UNDER THE SUN:  PART ONE

GEN 4

INTRO.  GENESIS CHAPTER 4 IS SO COOL IN TERMS OF HOW IT FOLLOWS GENESIS CHAPTER 3.  GENESIS 3 ENDS WITH CURSE, PUNISHMENT BEING PRONOUNCED BECAUSE OF ADAM AND EVE'S SIN; AND HOPE, HOPE FOR SALVATION FROM CURSE AND PUNISHMENT BEING PUT FORTH.  THEN AT THE VERY END OF GENESIS 3, ADAM AND EVE ARE EXILED, KICKED OUT, BANISHED FROM THE PLACE THAT GOD HAD PROVIDED AS A HOME FOR THEM, THE GARDEN OF EDEN.

            THEN GENESIS 4 GIVES US AN OVERALL, BROAD PICTURE OF WHAT LIFE IS LIKE OUTSIDE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN.  SO IT IS A PICTURE OF WHAT LIFE IS LIKE FOR ALL OF US.  ALL OF US ARE BORN AND LIVE OUR LIVES ON THIS PLANET EXPERIENCING THE EFFECTS OF SIN - OUR OWN SIN AND THE SIN OF OTHERS.  AND WE LIVE IN, EXPERIENCE A SHADOW, A TASTE OF GOD'S PUNISHMENT AGAINST SIN.  BUT WE ALSO EXPERIENCE THE HOPE OF SALVATION - AND FOR SOME THE REALITY OF BEING SAVED BY JESUS AND SHADOWS OR TASTES OF THE BLESSINGS OF HEAVEN.  

            GENESIS 3 PRONOUNCES CURSE AGAINST ADAM AND EVE AND THE GROUND.  GENESIS 4 GIVES US A PICTURE OF WHAT THOSE CURSES FULFILLED LOOK LIKE.  I CALL THIS SERMON, "UNDER THE SUN."  I GET THAT TITLE FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES.  THE AUTHOR OF THAT BOOK USES, "UNDER THE SUN," TO REFER TO THIS CURSED REALITY WE LIVE OF WHICH GENESIS 4 IS A PICTURE.  OLD TESTAMENT SCHOLAR, JOHN SAILHAMER CALLS GENESIS 4, "LIFE IN EXILE," WHICH AGAIN, IS A GREAT DESCRIPTION OF WHAT GENESIS 4 IS ABOUT.  WE COULD ALSO CALL IT CURSE AND HOPE BECAUSE GENESIS 4 IS A PICTURE OF THE CURSES AND HOPE OF GENESIS 3 BEING PLAYED OUT. 

            WELL, WHAT DOES GENESIS 4 SHOW US?  SIX THINGS, ONE, PAIN IN BRINGING FORTH CHILDREN; TWO, FUTILITY; THREE, TRUST IN SELF OVER TRUST IN GOD; FOUR, THE MARRIAGE RELATIONSHIP; FIVE, CIVILIZATION; AND SIX, HOPE.  WE'LL LOOK AT THE FIRST THREE OF THOSE SIX TODAY.  AND NEXT WEEK, JONATHAN WILL PREACH.  SO WE'LL GO BACK TO THOSE LAST THREE THE FOLLOWING SUNDAY.   SO THE FIRST THREE AREAS AND WITH EACH ONE, I ALSO WANT TO POINT OUT HOW JESUS HEALS AND RESCUES IN EACH.  LET'S PRAY.     

            PART OF THE CURSE, GENESIS 3, VERSE 16, GOD SAID, "I WILL GREATLY MULTIPLY YOUR PAIN IN CHILDBIRTH, IN PAIN YOU WILL BRING FORTH CHILDREN."  LOOK AT THE PAIN IN GENESIS CHAPTER 4, IT IS HEARTBREAKING.  THE PAIN OF HAVING BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO YOUR CHILDREN WHOM YOU LOVE.  THE PAIN OF A CHILD DYING, ADAM AND EVE EXPERIENCE THE PAIN OF THEIR SON ABEL BEING MURDERED.  THE PAIN OF A CHILD GOING ASTRAY - ADAM AND EVE EXPERIENCE THE PAIN OF THEIR SON CAIN NOT BEING IN LINE WITH GOD'S WAYS, BASICALLY EMBRACING A FALSE RELIGION.  AND THE PAIN OF THEIR CHILD DOING WRONG, THEIR SON CAIN IS A MURDERER. 

            THIS IS WHERE WE ALL LIVE.  THE BIBLE TEACHES THAT CHILDREN ARE A BLESSING, A TREASURE AND WE BELIEVE THAT AT GRACE.  YET, YOU CANNOT BRING FORTH CHILDREN, RAISE CHILDREN WITHOUT PAIN.  IT IS SCARY.

            DEATH, WE CANNOT ESCAPE IT.  IT IS ALL AROUND US.  GOD TOLD ADAM AND EVE THAT IF THEY SINNED THEY WOULD SURELY DIE.  THEY SINNED, NOW THERE IS DEATH.  THEY WERE KICKED OUT OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN AND THUS LOST ACCESS TO THE TREE OF LIFE.  AND THIS IS WHERE WE LIVE.  WE ARE NOT EATING FROM THE FRUIT OF THE TREE OF LIFE.  WE ARE DYING.   

HOW DOES JESUS HEAL AND DELIVER US FROM DEATH AND PAIN?  THREE WAYS.  ONE, IF HE IS YOUR SAVIOR, IF YOU ARE COUNTING ON HIM ALONE TO RESCUE YOU FROM SIN AND THE RESULTS OF SIN, THEN, NO MATTER WHAT YOU GO THROUGH ON THIS PLANET, HE IS WITH YOU.  HE IS WITH YOU TO CARRY YOU.  DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 1, VERSE 31, "AND IN THE WILDERNESS," THE WILDERNESS, THE WILDNERNESS IS NOT THE GARDEN.  THE WILDERNESS IS THE PLACE OF PAIN AND SUFFERING AND CURSE.  "IN THE WILDERNESS WHERE YOU SAW HOW THE LORD YOUR GOD CARRIED YOU, JUST AS A MAN CARRIES HIS SON..." 

A SECOND WAY JESUS HEALS AND DELIVERS US FROM THE CURSE OF SUFFERING, IF JESUS HAS SAVED YOU, THEN HE HAS CAUSED YOU TO BEGIN TO REALIZE HOW PRECIOUS JESUS IS.  SO YOU ARE BEGINNING TO SEE THAT JESUS IS YOUR MOST PRECIOUS TREASURE.  PHLIPPIANS CHAPTER 3, VERSE 8, "MORE THAN THAT, I COUNT ALL THINGS TO BE LOSS IN VIEW OF THE SURPASSING VALUE OF KNOWING CHRIST JESUS MY LORD, FOR WHOM I HAVE SUFFERED THE LOSS OF ALL THINGS, AND COUNT THEM BUT RUBBISH SO THAT I MAY GAIN CHRIST." 

CAN YOU SEE WHAT THIS DOES TO OUR EXPERIENCE OF SUFFERING?  IF JESUS IS MY MOST PRECIOUS TREASURE - IF I REALLY BELIEVE THAT AND FEEL THAT AND KNOW THAT, NO MATTER WHAT, I'LL NEVER LOSE MY GREATEST DELIGHT, MY GREATEST SOURCE OF LIFE AND JOY AND LOVE AND PEACE. 

A THIRD WAY JESUS HEALS, JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD.  HE CONQUERED DEATH.  HE CONQUERED SIN.  SO IF YOU ARE COUNTING ON JESUS TO RESCUE YOU FROM YOUR SIN AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR SIN, SIN AND DEATH AND PAIN WILL NOT ULTIMATELY TRIUMPH OVER YOU.  JESUS WILL.  AND THE DAY WILL COME WHEN PAIN IS GONE FOREVER.  REVELATION CHAPTER 21, VERSE 4, "AND HE WILL WIPE AWAY EVERY TEAR FROM THEIR EYES; AND THERE WILL NO LONGER BE ANY DEATH; THERE WILL NO LONGER BE ANY MOURNING, OR CRYING, OR PAIN..."

            BACK TO GENESIS 4, SECOND ASPECT OF CURSE BEING PLAYED OUT, FUTILITY.  GENESIS 3, STARTING HALF WAY THROUGH VERSE 17, "...'CURSED IS THE GROUND BECAUSE OF YOU; IN TOIL YOU WILL EAT OF IT ALL THE DAYS OF YOUR LIFE.  BOTH THORNS AND THISTLES IT SHALL GROW FOR YOU...'"  VERSE 19, "'BY THE SWEAT OF YOUR FACE YOU WILL EAT BREAD...'"

            CAIN AND ABEL FLESH THIS OUT, THEY EAT BY THE SWEAT OF THEIR FACE AS THEY WORK THE GROUND GROWING CROPS AND HERDING FLOCKS.  GENESIS 3:17 ALSO MENTIONED THORNS AND THISTLES WHICH I TAKE TO STAND FOR FUTILITY, WASTE.  WE WORK HARD AND YET WE GET THORNS AND THISTLES. 

            IN THIS CURSED, SIN RUINED WORLD, BAD THINGS CAN HAPPEN TO YOU, YOU CAN GET THORNS AND THISTLES, EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE DOING WHAT IS RIGHT.  ABEL DOES GOOD, GOD HAS REGARD FOR ABEL AND FOR HIS OFFERING.  BUT, HE ENDS UP DEAD, MURDERED. 

            OH, THE OLD TESTAMENTS BOOKS OF PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES AND JOB SO EXCELLENTLY DEVELOP THIS PHENOMENA.  GENERALLY, IF YOU FOLLOW THE PATH OF WISDOM, YOU GET GOOD RESULTS.  THAT IS THE BOOK OF PROVERBS, THAT'S WHAT PROVERBS TEACHES.  BUT ECCLESIASTES AND JOB ADD TO THE TEACHING OF PROVERBS BY POINTING OUT THAT UNDER THE SUN, IN THIS CURSED REALITY - EVEN THOUGH THINGS WORK OUT RIGHT IN THE END, YOU MAY HAVE TERRIBLE THINGS HAPPEN TO YOU EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE ON THE PATH OF WISDOM. 

            SO EVEN THOSE ON THE PATH OF WISDOM EXPERIENCE AND SUFFER FROM THE FUTILITY, THE THORNS AND THISTLES OF A CURSED REALITY.  ON THE SURFACE, IT LOOKS LIKE ABEL'S GOODNESS IS IN VAIN.  IT IS NOT, BUT IT APPEARS TO BE VAIN, ABEL ENDS UP DEAD.  THE BOOKS OF ECCLESIATES AND JOB PLAY ON THIS THEME, DEVELOP THIS THEME. 

            ECCLESIASTES 1, STARTING AT VERSE 2, "'VANITY OF VANITIES,' SAYS THE PREACHER, ‘VANITY OF VANITIES!  ALL IS VANITY.'  WHAT ADVANTAGE DOES MAN HAVE IN ALL HIS WORK WHICH HE DOES UNDER THE SUN?  A GENERATION GOES AND A GENERATION COMES...'"  GENESIS 4:18, "NOW TO ENOCH WAS BORN IRAD, AND IRAD BECAME THE FATHER OF MEHUJAEL, AND MEHUGAEL BECAME THE FATHER OF METHUSHAEL, AND METHUSHAEL BECAME THE FATHER OF LAMECH."

            A GENERATION GOES AND A GENERATION COMES - LIFE UNDER THE SUN, LIFE IN EXILE, GENERATIONS, GENESIS 4 IS TEACHING US THAT.  AND YOU AND YOUR WORK IS FORGOTTEN.  DO YOU EVEN KNOW YOUR GREAT, GREAT, GREAT, GREAT, GREAT GRANDFATHER'S NAME?  FORGOTTEN, VAIN, FUTILITY.  NOW, GET THIS, ABEL, A PICTURE OF SEEMING FUTILITY IN GENESIS 4.  ABEL IS THE HEBREW WORD FOR VANITY.  ECCLESIASTES 1, VERSE 2 WHERE IT SAYS, "VANITY OF VANITIES, ALL IS VANITY."  IF I'M READING IN HEBREW, I READ, "ABEL OF ABELIM, ALL IS ABEL."  LIFE UNDER THE SUN, AS ECCLESIASTES CALLS IT.  LIFE IN EXILE, ECCLESIASTES TIES SO WELL IN GENESIS 3 AND 4. 

            HOW DOES JESUS HEAL AND RESCUE THOSE WHO TRUST HIM FROM FUTILITY?  1 CORINTHIANS 15, VERSE 58, "THEREFORE, MY BELOVED BRETHREN, BE STEADFAST, IMMOVABLE, ALWAYS ABOUNDING IN THE WORK OF THE LORD, KNOWING THAT YOUR TOIL IS NOT IN VAIN IN THE LORD."  AND, IF YOU ARE COUNTING ON JESUS TO DELIVER YOU, HE GIVES YOU HIS SPIRIT WHO CHANGES YOUR HEART GIVING YOU THE ABILITY TO ABOUND IN THE WORK OF THE LORD.

            ITEM THREE WE SEE IN GENESIS 4 CONCERING LIFE UNDER THE SUN, LIFE IN EXILE, WE SEE TRUST IN SELF OVER TRUST IN GOD.  AND THIS IS PERVASIVE ON THIS PLANET.  EVERYBODY SUFFERS FROM THIS, TENDS IN THIS DIRECTION.  IN GENESIS 4, WE SEE TRUST IN SELF OVER TRUST IN GOD IN CAIN AND IN EVE.  HOW SO?

            CAIN, VERSE 5, CAIN'S ANGER REVEALS HIS HEART, REVEALS WHO HE WAS REALLY TRUSTING IN.  HE WAS TRUSTING IN HIMSELF, HIS WAY, NOT GOD AND GOD'S WAY.  WHEN GOD HAD NO REGRAD FOR CAIN'S OFFERING, IF CAIN BELIEVED IN GOD, TRUSTED GOD, TRUSTED GOD'S WISDOM, INSTEAD OF GETTING ANGRY, CAIN WOULD HAVE SAID, "LORD SHOW ME.  HELP ME.  CORRECT ME.  WHAT OFFERING WOULD YOU HAVE REGARD FOR?"     

            CAIN'S ANGER EXPRESSES HIS TRUST IN HIMSELF.  "I TRUST IN THE WAY I SEE THINGS.  I TRUST IN THE WISDOM AND VALUE OF WHAT I DECIDED TO OFFER.  HOW DARE YOU SAY WHAT I'M OFFERING ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH."

            EVE, NOTE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT EVE SAYS IN THE BEGINNING OF THE CHAPTER VERSES WHAT SHE SAYS AT THE END.  THE BEGINNING, VERSE 1, "...SHE SAID, ‘I HAVE GOTTEN A MANCHILD WITH THE HELP OF THE LORD."  BUT THEN VERSE 25, "...SHE SAID, ‘GOD HAS APPOINTED ME ANOTHER OFFSPRING...'"  I HAVE GOTTEN A MANCHILD VERSUS GOD HAS APPOINTED ME ANOTHER OFFSPRING.

            BACK TO VERSE 1, LITERALLY, IN HEBREW, THE LANGUAGE THE OLD TESTAMENT WAS WRITTEN IN, EVE SAYS, "I HAVE GOTTEN A MAN, THE LORD."  THAT IS WHAT IS WRITTEN.  THERE IS DEBATE AS TO WHAT THAT MEANS, WHAT MOSES MEANT IN WRITING IT THAT WAY.  TWO THINGS TO POINT OUT.  ONE, THERE IS A WOMAN IN THE BIBLE WHO CAN LITERALLY SAY, "I HAVE GOTTEN A MAN, THE LORD."  WHO IS THAT?  MARY. 

BACK IN GENESIS 3, VERSE 15, GOD PROMISES THAT AN OFFSPRING, A SEED WOULD BE BORN TO THE WOMAN WHO WOULD CONQUER THE EVIL ONE.  THEN HERE IS GENESIS 4, VERSE 1, THE WOMAN, EVE, SAYS, "I HAVE GOTTEN A MAN, THE LORD."  IS THIS THE SEED PROMISED IN GENESIS 3:15?  WE KEEP READING AND REALIZE, NO IT IS NOT.  FOR ABEL DOES NOT CONQUER THE EVIL ONE.  HE GETS MURDERED. 

SO WE KEEP READING.  NOT UNTIL WE GET TO THE FIRST BOOK OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, MATTHEW DO WE FINALLY READ OF THE SEED, THE ONE BORN OF A WOMAN, WHO FULFILLS THE PROPHECY OF GENESIS 3:15.  THAT SEED IS JESUS.  JESUS WHO IS UNIQUE.  HE IS AN UNCREATED BEING.  HE IS BORN OF A VIRGIN, CONCEIVED OF BY GOD'S SPIRIT, THE HOLY SPIRIT.  JESUS WHO IS A DISTINCT PERSON FROM GOD THE FATHER, BUT WHO IS VERY GOD OF GOD.  SO JESUS IS GOD.  THE FATHER IS GOD.  THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD.  EACH ARE THREE DISTINCT PERSONS.  YET THERE ARE NOT THREE GODS.  FOR GOD IS ONE, THERE IS ONE GOD.  GOD EXISTS IN A WAY BEYOND OUR ABILITY TO COMPREHEND.

BACK TO THE POINT, MARY IS THE REALITY OF WHICH GENESIS 4:1 IS A SHADOW.  MARY CAN LITERALLY SAY, "I HAVE GOTTEN A MAN, THE LORD."

SECOND POINT, BACK TO GENESIS 4, THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN, "I HAVE GOTTEN A MAN," VERSUS, "GOD HAS APPOINTED ME AN OFFSPRING."  JOHN SAILHAMER POINTS OUT THAT THROUGHOUT GENESIS THERE IS THIS CONTRAST BETWEEN PEOPLE TRYING TO FULFILL GOD'S PROMISES VERSUS GOD FULFILLING GOD'S PROMISES.  PRIDE, "I CAN DO IT," VERSUS HUMILITY, "I HAVE TO TRUST THE LORD TO DO IT." 

AND THIS IS WHERE WE ALL LIVE.  ARE WE ULTIMATELY COUNTING ON OUR EFFORT AS THAT WHICH WILL WIN THE DAY, GET US TO HEAVEN?  OR ARE WE COUNTING ON GOD?

HOW DOES JESUS HEAL THIS, CHANGE THIS?  JESUS CALLS ON US TO COME TO HIM, TO COUNT ON HIM, TO TRUST, TO BELIEVE IN HIM.  AND JESUS IS THE ONE WHO CAN CHANGE OUR HEARTS SO THAT WE DO COME TO HIM, COUNT ON HIM, BELIEVE IN HIM.  ASK JESUS TO GIVE YOU A TRUSTING IN HIM HEART, AND KEEP ASKING HIM, COUNTING ON HIM.