The Impact Of Sin (Lessons From Cain And Abel)

The Impact of Sin

(Lessons from Cain and Abel)

Ge 4:1-16

Our Sunday School lesson today takes us all the way back to the beginning of the Bible, the book of Genesis. It’s the name given to this first book because this first book speaks of the beginnings or origins of all things, which is what the name, Genesis, means. Many view this book with skepticism, claiming it’s an allegory or myth that’s been fabricated by the ancients to explain their existence and reason for being, but I believe this book to be a literal, historical record of not only the creation of heaven and earth, but also a record of God’s redemptive plan for mankind. We find that it traces the genealogy of man from Adam to Abraham to David and then to Christ, the Son of God.

I believe the creation story as it is written. I believe Adam and Eve were our first parents who really messed things up for all of us when they gave into the wiles of the serpent, the devil. I believe that if you deny Genesis chapter one, then you are standing on the oxygen hose of your understanding. Death and suffering won’t make sense. Evil and good won’t have a definition. You will have no idea of your origins, and you won’t know your Maker or bother to seek a Savior. (Ray Comfort)

I believe in the book of Genesis, just as I believe in every other book of the Bible. As we look at chapter 4 in the book of Genesis today, it’s easy for us to see the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s warning to Adam and Eve in the Garden when He said Gen 2:16-17 …"From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; [17] but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." Over and over in chapters 3, 4, and 5, the reality of that curse is confirmed. From the moment God told Adam “You shall not eat” and the moment they disobeyed and ate, death is everywhere, and we see it expanding throughout the created order. The curses of God upon Adam’s disobedience have now come to rest upon his own family. Not only were they driven away from the Garden paradise, but today we see the first physical fulfillment of God’s warning that “you will surely die.”

Gen 4:1-16 Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, "I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD." [2] Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. [3] So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. [4] Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; [5] but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. [6] Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? [7] "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." [8] Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. [9] Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" And he said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" [10] He said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground. [11] "Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. [12] "When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth." [13] Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is too great to bear! [14] "Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me." [15] So the LORD said to him, "Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD appointed a sign for Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him. [16] Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.