Genesis (10)(Faith is the Victory)
Text: Genesis 4:1-15
By: Ken McKinley
(Read Text)
One day there were three Scotsmen sitting in a pub watching the news and they became concerned with the fact that Iran was, within a short period of time, going to be one of the nuclear powers of the world. So after a bit of digging and searching, the three friends finally found the telephone number of Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , and they gave him a call. Mahmoud answered his phone, “Hello?” And on the other end he heard a voice in a heavy Scottish accent say, “Is this the girl scout cookie who thinks he’s capable of being the leader of a nuclear powered country?”
Ahmadinejad answered, “What? Who is this?”
And the voice on the other end answered, “This is Angus McKee from Scotland. And I just want ye ta’ know that we’re’a be waging war against ye soon.”
Ahmadinejad Said, “Scotland is declaring war on Iran?”
“Nay, notta’ Scotland, we are.”
“And just who exactly are you?” Ahmadinejad asked. The voice on the other end answered and said, “I told ye, I'm Angus McKee. And it would be me, Duncan McCrae, and Robert MacArthur, that are declaring war on ye.”
Ahmadinajad rubbed his chin and said, “You know that Iran has one of the worlds largest armies. We have 10,000 tanks, 5,000 jet fighters, and over 100,000 men?” There was silence on the other end of the line until finally Angus said, “Hold on, we’ll be’a callin’ you back.”
A few days passed and the phone rang again. Angus said, “Alright ye camel ridin’ sand flea. We’ve managed to get ourselves a tractor. What do ye’ think about that?”
Ahmadinejad answered, “Well, I too have increased the size of my army. I have added 500 armored personel carriers and 200 scud missles.” So Angus was quiet for a moment and then said, “I’ll be’a callin’ you back.”
And sure enough, in a couple of days, the phone rang and Angus said, “We’ve added two to our number, Alistair McCoy and Mickey O’Toole – a mad Irishman has joined us.”
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, “Again I have increased my army as well. 5,000 more men have been drafted into service, and we have chemical weapons as well.” Again Angus was quiet for a moment and then said, “I’ll call ye back.”
Then a couple of days later the phone rings, Angus says, “Well ye giant, stinking particle from an Englishman’s nose. We’ve decided not ta’ invade.”
Ahmadinejad asked, “And why is that?” Angus snorted, “Because ye’ oaf, I donn’a think we’d have enough room ta’ house all the prisoners.”
Now despite the willingness of those Scotsmen, that is not reality… we all know it would take at least 5 Scotsman and one mad Irishmen to defeat Iran – (HA!). Seriously though, war is costly. It costs money, it costs resources, and it costs human life.
Now last week we talked about how we have been engaged in a war since the fall of man. It’s a spiritual war, and its caused because there is enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. And it is a costly war.
Now in our text here, when Eve gives birth to her first born son, Cain; she says, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” 1st of all, what that tells us is that Eve understood a basic principle in life, and that is that we all owe our existence to God. 2nd it shows us our mutual need for one another. First the woman came from the man, Eve was taken from Adam and then brought back to him. Now man is coming from woman. We are mutually dependant upon one another. And 3rd it tells us that Eve may have thought that Cain was to be the promised Messiah, the One who would crush the head of the serpent. After all, he is a “man from the LORD.” And then when her second son is born, she names him Abel. The name Abel has three meanings; it can mean – “Breath”, it can mean – “Vapor”, or it can mean – “Nothing.” And so Abel’s name can refer to three things as well.
1. If you take the meaning of his name to be “breath” then you are also probably taking Cain’s name to mean that “all life is a gift from God.” With “breath” referring to the breath of life that God breaths into every living soul of man that comes into this world.
2. If we take his name to mean “vapor” then we are thinking that Eve was, like so many in the OT, able to name their children in a way that corresponded with their lives. And so “vapor” would correspond with the shortness of Abel’s life on earth.
3. Or if you take his name to mean “nothing” then probably what was happening was that Eve thought Cain was the promised Messiah, that he was going to be the one to deliver them and crush the head of the serpent, and with such a wonderful, amazing son, Abel was seen as nothing in comparison.
That’s actually the view I take. And I imagine that throughout their lives, favoritism was shown to Cain. He was brought up thinking more highly of himself than he should, and it caused him to become proud and arrogant. And so later, when God rejects his offering, it may have been the very first time Cain was ever rejected. That’s actually a pattern we see over and over again in the OT. Abraham thinks that Ishmael should be the promised son – God say’s no, “In Isaac shall your seed be called.” Isaac favors Esau over Jacob, but God chooses Jacob, before either of them were born, before either of them did any good or evil – God chose Jacob. God’s ways are not our ways.
IN VERSE THREE we see the vocations of these two sons. Abel was a shepherd, Cain was a farmer. And when they bring their offerings, they bring gifts that are appropriate to their vocations. But their gifts are not seen as equal in the eyes of the Lord.
Sometimes you’ll hear people say that God did not accept Cain’s gift because it wasn’t the first fruits. But that’s not entirely the issue at hand. The issue is – WHY WASN’T IT THE FIRST FRUITS? Turn with me to Hebrews 11:4 (Read). Cain brought less than the best to God because he lacked faith in the promises of God. Jesus said it this way in Matt. 6:21 “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Basically; what the Bible teaches is that the worshiper and his offering are inseparable. Giving is an act of faith. Not in the way that some people teach today – that you give in order to get more stuff. That’s not what the Bible teaches at all. It teaches that we give because we have gotten. Let me put it this way. God is entitled to IT ALL. Everything that you or I have, we have only by the grace of God. He has blessed us with it, and made us stewards over it. And remember what Job said, “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.”
So it’s a matter of stewardship and it’s a matter of the heart. In verse 5 we see that Cain’s heart wasn’t right. Cain was angry because God had called him out for his wrong behavior. And I read this, and I can’t help but think of one of those kids who gets into trouble for doing something wrong, and then they go into their bed-room and then they break something on purpose. You know, they get into trouble for something and are sent to their room, and when they get into their room they see the nice little snow globe that their mom got them for Christmas, and they throw it against the wall. Well that’s what Cain is like.
Then in verses 6 & 7 God says, “Hey, if you had been doing right, you wouldn’t be in any trouble at all.” Actually verses 6 & 7 tell me that we serve a God who is logical and a God who has common sense. Have you ever seen those little signs that say something like “The house rules.” My mother-in-law has one that says, “The Bunkhouse Rules.” But on those signs there are lists of common sense rules… things like, “If you take it out, put it back up.” Or, “If you turn it on, turn it back off.” Well this is kind of like God’s “house rules.” If you do wrong, expect to get into trouble. The Bible says, “Your sins will find you out.” And if you do well, then things will be ok; but don’t get mad about something that you yourself did. Common sense 101.
Then look at what God says to Cain. He says, “Sin lies at the door, and its desire is for you.” The idea here is like an enemy, waiting outside your door in ambush. And they want to jump on you, and capture you, and take you away and enslave you. That word “desire” is actually the same one used in chapter 3:16 – and it means to have control over a person. So God is warning Cain that sin wants to jump on him, and enslave him, and dominate him and every aspect of his life. It wants to control him, and make him its slave. The meaning of that in the original Hebrew and later on in the Greek is a propensity towards something. So it’s almost like God is saying, “Cain, sin has a propensity towards you. It is drawn toward you, and you have a propensity towards sin. But it shouldn’t have been this way… and it shouldn’t be this way…”
Turn with me to 1st John 3:10-12 (Read). Ok… you see… remember back in Genesis chapter 3 – the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman? Now look a few verses ahead there in 1st John 3… look at verses 7 – 9 (Read).
So let’s tie this all together.
Cain and Abel bring an offering before God – Abel’s offering is one of faith, and the corresponding works of that faith, is that he brings his best… the 1st fruits to God. Now make no mistake, Cain believed in God, he spoke with him. But James tells us that even demons believe, and they even tremble, So what we see here is that Cain knew there was a God, he spoke with Him, but he had no faith in the promise of God. And so Abel practiced righteousness through his giving, Cain practices unrighteouness through his giving. And then he gets angry when God calls him out on it.
And basically God is saying, “Cain, why should I accept an unrighteous gift, given by an unrighteous person? But if you would be righteous, I would readily accept your gift and you.” So how was righteousness accounted to Abel? THROUGH FAITH. In other words, “Cain if you would be like your brother, and be made right with me through faith. I would readily accept you. But until that happens; sin is going to rule over you and you are going to be its slave.”
But remember – HE WHOM THE SON SETS FREE IS FREE INDEED
So what was Cain’s answer? Look at verse 8 (Read). Cain did exactly what Satan did. God of His own sovereign will approved of Abel and Cain was angry. In creation, God approved of man and the devil was angry. So what did he do? He made up his mind and then went about bringing the death of those whom God had approved of and blessed. When he tricked Eve, he murdered all of humanity. And what did Cain do?
Verse 8 just told us. He tricked his brother, got him to go out into the field and then murdered him. Remember the seed of the serpent? Like father, like son.
In verses 9-12 we see God’s judgment on Cain. The seed of the serpent will suffer like the serpent. And instead of repenting of his sin against God and against his brother, Cain is only concerned with himself. His reply is a reply of self-pity. There is no remorse for his sin. There’s no remorse for his actions. All we see here is self-pity.
I think its pretty easy to see how this applies to us today.
FIRST – we can believe that God exists but not serve Him with a heart of love and faith. Are the things we do done for the Kingdom? Are they done out of faith in God, and a love for God and our fellow man? You know Jesus said that there are people who acknowledge Him with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him. Where’s your heart at? By the way we live our lives, are we denying that we are our brothers and sisters keepers? You know one of the saddest things I can think of is a person going to face the Lord and learning that he or she has lived their entire life in selfishness, though they had fooled themselves into thinking that they were spiritual. We can live our entire lives bringing unacceptable offerings before the Lord, thinking “I’m ok, because it’s 10%” That’s not the issue… the issue is – is it mixed with faith?
We can do those things, or we can fall on our knees before the Lord in brokenness, and confess our sins & turn from them in repentance.
The amazing thing here is that God loves us enough to confront us in our sin and expose us. What sins has He exposed in our lives this week? And how have we responded? And lastly; we are in a war. It’s a spiritual war, but it often bubbles out into physical reality. And it doesn’t matter how many tractors you have or how many mad Irish-men you have standing next to you. FAITH IS THE VICTORY that overcomes the world. Faith in the One who won the victory on the cross.
Let’s Pray
