The Legacy Of Unrepentance-2

The LEGACY Of UNREPENTANCE-II— 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—Spiritually deficient populations seek...

SATISFACTION(:19)

Explanation: (:19)Short/Flesh-Sighted

:19—“Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, & the name of the second was Zillah.”

Lamech took two wives. This is a different situation. By the statement’s presence it is assumed that this is not the norm in God’s design. It confounds & confuses the statement of....

Gen. 2:24— “Therefore a man shall leave his father & mother & be joined to his wife, & they shall become one flesh.”

The actions of those peoples spawned thru a legacy of unrepentance are becoming apparent.

“That is the only comment[polygamy], by the way, on their attitude toward God... So you see their indifference to God.”—John MacArthur

This is also the basis against some aspects of divorce & adultery per.....

Mat. 19:4-6—“And He answered & said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male & female,’ “& said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father & mother & be joined to his wife, & the two shall become one flesh’? “So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.””

Obviously we separate that which has been joined by God when our marriage becomes complicated by more than one spouse.

TV show ‘Sister Wives’ highlighting the practical lives of polygamy. We see that they are ‘good people’ & may become soft to it & accepting of it. We do not live in a ’Christian society’ but a Christian ’influenced’ society. Thus some are not so influenced! Our belief should be first & foremost, Christian faith-based—centered upon God’s revelation, & not fleshly or worldly-based.

The Bible does not comment on the moral ramifications of polygamy, but it does mention the word ‘rival’ or describe the rivalry which is a natural consequence of such a relationship.

Lev. 18:18—“‘Nor shall you take a woman as a rival to her sister, to uncover her nakedness while the other is alive.”

Prov. 5:18—“rejoice with the wife of your youth. As a loving deer & a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love.”

Some Biblical Examples:

Abraham took Hagar, Sarai’s maidservant, as a wife at Sarai’s insistence, just to have children, causing much distress for the family(Gen. 16:1-6). Produced Ishmael—Arabs & eventually Islam.

Jacob took 2 wives, the 1st unintentionally thru cultural tradition &/or trickery & the 2nd as a rival thru love(Gen. 29:18-28).

Elkanah married Hannah(barren though loved) & Peninnah—progeny reasons?— who was a rival & provoked Hannah(1Sam. 1:1-7)

The practice(polygamy) is specifically denigrated in relation to the temptations of a king to do so(for political & financial assumed).

Deut. 17:14-20—““When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, & possess it & dwell in it, & say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ “you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver & gold for himself. Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, & he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God & be careful to observe all the words of this law & these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, & that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he & his children in the midst of Israel.”