Cain, Abel, and the Spread of Sin

Three Themes of the OT  The human race is sinful  Sin spoils a good creation  God will overcome sin

Sin Spreads  Genesis 4: Cain and Abel  Cain: A worker of the Ground  Abel: a keeper of the sheep  Cain offered the Lord what was left over from his crop, not the first of his crop  Abel offered the Firstfruit (the very first of his crop) to the LORD

Am I My Brother’s Keeper?  The LORD accepted Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s  Cain’s response is one of jealousy and Anger.  Cain driven by his anger killed Abel in the field.  Cain commits the first murder in the Bible.  Sin has corrupted the offspring of Adam.  God curses Cain with a mark and sends him out to the land of Nod

Sin continued corruption  Cain marries and has a child named Enoch.  Lamech would come from this line and he would also be guilty of murder  Adam and Eve have another son named Seth.  “At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord”  The Line of Seth ultimately leads to Christ

Table of Nations  Genesis 5  Table of Nations – The line of Noah and his sons  Enoch Walked with God and was not, for God took him  Methusaleh longest living man recorded in the Scriptures  Noah was born to Lamech  Lamech says that Noah is “out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands”

Genesis 6: Precursor to the Flood  Son’s of God and Daughters of Men  The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  Sin has corrupted the hearts of men from Genesis 3.  The LORD regretted he had made man.  What does that mean?  Does not meant that God changed his mind about creation but that he grieved over his creation which he called good is now filled with sin

But Noah…  God says that he is going to blot out man whom he has created alongside with animals and creeping things  This seems to point to a reversal of God’s creative work.  But God extends grace to Noah  Noah was still corrupted by sin  But Noah was given grace by God. He did not earn God’s favor, God gave him favor as a gift. This is a total act of grace.

The Response of God to Man’s Sinfulness  Noah is called a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God  Grace leads to new desires. Noah responded to God by walking with God. Grace always leads to obedience!  God tells Noah that he is going to end all flesh by the means of a flood  This is a test of Noah’s faith, because he has never seen rain before.

The Flood  God makes a covenant with Noah and his family.  The phrase that shows up summarizes Noah’s obedience “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him,” “And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him”  Noah gathers animals, two of every kind, to put in the ark.  He puts his family in the ark.

The Flood  Genesis 7 “On that day, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.  Scope of the Flood: it covered the earth. Genesis 7:19-20, “And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.”

The Flood  The rains lasted for 40 days and 40 nights or 150 days.  God makes a covenant with Noah.  The covenant God makes with Noah is the Noahic covenant. In it God promises to never flood the world again.  The seal of the covenant is a rainbow.