This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Genesis 1-4” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, December 27, 1992.

who are reading from John’s first letter, which is 1 John 3, beginning at verse 1. Listen to the Word of God. Listen to the Word of God. See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God, and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know God. Now we are the children of God, and it has not appeared as yet. that we shall be. Know that if he should appear, we shall be like him, because we shall see him just as he is.

Everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure. Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, And sin is lawlessness, and ye know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins, no one who sins has seen him or knows him. Little children, let no one deceive you.

One who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil, and the devil has sinned from the beginning. For the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared to this purpose that he might destroy the works of the devil.

No one who is born of God practically sins, because his seed abides in him, but he cannot sin because he is born of God. For this, the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. No one who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. who does not love his brother. This is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

Not in Cain, who was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil and his brothers were righteous. We know that we are passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, but you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. And turning back to Genesis chapter 4, verse 8, And Cain spoke to Abel his brother, and it came about, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Father, we would rejoice in the order you have set, not only over the original creation, but over the new creation. And Father, we would rejoice in that the order of the new creation is of a peace with that which is above, true above.

We read, Lord, of how there are twenty-four elders around the throne and even here, Lord, While we remain in this world, while we remain in this world blessed by the Church, blessed by the rule of those who are raised up, you have within you the power of those who are seated in your presence. O God, we please you to grant strength to your Church. here and also throughout this nation, which we find ourselves and throughout the world. May we rejoice, Father, when we see your rule rightly exercised.

Thank you for those things you have given to us. to that end. We know, Lord, we are blessed indeed, and your word is foremost in their minds. You have that word foremost in our own minds. And as they have been subdued by that word, you also may by it we also might be subdued, so as to be a delight to them. We know, Lord, that by this fruit shall be a delight to you. We with them shall be a delight to you. Hear us, O God, for Jesus’ sake, that one who is with you in glory with the Holy Spirit forever.

Now, I feel that it should be obvious to us that the purpose of Genesis 4 is not to provide us with a detailed and exhaustive account of the life of the world’s first family. In fact, we must not conclude from the account We have here before us that Cain and Abel were the only children born to Adam and Eve in the time described in this fourth chapter. Mention of Cain and Abel, both of whom belong sequentially and chronologically together. Mention of Cain and Abel sets before us, specifically, their representative capacity. is set before us so as to present us with the cosmic, grand, cosmic struggle between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. It is hard to say what exactly Adam and Eve talked about the promise that had been given them by God when God had spoken about the hostility that would exist between the feet of the woman and that of the servant. Remember, verse 15 of chapter 3, God’s pronouncement at that time. What does seem that clear is that Adam and Eve were hardly prepared for what transpired, reported for us here in the fourth chapter.

Did they envision, for instance, that the seed of the serpent would actually be part of their family? Did that come as a shock? Did they envision that the seed of the serpent would actually be a part of their family? That a child generated by them could actually be a child of Satan? a child of Satan.

Did they envision that war would actually break out within the family, between their children, among their descendants? Or did they think that possibly this war God spoke of, this hostility which he spoke of, would be between them collectively as humanity and some demonic alien force? Without a doubt, the crushing weight of the fall and its consequences settled in gradually over Adam and Eve. There is testimony of this, as we have pointed out, in the naming of the second child mentioned in that fourth chapter. He gives your second son the name Abel, which is a play on another word, which means vapor.

Vanity. Vanity. Meaninglessness. Meaninglessness. Now that’s not the way we would ordinarily name our children. But can you understand why Eve might do that as the weight of the fall settles in upon her, and she begins to realize its seriousness. Our first parents then are becoming gradually aware of the dismal prospects. They are becoming gradually aware of the prospect that a cloud overshadows even the soul of a child of theirs. One as precious to them as their firstborn came. Parents in this latter day of ours really have no excuse.

And in light of the biblical record and the history of humanity, they should walk with their eyes wide open. To be sure they should always be with their confidence in the promise of God, and that with respect to their children. God gives promises to his people with regard to their children. So, as far as the Church of Jesus Christ is concerned, she should always lean with her confidence in the promise of God with regard to the children born within the Church. But she should never forget the liability that exists the liability that exists, and ever beyond the alert and in prayer for those very children.

For after all, the children of God and the children of the devil can in fact live under the same roof. have the same address, have the same biological parents. When I speak further with you this evening about this, the related matter, the related matters, The fact that the children of God and the children of Satan can live under the same roof forces us to acknowledge that the family, I know that I am about to speak heresy, in the estimation of some. The fact that the children of God and the children of Satan can live under the same roof forces us to acknowledge that the family per se cannot be the shrine at which we worship. And could it be that Genesis 4 is a providential imposition chapter in the history of redemption in order to teach us that very point?

You cannot make an idol out of family. You cannot make a god out of family. We must of course honor God’s commandments concerning the relationships that exist in our families. Honor thy father and thy mother. We remember the fifth commandment, do we not? And surely we ought to respect And surely we are to respect this basic building block for the organization of society and human culture. And we are to be alert to the religious dimensions of the family relationships. But we must also see that devotion to family cannot displace devotion to God. Is it not obvious to us that again and again in Scripture, this very fact hits a square between the eyes? Moa has three sons. Do they all prove to be regenerate? Abraham has two sons. Are both of them regenerate? What shall we say about the sons of Isaac? And so it goes. Devotion to God, even in deference to the objections of man, the objections of well-intentioned fathers, well-intentioned brothers, can cut across family lines, family ties, family connections.

In so many ways, the Israelites of the Old Testament forgot this very important fact. And by the time Jesus arrived on the scene, many Jews had turned family into a religion all by itself. And that is why Jesus’ statements shocked them So thoroughly, when he told them that they had to be willing to hate their mother and their father, their brothers and sisters, if they were going to be called his disciples, because nothing, absolutely nothing, could stand between him and them. Do you remember the objection of the one who said, I’ll come and follow you Lord, but first let me go home and bury my father? Peter says no. Jesus says no. Let the dead bury the dead. And we understand the implications of what Jesus was saying.

That young man wanted to go home and bury his father, not because it was simply a matter of familiar piety to do so. familiar obligation, because by going home and burying his father, he would also lay claim to the family’s family plot. It perpetuates the family. It perpetuates the family. It should become the center of his religious existence.

Similar things to those observed in the Jews. are observed among Christians. I must admit to you that one of the most amusing and sad things that I have observed at this time of year is the attitude of a number of Christians, particularly those who seem to become most sentimental about this season. Here are the real crusaders for the observance of Christmas. Nothing is spared. The cards, the food, the piles of presents, the lights on the house. and the massive family gathering with this latter item, and especially the family itself, as the particular focus of all the festivities.

What seems to be especially extendable and optional to these people is the worship of Christ. The church may well be having a worship service, but these people aren’t there because they are much too busy. They have other things to do. They are tied up with family. Because, after all, the family’s importance is much more important than even God.

But then I have observed about these sorts of Christmas crusaders that they are no different at other times of the year. Whenever there is a conflict between family business and church business, I know on what side they will come down. No question about it. No question about it. Family’s first. Family’s first.

I’m not the only pastor. I’m not the only pastor. He has rolled his eyes. He has been told by a church member that the reason he wasn’t in church was because he had family in town. Now I might roll my eyes, but I can tell you that it’s a lot more serious with God. And I might add that one of the reasons why the Orthodox Presbyterian Church has had the struggle it has had in this nation in gaining a following is that it has refused to fall down at the feet of the great American God family.

And this has cost it greatly, especially amongst conservative folk. Contrary to the popularly held evangelical dogma of our day, the family is not. The family is not the Christian’s basic social unit. The family is not the basic social unit. The church is. The Church is.

And by all means we rejoice in the grace of God when he maintains our families together under the banner of Christ and Christ’s cross. May we not be so foolish as to compromise our love for our Heavenly Father, His Divine Son, and our brothers and sisters in Christ when things turn out differently. And may God especially keep us from that foolishness, the claims to be honoring Him when in fact it is dishonoring Him by placing family before Him and before His people.

Now obviously our first parents, Adam and Eve, had a very painful experience. An experience that broke their hearts. An experience that would be repeated again and again throughout the history of redemption and is repeated even to this present day. A painful experience in sorting all this out. And if it wasn’t clear to them as they watched their boys grow up and develop, as they watched their boys’ manner of life and their worship.

It most certainly became evident to them in the horror of that heinous crime of deliberate cold-blooded murder. The killing of crime has more than the sociological consequences for society at large. As much as it speaks to us about division, as much as it speaks to us about loss, as much as it speaks to us about tragedy, it also speaks to us about that which occurs in the Church of God. Even though Cain continues to live on, and even though he is still described as a son of Adam and Eve, he is representative of the serpent’s seed, and he is no longer part of the Church. His parents are compelled to acknowledge this. They must acknowledge this or else they join their son outside the assembly of the Lord.

There are few things as tragic to a pastor for a pastor in dealing with people, in dealing with people and their attitudes about their families. As when you run up against the resident of a family on the part of someone who is claiming to be a Christian to acknowledge the true statement of theirs with regard to their family members, who simply will not face up to the fact that their children are unregenerate, who simply will not face up to the fact that their spouse has not been born again, who simply refuse to face up to the fact that their parents do not know the Lord. Many a Christian engages in a lot of wishful thinking. But it’s dangerous business, because if you refuse to face up to the truth with regard to your family members, you have placed yourself at risk.

Conferring to accept the truth and to face it squarely, you are liable to place yourself outside the assembly of the Lord. We are compelled to acknowledge the fatal rupture within humanity, in society generally, but we are also compelled to acknowledge the more serious fatal rupture that has taken place. And if we are unwilling to do so, especially where our own family members are concerned, we are most likely proving that we are outside the assembly of the Lord, if not in body, then in spirit.

And God have mercy upon us. O Lord, we ask that as hard as it may be for us, as heart-rending and as heart-breaking, let there pass before our eyes the experience of our first parents and the grief they experienced as a consequence of the fall of the sin. As they saw their family ripped apart, And not only that, as it pertained to society generally, but also as it pertained to a relationship to the God who had created them. O Father, O Father, we ask that by this route yet you would have mercy upon us, but also upon those who may not believe. and through our prayers and by our example my root of our pleading my root of our pleading mark there may be the change of heart and before it is too late and before it is too late there would be reconciliation that souls would be one that souls would be one oh god use us to that end oh god use us to that end the father also convince us of your purposes so thoroughly, that even though we might loathe our family members desperately, we would love you even more, and place ourselves in your hands, knowing that you are faithful. To us, Lord, bless we and stumble. and fall. For Jesus’ sake, we ask this. In order that we may be found to be with Him and with our brothers and sisters.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.