Answers In Genesis - Sunday School - Week 25

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our class this morning. We'll be looking at Cain and Abel today and in our study through Genesis, and so I'm gonna go ahead and get started with that, but let's begin with a word of prayer. You, O Lord You are great to us and you are greatly to be praised. You are the one who has Made a way for us to be redeemed unto you and to become your children and What an honor it is for us to look into your word and And see the way that you have worked into, in the, the history of mankind and how you have Worked hard to bring men back to yourself.

And even though we have rebelled against you, we have fought against you, we have hid from you. You have made a way for us. You have sought us out, and you have brought us back, and we thank you for that. And that is why we are here today and Lord may Our time this morning, in your word, in, in this discussion of it, be profitable, may be right, may we be led by your spirit.

So may grow in understanding and that we may, be able to grow in, in our spiritual life as well, in, in strength and in honor in our life. So we just ask for your blessing and for your presence with us in Jesus' name. Amen. Before we get into our study, we do wanna continue to advertise the coming speaker that we have.

Matthew McLean will be here March 20th, so we're about 33 or so weeks away, maybe 4 weeks away., looking forward to that. He'll be speaking on both hours. In the 9 o'clock hour, he'll be, speaking on dinosaurs. That's his area of expertise.

And so, I'm looking forward to that and, hopefully all of us will be, looking forward to it and, and making plans to be here for that and even inviting people that we know that might be, wanting to, to know more about it from a person who's, who actually studies in the field. He is a, PhD candidate in Earth Sciences at Loma Linda. And so he's someone who has spent particular attention, in his studies in learning about these things and so we're able to look forward to what we can get and learn from him.

just as a reminder of what, what we are as a, as a class, we are a pair family ministry in our Sunday equipping school and, it's all designed to come alongside our families.

We believe that a family is the, the primary, learning place for us, all of us as people is from the, from the father and the mother down to the children, that this is a place for us to grow. And what the church does is come alongside and, and help us with that, equip us and challenge us and and encourage us in, in this journey. And so we have done that and, and so part of what we've done is, is, join all of the, the age groups of our classes together with what we're covering here in our adult class, in going through the Book of Genesis and, and And talking about some of the issues that are part of The understanding of what Genesis is about.

Today, we're looking at Cain and Abel.

In Genesis chapter 4 and looking at the, the ramifications of Sin coming into the world and how it had such, has had such devastating effects upon mankind. The effects of the fall we looked at last week, And we saw that there's part of the effects are the curses that have been placed upon. Upon the world and upon mankind, upon the animal kingdom. it's, it's everywhere.

we looked at how the earth groans. We looked at pain in childbirth, sickness, that there's death in the world, death that has come from sin. And so, those are just some of the effects, that we talked about last week. And I'm not.

Oh, I'm getting a blank up there, OK. We, we talked about the idea of why did the T. rex have giant teeth, and talked about how that, that some animals have the appearance of, from what, from our understanding of looking at it of being carnivores compared to herbivores. And so why is it that way if the Bible talks about all animals having started out as herbivores.

and so we talked about that. We talked about, one of the examples, just a, just as a throw out is a panda. A panda has, teeth that from our unders our, our way of thinking, from our view, seems to be a carnivore and yet, it's not. It's a herbivore completely.

And so, It needs those teeth to, to tear up the bamboo to eat it. And that's, that's just part of the way God created them to be. And, and we can actually Realize that, that our understanding of, of skeletal structures and so on come from a certain point of view, that if we actually look at it from the point of view is, is, them being herbivores, then there's a different diet that they would have had that would necessitate those teeth, such as, some of them eating, wooded, vegetation that they would need larger teeth for that, that God created them to do.

Why do snakes have venom?

We talked about that. Why do armadillos need protective plates or, yeah, plates. Those are things we dealt with last week. And so we talked about this while we do not know exactly how the animals acquired these defense attack structures.

This we do know according to God's word, our final authority, God, the animals were originally vegetarian. And they will once again get along with each other and with man as it states in Isaiah chapter 11. And so we, we see in the prophecy of Isaiah. That there is, what is described, a return to the original structure of creation.

the original relationship of the animal kingdom with one another, where there is peace between the animals and between the animals and man, peace that, is not there now. Now it's just violent, a violent relationship. It, in, in the kingdom of, of God, it will be A peaceful relationship. And here's the verse talking about the, the wolf lying down with the, the lamb, the leopard with the goat.

The calf with the young lion. and a little child being able to, to play with them, to lead them. So we, we see that there is this peaceful interaction. And now we get into Cain and Abel.

So let's look at Genesis chapter 4. And we'll read the account. Of the first half of the chapter here. that will describe to us.

This situation Now the man had relations with his wife, Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. And she said, I have gotten a man-child with the help of the Lord. Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of the flocks. That Cain was a tiller of the ground.

So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel on his part also brought of the the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions, and the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offerings, but for Cain and for his offering he had no regard. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry?

And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door and its desire is for you, but you must master it. Cain told Abel about his brother.

Or I'm sorry, Cain told Abel, his brother, and it came about when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel, your brother? And he said, I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?

He said, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you.

You will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth. Cain said to the Lord, my punishment is too great to bear. Behold, you have driven me this day from the face of the ground, and from your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth. And whoever finds me will kill me.

So the Lord said to him, Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord appointed a sign for Cain so that no one finding him would slay him. Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod east of Eden. Cain had relations with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch.

And he built a city and he called the name of the city, city Enoch after the name of his son. All right. So we have here the account of Of worship. In this This first disagreement.

That turns to murder. Happens over worship. And what an amazing thing that is and, and should be a clue to us is how powerful and important worship is. but they're.

issue was over worship. At least that's what instigated it. Now, one of the questions we can ask is, why was Cain's sacrifice rejected? And There's some things that we can learn about it.

There's, been, there's, there's some idea that it was rejected because it was not a blood sacrifice as was Abel's. but we know from Leviticus. chapter 2 and chapter 4, that, that there were sacrifices that were grain offerings that actually were, would have been probably very similar to what Cain brought, to sacrifice. And they were to be of the first fruits of the ground.

And so, it is very likely that that's not the reason why his sacrifice was rejected, that there was something else to it. In Hebrews 11, it says, by faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain. Through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous. God testifying about his gifts and through faith, though he is, he is dead, he still speaks.

So there was something about the sacrifice or the manner of the offering of the sacrifice. That was very different to, from Cain and Abel and where Abel's was accepted and Cain's was rejected. Here, it talks about faith, that by faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain. In Hebrews chapter 11, faith.

is very much joined together with the word obedience. think about the, the one, the verse about Noah. By faith, Noah built an ark. What was that faith, how was that faith expressed with obedience?

And in fact, every one of these, by faith, Abraham went to a country that he didn't know. These are, Expressions of obedience, this, this word faith. And so, here's the same way that by faith, Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain and, and when we read in Hebrews 11, we should, as we read the word faith, we should be thinking obedience. That's the expression of faith.

And, Abel offering this better sacrifice. he was able to obtain the testimony that he was righteous. You see, his obedience in offering the sacrifice proclaimed a righteous spirit within him. And so he was being obedient.

Something about Keynes. Offering was disobedient. There was something that was within it that even though we're not told specifically, what we see here in Hebrews 11 is the contrast between Abel's being by faith and Cain's not being by faith. In First John It says, by this, the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious.

Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother, for this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain, who was the, was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil and his brothers were righteous. We see here that, that there is something that's within Cain that has already become apparent.

Cain is the firstborn of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve have, have been expelled from the garden and are, are having to start this new life. Of, of scratching the earth and, and trying to provide a living and, and they're learning how to, have to do it all the hard way. But God is gracious to them and God has purpose for them, and God empowers them to, to fulfill his purpose.

And one of that of those empowerments is the having of children, bearing children. And so they have their children and the first one is Cain, the second one is Abel. And within, in the same environment, the same two parents. You had these two boys growing up.

One Go toward obedience to God and the other one is, is bucking against it. And wants to go his own way. And I think we all probably can find ourselves somewhere in our life where we have been Both like Kane and, and also like Abel. That, that we have that experience of like Cain of resistance, of pushing back and we have not wanted to walk in obedience.

There's that stubbornness that's inside of us that we're born with, and that is what Cain has and, and Cain is, is taking it further and further in his life. We're able, is not. Abel is, is yielding himself to God and is, is surrendering his will to God's will in this point. And so we see that, that, the description then of them, and I think this is an important description that John brings up is, being where he says Cain, who was of the evil one.

And what John is, is describing here is that there is no neutral position. There's no place where we can just say, well, I'm I'm in this place of ambivalence. So, I'm, I'm in between. We don't get to be Switzerland here.

We, we're, we're either on one side or we're on the other side. And and so Cain is, is under the influence of the devil. And in fact, we see that in the verse where God confronts Cain right after the rejection of his sacrifice and gives him a warning. And the warning is saying, if you do not yield to me, sin is crouching at your door, and it will master you.

For whatever reason, that just went over Cain's head. Either he was just so angry that he didn't want to hear it and didn't receive it. Or you just didn't have The, the receptors necessary, the wisdom to, to take it in, but he rejected God's counsel. And then he was mastered by the sin and slew his brother.

These passages, I want us to look at these, and I don't know if we have these. Written down No, we don't. So let's look these up. In 1 Samuel chapter 15 verse 22, These are all passages about God's attitude towards sacrifice, and I think these are Important not only for us understanding Cain and Abel, but for us understanding our own worship as well.

So first Samuel. Chapter 15, we have the passage of Saul's disobedience. To God where he took it upon himself to offer sacrifice rather than wait for Samuel, and Samuel's response to him is this. He says, has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, it is to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams. Slicking Hosea 66. God says this, for I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Proverbs 15:8.

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight. And then over in chapter 21. Verse 3, to do justice or to do righteousness and justice is desired by the Lord more than sacrifice. There are a lot of other verses that deal with this topic.

This is just a few of them, but they are representative of a common theme, and that theme is that God Institutes a sacrifice as a way for us to connect and to understand. The devastation of our sin and the horror and the ugliness of our sin. That's the point of the sacrifice. An animal has to die.

But it's If, if we don't get that, and if we're just going through the motions, And as it, as it's described here, going through these motions of worship. Then, then we've missed the point and it's of no value to God. God describes the sweet smelling savor of the sacrifices, but this, that's only sweet to God. If our hearts are in it, and, and are transformed by it, God isn't impressed with perfunctory worship, where we just come in and go through the motions, do our duty, and then go home.

And, and, and for me at least, it, it, it challenges me. About the, the realness of what I offer to God. Is it really from my heart? Am I really, mentally and spiritually involved with this, or am I just going through motions?

Am I just trying to, to keep up appearances so everyone else will think I'm OK? am I just trying to pay off God and just make God think that, make God OK with it so that he'll keep blessing me. Because I do know I need his blessing. God isn't interested in my sacrifices just in a perfunctory or an external performance way.

David in his prayer, Psalm 51, his prayer of contrition over his sin, he says, if it were a sacrifice I could offer, you would, then I would do it. But what you want is a contrite heart. There's something that's much deeper and much more real that God desires of us. In our worship of Him.

And you can see it, that pattern is, is consistent throughout all of Scripture. So you go from Genesis, go clear to the other end of the Bible. In Revelation chapter 2. The, the, instruction, Jesus gave,.

examination notices or performance evaluations for 7 churches. The very first one is the Church of Ephesus. A church that, from a human standpoint is doing very well. And, and there are some really amazing commendations of that Church of Ephesus, how they're standing for truth, and how they are, doing the, the, the work of the ministry.

And so they're diligent with that. And that church had some, some very powerful leaders, in its past and currently. And so they were, they were very good and vigorous in what they were doing. But Jesus said, I have one thing against you.

And this is it, that you have lost your first love. And if you don't turn that around. I'm taking you out. That's how big a deal it is to God.

God doesn't Just look on the external member. He, he looks on the heart. He sees our heart and he wants more from us than just our outward, motions of going through, the, the, the worship that we think is so good. God's not impressed with all that.

What he wants is our heart. He wants that connection. What is the first love? I'd suggest to you it's this.

You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind. That's what we need to be doing. That's where we need to, when we come to worship, even here in, on Sunday mornings, we do it in our, in the privacy of our home, wherever it is that we worship. that we do it with our whole heart, that we love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, and that we don't hold back things from God.

And that we don't just go through the motions and I know I'm guilty of that. I have caught myself doing that and I had gotten into it. You get kinda, because I think we all kinda do this. We, we set things in order in our life so we can go get our life on a stream that's going in a direction.

we try to get in the middle of the stream so we're not bouncing off the walls, of the canyon and And, we're, we're trying to have order in our life and that way, and so we get there, we get in a good place, we're comfortable and we're moving along. We think we have everything that's in order. And that's not always a bad thing, but our relationship with God. is not meant to be that way.

And I'll tell you this, if I, if I have my relationship with my wife that way, It's not long before I'm not in the middle of the stream. bumping up against stuff, right? Because a relationship, a human relationship, it takes time and attention. It takes vigor, energy.

It, it takes sacrifice. To make it good, to make it what it's supposed to be. So I don't give my wife a, a birthday present, well, because it's just the, the perfunctory thing to do. this is, it's that time.

get her flowers on Valentine's because, well, it's everybody does that and it's expected. I did get her flowers on Valentine's. But I did it because I love her and I wanted to, I know she loves getting them. And, and it was a way for me to express my love to her.

And when we come to worship, we don't just go through the motions, and sing the songs and offer the prayers and, and, and take in God's word and, and just going through the motions. And in our, in our personal time. We don't just pick up our Bible Bible and do my 5 minutes a day and, OK, I got that done and I'm on, with my day. And we meet with God.

We see him as a person, as someone who's real. And we don't just go through the motions. Now, that could have been what Cain was all about here. Maybe it was just perfunctory to him.

He'd gotten kinda in a rut spiritually and, and so he just brings his stuff and puts it up on the altar and there it is and, I've done my duty. Maybe that's what it was. Maybe it was something more malevolent than that. And there was something deeper and, and he was, angry about having to do this.

Whatever it was with Kane. He dealt with it horribly. When we get confronted by God over our worship, I hope we deal with it differently, that we humble ourselves before God and, and we cry out for forgiveness and we, and we make changes in our attitude and, and, and what we're presenting to God. Understanding that anything that we present to God is, very, very small.

It's, it's just a token. It's just a little thing that's not really impressive. It's not impressive to God. It's not really impressive to anybody else.

But when it comes from a heart that's real, God loves that. And to him, it is that sweet smelling savor. And so, Paul, in writing about sacrifice, Romans chapter 12, that he says, I beseech you, brethren, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is a reasonable service or form of worship. And so that is how we should be doing our worship to God and how we should be coming to God.

And we need to learn from Cain and Abel, these things. We, we, have already talked about the fact that the grain offerings are later on, see when Moses is writing later the Levitical codes, they have grain offerings and so they're not, they're not wrong. They are acceptable to God. It is important to note that Abel's offering is described as coming from the firstborn while Canin's is not described as the first fruits.

This could be a clue also in the acceptance and the attitude. Cain brought some fruit while Abel brought the first and the best of his flock. That's a possibility, that's there. God tells Cain that he will, that he will be accepted if he does well.

So his attitude, not his offering, seems to be the emphasis ultimately, is the heart attitude that God looks at. And so how does God respond to Cain? Well, we see that he reached out to him. And that's very similar, and something we'll be talking about in, in a few minutes, but very similar to what happened in the garden.

with Adam and Eve, and God reached out to them. So God reaches out to Cain. then he provides consequences to remind Kane of what he did. And then he provides a protection for him.

And it says that Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod. Someplace east of Eden. So they've been expelled from the Garden east of Eden. Now he goes further east of Eden.

And then he has a wife, she conceives and gives birth to a son. Where did Cain get his wife? We do have to, to deal with this, because that is a question that you've probably come up against. Somebody's throwing that up in your face.

And, so let's look at Genesis verses 16 and 17. It just says he went out, settled there in, in the land of Nod and had relations with his wife. so did he get his wife in the land of Nod? That's what some people think, that there were other people that were there already.

doesn't say where though he got his wife. he did two things in the land of naught. He built a city, had a son. but in Genesis 3:20, It says this, now the man called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all the living.

That's significant. In verse chapter 5, verse 4. Then the days of Adam, after he became the father of Seth were 800 years and he had other sons and daughters. One Jewish tradition states that Adam had 33 sons and 23 daughters.

We don't really know that for sure, but he probably had a lot. Of children for as long as he lived. So where did Kane get his wife? Well, it was a sister, probably.

and I know for us, that's weird. and For us, it should be weird. But for Kane. It's not, because it, it, it's a completely different environment.

Think about it. There aren't any other people in the world. This is it. This is a brand new beginning.

This is the beginning of everything. And this is all the people there is. Eve was taken out of the sight of Adam. So biologically, they, they have already this, this connection.

And so it wouldn't be that strange then for this to be the case. And so, it was probably a sister, could have been a niece, but I would lean, I would say it's probably more likely a sister that they had many children and the, the purpose, the command from God is to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. And so that's what they would do. The, the objection of incest, the incest doesn't come up until The, the, the laws of incest rather until Leviticus, which is, many years later, thousands of years later.

And that was because and the reason, one of the reasons at least it's believed that that God instituted these rules because of Biological issues by this time within the DNA, the codes that, that created, that would create problems in, in children that would be born. And so, That would have come much later and and so that was why it was a problem later on and still is today. And we still have laws about incest. And one of the main reasons is because of, of what, what happens biologically to us.

The next question is why would anyone want to kill Cain for killing someone they didn't even know? And, and the, the reason why the question is worded this way is that there are, are people. who believe that, that, That there were other people that God had either created or that had evolved living in this place called Nod, so that when Cain went there, he's going to another people group. And the argument against that is that Kane would not be concerned about being killed.

If he's going to a place that To, to another group of people that don't even know him or know his family. The reason why he's concerned is because his family all know what happens. And the, the concern is that they will Execute justice. Cain's wife, scripture does not explain her background.

Most likely a sister or a niece, as we've talked about, that Adam and Eve had many children. There are no genetic concerns at this time. And so That was, that was it, in fact, and we talked about Abraham. marrying his half-sister and, Pastor Milton talked about this, a couple of weeks ago.

And so the, the, there was not the issues with this closeness until much later. In human history. Now, We have taken a look at how sin showed itself in Cain's life, but we need to remember that the same sinful nature is in every person. So we, and we have spent some time talking about that.

That, we need to, to be guarding ourselves and, and checking ourselves and our own attitudes as we come to worship in, in our relationship with God. And how can we relate these things that we do to please God? with our offerings that, In, in the same way that, that we would see that applies to Cain and Abel. And, and that again is something we've, we have covered.

But it is, again, I think an important point that, that we need to learn from Genesis chapter 4. And may it be that We can go through an examination of ourselves and, and see to it that, that we are. doing the correction that needs to be taken. There's a pattern of sin that's found in, in James 1:13-15.

And, and we do see that happening here. And James chapter 1, 13 to 15 talks about temptation. And the temptation does not come from God. Only good things come from God.

trials come from God, the temptations come from within. They come from within our own corrupted hearts. And when the temptation comes, And if we give into it, it brings forth sin. And then when sin is finished with us, it brings forth death.

And that death is, is what we see as a result of Cain not dealing with his sin. And the same thing is true with us. we can be well-intentioned and, and, and, and think we have everything going right, and then We get to the place where we're not paying attention. And then when we get confronted with it, we react in anger and we become destructive.

Even to the point of death as Kane did, and we need to be watchful of ourselves. Maybe the death won't be a literal murder. But as Jesus talks about in the Sermon on the Mount, it's not that, that thou shalt not kill law. It's not just for the actual taking of life, but it's for other things, even the destruction of another man's testimony or his character in the community.

And so we can commit that assassination of another person by accusations and, and so on. And so we need to be careful of that. We need to guard ourselves, guard our hearts and deal with the sin that's in our hearts. And that is something that's real and personal to all of us.

Something I have to deal with. I have to confront in my own life. And so, we, we need to take that thing very seriously. remembering that God is paying attention.

And If we want God to accept our worship, we want our worship to be acceptable to God, we need to make sure that we're clear. In these kinds of issues and and dealing with one another in the way that we're supposed to in love, as John in First John writes about, that we're to love one another, not acting as Cain did. that's a very clear instruction to us. Abel offered the firstborn of his flock.

And elsewhere we see. The idea of God honoring the first fruits offered to Him. So Sorry, the, the script is really small, but there's Abel offered to the first fruits of his flock, and, and actually as, as the Levitical code is written and God is prescribing the sacrifices they're to bring, that is something that's consistently being put into his law to bring the first fruits, bring the best of your flock. Bring what is good.

just don't bring, the stuff that's damaged goods and In that way, what we're doing is we're expressing our respect, our honor to God. And so, one of the things that we need to, to examine ourselves on is how, what am I doing in this way? What is it that I'm bringing to God? Am I bringing to him his, my best, the best things?

Am I bringing to him of my first fruits? And one of the, the The primary applications that is in is in our monetary giving. is in what we give of our, of our tithes and offerings and so on, is that we give, do we give it to him of the first fruits or we just wait until the end of the month and give him what's left over, if there is anything left over? Are we just tipping God?

Are we actually giving to Him out of honor and respect? And that has to do with our, our financial giving. It also has to do with the giving of our, our time and our energy. are we giving to Him the best of our time and our energy?

Are we just waiting till we have whatever's left over for God? If we honor And value the relationship we have with God. Then we express that honor and value. By what we give to him.

And so that is, that is a consistent theme and, and, it really, and, and what we are giving to him does show what we think of him. And, and so we need to be cognizant. I think that's a, a, the, the big lesson that comes out of this passage. In this, we see mercy shown to Cain.

God showed mercy. When God came to Cain, God knew what had happened, but he asked them, where's your brother? And God gives Cain a chance to repent, a chance. To, to make it right.

Amazingly, God is so gracious and merciful, and he has been that way all through human history. Gracious and merciful. And we can think about how God has shown that same grace and mercy to us. On a daily basis, he shows it to us.

And so Jeremiah writes in Lamentations, your mercies are new every morning, and those mercies are so important to us. And, and again, it's, it's a way of us reflecting upon the, the value of our relationship with God, that this God is a friendly God. He's a loving God. He's a God who has reached out to us.

He's a God who's made it possible for us to respond to Him. He's the one who's worked in our hearts. He's the one who's awakened us. to him.

And when we are just wanting to be haters and defiant and, and running from God, he's the one who has drawn us to Himself. And so, It's good for us to reflect on the mercy of God. that he has shown to us and, and let this story here remind us of, of all of that. And I would, encourage too, to go back and listen to Pastor Milton's sermon that, that deals with, Kane's issues here.

He, he talks about a, he goes into a passage. I think that, that is something I'd never thought about before till he brought it up in the sermon that is, I think, profound. because it has huge ramifications for the human race. but it comes from, from Jude, the, the, the epistle of Jude, the brother of Christ, who, who, who gives a list of, of, rebellious people or rebellious events where people have been in rebel rebellion and, and the one that has to do with Cain, that Jude writes down there, he calls the way of Cain.

And, Pastor Milton really develops that and, and brings a lot of really good insight on that. I encourage, us to go back and, and listen to that and, and take in the idea of how that has affected humanity. It affects it from the time, of Cain all the way to the flood and then God destroys it. And we see that way of Cain carried through.

It must be genetic. there's something that, that, comes out and, and can be a problem for us, and, and we need to be able to recognize it. And, and have a healthy response to it, not only in our own lives, but in the world around us, because we're all affected by it. So I encourage you with that.

that, that way of Cain is something that, that, is, is a powerful influence in our world today. All right, let's close in prayer. Thank you, Lord, for the teaching that we get from your word. I thank you for your mercy.

Thank you for your grace. Thank you for caring about us, that you would reach to us, reached down to us and And make a way for us to be able to come to you. May we be People who respond to you in a humble way. Help us to humble ourselves and to seek your face.

To recognize the sin that's in our life, to recognize the stubbornness. And even the carelessness that's, that sometimes creeps up into our worship, that we can be real, that we can be passionate, that we can love you with all of our heart. And that our worship reflects that, that our worship that comes out in our giving in, in everything that we do for you. That it would be our daily sacrifice before you, giving to you what you deserve from us.

You've been good to us and generous with us, and may we respond in a like way with you. And may we learn from these two men, Cain and Abel, how it is that we are to live and walk before you. I ask this in the name of your son, Amen.