How Can Two Sons with Two Offerings and One Brutal Murder Transform Us?
Two sons. Two offerings. And one brutal murder.
Genesis 4 opened with excitement: the birth of Adam and Eve’s first son, Cain. The birth of their second son, Abel, brought even more joy.
But then Cain’s sin dragged the family into disaster and heartbreak.
When Cain brought an offering to God, he did what was right in his own eyes; not what was right in God’s eyes.
He could’ve brought the right offering, but he chose to come to God the way he wanted—the wrong way—and expected God to be okay with it.
God rejected Cain and his offering, but He accepted Abel and his offering. (Abel came to God the right way.)
Tragedy struck the first family twice that day.
Adam and Eve lost both of their sons when Cain, in a rage of jealousy, killed Abel and then left the presence of God and settled away from his family in the land of Nod.
This ancient and heartbreaking story contains many important Truths that will transform us today if we’ll believe and act on them.
Transformation Question:
If we believe and act on what God has revealed in Genesis 4, how our hearts be changed and our lives be different tomorrow?
I’ve listed out 12 Truths from Genesis 4 that will transform us if we believe and act on them.
This list isn’t exhaustive. God gave us more transformational Truths than just these.
I wove a few others into the 12 I listed. I mentioned others in my video in Part 1. And no doubt there are still others I haven’t even realized yet. God is still teaching me.
God’s Word is too deep for this simple brain to be able to grasp it all. But what He’s allowed me to understand is enough to transform me forever—if I believe and act on it.
Belief and action are the key.
Cain knew Truth, but he rejected it. He chose to create his own truth, which wasn’t truth at all. It was a lie dressed as truth that led to destruction.
Let’s get to it now and consider: 12 Truths That Transform Us from Cain and Abel:
1. Sin Desires to Rule and Dominate Us
The life of Cain is a clear picture that sin desires to rule and dominate us. But if we believe and act on this Truth, we won’t let it destroy us.
When (not if) even the smallest temptation comes after us, we’ll flee it as if it were an out of control pit bull on our heels.
God has promised to provide a way out of every temptation, so we’ll look for it and take it. Every time.
2. Sin Quickly Increases in Evil and Is Never Satisfied
We won’t be naïve to the way sin starts out small but always increases in evil if left unchecked. And we’ll remember that sin is never satisfied, so we won’t dare dabble in it.
We’ll see sin for what it is—sin consumes and destroys—so we’ll steer clear of it before it consumes us and destroys our lives and our loved ones.
We won’t be naïve to the fact that sin works fast. We’ll flee it into the Light of God’s Word.
3. God’s Truth Defeats and Exposes the lies of Sin and Satan.
Scripture will rule our minds rather than sin’s lies because we know God’s Truth defeats and exposes the lies of sin and Satan.
Even though we won’t be naïve to the dangers of sin, we won’t worry and fret over sin’s power and consequences because we know there’s no sin or evil stronger than our God.
4. We’re not God, so Run! But Don’t Hide
As we remember God’s great power, we’ll also remember this most important Truth: We’re not God!
Therefore, we won’t risk giving sin a chance to dominate us and rule our lives.
We’ll run from sin. But we won’t hide our sin because hiding it allows it to grow.
Sin slides into our lives through our thoughts and attitudes as easily as it did with Cain, so we’ll immediately confess any thoughts, attitudes, or actions that oppose God’s Truth.
We’ll embrace and stand firm in the Truth.
To help protect us against succumbing to sin, we’ll ask friends and family to hold us accountable.
Cain’s lessons on sin’s destructive power will warn and inform us about sin, such as:
5. Mankind Loves Their Sin
Mankind loves their sin. Apart from the grace of God working in our hearts, we’ll cling to our sin and pride.
We want to do what is right in our own eyes, exalt ourselves above God, and decide for ourselves how we can come to God. And choose for ourselves how we’ll live our lives—the lives God gave us.
6. God Is Able to Humble Us
Instead of buying the lie that Cain bought, we’ll bow. We’ll humble ourselves before God and bow to Him before He has to humble us.
God humbled Cain and He’ll humble all who are opposed to Him—as well as those opposed to His children.
7. God is Sovereign and Works for Our Good
When someone sins against us or our loved ones, or we see evil in the world, we’ll remember that our Sovereign God is always in complete control.
If He allows evil to touch us, our loved ones, or our world, we’ll rest assured that it’s because God causes evil to work for our good and to display facets of His glory.
We will not despair.
We’ll keep our eyes on Him. And trust and pray.
We won’t seek vengeance because we know vengeance belongs to God.
We won’t demand our rights—or an apology. Instead, we’ll forgive as God has forgiven us.
And oh my, how much God have forgiven us!
8. God is Everything We Need for Every Moment
Because we know God cares for us, we’ll trust Him with any and all consequences others’ sin may have on us. (Or the consequences our own sin has on us!)
We’ll rest in His power to provide everything we need for every moment.
We’ll pray daily for God to search us and know our hearts. To test us and know our anxious thoughts. And to see if there be any offensive way in us, and to lead us in the everlasting way (Ps. 139:23-24).
9. God Shows Amazing Grace, But One Day God Will Judge All Sin
We’ll faithfully pray for our enemies because we won’t forget that one day God will judge all sin. Every sinner.
God shows tremendous grace to the world and lets even evil people enjoy worldly success. But one day, we’ll all stand before the judgment seat of God, and all those who’ve not truly surrendered to Christ will endure much worse than anything our enemies could ever do to us.
10. God Keeps Our Soul Forever if We Belong to Him
The world may be able to kill our body, but they can’t touch our soul.
So, we’ll pray for the soul of our enemies. And for the salvation of all those we love.
And if we’re still God’s enemy, we’ll turn from our sin and come to Jesus by faith.
As we bow and surrender fully to Him as our only Lord and Savior, Christ will transform us by His Word and Holy Spirit at work in us.
11. We’ll Never Truly Know and Love the God of the Word Apart from the Word of God.
We’ll study God’s Word to know Him better and learn what pleases Him.
What does God love? What does He hate?
We’ll come to His Word every day because we’ll never truly know and love the God of the Word apart from the Word of God.
When we earnestly seek Him through His Word, we’ll find Him and rejoice in Him, the God of our salvation. It’s the best investment of our time each day.
12. God is Ours and We are His, so Smile at the Future
God is ours and we are His, and nothing can ever change that. So we’ll smile at the future no matter what.
We’ll live our lives as one big thank you note for God’s mercy, grace, forgiveness, and love.
No power in heaven or earth can ever separate us from the LORD our God (Romans 8:38-39).
AMEN!
May Genesis 4 Warn You but also Transform You
I hope as you study Genesis 4 for yourself that you will be warned by the sins of Cain but also transformed by the grace, mercy, and faithfulness of God.
Next, we’ll dive into Genesis 5 and see more of God’s faithfulness and amazing power.
And we’ll see that everyone dies—or do they? (Hmmmm.)
Until then, remember:
We’ll never truly know and love the God of the Word apart from the Word of God.
It’s all about Him!
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