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00:00 prayer. Lord, we come before you and uh we pray, oh Lord, that you guide us this
00:06 morning as we grapple with such grim issues like the first murder. Uh teach
00:12 us uh about ourselves, teach us about what life is east of Eden. Uh be with
00:19 us. We ask for Jesus say, "Amen." So Men has read to you that saga on the
00:27 life east of Eden. remember um Adam and Eve
00:33 in the Garden of Eden and they've rebelled against God. There was the
00:39 fall. They were cast out. And now we're going to look at life outside Eden. We
00:46 we call it life east of Eden. Outside Eden. What characterizes life outside
00:52 Eden? Because we're all outside Eden. We're all actually living life outside Eden. We're all east of Eden. What are
00:58 the three things which I'm going to talk to you about this morning would be basically the thing three things that we
01:04 struggle with. We struggle with relating to God outside Eden. We struggle with rejecting sin and we struggle with
01:11 receiving grace. Three three Rs uh to make it easier. So the first thing is relating to God. They find that the
01:18 first men and women will have difficulty relating God outside the garden of Eden. The background is Adam knew his wife.
01:26 This is not just new say hello. Uh this is intimate knowledge of the wife. And then she conceived and bore Cain saying
01:33 I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. And again she bore his brother Abel. So this is uh the birth of the two
01:41 children. Um and you see relating to God is quite difficult. The first couple
01:47 when they sin how they related to God riding running away hiding from God and using fig leaves to cover each other.
01:53 That's how they related. uh the two uh siblings they related
01:59 by uh giving an offering. Abel was the keeper of sheep. Cain is a work of the ground. In course of time Cain brought
02:06 the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground and Abel also brought the firstborn of his flock and their fat
02:13 portions. So here they relate to God uh by sacrifice. uh we don't know whether
02:18 there are any instructions given or whether this is instinctive but nevertheless they bring something to God
02:25 in relating to God which is uh on the surface quite good. The first couple
02:31 runs away their children bring a sacrifice to God to relate to God. Um the offering here is a uh uh is made up
02:39 of a Hebrew word called minha. So which is a dedication offering. This is not an offering for sin. Okay. They weren't
02:45 offering um uh the flocks or their crops in order to propitiate their parents'
02:53 sin. They were actually doing a dedication offering which means this offering is a expression of their total
03:01 dedication to God. Okay. Now um the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering but
03:07 for Cain in his offering he had no regard. So, the number one question, why
03:13 wouldn't Cain give God a decent sacrifice? And the joke is because he wasn't able, right?
03:20 I can't resist that one. All right. So, I mean, that's easy to
03:25 remember, right? Um, let's uh give it a bit better go. Animal
03:31 sacrifices. Some people say, "Oh, animals are better. God likes living things that move around and, you know,
03:37 and and produce." So is it the fact that he actually gave a better offering in
03:42 terms of Abel? Uh because he he what was easy for Abel because he's a far he's a
03:47 actually a cattle rancher. He's a he's a shepherd, right? So he gives the lamb. The right one was Abel actually gave the
03:53 wrong one to his crops. Is that true? Uh but if you look at the uh new old
03:58 testament there are crops for offering. When anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the Lord his offering
04:05 shall be of fine flour. If you offer a grain offering of first fruits to the Lord, you shall offer for the grain
04:11 offering of your first fruits of fresh ears roasted with fire and crushed new
04:16 grain. So there is in the Old Testament a precedent for giving crops for
04:22 offering. Uh Exodus, the best of the first fruits of your ground you shall
04:27 bring to the house of the Lord. And then it's for uh uh you shall not offer anything that has got blemish for it
04:33 will be unacceptable to you. So again, nothing wrong with giving crops. Uh but
04:39 it must cost. This is a king saying to uh Aruna, I will I I know I will buy it
04:45 from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offering to the Lord my God that costs me nothing. So a sacrifice must
04:51 cost you something. And then there are animal offerings as we know. Um he shall
04:57 offer the fat coverings of the entrails and all the fat is that is on the
05:03 onrails. God doesn't have a cholesterol problem, right? Okay. He say he's trying to save you from the arteries clogging
05:10 up your uh the the fat clogging your arteries. So, he takes the hit for you. Uh you can give all the fat portions.
05:16 Now, let's look at old New Testament evidence. New Testament evidence gives you uh some peak behind the scenes. The
05:22 Old Testament doesn't tell you too much about that. By faith, Abraham,
05:28 sorry, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice. So there is a difference in the sacrifice than Cain
05:36 though he which through which he was commended as righteous God commending him by accepting his gifts. You see Cain
05:44 gave an offering of the fruits. Abel gave the firstborn of his flocks and
05:49 their fat off uh portion. So there is a difference. Uh the writer of Hebrews
05:55 says his offering was more acceptable because it was given by faith. So God
06:01 actually looked at the offering, not only the offering, it was a better offering in the sense that because more
06:08 acceptable, but there's a motive behind. The motive behind was by faith. Uh and
06:14 and and Hebrews says without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that
06:21 he exists and he rewards those who seek him. The basic issue of faith is seeking
06:27 God. So of the two siblings who come to God, both with an offering, one actually
06:33 seeks God, one doesn't. That is the whole issue. Um it's it's it's like
06:39 giving the diamond ring. When some of you are going to get married, you will try to save up money to buy a diamond
06:46 ring. Some people say it should be the first month's pay or something. You know, the size of your ring must be
06:52 equivalent to your first months of pay. Imagine if somebody gave you the ring, okay? And because giving you the ring
06:59 plus commitment equals to love, right? You accept the ring because this is a
07:04 person who who gives you and with this ring comes a commitment to pledge his life to you. You accept this ling
07:11 because it it indicates that he's seeking you. He's loving you. He wants you. Right? Imagine he gives you the
07:18 ring and the night before he slept with two other women. Now
07:23 would you accept the ring? We'll be quite stupid if you do because ring plus no commitment equals bribe.
07:31 Any woman will know that isn't ring plus no commitment equals to bribe. All
07:36 right. And so here we have a situation with Cain and Abel come. One comes with
07:42 a heart of commitment with faith seeking God, wanting to be close to God, wanting to relate to God, want to get back to
07:48 Eden. The other comes with a bit of well you know must give something right the give I also give right so and he thinks
07:55 he can actually bribe God uh and so therefore it doesn't turn out very well let me look at the sequence of the the
08:01 words in in in Genesis chapter 4 the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering but Cain and his offering he
08:08 had no regard now it's not about the offering it's about the person you see the person
08:15 Abel and his offering Cain and his offering very important Word sequence is very important. So God is saying the
08:21 offering reflects you. It's you I'm accepting. I'm not care. I don't care about the offering. It's you. So
08:28 therefore the sequence is there. So the secret tells us that when we bring an offering to God, God is interested in
08:34 our lives more so than the offering. And the offering must reflect our lives.
08:40 We sang just now Psalm 51. The sacrifices the of God. A broken spirit,
08:46 a broken and contrite heart, oh God, you will not despise. Uh, and New Testament, one more piece of information, New
08:52 Testament, 1 John 3 says, "We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother." Why did he
08:59 murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brothers were righteous. Now, wow. Not only he didn't seek God,
09:04 huh? Cain's deeds were evil.
09:10 All right? So, this is a guy who does as he like. He does evil deeds and then he also brings offering. I also go to
09:16 church. You also go to church. We both go to church. I also put money in the blue bag and the red bag, but one of
09:23 them is evil and one of them isn't. Okay? So, if you don't have faith and
09:28 you just put money in the bag, we call it a bribe. If you have faith and you love God, you
09:34 put money in the bag, we call it an offering. They're very, very clear. One is a bribe
09:39 and one's offering. Why you do you give a bribe? Well, you give a bribe because you want things to go well with you, isn't it? I had a
09:46 a friend of mine some years ago when we first started the church. Uh he was struggling as a fund manager. You know,
09:52 fund manager very difficult, must make money, right? So, and he was very careful. One day he said to me, "Peter,
09:58 this is a check. This is for the offering. But what about you? I'm not coming. I'm too busy to come on Sunday, but you give the check." So, here's the
10:05 idea that he can bribe God, that life will go well. All his trades will go
10:10 well. you take the check, put an offering, and I'll be okay with God. Doesn't quite work that way. Um, this is
10:16 uh Psalm 24. Who shall send the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands, a pure
10:22 heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, does not swear uh uh deceitfully, he will receive blessing
10:28 from the Lord and righteousness from God of his salvation. Such is a generation of those who seek him, who seek the face
10:34 of the God of Israel. An offering is a reflection of our seeking behavior. It
10:41 always has been. Uh Jesus says if you're offering uh your gift on an altar,
10:46 remember your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go and be reconciled to your brother and then come
10:53 and offer your gift. And in the New Testament, this is reflected. So if you've got something against your
10:59 brother who is part of the body of Christ, right? So you already hate that part of the body of Christ. No point
11:05 coming and worshiping Christ. You leave the offering at the door, go and get reconciled, and then come back and then
11:12 bring your offering. All right? Not say don't bring your offering. Bring your offering, but you be reconciled first.
11:18 So they can look the same. They can look the same. Uh they they come to church like an average church member. They're
11:24 not drug dealers, but one is half-hearted and one doesn't. One seeks
11:29 God, one doesn't. So that's the struggle in relating to God. We all have this struggle east of Eden. Uh Adam, Cain and
11:37 Abel have this struggle. The second thing that we learn of life east of Eden
11:42 is that we have problems rejecting sin. There are four things about sin that we find here. The first thing is that sin
11:50 blinds. Cain was very angry. His face fell.
11:55 Fell means what? Long face, right? Depression. Going to clinical depression to take Prozac. He's very upset. Oh, God
12:03 doesn't, you know, regard me, you know, say, you know, and and um he's going in a tail spin. And the Lord said to Cain,
12:10 "Why are you angry? Why has his face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? If you do not do well, your
12:16 seat is crouching at the door. His desires for you, but you must rule over it." So, here's God coming to Cain and
12:21 telling him, he's like telling you, you know, your headmaster coming to you. You
12:26 failed your exam. Why you didn't study it? And you got upset. Why you so upset? You didn't study. So the basic issue
12:33 here is that God tells him you know very well you didn't get accepted if you do
12:39 well will you not be accepted which mean he did do well there was no heart there was no motive to seek God and he was
12:45 trying to bribe God so therefore he didn't even see that he has no idea and
12:51 the first thing what happens with sin is that when sin hits you you're often blind you don't see the sin all right
12:58 second thing we learn is that sin produces a false identity. You see, the identity of man
13:04 is actually fixed on God. We derive our
13:09 identity because we are made in the image of God. We have value in our lives, different from the cockroach.
13:16 Why? Because we're created in the image of God. When we're dislocated from God, we have lost the source of our identity.
13:23 We don't know who we are. So therefore, we have to fix our identity on a fixed point. There is no fixed point. There's
13:29 no anchor. So therefore we fix on relationship to each other, relationship to Abel and relationship to his work.
13:36 Let me give you some idea why this uh comes about. We have the two boys right
13:42 one is called Cain. Now why do we call him Cain? The word is I have gotten a
13:47 man with the help of the Lord. The word gotten is ka and Cain is cayen. So
13:52 basically it's a alliteration of the words there. So Cain is somebody whom
13:57 Eve is very proud of, who gotten with the help of the Lord. He's the big guy.
14:02 Abel's name is Habel. Now the name tells you a lot about a person. Okay, imagine
14:09 your mother uh gives birth to you and calls you Habel. How would you like to be called Habel? Put your hands up.
14:16 Nobody. Nobody wants to be called able. No good. I am able. No. Can you do your
14:22 homework? I am able. Can you be a millionaire? I am able. All right. So, you're very clever. You know, you know
14:29 why? Because the Hebel is not a good word. Uh Hebel is a man is like Hebel.
14:34 His days are like the passing shadow. I loathe my life. I would not live forever. Leave me alone. My days are a
14:41 breath. That means something very fleeting, inconsequential, like a vapor,
14:46 right? Hel lightweight. That guy heavyweight. You lightweight.
14:52 Imagine you call your son lightweight. Very uh vanity of vanity says the preacher in Ecclesiastes. Vanity of
14:58 vanities. All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil which he toils under the sun? They're all called habel.
15:05 He habel habel. He habel which is life is like vapor mist useless. It's all a
15:11 waste of time. You are a waste of time. So you call him heel. So Hebel means
15:17 fleeting, transient, short life. fleeting, transient, insubstantive, useless. So one is I've gotten a man
15:25 with the help of the Lord. The other one is fleeting, vapor, missing. One is someone with gravitas with weight fell.
15:32 The other one is useless fellow. Right? Vapor miss. This is a nobody. This is
15:38 somebody. That's exactly right. All right. So you've got somebody. The trouble is when Mr. Nobody and Mr.
15:46 Somebody goes to give an offering to God and God accepts the offering from Mr. Nobody and Mr. somebody who is a
15:53 successful cattle farmer, crop, businessman, billionaire like Bill Gates, suddenly we see this one is uh
16:00 nobody and this is somebody once you see that tahan already because
16:07 his identity Cain is built on being better than him all his life he is the
16:13 number one son he all his life this is somebody better than the other person and so therefore and he's a younger
16:19 shepherd uh he's a young man he's a shepherd And and ironically, God chooses people who are like Abel, fleeting, not
16:27 so good, lightweight, not so clever. Uh, and this is the Lord's choice. The clever one is this one with all his
16:33 ranch and his crops. And he doesn't get chosen. And you look at history, Ishmael
16:38 rather than Isaac rather than Ishmael, Jacob rather than Esau, Ephraim rather, Manasse, the sons of Jesse, David rather
16:45 than them. God always chooses the not so good ones, the one that's the
16:50 lightweight, the one that's the runt of the litter as it were. Okay? And there so therefore his balloon deflates.
16:57 Cain's identity is built on himself being better than his brother, more
17:02 successful than his brother. And now if his brother is better than him, he only
17:08 got two choices. You either get rid of the brother or you get rid of
17:14 anyone else? God. Two people to kill it. You get rid of brother or you get rid of God and
17:20 then you'll be okay. And that is the reason why he goes into this murderous rage. Uh the other one is uh when Cain
17:29 was angry, God comes to him and he tells him if you do well, will you not be accepted? If you do not do well, sin is
17:36 crouching at the door. It's desired for you but you must rule over it. Here sin
17:44 is cast as a predator like a tiger crouching at the door. Why do you
17:50 crouch? Anybody want to reason why do you crouch? Because you want to be hidden. All right. So that nobody can
17:58 see you. Lowest possible profile. Uh it's it's easy to miss. It's hidden. So,
18:04 so we learn this third thing here about sin is not only sin is you blind often
18:09 to sin but here sin crouches is hidden. The most powerful kung fu techniques are
18:14 the crouching tiger and hidden dragon. Isn't it right? Because why? When you crouch you're ready to spring the you
18:21 think you're very small. You come and then suddenly uncoils and and you're hit. F-blown sin is easily seen. uh you
18:28 you hide yourself and and the things that destroy you you don't think are
18:33 that bad then you make excuses for it for example if you I am not a workaholic
18:39 you tell people why you know uh I'm just productive I am not ruthless I am an
18:45 efficient good businessman I always make the bottom line my company is very efficient all the dead wood we kick out
18:51 all the good one we keep I am not stingy no I'm productive you know that's how I
18:57 make money. Uh, I am not arrogant. I'm just a lot better than you.
19:03 So, we've got a lot of crouching sins in our lives. A hidden um half-heartedness.
19:09 Half-heartedness. You think it's not a crouching thing. It is a crouching sin. You come to church and you're not really
19:14 committed. You're not really committed to serve. You're not really committed to do very much. Why? Because the main
19:20 agenda in our lives is not God. It's ourselves. God is an accessory to your
19:27 agenda in life. God is there to help you achieve your purpose. God has helped you. God God is like co-manager in your
19:33 shop. You determine your direction. God is the one who helps you. So I want God
19:39 why? He helps me in my life. There so many people come to church simply because I want life to go better for me.
19:46 I want my children to be better. I want my family life to be better. So basically you are driving the car. God
19:52 God is the backseat driver to help us. And if that's the case, it's a half-heartedness which is a crouching
19:57 sin. What about envy? What about grudge? What about self-pity? All these are
20:03 crouching sins that are hidden so far underneath you actually cannot see it. And that's a danger. And if you actually
20:09 look in our lives, it's so hard to find out what they are. Um this is Hebrews
20:15 12:1. So since therefore we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every
20:20 weight and sin which clings so closely, let us run with endurance that with the
20:26 race that is set before us. The word sin which clings so closely or constricting
20:31 sin is so close these are sins are so close they're like a second skin, you know, and the second skin you don't feel
20:39 until you try to run. You see, if you're just walking, it's okay. If you are running, it's not okay.
20:47 It's like heart disease. Some of us have have weak hearts. As long as you're walking, it's no problem. You try to run
20:53 and see, climb two flights of stairs, you start to puff because then you exert an energy that's beyond the capability
20:59 of your heart. And you don't know that your heart is actually sick. If you you spend your whole life walking, you never know your heart is sick. That's why you
21:05 have what we call a stress test, isn't it? It's a crouching sin. It's a constricting sin. It's like those, you
21:11 know, she looks quite good, isn't it? Some of you ladies have nice dainty little, but they actually look at it, it
21:18 actually looks like that. It's constricting. You don't know. It looks kind of pretty from outside, but it
21:24 basically constricting sins so he you shrink your soul. You want to
21:31 serve God. You want to be more committed to God, but then the constricting thing is, "Oh, I'm afraid. I have my own
21:37 agenda. it'll take money away from my uh household. It take time away from my family. Then it constricts you. It's on
21:43 the surface. Only when you try to serve God more, you try to step out in faith, then it constricts you. It's not
21:49 obviously there. It's so hidden. Uh Joseph Stalin is the famous dictator in
21:54 uh um Russia. And uh he really hated
22:01 Christians. When he came into power, there were 5,000 churches all over uh
22:06 Russia. By the time he came into power, there were only 500 left. Uh he systematically got rid of them and he
22:13 and and towards the end of his life they heard when he was very very sick. Just before he died, he got up and shook his
22:18 hand against God and then he died happy and he looked at under the reason why
22:25 for years he was brought up by his father. His father is Orthodox priest.
22:30 Whenever he disobeyed he was beaten mercilessly. He was forced to become a priest. In fact, Joseph Stalin went into
22:37 seminary. Some of the worst disasters in the world come from seminary because it was an inner rage. There's a
22:43 crouching sin. He didn't realize it, but he actually hated Christianity because what his father did to him. It's an
22:49 inner concealed crouching sin that's so low you don't see is underneath the radar, but it'll spring to action one
22:57 day. It's a crouching sin when you look at other people in church and you're always saying, "That person's no good.
23:02 That person has this fault." And it indicates there's a crouching sin in our heart. And if we don't deal with it when
23:08 we try to serve God and come out of our shell and expand your soul, that's when it catches you. That constricts you that
23:15 has a power over you. In fact, this uh sin has a profile. Uh it's like we have
23:22 signature sins. Uh and just like every individual uh fingerprint has a profile
23:28 of us, sin has a profile. We have pride. But the different ways in which we exhibit pride. Some people exhibit pride
23:35 by being very overbearing, boasting, standing up here, being larger than
23:40 life. Some people exhibit pride by being very humble. You tell them something. Oh, I'm no
23:47 good. I'm no actually he want you to praise him to be good. Right? The people are very humble, actually very proud. Uh
23:53 you look at the prodical son, both sons have the same problem. You know that they both don't love their father. They
24:00 both are lost cases long ago already. One of them exhibits his anger to his
24:07 father, rebellion his father by leaving. The other one does it by staying. But
24:13 same he doesn't love his father. What he's doing is depending on his works to please his father to get something to
24:18 get his inheritance. He doesn't care about the father. They both exhibit the same disdain for the father but
24:24 different ways. So therefore, each of us have what we call a DNA, a signature
24:29 sin. And the signature sin is so ingrained in our souls that you can't
24:35 pick it out. And I challenge any of you here to tell me, go home today, you can confess your signature sin. You name it.
24:42 It's not likely. You know why? Other people can name it. The best person, your wife
24:47 or your children, because they know your character. They notice what you will do.
24:53 and signature sins are hidden underneath. Uh we'll talk more about that if you're coming on Wednesday. No
24:59 time now. Uh sin is a power. Um see is crouching
25:05 and then it jumps. It has a desire for you. The word desire is to control you
25:11 uh to to grab you, to destroy you. It creates a power that stays long after
25:16 you sin. The sin has a life has a life of its own. long after you sin. So after
25:23 you lie, you have to lie again. You know, children's habits. Forming good habit very very very hard, isn't it?
25:30 Pick up your clothes, you know, uh brush your teeth, you know, do your homework. Why is it bad habits are so easy to
25:37 form? Why? Because sin is a power. It controls you. It doesn't let you go.
25:43 Because once you start sinning, it has a life of its own. Uh this is Robert
25:48 Irvine. I don't know how many of you watch Robert Irvine. Restaurant impossible. He he goes to rescue
25:55 restaurants all over America. Restaurants which are not doing very well and they don't usually they don't
26:00 do well. Some sometimes due to the fact that fellow cannot cook. Okay. But most
26:06 of the time is because of they got bad attitude, bad habits, they're selfish, they're stingy. Uh try to you know sell
26:12 you a bowl of noodles, no meat inside but charge you a lot. I mean this kind of thing. So, so all these restaurants
26:17 are failing and what he does is he goes in and he rescues them with $10,000 US
26:22 and two days he transforms it. Everybody's lining up after that to buy
26:27 from these restaurants and this is this has been going on for three to four years this show. All right. And recently
26:34 they actually released statistics. Can you imagine of all the restaurants as he is helped the moment Robert Irvine goes
26:41 away and helps the next restaurant by the second year half the restaurants
26:47 collapse. By the fourth year three quarters are
26:52 bankrupt. Why? Because you can't come in for two days and $10,000 and sort it out because
27:01 sin is ingrained inside our hearts. It is very difficult. We struggle with it.
27:06 Uh Sue Lewis said once wrote, "At first the Nazis killed the Jews because they
27:12 hated them, but eventually they hated them because they killed them because they need to justify their actions." And
27:19 that's the whole trouble of sin having a power over us. The Nazis killed the Jews
27:24 because they hated them. But eventually they had to keep hating them because to justify the fact that they killed them.
27:29 And the same thing here in our country, the dangers of racism. Once we have hurt someone because you're mad at them, you
27:36 have to stay mad at them in order to just justify how you have mistreated them. So if you allow racism to come in
27:42 and you hurt someone because of his race, later on you have to continue to hurt them and continue to hate them.
27:48 Why? Because it will justify what you've done. It's a power of its own. Um and
27:53 look at Lamech, who is the relative of Cain, the finest product of Cain's line.
27:59 Look, he said to his wives, Adah Azilla, hear my voice, you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say. I've killed a man
28:05 for wounding me, a young man for striking me. Cain's revenge is sevenfold. Lamech is 77.
28:12 This word, I've killed a man for wounding me. Wounding is just bruising,
28:18 you know, just bum bum into him. He kills you. This is a frightening guy.
28:24 Imagine he's your neighbor at USJ5. He lives next to you. Goodness, you
28:29 don't touch his cat. Cat comes to your garden, bear out there, you don't do anything. All right, this is bad. It's
28:35 endlessly revenging. And the thing is that power will consume. Haters will be
28:40 hated. Liars will be lied to. Gossipers will be gossiped. Cowards will be abandoned. It will consume you. It's
28:47 like a snake eating its own tail. Thirdly, we struggle receiving grace. Uh you can
28:55 see this in uh Cain's life. Cain was very angry. His face fell. The
29:02 Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why has your face fallen?" I mean, I
29:08 mean, God knows why, right? That's the reason why he rejected him. He's giving him an opportunity
29:14 to repent. You know, God is not a God who sits up there like a hitmaster tapping his foot
29:21 waiting to wall up you with a lightning bolt. The moment you do wrong, I'm going to wall up you. God doesn't do that.
29:27 Here's God knowing that he's committed sin, evil deeds, and he's going to commit even a bigger sin, kill his
29:33 brother, and God comes to intervene, you know, all the way. Didn't ask for, didn't SOS for help, didn't telephone
29:40 for help. God comes uh and he's going to depression, and God initiates counseling
29:45 uh and he's there for him. If you do well, will you not be accepted? If you do not do well, sin is crouching the
29:51 door. Your desires for you, you must overrule it. So the here issue is that
29:56 he's telling him the problem is not Abel or God. It's sin. It's not the fact that Abel's
30:03 a nobody and he got accepted as somebody that he's better than you. That's not the issue. The issue is not God who is
30:10 unfair that he chose Abel's offering over your offering. The issue is actually not you. It's actually sin
30:16 inside you. You see I mean you cannot be so invested in sin. The problem is not
30:23 what others have done to you. The real enemy is inside your heart. Let me give you an example. Uh this is Victor
30:29 Frankle who I often quote who is a Jew who lived through the Holocaust um who
30:34 lost his pregnant wife, his family and really suffered in concentration camp.
30:40 And he discovered that between stimulus and response there's a space in that
30:45 space our power to choose our response. In our response lies growth and freedom.
30:50 which means he's saying that there is a choice whether you want to suffer or not to suffer and if you look at uh suppose
30:58 it rains then you can say there's either interpretation which then leads to response if it rains my hair will get
31:05 wet I will catch a cold so you get very upset correct suppose it rains and you see I'm so hot
31:14 this rain will cool me down you'll be happy the same rain some happy some not
31:20 How the difference is interpretation isn't it right? So therefore you look
31:27 this in Cain's situation offerings rejected number one Abel hurt me God he
31:32 hurt me upset depression frustration anger hopelessness goes on right or you
31:38 could listen to God and respond to grace. Grace comes in and says sin is
31:45 trying to destroy me it does not have to defeat me. So just before we sin, God
31:51 comes in. The grace of God always comes in. Whenever you see sin, you always see grace coming in. And the grace tells
31:57 Abel, you don't have to press the button. It's not about Abel. It's not about God. It's not about you. It's
32:03 actually about the sin inside you. That sin is going to take over you. Sin is going to destroy you. You have a choice.
32:10 And this is the uh uh choice of to repent, an opportunity. Um, this is the
32:17 image of God. When God created us, we're supposed to love. Our our whole outlook in life is loving
32:24 others. Adam loves God. Eve loves God. They love each other. When you actually
32:30 have sin, the problem of sin is being curved in on yourself. They no longer look outside. They're always looking
32:36 inward, being curved in on yourself. And so therefore uh repentance is going back
32:44 to the situation where you look outwards again. So you're so curved in on ourself that he cannot
32:51 stop. He cannot repent. Repent is taking yourself away from the center. It's
32:56 putting other people out there. And so uh we see a progression between Adam and Eve and the son.
33:05 Although this may not be what Cain looks like. She had to be talked into sin. You
33:11 remember the devil had to cajul her, trick her, get her to doubt God. He
33:17 couldn't be talked out of sin. What a progression. Tried to blame, but she owned up. He
33:23 lies. He never admits his sin at all. She disobeyed, rebelled, got kicked out.
33:30 He killed the brother, the image of God. You can see the progression of the hardening process
33:37 of Adam. when he comes out of the garden. Genesis chapter 3, they disobey God. Chapter four, there's a murder.
33:42 It's a really uh a hardening process when they reject grace. The ruin of
33:48 Cain, the Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel, your brother?" He said, "I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?" See,
33:54 when God is giving opportunity to repent, he doesn't. Am I my brother's keeper? Actually, he is. In humanity, we
34:02 are all our brother's keeper. You cannot ask God this question. Am I my brother's keeper? It's your family. And so
34:08 therefore, he doesn't acknowledge his brother. Okay? And he's not repentant.
34:13 God gives him space to repent. And he doesn't repent. Uh then the punishment,
34:18 your curse from the ground, which opened up his mouth to receive your brother's blood. When you work around, it shall no
34:24 longer yield to you it strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. And Cain said to himself, "My
34:31 punishment is greater than I can bear." You see what I mean? This is called self self-pity. He's not sorry. He got sorry,
34:39 he got caught. Not a shred of self-pity. All he's worrying about is myself. Isn't
34:45 that I'm not my brother's keeper. Right. My punishment is greater than I can bear. So sin is what? Being curved in on
34:53 yourself. Whenever it's me, me me first. I'm sin is is is I'm nice to people. But
35:00 when it is inconvenient to me, oh no more. I'm not nice to people anymore. That is the essence of sin. Repentance
35:06 is taking yourself away from the center and putting other people in the center.
35:12 That's repentance. Putting God in the center. So, and and uh grace of God is seen again.
35:19 Anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. God put a mark on Cain. Anyone who founds uh him should
35:27 attack him. Again, Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of not east of Eden. So God put
35:32 a a a sign on him. Okay, different from the sign you know remember in school in
35:37 those days you pin a sign at the back of the student put kick me twice. All right so this one says you kick him you will
35:46 gonna seven times. So it's some sort of sign so that nobody will dare actually take revenge on Cain. All right. So
35:54 again this grace of God um not but not everybody rejects the grace of God. You
35:60 see, Adam knew his wife again and he bore a son and called Seth and God has appointed for me another offspring
36:05 instead of Abel for Cain killed him and to Seth was born and he called upon the he called his name uh he called his name
36:11 Enosh and at that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord again not everybody rejects grace east of Eden
36:18 there are another line of people which are starting to call upon the name of the Lord and this has been prophesied in
36:23 Genesis chapter 3:15 God says there will be and your seed of the woman and the
36:28 seed of the serpent will be in enmity. So there'll be two lines of humanity. One line of humanity that calls upon the
36:35 name of the Lord, one line of humanity that rejects him and listens to the lies of Satan. And they will both have
36:41 enmity. They will both start to kill each other. And Genesis chapter 3's prophecy comes true because Cain kills
36:49 Abel. And all in throughout the whole history of mankind even to today the
36:55 people of the serpent are killing the people of Christ all over the world. We see
37:01 this in ISIS. You see every single part of the world their enmity is there. But
37:06 important thing is that not everybody rejects the grace. People began to call upon the name of the Lord.
37:12 Finally the challenge the person who has kept quiet throughout the whole
37:18 thing. What about Abel? What about Abel? Imagine being born.
37:26 He's a man who seeks God totally innocent. And he died for what? He died for being
37:35 obedient. He died because he loved God. He died because by faith he offered an
37:41 offering that was better. Why? Because he loved God. And because of that, he
37:47 died. And the Lord said, 'What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood
37:52 is crying out to me from the ground. That's the blood. And it cries out. You
37:58 know why? Because God's creation is good. God creates man in his image. And
38:04 if you kill the image of God, God will require something of you. Human beings
38:11 are valuable. God has to respond. Sin has to be paid.
38:16 Then I'm going to fast forward from Abel's time to the time of Jesus. We have another person like Abel, totally
38:25 innocent, who was also killed for obeying God, for seeking God, for being
38:32 the kind of person that God wants him to be. And his blood flows on the ground.
38:40 And his blood also cries out, all right, for justice.
38:48 And those of us covered by his blood in the throne of heaven today, there will
38:55 be the blood of Jesus Christ crying out. And that blood says, "I have paid the
39:00 penalty of the sin." When we come before when the devil comes to accuse us before God, when the devil
39:06 comes into our room when we pray and accuses us of sin and and the punishment of sin, the blood of Jesus Christ is
39:13 before God every single day. And that blood says, "I have paid.
39:20 It is finished. It is complete." And thousands of years later on, we
39:26 stand underneath the cross covered by his blood and we receive that grace. For
39:32 some of us here, you don't know God.
39:38 You are far from God. And you want to come, you want to get released from the
39:43 power of sin. The only way you get released from the power of sin is when you're covered with the blood of cross.
39:50 When a totally innocent person, Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago, gave his life so
39:55 that blood covers you. When God looks at you, he will not require you to die for
40:01 your sin. He has required his son. If he requires you to die of your sin, then
40:07 God gets double payment. One from Jesus, one from you. When Jesus paid, you don't have to pay.
40:13 And and that's the picture of this cross in our lives. Let's come before the Lord
40:19 and um conclude with a word of prayer. Father Lord, we
40:26 we thank you for the story of the two brothers.
40:31 It is sad because outside Eden, we struggle with relating to you. We find
40:36 it so difficult. We struggle with rejecting sin. We struggle with receiving grace. Many of us don't want
40:42 to receive grace or we cannot receive grace or refuse to receive grace because of what Jesus has done and we can't just
40:49 like Cain. He's too far gone, too depressed, too rebellious, too hardened.
40:55 But I pray for us this morning that from some of us whom the Lord has touched this morning, we want to come under your
41:01 grace because we realize that the blood of the innocent is now before you. the blood of Jesus is before you at the
41:08 throne of grace and that with Jesus blood covering us, we can be saved. We can stand before God and be totally
41:14 righteous. Uh we pray, oh Lord, that you be with us this morning for those of you who know you that your blood and your
41:21 grace continue to minister to us when we're challenged when we struggle with this difficulty of relating to you,
41:29 difficulty in sacrificing for you, difficulty in following you. Some of us are beset with sins which are are
41:35 holding us back. Half-heartedness, apathy, hardening of our hearts towards you. Father Lord, break us down. Break
41:42 us down from the signature sins that we have that we realize and repent and we receive grace in our life to live to
41:49 glorify your name. We ask for Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen.
