Genesis (Part 5)
Bible Study Time 6-29-08
(From James Roberts 9-1-96)
Bible Study Time 6-29-08
(From James Roberts 9-1-96)
This morning we’re going to continue in our Journey Through the Scripture. We trust that you have gotten on board with us as we take this Journey Through the Scripture each Sunday morning at 8:30. We are now at Genesis, Chapter 4, where we see Cain and Abel, the children of Adam and Eve. Let’s begin by reading Genesis, Chapter 4 and verse 1:
Genesis 4:1-12 NKJV
1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, "I have acquired a man from the Lord."
2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.
4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering,
5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
6 So the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."
8 Now 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 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 He said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground.
11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
12 When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth."
When God created Adam and Eve, He placed them in the garden where He dealt with them in innocence. Every day He came into the garden, and He walked and He talked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. This speaks of the great time of fellowship that they had one with another.
But Satan came into that garden and tempted Eve. She disobeyed God and then gave to her husband the forbidden fruit, and he ate. Then, suddenly they became conscious of their sin, and they knew that they were naked.
Later, when God came into the garden, He called out for Adam, saying, Adam, where are you? God sought for Adam and asked Adam what he had done. When their sin was confessed, God placed a curse upon Adam and Eve and upon the ground and upon the serpent.
A part of the curse which was placed upon the serpent was that the Seed of the Woman would bruise the head of Satan, even though Satan would bruise the heel of the Seed of the Woman. This was actually the first promise of the Redeemer who would come as the Seed of the Woman.
Now we know that the prophecy concerning the Seed of the woman was fulfilled when the Lord Jesus was born. He came as the Seed of the Woman who was born of the virgin Mary. When Jesus Christ came into the world, He suffered on the cross and this bruised the head of the serpent who was Satan. In the book of Hebrews, we read that Jesus Christ took upon Himself flesh and blood that He might destroy or set at naught the work of Satan. In His death, burial and resurrection, Christ bruised the head of Satan.
As Christ suffered on the cross, Satan was also able to bruise the heel of Jesus Christ. Satan did this by causing the people to reject the Lord Jesus and nail Him to the cross. This was a nonfatal wound, however, because Christ was raised from the dead. Satan did not realize it before the cross, but it was the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus that was going to seal Satan’s fate in the lake of fire along with all those who follow after him.
Eve knew very well this prophecy that the Seed of the Woman would bruise the head of Satan. So when she had her first son, Cain, it seems that she thought that Cain was the promised Seed. At the time of Cain’s birth, she said:
Genesis 4:1 NKJV
1 . . . "I have acquired a man from the Lord."
Eve may have thought at first that Cain was the promised Seed, but she would soon learn that that was not the case. We now know that the fulfillment of that prophecy was not to come for many centuries. In fact that prophecy was not fulfilled until the Lord Jesus was born. However, it’s wonderful to see that Eve did believe God when God said that one of her descendants would bruise the head of the serpent.
Later, when Eve conceived another son, she called his name Abel. It seems in verse 3 that Cain and Abel are adults because we see that Abel was a keeper of sheep while Cain was a tiller of the ground, and we read in verse 3 that:
Genesis 4:3-4 NKJV
3 . . . in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.
4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering,
When this says that Abel brought of the fat of the flock, this probably means that Abel brought the fattest of all the sheep of his flock. As it turned out, God accepted Abel’s offering, but God did not accept Cain’s offering.
For the rest of the time that we have this morning, I’d like for us to think about the three things that God required of those who brought an offering to the Lord. First of all, God had a prescribed a time. Verse 3 says that in the process of time Cain brought his offering. God also had a prescribed place where they were to offer their offerings, and then God also prescribed the kind of offering that they were to bring.
The book of Hebrews, Chapter 11, tells us that it was by faith that Abel offered up a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. How is it that Abel offered up his offering by faith? Undoubtedly, God had told Adam what was required of those who would approach God and be accepted by God in fellowship.
Before the fall of man, Adam and Eve had walked in fellowship with God without any kind of prescribed offering, but now that they had been driven out of the garden because of their disobedience, they had to offer up a sacrifice which would bring them back to the place of fellowship with God.
Undoubtedly, as Cain and Abel grew up, they saw Adam and Eve offering sacrifices to God, and so they knew what God had prescribed. It is likely that as Adam offered his sacrifices, he would explain to Cain and Abel what God had instructed him to do.
In the process of time indicates two things. First of all, Cain and Abel had become adults who were responsible to God for their own sacrifices. Before they became adults they were covered by the sacrifices that Adam offered for his family. But in the process of time indicates that Cain and Abel had grown to adulthood so that they were responsible to God for their own sacrifices.
May I just say this to you? From the fall of Adam, man has been individually responsible to God for his own relationship to God. Nobody can be accepted by God because of the faith of their parents. Each person is individually responsible to God for exercising faith in what God has revealed.
God had revealed to Cain and Abel the prescribed sacrifice through Adam and Eve. They were to bring the firstborn of the flock of the herds. This indicated the shedding of the blood of an innocent animal. At the prescribed time and at the prescribed place, God had them to bring the prescribed offering. Abel believed God, and he brought the sacrifice that God had ordained for him to bring.
It is important for us to realize that today there are not many, many ways to be accepted by God. There is only one prescribed way whereby man can be accepted by God, and that is the way of the cross. There is a prescribed time. There is a prescribed place. And there is a prescribed offering today.
We can now see as we look back at the writings of the New Testament scriptures that there was a prescribed time for the coming of the Lord Jesus. In the process of time, at the very moment that God ordained, the Lord Jesus came to be born of a woman. He came to go to the cross which was God’s prescribed place for Christ to die. The cross was a place of shame where criminals were crucified, but the Lord Jesus came and was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The death of the Lord Jesus upon the cross was God’s prescribed offering for your sins and for mine.
This was all ordained by God in eternity past. The book of I Peter speaks of the Lord Jesus as the Lamb that was slain since before the foundation of the world. It was in God’s eternal plan that the Lord Jesus would come at a particular time to go to the cross and there die for your sins and for my sins.
However, there are many people today who are going in the way of Cain. They want to bring their own offerings to God. They want to bring whatever seems right to them.
Because Cain was a tiller of the ground, it seemed perfectly logical to him that he should bring the first fruits of his harvest to the Lord. So Cain brought to God what was probably the very best of what he had raised. But God could not accept Cain’s offering because Cain had walked in his own way rather than walking in the way that God had prescribed.
As we leave the air today, I want to ask you this question. Are you walking in the way of Cain? Do you have something in your hands that you are trying to bring to God, expecting God to accept you because you have done this and this and this? Or have you come the way of Abel, coming to God, accepting His offering of the Lord Jesus Christ who died for your sins and was buried and rose again? If you have accepted God’s offering of the Lord Jesus as your sacrifice for sin, God has saved you and has made you one of His children.
Well, I see our time is gone. The Lord willing the next week, we will continue in our Journey Through the Scripture.
Church links:
Genesis 4:1-12 NKJV
1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, "I have acquired a man from the Lord."
2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.
4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering,
5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
6 So the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."
8 Now 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 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 He said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground.
11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
12 When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth."
When God created Adam and Eve, He placed them in the garden where He dealt with them in innocence. Every day He came into the garden, and He walked and He talked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. This speaks of the great time of fellowship that they had one with another.
But Satan came into that garden and tempted Eve. She disobeyed God and then gave to her husband the forbidden fruit, and he ate. Then, suddenly they became conscious of their sin, and they knew that they were naked.
Later, when God came into the garden, He called out for Adam, saying, Adam, where are you? God sought for Adam and asked Adam what he had done. When their sin was confessed, God placed a curse upon Adam and Eve and upon the ground and upon the serpent.
A part of the curse which was placed upon the serpent was that the Seed of the Woman would bruise the head of Satan, even though Satan would bruise the heel of the Seed of the Woman. This was actually the first promise of the Redeemer who would come as the Seed of the Woman.
Now we know that the prophecy concerning the Seed of the woman was fulfilled when the Lord Jesus was born. He came as the Seed of the Woman who was born of the virgin Mary. When Jesus Christ came into the world, He suffered on the cross and this bruised the head of the serpent who was Satan. In the book of Hebrews, we read that Jesus Christ took upon Himself flesh and blood that He might destroy or set at naught the work of Satan. In His death, burial and resurrection, Christ bruised the head of Satan.
As Christ suffered on the cross, Satan was also able to bruise the heel of Jesus Christ. Satan did this by causing the people to reject the Lord Jesus and nail Him to the cross. This was a nonfatal wound, however, because Christ was raised from the dead. Satan did not realize it before the cross, but it was the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus that was going to seal Satan’s fate in the lake of fire along with all those who follow after him.
Eve knew very well this prophecy that the Seed of the Woman would bruise the head of Satan. So when she had her first son, Cain, it seems that she thought that Cain was the promised Seed. At the time of Cain’s birth, she said:
Genesis 4:1 NKJV
1 . . . "I have acquired a man from the Lord."
Eve may have thought at first that Cain was the promised Seed, but she would soon learn that that was not the case. We now know that the fulfillment of that prophecy was not to come for many centuries. In fact that prophecy was not fulfilled until the Lord Jesus was born. However, it’s wonderful to see that Eve did believe God when God said that one of her descendants would bruise the head of the serpent.
Later, when Eve conceived another son, she called his name Abel. It seems in verse 3 that Cain and Abel are adults because we see that Abel was a keeper of sheep while Cain was a tiller of the ground, and we read in verse 3 that:
Genesis 4:3-4 NKJV
3 . . . in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.
4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering,
When this says that Abel brought of the fat of the flock, this probably means that Abel brought the fattest of all the sheep of his flock. As it turned out, God accepted Abel’s offering, but God did not accept Cain’s offering.
For the rest of the time that we have this morning, I’d like for us to think about the three things that God required of those who brought an offering to the Lord. First of all, God had a prescribed a time. Verse 3 says that in the process of time Cain brought his offering. God also had a prescribed place where they were to offer their offerings, and then God also prescribed the kind of offering that they were to bring.
The book of Hebrews, Chapter 11, tells us that it was by faith that Abel offered up a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. How is it that Abel offered up his offering by faith? Undoubtedly, God had told Adam what was required of those who would approach God and be accepted by God in fellowship.
Before the fall of man, Adam and Eve had walked in fellowship with God without any kind of prescribed offering, but now that they had been driven out of the garden because of their disobedience, they had to offer up a sacrifice which would bring them back to the place of fellowship with God.
Undoubtedly, as Cain and Abel grew up, they saw Adam and Eve offering sacrifices to God, and so they knew what God had prescribed. It is likely that as Adam offered his sacrifices, he would explain to Cain and Abel what God had instructed him to do.
In the process of time indicates two things. First of all, Cain and Abel had become adults who were responsible to God for their own sacrifices. Before they became adults they were covered by the sacrifices that Adam offered for his family. But in the process of time indicates that Cain and Abel had grown to adulthood so that they were responsible to God for their own sacrifices.
May I just say this to you? From the fall of Adam, man has been individually responsible to God for his own relationship to God. Nobody can be accepted by God because of the faith of their parents. Each person is individually responsible to God for exercising faith in what God has revealed.
God had revealed to Cain and Abel the prescribed sacrifice through Adam and Eve. They were to bring the firstborn of the flock of the herds. This indicated the shedding of the blood of an innocent animal. At the prescribed time and at the prescribed place, God had them to bring the prescribed offering. Abel believed God, and he brought the sacrifice that God had ordained for him to bring.
It is important for us to realize that today there are not many, many ways to be accepted by God. There is only one prescribed way whereby man can be accepted by God, and that is the way of the cross. There is a prescribed time. There is a prescribed place. And there is a prescribed offering today.
We can now see as we look back at the writings of the New Testament scriptures that there was a prescribed time for the coming of the Lord Jesus. In the process of time, at the very moment that God ordained, the Lord Jesus came to be born of a woman. He came to go to the cross which was God’s prescribed place for Christ to die. The cross was a place of shame where criminals were crucified, but the Lord Jesus came and was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The death of the Lord Jesus upon the cross was God’s prescribed offering for your sins and for mine.
This was all ordained by God in eternity past. The book of I Peter speaks of the Lord Jesus as the Lamb that was slain since before the foundation of the world. It was in God’s eternal plan that the Lord Jesus would come at a particular time to go to the cross and there die for your sins and for my sins.
However, there are many people today who are going in the way of Cain. They want to bring their own offerings to God. They want to bring whatever seems right to them.
Because Cain was a tiller of the ground, it seemed perfectly logical to him that he should bring the first fruits of his harvest to the Lord. So Cain brought to God what was probably the very best of what he had raised. But God could not accept Cain’s offering because Cain had walked in his own way rather than walking in the way that God had prescribed.
As we leave the air today, I want to ask you this question. Are you walking in the way of Cain? Do you have something in your hands that you are trying to bring to God, expecting God to accept you because you have done this and this and this? Or have you come the way of Abel, coming to God, accepting His offering of the Lord Jesus Christ who died for your sins and was buried and rose again? If you have accepted God’s offering of the Lord Jesus as your sacrifice for sin, God has saved you and has made you one of His children.
Well, I see our time is gone. The Lord willing the next week, we will continue in our Journey Through the Scripture.
Church links:
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