We're turning back to Genesis today again. We're going back to the beginning as we have been doing on Sunday mornings. And we're turning to Genesis chapter 4 please. Genesis chapter 4. I'd like to speak to you today under the title Lessons from the First Murder. Lessons from the First Murder. Genesis chapter 4 please. And we're going to read down to the verse 16 from the verse 1. Genesis 4. And the verse 1, and we're thinking lessons from the first murder. And Adam knew Eve his wife. And she conceived and bare Cain and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel. And 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 of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering the Lord had not respect. And Cain was very rose and his countenance fell. The Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted, and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And 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 slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not, am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto thee from the ground, and now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tellest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I behead, and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth, and it shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall slay me. And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Noth on the east. of Eden. We trust the Lord will bless the reading of his word to each of our hearts today. Lessons from the first murder. As we embarked in this chapter in our last study we considered the difference between religion and God's salvation. We saw two sons that were born to Adam and Eve. They both had a similar upbringing. They were both taught about the Lord by the same parents. They were given the same opportunities to accept the Lord's ways. We considered how they had two jobs. Cain was a farmer and worked hard so that the crops were available for the family. And Abel was a shepherd, he was a keeper of sheep. And both these jobs were respectable and they were fulfilling their God-given mandate as men to work the ground and to work. But the similarities ended when they brought their two offerings to the Lord. And this is where the differences began. Cain was very sincere in bringing the fruit of the ground as an offering. But he brought the work of his hands from a ground which the Lord had cursed. And his offering was unacceptable before the Lord. The Lord had already taught the family that blood had to be shed for the forgiveness of sin. And Abel, he brought a lamb, a blood sacrifice, and offered it to the Lord. And Cain thought that the sincere work of his hands would be accepted by the Lord, but Cain was sincerely wrong. And that is the problem with religious people today. They might be very sincere, But dear friends, may this be burned into each of our souls today, you don't approach a holy sovereign God on your own terms. God has set the terms and without the shedding of blood there is no remission. So we pick up from where we left off the last time, which is at verse 5. And I want us to learn a number of lessons from this first murder. Let's firstly consider Cain's corruption. Cain's corruption. Look at verse 5. It says, But unto Cain and to his offering the Lord had not respect. And Cain was very wroth and his countenance. I want you to see the two responses to Cain's offering. There's two responses. First of all, there's God's response. What is God's response to this mixed-up worship service, where both a believer, able, and a non-believer come to the service? What is God's response to these offerings? Well verse 5 it says, but for Cain in his offering God had not respect. He had no regard for this offering of the fruit of the ground. God had no pleasure in Cain's offering. It didn't matter how sincere Cain was. He was sincerely wrong. He was dead wrong. It was displeasing to God. It was dishonoring to God. It was unacceptable to God. It was offensive to God. It was insulting to God. It was blasphemous towards God. This was no small thing. God had set the terms. And Cain was trifling in things that were wrong. Dear brothers and sisters, the worship of God is the ultimate purpose of every person that is made. The ultimate reason that you and I are on planet Earth, the ultimate reason that you were conceived in your mother's womb, the reason why you were born was to live solely Deo Gloria, for the glory of God alone. This isn't a small matter that we're dealing with in these verses. This is the head of the list. We live for God's glory. And this is what believers are to do. We are to glorify God in our lives, and we will glorify Him for the rest of eternity. Can I ask you, dear believer, this morning, did you live out your God-given purpose in the week that's passed? I ask my own soul that question too. Did you live out your God-given purpose In the week that is passed out into eternity, the reason why you and I are still in this earth is to bring glory to His name on this side of eternity. And all of a sudden we see in the passage here how quickly the corruption of sin had taken root. I mean sin had only entered the world in the last chapter. And this approaching God in his own human terms is not a secondary sin by Cain. This is a primary sin and it's offensive to God and God had no regard for his offering. God utterly rejected it and it would have been better had Cain not came at all to worship God. because he approached God in his terms. The two responses, God had no regard, no respect. But what was Cain's response? Look at the second half here of the verse. Look at what it says. How did Cain respond? Did Cain repent? Did Cain confess his sin? Did Cain fall on his knees and plead for the mercy of God? Did Cain humble himself? Did he listen to his Creator who had spoken so clearly and rejected the offering? Did Cain run to Abel's herds and grab a lamb and slay it and come with a blood sacrifice and in humble repentance come before the Lord in his terms? It's so hard to even conceive this. I mean God had spoken, God had commanded, God had now searched his heart and said you need to repent. God had disregarded his sacrifice and surely the right response would be now to go and do exactly what God requires. I mean come on! But look at the last, at the phrase here in verse 5, and Cain was very wroth. I mean this is so hard to understand. His reaction is so so sinful. His flesh was provoked. He wasn't just angry. He was very angry. He was very rough. And the word very in Hebrew, it means exceedingly angry. He was in a rage. He lost all sense of self-control. And as you think about it here, as he loses his self-control, the word angry here, it means to burn hot. He was burned up. He became furious at God. And he shook his fist at our holy God. We read that his countenance fell in that verse. It's written all over his face. He couldn't even conceal it from Adam and Eve or from Abel. His face fell to the ground. He was so enraged against God. What we learn from this is our responses need to be in response to God's responses. What do I mean? In other words, what upsets God? Dear brother, dear sister, should upset you. And what causes God to rejoice should cause you to rejoice. We should be one heart with God. We should be of one mind with God. Cain should have grieved over what caused God's heart to grieve. But we see the very opposite response in Cain. And it could be that some faithful brother or sister in Christ even needs to point out God's way to you, or point out a fault. I remember having to do this to someone. And I did it in love, and they reacted so poorly. And they reacted angrily, and they shook their fists, and they justified their sin by shaking their fists. They were shaking their fists at God. They were clearly living in sin. And they were just like he, happy to continue on. Listen, if God says it in his word, we ought to respond to it. I'll say it again. What upsets God should upset us. And do you know what? In these days, among Christendom, we've become so liberal and we've become so far out that what upsets God doesn't upset us anymore. We live so close to the world. We live so close to the line. And it is a disgrace when we think of a holy God who has saved us from sin. What upsets God should upset us and what causes God to rejoice ought to make us rejoice. That's the first lesson here. But Cain is corrupt. And God in his mercy approaches Cain in verse 6. Look at it. It says, And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted, and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Now what is God doing here? As he comes and he questions Cain, why art thou wroth? Well, God is pleading with Cain. God is reaching out to Cain. You see, God is ever the seeker of the human soul. God is ever reaching out to us in our sins. And God says to Cain, why are you angry? This is God's mercy on display. The question is asked for Cain to examine his own heart. Why should God want Cain to examine his own heart? Well that it might lead him to confession of that sin and that it might lead him to repentance. I mean this is like the ministry of the Holy Spirit who's come into the world to convict men of sin and righteousness and judgment. You know that's not a bad thing, that's a good thing. It's like going to the doctor and the doctor pokes and prods you. Does this hurt? Does this hurt? Does this hurt? Until finally he puts his finger on the lump or upon the cyst or whatever needs dealt with. That's not a bad thing, that's a good thing. A right diagnosis is half the cure. And so that's what God is doing here. He's probing the heart and the soul of Cain so that Cain will come clean, so that Cain will confess his sin, so that Cain will be restored, so that Cain would actually become a believer and put himself under the authority of God and the authority of God's Word. Why are you so angry, says God, helping Cain to pull back the mask and see his own heart? But you see, there's two ways then that Cain could go. You see, with Cain we see that God is a God of a second chance. God has swung the door open for forgiveness and for mercy if you'll just do what's right. If you'll just do well. Your countenance will be lifted up and there will be serenity and calmness and stillness returned to your heart. It'll be well with your soul, but you must do well. You must do well for your soul, says God. And what he's doing with Cain is he says, if you do well, won't you be accepted? Verse 7. What is God saying? I've prepared a way for you. There's a way that you can approach me. This is the way I accept. But then God goes on and he says, if you don't do well, sin lies at your door. And here sin is pictured like an animal crouching at the door, just ready to leap upon Cain. So there's two ways, Cain. You can do well and you can obey me. Or you can just continue down your own path. So here are the two ways. You disobey, sin lies at the door. What's God saying? Cain, there's trouble ahead if you continue in this path. Cain, there's problems down the road. Sin's like a wild animal. It's crouching at the door. It's ready to pounce on you. Cain, you've two options. Do things my way and live at peace. Or do things your way and there's trouble ahead. Listen to your friends. When sin moves in, happiness moves out. When sin moves in, happiness moves out. But when repentance moves in, sin moves out, and happiness moves back in. Happiness, dear friends, is never the destination that we intend to aim at. The most miserable people in this world are those who are trying to be happy. Happiness is a by-product of going God's way and living on the narrow path that God has set before us. Obedience to God leads to joy and it leads to peace. Why? Because you know you have peace with God. Think about it this way. There's an object of peace and there's a subject of peace taught in the Bible. The object of peace is peace with God that comes only through the blood of Jesus Christ. Once you place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, you have peace in your soul and you know you're going to heaven to be with Him. But then there's a subject of peace that is peace that floods the heart when we're right with God and walking in right fellowship with Him. But you know, God offers Cain so much hope in verse 7 because he says to Cain, and thou shalt rule over him. I think the New American Standard Bible renders this phrase a little better. God says to this to Cain, he says, you must master it. You must master your sin. Either sin will master you, Cain, or you must master your sin with God's help. There's no neuter ground, Cain says God. There's no middle ground. The only way that you can master sin is that you can be mastered by the grace of God which is being offered to you, Cain, to throw yourself at my grace, this opportunity. So these are the two ways. Either you go God's way or you go the way of sin. We either go God's way and our countenance is lifted up and we are happy and at peace in ourselves because we're going God's way or we go sin's way and like he and our countenance is lifted down. Don't ever think that sin will make you happy. That's the devil's lie. Sin will depress you. Sin will defeat you. Sin will discourage you. Sin will devastate you. Sin offers you nothing but death and destruction. You must go God's way. By his grace. Cain's corruption. There were two responses to the offering. There was God's response that wasn't accepted. There was Cain's response. He was very, very angry. God came to Cain in his disobedience and told Cain, there's two ways. If you do well, you can experience the forgiveness. If you do things my way, you can experience my mercy. But if you continue down your road, Cain, sin lies at the door. But Cain goes on and he commits two sins. This is the pinnacle of Cain's corruption now. The first is in verse 8, the first sin. And the second is in verse 9. Verse 8, the first sentence. And 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 slew him. Cain is on a slippery slope and he's just descending at speed. And there's nothing which Cain is not capable of doing now, because sin is the master over Cain. He has made his decision. And Cain has yielded his life to sin. Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him. This is intentional, premeditated, first-degree murder. And do you know what that is? That's the devil's work. This is spiritual warfare being carried out. And the seed of the serpent with his venom is getting into the veins of everyone born into this world with this sin nature. And the world is now bending to the serpent's will. And here is playing out in scripture the first battle between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And Cain, he kills his brother. It is the devil who is behind this. The Lord Jesus when he was addressing the Pharisees in his day in John 8.44, listen to what the Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees. The Lord Jesus said, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer. from the beginning, referring to this passage, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar, and the father of it. Now with sin mastering him, Cain who has just murdered proceeds to a second sin. What did the Lord Jesus said that say, the devil, he was a murderer from the beginning, but he's also the father of lies. And he goes on in verse 9, and the Lord said unto Cain. Now you see, Cain, he may have thought that he got away with it. You see, Cain, he may have had the idea that he had committed the perfect crime. Do you know what? There's so many people who sin, who somehow get the idea that it's so well planned and it's so perfect that nobody will ever know anything about it. I wonder, is that you? Maybe Cian thought he had committed the perfect crime and so you see when Cian got ready to commit the crime he looked all around him and no one was looking. And then he killed his brother. But you know what dear friends, he forgot to look in another direction. He looked all around him but he forgot to look up. And God saw what he was doing and knew all about it. Listen, you might be happily committing sin in secret, thinking absolutely no one knows about it, but God does. And God sees what you're doing. And God knows all about it. And you might think that it's all good, but God sees. The Bible says that all things are open and naked before the eyes of him with whom we have to do. So you see Cain kills his brother, he thinks he's got away with it, and all of a sudden out of heaven God says, where is thy brother Abel? Where is he? And Cain says in verse 9, I don't know. He's lying. He's lying to God. Am I my brother's keeper? And do you know what? The answer to that question, am I my brother's keeper, is yes. We are our brother's keeper. Did you know that this verse right here, what is being said by Cain, am I my brother's keeper? It's the rationale of the whole Bible for personal witnessing and reaching out with the gospel. Did you know right here is the rationale for everything we do in our fellowship here for the lost people of this world? You see right here the question, am I my brother's keeper? The answer is absolutely yes. We have a responsibility for those around us. You see, if a church believes that the answer to this question is yes, that church cannot be an ordinary run-of-the-mill, country club, aloof and dead, uncaring kind of congregation. Because you and I believe, dear brothers and sisters, that we are our brother's keeper, and we do have a responsibility for those around us who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to tell you what, a church that believes that, is a church that will be on fire to win people for Christ Jesus. God did not put us in greens by accident. God did not give us the opportunities that he has provided us with accidentally. We are here because God wants us to be responsible for those who aren't there, who have no regard for Christ, who need to hear that they're sinners, who need to hear that there's a Savior for them. Am I my brother's keeper? Absolutely. The Synod mastered Cain. He had no care for his brother. And if sin is mastering us, we won't think about the lost. We'll just think about ourselves. We have a great responsibility today to reach the lost of Greens, to reach the lost of this area around us. And it takes every single one of us to be doing it. It's not just the responsibility of the leadership of this fellowship. Every single one of us needs to be gossiping the gospel, doing all that we can to reach the loss for Christ. Cain's corruption. But I want you to see secondly, Cain's conviction. Cain's conviction. There's two voices now come. Two voices. Look at verse 10. And it says there, and he said, the Lord said, what hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. The first voice, as Cain's conviction falls upon him, is God's voice. The second is Abel's. First God's voice, he said, God said, what have you done? He again is pleading with Cain. Come clean. Confess your sin. Acknowledge your sin. Where sin does abide, grace does much more abide. And God could wipe the slate clean. God could cancel the certificate of death. But put your faith in me. Come under the blood sacrifice. What have you done, Cain? But notice Abel's voice. Here's Abel's voice. The voice of your brother's blood, says the Lord. is crying to me. It's a metaphorical expression, it's a figure of speech assigning life to an inanimate object. It's a very vivid description to say this murder, it's screaming out of the grave to the heights of heaven and it has reached my ears in heaven. The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground, which is where your brother lies dead in a pool of blood. And you didn't want the blood sacrifice. You didn't see the blood. You didn't want the smell of blood. You wanted something that was so sophisticated and so cultured. You didn't want to have the blood of the Lamb. You wanted to come to me in your own way. And so Cain, do you see where this has brought you? It's brought you to blood. It's brought you to the blood of your own brother, as he's lying dead in a pool of blood. That's how irrational sin will make you. That's how illogical sin will make you. We think down is up and up is down. We think right is wrong and wrong is right. It unplugs your brain. Sin brings moral insanity. He didn't want a blood sacrifice. Now your brother lies dead. You notice God goes on, he says in verse 11, Now art thou cursed from the earth, which has opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tellest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. God is saying to Cain, you're a vagabond. Cain, you'll be restless and rootless for the rest of your life. He's saying, Cain, for the rest of your days you're not going to have a dwelling place. You see sin has turned Cain into a spiritual gypsy and he's going to become a human tumbleweed just going about with the wind. Cain is going to become a walking sermon and everywhere he goes throughout the earth he's going to be that sermon and people will see his sin and know of his sin and sin separates and it drags people away from everything that is good and holy and righteous. Look quickly at verse 13, and Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid. And I shall be a fugitive and vagabond in the earth, and it shall come to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay me. I don't know what you see there, but I don't see repentance. I see remorse. That's not conversion, that's complaint. He's not asking God to save him. How long does he have to go? How many times did God have to plead with him? He's not asking God to save him. He's not asking God for salvation. He's afraid of the trouble he's going to have. He's not sorry because he sinned. He's sorry because he got caught. There's a difference. The Bible talks about a godly sorrow that leads to repentance, but there's a worldly sorrow. Just sorry you got caught. Just sorry that you're going to have to pay the price. There's a difference. The Lord says in verse 15, Therefore whoever slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold and the Lord shall set a mark upon Cain lest any finding him should kill him. We don't know exactly what that means. Some translators say that it's better to translate that statement that the Lord gave a sign to Cain. We don't really know all that's involved there, but it's some evidence of protection. That God is basically saying to Cain, Cain, I'm going to keep anyone from killing you, I'm going to protect you during these years. But you know why I believe, and why I believe God was doing that for Cain? And some may disagree with this. But I believe that God was protecting Cain to give him an opportunity to repent and be saved. That's what I believe. And if you're in this building this morning, or you're listening online, and you're lost, and you're still alive, maybe you haven't trusted Christ as your Savior, but you still have breath in your lungs. The reason why you still have breath in your lungs, dear friend, is to give you an opportunity to repent and believe the gospel. It is not the will of the Father that any should perish. Why didn't that accident you were in kill you? Why didn't that narrow escape take out your life? Why didn't that illness end your life? The Bible says that the goodness of God leads to repentance. If God is convicting you today, you must respond. I want you to briefly see and finally see Cain's conclusion. It's a very sad conclusion. Sin will take you further than you ever wanted to go. Verse 16. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. This is a terrible place to end. Cain is in hell today, because this is the last of the record. He left the presence of God. Dear friends, if we want happiness, we need Christ. If we want happiness, we must choose God's way. That's the answer to the sinner. And to the saint today, there are lessons too. If we want to enjoy our fellowship with God in its fullest way, we must live God's way. If you want your countenance to be lifted up, to have a smile on your face, you must go God's way. Can you see how many times God approaches Cain in this passage. Can you see how many times God extends his hand of mercy and grace towards Cain? Every time, Cain presses on down the way of sin. This juncture today, as we sit under the authority of God's word, there's an opportunity for each of us to search our hearts. To see where we're at. To say, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me. Lead me in the way everlasting. Oh, that God would search our hearts today. If you're not saved, stop going down the way of hell. That broad road's only gonna lead to destruction. But come to Christ. If you're saved today, maybe you haven't been walking as you ought for a while. Come back into fellowship. Get your feet back onto the track of the narrow road that leads to life. And enjoy your fellowship with God. And know him in his full sweetness.