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You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
Daily Bible Study

Genesis 4:13-15

Lesson # Genesis 4:13-15
Study Material - Genesis 4:13-15

You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.

Gen. 4:13-15

13 And Cain said to the LORD, 'My punishment is too great to bear! 14 'Behold, Thou hast driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Thy face I shall be hidden, and I shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and it will come about that whoever finds me will kill me.' 15 So the LORD said to him, 'Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.' And the LORD appointed a sign for Cain, lest anyone finding him should slay him.

Now Cain takes on the attitude of indignation. He thinks nothing of his sin, nor of the repercussions of his own thoughts and actions, but now he complains of the extremeness of the punishment. He still refuses to hold himself accountable for his doings. Abel is murdered and thus cheated from a life of production, deprived by the arrogance of Cain. Cain thinks nothing of the loss of Abel, which in Cain's view should be seemed as a permanent loss. Cain on the other hand has lost nothing, but perhaps the rejection of God and the loss of blessings as Cain perceives them.

Gods blessings flow to all of mankind, good or bad, in one form or another. This planet is sustained by God for habitation, and all people, believers and unbelievers alike, live here. Cain is alive, even though he should have been executed immediately for his murder, but God in his infinite mercy has kept him alive to further allow him the chance of repentance. But Cain goes from one extreme to the other. He refuses to recognize his own wrong doing initially, and now he complains that his punishment is too severe. That God is not being fair.

Satan is seen in all these complaints. In the time prior to this current history of Earth, Satan fell from grace, Satan destroyed the planet with all its animal life, the dinosaurs. God judged Satan and those who went with him. But Satan has not yet been committed to the sentence which God issued, the lake of fire. In Job we see many of Satan's complaints. In genesis we have seen his deceitful ways. So Satan complained about his sentence, and as Cain complained, so Satan has complained, never once considering the alternative of repentance. Only thinking of himself selfishly.

Cain does not justify God in his judgment, but condemns God for taking action against him. Lam. 3:39, no man has the right to complain. Ex. 10:17, even Pharaoh did not consider his sin, but thought only of the punishment. So it is with Satan, with Cain, with anyone who rejects God. Objectivity is far removed from their thoughts, only their self justification and bias is relevant to the wicked person.

Isa. 1:13, 15, God hides his face from the prayers and offerings of the wicked. Their prayers are not of a spiritual nature but of a selfish and self serving nature. They go through the motions but in their hearts they do not care for anyone but themselves. So Cain is driven out from before God. God has turned away from Cain, from sin and those things that reject God. We cannot approach God from our own position of sinfulness. This is why God established the principles of the sacrifices and offerings in those days, so as to teach the doctrine of salvation and fellowship. To approach and stand before God we must cleanse ourselves, wash ourselves, wash our feet, remove our shoes and so forth. These are not actual things you do, but they teach the principle of the removal of sin from the life so as to stand on the same holy ground with God. Confession is the mechanics of our restoration to fellowship. In this simple prayer you acknowledge to God the Father your failure. You list them, your sins, out to Him and He is faithful and just to restore you to fellowship. This is not an emotional event. No highs are experienced, and you certainly do not go into convulsions or some kind of distorted babbling. You merely comply with the format of fellowship restoration which God authorized. Cain did not comply. He refused to make the correct sacrifice. He refused to acknowledge his own sins. He refused to acknowledge God and Gods plan for the human race as well as Cain's own life. In sin Gods face is hidden from us all.

Prov. 28:1, the guilty run when there is nothing to run from. Cowards die many deaths. Now Cain is feeling sorry for himself and he perceives that he is the target of everyone else. When others find him they will want to kill him. Now the planet is a big place. The land called Havilah, as named earlier in Genesis, has a lot of territory in it. Probably most do not care about Cain, let alone think about him. But they all know of the history of Cain and the condemnation against him. In verse 24, Lamech boasts of even greater sins than Cain. There were other people and they all were not believers as Abel or Adam or Eve. Others rejected God just as Cain did. Cain will have a wife as we will see, and she is apparently negative toward God as well. These events of Cain's mental attitude did not take place in an instant, but over an extended period of time. The population is growing and certainly sin and its activities is growing as well.

God confirms the sentence on Cain. He also confirms His policy concerning Cain and the keeping of him alive. Ecc. 8:10, sooner or later the wicked will die and be buried, and then forgotten. In contrast, the righteous people of God will never be forgotten. Psa. 59:11, God forbids the punishment of the wicked ones by man, lest they be forgotten too soon. God reserves vengeance for Himself. We are not to take things into our own hands. This refers to sin for sin. Now law and order is an entirely different concept. Here individual retaliation, revenge, gossip, maligning, and other verbal or mental, or overt sins taken against another because you think you are helping God out, are forbidden.

So a sign is placed on Cain, but so then is a sign placed of all those who reject God. People generally ignore Gods commands, as is evident throughout history. God reserves vengeance to Himself, and no one is or should seek it on their own. Yet God distinguishes the wicked from the righteous. Psa. 1 clearly defines these two categories of people. The sign is clear to those occupants of heaven, though not so clear to those occupants of earth. Man looks on the outward appearance, while God looks on the soul. The real you is in your soul, your thoughts, your motives, your decisions, your actions, your attitudes and how you conduct your life on a daily basis.

In sin we are turned away from God. We need to take care that we do not look for some excuse for our status in life, or to blame others, even God. This is the Devils world and an imperfect world. We do have the choice of looking to God and advancing in our spiritual life, thus allowing God to bless us and lead us in a life of blessing. Or we can do as Cain did and totally reject God and then complain about everything, even the things we begin to imagine.



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End Of Lesson

Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.




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