If youre going to let me live, then I repent. He doesnt do that. ; 2) 20901897 B.C. Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. Abel was lured into a trap set by his evil brother, Cain. Sun Valley, CA 91352, MF 8:00 am5:00 pm Because they were preparing to enter Canaan and dispossess the Canaanite inhabitants of their homes and properties, God revealed their enemies background. His focus is upon the effects of the Fall in the undoing of creation and the manner in which God rids His creation of the curse effect. This is a man who was getting a direct evangelistic message from the creator God Himself. Why do people reject? And the answer is very simple: They love their sin. Cain is presented here as the prototype of the doomed. This is the providential common grace of God. Luke-Acts Register. The initial setting for Genesis is eternity past. God is the interrogator who asks, What have you done? God is the investigator who brings in the evidence, and the evidence is the blood of Abel, crying to God out of the ground, metaphorically. Johannine Writings Verse 14, Behold, thou hast driven me this day from the face of the ground, and from thy face I shall be hidden, and I shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth. Hes reciting it as if in Gods hearing it, He somehow will reconsider. No more hypocritical offerings. Why are you angry? We sent you an email. We began last Lords Day, and let me remind you that only the first point is positive. He says, How could you have done this? essentially. Can you imagine how tough it would be to live? I dont want righteousness, I dont want God, I dont want forgiveness, I want sin. Jesus said it this way, Men loved darkness rather than light because- what? Please be aware that these items are sent out from our office in the UK. Theyre not desperate. Well, here is a man who was also bowed down. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. Its the exact same phrase. Cant, right? And if you do that, your face is going to be lifted up. Behold, thou hast driven me this day from the face of the ground, and from thy face I shall be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and it will come about that whoever finds me will kill me. 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, lest anyone finding him should slay him. Prophets Guest. This is the joy of repentance, this is the joy of forgiveness, this is the joy of obedience. They all wind up before God. Man is now the noble savage who acts in freedom to do whatever he feels he wants to do, and thats the nobility of his freedom. If you do whats right. Cain married his sister, and out of his loins came the population that follows. The New Testament Here is the first example of self-righteousness. Paul was born about the time of Christ's birth, in Tarsus ( Acts 9:11 ), an important city ( Acts 21:39) in the Roman province of Cilicia, located in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Abel, on the other hand, brought, verse 4 says, the firstlings of his flock and their fat portions. He brought animals- not just that he raised animals and thats why he brought them, but he brought animals who were the best of the best. 42:6). GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select an Ending Point Take a look at whats going on in you. Blue Letter Bible offers several daily devotional readings in order to help you refocus on Christ and the Gospel of His peace and righteousness. General Epistles Thats what that means in the Hebrew, the firstlings of the flock and their fat portions. He brought the very best of the very best, which is obviously what God required. Here is demonstration that somebody innocent has to die in the sinners place, and thats what substitutionary death was all about. Its really- its an incomplete sentence, even in the Hebrew. Cain had absolutely no appreciation for that whatsoever- absolutely none. 22:114). Sin was deeply embedded in Cain. This is characteristic of doomed people. Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel, your brother? And he said, I do not know. This is a murder done out of envy, this is a murder done out of jealousy, done out of hatred. The Gospels 2023 Grace to You. Under Johns leadership, Grace Community Church's two morning worship services fill the 3,500-seat auditorium to capacity. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Accordingly, we have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions in order to comply with GDPR. That is the grace that God extends to every reprobate, every ungodly person, every wicked sinner, every unbeliever, every doomed person. Pauline Epistles The voice of your brothers blood is crying to me from the ground.. Thats the best we can say, God didnt kill him because of grace, He didnt kill him because there hadnt been government and duly appointed courts established, and God wasnt going to set an example for personal vengeance. And thats what the sinner does, he flees the debacle that his sins have left, and he carries on the appearance of being an upstanding and noble person. And why does God do that? God is saying to them, I do not accept you. But also without exception, man responded in greater sinful rebellion. John MacArthur-The First Sacrifice (Genesis 3:20-24) Published in John MacArthur. Rom. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. God still speaks pointedly. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select an Ending Point Copyright 2007, Grace to You. But were going to seek the goodness of God to allow us to do that as we come to this most significant and important chapter in Genesis chapter 4. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation. And the last point is the doomed settle defiantly outside the presence of God. After clicking 'Register', you will receive an email with a link to verify your account and to complete your registration. Theological foundations are revealed which include God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, man, sin, redemption, covenant, promise, Satan and angels, kingdom, revelation, Israel, judgment, and blessing. Let me remind you of it by reading the text to you. God promised land, descendants (seed), and blessing. Your brothers blood is crying to me from the ground. Really an important sentence in the Bible. 1445 B.C. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select a Beginning Point Individual instructors or editors may still require the use of URLs. And you remember that God had already instituted that back in chapter 3, verse 21, when God killed the first animal to make coverings to cover Adam and Eve in their sinful shame. Pentateuch Paul was born in Tarsus, a city in the province of Cilicia, not far from Galatia. She said, I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord. And again she gave birth to his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. It must have been that God revealed that what He wanted was a sacrifice of an animal, that there needed to be a death. Since the UK is now no longer a member of the EU, you may be charged an import tax on this item by the customs authorities in your country of residence, which is beyond our control. God responds as the divine avenger. He can bring God something of his own achievement. She knew that this child was a gift from God, as are all those precious little ones that come into the world, some of whom we have celebrated even tonight in our parent dedication. People say to me so often, you know, Why doesnt someone come to Christ? I need to die, I deserve to die, I thank you that you will provide someone to die in my place, even as you slew an animal to cover my parents. So his attitude was right and his act was right. And I think theres a third reason God allowed him to live. The curse is the woman is going to have a sort of predatory desire toward the man and he is going to have to battle to subdue that. Oh, how I pray for any who are in the way of Cain. Solid Joys. Registered User His religion was hypocritical, self-righteous, and false. God designed capital punishment to be carried out by society, not as a matter of personal vengeance. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey its lusts. Eve recognized that with the help of the Lord, she had been given a son. And so she names her son that one that was made with the help of the Lord. What hopeful beginnings she must have felt in her heart when that first child was born. The Bibles Tab is found in the Tools feature on Bible pages: Note: MLA no longer requires the URL as part of their citation standard. And God says, You did it. Oh, Lord, may they repent at your invitation to do whats right. Genesis 2:13, Ministry: You did it. General Epistles This, I call common grace. He still loves his sin, he still wants his sin. Hes initiating a conversation, and hes going to the heart. God is by nature gracious. If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? Doesnt have to be this way if you do well. What does He mean? You see, in the words of James 1, lust was at work in him. Verse 10, here we have God as the investigator, first of all, the interrogator. He was humiliated. God could have said, Okay, Im going to ask your father, Adam, to kill you. There was no government at this point. And lust, when it conceives, brings forth what? Adam was a believer, as weve learned, Eve was a believer, and this passage indicates to us that Abel was a believer. Right? May they be broken under the grace that postpones their doom. Pastor John MacArthur tells of reading a book that told of a pastor who had been sent to prison for robbing 14 banks to finance his numerous engagements with prostitutes. Remember that? This is what youre doing to me. So the Lord said to him, okay? Because we dont want you to incur expenditure for which you are not prepared, could you please confirm whether you are willing to pay this charge, if necessary? He is the original apostate who, when confronted by God with the opportunity for forgiveness and the opportunity for deliverance, refuses. You can do whats right, which means acknowledge your sin, acknowledge your self-righteousness, acknowledge your wretched hypocrisy, acknowledge that you have not been willing to see yourself as a sinner, and then obey what I told you and bring a proper sacrifice to me. If you continue the way youre going, youve got a life of conflict and youll lose. They may be religious, but theyre false. That was Abel. Major Prophets 4:4) and the NT (Matt. And it was going to bring forth a deadly sin. Founded in 1969, Grace to You is the nonprofit organization responsible for developing, producing, and distributing John MacArthur's books, audio resources, and the "Grace to You" radio and television programs. But again, at some time, she gave birth to his brother, Abel. In todays climate, of course, as we said this morning, all religion is to be treated as equal, and nobody is to say, Ours is the truth and yours is not. It is intolerable to the non-Christian, it is intolerable to the doomed people, it is intolerable to the false worshipers for us to say that ours is the only truth and we are the only people of God. Cain: The Portrait of a Doomed Sinner, Part 2 - Grace to You If he wanted to have a conversation, he only had one person he could pick except his parents, so he had to hang around this righteous man. Major Prophets Cookie Notice: Stripped in Shame, Clothed in Grace. 9:11, 13; Mal. All Rights Reserved. God pulls him into the court. Poetical Books There are several points that I am pointing out to you as we look through these 16 verses. Our website uses cookies to store user preferences. Isnt God for capital punishment? Cant. But he hid it because it sort of wasnt something you paraded around. He put some mark, some visible mark on Cain, so that everybody would know thats the mark of God, and if you kill him, you will receive the vengeance of God. Why is this brooding rage taking over? They cannot draw anything out of life that matters eternally. The word killed- end of verse 8- common word in the Old Testament for intentional murder, not manslaughter, not an inadvertent kind of killing. And it came about when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. Enter your email address and we will send you instructions on how to reset your password. He chose not to do what was right, and sin that was crouching on his door pounced and turned him into a killer. Grace to You radio, video, audio, print, and website resources reach millions worldwide each day. But God says, Im going to bring the full strength of divine law on anybody who acts in personal retribution on Cain. God did not want to establish personal retribution- personal vengeance- as a means of dealing with criminals. He didnt say, Oh, God, Im sorry, forgive me, I cant bear this curse. He just said, Youre not fair. Theres no repentance, theres no contrition, theres no desire to overcome sin, theres no longing for forgiveness. Register. The Gospels Pauline Epistles How can a hopeless sinner ever gain moral control over his life and defeat sin? Cains history is a tragic, tragic story. He was showing in his physical body the attitude of anger in his mind. Copyright 2023 Grace Community Church. 14:6; Ezra 6:18; Neh. It is part of their attitude to be angry with the Bible, to be angry with the God of the Bible, to be angry with those who believe the Bible. Sin is in us, but its not inevitable that we be always mastered by sin unless we choose not to do whats right. Here at Grace to You Europe we take our data protection responsibilities very seriously and, as you would expect, have undertaken a significant programme of work to ensure that we are ready for this important legislative change. John MacArthur's Collection of sermons and other writings Registered User GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, (Hebrew/Greek Search by English Definition), * 'Number Delimiters' only apply to 'Paragraph Order', Search verses, phrases, and topics (e.g. John Piper Jan 28, 2007. So it is reasonable to assume that somewhere along the line- and its hard to be dogmatic about this. But it says in Romans 3:10, There is none righteous, no not one. 13:1; Dan. If we come to God, repentant for our sin, embracing the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, then we are triumphant over sin. Verse 11, Now you are cursed. Brought before the divine tribunal, this is the indictment of God, interrogator, investigator, and prosecutor. God made mankind the crowning point of His creation, i.e., Help Grace to You bring important resources like this to people in your community and beyond, free of charge. Theres more, another thought that comes out of this text, and well hurry to a conclusion. And the answer is, Who knows? Have absolutely no idea what it is. Throughout the Bible, you read about that, too. If you live by the sword, youll die by the sword, which means if you take a life with the sword, then they have a right to take your life? Perhaps that child was to be the one who would bring the end of Satan and restore paradise. 16. I love sin, my heart hankers for sin, Im going to plan to sin, and Im going to find my greatest fulfillment in my sin.. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select a Beginning Point Youre the only- theres only a few people. Well, we come to our time in the Word of God and, as always, this takes us, as it were, into the divine presence and we hear God Himself speak to us. So He says to him in verse 12, Youll be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth. This is what they call a hendiadys, which is just, Youll be a wandering wanderer. Youll be a roaming roamer, is the kind of idea. He says, You can either repent and do whats right, and Ill forgive you and your face will be lifted up, or you can just keep doing what youre doing, and just hold onto your sin, and youre going to fight it all your life as its going to be like a hungry lion waiting to chew you up. Prophets And thats what unbelievers do when they hear the message about hell and judgment. But in the case of Cain, if you dont do whats right, if you dont embrace true worship, youre going to have a predatory lion crouched at your door your whole life, devouring you. The doomed protest their judgment- the doomed protest their judgment. God Himself, then, slays the first animal to make the first covering to cover the sinner. He invented murder. 22:3). Maybe she believed that this was the fulfillment of that promise from God, that this was the one who would come and would bruise the serpents head. Pauline Epistles 1236); and 3) Egypt (chaps. And so the picture of substitutionary death, the substitutionary death of an innocent, has already been established by God and apparently was what God required in sacrifice. This is a murder done because there was a feeling of being inferior to righteous Abel, and his righteousness became intolerable to Cain. As you may be aware, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into full effect on 25th May 2018. A verification email has been sent to the address you provided. Johannine Writings The sinner resents what God says. And Abels name (hebel) means a mere breath. And certainly he was aptly named because his life was so very brief. You can copy the order of your preferred Bible translations from the Bibles Tab to the Version Picker (this popup) or vice versa. First John 3, Cain, who was of the evil one, slew his brother. conservative Christian faith, which includes a firm belief in the inerrancy Why? Acts 7:22). For the most part, they just will not accept the diagnosis. Scripture: Genesis 2:18-25. Now, this indicates that the population may have been growing, certainly soon would be growing. If you do that, your face will be lifted up in joy. Thats the conflict of marriage among the unregenerate. General Epistles I tell you, thats true today. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brothers blood from your hand. John MacArthur Sermon:The First Sacrifice (Genesis 3:20-24) Cain did not please God, and he is catalogued, therefore, with those who dont please God. The New Testament Messages on Genesis | Desiring God Please be aware that these items are sent out from our office in the UK. Either you come to God and your sins are forgiven and youre delivered out of that realm of sin into the world of righteousness or you spend your whole life in a losing war, trying to master this lion that wants to chew you up and spit you out. That is the final statement. These are the only four people on the planet. Wisdom Literature I myself am going to put a mark on you that signifies that I am your protector. And God- here is God Himself protecting this wicked sinner. The Lord then said to Cain, Where is Abel, your brother? And again, remember, God doesnt need information. Follow John MacArthur: Contact Information: Phone: 800-55-GRACE Fax: 661-295-5871 Email: [email protected] Mailing Address: PO Box 4000 Panorama City, CA 91412 . The modern definition of sin is righteousness. The voice of your brothers blood is crying to me from the ground. That is Gods common grace. Here it is: Have a hopeful beginning but offer unacceptable, hypocritical, self-righteous worship; resent God and His people, reject Gods Word and refuse to obey it, hide your sin by denial or redefinition, be obstinate when confronted by the divine judge, and when being delivered from immediate death, make no repentance, protest only Gods judgment and refuse to be broken under it, fail to appreciate Gods common grace, which lets you live and enjoy His wonderful world, and settle defiantly into the system of Satan. God gives him a choice. There are the origins of the material world here and there are the origins of the spiritual world as well. Historical Books If Cain doesnt repent in faith, if he doesnt trust God to save him and not his own righteousness, if Cain doesnt admit his disobedience to the prescribed heart attitude of faith and obedience to the prescribed sacrifice, if Cain doesnt do that, if he doesnt do whats right, then sin, like a lion, is just waiting at the door to pounce and try to destroy him, and hes going to try to have to master that. And thats the final verdict, that Cain is the killer, by the way.