Like all rebels after him, Cain sought to justify himself by destroying the reminder of his guilt. Cain was also striking at God by killing God's image bearer.
Scripture: Genesis 4:1-15
Sermon Notes:
- Marital intimacy in the Bible involves conscious and reciprocating knowledge of the other (Gen. 4:1). As a result of this marvelous unity, Eve bears a son.
- Adam and Eve had been given a promise of a deliverer (Gen. 3:15) and expected Cain would be the Saviour.
- From the very beginning Adam's sons develop the skills of agriculture and animal husbandry.
- God accepted Abel's offering but not Cain's, because it demonstrated that his heart was not right before God.
- Our natural sinful inclination is to stand in judgment over the Word of God. But God alone knows the heart and judges motives (Jer. 17:9-10).
- Further, Adam and Eve and their children knew God's requirements for blood atonement (Gen. 4:7; 1John 3:12).
- Blood atonement is still the only way of our atonement. We come to God through Christ’s blood and his intercession for us.
- Cain actually came with a thank offering only, but he apparently felt no need for atonement.
- It was not a lack of knowledge but of humility. He didn't want to come as God had prescribed.
- Modern humanists have a strong autonomous moral sense, but they are offended by the necessity of blood atonement prescribed by God.
- From Genesis to Revelation, we find that nothing suffices for our sin except blood atonement.
- The grace of God is manifested to Cain in that He reasons with Cain instead of simply casting him away.
- God cares enough about us to reason with us and to graciously speak to us and call us to Himself.
- God depicts sin as crouching at the door waiting to besiege and dominate us as it did Cain.
- In our pride we get enslaved and end up doing the Devil's work and we feel justified in our actions.
- The world cannot strike at God directly; instead they strike at the righteous and persecute the church.
- Those that go the way of Cain try to eliminate any evidence of God. Ontario's sex-ed curriculum is a political attempt to suppress reminders of God's moral order.
- Silence is but compromise and hatred. We must speak. We must be loving with our words and the truth.
- Rather than repent, Cain justifies himself in self-pity and declares himself hidden from God's presence.
- Because the earth is the Lord's, the Cainite mind feels alien in it.
- Without Christ and His atonement we're all like Cain. Let us lay aside every obstacle, humble ourselves and flee to Christ and His blood for atonement.
Application Questions:
- Why does Cain remain the critical lesson for us today?
- How does our culture seek to be justified in its sin? Give examples.
- Does the warning of 1John 3:12 apply to us in the church?
- How does God warn us of our sin?
- How can we be freed from guilt and covered by the atonement of Christ?