IN THE BEGINNING

Life east of Eden

Life in a fallen world
Genesis 4:1-16
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Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With
the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man." 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of
the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of
the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favour on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain
and his offering he did not look with favour. So Cain was very angry, and his face was
downcast. 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If
you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is
crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." 8 Now Cain said to his
brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his
brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I
don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?" 10 The LORD said, "What have you done?
Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and
driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your
hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a
restless wanderer on the earth." 13 Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can
bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will
be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me." 15 But the LORD said to
him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD
put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the
LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
It is a gripping narrative. In some ways that can be a problem because it is a sensational event. It is a
brother killing a brother. As a result, it is very typical for people to entitle this the first murder. But if we
do so we are missing the point. It is actually the first case study of life, live east of Eden. At the end of
Genesis 3 we read in verse 24 that “After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the
Garden of Eden…” All we know is that “…east of Eden…” means life outside of paradise in a fallen
world. Here we see three factors that always are present in every day of life east of Eden, sin – grace
– salvation. The first place the word sin ever shows up in the Bible is right here. Therefore, first of all
there is always the sin factor. Secondly, there is grace. God is always there trying to wake us up.
Thirdly, there is always the possibility of salvation. The possibility of cooperating with grace and
escaping sin. You may say, “That is very basic.” Of course, this is about life east of Eden. We want to
look at these three things. I want you to see that in everything you do in your life, you have always
these three things operating. We are taught three things here:
1. The secrecy of sin,
2. The gentleness of grace,
3. The subtlety of salvation.
The murder overwhelms our senses that we may not see that sin, grace and salvation are incredibly
subtle things and therefore easy to miss.
1. The secrecy of sin (verse 7)
– What does our passage tell us about sin? Everybody knows when sin becomes murder but can you
recognize sin in its beginnings? The thing about Abel and Cain is that on the surface they were the
same. – But what is the difference between Abel and Cain? – Was Abel a “good boy”. He went to
church. He obeyed his parents? – Was Cain somebody who was riding around on a camel, drinking
beer, shouting against God, religion, moral and traditional values? Not at all! They both worked hard.
They both offered sacrifices to God. They both believed in God. They both tried to obey God. They
both were worshipping God. They are the same on the surface.
1.1. Sin always hides itself.
But here is what is so intriguing. God comes and He says to Cain in Genesis 4:7, “… sin is
crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” That is an amazing
metaphor of an animal crouching down, crouching in the shadow out of your view. God is saying with
this that sin is always hiding itself. God is trying to say that Abel and Cain on the surface looked the
same but that there is something wrong with Cain’s heart. It is very subtle. You will not see it so well
on the surface. Even Cain doesn’t see it yet because God says, “Sin always hides for you. Sin is
always crouching down.”

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– What does it mean to crouch down? You crouch down so that the other person won’t see you at all.
Or if they do see you, the other person thinks that you are very small, or asleep, or dead. In other
words, sin always presents itself to you as either a virtue, something good, like “I am not a workaholic.
I am just productive.” Or else it presents itself as, “Yes, this is a flaw. I shouldn’t do that. I probably
shouldn’t nurse that grudge. I shouldn’t have that attitude. It is not all that bad.” It is crouching down.
1.2. Sin wants to exercise power over you.
Sin is not only crouching down. It also stays hidden. It always tries to stay of your radar. It always
presents itself as something else and yet it breaks out someday. When God says, “… sin is
crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it”, He is saying that we tend
to walk on a razor’s edge. That in the very earliest stage of self-pity, in the very earliest stages of self-
bitterness, in the very earliest stages of pride or prejudice, in the very earliest stages of greed, in the
very earliest stages of some sort of addiction, in the very earliest stages of sin, you have actually
some control. You know what is going on. You can do something about it. But He says, “When you
give in to the greed, to the self-pity, to the prejudice, to the pride, to the selfishness, to the words-
thoughts-deeds that you shouldn’t, realize that sin is not only a matter of personal choice. Sin is a
power. When you do a sin, it creates a force in your life. It creates a being. It takes shape. Don’t think
that it is just metaphorical when God says, “… it desires to have you…” The point is that when you
give in to selfishness. You give in to pride. You give in to dishonesty. You give in to greed. You give in
to these sorts of things. The next thing you know is that you created something in your life that
shadows you. Almost literally God says here, “If you do sin, sin will do you. Right now, you are in a
position that you can perform sin. But it want belong before it will come back and it will want you.”
– How come that God can give sin this kind of influence in our lives? The reason that sin can have that
kind of power in our life is because sin is not just something you do. It is also a power. God is saying
here, “It starts small. But it doesn’t take long or it will destroy you.” Gossipers will find themselves
gossiped about. Haters will find themselves been hated. Cowards will be deserted. Those who live by
the sword, will die by the sword. People who will do anything to be popular will be the most unpopular
people because who wants somebody with no principles? The Bible says that there is something
about sin. It is not just a choice. It is a power. It starts as a choice and then it takes you over.
I realize that this is a very unpleasant subject but let me end with this question, “Do you know your
crouching sins?” By definition, the things in your life right now that can most destroy you are the things
that you think are not that bad. The things that you have been making excuses for can most destroy
you. Allow me to give you a few more examples. “I am not a workaholic. I am just productive.” “I am
not ruthless. I have just a sharp business sense.” “I am not stingy, I am prudent.” “I am not bitter
against the opposite sex. I experience just righteous moral outrage.” In other words, sin is always
crouching down. But know this, “It will be poisoning you. It will have you.” You cannot stay bitter
against the opposite sex without hardening you, poisoning you and distorting your ability to assess
individuals. It will mess you up. You can decide, “I am going to stay bitter at my parents.” But it won’t
be long for it will break out. It will poison you and it will harden you. It will embitter you in all sorts of
ways. You will not even see it because this is what it means to have you.
– Do you know your crouching sins? Do you know what they are?
The first thing we learn here is that sin is always a factor “east of Eden.” Sin is dangerous. Sin is
powerful. Sin is subtle. Sin is nuanced. Sin is complex. Sin is always hiding itself. Sin is always a
problem. Sin is always involved.
2. The gentleness of grace (verse 5)
We don’t learn just about the secrecy of sin. We also learn about the gentleness of grace. I want to
show you a God who completely challenges the stereotypes. Many people believe that the God of the
Bible is a God of judgment and condemnation. He lays down the law and if anybody is disobeying the
law He comes down and smites them. There are some people who have this slightly better but still
completely erroneous view of God. They say that the God of the New Testament is a God of love. But
the God of the Old Testament is a God of fire and brimstone, thunder and lightning and smiting.
– We have in front of us the Old Testament. May I ask you, “Do we see a cosmic policemen here?
Absolutely not! We see a wonderful counsellor who totally refuses to choose between justice and
mercy. He is going to exercise them both. What do I mean? Take a look at the God of the Bible.
2.1. He graciously and gently initiates (verses 5 and 6).
He comes while nobody called. When does He get there? After the murder? No, as soon as Cain is
spiralling down. In Genesis 4:5 we read, “… So Cain was very angry, and his face was
downcast.” In the Hebrew it literally says here, “…and His face fell.” This is a really vivid way to talk
about depression. You can see it in people’s face. Cain is starting to spiral down. In verse 6 we read,
“Then the LORD said to Cain…” The LORD is not upstairs tapping his foot saying, “I wonder if Cain
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is going to pass the test?” But down He comes. Nobody called Him. This is the reason why everybody
who ever found God spiritually always can look back and see that He was there without being called,
coming and trying to wake us up. If you love Him then this is because He loved you first. The Bible
says that at the very least God has put in the heart of every men a conscience, some of God’s moral
DNA. In other words, God is essentially present in us all the time. Sin shows up and there He is,
asking, “Do you know what you are doing? Do you recognize what you are doing?”
2.2. He graciously and gently affirms (verses 6 and 7).
Here is what I notice in this passage. God doesn’t come down as a teacher. He comes as a
counsellor. He doesn’t come as a prophet. He comes as a priest. God doesn’t show up and says,
“How dare you get mad at Me? Who do you think that you are?” Not at all! Nor does He come in and
say, “Let me tell you what you need…” A counsellor comes in not with the answers but with the
questions. Not because the counsellor doesn’t know any answers. He comes with questions. Why?
The questions of the counsellor affirms the self. When you ask a person questions rather than telling
them what they need to hear, then you are affirming their ability to understand it. Look at what God
actually says in verse 7, “… But you must master.” God is saying, “You have potential. You have
the ability. I want to see you exercising it.” God comes in as a counsellor asking questions. Let us go
back to verse 6, “Why are you angry?” “Do you understand your anger? Do you understand what is
going on here? You can do it!” -- This is amazing.
2.3. He graciously and gently uncovers (verses 4-6).
He says, “Why… are you angry?” Here is the question, “Why is Cain angry?” Let me first share this
before I give you this answer. Let us first read verses 4 and 5 again. “But Abel brought fat portions
from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favour on Abel and his offering,
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but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour.” We are not totally sure how God did
that. Does it mean that God started to let great things happen in Abel’s life? Does it mean that Abel
sensed God’s favour inside, which I think is kind of hinted at by the passage because literally it says,
“God respected Abel…” Is that not interesting? Abel experienced the respect of God and Cain
sensed that he didn’t have it. It is little bit mysterious. But here is what we can learn. Why is it when he
sees his brother getting something from God that he does get furious? Why did he not say, “Hey, great
little brother?” No! What is going on? God is not going to allow Cain not to look inside. What was
wrong with Cain’s heart? Why is Cain so mad?
1) The names in the Bible are extremely important.
First of all, we cannot miss the fact of the significance of the names. The names in the Bible are
extremely important. People did not choose names for their children in the way we do today. In fact we
all know that when their nature changed, their name changed. You are no longer “Simon”. You are
“Peter”. You are no longer “Abram”. You are “Abraham”. You are no longer “Jacob”. You are
“Israel”. Your name was given to you because your parents discerned something about you. The
word “Cain” means “productive, fruitful and successful.” The word “Abel” means “worthless
and a nobody.” Why did they have these names? There is only one possible answer. It is not just an
accident. Cain was the winner in this family. He was the person who was successful. Cain was the
apple of his parents eye. Cain was the one who was prosperous. Abel was always a failure. He always
fell behind. Abel was maybe always slower. Abel was unsuccessful. He was a looser.
– Therefore, let me ask you again, “Why would Cain go mad when God comes down and shows His
favour to the weaker one, for the lesser one, for the less successful one?”
2) We must build our identity upon God.
Allow me to quote Miroslav Volf. He says in his exposition of Genesis 4 the following. “First came
envy. Cain was angry because Abel, who was literally a nobody, would be regarded, while Cain, who
was clearly somebody, should be disregarded. – Why was Cain angry? Cain’s identity was
constructed from the start in relationship to Abel. He was great because he was better than Abel.
When God favoured Abel, Cain either had to re-adjust his identity or eliminate Abel. When Cain is
confronted with God’s measure of what truly matters and what is truly great, he has to exclude both
God and Abel because he reasons like this. If Abel is who God regards him to be then I am not who I
understand myself to be. The power of sin rest not so much on an in-suppressible urge of violence
then on the reasoning of the perverted self which insist on maintaining its own false identity. Of
course, his reasons are only persuasive to the perverted himself not to anyone else. That is why Cain
keeps silent when God asks, “Why are you angry?” ” In other words, the essence of sin is to build an
identity outside of God. The essence of sin is to say, “What makes me cool. What makes me okay.
What makes me significant is to say, “I live up to what my parents say. I am a successful researcher. I
am this… I am that…” That means that I am a somebody and he is a nobody. When God shows that
He has a completely different value system, Cain goes crazy.

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This will happen to you if you build your identity on anything else except God. All kind of things will
make you go mad. – Why? Because your identity is based on something besides God. When God
comes and begins to show that He is a God of grace and that He does not regard those things and
that He is looking for something very different in human beings, Cain goes crazy. That is why it is so
intriguing that Miroslav Volf says that, “We tend to think of violence as some in-suppressible irrational
thing.” But he goes on and says, “That is not true. There is a reasoning. If you build your identity on
anything else but God then there will be some things that you will do in order to keep your identity so
that you can keep the illusion that you are somebody.” In other words, Cain had to find himself all of
his life as the better child. He couldn’t handle that this wasn’t so. “If Abel is actually the better child in
anyway at all, who am I then? I don’t even know who I am!” This is why everybody’s identity that is
based on something outside God is unbelievably fragile. Only God’s regard, only God’s love, only
God’s grace is totally unchanging, secure. Nothing else is. “All other ground is sinking sand.”
God is there to say to Cain, “Let me tell you why you are angry? Do you see why you are angry? Do
you know what is going on? Do you realize why you weren’t happy for your brother. After all, your
brother has been losing and losing again. For one time he wins. Why can’t you turn to him and say,
“Hey, great little brother.” The reason why you can’t do this is because you based your identity on
being the better child.”
You may say, “I haven’t done that.” No, but every one of us has based his identity on something else
but God. Also I have to realize that again and again. Therefore, unless I have a great prayer life, unless
I sense the love of God in my life, I am constantly unhappy because there is something that I want.
Don’t let yourself be pushed around by the “if ... then” -syndrome. You will constantly be unhappy unless
you have Jesus at the centre of your life. Do not base your identity on anything else but God!
God comes after Cain and says, “Now, do you see?” God’s grace is so gentle. God’s grace is so
initiating. God’s grace is affirming but God’s grace is also convicting. Realize therefore that in
absolutely every situation sin is a factor and God’s grace is a factor. Sin is working and God is coming
in some way trying to show, “Do you see your foundation? Do you see what is going on at the root of
your life? Do you understand what your life is built on?” Every problem in your life, everything that
makes your face fall. Everything that knocks you over is the grace saying, “You have an opportunity to
grow here. Do you see what your identity is based on?” If you don’t cooperate with grace, realize that
you will get more angry, you will get more anxious. You will get more discouraged. You will get more
despairing. It will take you over. It will take you out.
– How can we make sure that we cooperate with grace and escape the sin?
3. The subtlety of salvation
The answer is here to be found. Let us look at the subtlety of salvation. The subtlety of salvation is the
blood.
– What is the difference between Cain and Abel on the surface? There is no difference on the surface.
This is one of the first places where the Bible brings this out. But it is the theme of the Bible. The
average person says, “I know what the Bible says about how to cooperate with grace and escape sin.
“Be good. Go to church. Make your offering. Give to the poor. Give to the church. Study your Bible.
Try to obey God.’” Cain is doing all of that. That is not it!
– But what is going on? Why was Cain’s sacrifice not regarded? Why was Abel’s sacrifice regarded?
Hebrews 11:4 says, “By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was
commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still
speaks, even though he is dead.” Some of you may say now, “Oh, okay! Abel offered his sacrifice in
faith. That means that Abel believed in God and Cain did not. No, that can’t be the reason. Cain is
talking to God. He is answering Him back. When you talk to God like this then there is no doubt in your
mind that He is there. That can’t be it!
– But what are we talking about when it comes to faith? We are not talking about faith in God in
general. It is not even a faith that there is a God and that we have to obey God. It is faith in the grace
of God. It is faith in the Gospel of God, in the work of God. Abel and Cain knew through their parents
that God had said, “Someday I am going to send one that is going to crush the serpent’s head.
Someday I will send one that will save you from sin and death. You aren’t able to do that. I will send
someone to do it.” What that means is that Cain and Abel offered their sacrifices in a very different
way. Abel offered his sacrifice in faith which meant that it was in response to the grace of God. He
offered out of gratitude. But if Abel’s offering and sacrifice to God was in response the salvation of
God then the only other way of offering and sacrifice to God was to use this as a means to salvation.
Do you understand me? If you are not coming to church, if you are not giving your tithe, if you are not
doing good deeds as a response to the fact that you know that God completely has forgiven and
accepted you in Christ then your sacrifice is a way of trying to get God do things for you. That means
that you are a Cain rather than an Abel.

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– What are the marks of a Cain? Cain is very mad at God. As far as he is concerned God is not doing
the right thing in his life. If you say, “I know that I am saved by grace. But you are always mad
because God is not giving you the life that He owes you to give then you do not believe that you are
really saved by grace. You are a Cain, an older brother like the older brother in the parable of the two
prodigal sons. You are a Pharisee. You are maybe religious but you are trusting in your good works
and Abel was not. This is the key.
– How can you make sure that you are not a grumpy bitter Cain looking down your nose with other
people? Needing to feel superior to them? Angry at God all the time? Lacking the inner sense of the
respect of God? Lacking the inner sense of assurance? How can you not be a Cain but a sweet joyful
Abel? The answer is in Hebrews 12:22-24 where it says, “But you have come to Mount Zion …
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to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better
word than the blood of Abel.”
– Do you see what that is? There was a true Abel that came many years later! – Who killed the true
Abel? The prostitutes, the marginal’s, the outsiders, the outcasts, the irreligious people? Who killed
the true Abel? The Cain’s, the “good people”, the older brothers, the religious leaders, the children that
their parents are always so proud off, the Pharisees. They killed Jesus! Cain’s killed the true Abel. But
this Abel is better than that Abel. We are told in verse 10, “… your brother's blood cries out to me
from the ground.” Abel’s blood is crying out for justice. But we have a better Abel. Jesus blood cries
out too. It cries out for justice. All unjust shed blood cries out to God for justice. It is metaphor, of
course. But Jesus’ blood cries out differently. This is the reason. In 1 John 1:9 we read, “If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness.” – Do you listen to that? If you are a Christian and you confess your sins then “he
is faithful and just” to forgive us our sins. – Do you realize how secure you are in the acceptance
and the love of God? Some of you think, “Well, if I don’t do too many bad things, then I will be alright.
But if I start to do too many bad things, God will give up on me.”
Listen carefully, “Do you believe in Jesus? Did you make Him your saviour? Do you trust in Him? If so,
that means that His blood was shed for you. It paid for your sin and therefore for God to ever fail to
forgive you that would mean that He is asking you to pay two payments for that sin. He would be
getting Jesus payment and your payment. Therefore, Jesus blood cries out for justice but says, “It
would be totally unjust for You to ever give up on the ones that believe in Me. It would be totally unjust
for You to ever fail to find not guilty the ones who believe in Me.” Jesus Christ in a sense is standing
as it were before the Father and says, “I do not ask only for mercy for My brothers and sisters. I ask
for justice. My blood cries out from the ground. It was shed for their sins. Therefore they must be
saved.” If you have this kind of certainty in God, then that will make you a sweet Abel instead of a
grumpy, bitter, superior, condemning, self-righteous Cain. Always angry at the way your life is going. It
means also that in the end you will be able to do to Cain’s what God did.
– Have you noticed something at the very end? God says to Cain, “You killed your brother.” What
does Cain say? “Am I my brothers’ keeper?” This is a very ironic statement. When he starts to cry
out, he is afraid that his punishment is going to be too bad for him. But when God puts “a mark” on
Cain you need to realize that this is not a stigma but it is a mark of safe conduct. God is virtually
becoming Cain’s protector. It is the most merciful thing you can do for the unrepentant person.
Cain says, “They are going to kill me out there. God put some kind of sign on him that says, “No, I will
be your protector.”
– How can God be that merciful to an unrepentant sinner? How can He be that merciful to somebody
who won’t even give in? That is the God of the Bible! What that means is this. If you want to become
like Abel, if you want to become like Jesus, if you want to have that internal respect and honour of you
so that your identity is completely based in Him then you will be able to look at people like Cain who
disagree with you and maybe oppose you and don’t believe the right thing and you will love them. You
will be merciful. You may tell them the truth. You may tell them where they are wrong. But you will
never demonize them. You will never hate them. Cain’s hate Abel’s. Abel’s never hate Cain’s.
– Which one are you? – How can you become an Abel? By trusting in the greater Abel whose life was
lost for you and whose blood was shed for you. That blood speaks more graciously then the blood of
Abel.
Prayer,
“Our Father, we thank You for having given us the vision of two brothers and a choice, which one
should we be? Father, we realize that there is a great danger in coming into the church, there is great
danger in studying the Bible, there is a great danger in becoming religious because it is so easy to
become like Cain. We ask that You will keep us from that. We ask that You will make us like Abel,
trusting in faith in Your grace and becoming like the anti-type of Cain who is Jesus Christ, the One
who really lived as a nobody and was killed by the Cain’s so that we could be saved. We pray that you
help us to apply this to our lives by the help of Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”
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