RUF @ UTM

Genesis 4- Murder was the Case

no audio for this one. Justin didn’t know how to operate Meredith’s ipod!

Genesis 4:1-16  ^ESV Genesis 4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.”  ² And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.  ³ In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground,  ⁴ and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering,  ⁵ but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.  ⁶ The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?  ⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”  ⁸ Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.  ⁹ Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”  ¹⁰ And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.  ¹¹ And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.  ¹² When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”  ¹³ Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.  ¹⁴ Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”  ¹⁵ Then the LORD said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.  ¹⁶ Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Outline:

I.                     Why so angry, Cain?: v 7

Sin is like a Predator

Sin’s strategy à Make you think you are justified by your religious activity.

      II.         What did Abel’s blood (v 10) cry out to God against Cain?

You are a murdered. You are guilty.

Matthew 5:20-24   ²⁰ For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  ²¹ “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’  ²² But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.  ²³ So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,  ²⁴ leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Therefore, God cannot accept you based on your sacrifices.

Therefore, we must place our trust in a person-a better sacrifice. 

>>What distinguishes Abel vs. Cain: not different works, but faith, Heb 11:4

Hebrews 11:4  ⁴ By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

            >> Faith means that Jesus sanctifies your works/paintings.

            >> It is his works/paintings, we trust in.

III.                  How do I not become a murderer in my anger? 

>> My being consumed with anger is a result of not hearing the gospel daily.

Hebrews 12:24   ²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Hebrews 13:11-13¹¹ For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.  ¹² So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.  ¹³ Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.

                >> Until you can see v 11-16 as your destiny due to your cain-ness, you have placed yourself at the center of the story.

But if everyday you find Jesus to be the one who took your Gen 4:13, then you can change. You can put sin to death.

There is hope in God’s big story which is foreshadowed in Gen 4.

Gen 3-The Shame and the Serpent Crusher

Contrast between life in paradise for the first man and woman with God and their relationship with God after sin. How does our shame today reveal our false gods? We see how finding ourselves in the story of the one who overcame the serpent frees us from being defined by our shame and living in filth.

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Genesis 1-3 Part 1 Finding Yourself in God’s Story of Redemption

First sermon from large group is up!

Genesis 1:31 ³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 2:5-17 ⁵ When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up- for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, ⁶ and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground- ⁷ then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. ⁸ And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹ And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. ¹⁰ A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. ¹¹ The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. ¹³ The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. ¹⁵ The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 3:21-24 ²¹ And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. ²² Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever-” ²³ therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

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