RC states of our text for today, “The prophesied hostility between the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman (cf. 3:15) takes shape immediately in the hostility of ungodly Cain against godly Abel (vv. 1–16), and in the contrast of Cain’sungodly offspring (which we will see later) versus the godly line of Seth (4:17–5:32). There is a horrendous escalation of sin from Cain to Lamech. 4:1–16 The focus is on Cain, the archetype of Satan’s followers. Cain displays his kinship with the devil by his hostility against God and his murder of a good man (v. 8; Matt. 23:35; Heb. 11:4), together with his lies (v. 9; John 8:44; 1 John 3:12).”[1]

[1] R. C. Sproul, ed., The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (Orlando, FL;Lake Mary, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 2005), 15.

We continue on from where we left Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. I did not bring this out last week, but in2:15 Adam was given a job to do.He was not to be idle doingnothing. His was a labor of keeping and tending the garden. Now, exactly what that looked like we are not told, but whatever it was- it was rewarding. It did not entail hard labor, the sweat of Adam’s brow, and the production of thorns and thistles as a reward. This work was done in obedience to God’s command.We see here a works based covenant with God. What happens here in chapter 3 is a test of fidelityto mankind’s King. Obedience is rewarded with a life in harmony with God. Disobedience will bring death.

Today, we will begin our study through the Book of Genesis. I love the Book of Genesis for a number of reasons which I’m sure will come out as we move through it. For the longest time, my approach to the Book of Genesis was defensive. I felt as though I had to be ready to give an explanation for everything Darwinian evolutionary and atheistic thought could throw at me. I have talked with many skeptics, agnostics, and atheists during my life, and I have learned through talking with them—a true skeptic will never be convinced of anything, and they are without question some of the most arrogant, lonely, and miserable people I have ever met. Skeptics are selectively skeptic—only when they come across something that they don’t like are they skeptical. Their issue is not one of logic; their problem is one of a deaf and blind spirit which refuses to see and hear because they are spiritually dead. Romans 1:22–25 Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Those verses in Romans truly apply to Darwinian Evolution. While I’m prepared to give a defense and point out the utter foolishness of evolution, I want to encourage you, as God’s people, that’s not the reason to study Genesis. We need to study Genesis, because within this great book, we will find the gospel.

Genesis is the Book of Beginnings. We find a lot of first things happening in this great book. We find the beginning of man, the first family, and someone named Seth who is the many times great grandfather of Jesus. We find the first sin, first murder, the first polygamy, and the first false worship. And, on the pages of Genesis, we will find God’s plan of redemption.

I will not be taking the usual approach where we read every single verse. Genesis is 50 chapters long, and it covers the first 2,000 years of history. I don’t want to be in this book for the next several years, so we are going to take a rather accelerated approach. However, if you ever have any questions about anything at all, just ask me, and I will be glad to talk with you about it.