Title: Good vs Evil

Text: Gen 4:16-5:32

Theme: The continued struggle of Good and Evil in Genesis 4-6

Genesis 3:15 15And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

From the fall of man to the present day, there has been a struggle between good and evil. What is this struggle? Who is good and who is evil? Will one be victorious and how? All this and more as we look at the long struggle of Good and Evil. You are listening to Preach the Word with Dean Carmichael, Jr

Introduction:

Read Title: Good vs Evil (The long struggle of Good and Evil found in scripture). (Continues in Genesis 4 and is still going on) We are going to look at the two seeds and the result.

There is a period of about 1500 years between the fall and the flood.

John Philips refers to this time period as “A Catastrophe”

J Vernon Mcgee says “In Genesis 3 we have the root of sin and in Genesis 4 we have the fruit of sin.”

• Who? Good (God) vs Evil (Satan)
• What? The battle of man’s soul. The decision to be in Christ or die as a child of Satan.
• Where? The entire Scriptures
• When? The Fall of man (Genesis 3)
• Why? Deception and Disobedience (previous sermons)

Genesis 3:6-7 6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

• How: (re-visit Gen 3:15)

Genesis 3:15 15And I will put enmity between thee (Satan) and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it (Christ) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

This verse promises a Redeemer would come, and that He would come from the Human Race (her seed).

Galatians 3:16 16Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Romans 1:3 3Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our LORD, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;

1 Timothy 3:16 16And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

This verse also promises that there would be a constant struggle between Satan and Christ.

“The most prominent thought is not the ultimate victory that would come, but the long-continued struggle. This verse reveals the fact that now there is to be a long struggle between good and evil. This is exactly what you will find in the rest of the Scriptures.” – Dr. J. Vernon McGee

Jesus made the distinction between children of God and children of Satan (The Devil)

John 8:44 44Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

John mentions this conflict in 1 Joh 3:10

1 John 3:10 10In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

• How Much:

1. Satan’s Attack:

• Satan has been opposing God's plans for ages. Whatever God plans and hopes for this World, satan opposes it and does anything and everything he can to stop it from happening.

• Deception - (of a person) cause (someone) to believe something that is not true, typically in order to gain some personal advantage.

• 2Co 11:3 “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

• First thing – He Question’s the Word ( He cast a shadow of doubt over God’s Word:)

• Second thing – He Denies the Word of God

• Last thing – he substitutes his own words for the Word of God

• Questioning the Word; denying the Word; and then perverting the Word. That is a tactic Satan has used and is still using today!

• NOTE: We must understand something. Satan wants to destroy you. He's a liar, a trickster, a deceiver, and a murderer. He destroys homes, he destroys nations and he destroys lives.

• Ephesians 6:12 12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

2. Man’s Rebellion:

• • There were three orders of creation: Angels, Animals, and Man. The animals did not have a choice. We know that Lucifer a created angel rebelled (Satan) and he took 2/3 of the angels with him (Demons). Man also made their decision, and Adam chose to rebel.
  • God created man, man is now away from God, so God must deal and Judge him. God cannot accept sin. The sin problem must be dealt with.

3. God’s Salvation:

• How does fallen man, children of the devil, get victory? Before Christ (looking to the Cross) it was through Obedience in Faith. (Adam, Eve, Abel are examples in Gen 3,4) Today, we look back to the cross but we must still come by Faith. It is all through Grace.
• Salvation is not man’s search for God. We will see that in the upcoming scriptures. Salvation is God’s search for man.
• Genesis 3:9 9And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
• Genesis 4:6-7 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
• Romans 3:11 11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
• John 15:16 16Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

This is the struggle of Good vs Evil. God is searching for man and Satan is deceiving and destroying.

Outline:

1. Rebellion: Genesis 4:16-25

• Cain’s path- v.16
  • After Cain killed Abel, he went eastward of Eden and Dwelt in the land of Nod (Wandering) We are not sure exactly where Nod was, but it may just be that Cain “wandered” from place to place.
• His descendants: v.17
  • Cain would know
• The ungodly line of Cain – v.18-24
  • Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, Methusak, Lamech and his three sons (Jabal, Jubal, and Tubalcain.
  • Of those descendants, the most notable who led them into rebellion against God was Lamech. First thing he did was openly defy God’s ordination of Marriage.

One thing that is obvious about the line of Cain – they were in it for themselves. They wanted to prosper on a world that was cursed. Urbanization (Cain built a city) agriculture, science, technology, music and entertainment, animal domestication, activities, interest, so on and so forth. (illustration of the world before the flood- no telling what all man was able to accomplish) They made all these accomplishments but the only problem was none of them drew them closer to God. Adam sinned and the earth became cursed. Cain and his descendants brought advancements to the earth, but the only problem is the earth is still cursed.

2. Responsibility: Gen 4:25-5:32

God promises that there would be a redeemer – Gen 3:15

Adam comes to God by Faith – Gen 3:20

Genesis 3:15 “And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living”

Notice: “the mother of all living” God promised He would send a Redeemer through the seed of the woman. So, Adam named her Eve because, by faith, He trusted that God would send a Redeemer. He could have called her many names at this point, but instead he decided to put Faith in his Father.

God clothes them – v. 24

This is the best part of the story by far. Adam comes to God by Faith, so blood is shed to cover his nakedness.

“There, in Eden, in paradise itself, blood was shed for the very first time. Adam and Eve must have stood there aghast as they saw the creature taken in their stead and slaughtered before their eyes – it’s bloodshed, its covering made theirs. It was the first dramatic illustration of the ultimate cost of Calvary, of the horror and dreadfulness of sin. Sin is a radical disease and it calls for a radical cure.” – Dr. John Philips

When Adam realizes he is lost and without hope (those fig leaves weren’t going to cut it!), he comes to God by Faith, and is clothed after the blood of an innocent was shed. God planned man’s redemption before ever forming Adam.

3. Results: Genesis 4:16-5:32

• There was death
• There was Responsibility
• There was a Struggle.

Conclusion:

How does one declare the victory over Evil? There is a lot of evil in the world. (present time of this recording America is in an absolute mess – Government, Churches, and with Society)

J Vernon McGee (Spiritual Apostacy, Political Anarchy, and Moral Awfulness) In 2020, that has happened in America.

What is the biggest issue of the Church? (The Government infringing upon our rights! No; Financial problems! No; It’s Spiritual Apostacy. A willful ignorance of the Word of God.

Political Anarchy – in the midst of a Global pandemic; while we try to band together and stay strong, it seems we have only gotten further apart.

Moral Awfulness -

• Pride, Hate, Prejudice, absolute destruction.
• Racism is still an issue in our country. People are being hated for the color of their skin.
• Dishonesty is an issue. Lying, cheating, and stealing is running rampant while millions of people (including children) go hugry.
• Innocents are being murdered by the millions.
• There were 6 million jews brutally murdered in the Holocaust. Innocent people, an unspeakable act. (If we held a moment of silence for every victim of the holocaust we would be silent for 11.5 years)
• (Abortion) Since 1973, there have been 60.1 million innocent babies murdered in the wombs of their own mother in AMERICA alone.
• Hypocrasy is running rampant. Those responsible for fighting evil with the Gospel have closed their Bibles and are fighting only certain aspects of evil with politics, activism and social media - while turning a blind eye to other evils
• Good is being called evil and evil is being called good
• We have advanced so far in technology yet have strayed so far from God.
• Homes are broken.
• The Divorce rate in the united states is 50%
• In 2017, the second leading cause of death for ages 10-24 was suicide.

“More teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease, COMBINED.” (Parent Resource Program – based on stats from the CDC)

(illustration of Memorial Day, 2020)

An act of pure evil. A helpless man, black man,(don’t know the whole story, a possible suspect? Either way, he was put in handcuffs placed on the ground and one of the 4 officers at the scene got on top and put his knee over his neck) the man was helpless - pleading for his life that he couldn’t breathe. What happened? The man ended up dying (7-9 minutes) Killed by an individual who was put in place to protect innocent life and restore order(to protect and serve) – instead he took an innocent life and added fuel to a fire of destruction that Satan has been using to destroy the soul of man. The response of this murder has our country in complete turmoil. Unnecessary violence from an evil person is now instigating more violence. Pointing the blame, stereotyping, using fire to fight fire. There is division and destruction.

What the answer?

I saw something, a hashtag that’s being used (social media used to identify a message) and that’s to Stand in the Gap. Now, if the movement that is using this knows it or not, this is a Biblical term. And not only is this the answer for the racial division in our country, it’s the answer to everything. The entire battle of Good and Evil. The battle of a man’s soul. It can be found in standing in the Gap, however, there is only ONE who can stand in the Gap.

Eze 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

Spiritual Apostacy, Political Anarchy, Moral Awfulness

Ezekiel was a prophet who was held captive in Babylon.

Contemporary with Jeremiah and Daniel.
Jeremiah prophesied of the coming captivity of Babylon and would live to see it. He was an old man when the captivity began while Daniel and Ezekiel were both young men. We do not know if Daniel and Ezekiel knew each other but they knew Jeremiah.

Ezekiel’s Generation - v.1,2,25
v.1,2 - Bloody City = Jerusalem
Present condition = self inflicted
Hosea (N.K) Lack of Knowledge (Immorality, Ignorance, Idolatry)
False prophets were saying everything was okay - getting along nicely - v.25
Ezekiel’s Grief - v.26-29
Captivity of Babylon. Problem is, they had been warned but nobody listened to Jeremiah (weeping prophet)
Nobody listened to Hosea in the Northern Kingdom who several hundred years before were capture by Assyria.
People were not listening to the Prophets, they were raising their children in sin away from God
Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
Ezekiel’s God - v.30-31
God was looking for a man to fill the gap. To make the hedge.
He is a God of Mercy (not willing that any should perish)

The phrase “Son of Man” is the key phrase in Ezekiel and it’s used (over 90 times)

— 'adam, aw-dawm'; from 119; ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.): — X another, + hypocrite, + common sort, X low, man (mean, of low degree), person.

Eze 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

'iysh, eesh; contracted for 582 (or perhaps rather from an unused root meaning to be extant); a man as an individual or a male person; often used as an adjunct to a more definite term (and in such cases frequently not expressed in translation): — also, another, any (man), a certain, + champion, consent, each, every (one), fellow, (foot-, husband-) man, (good-, great, mighty) man, he, high (degree), him (that is), husband, man(-kind), + none, one, people, person, WORTHY

There was not a man that could be found to stand in the gap, to stand between a Holy God and Displeasure (SIN). We cannot fix this problem.

Only the God man, the second Adam, the last Adam, Jesus Christ.

You want to the answer to the battle of Good and Evil? You want the answer to murder, hate, racism, violence, depression, suicide, broken homes?

Matthew 11:28-29 28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

He stands in the Gap. He is the mediator between God and man. Friend, He is the answer.

Man is looking for the answer, yet the Answer is looking for man.

Isaiah 1:18-20 KJV Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.