Genesis 9
You know, siblings can sometimes be the best of friends and sometimes be the worst of enemies. And that status can change in an instant! One minute brothers and sisters are getting along great and laughing and playing and hugging and the next minute they’re shouting and name calling and pushing each other.
A Sunday School teacher was discussing the 10 commandments with her 5 & 6 year olds. After explaining the commandment to “honor your father and mother,” she asked, “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?” Without missing a beat, one of the kids answered, “Sure, Thou shalt not kill.”
The first set of siblings could have used that commandment; Well at least one of them. Tonight we’ll be looking at the tragic events surrounding the brothers Cain and Able.
[Read Genesis 4:1-2.]
So here we have a joyous occasion, Adam and Eve have their first children. Oh that must have been an incredible event for them. To have life actually come from you. And you could see the joy and the faith of Eve as she said, “I have gotten a child with the help from the Lord.”
And eventually Cain and Able fulfilled man’s obligation for being the facilitators of creation. Cain became a farmer and Able became a herdsman. They were doing as the Lord wanted. Work the ground and rule the animals.
Now even though it’s not recorded in Scripture, the Lord probably gave the first family instructions of sacrifices. Just like the Lord sacrificed an innocent animal to provide coverings for Adam and Eve, they were to bring sacrifices to the Lord to show their obedience to Him. Why else would Cain and Able bring sacrifices to the Lord as we’re about to see?
But even though they both brought the Lord a sacrifice, only one was found acceptable in God’s eyes. Because one was brought in faith and the other was brought in sin.
Sin found its way from Mom and Dad to the brothers. They inherited the sin nature that Adam and Eve possessed as well. And this sin nature reared its ugly head in the most severe way possible – murder. But it didn’t start out that way. As a matter of fact, the sin that grew so big had humble beginnings, just like all sin. So let’s go through the story first looking at:
I. Sin’s seduction
[Read Genesis 4:3-5.]
Two offerings given. Both offerings came from the fruit of the brother’s labor. Both offerings, produce and animal, were acceptable forms of sacrifice as we find later in Scripture. So how come one was accepted and the other was rejected?
Well, the problem wasn’t in what was given but by the motivation behind the sacrifice. After all, the Lord isn’t interested in something to eat, He’s interested in our hearts.
The difference between the offerings went beneath the objects of worship to the heart of worship. The New Testament reveals that Cain’s heart was far from the Lord when he ‘worshipped’ Him with his sacrifice. But Able worshipped out of love and obedience to the Lord.
[Read Hebrews 11:4, I John 3:11-12.]
Abel brought the Lord a sacrifice of his best animals and the most richest part of the animal, the fat portions, because He loved the Lord and trusted Him. He knew he could kill one of his animals and present it to the Lord because the Lord would provide.
But Cain didn’t have this kind of faith. He simply brought the Lord some of his crop out of duty. His heart wasn’t in his worship. And when Cain’s self-righteous sacrifice wasn’t accepted by God he reacted in anger. “After all, didn’t the Lord see how hard it was to grow this stuff? How dare He not accept what I brought Him!”
Sin’s seduction has begun. It’s usually very subtle. It’s usually very quiet. Seemingly harmless. Yet ever trying to get a foothold into our lives.
Cain obviously didn’t want to bring the offering to the Lord. He might not have even wanted to be a farmer! Who knows. But when God didn’t accept his false worship Cain allowed sin to get a foothold into his life. God recognized this and warned Cain about.
II. Sin’s corruption
[Read Genesis 4:6-7.]
God begins to try and comfort Cain. He gives him hope that when he does right then joy will envelope his life and all will be good. And how true that is! When you’re living right, doing right, praying daily, reading God’s Word daily, loving others, living pure, worshipping with all your heart, you just can’t help but be joyful!
I got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Why? Because I got the Love of Jesus down in my heart! When the love of Jesus is flowing through your life like blood through your veins life is good! Joy abounds! Nobody has to tell you to be happy – you are happy. And it’s because you know that nothing is between you and God.
[Lisette and I argument ‘distance’ illustration.]
But when you aren’t living right, joy is sometimes hard to find. And not only that, when you allow sin a foothold into your life it affects everything else. God gives Cain a very vivid and stern warning about how corrupting sin can be in a person’s life.
God tells him that sin is like an animal hiding in the bushes just waiting for some unsuspecting prey to walk in front of him. When the prey is within reach the lion pounces on him, kills him and makes a meal out of him.
God tells Cain to master his sin before it masters him and corrupts his entire life. But Cain didn’t listen. So sin’s corruption quickly became:
III. Sin’s destruction
[Read Genesis 4:8-10.]
Cain went to his brother and told him of his discussion with the Lord. I think Cain was probably trying to get some support form his brother. You know, a little justification. Cain obviously didn’t heed what the Lord said. He never repented of his faithless offering. He didn’t try again. He simply went to Abel and was probably complaining to him about God.
But the discussion grew into something much worse. Much worse than Cain probably ever intended. Much worse than Abel could have ever imagined. But you know the old saying, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, cost you more than you want to pay, And keep you longer than you want to stay.”
The sin that had corrupted Cain’s life had now destroyed two lives. Two lives were now destroyed. Two lives were now ruined. Two lives would now never become what God had intended them to be.
Sin doesn’t just want to irritate a person. Sin doesn’t want to just hurt a person. Sin wants to kill and destroy people! After all, that’s what the father of sin, satan wants as well.
What does it say in John 10:10? “The thief comes to steal and to kill and to destroy.” That thief is satan and he tries to use sin to ruin people’s lives. He started with Eve in the Garden of Eden, he continues here with Cain out in the fields, and he’s still using sin to destroy people’s lives everywhere.
How many times have we seen people, who’s lives have been destroyed by sin, go out and destroy someone else’s life.
- Pedophiles
- Drunk drivers
- Thieves
- Adulterers
Sin will take you farther than you want to go, cost you more than you want to pay, And keep you longer than you want to stay. Sin is a killer and has no mercy. Sin wants to seduce us and sin wants to corrupt us. And if we don’t master it, it will eventually destroy us.
That destruction comes in the form of consequences for our actions. Sometimes the natural fall out because of what we’ve done, but also divine consequences for what we’ve done. And we see that in the final part of our passage as we see:
IV. Sin’s castigation
Now remember, castigation means: To punish in order to correct. We see that here.
[Read Genesis 4:11-12.]
The just Lord would severely punish Cain for what he’d done. God took away his:
- Livelihood
- Reputation
- Home
- Family
- Fellowship with God
Cain’s life was now destroyed because he had destroyed another’s life. But even though
Cain’s life was now going to be lived out in pain, his life wasn’t over. In God’s punishment God also gives Cain some mercy.
[Read Genesis 4:13-15.]
Cain felt the severity of his punishment weighing down on his shoulders. Cain also started to fear for his life. He knew that once the word got out that he killed his brother, others would want to take vengeance on him. (Now, where did these others come from? Next week’s message. Next week’s message.)
So the Lord put some sort of protective sign or symbol on Cain so that everyone knew that the Lord wanted him left alone. Ironically, this symbol that protected his life was also a symbol of his ruined life. But the big thing that we need to recognize here is that the Lord again showed him mercy. When was the first time?
[Read Genesis 4:6-7.]
When the Lord tried to warn Cain about sin’s destructive forces He was extending mercy towards him. It’s like He was saying, “This offering I won’t accept. But I’ll give you another chance to get it right!”
When God allows Cain to live it’s the same thing. God says, “What you’ve done is terrible, and you’ll pay for it, but as long as you’re alive to have a chance. A chance to do right.”
And our merciful God has been doing this same thing ever since. Warning us, castigating us, and continuing to extend mercy in chance after chance after chance for us to do things right. Now sometimes our chances do run out, but not because God’s mercy wasn’t there, but because we chose to continue to waste our second, third, and fifteenth chances.
[Drunk throwing beer in bartender’s face joke.]
Whenever you see a person’s life mastered and destroyed by sin, it always starts out as some small, seductive, seemingly harmless little transgression. But unless we master it, we become corrupted and eventually destroyed.
[Man drinking mouth wash to get drunk story.]
Master your sin before it masters you.
[Pray.]
