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[00:00] Well, we are, uh, on word, forward, toward the new, uh, new chapter.
[00:06] Um, yeah, that's fine, whatever.
[00:08] Um, we are out of Genesis chapter three and on to chapter four making great headway.
[00:15] All right.
[00:16] Um, Raymond kind of talked about the result of, uh, uh, the fall last week.
[00:27] So I did a great job with that and, you know, kind of how he spoke to, you know,
[00:32] what he said was going to happen to Satan, what he said was going to happen to Adam.
[00:35] Uh, what do you, what was going to happen to Eve?
[00:37] Right.
[00:38] And so when we leave them at the end of the chapter, you know, there's like,
[00:44] they get kicked out of the garden, obviously.
[00:45] And they put a sword, you know, got an angel with like a sword, right.
[00:48] Um, and all this stuff at the garden.
[00:51] So they can't go back.
[00:52] Right.
[00:52] And it kind of, you know, you end look at three and go, wow,
[00:56] that was not good.
[00:57] Right.
[00:58] You go from chapter one and two and there's this creation story and it's amazing and it's
[01:03] wonderful.
[01:04] And then even like we see, you know, the woman being brought to Adam and their marriage and
[01:09] what God had to say about that one.
[01:10] Wow.
[01:11] Right.
[01:11] This is just, this story is just wonderful and great and full of amazing things.
[01:15] And then we get to chapter three and we see the serpent deceive Eve and Eve, uh,
[01:22] and Adam take the fruit.
[01:25] Right.
[01:25] The, the, and ultimately just disobey God and bring sin into the world.
[01:31] And we're like, wow.
[01:33] And then we see the result of that throughout the rest of chapter three and, and it's like
[01:39] sadness.
[01:40] Right.
[01:41] I mean, it went from this wonderful, amazing, awesome, beautiful thing to destruction and
[01:47] death in our, you know, what seems like a short amount of time.
[01:50] I don't really know how much time went by, but at least in scripture, it looks short.
[01:54] All right.
[01:54] And so when you get to chapter four, you think, okay, well, you know, kind of all hope is
[02:02] lost, right?
[02:03] You got Adam and Eve, uh, kicked out of the garden, you know, working like dogs now, you
[02:09] know, before they didn't have to really, you know, they were just, they were still working.
[02:13] They still had tasks.
[02:14] They still had jobs, but you know, it was a little bit easier.
[02:16] They're walking with the Lord in the cool of the day, right?
[02:20] In the garden, they're communing with him and now they're out and sin changed everything.
[02:29] Their lives basically revolved around hard work and regret.
[02:34] Um, and so, you know, you kind of look at end of chapter three and go, well, all hope
[02:41] is lost.
[02:42] God had made some promises, but we don't know how that's going to play out.
[02:45] I mean, we do because, you know, we, we, we know the whole story, but they don't.
[02:50] And so it looks for them like it's a hopeless situation.
[02:52] And yet, you know, you know, that they're, they're filled with regret and remorse.
[03:00] They had something so amazing and now they don't.
[03:02] And so as we look at this passage today, I want us to look specifically at three things
[03:12] because I mean, there's more and, and you can, you know, I'm sure you guys know this
[03:19] passage over and over and over, you know, you've seen it over and over.
[03:22] I mean, and different people pull different things.
[03:24] But I think there's three things that, that for, for us, I think we can look at
[03:28] and have, you know, application for us moving forward, right?
[03:33] And those, those three things, just so you guys know, and we'll talk about individually,
[03:37] but what we see in this chapter is we see grace on this, this passage, we see worship
[03:44] and we see mercy.
[03:48] We see grace, we see worship and we see mercy.
[03:50] So let me read the passage and then I want to kind of go back and talk about something real quick
[03:58] that because it touches on this passage, but it doesn't really fit into those three things.
[04:04] And it just kind of a little separate, just kind of a warning for us as, as believers.
[04:09] All right.
[04:10] So let's read it.
[04:11] We're in chapter four.
[04:12] We're going through one through seven chapter four, one through seven.
[04:17] It says this.
[04:18] Now, Adam knew his wife and she conceived and bore Cain saying,
[04:23] I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.
[04:26] And again, she bore his brother Abel.
[04:29] Now, Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain, a worker of the ground.
[04:32] In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground.
[04:37] And Abel also brought of the first born of his flock and of their fat portions.
[04:42] The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering,
[04:46] he had no regard, but Cain was very angry and his face fell.
[04:50] And the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry?
[04:53] Why has your face fallen?
[04:55] If you do well, will you not be accepted?
[04:58] And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door and its desire is contrary to you,
[05:05] but you must rule over it.
[05:08] All right.
[05:09] So as you can see, when I talk about the three things, we see grace, we see worship,
[05:15] and we see mercy. You kind of read that and go, really, right?
[05:17] They don't look good to me.
[05:19] There's not like a lot.
[05:20] I don't see a lot of good stuff going on in there.
[05:21] But first, let's look at verse one, right?
[05:24] You get to chapter three, the end of chapter three, it all seems lost.
[05:27] And then right off chapter four, verse one, Adam knew his wife, right?
[05:31] And obviously that what that means is that he had sex with his wife in the confines of marriage,
[05:38] and she conceived and had a child.
[05:41] And when it says he knew his wife, it wasn't just that though.
[05:45] It wasn't just he knew her physically.
[05:47] This idea of him knowing his wife means he knew everything about her, right?
[05:54] There's this deep, deep intimacy between them.
[05:57] And what grace is right there in that first section of that verse.
[06:02] See, God had made a promise, did he not?
[06:04] Do you guys remember the promise that God made in chapter three?
[06:08] Anybody remember?
[06:10] Pretty easy, it's not a trick question.
[06:16] Yeah, about the child.
[06:22] Yeah, I guess he made a few promises, right?
[06:24] But yeah, thank you.
[06:26] I should have specified that.
[06:27] Yeah, right.
[06:29] That she would have a child and that child,
[06:31] the lineage of that child basically, right?
[06:34] Is what he's talking about.
[06:35] Would what?
[06:38] What would that child end up doing?
[06:41] Yeah, stomp the head of the serpent, right?
[06:43] Kill the serpent.
[06:44] And we know that, looking forward, that that person is the person of Jesus Christ.
[06:48] But Adam and Eve don't necessarily know that at this point, right?
[06:52] So they just know that God made a promise.
[06:56] Maybe this is for them, this might be the one.
[06:58] But in this, we find great hope.
[07:02] And I'm thinking about this whole thing.
[07:05] And as I'm reading this section about how Adam knew his wife
[07:08] and she conceived and bore Cain, Cain saying,
[07:10] "I've gotten a man with the help of Lord Rachel."
[07:12] She's like now happy, right?
[07:14] She feels this.
[07:15] She knows where Cain came from.
[07:18] And she bore his brother Abel.
[07:21] Now Abel was a keeper of sheep.
[07:22] And so she has two boys.
[07:24] Now, they could be twins because they only talk about one conception, right?
[07:31] They don't mention another, but it doesn't really matter.
[07:33] Maybe, you know, she conceived and bore Cain.
[07:36] And then it says, "And again, she bore his brother Abel."
[07:38] So it could be that she bore him right after Cain, whatever,
[07:41] or they just bore a different time and they left out those details.
[07:44] It doesn't really matter for what's going on here.
[07:46] You have Adam and Eve now.
[07:50] You have Eve who's pregnant with Cain, or maybe Cain and Abel, whatever,
[07:53] or pregnant with Cain then Abel.
[07:55] And just think about that, right?
[07:56] She's experiencing pregnancy literally for the first time
[08:01] in the sense of like nobody's ever done it.
[08:02] Now, when people get pregnant, all kinds of books, right?
[08:05] When Laurie was pregnant, I read the whole book, cover to cover,
[08:08] what to expect when expecting, right?
[08:10] And I would say, "Oh, what?"
[08:12] Right?
[08:12] And I would say, "Do you know if this is going to happen?"
[08:14] You know?
[08:14] And I'd be like, "Has this happened yet?"
[08:15] Right?
[08:16] I'd be all those things, you know?
[08:17] I'd be like, "Okay, skip that page.
[08:19] I don't really want to know about that."
[08:20] Okay?
[08:21] And then, you know, like when the baby was coming,
[08:23] you know, when the baby was going to be born,
[08:24] what was going to happen and all that stuff.
[08:26] And, you know, to be honest, it's kind of freaking me out.
[08:28] But I think I was, you know, whatever I was at the time, 22 or 23.
[08:33] I don't even know.
[08:33] But I was young, you know, and I'm looking at the thing going, "Oh."
[08:36] But for that, you know, but we had a good idea.
[08:38] So when she had the baby, we're kind of like, you know,
[08:42] I kind of like, I mean, I still don't get me wrong.
[08:44] I was like a nervous wreck and, you know, I was just completely crazy.
[08:47] But I knew kind of what was happening, you know, in my mind, my wife would,
[08:52] she had a midwife.
[08:53] We were in Maine.
[08:53] We were in the back kind of country of Maine.
[08:55] They didn't give her any drugs or anything or nothing.
[08:58] And so she was in a lot of pain.
[08:59] So as a young husband, I can't help her, you know.
[09:01] And she's like, "Ah!"
[09:02] Right?
[09:02] And, you know, and I'm like, "This is the worst."
[09:04] Right?
[09:04] Because I can't do anything.
[09:05] I'm like, "What do you want me to do?"
[09:06] She's like, "I want you to shut up."
[09:08] So, you know, I'm like, "Well, don't just sit there."
[09:14] You know, and if you know Laura, she's very easy going, very, you know.
[09:19] But when you're in that much pain, you know, you say some things.
[09:21] So anyway, right?
[09:25] I didn't know, I didn't know if that kind of pain was gonna,
[09:28] the book didn't really, I don't, at least I don't remember it,
[09:30] specifying that intense pain.
[09:32] And so I was not prepared for that part.
[09:34] But Adam and Eve, you think like they got, they have no clue.
[09:36] I mean, they don't have a book.
[09:39] They don't have a guide what to expect when expecting, you know.
[09:42] This is literally, you know, like happening.
[09:45] And she's like, "Okay."
[09:46] But still there's going to be excitement, right?
[09:49] There's an excitement in the pregnancy.
[09:51] And as she gets, the baby gets bigger within her
[09:53] and Adam's feeling the baby.
[09:55] And Eve is, you know, talking about this,
[09:57] this life that is being formed, that life that is formed.
[10:00] There's excitement.
[10:03] And I can't help but think like the sadness and the regret
[10:07] and the things that they have experienced, right?
[10:10] Previous now have maybe just shifted a little bit, right?
[10:14] Yes, there's still, they know what they had,
[10:16] but now they are hopeful in what they're gonna have, right?
[10:19] What the future now holds.
[10:20] We're bringing life into this world, right?
[10:25] And how exciting is that?
[10:27] And I thought, you have Adam and Eve.
[10:34] And I mean, you know, you would think
[10:36] about their conversations that they had, you know?
[10:38] What kind of conversations would they have?
[10:41] And I'm not trying to add to scripture.
[10:43] I'm just saying like in the normal relationship
[10:45] of husband and wife and the hopes and dreams
[10:49] that they had moving forward.
[10:50] And so now they have these babies
[10:53] that they bring into the world
[10:54] that where they seemed hopeless now have hope, right?
[10:59] And even in that, is there not undeserved kindness for them?
[11:06] Is there not undeserved grace?
[11:09] I mean, that's what grace is.
[11:10] It's basically an undeserved kindness from God.
[11:13] And he's showering them with kindness and love in this moment
[11:20] and this time over the excited expectation
[11:27] and of the actual birth.
[11:29] And I'm sure there's moments where they're praising God, right?
[11:34] They have these two sons and they're praising God.
[11:37] But I wanna take you back,
[11:39] and this is that part I was telling you,
[11:40] I wanna take you back a little bit to chapter three
[11:43] where Eve now is deceived.
[11:46] Remember, we went over that and deceived by the serpent
[11:48] and takes the fruit and gives to Adam
[11:51] and their sin enters the world.
[11:53] When Eve is deceived, does she ever think?
[11:55] Do you think she ever thinks?
[11:56] Or does Adam ever think, if I do this,
[11:58] besides for the fact that God said, "Don't do it."
[12:03] Did they ever think, "Oh, this is gonna impact
[12:06] more than just me."
[12:07] Did Eve go, "This is gonna impact more than just me, right?
[12:10] This is gonna impact my husband or anything else."
[12:12] No, right?
[12:13] They're thinking very, it's a very narrow thought process
[12:17] into the fact that they're thinking about themselves,
[12:19] what Satan is deceiving them,
[12:20] and they don't think outside of that.
[12:22] Where I'm getting with that is this, right?
[12:26] So they sin and obviously the whole world
[12:29] is put under the curse, basically, right?
[12:30] And I'm not even going there.
[12:31] I'm gonna narrow it even down further
[12:33] 'cause that's too big even for us
[12:36] to kind of think of how much damage they did, right?
[12:38] Bring sin into the world.
[12:39] But just in their personal lives, right?
[12:42] They get kicked out of the garden,
[12:43] all that was good is not bad,
[12:44] but now they have two sons.
[12:46] And they're like, "This is great."
[12:47] You know, Hosea 8-7,
[12:50] and I've talked about this in the past,
[12:52] but I wanna mention it again because it's important.
[12:54] We have a lot of kids and a lot of families that says this,
[12:57] "They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind."
[13:00] They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.
[13:03] And so oftentimes, when we sin,
[13:07] we think sin is unto ourselves.
[13:10] What we want, what we want, and how we want it
[13:12] is only gonna impact me.
[13:14] And I may know I'm sinning.
[13:16] It's not that big of a deal, right?
[13:17] That's a whole other issue, your view on sin.
[13:19] But more problematic is also the fact
[13:24] that you are now impacting others, right?
[13:28] You sow the wind, but reap the whirlwind.
[13:30] And in that whirlwind,
[13:31] others get sucked into your sin and your mistakes.
[13:34] There's no guarantee at parents
[13:39] that your kids will turn out right.
[13:42] And when I say right, I mean serving God
[13:45] for the rest of their lives.
[13:46] That's what I mean by that, right?
[13:47] There's no guarantee that they're gonna love God
[13:49] and serve Him all of their days.
[13:51] They have no guarantee of that.
[13:53] But we have a responsibility as parents
[13:57] is to remember that when we sow the wind of sin,
[14:03] it's probably gonna impact those closest to us,
[14:08] especially our kids.
[14:09] - I've told you, our parents weren't perfect, right?
[14:16] Their marriage mostly was a sham
[14:18] and it was rough, a rough house to live in, right?
[14:22] 'Cause there's a lot of tension.
[14:24] Cut it with the old knife, you know?
[14:26] But my dad and I made sure I was in church Sunday mornings,
[14:33] Sunday night, a Wednesday night for prayer meeting,
[14:36] and then a youth group night, whatever night that was.
[14:38] Every week for as long as I can remember.
[14:41] And I was like, this is stupid, right?
[14:45] We gotta go to church Sunday morning,
[14:46] we gotta go to church Sunday night
[14:47] when you're a kid, you're like, this is the worst, right?
[14:48] I don't know, I gotta go sit in prayer meeting,
[14:50] this is the worst, you know, 12 years old
[14:52] and people are, you know, praying for like 30 minutes,
[14:55] you're like, I'm gonna die, all right?
[14:57] But, right, you're going through this week after week
[15:01] after week, my whole life.
[15:03] And I remember like, when we would go to church
[15:05] and we came to North Carolina and we'd visit,
[15:06] we had four kids, you know, plus my wife.
[15:09] So there's, you know, six of us
[15:10] and I'm a boy who's always be like so embarrassed
[15:12] because they're like, here comes the train,
[15:14] the train is coming into the church,
[15:15] you know, all six of us get in, they get embarrassed
[15:18] because, you know, there's a lot of us, you know?
[15:20] And so if you're being seated,
[15:21] they have to seat the whole train, you know?
[15:23] And they're like, you know, the boys are like, really?
[15:25] Well, I come in a family of five sisters and a brother, right?
[15:28] And so our train was a little bigger, okay, at times.
[15:31] They weren't all there for a long period of time,
[15:32] but there was times when all of us were, you know,
[15:35] so that's even more embarrassing, okay?
[15:36] And we went to really small, small churches.
[15:38] You bring a train into a church of 50, people notice, okay?
[15:41] But here's the deal, over and over my dad
[15:45] and it made sure that we were in church, right?
[15:47] And so later on in life, I would walk away from God,
[15:51] all right, I would do terrible things.
[15:53] I want nothing to do with God.
[15:55] And one day my wife takes,
[15:58] like she was going to church by herself with the kids
[16:00] and I just didn't really like the church
[16:01] that we were going to and when I say we,
[16:03] I was half-heartedly going, you know,
[16:05] a lot of times not going, didn't care.
[16:06] And we go, so her mom was going to another church
[16:10] and I think I told you a story,
[16:11] so they took them to the other church
[16:13] and my kids came home that Sunday and I was working
[16:17] and I came back and I said, you know, how was it?
[16:18] And they were like, oh, it was great, we loved it.
[16:20] You know, it was the first time
[16:22] they ever said they loved church, you know?
[16:24] All right, well now I'm jealous, right?
[16:25] 'Cause I'm a little bit jealous
[16:26] because I'm like, my wife got the experiences
[16:27] and I wasn't there.
[16:28] Now nothing about whether they're gonna grow closer
[16:30] to God at times, just about my jealousy
[16:32] and my little pettiness, right?
[16:33] So I'm like, well, I'm going next to her, right?
[16:34] 'Cause I want to see the church.
[16:35] But also because I had this thought,
[16:39] like my wife's taking my kids to church without me,
[16:41] like, right?
[16:43] During that week, I remember thinking,
[16:45] man, what am I, like, what am I doing, right?
[16:47] I know I'm supposed to be in church.
[16:48] Don't get me wrong.
[16:49] I didn't care that I was far from God.
[16:51] My heart was far from God.
[16:52] I cared though that I knew I should be in church
[16:54] with my kids, right?
[16:56] And so the next Sunday I go
[16:58] and I go to church with it, we drop them off
[16:59] and we go up and hear the message
[17:01] and I think I told you this, right?
[17:03] And I'm like, you know, I'm sitting
[17:05] and I know exactly where I'm sitting.
[17:06] I see this and I know who's speaking.
[17:08] I know what they're speaking on.
[17:08] They speak on Samson, you know,
[17:10] when he knocks down the pillars, you know?
[17:12] And the pastor says, you know,
[17:14] 'cause Samson was a bad dude, right?
[17:15] He did terrible things.
[17:17] And yet God gives him another chance
[17:20] at the end of his life.
[17:20] And the pastor said, you know,
[17:23] in God's grace, there are second chances, right?
[17:26] And I had thought beyond that,
[17:28] no second chance for me.
[17:29] And all that to tell you this,
[17:33] that God used that moment in that church
[17:36] to bring me someplace when I was far from him,
[17:40] far from him, back there.
[17:43] And the whole trajectory of my life
[17:45] has changed since then.
[17:46] I remember weeping, right?
[17:52] I told you this, weeping and weeping,
[17:54] getting in the car and looking at my wife,
[17:57] weeping with her and kids are probably,
[17:59] that's why, right, they're all with him.
[18:00] 'Cause God had grabbed my heart and said,
[18:05] I'm not done with that.
[18:07] I tell you that because my dad
[18:13] sowed the habit of church in our life, right?
[18:18] Of worship.
[18:19] Though he made mistakes in other areas,
[18:21] he sowed that into my life.
[18:23] And God used that to bring me back to him
[18:28] when I was feeling guilty for not being at church.
[18:30] Not because I love God, I wanted to be at church,
[18:31] but because it was a habit that I had formed
[18:33] that my parents had formed in me.
[18:34] And then he used that to bring me back.
[18:38] Sow the wind, you reap the world.
[18:41] When you sow the things of God,
[18:43] you can expect to reap the things of God
[18:45] in a way that is good, right?
[18:47] When you sow the world
[18:51] and what the world thinks you should be doing
[18:53] with your kids, understand that they're probably,
[18:56] most likely the grace of God
[18:58] overcomes all kinds of things.
[19:00] But oftentimes,
[19:01] then you reap something with your children
[19:04] that you will regret.
[19:05] I have been a youth pastor for over 20 years
[19:11] and I can't tell you the number of parents
[19:14] who have come to me and said,
[19:15] oh, my son, my daughter, and his wife.
[19:19] I say, and I, you can look at their life
[19:22] and say, yeah, 'cause you did not sow the things of God
[19:26] from the time they were little, right?
[19:29] You worried about what the world thought you should do
[19:31] and then that happened.
[19:32] Now look, they want nothing to do with God, church,
[19:36] people in your lives that are believers,
[19:39] they want nothing to do with it.
[19:41] Now, you can still do all the right things
[19:45] that doesn't guarantee that kids will,
[19:46] John Piper has a son that is, holy wow, wow.
[19:49] He's just, he's out there, right?
[19:51] John Piper, right?
[19:52] He said to me, he's like what?
[19:53] I told you, me and Ray, Joe Graham called him
[19:55] the Apostle Piper because he's like,
[19:56] in our lives he had such an impact in our life.
[19:58] And I don't know what kind of father he was,
[20:00] he seems like a good father,
[20:01] but I'm sure we all make mistakes as parents
[20:04] and he has a son that's completely off the rails,
[20:06] what's nothing to do with God.
[20:09] But you can make that even more so
[20:11] by not caring enough to sow godliness in your family.
[20:18] And so Adam and Eve now are gonna see this, right?
[20:22] We see that, Cain is angry, they sowed sin
[20:27] and now they're gonna reap the whirlwind from it
[20:29] in their kids' lives in ways that are unimaginable
[20:33] that honestly none of us can even imagine.
[20:35] We don't get to it today, we know what happens, right?
[20:38] Cain murders his brother out of a jealous rage.
[20:40] So I please take that and contemplate it
[20:46] and think about it and what does that mean for my family,
[20:48] for me to sow godliness in my family?
[20:52] What does it mean?
[20:52] Because that means hard choices need to be made.
[20:55] There is no way around it, right?
[21:01] We are not supposed to sow the world, right?
[21:05] And so when you come to the end of your life,
[21:09] will you be upset because you didn't sow more of the world?
[21:13] Or will you say, "Oh, you know, I should have given more to God,
[21:17] I should have been more for Christ."
[21:19] So Adam and Eve are finding some hope
[21:27] in the renewed hope and this expectation.
[21:30] And when we see God's grace in the beginning of this chapter,
[21:34] I can't help but be excited at God's grace
[21:37] because they had done terrible things.
[21:38] They had brought sin into this world,
[21:40] they had been directly disobedient to God,
[21:42] and yet here is hope.
[21:43] And we see this grace.
[21:47] And let me ask you, do you marvel?
[21:49] Do you marvel?
[21:52] I use that word intentionally because it's kind of,
[21:55] we don't, you know, I don't know if we use that word a lot.
[21:57] Marvel at something, but I like it when it comes to grace.
[22:01] Do we marvel at God's grace in your life?
[22:06] Even his grace in times of pain and suffering,
[22:13] do you ever look back at some of the hardest things
[22:16] that you've gone through in life
[22:17] that have caused great pain and great heartache
[22:20] and great suffering and been able to still point
[22:23] to God's grace or something in that?
[22:25] God's grace, yes, God saves us by grace,
[22:30] but then he gives us grace each and every day
[22:32] to live the life he desires for us.
[22:34] He gives us future grace.
[22:38] I think we often miss the grace of God
[22:44] because we don't think necessarily
[22:46] of the judgment of God.
[22:48] The more you understand the magnitude of God's grace,
[22:56] the more accurate will be your view
[22:59] of the depth of your unrighteousness.
[23:01] And the more you understand the depth of your unrighteousness,
[23:04] the more you will be, the more you will appreciate
[23:07] the magnitude of God's gift of grace.
[23:09] You get that?
[23:10] Let me read it again.
[23:11] That's not my quote by the way.
[23:14] I didn't actually write it down.
[23:15] Do I have who wrote it, who said it?
[23:16] I don't think so.
[23:18] Anyway, no, I don't.
[23:19] The more you understand the magnitude of God's grace,
[23:23] the more accurate will be your view
[23:26] of the depth of your unrighteousness.
[23:28] And the more you understand the depth of your unrighteousness,
[23:32] the more you will appreciate the magnitude of God's gift of grace.
[23:36] And so right off the bat, we should be looking at this
[23:42] because, you know, you think about what Adam and he did,
[23:44] and he brings in, and yet God is still blessing them in this setting,
[23:48] still great, showing them grace, kindness, love.
[23:51] And he does the same for us.
[23:54] Let's keep reading.
[24:00] "So she bore brother Abel," verse two,
[24:03] "and now Abel was a keeper of sheep and cane,
[24:05] a worker of the ground."
[24:06] Verse three, "In the course of time,
[24:08] Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground,
[24:10] and Abel also brought to the firstborn of his flock
[24:13] and of their fat portions.
[24:14] And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering."
[24:17] And we'll just stop there for now.
[24:20] We see worship.
[24:24] This is an act of worship.
[24:27] That's what we're seeing here.
[24:28] They're going to go to God as an act of worship
[24:32] and offer to Him both as sacrifice and praise.
[24:39] But we see worship from two different hearts here, don't we?
[24:42] We see worship from a heart of a believing heart, I mean.
[24:48] We see worship from a believing heart,
[24:50] and then we see worship from an unbelieving heart.
[24:52] What that looks like,
[24:54] which really probably would be considered true worship.
[24:56] Now, let's look at it a little deeper.
[25:02] "So Abel was a keeper of sheep and cane, a worker of the ground,
[25:05] and in the course of time Cain brought to the Lord
[25:08] an offering of the fruit of the ground."
[25:10] Now, I know a lot of theologians will say,
[25:13] "Well, that's why God didn't accept it,
[25:15] because it was supposed to be a blood sacrifice."
[25:17] Right off the bat, and remember in Genesis chapter 3,
[25:21] God closed Adam and Eve with skins of animals.
[25:24] So He kills the animal.
[25:25] There's a blood sacrifice for that animal
[25:27] because He has to kill them to cover up Adam and Eve
[25:29] with some real clothes.
[25:31] Because remember, they're ashamed now because they've sinned.
[25:35] And so that starts the pattern of a blood sacrifice.
[25:39] And then you go from Genesis to Revelation,
[25:41] and it's always God demands because of His justice
[25:44] and who He is and all the sin that's going,
[25:46] He's going to demand a blood sacrifice.
[25:48] And so that's why He gives rules to Israel.
[25:51] How to ask and get forgiveness of their sins,
[25:54] and a priest has to slaughter an animal,
[25:57] and they have to sprinkle the blood out.
[25:59] Remember in Egypt, right?
[26:01] Egypt says God is rescuing His people out of Egypt.
[26:06] And He says, "Remember, paint the doorposts with blood
[26:09] from an animal, or your firstborn will be dead.
[26:12] We take it."
[26:13] There's a blood sacrifice required
[26:18] because of the wrath and judgment of God.
[26:20] And that's where people get uncomfortable.
[26:22] That's what I was just talking about, this idea of grace.
[26:24] And you understand the depth of your unrighteousness,
[26:26] and you understand who God is, right?
[26:28] And you understand what we should get,
[26:31] compared to what we do get through Jesus Christ.
[26:34] We can't help but praise.
[26:35] And so again, the theologians sometimes think,
[26:42] "Okay, well, Cain wasn't accepted
[26:46] because he didn't provide a blood sacrifice."
[26:48] And there's probably some truth in that
[26:50] and the fact that he could have went to Abel, right?
[26:52] Got an animal, did a thing, and did what Abel did.
[26:57] But I think it grows more than that.
[26:59] That might be part of it.
[27:01] But I think it's deeper than that, obviously.
[27:04] And I think you do, too.
[27:04] Because we look at Abel, and we look at what he did.
[27:13] So Cain brought to the Lord offering of the fruit of the ground.
[27:18] Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock.
[27:20] It doesn't say an Abel brought an animal, and that was it.
[27:25] It said, " Abel brought of the firstborn of his flock
[27:28] and of their fat portions."
[27:30] And what the writer of Genesis is saying
[27:33] is that he is bringing God the best of the best.
[27:37] He's bringing, right when it says this firstborn,
[27:42] that's the best of his flock, of what he has.
[27:45] And then when it says he brings the fat portions,
[27:49] it means that he took special care to prepare it for the Lord.
[27:55] He's giving, the fat portions was the best portion
[27:58] of the best animal, and it took time to prepare
[28:00] to make an offering to the Lord.
[28:02] And so his worship, because, see, Abel believes what God said,
[28:08] and we know that Abel is a righteous man.
[28:12] We know that he believes what God said and promises,
[28:14] that God promises that somebody is coming.
[28:17] And we say, "Well, how do we know that?"
[28:18] That's what the verse doesn't say.
[28:19] Let's go to Hebrews, okay?
[28:22] Hebrews chapter 11, verse four.
[28:24] Hebrews chapter 11, verse four says this.
[28:27] If you know Hebrews chapter 11,
[28:29] you know we call it the faith hall of fame.
[28:32] People with faith, right?
[28:33] Where lots of faith are in this passage.
[28:36] It says, "By faith, Abel offered to God
[28:40] a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain,
[28:42] through which he was commended as righteous.
[28:45] God commending him by accepting his gifts,
[28:49] and through his faith, though he died,
[28:52] he still speaks."
[28:52] Wow.
[28:54] So we get this little passage about Abel in Genesis,
[29:00] and then we go all the way to Hebrews and says,
[29:03] "Oh, guess what?
[29:03] He was righteous."
[29:04] That means he was made right before God.
[29:07] God saw him as being righteous.
[29:09] And so his heart understands he has a heart of worship.
[29:16] He believes God when God makes the promises.
[29:19] That's what the faith is.
[29:20] He has faith that God is going to do
[29:22] what he says he's going to do.
[29:23] And then he honors God by giving him the best of the best.
[29:28] His worship is pure and undefiled.
[29:30] Jesus would also call Abel righteous Abel.
[29:37] Jesus.
[29:40] Righteous Abel.
[29:41] And so then we go to Cain.
[29:50] Right?
[29:50] We look at Cain.
[29:53] Cain's offering.
[29:53] Again.
[29:56] Does this.
[29:58] "Cain brought the firstborn of his flock and of the--"
[30:00] Oh, I'm sorry, Ronald.
[30:02] "Cain brought the Lord an offering
[30:03] of the fruit of the ground."
[30:04] You see the difference now?
[30:07] See, one has a heart of faith and of a belief in God,
[30:12] and one is saying...
[30:13] Let me check this.
[30:15] Let me check this box.
[30:17] All right.
[30:18] Let me be done with this.
[30:20] "His sacrifice," quote, unquote.
[30:32] "His worship revealed his heart, did it not?"
[30:35] There is no evidence of faith in Cain's offering,
[30:44] in his offering.
[30:46] There's no evidence of preparation.
[30:48] There's no evidence of love.
[30:50] Cain is saying, "I know what you said,
[30:54] but here's what I want to give you."
[30:56] And really, they got to leave it.
[31:03] All right.
[31:03] I gathered it.
[31:04] Here you go.
[31:04] Where's Abel?
[31:07] He loved God.
[31:08] He honored God.
[31:10] He believed God's promises,
[31:12] and so God accepted his offering.
[31:16] And Abel, did you catch that?
[31:17] "Abel also brought to the firstborn of his flock,
[31:22] and in the fat portion the Lord had regard for Abel
[31:24] and his offering."
[31:26] Right?
[31:28] 'Cause he made righteous because of his faith.
[31:30] And Cain in his worship says, "Take it or leave it, God."
[31:36] All right.
[31:38] Cain's offering was an act of false worship.
[31:40] Is it not?
[31:40] And there's warning to us, is there not in this?
[31:45] There's warning to us in our lives of worship.
[31:49] What are we bringing?
[31:50] What does our heart say about our acts of worship?
[31:53] Cain revealed, I think, his lost condition.
[32:03] He was far from God.
[32:05] He checked the box.
[32:08] He did what he was, you know,
[32:10] at the very minimum what he was supposed to do.
[32:11] He brought something.
[32:13] But he refused to come to God in God's way.
[32:16] And so he rejected what God had said.
[32:22] And God rejected him.
[32:24] And what does your heart say about you?
[32:28] Let me tell you this, right?
[32:33] For those of you who have put your faith in Christ,
[32:36] you are accepted by God.
[32:38] You are made righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ.
[32:41] And so no matter, you know, where you are,
[32:47] if that has occurred and you have put your faith in Jesus Christ,
[32:51] you have been accepted by Jesus and by God and made righteous.
[32:55] But should we not even have more of a heart of worship in that case?
[33:02] It always struck me when I've gone to other churches.
[33:05] I have a lot of family that is in Catholicism
[33:08] and I've gone to some of their masses.
[33:11] I've been to funeral masses and things like that, right?
[33:15] I've always in that, there's more than just that worship,
[33:20] but that worship that they consider worship,
[33:22] I feel like it's dead to me, right?
[33:25] It's just kind of quoting and then they sing.
[33:27] They sing some songs, you know, but it's dead.
[33:32] Because many of them, and I'm not saying all of them,
[33:35] but many have a heart that has not put their faith in Christ.
[33:39] And if you don't know Christ, understand this.
[33:44] If you haven't put your faith in Jesus,
[33:46] but you show up all the time, you do all the right things,
[33:55] Jesus has a has a words for you.
[33:57] Because the Pharisees were like that.
[34:01] Remember when we studied Mark?
[34:02] Pharisees were like that.
[34:04] And they like to go after Jesus about all these things.
[34:06] And so Jesus quotes Isaiah to them.
[34:08] And we would do well to remember this.
[34:13] He says this, and he's quoting Isaiah,
[34:15] but it's Jesus speaking.
[34:17] These people honor me with their lips,
[34:19] but their hearts are far from me.
[34:21] Oh, let that never be said about us.
[34:26] They honor me with their lips,
[34:33] but their hearts are far from me.
[34:35] Do you honor Christ with both your heart and your lips?
[34:41] Because you can't honor Christ with just your lips.
[34:45] There is no such thing.
[34:47] You can sing all the songs you want.
[34:49] You can do all the things.
[34:51] You can go volunteer at the food bank or whatever,
[34:53] do all the good things.
[34:54] But if your heart is far from him, there is no worship.
[35:02] And if you don't know God at all,
[35:04] if you haven't put your faith in Jesus,
[35:05] Jesus, God's judgment,
[35:13] God's righteousness demands a payment,
[35:15] and that payment is hell.
[35:16] And there is no escaping it.
[35:18] Except through Jesus Christ.
[35:22] That's it.
[35:23] He's offered the free gift.
[35:31] When we talk about acts of worship,
[35:32] as a Christian, as a believer,
[35:34] what does your heart say about your worship?
[35:38] And that's a very, right?
[35:40] That's a very tough thing to think about,
[35:42] but we all live lives sometimes selfishly.
[35:44] R.C. Sproul says this,
[35:50] "The worship to which we are called in our renewed state,"
[35:55] you know, as a Christian,
[35:56] "is far too important to be left to personal preferences,
[35:59] to whims, or to marketing strategies.
[36:01] It is the pleasing of God
[36:03] that is at the heart of worship.
[36:04] Therefore, our worship must be informed
[36:07] at every point by the word of God
[36:08] as we seek God's own instruction for worship
[36:10] that is pleasing to him."
[36:11] Right?
[36:12] It is the pleasing of God
[36:14] that is at the heart of worship.
[36:15] Do we want to please God?
[36:19] And sometimes what he is saying here,
[36:20] getting his word,
[36:23] because how can you please God
[36:24] when you don't know what he says?
[36:25] Right?
[36:28] "And so Abel brought forth the firstborn of his flock
[36:37] into the fat portions,
[36:39] and the Lord had regard for Abel
[36:40] and his offering, but for Cain and his offering,
[36:42] he had no regard for Cain and his offering."
[36:45] No regard, meaning wasn't accepted.
[36:48] Cain wasn't accepted.
[36:49] So Cain was very angry and his face fell,
[36:52] meaning he was enraged.
[36:55] That's what that means.
[36:56] That doesn't mean like he went away pouting.
[36:58] That means he was enraged.
[36:59] Are you kidding me?
[37:02] You take his?
[37:04] You're not going to take mine?
[37:05] Now, that was my son.
[37:09] We would have had a problem, right?
[37:11] Right there.
[37:12] And this is point number three,
[37:16] where we see mercy, right?
[37:18] God of the universe,
[37:22] the creator.
[37:23] You think Adam and Eve didn't tell Cain and Abel
[37:26] any stories growing up?
[37:28] I mean, their parents, right?
[37:30] Parents of every generation tell stories
[37:31] about what God has done,
[37:33] who he was, what Adam saw, right?
[37:37] And now Cain is going to be mad at the creator.
[37:40] Not mad.
[37:41] Enraged because he doesn't take it.
[37:43] He didn't accept his offering.
[37:45] And God, if it was me,
[37:48] would say, "Oh, you want to be angry?"
[37:50] "Huh? You want to be angry?"
[37:54] I give you something to be angry about.
[37:57] God is so merciful, right?
[38:02] God is so merciful.
[38:04] Look what he does.
[38:04] Look what he says.
[38:06] Verse six, the Lord said to Cain,
[38:10] "Why are you angry?
[38:11] And why has your face fallen?
[38:12] If you do well, will you not be accepted?
[38:16] And if you do not do well,
[38:17] sin is crouching at the door.
[38:19] Its desire is contrary to you,
[38:21] but you must rule over it."
[38:23] He's pleading with Cain.
[38:25] Right?
[38:28] Your laws Cain.
[38:29] Do what you should be doing.
[38:33] I've given that.
[38:34] You've seen it.
[38:35] You have instruction.
[38:36] You see ables.
[38:37] You know my promises.
[38:40] Do well.
[38:42] And you and your offering will be accepted.
[38:46] How much mercy is in this statement?
[38:50] How much mercy is in these words by God?
[38:55] And he warns them, "Listen,
[38:58] sin is crouching at the door.
[39:00] The desire is contrary to you."
[39:04] Meaning, right?
[39:05] It wants you.
[39:05] It wants to take over you.
[39:08] It's like a roaring lion seeking whom to devour.
[39:10] Remember that?
[39:11] Satan?
[39:11] But you must rule over it.
[39:15] You must, Cain.
[39:24] God warning him.
[39:27] Sin is like this wild beast, right?
[39:29] Crouching, ready to pounce,
[39:32] lying just outside the door.
[39:35] If Cain would just come to God, God's way,
[39:39] then he can have power over that.
[39:40] But if he doesn't change,
[39:44] if he doesn't repent,
[39:45] and he doesn't honor God in God's way,
[39:48] sin will control him.
[39:49] How sad, right?
[39:54] Devastating.
[39:55] Even when God shows mercy, Cain says, "Nah,
[40:00] I don't need it."
[40:03] Because we know the way Cain chooses, right?
[40:07] He refuses to repent.
[40:09] He refuses to love the Lord
[40:12] the way God wants him to love him, right?
[40:15] He refuses to walk, really, in God's plan.
[40:18] And sin consumes him.
[40:21] Anger and rage consume him.
[40:24] The truth be told,
[40:26] every unbeliever who passed through the world
[40:28] since Cain to now,
[40:29] it has the same problem.
[40:30] They don't want to deal with God.
[40:31] They possess an unrepentant heart.
[40:36] And the lost sinner is a slave to both Satan and sin.
[40:42] And so you say, "Well, that's not very."
[40:47] Not a lot of mercy in that, right?
[40:50] All right, oh no.
[40:51] Ephesians chapter two, one of my favorite.
[40:58] Let me just read the first few verses in chapter two.
[41:04] It says this, and I listened to the description right here.
[41:08] And you and me, you, even younger people,
[41:13] and older people like me,
[41:16] were dead in the trespasses of their sins.
[41:20] They're, you're, you're dead.
[41:23] In which you once walked,
[41:27] following the course of the world,
[41:29] following the prince of the power of the air,
[41:31] saying in the spirit that it's now at work
[41:33] and the sons of disobedience,
[41:34] among whom we all once lived
[41:36] in the passions of our flesh,
[41:38] carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,
[41:40] and were by nature, children of wrath,
[41:43] like the rest of mankind.
[41:44] He's saying, "Listen, you might be saved now,
[41:47] but you were dead."
[41:48] You were children of wrath.
[41:53] The wrath of God was,
[41:57] the wrath of a holy God was set upon you.
[42:00] Look at verse four.
[42:04] "But God, being rich in mercy
[42:09] because of the great love with which He has loved us,
[42:13] even when we were dead in our trespasses,
[42:17] made us alive together with Christ."
[42:21] Right?
[42:24] Is that not mercy?
[42:25] That's right there.
[42:27] But God, being rich in mercy,
[42:31] He didn't have to.
[42:34] With Cain, He didn't have to.
[42:37] He didn't have to give Warren Cain.
[42:39] He didn't say, "Cain, what you're doing isn't right.
[42:42] Turn around.
[42:43] Do what I tell you and you'll be accepted."
[42:47] He didn't have to say that.
[42:48] He said, "Hey, go your way.
[42:49] See how it works out."
[42:50] And us, you understand,
[42:54] we get saved and we live the life,
[42:57] and then we kind of forget
[42:58] because we've been saved maybe for so long
[42:59] and we kind of forget, right?
[43:00] We forget what we're saved from
[43:02] and what we're saved to.
[43:04] And so mercy is like,
[43:06] "Oh yeah, mercy is for the lost."
[43:08] All right?
[43:08] Maybe God will show some mercy to them
[43:10] because they're terrible human beings.
[43:12] They need mercies.
[43:13] I'm a terrible human being.
[43:15] I need mercy every day.
[43:17] And God showed me mercy.
[43:20] When I was far from Him,
[43:23] He brought me back to Himself.
[43:24] Why?
[43:27] I'm the one who walked away.
[43:29] I'm the one who wanted nothing to do with God
[43:32] and yet God's in His mercy.
[43:34] That's right.
[43:36] I'm not done.
[43:37] I have more for you.
[43:39] How wonderful.
[43:46] Are we amazed at God's mercy?
[43:50] I've heard it quoted,
[43:55] "If you wake up breathing,
[43:56] you should be thanking God for His mercy."
[43:58] Charles Spurgeon said this,
[44:03] "God's mercy is so great
[44:05] that you may sooner drain the sea of its water
[44:07] or deprive the son of his life,
[44:09] light or make space too narrow
[44:11] than diminish the great mercy of God."
[44:13] And so again, if you know that you are lost,
[44:19] you've never really put your faith in Christ,
[44:23] the words of Paul
[44:29] should be glorious to you
[44:34] because right now you're a child of wrath.
[44:36] And yet Paul says in Romans 10.9,
[44:40] "Because if you confess with your mouth
[44:42] that Jesus is Lord
[44:43] and believe in your heart
[44:44] that God raised Him from the dead,
[44:45] you will be saved."
[44:47] Oh, wonderful mercy of God.
[44:52] And so are we amazed?
[45:00] Are you amazed?
[45:01] You marvel at His grace and His mercy
[45:11] in such a way that reflects
[45:13] a life of worship in your life.
[45:15] Doesn't look like Adam lived very long or Adam
[45:19] doesn't look like Abel lived very long.
[45:22] But he's mentioned in Hebrews 11
[45:25] in a glorious way
[45:28] because he lived his life in grace and mercy
[45:32] and it reflected in his worship.
[45:33] He trusted God.
[45:34] You?
[45:37] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[45:41] I hope that as we leave this place
[45:44] and this is always my prayer.
[45:46] That as we leave this place today
[45:47] and we go into our normal lives,
[45:49] that we don't just walk away
[45:55] from what God is telling us
[45:56] in this chapter four.
[45:58] And we don't just walk away
[46:00] from Cain and Abel and their story
[46:02] and go, "Well, whatever, I'm saved."
[46:05] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[46:07] But that our lives would truly like,
[46:10] we would start to ask ourselves,
[46:11] is my life reflective
[46:13] of the things that matter?
[46:14] Do people at work know?
[46:16] Believe me, I asked myself this question
[46:19] before I asked you and I thought,
[46:20] wow, I just got done.
[46:21] I told you the story last year.
[46:22] I just got done bashing
[46:23] one of my co-workers over Zoom, right?
[46:26] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[46:30] Fortunately, he heard me.
[46:31] So that probably worked out better
[46:33] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[46:35] But that's not reflective, right?
[46:37] Of a life of worship, of true worship.
[46:41] Because really, if I did,
[46:43] if I understood the mercy of God
[46:46] and the grace of God,
[46:47] like really start to understand it,
[46:48] then wouldn't I wanna give
[46:49] that to other people too?
[46:50] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[46:55] And so it's those things
[46:55] that we're not perfect.
[46:56] Obviously, none of us, all of us
[46:58] are gonna go home and make mistakes today.
[47:00] We're gonna do something stupid,
[47:02] say something stupid,
[47:02] think something wrong
[47:04] and God in his grace
[47:06] and in his mercy will forgive us.
[47:07] But don't we have a desire?
[47:10] Don't you have a desire
[47:12] wanna live a life
[47:14] that reflects his glorious mercy and grace
[47:19] by living a life of true worship?
[47:22] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[47:26] You're thinking about that this week,
[47:27] right?
[47:28] Asking God, show me,
[47:30] Lord, in the area
[47:31] because we get, and so on,
[47:32] we get into habits.
[47:33] And we don't even know
[47:34] that it's not reflective.
[47:35] It's reflecting,
[47:37] but not what it should, right?
[47:38] And so we should be saying,
[47:41] Lord, show me if I don't know,
[47:42] sometimes we know,
[47:43] but if we don't know,
[47:45] Lord, show me the areas in my life.
[47:46] My heart is darkened against you
[47:49] where there's the worship is not
[47:50] as it should be.
[47:52] Help me to be more like Abel in this,
[47:55] to bring to you
[47:57] in a true heart of worship,
[47:58] all that you are,
[47:59] all that you deserve.
[48:00] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[48:01] We're going to sing a song.
[48:03] You all know it's just a hymn, right?
[48:04] Because it talks about
[48:06] the blood of Jesus.
[48:07] And I always found that interesting,
[48:08] right?
[48:08] When I was younger, like Camden,
[48:09] or Landon, you know,
[48:10] we'd sing about the blood of Jesus.
[48:12] And I'd be like,
[48:12] that's kind of creepy, right?
[48:14] Talk about blood.
[48:14] Lots of blood, right?
[48:17] Like weird.
[48:17] But if you understand
[48:19] the mercy of God,
[48:20] then you understand
[48:21] why the blood of Jesus is necessary.
[48:23] And that in the blood of Jesus, right?
[48:25] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[48:28] We find salvation.
[48:30] We find grace.
[48:31] We find mercy.
[48:32] So we sing nothing but the blood.
[48:36] That's what that means.
[48:37] There's nothing else
[48:40] but the blood of Jesus that saves.
[48:41] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[48:44] And so that should,
[48:45] as we think about a heart of worship,
[48:47] that's, that's truth, right?
[48:49] We're sick.
[48:49] Worship is truth.
[48:50] It's understanding truth.
[48:51] God's truth.
[48:52] And we are singing God's truth.
[48:54] Nothing.
[48:55] There is nothing but the blood of Jesus.
[48:56] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[49:00] Let's pray.
[49:00] And then we'll stand and sing.
[49:02] Father, just thank you again
[49:05] for your word, your truth,
[49:07] the only truth.
[49:08] Lord, thank you for your grace
[49:12] and saving me.
[49:14] Thank you for your mercy
[49:15] and bringing me back to you, Lord.
[49:16] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[49:21] I relate when I hear the quote
[49:23] that I am a great sinner.
[49:25] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[49:30] You, O Lord, are a great savior.
[49:31] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[49:34] Help us to live our lives
[49:35] reflective of that truth.
[49:37] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[49:39] That our lives may be filled
[49:41] with grace and mercy
[49:42] towards others, Lord.
[49:43] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[49:44] That our lives may be full of faith.
[49:46] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[49:49] And that it might show
[49:50] in our everyday lives
[49:51] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[49:53] and how we live a life of worship.
[49:55] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[49:57] O Lord, we do love you.
[49:58] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[49:59] For you are worthy.
[50:01] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[50:01] You are good and you are kind.
[50:03] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[50:09] Help us, Lord.
[50:10] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[50:12] For we are weak.
[50:12] [BLANK_AUDIO]
[50:14] In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.