Can you take correction?
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1 Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.”
2 Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground.
4 Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering;
5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
8 Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Most of us are extremely familiar with the story of Cain and Abel
They are the sons on Adam and Eve after the fall of man.
God tells the serpent in chapter 3
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
enmity in the Hebrew is- ê·ḇā(h)) meaning hostility, animosity
Hostility between the serpent’s seed and the woman’s seed
God prophetic message here is that the enemy would rage war on mankind.
And he would use a seed to do it.
K.A. Matthews says,
The language of the passage indicates a life-and-death struggle between combatants. “Crush” and “strike” translate the same Hebrew verb and describe the combatants’ parallel action, but the location of the blow distinguishes the severity and success of the attack. The impact delivered by the offspring of the woman “at the head” is mortal, while the serpent will deliver a blow only “at the heel.” K.A. Matthews
In essence the serpent will come against mankind to kill but in the win, the woman’s seed will be victorious.
There are certain universal principles and truth that are understood and taught by mostly everyone.
wrong and right
Heaven and Hell
good and bad
light and darkness
This philosophical idea is referred to as dualism
Paul divided mankind into two groups
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Paul’s 2 groups
“Those who are perishing”
“Those who are being saved”
He again seen to do this in
15 For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;
Paul also uses the term
1. domain of light (Kingdom)
2. domain of darkness.
12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
The desire of satan is to destroy the lineage of righteousness.
the question then becomes;
How does Satan obtain a seed?
Corrupting the see through sin.
look at james 1
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.
14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.
15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
The devil’s desire is to draw us away.
Lets look at Cain here
11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
Woe to them! They have gone the way of Cain.
What is the Way of Cain?
3 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground.
Cain offered God a sacrifice from the works of his hands.
The bases of Cains relationship with God was performance.
Someone called me a couple weeks ago and asked why was Cain offering rejected and why was Abel accepted?
I said, you have to understand that everything in the Old Testament points to Jesus.
44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”
1 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.
I told them, its about blood.
a blood sacrifice points to jesus’ shed blood for our redemption.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Listen,
For something guilty to live, something innocent must die.
4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “Sacrifice and offering You have not desired, But a body You have prepared for Me;
6 In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure.
7 “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (In the scroll of the book it is written of Me) To do Your will, O God.’ ”
8 After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law),
9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second.
10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
The blood sacrifices point to one that would come as an offering once and for all.
God is trying to show Cain, it not by your works, but by grace
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Notice How God responds to the offering of Cain and Abel.
4 Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering;
5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.
God here is trying to teach mankind a lesson through the way he responds to Abel and Cain offering.
He is teaching them what please Him.
But Cain sees correction as rejection.
My question to you today is, can you take correction?
A relationship with work leads to performance and performance, competition and comparisons.
Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.
Another word of countenance is face. this could mean he was depressed.
“Cain’s anger revealed his true attitude, which resulted in his despondency.” K. A. Mathews
i had to look up what despondency meant. it means, state of low spirits cause by loss of hope.
this is what happens to many of us when we are corrected.
we see it as the end of the world.
we see if as failure. and when we do not take responsibility we have to place the reason for our failure on someone else.
Hear what the Lord tells Cain...
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
Why are you angry?
if you do well?
Here is God giving Cain a choose...
You can choose to be offended…
you can choose to receive correction or rejection
you can choose to do well!
God warns Cain, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you.
The devil wants a seed.
he wants to use your, rejection, pain, jealously , and hurt to cause you to destroy others.
jesus in Matthew 23:35 called Abel Righteous
35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
Luke Calls him a prophet
50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation,
51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’
sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you
The enemy desire to you to wage war against God people.
God tells Him
7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
you must master it!
12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.
Cain refuse to choose to love, he chose the way of violence.
Instead of celebrating the fact that his brother found out what pleased and and doing it himself.
Cain went the way of the world… Jealousy, rebellion, hatred, and violence
8 Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Cain acknowledges God, but refuses to repent.
Don’t be like Cain!