A Bloodbath and A Bloodline

You can open with me to Genesis chapter 4. We'll be covering Genesis 4 and 5 tonight, trying to.

! It's a lot of ground to cover, but we'll see how it goes. How many of you, by show of hands, have siblings? Yeah, okay. I want you to talk with your neighbor just briefly.

What's the worst sibling fight you guys have ever been in? Okay, go. All right, let's hear a couple.

If you would like to share your worst sibling fight, shoot your hand up and let's hear it. Worst sibling fight, Josie. My brother cut my hair off. Your brother cut your hair off. Like, how off are we talking?

Like, buzz? Not like buzz, but like six, seven inches off. Six, seven inches off. Jamie, and it's your birthday. I take it back. Okay. Okay, so what did you do?

Like, what led to that? What came after that? I didn't do anything. You didn't do anything. Is that true, Jamie? Okay, it's your fault, Josie. Totally, totally makes sense now.

Okay. Your sister slapped you. Okay, okay, younger sister. I was about to say, I was about to call some people out. Okay, yes, right here. Oh, whoa.

How old were you guys? He was five and tried to commit Grand Theft Auto because you said you hated him. Whoa. All right, yes. Oh, whoa.

That's bad. Okay, we'll go one more. Let's go to this side of the room. Okay, we'll go Sam, just because I know your older sister, so I have some dirt on her now. Okay, what is it? Man.

And is that when she broke your hand? No, I'm just kidding. I know that wasn't related. Okay. All right. Anyway, sibling fights can be the worst. Thank you guys for sharing. I appreciate the honesty.

So, as we think about siblings, they can do a lot to make us angry, right? If you have siblings, you've been angry at them. It just happens. We read about, in Genesis 4, the first ever sibling fight.

And this was a fight to the death. Someone dies, you know, as siblings fight. As we read through Genesis 4 and 5, the battle we looked at last week between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent explodes on us.

This is taken to dramatic proportions this week as we read through Genesis 4. Mankind has been kicked out of the garden. They have left the scene of the first sin.

But even though they're outside the garden, they have not escaped the influence of Satan. They've gone from enjoying dominion in the garden to now being dominated by sin and wickedness.

So, tonight, we're covering Genesis 4 and 5. Our title is A Bloodbath and a Bloodline. A Bloodbath, tongue twister, and a Bloodline.

So, we see in chapter 4 a bloodbath. And as we read through chapter 4, we're going to see Cain and Abel being talked about.

And in the first seven verses, I'll read those for us. We see a bad offering and a good offering. So, I'll read starting in Genesis 4, verse 1. Now, Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have gotten a man with the help of Yahweh.

And again, she bore his brother, Abel. Now, Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain, a worker of the ground. In the course of time, Cain brought to Yahweh an offering of the fruit of the ground.

And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And Yahweh had regard for Abel and his offering. But for Cain and his offering, he had no regard.

So, Cain was very angry and his face fell. Yahweh said to Cain, why are you angry and why has your face fallen? 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. So, this section starts out with Adam and Eve having a couple of babies.

And we see that sin hasn't utterly undone their responsibility. Sin hasn't completely unraveled their relationship with each other.

And they have a son named Cain. And Eve praises the Lord for Cain, saying, I've gotten a man with the help of Yahweh. And the name Cain in Hebrew sounds like the word forgotten.

And so, that's how they named their kids back then. But she's recognizing that the Lord has been kind to us. He has given us a son. And in this praise of the Lord, this thanks to the Lord, I think within it there's an expectation of hope that this could be the one.

This could be the offspring of the woman we are waiting for who will deliver us from the rule of Satan. And in verse 2, she has another son.

She bears his brother, Abel. And so, these two sons have jobs. Abel is a keeper of sheep. He's a shepherd. And Cain is a farmer. He's a worker of the ground.

So, Abel carried a staff around, and Cain probably wore overalls like farmers do. And both of them had biblical jobs. They were both seeking to fulfill what God had created them for.

Abel was shepherding the flock. He was exercising dominion over the animal kingdom. And Cain was a worker of the ground. He was exercising dominion over the ground.

And so, they were both still pursuing this aim of ruling over creation like God had created humanity to do. And not only do they have biblical jobs, they also have a relationship with God.

That we see them offering sacrifices to the Lord, seemingly, on the exact same day. Verse 3, In the course of time, Cain brought to Yahweh an offering of the fruit of the ground. He's a farmer.

So, he brings in some of his harvest to offer to the Lord. And Cain does the same thing with the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. And so, they're offering sacrifices to the Lord.

They're worshiping the Lord. Now, how did they know to offer sacrifices? God hasn't commanded this anywhere that we see in the Bible. God provided a sacrifice to cover Adam and Eve's nakedness, but he doesn't command them to do this.

But it seems clear that they would have been told by the Lord or through Adam that these boys should worship the Lord through giving their best to him. And so, Cain brings some fruit, and Abel brings a lamb, or one of his flock, to be sacrificed.

Now, in verse 4, why did the Lord have regard for Abel and his offering? It says that the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but verse 5, for Cain and his offering, he had no regard.

Why did the Lord accept Cain's offering, or I'm sorry, accept Abel's offering, but not accept Cain's offering? Well, we don't know exactly for sure.

Again, there's nothing in Genesis 1, 2, or 3 that commands these offerings or these sacrifices. We don't know exactly what the rules were. But based on other passages, like Hebrews 11, 4, it says, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice.

Hebrews 9 says that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. And so it's likely that these boys were commanded to offer a live animal as a sacrifice, or to offer an animal in their place, to shed its blood in their place.

We don't actually know the reason why God accepted Abel's offering, but rejected Cain's. But what we do know is the ultimate problem was Cain himself.

The ultimate problem going beyond even what is sacrifice is the heart of the one offering the sacrifices. Cain, as it turns out, was just kind of hypocritically worshiping God.

He was just kind of going through the motions. He just went to church because that's what he was supposed to do. He offered a sacrifice because that's what he was supposed to do. He was just trying to appease God rather than dedicate himself to God.

And so we need to examine ourselves because it's very possible for us to get into just a routine or a rhythm of checking boxes, of doing things, because we know that's what we're supposed to do, but our heart's not in it.

We need to be careful because that's so easy to do. And Cain seems to be the first example of that. And from what he says, we learn that Cain himself is what's wrong with this picture.

Something inside of Cain has gone wrong. Sin and wickedness are inside of him. And he becomes very angry. So Cain was very angry and his face fell.

And God, instead of just rebuking him outright, again, patiently and mercifully asks him questions.

Just like Adam and Eve in the garden, God knew the answers to those questions, but he was seeking to give them an opportunity to confess, an opportunity to tell him what they had done wrong.

And so Yahweh says to Cain, verse 6, Why are you angry? And why has your face fallen? 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.

God is warning Cain that if you don't repent of your sins, sin is seeking an opportunity against you.

Sin is crouching at the door waiting for an opportunity to pounce, waiting for an opportunity to ruin and destroy your life. But Cain is angry with God for not accepting his sacrifice.

Cain is frustrated but the problem is within his own heart. And so many times we try to blame other people for our sin.

We try to explain our sin away. But this leads to dangerous places as we'll see in the next paragraph. Sin wants an opportunity to destroy Cain.

And this is the first occurrence of the word sin in the Bible. Obviously it's described in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve rebel, but here the word appears for the first time. And in the next paragraph, verses 8-16, we see a bad brother and a dead brother.

Spoiler alert. Verse 8, Cain spoke to Abel, his brother, probably under the pretense of friendship, probably saying, hey, let's go out into the field together.

Pretending to be friendly and cordial with him, but we see what happens next. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

Cain was angry that God did not accept his sacrifice. And Cain's anger, those directed toward God, spilled over towards his hatred of Abel himself, and he took Abel's life.

And this is the first human death recorded on the pages of the Bible. This is the first human death written about in the history of the world. And when you think back to the garden, when Adam and Eve rebelled, they were told that they themselves would die because of their sin.

And yet, neither one of them was the first one to experience the final reality of sin. Neither one of them was the first to experience the finality of the consequences of their sin.

Their son's life would be taken ultimately because of their sin. And I can't imagine what they would have thought and felt when they heard this news that their son was dead.

Life didn't used to be like this. The reason their son is dead is because there's sin in the world which they introduced to the world by rebelling against God.

And it's just a reminder like we looked at in Genesis 3 that sin cannot be compartmentalized. It's so tempting because the serpent lies to us that I can just indulge in this sin and no one will find out.

I can just do this and maybe if it's found out it'll only affect two or three people. Maybe my friends will find out I'll lose a couple of friends. You can't contain the spread of sin.

And Adam and Eve learned this the hard way. In a moment Eve was thinking I can just partake of this fruit. God will maybe find out but it won't affect anyone.

And now she's faced with the reality that one of her sons has killed the other. Now why did Cain kill Abel? We know he was angry.

We know he was frustrated that God didn't accept his sin but why did he have to go and kill his brother? Well 1 John 3 verse 12 if you want to write that reference down if you're taking notes the apostle John talks about this and he says in 1 John 3 12 we should not be like Cain.

Why? He says he was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.

Why did Cain murder Abel? Because Cain's deeds were evil and Abel's deeds were righteous. Abel was righteous Cain was not and Cain hated him.

And it's easy for us to look back and be like Cain you idiot like why would you be mad at your brother for doing what's right? But we've probably all felt this way. Has anyone been in trouble before?

Just don't raise your hand we all have. You've been in trouble but your sibling hasn't gotten in trouble and they're just like so proud gloating about how perfect of a child they are and you're just like you get angry at your sibling because they didn't get in trouble.

And we see that that's what's happening with Cain and Abel here. Cain hated his brother. And John says he was of the evil one.

And so when Jesus in John 8 44 we looked at it last week Jesus tells the Pharisees you are of your father the devil and he describes the devil as being a murderer from the beginning.

It's because Cain was influenced by Satan to commit this murder. Cain is a representative of the serpent.

Cain is someone who is working for Satan and is influenced by Satan. Ultimately Cain hated God and that's where all sin stems from. Those who hate God will hate others too.

And those who hate others have all of the seeds of murder planted in their hearts already. And so Jesus says you've heard it said you shall not murder but I say if you're angry with your brother in your heart you're liable to the judgment.

All of the seeds of murder are in the heart of someone who hates his brother. Now as we read the Bible the Bible doesn't always come out and say and that was wrong but it expects us to pick up on certain things.

Why would murder be wrong? Well God has told them to be fruitful and multiply. And instead of multiplying Cain is eliminating a human life from the face of the earth.

But God once again seeks out this sinner with questions. Verse 9 Then Yahweh said to Cain Where is Abel your brother?

God knows the answer to this question. God witnessed what happened to his brother but he's trying to give Cain an opportunity an opportunity an opportunity to repent but Cain tries to deflect God's judgment.

He says I don't know. IDK Am I my brother's keeper? He's trying to deflect God's judgment. He's like did you command me to watch over the shepherd?

Did you give me a command to take care of my brother? And God says to him in verse 10 What have you done?

Which is the exact same question he asked Eve in the garden. What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground and now you are cursed from the ground which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

the creation is crying out. The creation is groaning because it's been forced to drink down the effects of sin and death.

Abel's blood is crying out from the ground for justice and vengeance for righteousness to be done to his brother for taking his life.

And here we see the wickedness of mankind. The wickedness of sin that's in our hearts. We as mankind are the only one of God's creatures that has rebelled against him.

Everything else in creation obeys God. Everything else in creation submits to God except for us. We're affected and stained by sin and creation itself knows it as it's crying out for God to do justice.

So we learn a few things from this. we learn that God sees everything. God knows what happened to Abel. God sees everything.

Another thing is that God loves life. He will not let murderers go free. Murderers will boast that they got away with it. They'll always try to get away with it but God will not ultimately let that happen.

And another thing we learn is that God cares for the righteous even after they die. God cares for the righteous even after they die. Abel was righteous.

Abel by faith obeyed God but now he was no more because his brother took his life but even after his death God still cares for him because he is alive in the presence of God.

And the Bible actually views this as the first instance of persecution. 1 John 3 again says do not be surprised brothers when the world hates you.

Right after coming off talking about Cain killing his brother he says don't be surprised when the world hates you. Don't be surprised that if you're trying to obey God and be righteous that the world will attack you and persecute you.

And he says to Cain you are cursed. The only other person that God talks to and about like this is Satan.

In Genesis 3 he says cursed are you. And so Cain now the ground has been cursed because of Adam but now the ground will not yield anything to Cain the ground will work against him and will not give him its strength or its fruit and Cain turns inwardly in self pity in verse 13.

God tells him in verse 12 you'll be a fugitive and a wanderer on earth you'll never have a home you'll never be safe you'll be forever homeless in verse 13 Cain says to Yahweh my punishment is greater than I can bear behold you've 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 now Cain is frustrated he's sad about the consequences of his sin but he does not hate his sin he's frustrated that his sin has led him to be a fugitive away from God's presence but he does not turn from his sin he does not repent of his sin he has remorse for it but he does not repent of it so!

the question for us have everyone the consequences of their sin everyone is made sad because of the results of sin but do we hate our sin or do we just hate its consequences Cain hated its consequences and while God is merciful towards sinners the Bible nowhere sugarcoats sin the wages of sin is death Cain will ultimately die for the crime he has committed he will ultimately die for the sin that he has done now the world will try to water down our sin the world will try to say it's not that big of a deal the serpent will whisper to us that this isn't really that bad this isn't really that big of a deal this won't have that many consequences our world today would probably say it's okay Cain you were just allergic to your brother you had a brother allergy it's okay it's not that big of a deal you just had a brother killing disorder it's fine but the

Bible doesn't sugar coat our sin the Bible doesn't hide from the wickedness of sin and so God's punishment for this sin is severe Cain will forever not have a home on this earth but notice what he says at the end of verse 14 whoever finds me will kill me who has mentioned death here God hasn't mentioned death to him God would have been right to say you're dead on the spot you killed your brother you took a life now your life will be taken God hasn't said that but Cain knows in his own heart because I killed someone I deserve the death penalty and whoever finds me will do that his conscience knows that he is guilty his conscience knows that his sin deserves!

to be punished He God mercifully protects him Yahweh said to him not so if anyone kills Cain vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold and so God is saying if anyone imitates you and takes your life the punishment on him is going to be sevenfold it's going to be more than double it's going to be more extreme and it says Yahweh put a mark on Cain lest any who found him should attack him you don't want to mess with him God was preserving his life in this way and we don't know what it was we don't even want to speculate but some mark was put on him on his body so that people would know not to kill him or would not go near him verse 16 then Cain went away from the presence of Yahweh and settled in the land of Nod east all

Cain built a city he called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch so this section now develops the bloodline of Cain the serpent perpetuates his own line through Cain now in verse 17 who was Cain's wife it was probably one of his sisters or cousins which is repulsive to us because if that happened today they would be born with 18 toes so why was it okay for Cain to do this and people that don't believe the Bible will look at you and say is incest wrong yes the Bible says that well who did Cain marry and they'll think they're so so smart just like your sibling who never does anything wrong but the law against incest marrying a close relative wasn't given for another 2500 years and so the closer back to Adam and Eve we get the less chance there is for genetic mistakes or abnormalities and so this wouldn't have been a huge issue and they would have been the only human beings existing at this time so

Cain was married to a sister or cousin we don't know exactly who but it says that he built a city and that's interesting because he was kicked into exile to be and get a bunch of people in here that like me I'll be safe it'll be more difficult to find me if I'm in a group we don't know his motives for building a city but that is interesting to think about and then we get Cain's lines Enoch was born Erad and Erad fathered Mahujel and Mahujel fathered Methushel and Methushel fathered Lamech and Lamech the first one to have multiple wives and so Cain's line not only persecutes the seed of the woman and kills Abel but it also distorts the gospel picture of marriage and so all polygamists come from

Lamech who come from Cain take that Joseph Smith okay now here's another instance where the Bible doesn't come out and say this is wrong okay so it says he took two wives and Moses isn't like parentheses that was a sin he's expecting us to understand that this is wrong why is it wrong it violates God's design from the beginning God gave Adam one wife and so Lamech is violating that pattern he's going against what God created and that's why it's sinful God only gave Adam one wife and having two wives is just a dumb decision it's weird to think about so more like lame ick am I right thanks guys it's been real thank you thanks yeah thanks so Lamech takes two wives the name of the one was Ada the name of the other Zillah and they have three sons

Ada bore! Jabal the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock so they had so many animals they needed to dwell in tents so they could move and not overeat the land verse 21 his brother's name was Jubal he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe and so he invented these instruments in which he must have been a genius to come up with these verse 22 Zillah also bore Tubal Cain he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron and the sister of Tubal Cain was Nema and so here are the descendants of Cain and they would have been really smart they were inventing all of these things they were inventing technology that could be used for great good to make life better but these things could have also been used for great evil as we will see they were and so technology kind of advances through this line of the serpent God's image is still evident among them they're creative and smart and brilliant and so we should thank the Lord for technological advances and people's creativity these advances though usually just like they do here come from people who do not submit to God and this technology can usually be used for sinful purposes now as we think about technology as Christians technology is neutral technology is a tool given to us that can be used for great good or great evil so if you've got a smartphone you can use that for great good you can use that to promote the cause of Christ you can also use that to ruin your life technology itself is neutral but how it's used can cause a lot of good to be done or a lot of evil now it's interesting that

Nema is mentioned here the sister she's the only woman mentioned in this besides the wives of Lamech and Eve herself so we don't know exactly why she was mentioned but her name means beautiful or fair and as we'll see next week especially in chapter 6 a lot of the gods and goddesses that other religions worship or venerate are typically based on people from the pre-flood world are typically based on people that are before the flood or before the tower of Babel and so it's interesting that she is mentioned and renowned and famous in this time for Moses to mention her now Lamech not only has two wives but he's also incredibly wicked like Cain verse 23 Lamech said to his wives Ada and Zillah hear my voice you wives of Lamech listen to what I say I've killed a man for wounding me a young man for striking me if Cain's revenge is sevenfold then Lamech's is 77 fold the wickedness of Cain's action of killing his brother was horrible but the cruelty of

Lamech knows no boundaries and now he's saying if God said that the vengeance for killing Cain is sevenfold then the vengeance for killing me is 77 fold I've killed many people and so the Lord will protect me and so Lamech is talking like God gives special protection to murderers he's just out here doing hood rat stuff with his friends and expecting God to protect him he says if Cain's revenge is sevenfold Lamech's is 77 fold but we see a very different result from the line of Seth Adam and Eve have another son in verses 25 and 26 says Adam knew his wife again and she bore a son and called his name Seth for she said God has appointed that's what Seth means for me another offspring instead of Abel for Cain killed him verse 26 to Seth also a son was born and he called his name

Enosh at that time people began to call upon the name of Yahweh Adam and Eve have another son and with the birth of this son there is new hope for the seed to overcome the serpent for this descendant of Eve to do away with evil and so they name him the appointed one and now it's interesting that nothing is mentioned about Seth's descendants there's no technological advances there's no boasting of wickedness the only thing that's told about them is that they called upon the name of Yahweh Seth worshipped God and he taught his sons to do the same and now from this point the line of the woman the line of this seed that's coming will be tracked from Adam through Seth and we come to the second point a bloodline we saw a bloodbath in Genesis 4 we see a bloodline in Genesis 5 and what we have in

Genesis 5 is the first genealogy of the Bible and so all of chapter 5 is really just a list of names which can be kind of boring we don't know these people really well and so it can seem like we can just skip over this and not miss anything but what's going on here is important because if you are in Christ these people are in your family tree Paul says that by faith we are sons of Abraham and so Abraham comes from this line of Seth and we get that line spelled out for us in chapter 5 verse 1 it says this is the book of the generations of Adam that's a structure marker in Genesis we saw that in chapter 2 early on now here's the next major movement in this book when God created man he made him the likeness of God male and female he created them and he blessed them and named them man when they were created when Adam had lived 130 years he fathered a son in his own likeness after his image and named him

Seth so just as God created Adam in his own image Adam fathers a son in his image after his likeness so this son would be born as an inheritor of Adam's sin Adam's nature as a sinner would be passed on to his lineage and be passed on to Seth verse 4 the days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years and he had other sons and daughters so Adam didn't just have these three sons Adam had multiple other sons and daughters these are just the ones that are recorded for us in the Bible verse 5 thus all the days of Adam that Adam lived were 930 years and he died now 930 years is a long time that's a massive amount of time to be alive what happens in the Bible is we see these people before the flood lived a long long time hundreds and hundreds of years after the flood the average age starts to drop tremendously we'll talk about that when we get there but probably because of all the changes that would take place on the earth but imagine how smart you'd be after 900 years of being alive like anyone have a grandpa or grandma that's 80 yeah they're pretty smart right like they know a lot they've lived through a lot now multiply that by like 10 11 12 how smart would they be how much knowledge would they possess now also imagine how many kids they would have they would have hundreds of kids okay so the population was exploding here in this pre-flood world they were super smart and lived a long time but I think the most important part of verse five is at the very end and he died and that phrase though it's funny is repeated eight times in this chapter it documents different people and at the end of that description says and he died and just like back in Genesis 1 the story is carried along by the phrase and God said and God said and God spoke and God said now the story is carried along by and he died as a reminder that God keeps his promises he told

Adam and Eve in the day that you eat of that tree you will die and God keeps every one of his words and so even the righteous descendants of Adam are subject to death because of sin because of sin that you have received by nature as a human being and because of sin that you have committed one day you will die and you'll stand before God and that's a truth we have to reckon with that's a truth you have to come to terms with that's a truth powerful enough to lead you to repentance and it's a truth dangerous enough that if you ignore it you'll walk blindly into a fiery judgment one day we will stand before the God who made us and have to answer for the way we've lived but here in chapter five this genealogy is kind of tracking this line of Seth it's also almost a fast forward button trying to get us from Adam to Noah

Moses doesn't have the space to cover all of these things and so it almost functions as a fast forward button a little bit verse six when Seth had lived 105 years he fathered Enosh Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters thus all the days of Seth were 912 years and he died next we get Enosh who fathered Kenan verse 11 the days of Enosh were 905 years and he died when Kenan had lived 70 years verse 12 he fathered Mahalalel and I'm always tempted to say Mahalalel but I have self-control and I'm mature so I won't do that thanks thanks again thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years and he died now as we read through this story it's repetitive it can get monotonous but don't let your eyes skip because we need to pay attention not to the repetitive nature of this but we need to try to look out for differences in the pattern we need to try to look out for things that are odd or off about certain people and there's one verse 21 when Enoch had lived 65 years he fathered

Methuselah Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years and we'd expect and he died we'd get get in verse 24 Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him this is a major break in the pattern Enoch never died he was just translated to heaven he was taken just at the ripe young age of 365 he was barely halfway through his life and the Lord took him and it's possible that this is what the Lord had in mind for Adam and Eve if they hadn't sinned not having to experience death but taken to the presence of God but Enoch was righteous and faithful to the Lord and God rewarded him by sparing him from death and just took him straight to heaven and now next we have the longest living person in the history of the world documented in the

Bible verse 25 Methuselah as you see in verse 27 lived 969 years and then he died long life verse 28 when Lamech different Lamech not the not the icky one had lived 182 years he fathered a son and called his name Noah Noah means rest and he says out of the ground that Yahweh has cursed this one shall bring us relief or rest from our work and from the painful toil of our hands Lamech expected Noah to bring rest from the curse Lamech expected this one to be the one that would lead us back into God's rest that would take us into the presence of God resting from all our works and just resting in what God has done in verse 32 after Noah was 500 years old Noah fathered Shem Ham and Japheth we'll read more about them in the coming weeks but

Genesis 5 moves us from Adam to Noah moves us from the creation of all things to now the destruction of all things that will come in the flood and I want you to draw your attention back to chapter 4 just momentarily God says to Cain the voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground and not only is Cain mentioned later in the Bible documenting his sin and hatred for his brother but Abel is also mentioned a couple of other places in scripture and one of them is in Hebrews 12 and so Abel's blood was crying out for vengeance and justice for punishment to rain down from God on those who do wrong but there is another one whose blood speaks a better word and Hebrews 12 24 calls us to come and consider

Jesus whose sprinkled blood from the cross speaks a better word than the blood of Abel Abel's blood cries out for justice and vengeance Christ blood cries out for forgiveness and mercy and cries out it is finished and so do you want to avoid the consequences of death do you want to be made right with God blood must be shed and not just of an animal that you bring like Abel brought your blood has to be shed because of your sin but God in his mercy sent his son Jesus so that his shed blood would cover the sins of all of his people and he could bring them through his son into his rest!

and so while Abel's blood cries out for vengeance and justice and God eventually pours that out on Cain we can have forgiveness and rest in the death of Jesus and I pray you'd believe that even tonight if you have questions feel free to come talk to me about it afterwards I'd love to be of help to you let me pray for us our Father thank you for these students for their diligence to be here after a long day of school and practice or whatever other after school events and activities they go to I pray you'd bless them help them understand your word I pray that we would live for you and honor your son Jesus Christ and it's in his name we pray amen