WEBVTT 00:00:00.719 --> 00:00:04.639 So we started a new series, a new book of the Bible last week. 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:07.519 And so this is the book of Genesis, which is the first book of the Bible. 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:09.519 Actually, Genesis means the beginning. 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:16.160 And so last week we talked about Adam and Eve, and we talked about how they ate the fruit, and they saw they were naked. 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:18.160 They felt shame for the first time. 00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:20.320 Shame entered humanity. 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:28.879 And we saw how they made these little fig leaf makeshift coverings for their bodies, of which we are still doing today in our own ways. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:33.359 And you can listen to the message last week online if you want to hear all that fleshed out. 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:38.320 And so we see how they covered, they hid from God, how God pursued them. 00:00:38.479 --> 00:00:41.679 And then we got this great picture last week for us to grab hold of. 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:52.719 And it was this picture that when God pursued them and called them out of their hiding, that He provided for them, He made clothes for them, and He covered them. 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:58.799 So if you want all that fleshed out, what that means for you, you can listen to the message from last week. 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:03.200 And so that was the first story we've looked at, and we're kind of jumping through Genesis. 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:06.000 We're not going to hit every story, but we're hit a lot of stories. 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:08.959 This week we get the story of Cain and Abel. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:11.760 So this is Adam and Eve's two boys. 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:24.959 So while the first story in the Bible is about shame and about fear, this story, the second story, is about bitterness, eventually murder, more cover-up, uh dishonesty. 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:28.400 So maybe you've been around the church and maybe you remember this story. 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:32.480 We don't read this story a lot, like in children's church and Sunday school. 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:36.799 I mean, there's just not a coloring sheet of one brother killing another brother. 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:43.519 You're like, you know, children, let's now color the coloring sheet of one brother um beating, crushing the other in a field. 00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:44.799 Um and now snack time. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:45.920 Let's let's head to snack time. 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:48.480 There's just not a good craft for this. 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:53.680 So this is one of those stories that uh growing up we actually don't hear that much. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:58.079 Um what we what we see in this story is the same thing that we saw last week. 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:04.959 And that is these stories in Genesis, there's just layer after layer after layer of truth. 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:10.159 Because at first, with this story, we think it's about murder. 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:14.479 And then we go, no, no, no, no, no, it's about anger. 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:18.879 You go, oh, well, maybe it's about bitterness. 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:22.159 It's just layer after layer. 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:29.120 And we're going to see that there's even something before that that creates the bitterness, that creates the anger, that creates the murder. 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:40.000 So uh 10 and a half years ago, I knelt on the floorboard of a ski boat in the luxurious Lake Altoona, 30 minutes from here. 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:42.719 Uh I put candles all around the boat. 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:44.000 No, I was not by myself. 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:45.599 This would be that would be very strange. 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:54.560 Uh, and Christy was seated in the seat in front of me, and I had this little black box that I opened, and we know what was in the box, right? 00:02:55.199 --> 00:02:57.599 A ring, thank you for participating. 00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:05.360 And so a ring was in this black box, and I said very sweet things to her, of which are none of your business, and asked her to marry me. 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:09.840 And so she's still wearing that same ring today, ten and a half years later. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:16.479 Now, just a couple months before that, my grandmother, Granny, she had come to me and she said, Hey, uh, you know, we have several rings in the family. 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:20.080 Your mom wears one, your aunt wears one, I wear one, your sister wears one. 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:23.360 Uh, there's another ring that's been in a safety deposit box for years. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:24.719 I haven't seen it in a long time. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:29.680 I I don't even remember what what it is, but there I I think there might be a diamond on it. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:33.039 You know, I'm I'm like a young 25-year-old thinking about getting married. 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:35.199 I'm like, I would like to know about this ring. 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:40.479 And so she goes and gets it, and I come back to her house a week later, and she shows it to me. 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:42.800 And I'm a kid, it's in a Ziploc bag. 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:47.919 I don't know who's keeping diamond rings and dirty Ziploc bags in the safety deposit box, but that's my family. 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:51.280 And so it is this corroded gold band. 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:54.400 The band's out of the question, not possible. 00:03:54.560 --> 00:04:00.639 And the diamond actually, I mean, it was just, it was nasty, dirty, and you I'm looking at, I don't, I don't know. 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:02.879 I don't know if it's possible, I don't know if this is gonna work out. 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:06.719 And she says, well, go get it cleaned up and let's figure out you know if it's worth anything. 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:12.639 So I go to the shop and they clean it up and it's hand cut and blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada, good diamond. 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:13.840 So I'm I'm good to go. 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:17.040 So I head down to the Mart, downtown Atlanta. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:18.879 I got a recommendation of what store to go in. 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:22.240 I go in the store, and there's all these cases, right? 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:26.800 And I we had not pre-shopped, and I know some of you maybe you pre-shopped with your fiance. 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:29.519 We didn't pre-shop, you know, we didn't do any of that. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:33.680 I'd just been studying her jewelry secretively behind her back. 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:44.879 And so I'm going case by case, right, ring by ring, like which which ring will be perfect for her, which ring will be great for her. 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:55.759 Um, because here's in our culture, we we give these things to each other, uh at engagement and then at weddings as offerings. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:00.399 Because it's a little gift that means a whole bunch. 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:02.560 So, what it is, is it's an offering. 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:09.519 It's something that we said, we're giving something as to show we give everything. 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:13.759 That's what this kind of offering is. 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:16.879 And this is actually what this story's about. 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:23.199 At the core, at the beginning, before the bitterness, before the anger, before the murder, there was this offering. 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:27.439 It wasn't a sacrifice offering, it was an offering of devotion. 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:37.759 That Abel and Cain, they come and they make it, and it's supposed to be giving something as to show you give everything. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:49.040 So the story is Cain and Abel, Abel's the shepherd, Cain's the farmer, and so that story in Genesis 4, it says that each brought their offering, not a sin offering, offering of devotion. 00:05:49.920 --> 00:06:05.920 And Abel brings fat portions from his firstborn from his flock, Cain brings the first fruits of his soil, and then we read in verse 4 and verse 5 of chapter 4 of Genesis, the Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering. 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:10.160 But on Cain and his offering, he did not look with favor. 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:14.079 So Cain was very angry and his face was downcast. 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:18.240 I actually come away from those two verses and sort of go, this is a little unfair, right? 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:19.920 This is kind of what I feel sometimes. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.639 I read those two verses and be like, he brought something, you know, he's trying here, right? 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:26.319 But they each brought an offering. 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:28.240 So what's wrong with Cain's offering? 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:29.600 What's wrong with it? 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:32.319 Well, the story doesn't tell us. 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:36.560 I mean, the story doesn't tell us at all what's wrong with Cain's offering. 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:51.600 But we actually get the answer a long time later in the Bible, in Hebrews chapter 11 in the New Testament, and this is what the writer Hebrews says, by faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. 00:06:52.800 --> 00:07:00.079 So nothing was wrong with the object that Cain brought. 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:03.279 The problem was inside of Cain. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:06.079 Because it had to do with faith. 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:07.759 Right? 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:13.519 So it's sort of like Cain brought his offering, but he forgot himself. 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:16.480 And God cares about him. 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:18.639 That's what God cares about. 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:25.279 So Romans 12 says that our offering to God is to be a living sacrifice to him. 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:27.199 That's what our offering is. 00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:31.519 That's our little thing, is saying, all of me. 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:35.439 As much as I can do it, as much as I can't, all of me to you. 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:37.360 Our entire beings unto him. 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:39.199 That's our worship. 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:43.600 Now, a gift can actually be quite manipulative, right? 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:47.600 Maybe you've been around church long enough to see how this can work out, right? 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:55.519 Like the great benefactor of the church, he gives money, but by giving money he asserts himself and gets control of what he wants. 00:07:55.759 --> 00:08:07.920 Or maybe you've been around your family and there's the wealthy uncle that sort of controls everybody with money, or the wealthy father who is a patriarch and he controls the situation with money. 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:08.480 Right? 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:09.279 This can happen. 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:10.480 Doesn't always happen. 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:11.360 This can happen. 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:13.519 A gift can be used for control. 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:18.319 Maybe some of you, I have a good friend, her father paid for her college. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:28.560 And even now, it's been 15 years, even now, she can remember how much control her father put over her in a negative sense because he was paying for her college. 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:29.920 It was constant. 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:31.360 It was constant. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:32.799 It wasn't a gift. 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:34.559 It wasn't a parental gift. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:37.120 It was a way to control her in a negative way. 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:39.679 A gift can be a bribe. 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:43.840 A gift can be not really a gift at all. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:46.480 And we've seen this. 00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:49.759 We've done this, right? 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:51.519 We've done this. 00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:52.159 Right? 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:59.840 To keep her around, to keep him around, to get what we want, to woo the boss, to woo the girl, you know, give him a gift. 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:03.519 And so out of that we get what we want. 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:07.679 And it's even possible, maybe you're here, you've been a worshiper for years, and you know what? 00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:09.679 And you go, you are a worshiper, and you get it. 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:19.679 Maybe you're here and you've been leaving things like this, or you know, whatever, Christian gatherings, and you would say you're a worshiper, but really you're a briber. 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:22.960 It's possible. 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:25.759 Maybe, maybe, maybe. 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:38.320 Because really you live with a sense of warrant before God, like you deserve this or you deserve that because you sang that song and you showed up and you gave that money and you're moral. 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:46.240 But see, unless worship comes from a place of humility, then it is attempted bribery. 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:48.000 Not worship. 00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:53.919 I was studying this week and I read about the difference between worshipers and bribers, and here's what I learned. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:10:03.840 Uh so like when life doesn't go well, a worshiper gets upset, gets mad, questions, maybe gets angry with God, gets, you know, question, God, why would this happen? 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:07.440 But the worshipper's saying, Would you help me understand? 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:11.279 There's this there's this humility in the frustration. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:17.279 A briber comes away when life doesn't go well, and they don't ask, they demand. 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:21.919 And maybe it's within their pity, but they demand, I deserve better than this. 00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:24.879 Don't you see what I have done? 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:27.120 Don't you realize what I have been doing? 00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:34.320 Look at my record of morality, look at my record of church attendance, look at my record of giving. 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:39.600 And so, is that worship or was it bribery? 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:50.080 So, point number one: a life of true offering is a gift of gratitude, not a payment for bribery. 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:56.960 This has everything to do with the way Abel brought his offering in faith, and Cain did not. 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:06.159 And then point number two comes right out of point number one, and that's this a life of true offering comes from a place of humility, not a drive for control. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:09.679 Isn't it insane that we would try to control God? 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:11.039 But we do. 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:12.720 We do it all the time. 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:22.799 When we're not in humility before him and his sovereignty and his goodness, and we're trying to use our morality to get something that we deserve something from him. 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:25.120 So back to the story. 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:34.080 So God spoke his preference of Abel's offering, and from then on, Abel is uh he's he's in judgment from Cain. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:36.960 I mean, Abel is judgment on Cain. 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:37.279 Sorry. 00:11:37.440 --> 00:12:00.639 Abel is judgment on Cain because Cain's feeling uh, he's just feeling judgment, and it's not that Abel's doing this, it's so it's sort of like that friend who's just so good at everything, and they're so annoying because they're good at everything, and you're looking at them and and and just naturally in your humanity and your sin, you feel judgment, right? 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:14.799 Like it's not them, it has nothing to do with it, it has everything to do with you, but they're so good, and you're going like when they handed out the gifts, like all they went to him and they didn't come to me, and and you just feel judgment because you were fall so short of that person. 00:12:17.039 --> 00:12:24.720 And so here's Cain, and you got the good brother who brought the great offering, and God approved of it. 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:29.600 And so every time Cain looks at Abel, he is feeling judgment. 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:40.559 Then we pick up this in four verses six and seven. 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:44.080 Then the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:50.559 Because he's feeling judged, he's getting angry, he feels bitter, he's angry at God, he's he's starting this bitterness towards his brother. 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:52.720 Why is your face downcast? 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:56.080 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? 00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:02.320 But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:06.159 It desires to have you, but you must rule over it. 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:06.960 And I love this. 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:09.600 I love that God's pursuing him and God's asking him questions. 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:10.399 That's what God does. 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:12.080 He's pursuing us, he's asking questions. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:14.080 Help us to understand ourselves. 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:16.159 This is his grace to us. 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:19.919 And there's that phrase in there sin is crouching at your door. 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:23.759 So I've I've talked about uh my cat, cinnamon, before. 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:30.399 Um cinnamon was our cat when we were when I was little, and we got cinnamon when I was probably fifth grade or so, and cinnamon was a terror. 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:39.120 She was she came home and she was this cute, white, fluffy, little brown and black spots, and she was just the cutest little kitty cat. 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:46.639 And somewhere she became paranoid and afraid, and she became just this horrible, horrible cat. 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:52.480 And what was interesting is I constantly was underestimating this little cute cat. 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:53.919 She was just so cute. 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:56.799 I mean, she's like pet food commercial cute, right? 00:13:56.879 --> 00:13:58.159 Like just so cute. 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:04.480 And and you know, a week would go by where she had not bit me on my arm or something, and you would just think, well, of course she wants to be petted. 00:14:04.559 --> 00:14:05.840 She's so precious. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:20.320 And and then you would go to pet her and she would just attack you, or you'd be walking down the hallway and she'd be crouching, literally hunting, like all you know, how they drop down and they're kind of crawling, and she would come, she would attack you. 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:23.120 I was constantly underestimating her. 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:28.639 I had friends come over and be like, Kyle, don't mess with a cat. 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:33.360 I'm telling you, if you're on one edge of the hallway and she's not, just go ahead and call out for help. 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:35.120 She is coming for you. 00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:39.519 And my friends over and over again, my friends would just be like, she's cute. 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:41.679 She's like three pounds. 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:43.600 It's just not that big of a deal. 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:47.039 And then later that night, they've, you know, they got attacked by a cat. 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:52.559 I'm like, I've told you, but they just kept underestimating that little cat. 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:54.159 Right? 00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:57.120 This is actually the language of this phrase. 00:14:57.360 --> 00:14:59.200 Sin is crouching at your door. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:03.919 This is actually the language, the imagery there is of a leopard hunting. 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:04.399 Right? 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:10.720 And we've all seen the cat, whether it's your cat or your neighbor's cat, or we've seen, you know, we're watching National Geographic, whatever. 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:16.799 But we've seen the cat get low and crouch, and she's ready. 00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:21.759 God is saying, Cain, I know you're upset, but here's your chance. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:25.919 The cat is is low and is crouching. 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:28.080 Own up to the monster. 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:31.039 Own up to the beast. 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:37.679 Own up to it and repent of it before it turns outward, but he doesn't. 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:39.840 Cain doesn't do it. 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:47.679 He never owns up to it, he never repents of it, he never says there's a monster in me. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:16:01.440 And I'm the problem, and I'm a sinner, and there are things going on in me that are gonna lead to dark places, possibly killing my own brother. 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:11.039 We we just we just always think our sin is smaller than it really is. 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:15.360 We just ras, you know, we rationalize it into our lives. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:17.360 And God's saying, no, no, no. 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:23.679 Deal with the feeling, deal with the motive, deal with that inner sin before it becomes outer sin. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:28.480 Deal with the motive and the thought before it becomes behavior. 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:30.799 There's your application. 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:32.559 You want application out of a sermon today? 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:33.200 That's it. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:40.879 Deal with the motive, deal with the deal with the sin under the sin before it becomes sin that's out there and starts to just destruction upon people. 00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:47.440 Deal with the lust, deal with the envy, deal with the shame or the fear or the pride. 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:50.320 Keep dealing with it, deal with it again, repent of it again. 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:59.279 Go to counseling, talk to a friend, do those things while it's crouching before it attacks. 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:09.440 So, point number three, a life of true offering seeks to understand the heart, not simply adapting behavior. 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:13.440 But Cain doesn't deal with it. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:17.279 So we pick up in Genesis 4, verse 8. 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:21.519 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, let's go out to the field. 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:27.359 And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:28.160 Right? 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:29.920 This is his solution. 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:30.559 Right? 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:33.759 He's feeling judgment from his brother, not that his brother's putting it on him. 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:42.480 Well, maybe he is, we don't quite know, probably not, but he's feeling judgment because his brother's the good brother and he's not the good brother, and so he's feeling that here's the solution. 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:43.920 Get rid of the brother. 00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:44.319 Right? 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:53.920 So it's like if uh if I and Mother Teresa are the only people left on the planet, and I'm not feeling holy, the way for me to feel holy is a solution. 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:57.680 Get rid of the sweet mother Teresa, and all of a sudden I'm holy. 00:17:57.759 --> 00:17:59.599 There's nobody else around, I'm holy. 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:02.160 This is Cain's solution. 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:05.680 Then the Lord said to Cain, Where's your brother Abel? 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:10.640 Now he lies, dishonesty, he thinks he can hide, just like Adam and Eve thinks he can hide. 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:13.839 I don't know, he replied, Am I my brother's keeper? 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:14.240 Right? 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:16.160 It's just pride before the Lord. 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:19.680 Then verse 10, the Lord said, What have you done? 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:24.880 Listen, your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:33.119 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:38.079 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:42.720 You will be a restless wanderer on the earth. 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:48.559 We read the story, we sort of want to distance ourselves from Cain, don't we? 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:49.839 I do. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:54.000 I mean, I look at the sky, I go, okay, so he he gives a bad offering. 00:18:54.240 --> 00:18:59.920 I mean, he comes before the Lord with no faith, no inner that little something that should mean everything. 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:02.079 It was just a little something. 00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:06.240 And then he denies having any problem with it. 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:09.119 He denies any inner issue going on. 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:16.240 And then because of that, he acts out of the problem and goes to a dark place that he would have never thought he would have gone to to start with. 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:20.640 And I see all of that and I go, well, I am I'm not that. 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:23.519 I'm not I'm not close to that. 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:32.480 I'm probably, you know what, I'm it sort of in my pride go, well, I'm I'm more like Abel than Cain. 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:33.519 Right? 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:41.599 Isn't that easy to swing over when you read this story and just swing over and go, well, I'm not like Cain, I'm actually like Abel. 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:47.440 But the very fact that in our pride we make that swing is what makes us like Cain. 00:19:50.480 --> 00:20:00.000 And we all know it that you don't have to raise your hand, that underneath these cleaned up versions we present, uh, there is some fragility and bitterness and anger. 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:08.480 And there's a whole lot of worship that comes from insincere places of bribery. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:11.839 There's some cane in us. 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:15.359 So this week I was just wrestling with this. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:16.640 Like, how often do I do that? 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:20.640 How often do I bring worship before the Lord? 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:31.279 But really, I'm just trying to get something from him, like an easier life, a more comfortable life, you know, to get the thing I want for me or for my family or for this church. 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:32.880 How often do I do this? 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:35.359 How often am I Cain? 00:20:37.039 --> 00:21:00.160 Turning faith and relationship with Heavenly Father into some shallow merit-based exchange rather than his grace to me, rather than to say, you know what, there's just like I have this little bit of me and I'm presenting it to you, but it's it, I'm giving everything I can to present to you, to say everything I the way that I know, I give you everything I have. 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:08.640 And whether I'm rich or I'm poor, or I'm well, or I'm sick, or life's great, or life's falling apart. 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:10.880 You know, blessed be the name of the Lord. 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:16.160 That would not have been Cain's position. 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:21.519 Here's the good news. 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:23.279 And this is really good news, right? 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:26.000 Because we can get to this point and go, oh my gosh, I'm Cain. 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:27.039 This is horrible. 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:28.079 I am him. 00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:30.400 I go to these places. 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:34.960 The good news is you don't have to be Abel. 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:37.200 Like the brother Abel. 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:39.200 You don't have to be him. 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:45.680 So we can actually stop exhausting ourselves pretending to be the perfect child because you aren't, by the way. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:50.799 And here's why is because someone else is able. 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:54.240 I'm not just making that up. 00:21:54.400 --> 00:22:02.319 Um actually, Hebrews 12 says that Jesus' blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:14.640 So Jesus is while while Abel is a reminder of righteousness, Jesus is our righteousness. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:22.400 And Abel's blood was spilt out in a field, and it speaks righteousness, and it spoke a need for justice. 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:28.319 But Jesus' blood on the cross gives righteousness as a gift of grace. 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:31.680 And justice had to be met, but it's met in Jesus. 00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:46.240 And so Jesus the Son says to God, the Father, these people that have shame, they have fear, and they have bitterness, they have anger, they have inner issues, these people that are like Cain, their sin hangs on me. 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:52.799 My righteousness covers them, and they are radiant. 00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:54.960 And they are beloved. 00:22:55.920 --> 00:22:59.839 And it is secure, and they are free. 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:06.319 And it's in this humility and in this freedom that we are true offerings. 00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:12.799 So here's the good news You may be Cain, but Jesus is your able. 00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:14.400 Let's pray together. 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:29.119 God, we thank you as we become honest and as we dare to move past our behavior into what creates behavior, meaning the sin in our hearts. 00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:36.720 That we confess motives and thoughts that scare us at times. 00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:42.160 Would you give us the courage in your secure love and righteousness? 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:50.079 Would you give us the courage to call out the sin that is crouching at the door before it attacks? 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:54.000 God, we repent. 00:23:55.920 --> 00:24:14.240 Meaning we turn away from all those ways that we self-justify and we want self-righteousness, and we try to do this by religious means, and we try to do it with our own effort, and we we with all the ways we try to cover ourselves instead of receiving from you what you have done for us, we repent. 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:24.799 Would you give us humble hearts that come before you to bring these offerings of ourselves? 00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:38.000 And we thank you that even while our offering of ourselves, we don't even fully give this, that you gave the perfect offering so we can be at rest. 00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:49.759 That Jesus is enough, that Jesus' blood is the better word that has been spoken better than Abel's blood. 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:59.359 And that we can look to this to know that by faith we are righteous, by faith we are loved. 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:03.599 And you we place our trust in our hearts. 00:25:03.759 --> 00:25:04.960 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:05.839 Amen.