Baptist Church. If you would, find your seats and we'll begin our service this evening.
When you find your seat, grab a hymnal and turn to song number four hundred and nineteen.
Song number four hundred and nineteen, sound the battle cry.
Song number four hundred and nineteen, sing it out on the first.
The battle cries, see the foes die, raise the standard high for the Lord.
Curd your armor on stand firm, everyone, rest your cause upon his holy word.
Drows and soldiers rally round the banner, ready, steady, past the word.
has to learn a lot.
Onward, forward, shout aloud, Hosanna.
Christ is captain of the mighty.
is captain of the mighty throne.
And my great singing, I have asked brother Max Iov
if he'd open us in worker.
Definitely, Father Ward.
Thank you for allowing us to be back in church tonight.
Please bless the music as we sing praises unto you.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
Next, turning your hymnals, if you would, to song number 406.
Song number 406, who is on the Lord's side?
our announcements together. If you don't have a bullet,
then slip up your hand nice and high.
We'll get to you with one.
On the inside, we have our service time.
Sunday mornings at 10.30 is our preaching service.
Sunday nights at six.
Wednesday nights at seven is our Bible study.
This week we will be in Psalm 81.
We've got the soul winning times listed there below,
as well as Salvation and Baptisms.
Across the page, we've got some fun stuff
coming out this weekend.
On Friday, we've got soul winning in a Flagstaff, so we'll have breakfast here,
head up to Flagstaff, have lunch up there, go soul winning all afternoon, have dinner.
and then spend the night and then the next day
we're gonna do the climb up Mount Humphreys.
And again, it's a difficult hike, so be prepared for that.
But then again, you don't necessarily have to do
the whole thing.
And you could also just do another easier hike
that comes out of the same parking lot.
But I know that a lot of us are planning on doing
the big one and it's just, it's do or die, all right?
No, I'm just kidding.
But anyway, we're excited about that.
I saw that brother Ramon put the weather forecast in here high of 63.
That's like at the start, but I looked and even at the top,
it's only going to be like.
high 40s 50 degrees so it's going to be beautiful weather it's not going to be
too cold even at the top and so it should be perfect weather for doing
something like this and so we're looking forward to it and the wind is not going
to be too crazy it should be a pretty reasonable day as far as wind so looking
forward to that this Saturday and then make sure that you join the WhatsApp
group and you know confirm all your logistics as far as your lodging
and your transportation.
Speaking of lodging, yes, the question was asked
if we were providing lodging
for the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship.
If you travel out to Texas
and go to the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship,
then we can take care of your hotel room.
And so just let us know
and we will take care of that while supplies last.
And then what else have we got here?
Seven Saved at the first Friday Soul Winning event.
That's cool.
My daughter, Rebecca and I, of course,
We did a short missions trip in Greece and we had a total of 31 people saved through
soul winning.
And so that was pretty cool to see those kind of results even in Europe, which is not the
most receptive place in the world.
Not exactly the Bahamas, if you know what I mean.
but we were able to still be used by God and God really just worked it out with the logistics.
And really that's what it comes down to with a lot of these trips is that
sometimes God just opens the doors for you and you know if he doesn't then sometimes it's just hard
to get anything done but God really worked out some timing and you know there were some divine
appointments there and so I don't you know I want to like talk all about
the trip, but I'm saving it for the missions conference.
All right, so we got the missions conference
coming up in November, so I don't want to, you know,
blow the whole wad and tell all my stories.
So I got to save those.
I wrote them all down on the back of the bulletin.
We've got the list of expecting ladies pray for them
to have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
Not this Wednesday, but next Wednesday,
we've got Pastor Corbin Russell from Straight Pads
Baptist Church in Tucson preaching for us.
And so that's always a treat.
and then other upcoming events listed there.
That's about it.
Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning
from the past few days.
So going back to Thursday,
and then I'm gonna log the ones that Rebecca and I had,
because we also had two,
also on the way to Greece,
we had a long layover in Salzburg, Austria,
and we got two Austrians saved out soul winning
on that layover as well.
So that was pretty cool.
All right, Thursday.
All right, gotcha got it
Okay, anything else from Thursday? How about Friday?
Okay, gotcha gotcha
Okay
All right. Yep
Got it. Yep the seven of course
All right, and then Saturday
Okay, okay
Okay
All right, and then how about today, Sunday?
Brother Ian, main group with Brother Ian, six.
All right, four, one, okay, got it.
All right, anything, oh, there we go.
All right, very good, keep up the great work on soul winning
and with that, let's sing our next song, come lead us.
All right, if you would, please grab your hymnal again and let's turn to song number 328.
Song number 328. I want that mountain.
Sing it out on the first. Song number 328.
I saw the giant of prayerlessness upon the mountain high. He laughed over it.
So I cry, I want that mountain, it belongs to me.
I want that mountain, I want that mountain.
Where the milk and honey go, where the grapes of national grow.
I want that mountain, I want that mountain.
The mountain that my Lord has given me.
There was a giant of laziness who said I wouldn't go.
set me free. I'll climb the mountain with wilderness awareness. Now I know I want that mountain. It
belongs to me. I want that mountain. I want that mountain. Where the milk and honey flow. Where the
grains of vegetable grow. I want that mountain. I want that mountain. The mountain that my Lord has given me.
The rest of it drops off behind
And now that he still wants to make me flee
I'll climb from out the wilderness
And trust her who was mine
I won't amount to him he wants to be
That's given me
Let every giant
Don't spend on one bullet
And sing
Get ready now to make it
For you see
I found from out the wilderness
I know I'm going to win
I want that mountain
It belongs to me
I want that mountain
Where the building honey
Flow, where the brakes
I walk that mountain, I walk that mountain,
the mountain that my Lord has given me.
Amen.
Lastly, turning your hymnals, if you would,
to song number 298, song number 298,
more like the master.
Song number 298, more like the master.
I would ever be, more of his deepness, more humility, more seal to labor, more courage
to be true, more consecration for work he bids me do.
be thine alone. Take Thou my heart and make it all thine own. Purge me from sin, O Lord,
I now implore. Wash me and keep me thine forevermore. More like the man who
Or strain to carry crosses I must bear.
Morn is deferred to rescue souls from sin.
오오
All right, at this time we'll pass our offering,
plates around as the plates go around.
Let's turn our Bibles to Genesis 4.
Genesis chapter number four, as we always do,
we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number one.
Genesis chapter four,
follow along silently with Brother Danessy reads,
Genesis four beginning in verse number one.
In Genesis 4, the Bible reads,
And Adam knew Eve his wife,
And she conceived and bared Cain,
And said, I've begotten a man from the Lord.
And she again bared his brother Abel.
And Abel was a keeper of sheep,
But Cain was a tiller of the ground.
And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground and 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 he had not respect.
And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen?
If thou doest well, shout thou not be accepted.
And if thou doest not well, sin life at the door.
And unto thee shall be his desire, 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 has thou done?
The voice of thy brother's blood cryeth unto me 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 tillest 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 be hid,
and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth, and it shall come to pass that everyone 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 said, 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 Nod, on the
east of Eden.
And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived, and bear Enoch.
And he buildeth a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son Enoch.
And unto Enoch was born Arad, and Arad begat Mahujail, and Mahujail begat Methusail, and Methusail begat Lamek.
And Lamek took unto him two wives, the name of the one was Ada, and the name of the other Zilla, and Ada bear Jable.
He was the father of such as Dwell and Tense, and of such as Have-Cattle, and his brother's name was Jubal.
He was the father of all such as Handel the Harp and Organ.
In Zilla she also bear Tubalcain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron, and the sister of Tubalcain was Neyama.
And Lamek said unto his wives, Aida and Zilla, Hear my voice ye wives of Lamek, Harken under
my speech, For I have slain a man to my wounding, And a young man to my hurt.
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, Truly Lamek, seventy and sevenfold.
And Adam knew his wife again, And she bare a son, And called his name Seth.
For God said she hath appointed me Another seed instead of Abel, Whom Cain slew.
And to Seth, to him also there was born a son, And he called his name Enos.
Thank you Father for faith we're Baptist Church and the souls that were saved this week as you feel pastor Anderson
With your Holy Spirit open our hearts on our ears to hear your holy word. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen
Man, the title of my sermon this evening is The Mark of Cain.
The Mark of Cain.
I've actually never heard a sermon about the Mark of Cain.
I've heard a lot of sermons on Cain and Abel,
but this particular aspect of the story
is not one that is typically emphasized.
And there's so many misconceptions about this
and so many people get this wrong
and have some of the most absurd, strange views
about the Mark of Cain
that are totally foreign to the actual story.
as found in the Bible, so we're going to go through the story and look at the significance,
and I think that this is kind of a difficult subject, which is why I think that I haven't
heard a sermon about it, because it's definitely a challenging thing to understand and wrap our
minds around. It's almost like a little bit of the meat of the word here to understand this concept
with the mark of Cain. But let's just start out with just a basic overview of the story with Cain and
Of course, the Bible says, in verse number two, it says,
she again, bear his brother Abel.
Abel was a keeper of the sheep,
but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
And in 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 first things of his flock
and of the fat thereof,
and the Lord had respect under Abel and to his offering,
but under Cain and to his offering, he had not respect.
So apparently God doesn't just respect all faiths
and respect all religions.
There was a specific instruction that was apparently given.
and Abel is obedient to God by bringing of an animal sacrifice and of course the sacrifice
represents Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. And so that picture
of the Lamb of God, Jesus being our substitute, is a picture of salvation by faith in the blood
He is a tiller of the ground.
He wanted to bring his works.
What he does, hey, it's what I do for a living.
I grow fruits and vegetables.
So I'm gonna offer that to the Lord.
And God does not accept his offering.
And he rejects it.
And of course, Cain doesn't like this.
It says in verse five, Cain was very wrothed.
So he's extremely angry about the fact
that God does not respect his offering.
A lot of people have this attitude of just,
well, God should just be happy that I'm doing anything for him.
You know, God should just be happy that I'm even giving him the time of day whatsoever.
But no, it's not just that we need to worship God,
it's that those who worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth.
And so, we want to make sure that we're following the Bible when we worship God and that we
do what he tells us to do.
And so, it says here, Cain was very rough and his countenance fell, meaning that he's
making a face about it.
Countenance means face.
And the Lord said unto Cain,
Why art thou wroth?
And why is that countenance fallen?
If thou doest well,
shalt thou not be accepted.
And if thou doest not well,
sin lieeth at the door,
and unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him."
And so he's saying,
Look, there's no reason to get upset,
just fix it.
Do it right get right with God and you know what I want to say that to every wicked evil doer out there
That's so angry and so bitter and has such a bad attitude toward God
Toward men of God toward the church of God toward the people of God
You know these people could just get right with God whenever they want and be on the right team and be on the winning side
And in fact, God even says to Cain here,
look, if you do well, you'll be accepted,
not only accepted by me,
but he says, if you do not well, sin lies at the door.
But then,
Some people get tripped up on this. In the second half of verse 7, we're back to the positive, if thou doest well.
He's saying, look, if you do well unto thee shall be his desire,
meaning that Abel is going to
desire you. You know, he's gonna want to be your friend.
He's gonna want to follow you and thou shalt rule over him. Why? Because Cain's the elder brother and so he can lead
He can be preeminent, he can be respected,
but he has to be respectable in order to be respected.
If he does right, he can actually lead the family
and be a good guy.
But, instead of getting right, what does he do?
It says in verse 8, 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.
So instead of getting right with God, instead of being a leader, instead of earning his
brother's respect, he's competitive with his brother.
He doesn't like the fact that his younger brother is right with God, and he isn't respected
by God.
He isn't.
Instead of getting right with God, and God's even telling him, look, you can actually be
You can actually be a role model under Abel.
He's actually going to look up to you.
No, instead, he just gets angry and murders Abel.
So, verse 9, the Lord said unto Cain,
where is able thy brother?
And he said, I know not, am I my brother's keeper?
Famous words, right?
I don't know, it's not my job to babysit him.
Of course, he's lying to God.
He knows exactly where he is.
And in verse 10, God says,
what hast thou done?
The voice of thy brother's blood cryeth unto me 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 tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength, a fugitive
and a vagabond shall thou be in the earth." So this is before God has instituted the death
penalty for murder. God does not institute the death penalty for murder until after the flood
with Noah and the ark and so forth. So at this point he gives him a punishment instead
being exiled, as it were. He's gonna be a wanderer. That's what a vagabond means.
He's gonna be a fugitive, he's gonna be a wanderer, and he's not going to be able
to settle down and do any kind of agriculture or have any kind of a farm
or do anything in one spot because the earth is not going to yield its fruit
for him, right? So he's cursed by God. And by the way,
You know, this is something that could happen to people in 2025 where if God is blessing
your life, it's like everything you touch is just turning to gold, right?
Because God's blessed you.
You say, well, you know, do you have chapter and verse on that?
Well, you know, one of the most famous Psalms is Psalm 1.
And it says, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor siteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, which bringeth forth his fruit in his season.
His leaf also shall not wither, and here it is, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Whatever he does will prosper, right?
Whatever he touches is turning to gold.
Whatever he does is gonna prosper.
That's what it's like to be blessed by God.
You know, you see people in the Old Testament who are living for God, serving God, and God's just blessing them and multiplying them and doing all these great things for them.
Right?
Otherwise, if you're under the curse of God, it's like you just can't succeed at anything everywhere you turn, you're failing and having all these problems and so forth.
And so we want God to bless us.
And so the paths of God's blessing is through the door of obedience.
And so Cain is cursed by God so that now when he tries to do anything with the ground,
when he tries to settle down somewhere, it's not going to work out.
He's going to be a wanderer.
He's going to be a fugitive.
He's going to be a vagabond.
And he's going to struggle to get by because he's under the curse of God, right?
Isn't that what it says in verse 12?
When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth from here on out, he's saying,
it's not going to yield unto thee its strength, a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth."
That's the punishment. Exile, wandering.
Now, he doesn't like that punishment so he complains about it to God.
And he says, in verse 13,
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 a vagabond in the earth."
That's really just a restatement of everything that God just told him.
I'm not blessing you and you're going to be a fugitive and a vagabond.
But then he adds this last part on,
he says,
So he's adding on this part that you know, here's what I think is gonna happen. I think there's gonna be some vigilante justice
I think that somebody who's angry that I killed Abel someone who loves Abel someone who's upset about this is just gonna
find me and kill me and
You're not protecting me. You're not blessing me and so you know, this is too much and
Look at God's response to this
And the Lord said unto him, therefore, so he's saying,
therefore, as in like as a result of what you just said,
because I've taken into account what you just said,
because I'm listening to you, therefore.
Whosoever slayeth Cain, right, whoever kills Cain,
vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.
And so God says, okay, we're going to make sure that doesn't happen.
I'm making this pronouncement that anybody who just kills Cain as a vigilante,
vengeance will be taken on that person sevenfold.
And then here it is, folks, 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 Nod on the east of Eden,
and Cain knew his wife, et cetera, et cetera.
Now, again, a lot of atheists and just kind of bozos who don't study the Bible
will bring up, where did Cain get his wife?
But they're kind of ignoring the elephant in the room.
Cain just finished talking about how they're all these people.
that are ready to kill him, right?
Just wherever he goes, you know,
people are gonna be finding him and killing him.
Obviously, the earth is filled with a whole bunch
of other people, why?
Because if you look at Genesis chapter five,
when it goes through these generations,
if they would just read a little bit further
in their Bible, they would read
that the Bible says in verse three,
it says Adam lived 100, this is chapter five verse three,
and 30 years and begat a son in his own likeness,
after his image and called his name Seth, it says,
and the days of Adam, after he had begotten Seth,
were 800 years, and he begot sons and daughters, right?
So other than these key people,
cane, able, set, these are just key people that we're talking about, but in general all of these guys begat a whole bunch of sons and daughters
and they had a whole bunch of children, they had lots of children, and then those children had children, and they were
being fruitful and multiplying and replenishing the earth, and so the earth was full of a whole bunch of other people.
And so, yeah, obviously they're marrying, you know, in the very beginning of the first generation,
they're marrying siblings, cousins, whatever, at that time.
But there's no mystery of where Cain got his wife because
a whole bunch of people had already been produced by Adam and Eve at that point, okay?
And so that's just kind of a made-up contradiction in the Bible
from people who didn't read on and understand how the Bible works here.
But here's the thing about the mark of Cain
that's being so grossly misunderstood,
is that God tells Cain that he's cursed for killing Abel,
but the mark of Cain has nothing to do with him being cursed.
The mark is not about his curse, in fact the mark that is put on Cain is actually a blessing from God
Which is the exact opposite of what people think if I went around just ask people
Hey, what do you think the mark of Cain is like? Oh, it's some kind of a curse from God or something
But in reality, it's exact opposite the blessing of God
because Cain is afraid that people are going to kill him
and the mark actually protects him so that if he gets the mark
now people will know not to kill him.
I mean, that's what the Bible actually says. Let's read it one more time just to make sure that you get this, okay?
It says in verse 15, and the Lord said to him,
therefore, whosoever slayeth Cain,
vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold, and the Lord said to mark upon Cain,
lest any finding him should kill him." So the mark is protecting him from being killed. Now, what is
this mark? Okay. Well, I think that there are two possibilities that both make sense biblically.
Possibility number one is that it's a literal actual mark placed upon his body.
And of course, the Bible uses this kind of language about tattoos. Like for example, it says,
thou shalt not print any marks upon thee.
Don't print any marks on your body. It's telling you not to get a tattoo.
Well, so it's possible that God put some kind of a mark, like a marking,
like what we would consider like a tattoo upon Cain,
that marked him saying, don't kill this guy.
I think that that's, I mean, it's possible,
but I think that probably what's more likely is that this mark is not a physical mark at all.
For example, the Bible says in Romans chapter 16 that we should mark and avoid those who
teach doctrines and offenses contrary to what we've learned.
It doesn't mean that we're going to mark this person.
So here's the thing, when somebody is teaching divisive doctrine that's contrary to what
we've learned and they're teaching heresy in the church, we don't let them get out
Right because we got to mark them and avoid them because otherwise how are we gonna know in fact
We're gonna give him a face tattoo because that way they don't you can't just wear long sleeves and cover up the mark
But says hey this guy's been marked. He's been teaching heresy obviously. No, it's not a real literal mark
Is it but when we talk about marking someone what we're talking about is just designating them or
Indicating them and just saying hey watch out for this guy. It's sort of like when you go to the grocery store
And back when people used to pay by check at the grocery store all the time,
they'd have pictures all over the wall of people who'd written bad checks.
Who knows what I'm talking about?
Yeah, all the old people.
And so there'd be all these pictures of people written bad checks,
like, don't take a check from this lady or this lady or this guy or that guy.
And they'll have like a hall of shame on the wall,
really super low tech because back then, you know,
I remember going to the grocery store with my mom,
she always paid by check.
Now the thought of paying by check at the grocery store
is kind of a bizarre thought, isn't it?
But this is before you could buy things with ATM cards
and it was before the grocery store would take credit cards.
So it was either cash or check.
And so, you know, that's marking someone.
When you put their face on the wall and say,
don't take a check from this person,
that's marking them.
When someone's teaching heresy or false doctrine
and we mark and avoid them,
that's what we're doing.
We're just indicating this about this person.
And so it's very likely that the mark of Cain
is not even necessarily a physical thing.
It's really just God saying whoever
kills, Cain, vengeance shall be taken upon him sevenfold."
That's him marking him verbally.
Or it could be a literal mark,
then it would be something along the lines of a tattoo.
But here's what it's not.
And here's what's so stupid.
This idea that's out there that white supremacists
will say, oh, black people, that's the mark of Cain.
Who's heard someone say this to you unironically
in your life?
You've had someone actually say to you,
hey, I think black people have the mark of Cain.
Now, here's what's so stupid about that.
I mean, it's foolish on a lot of levels.
Okay, problem number one with this idea of black people
bearing the mark of Cain is that the people
who are saying this are typically saying
that they're cursed by God.
And that's why they have this mark on it.
Okay, well, here's the problem with that,
is that the mark of Cain is a blessing, not a curse.
If you actually read the story,
the mark of Cain is to protect him
and to bless him so that he actually
doesn't get punished too severely, you know,
because he's saying,
oh, my, my punishment's too severe.
And so God's like, okay, well, fine.
Then I'll put this mark on you so that no one
Kills you in vigilante justice. So it has nothing to do with a curse problem number one problem number two
Having black skin isn't a mark on you. How is that a mark if your skin is a different color?
because obviously there are multiple skin colors that people could have red yellow black white and
So just having a certain skin color is not being marked in any way
Okay, you know
I mean, we could go on and on with just how foolish and ridiculous and absurd this idea is.
But not only that, you know, black skin is not even a curse.
Because depending on where you live, black skin could be advantageous.
Okay, and here's what you have to understand is that obviously we don't believe in evolution in the sense of all life forms coming from a single organism.
We don't believe that humans evolved from apes. No, humans were made in the image of God.
And they did not come from animals or lower life forms, we didn't evolve from apes.
And obviously in the beginning, God created the basic kinds of animals.
You know, so he created these different classes of animals and everything brings forth after its own kind.
But that being said, obviously there is a lot of truth to evolutionary biology in the sense of micro evolution.
you know, as it's often called, where things are constantly evolving and constantly changing.
Plants and animals out there in the wild are constantly adapting.
And guess what?
Human beings are also subject to the forces of evolution.
Okay?
And so, they're constantly adapting and changing.
Now, here's the thing, though.
in our modern society because we have so much technology and so much comfort and we live in
such safety natural selection is not really working on humans right now hardly at all
and it hasn't been for a long time.
But, if we were in some kind of a survival situation, if we were struggling to survive,
if we were in a harsh climate or ecosystem or situation, then natural selection would
play a big role.
It's not really playing a big role right now when we're sitting in an air-conditioned building
and we work at computers all day and everything, but here's the thing.
Let's say we didn't sit in air-conditioned buildings and work at computers all day.
You know, who do you think is going to do better outside in Arizona?
Me or Brother Moses here?
You know?
Who do you think is going to do better in the sun out here?
You know, I'm going to cook out there.
As a white person, you know, I'm not I'm not gonna cook as bad as some of y'all, you know super white people
You know, at least I have a pretty decent base tan, you know
But here's the thing in a hot desert dark skin is a huge advantage
Okay, and so that's why there are so many people on this earth with dark skin because it is advantageous
if it were not advantageous, it wouldn't exist.
Would have been gone a long time ago, okay?
So there are different attributes physically
that we have as humans that are helpful
in different parts of the world, in different areas.
So if you're living, and you know what, I always wondered,
always wondered like, because the advantage
of dark skin is obvious.
You don't get a sunburn.
You know and and a really cool book if you ever get to read it is the relation of
Cabeza de Baca who read that book because I know I've recommended it before
Did anyone actually take my advice and read it? All right. Yeah, there we go one two who else read it put your hand up real
High one two three four five alright
We got we have a little book club after the service, you know with the five people who read it
It's called on Amazon like castaways or something, but if you just type in Cabeza de Baca
Which means you know head of the cow. That's just his name, but if you read about it's this guy who in the
1500s right in the 1520s
He comes on expedition with the Spanish to Florida
He ends up being marooned in Florida with like 400 other guys
Everybody dies except for four of them and he ends up surviving in America in the early
and he's just totally cut off from Spanish civilization for 10 years,
and for most of that 10 years, he's stark naked.
totally naked okay because of the fact that he's among all of these tribes of
Indians that just have very little and they're just living hand to mouth they
barely can even feed themselves and whatever scant clothing that they have
is reserved for women and the elderly and everything and so a lot of the men
are just going naked and especially because he was a slave for a lot of that
time he had to just go naked
for like 10 years and he talked about how when he went back to Spain,
like it was kind of hard to get used to wearing clothes again.
And he had to get used to that, but he talked about, but he's a white dude, right?
Because Spanish people are white in case you didn't know that.
But they're not Mexicans, okay?
So they're, even Mexicans are considered white.
But I'm saying like they're even whiter because they're from Spain.
And so Cabeza de Baca is over here and he talked about how his skin would get so sunburned
because he's just this white dude.
out there naked all day, and most of that time was spent in modern-day Texas because he ended up
going from Florida all the way to Texas and being in Texas for almost a decade, finally going to
Mexico, hooking back up with his Spanish again eventually. But he talked about how he would
just molt skin like a few times a year, like a snake, because his skin was just cooking on his
Well adapted for this climate and so, you know, whereas the Indians amongst whom he lived
They had darker skin. They're fine. They're just out there just working on their tan every day
Whereas he's just molting like a snake and just has painful sunburns peeling and is just totally messed up
You know, so you can see a disadvantage there to being white in a desert hot climate
and clothing, for example, or air conditioning.
Okay, so you can kind of see what the advantage
of dark skin is, but then you wonder like,
okay, well then what's the advantage of,
you know, what prophet then hath whitey?
And the thing that benefits us as white people is that if we're in a place that doesn't get a lot of sun,
like think about places like England and Scotland and Scandinavia and Germany.
You know, I mean, look, I was just in Germany a few weeks ago.
And it was just, it was like late May,
and it's just cloudy and rainy every day.
And it was not very sunny at all.
Even in late May, it was super cloudy all the time.
So what's the advantage of white skin in that situation
is that you're gonna be able to take in more sun
and get the vitamin D that you need.
You're gonna be healthier from getting that vitamin D
and absorbing those rays versus a darker person.
is not going to be able to absorb as much
because they just, they're walking around,
you know, basically just wearing their built-in sunblock
of just having dark skin, of the melanin in their skin.
And so, you know, when it comes to the color of our skin,
that's what it is, my friend.
It's just the color of our skin.
You know, and people can come up with all these racial theories and these white supremacists
can have all these ideas about, you know, this race and that race, but at the end of the day,
these are just physical adaptations because of the history of our various ethnicities, okay?
So basically because white people were historically living in these northern climates,
Well, they have white skin.
They have light skin.
People who came from equatorial regions,
southern India, Africa, whatever,
where they're getting more sun,
have darker skin for that reason, okay?
And you know, there are a lot of other things
that have played into just the way
that human beings are today
and some of the differences.
between different ethnicities and, you know, you notice that black people are really athletic
in the United States, right?
They're usually pretty buff and pretty athletic and why is that, you know?
What part of the reason is that, you know, they're brought over here as slaves and probably
only the strongest ones are even surviving that trip.
So there's probably some serious natural selection working on those slave ships where like half of them die on the way over here or more.
So the stronger are surviving and then once they get here, you know, they weren't exactly being brought over here, you know, to do a computer based job.
So they weren't come over to do IT jobs or programming or something like that.
You know, they're brought over here to do backbreaking work,
and so the strongest ones are going to succeed the most.
And so, you know, look, these are just historical things and just biological things.
And you know what? At the end of the day, being racist is stupid.
It doesn't make any sense because, yeah, of course there are differences
between white people and black people.
There are differences between Asian people and Hispanics, and we all have our different,
you know, proclivities, and we all have different strengths and weaknesses, but you know what,
it doesn't really make sense to dwell on those things.
Because here's the thing, let's say you want to come out with something and say, well,
this group of people is smarter than this group of people, okay?
Here's what's so stupid about that is that here's the thing is that all you're going to do is just
Cause the people that you're saying are smarter. You're just puffing them up with pride
and
Then the people that you're saying are less smart. You're basically tearing them down and making them think like oh
I can't really do anything intellectual because I'm just intrinsically dumb because of my ethnicity and that's just not true
Because at the end of the day the differences between us in that regard are not really enough
to where it should discourage anyone from striving for intellectual excellence or from,
you know, making anyone think that, oh, I'm so much better than other people.
It's just like, you know what, it'd be like telling me, oh, well, you're white,
so you're never going to be able to have good rhythm or something.
It's really not true, because if I grew up playing a musical instrument,
I'm probably going to have good rhythm.
You know, I'm not just gonna kind of be like, you know, oh, I'm just too white to do music.
I got no soul. I got no rhythm, you know.
Here's the thing. You can pretty much do whatever you want in life, my friend.
And you know what? Different people are gonna have different skills and ability.
Some people are athletic and some people aren't.
Whether they're red, yellow, black, and white, some people are just not athletic.
There are some black people that are not athletic Barack Obama, you know just cuz you black doesn't mean you're athletic
Okay? You know what? And look, there are going to be some dumb white people and there are going to be some dumb black people and you know, it's just people are what they are.
And here's the thing, just because you're not an intellectual doesn't mean that you can't be used by God.
Just because you're not athletic doesn't mean you can't be used by God. Just because you're not good looking doesn't mean you can't be used by God.
Just because you're not musically inclined, that doesn't mean you can't be used by God.
chooses the foolish things of this world
to confound the wise.
He chooses the weak things to defeat the strong
so that he can get the glory.
And so it makes no sense to sit around
and just dwelling on, oh, this is what's wrong
with this race, this is what's wrong with this group of people.
You know, how is that gonna help people get better?
To be told, oh, you're dumb.
Oh, you're not athletic.
Oh, you're this, you're that.
You know, why don't we all just strive for excellence?
Whatever hardware we have,
and we've all been given different hardware and software,
you know, why don't we just do the best with what we've got?
And why don't we try to lift up other people
instead of just tearing everybody down
and telling them what's wrong with them and whatever?
And of course there are all kinds of exceptional people in any group and then it's not really fair to them to lump them in with someone who's totally different than them.
And so I don't want to make this a big racial thing, but often when we talk about the Mark of Cain, that's what some people will bring up.
And you know what? I can tell you about anyone who's saying, oh, black people, that's the Mark of Cain.
It's the type of person who just doesn't care what the Bible says and didn't even bother to read the story.
Because I feel like anybody with and you know if white people are so smart then white people should be able to read the story and understand it
Amen. I mean what's there?
What's your excuse if you're white and you think that the mark of Cain is a curse from God?
Sounds like you have a reading disability or a learning disability
Maybe you're you know what you can explain that
The point is that anybody who just actually reads the story can see that the mark of Cain is protection for him
It's a blessing for him. Okay. Now, let me bring up a third problem with this theory of oh, the mark of the cane is
Black skin. Okay. Is the fact that this mark is put on one person?
It's not like oh all of Cain's descendants now are gonna have the mark of Cain
That doesn't make any sense because the whole point is that Cain murdered someone
And he could be the victim of vigilante justice if God does not mark him as being immune from being killed, right?
And so it's really just about him specifically.
Now, what's funny is that later in the chapter, there's another guy who ends up killing someone, okay?
Look if you would at this guy, Lamek in verse 23, it says,
Hear my voice, ye wives of lay mech, harken unto my speech, for I've slain a man to my
wounding, and a young man to my hurt."
Now this is kind of an obscure statement here, but I think that what he's saying here is
that he killed this man in self-defense.
Because he says, I've slayed a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt.
So it sounds to me like, you know, he's doing it in self-defense.
That's one theory that's out there.
There are other theories about what this could possibly mean,
because it's kind of an obscure reference,
that maybe he's just saying he killed someone to his disadvantage or his detriment or whatever.
But I think it makes sense that he's saying he did it in self-defense,
because then he says,
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.
So why does Lamech believe that he should not be killed or that he should not be a victim of vigilante justice?
It's because he believes that he's justified, right?
You know, and he's saying well if Cain is going to be avenged sevenfold
I should be avenged seventy-sevenfold because I was totally justified in killing this guy
Now here's the thing this guy is a descendant of Cain, so why didn't he just say well, you know, I'm just I'm just
I've got the mark because I'm black
You know, it just makes no sense. It's stupid. That's not you know, he has no mark of Cain
He's gonna be avenged not because he has the mark but simply because he's justified in what he did in his mind
At least that's the way he tells the story and we only get his side of the story
Okay, so this is not the difficult part of the sermon because I think that this is all very easy to understand so far
Okay, you know if you think this is difficult
You know, and you're white, then you might need to rethink your theories.
No, I'm just kidding.
But anyway, it's not difficult at all to understand that one person killed another person, he's
afraid of vigilantes, and so God puts a mark of protection on him.
That is what the mark of Cain is, and this other theory is ridiculous and absurd.
You know, why does God actually exceed to...
Cain's request because couldn't God have just told Cain,
oh well tough, maybe you should have thought about that before murdering Abel.
Oh somebody might kill you, well what goes around comes around.
So I think that the difficult thing to understand here
is why did God help out Cain in this way by putting this mark on him
and actually promising to avenge him sevenfold.
It's kind of difficult to understand especially because we know from the New Testament
how Cain was a truly evil person and it wasn't just that he, you know, made a mistake and murdered
someone, which obviously that's a huge mistake. But if you would go to 1 John chapter 3 and we'll
see that, you know, the Bible's commentary on Cain is that he's a wicked person and he's a child
of the devil. Okay. Now, I was talking to my daughter on the way over here just how I was a
Because, you know, Cain is such an interesting character and such an interesting story.
You'd expect it to come up a lot.
It doesn't really come up throughout the Old Testament.
And in the New Testament, it's only mentioned a couple of times.
So it's not something that there's a whole lot of Bible about.
And so it's really easy to kind of look at all of it in a few minutes.
And it says in 1 John 3 verse 11, it says,
For this is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should love one another,
not as Cain.
Don't be like Cain.
And look what it says, who was of that wicked one, talking about Satan, he was of that wicked
one and slew his brother and wherefore slew him, why did he kill him?
Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous, Marvel not my brother and if the
world hates you.
And so we see here that Cain is of Satan.
That's the New Testament commentary on him.
He's a murderer.
and he killed his brother because his own works were evil and his brothers were righteous.
You know, it sounds like a really rotten guy.
So why is God blessing him in this way
by putting a mark upon him so he can be protected?
Well, if you would, go to Matthew chapter 13.
Matthew chapter 13.
Because when I see this reference in 1 John 3 saying that Cain's of the wicked one,
You know, immediately my mind goes to Matthew 13 where it talks about the children of the
wicked one, right?
Similar wording.
While you're turning to Matthew 13, I'm going to read for you Luke 6, verses 35 and 36.
It says, But love ye your enemies, and do good, and land hoping for nothing again, and
your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the highest, for he is kind.
Watch this, he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
Be therefore merciful as your father also is merciful.
So it's interesting that one of God's attributes
is that he is kind to the unthankful and the evil.
So God ends up sending rain on the just and on the unjust
and being kind to the unthankful and the evil.
God ends up doing good sometimes
unto people who totally do not deserve it.
Just rotten people and he just helps them out anyway
and just does something good for them anyway.
But I think Matthew 13 is the best way to explain the mark of Cain.
Look at chapter 13 verse 24.
It says, another parable put he forth unto them saying,
the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field.
But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tears among the wheat and went his way.
But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit,
then appeared the tares also.
So the servants of the householder came and said to him,
sir, didst thou sow good seed in thy field?
From whence then hath it tares?
You know, where did these weeds come from?
Tares are weeds, right?
Where did these weeds come from?
If you sowed good seed in your field,
where did they come from?
He said unto them an enemy had done this you know
And a lot of people kind of ask the same question of like well if God is so good
Then why is there so much evil in the world?
Where'd all these tears come from if God so good seed well an enemy has done this right the devil is out there and
So they said unto him
in verse number 28 in the latter part there,
will thou then that we go and gather them up?
You know, should we go out and just get rid of all the weeds
and get rid of all the tares?
But he said, nay, lest while ye gather up the tares,
ye root up also the wheat with them.
Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest, I will say to the
reapers, gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but
gather the wheat into my barn.
So notice that he says, no, no, no, don't remove the tares, leave them there, and let
both grow up together.
Then he explains this parable in verse 37, he that soweth the good seed is the son of
man.
That's Jesus.
The seed's the word of God, of course.
It says in verse number 38,
the field is the world.
The good seed are the children of the kingdom.
Talk about the kingdom of God, like saved Christians.
They're the good seed, the good offspring, right?
Children of God.
But the tares are the children of the wicked one.
So remember, Cain was of that wicked one.
And here he says that the weeds, the tares, are the children of the wicked one.
The enemy that sowed them is the devil.
The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels.
As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire,
so shall it be in the end of the world.
The Son of Man shall send forth his angels,
and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend,
and then which do iniquity.
and shall cast them into a furnace of fire.
There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Then shall the righteous shine forth as the son
and the kingdom of their father who at the ears to hear,
let him hear.
And so we see here that God does not want the tears
to be uprooted, he wants both to grow together.
And so it is God's will that we be surrounded
by wicked people in this world.
Now this may be hard for us to grasp or hard for us to understand and we might not want it to be that way
But that is the will of God that we live our lives as the wheat as
The good seed as the children of God
Surrounded by wicked people because if God wanted to he could just get rid of all the wicked people
and just uproot the tares and throw them in the fire.
But he says, no, let's have both of them grow together.
And that's where we're at today in human history, both are growing together.
And so that's why God allows Cain to go and live out the rest of his natural life
for no one, and he protects him so that no one will kill him.
And what does Cain do?
Cain goes out, he gets married, he has children, produces a whole bunch of other little canes,
and then they have all the other little canes.
Now go back if you would to Genesis chapter number four.
And by the way, the reason given in the parable is, well, I'm afraid that if you uproot the tears you might accidentally, you know, pull up some of the wheat with it, you know, there's some benefit to us to being surrounded by wicked people.
Even though this is hard for us to fathom or to grasp because I don't know about you
But you know, I just want to see the super wicked people of this world the canes and the
Choras and the balums and the daethans and abirams and just these work
You know, don't you just want to see them smoked and gone and just get what's coming to them
You know what I mean? And it's like it's like the people that are frustrated in Revelation chapter 6 saying how long
Oh Lord holy and true does that not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth
You know people want vengeance
on the wicked and so you know why
God so long suffering with the wicked why does God allow the wicked to just live for decade after decade?
Well, I think part of the answer is that all things work together for good to them that love God and to them
who are the called according to his purpose and the wicked are eventually gonna get what's coming to them
They're gonna be gathered together and bundles and burned. They're gonna be torched someday. They're gonna go to hell someday
And so, it really shouldn't bother us that they get to live out their lives on this earth
because they serve a purpose, they serve a function.
And you know, maybe if you're not grasping what I'm saying right now, or you're not understanding
what I'm saying, like about wanting to see the wicked destroyed or cut off,
maybe you don't really connect with that.
Okay, let me maybe say it to you in a way that you will understand.
What about false religions? Wouldn't you just love to see them just come to nothing?
Like wouldn't you just love to see the Mormon Church just go out of business in our lifetime?
Wouldn't you love to see Islam just completely just stop existing and just stop being a religion?
Like, like they all just have an epiphany like, whoa, that wasn't normal when Muhammad, you know, married a nine-year-old.
You know, I mean wouldn't you love to see the cults and the false religion of this world destroyed?
But yet the Mormon Church exists yet Islam exists yet all these false religions and false prophets are allowed to exist
And they're everywhere and we're surrounded by in this world idolatry false religion
false doctrine, wickedness? Why? You know, it is God's will, it is God's plan that we
live our lives surrounded by wicked people. This is what the Bible teaches. God has us
here on this earth, we're being tested on this earth and ultimately all things work together
for good to them that love God in the long run, we're going to heaven, they're going
to hell, but in the meantime we're both in this thing together, we're both growing together
on this earth.
And I believe that that's why God actually listened to what Cain said and put the mark on Cain
because he wanted there to be two kinds of people.
He wanted there to be the good people, the wicked people.
He wanted them to exist and to grow together.
It's part of his plan ultimately.
Now look at Genesis chapter 4 and let's look at something about Cain's descendants because it says in verse number
17 Cain knew his wife and she conceived and bear Enoch
And he builded a city and called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch
And under Enoch was born Eirad and Eirad begat Mahujael and Mahujael begat Methusel and Methusel begat Lamech and
Lamech took unto him
Two wives, the name of the one was Ada
and the name of the other, Zilla.
And Ada bear J-Ball.
He was the father of such as dwell intense
and of such as have cattle.
And his brother's name was Jubal.
And he was the father of all such as handle,
the harp and organ.
And Zilla, she also bear two-ball cane,
an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron.
And so what we see is that Cane's descendants,
even though they're spiritually bankrupt
they actually invent some cool stuff.
You know, they end up inventing some good musical instruments,
they end up doing some metallurgy
and some other technologies and things like that.
And so they can still actually serve a function
or add something to society in a sense,
even if they're spiritually wicked and ungodly.
And so all that to say this, you know, here we are,
we're living our lives in 2025 America.
And there are people that are saved, Christians, children of God.
And then there are people that are unsaved,
but they're not necessarily of Satan.
They're just Joe unsaved, right?
And that's the mission field.
And we're trying to get those people saved,
want to reach those people,
want to bring them over to the Lord's side and get them saved, right?
But right now, even though they're not...
Technically, children of the devil, and they're not necessarily just of Satan,
they're not sons of Belial.
Here's the thing, unsaved people are fulfilling the will of Satan.
Right because the Bible talks about how before we were saved we walked according to the course of this world and it talks about
How we walked according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now work within the children of disobedience
and so unsaved people are
Often fulfilling the devil's will and doing the devil's work even if they're not just these evil satanic
Reprobates or something. Everybody see what I'm saying. So on the one hand you have the saved
children of God that are for sure saved and nothing can change that and they're eternally secure.
Then you have a whole bunch of people that could go either way.
They're not saved, but they could get saved and, you know, we're trying to reach them,
that's the mission field. But then, on the other end of the spectrum, you have these just
super wicked sons of the devil, Judas Iscariot, Cain, evil, rotten people that are just of Satan.
and they're not gonna get saved,
they're never gonna get saved,
they're just rotten people.
And it's like, why do these people even exist?
Like, why does God even allow these people to exist?
Well, it's just God's will that this be the way things are.
You know, that there are saved people, unsaved people,
and these rotten children of the devil,
we're surrounded by them, we live amongst them,
and it's not our job to go out and kill them.
You know as Christians now look, I'm not saying that there shouldn't be obviously criminal justice
You know, I'm a hundred percent believer in the death penalty from a criminal justice standpoint
Okay, but we're not talking about with the story of Cain. We're not talking about the death penalty being carried out by government
We're talking about vigilante justice, you know, we're talking about where God
Pronounced a certain judgment and said it's exile. He didn't say it's a death penalty. He said it's exile
You're gonna be a vagabond. You're gonna be a fugitive
You're going to be a wanderer, but then someone just comes along and kills him.
That's not the lawful sentence that was issued by the judge who is God.
That's just somebody just taking it into their own hands.
And so another thing that we can learn from the Mark of Cain is that it's not our job
to be vigilantes taking justice into our own hands.
you know, just going out and just killing wicked people
and just thinking that we're doing society a favor
by just going out and murdering wicked people.
I'm 100% for the government punishing criminals,
punishing murderers, rapists, sodomites,
child molesters, putting them to death.
Amen, I'm for it.
But it's not for vigilantes to do and say,
oh, I'm just gonna cleanse the world of these evil people.
Look, God has these people here for a reason.
He's allowing them to exist.
And here's the thing, we could even sometimes benefit
from technologies or contributions
that they make in a secular sense.
Because some people will sometimes attack us for,
hey, you're using that iPhone and the CEO of Apple
is a sodomite, I don't know if he is,
I think one of them was at some point,
is the CEO of Apple a sodomite, somebody help me out.
He is okay. Well, you know what? I got an Apple iPhone right here
You know, well, don't you know that the CEO of apples on well, you know what? Okay, two-ball cane is just an artificer of brass and iron
You know, I'm glad I could at least get an iPhone out of two-ball cane if he's gonna be if he's gonna be rotten spiritually
You know because these I mean the Bible says in verse 4, you know this guy is the father of all such as handle the harp and organ
Some son of Cain is the one who came up with that, but that's a pretty great invention
And, you know, God actually talks positively about the harp and the organ in the book of Psalms
as being things that we could use to praise God, that we could use for God's glory.
And so, you know, if we could use the organ and the harp for God's glory and not say,
oh, no, no, no, it was invented by, you know, this son of the devil over here.
It was invented by Cain's family or something like that.
Okay, well, here's the thing, you know, the metallurgy that comes from...
the children of the devil, you know, let them make technology and do things, you know,
leave the spiritual side to those of us that are children of God,
that are saved, Spirit-filled Christians, but you know what, there's nothing wrong with using technology
and benefiting from the labors of wicked people. We might as well get something out of them
if we're stuck on this planet with a bunch of wicked, rotten people.
In addition to just run-of-the-mill unsaved people as well as safe Christians, okay?
And so I think that there is a lot if we really think hard about the story and compare scripture with scripture
There really is a lot that we can learn from the mark of Cain here, okay?
We can learn number one that it's in God's nature
He is kind to the unthankful and the evil because even if they don't appreciate it
Even if they don't get anything out of it, even if it's the long run they go to hell anyway
Right, because Cain is burning in hell right now, so did it really help him out that much that he had that mark?
But here's the thing. I believe God is just glorified by the fact of hey, I gave you every chance
Hey, I was nice to you. I tried to help you out. I gave because look first of all God gave him the advice
Hey, if you do well, you'll be accepted fix this and then even after he did wrong. He still protected him from being murdered
by putting the mark on him and so it just goes to show that God is just giving people chance after chance and
Be merciful because he's kind to the unthankful and the evil which is great news for us
When we screw up when we sin we're glad that God's merciful and given people chances
I'm never thinking to myself like oh, that's not fair that that guy gets to go to heaven after all that bad stuff
He did is not what unsaved people say to us all the time out soul winning
Well, you know, I gave the gospel to a guy in Austria a couple weeks ago.
This guy didn't get saved, but I gave the gospel to this guy in Austria and he said,
here's my big hang up is, you know, just people who've done all these bad things
that they get to go to heaven.
And I'm just thinking to myself, like, why does that bother you?
Because I'm just glad I'm going.
I mean, look, if I just got to heaven,
and obviously this would never happen,
but if I just got to heaven
and God's just letting all these extra people in
that weren't supposed to go,
and he's just like, I changed my mind.
Obviously that would never happen,
but I wouldn't be like, wait a minute.
I'd just be like, okay, great, as long as I'm here.
I'm not going to like begrudge God's saving something.
And obviously we know what the rules are
and God's not going to violate the rules.
God can't lie.
And God said, these people are going to heaven,
these people are going to hell.
That's what it is.
Okay, I'm just saying hypothetically. Why would that bother you?
You know and I'm just trying to understand where these people are even coming from because you know if somebody was some murderer
Hormonger, you know sorcerer idolater and did all these things and then that person believes on Jesus like let's say like
You know a week before they die or something. They just live this super rotten life. They're like the thief on the cross
And then just at the last minute, they're believing on Jesus.
I'm not like, that's not fair.
I'm just like, great. Amen. Praise the Lord.
You know, hey, God's not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance.
And so why would we just be glad that anybody gets saved
and that God extends people mercy?
You know, it just doesn't make any sense to me
to not like the grace of God,
to dislike the mercy of God.
and just think, oh, that isn't fair, I don't like that.
Man, I'm just, who cares, man?
Just worry about yourself,
just be glad that he's merciful to you and kind to you.
And so I think that we can just see something
about God's nature from this story,
that he's kind even to the unthankful and the evil.
But then another important thing that we can see
is that it's God's will
that wicked people exist on this earth.
And not even just one wicked person, but then that wicked person, Cain, goes out and reproduces a bunch of other wicked people.
And we are surrounded by wicked people, that's part of the test.
It's just like God didn't have to stick that tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, but he put it there.
God could put Satan in hell right now if he wanted to.
You don't think God has the power to just take Satan and cast him into hell right now?
And even when he does put him in hell, then he lets him out again.
After a thousand years he releases him to go on to see people more why because it's part of the plan
It's part of God's will so you need to just make peace with that and accept it and not just have it just bother you so much
Oh, there's just wicked people in this world. I gotta just go out and just shoot up the place or something. It's like no
It's not our job. It's not why we're here
Okay, we're here to save the people that can be saved
to reach the people that can be reached,
to preach the gospel to every creature
and get as many people saved as we can.
And the people for whom it is too late,
Nuts to them.
And you know what, let them make us our iPhones
and let them make us our coffee drinks at Starbucks or whatever.
You know what I mean?
That's pretty much what they're good for.
Okay?
They're going to make us organic food and coffee and whatever and iPhones
And
So we can see that you know
It's just part of God's will that we be surrounded by people and then also the other thing we can learn from the story is that
Spiritually bankrupt spiritually wicked people, you know, they could still contribute something to our business
We still might have to work with people out in the world that are sinful, wicked people,
even children of the devil, even false prophets and false teachers or whatever.
You know, we might be in situations where we end up using their products, using that iPhone,
you know, working with people like that.
It's just life.
You know, we're not going to just boycott harps, organs, and brass and iron
because of the people who made those things.
Okay, and so there's a lot that we can learn from this story,
but the most important thing, obviously,
is that we don't be like Cain, that we love one another,
not as Cain, who was of that wicked one and slew his brother.
Why?
Because zone works for evil and his brother's righteous.
We don't want to get this attitude of hating people
for being better than us.
or getting envious and competitive with other people,
you know, we should just be doing our own thing,
serving the Lord, be happy for other people's successes,
and if someone's more godly than us,
then we should just look up to that person
and learn from that person, follow them,
make them a role model,
instead of trying to take them down a notch
and tear them down so that, you know,
we can lift ourselves up and whatever.
You don't know the way to, you know,
authority is by doing right.
And God said, if you do that, you'll rule over him, Cain.
If you do well, you'll rule over Abel.
But instead, he just says, well, no, I'm just going to kill Abel.
You know and people today have that same mentality of trying to tear down others envying
Raging against other people who are doing more for them for God if somebody's winning more souls than you
You know if somebody's winning more souls than me, here's my attitude is like great
You know because you know, I'm not winning enough souls
And so it's great to see somebody else doing some of that heavy lifting
Not like, oh man, this guy, he just thinks he's so cool.
He thinks he's just the ultimate soul winner.
Maybe he is the ultimate soul winner.
Let him go.
Let him do his thing.
Don't tamper with it.
I mean, look, you know, we just need souls to get saved.
We need sermons to be preached.
We need the Bible to be taught.
We need the gospel to go forth.
and not try to tear down good people,
okay, because of the fact that they're outperforming us.
Okay, if people are outperforming us,
that should make us happy.
I would love to see all of my pastor friends outperform me.
I would love to see all of our sister churches
outperform Faithful Word.
It'd be awesome,
because there's just more work being done for God.
We don't want to have this wicked, envious, cane attitude.
And we just need to realize that the world's filled with canes, and you know what?
What about the personal canes in our life? Like people who've harmed us personally?
Obviously, I've had a lot of people attack me, hurt me,
slander me, do evil unto me, and here's the thing. You know, we just want to see
vengeance on those people sometimes, but at the same time we just need to realize that's not always God's will.
It's not always God's plan. God will sometimes keep these people around.
for whatever reason, maybe even for 50 years, 100 years.
He keeps the Mormons around, he keeps Islam around,
you know, just to deceive the foolish and the wicked.
You know, we just need to trust God's program.
and just stay in our lane, do our work, and do right.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the story, Lord.
That clears things up, Lord.
I pray that every white supremacist
who has bought into this bizarre theory
about the Mark of Cain would actually read the story.
and just spend literally a couple minutes reading the story
and realize how foolish and erroneous their view is.
And Lord God, help us never to be hateful
toward any group of people
because of some biological reason,
such as their skin color or anything else.
Lord, help us to base our view of people
on their individual achievements, merits, and character.
And Lord God, I pray that you would just bless us now
as we go our separate ways this week.
Help us all to be walking with you throughout the week,
reading our Bibles, praying and living for you.
Keep us safe throughout the week
and bless us all as we go our separate ways.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen, lastly, let's turn in our hymnals
to song number 402.
song number 402 our best singing out loud as best as you can with me song number
402 here
You can not for reward, not for the praise of men, but for the Lord.
Every work for Jesus will.
To
will be blessed, for he has from everyone his rest, our talent's gaining few.
it's missed.