So, open up your Bibles right to the beginning there, Genesis chapter 4, and we will read the whole chapter. Genesis chapter 4. Hear God's word. Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. And again she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground. And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, why are you angry and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it. Cain spoke to Abel, his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? He said, I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper? And the Lord said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me. Then the Lord said to him, Not so. If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. To Enoch was born Erad, and Erad fathered Mehuyael, and Mehuyael fathered Methusael, and Methusael fathered Lamech. And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah. Adah bore Yabel. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother's name was Eubol. He was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. Zillah also bore Tubal-Cain. He was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-Cain was Na'amah. Lamech said to his wives, Ada and Zillah, hear my voice. You wives of Lamech, listen to what I say. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, Then Lamex is seventy-sevenfold. And Adam knew his wife again. And she bore a son and called his name Seth. For she said, God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel. For Cain killed him. To Seth also a son was born. And he called his name Enosh. At that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord. So I have an admission to make. I've actually preached on Genesis 4 here before. Though it was just the first half of the text. Genesis 4, 1 through 16. And I was tempted to just preach it again and see if anybody remembered. But I know you would catch me in that. And so to continue this series on the early passage of Genesis, I thought instead what we'll do is we'll look at the chapter as a whole. And as we do that, we'll mention briefly the story of Cain and Abel. But we'll focus more on the later verses, verses 17 and following. And this passage could very easily be called Life Outside of the Garden, something like that, because that's what we find described here. It's giving this snapshot of what happened after the fall, what happened after God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. How did the human race fare? What did they do? And so as we look at this, life outside of the garden, we'll look at it in two sections. the world and the church. So the world outside the garden and the church outside of the garden. And those will be our two points, though they won't be at all of equal length. We'll spend much more on the first. And so as we begin this passage, we have great expectation. Adam knew his wife Eve. She conceived, she bore Cain. And she said, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. This was a great blessing. Marriage was to be fruitful. It was to lead to children. But many think that there was maybe more to what she was looking at here. Because there was also that promise hidden in the curses in Genesis 3 of the talk of the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman crushing the serpent's head. And so there may have been some expectation here. This was a seed. This was a man. And as we look at the beginning, we have to remember there was an initial unity, wasn't there? We look and we see these two brothers. They're both offering their sacrifices. Everyone was together. Everyone was worshiping, participating in worship. And we can see this continuity. Life outside of the garden, what was there? Well, there was still marriage. There was still childbirth, as we said. And there was still God's provision of food. We have Cain and Abel, the farmer and the shepherd. But in this initial account about Cain and Abel, we really focus on Cain and we see very quickly the effects of sin. how they continue to grow, how they change. And as we see that, we see how Cain is in many ways like his parents, and yet we see something new, something how he is different from his parents. And we see him similar in that he's tempted by sin. He becomes angry and jealous when God doesn't look favorably on his offering. But he doesn't relent of that, repent of that when God confronts him. Instead, he nurses it. He feeds on it. He lets it grow. He nurtures it instead of mastering it and overcoming it. And so that sin inside him, it grows until it comes out in the murder of his brother, the murder of Abel. And in many ways, the storyline there very much follows that sin that enticed Adam and Eve and brought them to eat and thereby reject God's law. And so it's very much like his parents in that, as he sins. But he's unlike his parents in his response. And the text really wants us to see that. God comes to Cain. And he comes asking, where is your brother? He comes asking as he had done with Adam and Eve. He comes asking, looking for reconciliation, offering it graciously. And when he came to Adam and Eve, they may have hemmed and hawed, they may have tried to push the blame, but they each admitted what they had done. I ate. I ate. But what do we find here with Cain? We find the opposite of that. As he lies to God. God says, where's your brother? He says, I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper? He shakes his fist at God. He will not be reconciled. He will not repent of this. His anger and jealousy. He will continue in his hatred of God. And so we see here a break. a breach, that initial unity that was there is now gone. There is now this division in the world, a division in humanity between those, those who trust in God, those who believe in his promises, and those who don't. Those who don't want to have anything to do with God. Who reject his law over them and reject his offer. of grace. And maybe in one way that's not such a surprising thing, that this sin, this rebellion from God would lead some of Adam and Eve's descendants to utterly reject God, even as he graciously offers reconciliation. We in our lives, we take it for granted. That's the world we know. it's the world we've always known, a mix of believers and unbelievers, those who belong to church, those who do not. And yet it was something new at that time. Cain, we could say, was the first pagan. He was the first apostate, the first one to reject God in this way. And it wasn't that he didn't believe God existed. He talked with him. He just didn't want to submit to him. He didn't want to have anything to do with him. And this is really a momentous change. Now the human race is divided. It's divided between those who are following God and those who are really following the devil, Satan, that serpent. We now see that those two lines spoken of in Genesis 3.15, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, that to thou they're even seen in this first family. Now what is maybe more surprising is how God responds to Cain. God is holy. God is just. And yet, when Cain here lies to God, in very many ways shakes his fist at God, he doesn't give him the punishment he deserves then and there. He doesn't kill him. He does curse him, as we read on, curse him in much the same language as he had cursed the devil. He does separate him in some way, exclude him from fellowship. But he allows him to live. He allows him to continue to live on the earth. And as we look there in the dialogue in those last few verses of this section, It's not only that he allows him to live. God even promises to protect him. Cain is afraid. All those who find me will kill me. This is more than I can bear. But what does God say? That won't happen. God says there will be retribution for those who attack you, Cain. I will watch over your life. God watches over his life. He watches over not only the lives of those reconciled, but here we see even the life of a murderer, one who hates him. And most of the rest of chapter 4 follows the line of Cain, the house of Cain. As he now leaves the presence of God, we see in 16, he moves away from the presence of the Lord, leaving the community of God, though not the care of God. As we said, God is still protecting him. And as we examine these verses, it helps us to really see the nature of the world that we live in. The world that started was originated at that time, that developed then, but still in many ways continues now. And so we can ask, what was life like for Cain? What happened to him? What was it like after rejecting God and going out? Well, in one sense, it seems that there was much good in it. That's what we find recorded. Notice verse 17. Cain knew his wife. She conceived and bore Enoch. Sounds very similar to verse 1. What do we find with Cain? He still has the blessing of marriage. He still has the blessing of children, just like Adam and Eve. And then we continue in reading verse 17. And we find him building a city. Building a city. I haven't ever tried to do that, have you? Seems like quite an accomplishment. Quite an undertaking. It shows his prowess, his strength, his intelligence. Having success at something like that. And here as we think of building a city, I think it's probably helpful if we see here not just a physical structure, but what really is a city, well, it's very often the government, the state, we could say. At that time, many cities were independent. They were like their own independent nation. And so Cain, building a city here, is in very many ways establishing the first government, the first rule of law. And as we think about that, we might start to think a little bit differently about government. The government, the first state, it was made by Cain? Should that make us suspicious of it? Cain was a hater of God. Can he do anything that we should find legitimate? And yet, we know the answer if we've read our Bibles. God's very clear about government, isn't he? Maybe most clear we see in Paul's letter to the Romans, 13 verse 1. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God. And those that exist have been instituted by God. Government established by God, used by Him. Therefore, we must be obedient to them. That would apply even to Cain and his city, as it continues on in his line. And so when we think of his city, we probably should see a connection a little bit to God's promise of protection, promise of protection for him. Because what is the chief role of government? It's to restrain evil, to protect its citizens. And so God was using this city of Cain to bring about what he had promised. He was using it to protect its citizens, including Cain, from violence, to establish some semblance of law and justice on the earth. And God's doing all that, and yet, does Cain acknowledge God in that? Does he give glory to God in that? Now, what do we find in 17? He's building the city, and what does he do? He names it after his son. He names it after his son. He wants the glory. He wants the glory in his line. He wants everybody to remember as that name lives on, as that city lives on. This was the city founded by Cain, named after his son. Now, we could pause here for a minute. Because maybe there's some side questions that are coming up in your mind. some questions that come from this text because there seems to be a few jumps, we think. You might ask, well, all right, we read this, and where did Cain get his wife? Right? All of a sudden, he's having children. And he built a city for whom? Who lived in this city? Who was there? And so we can see that there seem to be, maybe what we think, are jumps in this text. How do we get from one to the other? And in response to those questions, it's important to emphasize that the biblical accounts, especially as we're given them here, they're very terse, they're very tight. They're short, they're very selective in what they describe. I just think we don't know anything about time here. How old was Cain when he killed Abel? 15, 30, 100? We don't know any of that. Didn't Cain and Abel, did they have other brothers and sisters already when this happened? We don't know. And as we look at this, it's helpful to maybe dwell on how much information are we given before the flood or even before Abraham? Not very much. There just isn't a lot recorded. There isn't a lot we're told. And so when we have these questions, we can maybe make up, we can come up with hypothetical answers. And for example, when you ask about who Cain married, most commentators, including John Calvin, many suggest that Cain, he was probably married before he killed Abel. And so that he moved out with his wife as he left Eden. that's certainly possible it's also helpful for us to know that in the Bible any sized settlement could be called a city and so it doesn't have to be that big to qualify but as we think of these we have to remember that they're suggestions and we have to treat them that way there are own speculations about the text and we must remember that. That God in His wisdom, He hasn't told us everything that we would like to ask. Every question that we would like answered. No, He's told us what we need to know. He's told us everything we need to know for our life and salvation. So there are answers to those questions, but we just might not know what they are. So, back to our text. We have Cain building his city, naming it after Enoch. And then in verse 18, we get the generations in Cain's line. And we really aren't told much about these various people. Gerad, Mehuyael, Meshuael, until finally we get to Lamech. And we could again note how terse this is. We're just given a bunch of names. We're not told anything about them. We don't know how many years have passed. And one other thing that we should remember is in the Bible, Genealogies, they were often used to connect people, as it here connects Cain with Lamech, showing that he's in his line. But when they do that connection, they don't have to give each and every one in that line. They can dwell on the main members of it. And so, for example, Matthew in Matthew 1.1 speaks of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And we know there are many generations that need to go in there. Generations that he actually fills out in that very chapter. But it helps to illustrate that. So again, we don't know much about what time is going on here between Cain and Lamech. But we have this focus on Lamech to see how Cain's line has grown. How Cain's line has continued to develop. How has it fared? And so the first thing we could say is that, again, we find many things that seem quite good. Many things that are a blessing. Lamech, he has his three sons, Yabel, Yubel, and Tubal-Cain. Say that three times fast. And what are they? Well, they're recorded as these great innovators. Now, you may quibble a little bit. What does Yabel do? He lives in tents. He moves from the city to the tent. Maybe you think of that more as a retrogression, a movement backwards. But what we should see here is Yabal, he's domesticating all sorts of livestock and thereby expanding the food supply. And Yubal, his brother, what does he do? He creates musical instruments for men and women to enjoy music, entertainment, And then Tubal Cain, he's the technology guy. He figures out how to work with metal and create all sorts of useful implements for them to use. Food, entertainment, technology. All of these things that we use each and every day, So much of what we enjoy, what we use in our jobs and such. And yet, here they are all listed with the descendants of Cain. They are the ones who came up with him. But as we look at Lamech, we see he has other innovations also. Some that are less good. Verse 19 begins and states without comment, And Lamech took two wives. Now there's an innovation. Genesis 2 verse 24 had said, About the institution of marriage, the two will become one flesh. What do we have here? We have Lamech in his greed, in his lust, not being satisfied with this provision of God. Instead, thinking, well, if one is good, why not two? If one is good, why not more? And what does it do? It makes marriage no longer about intimacy and love. No, instead, it's men seeking power, status, pleasure. Marriage has been perverted. And that mindset is certainly not dead, is it? We can find it in the same form as with Lamech. When I was traveling in Jordan one time, I was speaking to a Bedouin, one of the modern-day semi-nomadic herdsmen, and he was telling me the story of his acquaintance, friend, who had gotten married, and his first wife. I'm telling too much there, but his wife wouldn't obey him. So then he got married again. And now, since there was competition, she was much more in line. That was his view of marriage. And yet, it's not only there, isn't it? That marriage, as we read in the Old Testament, this perversion even makes it into the people of God. It's seen throughout the Old Testament. And yet, the Old Testament shows the marital strife that results from it. But really, we must admit that so many practices in our day aren't that different. Quickie marriages and quickie divorces. That doesn't do much more for the sanctity of marriage. and our society's obsession with sex, sex outside of marriage. It certainly ruins the good thing that God has made. But Lamech, he also perverts another good thing of God. He perverts God's justice. And we can see this in his song that he tells to his wife. His wives, verses 23 and 24. What does he do? He brags to them. He boasts. He boasts about his vengeance against those who hurt him. And what it lacks is any sort of equality, proportionality. Lamech. Lamech will do much worse to the one who tries to hurt him. He will go above and beyond. But he doesn't just have that. He also refers back to what God had told Cain. If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech's is seventy-sevenfold. And so what he's doing here is he's perverting a system of justice that God had established to protect Cain. Because that's the way we should see this sevenfold, is it was of equal measure. And later on in Israel, it's expressed in what's often called the Lex Talionis. So Exodus 21, 23 through 25 says, If there is a harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. Now, as we hear that, we might think it's somewhat barbaric. But that's not what it's doing. What it's doing in Israel is limiting that vengeance taken. It's limiting justice to what is equal and proportional. And also, we misunderstand it often because it wasn't carried out literally. Instead, there was some sort of payment that was made that was proportional to the crime. But that wasn't good enough for Lamech. He wanted to go beyond what God had provided. And so he killed a man just for wounding him. Sevenfold wasn't enough. He wanted seventy-sevenfold. And what makes this perversion so much more serious is that most likely this line of Cain that is being traced was probably the line of the rulers of that city that Cain had started. Thus, Lamech isn't talking just about what he does, but he's talking about the type of justice that he maintains as ruler of his city. And so we can go back and say, yes, we said that government was established by God. It's used by God. But the Bible also clearly shows us and tells us that governments can be oppressive and destructive. And one very visual way that that is seen is in the book of Daniel. As Daniel looks and he sees all of these various vicious animals coming out of the water and they represent the various empires that are going to come after his day. Various beasts. And that's a helpful image to remember. That government, government is this blessing given by God, but a blessing that can become bestial. And that's what we find happening here in Lamech's day, as he perverts justice. Now, chapter 4, as we've looked so far, is dominated by Cain and his line. And I think that's very purposeful by God, by the author here. We get the impression that it didn't take long before the world was dominated by those who were in opposition to God. Cain was worried about his safety right there at the beginning. But very quickly, his line, his descendants, they were the ones who were in control and others had better fear for their safety. And yet, as we see this line we've mentioned, there were all these blessings that came out of Cain's line. Government, diversity of food, new entertainment, better technology. And it's in this shadow, as it were, of Cain's line that we finally read about Seth in verses 25 through 26. And as we read that, we should remember the Bible often likes to trace one account, one genealogical trajectory before it starts off on another. And so most likely Seth was not born after Lamech. He's not after Lamech's time, but rather some time after Cain had killed Abel. But it's very appropriately placed here in chapter 4 as we've been hearing about all that Cain has done in his line before we come to that of Seth. And verse 25 reminds us again of verse 1. Adam knew his wife. She bore a son. And very similar, she names him. She names him Seth. She names him Seth as that expectation we had at the beginning. It's been dashed to the ground. And yet it wasn't the end. She names him Seth because that means to place. To a point that God had placed another one. God had given another seed. Seth and his line are set up here as this response to Cain. Cain had killed Abel. And so God gave Seth. Cain had his line. And so now we have Seth and we find his line. But in chapter 4, it's rather short, isn't it? We're only told of Seth's son. And it's somewhat undistinguished versus Cain's line. There's only one thing mentioned about them. That's line of Cain that had established cities, culture, art. They are the rulers, the innovators. What about Seth? Well, Seth's line established the church. The end of verse 26 there mentions that at that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord. And elsewhere in Genesis, we find that phrase used of the patriarchs, whenever they would come to a place and build an altar, and they would call upon the name of the Lord. And some have tried to tie it maybe specifically to proclaiming the truths about God, but it seems best to take it in general of all of worship, praying to him, proclaiming his promises. But was this the first time people had worshipped God? What about Abel? What about before? Well, certainly they had worshipped before. And so what is it getting at here? What is this first that is attributed to the line of Seth versus all those firsts attributed to the line of Cain? Well, I think it's best to take it as the first time that these people were organized together for the purpose of worshiping God. Before that separation of Cain, there had been that initial unity. There had been no need for a distinct gathering of God's people. But now there was. This was something unique to those who called upon the name of the Lord. It separated them from that line of Cain. It didn't separate them by government or separate them by food or technology. But it separated them in that they worshipped the true God. They trusted in His promises. That's what separated them. And there's one other possibility how to take this phrase. Another way is to say to call in the name of the Lord is to call something by that name. And so another possibility is here, this is the first time that God's people called themselves the Lords, took that as their name to show their distinction from the world round about. The first Old Testament Christians, we could say, the first time they were called Old Testament Christians. Now, by worldly standards, what we read in Genesis 4, these worshipers of the Lord, they weren't successful. They weren't strong, they weren't influential, they weren't mighty. Now, it may very well be true that this line of Seth had its own cultural accomplishments brought about for blessings for society. But that's not the focus of our text here. they were remembered not for founding cities, but for worshiping God, for belief in His promises. And it was through them that God was maintaining for Himself a people, preparing the way for that seed of the woman, the one that would come, Ascending of His own Son, Jesus Christ, who would fulfill those promises they were looking forward to in His death, in His resurrection, in His ascension, as He provided salvation for all who call on His name. Thus, in Genesis 4 here, it shows us the world outside of the garden, as we said. We see these effects of sin, but we also see God's continual provision in that world. His provision that we said takes these various forms, be it government, be it cultural innovations, be it technology. All of those, they're wonderful. We use them. They are part of what it means to be human. And yet, none of those provided the ultimate blessing. What was needed for that? That can only be found in this seemingly most humble of all provisions. A worshiping community. One that recounts and celebrates the promises of God. And so we can see in our passage a truth about how God governs the world after the fall, after they leave the garden, the world that we still inhabit. And we can use two words to describe it. One would be delay, one would be common. Delay emphasizes that God's judgment, His full and just judgment against sin, will come. But in the future, right now is the time of delay, as God accomplishes His saving purposes. And that is why we find elsewhere in the biblical text that we talk about today as the day of salvation. But the Bible also talks about another day that is coming. The day when God will come and He will separate those who call upon His name, who believe and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior for eternal life from those who do not, who have spurned God, spurned His law, and spurned His grace. The other word, common, emphasizes that even though there is that ultimate separation coming, right now we share a common world. We share a common government with those around us. We share, in many ways, a common language, a common culture, common technology, common food. What separates us as believers? It's the same thing that separated the line of Seth, our faith, our hope. And yet we share this common world. And yet, I don't want you to take common as identical. We may share this common world with the unbelieving, the unbeliever, But that doesn't mean that all of our actions are identical in it. Instead, our faith and our hope, that is the ground of our being. And it affects everything as we engage with the world around us. Engage with our neighbor. And yet, we distinguish ourselves from the world, like the line of Seth, as we call in the name of the Lord, as we bear the name Christian upon us. And tonight, we do that in another way, as we partake not of a common supper, but of a holy supper. I'm sure you kids out there know that you're allowed oftentimes to share your food with your neighbors, with your friends. But the Lord's Supper is different. God has given a solemn warning that it is for those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Others will eat and drink judgment to themselves. But we also know it's not the bread and the wine that make it special. No, someone bought it from a store and brought it here. No, what makes it special is God's promises, what he has attached to it. God is the one who has commanded this meal, and God is the one who feeds us in it. It is his supper.