Heritage Baptist Church of Frankfort IL

The genealogy of Genesis 4 shows the expansion of Cain's family. In the listing there are many accomplishments that are beneficial to mankind. Society is progressing. Sadly, despite the progress, sin does not get less and less, but only gets magnified more and more. What are godly people to do in the society- The answer is found in the response of the line of Seth- they proclaim the name of the Lord.

The hope after Adam and Eve's fall was in their children. In some sense there was an opportunity for a new start. However, this passage of Cain and Abel shows the escalation of sin. It reaches the scale that someone created in the image of God is killed. In all of this God still balances justice and mercy.

This sermon is a followup to the message last week. Acts 17 contains Paul's sermon on Mar's Hill. We looked at the specific details last week. This week continues to look at Acts 17 but dives into the methods used by Paul to reach a pagan audience.

Mankind has sinned. The eating of the fruit was not a small thing, but had long-lasting consequences for the human race and its history. Even though there were consequences for sin, in the midst of those evil results, God is laying His plan for rescuing people from their sins.

Paul's message to the Athenians hardly even mentions Jesus. The Athenians had a polytheistic view and they could not decide on their gods. Paul used their understanding and preached to them a God who created all things, had a desire to be known, but will one day judge mankind. Mankind needs to repent and find what God has offered to them in the man who God has chosen.

This passage is where sin begins. Satan helps push humanity over the edge to their own destruction. Humanity is to be blamed because they listened to Satan question God's character and Word. They then let their flesh lead them along as they saw what was out in the world. This is a pattern Satan uses to tempt people throughout history. The greatest answer to temptation to sin is found in the temptation of the Second Adam, who answers Satan with the solid foundation of Scripture

Paul's pattern of preaching to the Jews is very similar to what had been preached by others before him. The Gospel does not change. Paul's message contains a challenge to answer the offer of God.

Genesis 2 is set up for the story of the fall in Genesis 3. God gave multiple different things to mankind that were perfect. The environment is perfect for mankind to be able to accomplish his task of ruling over the earth. It is also a place where man can meet with God. It is a paradise that man loses because of sin. It is a foretaste of what is seen in heaven in Revelation 21-22 where many of the items found in Genesis 2 are found in the new heaven and earth.

Peter through the circumstances of Acts 10 became confident that the Gospel was for all people. He preached Christ to Cornelius who was a righteous man. In the midst of the preaching Cornelius was saved.

The story of the 7days of creation is a real story that shows that God moved this universe from chaos to an orderly blessed creation. God was able to take something without shape or activity and form and fill it. This activity of creation culminates with God creating humans who are in his image and will reflect His character in creation. The 7th day celebrates the creation that God has accomplished and lays a pattern thoughout history of God's people working 6 days and on the 7th day praising God for what God has done in creation and in the New Testament times what God has done in salvation -or the new creation-.