"Lying At The Door"
Curse • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Scripture Reading: James 1:12-15
Scripture Reading: James 1:12-15
Introduction
Introduction
We’re in Our 2nd Month, & Therefore, Our 2nd Theme…
In Our Year-Long Series of Themes…
That Progressively Tell the Story of Scripture
February’s Theme is:
Curse
Curse
Last Week:
We Saw How the Curse Began
Humanity Ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil
Their Eyes were Opened to the Concepts of Good & Evil
They then were Capable of Discerning Good & Evil for Themselves
Creating Their Own Standard of Good & Evil
This Led to Sin, Corruption, Death…
Spreading to All Creation
That’s How Genesis 3 Ends
This Week, We’ll Be Picking Up in Genesis 4
The Quote from Our Text is:
“Lying At The Door”
“Lying At The Door”
Let’s Jump into the Text
Genesis 4:1–2 (CSB)
1 The man was intimate with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have had a male child with the Lord’s help.” 2 She also gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel became a shepherd of flocks, but Cain worked the ground.
Humanity has Begun an Important Part of Their God-Given Purpose:
To Be Fruitful & Multiply & Fill the Earth
There 2 Sons Soon Begin Sharing…
In Their Parents’ God-Given Rulership Over Creation:
Cain Rules Over & Works with the Earth & Plants
Abel Rules Over & Works with Animals
Genesis 4:3–6 (NIV)
3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?
Genesis 4:7–8 (LSB)
7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is lying at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” 8 Then Cain spoke to Abel his brother; and it happened when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
Cain Made an Offering to God from His Work…
And Abel Made an Offering from His
But God Only Seems to Like Abel’s Offering
We aren’t Given an Explanation Why…
But a Helpful Clue May Be in the Details:
Cain Brought an Offering from the Fruit of the Ground
Abel Brought an Offering of the Fat of the Firstborn of the Flock
Abel Offered the Best of His Best
It Seems Like Maybe Cain Didn’t
Hebrews 11:4 (LSB)
4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he was approved as being righteous—God approving his gifts—and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.
Abel’s Offering was “Better/Greater” than Cain’s
Cain Gets Jealous/Angry…
And God Notices
He Tells Cain:
“If You Do Well/What is Right, You’ll Be Lifted Up (Happy/Exalted)”
“But if You Don’t Do What is Right…”
“Sin is Lying at the Door…”
“And it Desires You”
“But You Must Rule Over it”
There’s a Lot to Analyze There:
1st, What is Sin?
This is the 1st Time Sin is Mentioned in Scripture
You’ve Probably Heard it Defined as “Missing the Mark”
It’s Not Meeting a Standard that has Been Set By God
2nd, What Does it Mean that Sin is Lying at the Door?
Cain has 2 Options Here:
Move On From this Disappointing Shortcoming…
And Begin Showing True Faith in God…
By Offering His Best to God
Or, Dwell on His Anger/Jealousy…
And Allow that to Turn into Hatred
If He Chooses this 2nd Option…
Sin is Waiting Right Outside the Door…
And like a Wild Animal…
It’s Ready to Pounce
3rd, What Does it Mean that Sin’s Desire is for You?
This is the Same Language Used When Eve was Cursed
Genesis 3:16 (NASB95)
16 To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.”
That Passage Seems to Indicate that Because of the Curse…
The Wife will Desire to Rule Over/Control Her Husband…
(This is a Problem in MANY Marriages)…
But the Husband will Now Rule Over/Control the Wife
Sin Wants to Rule Over/Control Cain (And All Humanity)
Sin Wants Us to Follow its Orders & Do What it Wants
Sin Wants Us to Submit to it
4th, What Does it Mean that You are to Rule Over Sin?
Cain isn’t to Let Sin Rule Over Him…
But He should Rule Over Sin
Instead of Cain Being Under the Control of Sin…
Sin Should Be Under the Control of Cain
But, We Know that Instead of Turning Things Around…
And Doing What is Right from that Point Forward…
Cain Chose to Submit to the Rule/Control of Sin…
And He Murdered His Own Brother
Sin has Ruled Over Humanity Ever Since
Everyone, at Some Point:
Chooses to Miss the Mark
Chooses to Not Meet God’s Standard
Chooses to Submit to the Rule & Control of Sin
But, that’s Not the End of the Story
God had a Plan to Take Matters into His Own Hands:
To Become Human Himself…
And Experience Every Temptation that We Face
To Be Tempted to Submit to the Rule/Control of Sin
He Became Human to Be the First Human:
To Not Submit to the Rule of Sin
To Completely Rule Over Sin
Why Did He Do this?
To Make a Way for Us to Rule Over Sin Too
Romans 6:1–7 (NIV)
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
In Christ, God’s Grace can Cover All of Our Sins
Does that Mean We can Keep Sinning…
Since God’s Grace can Cover All Our Sins?
Of Course Not!
In Your Old Life, You were Ruled by Sin
But if You were Baptized into Christ…
You Died
Once We Die, Sin has Completed its Mission
It No Longer has Any Rule Over Us
But When We Die & are Buried in Christ…
We Don’t Stay Dead
We are then Reborn & Given a Brand New Life
A Life Where Sin No Longer has Rule Over Us
That’s What Happens When We Submit to the Rule of Christ in Baptism
In Christ, We’re No Longer Ruled By Sin
We’re No Longer Slaves to Sin
We’ve Been Set Free from Sin
Romans 6:8–9 (CSB)
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him.
Romans 6:10–13 (NIV)
10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
In His Death & Resurrection…
Jesus Defeated Sin & Death
Sin & Death Don’t Rule Over Him…
He Rules Over Them
And Those Who Choose to Die with Jesus…
Get to Join in His Victory Over Sin & Death
But Paul Tells Us to Not Let Sin Rule Over Us Again
It’s Possible to Die to Sin By Submitting to Jesus…
And Then to Abandon Our Allegiance to Him…
In Order to Submit to Sin Once Again
James Tells Us that Sin Uses Our Own Desires Against Us…
To Lure Us Back to Itself
It Wants to Rule Over/Control Us Again
It Wants Us to Die & Stay Dead
Romans 6:14–18 (CSB)
14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace.
Sin Won’t Rule Over Us Ever Again…
If We’ll Just Remember this One Fact:
We’re Not Under the Law But Under Grace
Throughout the 1st Half of the Book of Romans…
Paul Talks a Lot about Law vs. Grace
Laws/Rules/Regulations:
Tell Us What to Do & What Not to Do (Right & Wrong)
Don’t Help Us Do What is Right
In Fact, They Only Tempt Us to Do What is Wrong
Don’t Forgive You When You Do What is Wrong
They Only Condemn You
Paul Told the Corinthians:
“The Power of Sin is the Law”
Sin Uses the Law to Further Enslave Us to Itself
That Doesn’t Mean Laws/Rules/Regulations are Bad…
They are Good & From God
It’s Cursed Humanity Who is Bad
Wherever There’s a Law…
The Sin that Rules Over Us Tempts Us to Break it
So Before Grace Came Through Jesus…
All We had to Keep Us in Favor with God…
Was a List of Laws/Rules/Regulations
But the Sin that was in Us & Controlled Us…
Made Them Impossible to Keep
So We were Doomed to Death
But When Grace Came Through Jesus…
Our Inner Self (Our Spirits) were Renewed/Redeemed
Because of His Grace…
We Now have a Joyful Desire to Resist Sin & Obey God’s Laws
Unlike a List Laws/Rules/Regulations…
Grace Motivates Us to Do What is Right
And it Offers Justification/Forgiveness When We Do What’s Wrong
Our Freedom from the Rule of Sin…
Was Made Possible Because of God’s Grace…
Not Our Adherence to a List of Laws
15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Absolutely not! 16 Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over, 18 and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.
Not Being Under Law Doesn’t Mean…
We’re Free to Live However We Want
If You Continue to Live in Sin…
Then You aren’t Free from the Rule/Control of Sin at All
You’re Still Obeying Sin…
As a Slave Obeys a Master
Those of Us Who have Sworn Our Allegiance to God…
And were Set Free from Sin By His Grace…
Have Chosen to Willingly Submit to Him…
As a Slave to a Master
That Means We have the Obligation to Obey Him…
Not Our Old Master, Sin
Being Under Grace Instead of Law…
Doesn’t Mean We Don’t have to Obey the Laws of God
It Means that We’re Saved/Justified/Forgiven By Grace
And Now that We’ve Been Set Free from the Rule of Sin & Death…
And have Willingly Become Slaves of God…
We’re Obligated to Obey His Laws
Not to Be Set Free from Sin…
But Because We Already have Been
The Love & Gratitude Feel as a Response to His Grace…
Compels Us to Reject Sin…
And Submit to Him as Slaves
We Obey His Laws Out of Love & Gratitude…
Because He Set Us Free By His Grace
Romans 6:19–23 (NLT)
19 Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. 21 And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. 22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sin Desires to Kill Us
But God Desires to Give Us Life
He’s Done that By Freely Giving Us Freedom…
From the Rule of Sin
Now, We’re Joyfully Ruled By God…
And Gratefully Obey His Laws
His Laws are No Longer a Burden to Us…
They Sanctify Us…
And Keep Sin from Ruling Over Us Again
God Told Cain that Sin was Lying at the Door…
And that it Wants to Rule Over/Control Him
That’s Still the Case for Humanity Today
But Through Jesus, God has Set Us Free By His Grace…
And Given Us the Ability to Rule Over Sin
That Doesn’t Mean We’ll Be Perfect
Though Our Inner Self (Our Spirits) have Been Renewed/Redeemed…
Our Outer Self (Our Bodies/“the Flesh”) Haven’t
This Puts Us at Constant War Within Ourselves, Because:
Inwardly, We Desire to Do What’s Right
But Outwardly, We Desire to Do What’s Wrong
Paul Talks All about this in Ch. 7
Under the Rule of God, We’ll Still Miss the Mark
We’ll Never Perfectly Meet God’s Standard
We’ll Still Sin
But, Because We’ve Received God’s Grace By Dying with Jesus…
We Will Not Be Condemned
As Long as We are Seeking to Obey God & Remaining Loyal to Jesus…
With Our Renewed/Redeemed Minds/Hearts/Spirits…
Grace is Made Abundantly Available to Us
But When Jesus Returns…
He Promises to Renew/Redeem These Cursed Bodies…
And Our Battle Against Sin will Forever Be Over
We’ll Be Pure & Holy Inside & Out
Sin will No Longer have the Power to Rule Over Us
We’ll Be Free from the Rule of Sin & Death Forever
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