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All right, so Genesis chapter 4, the title for the sermon is Cain and Abel. So it's not coming from a verse particular, but here we have the great story of Cain and Abel and the significance this story plays in our lives and in Christianity overall. But let's start it off with verse number 1, Genesis chapter 4 verse 1, and Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bear Cain and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. The first thing I want to bring our technical to here, before we get into sort of the story of Adam and Eve, I want you to notice how the Lord speaks of the physical relationship between the husband and the wife. You notice that the Lord uses words that are not vulgar, you know, it's not very graphic in the way he speaks of that intimate relationship, right? He says, and Adam knew Eve his wife. And I think this is a great example of God, how we see how God speaks of something that's vitally important in the marriage relationship, okay? And I think as children of God, we should see this and say, hey, we need to be careful with how we speak about this intimacy, okay? You know, we need to make sure, you know, that we use words where we're careful with our words. We use choice words that, you know, convey the message if that's what we're talking about, but we don't need to go into the great detail, you know, or be vulgar with the way we speak of that relationship. And, you know, quite often in the workplace, I mean, if you guys, you know, work with a lot of, you know, there's a lot of maybe construction workers or, but even not even that scenario, just any kind of, even in the office, you know, I hear people speak of that sexual intimacy in such, you know, in terms where it's just like, it's almost like filthy, you know, it's not holy, it's not a sanctified thing between husband and wife. And some people are so comfortable to talk about, you know, what they've done, you know, and it's just, it's so ungodly, you know? And the reason I bring this up just first of all is you'll notice as you read your Bible, the Lord says enough to convey the message, we know what's going on, but then of course, maybe younger people, you know, children that read the word of God, it might go a little bit over their head, but eventually they'll get to an age where they understand those things at the right time, you know, with the instruction of the parents, they'll read something like an Adam knew his wife, and they'll understand, okay, that's that physical intimacy that brings forth children, okay? But I think God sets such a great example for us. And if you have people that you work with, family or friends, that are very vulgar in the language, very, you know, no filter whatsoever, they're ungodly, okay, because we see how God is, we see how God treats the subjects, you know, He's very careful and He's very careful with the words that He uses. So let's take that in mind as we look at verse number one there, but let's keep reading. So Eve has given birth to Cain here, her first born son, and she acknowledges that that child came from God, it's such a great thing. She says, and bear Cain and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. You see, it's definitely the Lord, you know, you read the Bible, you know, one great theme in the Bible, it's the Lord that opens and closes the wound, you know? The Lord's in charge of that area of our life, and you know, I think it's always great when we know our children are born, that we give thanks to the Lord, we acknowledge the Lord for children, all right, but let's keep reading verse number two. And she again bear his brother Abel. Some people think that Cain and Abel were twins, like she bear Cain, and then she bear Abel. I can kind of understand why you'd think that, because, you know, it's so closely together, but my personal opinion, that's not the case. I mean, this is just some other time, later on, you know, maybe a couple of years later, she had Abel as well. She bear his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So what I want you to notice there in verse number two is Adam and Eve were great parents, in the sense that they raised up their boys to be what? To be workers, right? We already looked at the previous chapters, how God, you know, created man to be a working man. He told Adam on day one of his creation, go to work, Adam, I've got a job for you, and we see Adam and Eve pass on that responsibility, Cain and Abel, you're required to, you know, you're men, you're required to go and work, all right? And look, these are brothers, but they're doing very different jobs. You know, Abel here in verse number two was a keeper of the sheep, he was a shepherd, and Cain was a tiller of the ground, like a farmer. You know, they're doing different jobs, okay? And you know, I would encourage you parents, you know, with your sons, make sure they understand that their role is to grow up and work hard, okay? But look, there's nothing wrong with whatever job they choose to progress in. You know, I think it's wise as parents for you to guide your children, to observe them, see what their strengths and weaknesses are, see what interests them, and the things that interest them, you know, encourage them to follow those interests, because that could eventually become the job that they're seeking, you know, a job that they're qualified for, a job they know about well, they can perform very well. You know, you'll be aware of their strengths and weaknesses, you know, if they've got weaknesses in an area, you know, that's something you need to strengthen, or maybe that's just an area of work that they're not really made to do, you know, they're not naturally inclined to that kind of work, but it doesn't matter what kind of work you do, as long as it's an honest job, right, and you're just working with your hands, we see the great example that Adam and Eve pass on to their children. Verse number three, and in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord, I apologize, I apologize if I keep coughing during the sermon, and it says, and Abel he also brought of the first things of his flock and of the fat thereof, and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. So once again, we see Adam and Eve, they were great parents, yes, they raised them to work hard, you know, but also for them to know, okay, from the labors of my hand, I should bring something to the Lord, that's good, you know, we know that what Cain did here I was wrong, okay, but he had the right mindset, okay, he was instructed correctly, okay, from my work the Lord requires, you know, a portion to be given back to him, here's the one that's given me the ability to work, here's the one that's provided me jobs, you know, here's the one that's given me the increase, and I'm going to give something in return back to the Lord. Now at this time, obviously there was no temple, there was no church, okay, but we still see that principle early on, you know, to work hard and give something back to the Lord, okay, and eventually that starts to progress into, you know, the tithes and the offerings that were given into the temple, and obviously the giving that we continue seeing happening in the New Testament church, all right, so let's have a look, why is it that Cain brought from the fruits of the ground an offering unto the Lord? Why is it that God respected Abel and his offering? Let's keep our finger there and let's turn to Hebrews chapter 11 please, Hebrews chapter 11, Hebrews chapter 11, and if you know Hebrews chapter 11, it's the great chapter of the hall of faith, great men of God who had great faith on the Lord that was saved, okay, Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1, Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the world were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Now look at this, the first person that we see as a great man of faith, who is it? It's going to be Abel, okay, verse number 4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts and by it he'd been dead yet speaker. Wow, what a great honour for Abel to be mentioned here in Hebrews chapter 11. The first man that's mentioned as a man of faith, we see it's Abel and what is it that Abel did right, he brought an offering of the first thing of his flock, right, he brought a sheep or he brought a lamb and he offered that, the shedding of blood, the fat thereof was given as a sacrifice to God. What did Abel learn from his parents? Obviously we saw earlier on that when his parents sinned, Adam and Eve, that they first thought about works, they first thought about working with their own hands, creating an apron of fig leaves as a covering of their sin and shame, but that wasn't sufficient, okay, it wasn't sufficient. So what did God have to do? God had to slay the animal, he had to shed the blood as a picture of a covering of their nakedness but also as that foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, the shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that covers our sin, okay, and we see Abel understood that, you know, he placed his faith in the foreshadowing, we'll have a look at this later, why am I saying foreshadowing, of Christ, now I don't know exactly how much Abel knew of Christ, I don't know exactly how much he knew, but he placed his faith on the Lord, he had his faith in the right thing, okay, and he understood that it's by the shedding of blood that was required for him to be covered of his sins and this is why it says here in verse number 4 of Hebrews 11 verse 4, it says at the end of it, and by it he had been dead yet speaketh. So Abel being the first to die, the first human being to die, later on we'll have a look at how he died by his brother, but he still speaks to us today, he still says, he still prophesies, he still preaches by the word of God that we need a sacrifice for our sins, that we need the shedding of blood and of course we know today we have the full picture available to us that that would be the Lord Jesus Christ. So why was his sacrifice more excellent? Because it was the shedding of blood, a picture of Christ, okay, let's go back to Genesis chapter 2, Genesis chapter 2, and verse number, verse number 5, but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect and Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell. So Cain was sincere, I believe Cain at this point in time was sincere, he said I need to offer a sacrifice, God has provided, I want to give something back, but he didn't do it the way God required, okay, he brought the works of his hands, he brought the labor of his field, so what does Cain think is going to make him right with God? He thinks it's his works, okay, he didn't learn the lesson from Adam and Eve and parents this should tell us something, right, that yes, you know, we can be Christians, we can know the gospel, but we need to make sure that our children are aware, that they know that it's by faith, that they know that the sacrifice is the shedding of blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and I can say to you, you know, praise God, my six older children, they're saved, they understand salvation by grace through faith, but do I just get comfortable? Well, I've got another four kids, eventually those other four kids are going to grow up and they're going to need to understand the gospel message, but it could be tempting, I guess, to think well six of them get it, I'm sure the other four will get it at some point, now we see here that Cain missed it, he missed the teaching, okay, this is an area where Adam and Eve maybe could have done better as parents, maybe they assume Abel gets it, I'm sure Cain gets it, now you need to confirm, okay, you need to make sure that your children are aware what they must do to be saved, okay, now I don't want to miss, I don't want to confuse you, okay, Abel was not saved because he brought a blood sacrifice, okay, that's not what saved him, the reason he brought the blood sacrifice is because he already had his faith on the Lord, he already knew that salvation was by grace through faith and through his faith, that's how he demonstrated, you know, his sacrifice demonstrated the faith that he already had on the Lord, okay, because obviously, you know, we see in the Old Testament Israel, you know, that God commands them to bring an offering, you know, but the blood of bulls and goats never took away sin, never covered sin, it was always a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, okay, so keep that in mind, I don't want you to think that Abel was saved because he did a sacrifice, that's not why, okay, that's not why, the blood of animals will never cover your sins, never, okay, and that's important because there are some Christians and I can relate to this because there was a time, I thought this as well, where I thought well Old Testament Israel, maybe they were saved because, you know, Jesus had not yet died, so maybe they were saved by the sharing of blood of the animals, you know, I thought that and there are Christians that think that, but then think about that for a moment, that the only way then you can be saved is by bringing that blood sacrifice to the temple, that works, right, I mean you're bringing the lamb, instead of understanding it's just a picture, you're relying on that process in order for you to be saved, but then what happens saying when Babylon took captivity of the southern kingdom of Judah and they're unable for seven years to give sacrifices, does that mean all these people were unsaved because they couldn't go to the temple and offer sacrifices, you see how ridiculous it is, you know, or people before the temple, what did they do, you know, salvation is clearly by faith and this is why if you read Hebrews chapter 11, it's not always, it doesn't, you know, yes we get the mention of Abel bringing the sacrifice, but all the other men following him, they're not being, they're not being praised for the sacrifices they offered, they're being praised obviously for showing their faith in the Lord through different means, okay, so just keep that in mind, people were not saved because they offered a sacrifice, people were saved because their faith was on the future shed of blood that would come from Jesus Christ and the animals were just a foreshadowing, you know, we're just picturing that to come, alright, let's go back to verse number five now, verse number five and we just, we did read this, right, so God did not have respect for Cain's sacrifice because it was a picture of works salvation, okay, it wasn't a picture on faith on the blood of Christ and here it says that Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell because he's trying, right, he's being sincere, he's trying to be right with God, but God does not accept that and have you seen, you know, people, you know, you go door to door soul winning, have you ever seen people get angry at your message, why, I mean, I mean, people get angry for different reasons, maybe because you disturb them, but I've had people get angry because they thought salvation was by works, by them living their life, you know, to some standard and then I'm telling them that salvation is not by works, that they can't save themselves, that they're a sinner and that's why Jesus Christ came to die for them and they get angry at that message, so what are you saying, are you saying we can just sin, are you giving me a license to sin, I mean, I guess you already have a license, you have your free will to sin if that's what you want to do, okay, I mean, that's why Jesus had to come, to die for us because we all have sinned, but they get angry at the message, you know, I've seen literally people become rough and their countenance fall, you see a change in their face, they might be happy at the door, wow, you know, and you start giving them a little bit of gospel and they can, you know, to some extent they can follow and understand, but then when you say it's by faith alone, you see a change in their face, you know, and then they're upset or they're mad, it happens, okay, the same thing that happened to Cain can happen to people door to door, now please keep your finger there and turn to Colossians chapter 3, Colossians chapter 3, Colossians chapter 3 verse 24, Colossians chapter 3 verse 24, the Bible says, knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of your inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ, but he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done and there is no respect of persons. I just wanted to bring that to your attention because we saw that God had no respect for the offering of sacrifice that Cain brought forward, okay, see, God is not a respecter of persons, say does God respect me, no, does God respect me as the pastor of this church, no, okay, no he doesn't, okay, this is why you must be born again, this is why you must have the new man, okay, that's born of the spirit, that's perfect, that's without sin, that's the new man, that's warring against the flesh and God can have respect for that new man, okay, because it's born of the spirits, okay, but as far as you offering anything outside of being born again in your flesh, you know offering something to the Lord, he's got no respect for it, you can come to church as an unsaved person, put money into the offering, come and song lead, come and preach, I mean there are, how many, how many unsaved pastors are out there, God has no respect for any of that that's going on and that's why you need to be careful if you find yourself in the future in a church that's not New Life Baptist Church, maybe because your life you know leads you that way, you need to make sure the pastor behind the pulpit is at least saved because if God has no respect for that person, neither should you, neither should you, okay, so let's go back to Genesis chapter 4 please, verse number, what are we up to, verse number 6, now does God give up on Cain, no you know God is long suffering, you know God is merciful, okay, look at verse number 6, and the Lord said unto Cain, why art thou wroth and why is our countenance fallen, Cain why are you upset, you know you don't need to be upset Cain, you know you just haven't done this, you haven't done this right, you know works is not going to make, you know make you right in my sight, it's not going to work, but look at verse number 7, he says to Cain, if thou doest well, says Cain I want you to do what's right, you know I want you to do what's right, kind of what Abel did, if thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted, so we can see at this point in time, Cain still had the opportunity to be accepted by the Lord, okay, and then he says this, and if thou doest not well, sin life at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shall rule over him, now verse number 7, I don't know if you ever read verse number 7, wondering what is that about, it is a, it is a difficult verse, it's even difficult for me, okay, and I'm going to give you the two thoughts, and I'll tell you where I lean toward, but I'll give you the two thoughts, uh first and foremost, what does it mean here, let's read verse number 7 again, if thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted, so that's, that's clear, if you do well, you offer the blood sacrifice, you have faith in the shedding blood, it's all good right, but then the next part, if thou doest not well, sin life at the door, okay, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shall rule over him, so that last bit there, what is that about, okay, so I'll give you one thought on this, and one thought is basically when, when God says to Cain, sin life at the door, what God is saying is that there's a sin offering at the door, okay, now obviously the lamb was the sin offering that was provided by Abel, okay, and, and the way of thinking about that is, is thinking about how the Bible speaks that Christ became sin for us, okay, obviously what it's saying there, he became that sin offering for us, and so some will say well, you know, sometimes God might just say sin, but he means sin offering, and so the idea there could be that um, either Abel brought a sheep to Cain's door to be the, a good proper offering for the Lord, or the Lord himself brought that sin offering, the sheep, to the door of Abel, and with that in mind, if that's the case, the next part says, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shall rule over him, so the, the, the his and the, the him here would be Abel, so unto thee, unto you Cain, shall be Abel's desire, and thou shall rule over Abel, in the sense that, you know, Abel as the younger brother will be able to look up to Cain, you know, look up to Cain, and say Cain, you're doing things right, you know, you're serving the Lord, you have faith in the Lord, that's one way of looking at it, okay, that's not my natural reading of the Bible, I'm not saying that's, that could be, I'm not saying that's outright wrong, I'm just saying it's not the way I see it, okay, I'll tell you what I lean toward, okay, so when it says here in verse number seven, if thou doest not well sin life at the door, I just immediately think, okay, if you don't sort this out with the Lord right now, okay, you're still trusting your words, Cain, if you don't sort it out, the moment you walk out of your door, you know, from this, or the moment you, you end this conversation with the Lord, then sin's going to go into latch onto you, like you're going to walk out, and there's sin right there, okay, it's, it's, you're not going to overcome your anger, you know, your countenance is going to fall, you're going to continue in bitterness, it's going to continue bothering you, and you're not going to be, get right with the Lord, okay, that's, that's how I see it, and then the next part is, if that's how we understand it, it says here, and obviously, the sin, you know, when you, when you commit sin, is sin lying, like, is there literally a sin, like this thing called sin that you sort of walk past and it latches onto you, no, with this kind of thinking, this is called personification, okay, so sometimes in the Bible, you use a, a literal, literally, literal, ah, what's the word I'm looking for, I, I think I wrote it down, let me have a look at it, it's just a style of speech and writing, I'll give you one example, one example, you don't need to turn there, Isaiah 55 verse 11, it says, so shall my word be that go forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it, so Isaiah 55 verse 11 is speaking about when we go out and proclaim the word of God, it's not going to come back to us void, it's going to accomplish the task, okay, but then verse 12 says, for ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace, now look at the personification that happens here, it says, the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, okay, so the hills and the mountains are going to sing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands, okay, so, ah, personification is basically giving something that is non-human, human characteristics, okay, trees don't have hands that clap, mountains and hills don't have mouths that sing, okay, but you can see how that's been used in that sense, okay, and so if we take the idea that if, um, Cain does not settle this with the Lord, he literally leaves the Lord, stays in the state that he's in, that sin is lying at the door, it's going to latch onto him, and then when we read the next part, and unto thee shall be his desire, so sin has a desire, and, and thou shall rule over him, and so you will rule over sin, so what, what I believe, this is what I believe is being said here in verse number seven, is that he's not getting things right with God, he's going to hold on to his works, he's going to leave the Lord, and this sin's going to attach to him, okay, and the sin's desire will be to, to, you know, hold on to Cain for the rest of his life, and he's never going to be right with the Lord, that, that's how I see it, okay, and that, you know, ah, it says here that Cain will rule over the sin in a sense, it'll just always be his servant, it'll always be there for the rest of his life, and I, I believe this because in the New Testament, we basically get confirmation that Cain became a reprobate, okay, that Cain became a reprobate, he was not able to be saved at some point, this could be the point, or it could be the point when he murders his brother, but at some point after this, Cain becomes a reprobate, we'll have a look at that soon, actually we'll look at that now, let's go to Jude chapter 11, Jude chapter 11, Jude chapter 11, Jude verse 11 I should say, Jude verse 11, the Bible says he's speaking of false prophets, it says woe unto them, for they have gone the way of Cain, hey what are false prophets, these are people that are leading others to hell, they're going to hell themselves, they're leading other people, they're deceiving other people, and it says about them that they've gone the way of Cain, I mean Cain represents a false prophet, Cain represents someone that deceives others, you know to trust in their works or whatever and be sent to hell, whereas Abel represented someone who still preaches us to us today about the shedding of blood, the necessity of salvation by faith, but let's keep going, it says there the way of Cain and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsaying of Corrie, so Corrie if you know your Old Testament in Numbers chapter 16 is Korah, the Korah rebellion if you know against Moses where the Lord opens up the earth and Korah and his followers all basically fall into the pits of hell alive or bodily, you know that they're sent straight to hell because of the rebellion against Moses okay and his authority there, so it's interesting that Cain is numbered with these people, the false prophets and those that are damned to hell and I don't have the passage here, but there is another scripture that basically talks of Cain being a child of Satan okay and I can't remember exactly where it is, I wish I took it down, but it's definitely there if you're curious about it, I can show you after the service, let's go back to Genesis chapter 4 please, Genesis chapter 4 verse 8, Genesis chapter 4 verse 8 and let this be a warning for us if you're in this church and you haven't placed your faith in the Lord and the Lord is telling you get rights, believe on Jesus Christ, accept the shedding of blood of Christ and you say you know what later, later I'll put it off, I'll put it off, you could end up being like Cain, you could end up just deserving sin for the rest of your life, sin being attached to you, never believing on the Lord and being numbered as these false prophets and people that are damned to hell, obviously we don't want that for ourselves, we don't want that for our children, be aware, be mindful about that, Genesis chapter 4 verse 8, Genesis chapter 4 verse 8, brother Sam, excellent, you sent me the message, all right good, verse 8 let's have a look at this in a minute 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, I mean look how bitter and angry he became, he murdered his own brother, verse 9 and the Lord said unto Cain where is Abel thy brother and he said I know not, am I my brother's keeper, so we see this a very similar response from Cain like Adam and Eve right, they did not take responsibility for their sins right, it's the same thing and we see Cain here learning from Satan when we saw the last chapter that Satan was the father of lies and he just he just tells a bold-faced lie to God, he says I know not, I don't know where Abel is you know but he just killed him, he says I know not, am I my brother's keeper, verse 10 what does God say and he said what hast thou done, the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground, now you see the shedding of innocent blood, murder you know speaks loudly to the Lord, when murder is taking place, when innocent blood is being shed to God it's like that blood is crying out to him, crying out for help, crying out for judgment okay and I just I'm just reminded about our nation and the 250 babies that have been aborted every day and all the murder that goes on in this world all right, all the shedding of blood and I'm thinking about if Abel's blood is calling out to God as it were, so you know how when God looks at Australia you know is he seeing all this shed blood you know obviously it's a big deal for God you know it's a massive sin to commit murder, it's a major sin, it's a wicked sin to shed innocent blood and this is why later on we see that God after the flood he has to put in place a death penalty and if you shed man's blood then your blood will be shed by man you know later on God has to uh settle this you know make a solution for this we'll keep reading verse number 11 and now art thou cursed from the earth which have opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand when thou tillest the ground so remember Cain was a tiller of the ground that that was his that was his work but when he does it now it shall not henceforth yield unto unto thee her strength a fugitive and a vagabond shall there be in the earth so Cain's punishment Cain's curse is that if he went to tour the ground if he tries to plant crops it would not it would not grow for him okay the Lord had cursed the works of his hands and the ground would be cursed even if he works hard even if he tries his best to grow crops or whatever it's not going to work out for him okay so God took away his livelihood his his job verse number 13 and Cain said unto the Lord my punishment is greater than I can bear now look Cain we know later on you know by the law of God he was deserving of death I mean God spares his life here okay God spares his life because we know the death penalty must come in the form of government okay you know there must be proper process before you put someone to death and this is what Cain says my punishment is greater than I can bear behold there has 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 that's basically saying a fugitive someone that's on the run and a vagabond like a beggar in the earth and it shall come to pass that everyone that finds me shall slay me so he's been a bit dramatic here okay you can only die once all right but he's saying that everyone that finds me shall slay me it's like multiple deaths right no what you only die once but anyway verse 15 and the Lord said unto him therefore whosoever slayeth Cain vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold and the Lord set a mark upon Cain lest any finding him should kill him you know if you ever entertain thoughts of being a vigilante you know you say well there's these murderers well maybe someone has murdered someone in your family you know and you know the government is not doing their job you could be tempted to take matters into your own hands okay but here we see that God does not want vigilante uh behavior you know he doesn't want someone to take vengeance on the shed of blood even on a murderer and here he says that if someone does kill Cain that his curse will be sevenfold it's going to be seven times worse than the curse that fell upon Cain okay and then it says in verse 15 and the Lord set a mark upon Cain lest any finding him should kill him now I don't know why people you know obsess of what this mark was it's like what's that mark I don't think it really matters I mean if it mattered I think God will tell us you know but it's clear here that if people saw Cain they would know that if I killed Cain then I would also be cursed and I'll be cursed seven times worse I mean the Mormons what do they say about the mark you know what they say the mark was black skin all right they believe that that if you're black if you've got brown skin then God's cursed you or you know you're you're you know or you were some spirit baby before birth and you rebelled against God and so when you were born on this earth you were born with black skin I mean these guys are racists total racists to say that the mark was black skin why would it need to be black skin it's not like there's billions of people on the earth people need to work out who Cain is they know who Cain is his brothers and sisters are about his nieces and nephews know who Cain is it's not like you need to turn the guy's skin black for that oh that's Cain they really know who Cain is it's part of a family there's literally one family on the earth at this point in time you know racists verse number 16 and Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and I think this has a double meaning okay so the Lord spoke to him and he went out of the presence he's no longer speaking to the Lord but also I believe at this point he's he's a full reprobate you know it's like the Lord's presence will just no longer uh you know persevere with him the Lord will no longer be with him it's a dangerous thing when you leave the Lord's presence but you know what even as Christians if we have unconfessed sins in our life we can leave the Lord's presence we can leave the Lord's fellowship I'm not talking about being a reprobate I'm just saying losing that fellowship with the Lord you know and and when you when you when you're not walking with the Lord when you're not reading your bible when you're not praying when you're not coming to church when you're not exercising the spirit when you're not walking the spirit your life will become darkened you're gonna you're going to realize there's something missing in your life and and you're not going to find the joy in your salvation you're going to find joy in your walk with the Lord and when that happens it's because you've left the presence of the Lord you know the Lord's always there you know he told you never leave you nor forsake you but you by your actions by your unconfessed sin you can leave the presence of the Lord it's not a good state to be in but here we have Cain leaving the presence of the Lord I want you guys to turn to first John now first John I'll turn to the reference thank you brother Sam I knew it was in first John but I wouldn't be able to remember exactly where he was first John chapter 3 verse 12 first John chapter 3 verse 12 I'll just turn there myself first John chapter 3 let's actually start from verse number 10 verse number 10 the bible says in this the children of God are manifest I hope you can say hey I'm a child of God and the children of the devil so how do we determine the difference whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother for this is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should love one another hey if you're a child of God what's your commandment to love one another to love the brethren in this church right look at verse number 12 not as Cain who was of that wicked one who's the wicked one Satan you know Cain here according to the Bible became a child of Satan he became a reprobate okay and slew his brother and wherefore slew him him sorry and wherefore slew him because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous verse 13 marvel not my brethren if the world hates you and actually now that I think about it that's my conclusion so I did have that reference anyway we can skip around a little bit but I want you to see how the Lord uses the story of Cain and Abel he uses it as an illustration of ourselves you know Abel representing us as children of God and Cain representing the children of the devil or this world all right and just as much as Cain hated Abel don't be surprised don't marvel when the world hates you okay have you ever wondered why is it that people hate me why I'm trying I'm just trying to be a godly man I'm just trying to be righteous and I'm just trying to serve the Lord why do they hate me because they've got this the spirit of the wicked one is out there you know but the world hates the Lord you know and I don't understand when I read this story of Cain I don't fully understand it the Lord's given him a chance you know just do well you know believe you know do it by faith Cain but they hate it they hate that message and I can't fully relate to that because I grew up in a Christian home you know maybe some of you that got saved later in life maybe you can relate to that a little bit more about hating the message of the gospel but eventually having to come to the end of yourself and going you know what I realize I can't say it myself I must believe I'm the Lord Jesus Christ you know but don't be surprised when the world hates you because Cain hated Abel let's go back to Genesis chapter 4 please verse 16 Genesis chapter 4 verse 16 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 built a city and called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch all right there's something I do want to talk about here a little bit uh well first of all number 17 Cain's son Enoch is not the same Enoch in chapter 5 that was a righteous godly man that the Lord took that's not the same Enoch this is this is a different Enoch but again here we see that Cain had a wife okay and the question sometimes gets asked and you know Christians get really good for this and the question is you know where did Cain get his wife you know where did Cain get his wife you know if it's just Adam and Eve you know then where did his wife come from well just keep your finger there and turn to Genesis chapter 5 verse 4 just the next chapter over Genesis 5 verse 4 the bible says and the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were 800 years and he begat sons and daughters you know so obviously the names of the children that we get of Adam and Eve are just the men here you know Cain, Abel and then Seth but obviously we see that he also had other sons and daughters all right look at verse number five and all the days of Adam sorry all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died so can how many kids do you think you can have if you live for 930 years tons I mean it's easy to think he had 100 kids I think that'd be an easy thing okay I mean you know we're up to 10 all right and my wife is still able to bear children you know and we're not going to live for 930 years right but you know they could have had a lot and you know Adam and Eve were also more perfect physically than what we are as well you know they didn't have the yeah I guess the corruption that comes from from many years of reproducing and the curse that fell upon man and the effects that he has you know on the earth like they had a much better situation of life they would have been created almost like the perfect they would have been the perfect man and woman when God created them so they would have easily been able to have many many sons and daughters and so the question is who did Cain marry well he obviously married his sister or maybe a niece or something okay it could have been anything like that he married within his family but the question comes up but isn't marrying your sister sinful isn't it wrong and yes it is okay yes it is but keep in mind that at this point in time their genetics were fine you know the reason we don't marry our sisters today is because they could be genetic before uh uh genetic mutations problems you know sicknesses that could develop with children and in many countries around the world it's actually illegal to marry your sister because it's actually commanded from us in the bible okay so I just want to quickly walk you through this very quickly so let's go to Genesis chapter 20 Genesis chapter 20 verse 10 Genesis chapter 20 verse 10 and you might say oh see you know Cain was ungodly that's why he married his sister or a close relation well no we even see godly men obviously and obviously a Seth would have had to marry his sister or niece or something but Genesis chapter 20 verse 10 this is about um Abraham if you know the story of Abimelech remember the story he tried to marry uh Sarah Abraham's wife okay and Abimelech was deceived but anyway verse number 10 and Abimelech said unto Abraham what sawest thou thou has done this thing and Abraham said because I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place and they will slay me for my wife's sake and yet indeed she is my sister she is the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother and she became my wife so we even see here a godly man in Abraham he married his half sister okay his father's daughter but not his mother's daughter so obviously it was another relationship where this woman Sarah that he married was his half sister you know so was that sinful at this point in time no it was not yet a sin okay it was not yet a sin now go to Leviticus chapter 20 please Leviticus chapter 20 now as we turn to Leviticus I know it's close to Genesis but it's about two and a half thousand years later okay there's a big time frame about two and a half thousand years later when we read about the laws that were given to Moses compared to back in the day when Adam and Eve were created but Leviticus chapter 20 verse 17 let's see the law of God this is this is this is the Lord speaking to Moses okay the same Lord God he says in verse 17 and if a man shall take his sister his father's daughter or his mother's daughter and see her nakedness and she see his nakedness it is a wicked thing and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people and have uncovered his sister's nakedness he shall bear his iniquity so we see a change take place here God putting a law in Leviticus you cannot marry your sister not even your half sister okay and obviously genetics after two and a half two and a half thousand years have changed obviously the way we are now we're more you know our bodies are more corrupted we have more signatures we have more deformities we have more mutations and obviously you want to stay away from people that might share the same mutations because your children might be born with problems and we want to avoid that as much as as much as possible you know the further you marry out from from your relations relations you know your deformities that person may not have them and that person's deformities you probably don't have them and so your kids will get the best from mother and the best from father okay and that's why we should stay away from obviously marrying our brothers and sisters I mean it seems weird for us today because we're not in a culture that lives like that but you know there are still people that are in some nations and some cultures that marry their cousins their first cousins their second cousins to us it's weird but it's not sinful according to God it's not sinful but definitely marrying your sister or your half sister God changed that and now that is definitely a sin I think it's a good thing that a lot of governments a lot of nations around this world have adopted that as a as a as an illegal practice okay so not that it's that relevant but I just thought if you're asking that question you might you might have been challenged that question before k married his sister it was no problem back then you know so let's go back to Genesis chapter 4 please verse 18 Genesis chapter 4 verse 18 and unto Enoch so we're following the lineage now of Cain so Enoch was his son and unto Enoch was born Erad and Erad begat uh Mehuthjael and Mehuthjael begat Methuselah and Methuselah begat Lamech and Lamech took unto him two wives the name of the one was uh Ada and the name of the other was Zilla okay so this is the first man we know in the bible that practiced polygamy okay he had more than one wife okay now what other religion practices polygamy oh since we already spoke about the Mormons the Mormons do okay the Mormons believe at least the the real Mormons they believe polygamy is fine okay and when when Mormonism started you know their founder and and all the all the men that were there they had multiple wives okay now it's such a weird thing when they think of Cain they think of the mark of Cain as being black skin they think of that as a bad thing but here they are committed polygamy just like this other man who's the grandson of Cain and this man also commits murder it's like they're trying to you know they're unstable in the way they think you know if they see that this man who does wickedness have multiple wives why do they think they should have multiple wives themselves but let's keep reading verse number 20 and Ada bed uh Jabel he was the father of such a dwelling tents and of such that have cattle and his brother's name was Jubal he was the father of all such things as the harp and organ you know the harp and organ they're not new instruments they were created they were made many thousands of years ago you know so once we get this idea that you know people before us were like stupid you know they didn't have information they didn't have much information they didn't know much these people were very smart you know God created man and woman to be very wise I think today we're pretty stupid I mean we might have more information at our hands but I think our wisdom compared to what they had you know the knowledge that they had I don't think we come close to what they had back then verse number 22 and Zilla she also bared to McCain instruct of every art um artificer in brass and iron sorry guys and the sister of Jubal Kane was Naima so we see they know how to work with brass and iron they know about metals they know they've mined metals they can work with those things you know they weren't just these cavemen they had they had they had tools verse 23 and lamex said unto his wives ada and zilla hear my voice you wives of lamex hearken unto my speech for I have slain a man to my wooden wooden and a young man to my hurt so here he comes and confesses his sins to his two wives says look I've killed a man to my wooden wounding it's possibly that he was wounded as well or he understands that God's going to come down on him okay but then he says this in verse 24 if Kane shall be avenged sevenfold truly lamex 70 and sevenfold says look if God you know put a curse on Kane and anybody that would go and kill Kane out of vengeance God will curse that person as well then surely God will curse someone more because of me okay so this guy lifts himself up maybe because he has successful you know children that are skilled people you know he sees someone prominent important hey if someone tries to kill me then surely God will curse that person even more than what he would have cursed the person that killed Kane and what I want to show you here is that this story shows us the purpose of this story here within the same chapter of the story of Kane and Abel it shows us that how unpunished murder gives others the license to do murder themselves they think well if so and so gets away with murder then surely I'll be able to get away with murder and this we start to see how wicked this world becomes and why God had to apply the definite why God had to destroy the earth with a flood became extremely wicked but then why he had to apply the definitely after the flood to prevent this kind of thinking if someone gets away with murder surely I can get away as well it's a bad way of thinking verse 25 verse 25 and Adam knew his wife again and she bare a son and she called his name Seth for God said she have appointed me another seed instead of Abel whom Kane slew and to Seth to him also was there born a son and he called his name Enos then began men to call upon the name of the lord so now we're starting to see this lineage of Seth you know as far as Eve was concerned Seth was born to replace the loss of Abel okay and and then Seth obviously you know becomes a father he has a son called Enos and the bible tells us this is when men began to call upon the name of the lord and I think this the reason this is important is because in chapter five God that now gives us the lineage the descendancy of Seth and I believe this lineage is a godly line and it's a godly lineage I'm not saying everyone in this lineage was perfect but definitely the teachings of the lord were passed down some great men of faith are found in chapter five which we're going to cover next week but notice that it says here they began to call upon the name of the lord you know and if you guys can just go to Psalm 116 please Psalm 116 verse 13 you know God doesn't say about the lineage of Kane that they called upon their lord he says that about the lineage of Seth okay go to Psalm 116 verse 13 a familiar passage to some of us Psalm 116 13 it says I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the lord okay you'll notice when when the bible speaks about calling upon the name of the lord you know it's it's in correlation to salvation okay this this is a god line they they had salvation the gospel was being passed down Seth and his descendants if you guys can now go to Romans chapter 10 please Romans chapter 10 verse 12 Romans chapter 10 verse 12 again very familiar passages to many of us especially if you go soul winning Romans chapter 10 verse 12 the bible says for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same lord overall is rich unto all them that call upon him remember God is not a respecter of persons whether you're Jew or Greek you know God will hear that whether you're Jew or Greek everyone that calls upon the lord verse 13 for whose server shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved verse 14 how then shall they call on him whom they have not believed see believing and calling go hand in hand okay the reason someone calls on the lord is because they've believed the gospel and it says and how should I believe in him on whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things you know what this tells me when I look at Romans 10 that you must hear the preacher for you to have faith for you to believe for you to call upon the name of the lord that tells me Seth preached the gospel to Enos Enos called upon the lord Enos then preached it to his children they called upon the lord and so on and so forth so we'll have a look at all that obviously next week but just one more reference please first Corinthians chapter one verse one first Corinthians chapter one verse one first Corinthians chapter one verse one the bible says Paul called to an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes our brother unto the church of God which is at Corinth and to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints the saints means you're sanctified in Jesus Christ these are believers and then it says with all that that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our lord both theirs and ours okay so I just want to point that out there because here we have something very specific we live in the new testament times we know the name of Jesus to call upon the name of the lord you know it's not just I believe in God a lot of people say I believe in God no it's about calling upon the lord Jesus Christ putting your faith and trust in the sacrifice the shedding of blood that he offered once for all all right let's pray