Genesis 4:1-15

Genesis 4:1-15

Watch

Read

Cain Murders Abel

4 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” 2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

6 So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

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

He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. 11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”

13 And Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14 Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.”

15 And the Lord said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ge 4:1–15.

• Transcript

  Make sure we're going live everywhere. Just about there. Wonderful. Well, good morning or afternoon. Good afternoon. Welcome to Coffee and devotions is where every day you and I would get together we get into God's word. And we've grown our love for Lord together. And this year 2023 We'll make it from Genesis to Leviticus, Lord willing, we learned that especially last year. Sorry for not being able to jump on this morning. I had an early morning appointment a few hours away and so I needed to leave my house for something in the morning. And didn't get to jump on here. But it's never too late to do coffee and devotions. Let's pray and we'll get into God's word. Father, we thank you so much for the steam. What a blessing it is. To get to read your word. We pray Lord now that you would use this time to quiet our hearts to steal our minds, to focus on us upon you to know the reality of the world we live in. Please, father teach us today in Jesus's name, Amen. All right, well, we are at Genesis chapter four. Genesis chapter four and if yesterday was a tragic story today, the tragedy continues, but so does the grace. Let's go to Genesis chapter four. And we'll look at the first 15 verses. Now Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bore Cain and said, I have acquired a man from the Lord. Then she bore again this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought to the firstborn of his flock, and have their fat and the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry. And his countenance fell. So the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door, and his desire is for you, but you should rule over it. Now Cain talks with Abel his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and murdered him. Then the LORD said to Cain, where's your brother evil? And he said, I do not know Am I my brother's keeper? He said, What is What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your own hand. When you till the ground shall no longer yield the strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth. And Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Surely you have driven me out this day from the face of the ground, I shall be hidden from your face. I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth. And it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me and the Lord said to him, therefore, whoever kills keen vengeance shall be taken on him seven fold. And the Lord said a mark on Cain less anyone finding him should murder him. Well, we need to ask ourselves three questions. First a What is this about? Second be what's the best verse to summarize this and see, what are we called to do? Well, this is one of the most tragic stories. It's fratricide about a brother, killing a brother. It starts off so well with Eve and she has a son Adam knows Eve he has intimate marital relationship with him. He fulfills the Dominion mandate that God had given them even in the garden. He has a child with his wife, even that joy that is expressed. In verse one, I have acquired a man from the Lord. Eve recognizes that it was God who gave her cane and she's so I'm so happy about this. And then the Lord doesn't mean another miracle and gives her another son Abel. And they take up two different vocations. We find that Cain is one who works in the field, right? He he hears what God has said about having to attend the ground and there's going to be toil and thistles and he still is going out doing it. And then you have Abel and Abel is a tender of the sheep. He's, he's, he's doing husbandry work of, of raising up animals and both of them make a sacrifice. The New Testament tells us that Cain though, Cain, made his sacrifice without faith. Well, he will made his by face righteous evil made his sacrifice by faith, while Canaanite and so the Lord, not as a respecter of persons nor because a grain offering is is worse than a blood offering, go to a wall that will actually get there in Leviticus a little bit and an exodus about the offerings and there was a place for green offerings. The question was not what type of offering was brought, but what type of heart brought the offering. And we see that God it doesn't respect Keens offering, but he does Abels and this this grits at Kenny, he's Matt. Cain is mad at evil. Instead of going to the Lord and asking why instead of showing that faith, we see canes heart turn, canes heart turns against his brother and against God. He talks to his brother and he takes them out into a field and they're in the fuel. he slaughters him, murders him. Now we might sit there and we might think, Oh man, this is so horrible. I can't imagine that. I can't imagine myself ever doing that. And yet that is exactly what we are told in the New Testament that we are not to have hearts like Cain, who slaughtered his brother. And just to make sure we understand it's not just about killing people. Literally what Cain did, but even about having that malice in our heart towards other is what Jesus says in Matthew chapter five. Right if you hated your brother in your heart, and you told him Rekha, you fool. You're ready to commit a murder in your heart and you're liable to the judgment of hell. Right? This is what this heart of hatred happen is hard of anger this, this is so foreign to we're only a few chapters away from Genesis Chapter Two where everything in the garden was very good. And now we are outside the garden and a brother has shed the blood of his own brother. And we find here similarly, what we found when Adam sinned, God asks the question he allows Cain to own it. But he doesn't. He doesn't. What is the Lord say in verse nine? Then the LORD said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? He had some a moment it must have been a pregnant silent pause this cane, wrestled in his heart. Before the omniscient God. All he can say is with seething voice, Am I my brother's keeper? The Lord Christ how why have you done? Your brother's blood cries out from the ground unto me. And God pronounces a curse upon Cain for his murderous deeds. And notice Cain isn't sorrowful for his brother, but he's still focused on himself. See, this is what sin does. It makes us not love God and not love one another but love ourselves. I cannot tell you you must reject the humanistic philosophy that is being given to you today that you are the most important person. What happens when we have a society a culture that is ruled by the preoccupation with self selfish and murdering population? A population that will destroy children, get rid of families, crush, love, and seek its own good rather than the good of another. This is not the type of language we found. When Adam cried out she is bone of my bone of flesh. of my flesh. She has a SHA er this intimate relationship has been broken down even in the family unit. And it's shows and Cain when he's just worried about God is showing him mercy right God doesn't strike him dead right then in there. But instead death will come to Kane but he says you're gonna go be a vagabond, you're gonna go and, and wander out in the in the Rocky craggy places where the soil is not going to yield you much. And Kane instead of saying, oh, Lord, I have sinned against you. I've murdered my brother. I have done these wrong things. What do you say? My punishment is too great for me. Worried about himself. Lord set some type of mark upon gain. It says that's not going to happen. Right as humanity continues to spread throughout the world. The Lord is the one who in his mercy still preserves even wicked Kane's life. Oh, what's the best verse? To summarize a section well, in my Bible, I would underline verse six, seven, and eight. What would you underline in your Bible? What do you think it's at the heart of this passage will last see calling what are we called to do? If you are in Jesus Christ, love, live at peace. Endure with one another. Live in fellowship, live sacrificially. Put away your own desires, and go and love others. Glory glorify your Father who is in heaven by loving him and showing that love in a sacrificial love towards others. Have faith in Jesus Christ. heed the words of Jesus Christ. Cling to Jesus Christ and love one another. By this they will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Is your life marked by love? Or do we act more like Cain? Are we self less? Or are we selfish? Let's bring in Father we thank you so much. That you have shown us what love is. Lord for it knows no greater than that a man should lay down his life for his friends, Lord, and we thank You that You sent us Jesus Christ to be that model of love. of sacrificial, selfless love, not to be served but to serve. Lord we pray that you would turn our hearts away from selfishness towards selflessness. Please, Lord, let us love one another bear with one another. Encourage one another help one another in Jesus's name. Amen. May God bless you may be filled with a joy and peace that comes from Jesus Christ. And may you bear much good fruit as you abide in your Savior. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Transcribed by https://otter.ai