Boys and girls, young people, sometimes before some incredible events, there is no sense of what's about to happen. And sometimes after those events, there can be moments that seem absolutely surreal. So for example, many years ago, when I was a teacher and a principal, I remember going down to the boiler room of our school. The heat wasn't working in school, so I went down to look at the furnace. It was this big, old, cold-fired furnace that was converted to natural gas. And the gas jets in that boiler were as big as my arm, and there were three of them. Well, I opened the furnace door and I noticed that the pilot light wasn't working. So I thought I would light the pilot light. I didn't realize that the school district from whom we bought the school had disconnected a safety, which was supposed to shut down the gas when the pilot light wasn't working. When I went to light the planet light, all I remember was this enormous explosion and a ball of blue flame heading toward me. And I remember being knocked down and sitting on the ground with my eyes closed. And then after that roar of an explosion, I remember sitting on the ground, The only sound I heard was the dripping of water from a broken pipe. It was so quiet. And the first thought, I'm still alive. And I noticed that because it was an old coal furnace, that the cast iron doors had blown open just above my head. If I had been crouching one inch higher, I would have been killed instantly. My jacket was singed, my eyebrows and eyelashes were singed, my hair was singed, but I was alive. And I sat there with thankfulness to God amidst twisted steel, dripping water pipes, broken glass, but still I was alive. picture is so little compared to what Adam and Eve must have felt when they were cast out of the Garden of Eden. Going from a perfect world, having everything they needed, having close communion with God, and they ruined it all. And they were sent forth from the presence of God. They were driven out by God. And so this morning, with God's help, as we look back at where we've been in the book of Genesis, we've considered together God's amazing creation, his creation of all material things out of nothing. We considered our first parents and what they were like before the fall, Adam and Eve. We thought about that perfect favor and then Last time that deep fall into sin, their rejection of God and of his ways by believing a lie. Now we need to look at it. Well, what comes next? What was it like right after the fall as this new fallen world and fallen life existence began? Now we may not know exactly what those first moments that outside of the Garden of Eden was like, but in this chapter we see the broken effects of the fall literally everywhere. Just like I sat amidst a ruined furnace and broken pipes and scattered glass and dripping water, Adam and Eve now would see a world they would see themselves. before. And yet, even in this chapter, we're going to see beautiful glimmers of the gospel of Jesus Christ shining through even this disastrous afternoon of the fall. We're going to consider Genesis 4 with God's help in its entirety, but let me just read verses 25 and 26 with you. And Adam knew his wife again, and she bare a son and called his name Seth. For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. And to Seth, to him also there was born a son, that he called his name Enos. Then began man to call upon the name of the Lord. Our theme is life just outside of Eden. We're going to consider three persons as they unfold in this history, Cain, then Abel, then Seth. As we continue in our study, we want to consider carefully what we find in this chapter. It pleased God to describe this scene, as it were, this historical surging after the fall, and he did so in terms of human relationships. Instead of telling us about how the fall affected plants and animals right away, he started by simply showing us how did sin affect the family? How did it affect parents and their children? And so we look at the results of the fall, this new broken world through the eyes of three people. And it would be helpful if it's not your practice to have your Bibles open to this chapter to follow along. as we go forward. First, we're going to consider Cain. Now, we don't have a lot of detail immediately after God spoke to Adam and Eve and the serpent, their respective chastenings and punishments. And so we don't exactly know when Adam named his wife Eve, but the fact is that naming of him is very significant. Why? Because God had said, in the day that you eat of the forbidden fruit, you will surely die. Now physically, they wouldn't die for several hundred years. Spiritually, we saw how they died right away. It showed up in their relationship to God, to each other, their blame shifting, and so on. But then this remarkable instance, the mother of all living, in some way that perhaps we don't fully understand, Adam understood that God would continue on through his offspring. to fulfill his promise that there would be a seed of the woman who would conquer Satan and his seed. And then in the very first verse of our chapter, Adam and Eve come together and the Lord blesses them with their firstborn child. It's a son. Now, it's hard to assign a real meaning to the name Cain, the name of that firstborn son. But what is significant is what Eve said. Did you notice, children, what she said about this son? I have gotten a man from the Lord. Now, we have no idea if Eve was thinking of that promised seed, if she was thinking maybe this would be him. But the fact is, she didn't ascribe the glory of this gift of God to Adam. We have had a son together. No, she says, God gave us a son. And that's our first lesson right away, those of us who are parents and grandparents and would-be parents. Do we see our children that way? Do we see them as gifts of God? Or do we see them as our children, to be molded and fashioned in our image and likeness? Well, these were given by the Lord. And so, is there a little bit of that fallen self-centeredness that God is beginning to erase away that she ascribes as gift of a child to the Lord. Maybe if we saw our children as gifts of God more often, we would be more patient, we would be more thankful, even though we need to discipline them and correct them as necessary. But little did Adam and Eve know what would befall them that this child came. And they didn't have a lot of time to think about it. Why were boys and girls? A second child came along. His name was Abel. Now Abel's name isn't described. No words of no are spoken by father or mother at his birth. But what Adam and Eve perhaps did not know, their sin against God in the garden, also infected and affected their children. Adam and Eve's first gift to their children, our first gift to our children, is a fallen nature. We give them that brokenness, which Adam and Eve and we began in paradise. And so, from his very infancy, Cain was dead and trespasses in his sins, just like all our children are by nature. And then, what a stark contrast this world was, and so briefly enjoyed before the fall. And now, just like I promised, child-rearing wouldn't be easy. Child-rearing sometimes would be agonizing. Why? Because that sinful nature began to show itself early on. And I'm sure they tried their best to raise this child, but his will became known by and by. We need the Lord to be parents, don't we? We desperately need his grace in their lives, his spirit in their lives. We see it from young on. What prompts our children to say no? What prompts them to push away food that's good for them? What prompts them to throw temper tantrums? Surely it's not by example. It's something we gave within them. And so hopefully that brings us to our knees and dear parents, let us never settle for mere conformity, that our children are respectful and obedient and do what they're told and are diligent in their work and all of that. Those are wonderful blessings, but they need so much more. They need a heart change. And let us never stop beseeching the Lord until they show that. Our children are privileged. As far as I know, none of us live in a particularly violent neighborhood. We have enough to eat. We have a home in which to live. We have clothes on our back. Our fathers and maybe our mothers have decent jobs. And yet, if we really are honest, aren't our homes places where sin takes place? sins of the heart, sins of the mind, and maybe not obviously, maybe not extreme examples of sin, but a home filled with our sins as parents, sins that our children take part in, the consequences of sin. And how often do we find ourselves on our knees beseeching God to spare our children from the kinds of sins we have sinned, or maybe still are sinning. Think of the kind of home we might have had if we had not sinned. Think of the kind of home we might have had if we were more diligent in the things of God, if we prioritized prayer and worship and love for the Lord and thankfulness to God more consistently, more unwaveringly, if we haven't been so distracted By the many alluring things that occupy our time and our minds, social media, excessive work habits, excessive recreation perhaps, do our children know that at the center of our lives, at the center of our days, at the center of our hearts, at the center of our homes, is a life for God? Boys and girls, what did Cain do for a living? Well, we find out soon enough that Cain was a farmer, what we would call a farmer. He was a man of the field, we would say. We read that he was a tiller of the ground. Now, because of the curse, the ground wasn't bringing forth food as easily as it did for Adam and Eve at first. And every time we're tempted to complain about how hard our work is, let's just remember why it is so. Why is it that we have to sweat when we're working in the hot summer sun? Why is it that we have to rack our brains when we have a lot of mental work to do for our employment? But why is it that our work at home can be so monotonous and so filled with drudgery, perhaps, our sin has made it laborious? And so every day's labor is a reminder. Now, we notice that Cain sacrificed. He must have learned that from his parents. God had given them coats of skins to cover them from a sacrificed animal. Here we find Cain sacrificing, too. And we read this, though. In the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground and offered them to the Lord. Now children, what's wrong with that picture? Cain was a farmer. Why wouldn't he bring the stuff that he grew? And wouldn't that be good? Well, later in history, when Israel would become a nation, part of their sacrificial system would include grain, but not yet. As far as we know, only animal sacrifice, the sacrifice of perhaps a lamb was acceptable to God. And so is this the first instance, the first example of what we call will-worship? That somebody worshiped God, not how God wanted to be worshipped, but how we want to worship. And that is a plague in our day. That's why, boys and girls, our church services are very simple. That's why we don't have all kinds of pictures and banners and incense and candles and all kinds of things in worship. From what we read in scripture, God's worship should be according to what he says. So we read the scriptures, we pray together, we sing the songs, we preach the word of God, we give our tithes and offerings, all things that God in his word says we should do. So let's not think, well, this church does this, and that church does that, and wouldn't it be nice? No, let's be simple and scriptural in our worship, and pray that God would accept the offering of our worship. It's striking how later in history, Jesus would say, no man comes to the Father, but by me, the Lamb of God, that is. Notice God's response to Cain's worship. But unto Cain and to his offering, God had not respect. It's a fascinating expression in the Hebrew. It literally means God looked away. God was not pleased, paying no regard. So even though Cain thought he was sacrificing something important, God said it was not important to him. God thought that, I should say, Cain thought that God would be satisfied with any kind of sacrifice. And so let's take stock of how we are worshiping God today. When we came into the house of God, did we prepare our minds for what we were about to do? Did we pray for God's blessing on a word we would sing and read and hear? Are we doing that now? That God would use his word to get into our hearts, to leaven our lives, to make us acceptable sacrifices as persons in his sight. Cain's reaction, it revealed his heart, children. Look at verse five. And Cain was very wroth. That means he was very angry. and his countenance fell. That means the way he looked changed. He looked angry on his face. Now, with whom was he angry? Maybe he was angry with Abel, but we don't read that there was interaction about this then. Was he angry with God? And young people, older ones, how often in our complaining about this or that, Aren't they truly complaints against God? This isn't right, and that's not according to my liking, and why does this have to happen? Every time we complain, even about things we're asked to do by our parents, by our employer, by someone else, every time we complain, do you know who we're complaining against? God. We're not satisfied with how our life is unfolding. We're not satisfied with the parents he gave us, with the work we have to do, with this, with that, with everything else. He was angry because God didn't go along with what he wanted to do. God is so merciful. God could have killed Cain right away for being angry at him. But notice God gives him an opportunity to repent in mercy. If thou doest well, God says to him, shalt thou not be accepted? In other words, if you would just do what I say, if you would just live according to my words, if you would just worship how I taught you, you will be accepted. Notice that. God said to Cain, you too can be accepted if you would walk in my ways, if you would sacrifice the land that I have given. In Hebrews 11 verse four, we learn a little bit more about what's going on. of Abel, it said, by faith, he had a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Cain was not offering by faith and he wasn't offering the right sacrifice. And again in the Book of Hebrews, it says that he had not, I should say right here in Genesis, it said he had not respect unto Cain and to his offering. So even his very attitude, He thought perhaps just going through the motions, just doing something like sacrificing would please God. Do we do that? If I show up twice a week on Sunday, if I take my place in my seat, if I sing my songs the way I'm supposed to, if I go to Bible study, if I sing my prayers at night and read my Bible, maybe once, maybe twice a day, if I check all the boxes, is that all that I need to be a good Christian? Do we think that way? See here how God encourages repentance, encourages the doing of what he says. And yet what's so sad, instead of listening, Cajus walks away. He must have his own way. And how often God warns us by this or by that, and we so often ignore those warnings. And so great came that anger, so upset was Cain that it began to affect his relationship with his God-fearing brother, Abel. We read that he rises up, verse 8, and destroys his brother. He kills his brother. 1 John 3, verse 12 says of Cain, why did he slay him? because his own works were evil and his brother was righteous. Cain was mad at his brother because his brother was God. It doesn't just talk about the sacrifice, it talks about his very life. Dear friends, if we live a truly Christ-like life in this world, The scripture guarantees us we will suffer persecution. You don't have to go out of your way to provoke the world. Just a godly life, just following the Lord with all of your heart, obeying his word, not compromising with the ways of sin in the world, that will earn you the wrath of the Lord. He kills his brother because his brother was righteous. His works were righteous. And here, boys and girls, we see what God said just one chapter before coming to pass already. The seed of the serpent is at war with the seed of the woman, early in man's history. So that contagion of sin is affecting already the next generation. Can you imagine, children, what Adam and Eve must have felt when they heard this? Their firstborn son kills another son. How heartbroken. And now the second son really is worthy of death. Being a murderer, Cain is. We could say, what went wrong? Was it Adam and Eve's parenting? Didn't they teach Cain the right way? And don't we as parents sometimes wonder that? I hope we do. Am I doing what's right? Am I truly being the example to our children that I should be? Have I taught them well? Have I prayed for them as I should? What went wrong? And I'm thinking now, and thankfully many of you don't have that, but I'm thinking of parents whose children sat right where your children are sitting. And over the course of time, they went off into the world and said farewell to the worship of God. And if you want to see the heartbreak of parents, God-fearing parents, seeing their children despise the ways of God and live in the world, that's a place to find it. And dear friends, even though our children, as they grow up, they exercise their own will, are responsible for their own sins, isn't part of it our own fault. We're the ones who gave them the nature they have. We're the ones who gave them poor examples time and again. Anger, impatience, frustrations, complaining, or just not really delighting in the worship of God as we should. What went wrong? In verse 9, notice what God did with Cain. He asks the whereabouts of Abel. Now why did God do that? And doesn't that remind you of something we heard recently? Didn't God say to Adam, where art thou? And now God is saying to Cain, where's your brother? As if God didn't know. God knew exactly where the brother was. He's giving Cain an opportunity to confess his sin. Cain should have said, oh God, I have sinned against thee and against my brother. I murdered my brother, have mercy upon me. What does Cain do? Cain lies to God. He says, I know not. In other words, I have no idea where he is. And then he adds this, am I my brother's keeper? What that means is, am I responsible for my brother? Do I have to look after him? I wonder how many times you've wondered the same thing, especially older children who have younger siblings. Am I really in charge of them? Do I have to give them a good example? Now, of course, your parents are in charge of your children. But you may wonder sometimes, my younger brother and sister? But look at his answer, how he dares to answer God. He basically talks back to God. He lies saying he doesn't know where his brother is. He has a lower estimation of God as if God doesn't know what just happened. He also despises his brother even when he's dead. Basically, I have no responsibility for him. And then the blame shifted. It isn't my problem. What happened to my brother? And then look at verses 10 and 12. What hast thou done? God says. The voice of thy brother's blood cries unto me from the ground. And now look at the punishment. Now art thou cursed on the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tellest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee our strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be on the earth. Even those first words, are still a call to repentance. What hast thou done? In other words, God is still appealing to him. Do you not recognize what you have just done? And then he says, cursed from the earth and that very ground into which Abel's blood seeped. that ground would now be even harder to find. It would bring forth less food than even before. Now you would say, boys and girls, first God coming to Cain, questioning Cain, warning Cain, announcing a punishment to Cain. You would think at this point Cain would say, enough, I have sinned. But what's Cain's concern? Is it his sin? Look at verses 13 and 14. Cain said unto the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear. My punishment. Not only children, but also adults. And sometimes can't we worry more about the consequences of our sin than about what our sin does to God? the mess we make of our lives, the problems we cause because of our sinful decisions, sinful selfishness, sinful words, sinful deeds. And we can try to fix things up and patch things up and make things right, never even thinking what I just said, what I just did is first and foremost a sin against God. The very first thing I want to do is not say sorry, to the person I sinned against, or better yet, please forgive me. But the first thought that should enter our mind, oh God have mercy, for Christ's sake, upon me. No, Cain was just worried about the punishment. This is too much. I can't bear it. That was driven me out from the face of the earth. From thy face shall I be hid. In other words, Cain has concluded already I'm not going to be in God's presence anymore. I'm going to be hid from the face of God. I'm done. And then he repeats God's words, a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. Now what does that mean? The two Hebrew words are very similar. It means someone who wanders from place to place, someone who's unsettled, Someone who is aimless, they don't know where they're going, they don't know what they're doing. That's the wordplay going on here. Like a man who has no compass, doesn't know where he's driving, or no sense of direction or purpose. A person who is homeless. And boys and girls, if we don't follow the Lord, if we don't trust in his son, if we don't heed his word, That's our life, going from one thing to the next thing, to the next thing, to the next thing, looking for something to satisfy us, some purpose in life, some goal to achieve, and people never quit. You meet elderly people, how old are you? Well, I'm going to be 79, 85. They're always looking ahead. The next vacation, the next trip, the next, purchase the next something, and we wander aimlessly from one thing to the next, hoping to find satisfaction. Let's not be fugitive and vagabonds. And then Cain's last concern, everyone that finds me will kill me. Now that's kind of ridiculous. You can only be killed once, right? He's saying literally, every person who sees me will want to kill me. But the fact is, how would anybody know unless they heard about it? The complaint was not about the sin. Let's never be that way. Oh, mom, dad, that's too big a punishment. And the big pout and the crying and all of that. When the first thing we should do is, oh, Lord, forgive me for Jesus' sake. Oh, dad and mom, forgive me. Brother and sister, forgive me. And notice how sin begets the fear of death. All Cain could think about was dying. What's gonna happen if I die? Well, that happens in us, too. I remember as a young man being deathly afraid of thunderstorms, thinking, well, what if lightning strikes me and I die? Well, now my wife and I like to sit outside and watch the thunderstorm. It's the voice of our Heavenly Father in creation. Godliness makes such a difference in our life. And yet, look at God's mercy. After all of this, not confessing his sin, not repenting of his sin, worried about the punishment, talking back to God, lying to God, after all of that, you would think Cain is going to be killed, but God spares his life, verse 15. God says to him, whoever slays Cain, Vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." In other words, his punishment, whoever kills you, will be seven times worse than your punishment. And God even put some kind of mark on Cain that would somehow communicate to others, don't touch this man. What's the end of a life disconnected from God? God went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden, and came near his wife, which he conceived, and bear Enoch, and builded a city, called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. What does the worldly man do? He makes a name for himself. He accomplishes some great feat. In this case, he builds a city. Now, when you hear about city here, don't think about Conway or Little Rock. Cities back then were usually built on a little bit of a hill or a mound, several homes perhaps. That was a city. But notice what he calls the name of the city. He doesn't call the name after God or after his God-fearing parents or in any way honoring God. No, he names it after his son. So Satan has begun through Cain to build his kingdom here on earth. As we go down the list in this chapter, you look at verses 19, you look at verses 22, 23, 24. Third and fourth generation, you find Lamech, Polygamy. So now instead of one wife, now he has two. He's boasting about perhaps another murder, some heinous crime, vain thoughts about God's protection, mocks with the idea that God had protected Cain. Well, if Cain's murder deserved sevenfold, well, mine will be 70 times seven. See how wickedness is like a snowball rolling down a hill. It just grows and grows and grows. Notice in verses 20 to 22, we see the origin of several skilled trades, nomadic life, living in tents, herdsmen or farmers, such as in cattle, musicians, those that handle the harp and the organ, metallurgy, and that's what it means, instructor of every art, a visor in brass and iron, they're good working with metals. Doesn't it remind you of Luke 16, verse 8, where Jesus said, The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of life. These were skilled people. They knew how to do things. They could make music and all. How much of it was to the glory of God, however, being the offspring of kings? That we don't know. And that's not to disparage God-fearing people doing this kind of work waffling into the glory of God. But what a sad history this is. the history of shame, the history of mercy. And yet, it's not the only history we read in this chapter. In our second place, and more briefly, the history of evil. We often sing at baptisms, Jehovah's truth will stand forever. His covenant bonds he will not sever. Even though Abel's history is a bit brief, we wonder why that must be. Why does God give us so much information about Cain and what happens to him, and so relatively little about Abel? Well, first of all, God is giving us a warning. God is showing how sin progresses. God is showing how if we don't listen to God the first time, it gets easier and easier not to listen to him the second, third, and fourth time. and how sin tends to multiply. Abel, interestingly enough, though spoken about very little here, is mentioned elsewhere in Scripture, also in the New Testament. Abel, we read of him in Genesis 4, verse 2, he's a keeper of sheep. Verse 4, he brought forth the first twins of his flock and the fat thereof, meaning the very best sheep he had. And then we see God's approval in verse four. The Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offspring. That means God regarded him and what he sacrificed. He looked to him and his sacrifice. And young people, what a beautiful lesson this is for us. If we are looking to Jesus Christ, if we are trusting confessing our sins and repenting of them. God will look upon you with approval and the sacrifice that you are trusting in, that of his Son. He will look upon you through the sacrifice of his Son. And then, of course, we read about his death. And yet that's not all. Boys and girls, much later in history, Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew would call Abel righteous Abel, whose blood as well as the blood of the prophets would be required of the Pharisees who rejected the Gospel of God. Why did they reject the prophets? Because they prophesied of the Lord Jesus and they loved their sins better. Abel also sacrifices the best of his sheep Hebrews 11 verse four, by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which, that means by which sacrifice, he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. This is amazing, children. In other words, it's saying here, Abel's sacrifice was sacrificed by faith, but then we gotta ask, faith in what? As far as we know, boys and girls, Abel only had one promise from God to plead upon, that promise we saw in Genesis 3, 15 about the seed of the woman. And this is remarkable how Abel could see, as it were, by faith, that there would come that Messiah, that Savior one day, and every time he would sacrifice a lamb then by faith he would think of that promise and believe. So the sacrifice was sacrificed by faith. It was more excellent than Cain's. And God said to him he was righteous. Somehow God communicated to Abel, you are right with me through this sacrifice. And that is one of the greatest blessings in this world, young people. to know that you're right with God, to know that because of your trust in Christ, that even though we still sin and we repent of our sins to God, when we trust in Christ, he accepts us and he tells us, you are right with me. God bore witness to that here. And what's even more beautiful, that text goes on to say, that even though Abel has been long dead, he is still speaking. How is he speaking? Not with a voice that we can hear, but with a testimony in Scripture. He's still reminding us that faith, the simplest faith, and a godly life that flows out of that faith, is still pleasing to God. Hebrews 13, verse 7, Speaking also of Abel, whose faith followed, considering the end of their conversation, meaning the end of their lifestyle, glory. Boys and girls, think about this. Where is Abel now? Abel is in heaven. Did you ever think He has been in heaven longer than any other person. He died way before his parents, way before his brother. As far as we know, he's the first person in heaven. He's the longest in the presence of God. And he is most likely among those souls that we read about in Revelation 6, verse 9, who were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held, who cried out, how long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? We can believe that to Abel also white robes were given, saying to them that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed, as they were, should be fulfilled. Abel is in the church triumphant. Abel has been singing praises to God longer than any other human being. And he is now in the company of many who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and who died in faith. What scripture speaks about and even says, there is blood that speaketh greater things than the blood of Abel. When Abel's blood went into the ground, it called out for vengeance. God said, whoever slays men, him will be slain. Cain was spared so that the population of the earth would grow, but later God would say to Noah, murderers need to be killed. So the blood of the slain Cries for vengeance. So what is God talking about? That blood that speaks better things than that of evil, the blood of Jesus Christ. What does the blood of Jesus cry out for? Mercy. Righteousness. Jesus shed his blood on the cross willingly so that we might be right with God, so that God could justly show us mercy. That says a lot more than the blood of evil. And then finally, very briefly, we read about Seth. And Adam knew his wife again. She bared a son, called his name Seth. And then she said this, Eve did, for God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom came smooth. I realize your winters here are not as severe as they were where we came from before we came here. In Ontario, winters can be very bleak. The trees have no leaves. The only green you see are the evergreens. Snow, all over snow, of course, can be very beautiful. But gray skies and very cold weather. But it's such a wonderful time when spring appears. When the shoots are coming up out of the ground and the crocuses begin flowering and the buds begin to appear on the trees, it speaks of renewal, it speaks of life from the dead as it were. The birth of Seth is like springtime in Genesis. It's just a little beginning. It's just a little start. But what she said, what Eve says about this son, And what we read about him and then his offspring is a consolation, it's an encouragement. These last couple of verses in Genesis 4 were not just sort of put in there as an aside, they were put in there to encourage us. God will have a church. God will continue to build his church through the generations. The gates of hell itself cannot stop the church of God from progressing, from growing, from spreading over the whole earth. Now we know that Adam and Eve had other children, it will say so later. They had daughters who would bring forth other children. But notice how this son is singled out by God and by Adam and Eve, and particularly Eve. The name Seth itself means something like compensation or recompense, meaning God has given me something in place of, has given me something to comfort me in my sorrow over losing Abel. She sees this as God's appointment to replace the godly Abel. And what else do they see in this son? Hope. Hope that that promised son that seed of the woman would indeed one day come. And it's so beautiful. In the Gospel of Luke, chapter three, when you have the whole genealogy of names, Seth is in that list. The Lord Jesus Christ came through the offspring of Seth. God keeps his promises. And we read the chapter closes, and to Seth, To him also there was born a son, he called his name Enos. Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. That means people began to pray. It's believed that this means in a group, corporately. We can't help but think that Adam and Eve would have been praying, evil praying, others praying, but now people start doing what you're doing right now. They come together to worship. They called upon God's name. What an encouragement this is. The church is born. The church is growing. The church is preserved. Christ triumphs. as the head of this church. Winter turns to spring. Spring turns to summer. Summer will result in harvest. Untold number of souls. So the church is revived again. The story of God's grace comes to the foreground again. And in Genesis 6, In the book of Jude, we know this isn't the end of the battle. Wickedness will begin to multiply. The seventh from Adam, Enoch, he would prophesy about God returning in glory one day with ten thousands of his saints, his angels. Why? To judge the wicked, the ungodly of all their ungodliness. So the church would grow. Satan's efforts to destroy the church would grow, and so it is today. So the question we leave you and me with, which side are you on? Do you want to be like Cain? Do you want to go off somewhere and live a life of inner world, for the things of this world? have no more to do with God and his worship and his people. Well, that is a worthless life. That is a life not worth living. It's an aimless life, wandering from here to there, hoping for this and that and ending in eternal misery. I hope none of us want to be part of that offspring. But then you think about the God-fearing, though they suffered, though even killed for their faith, early on in Scripture, glory forever with the Lord. And the real hero of this story is not Abel, not Seth, it isn't Seth's son, Amos. It's the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who secured from eternity past and will keep to eternity future a people to himself, who call upon the name of the Lord, who look to his sacrifice in faith to save them, who will one day be gathered. Can you imagine, children, the day when you enter into glory? There will be Seth. There will be others, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, but there will be Jesus and we'll see him face to face. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only wise God our Savior. be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.