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As I said last time the end of chapter tells us about Seth, verse 25-26 say this.

Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.

(Gen 4: 25-26)

In stark contrast to the line of Cain the line of Seth is a godly line, the line that called upon the name of the Lord. So, the conclusion of this tale of two brothers is really about Cain and Seth not Cain and Abel. One family-line ended up ungodly and the other ended up calling on the name of the Lord. We might say this tale of two brothers is the history of all humanity in that most end up ungodly, but some call upon the name of the Lord. This tells us that humanity may develop materially, building cities and creating new things Even making beautiful art and music whilst at the same time morally degenerating even to the point of committing all kind of acts of violence and murder. 

Now we've covered a lot of ground recently. And I want to conclude by making two very quick observations and then we will close. First of all, I want to put this story in the context of the book of Genesis  Remember a few weeks ago I said that the phrase, “this is the history/generation of” appeared 11 times in the book of Genesis and they mark a turning point in the text. Well we have just arrived at one of those points All the way back to chapter 2 it said this is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the days the Lord God. In other words, these early chapters tell us God created the heavens and the earth and now Genesis says this is what subsequently happened to that creation. 

Summary. 

First Observation

Mankind disobeyed God and the result of that leads to disobedience, violence and murder but a faithful remnant still called upon the name of the Lord God put the human race in paradise, but they choose to disobey Him and consequently within one generation and a single act of disobedience society has degenerated into violence, and murder. Unbelief let to disobedience; disobedience led to murder. Immorality increased in open defiance of God whilst at the same time mankind was producing a technically progressive, artistically expressive, but ultimately self-gratifying society. 

Second observation. 

Cain’s family line materially prospered even though they rebelled against God. Cain’s descendants took the lead in building cities, developing music advancing agriculture, spreading civilization but at the same time they fell into sin and violence. However, the descendants of Seth made an a more important advance because they called on the name of the Lord. 

The reality is that it goes all the way back to this first-generation is that society can advance materially whilst still getting further and further away from God. In a spiritual sense, one family-line built cities the other family-line built cathedrals. One family line whilst living in the midst of a disobedient, defiant, depraved society believers would still call of the name of the Lord. 

So, here’s the question, which line will you join? Let me put it like this, you may make progress in your life, become better educated, gain more material possessions even achieve positions of power and influence. But if you do that, remember to do it to the glory of God and include the Lord in everything you do. Someone can obtain incredible heights, make incredible achievements but still leave God out. 

In 1969 man landed on the moon. NASA made a plaque to put on the lunar lander and that plaque said something about the fact that we've landed there for all mankind. The template was to be signed by all the astronauts and president Richard Nixon. It was taken to the White House for his approval there was a debate among the staff. One of the staff looked at the plaque and added under God. Another staff member complained and said what's this Under God about . So, they sent those two options to Richard Nixon and he approved and initialled the version that included Under God. The problem was that NASA had already made the plaque and they didn’t make the second. There is as I speak on the moon a plaque commemorating one of the greatest achievements of human history. We landed on the moon and what a great achievement that was. But apparently, we did it without God. 

That's the picture of the line of Cain. A line of great achievements, people who built great cities, originated music and art, initiated the work of skilled Craftsman, but without God. So don't go the way of Cain, submit your life into the care off, and to the glory of God.