now reject him.

For Adam the ground was cursed and would only yield the plants of the field.

For Cain even the field won’t yield anything.

WHY?

It reads here as though the ground holds a grudge.

The ground was forced to “receive” Abel’s blood,

And the ground didn’t appreciate it.

Look, we hear a lot about environmentalism today.

We hear a lot about saving the planet.

Global warming, C02 emissions, recycling, going green, etc.

If we really cared about the state of the earth

Then we really ought to stop the pollution of innocent blood.

That’s the one that will do us in.

Numbers 35:33 “So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.”

Psalms 106:37-42 “They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, And shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and their daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And the land was polluted with the blood. Thus they became unclean in their practices, And played the harlot in their deeds. Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against His people And He abhorred His inheritance. Then He gave them into the hand of the nations, And those who hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them, And they were subdued under their power.”

The land does not accept a people who shed the blood of others.

We don’t have time to get into it,

But this was such a serious issue with Israel.

If a man killed another man, you had to kill the one who shed blood.

You could not take a plea bargain, you could not take a monetary payment.

The one who shed blood had to die,

That was the only way to appease the wrath.

Deuteronomy 19:13 "You shall not pity him, but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.”

And just for an example of how serious this was.

Suppose you found a dead body, but didn’t know who killed him.

Deuteronomy 21:1-9 "If a slain person is found lying in the open country in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, and it is not known who has struck him, then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one. "It shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man, that is, the elders of that city, shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke; and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley. "Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the LORD; and every dispute and every assault shall be settled by them. "All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; and they shall answer and say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. 'Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O LORD, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.' And the bloodguiltiness shall be forgiven them. "So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the LORD.”

Do you get the point?

This was no small sin Cain committed.

And Moses is using it to point out to Israel

That if they want to stay in the land of Israel

They had better keep from shedding innocent blood.

Incidentally, would you like to know why Israel was removed from the land?

2 Kings 21:11-16 "Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, having done wickedly more than all the Amorites did who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols; therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I am bringing such calamity on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle. 'I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ‘I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and they will become as plunder and spoil to all their enemies; because they have done evil in My sight, and have been provoking Me to anger since the day their fathers came from Egypt, even to this day.'" Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD.”

Because Manasseh shed so much innocent blood,

God determined to remove Israel from her land.

And this sin was so heinous, God refused to relent.

Jeremiah 15:1-4 “Then the LORD said to me, "Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not be with this people; send them away from My presence and let them go! "And it shall be that when they say to you, 'Where should we go?' then you are to tell them, 'Thus says the LORD: "Those destined for death, to death; And those destined for the sword, to the sword; And those destined for famine, to famine; And those destined for captivity, to captivity."' "I will appoint over them four kinds of doom," declares the LORD: "the sword to slay, the dogs to drag off, and the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. "I will make them an object of horror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.”

I hope I’m making my point.

Not only was Moses revealing that sin is similar in its consequences,

But Moses was also pointing out that the shedding of innocent blood

Is no small crime.

It pollutes the land, and it will cause your removal from it.

Israel needed to know this, so does our nation.

Cain’s curse is that the land would no longer accept him.

Cain would “be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.”

Cain’s Confrontation, Cain’s Curse

3) CAIN’S CONSEQUENCE (13-15)

We remember Adam’s consequence?

Death.

Adam was driven from the garden.

Again the similarities…

“Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to bear! Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

Again, don’t assume that sin has any different plan for you.

It wants to do to you what it did to Adam

It wants to do to you what it did to Cain

It wants to do to you what it did to Israel

Cain gets it

He’s feeling the full consequence of his sin.

Now, please notice the compassion of God here as well.

God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden,

But he did clothe them with skins first.

Here God shows similar mercy and compassion to Cain.

(15) “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.”

Obviously God wasn’t keeping Cain from death,

But he was keeping Cain from slaughter.

So notice here.

· Sin had only one agenda for Cain.

· And that was to curse him and kill him.

It was only God’s mercy that kept Cain

From being killed by the first person he saw.

But don’t get confused as to the desire of sin in your life.

It is hunting you.

It wants to kill you.

Cain’s confrontation, Cain’s curse, Cain’s consequence

4) CAIN’S CORRUPTION (16)

Now, here is the difference between Adam and Cain.

By all accounts Adam sinned and blew and then started seeking the Lord.

But Cain is still refusing.

Cain left the presence of the Lord.

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

Cain isn’t interested in a relationship with God.

Cain sinned, but he has no intention of turning from that sin and trusting in God.

Instead, Cain is trying to get away from God.

· Maybe he could find a place where God wouldn’t see what he did…

· Maybe he could find a place where sin isn’t confronted…

· Maybe he could find a place free from conviction…

Isn’t that the goal of the wicked world today?

· Get Him out of school

· Get Him out of the courthouse

· Get Him off the money

· Get Him out of here completely

It’s all because they want a land

Where sin can be done without confrontation.

And next week, I’ll show you what a world like that looks like.

The only problem is the plan won’t work.

In just a couple chapters this whole evil world

Will face a flood to annihilate them.

Your sin will find you out and it will do to you

Exactly what it did to Adam and Cain.

The only solution is to master sin.

· Resist it.

· Reject it.

· Repent of it.

So, THE SCHEME OF SIN is to hunt you down.

THE SIMILARITY OF SIN is to do to you what it does to everyone.

· Confrontation

· Curse

· Consequences

Next time we’ll talk about THE SPREAD OF SIN

And learn why it is so dangerous to let this monster out of the cage.

In the meantime just let me encourage you to resist temptation.

Don’t look at sin as a trivial thing.

Look at sin as the worst possible thing you can ever do.

Look at it like cancer

You don’t want it

And also let me encourage you that when you do sin, confess it to God.

(We’ve talked a lot about abortion, I’m fully aware that it is possible someone in here has had one, and I’m also aware that if you did, it’s probably a secret)

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Run to God, not only for forgiveness, but also for cleansing.

Get the filth washed off.

Because you don’t want sin in your life!