ENTHRONED

Beyond The Field

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SPEAKER_00 0:36

Hey guys, how's it going? This is Brother Andrew coming to you. Excited to share with you all something that I've been really focusing on the last couple weeks. And just something I've been studying out. And it's a a message that I'm I'm titling Before the Field. And I think this is going to be a series to where I'm I'm wanting to really take one of the most uh unlikely characters that we would take from the Bible and want to study their life. And I'm talking about Cain. Because there's stories in Scripture that become so familiar, the familiarity begins to rob them of their terror. Cain is one of those stories. We we know his name, we know what he did, we know the field, the blood, the brother, we know the mark that was given to him. And and because we know how the story ends, we tend to begin where God didn't didn't begin. Does that make sense? Um because we we began with Cain the murderer, but God begins with Cain the worshiper. And I think you're going to understand Cain, like to understand Cain, you have to refuse to meet him first in the field. You have to meet him at the altar. Because Genesis 4 doesn't introduce Cain with blood on his hands, it introduces Cain with an offering in his hands. And that matters. Genesis 4 and 3 say, so it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the ground. So we gotta stop because Cain brought something. Cain acknowledged God. He participated in worship, he approached God. Cain was not like some secular man who wanted nothing to do with God. Cain had an altar. He had an offering. Cain had religious activity, and still Cain had something crouching at the door of his heart. And I think that should make every one of us tremble because apparently you can know your way to the altar and still not know what is hiding in you. You can have an offering in your hand and a fence in your heart. You can know how to approach the presence of God publicly while something privately is waiting to possess you. See, to me, Cain teaches us very early in Scripture that religious activity is not the same thing as surrender. And then Abel comes. Genesis 4 and 4 says, Abel on his part also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. Now it's easy just to push past that, to move quickly, but we can't. Cain brings something like fruit of the ground. Abel brings from the firstborn of his flock and from their fat portions. Now we have to be responsible with the text here. The Bible doesn't explicitly tell us in Genesis 4 that God had commanded both brothers to bring a blood sacrifice. We shouldn't say more than Scripture says. And we know from the later law that produces itself was not inherently unacceptable to God. Leviticus 2 contains grain offerings, but Numbers 18, 12 speaks positively about the first fruits of oil, wine, and grain. God hates vegetables and likes lambs. And it's so shallow. The issue is deeper than the material. The New Testament tells us the issue. Hebrews 11:4 says, by faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain. By faith. Right there it is. By faith. Not because Abel had access to a better marketplace, or because the sheep were intrinsically more spiritual than grain, not because God arbitrarily liked the younger brother more, but by faith Abel offered. Like Hebrews interprets Genesis for us. Abel approached God through faith. And when you read Genesis through that lens, suddenly details begin carrying weight. Abel brought the firstborn. Not merely something from the flock, the firstborn. And he brought the fat portions. So in the language that develops later in Scripture, the fat portions represent the rich and choice portion given to God. There's something deliberate about Abel's offering, something costly, something faithful, something that says, God receives, that makes some of you mad here, the first. And the offering involved the death of another. Life given, blood spilled. Something innocent surrendered in the worshipper's approach to God. Now, again, Genesis 4 doesn't stop and give us a developed doctrine of substitutionary atonement. Calvary hasn't happened. Leviticus hasn't been written. The priesthood has not been established. We don't even have the Day of Atonement because it hasn't been revealed yet. But when you read the Bible as one story, you begin to see a pattern appearing almost immediately after Eden. In Genesis 3.21, Adam and Eve have sinned. They cover themselves with fig leaves, human hands, make a covering, then God does something. It says the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Skin. Something has died. But the text doesn't call Genesis 3.21 a sacrifice. We shouldn't force language into the verse that Moses didn't put there. But death has entered the picture. Humanity sins, humanity makes a covering, God provides a cover. And the covering God provides involves the life of another. Then you turn one page, and we come to Genesis 4. One brother approaches God from the produce of the ground, another brother approaches God with the firstborn of his flock. Hebrews 11:4 reaches backward through the centuries and tells us that Abel did it by faith. Can you see the shadow forming before Moses or Aaron, before the tabernacle or the mercy seat, like the blood on the mercy seat? Before Isaiah says he was pierced for our offense. Before John the Baptist could even point to Jesus and say, Behold the Lamb of God. Lay before Golgotha the nails, the spear, the blood runs down, before the blood runs down the Roman cross. There is already this strange biblical grammar emerging. Spin, covering, life, blood, faith, approach. God is teaching humanity from the beginning that we will not climb our way back into his presence through the strength of our own hands. And this is where Cain becomes painfully relevant because Cain is a worker of the ground. Genesis 4 2 says Cain was a cultivator of the ground. This is what Cain knows. It's what he does, it's where he's competent. He can make the soil produce. He can put his hands into the earth. And I wonder if this is where we have often misunderstood Cain. The issue was never that Cain didn't try. Cain may have worked very hard. The issue was never whether Cain brought something that required effort. The issue is that you cannot substitute effort for faith. And the same of us, and some of us still have Cain's instinct. We keep trying to bring God what our hands can produce. Look what it did. Look what I did and I built and look how hard I worked and how disciplined I became. Look at what I accomplished, what I sacrificed, what I brought you. And heaven keeps returning us to the same sentence. By faith. By faith, Abel offered. Faith is not laziness. Faith is not carelessness. Faith does not mean Abel brought something cheap. He brought the firstborn. Faith gives God the first. But faith understands something self-effort never understands. Faith understands that acceptance with God is received before it's achieved. Faith doesn't approach God saying, look what my hands deserve. Faith approaches God trusting the character and provision of God. And now Genesis 4 becomes more than the story of two occupations. It becomes the earliest warning about two ways of approaching God. One way says, I will come through what I can produce, and another says, I will come trusting God. That distinction travels throughout your entire Bible. The tower bibbles or builders at Babel will say, Let us make a name for ourselves in Genesis 11:4. Abraham will believe God in Genesis 15:6, says it was credit to him as righteousness. And we'll watch Israel repeatedly try to turn covenant relationship into human performance. That the prophets were going to watch repeatedly call them back to the hearts that trust to hearts that trust and obey, that the Pharisees will eventually stand in the presence of God incarnate with impeccable religious resumes and no ability to recognize the Son. Paul in his later dismantling the illusion that, in his letters, dismantling the illusion that fallen humanity can present this accomplishments to God as the basis of righteousness. And somewhere near the beginning of the entire story stands Cain with an offering in his hand, but something wrong in his heart. This goes never about God playing favorites. Hebrews 11:4 rescues us from that reading. By faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain. The favor rested upon faith. And notice this Genesis 4 and 4, the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering. Abel and his offering. But Genesis 4 and 5, but for Cain and his offering. He had no regard. Cain and his offering. The worshipper and the worship are connected. God's not staring merely at what is lying on the altar. God is looking at the person standing behind beside it. Too often we said, come and lay your offering at the altar. No, no, no. Come with a faith heart before you ever bring an offering. God is looking at the person beside it. This is why you can never fix worship by merely changing the external thing. A better song can't repair an unsurrendered heart. A bigger gift can't substitute for obedience. A louder prayer can't disguise bitterness. You can improve the offering while avoiding the worshiper. And God keeps coming after the worshiper. Like, I want you. Not merely what comes out of your hand, I want you. And this is where the heart of God in Genesis 4 becomes so breathtaking to me. Because Genesis 4, 5 says that Cain became very angry, and his face became gloomy. And then God speaks, and you've got to see this. Cain has not murdered anybody yet. No blood in the ground. Abel's still alive. The field is just a field, the family's still intact, and God intervenes.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Genesis 4, 6. Then the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why is your face gloomy?

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This is God speaking to an angry man, speaking to a disappointed worshiper, speaking to somebody whose offering has not been accepted. And God doesn't immediately crush him. He questions him, why are you angry? Cain, come into the light. Cain, tell me what's happening. Cain, before you blame your brother, let me show you your heart. Cain. Your greatest enemy is not standing beside you. It's something that's moving inside you. And then we move on to 4-7. If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it. There's so much mercy in that verse. Because God tells Cain there's still a way forward. Cain's not locked out. Cain has not been told, I choose Abel and I hate you. God says, if you do well. In other words, Cain's, Cain, this moment doesn't have to define the rest of your life. Your offering was not regarded, your face is fallen, anger has entered, but Cain, I'm still speaking. And as long as God is speaking, there's an invitation. God corrects Cain before God judges Cain. He warns him before the field. God names the danger before Cain surrenders to it. Sin is lurking at the door. Can't get away from that image. That sin has a posture. Sin is crouching, it's waiting, it has desire. God said its desire is for you. Sin's not merely an unfortunate decision. Sin is portrayed as something predatory, something wanting dominion, seeking entrance. And now the New Testament is going to take us even deeper because we've got 1 John 3 11. Then we are to love one another. Then verse 12 says, not as Cain, who was of the evil one, and murdered his brother, of the evil one. John, John does not merely say Cain had a temper problem. John doesn't say Cain made an unfortunate relational decision. John reaches behind the visible act and exposes the spiritual alignment. Cain, who was of the evil one. That is among the strongest language in scripture concerning Cain. And I want to be precise because precision is going to matter for many of your hearts. John's not teaching some bizarre idea that Cain was biologically fathered by Satan. That's not the point. Cain is physically Adam and Eve's son, according to Genesis. John is talking about spiritual and moral origin. 1 John 3.8 has already said the one who practices sin is of the devil. The 3.10 in 1 John contrasts the children of God and the children of the devil. So when John says Cain was of the evil, he's identifying the spiritual source and character reflected in Cain's hatred. And I need somebody to hear this carefully. Offense is never just offense once you begin feeding it. Bitterness is never content to remain a feeling. Jealousy is never satisfied, simply being noticed. Genesis tells us sin is at the door. 1 John tells you there is an evil one. When you put those texts together, you begin to understand why God was so urgent with Cain. God wasn't overacting to a bad mood. He was trying to stop a doorway from becoming an occupation. There are emotions you experience that are not sin merely because you feel them. You can feel anger and disappointment and pain, but there's a difference between feeling something and building it a house. Don't rehearse it. Don't name a name Abel is the reason for what is happening inside you. Cain's sin is at the door, it wants you. Do not open it. You keep pointing at the person, the opportunity. Children succeeded. They were celebrated. They were invited. They were seen, and you are not. And now every time Abel walks into the room, something in your face changes. God did. Genesis 4 5 says, Cain's face. Before Cain's hand revealed his heart, his continents did. And God loves Cain enough to confront it. Why are you angry? What if that question isn't judgment? What if that question is rescue? What if what if conviction is God standing? Between you and the field. We have made conviction sound like something cruel, but conviction is mercy. Conviction is God whispering. Don't become what this wound is trying to make you. Don't become what this situation is trying to form in you. Conviction is heaven interceding or intercepting you before consequences become permanent. The Holy Spirit is not trying to humiliate you when he exposes jealousy. He's protecting you. He's not rejecting you when he he reveals bitterness. He's rescuing you. He's not trying to make you feel less than when he continually exposes that you have anger issues. He's rescuing you. He's not pushing you away when he says, We need to talk about your anger. He's standing in the doorway. Cain, there's something there. Let me have it. And John says Cain was of the evil one. And to me, you know what makes this particularly sobering is that John says in 844 of the devil, he was a murderer from the beginning. A murderer. Then John reaches back to the beginning in 1 John 3 and says, Cain was of the evil one and murdered his brother. There's this spiritual current moving underneath hatred. This is why 1 John refuses to separate hatred from murder as casually as we do. It's why 1 John 3.15 says, everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer. John says every hateful thought carries the same earthly consequence as homicide. He's exposing the seed, he's showing you the family resemblance. The same darkness that ultimately manifests in murder begins much earlier as hatred. God deals with speeds because God can see trees. God deals with doors because God can see destinations. And he's dealing with Cain's anger because he can already see Abel's blood. And then John asks a question, 1 John 3 12. And for what reason did he murder him? And you have to listen to the answer. Because his own deeds were evil, but his brothers were righteous. That is deeper than merely Cain, like saying Cain wanted Abel, what Abel had. Abel's righteousness exposed Cain. Light does that. Sometimes the presence of righteousness irritates darkness before righteousness ever says anything. Abel doesn't have to preach to Cain. Abel's life is preaching, his faith is preaching, his offering is preaching. God's regard for Abel is revealing something Cain doesn't want revealed, and here's where jealousy becomes murderous. Cain decides the answer to his exposure is the removal of the person exposing him. Cain thinks if Abel disappears, maybe the feeling disappears. But killing Abel never heals Cain. Removing your comparison will not heal your insecurities. Simply silencing the person you envy won't make you whole. We can't want people to fall believing it will restore us. Getting that position they had won't cure the wound. You don't need Abel diminished. You need Cain surrender. Let me say it again. You don't need Abel diminished. You need Cain surrendered. You don't need somebody else's light turned down. You need to let God heal the part of you that believes their light means there is less for you. God's regard for Abel was not the end of Cain's opportunity. Genesis 4 7 proves that. If you do well, will your faith not be careful? There was room for Cain. There was always room for Cain. Cain didn't have to compete. And this pattern doesn't disappear after Genesis 4. It runs like an underground river from scripture. Like watch Joseph. In Genesis 37 and 3, it says Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons. And then it says his brothers followed and hated him. Thirty-seven nineteen. Here comes the dreamer. Dreamer became hatred. Brothers became a threat. But Genesis 1520 gives us the redemptive turn. You meant evil against me. But God meant it for good. The women saying Saul has swaying his thousands and David his ten thousands. It says Saul became very angry. Saul eyed David with suspicion from that day on. And then the spear comes. The song, comparison, anger, a changed eye, violence. Before the spear leaves Saul's hand, Saul's eye had already changed. Before Cain's hand rises, Cain's face had already fallen. Scripture keeps showing us that outward violence begins with inward distortion. You start seeing your brother incorrectly before you start treating your brother incorrectly. In Genesis 4.8, and I need you to look at this carefully because there's something here many believers have never noticed. Most of us read Genesis 4.8 in English and never realize there's an ancient textual question in the verse. The traditional Hebrew text, it says in essence, Cain said to Abel his brother, and then it moves immediately to, and it came about when they were in the field. Do you hear the gap? Cain said to Abel his brother. Said what? The verb introduces speech, but in the traditional Hebrew form that has come down to us, Cain's words are not there. But several ancient witnesses, including Stephen Dagoden, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, preserves words at that point. They read essentially, let us go out to the field. Now, yes, some modern English translations include that line and note the textual difference. I don't want to sensationalize textual criticism. This doesn't change any doctrine. Nothing central to Christianity depends on whether that line is original. The event is clear either way. They end up in the field. Cain murders Abel, but there's something haunting about the difference. Cain said to Abel his brother, and then suddenly they're in the field. The ancient Greek tradition gives the silence words like let us go out to the field. And if reading reflects the original wording, then the field was not accidental. Cain invited Abel. Think about the movement. God had just spoken to Cain. God had just warned Cain. God had just said sin was crouching at the door. Cain leaves a conversation with God and initiates a conversation with Abel. God says, sin's at the door. Cain says, Let's go to the field. Because there's moments when heaven is speaking one direction while a fence is planning another. God is saying, deal with your heart. Cain's saying, come with me. God is offering an altar, but Cain is choosing a field. And whether you're reading the shorter Hebrew form or the fuller ancient form, the tragedy remains the same. There is a missing conversation with God before there is a fatal encounter with Abel. Cain should have stayed in the conversation. Stay with God. Stay under the question. Stay where the light is exposing you. Don't rush out of conviction. Don't leave the presence because the presence became uncomfortable. Some of us leave prayer exactly when prayer starts working. We're fine when God is blessing and affirming and soothing. But the moment God says, Why are you angry? we get up. The moment God touches the protected wound, we close the Bible. The moment we hear that sermon and it stops being about somebody else, we resist. We need to stay. Stay in the conversation. Don't go to the field. Stay here. Answer God. Why are you angry? Why is your face falling? Why are you afraid, Abel? What are you afraid that Abel has that you cannot have? What do you believe his acceptance says about you? What part of you wants to punish another person because you're disappointed with God? Because God is not asking a question. God is trying to say for the two brothers. This is how I want you to see Genesis 4, 6 and 7. God's warning is mercy towards him. But it is also mercy towards Abel. When God deals with your anger, he's not only protecting you, he may be protecting everyone. Your untreated anger will eventually touch. When God confronts your addiction, your pride, your bitterness, your lust, your need for control, he's not merely thinking about you in isolation. He sees families and children and marriages and churches and generations. He sees emotion. He sees a feel. He sees one brother. He can see where this current will go because if you keep reading Genesis 4 and eventually you meet Lammock. Genesis 4.23, Lemmech says to his wives, I have killed a man for wounding me and a boy for striking me. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech, Lemmech seventy sevenfold. Look what happened. Cain trembled over his violence. Lemmech boasts about his. Cain feared vengeance. Lemmex celebrates it. One generation's tragedy becomes another generation's anthem. What Cain did in the field, Lammech puts into poetry. This is why God deals with seeds, because sin unattendant does not remain static, it develops. It learns vocabulary, it builds a culture, it finds music, it becomes normal. What made your grandfather weep can become what your grandson celebrates as somebody doesn't let God interrupt the cycle. Cain stay in the conversation. And then comes the field. Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. His brother. That word keeps repeating through the passage, brother, brother, brother. The text won't let Cain reduce Abel to competition. He is your brother. Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? Your brother. He says, Where is Abel your brother? Cain, your murdered relationship. Cain, you didn't merely destroy a body, you violated brotherhood. And Cain says, I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper? Like what a sentence. The first murder is immediately followed by the first great renunciation of responsibility for another human being. Am I my brother's keeper? In all through scripture, heaven keeps answering that question. Yes, you are responsible to love. 1 John 3.11. This is the message which we have heard from the beginning. That we are to love one another. Then Cain, why Cain? Because Cain is what happens when brotherly love collapses. 1 John doesn't treat love as a sentiment. Love is spiritual warfare against Cain's pattern. Every time you bless your brother, you could have envied, Cain loses. Every time you celebrate somebody else's favor, Cain loses. Every time you forgive instead of retaliating, Cain loses. Every time that we refuse to let comparison rename your brother is competition. Cain loses. Every time you bring your anger into the presence instead of into the field, Cain loses. Am I my brother's keeper? The gospel says you are certainly not your brother's owner. You are not your brother's savior. You are not called to control him, but you are called to love him. You're called to seek his good. This verse is warfare in Cain's heart. Romans 12, 15. Rejoice with those who rejoice. You know how free you have to be to rejoice when Abel's offering is regarded? Do you know what kind of healing it takes to say, God, thank you for what you're doing in Him when you're still wanting, waiting for your own breakthrough? That's mature sonship. Immaturity interprets another person's blessing as scarcity. Sonship knows the father has not run out. There's enough, there's enough grace, there's enough father, there's enough calling, there's enough love, there's enough kingdom. Abel doesn't have to lose for Cain to become righteous. David doesn't have to die for Stahl to obey. Joseph doesn't have to disappear for his brothers to become sons. Your brother is not the obstacle to your destiny. Sometimes your response to your brother is the revelation of your heart. And then God says something terrifying, and we're going to end here. Genesis 4.10. What have you done? What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground. Blood has a voice. Cain thought Abel was silent, but he was wrong. Cain killed the mouth, but he couldn't silence the blood. The ground became a witness. Heaven heard what earth absorbed. And this is why we need Hebrews 12.24. To not overcomplicate it, to not make 50 parallels. Let the text carry its own weight. Hebrews 12.24 speaks of Jesus the mediator of a new covenant into the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Athens. Hallelujah. We're going to stop right there. We're going to pick this back up. At some point, this will come out to you. I don't know when, but when it does, I pray it blesses you and challenges you. Thank you all for tuning in. Thank you for listening. Don't forget to send to do a comment. Send us a message at RiseUp at awakenash ministries.com. Tell us your prayer needs. Tell us your struggles. Tell us your your joyful moments. We will celebrate with you. And we'll help you through the moments that you're having trouble celebrating. Bless you in Jesus' name. Bye bye.