Genesis chapter 4. Let's begin
here reading a great portion of this chapter again. This will
be our second study, I think, on this chapter, and we'll finish
with this. We're leaving a lot unsaid, I
realize that, as we study this. We're more or less gleaning some
principles or high places out of these texts. But if we went
absolutely verse by verse, we'd never get through this book.
And I'm sure that we'd get bogged down and you'd get bored. So
I'm not going to do that. I'm going to just go as I feel
like going with it. This will be our last study on
this. And I want to study today, maybe
think on this thought, the difference. between Cain and Abel. And that's
what we've been studying here in this chapter. The book of
Genesis is just that. It's the book of beginnings,
the book of firsts. In this book we find the first
man, the first woman, the first family, the first sin, the first
murder, the first adultery. Everything here has its beginning
in this book. And here are two brothers, probably
twins. We looked at that just a little
last week. And they were born exactly alike,
but they turned out to be extremely different. As different as daylight
and dark. And that's what we want to look
at this evening, the difference in these two brothers. Now let's
read it here, beginning in verse 1. And Adam knew Eve his wife,
and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, I have gotten a man
from the Lord. And she again bore his brother
Abel, and Abel was a keeper of the sheep, but Cain was a killer
of the ground. And in the process of time it
came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground that
offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also brought of the
first ones of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord
had respect unto Abel and to his off'ring, but unto Cain and
to his off'ring he had no respect. And Cain was very wroth, and
his countenance failed. And the Lord said unto Cain,
Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou
doest well, shall thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not
well, see him lying at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him. And 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 slew him. And
the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said,
I know not. Am I my brother's keeper? And
he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood
crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from
the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's
blood at thy hand. When thou killest the ground,
it shall on henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive
and a vagabond shall thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto
the Lord, Thy punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou
hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from
thy face shall I be hid. And I shall be a fugitive and
a vagabond in the earth, and it shall come to pass that every
one that findeth me shall slay me. And the Lord said unto him,
Bear for whosoever sleth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him
sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon
Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. And Cain went out from
the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod on the
east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she
conceived in Ber Enoch. And he built a city, and called
the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch. Now, I think it's very telling
here concerning these two brothers, how quickly, as we look at them,
how quickly that sin spread. Immediately, we see sin spread. If it had been eight generations
or three or four generations removed from the sin of our first
parents, Then we could have thought, well, sin is beginning to show
itself. But sin spread immediately to
this firstborn son of Adam and Eve. And it's amazing how quickly
that it happened. The firstborn son slew his brother. And you think of all the world
they had to roam in and enjoy. You know, this wasn't inner city
life on the hot streets and temptations like we hear today, but this
was a world wide open to go wherever they wanted to, to enjoy, but
yet one brother kills another brother. And that shows us how
quickly and how thoroughly sin had spread into this man. I think sometimes we go, well,
I know, there's no thinking about it, I know, brothers and sisters,
the greatest blessing in this world is to be saved from sin
and the consequences of sin. Genesis 4 teaches us a Bible
lesson. And that one lesson is this,
the sin of Adam. had an immediate and drastic
impact upon Adam's prosperity. Now, it didn't take long, did
it? It didn't take eight or ten generations. It had an immediate
impact upon Adam's prosperity. Immediately. His firstborn son. Immediately. We sometimes hear
people say, you know, man is getting worse all the time. But
you know that's not true. Man is not a creature who is
falling. He's a creature who has fallen. He's not getting any worse. I
know sometimes we look at man and say, it appears that he is,
but it only appears that way as God removes His hand to restrain
man from sin. Men are no worse now than they
were back then. Sin didn't gradually enter and
continue to spread through man's heart. Here was the firstborn
son, and what does he do? He is depraved spiritually. He hates God. He lies to God. He insults God to his face. He's depraved morally. He kills
his brother, the only brother in this world. That's how quickly
sin spread in this world. We've heard people talking. I've
got loved ones and relatives, and you have too, that believe
this silly thing of an age of accountability. that kids are
born into the world and they reach a certain age of 10 or
12 or 14, and then they become sinners by choosing to sin. I was telling a little earlier,
just the other day, and it's amazing to me if that is true. Why somebody somewhere, when
they reach that age of accountability, that they would choose not to
sin and become sinners. Surely somebody, somewhere would
say, I'm not going to sin. I'm without sin now, I was born
without sin, and I'm not going to sin and become a sinner. But
do you know one person that ever made that choice? Everybody is
sinners, aren't they? And you know why we're all sinners?
By one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. I think old
Bob Dylan, the old rock singer or whatever type of singer he
is, I hesitate to quote him, but Paul quoted a Cretan poet,
an ungodly poet, so I guess I can quote Bob Dylan, but I think
he had more understanding and a more correct theology than
a lot of preachers have. He wrote and sang that song,
Blinded by the Devil, Born already ruined, cold, stone, dead, as
I stepped out of the womb. Men are born sinners. And that's
what we see in this man. He didn't take a generation for
sin to begin to creep out. It spread immediately. It was
immediate. And then something else we see.
It was a drastic thing. It was drastic. You don't know
how drastic it is. Hold our text here, and look
over here with me in two places. Look in Luke's Gospel chapter
3, and look in 1 John chapter 3. How drastic was the change. How drastic was the fall. How
far did man fall? We've seen that Adam was created
upright, that he was a holy man, a man after God's own heart.
Until he fell. How drastic was that fall? We
say it was immediate. But how drastic was it? Did man just stub his toe when
he fell? Did he just get sick when he
fell? But look here in Luke's Gospel chapter 3 concerning the
genealogies. Luke begins with Joseph, the
one that was supposed to be the father of Jesus as he was born
in this world. And he takes the genealogies
all the way back to Adam. And look at Luke chapter 3 and
verse 38. Look at this. Luke chapter 3
verse 38. which was the son of Enos, which
was the son of Seth, that was Adam's third born, which was
the son of Adam, which was the son of God. He was the son of
God. But now look at his first born
over in 1 John chapter 3 and look in verse 11 and verse 12.
Adam was a child of God. He sinned, he failed, he had
a son, his firstborn, and look here what was said of the firstborn.
Look at verse 11, 1 John 3. This is the message that we've
heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not
as Cain, who was of that wicked one. Here we have the dad. He was a child of God. He sinned
and he failed. He had a son. And what was he? Was he a child of God? Well,
no. He was a child of the wicked
one. He was of the devil. Now, unless people think the
devil and God have something in common, I would think that
was a drastic fall on you. Go from being a child of God
to having children who were sons of the devil? Of the wicked one? That's a drastic change, isn't
it? That's a drastic fall. That goes in our text, in Genesis
chapter 4. So the fall of humanity was immediate
and it was drastic. We lost everything that was good.
We gained everything that was evil. We see the evidence of
it here in this firstborn son. This firstborn son. Depravity. Depravity. Now one asks this. One asks this. Cain was a child
of the wicked one. The scripture says that. But
what about Abel? What about Abel? Abel was said
to be a righteous man. The Lord Jesus called him righteous
Abel. He was said to do good. His works
were righteous. John tells us that. Why then, if you believe that
he was born that way, at first, why would he have brought a blood
sacrifice? Somebody said there was a difference between them
by nature because the scripture says Abel was a righteous man
and did righteous deeds. He was not that at first. He
wasn't born that way. If he had been born good and
he lived good, why would he have brought a blood sacrifice and
placed it between himself and God? He would have had no need
of a sacrifice. He was not righteous when he
was born, he was just like his brother. They were both born
of fallen parents. If he was not a sinner, why did
he confess his sins by bringing a sacrifice? Abel was a righteous
man, yes, but like Abraham, and David, and Paul, and a multitude
of other people, he was righteous by faith in the Son of God. That's the way he was righteous.
Hebrews 11 verse 4 tells us this, by faith Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice. By faith he offered, by faith. And there's the way he was righteous,
by faith. He believed God, that God would
accept him and wash him and make him righteous through a sacrifice. So he brought these animals,
placed those animals between himself and his God, and he was
declared to be righteous. And we find this righteousness
all through the Word of God. Listen to Romans chapter 4 verse
5 and 6. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his fame is counted
for righteousness. Abel had faith, and through faith
he was counted righteous. He wasn't righteous when he was
born. He was just like his sorry brother. But he obtained this
righteousness, the same righteousness Paul had when he said, I long
to be found in Christ. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that righteousness which is of God
by faith. by faith in Jesus Christ. We
conclude that a man is justified by faith and counted righteous
by faith without doing anything but believe. That's the faith
that he has. By faith he offers. Scripture
proves everywhere that there is no difference in any man by
nature. All of us have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no,
not one. Then how could it be said by
the Holy Spirit that Abel was a righteous man? Because he was
made what he was not before. He was made righteous. He was
born a fallen sinner. Just like his brother, and he
was made righteous through faith in a substitute, in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now that's important. That's
important to know that. You and I look at these two brothers,
and they're grown men, and it's obvious there's a difference
in them. That's obvious. Unto one it said he was a righteous
man who did righteous works. The other one was called a wicked
man who did evil works. One approached him to God, he
was accepted, his offering was accepted. The other approached
him to God with his offering, and he and his offering was rejected. There is a difference between
these two men. But what made the difference?
What made the difference? Now we know what free will tells
us. Free will says they made the difference. Free Wilson said
the merit of Abel made the difference. The power of Abel made the difference. He changed himself and he made
the difference. What does the Scripture say?
What does the Word of God say? Let's turn over and read. Let's
turn over and read. You'll just have to hold Genesis
forward there for a minute. I want you to turn over here
and read this in 1 Corinthians. If there was no difference in
these young men by nature, and yet we see a definite difference
in them as grown men. Drastic difference. What brought
about this difference? Look over here in 1 Corinthians
3. Look here in verse 7. Look in verse 3. Go all the way
back up to verse 3. Are you not carnal, for whereas
there is among you envy and strife and division? Are you not carnal
and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of
Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? Who then
is Paul? And who is Apollos, but ministers
by whom ye believe, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have
planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then, neither is he that planteth
anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase."
Well, these were great men. Paul was an apostle. Apollos
was an eloquent speaker, used mightily of the Lord, filled
with the Holy Spirit. But Paul said, we're nothing.
Now look over here in chapter 4, in verse 7. Look in verse
7. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? What hast thou? that thou didst
not receive? You got anything that's good,
that's godly, that's wholesome, but what you receive from? You
didn't come into this world with it, did you? You didn't work
it up? You didn't marriage it? You don't deserve it? What have
you that's worth having, that God will excel, but what you
receive from heaven? A man can receive nothing except
it be given to him from heaven. All we have by nature, dear brothers
and sisters, is our sin. That's the only thing that's
original with us. Everything that's good and acceptable
to God, it comes down from God. We received it of Him. Ain't
that what the apostles were telling us here? Now if thou didst receive
it, why dost thou glory as though thou hast not received it? Don't the Scripture teach us that the Lord put the difference
between us? And that we should learn from
these Scriptures and learn by experiencing it too, to ascribe
all the glory to the Lord for our salvation. Ain't that what
he's teaching us here? Peter said it this way. He said,
you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a peculiar people that you should show forth His praises, who called
you out of darkness unto His marvelous light. Some of you
here this morning, I've reminded you of this many times. You love
God. You enjoy Jesus Christ. You enjoy
the fellowship of His people. You enjoy His Word. But not everybody's
like that. The greatest burden to some people's
heart is to come here and say it, and listen to the songs of
Zion, and hear the message preached. You shut some people up in their
living room with nothing but a Bible and their knees to get
on and pray and then go start raping crazy. But you enjoy the
Lord, don't you? What's the difference between
you and those people? There's a vast difference. Who
made that difference? Who made the difference? The
Lord put the difference in us. He began the work. He made the
difference. You came to Him, you enjoy Him,
you follow Him while others make their wretched choices and go
on deceived by sin and die in their sin. And the difference
is God. The difference is God. Cain and Abel were identical
by nature. Both fallen. Born to fallen parents. The vast difference became evident
in these two men. What was the cause? What was
the essential cause? God. God. Now, secondly, secondly, God
was the essential cause, the gracious cause. What was the
instrumental cause? I don't know what the theologians
would call this. I've heard them say, but I forget. I forget what they call these
things. They've got all this systematic
stuff laid out, and it's so good, and you read it and you say,
man, why can't I say that like that? And you write it down,
you think you've got it in your head, and you forget it. So I just have to make up my
own words as I go. What's the instrumental cause?
There was something, I mean, that they actually did that made
a difference between those two brothers. There was something
that Abel did that distinguished him from his brother. That's
what I call the instrumental cause. Let me explain it this
way. These two brothers were told
of God. by their parents. That God, though
He was holy, and His eyes could not look upon any iniquity to
justify it, He was glorious in holiness. But this God, this
glorious God, could be approached unto that He could be worshipped
and enjoyed through this means, through the means of a sacrifice.
Now they were told that. If you bring a sacrifice, a blood
sacrifice, and present it to this God, then He will accept
you. You know something? Abel heard
that and he believed it. He believed it. And he went to
his flock and he said, this represents my Redeemer. Here's my firstborn
sheep. And this represents the coming
of the Son of God to take away my sins, to reconcile me to God. And this is what God requires
of me now. So he went in his flock by faith
and picked out those firstborn, and he took that and placed it
between his guilt and the holiness of God. And he was accepted. He did that by faith. He believed
what he was told. You say, Bruce, how do you know
that? Because the Scripture says by faith. He offered them to
God. Well, how did he get faith? Faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. His parents
were the only two around that I know. They told him. And he
listened, and he took heed, and he put into practice what he
heard. What he heard. Abel heard that
this guilty sinner could be accepted through a sacrifice, and he believed
that, and he put it into practice. Cain refused the testimony not
only of his parents, but the testimony to his conscience of
God Himself, and then refused and rejected. He hardened his
heart. And the final consequence is
what? He died in his sins. Now that's what I call an instrumental
cause. One heard, one believed what he heard, and he put it
into practice. One heard, he refused the testimony,
he would not believe, and he was rejected and died in his
sins. That's the difference in these
two men. Look over here in 1 Thessalonians,
where? Just right on to your reality, you're still very corrected.
Look at this. 1 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1. 2
Thessalonians. If somebody asks me, If somebody come up and ask me,
it don't happen to me very much. I mean, I can probably, in the
last several years, I can count them on one hand, the time somebody
has asked me this question. Most important question a man
could ask. And nobody's asking it in our day. Because everybody's
got it figured out, I guess. Everybody already knows. How
can a man, how can I be saved? How can I be saved? And somebody came up and asked
me that question. You know what my answer at this
time would be. Hear God's word and believe it. Hear the testimony of God's word
and believe it. Hear the gospel of God and believe
it. That's how men are saved. Now
look here what he said in 1 Thessalonians, and look at the difference in
these men, and look what made the difference. Look here in
verse 7. Look in verse 7. To you who are troubled, rest
with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with His mighty angels in flame and fire, taking vengeance on
them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ. who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory
of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints,
and to be admired of all them that believe. Look at this. Because
our testimony among you was believed in that day. What made the difference
in these men? Some were going to be destroyed.
Some are going to be saved. What made the difference? Paul
said, our testimony was believed by Him. I'll be honest with you
this morning, I'm not the same person I used to be. I'm not
the person I used to be. Aren't you the man you used to
be? In the vowel portion of you, your heart is not what you used
to be. My understanding is not what
it used to be. What I know now is different
from what I used to know. What I believe now is different
from what I used to believe. My affections are different than
they used to be. Aren't yours? What you love,
you used to hate. What you hate, you used to love.
Your affections have changed. Your will is bent in a different
direction. Is it not so? That which used
to give you pleasure is now a grief to you. The things you used to
didn't even understand is now your chief delight. And what
brought this about? You know what brought this about.
And you know why this change continues to deepen? Hopefully,
not as much as we desire, But you know what brings this change
about, and you know what makes this change deep and within us?
Hearing God's Word and believing it. Hearing God's Word and believing
it. That's what made the difference
between these two brothers. One of them heard the testimony,
and he believed what he heard, and he put it into practice.
And look what a difference it made in him and in his brother.
Brothers and sisters, there's only one thing that will change
you, man. There's only one thing that will separate you from your
sin and this world, and that's hearing the Word of God and believing. Now that's getting right down
to where the rubber meets the road there. Getting everything
else out of the way. What must I do to be saved? If
you want to be saved, hear the Gospel. Hear the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ and believe it in your heart. You'll see
a change. You'll see a change. What was the difference of these
two men? One of them heard and he believed and he put it into
practice. Now let's consider the rest of
this chapter. Now you can turn back over to
my text. Let's consider some things here about Cain because
most of the rest of this chapter is concerning him. Let's look
at some of these things in the light of what I've just said,
the difference between Cain and Abel was. Notice the instructions
the Lord gave him here. Notice the instructions. And
as we see this, we realize the importance of hearing and obeying. Hearing and believing. Here's
the instructions that the Lord gave Cain in verse 7. If thou
do us well, Shall thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not
well, sin lieth at the door, and to thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him. Now here's why this was so important. You say these men were different?
Yes they were. There came a time when the difference was seen,
and the difference, the instrumental difference, the essential cause
of it was God. The instrumental cause was able
to hear Him and believe in what He heard. He put it into practice.
And here's the importance, brothers and sisters, between these two
men. Let me paraphrase verse 17. Everybody else is doing it,
I might as well too. If you will do what you've been
told. Now here's what the Lord is saying
to Cain. If you'll do what you've been
told to do, believe Me, and approach unto Me by a blood sacrifice,
as your parents have told you to do, and as you've seen Abel,
your brother, do, you will be accepted. If you'll do what I'm
instructing you to do, what your parents told you to do, what
Abel did, you shall be accepted. If you don't do this, then sin,
like a hungry lion, is crouched down right next to your door. He's there going to spring upon
you and devour you. But if you'll receive my instruction,
sin will be forced to submit to you, and you shall rule over
him. It's sin's desire to rule, but
you will get the better of it, if you'll obey my instruction,
if you'll believe what you've been told. Sin will not have
dominion over you. You'll have dominion over it.
If you'll but hear my instruction. Now that's what he was saying.
That's what he was saying. The only way for Cain to escape
sin's dominion was by obeying the word of the Lord. Now ain't that New Testament
doctrine? That's New Testament doctrine.
The scripture says this. Ye were the servants of sin,
but ye obeyed from the heart. That's part of the doctrine that
was delivered to you. The gospel that you heard. And
then, upon believing it, you were then made free from sin. Free from sin's penalty. Free
from sin's dominion. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. You're not under the law. You're
under grace. You're under grace. The Lord
said this to the Jews, a very familiar verse. He said, if you
continue in my word, then are you my disciples. If you hear
my word and you believe it, you are my disciples. And you shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Free from
what? Sin's dominion. Sin's dominion. How important
was it that Cain obeyed the instructions that had been given to him? Believe
what he was told. It was a matter of life and death.
How important is it, brothers and sisters, this morning, that
men hear the gospel and obey the Lord Jesus Christ? It's a
matter of life and death, ain't it? He's become the author of
eternal salvation to who? Those who obey Him. Those who
obey Him. This was the difference between
Cain and Abel. And it was a gracious difference
because God was the cause of it. But we have to look at this
instrumental cause too. And here was the difference.
Abel heard, he believed, and he put it into practice. Cain
refused and rebelled what he was taught. How important was
it to receive this instruction? Cain, if you'll listen, And you'll
bring an offering of blood by faith, and you'll be accepted,
and you'll rule over your sins. But if you don't, your sins are
going to pounce on you, they're going to overcome you, they're
going to destroy you. And what happened? What happened?
Well, look in verse 8. And 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 he slew him. I imagine this happens all the
time. Somebody receives instructions. They know, and when I'm talking
about the Lord speaking to people, I'm just talking about He makes
people to understand. Ain't nobody hearing the voice
of the Lord today. The Lord's speaking in His Word.
But when He makes a man to understand, When he hears the truth and he
makes him to understand. And he willingly rejects those
instructions. That's the most dangerous thing
a man ever did in his life. You look at this man here. You
can just about put a mark here. When the Lord told him, you receive
my instruction. You do what you know to do because
I'm telling you and your parents have told you. And you come the
proper way to me. And you'll be accepted. And boy,
when he refused against that, he rebelled against that, you
can almost put a mark right in there. Right here is where the
place where you saw this man begin to head downhill. You can
go put your finger on it. Right here. When he willingly
refused and rebelled against the truth, that's where he started
a downhill slide from which he never recovered. He never recovered. Here's what Solomon said about
instruction. He is in the way of life that
keeps instruction, but he that refuses will err. That's what he did, wasn't it? He that refuses instructions,
hateth his own soul. He said, receive instructions.
Cling to her. Keep her, for she is thy life. He speaks to her as a man that
has a woman that he loves. It's his lover. He's in love
with her. And he says, cleave to her. Instructions
is our lover, brothers and sisters. It's the way of life. Don't let
it go. When the Lord tells us to do
it, His Word, do it. When He tells us to understand
it, understand it. When He tells us to believe it,
believe it. Obey Him. Those who hear and obey the Lord
will be delivered from sin's dominion. Now you bet on that. You just bet on that. You obey
the Lord, trust and obey, there's no other way. And sin will not
have dominion over you. Now that's the promise of the
Lord. But those who refuse and reveal will not take heed to
instruction. Sin will overpower them. It will
harden their heart. And it will destroy your life.
It will. We've got an example of that.
Now look in verse 9. Look in verse 9. This is so fearful. And the Lord said unto Cain,
Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am I
my brother's keeper? Boy, look at this. See how he's
going downhill? His attitude towards his brother.
He hated him. Killed him. And now look at his
irreverent attitude towards God. Lied to him. Right in his face
he lied to him. I don't know where he is. Yes,
you know. God knows it and you know it. You know where He is.
Look at his hateful attitude. His spiteful, insulting attitude.
Am I my brother's keeper? I thought you was God. I thought
you was keeping Him. He's your child after all, ain't
He? You love Him, don't you? Why don't you keep Him? Why are
you asking me about Him for? What an insult. How he goes downhill. And you can go right back and
put the mark there where he started downhill, can't you? Refusing
instruction. There's men who have so forgotten
God to sin against Him that can sin against Him as easy as you
and I can breathe. Boy, this is amazing when you
can stand right in God's face and you know He's there and lie
to Him. And so, that's a hard heartache.
That's a hard heart. Brothers and sisters, you and
I ought to take heed to this. Beware of sin. Well, we've gone
a long way if we can sin and lie to God about it. And when
He confronts us, insult Him by not confessing our sin. Sin is
a dangerous thing. That's why I said at the beginning,
the greatest blessing in this world is to be saved from sin
and its consequences. And I'll remind you again this
morning, this was the five or six generations down the road.
This was the first one. This was Adam and Eve's firstborn.
Here's how quickly sin spread. The very first man that was born
into this world was so depraved he shed innocent blood. He was
so depraved there was no fear of God before his eyes. It didn't
take ten generations for men to become depraved and born. Cain was born in sin? Yes he
was. He was a sinner by deed? Yes
he was. And he made himself a worse sinner and drove himself beyond
hope of any mercy. That's a fearful thing. That's
a fearful thing. Now, he says in verse 10, art
thou cursed from the earth. Was he cursed before? He was
under the curse. He was under the broken law,
sure he was under the curse. But this is a peculiar curse.
This is a particular, dreadful, drastic judgment that God pronounced
upon this man. It's almost unbearable to him.
He said, my punishment is greater than I can bear. And it had to
do with two things. One thing was natural. When you
plant seeds, they're not even going to germinate. They're not
going to grow. If somebody don't take care of
you and raise a garden for you, you're going to starve to death.
They couldn't eat meat at that time. Wouldn't it be awful to
go through this world and nature be against you? The earth hates
you and just trying to spew you out? Just being a burden to earth?
And you know basically that's what fallen man is, ain't he?
He's just a burden to this world. This creation didn't sin. The
earth was cursed because of our sin. And it exists today under
this awful burden, and I think there's a time it would spew
every one of us out, if God didn't love us, and make it bear the
weight. This earth is under an awful,
awful burden. Bearing of sin, the sin of humanity. Can you imagine the blood that's
being spilled over there in the east? That place is running red
with blood. And this earth is having to soak
it up. One river there in Dhorfar where they had all the slaughter,
went in and slaughtered their own people. They said that river
of Dhorfar was running red with blood. A huge, deep river, and
it was red with blood. The water was having to bear
the murderous deeds of sinful man. And it's under murder. And
it's longing just to spew us out. God didn't make it a pulpit. Burrows fruit and food to live
in. But here is the greatest curse
that God put upon man, here in verse 14. You've driven me out
this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall
I be healed. In verse 16, and Cain went out
from the presence of the Lord. He left his presence, and the
Lord hid his face. There are people no doubt living
in this world today, yet their destruction is already sealed. Their destiny is already fixed. God will never visit them with
His gracious presence. Never visit them. God will never
allow mercy to be preached to their hearts. He will never encourage
them to hope. They cannot repent. They cannot
believe. Their hearts will never be softened.
Their hearts will never be tendered because the Holy Spirit who does
this work will never visit them. Now that's a frightful place
to be, brother and sister. to live in this world and know
you're going to live in year 10 or 20 or 50 years longer,
but yet your destiny has already been sealed and fixed by your
sin and rebellion. That's an awful thing. This man
did it. Judas did it. And I imagine a
whole host of other people did it by their sin. They send themselves
away and out of any hope of mercy. And they wander in this world
like Cain did, with a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery
indignation. You know what you and I should
be careful? We've all thought this. We've
all thought this. How often have we thought, that's
a lost person, that's an unbeliever, and it doesn't matter what they
do. It don't matter what they've
just gone and sinned, it don't matter. Ain't that an awful thought? Someday maybe they'll hear the
gospel and they'll believe it and be saved from all that mess,
but until then it just doesn't matter what they do. You know
what the scripture tells us in Colossians 3 and Ephesians 4? You know why the wrath of God
comes upon the children of this beast? He lists some sins doesn't
he? Paul said, don't you even mention
fornication. in adultery and idolatry and
uncleanness and all that. He said, for this reason, for
this cause, the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience. The justice of God, the wrath
of God, is calling for the overthrow of a lost man anyway. Damn that
man. Cast him out of the world. He's
an ungodly man. He's sinning freely. He sets
his mouth towards heaven and uses God's name in vain. He withdraws
his fellow man. He don't deserve to live a day
longer. And yet the Lord says, let him live another day. Let
him live another year. Then that man comes up with his
presumptuous heart. And said, I'm going off to do
this sin, or I'm going off to do that sin. And God said, that's
enough. That's enough. Cut him off. Cut him down and send him into
hell. Now that happens, doesn't it? It happened to this man. He reached
a place where the Lord said, that's enough. Seal his doom. He's without hold. It makes a
difference how lost people live. They're bad enough, the best
they can do. That's why I think we've become
a land, old Barnabas used to say, of sudden death. Look at
the people dying suddenly. You see teenagers out in their
cars, at parties, dying for the multitude. You know what the
scripture says about that? He that hardens his neck, He
that will not receive instructions, he that goes presumptuously on
and harness his heart shall suddenly be destroyed. And that without
me. It does make a difference. It
does make a difference. I tell you when a lost person
sees that it makes a difference. You know the first thing he does?
I got to get out of this city and walk. God may kill me. I
can't see Him anymore. God may kill me. How far a man can fall makes
me tremble to think of it. Here was a man who was taught
by his parents as a young child. And oh, they probably thought,
we got hope for him. We got hope for him. He brings
that offering unto the Lord. Though the Lord rejects it, the
Lord gives him instruction. There's still hope. There's still
hope for him. And then he kills his brother.
And then he lies to God. He insults God. And then he seals
his eternal damnation. And then he wanders hopelessly
under a sense of his sin and his guilt. And finally he dies. How poor men can fall. I've seen
it to the breaking of my heart. And you have too. See somebody
that you've got such hope for and they seem to understand.
They seem to be headed in the right direction. They're coming
to the worship service, they're reading the scripture, and boy,
all of a sudden they start down hill and just ain't long, and
you say, my, look how they've fallen. Lost their families,
lost their jobs, lost their health, lost everything! Lost everything. Don't play around with the things
of God. You may provoke Him to anger and seal your eternal debt.
Boy, you're still there. This is serious, ain't it? This
is serious business. And closing, let me say this
in closing. This is changing gears just a little bit. But
he said there in verse 17 of chapter 4, And Cain knew his
wife, and she conceived. Well, sin affects everybody,
doesn't it? Sin affects everybody. You say, Bruce, what do you mean?
What about Cain's wife? What about his wife? Probably
his sister. Close relative. Niece. Great
niece. That would be a close relative,
didn't it? Probably his sister. Why in the world would she have
married a man like this? Why would she have married a
man like this? He said, well, she married him
before she realized what he was. Maybe so. Maybe so. That may
have been right. Let me say this to each of us.
And I told some of you the other day, the next couple I marry,
the next couple I marry is going to sit and hear some good lectures
from your Spirit. They're going to hear some good
lectures from your Spirit. If you're seeking a wife or you're
seeking a husband, and you've got any concern about your soul
at all, then you better be careful who you marry. If you've got any potential concern
about yourself. If you say, Bruce, I'm not even
a converted person. But I hope to be. Well, your
heart's telling you that. That's a false hope. But let's
say that's so. That you say, things are going
to change with me soon. I'm going to seek the Lord. Well, if that's so, let's suppose
that's so. There's some potential then for someday you to enjoy
the things of the Lord, enjoy His gospel. If that's so, you
better be careful who you marry. If that young girl or that young
boy has no intentions of ever enjoying the things of the Lord,
they have no desire for the things of the Lord, their destiny may
be sealed. You want to spend the rest of
your life with somebody like that? If you want prayer to be
had in your home, if you want the Bible to be read in your
house, and you want some major peace there in your home, gospel
peace, you better watch who you marry. You better watch who you marry.
You think Cain helped this woman towards heaven? You think if this woman had any
interest in the Lord, that Cain helped her in that interest?
He was cursed of God himself. He hated the Lord. He couldn't
help nobody, not even himself. Would you have liked to have
been a believing woman and lived with this man? People have, you
know. People have, you know. I'll tell you something else
about this man and his descendants. Every one of them was destroyed.
You read about him here and his children going out building this
big city, and name after the name of his son, and that's the
last time you hear of Cain and his descendants. You know what
happened to them? Every one of them was killed
in the flood. There is no descendants of Cain around today. They were
all destroyed in the flood. Seven. And Noah came out of him
and his sons-in-laws involved. A new lineage started. If you've
got any concern about your poor soul, watch who you marry. Why did Adam and Eve let it happen?
Nothing is said in here about Adam and Eve, mom and dad. You
think they tried to intervene? You think they tried to encourage
her? Well, they may have. They may have. But there comes
a time when Dad and Mom have said everything they could say
and do everything they could do. The decision is up to the
individual. That's why I'm saying how serious
it is. There's only so much Mom and Dad can do. Then they have
to step back. Ain't that so? I dare not tell
my son or my daughter who they can marry. I can encourage them
to do it or not to do it, but the decision is left up to them. You've got to make that for yourself.
And oh, what an awesome decision it is. Sin came into this world, brothers
and sisters, and it brought upon us these serious and eternal
consequences. Dreadful consequences. Fearful
consequences. Here's these two men. Here's
these two men. And yes, they turned out to be
different. And the consequences were great.
There is but one Savior. There is but one deliverance.
There is but one hope. And that's in Him. And I hope
today this message has encouraged you to cleave to Him with all
your heart, every day, moment by moment, minute by minute. Hear His voice and listen to
Him. Keep a tender heart towards Him,
a tender heart towards sin, and cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ. With purpose in your heart, I'm
going to be saved by Him. I'm letting go of this world,
I'm letting go of the things of this world, I'm letting go
of myself, my sin, and I'm cleaving to the Lord Jesus Christ. With
this purpose, I'm going to be saved by Him. I'm going to be
saved by Him. May God help us to have that
attitude. Let's pray.