A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 4:1-15 with the title of “The First Murder” for Sun. Dec. 31, 2023.

A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO: ??? Can you see some things in yourself/your spouse, that have been passed down to your children??? 
(maybe looks, tendencies, preferences, skills, etc.?)
When our oldest son Paul was a baby, I had him on my hip at the checkout line in the grocery store in Oklahoma City, and the clerk said, “Oh how cute, he looks just like you!” I took that as a compliment of course – but it was neat to know that I had passed something down to him; that he was like me)

You/your group can talk about things you’ve passed down to your children, then say something like: Today we’re going to see from Genesis 4 how, sadly, Adam & Eve passed their SIN down to their offspring, and we see the first murder between Cain & Abel.

CONTEXT
We saw last time that after the creation of man and woman, that Adam & Eve fell into sin and were cast out of the Garden of Eden. Now Chapter 4 picks up the story.

OUTLINE
I. The First Children (:1-2)
II. The Differing Worship (:3-5)
III. Temptation & Murder (:5-9)
IV. The Consequences of Sin (:10-15)

I. The First Children (:1-2)
So after being cast out of the Garden of Eden as we saw in 3:24, life goes on for Adam & Eve. :1-2 describe how they had two sons, Cain first, then Abel.

At the end of :1, Eve says, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.” This is literally in Hebrew: “I got a man from Yahweh.”
In other words, God gave me this child.
And that is how we should still look at children today. They are gift from the Lord. Psalm 127:3 says, “Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward. (:4) like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. (:5) How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them …”
So the Bible says children are a blessing from God. We should thank HIM if we are able to have them; they come from Him.
Too many people today see children as a “nuisance,” a “distraction”, a curse; but God says they are a blessing. Eve did here, and we should too.

(You could make application here for ministry to children in your church, for advocating for children’s needs in the community; for adoption; and against abortion. All of which correlate to the attitude that Eve had here, of children being a blessing.)

Verse 2 then tells how they had a second son, Abel.

Cain, the name of the first son, means “get, acquire” in Hebrew
Abel, the name of the second, means “breath,” or “vapor.”
We might see some significance in those names …

And then :2 describes what the two brothers did, two differing occupations:
— “Abel was a keeper of flocks”
— “But Cain was a tiller of the ground.”
Is there anything intrinsically “better” about either of these two professions, farmer or shepherd?
(I don’t think so; both a respectable occupations. They were just different. But next we see a difference that really DOES matter:

II. The Differing Worship (:3-5)
Verse 3 says “So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground.”
Verse 4 says, “Abel on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.”

??? What does the Bible say was the difference between the two offerings the two brothers brought???
— Cain’s was fruit and vegetables “the fruit of the ground”
— Abel’s was “of his flock”

Verse 4 ends, “And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering;” and :5 begins, “But for Cain and for his offering, He had no regard.”

??? HOW does the Bible say here that God showed His “regard” or “no regard” for their offerings?
(It doesn’t! We can only speculate. The Hebrew word for “regard” here is Sha-a, which means to “gaze, look on”. “Look favorably” one translation says.

Some speculate that maybe fire came down from heaven and consumed Abel’s but not Cain’s. Or maybe it was just a more subjective thing. We can’t know, because the Bible doesn’t say. And where the Bible does not speak directly, we need to make sure we aren’t too dogmatic.)

Now the question is, WHY did God accept Abel’s sacrifice, and not Cain’s?

The New Testament offers us a good cross-reference in Hebrews 11:4, where it says, “By faith Abel offered up to God a better sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”
What does this New Testament commentary on this event tell us?
That Abel’s sacrifice “a better sacrifice” than Cain’s. And it says it was “by faith.”

But WHY was it a “better sacrifice”? One traditional answer that we often hear is that Abel’s was a blood sacrifice, being of his flocks, and Cain’s was not, being of the fruit of the ground.
This has the advantage of pointing us forward to Christ, and perhaps that is true. We do know for sure that we are saved by the blood of Christ, and that Hebrews says, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.” (Hebrews 9:22)

But I wonder if there is not another element in it. Notice carefully the exact wording here:
— Cain brought his offering “OF the fruit of the ground.” Just “something” from the ground.
— But notice what it says of Abel: He “brought of the FIRSTLINGS of his flock and of their FAT portions.”
Do you see the qualitative difference here? Cain just brought “of” the fruit of the ground. He just brought “something” from his crop. But it says Abel brought “firstlings;” “fat portions.” Abel brought his BEST, Cain just brought “something.” I believe there is a real difference, not just in what was brought, animal vs. vegetable; but in the quality of what they brought.

— And remember, Cain was a farmer. What was he to bring?
— And also remember, there were not only animal sacrifices in the Old Testament, but there were also “grain sacrifices.” (See Leviticus 7:37, Numbers 6:17, etc.) So evidently there was nothing inherently “wrong” with offering a grain sacrifice — the Law of Moses specifically called for some of those grain offerings later!

So I really believe the heart issue here may be that Abel brought his BEST to God, where as Cain did not. (Remember the rebuke God gave His people in Malachi 1:8, for bringing “lame and sick” animals for the offerings? They were not offering their best.)

So you teach this as you are led to. Does this point to the blood sacrifice of Christ? Maybe so. We know we had to be saved by the blood of Christ, no question.
But is there also an application here that we need to bring our best to the Lord? I believe we do see that specifically in this text.

In light of that, I would talk about some applications with class:
??? What are some ways that can bring our BEST or NOT our best to the Lord today???
(Some applications might be: bringing Him the FIRST 10% of our tithe, not whatever we have left over! Or preparing our best for our lesson, or special music, not “throwing it together at the last minute.” I think of the traditional song many of us have heard this Christmas season, “The Little Drummer Boy.” It says, “I played my drum for Him, pa-rum pa-pum-pum; I played my BEST for Him ….”. That’s a fictitious song, of course, but it’s on target as he says I want to do my BEST for Him.

And I believe that is one of the best applications we can make from this text this week. Let’s bring our BEST to Him, in every area of our life. So talk with your class about how you and they can do your best for Him in specific areas of your lives.

Now, despite our “best efforts,” we don’t always do our best for the Lord, do we? We fall short. And that is what we see next:

III. Temptation & Sin (:5-9)

Verse 5 says because God did not look favorably on Cain’s offering, “his countenance fell.” You know what that means, right? He got “that look of disappointment” on his face. We’ve all seen that, we’ve all done it. You might even ask your class if they’ve seen someone whose “countenance has fallen” recently. It’s something we’ve all seen and done. That’s how Cain was here.

THEN God speaks to Cain in :6, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?” (:7) “If you do well, surely you will be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

That last sentence is a key one, with a great challenge for all of us: “Sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

We should ALL hear these words from the Lord, because they are as true for us today as they were for Cain that day: “Sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
— it says “sin is crouching at the door” — it’s waiting for you; it’s laying a trap for you!
— “it’s desire is for you.” It wants to get ahold of your life, to enslave you and destroy you. That is what sin does.
— “but you must master it.” So you’ve got to take sin seriously, and fight against it, and master it. This verse challenges us to take the fight against sin in our life, seriously.

The great Puritan pastor, John Owen wrote in his book Mortification of Sin: “Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.” He was saying, you can’t play around with sin. You can’t treat it lightly. You must deal harshly with it — or it will kill you. It is like or death. It is sin or you.
You might want to print that statement out and post it on the board and have your class discuss it. What does this mean? Why is it true? And so on. Just emphasize how seriously we need to take fighting sin in our lives.

Psalm 101:3 says, “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not fasten its grip on me.”
That verse reflects a serious commitment on the part of the Psalmist to fight against the sin that is “crouching at the door” of his life. He says, “it will not fasten its grip on me.” He’s got to “master it”, as God told Cain here. And we do too.

??? One way of applying this scripture would be talk with your group about: “What are some SPECIFIC steps we can take to “master” sin in our lives today???
(Some answers might include:
— get tempting things out of your home: drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, other addicting things. “Make no provision for the flesh” (Romans 13:14)
— break off some ungodly relationships that are dragging you down into sin
— get some controls/screening software/accountability for your internet (pornography is a rampant sin today that is ensnaring millons of men; I’ve read that 2/3 of the men in our church pews on Sunday mornings are looking at pornography. And it is addictive; they tell us it is addictive as any drug. And the temptation to pornography is everywhere; it is literally “crouching at the door” just like Genesis says here, wanting to “fasten its grip on you” — so we need to take steps to master it! Get software to limit access; get an accountability partner to help you.
There are all kinds of applications you/your group can make here. But do make it — get specific. Challenge them to take specific steps to master sin in their life.

Sadly, :8 tells us that Cain did NOT resist the temptation. It says “And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.”
Here we see that, like his parents, Cain gave in to the temptation to sin, and he killed his brother.
We might be tempted to judge him, but the fact is “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We have ALL been tempted to sin, and given in — just in different ways.
Sadly, Adam & Eve’s sin had consequences; they passed down their sin nature to their children, and they saw some of the consequences of their sin, when they saw the blood of Abel spilled on the ground.

We see some more consequences of sin in the final verses of our focus passage:

IV. The Consequences of Sin (:9-15)

??? I might ask my group to survey these verses quickly, and just call out, What all consequences of Cain’s sin do you see here???
(These might include:
— :9-10 Guilt before God. “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.” His sin made him guilty before God. It harmed his relationship with Him. Sin always separates us from God. Isaiah 59:2, “Your iniquity has caused a separation between you and your God.”
— :12a his farming would be cursed “the ground will no longer yield its strength” to him
— :12b “you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth”
— :14 FEAR: “whoever finds me will kill me”

Make the point: sin always has consequences. Satan says, “You will NOT surely die …” but the wages of sin is always death. And we surely see it in this passage.

But one more thing I’d point out: :15 shows how merciful God is:
??? Did Cain deserve punishment???
Absolutely! He killed his brother in cold blood!
??? But did he get the punishment he deserved???
NO! :15 says God protected him, in two ways;
— He said “Whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” So God put a kind of “bounty” in a sense around Cain.
— AND “the LORD appointed a sign for Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him.”
So God really protected him. WHY would He do that? Is that what Cain “deserved”? NO, he deserved to die! But God was merciful.

+x Habakkuk 3:2 the prophet cries: “in wrath remember mercy.” He was speaking of the judgment that was rightfully falling upon Judah for their sins, but he asked God, in this righteous wrath, remember to be merciful to us.
And thankfully, God IS. As A.W. Tozer reminds us in his great little book, “The Knowledge of the Holy,” God is always ALL of His qualities. In His love He is still just; and in His wrath He is still merciful.
So even in His righteous punishment of Cain, He showed mercy, as we see here.

And I might make my final point: THE THING IS: WE HAVE ALL FAILED LIKE CAIN DID. We have all had sin crouching at the door, trying to get us — and it DID get us! No, maybe it was not murder, but it was SOME sin. SOME sin had a desire for us, and mastered us. This is why we all need a Savior. Because NONE of us always does our best. We have all sinned and fallen short.

You could close with this story from the life of former President Jimmy Carter:

Admiral Hyman Rickover was one of the greatest admirals in the history of the U.S. Navy, but he was a harsh taskmaster, who was intimidating in his interviews. A young Jimmy Carter sat before Rickover, applying to be part of the new nuclear Navy.)
As the interview neared its end, Rickover asked: “How did you stand in Your class at the Naval Academy?”
“Sir, I stood fifty-ninth in a class of eight hundred twenty,” Carter said, his chest swelling with pride.
After a short pause, the admiral asked: “Did you always do your best?”
Carter started to answer, “Yes, sir,” but caught himself as he remembered times at Annapolis when he had put in less than a full effort,
The twenty-seven-year-old gulped and said, “No, sir, I didn’t always do my best.’
Rickover, looking him directly in the eyes, said nothing for what felt to Carter like an eternity, then snapped, “Why not?”
Seven decades later, he was still mulling over Rickover’s question and its enduring meaning for him: “I’ve never been able to answer that question — why hadn’t I always done my best?”
As Carter sat silently, a cold-eyed Rickover swiveled his chair around to use papers on a back table. The interview was over. Jimmy sat silently for several seconds, then left the room.”(Jonathan Alter, His Very Best, p. 81)

Like Jimmy Carter before Admiral Rickover that day, none of us will be able to say before God that we have always done our best — and especially not as well as we should have done. Like Cain, we have all sinned, we have all let sin master us in some way.
Remind your class: that is why we need a Savior, Jesus. And we thank God this Christmas season, that He sent Him to save us!

_______________________________________________________________________________

---

— If you’ll type your email in the “follow blog via email” blank on my blog home page, WordPress will automatically send you next week’s lesson and you won’t have to search for it.

— And if you write something in the Comments below, I’ll be sure to pray for your and your group by name this week.

Per my licensing agreement with Lifeway:

— These weekly lessons are based on content from Explore the Bible Adult Resources. The presentation is my own and has not been reviewed by Lifeway.

— Lifeway resources are available at: goExploretheBible.com and: goexplorethebible.com/adults-training

— If you have questions about Explore the Bible resources you may send emails to explorethebible@lifeway.com