Society’s Beginning And Sin’s Painful Results Series

Alpha and Omega, Part 10

Society’s beginning and sin’s painful results

Genesis 4:1-16

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Introduction

- We’ve begun 2023 with “one purpose”: Knowing there is a God!

-- Continuing our series, “Alpha and Omega”; examining the beginning to the end

- Last: There is a harsh judgment for man & woman, but God still loves them

-- God provided a way, gave them knowledge to survive and help them (us) live

- RE: God said if they sinned, they would die, but physical death wasn’t the result

-- They died a spiritual death, ending direct fellowship with God ... however!

- They learned what mercy meant – even as they were cast out of paradise

- They learned what grace was – even as they had to fend for themselves

- They learned how good God is – even as they had to struggle to survive

-- God provided a way for them to survive – and in that delayed their death

- Isn’t that what we have today? YES! Why? Because of Jesus!

-- We have the same opportunity to know God and receive grace from Him!

- Let’s dive into our passage for today … Read Genesis 4:1-16 / Pray

Point 1 – Five things we learn about society’s beginnings

- It is important for us to see, and realize, about how society began

1. The first children are born (v1-2a)

- RE: Adam & Eve were instructed to reproduce (it’s the only way)

-- Hebrew: yada; to know (to be intimate with one another)

-- The first birth we see in the Bible is of Cain (IMP: no babies before now)

- Imagine what pregnancy would have looked like for them …

-- They had no knowledge of what it might happen, but they trusted God

- They also believed in God’s promise (Gen 3:15) that a redeemer would come

-- The excitement of parenthood is what’s on display - look what we did!

- Later, their next born was named Abel (Hebrew: hebel; vanity, meaningless)

-- What an odd name for a son – but perhaps she knew life’s shortness (re: sin)

-- Go forth and multiply was God’s command, so they obeyed to populate

- Understand: Adam lived to be 930, so there are lots of children born

-- If children had children over 930 yrs., we’d be looking at hundreds of thousands

-- So, yes, there was some inter-relations … but there was no other way

-- Don’t make this weird: only way to populate is reproduction, God commanded

2. We learn the work of Abel and Cain (v2b)

- We know that they had to be hard workers: Cain was a farmer / Abel a shepherd

-- How do we know? Because they would have had to survive in this world!

- But we also must note that they would have been trained by Adam

-- They had to live, re: God showed Adam how to survive; Adam passed it on

-- What we know is that their work provided the very basics: food and clothing

-- APP: This would have contributed to their society and helped them survive

3. There is a personal worship for Cain and Abel (v3-4a)

- These boys had a corporate worship and a personal one with God (again: taught)

-- No specific info on when, but scholars believe prob on the Sabbath (holy day)

-- There is also no specific location given for this (best guess: entrance to garden)

-- We can see how God still speaks to His creation in v5-6 …

- Adam would be very careful to approach God, to be acceptable to Him

-- And he would have taught his family to do the same (results of last time…)

- Want to change how you approach God? Get this … (just sung about it!)

-- “Shake up the ground of all my tradition; break down the walls of all my religion”

-- When it comes to God: must approach His way, not how we think it should be!

- Dad would’ve taught them to worship specifically: by way of a sacrifice

-- Why? Because he knows the price of sin – he saw the result (death of animals)

- But look at what happens: see genuine worship & false worship is displayed

• Abel: Brings what God requires, and is praised

• Cain: Brings what he has grown (or done), and is rejected

-- Hebrews 11:4, “It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.” (APP: bible is living document – still leads us)