Sunday School - Roger Phipps - From Creation to Deluge

[0:00] All right, as I had promised, there seems to be quite a bit of interest in going back and at least looking at the context and the words used where Cain and Abel brought offerings to the Lord and what the Lord said to Cain.

[0:27] So, as promised, now I'm not claiming to be really good at this, so bear with me.

[0:40] So here in the text, up here, that's the reference. That would be Genesis chapter 4, verses 3 through 7.

[0:56] Genesis 4, verses 3 through 7. This is the text in question. Now, I'm going to try to preface something.

[1:12] I don't know if this will... I haven't really thought well enough through. Is there a problem, Cain? I'm sorry.

[1:22] I'm sorry. Would you like them all off?

[1:35] Okay. Yeah. I thought about putting larger print, but when you do that, then you can't see the context as well.

[1:51] So, you'll just have to... You're going to have to work through it anyway. Yeah. You have your Bible. Now, this...

[2:05] I want to be careful with a couple of things. And I don't know that I'm saying this. I'm sure I'm misstating myself pretty frequently.

[2:18] So, but when we read the Word of God, we need to be careful that we're not saying, well, you need to interpret it.

[2:29] The Word of God is delivered for revelation. He gave us this for revelation. So, what He wants me to know can be known by me, even.

[2:42] You don't have to be... You don't have to be... There's no secret key or code that you need to go through to discover what God has for us in His Word.

[2:57] I want to be careful with that. Number two, when there are alternate readings, and that's what we're looking at this morning.

[3:11] When there are alternate readings, I need to be careful, number one, that my reading of it will not interfere with the plain reading of the whole of the Word of God.

[3:27] Did I make that sensical at all? That is, God never said what He never said.

[3:41] That is, if I come up with some brand new interpretation of what this Scripture means, that's a red flag for you, right?

[3:53] That's a red flag. If I'm the first one that ever came up with it, it's probably wrong. There's a reason why God gave, even in the body.

[4:10] Why does God give a plurality of elders? It's because you have to be careful when somebody comes up and says, I have God's Word for you, right?

[4:22] That's a red flag. God gave me this Word. Now, if God gave you a direct revelation, that makes you one of the prophets and apostles, right?

[4:38] Right? What did God say to Israel about a prophet that prophesied wrongly?

[4:52] Yeah, they weren't to put up with it, were they? Okay. So, that tells me, Roger, be careful. And number three, where there are alternate readings, do any of them do, how shall I put this?

[5:15] Coming at God's Word from a dispensational standpoint, as we hope that we're doing, right?

[5:28] That is, let me, my brother who is in the Anderson Church of God, and I dearly love him, but he worries about me because I'm dispensational.

[5:44] But, and I say, well, when I'm raptured, you can stick around. Now, that's just a joke between brothers.

[5:58] He's saved. He's just wrong on his eschatology, but he says the same thing to me. Anyway, I'm talking to Bill one day, and I said, in our discussion of it, it's not so much that God changed his mind.

[6:22] You see, to be fair, to be fair, the amillennial group are brothers and sisters in the Lord, assuming they're Christians, okay?

[6:36] Okay, we're assuming there are amillennials that are Christians. They're just wrong in their eschatology, but they're Christians.

[6:47] They believe that they're saved by the grace of God through faith and not of yourself. There are some who would say they're amillennial, and they believe you have to do certain things for grace, right?

[7:01] So, we're not counting that. We're counting Christians. Now, to not set up a straw man for them, they would say to me, you say that God changed his mind.

[7:18] See, God did it this way with Adam and Eve, and then you're saying that, but he changed it when he went with Abraham. And then you're saying he changed his mind again.

[7:34] And I need to be careful that I don't portray it that way, right? Because you can't, the scripture said, God says of himself, am I a man that I should change my mind, that I should repent?

[7:52] It's a rhetorical question. What's the answer? God never changed his mind about the plan.

[8:03] God never changed his mind. But he didn't reveal it all in the beginning. He revealed it, and I used with Bill, I said it's a little bit like American football.

[8:14] I want to be careful. But it's a little bit like American football. You do an end around, the plan looks like the end is going to take the ball and run with it, right?

[8:26] But maybe it's a play fake. And now, don't try to stretch it out that God's faking us out. That's not the parable.

[8:37] But the point of it is, it unfolds. It unfolds. The play goes this way. It looked like it was going this way, but it's really always going to be going this way.

[8:52] God is always, from the beginning, going to be the Savior. So, I need to be careful with that. And I want to be careful that I don't portray that God somehow has, Oh no, Adam did this.

[9:11] Now what do I do? Oh, I know what I'll do. So, we who come from the dispensational camp would say, Don't read into it too early, right?

[9:27] Let me ask it this way. What is it? Was, when Israel is in bondage in Egypt, and I say in bondage, they were in servitude.

[9:44] They had to give service to Pharaoh. So, when they are in Egypt, God's going to bring them out.

[9:55] He's going to bring the last plague. What is it? I'm taking way too long. Okay, the last plague is the death of the firstborn, right?

[10:07] Everything. Man. Man or animal. Doesn't matter. The death of the firstborn. Everybody's going to die in Egypt.

[10:19] What does God tell Israel? Quickly. Kill a lamb. Put the blood on the doorpost. Eat the lamb. Eat it like a people that are going someplace.

[10:29] Have your sandals on. Have your staff in your hand. Have your coat ready. Now, it's a wonderful picture of Christianity. We are to be people of God that look like we're going someplace.

[10:43] Right? We're not staying here. We're going someplace. It's a beautiful picture. But, do I read into that that God told them somehow that I'm going to send you a Savior that's going to take away your sin?

[11:00] Answer that. Okay. No. He didn't deliver salvation by grace through faith and that not of yourselves until much later with the Apostle Paul, right?

[11:14] Right? Now, was that always God's plan? Yes. The lamb is slain from the foundation of the world.

[11:27] But, he didn't unfold it all in the beginning, did he? So, I need to be careful how much I read forward. Do I? I'm not sure if I said that exactly right.

[11:40] But, how much I take from later in the Scripture and put it up here. So, I need to be careful with that. But, always looking at, always looking at the most important thing is, is the whole plan of God, is the whole plan of God changed by my interpretation of these verses?

[12:02] And, I need to be careful with that. If it does, then I'm probably wrong. Right? You understand?

[12:14] So, sometimes, I don't want to be caught in a thing of, okay, we've got to get this decided because it's got to be this way.

[12:24] Because, I might be a little, I need to know what God has said. So, that his whole plan, oh, okay, thank you, Roger.

[12:40] So, that his whole plan is, I don't do damage to the plan, right? In my interpretation. So, having made a real long introduction for that, I'm going to do a commercial.

[12:59] Some folks were interested in the video we watched from Answers in Genesis early on in the creation days, right?

[13:12] The created cosmos, it's available for borrowing, all right? So, if you would like to borrow that and review it, it's here and it's available.

[13:27] That's why we have it. Okay. Having given the commercial, let's look at the verses. All right. Now, in the process of time, Cain brought of the fruit of the ground and Abel brought of his flock.

[13:48] Now, here's the setting. Here's the setting. In the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering. That word, and I cannot pronounce it, but that's the word.

[14:05] Okay? It is, and here is the definition. It's from an unused word, meaning gift, tribute, offering, and it is so used.

[14:24] Now, he brought that unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, of the fat thereof.

[14:37] And the Lord had respect unto Abel and unto his offering. And that is the same word. Okay? So, we have those two.

[14:48] That's the word that is used when they brought their offering. So, we know that. Under Cain and his offering, again, the same word, he had not respect.

[15:03] Now, for me, this much I know. In Hebrews, I read that by faith, Abel offered a better sacrifice.

[15:17] That's what I, that's the part I do know. So, I knew, so I know that faith had an, had something to do with it. Now, whether that faith was simply believing God, or whether that faith meant faithfulness to what God had said, I can't make that distinction.

[15:38] All right? I can't prove a distinction. All I know is, faith had something to do with it. Either obedience. Now, my question then, something I need to remember.

[15:53] Did, is there anything in God's word to this point that tells me that they were told to bring this? Not yet.

[16:04] Not yet. We, we weren't told that they were told. So, I don't know that. So, if I assume that, I, it is, and I need to make careful with my words, that is an assumption.

[16:22] I'm taking something that I can't prove to you, I can't show you in God's word, but I'm saying that this is so. So, I need to be careful with my assumption.

[16:35] It's possible, but it's not revealed. All right? So, it's not ruled out, but it isn't revealed by God that this is so. All right, now let's go on.

[16:52] Cain was wroth, and his countenance fell. Right? He was angry. God says to him, if you do well, will you not be accepted?

[17:06] It'll be okay. Okay. But if you don't do well, sin, and this is the word that is used, is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you.

[17:20] Now, first of all, the desire for you could mean you will have the ascendance, or it will, so a possible reading, because this word, chata, is sometimes rendered sin offering in the scripture.

[17:46] And we'll go to that on our next slide. But sometimes it is rendered sin offering. Now, I did not try to do a comprehensive study on this.

[18:00] There are over a thousand verses dealing with these words. So, I'm not going to pretend that I'm going to do a comprehensive thing. I tried to choose a few that were illustrative.

[18:12] So, this is a different word than was used for they brought an offering. But, nevertheless, it is frequently used as sin offering in the Old Testament with Israel.

[18:34] Is there a comment? Is this the first time that the word sin is mentioned? Yes. In my understanding.

[18:46] Now, there is one other word that is used for sin. Well, there are two other words in the Old Testament that are used for sin.

[19:00] That are translated sin into English. One is related to this one. One is related to that word.

[19:13] The other one is a different word. And it's more like the New Testament word for sin, hamarta, which is a missing of the mark.

[19:27] And it has the same meaning as to miss. Sometimes it's rendered transgression.

[19:40] Sometimes it's something along that line. So, that's the background. Now, that was the first word.

[19:58] Okay? That was the first word. They brought an offering. So, this, here are a couple other words. Or a couple other verses. Genesis 32, 13.

[20:13] This is Jacob coming back. You remember Jacob deceived his dad, right? He grabbed the birthright. Then Esau, well, actually Esau had sold it.

[20:29] But Esau didn't really want to sell it. He wanted to take it back. Nothing's new under the sun, is it?

[20:42] So, Esau says, what's he going to do to Jacob? He's going to kill him. So, Jacob runs away. Jacob's gone for a spell. I mean a good spell.

[20:54] A little over 14 years. I don't know how long there may have been. But now Jacob's wealthy.

[21:05] He has two wives. We won't go there right now. But he has two wives. He has herds. All this kind of stuff.

[21:17] So, Jacob's coming up. But Jacob's still thinking, Esau might have a pretty good memory. So, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to stop on this side.

[21:29] And he acts like the deer do. You know, I'm not going out first. I'm going to send the does. And that's exactly what he does.

[21:42] And he sends them with that word. He's selected from amongst his stuff. And here, the English word, this would be New American Standard, it will say present.

[21:56] Right? He will select from amongst his goods a present for his brother Esau. That's the same word as it's used as they brought an offering to the Lord. Okay.

[22:08] Then, it's used again in 1 Chronicles 16.29. And here it's rendered offering. In 1 Chronicles 16.29, it says, Ascribe to the Lord the glory due.

[22:23] This is a familiar verse, right? The glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in holy array. Or, your King James in the beauty of holiness.

[22:38] All right. That's how that one's rendered. Or, those are two examples, I should say. How that's rendered. Now, we go to the third one. And this is the one for sin or sin offering.

[22:52] And this one, I put a longer scripture in because both, the same word is used, but translated both ways. So, everything that's highlighted, by the way, is that word.

[23:07] Okay? The, the, I'm going to say chata, but I don't know. I, I'm not, I'm fairly confident I'm not even close.

[23:20] But, that's the way it looks to me. So, this is Leviticus chapter 5, verses 1 through 13. And by the way, I was surprised, although I've read these verses, I, I, I will confess to you, I was surprised.

[23:42] If you had asked me two or three weeks ago, was any sin offering of anything other than blood, I would have told you no. But, I was wrong.

[23:55] I was wrong. And I said, I, I read it three times and I said, hmm, I, I don't know what to do with that.

[24:07] And, God in his word says, you don't have to worry about it. I said it. You know, you just have to accept it. So, I accept it.

[24:20] Every, every, every highlighted is the word chitah. Okay. So, here, and I'm not going to read the whole verse. Here it's, it says, basically, if a person commits a sin that he doesn't know, that he's unaware of.

[24:42] Or, it's, he does it unthinkingly. Now, we never, I never do that, right? I never do anything recklessly.

[24:55] You know, my motto is, safety third. So, I never do anything recklessly, right? He says, if you heard something, and here, specifically, he says, if you were a witness to something, and you didn't speak up, you're guilty.

[25:21] You're guilty. And, when that comes before you, you need to bring a sin offering. That's one of the things. That's not the only thing. You can look it up. It's, Leviticus chapter 5, starts with verse 1.

[25:33] Now, he will bring, he will bring a guilt offering, that's a different word, to the Lord, and, for his sin, which he has committed.

[25:46] That's the same word, sin offering, didn't sound right. He's going to bring a sin offering, for the sin offering he committed. So, that's why it's, translated that way.

[26:00] But, I chose this one, as the example, because, they're translated both ways, same word, in the same, text.

[26:16] And, and then he goes on, and says what it's going to be. And, if he can't afford a lamb, or a goat, then he brings, two young pigeons, or two turtle loves.

[26:26] And, if he can't afford, and this was the part, that surprised me. And, if he's really poor, and he can't afford that, then he brings a grain offering, for his sin. That's the only time, by the way, that I know, that a sin offering, was other than blood.

[26:43] Now, but I was surprised, to find that. Because, I would have told you, no. And, I would heart to, also, I would heart to, Hebrews, without the shedding, of blood, there is no, remission of sins.

[27:02] Now, we do not, and John's already, brought this up, we do not know, that, Cain and Abel, were bringing, an offering for sin.

[27:15] Let me ask you this, is there anything, is there anything, in your knowledge, that shows, that, Adam and Eve, continued, to offer sacrifice, for sin? Is there anything, in God's word, that tells you that?

[27:31] Is there anything, in God's word, that tells you, that anyone did, until, he, he told Israel to.

[27:45] There's nothing, in my knowledge, that tells me, that anyone did. Now, that doesn't preclude it, but it doesn't read into it, either.

[27:58] So, we don't know that. We do know, we do know that, Noah offered a sacrifice, after he came off the ark, and he killed animals.

[28:11] We do know that. We do know, that, we do know that, Abraham, and I don't know, where to put Job, and Abraham.

[28:24] Some, some put Job, before Abraham. There's no, you can't put Job, in Israel, because, otherwise, he's doing wrong, by not going, to the tabernacle.

[28:41] But, anyway, Job's before, before, certainly, before Egypt.

[28:53] But, where he is, I don't know. But, we do know, that Job, offered sacrifice, for his family, lest they, had sinned, even, by mistake.

[29:08] Which, by the way, sin offerings, for sins committed, in ignorance, when you say, God knows your heart, he does.

[29:21] Better than I do. Because, the priests, on the day of atonement, the first sacrifice, had to be made, was for their sin, committed, and I didn't even know it.

[29:36] But, God said, you're still guilty, and you need a sacrifice. It's a, good picture. Don't, I'm not reading, Christ into it, but it's a good picture, of why I need Christ, isn't it?

[29:50] Because, I don't need to know, that I, it doesn't matter, whether I, admit I'm a sinner, as far as, being saved, if I don't admit, I'm a sinner, I can't be saved.

[30:04] Because, I can't, I won't acknowledge, that I need, saving. And, if I don't acknowledge, what God has done, and what Jesus, has done on the cross, I'm still lost.

[30:17] So, we do know, that, that Job offered sacrifice, we do know, that Abraham offered sacrifice, but not necessarily, for sin.

[30:35] He offered sacrifices, and I'm talking about, after he left, Ur of the Chaldees. Before then, he probably sacrificed, to the moon god, or whatever she was. the ziggurats in Ur, were not to Jehovah, that's for sure.

[30:53] And, and the scripture says, that your, your ancestors, worshipped idols, on the other side, of the flood, right? They were idol worshippers. You, God did not choose Israel, because Israel was good.

[31:09] God didn't choose Israel, because they were the only, godly people. They weren't. God chose Israel, because he said, I decided to. I, set my love on you.

[31:24] So, but, that's an aside. Back to this point. We do know, those sacrifices were made, but we don't, know, otherwise.

[31:39] So, that, in this verse, in this verse, it's translated sin, two, four, four times, and sin offering, four times.

[31:58] Okay? In, in that scripture. In Genesis 18, verse 20, he's talking about Sodom and Gomorrah here.

[32:15] And the Lord said, the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah, is indeed great, and their sin offering, is exceeding grave. No, it's translated sin.

[32:27] It's the same word, though. So, sometimes it's translated sin offering, and sometimes it's translated sin. Yes? Well, this is really interesting.

[32:40] Basically, there's a paradox that sin, and, you know, what would happen to the offence, the sacrifice? Do you remember about the goat escape?

[32:52] What do you think? On the day of atonement, the scapegoat, yeah. Yeah. The sin is, is like being transferred, that's the picture, and he's the opposite.

[33:03] Right. And then, there's a scripture in 2 Timothy 5, which says, for he made him, talking about Christ, to do those sins, to be sin, and bore us.

[33:18] We might be made the righteousness, that we might become the righteousness of God. Yeah. Yeah. And, I think it's doing the same thing. Some people teach, strangely, that Jesus Christ actually, somehow, trans mutated into sin, or something like that.

[33:36] And that's just, I think it's silly. I don't think that's the case at all. No. But, but I think it's doing the same thing. He became a sin offering. Right. So, it's kind of like a figure of speech.

[33:48] It is, it's much like a figure of speech. Yeah. And, and that's where, imputation, is so very important. Because, whether I say it's fair or not, doesn't matter.

[34:05] What do I know, revealed in God's word about God? Is God righteous? How often? All right.

[34:17] So, if God said it, it's the right thing. If God does it, it's the right thing. He cannot deny himself.

[34:29] He can't be less righteous. And, he can't get more righteous. He's, I don't comprehend, and I use that word carefully, I don't even begin to comprehend God, do I?

[34:46] So, like Nathan brought out, when God imputes my sin to Jesus Christ, it is a righteous act.

[34:58] So, that he might be just, and the justifier. is God, now, let's, since you brought that up, let's bring that back, to my, to my problematic thinking.

[35:21] For me, and for human judgment, now, in our courts, is it fair, to exact the punishment, from, someone, who is not guilty, and turn the person, who is guilty, loose?

[35:47] No, it's a perversion of justice. And in fact, Israel wasn't allowed to do that. They were not allowed, to pervert justice for the wealthy, nor for the, poor.

[36:01] They say, you don't, show partiality. And, in terms, of, my estate, God, shows no partiality, does he?

[36:13] Between, persons. persons. What I may be, or may not be, doesn't matter. We're all, on the same ground, before God.

[36:29] So, when God, imputes my sin to Christ, he is just, he is righteous. When God, imputes, when God, imputes, Christ's, righteousness, to me, he is just, and he is righteous, and boy, is he gracious.

[36:57] This, is the amazing, part of grace. Because, those who are honest, about, this whole introduction, actually took up, the whole, I'm sorry.

[37:14] But, I can't get by, this part. When, when, when we are honest, the Lord Jesus Christ, when he's talking, when he's talking, to Israel, on the, on the Sermon on the Mount, he's not saying, you've heard, the Pharisees say this, but I tell you, something different.

[37:46] That's not really, what he's saying. Because, everything he mentioned, was in the law. You have heard it said, thou shalt not, commit adultery. But, I say to you, he's not making, a juxtaposition.

[38:01] He's not making, an opposition, opposition, with that, but, that might be a bad, it might be better rendered, and I say to you, that in order to interpret, that correctly, if you even have the thought, Roger, you're wrong.

[38:13] when I read it that way, it shows me, my need of a savior, doesn't it? Yeah, well, all these things, I've committed, all these things, I've kept from my youth.

[38:31] I'm a pretty good guy. And, of course, I only mention, the ones that are big. I don't mention, the sins that, yeah, I probably, shot my mouth off, when I should have been, quiet.

[38:51] You see, those are mistakes. Those are just me. That's not really sin. Yes, it is. Yes, it is.

[39:03] That's why I need a savior. That's why I need a savior. Anyway, blame that on Nathan. I didn't mean to go there. And, and in Genesis 50, 17, and this you shall say to Joseph, that is, the brothers now, the brothers now are, are going, you know, they've gone to, they've gone to Egypt, because they had no, there's great famine, throughout, all that area of the world.

[39:47] So, they're going to, Joseph to get grain, and, they've wronged him. And so you shall say, please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers, and their sin, for they did you wrong.

[40:01] Okay? Same word. Sin, sin offering sometimes. They are put together.

[40:13] And there's, they're translated into English, dependent upon the context. So having said that, rolling back to there, rolling back to Cain and Abel, when they brought the offering, that was the first word.

[40:40] Yeah. Yeah. When they brought the offering, that was that word. Used for both persons. When God talked to Cain, it was that one.

[40:57] And that's all I can get. So, when we read it, we read it so that we, number one, we don't do damage, to, the whole revelation, right?

[41:15] All of the revelation. We don't do damage to that. Because then I'm reading it amiss. And number two, when I'm reading it, as, as a person who, who wants to, rightly divide the word of truth, I, I try to be careful, about how much I read, forward.

[41:37] Do, has it been revealed to them yet? Or has it not? And that's, now, does it preclude, does that argument, or this whole presentation, does it preclude, the possibility, that they brought the offering for sin?

[41:56] It does not preclude that. I can't say that. I can't say they did. And I can't definitely say they didn't. So, there we have it.

[42:10] That's, and that's as far as I'm going with it. You pursue it, further. Because that was not the intention. The intention was, to get into what happens to Cain, after, after God says, you're going to be back, bond.

[42:25] You read it forward, read forward on that, and think that through. Think about where he's going with this. Have a great day. Okay. Yeah.

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