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2:40Father, we thank you for this promise. We thank you that there is eternal life only in Jesus Christ our Lord, and you have given us a way out of our sin. So, Father, I pray that as we congregate today, as we assemble, our eyes would be turned to you, the author and perfection. Of our faith, Lord Jesus, that you would now prepare our hearts as we worship. Prepare our hearts as we receive your word. And God, may we be fully submitted to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

3:17Good morning, friends. Please join me in turning to our text today, which is Genesis chapter 4, verses 1 through 8. Again, that's Genesis chapter 4, verses 1 through 8. As you turn there, you'll see that this is the classic story of Cain and Abel. So if you've been with us for a long time, you know our pastor is going through the book of Revelation, specifically the passages on the wrath of God. So I thought I would lighten the mood this week by giving you a good old-fashioned murder story.

3:53But seriously, it's an honor to be here this morning and to be worshiping with you, to be approaching scripture together. What an opportunity. I'm very privileged to be here. So let's read. Genesis chapter 4, verses 1 through 8. Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. And she said, I have obtained a male child with the help of the Lord. And again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a cultivator of the ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering. To the Lord from the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part, also brought an offering from the firstborn of his flock and from 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 became angry, and his face was gloomy. Then the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why is your face gloomy? If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it. Cain talked to his brother Abel, and it happened that when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. With that, let's pray. Father, may your word this morning be a lamp into our feet and a light into our path. Please teach us. In your name we pray. Amen.

5:25All right. So I joked earlier about Pastor Tom going through Revelations. That's at the end of the Bible. Now we're all the way at the beginning of the Bible. And I think a comparison is in due order. And this isn't as big as a jump as you might suspect. Because think about it. What is the impetus for the wrath of God coming upon the earth? What draws God's vengeance? And I know you're probably thinking of the Sunday school answer, and you're not wrong. It's sin. That's the right answer. It's man's tendency to rebel against the living God again and again and again all. All throughout history, despite God's overwhelming mercy towards mankind again and again and again. And our passage this morning is a story about that same sinful nature. You might even say it's the first battle in a war that will be won when Christ returns. If Revelation is the great reaping of sinners, then Genesis is the first planting of the seed. So, my question to you this morning is simply this: How did we get here? I mean that on a couple of different levels. On one level, how did Cain, the main character of our story, the offspring of Adam, how did he become the murderer that we all know? I believe this story in Genesis is real history, and it recounts the tale of a real man, Cain, who tries to be a true worshipper of Yahweh. But you know what happens instead. How did he get there? On another level, I believe this story illustrates about the nature of sin, more specifically, our nature of sin. Why is the wrath of God coming in the book of Revelation? Why is it that we can't turn on the news today without seeing headlines of human wrought death and destruction? Why do we, you and I, continue to commit murder in our hearts by holding grudges against our brethren? How did we get here?

7:27I think as we look at Genesis 4. In detail, I invite you to consider the question: how does a worshiper become a murderer? As we'll see, the villain of the story wasn't always a villain. God even warns Cain about this. He says, Beware of sin, it's lurking, it's crouching at your door. What if Cain had actually heeded that warning? And what if we heed that warning today? That's where we're going with this. I think if we look into our hearts, we realize that sin is lurking at our door as well. And I don't know about you, but in the light of the news that I'm reading and hearing, I'm not sure that I'm strong enough or smart enough or good enough to overpower this sin by myself. But there's good news too: and that is, God's grace is sufficient for our weaknesses. And I believe that He, through the power of Christ, has given us the tools to arrest the natural course of our sinful nature. And we'll see that in this passage. So we're going to look at three ways that Cain's sinful nature affected his descent from worshipper to murderer. Number one, we'll see how sin affected the disposition of Cain's heart. Number two, we'll see how sin affected the disappointment in Cain's face. And number three, finally, we'll see how sin manifested in disobedience wrought by Cain's hands. So you can remember it by the three Ds: disposition. Disappointment, and disobedience. Let's start with the disposition of Cain's heart. I'm going to read for you again verses 1 through 5. Now, the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. And she said, I've obtained a male child with the help of the Lord. And again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now, Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a cultivator of the ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part, also brought an offering from the firstborn of his flock and from their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering, he had no regard. So when I was growing up in church, I heard this Bible story and I learned it as the story of Cain and Abel. And if you look at the heading right above chapter 4, that's probably what it says in your Bible. However, I'd like to be bold this morning and propose a different heading for this chapter. Instead of Cain and Abel, I would like to call this story Cain and Yahweh. Now let me explain. Cain is definitely the main character. I think you see that off the bat. In verse 1, he is the male child that Eve gives birth to with the help of the Lord. That's Cain we're talking about. And frankly, when you get to verse 2, Abel is just kind of a little afterthought after that. Oh, and then she had Abel. Let's not forget. That the last thing we heard in Genesis chapter 3 is the promise for the seed of the woman to crush the head of the serpent. That should be ringing in your ears when we talk about this offspring. Here comes Cain. He's the literal seed of the woman. Do you think that might have brought with it some lofty expectations? Abel, for his part, he's not a main character. He's not quoted a single time in this story or the rest of Scripture. All the dialogue in this story occurs between, you guessed it, Cain and Yahweh. And you have to marvel. You have to marvel that God is still on speaking terms with man at this point. This is after the fall, after all. God's relationship with mankind could have ended forever in chapter 3, and God would have been justified. He doesn't owe mankind anything. The fact that we have a Genesis 4 in our Bibles is evidence that God's mercy extends to the very beginning of time. I think it's worthwhile to frame the text in this way so that you understand just what's at stake when you arrive at Genesis 4. It's much more than just a sibling rivalry. If that's all you get out of it, then you're missing the big picture. The relationship in jeopardy here is not a horizontal relationship, it's a vertical relationship. It's the relationship between man and God, between Cain and Yahweh, between the created and the creator. Genesis 4. Implicitly begins with a question. Man is fallen. What happens now?

12:07It's this story that introduces us to the profound and seemingly irreversible strife between God and man that will permeate the rest of human history. We read in verse 2 that Cain was a cultivator of the ground. And I see this as a pretty good start. Remember that his father, Adam, was also a cultivator of the ground, responsible for tending the garden. The difference, though, is that now this job is labor. The ground no longer yields its produce willingly. It puts up a fight. Now, cultivating the ground is sweaty and back-breaking work. And if you are a farmer, you know what that's like. It's work where every day for Cain is another reminder of the curse that God put on the ground because of the fall. In chapter 4, verse 3, Cain decides to try something. And to me, this thing seems like a very noble thought. He takes some of his hard-earned produce and he makes an offering. His parents lost the favor of the Lord, and he may feel like it's his responsibility to patch things up a little bit. Verse 4 implies that Cain's offering came before Abel's offering, which makes me think that this whole thing was Cain's idea. And Abel just kind of tagged along with it. Cain is looking pretty righteous at this point, right? Not bad for the villain of the story. Not so fast because we read in verse 5 that the Lord's favor was withheld from Cain. He had no regard for his offering. And not only that, it was given to his younger brother instead. Oof, that's got to hurt. I'd like to pause here and take a minute to talk about offerings. I think it's crucial to understand this, to avoid a misinterpretation of the text. And that misinterpretation is this. I want you to try your best to temporarily, not permanently, temporarily erase from your mind everything you know about Levitical priestly offerings at this point. Now, I know most of y'all have read the Bible. You know the story. You know the revelation that's yet to be revealed. But in the great unfolding of God's revelation, this hasn't happened yet. This hasn't happened. Cain and Abel did not have the Torah. And I've heard it stated that God rejected Cain's offering, that Cain's great offense was that he failed to offer a blood sacrifice to the Lord. And that would explain why Abel's offering was accepted and Cain's was rejected. And that makes sense on the surface. But remember, there's a problem with this assumption. We don't read about blood sacrifices until we get to the Passover lamb in Exodus 12, and it's not codified into a law until Leviticus chapter 4. In Genesis, as far as we know, God Has not required a blood sacrifice out of Cain and Abel. It would seem that their offerings were, well, offered, probably out of a heart of genuine worship and probably from their own free will. You see this too in the word used for offering in verses 3 through 4. This is the Hebrew word minha, which is never used in the Bible to refer to a blood sacrifice as we understand it. In Genesis 23, you may remember this story. This is Jacob, and he is on the run from his brother Esau. He's thinking that Esau is coming after him to kill him. So his strategy is to send a gift ahead of him to appease Esau's anger. And that's the word. The gift is a minha. It's an offering to tell his brother, okay, calm down a little bit, take a breath. This isn't what you think it is. It's a regaining of a broken relationship. In Leviticus, this word is also used to refer to multiple types of offering, including grain offerings and incense, not just animal offerings. So, if we read the word offering this way, then a plain reading of Genesis yields no indication that Cain was in error because of the content of his sacrifice. Most likely, Cain offered God produce from the ground because that's all he had. He was, after all, a farmer. Produce from the ground was a natural and appropriate. Thing for Cain to offer. So if the content of the offering isn't the issue, this still leaves the question: why did God accept Abel's offering and not Cain's offering? Well, the narrative, as we read it in Genesis, doesn't make that too clear. Wouldn't that be nice?

16:53But that just means we get the privilege of diving deeper into Scripture. And when I do, I see two plausible answers to this question. The first is simple and admittedly a little bit disappointing, and that is, it doesn't matter why God accepted Abel and rejected Cain. As we have read, the narrative doesn't explicitly state why God chose to accept one and reject the other. Perhaps, as one commentator puts it, silence is itself the message. And he has a point. Doesn't God have the ability to act according to his purposes? Does he have to explain his actions? In Exodus 33, 19, God says to the people of Israel, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and compassion on whom I will have compassion. It would certainly not violate God's character if he chose to extend mercy on Abel and not on Cain.

17:47For the sake of argument, let's imagine that Cain did everything right when he was presenting his offering, that he earnestly desired to please the Lord, and he spent the better part of his life cultivating the ground to produce something worthy of. Worthy of this offering, that it was a first fruits offering, that he prepared it well and offered it sincerely. But even if Cain did everything right, even when we do everything right, does God reserve the right to say no?

18:16Of course. He's God. Of course, he has the right. He's not obligated to accept or reject anything we bring to the table. God's favor is not a bargaining chip, and our works do not merit God's blessing. They didn't then, and they don't today. And I realize that this answer of, oh, it doesn't matter, that's pretty unsatisfying. And I get that. I think it's unsatisfying to me because when I read the Old Testament, like many of you probably, I want to know meaning. I think it's just a natural tendency for us. And I think God knows this, and He's kind to us. And sometimes we'll get a little bit of revelation later in Scripture to kind of go back and clarify a little color commentary. And this happens for this story of Cain and Abel. So if you can, flip quickly to Hebrews chapter 11.

19:06I'm just going to read one verse, Hebrews 11, verse 4. And this verse provides some of that color commentary on Genesis chapter 4. Hebrews 11:4 says, By faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. Through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. All right. Now, many of you know Hebrews 11 is a chapter that highlights the role of faith in the lives of Old Testament saints. So we learn here that faith at least played an important role in the offering of Abel and probably Cain as well, cluing us to the fact that the Lord is far less concerned with the content of their offerings and far more concerned with the heart of the offerer. And here's where we come to the disposition of Cain's heart. What do you think was the orientation of Cain's heart when he offered his offering to the Lord? According to Genesis, we don't know for sure, but we do know the end of the story. It's easy to read him as the villain through and through, and I can easily imagine that Cain was lazy or presumptuous or rebellious or withholding when he made his offering. And that might be true. We just don't know. It's not explicitly stated in the text. But what we do know from the book of Hebrews is that Abel had something that Cain didn't. He had faith. And faith is all about the disposition of the heart. You see, God saw through the offering straight to the heart of the offerer, and he saw that Abel had a heart that was wholly. Surrendered to him, and Cain did not. Perhaps Cain trusted in himself more than in God's mercy. Perhaps Cain thought, because he was the seed of the woman, that he could work hard enough and produce enough to single-handedly fix the broken relationship with Yahweh. But do you see his fallacy? Does Cain have any ability whatsoever to fix his relationship with Yahweh? Well, we know the answer because in verse 5 it says God had no regard for Cain and his offering. And then Cain's true disposition is revealed. He flies off the handle. He becomes very angry. Cain's heart was not humbled before the Lord, trusting in his ultimate promise of mercy and reconciliation.

21:46Cain was trying to claim his birthright. He was trying to use God as a means to reach his own ends. And when God didn't take the bait, he shook his finger at God and said, God, how dare you? I want you to see in this story just how subtle and deceptive sin can be. It can take a perfectly righteous thought, such as, I desire the Lord's favor, and twist it into, I deserve the Lord's favor. So let's pause and examine our own offering. I'm not just talking about financial gifts. I'm talking about any offering of service, of time, of worship. That we give to the Lord.

22:33Psalm 51, verses 16 and 17 says, For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it. You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. I think there is something good and natural for us to desire our Father's good pleasure. There's something very satisfying in the words, well done, good and faithful servant. But even this desire can and will be corrupted if the disposition of our heart is not broken and contrite before the Lord. James 1, 14 and 15 says, Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

23:34So I invite you to examine yourself. How do you feel when you offer yourself and your hard work to the Lord and it seems like God is silent? What happens in your heart when it seems like God is regarding someone else instead? How do you respond when you ask God for something and God tells you no? Remember that Paul asked. This. His thorn in his flesh. 2 Corinthians says he prayed three times for God to remove it. And what does God say in response? He says, My grace is sufficient for you. Power is made perfect in weakness. So next time you face rejection, examine your heart. Because the best way to identify an idol is to see what happens when it's taken away. Even a little seed of entitlement will grow into full-fledged rebellion if given the chance. Don't let it grow.

24:34Even the desire for righteousness, if it's not humbled before the Lord, will morph into a works-based self-righteousness that says, if I give God my worship, then he owes me his blessing. Be careful, because that's not worship, that's bribery. Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. So, how did Cain go from worshipper to murderer? Well, it started with a heart that was not broken and contrite. It started with a heart that lets sin sprout and grow, and it affected the way that he responds to God's instruction, as we'll read. Let's keep reading about the disappointment that covered Cain's face when God confronts him. So, I'm back in Genesis 4, picking up in verse 5. But for Cain and his offering, Yahweh had no regard. So, Cain became very Very angry, and his face was gloomy. And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why is your face gloomy? If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door.

25:46Many of you know my family, and you know I have a four-year-old daughter named Ellie, and she is incredibly playful and incredibly lovely until we tell her no. She can be upbeat and excited for one minute, and then you say that little two-letter word, and all of a sudden her whole world falls apart. And because she's so young, you can see all these emotions go by in her face. You can see her processing the data, she's realizing what it means, she's recognizing the consequences, and she's coming to grips with all of this. And as this is happening, her face literally changes. If you're a parent of small kids, you know exactly what this looks like. It's like the glue that's holding her features together just starts to melt.

26:36And I like that imagery because, depending on your translation, you may have, it may say something like, when Cain was angry, his face fell. It's where we get this word crestfallen. He is angry, and it stands out. It's in his face. I like the King James Version of this. It says, Cain was very wroth. What a great word, wroth. I wish that word would come back. Cain is acting like my four-year-old at this moment. And what I find interesting about this passage is that in the very moment when Cain is throwing a tantrum, God approaches him just like I would approach my daughter. And I know this is my imagination, but it seems like he's doing that dad thing where he's squatting down on Cain's level, putting a hand on his shoulder and being like, okay, Cain, are you done?

27:28As I was preparing this sermon, I was describing this mental image to a friend. And he pointed out to me that, genealogically speaking, God is Cain's grandfather. Cain, son of Adam, son of God. I thought that was a neat observation, not theologically relevant. But regardless of that fact, when you look at verses 6 and 7, it does kind of sound like fatherly advice. Why are you angry? Wouldn't it be better if you did things my way, not your way? These words are not harsh. They take the tone of gentle instruction, which honestly Cain desperately needs right now. God is essentially telling Cain here to watch his attitude. Now, we know why Cain was in a bad temper because the evil disposition of his heart. But I want to explain a little more why Cain's mood here is so important and ultimately so dangerous as to what Cain decides to do next.

28:25God's conversation with Cain is similar to another conversation. Will appear in the book of Jonah. Now, y'all remember Jonah? He's a prophet of the Lord. He's the guy swallowed by a big fish going to the city of Nineveh, that whole story. Well, Jonah finally arrives in Nineveh, and he preaches judgment upon the city. And you know how the story goes. Jonah goes up on a little hill, he pitches a tent for himself just to watch fire rain down from heaven. But the pagan city repents. And the Lord, true to his nature, is rich in mercy, and he spares them from judgment. And it's a wonderful story of God's grace, but the book of Jonah doesn't end there. The last chapter of Jonah, Jonah chapter 4, gives us a little bit of insight into this dialogue between Jonah and Yahweh. Now, I'm going to paraphrase this chapter. You don't have to turn there, but I encourage you on your own time to read this story because it's very interesting. When Jonah realizes that fire is not going to fall down from heaven and consume Nineveh, he loses his ghoul. Does it remind you of anyone that we're talking about in the book of Genesis? So Jonah is pouting, just like Cain was, and God comes to Jonah and essentially asks him the same question that he asked Cain. He tells Jonah in chapter 4, verse 4, Do you do well to be angry? Jonah answers God and he says, Yes, I'm angry enough to die. So dramatic. Well, God causes a plant to grow up next to Jonah and provides shade. For him, only to quickly die and make Jonah angry all over again. In doing this, God illustrates the insufficiency of Jonah's anger. God is telling Jonah, you think you're angry, you don't even know what angry is. If you think you have cause to be angry because your little shade is gone, how much more do I have cause to be angry at the high-handed treason of the city of Nineveh against me? And the story of Jonah ends by God lovingly, gently admonishing Jonah: if I know how to have pity, sorry, if you know how to have pity over this little plant, then how much more do I know how to have pity over this great city?

30:44You see, our mood matters because we have a very bad track record as humans at understanding and controlling our emotions. Take anger as our example. I do not believe that the Bible forbids the feeling of anger. I want to make that very clear. However, the Bible does clearly warn us what can come out of anger. Ephesians 4, 26 through 27 says, Be angry, but do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Do not give the devil a foothold. It gives us a why. 1 Peter 5, 8 likewise warns us to be sober-minded, be watchful, because your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. You see, strong emotions are not sin, but they can make us vulnerable to temptation. I think the same principle could be said of other strong emotions besides anger, like fear, anxiety, shame, depression, or even good emotions like mirth. How many times have you sinned against a brother under the guise of, well, I was just kidding? In Cain's case, we read that he was intensely disappointed when God did not accept his offering. And frankly, I would have been disappointed too, especially if my brother got the blessing that I wanted. But Cain's disappointment didn't stop in his mind, it affected his face. His face fell. If you've seen someone in a temper, you know what this looks like, and that's the whole point. This has a look to it. I've heard it said: if you ever want to be cured of a bad temper, ask someone to take a video of you next time you're in a rage. Once you've sovered up, play back the video, and I guarantee you will not be able to recognize the person in it. This experiment illustrates that sin not only clouds the judgment, but it affects the face, it affects the posture and the behavior, and it's obvious to everyone around you, except for the person in the middle of it. And it's this mental stupor that God warns Cain about. Specifically, he warns him to beware, because sin is lurking at the door.

32:58This is the first time the word. Word sin appears in the Bible. It actually doesn't come into the narrative of the fall in the Garden of Eden. And here God identifies sin as the lurking predator that it is. Watch out, Cain. Be on your guard. You're not in the garden anymore. As a fellow human with a sinful nature like Cain's, I believe you and I can learn from this warning too. You find yourself emotionally compromised, be it with fear or anger or guilt or envy, just recognize that you are vulnerable and beware. Sin is right around the corner. So what should you do? If you find yourself in this state, you find yourself mentally compromised. Well, a great first step is to pray. Just pausing for an instant to take the focus from yourself and putting it on the Lord has a wonderful rationalizing effect. Secondly, invest yourself in accountability and discipleship. Folks, this is why we assemble in a local church. What a blessing from the Lord. This is why we fellowship, because isolation breeds indignation. And lastly, thirdly, cast your anxieties on Christ, and this is the big one. Cast those strong emotions on the only one who is capable of handling those feelings without sin. Hebrews 4:15 says, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize. With our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

34:38In case you haven't heard, that high priest is Jesus, and he can handle your pity party. So when your face is wroth, do not shun him like Cain did. Christ was infinitely more rejected than we will ever be, and he has felt the fullness of sorrow to an extent that you cannot begin to imagine. Go to him because he is gentle and lowly of heart. If we fail to do that, we are in extreme danger, because disappointment does not often stay in the face. Anger unchecked will always lead to hatred. And for Cain, that's exactly what paved the road from worshipper to murderer.

35:24Let's return to Genesis 4, picking up in verse 7. God is speaking to Cain. If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it. Cain spoke to Abel, his brother, and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. So we have seen how the disposition of Cain's heart led to a profound anger, which showed up in his face. And that disappointment led him to a decision, a decision to disobey God, which was the final step in his descent from worshipper to murderer.

36:11One year ago, the world's largest active volcano started erupting in Hawaii. You may remember the headlines. It was dormant for 38 years. Then, all of a sudden, it's exploding once again. Now, Hawaii, don't get me wrong, is a very beautiful state. But if there's anything that makes me never want to set foot there, it's a headline like this. But people obviously still visit Hawaii, they still love Hawaii, they still live in Hawaii. And why is that? Well, it's because volcanoes don't just spontaneously explode. There are warning signs: seismic activity, temperature changes, pressure readings. These things are all indicators that disaster is brewing just beneath the surface. By verse 7, Cain's heart is kind of like a volcano. It hasn't quite reached its inflection point, but Cain has allowed sin to fester and pressurize, so it's really only a matter of time before there's an all-out explosion. I think it's an act of God's mercy that he intervenes at this point, and he gives Cain a warning, but he also gives Cain a command. He tells Cain in verse 7: sin is lurking at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it. Notice the imperative. You must rule over it. You can't avoid sin. You can't ignore sin. You have to master it. Now, I want to be careful of a certain interpretation of this imagery. It seems from a certain point of view that Cain is just kind of walking through the door, and sin is, ha ha, I got you, pounce. And when we read it that way, it kind of sounds like Cain is the victim here. But let's just be clear. Cain is not the victim. This isn't sin just coming at him out of the blue. And the reason we know this for certain is, read the text. God is giving Cain a warning. He tells Cain that sin is there.

38:13There's another reason why Cain isn't the victim here. God gives Cain a way out. You must rule over it. In other words, you must master your sin. And if you don't, it's going to master you. This is Cain's test. In effect, God is giving Cain a miniaturized version of the law that we read in Deuteronomy 30, 19. In Deuteronomy, it says to the people of Israel, I have set before you the way of life and the way of death. Choose life. And Cain has the perfect opportunity here to choose life. I mean, he had an audience with God for Pete's sake. He could have in that moment humbled himself and said, you know what, God, you're right. Please help me master my sin.

39:00But instead, Cain decides that he knows how to get justice better than the God of the universe. And in doing so, he declares his allegiance with sin. We read in verse 8 the culmination of that choice. Cain spoke to his brother Abel. When they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother and killed him. Just to be clear, the word used for kill in this passage is not the same word used for killing in battle. In Hebrew, the word is harog, and that's a word that means to slay or slaughter. Folks, this is murder. There's no doubt as to Cain's motives. It's like Cain is sending God a message. God, if you wanted a blood offering, I'll show you a blood offering. And in doing so, Cain becomes the villain of scripture that we all know today.

39:59But do you notice who is absent from this narrative? Do you notice who's absent from Cain's descent from worshipper to murderer? There's no serpent. In Genesis 3, the first sin, as it were, the serpent is a key player. He's the external, malicious, evil being that deceives and tempts Eve into sin. But here you have something different. The evil being is already in the story. You have to understand that this is. A story about Cain resisting temptation from the devil. It's a story about Cain resisting himself. This is the first example we have in Scripture of something that we call a sinful nature. That is, sin spreading through Adam to his descendants, as described in Romans chapter 5. And I'll just read one verse of that, verse 12. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned. Cain is the first person in history who's born with a sinful nature. Unlike his parents, he's not fighting a battle against Satan. He's fighting a battle of his own nature. The crouching beast at the door is already there. It's not stalking him, it's not roaring like a lion.

41:21Sin is already in Cain's heart, and he's got to deal with it before it deals with him. The choice presented to Cain is not just whether he should kill Abel or spare Abel, it's deeper than that. It's a choice between two masters. Will the seed of the woman rule over his sin nature or let his sin nature rule over him? God commands Cain to master his sin, and Cain willfully submits to it instead. Romans 6:16, which we read this morning, says, Do you not know that if you present yourself to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one to whom you are? You obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness.

42:08Sometimes I'll hear someone say something along the lines of, please pray for me because I've fallen into sin lately, or something like, I'm struggling against sin today. And I've used these phrases myself in the past, and I typically know what's meant, and I'm not picking a fight here, but I think there is a slight problem with this vernacular, and it betrays a general problem with our worldview of sin. The reality is, nobody falls passively into sin. We walk willingly into it. Sometimes we leap into it. The first step to resisting the allure to sin in your life is realizing that the devil is not the problem. The problem is you. Make no mistake, sin is disobedience. It is high-handed rebellion against the God of the universe. And frankly, I think it's about time we stopped pretending that we're helpless victims. Sin only pounces because we choose to walk through the door.

43:09What's sad and ironic about Cain's story is that the very thing that Cain craved, a mending of the broken relationship between man and God, it was right there, right there, the whole time, if he would just submit to God. God even offers this to Cain in verse. Verse 7, he says, if you do well, you will be accepted. God is calling Cain to repentance. God's mercy is all over this story. And if you read ahead in the chapter, you'll see that God continues to offer Cain mercy, even after Cain murders his brother. The final descent of Cain into bloodshed could have been avoided if Cain only realized that Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. But Cain chose to follow another master instead. And that's the very thing we must not do. Brothers and sisters, I implore you, heed this warning. 1 Corinthians 10, 11 through 12 says, These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So if you think that you're standing firm, be careful so that you don't fall.

44:30So what can we do? If sin didn't master his sin, what hope is there for the likes of us? And if the Bible ended after Genesis 4, that would be pretty hopeless, right? But there's more. We've got someone else at our door. Revelations 3, verse 20 says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come to him and eat with him, and he with me. When we repent of our sin and submit to the rule and the reign of Christ Jesus, God promises to meet us with grace. This is what it looks like to be a master over your sin. It's not your efforts. It's not your offerings. It's your repentance. Romans 6:14 says about those who repent, sin will no longer be your master because you are not under the law, you are under grace. You see, there are two masters at your door, and you, like Cain, must submit to one or the other. One is a crouching predator, the other is your creator. One wants to destroy you, the other wants to restore you. Christ is your true master, the one you have willingly betrayed, and yet he still knocks. When you submit yourself to Christ, you can rest in the promise that if you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

46:06So I'd like to end this morning right where we began with the question, how did we get here? I think this narrative of Cain and Yahweh is an accurate example of just how damaging we can be to ourselves and others if our sinful nature is left to its own devices. I think that's what's playing out on the world stage right now. Genesis 4 reminds us that when we try to treat sin with more of ourselves, we just fall deeper into our own prison. We need a different master. The narrative of Cain and Yahweh is also an accurate example of what God continues to do to this day. He intervenes. God is showing mankind grace upon grace in ways we don't often see, but we do see quite a few. We see God's grace in the church through discipleship and accountability. We see God's grace in His written word, guiding us to all wisdom. Ultimately, we see God's grace through the gospel, the saving power of Jesus Christ. Colossians 2:13 through 15 says, And you who were dead in your trespasses, in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him Jesus, having forgiven all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. He set that aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to shame, triumphing over them.

47:44That's your master, if you've repented and turned to Jesus. Can we stop our sinful nature before it results in catastrophe? No. We can't, at least not alone. But by the grace of God, through faith, we can. Praise the Lord. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. We thank you for grace. Father, we recognize that we do not deserve your favor, that our offerings are filthy rags by themselves. Lord, and it's only by grace, through faith, Lord, that we can come into your presence. And Lord, you didn't have to provide that way for us, and yet you did. So, Father, I thank you. I thank you that when we watch the news, we don't have to lose hope, Father.

48:49Lord, thank you for the gospel. Please help us. Jesus' name, amen.