"Lying At The Door"

Scripture Reading: James 1:12-15

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

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”

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