Jun 05, 2016

Genesis 4:1-5

As we transition from the Creation Narrative (Genesis 1 & 2) and the Fall of Man (Genesis 3) into our examination of this new world humanity has brought upon himself beginning in Genesis 4, I want to take just a moment to re-establish our purpose in this study.

As noted in our first study, Moses established Genesis as the first book in the Torah for a very specific reason. For a nation that had been called, supernaturally delivered from Egypt, sustained in the wilderness and led to a land of promise by God, where they'd live as a shining light unto the world according to the Law God had just given them… 

It might have been easy for this group of people to adopt a sense of self-entitlement… That there was something special about them that had necessitated God’s incredible favor. And yet, the story of Genesis makes it clear that the children of Israel were God’s chosen people only because of His grace and their faith in His promised Savior! 

You see what Romans and Galatians soundly communicate doctrinally, it is Genesis that illustrates practically. By design, within every verse of this book, you will see “The Genesis of Grace!” Instead of law or some standard to measure our worthiness, Genesis presents example after example of men and women who, through simple faith in His promises, come to experience the transforming power of God’s amazing grace!

Up to this point we have seen the first three chapters of Genesis ooze grace. From God’s creation of the world - to His formation of a Garden - to His making of the woman, God immensely blessed man out of the abundance of His grace and love. And what had man done to earn or deserve any of the things God had given to him? Absolutely nothing!

And if all that weren’t enough, even when man deserved the consequence of death when he tragically rejected God’s love by eating of the forbidden fruit, what does He do? In another act of grace underserved, God specifically comes to the Garden in order to seek out the sinner because He had a plan to redeem him from his fallen condition by providing a Savior.

As we noted last Sunday, it is fascinating that in another act of grace God “drove the man from the Garden” so that he would no longer have access to the “tree of life.” In doing this God graciously decided He would not allow sinful man to live forever in his fallen state. 

Implementing human death was the first step in God’s plan to save because it separated man’s existence into this life and the eternal. Today, if you reject this fallen world and are reconciled with God through faith in His Savior Jesus, upon death you will enter an eternity, mired not by the effects of sin, forever in the presence of your Creator.

However, if you choose this world, continue in your rebellion against God, and reject His Savior Jesus, upon death you will enter from this life into an eternal existence forever separated from your Creator and one in which the ultimate effects of sin are made manifest.

In his classic book “The Great Divorce” the famed author C.S. Lewis wrote, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.”

Note: This divine plan would have been meaningless apart from the actions of Adam and Eve! A Savior is only useful to someone who’ll admit their need for salvation. Grace only transformative for the person who wants God’s favor! Redemption by God and reconciliation with God only of value for the person who wants to be redeemed and reconciled.

It’s my conviction God’s plan in the lives of Adam and Eve was furthered specifically on account of their faith! A faith that was demonstrated when they willingly responded to the voice of the Seeking God in the Garden by stepping out from their hiding place into His presence in order to acknowledge their sin, repent, and appeal to His goodness.

Additionally, we noted last Sunday how their faith was then further made evident when Adam, upon hearing that God would provide a Savior through “her Seed” (Genesis 3:15), responds by renaming his wife “Eve, because she was the mother of all living!” 

And yet, as we’ll see this morning, not everyone is as willing to respond to the voice of God and act with such faith. Some people choose a world without God! As we get to chapter 4 Moses will illustrate through the story of Cain that the one thing that will keep a man from the grace of God is his pride in self made manifest in religious moralism.

---

Genesis 4:1-2, “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.” 

---

Cast into a new world vastly different from the Garden they had previously enjoyed, armed with a promise that God would provide a Savior, we’re told it didn’t take long for Adam to “know his wife Eve” and for she to “conceived” and have a first-born son named “Cain.” 

Don’t miss the significance of his name “Cain” which means “acquired.” It would appear, judging by Eve’s immediate reaction to his birth when she declared that she had “acquired a man from the Lord,” that they believed Cain was the Savior God had promised.

Well… It didn’t take long for Eve to conceive again and have a second son who’s name is also telling. By this point it seems Eve has realized Cain was not the Savior God had promised, and so to reflect her disappointment in this development she names her second son “Abel” meaning “emptiness or vanity.” God’s plan to provide a Savior wasn’t going to happen as quickly as they may have initially thought it would!

It’s interesting to consider how incredibly similar these two boys would have been. Not only were they both born sinners and had never experience paradise, but they would have naturally shared strong genetic traits having two parents with identical DNA. Beyond this, they would have also grown up in the same environments, family, influences, teachers, etc.

And yet, while incredibly a like, each boy had contrasting interests and talents. We’re told “Abel was a keeper of sheep” while “Cain was a tiller of the ground.” Both of them had gifts and they both worked different jobs in order to provide important resources for their family!

Though Cain and Abel grow up with parents who possessed a strong faith in God, it will become clear such spiritual qualities are not hereditary. While parents indeed have a unique place of influence in their children’s lives, understand your faith is not something you can bequeath. Everyone must decide for themselves who they will serve!

Two boys, in some ways different, but in many ways the same will have to make their own decision as it pertains to God. The fact their approaches end up being so radically different only serves to illustrate that despite one’s influences we are all free moral agents.

---

Genesis 4:3-5, “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 of the firstborn of his flock and of 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.”

---

First, we’re told “in the process of time it came to pass.” While we can reason it didn’t take long for Adam and Eve to have Cain and Abel following their eviction from the Garden, we really have no idea how much time has transpired between their births and this particular event. All we know from the text is that it was a defined period of time. This phrase “in the process of time” literally means “at the end of time” or “at the end of days.” Whether this signified the end of the week or possibly the end of childhood, we can say with certainty that there was a specific time this event was to take place.

Additionally, the fact we’re told both Cain and Abel “brought an offering” we can reason that, aside from there being a prescribe time, there also seems to be a determined location and a fixed methodology for the activity they were about to engage in.

Finally… We must consider that while the time, location, and methodology of this activity had been determined, who was it that gave these specific directives? I think it’s wrong to assume, as many do, that it was Adam. Note: In no way does the text allude to it being him. Beyond that, we also have no evidence there was any type of codified religion or written law by this point that would have dictated such activities. Rather, it would appear, because God ends up respecting and rejecting these two offerings, that this must have been something He’d communicated to Adam. What was to occur on this day was designed to be an act of worship before God. How do we know this is the case?

Though Adam and Eve had initially made for themselves coverings of fig leaves seeking to hide the fact that they were now naked as a result of their rebellion, we’ve noted that the figs failed which is why they proceed to hide themselves from the presence of God. And yet, following Adam’s renaming of Eve to reflect his faith in God’s promise of a Savior, we’re told in Genesis 3:21 that “for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” Notice that, in order to provide effectual clothing for sinful man, for the very first time blood is shed on the earth as death enters into the created order… And who’s the initiator of such things? God!

It seem only logical that in making these “tunics” God was doing more than just covering their naked behind. Instead, He was establishing an important precedent! Man’s access to God could only be provided by a work of God. His favor only given and never earned! C.H. MackIntosh, “The robe which God provided was an effectual covering, because He provided it; just as the apron was an ineffectual covering, because man had provided it.”

To illustrate this point, admittedly, God does something dramatic… He determines that the only way sinful man could approach the righteous God would be through faith in the atoning death of an innocent sacrifice for his sin. Because “the wages of sin is death” the atonement for sin would always necessities the shedding of innocent blood. 

To this point, in the Mosaic Law, God would explain His reasoning (Leviticus 17:11), “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”

Note: Not only would the act of Sacrificial Atonement illustrate the brutal and barbaric consequences of man’s sin, but the act would demand humility on the part of the sinner. As such access to God could never be earned or achieve by sinful man; instead, it was to be given by God manifesting from the death of a sacrifice. 

---

Look at what happens… We’re told, “Abel brought of the firstborn of his flock… And the Lord respected Abel and his offering.” This word “respected” means “acknowledge.” Notice Abel and his offering were intertwined. “His offering” revealed his attitude and his attitude determined “his offering.” Consider how this process might have played out.

Understand, God accepted Abel because his offering demonstrated faith in God’s Savior. He was willing to approach God the way God demanded He be approached. Abel was willing to offer a blood sacrifice to make atonement for his sin.

Hebrews 11:4, “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.” In Matthew 23:35 Jesus calls him, “Righteous Abel.”

While Abel was a sinner, according to the Levitical Law, it was always the sacrifice and never the worshipper that was to be examined. Abel was found righteous before God not because he was right, but because his offering was right. 

Note: He demonstrated faith in what Jesus would do on the cross as opposed to those who today are saved by placing their faith in what Jesus did on the cross. Ephesians 5:2, “Christ has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God.”

How did, as the author of Hebrews points out, “God testify of his gift”? I believe God accepted his offering by sending down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice.

---

In contrast to Abel we’re told, “Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground… but God did not respect Cain and his offering.” Notice, Cain and his offering are also intertwined. “His offering” revealed his attitude and his attitude determined “his offering”; and yet, God wouldn’t even acknowledge either! Consider how this process might have played out.

You see… The fundamental flaw in Cain’s approach is that he was seeking to come before God in a manner God had not prescribed. Instead of faith in a blood sacrifice, Cain presented the fruit of his own labor! He believed his best would be good enough; and yet, the abomination is that his approach made a mockery of God’s grace. 

Salvation is not a divine transaction whereby God first receives something from us so that He can then give us something back in return. This approach is an abomination because it seeks to make God into someone He’s not!

In our story Cain wanted to be the giver and by default make God the receiver. Cain wanted to earn a favor God was only willing to give. To this point C.H. Mackintosh writes, “Man would fain make God a receiver instead of a giver; but this cannot be; for “it is more blessed to give than to receive”; and assuredly God must have the more blessed place. The great Giver of “all things” cannot possibly “need anything.”

This is what’s so amazing about God’s grace and what is equally so insulting about approaching God through religious moralism… He doesn’t want anything from you! In actuality there’s simply nothing you can give other than worship. Instead, God is in the business of bestowing. He wants to lavish upon you blessing you can’t earn and don’t deserve. God delights in giving, which is why it’s so insulting to attempt to barter with Him. 

Note: It’s not just that God rejects Cain’s approach, as a matter of fact, He describes such a method as “wicked” and these type of prideful religious works as “evil!” 1 John 3:12, “Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.”

Well, as a result of these things, we’re told that “Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.” Literally, Cain was smoldering or better translate he was boiling over. Consider… Who was Cain angry with? Keep in mind, the text does not tell us he was angry at his brother. The implicates are instead that he was angry at God for rejecting his sacrifice. Note: If you’re ever angry with God it’s always a good sign you’re wrong!

While we can reason why Cain may have been angry with God (his pride and been offended when his best was rejected), we really do have to ask ourselves why he would seek to earn something God was wanting to give him in the first place?

I believe the answer comes back to Cain’s bio… Notice we’re told in verse 2 that Cain was a “tiller of the ground.” What’s then interesting is that upon dolling out punishment on Cain in verse 12 God tells him “the ground shall no longer yield its strength (literally power) to you.” The implications seem to be that as a “tiller of the ground” God allowed the earth to yield an increase specifically unique to Cain. Which is fascinating when you couple this reality with the fact that back in Genesis 3:17 God had “cursed the ground” for Adam’s sake.

Could it be that Cain fell into the age old trap of mistaking his physical blessings with God’s favor? That while the ground may have been cursed for his father because of his sin, the fact that it yielded its power to him was evidence he was already right with God? Why would Cain seek to earn something God was wanting to give? Could it be that Cain thought he already had His favor and thus the act of giving to God intended to maintain it?

Friend, we live in a society that is undoubtedly financially blessed in a way never seen before in the history of the world; and yet, it is a mistake to equate any of our affluence with God’s favor. For the Christian the two have never and simply will never go hand in hand. 

When you make this mistake it becomes evident in the motivations behind your sacrifices. Not only are you misguided in your belief that you can be good with God apart from Jesus, but every good deed you do has behind it a measure of selfish-motivation. You go to church for the bump in social status. You volunteer because it looks good on the resume. You give under the presence that God will bless you with more money or at least provide you clout.

You’re service doesn’t flow as a natural manifestation of God’s grace. You’re service is designed to make sure you and the big man upstairs yielding the increase remain on good terms. As with Cain you’ve adopted a bartering relationship with God!

Sadly, you know what happens to this person if the physical blessings they equate to God’s blessings disappear because the market crashes, a business fails, housing slumps, or you were just plan foolish with mounting debt? Just like Cain they get angry with God!

In conclusion… In the span of about a chapter Moses has illustrated the failure of all religion. While Adam and Eve failed at using fig leaves in their attempt to conceal their fallenness, Cain’s approach of using the fruit of his labor to earn God’s favor bombed. 

From the actions of this first family flow the fountainheads of all religious thought: 

God’s Effectual Covering vs. My Attempts at Covering

Blood Offering vs. My Sacrifices

Religious Works vs. A Relationship with a Savior! 

And yet, from these two chapters, we also see God go on the record: There is only one accepted way a sinful man may approach a righteous God, only one way he can be covered - By placing his faith in an atoning sacrifice given by God for humanity!

Sadly, not only do man’s best attempts at concealing his sinful state before God through his good deeds flop and his most valiant efforts at self-atoning for his sin fall short (in essence religion fails to save and is good an condemning), but the danger is that such pursuits are counterproductive because they alienate a person from the very God desiring to save!

With these things in mind, in Mark 11, we’re give the account of a strange event that took place during Jesus’ week of passion… (Mark 11:13-14, 20-22) “And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, Jesus went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response Jesus said to it, ‘Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.’ And His disciples heard it... Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.’ So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have faith in God.’”