Sin, Conflict and Consequences

Transcript

GRS 2-2
10/31/2004
Sin, Conflict and Consequences
Genesis 3-5
Gil Rugh

We are going to continue our study of the Old Testament and we are in the Book of Genesis and we have been doing an overview, but we began an overview that will take us through the Book of Genesis and somewhat of a survey fashion. We will be doing approximately five Chapters at a session, but for these opening five Chapters, we have broken them down into two sessions because there are crucial to understanding the rest of scripture. In the first 2 Chapters of Genesis we had matters related to the creation, both the general matter of God’s work of creation in Chapter 1 and then the focus on the creation of Man as male and female in Chapter 2. We come to the Chapter 3 of Genesis, we come to a pivotal key Chapter not only in the Book of Genesis, but for all the rest of scripture because in the first 2 Chapters we had a beautiful creation God brought into existence everything and His testimony was that was all good, very good, without any flaws, without any defects. When we get to Chapter 4, Chapter 5, and on through all the rest of the Bible we are going to find murder, death, dying is the focus. And Chapter 3 is crucial to understanding what has happened. Sin enters the picture in Chapter 3 for the human race and nothing has been the same since. All the problems, all the difficulties, all the misery in the world find its roots in Genesis Chapter 3. We will take Genesis Chapter 3, we must just the way we took the first 2 Chapters and just the way we will take all the rest of scripture. We take it literally, it is an actual account of actual historic events. Events that happened in time and history just as they are recorded here, yes I alluded to mention in an earlier study.

Romans Chapter 5 builds upon Genesis Chapter 3 to show that as in Adam all sinned and came under the penalty of sin so in Christ too is the second Adam. There is a new creation with redemption provided for all men. And we need to remember there is a serious problem if Adam is not literal historic character, if the events of the fall of Genesis 3 are not literal historical happenings, then the rest of the Bible and unfolding God’s plan of salvation for sin for human beings makes no sense at all. So in a very real way, the whole Bible stands or falls on these opening 3 Chapters of Genesis. So we are going to walk through these. Robin has prepared some notes to help you follow along with what I will be presenting. I believe there are notes from previous study if you would like to have them available in sound words and you can pick them up there, if you would like. Alright, the temptation is in the first 7 verses of Genesis Chapter 3, you are failure with the account.

Verse 3, the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord had made. And he said to the woman. And what happens is Satan comes, uses the serpent, one of the creatures God has created and through this vehicle the serpent Satan speaks to Eve and leads her and Adam into rebellion against God and the fall into sin. The serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field, shrewd. This word has the idea of cleverness and it can be either good or evil depending on the context. You are obviously there is a negative flavor in what is going to go on. Evidently, the serpent itself was a very beautiful creature and as originally created it evidently had legs, did not crawl on its belly that will be a result of the curse of the fall. Just to know, Eve evidently doesn’t find anything strange in the serpent coming and talking to her. She doesn’t say a talking snake, I can’t believe it because remember this is all new, there is no sin and so here comes one of God’s very beautiful creations. And begins to address her, there is a pattern in the Satan’s follows. He first questions God’s word, indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden? That word indeed implies surprise or amazement. This is just not a question, just her interest, but there is more to than that. I am amazed, has God said you that you should not eat of any tree here and he is casting doubt on God’s goodness. The integrity of God in his intentions. Of course, Satan knows the instructions that have been given to the Adam and Eve. So he approaches as though he will be surprised that God would withhold something like this from Eve. So he questions with God has said and in doing so he does it in such a way that raises questions about why would God do such a thing? Then he basically denies God’s word because the woman responds to the serpent “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it or you will die.'" The serpent said to the woman, “you will not die”. See this where you just flat out denies God’s word, creates the question about God’s word and does it in such a context that would be, you know express surprise or amazement that God would require such a thing, hold back something from you require you not to eat of the certain tree. Then you just flat out denies what God has said. The woman says, God says this is what will happen. Satan says that’s not true, that won’t happen, you won’t die. Now we have God’s word against Satan’s word.

And then in verse 5 "For God knows in the day that you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Basically he slanders God’s character. God was jealous. He had wrong motives. He was afraid you would be like Him and He doesn’t want you to be like Him, so He forbids you to eat of the tree. In verses 2 and 3 when Eve told the serpent, what God has said, some make a strong point on the fact you shall not eat from the tree or touch it in verse 3 that she has added the God’s word that may be so, that’s not recorded in the first, in the original passage we have on this up in Chapter 2 verse 17, from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. He doesn’t say you can touch it. But I don’t know that there is a great difference here. You have no purpose to touch the tree if you are not going to eat of it. So like we might tell our children, I don’t want you eating that. We might follow, but they just don’t touch it or just away from it, that’s off-balance for you. You have to be careful, you don’t build too much in that, you have Eve as a fallen being before the fall occurs. So here she basically reiterates the fact, we would stay away from that tree, we are not allowed to partake of the tree. And I take it, it would fit. That means we are not to hang around the tree, put our hands all over the tree, see if we can smell the fruit, we are just not allowed to eat it. I mean that would be putting yourself in a vulnerable situation. So it is true that do not touch, it is not the part of the original command, but I don’t know that it expresses anything that’s not entailed in the original command. The point is if you partake of the tree, you are going to die. That’s God’s clear warning. Now why in all the details of why evidently God has not gone into, this is just off balance and this is going to provide an occasion for man to exercise his will, his volition to either obey or disobey God. It’s somewhat shocking to see Satan be so open and blunt.

The serpent said to the woman in verse 4 you will not die, you surely will not die. You remember in John Chapter 8 verses 44 Jesus said the devil is a liar and the father of lies. And here we have the beginning of those lies unfolding as he lies to the woman you won’t die. There is an element of truth if I can put it that way, Adam and Eve are going to live for an extended period of time after this event. You can say, well, see they didn’t die, but we know they will die spiritually immediately and the process of physical death will set in. So in effect they will die. They will die immediately spiritually and the process that will culminate in their physical death will begin at that moment. I think it’s interesting that the first doctrine that is denied in the word of God is the doctrine of judgment. The first doctrine that Satan denies the doctrine of judgment, you won’t die. You won’t have to pay the penalty for sin.

Verse 5 God is envious and doesn’t want you to be like Him knowing good and evil. You will be like God, you will know good and evil. There is an element of truth in that twisted and perverted as it is. Adam and Eve will perceive evil in a way that they have never understood it before. They have only lived in a perfect environment, in a perfect world, in perfect conditions, untainted themselves by sin and as a result of this action of rebellion, they are going to know the distinction between good and evil. So there is an element of truth here, but the truth is so perverted and twisted that you know it becomes a lie and it’s an attack on the character of God. As a result, Satan’s original problem in Isaiah Chapter 14 where the original problem of Satan is recorded in his fall. This would have happened the fall of Satan, I would understand, happened somewhere between the end of Genesis 1 and the beginning of Genesis 3. And Genesis 2 elaborating on the creation of man as male and the female at the end of Genesis 1. So somewhere after Genesis 2 and before Genesis 3 Satan fell from heaven. Because Satan along with all other angelic beings would have been part of the creation the God originally declared to be good. Angels are not eternal. God is eternal, but angels were created beings brought in to existence evidently to serve as God’s messengers in the context of the creation of the world.

And Isaiah Chapter 14 verse "How have you fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. And so Satan now approaches them with the corruption that brought about his own fall. You can be like God. You can only be comparable to Him, but you may even be greater than Him. Verse 6,” When the woman saw the tree was good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit, ate; she gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Note the comparison with 1 John Chapter 2 verse 16 all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. She saw that it was good for food; the lust of the flesh, delight to the eyes; the lust of the eyes, desirable to make one wise, the boastful pride of life. Now the issue here is not just the piece of fruit. The issue here is obedience or disobedience to the living God. The tree of the knowledge good and evil becomes of tremendous importance because God said don’t eat of it. Now they are free to eat or not eat of any other tree in the garden, but there is one tree they have not the freedom to eat off. Now they are in a context of exercising their will for obedience or disobedience. Eve took and she gave to her husband, they both ate.

In the New Testament, we studied first Timothy together and in the first Timothy Chapter 2 verse 14 Paul under the inspiration of the spirit says, Eve was deceived by the serpent, Adam was not deceived. That means when Eve ate it, she was deceived, she really deceived into thinking that this was okay and it was a good thing. Adam ate knowing it was an active rebellion and the fall occurs and the sequence given is they saw, it was pleasant, they took and then they gave. You know, the process tickled on. You look behold, this is something you would like even though it is forbidden and next step, you partake of it and then you are not done. Soon has a way that draws others in with you. That’s what happened with Eve, with Adam, and has continued on. You note that the transition occurs, verse 7 the eyes of them both were opened. They do see evil as they have never seen it before. They do know now a contrast between evil and good that they never understood before. But it is not good that they now know this. They haven’t become like God as Satan promised. Because now they have begun corrupted and alienated from God, separated from Him.

So in verse 7, the eyes of both of them were opened, they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. They have a sense of guilt, of shame. They realized they are naked, they need to be covered, you say, “what’s the point?” There are only two people on the whole face of the earth. And they are married and they have perfect bodies, so why cover up, just because you sinned. The sin brings shame, it brings guilt and that since that I need to be covered, so they make themselves covering. There is a confrontation now in verses 8 to 13 as the Lord comes to visit with them in the garden. Verse 8, they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden, in the cool of the day. Awesome, they are not only lived in the beautiful perfect environment of the garden, but the Lord Himself came and walk through the garden with them in the evening and conversed with them. Evidently, the preincarnate Christ who is the person of the trying God who manifests God to us both in the Old and New Testaments. They hear the sound of the Lord, he made his presence, known as He comes in the evening. What do they do? They hide themselves in the presence of the Lord, always thrilled the Lord is here, we look forward to our communion with Him as we walk through the garden together, not at all, now they want to run and hide. The last one they want to see, the last one they want to talk to is the living God. So they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden. Again you see the patterns established here that are characteristic of sin all the way down to our day, the shame, the guilt, the desire not to be near to the Lord. I mean, his believers we still have that sense of guilt and shame in sin and we sin, we are in rebellion, the last thing we want to do is come and worship the Lord. We are uncomfortable around the Lord in that sense, around the study of His word and so on.

The Lord called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" The Lord is not hide and seek. You knows exactly where they are? They call for them to respond to explain their situation why they are hiding. Adam said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself." This is the first mention of fear in the Bible. That’s a new emotion, new experience for Adam, he is afraid, he would have never been afraid before. Now sin is in the picture. Sin has totally impacted his being and so he is afraid of God. God asks him who told you that you are naked? They weren’t self-conscious about this before. They didn’t have sense of shame and guilt before. So who told you that you are naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" The man said, "the woman You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate." The first thing you want to do with sin is hide, you have a sense of shame and guilt. The next thing you want to do is find someone to blame. Your options are limited at this point because if you are not guilty, there is only one other person who could be guilty and that’s the woman, it’s not just the woman, but is the woman that You gave me, it is not my fault. You gave her to me and she gave me the fruit, it is not my fault. Now everything he says here is true. The woman gave him a fruit, God gave him the woman. But in no way resolves him from any of his guilt before God.

So verse 13 the Lord picks up according the conversation, turns and addresses the woman. The Lord said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" Well, the only other human being is already placed the blame on her, so where is she going. The serpent deceived me and I ate. Certainly it is not my fault, the serpent did it. He deceived me, that’s true, that’s supported by the spirit of God through Paul in first Timothy too. The woman was deceived, completely deceived and she ate. So they are telling the truth in all of this, but that does not excuse them from their responsibility. So you have the record of judgment in verses 14 to 19. And all the guilty parties are dealt with, the serpent, the Satan, the woman, the man. Start with the serpent that was the last person identified with guilt. The Lord said to the serpent, verse 14, because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, more than every beast of the field; on your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life. So now the serpent becomes a creature that crawls on its belly in the dust, not listed out of the dust with legs are appendages to walk with, crawls in the dust of the earth. That will be ongoing visible reminder constantly of the fall into sin.

Verse 15 goes behind the physical snake to the devil; I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, you shall bruise him on the heel. Transition here seems to be the Satan, the seed of Satan is the reference to unbelievers. In John 8:44 Jesus said to the unbelieving religious people of His day “You are of your father the devil, first John Chapter 3 verse 10 talks about by this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. In Romans Chapter 16, verse 20, Paul says that God will soon crush Satan under your feet because of the work of Christ in defeating the devil. The devil is referred to as the serpent. In second Corinthians chapter 11 verse 3 as the serpent deceived Eve and it was obviously the devil in the serpent. In the Book of Revelation Chapter 12 verse 9 the devil is referred to as the old serpent, the devil, an old serpent. The devil also in Revelation chapter 20 verse 2, is referred to as the serpent. So here you have that prophecy that ultimately would focus on Christ where the crucifixion would wound him. He is bruised on the heel, but with his crucifixion and subsequent resurrection, Satan is destroyed. And the carrying out of that ultimate destruction is yet future, but the destruction has been accomplished with the finished work of Christ.

What about the woman? What about the man? Dealt with the physical serpent, dealt with Satan to the woman he said, you know there is no argument about what is happened here, but there are no excuses acceptable. Each one is guilty and accountable to God for his action. The responsibility for their actions cannot be past off. To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you will bring forth children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." Now my understanding of this, I think you will agree, is the punishment is that the role that was delegated for the woman and later we will see the same thing is true for the man, does not change, but now it is accompanied by pain and unpleasantness. In other words, He is not saying because of sin you are going to have kids. Sometimes may think there is something to that. But that’s not what He is saying. Because remember before the fall into sin, back in Genesis Chapter 1 verse 28, God blessed them and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth”. Adam and Eve would have a sexual relationship. Adam and Eve would produce offspring, children that would produce children and thus the earth would be filled. So that was God’s plan for them. God’s plan was that the woman would bear children. But if they had not been for the fall into sin, there would have been no pain associated with childbirth. No unpleasantness, no difficulty, and so on. So what is brought now to the role of the woman in her realm is pain and difficulty, hardship. Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you. There is some discussion about what is meant here. This word is only used two other times in the Old Testament, one of the other times is in Chapter 4 verse 7 "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? If you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door and its desire is for you, but you must master it." I think it means its desire is to conquer you, to rule over you, but you must master it, conquer it and then they say therefore that means back here your desire will be for your husband that the woman’s desire now is to dominate her husband and that’s why we have the war of the sexes that goes on down to our day. Let me say whatever you do with the word “desire” what is being stated there is true. By virtue of the fact that since God has created and ordained that the woman would live under the authority of the man and be subject to him and that goes back before the fall as a sinful being, she is always in rebellion even against what God’s wants. She is always trying to usurp the role God has given to the man and not live in the role has given to her and that’s true for the man as well.

We are all always trying to go contrary to what God has said because of our fallen nature. I am not true that’s what the word desire is entailing here, it is really specifying the woman wants to usurp the role of man’s authority. The other use of this, where the only other use is in the Book of Song of Solomon Chapter 7 verse 10 and there it’s is talking about the husband and wife relationship and the desire of the one partner for the other. And that is similar in context to what we have. Here because you are talking about a man and a woman, a husband and a wife, and so in that sense it’s to be more comparable or more parallel. So I would think that what is in view here is that is desire will be for her husband and he will rule over you that would have always been, but now will have the negative aspects. Why do women and particularly in some situations, it is more clear, put up with what they do with some men. You say these are unnatural desire, they live with men that beat them, they live with women and men and they are straight. Why would they do that? There is a desire in them there that has been corrupted and so even though the desire would be there in the right sense, now there is a controlling desire with the unpleasantness of sin because the husband will rule over her and yet her desire will still before him. That rule now takes on an unpleasantness. Man would have been the leader in that relationship.

We are not going to first Timothy again, would you remember first Timothy says the man was created first and then the woman. So the order of creation established the priority of the man as the leader. If there had never been a fall that would have still been in God’s pattern. And order is not sin because the order in the God’s hand, between the father and the son and the Holy Spirit. So our thinking in this gets affected by the facts we think of the negative aspect of rule and authority because of the abuse of these things and that is being brought in here, that’s the punishment. Woman is going to desire the husband, they rule over you, even though now these are negative things and unpleasantness, is still will continue. So that’s what comes to the woman. The man in verse 17 to 19, again the realm and role that has been his. Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree, about which I commanded you, no issue here, I realized it. So your wife gave it to you. No excuses for sin. You ate what I commanded you not to eat. Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles, it shall grow for you; you will eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face, you will eat bread, until you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Now physical death is pronounced upon him. You are going back to dust. He is already experienced spiritual death, separated from the God when God comes to the garden, he is hiding. Now the reality of physical death is also set in.

Again you see the man’s realm. He was placed in the garden to care for the garden in Chapter 2. But now that’s going to become his toil, his raising crops and so on is going to become terribly difficult and unpleasant. Just hard work and by the sweat of your brow, you will eat bread. You are going to have work till you die is the picture and you are going to die, you are going back to dust. Life of toil, the life of work, and life of difficulty and it does mean there are some people that live lives that are somewhat privileged. But the general pattern now you got to do stern on the news, we are well familiar with the world generally, can be hard work even in our country. We are blessed, we are prosperous. But we will read about people working more hours never end. You know how difficult that is to keep up and all comes back to Genesis 3. Alright, we have dealt with the serpent, we have dealt with Satan, we have dealt with Eve, we have dealt with Adam. We all bear these consequences, they continue down to our day.

Verse 20, now the man called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living. This is the second time Adam has named his wife. In Chapter 2 verse 23; he called her woman because she was taken out of man. That showed the relationship to man, she was taken out of man. Now she is called Eve because she is going to be the mother of all living. Amazing here, the insight and understanding Adam has. They don’t have children yet, but he understands they are going to. And from her womb are going to come living beings and so she will be called Eve because she is the mother of all living. You have some understanding of the purpose and plan of God, perhaps explained to him when God told them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. We have everything recorded that God intended for to be preserved for us, but that doesn’t mean everything recorded that God said on those occasions. Adam has understanding here of God’s purposes and plans for coming generations. Provision is made by God now. You remember Adam and Eve had made themselves coverings of leaves.

Verse 21, the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. I think important here to note, He made them garments of skin. Evidently there was animal sacrifice takes place here because an animal would have had to die for the skin to be provided. This is the beginning of the sacrificial system. Least will do it because without shedding of blood, there will be no remission and evidently was instruction given on this because when we get to Chapter 4, which is just a few verses way, it is presupposed and required that they offer the right kind of sacrifice. And we will elaborate that that was the act of faith which required the revelation to be believed, to do it. Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, So see there is an element of truths in what Satan said, perverted and corrupted but they did become like God knowing good and evil; now God has not known evil by the practice of it, but he has thorough understanding of good and evil and the contrast between the two. Adam and Eve did not have that until the sin entered the picture. Now he might stretch out his hand and take from the tree of life and eat, and live forever. Therefore the Lord God sent him out from the Garden of Eden to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden, He stationed there the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life. Serious matter. You can’t come back. Is God being mean? No you note the issue here in verse 22 and at the end of verse 24, this was to keep them from the tree of life. What’s the danger, verse 22 the end of verse. They take of the tree of life and eat and live forever. If they had done that, they would have been forever confirmed in their fallen state. That means they would have been doomed with no hope to an eternal health like the angels who sinned. They were confirmed permanently. If Adam and Eve had eaten in their fallen condition of the tree of life, they would have lived forever. That means there would have been no penalty to be paid for them because they could not die. So they could not die in Christ because they would not be subject to death. So it is an active mercy in grace they are kept from the tree of life.

Chapter 4 is about Cain and Abel. And now Eve, the mother of living is begun to produce. Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, "I have gotten a man-child with the help of the Lord." And what’s you are going to do is develop the conflict between Cain and Abel and then Chapter will close with the genealogy of Cain. And chapter 5 will be the genealogy of Abel. The conflict is over sacrifice here. She gives birth again in verse 2 to Abel, his brother. Abel is the keeper of flock; Cain is the tiller of the ground. It came about in the course of time, Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground. Abel brought the firstlings of his flock and their fat portions. The Lord had regarded Abel and for his offering. He already brought Him from the flock and the fat portions. We are going into the details that you are familiar with the later sacrificial system developed in some detail in the Mosaic law, the animal and the fat portions become crucial as belonging to the Lord in the sacrifice. The indication would be here that God has given instructions regarding what is required by a sacrifice. That’s why in Hebrews Chapter 11 verse 4, we are told by faith Abel brought a better sacrifice. Because it was by faith, the faith that comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Abel believed what God had said regarding sacrifice and acted accordingly. So New Testament tells us by faith he offered a better sacrifice because he operated on the basis of what the word of God said. He believed it and did it. Cain we sometime says, well, he just brought the fruit of the ground. He went around and around picked up what had fallen off his fruit trees and bring the best. That’s not the point. He may have brought the best fruit that he had. The problem was that, that was not an acceptable offering. Just like people trying to bring their best good works to the Lord. So they can be credited with righteousness, as if it does count. That’s not acceptable and so that’s the point here. At the beginning Abel is offering the sacrifice the God required and it is a blood sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. The wages of sin is death, has already been established by God the day you eat of the tree, you will die. Why the penalty for sin is death? You eat of the tree, you have rebelled against me, that’s sin, so you will die.

God is graciously intervened to provide a covering for them with the sacrifice of animals. Now Cain and Abel have to follow through because they have been born out of sinful parents. Adam is the head of the whole race, everyone born now is a descendant of Adam. You were born a sinner because you inherited that nature that is in Adam. All have sinned and all die, Romans 5. So what Adam did has affected us all at the very core of our being and we will be sinners both by birth and by choice and that becomes demonstrated. Nothing has changed in thousands of years. You tell religious people that what they are doing to do to be acceptable to God is not acceptable to him because here is what He said. He rejects what you are doing because it’s not in line with that, they are offended. They get upset, they get angry. Verse 5 for Cain and his offering, he had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Here you are, God says what you have done is not acceptable and Cain is angry with God. That tells you something about the condition of his heart. God is gracious. He says to Cain do the right thing and you will be accepted.

Verse 7 "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up, if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; its desire is for you, you must master it." Cain is experiencing now the power of that fallen sin nature that he has inherited from his parents and his desire to dominate and control him. God says do the right thing; do what I have told you. Verse 8, Cain, you know what he does, he is not angry with God, he hates his brother Abel because Abel was accepted before God. You see the enmity between the seed of Satan and the seed of God, the children of God and the children of Devil, it begins first two parents, they have two children, one is saved by grace to faith, one is not. Both are religious, one is a murder. Jesus said in John 8, that’s one of the characteristics of the devil. He says that’s why you want to kill me. Satan is a murderer and he is your father, he is a liar and he is your father. So here Cain murders his brother. Cain becomes an example of false worship. In a religious context the book of Jude verse 11 talks about Balaam as an example in the way of Cain, just the way of Cain bringing on one’s own works trying to worship God on your turns, not His. It’s corrupted worship. So Cain killed his brother because his brother’s deeds were more righteous than his.

Look down to verses 9 to 16, now the confrontation again between God and Cain. Remember Adam and Eve sinned, God comes in confronts them about their sin. Cain sins, God comes to confront him about his sin. The Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" You see something of the attitude of defiance, lack of respect on Cain’s part. Why you asked to me? I am not my brother’s keeper. I mean audacity that you would talk to the living God like this, as though God didn’t know. God’s question, where are you? The Adam in the garden. He knows where he is. Where is Abel your brother? As though God needed to find out him from Cain where Abel was, he knows. Verse 10 "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground. "Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant or a wanderer on the earth." And typical wining sinner, oh, my punishment is too much to bear. I mean in that all we said your sin, but all now this is not fair, this is not right, it’s more than I could be expected to bear. 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, whoever finds me will kill me." Amazing Cain’s grasp of things and at a point in time when the world has not been filled. But he understands where things are going also from the revelation God has given even though he is not a believer. You know in the New Testament, you would assume as an example of a godless man and godless religious people are in the line of the way of Cain even today, as we noted what Jude 11 says. You know what I am going to do. God sets a mark on Cain. There has been much discussion and twisting of scripture there has been on the mark of Cain. You know some used it racially as justification for mistreating certain races because the mark of Cain was a mark that distinguished him. I mean the races are going to come into existence as nations after the flood.

We have to get the Genesis 10 and Genesis 11. We are just going to get down to one family, Noah’s family in the flood beginning in Genesis 6 says that nothing to do with racial identity. We don’t know what the mark is because God doesn’t say. It’s something that made clear no one should harm Cain and again no one has that authority since God hasn’t delegated human government yet. God hasn’t delegated that kind of authority, so no one in the earth takes vengeance in their hands in that context. Then go on, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod. I remember one time years ago someone asked me, is it true Cain got his wife in the land of Nod? I could hardly keep from laughing because that is a fairy tale. I said, no I don’t think so. Imagine, my consternation when I read and found out that Cain settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Then you have something of the genealogy of Cain and his work recorded in verses 17 to 24. They have great abilities, great technical skills and we might say, but lacking in moral character. You find one of his descendants Lamech boasting to his wife that he killed a man who did him some harm. This is the characteristic of Cain’s line.

Verse 25 you start the line of Seth’s that will be developed by the mention that Adam and Eve had relations again. They had another son, they named him Seth and in verse 26, then men began to call upon the name of the Lord. That’s when Seth had a son and then you have the descendants of Adam through Seth in Chapter 5. And that’s going to carry us to Noah. So things are moved rapidly, a perfect creation in Chapters 1 and 2, the fall in Chapter 3, the accounts of Adam’s descendants through Cain and through Seth. The flood where everybody has destroyed. So you have the genealogy of Seth in Chapter 5, this is the book of the generations of Adam and the day when God created man. He made him in the likeness of God. He created male and female and you note it he created man using the term generically for all the race because man, Adam was the head of the race. Now there is male and female that are part of mankind as God created it. He named them man, as I mentioned there is great discussion going on now in the interpreting of the Bible of the use of male terminology and since we have moved away from man, use broadly, we talk about Christ died for all men, oh! That’s not good terminology because that seems to exclude women. But it is biblical, even though our society chase under it to use this kind of terminology because He created the male and the female and named them “man” literally Adam, that was the name for the race overall. The race will be comprised of male and female. But the overall name for the race is man or Adam. And it gives the years and then he bears the son and you note in verse 3, Adam lived 130 years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness according to his image. Now you not in verse one of this chapter. God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. Now when Adam has a son it’s in his likeness which is passing on the image of God on down even is fallen beings, it will be a mars image. The God created man in His own image and likeness and as man procreates, he passes on the image of God. He also passes on the corruption of sin that mars that image, but the fact the image of God is still present, there that will become the issue in capital punishment at the end of the flood because someone who kills another human being has struck at the image of God. The important thing we see that God has established things that become very crucial in even the conducting of our lives.

Note something about genealogy in Chapter 5, we are not going to read through all of this. There are 10 names in the line of Seth here to take you from Adam to Noah. When we get to Chapter 11, there were also be 10 names in the genealogy from Noah to Abraham and that causes many Bible commentators to assume we have a summary here to give a balance that would help fixed in their minds, that only the key persons are taken here. So there is a balance, this is true in other genealogies. The scriptures as well seem that they are in an ordered balanced way. Key names are selected, they are selected, they also keep a balance, which would help in keeping track of these things and people remembering them since they all didn’t have a Bible. Obviously, before the flood, men lived extended lives. Then more to say about this when we get to the floods in the days of Noah in our next study, but I take it a year is a year here.

So verse 5 says all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and that will be truly the line down. Verse 8, all the days of Seth were 912 years. Verse 11 all the days of Enosh were 905 years. It feels how could people live this long. Well, the effects of sin had not yet taken hold to the same agree. There are other changes that take place, but man was created to live forever. Sin brings in now the process of death and so at the earlier stage before the flood man lives extended periods of time because you are reminded of the dream that people will live through that entire period and will not have to die. We get a glimpse here of even men who came close to it, although one reaches a 100 years here. Methuselah down in verse 26 and 27, verse 27 Methuselah lived 969 years and as you are aware of all those recorded in scripture, he lived the longest. No one live longer as far as scripture gives record than the 969 years of Methuselah. There is an emphasis in this chapter on death that you will note repeatedly verse 5, verse 8, verse 11,verse 14, verse 17, verse 20, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died. Remember the penalty for sin. Your dust into dust you return and so there is that reminder and he died, and he died, and he died. The effects of sin are being felt, sin is past on and so is death. By one man’s sin came into the world and death by sin, Romans chapter 5 tells us beginning of verse 12 and here it is. We are descendants of Adam. Adam, the man created in the image of God, and we too bear that image. Adam the man fallen a sinful being and we too inherit that corruption of sin in all our lives.

There is a grace in all of this in verse 24 of Chapter 5 you have Enoch, the man walked with God and he was not for, God took him. And see the grace of God operating here and inspiring one. We look forward to that same kind of experience as we anticipate the rapture of the church to assure us into the very presence of God in glory. You come down to the end of the Chapter. And what Chapter 5 does is bridged the gap between Adam and Noah. Summary fashion we don’t go into details here, just list these key people, key men in the line of Seth, Adam through Seth, the number of years they lived, the fact of their deaths, and then verse 32, Noah was five hundred years old and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now we are ready in the next four Chapters are going to be about Noah. A very condensed material, it is everything we need to know, but it is not everything there is to know. Because obviously more were known. I wonder what had Adam and Eve? What was it like when they came out of Garden of Eden? What did they do then? And having children and what about getting lives for the children, other children that are not mentioned. They are going to have children and obviously Cain married his sister. So where did he get his wife? That’s not such a hard question. There is only set of parents. Where would you get your wife and where your sister? We will say, oh boy, isn’t that incest? Later it is but here the corruption of sin has not set in and it’s the plan of God. We all descended from the same two parents. So that descended out, that means yes. These married their siblings. So you come out, there was nobody else. You couldn’t go anywhere else. There are no other people. So Seth married his sister and so that’s the line here that comes down. We come to a Noah. Things haven’t gotten better, they’ve gotten worse. It gets so bad, when we get to Chapter 5, the God decides he is going to destroy it all, not completely start over, but get pretty close to it by wiping out the human race much of creation in judgment, start off with a godly family. There will be only one problem, not a problem for God, but we will understand that hasn’t taken care of everything because Noah is a descendant of Adam. He not only has received from Adam the image of God, but he is also received from Adam the very sin nature. So when he gets on the ark, he brings that with him and we are leaving testimonies to it today. Beautiful in its simplicity, isn’t it? Here we understand all this. We take it by faith. We believe what God has said. He is recorded it for us, some of us says well. It’s clear what God has selected out in these Chapters is what we need to know to understand His unfolding plan of redemption, that will culminate with the coming of his son. So he hasn’t filled in all these other details, but he has told us, so now we do understand how everything came into existence God created it, how the man came into existence? He created us in His image. What happened? To bring misery, unpleasantness, sin occurred. And we have even seen provision for sin by God’s grace in sacrifice, that already know ledged preparing the way for the coming of the Messiah, who was anticipated in Chapter 3 verse 15. But the ravages of sin are taking their toll. You people die and the earth is getting worse and it’s going to culminate in judgment.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for these beginning Chapters of your word. The Lord prepare us for the concluding Chapters of your word as again your creation moves toward climatic judgment, though the tragedy of sin is overwhelming, the impact of sin and all of our lives is clear. We rejoice in your grace that has made provision to sacrifice for us. Abel was able to come before you and be accepted. You are pleasing in your sight. Experience for governess from you and Lord we are Abel also by availing ourselves with the sacrifice you have provided in your son. These Chapters encourage our hearts as we appreciate again something of the awesome plan that You have said to provide redemption for fallen humanity and ultimate glory and the restoration of creation to the glory that it was created to have to honor and magnifying You, the living. We praise you in Christ’s name. Amen.