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into the message, in Jesus' name I pray, amen. All right, amen. Well, last week we started a series titled Remember the Flood. And the reason why we're doing this is obvious because it's Pride Month to the world, but at this church, it's Remember the Flood Month. Next month is gonna be Remember the Fire and Brimstone Month, so we can actually go out there and undo some of the damage that the media has done to people, but we'll talk about that next month. And so, the series topic is basically addressing the question, why did God destroy the earth, why did he destroy the old world, in other words, by the flood? And last week we talked about that, and so we're gonna review that here real quick. Keep your place here in Genesis chapter four because we're gonna come right back to it. We go to Luke chapter number 17. Luke chapter number 17. So last week we talked about the rainbow and the significance of it and how it was not a symbol to a specific group of people, but rather it was God's promise to every living, breathing creature to not destroy the earth again by flood. Very important to understand. Didn't say he was gonna destroy the earth again at all. No, the promise is by flood in regards to water. Okay, that is what that means, and we talked about that. We talked about the perversion of that. But let's take a look, before we get started, into this morning's sermon at why is this so important? Why do we need to understand the reasoning behind why God destroyed the old world by flood and why God will once again destroy the earth in a much more significant way? Look at Luke chapter 17 in verse number 26. So this is Jesus speaking here, and he's teaching prophecy. In verse 26, the Bible says, and as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. And so the question's been brought up to Jesus. What's it gonna be like at the end of the world? How are things gonna be on the earth? Well, what's the situation gonna be like? And he says it's gonna be like it was in the days of Noah. Okay, and then he's gonna explain what that means. Look at verse 27. They did eat, they drank, they married wives. They were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Okay, look at verse 28. It says likewise, so in the same way, in the same manner, likewise, also as it was in the days of Lot. They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. Verse 29, but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Verse 30, Jesus comes to a conclusion with this and says, even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. So at the second coming of Christ, when he comes back, the conditions on the earth, if you compare scripture with scripture, are gonna be pretty bad. There's gonna be famines and all kinds of wickedness, the Antichrist ruling and reigning, but despite all of that stuff going on, people will still be doing things as they were in the days of Noah and as they were in the days of Lot. The problem is is that the earth is just accustomed to that level of wickedness, that level of violence, and that level of destruction, but they still do all of the same things. And so the attitude of most people will be, hey, where's the promise of his coming? Because all things continue as they were, and blah, blah, blah, and so people will begin to further mock and just blaspheme God's name. But you read these verses here, and you understand that. If you really understand what he's saying here, you should hopefully see the importance of understanding why God destroyed the old world by flood. And the main reason is so that we can discern the times that we live in. And that's a big thing, a big reason to understand these things, because we need to be a people that is able to look at what's going on in the world and say, hey, this is very bad. This is not just a little season. This isn't just something that's kind of going on, but no, our world is literally, I mean, approaching the days of Noah and definitely the days of Lot. I don't think anybody would disagree with that. Now go back to Genesis 4, and we'll get started. And so that's a reason why we need to understand the importance of why God destroyed the world, because those same reasons that we looked at last week, which I'm gonna mention here in a minute, the reasons that we're gonna look at today, and obviously in the next couple of weeks, all of those things are being magnified in today's day and age, and we need to know that, and we need to be able to preach against those things, take stands against those things, and teach others to do the exact same. So last week we basically broke down the fall of man, and we took a look at the conversation between the serpent and Eve, and we talked about how allowing yourself to be deceived is not an excuse for ignorance. A lot of people think, well, I'll just be given a free pass because I didn't know. The Bible teaches the contrary. People are not just gonna get some free pass or get off the hook because they didn't know, okay? The Bible tells us in Romans chapter one, Romans chapter two, it alludes to this, that just creation alone is enough to condemn people. It's enough to let people know that there is a creator, okay? And then the second thing that we looked at was the evil trinity, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. All of those components were found right there when Eve looked at the tree and saw that it was good for food. And then the third thing we talked about was the fact that Adam was right there the whole time, that this was going on. And he didn't stop the conversation. He didn't do anything. He knew, the Bible's clear on that, that he was not deceived. Rather, he just went along with the plan, ate the fruit. Here we are today, and we talked about how that was a violation of the roles that God has established for man and women, okay? So that's what we talked about last week. Let's get into today's topic. Look down at verse number 14. So this is after Cain murders Abel, and God is giving Cain his punishment. Look at what it says in verse 14. It says, behold, so this is Cain speaking to God. He says, behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid, and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. That word vagabond there means somebody who has no home. He's acknowledging the fact that he's not gonna have an established place, he's gonna be a wanderer. And so he says, and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. And it shall come to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay me. Now, when you read past that, God says, what I'm going to do is I'm going to set a mark upon you so that whosoever does try to kill you, they will get their punishment, okay? So let's take a look at that real quick. Look at verse 15, and the Lord said unto him, therefore, whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. We'll talk about that at the end. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. Okay, now contrary to what the Mormons used to teach, that was not God making him a black person, okay? This was a mark. He didn't change his skin color or anything like that. He simply put a mark on Cain to somehow let people know that this is not somebody to be messed with, okay? Now there's two components in verse 14, okay? Cain says, you know, my punishment is too great to bear. He says, you've driven me from the earth and you've driven me from thy face. What does that mean? What that means is God rejected him and he knew it, okay? And when you keep reading the rest of the chapter, okay, and he says another part of his punishment was that people are gonna find out what he did and they're gonna kill him. And so God says, I'm gonna put a stop to that because I don't want man trying to take you out of the punishment that I'm giving you, okay? This is the first guy to ever commit murder on the earth and God wants that to be known. He wants to use Cain as an example to the rest of the earth not to do that. It is very important. God is not blessing him here. He's not helping him out because he's just, okay, I just forgive you for this, okay? And we're gonna get into that. I know that might sound confusing, but God is simply using Cain as a symbol to the world not to commit murder. But notice in the rest of the chapter there that we read, God doesn't say, oh, no, no, no, you know, I'm not gonna be hid from your face. That's not correct, Cain. Doesn't even acknowledge it. Why is that? Well, let's take a look here, okay? The title of the sermon this morning is gonna be the first reprobate or the first reject. And we're gonna take a look at Cain and we're gonna take a look at a guy named Lamech that we just learned about at the end of the chapter here. So before we turn anywhere else, let's read a few more verses here. Go back up to verse number one. Genesis chapter four, verse number one. And let's break down what happened before Cain gets his sentencing, his judgment from God. And then we're gonna go to the New Testament and we're gonna shine some light on this and make clear sense of what God is actually doing here. So let's look at verse number one. The Bible says, and Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. Verse two, and she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Now look at verse three. It says, and in the process of time. Very important when you're reading the first few chapters of Genesis to understand that there's a process of time. He says, and in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. Verse number four, and Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. Now we can stop right there for a second. And why does it say in verse four, why does the Bible bring up the fact that Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock? Whereas with Cain, it just says he just brought of the fruit of the ground. The reason why it says that is because the Bible is trying to let you know the condition of Abel's heart, okay? Abel wanted to give what was first, he wanted to put God first. And so he took of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof and gave unto the Lord. Whereas Cain was like, ah, this will just suffice. I'll just give him this, you know, whatever it was that he gave. And so the Bible lets you know that he had respect to Abel's offering, but not Cain. Verse number five, but unto Cain and to his offering, he, okay, that is God, he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell. You see this today, all the time, okay? Mankind, the people in the religion of human achievement, they want to be recognized for the achievements that they have decided in their heart to dish out, okay? That's how the world is, you know? Have you ever wondered, like, why is it that some people get so mad when you tell them that they don't have to turn from their sins to be saved? Why do they get so upset about that? The reason why is because they have decided in their heart and mind that that's good enough for God. Okay, they have gone after the way of Cain, maybe not fully, but they have definitely sided with Cain in that. They're saying, well, this is what I, in my mind, believe that God should accept, and if he doesn't accept it and you tell me otherwise, well, I'm just gonna flip out and get mad. Now let's see what Cain does. So Cain is very wroth and his countenance fell. So he's upset. This guy is angry, he understands in some way that God didn't accept his offering. Now look at verse six. And the Lord said unto Cain. I mean, you read that here. What comes to your mind? Well, there's obviously communication between Cain and God. And the Lord said unto Cain, why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? So God here is talking directly to Cain, and he's asking him, what are you so upset about? What is your problem? Verse seven. This is God's solution to his anger. 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. So God is giving him literally the word of God. God is saying, hey, you know, I'm not a respecter of persons, okay? I'm a respecter of the truth. And Cain, you have not provided the truth. You have not done correctly. All you have to do, Cain, is do right, do good. Do what I have asked. Do what you understand in your heart that is true. Okay, let's see what he does. What does Cain do with the word of God here? Verse eight. And Cain talked with Abel, his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him. How, I mean, just get this picture in your head. You have this guy named Cain here, and he's literally talking to God. Okay, so there's no like, well, in the original manuscripts, it said something different. There's none of that, because God is right there talking to him, okay? And it's clear as day. And he says, this is all you have to do, Cain, to be accepted. What does Cain do? He rejects that word, doesn't he? He rejects the word of God. And what does he do? He commits murder. He kills his own brother. Verse nine. And the Lord said unto Cain, where is Abel thy brother? Now, obviously, this is a rhetorical question. God knows where Abel is. But God says, now God is speaking to Cain again. This is very important. The Lord said unto Cain, where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am I my brother's keeper? Could you imagine talking to God that way? No one in here would do that. I mean, when I read this, I mean, like, I get chills. I'm like, whoa. The nerve that this individual had to literally hear the voice of God, and yet talk to him this way. His parent, guess who his parents are? Adam and Eve, you know? I mean, it's kind of understandable today, you know, there's a lot of people on the earth, there's a lot of so-called religions out there, and people get confused and are like, well, which one's the truth? And obviously, we're able to teach people that, but the point is, there's literally, if there was ever a time where there's no excuse, it's right here, okay? This guy has no excuse. And look at his heart. Look at his attitude towards the Lord God, the one that created him. He says, am I my brother's keeper? Verse 10. And he said, what has thou done? So what is God doing here? He wants him to confess. And he said, what has thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. Verse 11. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. Now, just to quickly mention this here in verse 11, this curse that he's talking about, he's not saying I'm taking you out of the earth right now and I'm sending you to hell, that's not necessarily what he's saying. He's basically gonna go on to say, hey, the works that you go on to do from now on, when you go to plant something, it's not gonna yield its fruit to you. You're going to have a rough life for the rest of your life, Cain, and you're gonna have to constantly move and you're gonna be a vagabond, you're gonna be a fugitive, and everyone is gonna know that you're the first person to actually take a person's life. So let's break this down here. Let's understand who we're talking about and why this is so important. Go to Matthew chapter number 23. Matthew chapter number 23. And we will come back to Genesis four later on, but go to Matthew chapter number 23. In Matthew 23, verse 35 is a verse that I have highlighted. I go through patterns. Sometimes I wind up having to use this verse out soloing for a while, I'll memorize it, and then I go long periods without needing it, but I know the reference and I know why I need it. And I think that's so important for a lot of things in the Bible. Know this verse because it really can help you out. It can help you out explaining the apocrypha to people. And let's take a look at it here. Okay, we're gonna read it though because it's talking about Abel. Matthew 23, 35, definitely something you wanna have highlighted in your Bible. So let's talk about Abel, okay? What's the significance about Abel here? Look at verse 35. So Jesus says this, and he's talking to the scribes and Pharisees, the Sadducees, the people that are constantly trying to accuse him of wrongdoing, trying to say that he's not the son of God, blah, blah, blah, and look at what he says to them. He says that upon you and that you there are the Pharisees, the scribes, the Sadducees, the people that reject what he's saying. He says that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel. Okay, that righteous Abel. Well, we know from the Bible, we know from the Psalms, we know from the Proverbs, we know from the Old Testament, we know from Romans chapter three, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. None of us are righteous. How do we get righteous? God gives that to us because we call on him and we're saved. In the Bible here, Jesus clearly says that Abel was righteous, okay? So Abel was saved. So Jesus says that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom he slew between the temple and the altar. Now go to 1 John chapter number three. So right off the bat, we can see that Abel, according to the New Testament, according to the Bible, was righteous. He was saved. Now I mentioned this earlier. This is Jesus here in this verse, and he's basically giving you a chronological summary of what is scripture, okay, from Genesis all the way to Malachite. And I use that verse oftentimes when people question, you know, how come the Apocrypha books are not in the Bible today? I'll bring that up and say, because Jesus never endorsed those, okay? And they were available during his time and he didn't mention them, okay? So he's giving you that chronological date there. We'll talk about that further another time, but what I wanted you to see there is clearly that Abel was righteous. So let's take a look at Cain. What does the New Testament say about Cain? 1 John chapter number three, look at verse number 11. The Bible says, "'For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, "'that we should love one another.'" This verse is, I mean, just another one of the plethora verses that are just completely twisted today, okay? This is not talking about, this is not God saying, I want everyone on the earth to just right now and just love each other and just get along despite doctrine, okay? That's not what he's saying. He is talking about believers here, okay? Believers. So he says, "'For this is the message,' verse 11, "'that ye heard from the beginning, "'that we should love one another.'" Verse 12, "'not as Cain.'" Okay, there it is, Cain. We just saw a confirmation that Abel was saved, Abel was righteous. He says, "'not as Cain who was,'" now look at this, "'of that wicked one and slew his brother, "'and wherefore slew he him? "'Because his own works were evil "'and his brothers righteous.'" There's your second confirmation that Abel was saved, because only somebody who has been given eternal life, only someone who has been given righteousness can do anything righteous, okay? Apart from that, your works are as filthy rags. That is what the Bible teaches. But what I want you to see here in verse 12 is what it says about Cain. Not as Cain, look at the beginning of the verse. It says, "'not as Cain who was of that wicked one.'" That word of denotes source. Who was the source of Cain? The wicked one, okay? And that is obviously Satan, that is obviously the devil. So right there in Genesis chapter four, you see the battle between the seed of God, the saved, the righteous, and the seed of the devil, or reprobates, people who are rejected because they have rejected God, okay? That is what that is saying there. "'Cain was of that wicked one and slew his brother.'" Now go to the book of Jude, right before Revelation, Jude. And in Jude, we're gonna learn what the way of Cain actually is, okay? So we just learned that he is of, he was of that wicked one, okay? And we'll see how he got there in a minute, but look at Jude verse 11. Actually, you know what? We need to back up for a second here. We're gonna back up here to the beginning here, because it's been a while since I've taught through Jude, and I wanna make this clear, okay? Look at Jude verse one. So it starts off by saying, "'Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God, the father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called.'" Okay, so Jude comes right out the gate telling you that salvation is a free gift, it's everlasting, and who this letter is to. This is to the saved, this is to believers. Look at verse two. "'Mercy unto you, and peace and love be multiplied.'" Verse three, "'Beloved, when I gave all diligence.'" Now look, let me stop right here, okay? Verse three and four, if you don't understand verse three and four, you will not understand this book, okay? "'Beloved,' verse three, "'when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and to exhort you," here it is, "'that ye should earnestly contend for the faith, which was once delivered unto the saints.'" Okay, very important there because our faith was once delivered. We have the preserved word of God today. It's not ongoing. It's not like God speaks to this person and they come to church and write stuff down. No, the faith has already been delivered to us. We have the revelation of God from Genesis, which is eternity past, to Revelation, eternity future, okay? Very important. So what is the subject of this book? The subject is the defense of salvation. That is what the subject is. Verse four, for there are certain men, this is so important, for there are certain men, crept in unawares, who were before of old, ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness. Okay, that word there, it's a big word, that lascivious type sins are allude in nature, perverted, things of that nature, okay? Says, and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse number five, I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed them that believe not. Okay, so verse four backs up what we learned in verse three, okay? So verse four, we're told that there are people that creep in, and where do they creep in? Well, they creep into the faith. They creep into local congregations. They creep into positions of influence. That's what they do. It doesn't necessarily have to be within the church walls. It could be somebody who just starts a blog, somebody who just starts a YouTube page these days, someone on social media, okay? They will creep in, and over time, they will try to destroy the goal of this book, which is the defense of salvation, okay? That is ultimately what they are after. So verse six, let's see here. So after verse five, we learned that God destroyed these people that believe not. Verse six, and the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. And what that's saying there is basically that after the fall, the angelic fall, after Satan tried to declare himself God, and a third of the angels came with him, they are reserved in their current darkness, in their fallen state, okay? They're not getting out of that. That's what that means. We'll talk about that another day. Verse seven, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them, in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Look at verse number eight. It says, likewise, also these filthy dreamers, okay? So he says likewise. So he uses Sodom and Gomorrah, okay? He uses that, and he uses the fallen angels as a reference to compare it to people that creep in, people that creep into churches unawares. So that's why he says in verse eight, likewise, also these filthy dreamers, okay? These filthy dreamers who, I'm gonna creep in there and do whatever, okay? These filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion and speak evil of dignities. Everybody's heard of the word of dignitaries, you know, people that are in positions of power. This verse here is not only talking about that so much, but just anybody in a position of power. For example, one of the things that you'll notice when someone creeps into church and they get found out, or they decide it's time to feast, it's time to take people away, it's time to start their own group or whatever it is, they will often slander the people in power. They will slander the pastor, they will slander the deacon, they will slander maybe pastors in other churches and things of that nature. They will speak evil of them, that is what they'll do. They will try to hurt their image, they will try to hurt their reputation without any proof, without any evidence, or fabricated stuff. Okay, look at verse nine. The Bible says, yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, does not bring against him a railing accusation, but said the Lord rebuke thee. And we'll have to get into this in more detail another time, but all of this is going to fit in to the way of Cain. Look at verse 10. But these speak evil of those things, which they know not, but what they know naturally as brute beasts and those things, they corrupt themselves. And that is key to understanding the sermon this morning. They corrupt themselves. What do we see in Genesis chapter four? Cain corrupted himself. He had a direct conversation with God, denied what he said, went further, committed murder, and then talked basically disrespectfully to God and said, am I my brother's keeper? Now look at verse 11. Woe unto them. So these people that creep in unawares, these people that rail against dignities, that rail against the good, he says, woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain. Everybody see that? They have gone in the way of Cain. Judas want us to understand here that the way of Cain is alive and well today. And the hallmark of these people is that they will attack the man of God. They will attack people that are doing righteous things. They're literally trying to kill their spiritual brother. Okay, only to find out that they literally aren't spiritual brothers. They are outside. They were never saved to begin with. Okay, look at verse 12. These are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear. Okay, and that's what these people will do. They will feed themselves with their own imaginations, with their own agendas, with their own lives. They will get themselves in a feeding frenzy, feeding themselves without fear. Okay, just like Cain had no fear talking the way he did to God. That is how these people are. And again, you're seeing an increase in this type of behavior today. So he says they are, he says, clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. So there is that, the way of Cain. All of that basically can fit into the way of Cain. It is something alive and well today, something we need to be on the lookout for, something we have definitely had inside of the walls of this building here. Go to 2 Timothy chapter number three. And let's see further about something here. 2 Timothy chapter number three. Look at verse number eight. 2 Timothy chapter number three, verse eight. It says, now as Janus Jambres withstood Moses. Okay, so remember the guys in Exodus that were able to copy somewhat the things that Moses did? Okay, well, their names, where we're given their names here, it says, now as Janus Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith. Now, the reason why I brought this verse up here is because I want us to kind of have a good refresher. You know, we get so used to just looking at the Sodomites and we're just reprobates, reprobates, that we sometimes can forget that reprobates grow into a wide variety of confusion, okay? People that creep in that maybe live seemingly normal lives, they're married, husband, wife, they have kids, okay? There are people like that that live a life like that that are still reprobate because the word reprobate means rejected. Okay, and here Paul is telling Timothy to watch out and to be aware of people who have had their minds corrupted, okay? Reprobate just concerning the faith. Now, obviously every Sodomite is a reprobate, okay? But not all reprobates are necessarily Sodomites. There are tons of false prophets out there and people that are just rejected concerning the faith. There's no evidence in the Bible to suggest that Cain was a Sodomite, though he's clearly rejected by God, okay? Go to Titus chapter number one. One more book over Titus chapter number one. We'll take a further look at what I just said there. The way of Cain in its entirety, according to Jude, I would say is definitely reprobate concerning the faith. And let's take a look at how this ties into their works. Titus chapter one, look at verse 16. So he says this, they, okay, and these are people that claim to know God but deny the power thereof. Verse 16, those types of people, he says, they profess that they know God. Now look at this. But in works, they deny him. Being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work, reprobate. You know, that sums up the Mormon religion out here, doesn't it? Because they send their people all through the neighborhood. We saw them yesterday. Look, these people do tons of good works for people. They will mow your lawn. They will help you bring groceries into your house. They will do all kinds of good things. But at the end of the day, all of those works are reprobate, why? Because they deny the word of God, just like Cain did. They deny salvation. They deny truth. They have decided that they want to follow a man-made way. Okay, and understanding the way of Cain that, I mean, this is what led up to the flood because the way of Cain magnified very quickly, multiplied very quickly. And God looked down at the earth and said, I am sick and tired of this place. I want to destroy it. Go to Romans chapter number one. Might as well, since it's June and we're talking about reprobates, Romans chapter number one. So again, all of that to say this, that reprobates grow into a wide variety of people. Why do you think that the pride flag keeps getting its revisions? Because there's new sections of weird freaks that tend to come out all the time, okay? They are growing. They are multiplying all the time. And so they have to keep changing their banner in order to signify that, and signify to the world that that is what they are doing. Romans chapter one, look at verse number 18. The Bible says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. And this is key here, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. What you see leading up to the flood of the world is that most men lived according to their own imaginations. They did what they thought was right in their own eyes, what pleased them, no regard for God by the whole. So he says, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Okay, look at verse 19. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them, verse 20, for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse. So look, today, Paul's day, there is no one that has an excuse. No one can be like, well, I didn't know. You know, my teacher taught me evolution, so I just decided to believe it, you know? No, okay? Everyone has access to the truth by being able to look at creation, hear about creation, and being told, and the word of God is everywhere, okay? Especially if you live around here. I mean, you know, we've been soul winning for what? Four something years now. I mean, you know, the word of God is out there. But you know, even before the internet, there was still no excuse. There was just nothing, no excuse. Look at verse 21. It says, because that when they knew God, and here's where we're gonna tie this in to Cain here. Okay, look at verse 21. Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. This is what is happening in today's society throughout the earth. And it's happening on a rapid, rapid scale, just like in the days of Noah, and obviously like in the days of Lot. But if you look at this verse here, okay? Because that when they knew God, Cain obviously knew God. He's talking with him in Genesis chapter four. Says, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God. So when Cain was upset and he was wroth, and God was like, hey, what is your problem? If you do well, won't you be accepted? Okay, that wasn't good enough for him. Okay, so what does that say? They glorified him not as God. So when Cain heard from God, heard the solution, he didn't glorify him as God. He went on to kill his brother. He wasn't thankful. He became vain in his own imaginations. And guess what? His foolish heart was darkened. That's the only explanation you could come to for why he talked to God the way he did in verse number nine. Am I my brother's keeper? Verse 22, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. And of course that applies to our reprobate that shows up every other week. You know, they keep writing in chalk out there, and birds aren't bats. It doesn't matter. You still fit in this. It's got wings. It fits into this. It's a creeping thing, whatever. 10. So that's crystal clear. Jump down to verse 28. Even, it says, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. Okay, back to Cain. Cain heard clear, concise, easy instructions from God. Did he retain those? No, he didn't. He did not retain those. And look at what Paul's telling the Romans. He said, hey, there's people like this in the earth. Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. Look at this. God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient. And of course, verse 29 says they're filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, malicious, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers. I mean, the list goes on, okay? We'll come back another day and really break this down. We have to do it all the time. But the point is, what we saw with Cain is he didn't like to retain God in his knowledge. That's what a reprobate does, okay? And from that point, I mean, once you darken yourself to that point, you reject God, and he looks down and says, I can tell that you will never accept me. You will never turn to me. You will never agree with me. I'm just gonna give you over. I'm gonna take away your mind. I'm going to corrupt it and let the earth figure out the best way to deal with it, according to them, because that's what they want. So a reprobate mind, a rejected mind, that is what Cain had, okay? And again, I'm bringing this up because there are a wide variety of reprobates out there. There are reprobates that just constantly, just make their whole livelihood out of just debating and just trying to debunk Christianity, okay? But they're not necessarily Sodomites, okay? So just keep that in mind. The way of Cain is alive and unfortunately well today. Go back to Genesis chapter number four now. And that is why I titled the sermon, the first reprobate or the first reject, okay? And what have we learned from that so far? Who did the rejecting? Cain. Cain rejected God. And if you really slowly read the passage here, it was multiple times. Verse five, let's look at it again. But unto Cain and to his offering, he had not respect. And Cain was very wrath in his countenance felt. So Cain rejected God by just trying to give him a sloppy offering here, just not even having respect to God. Okay, verse six, God tries to deal with him. The Lord said unto Cain, why art thou wrath and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? Okay, he's giving him truth, giving him a chance. And if thou doest not well, he warns him, sin lieth at the door and unto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him. Cain goes on to do what? Goes on to kill his brother. Cain rejected God's provision and his acceptance with him. Okay, so let's jump down now to verse number 17. So we can see that that whole situation with Cain there, that attitude is going to multiply throughout the old world and cause God to flood the earth. Okay, what did Jesus say in Luke 17? He said, hey, if you wanna know what it's gonna be like before the second coming, before I come back, here's what it's gonna be like. It's gonna be like it was in the days of Noah. It's gonna be like it was in the days of Lot. Well, all of this here is what sparked the days of Noah. The fact that Cain rejected God, this caught on, which is why at the end of chapter four, there was that need for men to now begin to call upon the name of the Lord and make that distinction, which we'll talk about in more detail in the third part of this series. Look at verse 17 now. Okay, so again, an explosion of reprobates caused the flood. That is what's going to usher in the end times here, the Antichrist, so on and so forth. Look at verse 17. It says, and Cain knew his wife. So after he's accepted his punishment, and Cain knew his wife and she conceived and bare Enoch and he builded a city and called the name of that city after the name of his son Enoch. Verse 18, and unto Enoch was born Ired and Ired begat Mahujel and Mahujel begot Methuselah and Methuselah begot Lamech. So let's talk about this guy Lamech now because he presents another set of problems that flood the earth with unrighteousness, okay? So we just took a look at Cain. Well, let's see what the deal is with Lamech. Look at verse 19. And it's kind of funny here. I mean, you read about Cain, there's this elaborate story, which there's just so much to talk about. You get a little bit of genealogy here and then there's just this guy Lamech thrown in for a few verses, okay? It's like, hmm, what does this mean? Look at verse 19. And Lamech took unto him, so this is the first thing you're told about this guy here, okay, and here's Lamech. He's, you know, Methuselah begot Lamech and Lamech took unto him two wives, okay? Boneheaded move right here. It's never worked out well for any man in the Bible. This goes against what? It goes against the very foundation of the earth, which he was very close to, okay? God created Adam and then understood, hey, there's not a help meet or suitable for you, Adam. So I'm gonna give you Eve as a gift to you, man and woman, okay, that is the first family. That is how a family should be, one man, one woman. And enter Lamech. Lamech's like, well, you know, I've never seen anybody take two wives. I'm pretty cool, man. I think I can handle that. So I'm gonna take me two wives. You say, are you injecting emotion in here? No, not at all. Let's take a look. And Lamech took unto him two wives. The name of the one was Ada, and the name of the other, Zillah. I'll skip down to verse 23. And Lamech said unto his wives, Ada and Zillah, hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech, harken unto my speech. And we're getting close to being done here. For I have slain a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt. What is he saying there? And well, basically these two guys apparently tried to attack him and he wound up overcoming them. He wound up killing them. Okay, so he's definitely proud of this. And hey, you know, I would be, anybody would be, okay. Look at verse 24, and we'll talk about this problem. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, not the rock band, he says, if Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech 70 and sevenfold. Now, what is the problem with all of this? Why is this just quick little passage inserted in here? Okay, well, Lamech is the first guy to go against the, really the order of the family, take to him two wives, which is definitely not good. Definitely something that plagued men. Definitely something, I mean, you're not gonna be able to attend to both of them. We've seen that several times, okay. It's not ideal. It's never good. But then you get to this part here where it's like, I've slain a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt. Now, glad you didn't die, you know, but the problem here is pride, okay. And also it's legalism. Look at what verse 24 says. If Cain, this is Lamech speaking here. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold. Remember, who came up with that sevenfold judgment or that sevenfold judgment? That was God, okay, because Cain was worried about that. He's like, anybody who finds me, they're just gonna beat on me and they're gonna kill me. And God says, no, I'm not gonna let that happen. I'm gonna put this mark on you and let the world know that if anyone hurts you, they will be avenged sevenfold. So he says, hey, listen you wives, I just destroyed these two guys to try to hurt me, okay. So if Cain's gonna be avenged sevenfold, guess what? Lamech 70 and sevenfold. So he's basically saying, hey, God may put it seven times on whoever's gonna kill Cain, but if anyone tries to come after me for what I just did, I'm gonna avenge him 70 times seven, you know, I'm gonna avenge him 70 and sevenfold. He's basically saying he's gonna do more than God. He's like, they're gonna reap more wrath, this world is gonna reap more wrath than they can handle if anyone else tries to come at me because I just proved myself by taking out these two guys. Okay, so you have the Lamech here, who's the first person to take multiple wives and that turns into multiple problems and spreads throughout the entire earth. And then you have this excessive pride here, okay. And where does that come from? Well, we know that that comes from the wicked one, that comes from the devil, that is not good. And that also that attitude there of, you know, just I'm gonna set the standard here, I'm gonna set the standard and people are gonna respect that that multiplied throughout the earth and is a definite reason why God destroyed the old world. And last place I'm gonna have you turn this morning is 2 Timothy chapter three, one more time. Should have told you to keep your place there, but we're gonna stop it right here, 2 Timothy chapter number three. And this here, we're gonna read verse two and this pretty much sums up in my opinion, Lamech's attitude who this is what you see going on today in the world. 2 Timothy three, look at verse two. For men shall be lovers of their own selves. That was Lamech. Hey, Lamech's like, I took out these two guys and listen to me, you wives. If Cain's gonna get avenged sevenfold, surely whoever tries to come at me, it's gonna be 70 and sevenfold. Okay, that is this right here. For men shall be lovers of their own selves. Covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. God wants a group of people today that is willing to look at these things and stand against them and say, no, we're not gonna succumb to this. We will not support this. And we're gonna stand against these things and we're gonna support righteousness. And we're gonna preach righteousness, true righteousness. We're gonna preach the way of salvation. We will defend salvation like Jude taught us. And we're going to expose the way of Cain the best that we can because that is why we are here. That is our mission, that is our goal. And we just need to, though we're doing that, be aware that we are living in times that the Bible says are perilous, meaning dangerous, meaning troublesome. And why is that? Because we live in a selfish society. We live in a society where not only are there a lot of Sodomites that have that attitude, but there are a lot of Lamex around. There are a lot of people that say, we've been doing this forever. What's the big deal? Why do I need to go get married? Why can't I just be a player? Why can't I just go out and get multiple women and excel in that industry? You know, the most popular influencers today on YouTube, like Andrew NotSoGreatTate and his brother and his other pals that are just very prevalent out there, they are against marriage. All they do is, if you subscribe to our course and you follow us, we're gonna teach you how to get the ladies and teach you how to get these women, multiple. That is wrong. That is not okay. That is not the way that God established it. But that attitude that Lamex had, it spread, it got to that level. And that's what we're seeing today. The world is mocking marriage. It's mocking safety. And what is it doing instead? It's promoting unrighteousness. The world that we live in today is calling evil good and good evil. And all of these things that you read about in 2 Timothy 3, verse two, verse one, verse three, so on and so forth, are being accelerated at an alarming rate. You know, we've had this even several months ago when the Sodomites showed up here with guns and the cops wouldn't respond. You know, the same thing at the King James Conference. The Antifa people showed up. And they were out there with guns. They cut the internet or they somehow jammed their wifi. And you know what the police told Pastor Thompson? They said, hey, we don't wanna put our officers in harm's way. Okay, because they were actually like these dogs, they stay out there on the sidewalk. They're not allowed on this property. Okay, but over there, they were allowed to come into the parking lot and try to harass people and get close-up pictures and take pictures of license plates. And though Pastor Thompson and their security team was telling them to get off and calling the police over and over again, the police said, we're not gonna go into harm's way. Now, what would happen if we reverse that? What happens if, let's say later on tonight, we go downtown, we go find one of these Sodomite hangouts and just start yelling at them with a bullhorn and you know, just have a sign, you know, Romans one or whatever it is. What's gonna happen? Who's going to jail? What if we just show up there with rifles at the ready and we just start yelling at them? What's gonna happen? We're going to jail. That's what's gonna happen. And look, that happens all the time. I don't support street preachers, but there are several videos of street preachers getting arrested for yelling at Sodomites during their pride parades. Why is that? Okay, it's because these are the times that we are living in. And we need to understand that so that we can help other people understand that and wake them up. And you know, right now, I believe is a very good time to do that because if you've heard what's going on with Target, you've heard what's going on with Bud Light, we don't support beer in any way, shape or form, just saying, you know, if you've heard what's going on with those companies, you know, how they've decided to go a little too woke, okay, people are getting upset with this. You know, I mean, you've got schools today saying, hey, we're gonna just stop using he and her and we're just gonna use they and them. I mean, people are getting fed up. So we need to capitalize on it. We need to bring these truths to these people out there and turn them around. And it's not that hard. I've been doing it all month, okay? We've been doing it every soul-wanting time, you know, that you get a chance to tell somebody about that, to tell somebody about this stuff, take that opportunity. A lot of people know that, hey, it's not just these super freaks that are doing this, it's all of them. They're all filled, every reprobate is filled with unrighteousness. We need to know that and we need to stop these people. Here's the danger in this. Here's some dangerous people, okay? I told you guys this on Wednesday. Somebody came into the church, nice, nice person, you know, I just wanna ride on the sidewalk the next time the protesters come, that God loves them and he accepts them. And I'm just like, write whatever you want. I guess that's better to look at than what they write, you know, but that mentality is what got us into this position. God doesn't accept it. Did God accept Cain and his offering? No, he didn't. You think he's gonna accept what they do? You're out of your mind and you don't know God and you don't know the Bible. And we need to fight against that attitude today because it is hurting people. I mean, the more that this goes on, I mean, now they're openly, and the they is the wicked people in government, in media, what have you, they're literally not even hiding the fact that they want the children now. That's what this is all about. To have free and unrestricted access to children. And you know what, it's people like us that can stop it, slow it down, and say, you know what, we're not gonna go along with this. And there are plenty of people outside of these walls that are mad, that are fed up, and if you have the truth and you can bring that to them, guess what? We can and have and are and will make a big difference. So let's remember that and we're gonna stop right here and pick it up again next week. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for allowing us to be able to gather here this morning. Let's pray you bless the fellowship after the service, Lord, and help us to remember these things, help us to continue to remember why you destroyed the old world and why it will be destroyed again as you come back, and help us to communicate these things to other people. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.