“…sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Genesis 4:7b
Objective Of The Lesson
Your kids will see the effects of sin playing out in the world.
Big Picture Question
Can we blame others for our sins? No we have to take responsibility for our own sin.
Study the Scripture passages diligently and carefully. Ask God to make them real in your own life and pray for the children in your class.
- What is sin?
- Who is responsible for our sins?
- Can we learn from our mistakes?
“Adam and Eve had a son. Then Eve said, “I’ll name him Cain because I got him with the help of the Lord.” Later she had another son and named him Abel.” Genesis 4:1-2
Adam and Eve had a baby. They named him Cain, meaning possession, because she got him with the help of the Lord.
Children are blessings. They are given to us by God. And as we saw in the previous lesson, we are all made by God.
They had a second son and they called him Abel, meaning weakness or grief. A reminder of the misery that she had brought her children into.
“Abel became a sheep farmer, but Cain farmed the land. One day, Cain gave part of his harvest to the Lord, and Abel also gave an offering to the Lord. He killed the first-born lamb from one of his sheep and gave the Lord the best parts of it. The Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering, but not with Cain and his offering. This made Cain so angry that he could not hide his feelings.” Genesis 4:3-5
Both sons had responsibilities. Abel became a sheepherder. Cain was a farmer.
One day both men brought an offering to God. Cain brought what he had grown and Abel brought a sheep from his flock. God accepted Abel’s offering, but He rejected Cain’s offering.
Why did God do this? It had to do with the intentions and attitudes of both men.
Cain, whose offering was rejected, put no thought into his offering and brought what he had lying around.
Abel was a different story. Abel brought the first-born lamb from his flock. He prepared it and gave the best parts to the Lord. Abel also had a correct attitude. Hebrews 11 tells us that Abel brought his offering in faith. Because of his faith Abel was accounted as righteous by God (Romans 4:4-8).
Cain became angry that God had rejected his offering. He couldn’t believe that God had accepted his brothers offering and not his own.
He was not only angry, he was furious. The verse says that he could not hide his anger. It was clearly visible on his face.
“Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Genesis 4:6-7
God lovingly exhorts Cain. He made it clear that he would be accepted if he did well. He lets him know that Cain is acting as if God is unjustly dealing with Him.
God goes from exhorting Cain to warning Him. He warned Cain about the destructive power of sin. Cain needed to resist sin. He needed to master it.
“Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go for a walk.” And when they were out in a field, Cain killed him.” Genesis 4:8
Cain completely ignored Gods warning. He gave into his anger and into sin.
He convinced His brother to go with Him on a walk to the fields, the whole time knowing his dark intentions. There in the fields he murdered his brother. This shows that Cain committed premeditated murder. No human had ever died or been killed before, but Cain saw how animals were killed for sacrifice. He extinguished Abel’s life in the same way.
“Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Genesis 4:9
“Where is Abel your brother?” God knew the answer to this question. He asked Cain because He wanted to give him the opportunity to confess his sin and start to do right after doing wrong.
But does Cain repent of his sins, no. His famous response is filled with audacity and rebellion. He was being a little smart mouth. Even making an impudent allusion to his brothers profession.
“Then the Lord said: Why have you done this terrible thing? You killed your own brother, and his blood flowed onto the ground. Now his blood is calling out for me to punish you. And so, I’ll put you under a curse. Because you killed Abel and made his blood run out on the ground, you will never be able to farm the land again. If you try to farm the land, it won’t produce anything for you. From now on, you’ll be without a home, and you’ll spend the rest of your life wandering from place to place.” Genesis 4:10-12
Cain was foolish in believing that he could hide his sin from God. As we have seen before God knows everything and He sees everything. In this case He had seen Cain murder his brother.
The blood of Abel spoke, metaphorically of course, and it spoke of judgment. The blood of Jesus also speaks, but of better things, of grace and of sin having been forgiven (Hebrews 12:24).
Just like his parents had been punished for their disobedience, he would now be punished for his sin.
Ask your kids what was Adams punishment. The ground would be cursed because of him. He would have to labor to feed himself and his family.
The curse placed on Cain would make it impossible for him to farm again. If he tried nothing would grow. He would also have to wander all the days of his life. He would never have a home.
“This punishment is too hard!” Cain said. “You’re making me leave my home and live far from you. I will have to wander about without a home, and just anyone could kill me.” Genesis 4:13-14
Cain never sought forgiveness for his sin. He was not sorry that he had killed his brother. What was he sorry about? He felt bad about his punishment. He was worried about someone taking revenge for Abel’s murder.
“No!” the Lord answered. “Anyone who kills you will be punished seven times worse than I am punishing you.” So the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn everyone not to kill him. But Cain had to go far from the Lord and live in the Land of Wandering, which is east of Eden.” Genesis 4:15-16
Even though God had just cursed Cain, He still had mercy on him. God placed on Cain a mark of protection. What the mark was or where it was on his body we don’t know, the important thing is he would have protection. Protection as he would have to leave the land of Eden and wander for the rest of his life.
“Adam and his wife had another son. They named him Seth, because they said, “God has given us a son to take the place of Abel, who was killed by his brother Cain.” Genesis 4:25
Ask your kids what was promised to Eve in the garden. What was prophesied?
Abel is dead and Cain has been banished. How would God keep His promise? Does God keep His promises? God always keeps His promises.
God gave Adam and Eve another son. They called him Seth, meaning appointed. He replaced Abel and was the one to whom the promise of a deliverer from the seed of the woman would be passed (Genesis 3:15).
Can we blame others for our sins? No, we have to take responsibility for our own sin and mistakes.
Is that what Adam and Eve did? Is that what Cain did? No, each of them blamed someone else for their sin. We need to take responsibility for our own sin.
God exhorted and warned Cain about his sin. The Bible warns us as well. When we sin, we should learn from Cain’s mistakes and confess our sin to God.
The Bible shows us that God forgives sin (1 John 1:9).
Ask your kids, can we blame others for our sins? No we have to take responsibility for our own sin.
Ask them the following review questions:
- What were the names of Adam and Eve’s children? What were their jobs?
- Whose offering was accepted? Whose was rejected?
- Why was Abel’s offering accepted?
- What did God warn Cain about?
- Did Cain listen to God’s warning? What did he do instead?
- Did Cain repent from his sins? What was he sorry about?
- How did God punish Cain? How was He merciful with Cain?
- How was God going to keep His promise to Eve?
- Can we blame others for our sins?
Finally take some time to memorize the memory verse.