The LEGACY Of UNREPENTANCE-III— Genesis 4:16-24
Likewise we will leave a legacy to our families. But what of any value will they receive?
Background:
Previously we had looked at Cain’s willful disdain of God’s direction for his life, & discovered the ‘Tragedy of Unrepentance’(4:1-15).
Today we are going to examine the descendants of Cain & the resulting transfer of belief.
“the genealogy[:16-24] shows how sin disqualified Cain’s line as the people of blessing”..... God blesses the line of Cain. But notice, He blesses them in a temporal way. That is, only connected to time. Only in the physical were they blessed; not in the sense of the spiritual, or that which is eternal.”—John MacArthur
“Secular culture is a provision from God for man’s life. It is a common grace.”.....“And that contributes to communication, it contributes to culture, it contributes to society.”—John MacArthur
Cain’s legacy was a spiritually derelict/deficient progeny.
Personal unrepentance leaves a legacy of spiritually dereliction/deficiency.
What can a spiritually deficient legacy provide?
8 desires/determinations of a spiritually deficient/derelict population.
Last time we discovered that
Spiritually deficient populations seek some of the same things Christians seek...
1. SEPARATION/Segregation(:16)
2. STABILITY/Family(:17-18)
3. SATISFACTION(:19)
4—Spiritually deficient populations seek...
ADAPTIVE INNOVATION/Expression(:20)
Explanation: (:20)Ingenuity
:20—“And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents & have livestock.”
Thru Lamech’s wife, Adah, Jabal & Jubal were born.
Jabal’s birth is significant in that his descendants were itinerant livestock keepers. A lifestyle which relied upon erecting & dismantling “tents” wherein their families traveled nomadically. This evidently was a new innovation for Cain’s descendants. Keeping livestock was Abel’s trademark occupation(Gen. 4:2).
Mankind is learning to express himself early on, within the first few hundred years(?) of his existence. Since Jabal is the “father” of nomadic animal husbandry, he obviously left this legacy to his immediate family as well as to any others who would observe. This innovation would have helped mankind to travel deeper into various types of previously impenetrable terrain & allow the land to repair istelf without man’s intervention or work.
“Jabal”—lby yaw-bawl’—Jabal = "stream of water"
From—lby yaw-bawl’—1)A stream, watercourse.
“Father”(See :21)—ba awb—1) Father of an individual; 2) Of God as father of his people; 3) Head or founder of a household, group, family, or clan; 4) Ancestor; 5) Originator or patron of a class, profession, or art; 6) Of producer, generator (fig.); 7) Of benevolence & protection (fig.); 8) Term of respect & honor; 9) Ruler or chief (spec.). Strong—a primitive word; Father, in a literal & immediate, or figurative & remote application).
“Dwell/Live”—bvy yaw-shab’—1) To dwell, remain, sit, abide. Strong—a primitive root; properly, To sit down (specifically as judge, in ambush, in quiet); by implication, To dwell, to remain; causatively, To settle, to marry.
“Tents”—lha o’-hel—1) Tent—1a) Nomad’s tent, & thus symbolic of wilderness life, transience, 1b) Dwelling, home, habitation, 1c) The sacred tent of Jehovah (the tabernacle).
“Have Livestock/Raise Livestock”—hnqm mik-neh’—1) Cattle, livestock. Strong— Something bought, i.e. Property, but only livestock; abstractly, Acquisition.
Argumentation:
Ruth 1:1-2—“Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he & his wife & his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, & the names of his two sons were Mahlon & Chilion--Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to the country of Moab & remained there.”
Ruth 1:3-5—“Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; & she was left, & her two sons. Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, & the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years. Then both Mahlon & Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons & her husband.”
Ruth 1:6-14—“Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had visited His people by giving them bread. Therefore she went out from the place where she was, & her two daughters-in-law with her; & they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. The LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead & with me. The LORD grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, & they lifted up their voices & wept. And they said to her, “Surely we will return with you to your people.” But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go--for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight & should also bear sons, “would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me!” Then they lifted up their voices & wept again; & Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.”
Ps. 13:1-6—“<
Illustration:
Dera Williams blogs...
She was born in AR & moved to CA when she was 2 yrs. old.
She lived a happy, leave It To Beaver life there
She remembers all the kids of various races(Mex., Black, Asian,White) playing together & visiting from house to house.
But she remembers very vividly her family’s move to Texarkana when she was 13.
In 1963, They packed up their new shiny blue Buick with air conditioning.
On the way thru TX, Dera remembers seeing a beat-up rusty old pickup with two disheveled poverty stricken adults in the seats & a young boy in the bed pointing & laughing at them.
She remembers being told by her Daddy not to pay them any attention because they were poor white trash.
The car started giving them trouble.
They had a mechanic look it over & the part needed wouldn’t be there till tomorrow.
They had to spend the night in a motel.
But in Texas in the Jim Crow days, it was not easy to find the right motel.
She remembers her Daddy passing motels & wondering why they didn’t stop. She finally asked why they were going to the worst part of town to get a motel. Her Dad told Dera that they had to stay in the colored part of town. Dera was taken aback. The motel was dirty & roach infested, nothing at all like she was used to in CA.
Dera’s life from that point became colored by the racial struggles between black & white which were present in the deep south.
Dera would have to ADAPT to her new surroundings.
ADAPTIVE INNOVATION
GoodyTwo’s Toffee Co. out of Scottsdale, AZ run by the mother-daughter team of Donna Gabrilson & Stacey Barnes, began with a great-grandmother’s recipe/In 2004, Donna was a recently divorced woman in need of a legitimate means of survival/Started selling the toffee at area farmer’s markets/People started asking for it/In 2007 her daughter Stacey joined the business/Soon blossomed into a thriving business with storefront & on-line sales/ADAPTIVE INNOVATION
Necessity is the mother of invention
Bloom where you’re planted
Lemons-Lemonade
Opportunity knocks
Application:
?How do You define an acceptable ADAPTIVE INNOVATION?
?Can your love for God fit into that ADAPTIVE INNOVATION?
?What distinguishes your desire from a spiritually deficient population?
5—Spiritually deficient populations seek...
MUSICAL INNOVATION/Expression(:21)
Explanation: (:21)Innovation/Ingenuity
:21—“His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp & flute.”
Jabal’s brother was also an innovator. He brought musical instruments to mankind. Thru him, the & “harp” & “flute” were invented. The harp/lyre was a stringed instrument.
Jubal’s descendants were musicians playing the lyre & pipe.
SBC’s ‘Sons of Jubal.’ National association of Christian musicians.
Mankind is learning to express himself artistically early on, within the first few generations & hundred years(?) of his existence. Since Jubal is the “father” of music per se, he obviously left this legacy to his immediate family as well as to any others who would observe.
Music is an intimate expression of the heart.
“You have to be very strong to live 900 years. They would be very resistant to disease & illness & aging; they would be extremely healthy. They would be very intelligent, & ...skilled. Can you imaging doing something for 600 years? Can you imagine playing a musical instrument for 600 years? Any skill, they would be very experienced ... very productive. So here is a society that’s immensely creative, immensely productive, very strong, very healthy, & very, very intelligent.”—John MacArthur
“Jubal”—lbwy yoo-bawl’—Jubal = "stream"
From— lby yaw-bal’—1) To bring, lead, carry, conduct, bear along.
“Father”(See :20)—ba awb—1) Father of an individual; 2) Of God as father of his people; 3) Head or founder of a household, group, family, or clan; 4) Ancestor; 5) Originator or patron of a class, profession, or art; 6) Of producer, generator (fig.); 7) Of benevolence & protection (fig.); 8) Term of respect & honor; 9) Ruler or chief (spec.). Strong—a primitive word; Father, in a literal & immediate, or figurative & remote application).
“Harp/Lyre”—rwnk kinnowr’—1) Lyre, harp. Strong—from a unused root meaning to twang; A harp.
“Flute/Organ/Pipe”—bgwe oo-gawb’—1) A musical instrument—1a) Perhaps a flute, reed-pipe, or panpipes. Strong— A reed-instrument of music.
From—bge aw-gab’— in the original sense of breathing.
Argumentation:
Amos 6:3-6—“Woe to you who put far off the day of doom, Who cause the seat of violence to come near; Who lie on beds of ivory, Stretch out on your couches, Eat lambs from the flock And calves from the midst of the stall; Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David; Who drink wine from bowls, And anoint yourselves with the best ointments, But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.”
Secularists may pay no heed to the music of Christians:
Mat. 11:16-19—““But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces & calling to their companions, “& saying: ‘We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not lament.’ “For John came neither eating nor drinking, & they say, ‘He has a demon.’ “The Son of Man came eating & drinking, & they say, ‘Look, a glutton & a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors & sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.””
& Christians/God’s people are cautioned:
*Eccl. 7:5—“It is better to listen to the rebuke of a wise man Than for one to listen to the song of fools.”
*Prov. 27:6—“Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”
1Jn. 4:1-3—“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, & every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, & is now already in the world.”
Illustration:
Any of us can choose to hear any kind of music we desire/MUSICAL EXPRESSION
Some questions:
1)Does it openly or covertly dishonor God & His counsel?
2)Does it honor God in any way(directly/indirectly) that is not convoluted to protect it?
3)What behaviors does your music encourage?...
& With what sort of activity is it associated?
4)How does the artist live? What is important to him/her/them?
The same can be asked about the acting profession.
Application:
?How do You define acceptable MUSICAL INNOVATION/Expression?
?Can your love for God fit into that MUSICAL INNOVATION/Expression?
?What distinguishes your desire from a spiritually deficient population?
6—Spiritually deficient populations seek...
METALLURGICAL INNOVATION/Expression(:22)
Explanation: (:22a) Mechanistic & Artistic Expression/Innovation/Ingenuity
:22a—“And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze & iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.”
Tubal-Cain was a person skilled in working with metals.
?Did he smelt the metal or was it freely available(prior to the flood)?
Regardless, He was a designer & inventor/fabricator with the particular metals of “bronze & iron”. Secular anthropologists (per Danish archaeologist Christian Jürgensen Thomsen(1820’s)) ‘tend to’ divide stages of man’s existence into three separate ‘ages’ starting with what he called the Stone Age, followed by the Bronze Age which pre-dates the Iron Age. Supposing that stone use preceded the use of bronze, which predated the use of iron. This ‘age dating system’ is also sharply criticized yet it is still taught in schools as fact, having constructed entire timelines of existence(suitable for charts). It is the other side of the evolutionary coin which presupposes ‘cave men’ & his eventual progression to ‘modern man.’
However, our text places them all together & from the same family! Man began with the intelligence granted to him from being created in God’s image! Therefore, even apart from God, man excels in his own right. In fact, Lifestyle Adaptation, Music & Metallugy arose at exactly the same time because Jabal, Jubal & Tubal-Cain were step?-brothers.
“In Seth we have individuals only -- they lived so long & died, that is all; but the progress of the world is largely recounted in Cain’s family, cursed from the ground -- hidden from God -- but establishing cities, & arts, & luxury, & a sister whose name was "Pleasantness." But what a character it gives to the world -- "despair" with God, & marked "not to be killed" with man, -- city, & luxury without God -- gone from His presence, -- is that the world?”—ENT—JND N&C 1.66
Metallurgy for us would include the extraction & refining of metals. Understanding their differing properties. Application of these metals for specific uses—Everyday small item construction(Eating utensils, Small tools, Knives, Agricultural tools, Building construction, Weapons, Worship, etc.).
*Consider that all these items came from their minds/imaginations not having seen them before!
These generations had to have been Intelligent/Clever/Ingenious/Brilliant/Talented/Wise/Sharp/Brainy & had many years in which to hone it!
“Tubal-Cain”—Nyq lbwt too-bal’ kah’-yin—Tubal-cain = "thou will be brought of Cain"
“Instructor/Forger/Forged”—vjl law-tash’—1) To sharpen, hammer, whet. Strong—a primitive root; properly, To hammer out (an edge), i.e. To sharpen.
“Craftsman/Artificer”—vrx kho-rashe’—1) Metal craftsman. Strong—A fabricator or mechanic.
From—vrx khaw-rash’—V.—a primitive root; To scratch, i.e. (by implication) To engrave, Plough; hence (from the use of tools) To fabricate (of any material); figuratively, To devise (in a bad sense); hence (from the idea of secrecy) to be silent, to let alone; hence (by implication) to be deaf (as an accompaniment of dumbness).
“Bronze”—tvxn nekh-o’-sheth—1) Copper, bronze; 2) Lust, harlotry(meaning dubious). Strong—Copper, hence, something made of that metal, i.e. coin, a fetter; figuratively, base (as compared with gold or silver).
*Bronze is an alloy of copper(main ingredient) usually with tin.. If zinc is the additive, it is called ‘brass.’
“Iron”—lzrb bar-zel’—1) Iron—1a) Iron—1a1) Iron ore, 1a2) As material of furniture, utensils, implements; 2) Tool of iron; 3) Harshness, strength, oppression (fig.). Strong—Iron (as cutting); by extension, an iron implement.
Perhaps from the root of twzrb beer-zoth’ probably feminine plural from an unused root (apparently mean to pierce); holes.
Argumentation:
Intelligent/Clever/Ingenious/Brilliant/Talented/Wise/Sharp:
Isa. 5:21—“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!”
1Cor. 1:18-21—“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”
We see that with all of his ingenuity, man became so wicked that God wiped out the whole of it except for 8 righteous ones(Noah’s Ark).
We see, later in chapter 11 that men attempted to build an edifice in defiance of God(Tower of Babel).
(CONT...)6—Spiritually deficient populations seek...
METALLURGICAL INNOVATION/Expression(:22)
Illustration:
Construction of the I-85 bridge over the Yadkin River has been underway for a few months now/Yesterday on the way to Lexington, I counted no less than 7 huge cranes on the property/There are already the beginnings of support pillars in the water/They will use engineering feats long in use by long dead civilizations—build the first span then use that span as the platform for the next span in front of it, etc./I thought of the engineering innovations employed all either based on metals or using them in some fashion/METALLURGICAL INNOVATION
Application:
?How do You define acceptable METALLURGICAL INNOVATION/Expression?
?Can your love for God fit into that METALLURGICAL INNOVATION/Expression?
?What distinguishes your desire from a spiritually deficient population?
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
Spiritually deficient populations seek...some of the same things God’s people do.
They do it however, in a different manner & with a different attitude, with a different goal, for a different purpose!
What is the LEGACY you have placed upon your family?
Will they know of & experience the grace of God in Christ?
Do they know of the personal God?...of the testimony of Scripture?
Have they been raised to trust in God? Are you an example of that trust?
Action:
Spiritually deficient populations seek...
4. ADAPTIVE INNOVATION/Expression(:20)
5. MUSICAL INNOVATION/Expression(:21)
6. METALLURGICAL INNOVATION/Expression(:22)
1. SEPARATION/Segregation(:16)
2. STABILITY/Family(:17-18)
3. SATISFACTION(:19)
Presented 09/18/2011pm to:
Needmore Baptist Church
1620 Mt. Vernon Rd.
Woodleaf, NC 27054
