Genesis Chapter 4 Verse 16

• Don’t miss that…even outside of Eden it appears that Adam and Eve and Cain and the rest of the family that stayed there were yet still dwelling in the presence of the Lord…God is still openly and freely speaking to them…do you see that? And I love this parallel…even as a Christian…yes I still have sin, but God is still with me…although if I choose murder, if I choose an unworthy sacrifice/life, then I, just like Cain, can go out from the presence of the Lord…still marked, still protected, still saved but dwelling far from His presence…

• I certainly do not recommend that type of walk. There are two types of Christians…only two. Runners…and wrestlers. Those that run with after God…pressing into Him…As Isaiah 40 says, “These will run and not grow weary, they walk and do not faint…their strength is constantly renewed!” And there are those that wrestle…and man, you just don’t ever win taking that route. And if you take it to the extreme, you find yourself so hungry that you compete with the pigs for their pods…

• I know folks choose that route…I just don’t get why…all I can default to is that there is yet truth unrevealed…a veil remains over spiritual eyes as 2 Corinthians 3:16 says that veils are lifted when someone turns to the Lord. If they maybe you, only knew what you’re forfeiting…you’d slap yourself 1,000 times a minute…because God has everything ready and waiting for your trust…

• And so Cain goes to Nod (literally meaning “wandering”) where there are brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews, maybe hundreds of people, we’re not told…

Genesis Chapter 4 Verse 17

• Maybe you’ve heard the question, “Where did Cain get his wife?” The answer is simple yet may seem a little odd to you…he obviously married a sister or a very close relative. We’re not told how old Cain is, we’re not told how old Able was; we’re not told how much time has passed in the scenes that we’ve already covered. What we do know is that Adam lived 930 years and was having kids all along the way…and those kids were having kids…and those kids were having kids…probably 40 generations lived while Adam was alive!
• And so Cain most certainly married a sister or a close relative that had settled on the east side of Eden. “Well,” you might say, “Doesn’t Leviticus and Deuteronomy forbid incest?” Yes it does but this was long before God spoke that law to Moses and to mankind! At this time, marrying family was a necessity! And, the gene pool would have been so pure that really they wouldn’t have any consequences from it…

Genesis Chapter 4 Verses 18 - 19

• Interesting, polygamy is not introduced by God…Adam had one wife…polygamy is introduced outside of God’s presence (and outside of God’s demonstrated way) by the line and legacy of Cain…

Genesis Chapter 4 Verses 20 – 24

• This family spent time naming cities after themselves. Playing instruments, crafting bronze and iron and proclaiming their greatness…what they did not do…(the legacy that Cain initiated,) they did not honor, worship, seek or call out to the Lord…what is your legacy…the legacy of your family?

• And this is interesting because we find another 70 times 7 in the Bible. Matthew Chapter 18, Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven!” The disciples would have been well acquainted with Genesis Chapter 4 and they would have thought back to Lamech who said to his wives, “I will be avenged seventy and sevenfold.”

• It is stunning what has happened to the heart of man even after walking away from God just 5 sons ago…the work of grace, (and you have to know this), can be utterly reversed in your heart and subsequent life by free will. The number 5 is the number of grace…Cain knew God, talked with God, came into the presence of God…and then chose to serve himself, to walk away from God. Five sons later, Lamech’s heart is the absolute antithesis of God’s, weak with self and sick with fear…even talking about a young man hurting him…what a weakling…and he is teaching others to do the same…
• When God offers us grace. His Spirit, the Spirit of power, love and a sound mind. Strength of spirit that enables us to forgive the wrongs and offenses of others just as God has forgiven us ours…but Lamech, a picture of sin and the result of sin, self and the place serving self will ultimately take you…confined and infected with the thirst for vengeance and self worship…
• This guy Lamech, nothing great ever written of him…nothing even good…in fact…really, nothing…because the truth is that a life lived for self is common…boring…nothing great at all and nothing worth our while…

Genesis Chapter 4 Verses 25 – 26

• Can you imagine the devastation of Eve? Her firstborn had slaughtered her second and now her first is gone as well. There’s no doubt she had many sons and daughters after Cain and Abel but that wound never heals…Seth was probably the third son but that’s not clear and it really doesn’t matter…We see the pain, hear the pain in Eve’s heart…all stemming from, all originating from a decision to not heed the Word of God…isn’t that amazing…
• And now mankind’s relationship shifts with their Creator…from walking with Him in the perfection of the garden, to hearing His voice as He called to them…to now, they call to Him. Well, not all men…Cain does not…and his legacy, his life product, is continual/generational murder…while Seth…well his legacy is found in Luke Chapter 3…