← Back to sermon library

You can turn in your Bibles to 
Genesis chapter 4. We're going to do one more message from Genesis, 
the Lord willing, the Lord's Supper next Sunday night, and 
then we'll return to the book of Proverbs in our evening services. 
Genesis chapter 4, the first murder. We're going to read verses 
1 to 16. Beginning in chapter 4, verse 1, Now Adam knew Eve 
his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, I have acquired 
a man from the Lord. Then she bore again, this time 
his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, 
but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of 
time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit 
of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn, 
of his flock, and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel in 
his offering, but he did not respect Cain in his offering. 
And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. So the 
Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why has your countenance 
fallen? If you do well, will you not 
be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin 
lies at the door, and its desire is for you, but you should rule 
over it. Now Cain talked with Abel his 
brother, and it came to pass, when they were in the field, 
that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. And 
the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel your brother? He said, 
I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper? And 
he said, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood 
cries out to me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the 
earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood 
from your hand. When you till the ground, it 
shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond 
you shall be on the earth. And Cain said to the Lord, My 
punishment is greater than I can bear. Surely you have driven 
me out this day from the face of the ground. I shall be hidden 
from your face. I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond 
on the earth. And it will happen that anyone 
who finds me will kill me.' And the Lord said to him, therefore, 
whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. 
And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should 
kill him. Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord 
and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. Amen. Let us ask God's help as we look 
to his word. Father, thank you for the word 
of God, and thank you for not only the good bits, but as well 
the sinful things, the things that we need to learn, the lessons 
that we as your people need to understand. We pray tonight that 
you would guide us in our study of your word. Give us the grace, 
Father, to avoid the sorts of sins we see associated with Cain, 
this seed of the serpent. Help us to be faithful to you, 
Lord God, to express love, brotherly love, toward one another. We 
ask for the ministry of your Holy Spirit. We ask for the help 
from on high that we need to internalize your word. and to 
put it into practice in our own lives, in our own hearts, in 
our own conduct. Grant us help in this, grant 
us grace in this, and we ask this through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Amen. Well, essentially what we have 
in Genesis chapter 4 is the genealogy of Cain, I'm sorry, Adam via 
Cain. We see that that will pick back 
up in verse 17 after this digression, after this teaching, this study 
in evil. And I think that this passage 
does show us the rapid escalation of sin. We see the fall of Adam. We studied that in the last two 
Sunday evenings. Adam and Eve transgressed the 
law of God. They take from the tree that 
had been prohibited of them, and they sin. They rebelled. They lacked conformity unto God's 
Word. We see already with Cain and 
Abel that continues on in Cain's murder of his brother Abel. So 
I want to look first at the first brothers in verses 1 to 5a, secondly 
the first murder in verses 5b to 8, and then thirdly the first 
trial and sentencing in verses 9 to 16. Now, technically, the 
first murder took place in Genesis 3. It was the devil. Murder originates 
with the devil according to Jesus in John chapter 8. When I say 
the first murder, I mean between men. Cain murders Abel. Well, let's look first at these 
brothers in verses 1 to 5a. Note their names. Cain means 
acquire or to acquire or to get. Now, Eve may have thought or 
likely had thought that this was the promise of Genesis 3.15 
coming into play. Remember that God had promised 
that a seed of the woman would rise up and be the skull-crushing 
seed that would devastate the works of the devil. So it means 
to acquire or to get. The second is able, which likely 
means vanity, breath, or nothing. And I don't think that they had 
a particularly low view of their second-born son, but rather it 
is prophetic. It is something that is true 
with reference to this young man. He's ultimately going to 
come to nothing through the murderous rage of his brother. Now, this 
is the first instance of a familiar pattern in the Old Testament. 
The second is more favored than the first. You have Jacob and 
Esau. You have Isaac and Ishmael. You 
have the second. born, oftentimes, getting the 
blessing of God and being the one that is righteous. And then, 
as I read, I hope you understood or rather heard the repeated 
emphasis on brother. Brother, brother, brother. It 
comes up seven times in the passage. Now, I don't think Moses, under 
divine inspiration, thinks that he's writing to a bunch of adults 
that can't remember or can't keep track of who Cain and Abel 
are. but rather he is emphasizing 
the fraternal relationship that exists between these two men 
to show how heinous sin is, to show how wicked Cain was, to 
show how evil it is to do what Cain did to his brother. In fact, 
Kyle and Dalich say Moses intentionally repeats again and again the words 
of his brother to bring clearly out the horror of sin. Cain was 
the first man who let sin reign in him. He was of the wicked 
one. And already here in Genesis chapter 
4, we have an illustration or an application of what was stipulated 
in Genesis 3.15. I will put enmity between you 
and the woman. And between your seed and her 
seed, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel." 
Now, I've tried to explain that that has an individual reference 
to the Lord Jesus, but there is a collective sense as well. 
This seed of the woman will be the godly. This seed of the woman 
will be the righteous. This seed of the woman will be 
the ones that are targeted by the seed of the serpent. excuse 
me, by the devil himself. And we have that in this instance 
of Cain and Abel. Now note their offerings in verses 
2 to 4a. Abel was a shepherd and Cain 
was a tiller of the ground. And I think this goes along with 
what we saw last week in our studies in Genesis 3. Labor is 
good. Labor is not a bad thing. Labor 
was present before the fall, and labor is present after the 
fall. All kinds of labor. Now, some 
suggest that God had respect for Abel because he didn't like 
farmers. He'd rather have men engage in 
shepherding. But that's not the accurate way 
to see what's happening here in terms of God's acceptance 
of Abel and God's rejection of Cain. Adam was stationed in the 
garden, according to Genesis 2.15, to tend it and to keep 
it. Farming is a noble cause. And 
so farming or shepherding or whatever it is that a man finds 
to do lawfully is glorifying to God. Labor is not an effect 
or a consequence of the curse, but rather it is a blessing. 
Certainly it has suffered repercussions as a result of the curse, but 
labor in and of itself is a good thing. Now notice what the text 
says concerning their sacrifice. Verse three, it says, and in 
the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an 
offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Now, if you 
have the New King James and in the process of time, literally 
is and at the end of days, I've tried to explain this before. 
It doesn't mean at the end of days in terms of the end of all 
days cannot be the future for us that's in view here. It's 
probably the end of the days of the week. when they had been 
trained to worship God, following God's pattern. Sabbath predates 
Sinai. Sabbath is a creation ordinance. Sabbath is something that God 
Himself does and intends that His creatures follow. In fact, 
I think Matthew Poole has it right when he says, with reference 
to this phrase, more probably at the end of the days of the 
week or upon the seventh and the last day of the week. Saturday, 
which then was the Sabbath day, which before this time was blessed 
and sanctified according to Genesis chapter 2 verse 3. And so when 
they come at the end of the days, when they come on this Sabbath 
day, it is to present sacrifice. It is to present an offering. 
Now we ought to infer from this that Adam taught this to them. 
God taught Adam Sabbath and God taught Adam sacrifice. And so Adam in turn teaches his 
kids this very thing. And it is consistent with their 
vocations for them to bring the particular things that they bring. 
Notice verse 3 in the process of time it came to pass that 
Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord 
Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. 
Yeah, that is consistent with their vocations Abel was a keeper 
of sheep. So he brings fat. He brings blood 
Cain is a tiller of the ground. So he brings fruit. He brings 
vegetables He brings this as an offering to the Lord and then 
we see the divine response with reference to this sacrifice But 
up to this point notice We've got men observing Sabbath, and 
we've got men offering sacrifice. This is obviously going to be 
amplified and developed later on in the Pentateuch, but the 
seeds are there. Right at the very beginning, 
men created in the image of God were created to worship God. 
Men created in the image of God were created to rest on the day 
set apart by God, and they were created to attend public worship 
and present their offerings unto the Lord. This is given to us 
without comment and without exhortation. It's just the way that it is. In other words, man comes from 
the hand of God as a religious creature. And we come from the 
hand of God as a religious creature because we are made in the image 
of God. And as a result, those things 
written on our heart are put into practice. Now, no doubt, 
again, Adam instructed them in terms of Sabbath. Adam instructed 
them in terms of sacrifice. But nevertheless, we see this 
religious nature of man reflected from the very beginning. We have 
cause to observe, or we have had cause to observe on many 
occasions in our studies in Genesis on Wednesday night, that the 
evolutionary theory of man is just patently false. This idea 
that man is created, or man, rather, evolves into some ape-like 
figure, and he drags his knuckles through the bogs of life until 
such time as he forms a grunt. And then later on, a million 
years later, he starts to speak. And then later on, he develops 
this sort of notion of religion, because he lives in a big world, 
and he's got to try to make heads or tails of this big world. That 
is so absolutely, positively false. Adam comes from the hand 
of God as a communicating being. God is able to speak to Adam 
without grunts, without any sort of, you know, let me tell you 
what this is and show... No, he gives him a prohibition 
against eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil. Adam comes from the hand of God, a rational being, image-bearing 
being, and a religious being. So the idea that evolution is 
a good sort of description of what man is, is absolutely positively 
ridiculous. I've often thought that evolution 
is the biggest fairy tale ever designed by man. It is an adult 
fairy tale with the attempt to evade the clear notion that man 
is created by God. and that man will ultimately 
be judged by God. You see, scriptural history, 
it's not cyclical, it's not circular, it's not just this ever-winding-around 
cycle of events. With reference to the history 
of man, there's a beginning, there's a middle, and there's 
an end. And certainly, the engineers who put together this concept 
of evolution, no doubt in their thought, get rid of God in the 
beginning, and what happens? You get rid of God in the middle, 
and you get rid of God at the end. You see, you get rid of 
him in the beginning, and the rest sort of takes care of itself. 
You don't want God in your life, so you adopt this fairy tale 
to try to explain the existence of man. Again, the idea is absolutely 
contrary to the biblical record, and to what man, I would argue, 
inherently knows. Now notice, God has respect for 
Abel and his offering. Notice there in verse 4. Abel 
also brought to the firstborn of his flock and of their fat, 
and the Lord respected Abel and his offering. I think the order 
there is conspicuous. He respected Abel and his offering. He respected Abel and his offering. 
Paul will tell Timothy, take heed to thyself and to thy doctrine. In other words, the man comes 
first and then the doctrine. The man comes first and then 
the sacrifice. The man, then the offering. God 
had respect for Abel and his offering. And then note his disregard 
or his rejection of Cain. Verse 5, it says, he did not 
respect Cain and his offering. Now, why? Why didn't God respect 
Cain and his offering? As I said earlier, some suggest 
that God prefers shepherds over farmers. I don't think the text 
bears that sort of weight or interpretation. The fact that 
Cain failed to present blood, I think that gets a little bit 
closer. God showed by his own practice the slaying of animals 
to cover the sins of Adam and Eve in chapter 3, verse 21. But 
later redemptive history tells us specifically and exactly why 
God had respect for Abel and not for Cain. It was by faith 
that Abel brought his offering. You can use the book of Hebrews 
to help you in your interpretation of the book of Genesis. That 
is a prevailing opinion out there among Bible interpreters that 
we can't let later redemption or later revelation help us understand 
previous revelation. That is absolutely false. You 
can use the whole Bible to study the whole Bible. You can use 
Revelation itself to help you with the book of Genesis. You 
can certainly use the book of Hebrews to help you understand 
why in the world God accepted Abel and he didn't accept Cain. 
In Hebrews 11.4 we read, By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent 
sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that 
he was righteous. And as well, I think the text 
would even indicate something this direction, the Genesis text. Notice that Abel's offering was 
the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. Doesn't faith want 
God to have the best? Doesn't faith want God to be 
glorified and honored? Doesn't faith say, when it comes 
time to do the monthly budget, I'm not going to wait and whatever 
few pennies are left, I'm going to bring that to the house of 
God. I'm going to put God before the mortgage. I'm going to put 
God before the internet. I'm going to put God before Facebook. I'm going to put God before, 
you know, Candy Crush. I'm going to put God first. Isn't 
that what faith does? Isn't faith jealous for the glory 
of God? And I think that when we see 
Abel bring the firstborn of his flock, and he brings the fat, 
it evidences the reality of Hebrews 11. By faith he presented this. With reference to Cain, he brings 
an offering. Now, it's not that the offering 
is bad in and of itself, but it's that the offering is symptomatic 
of the lack of faith that is in Cain's heart. It's not that 
he's a farmer. It's that he's faithless. That's 
why he is disrespected. That's why, rather, he is rejected 
and he is not received by Yahweh. It's not that he farms. It's 
not that he tills the ground. It's not that he has chosen the 
lesser of the two professions. It's that he's a faithless wretch 
who's about the externals only. And when we follow the narrative, 
that is precisely what is at stake. It's not the fact that 
he brought the heart, that he brought the offering, that he 
actually did this for the glory of God, and God said, no, I don't 
want anything to do with you because I favor your brother 
Abel. That's not it. Because he was a faithless wretch, 
he pulls an offering out. But because Abel is a faithful 
man, he takes the first, he takes the fat, he takes the best, and 
he presents it unto God. You see, the way that a man gives, 
the way that a man sacrifices, the way that a man offers to 
God, the way that a man manages his budget, oftentimes says something 
concerning his faith. How do men spend time and money? And I don't just mean men, I'm 
speaking the way that people that were sane used to. Men included, 
male and female. But the way that a man or a woman 
spends their time or money oftentimes indicates the location of their 
heart. If Facebook comes before Jehovah, you've got a problem. 
If Candy Crush comes before church, you've got a problem. If anything 
comes before Jesus, you've got a problem. Now, I'm not suggesting 
you're going to die and go to hell. I am suggesting and encouraging 
you to reflect upon this reality, to consider the facts that where 
I spend my time and money more often than not, evidences the 
condition of my heart." So it's by faith that Abel offers up. It's by faith that Abel is accepted 
by God. Notice the response of Cain in 
verses 5b and following. He was very angry and his countenance 
fell. I think this indicates that his 
offering was not offered in faith. He thought that if he just did 
it, it should be okay. Isn't this symptomatic of the 
externalist or the formalist in religion? As long as I show 
up in the right spot at the right time, then God will accept me. 
As long as I do the right things, then God is obliged to accept 
me. If I go to Christian school, 
then God should bless me. If I go to Sunday school, then 
God Brethren, that is to treat God as if He's Baal. It is to 
reduce Him to the status of a vending machine. It is to reduce Him 
to the status of a tool to get us what we want. And because 
Cain was angry, it evidences the lack of faith in his heart, 
because he thought that if I bring this offering, cheap as it may 
have been, I have at least engaged in my religious duty, and therefore 
God owes me. It's externalism. It is perfunctory. It is an abomination before the 
Lord Most High. In fact, the Proverbs tell us 
that. Proverbs 15, 8, the sacrifice 
of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. Now note, secondly, 
the first murder in verses 5b to 8. We see Cain's anger. Verse 5b, Cain was very angry 
and his countenance fell. Now, I would suggest that Cain's 
anger was directed in two ways. He's angry at God, and he's angry 
at Abel. He's angry at God because God, 
at least in the mind of Cain, has shown favoritism to Abel. 
Why are you accepting my brother and you're not accepting me? 
Why have you disregarded my sacrifice? Why have you left me hanging? 
So his anger is directed to God. But remember, sinners can't get 
to God. If sinners could get to God, 
they would take him off his throne and they would cast him down 
into the earth. We see that with reference to the Son of God, 
the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, 
in his state of incarnation, or rather the incarnation. He 
is cast down, he is ultimately crucified. So what does Cain 
do? He can't kill God, so he's going 
to kill his brother. So his anger is directed to Yahweh, 
his anger is directed to his brother. Now note in verses 6 
and 7, the divine response. God asks a question in verse 
6. Just like in chapter 3, God's not asking because he doesn't 
have the information. Not asking because he needs to 
be informed. God's not looking down and saying, 
what's happening in my creation? I don't understand what's wrong 
with Cain. He's asking for Cain's benefit. And as we move through 
the narrative, we see that God, in his long suffering, God in 
the patience that Nahum ascribes to him, that God extends mercy 
to him, even in the midst of his rebellion and in his mayhem. 
And here God asks him, again, for the purpose of bringing Cain 
to himself, to own his sin, to repent of it. So God says, why 
are you angry and why has your countenance fallen? And then 
notice, he extends grace, verse 7a. If you do well, will you 
not be accepted? Now, I don't think that this 
is worth righteousness. Cain, be a good boy, do everything 
right, and then I will accept you. Rather, Cain, be like Abel, 
who expresses his sacrifice or his offering out of the context 
of faith. If you do well, Cain, in your 
approach to Yahweh, that's not external, that's not formal, 
but rather that is internal, and rather that is full of affection 
for God, will you not be accepted? In other words, Cain, you're 
not blocked from the path to Yahweh because of anything that 
Yahweh has done. Rather, Cain, the problem is 
with you, and I think we ought to internalize that. Whenever 
there's a breach between us and heaven, the problem ain't with 
God. Whenever you go to church, or you pick up your Bible, you 
engage in prayer, and you feel let down, or you feel as if somehow 
God hasn't heard you, or God hasn't answered you, or He hasn't 
sent those kinds of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, 
the issue is not God needs to change, The issue is, we need 
to change. The issue is, we need to examine 
ourselves. The psalmist said it well, if 
I regard iniquity in my heart, Lord, you will not hear me. Now notice, God's grace. Again, the emphasis is not on 
works righteousness, but on coming to God in a manner similar to 
Abel, by faith, and you will be accepted. The heartless sacrifice 
and subsequent anger of Cain, at this point, can be forgiven 
by God. You see, if Cain would have just 
said, yeah, I messed up. Yeah, I was wrong. See, I think 
this is one of the reasons why we should study Genesis 3 and 
4. We ought to understand their place or location in the biblical 
context. We ought to understand what, 
you know, some men call the redemptive historical sort of position of 
the text. But practically, we ought to 
see how we live. I think we see, at least in Adam 
and Eve, in the way they respond when God calls them and reckons 
with them. We oftentimes do the same thing. We cover ourselves. 
We hide ourselves. We engage in subterfuge. We shift 
the blame. We do all those sorts of things. 
Well, the same thing is true here. It's almost as if God takes 
Cain by the hand and says, Cain, it's not right for you to be 
angry. Cain, you need to bury that anger. And you need to not 
get upset, and you need not to flip out, and you need not to 
have a pity party, but rather you need to be like your brother 
Abel. And not because Abel is intrinsically holy or pure or 
righteous, but because Abel knows that I don't bring a sacrifice 
to my God unless it's in the context of faith. That's what 
God is doing. He's grabbing Cain by the hand, 
He's leading Cain by the hand, and He's saying to Cain, look, 
you can fix this. You can get this right. How many 
times does God do that with us? Texts come up into our minds, 
thoughts concerning sermons that we've heard. It's as if God is 
speaking audibly to us through His Word, by His Spirit, and 
we continue to close our ears. We continue to resist Him. We 
continue to reject Him, and we go on in our pity parties, we 
go on in our whining sessions, we go on in our anger, and instead 
of repenting, instead of forsaking, and instead of coming to God 
the way that we ought to come to God, we continue down that 
spiral. And you might say, well, Butler, 
you've got big problems. Well, I know I do. But I don't 
think I'm alone. I think I've seen other people 
that handle things this way as well. There's a time in all of 
our lives when we need to just shut our mouths, listen to God, 
and do what he says. And if ever there was that time, 
it was with Cain, here, at the precipice of murder and mayhem. And then the next statement, 
verse 7, I think is a warning. So God not only takes him by 
the hand and says to him, Cain, Cain, there is acceptance with 
you if you come in faith. Cain, it's not right for you 
to be angry. Cain, you need to bury this. You need to put this 
to death. You need to get things right and you need to come back. 
And now he's just going to warn him flat out in verse 7. If you 
do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, now 
here's the warning. Sin lies at the door and its desire is 
for you, but you should rule over it. the warning concerning 
the power of undealt with sin. Gil explains, if thou dost not 
do good works, nor offer an offering as it should be offered, sin 
lies at the door of conscience. And as soon as that is awakened 
and opened, it will enter in and make sad work there as it 
afterwards did. So you see, everything that God 
says with reference to Cain in terms of this particular warning 
at the end of verse 7 actually comes to pass. Sin is lying there. Sin is crouching. Sin is at the 
door of your heart. The decisions that you make now 
are going to affect everything. Again, we have those moments 
in our lives, don't we? We choose that B option when 
A was the clear one. Well, Cain is at an A-B option 
choice, or A-B choice here, and he chooses the wrong option. 
He rejects the kindness of God, the overtures of God, there is 
acceptance with you if you come in faith, but as well he rejects 
the warning of God. Sin lies at the door of your 
heart. The desire, rather its desire, 
is for you, but you should rule over it. Cain disregards God. Cain does not rule over it. Rather, 
its desire is for him, its desire grows, and its desire ultimately 
captivates his mind and his heart, such that Cain goes out and he 
bashes his brother's head in, or whichever way he chose to 
dispatch him. You see, God in His grace. Again, 
we read these narratives and we don't think enough about God. We don't think enough about what 
God is doing. Taking Cain by the hand, there 
is acceptance with you. Taking Cain by the scruff of 
the neck and saying, be warned that sin's desire is for you. 
If you don't rule over it, it will ultimately be victorious. The Lord God is merciful in his 
interactions or in his dealings with Cain. And again, I think 
that exacerbates the sinfulness of this particular man. Now note, 
verse 8, very brief, very terse, very quick explanation of how 
Cain deals with his anger. Now, there is the absence of 
a verbal response. God speaks to Cain in verses 
6 and 7. Cain doesn't answer. In other 
words, God says, why are you angry? Cain doesn't say, well, 
you know, because you're unfair. Well, you know, because Abel, 
he's got problems. You know, because I try. He doesn't 
even answer God. There's an obvious absence of 
a verbal response, but there is the obvious answer of a nonverbal 
response. In other words, Cain's actions 
evidence what he made of God's taking him by the hand and what 
he made of God's warning in verses 6 and 7. He rejected them. He 
disregarded them. He rebelled against them. Notice, 
verse 8, now Cain talked with Abel, his brother. It came to 
pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, 
his brother, and killed him. He talked with Abel, the Septuagint 
has let us go out to the field. Cain rose up against Abel, and 
Cain murdered Abel. Again, it doesn't get into the 
grisly details, but it is intriguing, and we noted this in our Bible 
study on a Wednesday night. Even when there aren't guns, 
there can be murder. You see, the big argument about 
guns is not guns. It's people. People are the problem. People are the issue. People 
are the sinners. Sticks, stones, bare hands. If there's a person that has 
hatred in their heart, there's a person that has murder in their 
heart, they're going to display it. No matter what the tool is 
they use, no matter how it has to come to pass, they will vent 
out that murder one way or the other. Again, we ought to be 
mindful of that. It isn't stuff. It isn't items. It isn't things. It's the human 
heart. And we just don't want to pay 
attention to that. Well, let's throw more money 
at this. Let's throw more money at that. Let's do this. Let's 
do that. You can't fix hearts. The state 
will always come up short when it comes to heart fixing. The 
state's job isn't to fix hearts. It's to punish evildoers. They 
embrace that, the better for all of us. There's one agent 
that fixes hearts, and his name is God Most High. There is one 
agency that proclaims that, and that's the church. See, the state 
is to be about the repression or suppression of evildoers. It's the church's job to preach 
the gospel so that those evildoers will come to know Jesus Christ 
as Lord and Savior. When we ask the state to be the 
healer, we are irrigating to them something that belongs to 
God. That's why we've got the mess 
that we're in. But that's for another sermon. 
Someday when we get to Deuteronomy, we'll deal with all that sort 
of stuff. But let's look now at the first trial and sentencing 
in verses 9 to 16. You see the arraignment of Cain. 
Verse 9, then the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel your brother? 
I'd like to think at this point I wouldn't have to say it, but 
again, God is not asking because he doesn't have the information. 
He's again telling Cain, come clean. I've got you. I know what's happened. He says 
in the next verse, the voice of your brother's blood cries 
out to me from the ground. All of these overtures, all of 
these questions, all of this time shows, demonstrates, highlights, 
and parades before us the patience of God. Let no one ever tell 
you that God is impatient. Let no one ever tell you that 
God is not long-suffering. Let no one ever tell you that 
God lacks compassion, because the biblical narrative tells 
us directly opposite. He does possess long-suffering. He does exercise compassion. Now, note the plea. The arraignment, 
where is Abel your brother? Now the plea in verse 9. I do 
not know, am I my brother's keeper? Now, the attempt to evade through 
a blatant lie. He's showing escalation of sin. See, when Adam is called to account, 
he doesn't just deny, oh no, we didn't eat the fruit. You're 
wrong. What do you mean? We didn't eat 
the fruit. No, he doesn't evade it like 
that. He evades it in different ways, 
but he doesn't deny that it actually took place. This is what Cain 
is doing. I do not know. Where is Abel 
your brother? I do not know. I mean, maybe 
he was fastidious, like, you know, the later Talmudic practices 
would be. Well, I threw him in a field, 
but I don't really actually know the exact coordinates. I mean, 
maybe he could try to sort of weasel his way out in a courtroom 
like that, but he is denying. the knowledge of having murdered 
his brother. And then notice what else he 
does. He tries to evade through a blatant lie, and then he tries 
to evade through arrogant rhetoric. Verse 9b, am I my brother's keeper? Am I my brother's keeper? Well, 
the Bible never tells us to be our brother's keeper in the sense 
that 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days out of the year, we 
are right next to them and making sure everything is good. So, 
no, we're not called to be our brother's keeper, but the Bible 
everywhere does command us not to be our brother's murderer. 
And this is where N. Cain has fallen. Cain is trying 
to get arrogant with God. Wenham says he overstates his 
responsibility toward his brother in order to deny it completely. And then the indictment comes 
in verse 10. The indictment in verse 10, what have you done? 
What have you done? 10a, what have you done? The 
voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now, 
we have seen this in Adam and Eve. We see this in Cain. We 
see this all throughout scripture. The attempt to cover our own 
sin never ends well. We saw this in Proverbs 28. Whoever 
covers his transgression will not prosper, but he who confesses 
and forsakes it will find mercy. When we attempt to sort of evade 
our sin or our responsibility for it, it never ends well. God 
doesn't say, oh, I guess you don't know where he is. And I 
guess, yeah, I never made that clear that you are supposed to 
be. No, he doesn't do that. He says, what have you done? 
He knows our sin, brethren. He knows and understands our 
hearts. And he calls him to account. The voice of your brother's blood 
cries out to me from the ground. The Lord knows the deeds of men. 
The Lord prizes human life even after death. I think this passage 
underscores this. God prizes human life even after 
death. In other words, there's value 
for human life, isn't there? Even in its death. How we treat 
the body even after death is something we ought to be consistent 
with in terms of the creator and creature sort of distinction. 
God is concerned. There's a whole passage in scripture, 
in Deuteronomy chapter 21, verses one to nine, there is the law 
of the unsolved homicide. I mean, this whole law was developed 
such that if somebody found a dead body, They didn't just say, well, 
we can't explain it, let's throw it into the ditch. Or we can't 
explain it, let's just bury it in the potter's field. We can't 
explain it, so that's just the way it goes. No, there was an 
elaborate ritual set up with a heifer, with water, with confession, 
and with asking God to atone for the sin that had occurred 
in that instance. What do we make of that? We make 
of that this. God is concerned with the sanctity 
of life. God is concerned with the voice 
of, what, how many millions and millions of babies that cry out 
to Him from the ground, or the judicially innocent elderly people, 
or the judicially innocent terminally ill people that have been dispatched 
by the modern state. We may think it's no big deal, 
and hopefully we don't, but God Almighty hears their voice crying 
out from the ground, the voice of their blood crying out from 
the ground. And the Lord hears the blood 
of innocent Abel. Calvin said Abel was speechless 
when his throat was being cut or in whatever other manner he 
was losing his life. But after death, the voice of 
his blood was more vehement than any eloquence of the orator. 
That's very powerful. Very powerful. After death, the 
voice of his blood was more vehement than any eloquence of the orator. 
The significance of blood will be seen as we move through Genesis. Life is in the blood. Capital 
punishment due for the murderer. The reality that God uses, or 
God rather calls for, blood and atonement in order to approach 
the Holy God, we do so through the blood of atonement. And then 
note the punishment of Cain, finally, in verses 11 to 16. 
We see escalation here as well. That means a heightening. You 
not only see rapid escalation of sin and how bad it gets so 
quickly, but you also see the rapid escalation of curse upon 
sin. And there are several lines of 
evidence for this. First, the escalation of curse 
upon Cain. In Genesis 3.14 and 17, the curses 
were upon the serpent and the ground. Adam and Eve themselves 
were not cursed. Now, in their vocation, in their 
lives, with reference to Eve in terms of marriage and in terms 
of procreation, there were going to be certain consequences affecting 
her subsequent to the fall. With reference to Adam, there's 
going to be, you know, consequences subsequent to the fall. But Adam 
and Eve are not cursed. It's the serpent in the ground. 
Here, Cain is cursed as a result of what he has done. As well, 
Adam would have difficulty with the land in 317 to 319. Cain 
would have nothing from the land. I don't think that means everybody 
in Cain's family forever, but it's a specific indictment, a 
specific curse upon Cain for this act of murder. And then 
note that Adam was exiled from the garden, Cain would ultimately 
be exiled from any stability on the earth. He'd be a fugitive, 
he'd be a vagabond, he'd be a wanderer. Isn't men, isn't the desire and 
design of men and women to find stability, to find security, 
to find a place to hang our hats at the end of the day? I mean, 
every one of us desires a bit of a haven. Every one of us desires 
a bit of rest. Every one of us desires, after 
a long, hard day, to be able to go somewhere. It doesn't have 
to be the Taj Mahal. It doesn't have to be the White 
House. It just has to be a place where we can put our feet up 
and praise God Almighty from whom all blessings flow. Cain's 
not going to have that. Cain has sacrificed that. Cain 
has thrown that all away. Cain, according to Calvin, was 
not only condemned to personal exile, but was also subjected 
to still more severe punishment, namely that he should find no 
region of the earth where he would not be of a restless and 
a fearful mind. Now note Cain's response to his 
punishment. He cries out concerning his punishment, 
not the sin that he's being punished for. You sometimes see this, 
don't you? You follow the news, and you 
see a court case, and somebody's sentenced, and instead of, you 
know, owning what they've done and confessing what they've done, 
they say, well, that judge is harsh. That jury was unfair. This system is rigged. It's bad. Well, that's what Cain does. 
Cain doesn't cry out, oh, my iniquity has been great. There's 
a marginal reading that suggests that based on other text types, 
but the preferred reading is, my punishment, it's too great 
for me to bear. In other words, God's been harsh. 
This is too much. This isn't cool. This isn't legit. This isn't right. This isn't 
normal. Instead of crying out over the 
sin that got him into the mess, he rather cries out over the 
punishment. that he cannot bear. He implies 
that God is too harsh. Matthew Henry said, impenitent, 
unhumbled hearts are therefore not reclaimed by God's rebukes 
because they think themselves wronged by them. And it is an 
evidence of great hardness to be more concerned about our sufferings 
than for our sins. That is indicative of a hardened 
heart, to be more concerned about our sufferings than about our 
sins. He knows within himself the legitimacy 
of Genesis 9.6. Even prior to Genesis 9.6, Cain 
knows the legitimacy of it. Could it be? What Genesis 9-6 
stipulates in terms of capital punishment for murderers is part 
of the law of God written on our hearts. It's not only the 
prohibition concerning murder, but it's the penalty associated 
with the murderer. Cain knows that wherever he goes, 
there are persons that are going to want to take him out. Who 
wants a man who's engaged in fratricide, the murder of a brother 
living in their community? In fact, when we drop down in 
the narrative and we find that Cain has a wife, most of the 
commentators suggest he probably had the wife before he murdered 
Abel. Now, just because the text gives 
us Cain and Abel doesn't mean there aren't other people on 
the earth. Adam and Eve had a multitude of sons and daughters. So the 
commentators rightly, and I would say correctly, say that he probably 
had his wife before he murdered Abel. Why in the world would 
any woman want to saddle up to a guy who had murdered his own 
brother? I mean, this is not the sort 
of guy you want to bring home for turkey dinner on Thanksgiving. 
He's a wretch. And he understands this. The 
others in the world around him, they're going to want to exact 
vengeance upon him. They're going to want to destroy 
him. And then note God's command in verse 15. The Lord said to 
him, therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken 
on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark on Cain, 
lest anyone finding him should kill him. The sevenfold vengeance 
is probably a poetic form of speech, meaning full divine retribution. It's borne out or rather used 
that way in other places in the Old Testament. And then why does 
God preserve Cain's life? Cain deserves to die. God should 
have had him executed, but God doesn't do that. Why? I don't 
know. I don't know. I think Gil's probably 
close, as Gil most often is either right or close. It was the will 
of God, though Cain deserved to die, yet that he should not 
die immediately, but live a long and miserable life, that it might 
be a terror to others not to commit the like crime. I probably 
said when considering this in our Wednesday night Bible study, 
if given the option, I would prefer the gas chamber over the 
modern penal system. If I was convicted of a capital 
offense, I would prefer the death penalty than life in prison. I'm not suggesting that you imitate 
that, but the modern penal system is far scarier than anything 
that lie beyond the grave for a believer. I don't want to be 
victimized. I don't want to be sodomized. 
I don't want to have a life of torment in a prison. So I could 
understand why some would opt for the chair versus the cell. And I suggest that that's what's 
at play here. Death for Cain would have been 
a blessing as opposed to what he was destined to now in this 
life that he had chosen by rejecting the kind hand of God, the firm 
warning of God, the repeated questioning of God, and when 
he went out, he murdered his brother. It was better for him 
to die, actually. But he got what he wanted. And 
Bishop Hall makes this observation, not the Roman Catholic, but rather 
the Anglican Bishop, Joseph Hall. He said, he that would not keep 
his brother is cast out from the protection of God. He that 
feared not to kill his brother fears now that whosoever meets 
him will kill him. The troubled conscience projects 
fearful things, and sin makes even cruel men cowardly. Sin 
makes even cruel men cowardly. The righteous are as bold as 
a lion, aren't they? According to Proverbs 28. But 
the wicked flee when no one pursues. They're afraid of everything. 
Why? Because they've got a guilty conscience. That's Cain. He's 
got a guilty conscience. He's a vagabond. He's a fugitive. 
He's going to bounce from place to place. He's fearful of the 
blood avenger. He's fearful of a family member 
coming and exacting vengeance upon him for his having dispatched 
Abel. He goes on, Paul goes on, God 
saw it was too much favor for him to die. He therefore wills 
that which Cain wills. Cain would live. It has yielded 
him, but for a curse. He shall live, banished from 
God, carrying his hell in his bosom and the brand of God's 
vengeance in his forehead. God rejects him, the earth repines 
at him, men abhor him. Himself now wishes the death 
which he feared, and no man dare pleasure him with a murder. How 
bitter is the end of sin! Yea, without end! Still, Cain 
finds that he killed himself more than his brother. We should 
never sin if our foresight were but as good as our sense. The 
issue of sin would appear a thousand times more horrible than the 
act is pleasant. Now, I often say, if you ever 
want a quote or notes, email me, and I will send this to you. 
You all really need that one, because I think that's one of 
the best commentaries on what's happening here with reference 
to Cain that I've read. And it's hard to digest it in 
the span of 20 seconds in an audible reading. Perhaps you 
can look at it on your computer screen and ponder the implications 
of what our brother said so many years ago concerning the wretched 
end of Cain. And then notice finally with 
reference to the banishment from God. Verse 16, then Cain went 
out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of 
Nod on the east of Eden. It's intriguing because how does 
the chapter begin? The chapter begins with Sabbath 
day worship. The chapter begins with two brothers 
taking sacrifices or offerings to approach God, to come nigh 
unto God, to draw close to God. And yet, at the end of the chapter, 
Cain is driven even further from God. This is the divine commentary 
on man's sin. Well, brethren, as I said, in 
the course of this sermon, we ought to appreciate or notice 
or observe the rapid escalation of sin. Wenham says Cain is portrayed 
as a much more hardened sinner than his father. Adam merely 
ate a fruit given him by his wife. Cain murdered his brother. Cain rejects the divine entreaty 
and then grumbles about his sentence. Everything Cain does is wrong 
in this chapter. And then Waltke makes the observation, 
the sundering of the familial bond begun in chapter three here 
escalates to fratricide in one mere generation. What's Waltke 
saying? He's saying that family bond 
that begins to be disrupted in Genesis 3. Remember, the woman 
whom you gave me? The woman that you put in my 
life, what's Adam doing? He's throwing the woman under 
the bus. Chapter 2, 18 to 25, shows us 
that marriage is a blessed and a wonderful thing. There is this 
one-fleshment about it, and yet when it comes to sin, Adam is 
ready to throw Eve right under the bus in order to try and evade 
the very judgment and wrath of God. So we see that. We see that 
disruption. When God comes to deal with the 
woman, what does he say? Your desire will be for him, 
but he will rule over you. In other words, the marriage 
is going to continue, the marriage is going to persist, but there's 
going to be some distortion as a result of sin. So we see that 
at that level, and then we get into chapter 4, and what do we 
see? Fratricide, the actual murder of one brother by another brother. You see, this concept that we 
can do a little bit of sin and keep it under control is absolutely 
positively false. You cannot do one little sin 
and keep it under control. You know, back in the day when 
I was a little kid, I remember a an advertising campaign for 
one of the potato chip companies, and they said, you can't eat 
just one. They're right. Have you ever reached into a 
bag of chips and eaten just one? Is that possible? Are you the 
winner? Have you done that? Probably 
not. You can't eat just one. Sins 
like that. You can't just do one. You can't 
just reach your hand and take out one little chip, eat that, 
and then be done with it. Sin is monstrous. Sin always goes for the throat. Owen, somewhere in Volume 6 says, 
every doubt would end in absolute atheism if given then. Every, 
you know, unguarded look upon the opposite sex would end in 
abject sexual immorality, if not stopped at the very source. You cannot play with sin. Solomon 
asks his sons, can a man take fire into his bosom and not be 
burned? Can you engage in adultery in 
that context and not end up with wounds and dishonor and the wrath 
and fury of God? You see, brethren, we have way 
too small view of sin, thinking that we can domesticate it, that 
we can tame it, and that we can somehow control it. We cannot! That's what James says with reference 
to the tongue. Remember that in James chapter 
3? It is an unruly evil. No man can tame it. What does 
James mean there? James means what James means. No man can tame the tongue. Now, there's one of two ways 
to read that. We could read that and say, oh, 
then I'm not even going to bother. I'm just going to engage in the 
sorts of lawlessness that tongues engage in. No, that's not James' 
purpose. No man can tame the tongue, but 
God the Lord can tame the tongue. And as believers, you ought to 
ask Him to set a restraint over your tongue. Brethren, we cannot 
play games with sin. Let Cain teach you that. as well with reference to the 
first murder. It demonstrates the antithesis 
announced in 315. There is this collective warfare 
between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. 
We see that the first murder was religious in nature. That's 
how Jesus interprets it in Matthew 23 35. Abel was a martyr. Meredith Klein says, 
not mere social disorder was involved, but radical religious 
discord. The enmity of the serpent seed 
against the seed of the woman. Jesus interpreted Cain's murder 
of Abel as the first shedding of martyr's blood. The first 
murderer did not heed the warning of God. The first murderer did 
not listen to the voice of God. The first murderer engaged in 
rebellion against God. And in 1 John chapter 3, we as 
the people of God are told to avoid the sin of Cain. And then with reference to the 
glory of the God of justice, he knows the deeds of men, both 
of the good and the evil, and the Lord is indeed the champion 
of the sanctity of life. There's a commentary on the book 
of Deuteronomy, and this fellow says with reference to the law 
of unsolved murder. Again, Deuteronomy 21, 1 to 9, 
read it same time. And it might seem odd, it might seem strange. 
You've got to measure, you've got to find the priest, you've 
got to kill a heifer, you've got to get water, you've got 
to pray to God to get atonement for this one unsolved murder, 
this one unsolved homicide. Wright says, it is often when 
the Old Testament seems most culturally remote from us that 
we need to pay closest attention to its challenge. What ought 
to strike us from this law is not the oddity of a cow with 
a broken neck, in an uninhabited brook, but the expected response 
of a whole community through its civic, judicial, and religious 
leaders to a single human death. That's what ought to strike us. 
God is indeed the champion of the sanctity of life. And then 
God as well hears the voice of the cry of Abel's blood. And the verb that's used here 
is used elsewhere in the Bible. In fact, Wenham, I think, accurately 
summarizes. Here, Abel's blood is pictured 
crying to God for vengeance. The verb cry is the desperate 
cry of men without food, expecting to die, and there's texts here, 
or oppressed by their enemies. It is the scream for help of 
a woman being raped. It is the plea to God of the 
victims of injustice. The law, the prophets, and the 
Psalms unite with narratives like this to assert that God 
does hear his people's desperate cries for help. And I think that's 
a good place for us to end, and the best help that God gives 
is the help of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can 
be assured that if we cry out to Him in faith, He hears us, 
and that He answers us, and that He gives us life. Because God 
not only hears the blood of Abel, but He hears the blood of Jesus. 
And it speaks better things, according to Hebrews chapter 
12. The blood of Abel cries out, condemn, the blood of Jesus cries 
out, forgive. Well, let us close in a word 
of prayer. Father, thank you for your word, and thank you 
for these accounts in the book of Genesis and the early history 
of man. May we learn the lessons that 
you would have for us. May you help us to see sin in 
all of its ugly detail and description, and may you grant us grace to 
heed the voice of God Almighty. We ask that you would go with 
us now, and we pray that you would cause your face to shine 
upon us, that you would keep us, that you would protect us, 
that you would flood our hearts and minds with that peace of 
God which surpasses all understanding. And we pray this through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen. I'll close with a brief 
time of meditation and then be dismissed.