SPEAKER_00: Are you do you have it?
SPEAKER_00: Genesis chapter 4?
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I've talked about this before, but when we watch movies or read books, we tend to identify with one of the characters.
SPEAKER_00: Like we always put ourselves in the movie, yes.
SPEAKER_00: So generally speaking, what we do though, we always identify with the hero or the protagonist, if you will.
SPEAKER_00: So like we're the one who saves the girl, right?
SPEAKER_00: We're the one who single-handedly takes down the villain.
SPEAKER_00: We're the one who runs into danger when everybody's running away from it.
SPEAKER_00: My point is this we never identify with the villain.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we come to Genesis chapter 4, I think we do the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: When we read the story of Cain and Abel, who do we identify ourselves with?
SPEAKER_00: Abel, right?
SPEAKER_00: But I think that's a mistake because I think we ought to identify ourselves this morning at least a little bit with Cain.
SPEAKER_00: And here's why.
SPEAKER_00: Cain is not just an historical figure.
SPEAKER_00: This is not just an ancient story, but Cain is an archetype of fallen humanity, fallen man.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, in 1 John chapter 3, verses 11 and 12, John is writing to believers and he tells them to love one another.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, Two Christians don't be like Cain.
SPEAKER_00: That's a good word for somebody this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Look at me, you who are frowning and grumpy this morning, don't be like Cain.
SPEAKER_00: All right?
SPEAKER_00: Here's my point.
SPEAKER_00: We all are more like Cain, or we have the capacity to be more like Cain than we care to admit.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't think it's helpful to ignore that.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's a key verse before I start unpacking the text.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a phrase, it's very poetic, it's a metaphor, it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: It's in verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: God is conversing with Cain right before he kills Abel.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what God says to Cain.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Cain, sin is crouching at your door, and its desire is for you, and you must rule over it.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what I want to tell you today.
SPEAKER_00: Even you believers, we believers, yes, we are set free.
SPEAKER_00: We are brought into the family of God, but there's still a little bit of Cain, that that old man, that sinful nature inside of us.
SPEAKER_00: And I wanted us to take Genesis 4 as a warning today.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to know, sin, I guarantee you, is crouching at your door today.
SPEAKER_00: And its desire is to take you.
SPEAKER_00: We've talked a lot about 1 Peter, where Peter says, um, you know, the devil, your adversary, the devil is going about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
SPEAKER_00: As far as I can tell, there is absolutely no difference in the devil crouching at your door and sin crouching at your door.
SPEAKER_00: Because the way that the devil wants to devour you, his tactic is through what?
SPEAKER_00: Sin.
SPEAKER_00: Temptation.
SPEAKER_00: This concept of ruling over sin is repeated by Paul.
SPEAKER_00: I believe it's, I don't have it in front of me.
SPEAKER_00: It's uh Romans 6 14.
SPEAKER_00: Do we have that one?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: But uh it says, do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies and make you obey its passions.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: It's the same warning given to Cain.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what here's what I want to encourage you with today.
SPEAKER_00: Sin is crouching at your door.
SPEAKER_00: That sounds encouraging, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: My encouragement to you is to rule over it lest it rule over you.
SPEAKER_00: Are you with me?
SPEAKER_00: Smile at me.
SPEAKER_00: Pinch yourself or pinch your neighbor if they're sleeping, all right?
SPEAKER_00: Stacy, don't sleep on me this week, all right?
SPEAKER_00: All right, uh, Genesis chapter four, and I'm gonna begin in verse one.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna begin by reading one through five.
SPEAKER_00: Follow along with me.
SPEAKER_00: Now Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I've gotten a man with the help from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And again she bore his brother Abel.
SPEAKER_00: And now Abel was a keeper of the sheep, and a Cain, a worker, and Cain a worker of the ground.
SPEAKER_00: And in the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground.
SPEAKER_00: And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.
SPEAKER_00: So Cain was angry, and his face fell.
SPEAKER_00: So this is a story about two brothers.
SPEAKER_00: They have a lot in common.
SPEAKER_00: They are both obviously descendants of Adam and Eve.
SPEAKER_00: They are both workers.
SPEAKER_00: Cain is a farmer.
SPEAKER_00: Any farmers in here?
SPEAKER_00: Abel is a rancher or a shepherd, let's say, a herder.
SPEAKER_00: Did I say that backwards?
SPEAKER_00: Uh uh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: You you know how you question, you say something and then you question it.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just say it again.
SPEAKER_00: Cain is a farmer.
SPEAKER_00: No, I said it right.
SPEAKER_00: Abel is a herder.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: So they have a lot in common.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the other thing they have in common.
SPEAKER_00: They're both worshipers, they both bring sacrifices to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So they have a lot in common, but they are shockingly different as well.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you have more than one kid and you think, man, did we raise both these kids?
SPEAKER_00: Like you've got one that's really like you act like you don't want one more than the other.
SPEAKER_00: And let's say you love them both the same, but you like one a lot better.
SPEAKER_00: If you have two, you like one a lot better than the other.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, somebody.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows.
SPEAKER_00: They're a lot different.
SPEAKER_00: You you remember in in Genesis 3.15 when, or yeah, when God, you know, Adam and Eve sin, they disobey God, and God gives them this litany of consequences for their disobedience.
SPEAKER_00: And in one of those, uh, you know, the serpent is cursed, remember?
SPEAKER_00: And then God says to Eve, he says, There is going to be this battle between your seed and the seed of the serpent.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what we find here is that, yes, both are descendants of Adam and Eve.
SPEAKER_00: But Abel is the line, the seed of the woman, and Cain is beginning this line of the serpent.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so just a fun note there.
SPEAKER_00: So the question is um, what's so different about Cain and Abel?
SPEAKER_00: Well, they both bring an offering to the Lord, right?
SPEAKER_00: And God has regard, the scripture says, for Abel's offering, but he has no regard for or no respect for Cain's offering.
SPEAKER_00: Cain's not happy about this.
SPEAKER_00: And the question is, why in the world would God, like, why God?
SPEAKER_00: Why would you reject Cain's offering?
SPEAKER_00: And I think there are two reasons.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, I believe God rejected Cain's offering because of the quality of the offering itself.
SPEAKER_00: Let me show you this.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 4, it tells us that Abel brings the firstborn of his flock and the fattiest fart.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: This is the choicest meat.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there have been people who have suggested that, well, God accepts Abel's offering and not Cain's, because Abel brings a blood offering and Cain brings a food offering.
SPEAKER_00: But that cannot be the case because as we read on in the Hebrew Bible, we know that both uh food offerings and blood offerings were good offerings.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not, by the way, though I thought at first maybe this could be, that God likes steak more than veggies.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, somebody.
SPEAKER_00: That's not it.
SPEAKER_00: He likes the lamb chops, right?
SPEAKER_00: No, here's what what's going on with Abel.
SPEAKER_00: Abel brings his firstborn, and think about this.
SPEAKER_00: Abel does not wake until his flock multiplies, and then give to God out of the surplus.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, this will preach.
SPEAKER_00: But he gives to God first and trust him.
SPEAKER_00: And then he gives him the fat portion.
SPEAKER_00: Again, this is the choicest cuts of meat.
SPEAKER_00: So, point simply, Abel offers his first and best to God.
SPEAKER_00: Are you with me?
SPEAKER_00: Now, Genesis, to be sure, does not explicitly say that Cain brought an inferior sacrifice, but Moses is very deliberate in describing Abel's offering as first in choice and says nothing of the kind about Cain's offering.
SPEAKER_00: And you might ask, well, why does it matter?
SPEAKER_00: You know, why does it matter to God?
SPEAKER_00: He owns everything, anyways.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, just bring something.
SPEAKER_00: Why does the quality of the offering matter to God?
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you why.
SPEAKER_00: The quality of what we bring to God reveals what we really think about God.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say it again because you look sleepy.
SPEAKER_00: The quality of what we bring to God reveals what we really think about God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I know many of you, you claim Jesus first.
SPEAKER_00: What's most important in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You have on your Facebook page the Lord first.
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you, does your life attest to that claim?
SPEAKER_00: Does your sacrifice attest to the fact or to the claim, let's say, that Christ is first?
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask about your time.
SPEAKER_00: Does God get the best of your time?
SPEAKER_00: Do you bring him the first and best part of your day, or do you wait to the end when you're half asleep and tired and try to just, you know, say some little tired prayer and you fall asleep while you're praying?
SPEAKER_00: Do you give him the leftovers or do you give him the best?
SPEAKER_00: You know, the reason we we worship on Sundays, well, there's two reasons.
SPEAKER_00: One, it commemorates the resurrection, but two, it's the first day of the week.
SPEAKER_00: And there's no better way to start the week.
SPEAKER_00: It says something when we come together on Sunday and say, Lord, this week is about you.
SPEAKER_00: It starts with you, it's all about you.
SPEAKER_00: Baruch don't stay gone long.
SPEAKER_00: I'm serious.
SPEAKER_00: I got a word for you.
SPEAKER_00: I love calling people out when they get up.
SPEAKER_00: Just let that be a warning.
SPEAKER_00: What about your money?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what's wrong with me this morning, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: You're in for a treat or something.
SPEAKER_00: What about your money?
SPEAKER_00: Do you give God, you know, you get paid.
SPEAKER_00: Do you give God to God first?
SPEAKER_00: You say, God, what do you want me to give?
SPEAKER_00: Or do you wait till the bills are paid and you have everything your little heart desires, then go, God, I'll give you the, you know, a little bit from the surplus.
SPEAKER_00: Just want to make sure I'm all right first.
unknown: Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Busky, is that how we're supposed to give?
SPEAKER_00: We're supposed to give of our first fruits.
SPEAKER_00: I love the story.
SPEAKER_00: This is so good of the family.
SPEAKER_00: They were driving home from church, mom and dad in the front seat discussing, you know, play-by-play uh the church service, right?
SPEAKER_00: Little boys in the back, and he's listening, and the dad's complaining.
SPEAKER_00: Ah, the music was too loud.
SPEAKER_00: It's not the songs I like to sing.
SPEAKER_00: Did you see what they were wearing?
SPEAKER_00: You're laughing because this is some of you your conversation already this morning.
SPEAKER_00: That guy that did offering, trying to make us feel bad for not giving.
SPEAKER_00: Like Jerry did last week.
SPEAKER_00: You did a great job, man.
SPEAKER_00: With offering.
SPEAKER_00: That preacher.
SPEAKER_00: He jokes too much.
SPEAKER_00: That's the complaint today.
SPEAKER_00: I'm usually not.
SPEAKER_00: He's boring.
SPEAKER_00: He speaks too long.
SPEAKER_00: Don't shake your head, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: The boy's hearing all this in the back.
SPEAKER_00: And he's thinking about the passing of the offering plate, and he chimes and he goes, Dad, I thought it was a pretty good show for a dollar.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, the quality of what we bring to God reveals what we really think about God.
SPEAKER_00: What'd you bring God today?
SPEAKER_00: Did you just stroll in and halfway sing, and you know, are you just going through the motions?
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what Cain's doing.
SPEAKER_00: Are we coming in, giving God our best?
SPEAKER_00: So that's that's the first reason Cain's offering is rejected.
SPEAKER_00: It's the quality of the offering, but more than that, here's what I know for sure: God rejects Cain's offering because of the heart of the offerer.
SPEAKER_00: And here's why this is so important.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot separate, you cannot separate worship or acts of worship from the worshiper.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, God, again, I said this earlier.
SPEAKER_00: God's got choirs of angels singing.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't need my voice today.
SPEAKER_00: But what he's looking for is the praise from my mouth that is simply an overflow from the love I have for him in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: And if I don't have that affection for him in my heart, if I don't adore him, he sure doesn't need my voice.
SPEAKER_00: Are you with me?
SPEAKER_00: And so we go to Hebrews.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just read you Hebrews chapter 11, 4, the first part.
SPEAKER_00: The writer says, By faith, Abel offered to God.
SPEAKER_00: Did you get those first two words?
SPEAKER_00: By what?
SPEAKER_00: Faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous.
SPEAKER_00: How was he commended as righteous?
SPEAKER_00: It's not that he was a lot greater guy than his brother.
SPEAKER_00: It was by faith.
SPEAKER_00: The same way you and I are considered righteous.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, God commending him by accepting his gifts.
SPEAKER_00: So think about this.
SPEAKER_00: Abel offers his sacrifice by faith, as if to say, don't miss this, God, look at you.
SPEAKER_00: You are worthy.
SPEAKER_00: You are good.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, look at you.
SPEAKER_00: Cain, on the other hand, lacks faith, and he offers his sacrifice apart from faith, as if to say, God, look at me.
SPEAKER_00: Look what I brought you.
SPEAKER_00: What's your posture of worship this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Do you come in and go, oh my goodness, God, I don't deserve to be here.
SPEAKER_00: I don't deserve to be saved.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a broken person.
SPEAKER_00: I was a sinner so far from you.
SPEAKER_00: I've committed holy treason.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, Jesus, you came for me.
SPEAKER_00: You saved me.
SPEAKER_00: You redeemed me, and you're coming again.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I just want to sing to you.
SPEAKER_00: I want to hear your word.
SPEAKER_00: I want to apply your word.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, look at you.
SPEAKER_00: Or did you come in this morning and think, Lord, you know what I gave up?
SPEAKER_00: I could have been golfing this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I could have been on the lake this morning.
SPEAKER_00: It's a nice day out.
SPEAKER_00: I could have slept in.
SPEAKER_00: It's my only day to sleep in.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, look at me.
SPEAKER_00: Abel's, or excuse me, Cain's offering is rejected because he lacks faith.
SPEAKER_00: He does not have a worshipful heart to back up that gift of worship.
SPEAKER_00: But let's look secondly.
SPEAKER_00: That's Cain's offering.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at God's kindness.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verses six through seven.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry?
SPEAKER_00: By the way, this is how we know Cain's heart is really not in the right place.
SPEAKER_00: What do you do?
SPEAKER_00: When God rejects his offering, he doesn't go, God, he doesn't humble himself and say, God, how can I fix this?
SPEAKER_00: He just gets mad.
SPEAKER_00: And he begins pouting.
SPEAKER_00: God is so kind to him.
SPEAKER_00: He starts conversing with him.
SPEAKER_00: Why are you angry?
SPEAKER_00: Why is your face fallen?
SPEAKER_00: And God just asks him, if you do well, will you not be accepted?
SPEAKER_00: And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at your door.
SPEAKER_00: It's desirous for you.
SPEAKER_00: But you must rule over it.
SPEAKER_00: When Cain brings a subpar offering, God doesn't just wipe him off the face of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And he doesn't give him the silent treatment.
SPEAKER_00: He has a conversation with him.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're any kind of parent, you know this is how you ought to treat your children when they disobey.
SPEAKER_00: You don't give your kids the silent treatment, nor your spouse.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you just need to turn and say a word this morning to your spouse because you're already that's how you came in here.
SPEAKER_00: No, you when your kid disobeys, you you sit them down.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you punish them in whatever way you deem fit, but you sit down with them and you say, Hey, here's what you did wrong.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to know I love you, and here's how you can correct it.
SPEAKER_00: God is so kind to Cain.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, do you get most people think, many people think, that God is just going around looking for someone to strike with a lightning bolt.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: But is this the character of God here?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, God is a God of wrath, to be sure, but He is He is quick to pour out His mercy and kindness.
SPEAKER_00: Aren't you grateful for that today?
SPEAKER_00: And so God converses with Cain and He does He He does two things.
SPEAKER_00: One, he admonishes Cain and then He warns him.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, he says, Why are you angry?
SPEAKER_00: He admonishes him.
SPEAKER_00: Cain, if you just do what's right, wouldn't you be accepted?
SPEAKER_00: You know what Cain's problem is?
SPEAKER_00: Look at me.
SPEAKER_00: Please don't tune me out here.
SPEAKER_00: You know what Cain's problem is?
SPEAKER_00: He sees himself as a victim.
SPEAKER_00: Everything in his life that's gone wrong is everybody else's fault.
SPEAKER_00: He's mad at God for rejecting the offering.
SPEAKER_00: He's mad at Abel.
SPEAKER_00: You know why he's jealous of his brother, and his brother's just annoying.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you had the goody two shoes brother or sister growing up that just always made you look bad?
SPEAKER_00: You hated your sibling too.
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully not.
SPEAKER_00: You know what God is saying to Cain here?
SPEAKER_00: Cain has this victim mentality.
SPEAKER_00: God in the world is against me.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Cain, quit blaming everyone else for your problems.
SPEAKER_00: Take responsibility for your own life.
SPEAKER_00: Please hear me, friends, because it's really popular today to play the victim card.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what's this is the case.
SPEAKER_00: You and I, we see the world through the lens of what we believe about the world.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're like Cain and you see yourself as a victim, everything everybody says to you, everything everybody does to you, you're going to translate that as, oh, they're against me.
SPEAKER_00: They're trying to get me down.
SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna wake up every day and start the day by going, okay, the universe, every person, and God Himself are against me.
SPEAKER_00: Boy, that sounds like a miserable life.
SPEAKER_00: And people who play the victim card are the most miserable, resentful people you'll ever meet.
SPEAKER_00: But let me tell you why the victim card is a very compelling narrative.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you if if you can blame your The mess of your life, let's say, on everybody else, then you don't have to look at your own sin and say, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'm at least part of the reason my life is not as good as it could be.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe the mess that's in my family right now is at least in part my problem.
SPEAKER_00: Let me be clear here.
SPEAKER_00: All of us have experienced injustice and mistreatment.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you, I know your stories.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, you've experienced so much injustice.
SPEAKER_00: And you've been a victim.
SPEAKER_00: But what I love, I'm thinking of a couple of you right now, even though you've been victimized, you still don't play the victim card.
SPEAKER_00: You take responsibility for your own life.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you why it's not a good deal.
SPEAKER_00: It's compelling, but it's not a good deal to see yourself as a victim.
SPEAKER_00: Because if in fact you are just a victim, and that's why your life is such a mess, if if if if the mess in your life is everybody else's fault, then you can do nothing about it.
SPEAKER_00: This is your lot.
SPEAKER_00: But if you will do the hard work, and oh my gosh, this is excruciating to look and say, Lord, what am I contributing to my lack of godliness?
SPEAKER_00: The mess of my life.
SPEAKER_00: The beauty of that, as excruciating as it is, is that when you figure those things out, the stupid things you're doing, you can actually make changes.
SPEAKER_00: Are you with me?
SPEAKER_00: Let me just give you a couple examples here.
SPEAKER_00: You know, let's say um your marriage is struggling.
SPEAKER_00: You can blame your spouse.
SPEAKER_00: And man, I I've done a lot of marriage counseling with couples.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I've noticed that when I counsel couples, they're just, you know, if the the wife is talking, she's just telling me what's wrong with the husband.
SPEAKER_00: If the husband's talking, he's telling me what's wrong with the wife.
SPEAKER_00: And I I almost always do this.
SPEAKER_00: Hey guys, um, wait, wait, wait.
SPEAKER_00: I'll look to the wife and say, What do you contribute to the problem?
SPEAKER_00: How are you contributing to the problems of this marriage?
SPEAKER_00: And the same for the husband.
SPEAKER_00: Because here's the thing your marriage, if it if it's struggling, it's not just because of your wife, man, because you're pretty awful too.
SPEAKER_00: You're you're human, you've got your own problems.
SPEAKER_00: Let's say not awful, let's say you're pretty messed up, all right?
SPEAKER_00: Is that nicer?
SPEAKER_00: But here's the beauty.
SPEAKER_00: If you'll if you'll look in your marriage and and you'll go, here's what I'm contributing to the downfall of my marriage.
SPEAKER_00: You can change it.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what's wonderful?
SPEAKER_00: Your spouse will end up making positive changes.
SPEAKER_00: I can almost guarantee it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: What about you lose your job or you've got trouble at work?
SPEAKER_00: What's the tendency?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's my boss, it's my co-workers, it's the policies, right?
SPEAKER_00: This is why I'm miserable.
SPEAKER_00: This is why I got fired, whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe there's some truth to that.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you did have a horrible boss.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're the victim and you had nothing to do with this, there's your next job is going to be awful, probably, because you you might have another horrible boss.
SPEAKER_00: But I would just imagine if your job's not going well or if you lose it, that you probably had something to do with it.
SPEAKER_00: And if you would just ask yourself, how was I not the best employee I could be?
SPEAKER_00: See, you can do something about that, and your next job will be much greater.
SPEAKER_00: It'll be a much better experience.
SPEAKER_00: One more.
SPEAKER_00: You got time for one more?
SPEAKER_00: What about financial struggles?
SPEAKER_00: Right now, we all talk a lot about finances, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so if you're struggling financially, and I know many of you are, my heart goes out to you.
SPEAKER_00: But people, what do they do first?
SPEAKER_00: They blame the what?
SPEAKER_00: The economy.
SPEAKER_00: And they blame what else?
SPEAKER_00: What's that?
SPEAKER_00: The government, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Everything's the government's fault.
SPEAKER_00: That one actually might be accurate.
SPEAKER_00: Um big corporations, but but here's what they do, and and then they blame their their salary, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you don't make enough money.
SPEAKER_00: And is the economy pretty bad right now?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: You know what bothers me when people complain about their financial struggles and they they list those things to me?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's just the economy.
SPEAKER_00: It's this, that's why I can't give in the offering and all this.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you've got a$700 a month car payment.
unknown: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: See that you can't change the economy, but you can quit buying buying stuff you can't afford that you don't even need to impress people you don't even like.
SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty sure that's a Dave Ramsey quote.
SPEAKER_00: See, what if we just took a responsibility?
SPEAKER_00: Like instead of saying it's the government's fault.
SPEAKER_00: What if we quit buying five dollar Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts drinks every day?
SPEAKER_00: Help me, somebody.
SPEAKER_00: The point.
SPEAKER_00: Take responsibility for your life.
SPEAKER_00: If you will, my heart is overflowing with an urgency for you to get this request because this is going to change somebody's life today.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't hear anything else, here it is.
SPEAKER_00: You've been blaming everybody else for your demise.
SPEAKER_00: God is saying to you what he said to Cain, if you do right, will you not be accepted?
SPEAKER_00: Your life's not going to be all cupcakes and rainbows, but it will be a lot better than it is right now, if you'll take responsibility for yourself.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: God admonishes Cain, then he warns him.
SPEAKER_00: He says this.
SPEAKER_00: So we come back to this verse 7, the second part.
SPEAKER_00: Sin is doing what?
SPEAKER_00: It's crouching.
SPEAKER_00: This is like the serpent in the garden who wanted to devour Adam and Eve, right?
SPEAKER_00: And wanted to devour Cain.
SPEAKER_00: This crouching animal wants to devour Cain.
SPEAKER_00: This metaphor uh of sin crouching, this animal predator crouching down, reveals two things about sin.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, sin is subtle, it's crouching.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you think it's a metaphor of a lion.
SPEAKER_00: Think of your house cat, Dina.
SPEAKER_00: You see, like if you have an indoor and outdoor cat, it's fun to watch a cat, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: When it's about to go after its prey.
SPEAKER_00: And what's it do?
SPEAKER_00: Cats are so patient and they crouch down kind of out of sight.
SPEAKER_00: And so what this tells us is that the sin crouching at our door is not always obvious to us.
SPEAKER_00: There's there's a story this week.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, it was horrifying.
SPEAKER_00: There was a middle school football player, and there was a snake, a venomous snake, coiled up in this helmet, and he did not see it.
SPEAKER_00: He wore that helmet for an hour.
SPEAKER_00: Thank God, I don't think he got bit, did he?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: It's a nice snake.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: I was in Tucson.
SPEAKER_00: You know, many of you know I lived in Tucson, and I love to hike.
SPEAKER_00: And so I had a German shepherd, and we were going on this hiking trail I found, and I was young, and you know, I didn't think about it being Tucson and some of the wildlife, let's say, there.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm hiking through this very popular trail, and I'm noticing that these almost everybody is wearing this um gun that looks like a toy gun on the side of their belt.
SPEAKER_00: It's got like an orange cap on it.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, guys, what is this?
SPEAKER_00: Are we are we playing Cowboys and Indians or or what?
SPEAKER_00: And they said, no, this has got some kind of rattlesnake propellant in it.
SPEAKER_00: They said, dude, you're standing right now.
SPEAKER_00: I was on this massive rock.
SPEAKER_00: You and your dog, you're standing over about a bed of about 150 rattlesnakes that could come out at any moment to sunbathe.
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I think that's enough hiking for today.
SPEAKER_00: Or the rest of my time in Tucson.
SPEAKER_00: See, this is what sin does those snakes were under the rock.
SPEAKER_00: I had no idea.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, like, I know rattlesnakes are in Tucson, but I didn't think they were anywhere near me.
SPEAKER_00: They were hiding.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what sin does.
SPEAKER_00: God is so gracious in revealing to Cain what he cannot see for himself.
SPEAKER_00: There's sin crouching at your door right now.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're going, I don't think so, it's just you can't see it.
SPEAKER_00: You know why this is why we need one another?
SPEAKER_00: We need accountability partners.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers, Hebrews 3:12, brothers exhort one another daily, lest you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin and fall away from the living God.
SPEAKER_00: You need people in your life who love you enough to show you that sin is crouching at your door.
SPEAKER_00: Like if you open the door and there's an animal crouching in your yard somewhere, chances are you're not going to see it.
SPEAKER_00: But somebody, if Pastor Ben's standing at your, you know, on the road and he's looking back towards your house and he's been out there a while, perhaps he might be able to see the animal that wants to take your life.
SPEAKER_00: Because, see, not only is sin subtle, but it is, secondly, it is predatory.
SPEAKER_00: Sin is crouching at the door, verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: Its desire is for you to devour you.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, it's not harmless.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when sin crouches, when you see sin, quote unquote, crouching, what you think is it's just sitting nice and neatly in the corner.
SPEAKER_00: But it's not sitting.
SPEAKER_00: It seems kind of harmless, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's not sitting, it's crouching, it's ready to pounce.
SPEAKER_00: What sin is sitting at Cain's door?
SPEAKER_00: It's the sin of pride.
SPEAKER_00: It's the sin of entitlement.
SPEAKER_00: God, I've done this for you.
SPEAKER_00: You owe me.
SPEAKER_00: And most importantly, it's the sin of resentment, and it is eating him alive.
SPEAKER_00: Abel, so successful, I'm not, and I hate him for it, and God, I hate you for it.
SPEAKER_00: It's a sin of resentment, and it will take your life.
SPEAKER_00: Cain doesn't just wake up one day and go, hey, I think I'm gonna kill my brother.
SPEAKER_00: No, it starts with these quote-unquote little sins, the little bitterness, the jealousy that turns into resentment and then murder.
SPEAKER_00: These are the sins of the heart that seems so hardless.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you think just flirting a little bit with someone other than your spouse, it's just fun, it's just harmless.
SPEAKER_00: You think a little fantasizing about revenge is innocuous.
SPEAKER_00: You think a little white lie won't affect you.
SPEAKER_00: You think they're just sitting in the corner wrong.
SPEAKER_00: They are crouching.
SPEAKER_00: So you have two choices.
SPEAKER_00: You can rule over it, walk away from it, run from it, or like Cain, it will rule over you.
SPEAKER_00: Because we see finally Cain's choice.
SPEAKER_00: He kills his brother.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: You know the you know the story.
SPEAKER_00: Cain spoke to his brother Abel, and they were in the field, and Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
SPEAKER_00: What a tragedy.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, two pages back, we're in paradise, and now all hell has broken loose.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't heed God's warning, and there are consequences.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna move through these very quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Cain's sin alienates him, and that's what sin does to us.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, it alienates him from God.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verses 9 through 10.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother?
SPEAKER_00: He said, I do not know.
SPEAKER_00: Am I my brother's keeper?
SPEAKER_00: What's Cain doing there?
SPEAKER_00: He's lying.
SPEAKER_00: Remember Adam and Eve, when they sinned, they hid from the God in the garden?
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what Cain is doing.
SPEAKER_00: He's not allowing God to see his true self because he's guilty.
SPEAKER_00: He's alienated from God.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord said, What have you done?
SPEAKER_00: The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot hide from God.
SPEAKER_00: Then go down to verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
SPEAKER_00: Cain, remember, Adam and Eve were in the garden.
SPEAKER_00: This is a cosmic temple where heaven and earth overlap.
SPEAKER_00: When they sinned, they were cast out of the garden.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, God's presence, manifest presence is in the garden.
SPEAKER_00: And now this is this is very intentional wording.
SPEAKER_00: Cain went away from the presence of God and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
SPEAKER_00: As time goes on, as sin abounds, humanity moves further east from the garden.
SPEAKER_00: Like his parents, he's cast out of the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: He's alienated from God.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, sin alienates him from creation.
SPEAKER_00: Verses 11 and 12.
SPEAKER_00: And now you are cursed from the ground which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
SPEAKER_00: When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield you its strength.
SPEAKER_00: You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: What was Cain's occupation, you remember?
SPEAKER_00: Farmer.
SPEAKER_00: And now, because the ground is soaked with Abel's blood, the ground will no longer yield its crop for Cain.
SPEAKER_00: He loses his whole livelihood, his career, and he becomes a wanderer on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And then Cain's sin finally alienates him from others.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just read you verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground.
SPEAKER_00: From the face I shall be hidden, your face I shall be hidden.
SPEAKER_00: I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever finds me will want to kill me.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Cain has, it seems to me, lived in relative peace.
SPEAKER_00: And now he's gotta continually look over his shoulder.
SPEAKER_00: He's lost his brother.
SPEAKER_00: And now the whole world's against him.
SPEAKER_00: Sin has consequences, friends.
SPEAKER_00: Rule over it.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 13, Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
SPEAKER_00: I've had so many horrible conversations in my office as a pastor with people who thought they could play with sin without getting burned.
SPEAKER_00: And it's cost them family and jobs and sanity.
SPEAKER_00: Sin is not sitting at your door, it's crouching.
SPEAKER_00: And you must rule over it.
SPEAKER_00: It's a popular saying that's worth repeating.
SPEAKER_00: Sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.
SPEAKER_00: Can I just quickly give you one more point?
SPEAKER_00: That's Cain's choice and the consequences.
SPEAKER_00: But the story, you know, it's kind of a bleak ending, huh?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's not the ending because I want you to finally see God's mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verses 14, verse 14 again.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground.
SPEAKER_00: From your face I shall be hidden, I shall be a fugitive and wanderer, and whoever finds me will want to kill me.
SPEAKER_00: And then the Lord said to him, What's he say?
SPEAKER_00: Not so.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.
SPEAKER_00: Cain has just murdered Abel, a righteous man made in the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: Does God have every right to smite him, to wipe him off the face of the earth?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, and amen.
SPEAKER_00: But instead, what does God do?
SPEAKER_00: He says, I'm not even gonna let, not only am I not gonna smite you, I'm not gonna let anybody else touch you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm putting a mark of protection on you.
SPEAKER_00: Does Cain deserve this?
SPEAKER_00: What is it?
SPEAKER_00: It's mercy.
SPEAKER_00: We are all like Cain.
SPEAKER_00: Before coming to Christ, we were all Cain's, right?
SPEAKER_00: We all were sinners, far from God, but he has not dealt with us according to our sins.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: This points us forward, see, to the mercy that has been poured out upon us because, oh, this is so good.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe sin has already ruined your life.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we've all had consequences.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've lost a lot because of sin.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe today you sit here and you think, you know, I've really messed up not just my life, but my family's life because of my choices.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you think you're beyond redemption.
SPEAKER_00: No, you're not.
SPEAKER_00: That's the story we see.
SPEAKER_00: That's the message we see.
SPEAKER_00: Like Cain, mercy is available to you.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to read you one more verse in Hebrews 12, 24.
SPEAKER_00: This is so wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Abel's blood soaked into the ground and was crying out to the Lord for justice.
SPEAKER_00: See, we're all we're all like Cain.
SPEAKER_00: Cain, because of his sin, he killed his brother in his brother's blood, the righteous Abel, his blood soaked the ground.
SPEAKER_00: You know what our sin has done?
SPEAKER_00: Our sin crucified the only true and perfectly righteous one to ever walk the earth, and his blood flowed from him and soaked the ground.
SPEAKER_00: But God gives Cain mercy, and he gives us mercy.
SPEAKER_00: See, Cain's or Abel's blood in Genesis 4 is crying out for justice.
SPEAKER_00: But let me just quote Keller here.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, he says, is the true and better Abel, who, though innocently slain, has blood that cries out not for our condemnation, but for our acquittal.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say it like this: the blood of Abel, the righteous one by faith, who was murdered unjustly, cries out for justice.
SPEAKER_00: The blood of Christ cries that justice has already been satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: And it calls for our forgiveness in him.
SPEAKER_00: There's no greater news in the world.
SPEAKER_00: If you're here today and you're not a Christian, you know, like Cain, you might think, oh, I just come and into church, and maybe this will help me become right with God.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, no, what's it take to be saved?
SPEAKER_00: It takes faith.
SPEAKER_00: You repent, you come to God like Abel and said, I have nothing to bring.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a sinner, broken.
SPEAKER_00: But Lord, I believe in Jesus Christ, the one who came and paid for my sin and has risen from the grave.
SPEAKER_00: You put your faith in him.
SPEAKER_00: You repent, and you can receive a far greater mercy than Cain received.
SPEAKER_00: That's available to you today.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I assume that most of you are Christians here.
SPEAKER_00: I'll close where I started.
SPEAKER_00: Sin is crouching at your door.
SPEAKER_00: Because the devil, he wants you to make choices like Cain made.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you won't go out and kill somebody.
SPEAKER_00: I sure hope not.
SPEAKER_00: But the devil wants you to be resentful and hate your brother because Jesus said if you hate in your heart, you've already murdered your brother, right?
SPEAKER_00: You're guilty of murder.
SPEAKER_00: If you lust, you're guilty of adultery.
SPEAKER_00: The sin is crouching at your door.
SPEAKER_00: So my prayer today, here's the really good news.
SPEAKER_00: Cain was powerless, depraved man is powerless over sin.
SPEAKER_00: But in Christ, Christ, how many know Christ defeated the power of sin at Calvary?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: And so listen, you have the power through Christ by the Spirit to rule over sin.
SPEAKER_00: And I beg you to do it today.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, you who have called yourself a victim your whole life and you've excused your mess because of it, take responsibility for your life today.
SPEAKER_00: We've all made choices that have that we've paid for, let's say.
SPEAKER_00: Let's today choose to rule over sin.
SPEAKER_00: Let's take responsibility for ourselves, not blame everybody else.
SPEAKER_00: Rule over sin, lest it rule over you and destroy your life.