Type in your devices the book of Genesis chapter 4, and this
morning we're going to be in verses one to seven.
Genesis 4, verses one to seven. Let's read the text to open us
in a word of prayer and then we will jump into the sermon this
morning, Genesis 4 beginning in verse one.
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain,
saying, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.
And again she bore his brother Abel.
Now Abel was a keeper of the sheep, and Cain a worker of the
ground. In the course of time Cain
brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, And
Abel also brought of the first born of his flock and of their
fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel
and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no
regard. So Cain was very angry, and his
face fell. The Lord said to Cain, Why are
you angry and why has your face fallen?
If you do well, will you not be accepted?
And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door.
It's desire is for you, but you must rule over it.
Let's pray, Father, I pray this morning you would help us to see
the that sin lies close at hand, that our flesh is always with
us, the our enemy is always knocking on the door.
The world surrounds us and we must be vigilant.
We must never coast in this spiritual life.
Help us to see that this morning, Lord, and the story of
Cain and Abel. I also pray, Lord, that you
would cultivate in us a heart of joyful worship, Lord, a heart
that that longs and yearns to, to bring our first and our best
to you. God, I pray this in Jesus name,
Amen. Our oldest son Abraham got his
driver's license this week. I am.
Yeah. Yeah.
I feel like on the road. Be careful now.
He's he's a good driver. I'm so grateful that I won't
have to be a chauffeur anymore and he can drive himself.
He can drive his brothers to basketball practice and to the
store or wherever else they want to go.
But I told my son, driving is serious business.
It is. The greatest odds of you getting
injured or even dying is with driving, and the reason is
because an accident is always crouching at your door.
All it takes is 1 bad decision, one wrong turn, 1 lazy moment,
one text message, and it can forever change your life.
There is never a moment where you don't have to be vigilant
when you are driving because an accident is always crouching at
your door. And the same is true in the
spiritual life. There is never a moment that we
do not have to be vigilant with our flesh because sin is always
crouching at our door. It's always there.
That's what the sermon is about this morning.
Let me give the context, a short context, and then I'll give
expedition of the text and then I'll give us application.
Here's the context. Adam and Eve have disobeyed God.
They have eaten the forbidden fruit that God told them not to
eat, and as a result, they have been banished from the garden by
God. Sin has entered the world that
God has made, and along with it a curse.
And this morning we're going to see that it doesn't take very
long for the effects of sin to have a devastating consequences
upon this world and upon their family.
So let's start with the next listen of the text and then I'll
give you application. Let's begin in verse one.
Now Adam knew Eve his wife. She conceived and bore Cain
saying I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.
The text begins this morning with this statement.
Adam knew Eve his wife. Now this is a euphemism.
It means Adam had sexual relations with his wife.
If you remember, God had given them a command.
God told them be fruitful and multiply.
Now they are obeying this command.
They are being fruitful and multiplying.
Eve conceived and she bore a son named Cain.
Pause for just a moment to highlight the miracle of
conception. We take this for granted, but
this is truly a miracle. For all the scientific atheist
out there. Conception is a miracle.
It is brought about by the living God.
Eve said when she conceived I have gotten a man with the help
of the Lord. Now why does she say that?
The Hebrew verb forgotten sounds like the name Cain.
In Hebrew, the root means to acquire or to possess.
Notice Eve acknowledges that this child has been produced
with the help of the Lord. Now many couples know this, that
it's not just science. Like you're right, you can put
one and one together and it doesn't equal 3 automatically.
God has to do this. God has to breathe life.
Death has now entered the world, but so has new life.
Notice the the sharp contrast here chapter 3.
Death has entered this world and then in chapter 4 right after
it, new life has entered the world.
Look at verse 2 again. She bore his brother Abel.
Now Abel was a keeper of the sheep and Cain a worker of the
ground. Not only was God gracious enough
to give her one son, God gave her a second son, Abel.
Abel's name means breath or vapor.
How tragically ironic because his life will seem like a breath
or a vapor. So Adam and Eve now have two
sons. They have Cain, and they have
Abel. In spite of Adam and Eve's sin,
God has graciously blessed them with these two boys.
Now the story. Fast forward some 12 to 18
years. We don't know how old they are,
but they're old enough to have professions.
Abel was a keeper of the sheep, so he's a shepherd.
He is the first in a long line of shepherds.
Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, they're all shepherds and Abel
is the first shepherd. Cain is a worker of the ground,
so he's a farmer. Cain follows in his father's
footsteps. His father was a farmer.
Interesting that his profession is specifically tied to the
curse. Look at verse 3.
In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering
of the fruit of the ground. The narrator says in the course
of time, or this could be translated at the designated
time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering.
He brought him fruit of the ground.
This is the first offering mentioned in the Bible.
This is quite interesting because as far as we know, no
command has been given by the Lord that we know of there.
God did not tell them bring offerings to me.
Now maybe he did, but it's not recorded.
Now this seems like a good thing doesn't it?
Cain bringing an offering to the Lord, that's a good thing.
But like so many things in this life, looks can be deceiving.
Look at verse 4. And Abel also brought of the
first born of his flock and of their fat portions.
And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering.
So Abel also brings an offering, Cain brings an offering, Abel
brings an offering. Abel brought of the first born
of his flock, and of their fat portions.
Now these offerings seem to make sense, don't they?
Cain is a farmer, so naturally he would bring fruit of the
ground. Abel is a shepherd, so he would
naturally bring some of his animals.
But look at what the text says. The text says the Lord had
regard for Abel and his offering.
What does that mean? The Hebrew word for regard
literally means to gaze at. It can also mean to look on with
favor. It means that God, you know,
it's kind of the idea of like you can just look at something
and then you can also gaze at it and look upon it with delight.
The text says that when God saw Abel's offering, he looked upon
it with delight, with favor. He was pleased with Abel and his
offering. There's 5A.
But for Cain and his offering, he had no regard.
God looked with favor upon Abel and his offering.
But for Cain and his offering, the Lord had no regard.
Notice not just some regard, not just a little bit of regard, no
regard. 0 regard. Meaning the Lord did not look
with favor upon Cain's offering. He was displeased with Cain's
offering. Now here's the $1,000,000
question. Why?
Why did God look with favor upon Abel's offering but not with
Cain's? Why?
We all want to know that question.
Hebrews 11/4 tells us by faith, Abel offered to God a more
acceptable sacrifice than Cain. OK, but why was it more
acceptable? Why?
Here's an interesting note by the NET Bible.
Here are two types of worshippers. 1 Cain merely
discharges a duty at the proper time, while the other, Abel goes
out of his way to please God with the 1st and the best it
appears, and I I think this is That's a good theory.
It appears to me that Cain made his offering out of duty, out of
obligation. It was nothing more than a check
box for him, in fact. And here's what where I get that
from. The lack of description of
Cain's offering may imply that he didn't bring his first
fruits. He gave to God his leftovers.
But for Abel there's a description given.
For Abel he brought of the first born of his flock.
He brought their fat portions to the Lord.
Abel gave his first and his best.
And God saw not just their offerings, he saw their hearts
and giving it. Look at 5B.
So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
Now we're not told how Cain and Abel discerned the Lord's
pleasure. Text doesn't tell us.
How did they know that God was pleased with one and not the
other? Text doesn't tell us.
But somehow they knew. Somehow they knew.
And as a result of Cain's, as a result of God's displeasure,
look at how Cain responds. Cain was very angry.
Not just angry. He was very angry.
Literally. Very hot.
You wonder. Angry with who?
Who's he angry with himself? Is he angry with himself?
Oh, man, I should have done better.
I should have brought something better.
Is he angry with his brother? Look at him pretentious.
Or is he angry with God? Who is Cain angry with?
I think he's angry with God. The fact that Cain got angry
tells us the spiritual condition of his heart.
You see, Cain could have responded and brokenness and
contrition. He could have been broken and
contrite that what he brought that the Lord did not was not
pleased with it, and he is broken over God's displeasure.
But that's not his response. Instead he responds in anger and
that was the result of his anger.
His face fell, meaning his entire countenance dropped.
Again, consider the tragic irony of this.
The entire point of an offering is for us to have God lift our
faces. That's why we bring it.
We come to God humble and contrite and and we know that we
are a Sinner in his presence. But when we come into God's
presence, he lifts our face. That's the whole point of an
offering. And yet Cain's offering caused
his face to fall. Look at verse 6.
The Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry and why has your face
fallen? God sees Cain's anger.
The Lord sees our hearts. He knows our emotions.
He knows our thoughts. He sees Cain's anger.
And just as God confronted Cain's parents in the garden,
God confronts their son, and he does so with the same method, a
question. He asked Cain a question Why are
you angry and why has your face fallen now?
What does God's question imply? It implies that Cain is not
justified in his anger. He is not justified in having a
downcast face. You see, the trap of anger is
that we always feel justified in our anger.
Isn't that true? Isn't that why we get angry?
Because we feel justified in our anger.
But God confronts the justification of Cain's anger.
Look at verse 7A. If you do well, will you not be
accepted? Now, what's interesting is that
God is not simply condemning Cain.
Let's be very clear on this. This is not a condemnation by
God. He's not condemning Cain for his
anger. He's not condemning him for his
downcast spirit. In fact, God actually gives him
a way to deal with it. He gives him a way to deal with
his anger and to deal with his downcast spirit.
God says if you do well. Do you notice that implies that
Cain didn't do well? The problem was not that God was
biased towards Abel. A lot of people read this and
think oh God's just biased towards Abel.
Problem is not that God is biased towards Abel.
The problem is that Cain didn't do well.
God says to him, if you do well, will you not be accepted
literally in the Hebrew? Will there not be a lifting up
presumably of the face? God is telling Cain, Cain, if
you bring me your first and your best, I will have regard for it.
I will have favor upon you. God is not a father who is
impossible to please. Look at verse 7B and if you do
not do well, sin is crouching at the door.
If you don't do well Cain, sin is crouching at the door.
What does that mean? God uses a form of what's known
as zoomorphism. It's where you attribute animal
like qualities to something. Sin here is portrayed as a wild
beast crouching and ready to pounce.
Sin here is portrayed as like the lion that hides in the tall
Savannah grass that is just hiding there and waiting to
pounce on its prey. God is basically telling Cain if
you don't have a right heart cane, you make yourself a
sitting duck and sin is ready to pounce on you.
Look at 7C. Its desire is for you, but you
must rule over it. God says that sins desire is for
you. What does this mean?
Other translations here have it desires to have you or it
desires to dominate you. Here God personifies sin as this
entity that desires to have Cain, to dominate him, to
control him, but God says you must rule over it.
I don't know if you noticed that the same words are used in
Genesis 316 where God says to the woman, your desire shall be
for your husband and he shall rule over you.
Meaning that part of the curse is that there would now be a
power struggle in marriage. Who's going to rule over who the
woman wants to rule over the man.
The man wants to rule over the woman that there's going to be a
power struggle that goes on in marriage and in the same way God
is saying there is now a power struggle in your heart came send
desires to rule over you. You must rule over it.
We'll stop there with the exposition application of the
text. I have 8 truths. 8 truths #1 God
does not give up on or forsake His people, He continues to
bless them in spite of their sin.
God does not give up on or forsake His people.
He continues to bless them in spite of their sin.
Adam and Eve had disobeyed God. They deliberately did the one
thing that God told them not to do, and as a result, God's
perfect world has now been infected with sin and is now
under a curse. As devastating as this
consequence was, God has not given up on them.
God has not forsaken them. In fact, God even blesses them
in spite of their sin. He gives them not only one son,
but He gives them two sons. This is what our God does.
When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and when he
murdered Uriah, David suffered devastating consequences for his
sin. But God did not give up on him.
He did not forsake David. In fact, God allowed him to
continue serving as king for the next 15 to 20 years.
And it was through Bathsheba that Solomon, the next king,
would come. When Peter denied Christ three
times, Peter had to suffer the piercing eyes of disappointment
from his Savior. But Jesus did not give up on
Peter, nor did he forsake him. Jesus reinstated Peter and
allowed him to be an apostle of the early church.
Cain and Abel is a tragic story, but it's also a story of God's
mercy and grace upon Adam and Eve.
God has not given up on them. He did not banish them from the
garden and say go live your life.
Don't talk to me anymore. Brother and sister.
God will never give up on you. He will never forsake you.
There will be consequences to our sin, but God continues to
bless us in spite of our sin. This is who our God is.
It's in His very nature #2 since the beginning of time, man has
been making offerings to the Lord.
We were made for worship. Since the beginning of time, man
has been making offerings to the Lord.
We were made for worship. I find it fascinating that the
text tells us that Cain presented an offering to the
Lord. There is no instruction given.
There is no command. There's no back story, there's
no context. It just says in the course of
time, Cain brought an offering to the Lord.
How did he know to do this? Did his parents make offerings?
Did God tell them to make offerings?
We we don't know. What's equally fascinating is
that after the fall, the story just jumps forward some 12 to 18
years. We don't learn anything more
about Adam and Eve. You realize that the Bible just
kind of silent what happened to Adam and Eve?
I think it'd be a fascinating fictional movie of what happened
to them after the fall. What was life like?
But God saw fit to have the story jump forward to the
children's lives where the very first thing they do that's
recorded here is they make offerings to the Lord.
Trust family. This is a reminder that we were
made for worship. Today we no longer bring to the
Lord the fruit of the ground. We no longer bring our flocks.
Today our offering is us, our lives, your whole life, the
Apostle Paul writes. I appeal to you, therefore,
brothers, by the mercies of the God, to present your bodies as a
living sacrifice, which is your spiritual worship, what you
created to do. Why are you here?
Why do you exist? What's your purpose for waking
up tomorrow? Worship, worship.
You are here to present your bodies as living sacrifices.
Give them unto the Lord #3 God sees the difference between
obligatory worship and joyful worship.
God sees the difference between obligatory worship and joyful
worship. Church family, let me ask you a
question. How much of your Christian life
is done out of obligation? How much of your Christian life
is done out of obligation? How much of reading the Bible is
done out of obligation or prayer?
How much is going to church done out of obligation?
How many Sunday mornings in a year do you come out of
obligation? Or what about giving to the
church or serving in church? What about sharing the gospel or
helping a neighbor? How much is your worship of God
performed out of obligation? It's an important question.
We get the impression that at least part of the reason that
Cain's offering was rejected is because it was given out of
obligation, whereas Abel's offering was given out of joy.
Now, God is not fooled by Cain's offering.
It's not as though God sees this fruit of the ground and God
thinks, wow, I am well pleased with your offering, Cain, thank
you. Wow, tomatoes.
I thought you would bring mangoes, but you brought
tomatoes. The reason is because God
doesn't look at the offering, He looks at the offerer.
God sees the difference between obligatory worship and joyful
worship. Now the age-old question this
is, this is the every single time this point comes up, this
question gets asked. What do you do if your worship
is not joyful? What do you do if I actually, if
I do, you say, OK, pastor, you got me.
You got me. I'm here out of obligation.
I'm here because my spouse made me.
I'm here because I didn't want to.
You know, somebody asked me, hey, why haven't you been to
church lately? You got me.
I mean, I I give my money because I I don't want to feel
guilty about not giving my money.
You got me. What do you do if your worship
is not joyful? Yes, obligation can be a bridge
to getting the joy. Yes, that's true.
But be careful here, friends. Some people get on this bridge
and they build a home on it. They get accustomed to
worshipping God out of obligation.
You can do this for years. Asians have been doing it for
3000 years. You can do this for years.
It's very easy to just stay there friends.
God doesn't need or want our obligatory worship.
He desires worship that is joyfully given out of the
abundance of our heart. For God is not pleased with
merely our giving. He pleased when we give up first
and our best. God is not pleased with merely
our giving. He is pleased when we give our
first and when we give our best. When I taught on stewardship a
few years back, I made the point that when you are writing your
budget, this may not be literal, but like metaphorically speaking
or literally speaking, the first line item on your budget should
be giving to the Lord. Before I pay my mortgage, before
I put money in my 4 O 1K, before I invest in the stock market,
before I play buy a new video game, before I buy plane
tickets, before I pay my utility bills, I give my first fruits
unto the Lord. This is not only true for my
finances, it's also true for my time.
We are a busy people, including myself.
We have so much to get done everyday, don't we?
Emails, text, work, meetings, projects, deadlines, errands,
exams, studying, chores. We are so busy that we must ask
the question, does God get my very best or does he get my
leftovers? When you wake up on Sunday
morning, does God get your very best mind, or does he get a
tired mind because you stayed up late Saturday night?
When you meet with the Lord on Monday morning, or Monday during
lunch, or Monday when you get off of work, does God get your
very best mind or does He consistently get a distracted
mind who is thinking about all they need to get done?
Some people think that the reason Cain's offering was
rejected is because he brought fruit instead of an animal.
I don't think that's true at all.
I do not think that's true at all.
Fruit offerings were perfectly acceptable.
The Lord in the law. I think there are many reasons
why I don't think that's true, but there's one that's clearly
seen in the text, and I think it's this.
Notice Cain's offering is given no description.
It just says Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of
the ground, period. But Abel's offering is given a
description. Abel also brought of the first
born of his flock, and of their fat portions.
What this tells us is that God is not pleased with merely our
giving. He is pleased when we give our
first and our best. Trisha, may I want to exhort
you. Give to the Lord your first
fruits. Give to the Lord your very best
of your finances, your time, your mind, your emotions, your
body. You're serving.
Give him your first and your best five.
Don't give the devil a foothold for anger, especially anger at
God. Don't give the devil a foothold
for anger, especially anger at God.
As I mentioned in the exposition, we are not told how
Cain knew that the Lord had no regard for his offering.
Somehow he knew. How would we expect Cain to
respond to this? I'd expect him to be broken, to
be contrite, to be repentant. But instead he is angry.
And as I asked before, angry at who?
Who is he angry at? I don't think he's angry at
himself, angry at at himself. I mean, that could be wrong, but
it's definitely far more righteous right to to be angry
at, at your mistake and your your shortcomings.
But I don't think he's angry at himself and I don't think it's
his brother. Next week it's going to it's
going to look like it was his brother with what Cain is going
to do. But I don't think that's true.
I think Abel's just a scapegoat. He can't kill God.
I think he is angry with God. God rejected his offering and he
is angry with God for rejecting his offering.
Just accepted God. I brought you fruit.
I wrote my tithe. I showed up at 9:00.
I'm here in this enough. What more do you want from me?
You want me to serve in children's ministry?
All right. I'll serve in children's
ministry. He's angry with God.
In the same way that the devil got a foothold into Eve's heart
and planted a seed of discontentment, the devil got a
foothold and Cain's heart and planted a seed of anger.
Brothers and sisters, don't give the devil a foothold in your
heart, Paul writes. Do not let the sun go down on
your anger and give no opportunity for the devil.
This is especially true with anger with God.
Christians get angry with God all the time.
And here's the here's here's the ironic part.
We often don't recognize it. We don't label it.
We may not admit it. I have asked the church body
over the past 15 years, are you angry with God?
I'm not angry with God. As Shakespeare said, know
thyself. You are angry with God, you just
don't realize it. Christians get angry with God
all the time. Cain didn't deal with his anger,
and next week we're going to see that it had devastating
consequences, and the same is true for you and me.
If we don't deal with our anger, especially when it's anger at
God, it will have devastating consequences.
Don't give the devil a foothold for anger in your life,
especially angry at anger at God.
Number six, we are not Cain when our hearts are right before the
Lord, His favour rest upon us. Brother and sister, we are not
came when our hearts are right before the Lord, His favour rest
upon us. I think sometimes we can feel
like everything we do is not good enough.
You ever feel that way? I do.
We feel our weaknesses, we feel our mistakes, we feel our
shortcomings, we feel our failures.
And so when we think of God, we might imagine him as this
disappointed father. You know, it's it's like I tell
my boys to sweep the floor. They sweep the floor, they come
to me, Dad, I finish and I go in there and I'm like, what'd you
do? Feel like you did much.
We some imagine God that way, right?
No matter what we do, God is just this disappointed father.
Nothing we do is ever good enough for him.
We bring our offerings to the Lord.
Lord, here's my fruit. And, and, and and we think God
has no regard for it. Brothers and sisters, we are not
king. We are not Cain when our hearts
are right before the Lord, His favor rest upon us.
God said to Cain, If you do well, will you not be accepted?
Will there not be a lifting up of your face?
Sometimes we can come into church and we have such a fallen
face. We walk around just with a
downcast face. Maybe because of our guilt,
maybe because of our shame, maybe because we're busy, maybe
because we're tired, maybe because we're there out of
obligation. Whatever the reason is, we come
into church, we just have a downcast face, just like Keynes.
But when we come into the presence of our Father, he lifts
our face. God wants to lift your face.
And when you bring your offering to the Lord, he said, he does
not say to you, nice try. He says to us, the Lord bless
you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine
upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon you and give you peace. God is not a father who is
impossible to please. He is well pleased when his
children make joyful offerings. This is so important because if
you think, let me, let me be really clear on this.
Let me go back to my example. I gave it with my kids.
If, if, whether you sweep the floor good or bad, you're still
disappointed. You know what you'll think.
What's the point of trying then? If you think that God is
disappointed with your best efforts, then what's the point
of giving my best? I'll just do the bare minimum
because he's going to be disappointed either way.
That's not true. That's not true.
He is well pleased, well pleased when you bring joyful offerings
to Him. His favor rest upon you.
Seven, There is never a moment where sin is not ready to pounce
on us and make us a prisoner. There's never a moment where sin
is not ready to pounce on us and make us a prisoner.
There are two types of people who live as though there is
always a lion in the streets. There are two types of people.
The 1st is a sluggard. Proverbs 2213 The sluggard says
there's a lion outside. I shall be killed in the
streets. Proverbs 2613 The sluggard says
there's a lion in the road. There's a lion in the streets.
Now what? What's the connection there?
The sluggard is inside. He's sitting on his bed.
His friend calls him up and tells him, hey, let's go do
something or hey, can you help me move or hey.
And he says, there's a lion in the streets.
I can't come outside for the slugger.
There's always a lion in the streets.
That's the first type. The second type is the vigilant
Christian. The vigilant Christian, God
tells Cain if you do well, if you don't do well, sin is
crouching at your door. Its desire is for you.
God here personifies sin as this wild beast that crouches at the
door of our hearts. It desires to have us.
It desires to devour us, it desires to imprison us.
And this is true 24/7, 24/7 Peter tells us.
Be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil,
prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Now Christ has come into this lion's den, and he has freed us
from the clutch of its fangs, and it's his claws.
But this lion always wants us back.
Always. He lies crouching at the door of
our hearts at all times, and he is simply waiting to pounce.
Sin and the devil and our flesh, they have no other objective in
this world but to destroy us, to devour us.
There is never a moment that we can live as though there is not
a lion in the streets. And friends, here's the thing.
If you hang out near that door long enough, it's only a matter
of time before sin bounces on you.
Just as a man cannot carry fire next to his chest and not be
burned, nor can a man make camp next to this door and not be
pounced on. We see next, we're going to see
next week that Cain did that very thing.
He stayed there. God gave him an opportunity to
leave this door and Cain said no thank you, I'll stay right here.
So what are we to do #8 Last point.
God doesn't tell Cain to manage his sin, but to master it.
Sin is crouching at the door of Cain's heart.
Its desire is to have him and enslave him.
And God doesn't tell Cain, Cain, negotiate with your sin.
He doesn't tell him to minimize your sin, doesn't tell him to
manage his sin. God says, Cain, you must master
it. You must rule over it.
The pronoun here is actually emphatic.
In the Hebrew. You don't have to include the
pronoun, but if you do, it's called emphatic.
The way we would translate that as is this you, you must rule
over it. It's an emphatic pronoun.
What this means is that God's telling Cain, Cain, I will
supply you the power of a king, but you must do the ruling.
God is saying I won't rule over your sin for you.
I will give you the power to do it, but you must rule over it.
You must do it. We often, sometimes the reason
we continue to sin is we want God to do it for us.
God, just do this for me. Kill the sin of my life and God
may graciously do that, but that is the exception.
The norm is that God says I will give you the power to do it, but
you have to do it. Now here's what's interesting
about God's statement to Cain. Cain's fate is not sealed.
We get into like election and stuff and you know, people
think, well it's fate was sealed, right?
Like Abel was elect and Cain wasn't.
So Cain was always going to be doomed, right?
No, he has a choice. He has a choice.
The fact that God tells him to rule over it means he has a
choice. Sin is crouching at his door.
It is ready to pounce on Cain and make him a prisoner.
But the fact that God tells him, Cain, you must rule over this.
God's not like you. You must rule over this, but
he's not going to be able to. He can choose this.
He can choose to rule over his sin.
Brothers and sisters. I don't care how far down the
temptation spiral you have gone. Sometimes, you know, there's
temptations kind of a spiral. You start up top and it's kind
of weak, and then it gets stronger and stronger and
stronger, and then eventually you're like, you're going to
give in. I don't care how far down that
spiral you've gone. You always have a choice.
You don't have to do this. You don't have to say this.
The choice to make is not to negotiate with our sin, not to
minimize it, not to manage it. It is to master it, to rule over
it, to take the grace that God supplies which comes in the form
of a cross, to walk up to the door of your heart and to wedge
it against that door, and to say to sin on the other side of that
door. You may not come in.
There is already a king living in this house.
I know your desire is to have me, but his desire is for me
too. He bought me.
He owns me. There is no room in this inn.
Rule over your sin. Let's pray.