the first and greatest consequence of adam's sin

8/14/2019 The First and Greatest Consequence of Adam's Sin

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The First and Greatest Consequence of Adams Sin

And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, Ihave gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a

keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to

pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel,he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had

respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not

respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said untoCain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt

thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee [shall

be] his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it

came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, andslew him. And the LORD said unto Cain, Where [is] Abel thy brother? And he said, I

know not: [Am] I my brothers keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of

thy brothers blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now [art] thou cursed from the

earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brothers blood from thy hand; Whenthou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a

vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment [is]greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the

earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the

earth; and it shall come to pass, [that] every one that findeth me shall slay me. And the

LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken onhim sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill

him. And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod,

on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and hebuilded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. And unto

Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: andMethusael begat Lamech. And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one[was] Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of

such as dwell in tents, and [of such as have] cattle. And his brothers name [was] Jubal:

he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. And Zillah, she also bareTubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain

[was] Naamah. And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye

wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a

young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy andsevenfold. And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth:

For God, [said she], hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then beganmen to call upon the name of the LORD. (Ge 4:1-26 AV)

There are times in life when our prayers and offerings seem to garner the responsewhich Cain received from God. I cannot read the above printed passage from the Bible

without being put in remembrance of one of my personal encounters with God. I sensed,

as I happened across these verses, the very Spirit of God speaking through Cains


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experience to me directly. It was apparent that God was saying to me, Sorry. That

offering is unacceptable to me. You can and must do better.

On the one hand I was crushed that Id not received my anticipated response fromGod. On the other hand I was thankful that God Himself, my Heavenly Father, had

spoken a word of rebuke, warning and admonition to me. It was unmistakable and to this

day remains one of the milestones of my own spiritual pilgrimage.There are times when we must hear a word from our Heavenly Father that takes

the disciplinary form. The question then becomes, What will I do in response to the

discipline of God? We must make choices in response to this kind of Gods activity inour lives.

Cain made a response to God. It doesnt take too much imagination to read

between these lines. His fallen countenance became seething anger. He was angry with

God, but what can a person do who is angry with God? There are other better examplesin the Bible of people whove been disappointed and dumbfounded by God. Their stories

and the better endings attendant with them must wait for another day. Today we are

dealing with the tragic story of Cain and the fratricide he committed.

One of the choices available to all of us is that of trying to even the score.Technically its called vengeance, and vengeance became the hallmark of every one of

Cains descendants.Since there is no way to kill God, Cain decided to kill the object of Gods

affirmation, his own brother, Abel. That is precisely what he did, and now the earth is

doubly cursed. It was initially cursed because of his fathers sin. Cursed again now by

the fact that Cain spilled his brothers blood upon the earth, closing forever itsfruitfulness to this tiller of the ground.

Could Adam ever have imagined this outcome for his sin? Never in his wildest

imagination could the thought have entered into his mind. He would have wishedhimself dead a thousand times if he could have foreseen that Abel would be the first to

pay the price for his sin. But it is always the case that the innocent continually pay the

debt for the guilty. The unintended consequences of our rebelliousness would turn ourblood cold, if we but took a moment to think rationally about the choices that are placed

before us daily.

Abel is the emblem of faith. Indeed, Cain did avenge himself with God by killingAbel, but even here, at the beginning of the story of humanity, we are presented with a

gracious God, Who, while bound to judge the sinner and the sin, agrees to the sinners

request and dispenses mercy along with justice.

What was it that provoked the act in the first place? Certainly Cain understoodthat no offering of the fruit of the cursed earth could be made an acceptable offering to

God. Here at the beginning of human history, were presented with the question of

acceptable vocations and offerings. Cain, his father Adams son, had disdain for thecircumstance of his family and in effect said, cursed or not, Ill make my living doing

whatever I want.

Abel on the other hand had regard for God. Therefore, God had regard for himand for his offering.

Cain became a marked man. In this case, however, the mark was that of a

merciful Gods protection, even for the father of violence. Thats right, the message of

these early chapters in the history of humanity is this, Violence is the first and greatest


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consequence of mans sinfulness. That message has reached through human history to

the present day. We hear the never-ending stories of sins impact at every turn.

Shamefully the message of violence today is also mixed with that of religion. For us tohear the story of a young man from Nigeria named Farouk and his attempt to bomb a

plane on Christmas day as it made its way from Amsterdam to Detroit is one and the

same with that of thousands of Christian Crusaders in the Middle Ages who, even in thename of the Lord Jesus Christ, slaughtered mercilessly those who refused to embrace the

message of their cross.

Violence in any and all forms is the first result of mans sinful rebellion againstGod. Notice the sevenfold protection of Godgiven as a warning to any and all comers

against even sinful Cain. And so the marked man escaped death to live out the rest of his

natural life. But we are left to wonder, is his sentence of life better than a swift and early

end? You see, he was really given a life sentence. A sentence to see his own sin visitedupon him again and again and again and again and again to the perfection of

destructiveness with each succeeding generation down to the seventh generation of man.

More and more and more and more violent the earth became. Until his great,

great, great grandson would pronounce in Cains name a seventy seven fold vengeance,even for so much as an askance look at Lamech.

I wonder if wed sin the sins we sin if we knew that they are irrevocably visitedupon every one of our succeeding generations. Perhaps we will give it some

consideration next time.

Are you depressed yet? Oh my! But this is the world into which weve all been

born. We can laugh together at a joke about not being a member of this congregation.But we are all members of this unfortunate and destructive congregation of violent and

self-willed human beings.

But Jeremiah, the prophet, is asked by God, Can the leopard change his spots?The anticipated answer to the rhetorical question is, Certainly not. But the answer of

faith and of hope given in the concluding two verses of Genesis Chapter Four must be a

reassuring, Yes! It is possible.You see, Cain is not to remain the only descendent of Adam and Eve. A

replacement for righteous Abel is given. Seth is born to them as Adam attains the ripe

young age of one hundred and thirty years. And he was given an additional eighthundred years to see the wonder of that which God was doing.

So it is with us stillsinful though we are by nature and ultimately by choice,

God is still at work for good in all things. While the fleshly line of Cain degraded

continually from bad to worse and worse and worse, the Bible records this hopeAnd Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth:

For God, [said she], hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then beganmen to call upon the name of the LORD. (Ge 4:25-26 AV)

then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. Those of faith have

always turned to God in humility, devotion and prayer. Not only have they called uponthe name of the Lord. They have also been called by the name of the Lord. God is never

ashamed to own His children. He delights in them.

So the pronouncement of the great Apostle, Paul, is thisWhosoever shall call

upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. There is a question and a choice as we


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conclude these remarks. The question is the same as that posed by God to Cain before

any of what came to be had come to pass. Its the question that God asks each of us as

well and it is this, If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? His statementto us is the same as that to Cain as wellBehold, sin crouches at the door, and its desire

is for you. But you must master it.

The choice is this. Will I allow God, in His mercy and grace, to direct my life, ineffect changing my spots, and guide me in the paths of righteousness for His Names

sake? Or will I walk in my own selfish way? The choice is mine, and yours.

the first and greatest consequence of adam's sin

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