What happened to the creation of God part 4
Genesis 3:15 Then Yahweh God took the man and [n]set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Genesis 3:14 And Yahweh God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than any of the cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life;
Genesis 3:17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In pain you will eat of it All the days of your life.
Because of their disobedience, God placed a curse on His creation. What is that curse? We will get into the details in a moment, but you can really sum up the curse with one word; death. We will describe what that means in a moment, but the curse really simply meant death.
I want to walk you through everything that died after Adam and Eve sinned. Here is the short list; the death of innocence, the death of love, the death of productivity, the death of the body, the death of our spirit. But lest you get to discouraged. Even in the pronouncement of the curse of death, God promised a blessing. And that is what we will close with.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death,
Romans 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses,
I. Death of innocence
9 Yahweh God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
II. The death of love.
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 And the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave to me from the tree, and I ate.”
16 To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain and [f]conception, In pain you will [g]bear children; Your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.”
III. The death of productivity.
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In [h]pain you will eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the [i]plants of the field; 19 By the sweat of your [j]face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
IV. The death of the physical body.
16 And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Their physical bodies began to die on that day. Before the fall, Adam and Eve were given the privilege of walking in the very presence of God. And God’s presence sustained them in the Garden.
God preserved them. And God was doing that in that world before the fall. He still preserves the earth to a degree.
Hebrews 1:3 3 who is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and [d]upholds all things by the word of His power; who, having accomplished cleansing for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Colossians 1:17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
But in a very special way, mankind, and the earth, in the Garden of Eden enjoyed the immediate presence of God and His life-giving power.
But, when man and woman chose sin and Satan, part of the curse was their being banished from the Garden, and more importantly from God’s presence. And out of God’s presence, they begin to die. Their bodies are about as perfect as they can be, but they are still subject to death.
What else did the curse of death bring?
V. The death of the spirit.
22 Then Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us [l]to know good and evil; and now, lest he send forth his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever”— 23 therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to [m]cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to [n]guard the way to the tree of life.
The worst death, and the immediate death was the death of man’s spirit. His spiritual nature. When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, they experienced a separation from God, a loss of relationship due to their sin.
Romans 5:12 12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.
The Bible teaches that from the time of Adams sin throughout all history, we have all been born being “dead in our trespasses and sins.” Ephesians 2:1
Ephesians 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
Romans 4:17 as it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”—in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.
We are spiritually blind men walking the earth.
2 Corinthians 4:4 in whose case the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
We were separated from God’s presence by sin. Adam and Eve, from then on were incapable of having spiritual communion with God, because their spirits were dead. They died on the day they ate of that tree. And we inherited that genetic spiritual deadness from them.
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Madame Chiang Kai-shek once told the story of a young Buddhist monk who sat outside his temple two thousand years ago, hands clasped in prayer. He looked very pious and he chanted 'Amita Buddha' all day. Day after day he intoned these words, believing that he was acquiring grace. One day the head priest of the temple sat next to him and began rubbing a piece of brick against a stone. Day after day he rubbed one against the other. This went on week after week until the young monk could no longer contain his curiosity, and he finally blurted out, "Father, what are you doing?" "I'm trying to make a mirror," said the head priest. "But that's impossible!" said the young monk. "You can't make a mirror from brick." "True," replied the head priest. "And it is just as impossible for you to acquire grace by doing nothing except chant 'Amita Buddha' all day long."
Bits & Pieces, April 1990, p. 12.
This is where the previous message ends, and the present message begins.
Reaction to the action of sin.
A. Shadows of things to come
1. Curse of the serpent
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall [e]bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
Isn’t God good! Even on the very day when Adam and Eve sinned, God’s got a plan to save them. I said last time that this is called the protoevangelium; “The First Gospel.” Gospel means “Good News.” God hadn’t even pronounced the curse on Adam and Eve before He promises a Savior.
15 And I will put enmity; hate, And between your seed and her seed;
Enmity can be essentially described as inherent opposition or strife between two entities. As defined by vocabulary.com,
Enmity means intense hostility and comes from the same Latin root as enemy, and means the state of being an enemy. If you have always hated someone, you have a history of enmity with that person. Enmity is stronger than antagonism or animosity, which implies competitive feeling but doesn't go all the way to enemy status. Hopefully, you are a peacemaker and don't experience too much enmity in your life.
As defined by Dictionary.com:
Enmity is a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred; ill will; animosity; antagonism.
Easton's Bible Dictionary defines "enmity" as deep-rooted hatred.
Between you and the woman; This is far more than “women hate snakes.” This is mankind’s perpetual battle against the evil one; Satan. You know, Satan is portrayed in a number of ways in our society. He is either portrayed as non-existent, or as a caricature or cartoon, or as an evil force that we can tap into if we are willing to go to the dark side.
To many is non-existent, or he is a joke. So, he has no real power in these people’s minds. But far more dangerous than that is the idea that we can somehow tap into his evil power. In this description of him, he is considered to be someone who wants to help us. But he will use dark means to do it.
People will “make a deal with the devil.” He will make them rich or famous.
Let me divest you of the notion that Satan wants to help you in any way. This passage of Scripture says;
Luke 22:31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat;
1 John 3:12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.
Revelation 12: 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole [d]world.
Revelation 12:13-17 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.
This curse describes the perpetual battle between Satan and mankind. Satan, if he had the authority and power to do so, would destroy all of humanity, today. And that was the state of things when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden, and that state continues through the Biblical narrative.
But Satan only has authority to do what God allows. So, short of destroying us, He tempts us to do evil to each other, to abandon and disobey God’s law, to descend into every kind of abhorrent and perverse lifestyle. If he can’t destroy us, maybe he can drive us to such sin that God will destroy us.
That’s the hatred between the woman and the serpent. But it also says that there will be hatred between her seed and the seed of Satan. This is a very curious phrase. The word “seed” here is just a way of saying “offspring.” A plant produces seeds, that then grow to plants that produce more seeds. In general, the serpents seed are all those born of evil; Satan’s offspring.
Jesus was speaking to the scribes and Pharisees and said this,
John 8: 44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks [n]a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of [o]lies.
But notice that God narrows the seed of the Serpent, and the seed of woman to singulars.
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall [e]bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
So, though this curse does refer to a general animosity between the offspring of Satan, and the offspring of the woman, it narrows it down to one final battle between One offspring of the woman, and the evil one himself.
Galatians 3: 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.
19 Why the Law then? It was added [x]because of trespasses, having been ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.
He shall [e]bruise you on the head,
When Christ comes, He comes to strike Satan in the head. Striking on the head indicates that the blow is against the central nerve center. It is higher on the body and represents the higher functions. This is the most important part of the person. It encompasses both the physical and mental life of the person. Jesus came to destroy Satan’s destructive work that began in the Garden of Eden.
1 John 3:8 The Son of God was manifested for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
Satan, when Christ comes, will strike His heal. Striking on the heal indicates that the blow is against a lower, basic function of the body. It is lower on the body and represents the lower functions. This is one of the less important parts of the person. Satan attempts to destroy Jesus, but will be unsuccessful.
Isaiah 53:4-6 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
2. The shadow
20 Now the man called his wife’s name [k]Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. 21 Then Yahweh God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.
God made clothing for Adam and Eve. Why did He make clothing? They had already made themselves clothing. Remember, they sewed fig leaves together. Why did He do this?
a. Their clothing was temporary.
How long will fig leaves last as clothing? And an even better question, “how did they sew them together? Together those questions reveal a truth. The clothing, the covering of their shame, they accomplished with a temporary fix. Their temporary covering is an analogy for how people try to take care of the problem of sin. They create temporary fixes. They create religion.
Isaiah 64:6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, carry us away.
b. They made their clothing.
The clothing provided by God was made by God.
Isaiah 61:10 - I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
c. Their clothing shed no blood.Hebrews 9:21-22 And in the same way, both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry he sprinkled with the blood.22 And according to the [a]Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
B. Cast out of the Garden
22 Then Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us [l]to know good and evil; and now, lest he send forth his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever”— 23 therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to [m]cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to [n]guard the way to the tree of life.
We went down a pathway in order to answer the question; What happened to God’s creation; the Garden, the Law, the Serpent, the Fall, and the Curse. And that told us a lot about why we are in the world as it is. But the next part of the story really describes where we are now.
The Aftermath
The Sin nature is passed on to the next generations. The curses are in effect. We have three choices; Come to God on His terms, come to God against His terms, Run from God. The natural consequences of sin add to the effect of the curse.
A. The Sin nature is passed on to the next generations.
B. The curses are in effect.
C. We have three choices;
i. Come to God on His terms,
ii. come to God against His terms,
iii. Run from God.
When we go to a doctor, we usually do so because something is wrong. We have some symptom or other that we want to go away. We have some pain or discomfort. Our ability to live life is encumbered in some way. So, we say to the doctor; “what’s wrong with me?” and “How can you fix it?” And sometimes the doctor has a fix. Often it is a prescription. “Take this pill and it will cure you, or alleviate your symptoms, or keep you alive.” At that point, we have three choice; we can choose to follow the doctor’s directions. We believe what he says, and do what he says. Or, we can choose to follow our own path to healing. We may think, “I’ve heard that watermelon will cure my ills.” Or we can walk away and deny that we even need a cure. “I’m not really sick.” “This will go away.” Or even “I won’t die.”
4 Now the man [a]knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and [b]gave birth to [c]Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a [d]man with the help of Yahweh.” 2 And again, she [e]gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a cultivator of the ground. 3 So it happened [f]in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his part, also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And Yahweh had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 Then Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, [g]will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is lying at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” 8 Then Cain [h]spoke to Abel his brother; and it happened when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
Now let me point out a couple of things. First, the curse of childbirth is still in effect.
Now the man [a]knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and [b]gave birth to [c]Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a [d]man with the help of Yahweh.” 2 And again, she [e]gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now, Eve never got to experience what child-bearing would have been like before the curse. But here she experiences it after the curse. And it comes with all the pain and difficulty, although she would be in great physical condition because she has not endured generations of the compounded curse. Now there’s an interesting phrasing in Hebrew that leaves open the possibility that Cain and Abel were twins. The phrase goes, “Adam knew his wife and she conceived and bore Cain….” Now skip down, “and she bore again his brother.” It doesn’t say that she conceived again. It doesn’t say that Adam knew his wife again, and she conceived and bore Abel. It simply says that she conceived and bore Cain, and bore Abel. Now that’s not positive proof that they were twins, but it is a strong possibility. So, the pain that she experienced in this child-bearing would be double her first time having children.
Also, the curse of work is still in effect. Immediately after it tells us about the birth of Cain and Abel, it says,
“Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a cultivator of the ground.” We don’t know anything about their childhood, it just tells us immediately that they went to work. But maybe that is their childhood. Adam and Eve had to work to provide, so it would be natural that their children would be brought along with them to the work, and that as soon as they were able, they to start working alongside their parents. And eventually Cain gravitated to working the earth, and Abel gravitated to keeping the flock.
But let me tell you something that is new in the world at this time. Now, humankind has to make a choice. Every human being has to make a choice. When they were in the Garden the choice was between obeying God and not eating the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or disobeying God and eating it. Now mankind has three choices. Mankind is alienated from God. And it appears that God has provided some way to continue in some level of relationship with Him. Look at what it says;
3 So it happened [f]in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his part, also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.
They bring offerings to God. In order for that to happen there has to have been a relationship plan in place. Maybe, and this is just conjecture, God had them build an altar for burnt sacrifices outside the east of the Garden of Eden. God had stationed two cherubim angels there to guard the entrance. That picture is reminiscent of the images of cherubim whose wings stretched over the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies later in God’s temple. So, I don’t believe that it is a stretch to believe that God began a crude form of sacrificial worship here outside the Garden of Eden. So, what are the three choices that mankind has in this cursed world? They can come to God on God’s terms. They can try to come to God on their own terms. Or the third choice is to run away from God. And we see all three illustrated in the lives of Cain and Abel. Let’s look first at Abel. He is the illustration of coming to God on God’s terms.
3 So it happened [f]in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his part, also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And Yahweh had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard.
God accepted Abel’s offering and did not accept Cain’s. Why did God accept Abel’s offering. It doesn’t say. But we have to believe that God laid out some ground rules for the offerings that they were to bring. Why do we have to believe that? Because of all that we know from Scripture about God. God is not capricious, or arbitrary when it comes to His approval or disapproval. He doesn’t just approve or disapprove of your actions because He’s in a bad mood.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not establish it?
Deuteronomy 1:17 You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not fear man, for the judgment is God’s.
So why did God accept Abel’s offering? Well, I think there are two reasons that Abel’s offering was accepted and Cain’s was rejected. Abel came to God on God’s terms. First, Abel’s offering was a sacrificial blood offering. He brought of his flock. Later, when God instituted the sacrificial system in Israel, an animal would be brought to the altar in front of the temple, it’s throat would be cut and its blood collected, the blood would then be taken into the holiest of holies in the temple and sprinkled on the mercy seat. This was a picture of the redemption for sin. Sin can only be atoned for with the giving of a life. Abel brought what God required. Second, Abel didn’t just bring any lamb, he brought “the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.” He brought of the firstlings of his flock. The word for firstborn here is plural. “of the firstlings.” God would later command Israel that the first born of all flocks and herds was to be sacrificed or redeemed in the temple. Giving the first born was a way of putting God first, and putting trust in God that there would be a second born. And he brought “of their fat portions.” So, he chose the fattest of the firstlings. He is giving the first and best to God. And both of these together, I believe, were in obedience to a form that God gave of remaining in a relationship with Him.
So, why was Cain’s offering rejected? First, Cain did not bring a blood offering. He brought,“of the fruit of the ground” for an offering. It was not a blood sacrifice. It was a grain, fruit or vegetable sacrifice. Now, to be fair, God also would later prescribe these kinds of offerings as well. But, I believe that that was not what God had commanded here. Why? Because the story we are reading now, comes immediately on the heals of another story. The story of Adam and Eve’s sin, and curse, and God killing an animal to give them clothes, and casting them out of the Garden. They are a people in need of redemption. This is the perfect place to begin showing how that redemption will take place; through a blood sacrifice. Why else was Cain’s offering rejected? Because he just gave some fruit. Abel gave of the first and fattest of his flock. Cain gave some fruit. It almost gives the impression that he remembered that a ritual sacrifice was coming and that he haphazardly gathered whatever was at hand, went and tossed it on the altar. Which those two things together, what he brought and the quality he brought were in disobedience to what God commanded.
What did God say?
4 Abel, on his part, also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And Yahweh had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 Then Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, [g]will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is lying at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
Note something; God reprimands Cain as though he should have known that his offering would not be accepted.
This is the cursed world we live in now. We are born with a sinful nature, we live out of fellowship with God. And we have a choice. God’s terms, our terms, no terms. What does coming to God on our terms look like? It looks like Cain. We feel an inner spiritual pull. We have a desire for something bigger than we are. We want meaning. We want to believe that there is life and purpose beyond the grave. So we go and gather from here and there some random thoughts and make that our life purpose. We add to that our own fruit, our own deeds, our own list of rules. And we build a system where we can lift ourselves up to God, or nirvana, or eternity, by our own bootstraps. That is every religion in the world. Every life philosophy that seeks meaning out side of God’s prescribed plan is the way of Cain; man’s thoughts, philosophies, ideas, and good works.
We can choose that way; most do.
Matthew 7:13-14 13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
We can choose to try and get to God on our own terms, or we can get to God on His terms. His terms are a blood sacrifice of the best. But we are not like Abel in that we search our own flock and sacrifice it to God. Abel, and all sacrifices after him were on a picture of the final sacrifice that God requires. Hebrews 9:12-14 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy places once for all, [a]having obtained eternal redemption.13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the [b]cleansing of the flesh,14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through [c]the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse [d]your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Now I told you that in the world we live in we have three choices; follow God’s prescription, write our own prescription, or refuse the medicine. Run away from God. Cain also illustrates that choice.
5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 Then Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, [g]will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is lying at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” 8 Then Cain [h]spoke to Abel his brother; and it happened when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
Cain was so angry that his offering was rejected by God, and that Abel’s was accepted that he killed his brother. But his anger is really toward God. There is some real irony here. How did Cain kill Abel? The only killing he had likely seen was when an animal was slaughtered. When that happens the throat is slit and blood let out. God did not accept Cain’s offering because it wasn’t a blood sacrifice, now Cain sheds his brother’s blood. His first step away from God was to reject God’s prescription. This is his second step away. His third step away is denying his sin. God confronts him.
9 Then Yahweh said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to Me from the ground. 11 And now, cursed are you from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.”
Make note of this; we’ve been answering the question, “What happened to God’s creation?” We want to know why our world is so messed up. We learned about the curse of our sin. But now we see something that compounds that curse. When we reject God further. When we violate His laws. When we do that there are further consequences. God further curses the ground that Cain would try to cultivate. He tells him that not only would it be difficult to grow from it, but for him it will be impossible.
13 And Cain said to Yahweh, “My punishment is too great to bear! 14 Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and it will be that whoever finds me will kill me.”
Cain was further cursed. The fruit of the earth is shut up from him, a relationship with God is shut for him, and his relationship with all other people is shut for him.
The rest of the story.
15 So Yahweh said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” And Yahweh [i]appointed a sign for Cain, so that no one who found him would strike him. 16 Then Cain went out from the presence of Yahweh and [j]settled in the land of [k]Nod, east of Eden. 17 Then Cain [l]knew his wife, and she conceived and [m]gave birth to Enoch;
We have choices; Running from God, Self-righteousness, the righteousness of the Lamb of God placed on us.
When evangelist John Wesley (1703-1791) was returning home from a service one night, he was robbed. The thief, however, found his victim to have only a little money and some Christian literature. As the bandit was leaving, Wesley called out, "Stop! I have something more to give you." The surprised robber paused. "My friend," said Wesley, "you may live to regret this sort of life. If you ever do, here's something to remember: 'The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin!'" The thief hurried away, and Wesley prayed that his words might bear fruit.
Years later, Wesley was greeting people after a Sunday service when he was approached by a stranger. What a surprise to learn that this visitor, now a believer in Christ as a successful businessman, was the one who had robbed him years before! "I owe it all to you," said the transformed man. "Oh no, my friend," Wesley exclaimed, "not to me, but to the precious blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin!"
Our Daily Bread, October 1, 1994.