Enmity Between The Two Seeds (Genesis 4, Jeff Kliewer)

Good morning. If you are coming in, go ahead, come in and have a seat. We are, we are coming before the Lord in worship this morning. I don't know how early you guys got up this morning. You're the second service people.

You probably sleep in a little bit. Yes. Okay. Uh, but I, I did get up a little earlier this morning to run an errand and I was caught completely off guard because my back of my pickup truck was, well, it rained a lot yesterday, but there was no water in the back of my pickup truck.

It was all ice. So my point is that God is sovereign and in creation, God does things that we don't always expect or understand. Uh, God's, God's message, His truth. We don't always know everything that is, that is, that's happening, but we rest assured and we rest confident in God's sovereignty.

I mean, you're going to hear a message today about the reality that there, there is this conflict between what Satan has and what God offers. But we are confident in this, that God is sovereign. And so I want to read out of Deuteronomy 29, 29, a very, very familiar verse, the secret things belong to the Lord, but the things revealed belong to us and our sons forever that we may observe all the words of this law.

You see what God chooses in His sovereignty to reveal to us is adequate for what He wants us to hold on to. And we don't need to be distressed or, or in any way concerned. I don't understand why God does this.

I don't understand why that. What we do know is what God gives us. You see three significant truths. One, God is sovereign and it is not our place to challenge His sovereignty. What He does according to His will, according to His plan, He is sovereign.

The second truth, in His wisdom, He reveals His truth, that we might know His truth. And so what He gives to us, either through general revelation and what the creation shows, the heavens declare the glory of God, or what He gives to us in His word, He reveals to us His truth.

And so the third reality is that what God reveals is for our benefit. Get this, it's for our benefit so that we may know Him and have a relationship with Him. The secret things belong to the Lord, but the things revealed belong to us and our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of His law.

I have a lot of stuff to share with you this morning. So grab a hold of what I have to say. The first one is going to be this coming weekend is, is this, this very special time in our life, in the life of the church, the resurrection.

We start out on Friday with our Good Friday service at seven o 'clock right here, as we will concentrate and put our minds on the reality that the Son of God obediently and willingly went to the cross for our sins.

And at the end of it, He proclaims to Telistai. Join with us at seven o 'clock on Friday. Sunday morning, we will start the morning out with a sunrise service at 6 .30. We will be out on the property to proclaim He has risen and then continue with us, our normal services at nine and 10 .45.

There is a, there is a need for those of you who would like to be part of the ministry of this church with regard to the technical support. We have a couple of teams that work faithfully for us on the table in the back doing tech support.

If you have an ability, if you have a desire to be part of the ministry in this area, you can talk to to Matt Hoke, talk to Jeff or myself, talk to one of the people at the table. We do, we would like to see a couple of more teams rotating for that table.

So if that's a calling, go ahead and move forward on it. On the 15th of April, this is an announcement of our annual congregational meeting. We just met in March and that was to affirm our new board and our new budget.

And we did some membership. In April is our annual meeting where we officially close the books for last year. If you're a member, please come and see what's going on. We'll basically lay the table out for where we think we're going in the next year.

So on the 15th. On the 21st is what's going to be called Compassion Sunday. There is a Ministry Compassion International that allows individuals to partner through this organization and to basically adopt a child in need somewhere in the world.

You would get a name of a child. You can contribute to their needs and you can be in prayer for them. That will be the focus on the 21st will be Compassion Sunday. We have a baptism coming. It will be in June.

We usually do one in June and one in September. So there's a baptism coming in June. If you have not been baptized, you desire to be baptized, contact Pastor Jeff or myself, one of the elders, and there will be a class coming up in advance of that.

Notionally we're looking at June 9th, but the details will be put together. Join us tonight again, please, at 6 o 'clock for church prayer. The last announcement is going to be the retreats. The men's retreat is coming up.

Two weeks after that, the women's retreat is coming up. Opportunities to sign up, but Mr. Dottoli has some more information.

Good morning. We have, there's only two weeks left to sign up for the men's retreat. And I have to think that at this, by this point in time, most of you men have decided whether or not you're not going to go.

I'm hoping that there are a couple of undecideds. So for those undecideds, I'm thinking there's two good reasons for going. One is fellowship. So if you don't feel as if you know enough men here in the church, or if you'd like to get to know some of the men you already know more deeply, the retreat a weekend away with the men is a great opportunity.

The second reason would be discipleship. We either need to be discipling someone or we need to be discipled, and that goes for all of us. So there's, you know, that's almost like a responsibility, I would think, more than a benefit.

Benefit for the fellowship, but a responsibility for discipleship. And the last point would be we have 20 older men and we have 10 younger men. So here's another great opportunity for the older men to build some relationships with the younger guys, disciple some of the younger guys, maybe just have some conversations with the younger guys.

Maybe the younger guys have questions about girls, or marriage, or money, or college, or who knows. And this would just be a great time to be hanging out and seeing somebody, some young guy over in the corner having a soda, and you go at the table and sit down next to him and find out, hey what's going on?

And so please give it some serious thought. If you haven't decided yet and maybe you want to go, speak to myself or Pastor John. Thank you. John, before you leave, I got two quick questions.

Am I an old guy or a young guy? Next question. The second point is, if you're on, if you would like to go, but this is not financially the right time for you to go, we do have a number of scholarships that are available, so we want to make sure, if you desire to go, that that's not going to hold you back.

So talk to John, myself, Jeff, one of the elders, whatever. But if you would like to go, we want to make sure that that happens for you. Let's turn to prayer. Father, we come to you this morning, first of all, we confess our sins.

We know that there are temptations in this world, and we know that our flesh sometimes falls short. We know that the heart is more deceitful than all else. And so, Father, we come to you confessing our sin and seeking forgiveness through the cleansing of your Son, Jesus.

Lord, we accept your sovereignty over all. It is not us who's in control. We know, Lord, you are the creation. We also know, Lord, that with you there is truth. And without you, there's only pretense.

We need you, Father. Lord, we rest in the truth that you reveal to us. And we thank you for the Holy Spirit who reveals to us the depths of your truth, opens our eyes to a relationship with you. And so, Father, we pray this morning that your Word will guide us, teach us, draw us to you.

Be with Pastor Jeff as he brings your Word. Open the eyes of our hearts, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Let's all stand. I'm going to take you to Ephesians 2, verse 8. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is a gift of God. Amen. God, we just give you praise.

We give you glory. We give you all the thanks for what you've done in our lives, Lord God. God, without you, where would we be? But you have come down and just pulled us up from our sin by your redeeming love for us, Lord God.

Amen. Just let that praise, that love for you come out as we sing these songs to you this morning.

We pray in Jesus' name. Who breaks the power of sin and darkness, whose love is mighty and so much stronger,. The King of glory, the King above all kings. Who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder, who leaves us breathless in awe and wonder,.

The King of glory, the King above all kings. This is amazing grace, this is unveiling love, that you would take my place, that you would bear my crown, your love, that I would be set free. I sing for all that you've done for me,.

Brought chaos back into order. Who makes the orphan a son and daughter,. The King of glory, the King of glory. Who rules the nations with truth and justice,. Shines like the sun in all of his brilliance,.

The King of glory, the King above all kings. This is amazing grace, this is unveiling love, that you would take my place, that you would bear my crown, your love, that I would be set free.

God, we just uh, we just revel in your faithfulness to us over all the generations. Lord God, you are faithful. Lord, we pray that you would make us more faithful in our lives,.

In our hearts, and let's all be seated. We thank you for saving us, for those of us who believe.

In Jesus Christ. Your word says all of them shall be taught by God. Your Holy Spirit has taught us the truth about the Son of God, the seed of the woman who crushed the head of the serpent, who himself was struck in the heel.

We thank you that you have opened our eyes to see Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. We thank you for his blood that cleanses us from all unrighteousness, and we pray now Lord that we would have hearts of worship, that we would bring our best, that we would bring our best listening skills, and devote ourselves to hearing what you say, because we love you.

This is our offering to you Lord, that we would bring our best to you this morning in Jesus name. Amen. Most people, including many Christians, are not aware that there is a seed of the serpent, that there is a such thing as Satan, as a real evil force in the world, who does real evil through people.

And there are people who are controlled by the devil, even when they don't know it. We cannot understand the murderous violence in the world, unless we understand that there are really two seeds. There is on the one hand, the seed of the woman, that is the offspring who believe in the offspring of Eve, Jesus Christ, the one who came to crush the head of the serpent.

And then on the other hand, there is the seed of the serpent. Those who are controlled by the enemy, whether or not they know it, and they are truly children of the devil, which is the reason for their murderous rage.

Did you guys see in the news just days ago, that some gunmen and someone carrying an explosive went into a movie theater in Russia, and killed 130 plus people. Just massacring people as they went about their day.

John 16 verse 2 says that, there will come a time when people will think they are offering a service to God, when they kill. These Muslim terrorists believed they were serving God, when they murdered people.

Very often this is connected with an ethnic identity. In Russia, the war with Ukraine, from Putin's side, was very much motivated by his sense of Russia first. That Russia was to him, the source of his great identity.

There is something valuable in nationalism. But with Putin, he has elevated the place of being Russian, to the point where he could justify overthrowing parts of Ukraine. In fact, his Ukrainian priest, Vasily Zenkovsky, said that Ukraine must become a part of Russia, even if Ukrainians are against it.

Because in the Russian Orthodox Church, to be Orthodox, is to be Russian. And so, so much of the killing is justified in the name of this sense, that they have an ethnic line, a heritage as Russians, that would justify what they do.

Have you noticed there's also a war in Israel? On October 7th, 2023, the seed of the serpent struck out in destruction against others. Many of whom themselves did not know the Lord. And many of them were themselves controlled by the evil one.

But the murderous rage came from that sense of ethnic identity, to be Palestinian, over against what they regard as an evil seed, which would be to be Jewish. And so, they sought to drive Jewish people from the river to the sea, as their expression goes.

It's an ethnic partiality that results in murderous violence. North Korea is one of the most oppressive regimes in the world. And they murder Christians who preach the gospel. But this is all built around a cult of personality.

The Kim family, Kim Jong Sung, and then Il, and then Un. These Kims are regarded as like family heads over the nation. So, it's a paternal kind of view, in which the blood relations of being Korean, in this kind of Marxist version of their totalitarian state, to be Korean is what unites the people.

And so, in a sense of ethnic pride, they justify anyone who stands against that, and lash out against Christians, and even kill them. This was a similar ideology as what overtook Iraq. Do you remember the first Gulf War in the 1990s?

Remember the Ba 'ath party, Ba 'athism, with Saddam Hussein? The idea there was to reunite all the Arab people as an ethnicity. They saw themselves as the descendants of the Babylonians and Assyrians, and that this ethnic pride would unite a people under that banner.

Of course, the most famous example in history is the Aryan nation of Adolf Hitler, murderously lashing out against Jewish people. So often, the subject of this kind of ethnic hatred are the Jews. But Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one Christian who was killed under that regime, snake bitten through this ethnic pride.

There is a seed of the woman, Genesis 315, which refers to Christ the offspring, but also to those who belong to Christ, those who are born of Him. This is the seed of the woman. Many people don't realize, however, that there is also the seed of the serpent.

And when we see today the murder of Abel, it is at the hands of the seed of the serpent. He is filled with the rage that comes from Satan. Now, this division between seeds, many people think is ethnic, that there are racial lines that determine if you belong to the seed of the woman or the seed of the serpent.

But notice that the story of Cain and Abel blows that theory out of the water because they both came from the same woman. I think very often people assume that the issue is race when what's truly needed is grace.

They look at skin when the real problem is sin. In our country, there is a movement afoot, which is very much related to the seed of the serpent stirring up this ethnic pride and hatred that could tear this country apart.

A century ago, that racial animus was seen in things like Mormonism. Mormonism gave a theory of the Native Americans in the land whereby the whites who came had a higher level. And as a Native American would convert to Mormonism, the Book of Mormon says their skin became more white and delightsome.

There's this pride of skin in the Book of Mormon. But now, society has moved in our generation towards a new kind of ethnic pride, which is kind of in the opposite direction. Interestingly, in the Book of Mormon, they feel that the blessings of Deuteronomy 28 are owed to this ethnicity.

But in our day and age, listen to this. There is a movement from the seed of the serpent, which would unite people around being BIPOC. Have you heard that expression? Black Indigenous People of Color.

And it would seek to unite people, again, based on the color of skin and ethnicity. One extreme example of this is gaining ground in the inner cities, and it's the goal of the serpent to stoke these fires to bring racial division and even hatred and violence.

Hebrew-Israelism teaches that the different peoples of the Americas are actually the 10 tribes of Israel. So, the Haitians, they would say, are the Levites having traveled to America. The Mexicans are the sons of Issachar, and so on and so forth.

The teaching is to distinguish people of color, Black Indigenous, over against those who are so-called white, to bring solidarity to these communities of color. The leader of that group in California is named Al-Azhar, and his sect is called the Saqqari, which derives its name from the Jewish sect in the first century that would bring out their knives.

The Saqqari was the knife of the assassin. The story of Cain and Abel protects us from this kind of thinking. If our country can hold on to the foundations of Christianity and the biblical ethics that founded this nation, then we will continue to make disciples, to live in freedom, to live in peace.

But the serpent that stirs up animosity in North Korea and in Israel and in the Russia-Ukraine region, this same serpent would love to stir up this kind of division in this country. And I think that many Christians are unaware of how deep these issues run, and what danger we face at this time.

But there's good news in today's passage, because there is not just the seat of the serpent, there is the seat of the woman. And the offspring of the woman is none other than Christ himself, and he will be the victor.

And we see by the end of Genesis 4, a people that call upon the name of the Lord. We're going to take Genesis 4 today as a unit, because it is written that way by the pen of Moses in the 1400s BC. The enmity between the seat of the serpent and the seat of the woman boiled over when Cain killed Abel.

And that enmity, that hatred continues to this day. We can't really understand Genesis 4 without Genesis 3, the first gospel promise. Genesis 3 verse 15 says, I will put enmity between you and the woman.

God is speaking to the serpent, who's controlled by the devil himself. The serpent will be an illustration of the fall of Satan. As Satan, Lucifer, was a guardian cherub, a beautiful worship leader in heaven.

He fell from grace, and now the snake illustrates his fall. Now the snake is belly down in the dust. He's eating dust all of his life. He's slithering on the ground. A picture of Satan being degraded and debased.

But notice what it goes on to say. This enmity is not only between you and the woman, but between your offspring and her offspring. You see that? There is the seed of the serpent, offspring of the serpent.

And there is the seed of the woman. And these are against one another. There is war in this world. There is enmity, strife. It goes on to say, he shall bruise your head. Now speaking of a seed singular, Genesis 12 does the same thing, where the offspring is Israel.

And then specifically in 12 .7, it's the singular offspring, Christ. Galatians 4 explains that that is the one offspring, Jesus. Here in Genesis 15, the second half of the verse says, he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

Christ will crush the head of the snake, but he himself will be struck in the heel, a death wound, which happens on the cross. Now we go to Genesis 4 with that as our background. Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.

Notice there that she is marveling in the wonder that through this conception, as she and her husband, Adam knew his wife, that this baby is conceived. But she's not recognizing this from the point of a scientist looking at conception in a test tube.

All science can do is describe what can be observed. But notice Eve's disposition here. She says, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. She's in wonder. Never forget that in Psalm 139 verses 13 to 16, David expresses wonder at the creation of a baby in the womb.

You have knitted me together in my mother's womb. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Here you have life conceived and then born into the world. And there is a sense of awe, wonder at what God has done in this.

In verse 2 and following again, she bore his brother Abel. Now here's how the story unfolds. And again, we're going to see, this is the story of the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman clashing.

This conflict. Now, Abel was a keeper of the 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 of 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 for you, but you must rule over it. Why was Abel's sacrifice accepted, but not Cain's? The commentators differ on this question.

Some say it is the content of the offering. Others say it is the quality of the heart behind it. We get some light from Hebrews chapter 11 verse 4, because Abel's in the hall of faith. And there we're told that God regarded Abel's sacrifice, but not Cain's.

And here let's turn to it just quickly, because it's always good to compare Scripture with Scripture. The Bible is its own best interpreter. So in Hebrews 11 4, it says, by faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous.

God commending him by accepting his gifts, and through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. The issue, of course, in Hebrews 11 is faith. And I think the answer is more of a both and, rather than an either or.

What was acceptable about Abel is that he came in faith with, first of all, the right content in his hands. The content was the blood of an animal, not the wheat or the barley of the field. He came with the blood of an animal.

You see that contrast between Abel being the keeper of sheep, so he brings the sheep. Now the reason he should have known that an animal was required, and Cain should have known this as well, is because in Genesis 3, it was insufficient to cover shameful nakedness with fig leaves.

What was required was the shedding of blood and a covering of skin, Genesis 3 .21. And surely there's more said than what's recorded for us in Genesis. Those bringing a sacrifice were to bring blood. But apparently to Cain, that just seemed awfully gruesome and unnecessary.

And so the content of his offering was merely a bushel of wheat. But I think the second thing is also true. When Cain came, it was not with a joyful heart. We learn this from Jude 11, that the way of Cain is like the way of Balaam, which sought after gain.

Balaam was a false prophet for hire. His interest was to do whatever gave him the greatest gain. And the way of Cain is like that. Cain wanted to preserve as much of his wealth as possible, and give as little as possible to appease God and satisfy the requirement.

So his offering did not come from a joyful heart desiring to say thank you and to please God. He came rather like this. Hey, God requires an offering. Let me grab this bushel, something that I can spare, and throw it on the altar.

And God disregarded it. He wanted nothing of it. He was not pleased because Abel was not trying to please God. There was no gratitude in his heart, no desire to give the best part. Notice with Abel's sacrifice, verse 4, Abel brought the firstborn of his flock.

That's important. The most developed animal, the most valuable animal, the one most highly prized among the flock, he came and brought his best and of their fat portions. That's this idea of what is most pleasing, the best he could bring.

And the Lord regarded that. So the big issue, the banner is faith. Abel's coming in faith. He's bringing the right kind of sacrifice, a blood sacrifice. But there's also this heart of worship in him. Whereas Cain comes flippantly and offers whatever he wants and really trying to preserve as much of his wealth as possible.

This is the way of Cain. Contrast it with the way of life. The way of life comes with blood offering that will ultimately picture the blood of Jesus. But the way of Cain makes his own way, comes up with his own religion and assumes God will surely accept it from my hands.

Now in verse 6, the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And why has your face fallen? Notice that there is not an ethnic line here because they both come from the same woman. The way was offered to Cain in verse 7.

If you do well, will you not be accepted? The problem is sin. If you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Picture a lion just outside of your house, just waiting for you to open the door and walk outside.

You don't know it's there, but as soon as you get outside, that lion is going to devour you. God mercifully warns. And notice, Cain has already sinned. So why is sin crouching at the door? Because sin always takes you farther than you wanted to go.

And it always keeps you longer than you wanted to stay. And it always costs you more than you wanted to pay. You see, that first sin, this flippant offering, was indicative of his heart. His heart was turning away from God.

It was becoming cold and callous. And now he's opened the door to sin. And this sin will take you farther. Church, listen to me. Please listen to me. Do not open a door to sin in your life. It will take you farther than you wanted to go.

It will always lead to more sin. And it will lead ultimately to the way of Cain, which is the way of death. Here, Cain is being warned, if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you.

Remember hearing that? The curse on the woman, Genesis 3 .16. Her desire is for her husband, but he will rule over her. Same language here. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it. The issue here is headship.

Will you take mastery over sin? Or will sin begin to control and own you? Will you be the slave of sin? And sin be your master. It can only be one or the other. The offspring of the woman, by grace, not by strength inherent in the person, but the offspring of the woman will master sin.

The offspring of the serpent will be mastered by it. And here is the tragedy of Cain. Look at verse 8. Cain spoke to Abel, his brother. You ever notice that verse? He invited him out into the corner of the field, which is not a moment of raging passion so much as a premeditated act.

The Septuagint goes on to say, let us go out to the field. But that's implied here in our translation as well. He spoke to Abel, his brother. He said, let's go to this corner over here, away from Adam and Eve.

And I think there's other children being born now. There are people populating the earth. Cain pulls Abel, his brother, out to a secluded spot. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against him, his brother Abel, and killed him.

John 8, 44 reveals to us where this kind of wrath and hatred comes from. Where does it come from? The serpent, the devil, has been a murderer from the beginning. The Pharisees thought that they were children of God.

They were the seed, the offspring, the chosen ones. But Jesus says, no, you are children of your father, the devil. He was a murderer from the beginning. And then what does he go on to say? And a liar.

So look at verse 9. The Lord said to Cain, where is your brother? Where's Abel? Now, do you think Cain knows? The image of his brother laying dead in a pool of his own blood will be forever etched in his mind and conscience.

He will never shake the memory. He will never forget the spot. He knows that spot better than any other place on earth. Outside of the garden, in this field, and yet he says to God, I do not know. Liar.

And then says, am I my brother's keeper? What dismissiveness. Here is God questioning him. There could be possibly a chance to repent, but instead he's dismissive of God. Am I my brother's keeper? The Lord said, what have you done?

The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. This is an amazing verse. We have so many firsts in this passage. The first born, the first farmer, the first keeper of cattle. Now we have the first death and it turns out it's the first murder.

More than that, it's the first martyrdom. Because Abel was a worshiper of God and it was this jealous rage that God was pleased with Abel that caused Cain to lash out. So here lies Abel in a pool of his own blood.

So amazing about verse 10 is that we're told that blood speaks. The martyr's blood, the voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. God hears the cry of this blood. The martyrs in Revelation are under the altar and they're crying, God, how long?

When will you vindicate us? When will you bring vengeance on those who murdered us? Innocent blood speaks to God. The innocent blood of babies slaughtered in the womb. The mother saying, am I my baby's keeper?

Yes, you are. That womb was to be the safest place in the world. And 62 million babies, their blood shed crying out to God. How long? Blood speaks. But what's so fascinating about this verse is that blood speaks justice, right?

Innocent blood cries for justice. And if you stand before Mount Sinai like Moses did, he says, I tremble with fear. The trumpet sound, the shaking of the mountain, the law of God is revealed at Sinai.

And the law says, thou shalt not murder. If you murder, you die. If you lie, you die. If you steal, you die. If you lust, look after another woman, commit adultery in your heart, you die. The law causes every man to tremble.

But Hebrews 12 tells us we have not come to that mountain, but to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable angels in festal assembly, to the son, the church of the firstborn, to God, the judge, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.

And here's where it all builds to, to the blood that speaks a better message than the message of Abel. The blood of Abel, shed by Cain, cries to God, bring justice, avenge, wrath. But the blood of Jesus speaks a better message.

It speaks over us who have sinned, mercy. Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. Blood was shed, not as a martyr, for no one took his life, he gave it willingly. Jesus went to the cross, struck in the heel, lifted up to bleed and die, giving his blood, pouring out his blood for the forgiveness of sin.

His blood speaks over us. So right here, there's prophecy in Genesis 4 .10. The blood of Abel is prophetic of better blood. Abel's blood can only cry for justice, but the blood of Jesus was given for sinners like us.

And we become the offspring of Jesus, his children, when we believe in him. His blood washes us clean of all sin, cleansing us of all unrighteousness. Isn't that good news? This is how you become the offspring of the woman.

Now notice that the conflict doesn't end right here. Cain should drop dead, but notice what happens. Verse 11 and following, 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. A wanderer. Those who are seed of the serpent are wanderers on earth. They're away from the presence of God, we're told, and they're restless.

Restlessness marks the seed of the serpent. Now hear me. Augustine said, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in him. Every human heart is a wanderer, but it's not the portion of Christians to be forever wanderers.

There are times of anxiety and struggle, but ultimately, by faith, as we order our lives and we bring our best offering to God, we are to be at peace with God. An objective peace, which results in a subjective peace.

The peace of God, which guards our hearts in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4. Those who are seed of the serpent are not like us in this way. They don't know the peace of God. They are constantly restless.

Hearts of restless evil. And this is Cain now. Verse 12, a wanderer on the earth. Verses 13 to 16. Cain said to the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear. Is that repentance? Not at all. It's victimology.

Considers himself the victim now. Behold, you have driven me today 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.

So there are other sons now born. Maybe Adam and Eve themselves would bring justice. And he's afraid for himself. The Lord said to him, not so. Interestingly, God will delay judgment on the seed of the serpent.

That we would exist together in this world. This struggle would go on. Notice, not so. If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. So God's going to prevent this from happening. And the Lord put a mark on Cain.

We don't know what that was. Physical or some other just protection. Lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord. Okay, watch this. They were made for Eden.

Now they've lost that garden. And Cain is going away from the presence of the Lord. Where does he settle? In the land of Nod. Which means restless wanderer. It's east of Eden. He's away. And you would think, okay, he's just going to die in the desert.

Did you know that outside of the garden of Eden, that Iraq region between the kind of like the Mesopotamian basin between the Euphrates and Tigris? Do you know that's been desert ever since? Ever since the fall of man?