The Deepening Shadow: Sin’s Escalation in Genesis 4

In this sermon from Genesis 4, Mark Bates explores the nature of sin and its escalating impact on humanity, emphasizing how situations can deteriorate without divine intervention and moral vigilance.

The following unedited transcript is provided by Beluga AI.

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Genesis 4. As we continue our study of the book of Genesis, we are going to pick up the pace considerably. We’ve been taking a lot of time in the first three chapters, and now we’re going to start going a lot faster, which means I’ve got more to say than I’ve got time to say it. So we’re going to dive right in.

What is faith? We talk a lot about faith. Many people speak of having faith, but how do you know if you have it? This is not an academic question.

Jesus said that there will be people on the last day who say to me, Lord, Lord. And by the way, when they’re saying, Lord, Lord, saying the name twice, that means you’re intimate, that you’re close. He said, people will say to me, Lord, Lord, and he’ll say, I never knew you. And so it’s very possible. It’s not only possible. Jesus says it’s with certainty. There are many people who believe that they have faith, but do not.

And so, that means then, even if you are fairly certain you’ve got faith, you have saving faith, there’s still a chance that you do not. The people who will be surprised on the last day are people who are certain. So, that ought to cause us to pause for a moment and ask ourselves, even if we feel pretty sure, that we have faith. Do I really? Do I really have faith? What is the nature of faith, and how do you know if it exists?

In Genesis 4, we have one of the worst tragedies of human history, and we have a world that has just been hurled into sin through Adam and Eve eating of the forbidden fruit, and yet it’s still a very good world. It’s not. You know, there’s been no violence yet. Yet. And here we have the very first murder, and it’s just shocking as it comes onto the scene. So turn with me to Genesis 4, as we read about how life on planet earth went from bad to worse. This is God’s word.

¹ Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” ² And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. ³ In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, ⁴ and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, ⁵ but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

⁶ The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? ⁷ 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 contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” ⁸ Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. ⁹ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰ And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. ¹¹ And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

¹² When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” ¹³ Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. ¹⁴ Behold, you have 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.” ¹⁵ Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. ¹⁶ Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. (Genesis 4:1-16, ESV)

This is God’s holy and inspired word. As we look at this story, we see the story is split into three different scenes. And we’ll look at each of these scenes. We’ll not spend as much time on the third one, just due to time constraints. But in the first scene, we’re going to see a failure of faith. Then we will see a failure of repentance. But then finally, we’ll see the triumph of justice. A failure of faith, a failure of repentance and a triumph of justice. First, the failure of faith.

The chapter opens with this hopeful theme. Adam and Eve have sinned against God. They have been expelled from the garden of Eden. It is a dark day. And yet, here we have this ray of hope outside the garden. Eve gives birth to a son, and she bears her son, and his name is to get something like getting. He’s a go-getter. And then she bears another son and names him Abel, which means something like nullity or nothingness. And so, she has these two sons. And later, these two sons offer their sacrifices to God.

Cain brings some of his produce, while Abel brings the fat portions of the firstborn of his flocks. God accepts Abel’s sacrifice, but he does not accept Cain’s. Now, over the years, many people have speculated as to why God receives Abel’s sacrifice and not Cain’s. Many people will point to the fact that later on, God requires a blood sacrifice to receive an atoning offering. They say the reason God did not receive Cain’s sacrifice is because he offered produce rather than an animal. There are a couple of problems with that position.

Number one, the Bible doesn’t say that and never criticizes Cain for the type of sacrifice. In fact, instead, we see that the word there that is used for offering, that describes Cain’s offering, is the same word that’s used in Leviticus 2, for grain offering. And so that type of offering actually is appropriate to bring produce. So therefore, that can’t be the reason why. Instead, we see that the difference is explained to us later on in scripture, although it’s alluded to here in the text. Why does Cain, God, accept Abel’s offering and not Cain’s?

Well, the number one rule for interpreting the Bible is scripture interprets itself. The Bible is its own best interpreter. And if you turn to Hebrews 11:4, it says that by faith, Abel offered a better sacrifice. So Abel offers his sacrifice in faith; Cain does not. Now, it is very important that we understand this. This is absolutely critical that you understand what is going on here, because if you don’t understand the difference between Cain and Abel, you are not going to be able to understand your own faith.

This is absolutely critical that we understand this. Particularly if you’ve been in church for a long time, you need to listen, because this is a key, key difference. Before I tell you what it means that Abel had faith and Cain did not, let me tell you what it does not mean. First of all, notice both men believe in God. Both men believe in God. So when it says that Abel has faith, it doesn’t mean that Cain does not believe in God. Cain believes in God.

I would dare say Cain believes in God more than most of us. He actually talked to God, and God actually talked back. And so he heard God speak. They’re in a conversation. And so there is no doubt that Cain believes in God. Believing in God is not saving faith. In fact, the Bible later on says in the book of James that even the demons believe in God and shudder.

¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! (James 2:19, ESV)

So even if you’re afraid of God, that is not saving faith. So first of all, believing in God is not what it’s about.

Secondly, it’s not about worship. Both Cain and Abel worship God. They’re both there offering sacrifices. Both are engaged in worship. So it can’t be the difference there. It’s possible to believe in God. It’s possible to actively and regularly participate in worship and still not have saving faith. So what’s the difference? Cain is worshiping to get from God. Abel is worshiping because he believes in the promises of God. Cain is worshiping to get from God. Abel is worshiping because he believes in God. Cain is worshiping to get God’s acceptance.

Abel is worshiping in faith of God’s acceptance. Now, the word faith is very important here. And to get our definition of faith, we have to go back to Hebrews 11, where it speaks about Abel’s faith and read it in the context. So let’s look at Hebrews 11 and understand what Abel’s faith is so that we’ll know what Cain’s faith was not. Here’s what it says: Hebrews 11.

¹ Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ² For by it the people of old received their commendation. ³ By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. ⁴ By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. (Hebrews 11:1-4, ESV)

So now again, look at this in this context. It says, what is faith? Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

And then the writer goes on and gives, uses Abel as an example of this faith. What is it that Abel is hoping for? What is it that Abel is certain of that he does not see? It’s the promise of God. God has given a promise to Adam and Eve and to all their posterity. You remember when Adam and Eve sinned, God pronounced a curse on the serpent. But in the middle of the curse of the serpent, he said that one day a child would be born to the woman.

A son of the woman would be born who would crush the serpent’s head. That is, he would destroy evil, he would be a redeemer, he would rescue humanity. And so Abel is believing this promise. He’s worshiping God in faith of this promise. Abel is not worshiping God. He’s not bringing a sacrifice to God so that God will accept him. That would not be worshiping in faith. He is offering a sacrifice to God and offering to God because he believes the promise of God.

That’s what Hebrews 11 tells us about Abel, and in fact, even the text itself. you’ll see this as you begin to look at this. Abel is not worshiping as an attempt to get anything from God, whereas Cain is. Now go back to Genesis, chapter four. In the first brief scene of the story, the writer gives us a glimpse of the heart of each man. In verse three, look at the differences between their sacrifices. We’re told that Cain simply brings some of the produce of the land. But what does Abel bring?

He brings the fat portions of the firstborn. You catch that? It’s very subtle. He brings some of the produce, but the other brother brings what? The fat portions of the firstborn. Cain brings some stuff. Abel brings his best. Cain is worshiping out of mere tokenism. Abel is worshiping from the heart. And so we see the difference there. Furthermore, we can see it even more in Cain’s reaction when God receives Abel’s offering but does not receive Cain’s. Cain becomes angry, becomes downcast. He’s mad and depressed, and he starts to sulk and he becomes sullen and he.

And he’s brooding. Parents are teenagers. You can picture this image, right? Brooding, sulking, feels like he has been mistreated. God has been unjust to him, and he is upset. He is mad and he’s depressed and he’s brooding and he’s sulking and he’s sowing. And why is that? Well, what we’re seeing here are Cain’s emotions. And it’s important that we see his emotions here, because contrary to popular belief, emotions are not neutral. Emotions are not neutral. you’ll hear people describe emotions as if they’re neutral. They’ll say, well, that’s just how I feel.

Well, just because that’s how you feel doesn’t mean you’re right. Emotions can be sinful, and we see that here with Cain’s emotions. Emotions are ultimately, they’re a window to the soul. If you want to know the condition of your heart, you look at your emotions. Emotions tell you the true nature of your faith. And the reason is you can control your behavior, but you really can’t control how you feel. That doesn’t mean how you feel is always right, but you can control your behavior, but you can’t. your emotions are much harder to manipulate.

While faith and behavior are related, faith and behavior are not the same thing. Faith should result in right behavior, but right behavior does not always result from faith. It’s much easier to act right than it is to feel right. And here’s the proof: Some of you here have not committed an active sin in years. You know, of any consequence as far as in your behavior. I mean, if we were to follow you around for months and months and months, we would have a hard time getting any dirt on you.

You know, you don’t drink, smoke, or chew, go with girls who do. I mean, you keep the law, you obey, you do the right thing. Now, that does not necessarily mean that you have reached perfect sanctification. Leslie Newbiggin points out that the sins which the church most vigorously condemns are the sins which old people no longer can commit. And I think that’s generally true. Some of our sins we don’t do anymore because we’re just too tired. You know, it just takes too much work. And so we don’t do those sorts of things.

And that looks a lot like sanctification. And you can engage in great behavior modification, and it’s why you can look at people of all different faiths and all different religions, see that they behave extremely well. And so behavior is not necessarily a sign of sanctification. You can jury rig your behavior, but you can’t jury rig your emotions, at least not very easily. And that’s why emotions are a window to the soul. And when you look at your emotions, you begin to see what it is you’re trusting in, what is your putting your hope in.

So what things make you depressed? What things make you mad? And you begin to see with these negative emotions, particularly where your faith truly lies. And in Cain’s reaction, we’re able to see what God already has seen, and so his reaction reveals it for the reader. And that is the nature of Cain’s heart. Abel is worshiping God in faith. Cain, on the other hand, is worshiping in order to get from God. Abel is living by faith. Cain is living by works. And when God does not accept Cain’s works, Cain says, I’ve done this.

I’ve offered the sacrifice. I did it right. And you didn’t accept it. He is very angry because he believes he’s being unjustly treated. I’ve done the right thing. I’ve done the right thing, and this is what happens. And therefore, he feels like he’s being ripped off. Now, I want to pound this point home because this is important. This is very important for us, particularly those of us who’ve been in the church most of our lives. The cains and the abels of this world look the same. They look the same.

Both believe in God, both engage in worship, both do the right things. The difference is Cain is worshiping to get; he’s doing something so that God will accept him. Abel is worshiping because he’s got, he believes the promise of God. He’s worshiping in faith. And so, Abel is worshiping in faith. It’s a thanksgiving for the promise of God.

Now, if Cain and Abel look the same, then how in the world do you know which? You are the emotions of the window to the soul. Look at your heart. Look at your emotions.

Many, many church people turn into crotchety old christians because they don’t believe the gospel. They don’t believe the gospel. They don’t believe the promises of God. And so it ends up hardening their hearts. They’ve given to God, they’ve worshiped God, they’ve done the right thing. And here’s how you know it’s you when you’ve done the right thing, you’ve worshiped God, you’ve given, and you’re mad because God hasn’t come through for you. you’re saying, I did this, God, why haven’t you done that?

And you feel like you’re being mistreated, and you particularly feel this way, you could handle that. But if you look around and you see somebody else that looks like God’s blessing them, now, that really gets your goat. Because how come if I’m doing the right thing and you’re not coming through for me, and here, here I am, Cain the go getter. I do things right. Here’s Abel, the nothingness brother, and you bless him.

And so if you begin to look and say, I’m doing the right thing and you’re not blessing me, and you got this loser over here, mister nothing, you’re blessing him. That’s not right. And so if you begin to find that you’re angry because you feel like God has not come through for you, if you’re bitter, your life is not full of joy, you begin to see that you’re worshiping God as a means to get not in faith. The kings of this world become bitter, angry, sullen and sulking. Their lives are devoid of joy.

If you read your Bible, you pray, you give to the church, you serve in ministry, and you do all these religious activities so that your life will go better, so that you’ll be blessed by God, you will find a lot of anger in your future because God doesn’t respond to our manipulations. That’s not how he works. God is a giver of grace. He’s not a responder to works. Put it simply, grace leads to joy. Works leads to bitterness. Grace leads to joy, works lead to bitterness. Do you know what you call a joyless Christian?

A joyless non-Christian. Now hear me. Hear me. I said that for shock value, okay? That does not mean we’re happy clappy all the time, okay? We suffered. Jesus wept, and he wept deeply. And we ought to weep over the brokenness of the world. It doesn’t mean that we don’t get angry at times. But let’s look at our anger. Even what we call righteous anger is usually sinful anger. Think of the things you get angry about. Here’s the clue. We get angry about the injustice that’s done to us.

And so we say, I’m right, it is righteous anger. But you will get more angry, and I will get more angry at a slight insult than I will at the millions of people dying in Africa today. Are you really concerned about the justice of God or are you concerned about you? You begin to see these things through your emotions. You begin to see what really is gripping you. But if you really believe the promises of God, that doesn’t mean that you’re going to always be happy.

But it does mean you have a sense of joy in the sense that you have a confidence that your father is taking care of you, that you’re not putting your joy in your and your sense of contentment and how well you’re doing and how well God is responding to it. you’re believing that ultimately God is going to care for you.

And so, if your life is characterized by anger, bitterness, resentment, sulking, and a brooding spirit, you need to ask yourself some hard questions. Are you believing the promises of God?

Or are you mad because God hasn’t given you what you really want for your happiness? And another emotion, again, examine is, again, how you feel about other people. Most religious people, again, can handle it, okay, when God hasn’t come through for them, but when you see he comes through for someone else, it really, it really begins to tick you off. And you say, how come I’m doing the right thing and they’re the ones who are being blessed? And it’s because you’re thinking, God, you owe me. you’re relating to God on the basis of works.

You’re saying, I’m doing this, therefore you ought to do that. And that is a misunderstanding of the gospel. God does not do anything on the basis of our works. He does it merely on the basis of his grace. If you find that you’re upset when someone else is doing well, particularly when you think that you are better than they are, then you are falling into the sin of Cain. A judgmental, critical spirit, the sort of attitude that likes to tear down and destroy, reveals a lack of faith in the gospel. Let me sum it up.

Both Cain and Abel believe in God. Both Cain and Abel worship God. The difference is not in their behavior. Behavior is going to be revealed in a moment, but the difference is not in their behavior. The difference was in their hearts, and your emotions are the window to the soul. Okay, that’s pretty heavy. Let’s go on to something heavier. We see a failure of faith. Next, we see a failure of repentance. A failure of repentance. In that first scene, we see Cain doesn’t worship God in faith.

And we know that with absolute certainty because the Bible tells us that. So that’s pretty clear. And so we see that Abel offers a better sacrifice because he offers it in faith. And so Cain is now brooding over this perceived injustice. He is upset, and he believes. He believes he has a right to be upset. And if you’ve been around someone who’s brooding and sulking, what makes them particularly difficult to talk to is because they believe they are right to feel this way. And God comes up to him and he says, why are you angry?

Now? God isn’t asking a question to get information. When God asks questions, it’s not like, hey, I’m curious. That’s not what he’s doing. When God is asking a question, it’s because he wants you to see something. And so he’s coming up to Cain and saying, he’s saying, why are you angry? In other words, you have no right to be angry. You have no right to be angry at all. But we see the tender compassion of God and that as he approaches Cain, and here is Cain, obviously, he’s in sin.

God didn’t receive his offering, and he’s in sin because he’s not believing. And yet God still reaches out to him in tenderness and kindness.

⁶ The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? ⁷ 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 contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:6-7, ESV)

Now God reaches out to Cain. Cain will have nothing of it. Cain would rather be right than forgiven. He would rather be mad than sad. Instead of examining his heart and seeing why he has offended God, he would rather cling to his own sense of righteousness. And rather than embracing the forgiveness of God, he’s going to stand on the fact that he is right. He would rather be right than forgiven. And so he cannot examine his heart. He’d rather be mad than sad. Rather than being sad over sin and weeping over the fact that somehow he has offended God, he’s not even inquisitive about what’s going on here.

He doesn’t even ask God what’s going on. He’d rather be mad than weep over his sin. He doesn’t want to repent. He wants to stand on the fact that he is right. And if you find that you’re clinging to your righteousness and that you’re not willing to repent, you’re in dangerous territory. The main point of the story is not what type of sacrifice Cain offered and what type of sacrifice Abel offered. The main point is we see here in Cain’s response, he refuses to repent.

The deadliest thing for you, the deadliest thing for me, is not that you will sin or that I will sin. You will sin. I will sin. That is not fatal. What is fatal? The deadliest thing is that you will not repent, that you will not believe the gospel enough to repent. See, if you are living a works based religious life, that is, you are somehow taking stock in your behavior and the things that you do as that which will commend you to God, then you’re going to be very slow to repent.

A workspace Christian is very, very slow to repent. Works-based religious person, I should say, is very slow to repent. If you get your value from your worth, from the fact that you aren’t like those, oh, those liberals down the street or those promiscuous young people or anything else. If you get your value from those things, then you’re getting your value from what?

From the fact that you are good and better than most people, then it’s gonna be very hard to admit when you’re not good, because your whole system of worth, you built this whole structure of value that comes from all your works. And so the easiest thing to do is you become defensive. And when your sin is exposed, you become depressed and become angry because you can’t deal with the sin. But if you’re living a grace-based Christian life, then repentance is a lot easier.

See, if you really believe, if you really believe that what gives you good standing before God is not your works, but Christ’s righteousness, then what do you lose when you admit your sin? Absolutely nothing. Because your behavior did nothing to commend yourself to God to begin with. And so a grace based person can repent because they’re not losing anything by admitting their sin and letting go of their sin. In fact, you find delight in confessing and repenting your sin.

Because here’s something you know: a very, very powerful truth is that pardon precedes power, pardon precedes power, and you will not experience the power of God in your life without the pardon. And you don’t experience the pardon without the repentance. And so repentance then becomes, you know, we grieve over our sin. We’re certainly sad over our sin, but we’re delighted because we know that Christ’s blood has covered this. And by the way, this is why works-based religion and works-based pseudo-Christianity is so deadly.

It is a killer because it actually keeps you from repentance. Only if you believe God is gracious. Only if you believe that he’s a forgiving father. Only if you believe that he does what is absolutely best for his children, can you be honest about your sin. If you believe that God is not a forgiving God, that God’s mercy has its limits, then you’re going to be slow to repent because you’re going to think, man, if I’m honest about this, if this is real, then I’m dead.

And so you can’t do it, and so you’ll be slow to repent, and you won’t repent because you’re afraid. And so here’s the irony. Grace based Christianity leads to godlier living than works based Christianity. Works based Christianity leads to legalism, a hardness of heart that is actually more sinful and more wicked. Grace based Christianity leads you to acknowledge your sin and repent over your sin. And so we see this repentance then as the hallmark of the Christian. And let me ask you this. How are you repenting?

Are you repenting if you say, “you know, you’re not into repentance much”? Then we have to use two things. Either, a, you don’t think you’re sinning much. Okay, here’s something we know, okay? Let’s just be honest. This is church, okay? You are sinning. Okay, I am sinning. So we know that part is true. So the problem is not that you’re not sinning; if you’re not repenting, it means you’re not believing the gospel.

And therefore, the hallmark of the Christian ought to be that we are people who repent, and we’re quick to repent and quick to acknowledge our sin. And so God comes to Cain; he’s brooding in his sin, stewing in his anger, and he calls him to repent, and he gives Cain this ominous warning: Sin is crouching at you, or it desires to have you, but you must master it. You get the image of sin. We typically think of sin as a wrong action or a wrong behavior. That’s not.

Certainly, those are sins, but sin is more than that. Sin is more than a wrong action and a wrong behavior. Here we see it’s a power, it’s a force. It is there, crouching at the door. Now. Ten after. Okay. Okay. Hebrew, this Bible was originally written in Hebrew. The word, therefore, crouching is an interesting word, and here’s why. When Hebrew, the Bible, was originally written, there were no vowels. They added the vowels a long, long, long time later.

And if you were to change the vowels for the word crouching, it would be the name of this Mesopotamian demon that was said to be crouching at the door of thresholds, of doorways, lying in wait to devour its victim. Now, whether that’s what the word means or if it simply means crouching, it doesn’t matter because you still get the image of crouching. Imagine, you know, you have a. Have a tiger hiding in the weeds and the grass, and it’s there and it’s paused and it’s crouching there and it’s all coiled up. And what’s it waiting?

It’s waiting for somebody naive enough to walk by and do the wrong thing. And as soon as it does, the tiger does what? It just pounces and it devours. And God says, that’s what sin is like. Sin is not just an isolated act of disobedience. Sin is a power, and it’s a force and it’s deadly. See, we sin because we. We sin because we want to. You know, every time I’ve sinned, it’s because I’ve wanted to sin. It looked fun to me. It looked pleasurable to me. Same with you. We sin because we enjoy sin.

Sin promises us freedom. Yet the more we give into it, the more entangled we become. You know, it’s like an addiction. And we’re very familiar with addiction, but you take an addictive substance to, say, a drug, and you take a hit and it feels good and it feels liberating. Then you take another hit and then another and another. And what happens? Well, soon, you’re not doing drugs. Drugs are doing you. I mean, you are now enslaved to it. You are now entrapped. you’re caught in the web, and there’s no escape of you.

And that’s the way sin is. Sin entices you. It lures you in, but then it devours you. And so what we see here, God is saying this to Cain. He says, sin is there. It’s lingering at the doorway. It’s promising you freedom. He says, but you need to deal with this, Cain. you’re sullen, you’re brooding. you’re angry, and you may think those are little things. A sullen, brooding, bitter spirit is not a little sin. It may seem like a little sin, but it is crouching at the door, seeking to devour you. It will destroy you.

It will eat you alive. Jerry Bridges recently wrote a great book called respectable sins, and he goes through all the sins that are okay in church: Pride. You know, no one ever gets disciplined for pride, you know, bitterness, anger, judgmental spirit, envy, jealousy. And Jerry points out that while these sins may be socially acceptable, they’re malignant cancers. They’re growing, and that they will destroy you if you do not master them. If you go to the doctor and he says, I’ve got bad news. You have malignancy in your brain. And you say, how big is it?

He says, it’s 1. That’s just a little thing. I mean, wow. I mean, we’ll deal with that later. No, you don’t. Let the little malignancy continue to grow. It will kill you. If you were out and you had a well and some farmland where there used to be cattle, and they had cattle licks to get rid of the ticks, and you check your well, and there’s arsenic in the well, you wouldn’t say, oh, this is a little arsenic. You know, you would do something about that. You would see it’s a serious problem.

And the same thing with sin, and particularly with these sinful emotions. Bitterness. Bitterness is incredibly destructive. I heard one person say, bitterness is the poison we drink, hoping the other person dies. It doesn’t work that way. It kills you. In the words of John Owen, you’ve got to be killing sin, or sin will be killing you. It will destroy you. And because of the failure to repent in the little things, destroys you in the greater things. And so sin, when it’s not repented of, becomes corrosive.

And ultimately, though, the reason Cain does not repent of his sin is because he doesn’t believe God. He doesn’t trust God. He wants to cling to his righteousness rather than the promises of God. He’s angry, and so he kills his brother. He’s angry at God; therefore, he kills his brother. By the way, it sounds like he’s angry at his brother. Well, all anger, ultimately, is anger at God. All anger is ultimately anger at God because you’re mad at him ultimately for whatever it is. But you can’t get to God.

You can get to your brother, and that’s what we do. I’m supposed to be through. Let me give you the ray of hope, because otherwise you’re going to leave here totally depressed. Okay, one ray of hope, two things very quickly. God shows Cain mercy in the middle of all this. But not only does God show Cain mercy, God shows justice. God comes out to Cain and he says, where is your brother, Cain? First off, he lies, and then he’s sarcastic. He says, I don’t know, parents, have you heard that one? You know, I don’t know.

That’s a lie. It’s just an out and out lie. He knows where his brother is. And then he says, am I my brother’s keeper? Now remember, Cain tills the soil, Abel keeps the sheep. And so he’s saying, in effect, am I the shepherd’s shepherd? Oh, is the shepherd lost? And so he’s being very sarcastic with God. Not a good idea. But God shows him mercy. But then God says, the brother of your blood is crying out to me. What does blood cry out? He cries out for justice. He says, justice.

An innocent man has died, and therefore there must be justice. 2000 years ago, another innocent man died. His blood was spilled upon the ground. And just like Abel’s blood, the blood of Jesus cries out for justice too. And in Hebrews 12, the writer reminds us of the justice of God.

And he says that you, speaking of you Christians,

²³ and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:23-24, ESV)

Jesus’ blood is crying out for justice too. Jesus’ blood is crying out for justice too. And here is where we see the gospel in the story. Again, because Jesus’ blood was shed, God’s justice has been satisfied for everyone who is in Him.

God does not sacrifice his justice on the altar of his mercy. He sacrificed his son on the altar of his justice. And because the blood of Jesus cries out for everyone who is in Christ, if you put your faith in him, then you have nothing to fear of the judgment of God. Because Jesus has satisfied the justice of God. And that’s the faith. That’s what we’re to believe in. That’s our hope. That’s the promise that the blood of Jesus cries out for not just mercy. He doesn’t cry. He cries out for justice.

He says, God, you cannot punish these people. The people have their faith in me because my blood has already been spilt for their sin. And if my blood has been spilled for their sin, then their sins have been paid for. And so our hope is in the promise of God and the blood shed of Jesus Christ. And that is our only hope. So ultimately, ultimately, it’s all about faith. Are you trusting in your works or are you trusting in the blood of Jesus? And the blood of Jesus is the only way we have the justice and the mercy of God together. Let’s pray.

Father, we do thank you for the hope that the gospel gives us. Lord, we confess that our natural tendency is to look at our works and to think that somehow we are earning your blessing. A natural tendency is to think that you owe us when we do good things. Lord, forgive us for this, forgive us for our unbelief.

And we pray that you would grant us the faith of Abel, the faith in the promise of the Son who would come, and the faith in the blood of Jesus that is crying out on our behalf, speaking a better word than the blood of Abel even now. And so, Lord, we put our faith in him. And so, Father, we pray that because of this you would grant us the grace of repentance, that rather than clinging to our righteousness, we would turn quickly from our sin and acknowledge your grace and mercy.

We pray that we would be a joyful people, a people that delight in your goodness, not a bitter and angry people. We pray that we be joyful because we know the promises are true and we know the hope of the future. So, Lord, grant us the mercy of believing your gospel deeply so that it give us repentance and give us joy. We pray this in Jesus Name, Amen.