Transcript
On the once bloody battlefield at Saratoga there stands a towering obelisk. A 150 foot high monument commemorates the decisive victory of the Americans over the British in the Saratoga campaign of the American Revolutionary War.
It is a solemn and sober moment as visitors stand on that windswept hill, savoring that slice of national history.
In the distance are the stately Adirondacks and the Taconics. The monument gives mute testimony to those heroes of yesteryear who refused to bow the knee to England.
About its base are four deep niches, and in each niche appears the name of one of the American generals who commanded there. Above the names stand giant bronze figures on horseback, as famous today as in the day they shouted their commands.
You can almost hear their voices. In the first stands Horatio Gates, in the second, Philip John Schuyler; and in the third, Daniel Morgan.
But the niche on the fourth side is strangely vacant. The name appears, but the soldier is absent. Conspicuously absent.
As one reads the name, the mind rushes on to the foggy banks of the Hudson where the man sold his soul and forfeited the right to be remembered.
The brigadier general who once commanded West Point, the major general who distinguished himself at battles along Lake Champlain, Mohawk Valley, Quebec, and Saratoga, committed treason and died a synonym of disgrace.
The infamous Benedict Arnold. As Clarence Macartney once put it so eloquently, “The empty niche in that monument shall ever stand for fallen manhood, power prostituted, for genius soiled, for faithlessness to a sacred trust.”
This is a good description of Cain as well. He stands as a picture of fallen manhood, a synonym of disgrace, as he betrayed his brother and his trust and murdered him.
As Benedict Arnold’s name was forever ruined and immediately evokes thoughts of treason and betrayal, so Cain’s name immediately evokes thoughts of murder.
Murder is the fruit of a heart problem we all share. It is the byproduct of our selfish, sinful, Adamic nature which came to all mankind as a result of the fall.
The first homicide occurs immediately on the heels of Genesis 3 and the account of the fall. Thus we learn that because of sin, mankind became spiritually polluted, inwardly corrupt, and murderers at heart.
The mass shootings that keep taking place in the United States are a reminder that we live in a world of spiritual darkness and sin. Our hearts break at the grief and pain caused by these unspeakable acts.
Many point the finger at who is to blame, but they point everywhere except the right place. The problem is ourselves; it is sin and the wicked heart of mankind. Sin is the problem. Christ is the Answer. These tragic mass shootings are a reminder to the Church how desperately the United States of America needs the gospel of the grace of God.
Genesis 4:1-2: “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.”
Adam was created by God from the dust of the ground. Eve was created from the rib of Adam. Cain was the first person born into the world.
And Cain was the first unbeliever. Thus, he is the prototype of the lost sinner. And from Cain we learn about characteristics of all unbelievers that have followed him.
The story begins with a hopeful beginning. All who are born have hopeful beginnings.
Eve conceived and bore Cain, and in joy she says, “I have gotten a man from the Lord.” Cain means “gotten.” She named him after her exclamation after he was born that she had “GOTTEN a man from the Lord.”
My father, Pastor Paul Sadler, who is now with the Lord, always pointed out when he taught this passage that the “a man” in verse 1 is better understood as “THE man”: “I have gotten THE man from the Lord.”
The Lord had made a promise to the devil in Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise [crush] thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
The seed of the woman would bruise and crush the head of the serpent that had led Eve and her husband into sin and therefore the whole human race into sin. Eve thought she’d given birth to “the man” who would be the fulfillment of that prophecy.
The wicked, deadly serpent, who had led the human race into sin, needed to be destroyed. And God said there would come a seed out of the woman who would do just that. And she believed this was that fulfillment in her son, that this child was going to be the Deliverer, the one promised to defeat Satan. But as we know, of course, Cain was not the fulfillment.
The seed of the woman that would come to destroy Satan was the Lord Jesus Christ, thousands of years later, through her son Seth, and He would crush Satan by the Cross.
In the goodness of the Lord, according to Verse 2, Eve gave birth again to Abel. It was blessing upon blessing. In the first two sons of Adam and Eve we have illustrated for us the twofold division of humanity from that point on between believers and unbelievers.
We learn more about Cain and Abel in v. 2. Abel was a shepherd and took care of animals. Cain was a farmer and took care of the crops. Adam and Eve had two boys and they went into two different areas of responsibility necessary for life.
Genesis 4:3-5: “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering.
“But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.”
The “in the process of time” allows for a considerable amount of time to have passed for the world’s population to increase at that time, and explains Cain’s fears later about people finding him and wanting to kill him.
We know Cain and Abel’s noble professions, and here we learn about their worship, belief system and faith. We find that Abel’s worship was acceptable to God and Cain’s was flawed and not acceptable to God.
A characteristic of the unbelieving is that they offer unacceptable worship. Often, it is not that people are non-religious, it is that they offer unacceptable worship.
Cain and Abel boil it down to the bottom line: you either worship the true God in the true way, or you have a false worship that is rejected by God.
Cain was a worshipper. And he even worshipped the true God, the God he knew to be the Creator God. But he worshipped Him in a false and mistaken way.
Not recorded in Genesis, but there was a time when Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel were instructed that sinful mankind could worship Him only on the basis of a blood sacrifice.
There had already been a demonstration of this. There had been the death of an animal to cover the sinner back in 3:21, when the Lord shed its blood to provide the covering of clothes and the covering of Adam and Eve’s shame brought on by sin.
Animal sacrifice then became the basis for their worship of God.
But then we find two responses to the Word of God: rejection and obedience. Cain rejected the revelation of a blood sacrifice and came with a bloodless offering of fruits and vegetables. Abel trusted and obeyed God’s instruction and offered a slain animal.
We can be sure that Adam and Eve must have instructed them of the dangers of disobedience to God’s clear instruction, and of the judgment, destruction and curses that came with it. They learned this from personal experience!
But like now, each child must make their own personal decision to trust the Lord or to not trust Him.
Verse 3 makes no statement about the nature of the fruit of the ground he brought. It doesn’t say he brought the first or the best, but just something grown from the ground, and most importantly that he didn’t bring the required animal sacrifice.
His offering is a self righteous one. He brings the fruit of his own efforts, what he had worked hard to produce out of the ground. It was an offering of his achievements.
Though they didn’t know all this then, we see in this that there is a principle of only two ways you can approach God: you approach God without death or blood, offering Him what you’ve achieved, your efforts, or your good works, based on your righteousness.
Or you approach God trusting and obeying Him when He says that death and shed blood is necessary, that an innocent substitute has to die in your place, and when you do that by faith, God gives you His righteousness.
Abel, according to Hebrews 11:4, because he brought a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, a blood sacrifice, “he obtained witness that he was righteous.”
Today, we trust the sacrifice of Christ and His shed blood, that we have an innocent Substitute who died in our place for our sins, and when we trust Him for our salvation, God gives us the very righteousness of Christ and we are saved.
Here is the first example of false religion, the religion of human achievement, where somebody gives to God what they think is better, what they produced, rejecting the necessity of the death and shed blood that God demands.
Abel by faith brought of the firstlings of his flock. He brought animals, but not just animals, his offering is actually the fattest of the firstlings. He brought the best of the best. The emphasis here is on the quality and character of that offering. You see Abel’s faith in doing so, in realizing a sacrifice to God should be the best.
It’s a picture of what God did in giving us His very best, in giving His Son as the sacrifice for our sins, and this also is why God was well-pleased with Abel’s offering.
Abel did what was right; his was the true expression of worship. “And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering” verse 4 says.
The Lord had “respect” means He accepted it. He had respect for two realities: the inward and the outward. God had regard and respect for Abel, or his heart, his inward faith. God always looks at the heart.
The Lord had respect for Abel and also for his offering, the outward manifestation of his faith, the animal, the fact that he offered what God required. He did what was right by doing what God instructed and what He says must be done for our salvation.
But in Verse 5 it says: “But unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect.” You have the same two realities: inward and outward.
God had no regard or respect for Cain, or his heart, his unbelief. And the Lord had no regard for his offering either, the outward display of his unbelief, the fruit of the ground.
Like Cain with false religion, you do something moral, you do something ceremonial, you achieve something; and you offer that to God as the payment for your salvation, your ticket to heaven. But God rejects it. We must come to God in God’s way.
Verse 5 says Cain “was very wroth and his countenance fell.” In his pride and unbelief, Cain is not sorry that he brought what he brought. He’s not sorry that he didn’t do what his brother did. He’s not sorry about his disobedience to God.
He’s not heartbroken over God’s displeasure. But rather he becomes very angry. He’s angry with his brother and ultimately he’s angry with God for not accepting his offering.
The “very wroth” in the Hebrew implies the idea of inward heat rising up into his face. He got furious. And he was so furious that his countenance fell.
Genesis 4:6-12: And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth 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 from thy hand;
“When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.”
The Lord then speaks directly to Cain. This one-on-one conversation demonstrates God’s mercy and love. God gives him a clear invitation and opportunity to do the right thing, to make the right choice.
In God’s question of why he was angry, God is not seeking information. He knows all. He is prompting dialogue and He is going to the heart of Cain.
He’s trying to cause Cain to take an honest look at himself and at his sinful, unbelieving heart and the reasons for his rage. He tells him if he did the right thing, and obeyed His Word and brought the proper animal sacrifice, his offering would be accepted.
1 Timothy 2:3 teaches that God is a Savior, and He’s trying to save Cain here.
On the other hand, God says in verse 7, “If you do not do well,” or what is right according to what God said to do, “Sin lieth at the door.” This phrase depicts sin as a beast of prey; like a ferocious animal.
If Cain didn’t do what was right and his unbelief and anger continued, sin was crouching at the door like a predatory animal; and it was going attack and rip him apart, shred him to pieces, and destroy his life.
God gave him a choice. He told him, “You can either do what’s right, and I’ll accept your sacrifice; or you can hold on to your unbelief and anger, and sin will destroy you.”
But in his unbelief and rebellion, he rejected God’s warning. Sin desired to rule over him and it mastered Cain and sin did exactly what God said it would do.
In verse 8, Cain spoke with his brother. And the conversation led to a meeting in the field. And while they were in the field, Cain’s pride, resentment, hatred, anger, selfishness went to their limit, and Cain rose up against Abel and killed him.
The word “slew” is a word in the Old Testament used for premeditated, intentional murder, not manslaughter, not an inadvertent, mistaken killing.
1 John 3:12 says of Cain, “Wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.” It was out of jealousy for Abel doing what was right.
This is a murder done out of envy; done out of hatred. This is a murder done because there was a feeling of being inferior to righteous Abel. And his righteousness became intolerable to Cain. For this Cain lured him in and killed him, with vicious hatred.
Often when people reject God’s way to approach Him, they then resent and hate believers.
There never had been a killing of anybody. Cain invented murder. Sin was lying at the door and it was sin in the heart of Cain that led him to kill his brother. Sin is the problem.
Romans 3:10,15,16,18: “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one…Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways…there is no fear of God before their eyes.” This was the way of Cain.
Here were two people: one on the side of God, one on the side of Satan. When Cain was born, Eve thought he might be the one who would crush the serpent’s head. And it turned out that Cain was actually the seed of the serpent.
The Lord asks Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And again, God didn’t need information. He knew what had happened. Cain was no longer near the body. Cain had run. That’s what the guilty sinner does; he flees from his sin and tries to deny it.
“Where is Abel your brother?” God asks, and he replies, “I know not.” One sin led to another. He killed his brother and he lied to cover it up. He won’t acknowledge his sin.
And then he says, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Like, “I don’t have any responsibility for him or his safety when he is not around.” But every person is their brother’s keeper so far as that one should never lay the hand of violence on another to murder them.
Cain denies any knowledge of his brother’s whereabouts, and he rejects any responsibility for his brother’s well being.
Sin has pounced; it turned him into a cold-blooded murderer, and it turned him into a liar. His denial, of course, is absolutely useless. Guilty sinners can deny their sin all they want, and while we may not see it; God sees it all and knows it all.
All unbelieving sinners will eventually wind up standing before God at the Great White Throne Judgment to answer for each and every sin they ever committed.
The Lord asks, “What have you done?” As a parent, you understand this expression when your kids do something really wrong, “What have you done?” Or as a child hearing that, you understand the seriousness of that question.
It’s “How could you have done this?” “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground” the Lord says. God brings in the evidence; and the evidence is the blood of Abel crying to God out of the ground, metaphorically.
Every sin committed rises to God, it cries to God, it reaches God. All sin offends God and is known by Him. God responds to sin in judgment. The blood on the ground of dead Abel cried out to God, demanding divine vengeance.
There are now no more questions. The final verdict is that Cain is guilty. God knew and God saw that Abel’s death was, “from thy hand” (4:11), He tells Cain.
The Lord tells him that the very ground from which he had drawn his self-righteous offering; that same ground that opened its mouth to receive his brother’s blood., that ground which had yielded him the crops would not yield its bounty to him from then on.
He would never be able to survive as a farmer. At the point of his pride and profession, he would never succeed. If he tried to till the ground and plant crops, he’d get absolutely nothing. This was God’s commentary on the offering of Cain. God saw to it Himself that he never was able again to make another self-righteous offering of the fruit of the ground.
God told him in verse 12, “You will be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth.” He’d be a wanderer, a roamer, he would never stop anywhere.
Cain was to be a vagabond; roaming the earth under the sentence of God. This is the pattern for all unbelievers, for the “lost” person: meandering without purpose through life, wandering aimlessly through the world, and under divine judgment.
They are truly lost in this world. Only when we are found, and find Christ and forgiveness and life in Him, do we find meaning and purpose to life.
Cain said to the Lord in verse 13, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.” This isn’t spoken in despair or remorse over what he had done. He’s upset. He felt that this punishment wasn’t fair. This is more than I should have to bear is what he is saying.
Cain complains about the unreasonable burden of God’s sentence in verse 14, that God would drive him out this day from the face of the earth, that from God’s face he would be hid, and that he would be a fugitive and vagabond in the earth.
Cain then whines that whoever found him would try to kill him. The reason being because everyone alive at that time were all closely related to Abel!
For the rest of his life Cain would be known as the killer of Abel and he still is, and Cain feared retaliation and that someone might try to kill him.
But the Lord said that whoever killed Cain, vengeance would be taken on that person sevenfold. And the Lord then set a visible mark on Cain so everyone would know that this was the one who killed Abel, the one who if they killed, they’d receive God’s vengeance.
Cain and Abel, they’re a picture of humanity as a whole and how God views the world: the righteous and unrighteous, believers and unbelievers.
Though Abel died, he still witnesses to us that the life of faith is the life that counts and leaves a legacy. As Hebrews 11:4 says: “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.”