The LEGACY Of UNREPENTANCE-II— Genesis 4:16-24
Likewise we will leave a legacy to our families. But what of any value will they receive?
Background:
Previously we had looked at Cain’s willful disdain of God’s direction for his life, & discovered the ‘Tragedy of Unrepentance’(4:1-15).
Today we are going to examine the descendants of Cain & the resulting transfer of belief.
“the genealogy[:16-24] shows how sin disqualified Cain’s line as the people of blessing”..... God blesses the line of Cain. But notice, He blesses them in a temporal way. That is, only connected to time. Only in the physical were they blessed; not in the sense of the spiritual, or that which is eternal.”—John MacArthur
“Secular culture is a provision from God for man’s life. It is a common grace.”.....“And that contributes to communication, it contributes to culture, it contributes to society.”—John MacArthur
Cain’s legacy was a spiritually derelict/deficient progeny.
Personal unrepentance leaves a legacy of spiritually dereliction/deficiency.
What can a spiritually deficient legacy provide?
8 desires/determinations of a spiritually deficient/derelict population.
Last time we discovered that
Spiritually deficient populations seek some of the same things Christians seek...
1. SEPARATION/Segregation(:16)
2. STABILITY/Family(:17-18)
3—Spiritually deficient populations seek...
SATISFACTION(:19)
Explanation: (:19)Short/Flesh-Sighted
:19—“Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, & the name of the second was Zillah.”
Lamech took two wives. This is a different situation. By the statement’s presence it is assumed that this is not the norm in God’s design. It confounds & confuses the statement of....
Gen. 2:24— “Therefore a man shall leave his father & mother & be joined to his wife, & they shall become one flesh.”
The actions of those peoples spawned thru a legacy of unrepentance are becoming apparent.
“That is the only comment[polygamy], by the way, on their attitude toward God... So you see their indifference to God.”—John MacArthur
This is also the basis against some aspects of divorce & adultery per.....
Mat. 19:4-6—“And He answered & said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male & female,’ “& said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father & mother & be joined to his wife, & the two shall become one flesh’? “So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.””
Obviously we separate that which has been joined by God when our marriage becomes complicated by more than one spouse.
TV show ‘Sister Wives’ highlighting the practical lives of polygamy. We see that they are ‘good people’ & may become soft to it & accepting of it. We do not live in a ’Christian society’ but a Christian ’influenced’ society. Thus some are not so influenced! Our belief should be first & foremost, Christian faith-based—centered upon God’s revelation, & not fleshly or worldly-based.
The Bible does not comment on the moral ramifications of polygamy, but it does mention the word ‘rival’ or describe the rivalry which is a natural consequence of such a relationship.
Lev. 18:18—“‘Nor shall you take a woman as a rival to her sister, to uncover her nakedness while the other is alive.”
Prov. 5:18—“rejoice with the wife of your youth. As a loving deer & a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love.”
Some Biblical Examples:
Abraham took Hagar, Sarai’s maidservant, as a wife at Sarai’s insistence, just to have children, causing much distress for the family(Gen. 16:1-6). Produced Ishmael—Arabs & eventually Islam.
Jacob took 2 wives, the 1st unintentionally thru cultural tradition &/or trickery & the 2nd as a rival thru love(Gen. 29:18-28).
Elkanah married Hannah(barren though loved) & Peninnah—progeny reasons?— who was a rival & provoked Hannah(1Sam. 1:1-7)
The practice(polygamy) is specifically denigrated in relation to the temptations of a king to do so(for political & financial assumed).
Deut. 17:14-20—““When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, & possess it & dwell in it, & say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ “you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver & gold for himself. Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, & he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God & be careful to observe all the words of this law & these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, & that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he & his children in the midst of Israel.”
“we certainly can’t say that somebody else hadn’t been a bigamist or a polygamist, but this is illustrative of the direction society was going”......“You get into the seventh generation from Adam —Cain is still alive at this time;.... still in the lifetime of Adam, who lived to be 930 years. Adam sees it all. In fact, Adam sees everything right on down, most likely, to the birth of Noah. Adam actually lived right down until he could see what was coming, because this massively populated world was so corrupt.”— John MacArthur
IF “Adah” & “Zillah’s” names are significant(Scripture does not comment on them), then they would have supplied Lamech 1)a trophy wife or a complement to him & 2)a means of rest, satisfaction, calm & confidence.
“Adah”—hde aw-daw’—Adah = "ornament"
From—hde aw-daw’—a primitive root; to advance, i.e. pass on or continue; causatively, to remove; specifically, to bedeck (i.e. bring an ornament upon).
“Zillah”—hlu tsil-law’—Zillah = "shade" Strong—Shade whether literal or figurative:--Defense, shade.
“Took for himself”—xql law-kakh’—1) To take, get, fetch, lay hold of, seize, receive, acquire, buy, bring, marry, take a wife, snatch, take away. Strong—a primitive root; To take (in the widest variety of applications).
Argumentation:
Ps. 17:13-15—“Arise, O LORD, Confront him, cast him down; Deliver my life from the wicked with Your sword, With Your hand from men, O LORD, From men of the world who have their portion in this life, And whose belly You fill with Your hidden treasure. They are satisfied with children, And leave the rest of their possession for their babes. As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.”
Ps. 107:8-9—“Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness.”
Prov. 27:20—“Hell & Destruction are never full; So the eyes of man are never satisfied.”
Prov. 27:7—“A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb, But to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.”
Jn. 4:8, 31-34—“For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.”.....“In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, & to finish His work.”
Php 4:10-13—“But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, & I know how to abound. Everywhere & in all things I have learned both to be full & to be hungry, both to abound & to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Mat. 11:27-30—““All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, & no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, & the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who labor & are heavy laden, & I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you & learn from Me, for I am gentle & lowly in heart, & you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy & My burden is light.””
Mat. 6:22-23—““The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Illustration:
Child declaring “Oh, that puppy is sooooo cute!” “I want one Daddy!” “Please Oh Please Oh Please, Please, Please!”/SATISFACTION—Short-Sighted
A person—Young, widowed, Divorced— who ‘fall in love’ with anyone who pays them any attention/SATISFACTION—Short-Sighted
Bars & Dance Clubs/Seeking for a mate there is like looking for water in the desert/SATISFACTION—Short-Sighted
Application:
?How do You define SATISFACTION?
?Is it Short-Sighted(based on emotion, acceptance by others)?
?You sought SATISFACTION thru Short-Sighted means?
?What distinguishes your desire from a spiritually deficient population?
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
Spiritually deficient populations seek...some of the same things God’s people do.
They do it however, in a different manner & with a different attitude, with a different goal, for a different purpose!
What is the LEGACY you have placed upon your family, community, state, etc., etc., the world?
Will they know of & experience the grace of God in Christ?
Do they know of the personal God?...of the testimony of Scripture?
Have they been raised to trust in God? Are you an example of that trust?
Action:
Spiritually deficient populations seek...
3. SATISFACTION(:19)
1. SEPARATION/Segregation(:16)
2. STABILITY/Family(:17-18)
Presented 08/28/2011pm to:
Needmore Baptist Church
1620 Mt. Vernon Rd.
Woodleaf, NC 27054
