Dreaming of a better world? From ancient myths to modern songs, from Marx to Country Roads, we all hope for something more. But Genesis 4 shows why our attempts often fail…and where real hope can be found.
Mending things: can we fix it?
Genesis 4:1–26
Cain and Abel
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 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, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 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, and you must rule over it.”
8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 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.” 13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 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.” 15 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. 16 Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
17 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. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. 19 And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 20 Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. 22 Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.
23 Lamech said to his wives:
“Adah 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.
24 If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold,
then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.”
25 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.” 26 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.
This transcript has been automatically generated
Genesis chapter 4. Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have produced 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 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 contrary to 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 your brother Abel? 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 Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. And Lamech took 2 wives; the name of one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and the pipe.
Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. 10 Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I have to say. 11 I have killed a man for wounding me, young man for striking me. If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is 77-fold.
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.
I think a case can be made that every person across every time, culture, religion, and worldview is searching for paradise. A longing for paradise certainly runs through every religion. In Islam, paradise is a lush garden of physical pleasures and peace. In Hinduism and Buddhism, it’s escaping from enlightenment or into enlightenment or nirvana, a release from suffering and the monotony of rebirth. In Christianity, colloquially, it’s heaven when I die.
In secular ideologies, Karl Marx believed it would come through creating a classless, stateless society where justice and equality reign. A secular humanism is the attempt to build utopia through continuous incremental progress in education, science, and social reform. As one humanist declared, no deity will save us, we must save ourselves. And so the humanist project tries to save humanity by creating heaven on earth. And quite apart from the great religions and ideologies of the world, there’s a longing for paradise in the hearts of every one of us.
Listen to the songs we sing, from the nostalgic yearning in Take Me Home Country Roads— I’m sorry, I’m showing my age— but you know the first line, almost heaven, West Virginia, to the beautiful haunting melody of Eva Cassidy’s Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Where the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true. Our songs reveal a deep desire of a world made right. And for many, may I even suggest for most, our own little lives are an attempt to reach utopia, paradise. In the capitalist environment that we’re in, it’s worked out through trying to earn enough money so that we can have our own castle, occasionally fly away to a paradise location, and finally retire to a comfortable life with no worries or stress.
But tragically, every human attempt to reach paradise ends in disappointment, disillusionment, destruction, and death. And we see that here in Genesis chapter 4. You see, today’s chapter is all about humanity’s attempts to find a way back to paradise. Do you remember how chapter 3 ended? If you were here last week, it ended with Adam and Eve being kicked out of paradise.
Chapter 3, verse 24, do you see it there? God drove Adam out of the garden. And then do you see God took steps to ensure that Adam couldn’t just wander back into the garden. He couldn’t get his way back into paradise easily, if at all. And now, out of paradise, chapter 4 is a world of— well, we’ve just heard it read— a world of anger and jealousy, murder, fear on the streets, bigamy, revenge killing.
I mean, never mind reading Genesis chapter 4, it could just as easily have been me scrolling through my newsfeed. This is our world, a broken and dysfunctional world. And so is it any wonder that we long to find paradise again? So that’s what we have here— humans trying to find paradise. And 3 things on the handout: the religious route to paradise, the secular route to paradise, and then briefly the only route to paradise.
First, the religious route to paradise, verses 1 to 16. Look again with me at chapter 4. Now Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I produced a man with the help of the Lord. Now look, in so many ways life outside the garden looks very normal, very happy, full of hope. I mean, it begins with the arrival of a baby, a very normal event.
You know, globally 260 babies are born every minute. This is normal life, and the birth of a baby is always full of optimistic hope. My daughter is expecting our first grandchild in March, and we And when the little one arrives, I mean, actually, even before the little one has arrived, I’ve begun to wonder if it will grow up to be Wimbledon champion or play centre-forward for Leeds and England. Of course, if it’s anything like its granddad, there’s no chance of either of those things happening, but we hope for the best at the birth of a child, don’t we? That’s verse 1, as baby Cain arrives.
And then the next thing we know, Eve is expecting their second. You see verse 2, she bore Abel. So Cain has a little brother. Adam and Eve are the perfect family— mum and dad and as close as you can get to 2.3 children without it being macabre. So there is life and hope.
And in the context of the book of Genesis, there is hope that the master plan is being fulfilled. Do you remember the master’s plan if you have been here these last weeks? Back in chapter 1, verse 28, the master’s plan was that humans would be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. And so despite being out of the garden, here at the beginning of chapter 4, it all appears to be going so well. The humans are multiplying.
And when these kids grew up, they followed in their dad’s footsteps and they worked the farm. Verse 2, Abel looked after the sheep, Cain worked several acres of arable land. You see, they are multiplying, they are filling the earth, they are subduing it. And then in verse 3, in the course of time Abel brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground. And here is where we begin to see the religious route to paradise.
Cain and Abel here are both making an attempt to get right with the Lord. That they’re out of the garden and the, the unspoiled relationship that they had with God in Eden has gone, and they want it back. They want paradise back. And so it’s harvest time and harvest festival, and Cain and Abel turn up at church. And as the congregation sing, We plough the fields and scatter, Cain takes up to the front of the church bundles of barley and wheat and sacks of potatoes and huge bunches of carrots and cabbages and cauliflowers, the lot.
He took verse 3, the fruit of the ground. And while Cain was making his offering, Abel took up his in verse 4. You see, a few days before this, he transported the firstborn of his flock to the local abattoir so that he could take the best cuts. You see it there in verse 4, the fat portions, as his offering to the Lord. And then we read halfway through verse 4, and the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, and But for Cain and his offering, he had no regard.
And it kind of makes us scratch our head. What was wrong with Cain’s offering? Does it turn out that God hates the vegetarian option and you, should you ever invite the Almighty round for dinner, you should not serve him a nut roast but always a Sunday roast? Is that it? Was there something wrong with Cain’s vegetable offering?
Well, read the commentaries and you’ll find a number of suggestions about why Cain’s offering wasn’t acceptable and why Abel’s was.
And while the commentaries can be helpful, the best commentary on the Old Testament is of course the New Testament. That is the infallible commentary inspired by God the Holy Spirit. And it turns out that the New Testament book of Hebrews gives us the infallible explanation that we’re looking for on this kind of tricky verse. And I put the relevant verse on the handout, Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 11. There it is for you.
By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous. God commended him by his accepting his gifts, and through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. Now those of you know Hebrews chapter 11 will know it’s a chapter all about faith. That is the main point here. I mean, faith is mentioned just twice in that verse.
Abel’s offering was made by faith, and that is what made it acceptable. So you see, it turns out it’s not about the gift, it was about the heart. Nothing to do with it being lamb rather than vegetables, and everything to do with how the gift was given. Abel brought his gift by faith. And Cain?
Well, Genesis chapter 4 actually tells us about Cain, and the clue is in his name. You know, often in the Bible, names are really important. Almost always, names are really important. We are meant to take note of them. And the author here in chapter 4, verse 1, makes sure that we take note of it because he spells it out for us.
For us. Look back to chapter 4, verse 1. Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have produced— that’s what Cain means— I have produced a man with the help of the Lord. The author spells it out for us. Cain means I have produced, or even better, I have achieved.
Look what I’ve done. The point is Cain was all about his achievement, what he could do. And so at Harvest Festival, as Cain took up his offering to the front of church, it was all about what he’d achieved.
Look at me, look how great I am, look what I am doing, look what I am taking to the Lord. Me, me, me, it’s all about me. And that is always religion’s approach to God. Religion attempts to get right with God and back to paradise by our achievement. Many of the major religions of the world are precisely about taking offerings to their deity.
My wife and I were in Singapore and Thailand earlier this year, and like many tourists, we visited a number of temples and we saw precisely this— people taking gifts to their gods, gifts of fruit and flowers and nuts and berries, gifts to please the god, to appease the gods, gifts given to get right with the gods. I’m giving you this to make myself acceptable. In other religions, it’s not about actually giving gifts, but it’s about my performance. It’s about religious observance, saying my prayers 5 times a day, doing a pilgrimage, going to confession, taking the Mass, getting confirmed. Or it’s about reaching a moral standard, living a life that is deemed acceptable.
And that’s Cain here. I have achieved, I’ve achieved that acceptable standard. That’s religion’s attempt to get right with God and back to paradise. And it’s in stark contrast to Abel. His name actually means vapour or mist.
It doesn’t last, mist. It has no substance. And Abel’s humbly aware of that, recognising that he is nothing. So he didn’t bring his fat portions full of his own achievement. He wasn’t like Cain, look what I’ve achieved.
No, Abel came by faith, singing the old 19th century hymn, just as I am without one plea. I’m coming to you by faith, trusting you’ll accept me just as I am.
Years ago now, someone explained to me the difference between religion and biblical Christianity, and they explained it in 2 words— the words do and done. They wrote it on a piece of paper for me. They said religion is spelled D-O, do. I’ve got to do this, that, and the other in order to make myself right with God. Do, do, do.
And then he said to me, biblical faith is spelled D-O-N-E, done. It’s done. Jesus Christ has done it all by his death on the cross. And so now I simply put my faith in Jesus, him having done it all. See, that’s Abel by faith.
And so end of verse 4, 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. Cain was livid. Well, of course he was. You see, that’s precisely what happens if you think you’ve achieved great things and then you’re told your sacrificial offerings, your religious observance, your moral law-keeping won’t get you right with God and back to paradise.
Of course you’ll be angry, and your anger will turn to fury when someone has the audacity to suggest that God does accept people who come to him solely by grace through faith. Well, they haven’t done anything to get it. And I’ve done all this. Of course it’ll make you angry. The gospel of grace really offends people because it renders our efforts useless.
That’s Cain here. He’s livid. And I’m guessing because he was so angry, he can’t hear the gracious words of verse 6. See, the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry and why is your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted?
If you do well, Cain, if you do what Abel did, if you live by faith, you will be accepted. There is a way back, a way back to the Lord and a way back to paradise.
But if you won’t take the only way back, well, there’s a warning halfway through verse 7. If you do not do well, if you do not live by faith as Abel did, if you do not do well, sin is crouching at your door. It desires for you and you must rule over it. You see the choice— come back to the Lord and to paradise by faith or spend your entire life in this constant battle with sin, sin desiring to have you, wanting to control you and you fighting against it. That’s the kind of the religious route to paradise, a life perpetually struggling to outperform sin.
Have I done enough? I know I have sinned but have I done enough to outweigh my sin? It’s a miserable way to live because even when I think I might be making progress, sin bites back and shows me that I’m not just not good enough. Have you felt that experience? I’ve certainly felt it in my life.
And if you’re living the religious way to, to, to try to get back to paradise, every time sin bites back you just have to do more stuff. It’s so depressing. So religion is always trying to do enough, to achieve enough, to be good enough, but religion never deals with the sin in my life. It’s always there. And that is precisely what we see in verse 8.
Cain spoke to Abel his brother, and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Cain was angry. The red mist descended. Sin overcame him. And as Jesus warns, anger leads to murder.
And because this is all about the religious attempt to find paradise, here is the first religiously motivated homicide.
And it is precisely what we see today. The greatest persecution of Christians today comes from other religions. Try being a Christian in an Islamic state or in a country where Hinduism or Buddhism is the dominant religion, and it is terrifying. This is today’s world. And of course, it was the same for Jesus.
It was the religious leaders of the day who hated him the most— the scribes and the Pharisees, the most self-righteous, religiously pious lawkeepers.
Were the very ones who wanted Jesus out of their lives and off the planet. Religion hates Jesus and religion hates the gospel of grace.
And religion leaves us no better off in our attempt to regain paradise. We see that actually in verses 9 to 16. Now look, we could spend a whole week just in verses 9 to 16, but we don’t have time. So for now, note the big point which is made, and it’s made through repetition in these verses. There’s lots in these verses, but the repetition is the big thing to note.
Halfway through verse 12, the Lord said, you shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. And then halfway through verse 14, Cain repeats the words that the Lord has just said to him, I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. And then in verse 16, which I think is a summary of this little section, verse 16, then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod. And the footnote will tell you that the word, the name Nod means wandering. You see the repetition?
Religion doesn’t get you back into relationship with God and to paradise, but verse 16, it leaves you out of the presence of God and aimlessly wandering through life.
So if the religious route doesn’t work, next we see the secular route to paradise, verses 17 to 25, the second point on the handout. Verse 17, Cain knew his wife and she conceived and bore Enoch. Now look, I know that this raises the thorny question of where did Cain get his wife from? I don’t know the answer to that. By all means, speak to me afterwards.
I’m happy to talk through what I think are some of the options. But at the end of the day, we’re not told and we don’t know. And if we can just get past that question for now, then note that Cain and his wife have a little one. And so this section of the chapter begins exactly the same way that the first section did— the birth of a baby. And so again, it’s full of life and hope.
And just as before, as we read on, it seems as if the hope of the master plan is being fulfilled, for here again are humans being fruitful and multiplying, filling the earth and apparently subduing it. Indeed, the very first thing we read is that Cain built a city, verse 17. And a city suggests lots of people, and some of those people are named in the verses that follow as part of Cain’s family tree. His dynasty, if you will. What a family they were.
In verse 20, there’s Jabal who lived outside the city under canvas because he had a ranch with who knows how many thousand heads of cattle. And then there’s Jubal in verse 21, the father of those who play music. Well, he was a member of the worshipful company of musicians thousands of years before they or any other livery companies existed here in the city. And so with Jubal’s talents in this city, there’s entertainment, you see, and the arts, the music. So in this city you could spend the morning at the Tate Modern and the afternoon in the West End watching Phantom and then wander down to Soho and have the evening at Ronnie Scott’s listening to the best jazz there is to hear.
It’s a vibrant city. And not only with the arts, this city is cutting-edge scientifically and technologically. Look at Tubal-Cain in verse 22. We might call it the Bronze Age or the Iron Age. We might even call it the First Industrial Revolution.
Whatever we call it, there’s craftsmanship and feats of engineering. Here is technological advancement. What a place to live this would be. It’s a picture of humanity’s ingenuity and creativity. But let’s be clear as we read this, it’s a secular attempt to regain paradise because unlike the first half of the chapter and Cain and Abel, there is no attempt to relate to the Lord here.
Indeed, the name of the Lord is not even mentioned once in this section. This is the humanist belief that continuous incremental progress will lead humanity ever closer to the final utopian destiny. It reminds me of, um, Prince Albert at the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851. I say it reminds me, but please, despite appearance, I didn’t actually personally witness his speech. But anyway, at the opening of the Crystal Palace Exhibition in the middle the 19th century with so much scientific and technological advancement on display, Prince Albert’s opening speech was full of optimism.
It’s worth reading the whole speech. It’s a remarkable statement of hope in humanity. But here are the words that he said at the end of his address, towards the end of his address. He said, nobody who has paid any attention to the peculiar features of our present era will doubt for a moment that we are living at a period of most wonderful transition which tends rapidly to accomplish that great end to which indeed all all history points, the realisation of the unity of mankind. You see what the Victorians were thinking?
We’ve come of age. Our scientific and technological advances are speeding us towards a glorious new utopia, a return to paradise, the unity of the human race.
But just over 60 years after that speech, the beginning of World War I, 20 million dead and another 20 million casualties. So much for the unity of mankind. But even as the carnage began, the carnage of World War I began, hope endured. H.G. Wells believing that a victory for the Allies would bring about a lasting peace, resulting in the First World War being the war to end all wars.
Well, the Allies did defeat the Germans, but just over 20 years later in World War II, with between 50 and 85 million people killed, including the sickening systematic annihilation of 6 million Jews and the unparalleled destruction caused by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
May I suggest that those mushroom clouds that rose high over Japan were a symbol on the one hand of humanity’s ability in scientific and technological advances— I mean, the ability to split the atom— and yet on the other hand, how humanity uses technology and scientific advancement to destroy and to bring hell on earth.
And while the atomic bomb could be seen as the most terrifying of that, we, we’ve seen it many times since. Humanity’s scientific discoveries and technological advances, both for good and for evil. Fossil fuels helping us to enjoy a more comfortable life and yet wrecking our environment. The Human Genome Project, genetic advances used to reduce so much suffering, and at the same time the terrifying possibilities of genetic engineering and genetic testing. The internet, so helpful in so many ways when it comes to communication, but with it the dark web and pornography and millions of indecent images of children.
Oh, never mind the dark web, even on the social media that we, most of us, use every day, there are algorithms that reel in vulnerable teenagers, encouraging them, even showing them how to take their own lives. Now you see, that is this section— such progress And yet such destruction. We get the first glimpse of that wickedness, that destruction, in verse 19. Do you see it there? Did you see it when it was being read?
It just slipped in. Lamech took 2 wives. We could easily pass over it. It’s a deliberate rejection of God’s pattern for life that was spelt out for us back in chapter 2, verse 24. If you were here, you’ll remember marriage was to be between one man and one woman for life.
That was the Maker’s design. But here in verse verse 19, Lamech is deliberately ignoring the Maker’s pattern for life and marriage. Sounds very 21st century, doesn’t it?
And then just listen to Lamech in verse 23. Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, listen to 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 Lamech’s is 77-fold.
You see, we saw with Cain and Abel how the religious route to paradise ends in murder. It’s the same here with the secular humanist approach.
But it’s very striking how when Cain killed Abel, he actually tried to hide it. When Lamech kills a man, he boasts about it. Verse 23 is Lamech taking his wives down the boozer and at the top of his voice bragging about his murderous actions. Adah and Zillah, the wives of Lamech, listen to me. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.
And then in verse 24, Lamech says, you don’t mess with Lamech. Mess with Lamech, says Lamech, and all hell will break loose. You see, verse 24 is the ever-escalating violence of turf warfare. Lamech is the drug baron, the loan shark, the mafia, the gang leader. Mess with Lamech and you will part company with your fingernails.
You will have your kneecaps rearranged and then you will find yourself 6 feet under. That is verse 24.
And Lamech’s outburst to his wives is the polar opposite of chapter 2 again. If you were here a few weeks back, you’ll remember the end of chapter 2 was the first love song, Adam singing the first ever power ballad on his first ever date with Eve. Now here’s Lamech singing a song to his 2 wives, and it’s punk rock. It’s Johnny Rotten and the Sex Pistols, for those of us old enough to remember, screaming a defiant anti-establishment rant. Anti-establishment in that he’s in God’s world deliberately flouting God’s law, boasting about killing a man.
This is our world, and this is where the secular route to paradise ends up— well, not in paradise at all, because as we’ll see next week, human hearts are so desperately sick and depraved.
But thankfully, this is not the end of the storey. It’s not even the end of the chapter. And so third, and in just a couple of sentences because my time has well and truly gone, the only route to paradise, verses 25 and 26. Verse 25 again begins with the birth of a baby. Do you see it there?
Baby Seth. And Eve is clear that God gave Seth in place of Abel. And there we have it. Abel was the man of faith, the one who was accepted by the Lord, the one who knew the way back to the Lord and to paradise. Seth is the next Abel, it seems.
And verse 26, to Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. And here it is, at that time people began to call on the name of the Lord. There’s the way back to paradise, the only way back— to be like Abel who lived by faith, to call on the name of the Lord. For as the Apostle Peter said at Pentecost thousands of years later, Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved. Oh, how I wish I could say much more, but we’re going to see a little bit more of this next week when we see again the human condition and how terrible we are, but tucked in there, the way to be saved.
My time has gone. Let me pray for us and then we’ll go on our way and we’ll hopefully see you next week.
Heavenly Father, we’re amazed when we turn to your word, and not least of all this part of the word, written so many hundreds of years ago and yet still as relevant today as ever.
We know that there is this longing in the hearts of, I would suggest, every single human being to go back to paradise. Help us to see that religion is not the way back, man’s religious efforts.
And any sort of secular humanitarian approach is not the way back. But help us rather to see that there is a way back through the Lord Jesus by faith, as we call on the name of the Lord Jesus. And as we go from here, help us remember that one thing, I pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.