Now today, Friends, we’re returning back to our study in the book of Genesis, and we have come to the third chapter to the judgment of the fall.  And that is in verse 14.  May I say that we have now seen this man, this creature that God has made, turned aside from God, and now God must deal with him.  God must judge him.  And I’m reading in verse 14.

And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life….

           Now, all we can say about is that the serpent is certainly not the slithering creature that we think of today.  He was different at the beginning.  There has been pronounced upon him this judgment. 

GOD’S FIRST JUDGMENT/PROPHECIES

            And now God pronounces a judgment upon Satan, which has a tremendous effect upon man.  And I would have you memorize this verse if you are one who does memorize Scripture.  But here is one that you certainly ought to know.  Actually, this is the first prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, the Savior, into the world.  Let me read it.  Verse 15:

And I will put enmity between thee (That is, Satan) and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it (That is, Christ) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

            Now this is a tremendous statement that is given to us here.  And I think that the most prominent thought that we have here is not the ultimate victory that would come, but the long continued struggle.  It reveals the fact that now there’s to be a long struggle between good and evil.  And that is exactly what you’re going to find in the rest of the Scripture.

            For instance, the LORD Jesus could make the statement in his day in John 8:44 concerning this struggle, and let me read that: 

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.  He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there’s no truth in him.  When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he’s a liar, and the father of it.” 

            Now that is—if you please—that is Satan.  And that is God’s judgment, you see.  And now this distinction is made, and there’s going to be this conflict.  John again mentions it in I John 3:10.

In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil.  Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother. 

So that now we have brought before us the fact that here is a conflict.  Here is a struggle.  Here are two seeds in the world.  But there would be the final victory.  But the long continued struggle is important.  Every man must face temptation; must win his battle, if you please.  Now before Christ came, the victory was through obedience in faith.  After Christ came, we’re to identify ourselves with Christ through faith.  What does it mean to be saved?  It means to be in Christ. 

            And now we see this man—he was one of three orders of creation; angels, man, and animals.  Animals were given no choice, but men and the angels were given a choice, and here you have, if you please, man’s choice.  And he’s held responsible for the decision that he’s made here.  And he’s made the decision. 

            And you’ll notice something else.  It says “her seed”.  It doesn’t say the man’s seed.  Here is at least the suggestion of the virgin birth.  When God went into that garden looking for man, he said “Where art thou?”  And any anthology of religion tells the story of man’s search for God.  My Friend, that’s not the way God tells it.  Let’s tell it like it is.  Salvation is God’s search for man.  Man ran away from him.  When God says, “Where art thou?” Dr. Griffith Thomas says this is the call of divine justice which cannot overlook sin.  And it’s the call of divine sorrow, which grieves over the sinner.  And it’s the call of divine love, which offers redemption from sin.  You have all of that in this verse here; the promise of the coming of the Savior.  And this is the picture all the way through Scripture.  Paul wrote, “There is none that seeketh after God.”  (Romans 3:11)  And the Lord Jesus said, “You have not chosen me; I have chosen you.” (John 15:16)  And we can say today we love Him because He first loved us. 

            Now God seeks out man and He offers man salvation.  But there’s going to be a long struggle that’s going to take place, which I think is made very clear to us at this particular point.  Now as we move on down here, every man—every man now is going to have to make his decision.  That is what is given.

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.  (Genesis 4:16)

That’s a judgment upon woman.  She can’t bring a child into the world without sorrow.  Isn’t that an interesting thing–that that should be true?  The very thing that brings joy into the life and continues the human family has to come through sorrow.  That’s life if you please, and man needs to learn that.  And we’ll see in the next chapter he didn’t learn it as quickly as he should.

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life… 

This is the judgment upon man. 

 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field…  (Genesis 3:17-18)

Now notice Genesis 3:19.

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

            Now death comes to man.  It did not come physically.  After all, what is death?  Well, physical death is a separation of the person, the spirit, the soul from the body.  The body, the writer to Ecclesiastes says, goes down to the dust, but the spirit returns unto God who gave it (Eccl. 12:7).  You see, man ultimately must answer to God whether he’s saved or lost.  He’s going to have to answer to God.  But you see Adam didn’t die physically the day that he ate.  He didn’t die until nine hundred and some odd years later.  What about that?  Well, the whole point is just simply this:  That he died spiritually.  He was separated from God.  You see, death is separation.  Paul said to the Ephesians that they were “dead in trespasses and sins”.  Well, they weren’t dead physically, but they were dead spiritually; separated from God.

            And you remember our Lord in that wonderful parable of the prodigal son, he told about this boy that got away the father, and when he returned, the father said to the eldest son, “This my son who was dead, he is found.”  Dead?  Sure, he’s dead.  Not physically, but he was separated from the Father, and to be separated from the father means just simply that and means death.  And you remember the Lord Jesus said to those two sisters, “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me though he were dead….” Dead how?  Spiritually.  That is, separated from God.

            Now man died the moment he ate.  That’s the reason he ran away from God.  That’s the reason he sewed fig leaves.  And, believe me, those fig leaves tell quite a story.  I think, frankly, as we’re going to see now that when God now clothed man—and notice this.

²⁰ And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

            And at this time, I’m sure Cain and Able had been born after the fall.  Now will you notice verse 21.

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

And you’ll find that in order to have the skins of animals, the animals had to be slain.  They just don’t go around without their skins, you see.  And so these animals were slain.  And I believe that this is the origin of sacrifice; that God made it clear to man. 

            Now when God rejected the fig leaves, and now He makes skins, and when Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, they looked back upon a bloody sacrifice, and they saw the Cherubim there as we shall see in a moment.  And when they left the Garden of Eden and looked back, they saw exactly what God had Moses put on the Mercy Seat; two Cherubim looking down upon the blood that was there, and that was the way to God.

            Now will you notice that I think there are four great lessons here that we see from the fig leaves now and the fact that God clothed them.  (1) Man must have adequate covering to approach God.  You can’t come to God just as you are—that is if you’re bringing good works with you.  You must come just as you are, a sinner—that’s the way that you come.  (2) Fig leaves are unacceptable.  They’re homemade.  God doesn’t take a homemade garment.  (3) God must provide the covering.  And then, (4) the covering is only obtained through the death of the Lord Jesus.  May I say to you, man must have a substitute between him and God’s wrath. 

            And that’s important, and even in these days, for man to consider.  You know, the hardest thing in the world is for man to take his rightful position before God.  And I have a little poem here; it’s on prayer that I think reveals even in our own hearts the necessity of this.  Listen to this.

            I asked for strength that I might achieve. 

            He made me weak that I might obey.

            I asked for health that I might do greater things. 

            I was given grace that I might do better things.

            I asked for riches that I might be happy.

            I was given poverty that I might be wise.

            I asked for power that I might have the praise of men.

            I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.

            I asked for all things that I might enjoy life.

            I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

            I received nothing that I asked for, all that I hoped for.

            My prayer was answered.

            May I say to you, salvation comes when you and I take our proper place as a sinner before God.  Now will you notice verse 22-23 of Genesis 3.

And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever:  Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

All I can say to that is “Thank God” that God did not let him live eternally in sin; that God’s not going to let him do that.  And that’s really a blessing.  Verse 24:

So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

            Now that doesn’t mean that He put up a road block.  It really means that the way of life was kept open from man to God and now it doesn’t come through the tree of life, but now salvation must come through a sacrifice.  And when man looked back, as I’ve indicated, this is what he saw. 

CHAPTER 4

FRUIT OF SIN

            Now that brings us now to the fourth chapter of the Book of Genesis.  Actually, we have in Genesis 3 the root of sin; in Genesis 4, the fruit of sin.  We see the first two chapters with creation; the next two chapters (3 and 4), we’ve labeled sin.  We have now the root of sin in Chapter 3; Chapter 4, the fruit of sin.

            Then the question arises, how bad is sin?  Well, may I say to you that we find that man just wasn’t suffering from blood poisoning.  Some little something hadn’t happened to him.  May I say to you that Chapter 4 reveals how much had really happened to the man, and that he had by his disbelief and his disobedience, now he’s turned away from God, and he sins in such a way that he’s brought upon himself and his race the judgment.  Because you and I are given this same kind of nature.  We have the same nature that our father has, and I’ll tell you, Papa, Adam has given us a pretty bad nature, and that’s for all of us.  That is something we need to see here. 

            And it’s revealed in the story of the two sons of Adam and Eve.  Now they had more children than this, but we’re only given these two here at this time. 

And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.

Now this is Genesis 4:1.  And this reveals the fact that Adam and Eve certainly did not anticipate that the struggle was going to be long.  When Cain was born, why she said, “I’ve gotten the man from the Lord.”  “God said that the seed of the woman…and here he is.”  But he wasn’t.  He was a murderer.  He was no savior at all.  And it will be a long time before the Savior comes.  And, Friends, after a minimum of 6,000 years—and if you really want to know the truth, I think it’s been longer than that—the struggle’s been going on between the seed of the woman and the seeds of the serpent.  Now will you notice: 

And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.  (Genesis 4:2)

Here are the two boys now that we’re looking at.  Now will you notice it says “in process of time”.  Actually, it means at the “end of days” which would mean on the Sabbath Day.  I think on the day that God had rested. 

And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought…

And the idea of “brought” here means to an appointed place.  So they are bringing an offering to God to an appointed place to worship.  And all this would indicate, of course, they’re doing it by revelation.  In fact, I know they are. 

            You say, “How do you know?”  Well, if when we turn to the eleventh chapter of Hebrews we read, “By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.”  “By faith.”  How could he offer it by faith?  Well, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.  So God had to give His Word about this or this boy could never have come by faith.  And that’s the way he came.  Now the other boy didn’t come that way, but we find here that Cain brought.

…of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.  (Genesis 4:3)

And there’s nothing wrong with the fruit.  Don’t think that he brought the leftovers.  He’s not giving old clothes to the mission now.  I think that the fruit he brought would have won the blue ribbon in any county fair or state fair in the country.  He brought delicious fruit, and he brought that as an offering to 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.  (Genesis 4:4-5)

            Now the thing that Cain did—somebody says, “I don’t see anything wrong in it at all.”  Well, Judd in his epistle, the eleventh verse, says, speaking of apostates in the last days, “…They have gone in the way of Cain.”  Well, what is the way of Cain?

• Cain, when he brought an offering to God, he didn’t come by faith. He came on his own.  And the offering that he brought denied that human nature is evil.  God said you bring that little sacrifice which will point to the Redeemer who is coming in the world, and you come on that basis.  Don’t come by bringing the works of your own hands. 

• And it also denies that man was separated from God. He acted like everything was alright, and that’s what liberalism does today; talks about the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man.  Friends, things are not alright with us today!  We’re not born children of God; we’re born again children of God!  Man is separated from God.  Cain refused to recognize that and multitudes today refuse to do that.

• Then the third thing, he denied that man cannot offer works to God. He felt he could.  God says, “It is not by works of righteousness which we have done; it’s according to his mercy He saved us.”  (Titus 3:5)

            And we find that actually the difference between these two boys wasn’t a character difference at all.  It’s the offering that they brought.  These two boys had the same background; they had the same heredity.  They had the same environment.  There wasn’t that difference between them.  Don’t tell me that Cain got his bad disposition from an alcoholic uncle; he didn’t have an uncle.  And don’t say that Abel got his from a very fine aunt on his mother’s side.  The other was on the father’s side, of course.  But that wasn’t true.  You see, they just didn’t have aunts and uncles then.  And they had the same heredity and the same environment.  The difference is in the offering.

            And that offering makes the difference in men today.  No Christian takes the position that he is better than anyone else.  The thing that makes him a Christian is he recognizes that he is a sinner, like everyone else.  And that he needs an offering; he needs a sacrifice; he needs someone to take his place and die.  And Paul says in Romans 3:26, “Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood,” and therefore Paul again could write, “They being ignorant of God’s righteousness, they go about to establish a righteousness of their own.”  And that’s the picture of multitudes of people today.  They are attempting through religion and joining a church and doing something that they make themselves acceptable to God.  May I say God’s righteousness can only come to you because you have had a perfect one; it can only come to you through Christ providing it for you.  He was delivered for our offenses; He was raised for our justification; that is, for our righteousness.  He was the one who took our place.  He was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians. 5:21).  And that’s the righteousness.  Paul says, “That I might be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness.”  That’s Cain.  But the righteousness which is by faith in Jesus Christ, that’s Abel, if you please. 

            Why did Cain get angry?  We’ll look at that next time.