More Than Medicine
More Than Medicine
DWDP : Gen 4, 6-8 Mastering Sin
What does your face reveal about your spiritual condition? Dr. Robert Jackson dives deep into Genesis 4:6-8, exploring God's profound warning to Cain that remains startlingly relevant for believers today: "Sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must master it."
Drawing from personal anecdotes—including being mistaken for a pastor while dressed in hunting gear—Dr. Jackson demonstrates how our countenance inevitably reveals what's in our hearts. When filled with the Holy Spirit, Christians radiate a distinctive presence that others notice even without words. This "aroma of Christ" should be characteristic of all believers, not just pastors or ministry leaders.
The message takes a fascinating turn as Dr. Jackson unpacks Romans 6, revealing the spiritual mechanics behind our freedom from sin's dominance. Through our identification with Christ's death and resurrection, believers have died to sin's power and been set free from its enslavement. This doesn't mean temptation vanishes, but rather that we now possess both the choice and the spiritual power to resist sin's pull. As Dr. Jackson crystallizes this truth: "Sin has no power over me unless I grant it power."
A compelling illustration about lion tamers drives home the message's urgency. Like a trained lion that still views its trainer as potential prey, sin continues to desire control over believers. Those who become prideful or careless about sin's power place themselves in grave spiritual danger. Sin, like a predatory lion, is always watching for moments when we let our guard down.
Have you recognized the areas where sin crouches at your door? Listen now to discover the liberating truth that in Christ, you have already been given everything needed to live in freedom. Share this episode with someone struggling with habitual sin who needs to hear this message of hope and victory.
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Welcome to More Than Medicine where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by author and physician, Dr Robert Jackson.
Dr. Papa:Papa, can you tell me a story?
Dr.Papa:Do you really want me to tell you a story? Well, you go, get your brother and your sisters and I will tell you a story. Well, you go, get your brother and your sisters and I will tell you a story. Welcome to Devotions with Dr Papa. Gather around, grab your Bible and let's look into the written Word, which reveals to us the living Word, who is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Dr.Papa:Well, today we're in Genesis 4, verses 6 through 8, and let me read those verses to you before we begin. 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. Cain told Abel, his brother and it came about when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word. The Bible tells us that Cain's countenance, his facial expression, fell because there was rebellion in his heart. So my first point today is a countenance fallen. His countenance fell because there was rebellion in his heart. As we discussed last week, our countenance reflects what is in our hearts. Sin and carnal passions in our hearts inevitably clouds our facial expressions. Conversely, the fruit of the Spirit in our hearts will make its way to our countenance, creating a radiant, christ-revealing facial expression and the aroma of Christ all about us.
Dr.Papa:I've had people ask me over the years are you a pastor? I've had people ask me over the years are you a pastor? And sometimes it's ludicrous. I was coming out of Walmart one time, fully dressed in camouflage, after going deer hunting, carrying a 50-pound bag of corn to feed my deer, and this lady at the checkout counter looks at me and says are you a pastor? Now I thought to myself what about this getup makes her think that I'm a pastor? And I laughed out loud and I said no, ma'am, I'm a doctor and a deer hunter. Why do you ask? And she said you just gave me the impression that you were a pastor. And I laughed and I thought about it for the longest time.
Dr.Papa:But you see, some of you, as Spirit-filled Christians, give off the aroma of Christ and your facial expression reveals what's in your heart. And what's in your heart is the fruit of the Spirit. And when people see you, even without saying a word, they surmise that you are a Christian. Now, shame on you and me that when Christians see that radiant expression and that aroma of Christ Christians see that radiant expression and that aroma of Christ they equate that with being a pastor and not with being a Christian. Everyone who sees that radiant Christian, spirit-filled countenance and sense that aroma of Christ, they should say, aha, here is a Spirit-filled Christian. But in our culture they equate that with being a pastor. And that's the fault of you and me as Spirit-filled Christians, that they do not equate that with the average person in the pew, the average person in the pew. Pastors are not the only ones who should be filled with Holy Spirit.
Dr.Papa:Now my second point is this crouching sin. Why do we always talk about sin in every single Bible lesson? Well, it's because the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart which, as you know, is sin. It's sin and its consequences. Sin always divides. It divides man from God, it divides man from man, it divides husband from wife, it divides parent from child. Can you even imagine a world without sin, a world without lying, cheating, stealing, without divorce, without sickness or death? There would be no need for hospitals or prisons or cemeteries, why that would be heaven Exactly, certainly not this sin-corrupted world in which we live.
Dr.Papa:What God told Cain is true for you and me If you do not do well, if you do not choose righteously, sin is crouching at the door. What exactly does he mean by sin? Sin is that proclivity, that propensity, that tendency in all of us to rebel against God and God's law. The hymn writer said prone to wander Lord, I know it, prone to leave the God I love. Truth be known, our hearts love sin more than they love God. Listen to Paul writing to the Roman Christians. He said All have turned aside. Together, they have become useless. There's none who does good, there's not even one. Who's that describing? That describes you and me. That describes everybody. You and I know. Sin crouches at the door of your heart and mine.
Dr.Papa:Now, my third point in this lesson is controlling sin, because, you see, god said its desire is for you, but you must master it. You and I must understand clearly that sin in us, that tendency to rebel against God, seeks to rule over you and me. It seeks the ascendancy over you and me, it seeks the priority position. Why? In order to control you and me and to manipulate you and express its freedom from God, which ultimately makes you a slave to sin. But you must master sin in your life. You cannot allow sin, alien power in your life, to gain the upper hand Otherwise. Otherwise you can become a slave to anger or bitterness or unforgiveness, or pornography, or lust, or lying or hatred, or alcohol or drugs. Slavery to sin comes in many flavors and we all know that personally and we know it very well. Jesus said you're a slave of the one whom you obey.
Dr.Papa:Now let's talk a little bit about the book of Romans, a little bit of Roman theology. In Romans, chapter 6, verses 3 through 6, I'm going to read those verses to you. Romans 6, verses 3 through 6. I'm going to read those verses to you. Romans 6, verses 3 through 6. Now pay close attention as I go through this, starting in verse 3.
Dr.Papa:Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus? Now, when he says baptized, he means placed into or fully identified with, he means placed into or fully identified with those of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death, fully identified with his death. Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death, so that, as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin did you catch that phrase? Our body of sin, that old man that was dominated by sin, that propensity to choose rebellion against God, our body of sin, might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.
Dr.Papa:Now understand clearly, brothers and sisters, that when we are fully identified with Christ, that old man that was enslaved by sin has been set free from sin. You have died to sin. Sin no longer has control over you, has power over you, and now you are free to choose and you have power of Holy Spirit in you to enable you to choose righteousness. He who has died is freed from sin. Say that a thousand times in your life, every day. He who has died is freed from sin. Those of us who are in Christ are fully identified with his death. Those of us who are in Christ are fully identified with His death. We are dead to sin and alive unto Christ. What a wonderful phrase.
Dr.Papa:Sin has no power over me, unless I grant it power. Before I became a Christian, I was spiritually dead and had no choice but to obey sin, which had the mastery over me. I was a slave to sin and Satan was the slave master. But now I am dead to sin, set free from its power over me and listen to verses 11 through 12. Listen to verses 11 through 12. Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lust or obey its desires. Now you remember? God told Cain its desire is for you, Its desire is to rule over you. And here Paul is telling the Romans that they should not allow it to rule over them. And he's telling them. He says do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lust. And he says you don't have to any longer, you've been set free from it, and it's an amazing concept. And he says consider yourself.
Dr.Papa:The King James version says reckon yourself to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. You see, now we have a choice and we have the spiritual power to resist sin and to walk in righteousness. Now listen to verse 13 and 14. He says and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God, for sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. Sin shall not be master over you. And he says now you have a choice. You don't have to present the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but you have a choice and you have the spiritual power to present the members of your body as instruments of righteousness. I told you we would talk about lion taming this week.
Dr.Papa:I read a book some years ago about lion taming and about a man who worked in a circus who had lions that they trained. The author said that even though the lions were raised in captivity and fed a regular diet, that whenever he walked in the cage with the lions, that they would lick their chops and stare at him as if he were their next meal and that he could see in their eyes that their desire was for him. And he used that phrase and when he said it, I thought immediately of this verse in Romans, chapter 6. He said their desire was for me. Consequently, he always carried his whip and his sidearm which they feared with him whenever he was in the lion cage, and they had a policy that they never went in alone. Two people always went together into the lion cage. However, there was one trainer who boasted that he was not afraid of the lions and that the lions could sense that he was not afraid of them and he never carried his whip or his sidearm and he often went alone into the lion cage to feed them and to clean up after them, which everyone considered foolish and obviously it was against policy. One day policy One day, everyone in the circus heard the alpha male lion roaring and they found the alpha male standing over this foolish trainer over his dead body, standing over the dead body of this boastful lion trainer, standing over his dead body, roaring and establishing his dominance. He didn't eat him, he just killed him. His desire was for him, the boastful, prideful trainer.
Dr.Papa:And you see, sin is crouching at the door of your heart, crouching at the door of your life, watching you and waiting for its opportunity. Its desire is for you and it's waiting for its opportunity when you are slack and when you let your guard down. Its desire is for you, but you must master it. Paul said in Roman that sin shall not be master over you. Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. These are wonderful words, these are amazing words, and you and I should ponder them and hide them in our hearts and be thankful to God in Christ Jesus that we have Holy Spirit in our hearts who allows us to be master over the sin that is in us, and that we now have a choice and we can choose righteousness and that we can choose to walk in righteousness. Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You're listening to Devotions with Dr Papa. We'll be back again next week.
Dr. Papa:Till then, may the Lord bless you real good Instagram or webpage at jacksonfamilyministrycom. Also, don't forget to check out Dr Jackson's books that are available on Amazon. The Family Doctor Speaks the Truth About Life in his first book, and the Family Doctor Speaks the Truth About Seed Planting Equipping Believers for Evangelism is his second. This podcast is produced by Bob Slone Audio Productions.
