it all starts in the heart
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lava joke
Genesis 4 verse 1-15
title- murder starts in the heart
Have you ever wanted to just strangle somebody
If you grew up with siblings then you understand.
The irritation gets so High
you think of all of the clever ways you can hurt somebody.
Dont lie to yourself
you have been there
in todays lesson we will be looking at the very first murder
Lets recap
God creates everything good
He makes man in His image
He makes women from adams rib
institutes marriage
places them in paradise
in time satan gets cast down to earth
and infiltrates the garden
Here He tempts eve to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil
She sins and plunges all of humanity into the curse of sin
We now have a huge problem
humanity has been seperated from God
This answers the problem of evil
This also introduces our need for a savior
first gospel
Now sin has already entered the world and
adam and eve must build their family in a cursed world.
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
We are introduced to two brothers
cain and abel
Abel was a shepard
cain was a farmer
And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
implys God asked for an offering
What do you think He asked for?
I believe it was a sin offering.
regardless of the type of offering God had intended
we see that Cain offered fruit of the ground---plant
and able offered His best sheep.
There is interesting foreshadowing here
the brother whos heart was right before God offered a spotless lamb
This is a foreshadow of the spotless lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
Abel offered the work of his hands
the plants of the ground
We see a picture of an acceptebale sacrafice and an unaccepted one
If all you offer God is your good work --- you will not be accepted
God is after faith.... the type of faith that results in obedience.
God accepted Ables offering but not cains
Q. Why is that?
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
God was pleased with Abels faith
Cain gave his offering without faith,,, I imagine its like a couple carrots and potatoes that are about to go bad....
Bring your heart as an offering before the Lord
Bring your heart as an offering before the Lord
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
We will read on about the type of people cain and abel are.
If a man produces bad fruit, the man is a bad tree
What cain did was bring an offering begrudingly
The Lod would not accept it
because his heart was not right
Q. Did you know God is way more interested in your heart than your good works?
He knows good works will flow from a good heart
but bad hearts can also do good things and they will be rejected by God.
Annanias and saphaira example. Acts 5
good give money to poor, lied about giving it all.
their good deed was rejected because the heart was bad
Thank God for His grace
Story --- its like people in the church are always complaining…
do you think God is honored by your offering of service when your
heart is always complaining and talking bad about people?
God calls that murder in the heart.
Or if you offer money and then brag about how much you spent.
Its like this You could have one man give lots of money to the church,
serve 5 days a week,
go to all the bible studies ,
never miss church...... His offering looks great on the outside.
but at home he is beating his wife, verbally abusing his children, and and cheating on his wife with pornography.
Is God going to accept this offering.....
No because the heart behind the offering is bad and God is after the heart.
Q. Did you know God looks primarily at who you are on the inside?
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
We need to start evaluating ourself in the heart more than in the flesh.
If we can keep our heart right before God, He will take care of the rest.
So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
God first asks cain,
Why are you angry?
countenance ---is your demeanor
God then basically tells him you are not being accepted because you are not doing well
He encourages him to do good
and then
God gives the warning
This warning is for all of us as well
Sin is like a wild beast that is doing everything in its power to pull you into death.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
He is seeking to lead you into temptation
because he knows that a life of sin will keep you from God and ruin your life
Turn away from temptation
Turn away from temptation
God is encouraging cain to repent
remember what repentance is
Your adversary the divil is going to continually tempt you to do evil
What are some temptations that we have to sin?
what should you do with them?
Get rid of them
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Jesus is saying
whatever causes your eyes to sin get rid of it.
we take that principal to all temptation
When you know you are not doing what is pleasing to God
you will always have two chances
You will have a chance to repent
or you will have a chance to give into temptation
Story - making football an idol
I had a chance to continue listening to sports radio all day
or bring my struggle to God
I resisted the temptation to listen with over indulgence
and now cut it out to every other day...
many of you need to do that with video games and social media
if it is becoming an idol.....
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
turning to Jesus is always going to be your escape to repentance.
Instead of turning to God,
lets read what cain does
Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
What did cain do with his temptation to sin?
killed his brother
Huge example of life after the fall of man.
there is only one way that cain could have prevented this
only one way you will be able to prevent sin from ruining your life
and it would be to
Guard your heart
Guard your heart
You can only guard your heart through the power of faith in Christ
Had cain guarded his heart he would be able to identify the sin in it before it became an action
Sin always starts in the mind
and thats where it needs to be changed before the sin becomes an action
What was the temptation that cause cain to kill able?
Jealousy and anger
Do you ever get jealous or angry
Ask jessica to give me a memory verse about anger.
Everyone deals with these sins
but how do we guard our heart?
Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.
read the word
memorize the scripture
know what you believe and why.
so when sin is at the door waiting for you,
you can overcome it with the power of God.
Some of us have had issues with anger
some have issues with other sins
whatever struggle your having just know that satan is the one trying his best
to lead you into temptation..
He wants to take that anger and turn it into rage
He wants the anger to turn into fighting to turn into murder
Do you see how sin can escelate
But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
This is what happened with cain
Now as we finish the chapter lets look how God is still so gracious to sinners
read 9-14
Cain is in the bible for a reason
we should understand that at some points in our life we are cain.
We are the people who know God has told us to change
we have identified something that God was not pleased with
in our life
yet we refuse to repent
the sin then grows from the heart
and brings forth destruction.
will you repent from your sin today
whatever it is
maybe your neglecting the Lord,
maybe your jealous
or maybe your just trusting in yourself instead of God
Satan will tempt you to sin
The holy spirit will reveal to you the weakness in your heart
and when he does you have to options
run to Jesus
or hide from him like adam and eve in the garden....
dear friend if you hide your sin from God , it will find you out
and the result is destruction.
but if you turn it over to God, He is faithful to forgive you
and lead you in the path of righteousness for the name of Jesus.
will you examine your heart today and see if there is any temptation or sin that is hiding in there.
lets have God find it and deal with it before it becomes a murder scene...
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
pray