The following message was delivered
on Sunday evening, March 15, 1992, at the Trinity Baptist
Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn together to the
fourth chapter of the book of Genesis, the book of beginnings,
and I shall read in your hearing, as I did last Lord's Day evening,
the first eight verses of chapter four. And the man knew Eve his wife,
and she conceived and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man
with the help of Jehovah. And again she bare his brother
Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep,
but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time
it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an
offering unto Jehovah. and Abel, he also brought of
the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And Jehovah
had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and
to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very angry, and
his countenance fell. And Jehovah said unto Cain, Why
are you angry? And why is your countenance fallen? If you do well, shall it not
be lifted up? And if you do not well, sin couches
at the door, and unto you shall be its desire. But do you rule
over it? And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they
were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother
and slew him. Now let us again seek the face
of God for his blessing upon the opening up and the application
of his holy word. Let us pray together. Our Father, we thank you for
your presence with us in this evening hour of worship We thank
you for already speaking to our hearts through your word, and
we pray that once again you will speak through the scriptures.
We ask that this familiar story will, by the present and powerful
ministry of the Holy Spirit, become something more than an
interesting story of an ancient happening outside the Garden
of Eden. But, O Lord, may it become your
very word to the heart of every man, woman, boy, or girl in this
place, so that if we leave knowing nothing else, we shall leave
knowing that you have spoken to our hearts. O God, hear and
answer our cry, we plead, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. In our initial study of the account
of Cain and Abel last Lord's Day evening, we focused our attention
upon verses 1 through 5a, in which, as we saw together, we
have first of all the introduction of Cain and Abel, secondly, the
occupations of Cain and Abel, and thirdly, the offerings of
Cain and Abel. And as we take up our study tonight,
we shall consider verses 5B through verse 8. And I've entitled our
study, The First Murderer and the First Martyr. The First Murderer
and the First Martyr. And in order to set the stage
for tonight's study, let me remind you of the last statement that
we examined in our previous study, that is verse 5a, but unto Cain
and to his offering he had not respect. God's response is described
to the two offerings as one of favor towards Abel in his person,
and towards his offering, and one of disfavor towards the person
of Cain and to the offering of Cain. And we considered the reason
for this radically different response on the part of God to
the two men and their two offerings. And we saw that we need not speculate
as to the cause or the reason for that response, For it is
clearly given to us in three New Testament passages, Hebrews
11, 4, 1 John 3, 12, and Matthew 23 and verse 35. And the summary
teaching of those verses is this, Abel brought his offering as
a believing man. By faith, Abel offered unto God
a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. And if Abel brought his
offering as a believing man, then Cain obviously brought his
offering as an unbelieving man, a mere religious formalist, doing
his religious thing, but without that faith without which it is
impossible to please God. And then secondly, we saw that
Abel brought his offering as a righteous man. I John 3.12
and Matthew 23.35 describe Abel as one whose deeds were righteous. He was not only justified and
righteous in the court of heaven based upon the righteousness
of Christ imputed to him as the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, but as one whose heart had been changed so that
he loved to do what was right in the sight of God. whereas
Cain is called that one who was of the evil one. He was a son
of the devil and John says his deeds were unrighteous. Now tonight we pick up the story
at 5b and note first of all the reaction of Cain. The reaction
of Cain. After we are told that the Lord
had respect unto Abel and to his offering, He had no respect
unto Cain and his offering. This is Cain's reaction to this
obviously perceived differing response of God to their offerings. And Cain was very angry and his
countenance fell. It's evident that God's favor
and disfavor were clearly communicated to both men. How? We simply don't know. The speculations are several,
but I'll not weary you with them. One thing is clear. Both Cain
and Abel knew God's response to their persons and to their
offerings. And when Cain perceived that
his brother Abel was accepted along with his offering and that
he in his person and with his offering was not accepted, there
is a two-fold reaction described in this passage. First, the inward
disposition of his soul, and then the outward manifestation
of that disposition in his face. First of all, the inward disposition
of his soul. Our Bibles say, and Cain was
very angry. More literally rendered from
the Hebrew, it burned for Cain. His inner spirit became like
a volcano of pent-up anger ready to explode. It burned for Cain. Now while it is not explicitly
stated, it is clear from the results that the anger was directed
both at God and at his brother. He was angry that God accepted
his brother and his offering. He was angry that his person
and his offering were rejected. Rather than being humbled at
God's evident displeasure to his person and to his offering,
and coming in the spirit of humility and saying, O God, You have obviously
accepted my brother and his offering. What has been deficient in my
person and offering that both have been rejected? O God, teach
me, show me, and by Your grace and help, I'll make whatever
adjustments I must make. That would be the proper posture
of the creature before the Creator. That would be the only proper
posture of the sinner before a holy God. But instead of taking
the occasion of God's explicitly manifested favor to his brother
as a call to repentance and humiliation, He uses it as an occasion to
allow his heart to become like the internal sections of a seething
volcano, building up pressure and ready to explode. But his reaction is not only
described in terms of the inward disposition of the soul, but
notice secondly, in terms of the outward manifestation in
his face. For our text says, Cain was very
angry and his countenance fell. We think we're very smart when
in the 20th century we discover and write about what is called
body language. My friends, it's as old as this
plot of ground outside of Eden with the firstborn of Adam and
Eve. For God not only tells us of
the inward disposition of the soul, but He specifically focuses
on the outward manifestation of that disposition, not generally
in His body, but specifically in His face. His countenance
fell. Men have often said that the
face, particularly the eyes, are the mirror of the soul. And when his soul began to seethe
with envy and anger and become this heaving, internal, pressured
volcano of wicked internal disposition, it could not help but affect
his facial muscles, and the muscles in his neck, and the muscles
in his eyes. And Cain becomes a sullen, shifty
eye, fallen countenance man reflecting the inward disposition of his
soul. With that volcanic rumbling within
his breast, he becomes a man filled with the accusations of
his own self-condemned conscience and also shifty-eyed in the presence
of others as he is preoccupied with this burning devilish, demonic
volcano of pent-up anger within his breast. Let me say briefly
by way of application before we move on to the response of
God, that as then, so now, your face is often the mirror of your
soul. Isaiah 3.9 says, the show of
their countenance doth testify against them. In other words,
the look of the countenance is often, not always, but often,
an accurate mirror of the state of the soul. And it's amazing
how you see it when you stand before a group of people like
this and you preach. Some, the soul is in a state
of waiting, expectation, and teachableness, and it's mirrored
in a countenance that has all of the appearance of a dry, thirsty
sponge ready to soak up every insight God will give as His
servants expound the Word. Whereas others have a countenance
that has the look of skepticism that says, Nobody else ever got
to me and you're not going to get to me either. And others
have a look that say, when will all of this boredom end? You'd
be surprised what you declare in your countenance. The show
of your countenance testifies against you. And you know when
I first learned that text? I learned it when I was assistant
to the dean of men in a Bible college. There would be guys
who were students and I had a peculiar kind of pastoral responsibility
to them. And when they were fighting the
things of God, being in that context where the Word of God
was brought to bear upon them continually in the classroom
and in the chapel and in the dormitory and everywhere they
went, you could see the look of sullen rebellion or of seething
hatred and discomfort with that whole environment written upon
their faces. And often when God would have
dealings with them, long before they'd come into my office to
talk to me and tell me what God had done for them, I'd see it
on their faces. Just as they walked across the
campus, the scripture tells us in Psalm 34, 5, they looked unto
Him and their faces, literally, their faces were not red with
shame. As they looked unto Him, and
the word is translated in our version, they were radiant. The
inward disposition of the soul, of the gaze of faith and love
upon the living and true but unseen God, reflects itself in
the very countenance of those who look upon Him. As then, so
now, the face is often the mirror of the soul, and as then, so
now, Nothing so angers a formalist in religion than to be told that
his smug, self-righteous religious acts are unacceptable to God,
and that he is rejected by God. Nothing so angers a formalist
than to be told, yes, you've done your religious thing. You've
done it properly. At the end of the days, at the
proper time, you've brought an offering to the proper place.
But God has no respect for that religious service that comes
from an unbelieving, impenitent heart. that is a stranger to
its own sin and wickedness, a stranger to the true self-loathing of
true repentance, a stranger to the emptiness of faith that looks
totally out of itself and away from itself to find its hope
in the doing and the dying of another. To teleformalists, God
looks upon all of his religious deeds, his baptism, his church
membership, his confirmation, his prayers, and all the rest
as so much gilded sin. Is as now, so then, to cause
a volcano of anger and resentment to rise up within his breast,
John Calvin hit the nail right on the head when commenting on
this fact. In his commentary on Genesis
he wrote, Moreover, in the person of Cain is portrayed to us the
likeness of a wicked man, who yet desires to be esteemed just,
and even arrogates to himself the first place among the saints.
Such persons truly by external works strenuously labor to deserve
well at the hands of God, but retaining a heart enwrapped in
deceit, they present to him nothing but a mask, so that in their
laborious and anxious religious worship there is nothing sincere,
nothing that is more than pretense. When they afterward see that
they gain no advantage, they betray the venom of their minds,
for they not only complain against God, but they break forth in
manifest fury, so that if they were able, they would gradually
tear God down from His heavenly throne. Such is the innate pride
of all hypocrites, that by the very appearance of obedience
they would hold God as under obligation to them. Because they
cannot escape from His authority, they try to soothe Him with blandishments
as they would a child. In the meantime, while they count
much of their fictitious trifles, they think God does them great
wrong if He does not applaud them. But when he pronounces
their offerings frivolous and of no value in his sight, they
first begin to murmur and then to rage. Their impiety alone
hinders God from being reconciled unto them, but they wish to bargain
with God on their own terms. And when this is denied, they
burn with furious indignation, which though conceived against
God, they cast forth upon his children. Thus, when Cain was
angry with God, his fury was poured forth on his unoffending
brother. As then, so now. Well, having
considered what the text tells us of the reaction of Cain, now
let us notice in the second place the response of God. Cain reacts. to God's acceptance of his brother
and his offering, his non-acceptance of his person in offering, now
God responds to Cain. Verses 6 and 7. And there are
three basic parts to God's response to Cain's anger and his pouting
countenance. We have, first of all, the probing
question in verse 6. Secondly, the sobering alternatives
in verse 7. And finally, the concluding appeal
at the end of verse 7. The probing question, verse 6. And Jehovah said unto Cain, Why
are you angry, and why is your countenance fallen? In some method of clear verbal
communication, the precise nature of which is not revealed, God
asks a question of Cain. And in this question, God is
doing basically two things. Number one, He is informing Cain
that all of Cain's ways are known to God. You see the strict parallel? In reacting to what God did,
Our text says that Cain was very angry, a disposition of the soul
inward. His countenance fell, an outward
manifestation. Now when God responds, He responds
first of all with a probing question in which He is informing Cain,
I know the state of your heart and I take notice of the look
on your face. Why are you angry? Your anger
is known to me. Though it is an inward disposition,
it does not escape my eye. And why is your countenance fallen? Though you may think that in
the ordering of my universe, The look on your face in private
and in public situation is of no consequence to me, as I have
greater things to do. No, Cain, I tell you that I not
only read and know the disposition of your heart, but I take notice
of the very look upon your face. The probing question God brings
home to Cain's conscience, first to inform him that Cain's response
is fully known to God in its inward disposition and in its
outward manifestation. But then secondly, by this probing
question, God is seeking to bring Cain to an honest awareness and
assessment of the true state of his soul. By this question,
God is seeking to bring Cain to face reality concerning Himself. You see, the first step in ever
getting right with God is in coming to accurate self-knowledge. The person who is determined
to gloss over what he really is will never, never know the
blessing of God's salvation. and the inexplicable privilege
of coming under the canopy of God's grace and God's forgiveness. Cain, are you angry because I've
accepted your brother and I've accepted his sacrifice? I have set out the terms on which
my banished creatures may approach me. I have said they must come
in the way of faith. I have said they must come in
the way of owning the reality of their sin and their undone-ness
and look totally out of themselves and unto me for forgiveness and
acceptance. Cain, is that unreasonable? That
my response to your brother and his offerings should reflect
the reality of how things really are? In my universe, in which
you and your parents have sinned, In my universe, Cain, I set the
terms of how men may approach me. That I should even make a
way of approach is all of grace. That I should have revealed it
to your Father and He to you is all of grace. Cain, why are
you angry and your countenance fallen? My response to the two
offerings simply reflects the reality of what I have revealed. as the only way that sinful men
can approach me? Why are you angry that I'm being
consistent with myself as God? That I'm being consistent with
the reality of what you and your brother and your mother and father
are as sinners? Cain, are you angry because I
am God? That's the intent of the probing
question. Why are you angry? Why? Is your countenance fallen? Then he sets before him, after
the probing question of verse six, the sobering alternatives
of verse seven. If thou doest well, shall it
not be lifted up? And if thou doest not well, sin
coucheth at the door, and unto thee shall be its desire. Here God sets before
Cain two sobering alternatives. Alternative number one is repentance
leading to forgiveness and acceptance. Repentance leading to forgiveness
and acceptance. If you do well, Shall it not
be lifted up, that is, shall not your downcast countenance
be lifted up if you do well, if you follow the pattern of
your brother? If you will take the posture
of your brother Abel, as a guilty, wrath-deserving sinner, if you
will take the posture of your brother Abel, acknowledging that
the only way of approach to me is the way I've revealed by going
out of yourself and trusting only in my mercy, And if you
will experience what your brother has experienced, that change
of heart in which he regards me as the pearl of great price,
the one who is worthy to have the best of the best in whatever
is brought to me, who is concerned with more than just doing his
religious thing, but you've seen him go out and take the best
of the best, the firstlings and of the firstlings, the fattest
of the firstlings, if you do well, If you follow the pattern
of your brother, if you will go in the way of honest self-assessment,
if you will go in the way of true repentance, in the way of
faith, and growing out of that in the way of devoted service
to Me, if you do well, will you not then know the purging away
of the anger and then the fruit in the lifting up of your countenance?
Or as one acute student of the Hebrew, in fact two commentators
that I read, took this position and were quite adamant in supporting
it, that it could be rendered, is it not so if you do right
there is acceptance? The very thing that's made you
angry that you've not received. I've not accepted your person
or your offering. If you do what is right, I will
accept your person and offering. And the Lord is not certainly
saying, if you do what is right, that is, go out and earn your
salvation. No, do what is right. Do that which accords with the
way revealed in which sinful men can approach Me. The way
that your brother has come. The way of faith. Faith born
of accurate self-knowledge. faith, trusting only in my pardon
and in my forgiveness. If you do well, you see the sobering
alternative before you, Cain, as you feel this volcanic eruption
of anger now written all over your face. Cain, there is a way
of repentance leading to forgiveness and to acceptance. That's one
alternative. But then the Lord says there's
a second alternative. the alternative of impenitence
leading to the conquest of sin. Impenitence leading to the conquest
of sin. Look at the passage again. If
you do not well, sin couches at the door, and unto thee shall
be its desire. Now, what do those strains Words
mean. If you do not well, that is,
if you will not go in the way of your brother, if you determine
to go on in the way of self-righteous formalism and indulging this
fury of hell within your breast, which pulls down the very muscles
on your face, that's called the way of Cain by Jude. I warn you,
God says, if you do not well, if you do not heed my appeal
to repent, if you do not accept my offer of forgiveness and acceptance
in the way of repentance and faith, if you do not well, you
will be in the way of impenitence leading to the very conquest
of sin over your life. And God likens sin to a beast
of prey crouching at the very door of Cain's heart and life. If thou doest not well, sin coucheth,
we would say in modern English, sin crouches at the door, and
unto you shall be its desire. It is there like a beast of prey,
And if you go on in the present way, its desire is utterly to
consume you and to destroy you. Listen to Leupold, the Lutheran
commentator, writing on this very passage. Now the warning
becomes still more pointed, applying directly to Cain's case, showing
what the situation is if a man does not do right. In that event,
sin, here mentioned for the first time in scripture, a word bearing
the basic meaning of missing the mark, has become a very definite
possibility, even a menacing threat. It is likened to a wild
beast. The Hebrew word is in the masculine,
not feminine, agreeing in gender with the word sin. It is masculine,
and it's crouching at the door. And as promptly as such a beast
immediately at hand would seize a man going out of the door,
so promptly will sin leap upon one and hurt him. The figure
is appropriate from this point of view. The hurt is inevitable.
The ultimate escape possible, but problematic. Completing the
picture, there is the expression, it is striving to get at thee,
which the authorized version renders unto thee shall be its
desire. In other words, towards thee
is its desire. Towards thee is its striving. It is there at the door. It's
clawing. It's pushing, keying. You're
about to open the door. And it is no pussycat, no lap
cat that is there at the door. It's a beast of prey. It is not
a pussycat that you can let in and purr on your lap and when
you're done, you can shoo it out the door or throw it out
the window. It's a beast of prey. It's clawing. It's seeking entrance. You children, remember the old
story you learned when you were much younger than you are now?
The three pigs and the wolf? Was the wolf just looking for
a lap in the different homes of the three pigs? No, he was
looking for a meal. I'll huff and I'll puff until
I blow your house down. And why did he want to blow down
the house of the little pigs? So he could fill his belly with
pork chops. He went out to come in and be
their house pet. He was at the door huffing and
puffing to get in to consume them. That's the alternative
God says is before Cain. If you do well, Cain, here's
the alternative of repentance leading to acceptance of your
person and your offering. If you do not well, if you go
on determined to nurse this spirit of anger and of envy boiling
within, affecting your very face, Sin, like the angry beast, is
there at the door of your life, and its desire is toward you. So God's response begins with
a probing question. Then it goes on and sets before
him the sobering alternatives. But then notice in 7c the concluding
appeal, But do thou rule over it. What's God saying? My friends, this is the gospel.
This is the gospel. Although sin is ready to devour
you, you need not be its conquered victim, Cain. You remember what Ezekiel said
in chapter 18 in verse 31? He said, Make you a new heart
and a new spirit, for why will you die? Is that verse teaching
that man has the power to regenerate himself? To take out his heart
of stone and plant a heart of flesh? Of course not! But when
God says, Make you a new heart and a new spirit, He is saying,
Apply yourself to the God who alone can do this for you. The
same way on the day of Pentecost, after Peter preaches about Christ
crucified, risen, and Christ sending the Spirit, it says in
Acts 2.39, with many other words, he testified and exhorted, saying,
Save yourselves from this crooked generation. Is he teaching self-salvation? No. But he's saying, as he previously
told them in verse 38, if you'll repent and believe and commit
yourself to Christ, you will be saving yourself, delivering
yourself by repentance and faith from this crooked, this condemned,
this apostate generation. And so when God says in His concluding
appeal, but in spite of these sobering alternatives, This is
the wish and disposition of my heart toward you, Cain. Not that
the beast should be let within the door, pounce upon you and
destroy you, but my desire is that you should rule over it,
that you should conquer that sin, that you, like your brother,
You should cast yourself upon My mercy, that you would own
the absolute folly of thinking that running out into the field
and grabbing a few fruits of the ground and throwing them
in My presence at the right time in the right place will fix you
all up when you've had no change of heart, when you do not see
your sin, you do not see your need of grace and pardon based
upon My own mercy. This is a gospel appeal to Cain. That's God's response. And by
way of application, I want to say particularly to you young
men and women, do you get the picture? Particularly in that
central part of the passage where God sets before Cain the two
alternatives. He says, Cain, don't underestimate
the power of sin. It's no domestic pussycat. It's
a devouring beast of prey. And oh, dear young people, children,
will you hear me? Will you please? Even if you've
come with a countenance that says, nobody's going to get to
me tonight. Nobody's going to touch me. Will
you for just a moment, if you have any, any sense that maybe
there's just a little element of genuine love in my heart and
the hearts of God's people for you, won't you listen for just
a moment? Listen, listen. The lie of the devil is that
you, like Cain, can entertain sins in your heart and keep them
in the posture of domestic pets. domestic pets that you can shoo
out of doors when you want to. You can put off in a room when
you desire, leave them at the vet's or leave them at the dog
pound when you go on vacation. You are the master, that domestic
pet in that sense is the servant. The devil's lie is always to
persuade you that that's the way it is, but reality is found
in the words of Jehovah to Cain, sin touches like a beast of prey
and its desire is towards you to have a meal of you, not to
lie in your lap to make you feel comfortable by the fire. You young men, you come into
puberty, And all of a sudden you feel the roaring of these
engines of your sexuality, and you begin to experience almost
a perpetual fascination with sex. And then it isn't long before
you get your first glance at a girly magazine, and your conscience
screams at you, that sin, that's looking to lust on a body that
doesn't belong to you! Don't do it! And you're eyeing
over your conscience! And you know what happens? That
sin of mental fantasies and uncleanness precipitated and fed by filthy
girly magazines is a beast of prey waiting to consume and devour
you. And I have dealt with grown men
in their thirties and forties enslaved to pornography And it
all started when they were, some of them, before their teenage
years, thinking it was a little pussycat. They could let in and
play with and nestle in their lap. And when it came time, they
could shoo it out of doors. Now they lie helpless, bleeding,
torn and rent. And I heard three weeks ago,
of someone who once preached in a Reformed pulpit. That filth
has ruined his life, ruined his marriage, ruined his family. It'll take him down to hell. And you guys think it's just
a little pussycat? Oh, no. It's a devouring Sin crouches at the door of your
life and its desire is to consume you until you won't be able to
look upon any woman, including your own mother, without undressing
her in your mind. Having eyes full of adultery
who cannot cease from sin. That's what my Bible says. Eyes
full of adultery. Eyes that wherever they look,
full of adultery. They cannot cease from sin the
beast has consumed. If you boys value your soul,
go home tonight and tell your mom and dad, say, I'm hooked. The beast has already got its
fangs in my neck and in my back. And then get down on your knees
with them before God and say, Oh God, deliver me from the bondage
to this health. Deliver me from the chains of
uncleanness. Lord Jesus, set me free that
I may rule over sin that would devour me. For sin shall not
have dominion over you if you are under grace. Romans 6 in
verse 14. You girls, some of you, God's
given you fair face and fair form, and you know that. Oh, I know when you get a zit,
you think you've got the biggest one in the world, and wherever
you go the whole world's looking at it. You can't quite get the
clear seal on just enough to cover it and not make it so evident
that it is covered and you put some on and take a little off.
How do you know, Pastor? Because I had a face full of
zits once. And I thought the whole world
was doing nothing but looking at my zits. I didn't read this in
a book, I lived with it. But in spite of an occasional
zit, you've been told you've got a pretty face, nice figure,
And you've begun to indulge the sin of worshipping yourself. And you're picking up the tricks
of how to glance and hold yourself in such a way that you're cutesy,
and the guys pick up on it. And you like that, that they
turn and look the second time. And you think it's a little pussycat
of vanity and flirtatiousness that's at the door. Just a little
pussycat, scratching at the door, saying, let me in, sit on your
lap, I'll make you feel nice and warm. You young women, listen
to me. Sin couches at the door like
a beast of prey. And the sin of vanity and flirtatiousness
is a beast that will consume you. The day will come. You don't think so, but it will
come. when you'll sell your virtue and your virginity and your dignity
and your nobility. Why? Because the beast will have
sunk its fangs in you and its claws. Its desire is toward you, young
woman. Its desire is toward you. Don't you think otherwise? Its
desire is toward you. Same way with the drugs. I'm
sure some of you, if you've not already fooled around with them,
you've been given the opportunity. Just try a little. How are you
going to say, no big deal? You should try it. Just a little
pussycat of a little mild high with a little pot. Just a couple
of pills for a little high, that's all. Just a little pussycat.
Just there in your lap when you want to get rid of him. Go find
the junkie sitting homeless in New York tonight with needle
tracks up and down his arm and ask him if he thought that's
where he'd end up. Ask him! Ask him! No, it all started when
under peer pressure he took his first puff on the joint. And then when people told him,
ah, pot ain't no high, I'd try something with a little more
pop to it. Mr. Pussycat, of course. Young people, don't touch it. I thank God that with all the
remaining sin in me, the devil has no hook of any feeling of
ever having a chemical hide that he can stick in me and say, I'll
get you with that. No, there's nothing in the memory
bank for him to put a hook in. And how I thank God for his mercy
in preserving from chemical highs. It's desire is toward you. Pornography,
flirtatiousness, plain cutesy, drugs, pride, lust. Oh, another beast that would
seek to consume you young people is that of deception. Lying to
cover your sin. Oh, just a little. Just a little. I mean, lying doesn't have to
come away a life. Just an occasional lie to be
a little pussycat, to make life a little more comfortable, to
get out of a spanking here or there, or pulled privileges here
or there, or being grounded for a while, just a lie here, just
a pussycat lie, that's all. A little domestic pet, my friend. As surely as drugs are addictive
to the psyche and to the body, some of them, And alcohol is
addictive, so lying is a kind of addiction to the soul. And
God speaks of those who breathe out lies. Do you have to work
hard to breathe? Oh, if you have emphysema. But
a normal person... Anyone here been working hard
to breathe tonight? I haven't seen anyone sitting there going... What are you doing out there?
Oh, I'm just breathing. No, you've just been breathing. It's just
a natural activity. God says, get to the place where
it's as easy to live as to breathe. Young people, listen to me. Sin
couches at your door like a beast, and its desire is to you. But in the name of the God of
heaven and the God of grace, do thou rule over it. In your
youth, be an able who throws yourself upon the mercy of God
and the power of God to break the power of sin and walk through
life nobly, Christ free man, because you are Christ's bond
slave. Well, we've looked at the reaction
of King, inward, outward. The response of God, beginning
with His question, setting forth the alternatives, the concluding
appeal. But now verse 8 as we close the
exposition. Having looked at the reaction
of Cain, the response of God thirdly, the result of sin. Verse 8. And Cain said unto Abel
his brother, and read it as though there were a dash and the narrative
broke off, Cain said unto Abel his brother, and it came to pass
when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his
brother and slew him. Now again, I'll not weary you
with textual problems in what is called the Masoretic Text,
the text that is used for the Hebrew Bible that the men in
the academy use in their studies. That's the way the text reads,
as though the sentence were broken off. There are some of the old
translations which supply a phrase to complete the notion. For example,
in a footnote in the NIV, they do this and they acknowledge
where they get it from. He said unto his brother Abel,
Let's go out to the field. And when they were in the field,
Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him. However,
I cast in my judgment with those who say that what we have in
the Masoretic Text is correct, that God is giving us a kind
of verbal shorthand. And Cain said unto his brother
Dash, there was communication, communication obviously in which
Cain did not disclose the intention of his heart. He did not speak
out anything of God's dealings with him, and of the volcanic
pressure of his own anger to God and toward his brother. But
he spoke to him enough to secure his goodwill, and before long
they're out in the field. Maybe he said, hey, bro, let's
go on out and look at my vegetables today. For remember, he was a
tiller of the ground. Come and see how my corn's doing.
not quite the fourth of July and it's already knee-high. Come,
brother, look with me. The stage is set. The stage is
set. He speaks to his brother Abel.
He convinces him to take a walk out into the field. And after
the stage is set, the deed is done. It says he rose up and
he slew him. And he slew him in such a way
that it was a violent death that drew forth his brother's blood. It was not death by strangulation. It was not death by smothering. It was death in such a violent
way that the ground soaked up his brother's blood so that,
as we'll see, God willing, next week, God comes to make inquisition
and says, Thy brother's blood cries unto me from the ground. Cursed are you from the earth
which opened this mouth to drink up your brother's blood. And we read in Hebrews chapter
12 of that blood that speaks better things than the blood
of Abel. Thus the firstborn of Adam and
Eve becomes a full-blown child of his spiritual father, the
devil. For he is supremely two things,
according to John 8.44. Ye are of your father the devil,
and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from
the beginning. Here his spiritual child, the
seed of the serpent, shows the family likeness. And he is a
murderer like his father. Next week we will see him in
the second major characteristic, He is a liar and abode not in
the truth. And when God says, where is your
brother? He blatantly lies to God. He
says, I don't know. What do you mean you don't know?
You killed him and you buried him. You threw him out there
amidst the corn stalks. You know exactly where your brother
is. You are fully conformed to your father the devil, a murderer,
and the liar. And so, under our third heading,
we see The result of that sin, the stage is set, the deed is
done. Envy and anger issue in murder. Now in my concluding applications
will you notice with me these three very simple but vital lessons
that lie on the face of the whole passage. Number one, behold in
this passage the frightening power of sin. Doesn't it make
you want to inwardly wretch before the ugly sight of the power of
sin. No wonder James says, Be not
deceived. Be not deceived with regard to
the power of sin. Every man is tempted when he
is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Lust, when it hath
conceived, brings forth sin. And sin, when it is finished,
brings forth death. From the beginnings of the first
stirrings of envy, Envy grows into anger, anger into volcanic
wrath, and wrath into murder. Surely, surely, Cain found it
was no pussycat outside his door. It was a beast of prey that consumed
him. Bishop Hall's works that we're
trying to get into the bookstore His contemplations, in which
he meditates out loud through the scriptures, his section,
all of it is pure gold, but his section on Cain and Abel is masterful. This is what he says, thinking
out loud as he reads this scene, O Envy, the corrosive of all
ill minds and the root of all desperate actions, the same cause
that moves Satan to destroy the first man, The same moves the
second man to destroy the third. It was Satan's envy of God's
supreme place of honor and glory in the pre-created reality, pre-earth
creation reality. And he said, I will ascend. He
envied and became the devil. And he moves the first man and
tempts to sin. and now moves the second man
to destroy the third. If there be an evil heart, there
will be an evil eye. And if both of these, there will
be an evil hand. There never was an envy that
was not bloody, if not in act, yet in disposition." What a horrible
picture of the power of sin. Think of it. Boys and girls,
men and women, so near to the Garden of Eden. at the most a
hundred and a few years from the time when man walked in the
pristine glory and innocence of Eden. And we'll see why we
take up that figure as we read further in the chapter. But such
a short time from all the glory and the wonder of Genesis 1 and
2, the firstborn of Eve, whom she holds in her arms, saying,
I have gotten a man with the help of Jehovah. And perhaps
even secretly wondered, is this the promised seed? All her hopes
are dashed when Cain's hands drip with the blood of his brother. Behold in this passage the frightening
power of sin. I wouldn't be standing here tonight
before such a power with any sanity were I not hidden in Christ,
the mightier than the strong man, who for every Christian
has bound the strong man and spoiled his goods. And dear young
people and adults, there's no safe place. but in the mighty
conqueror who despoiled principalities and powers, triumphed over them
in His cross and in His resurrection. For this purpose was the Son
of God manifested to destroy the works of the devil. Hallelujah. But then secondly, behold in
this passage the lot of the righteous. I said I entitled the sermon,
The First Murderer, and the first martyr. In the first, two brothers,
the great principle of the Word of God comes to clear expression
here, as clear as anywhere in Scripture. Galatians 4.29 articulates
the principle. Galatians 4.29 As then, he that
was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit,
so also it is now. As then, the one born after the
flesh persecutes him that is born after the Spirit. In the context, this is referring
to the Son of the Handmaid, Ishmael and the son of the promise, Isaac,
but the principle is the same. Paul says, as then, so now. Here's a universal principle.
The one merely born of the flesh, the seed of the serpent, will
constantly persecute him that is born after the Spirit, who
is in the line of the seed of the woman. This is why Jesus
said in John 15, 18 and 19, in John 17, 14, The world hated me. It will hate
you. It will hate you because it hated
me, and you are united to me. The first man murdered on God's
earth was murdered for his religion, and not by a Madeline Murray
O'Hare, who was an atheist, but by a religious formalist. And
there is more blood on the hands of religious formalists than
upon atheists. the Church of Rome, the Whore
of the Seven Hills, her skirts dipped in the blood of the martyrs.
Formalism with its ritual, with its rubrics, and with its professional
clerics, and its superstition, whenever there has been vital,
able-like religion, with the seal of God upon it, Rome has
come forth and shown her true colors. That's the lot of the righteous. You'll not only be persecuted
by a world that hates God, but by religious formalists who hate
the reality in a truly godly man or woman. Some of you kids
who've gone, even right here in Trinity Christian School,
And this is not to fault the board. It's not to fault the
teachers. It's not to fault parents. But
Christian nurture and Christian education doesn't make Christians. And in Trinity Christian School,
any one of you kids who gets up into that fourth or fifth
grade and onward, determined to be an evil, to be a righteous
boy or girl, not to titter and laugh when dirty jokes are told. Not to gather in the men's or
ladies' room and talk about the teachers behind their backs.
You'll suffer persecution from the other kids. I've never known
of any kid in a Christian school who meant business with God that
didn't suffer persecution. Why? As then, so now. He that
is born of the flesh will persecute him that is born of the spirit.
I don't care if it's Trinity Christian School, Parsippany
Christian School, I don't care where it is. This is the law
to the righteous. In the case of Abel, the persecution
took the ultimate expression, martyrdom. But little did Cain
know, all he did was chase his brother up to heaven early. That's
all he did. Just chased him up to heaven
early. Saved him all the heartache and the agony and perhaps the
disappointment and the grief and the agony of seeing repeated
in his own children what Adam and Eve had to see in their So you see, you're invincible
when you're a child of God. You're in Christ and the devil
cannot destroy you. No. He that is born of God overcomes
the world. He that is born of God, the devil
touches him not, the Scripture says. And we overcome in Christ even
the frightening prospect of martyrdom. All our most bitter enemies can
do is chase us up to heaven earlier than we had hoped to get there.
It's a wonderful thing to be a Christian. And then finally
behold in this passage the amazing patience and long suffering of
God. He comes to Cain when sin first
begins to gain the upper hand. God could have let him go from
his volcanic anger and his downcast face. God could have let him
go until he took his brother in the field and murdered him
and then struck him dead, but he didn't do that. No sooner
does his sin of envy merge into settled, boiling anger, but God
comes in grace and seeks to bring him into touch with reality and
awaken his conscience. Why? Are you angry? Why is your
countenance fallen? He says, if you do well, it shall
be lifted up. There is acceptance. There is
mercy for you. The door through which your brothers
walked is open to you, Cain. And then he warns him, Sin is
couching like a beast of prey at the door. Its desire is toward
you, but you need not be its passive victim. Do thou rule
over it! Put yourself into my hands, and
I'll give you power to conquer the beast of your own sin. How patient is God! Seeks to
awaken the conscience of Cain. Seeks to call him to repentance. That's the God who's here in
this place tonight. That's the God who has come to
your conscience, young man, young woman, older man, older woman.
The God who has brought you here, preserved you in life and sanity
and sufficient health to be here, granted us our civil liberties
that we need, unafraid of our congregation being busted up
by the intrusion of secret police. This is mercy. This is God's
kindness. This is God revealing His heart,
His disposition of goodwill, saying, Come, come, come. I do not delight in the death
of the wicked, but that he turn and live. If thou doest well,
there is acceptance for you. Oh yes, like Cain, you've already
indulged your sin. Your heart may be a boiling cauldron
of lies and deceit and lust and pride. and flirtatiousness, and
self-preoccupation, and a host of other things. But the Lord
Jesus is mighty to save, and He's brought you here in His
providence, and set His Word before you. Turn ye, turn ye. Why will ye die? Let us pray. Our Father, how we thank you
for your holy word. We thank you for your Holy Spirit. We thank you for gathering us
together in this place tonight. And, O God, we would entreat
you that the word preached may not be preached in vain, but
that this night there would be some whose response would be,
by the grace of God I shall do well. I shall, by the grace of
God, enter the path of repentance and faith. I shall become an
able with an acceptable offering. O God, we plead especially for
young people who in their naivety still want to believe that they're
the exception for whom sin will not be the devouring beast of
prey, but the mere pussycat, the mere lapdog. O God, Oh God,
track them down, give them no rest until they face reality,
until they face themselves in your presence, until they cry
out for mercy. We thank you for the many who
here are your 20th century ables, who by grace have come to you
in faith, who by grace have owned their sin, thrown themselves
upon your mercy in the way of your own self-revelation, even
the way of the cross. And, O God, we thank you that
we are invincible till our work is done, and should you even
allow some vicious king to slay us, how we thank you they can
only chase us up to heaven. O God, fill us with joy, fill
us with boldness, fill us with a measure of responsible but
holy recklessness, that we shall not fear the faces of man and
those who can kill the body, but ever fear you who can destroy
both soul and body in hell. O God, hear our cry, and may
your word bear fruit unto everlasting life in each one of our hearts,
we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.