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00:01 Morning everybody and welcome again to another online service Sunday morning. I
00:08 hope it's a beautiful Sunday for you. This is our new normal. Get used to it
00:14 guys. Another two more weeks to go. God willing. God willing in prayer. Before we start the sermon, I wanted to make
00:21 two announcements which Leon brought up just now just to encourage you guys. The first is our Zoom prayer meeting. Let me
00:30 explain the rationale behind this. This happens every day from 9:00 p.m. and it
00:37 goes from 9:00 p.m. to 9:15, 9:20, 20 minutes. What we do is that we're trying
00:42 to provide a platform for everybody in the church to just log on, you know,
00:49 sitting at home, four walls, staring at the same people. Mental health signs
00:54 will tell you that we are not wired to do that. We're wired to connect. So what we want to encourage everybody is you
01:01 don't have to do it every night. Anytime you are available, maybe once a week,
01:07 twice a week, whatever helps you to keep sane and to connect with the body of Christ. 900 p.m. log on to Zoom. The
01:15 password is there. I'll just give you the number again. The meeting ID is 929
01:22 735694. I'll repeat 929735694.
01:31 There's no password. Get in there. We've been doing it for a few nights in a row. There's about 14 15 of us just
01:39 regularly. We hope the numbers will grow. Uh we're getting newcomers coming in. Let us know you. And we what we do
01:46 is that we will just spend a short time chatting asking how is everybody. And then after that we we will then go into
01:53 a time of prayer. and you can give us your prayer needs. So, we encourage you to to stay connected with everybody
01:59 else. Join us in Zoom. Here's another one. Uh FBC's Family Life Ministry has
02:05 launched something called talk to us. And uh Leon gave the slide just now.
02:10 There's a WhatsApp number there. Contact that WhatsApp number if you need to talk to any one of us or you need prayer
02:17 intercession. We have a team of 10 volunteers. They are on standby and on
02:22 rotation every day. And if the issue is serious, we will let you connect you to
02:28 our therapists. So we have some professionals on board sometimes during this uh you know this lockdown period is
02:36 can be difficult already. The science is telling us a lot of counselors are telling us that people go into
02:42 depression. Uh four walls facing the same people you get on each other's
02:47 nerves. So it can be difficult. So if you are struggling with this lockdown
02:53 and you find it hard to cope and you want to talk to someone about your issues, seek advice, you you if you know
02:60 someone ask you how are you and you just really feel down, you just feel depressed, don't fight this alone. We
03:05 are community. Just be with us as we just try to help you through this as a church. We want to walk with you. So
03:13 today we're going to continue uh on Genesis and it's going to be the last on my part, last of a three-parter. We're
03:19 going to talk about Cain and Abel. That's Genesis chapter 4. And I hope that we can make this relevant to what
03:26 we're going through that we can find some lessons in Genesis 4 to our
03:32 situation now. For example, we all trying to adjust to what people call the new normal. The new normal, working from
03:38 home, uh not being able to go out so often. And Genesis 4 is the new normal
03:44 because Genesis 3 is the fall and Genesis 4, mankind begins to live in a
03:51 broken world. So Genesis 4 is a pattern, a pattern for us to look at and we'll study that. I also want to take an
03:58 opportunity to talk a little bit about evolution. I think that's the last part I'll deal with. We talk about mythology
04:05 in the first of the series about the snake. We talk about how genome science supports the case for Adam and Eve being
04:13 the first inhabitants on earth. And today we want to talk a little bit about evolution. Does the Bible support
04:18 evolution? Now why do you think some people say why is that relevant is it may not be relevant to you but to your
04:24 kids it is because they teach this in school. So we'll we'll sidet track a little bit just to give us the views of
04:30 a very famous scholar called Derek Kinder who wrote a very famous Old Testament account on this supported by
04:36 Tim Keller uh about evolution. So let's start now with a word of prayer. Shall
04:43 we bow our heads? Lord God, we we can only come in
04:50 humility and we only come in in repentance
04:57 as we go through this crisis unprecedented
05:05 in the 21st century. As the numbers continue to spike in Malaysia,
05:11 as reports say the worst is yet to come. Lord, we can only just get on our knees
05:18 and repent. This is a new normal for us and we will never be the same again. Speak to us, oh
05:25 Lord, through your word this morning. Let us learn lessons to apply to our
05:30 lives. And Lord, during this session, we repent. We repent.
05:37 And we just ask, are there lessons you want us to learn for ourselves personally?
05:44 And we say this in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay guys, let's turn to scripture and
05:50 we'll go to Genesis and we're going to read chapters 4. So you have your Bibles with you, shall we? Turn to Genesis
05:58 chapter 4. Let me give you a little bit of the background on this. We'll just go
06:04 back first to Genesis 3. And we've been reading about it. Genesis 3:15.
06:12 and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head and you
06:19 will strike his heel. And try to imagine yourself as a Hebrew person in the time of Moses. They will say what does that
06:25 mean? What do you mean by saying that you know eny between you and a woman and there two offsprings here your offspring
06:32 and hers? Who's the offspring of the snake? Who's the offspring of the woman?
06:38 Then you come to chapter four and what is chapter four about? is all about giving birth. Giving birth to Cain,
06:44 giving birth to Abel, uh chapters um five onwards, giving birth to Seth and
06:51 then the linage. So a Hebrew person understands ah that's the connection. So to really understand chapter 4, you have
06:58 to connect it to chapter 3 and in particularly you have to connect it to that verse chapter 3:15. So let's read
07:04 chapter 4 and uh verse one. Let me just read the whole uh chapter. Adam made
07:11 love to his wife Eve. She became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She
07:16 said, "With the help of the Lord, I have brought forth a man." Later, she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now, Abel
07:23 kept flocks and Cain worked the saw. In the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruits of the saw as an offering to
07:30 the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering fat portions from some of the
07:35 firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering. But
07:40 on Cain and his offering, he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry
07:45 and his face was downcast. Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is
07:51 your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But you
07:56 do not do what is right? Sin is crouching your door. It desires to have you, but you must rule over it." Now
08:04 Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother
08:10 Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my
08:17 brother's keeper?" The Lord said, "What have you done?" "Listen, your brother's brother cries out to me
08:25 from the ground. Now you under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened his mouth to receive your brother's
08:32 blood from your hand. When you work the ground, he will no longer yield his crops for you. You will be a restless
08:39 wanderer on the earth." Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you're driving me from the
08:46 land, and I will be hidden from your presence. I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will
08:52 kill me." But the Lord said to him, "Not so." and he ones who kills Cain will
08:57 suffer vengeance seven times over. Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him will kill him. So Cain
09:04 went out from the Lord's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain made love to his wife and she
09:11 became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city. He named it after his son Enoch. To Enoch was
09:17 born and was the father of Mehujel. Mehujel was the father of Methusel and
09:22 Methusel was the father of Lamech. Lamech married two women, one in Ada and
09:28 the other Zilla. Ada gave birth to Jabal. He was the father of those who live in tents and raised livestock. His
09:35 brother name was Jubal. He was the father all who played string instruments and pipes. Zilla also had a son Tbal
09:42 Kain who fought all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal Kane's sister was Nama. Lamech said to his wife, Adah
09:50 Zilla, listen to me. Why is Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring
09:57 me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamat 77 times. Adam made love to his
10:04 wife again, and she gave birth to a son named him Seth, saying, "God has granted me another child in place of Abel since
10:12 Cain killed him." Seth also had a name. He named me Enosh. At that time, people
10:17 began to call on the name of the Lord. Okay, it's a straightforward reading.
10:23 Most people are familiar with this story, but some of the details can be quite interesting. Now, as mentioned
10:29 just now, chapters four is what we call the blueprint because chapter 3 is a
10:34 fall. Chapter 4 is the new normal. So, chapters four sets you a lot of things
10:41 which are what we call precedence in a broken world. It gives you the blueprint
10:46 and there are three things mentioned here which is the first time ever mentioned in scripture and we'll pick it
10:52 up as we go on. Let me give you the first one and the first one is the word
10:58 sacrifice not brought up before in the first three chapters and we of course know the story two brothers one is a one
11:05 is a shepherd another is a farmer Kane is a farmer and the story goes he g he
11:11 brings some offering but there's a contrast here so let's look again at that verse the verse is in verse 2b now
11:19 Abel kept flocks so he's the shepherd Cain worked the soul in the course of
11:26 time. Cain brought some of the fruits of the soul as an offering to the Lord. So it just says Cain brought offering. Now
11:32 what's interesting is that it doesn't tell you why he did it. Now verse four is interesting because it's contrasted.
11:40 And neighbor also brought an offering. And here is the contrast. Fat portions
11:45 from some of the first born. Fat portions from some of the first born. So
11:51 the author is very obviously telling you two offerings, one is the best and one
11:58 is not. So that's an easy reading to read. We'll come to application later on. And then there's a very famous verse
12:04 everybody jumps on which is u verses 6 to 7 about lord said to Cain why you
12:10 angry. So here's the second uh s there are three s's that u that is sets the
12:17 tone never been used before in scripture. The first is sacrifice. We found that in verses 1 to5. Here's the
12:25 second S. And it's the word sin. Never used before. Wasn't even used in
12:30 chapters three. And it says in that very famous verse, if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. It
12:39 desires to have you, but you must rule over it. And remember, at this point, uh, Cain hasn't sinned yet, but he's
12:46 very close to doing it. So, that's the second part. And of course verses 8 onwards he uh
12:53 Cain there's the account of Cain murdering the brother you find as a parallel now with Genesis Genesis when
13:01 when Adam and Eve sin God says where are you actually God knows where they are and here's the same thing uh Lord says
13:07 to Cain where is your brother Abel actually the Lord knows the Lord is trying to flush him out and then of
13:13 course uh verse 10 there is the curse we'll come to that it's important verse your brother's blood cries out to me
13:20 from the ground. Now, what does that mean? We we look at Hebrews to try to understand a little bit. And then
13:26 there's what is called the mark of Cain. Now, you're under a curse and driven from the ground. And um we find the mark
13:34 of the cane is found in verse 15. Anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over. Now, we don't know
13:40 what the mark is, so let's not speculate. But what's important is that
13:46 the mark of Cain is a mark of grace because Cain complains he's going to be
13:52 killed by people out there. So God puts a mark on him so that he doesn't get
13:58 killed. Now I want to spend a bit of time on this. Here's a question to everybody out there, to all the Bible
14:04 scholars. Cain says in verse 13, "I'll be a restless wanderer on the
14:10 earth. Whoever finds me will kill me. How many people on earth then
14:18 before this you read it you will think Adam Eve Cain Abel ma four people ma
14:27 where did these other people come from now to compound the story later on verse
14:33 17 Cain made love to his wife uh who was
14:39 the father of Cain's wife you you got to answer these questions And later on, just one verse after that,
14:46 Cain was then building a city. You don't build a city with five people.
14:52 You need a lot more people. So, the text is telling you there were a lot of people. Where did that come from? So,
14:59 let's divert a little bit because I'm going to talk a little bit about science and evolution. Now, now there are two
15:04 ways of looking at it. And I want to stress, you don't have to agree with me, okay? Christians must learn to agree to
15:11 disagree on non-essential things. Why am I bringing this up? Because if your kid asks you, "Dad,
15:17 uh, what happened to the dinosaurs?" Dad, uh, I learned about Cromagnon men today
15:25 in school. I learned about Netheral men. I learned about homo erectors. They found the fossil of the skulls of early
15:32 men. Does the Bible teach us about early men? How do you reply him? and and this is a chapter which interestingly gives
15:38 you an avenue to explain this. Now there are two schools of thought and this just my view. The first is that
15:47 some scholars say Adam and Eve had actually more children
15:52 and the narrator here is only picking up the line of Cain and Abel and later on
15:59 the line oh sorry the line yeah Cain and Abel and the line of Seth. So that's one
16:04 story because at that time scripture tells us people live very long many many
16:09 hundreds of years. So it was very easy for Cain and Able to populate the earth with many people and then all of them
16:17 had a lot of children people live very long and so by the time the account comes where Cain says other people will
16:24 kill me they are all the offspring of Adam and Eve. That's possible. But I
16:31 struggle with that because textually look at the way the verse goes. It says in verse 25, "Adam made love to his wife
16:39 again and she gave birth to a son named Seth. God had granted me another child in place of Abel." Now the way the the
16:47 text goes, it simply means that there was only one other child after Cain.
16:54 After Cain murdered Abel, there Seth and then the line continued. The text doesn't seem to support that
17:02 and then you have a lot of children and the narrator only picked this up but you could believe in this. Here's another
17:09 possibility which is quite controversial. There are actually a lot of other people out there. They are not
17:15 from the line of Adam and Eve. Now it's a scholarly debate. A very famous
17:20 scholar called Derek Kinder wrote this in a Tinder commentary. Tim Keller has written about it. It's not perfect but
17:27 it's worth exploring. And the proposition is this. It comes from the book of Job. I want to divert a bit
17:34 because this is important point. And book of Job chapter 10 says this. Let me just read it to you. You don't need turn
17:40 to it. Verses 8. Your hands shaped me and made me will you now turn and
17:46 destroy me? Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? Now that's poetic language. God
17:53 is what? The potter. You are the clay. Did you not pour me out a milk and
17:58 curdle me like cheese? Cloth me with skin and flesh and knit me together with
18:04 bones and senals. You gave me life. Now what is that doing? Uh in Job there's a
18:11 combination of biology and creativity. So kinder's view is that God created
18:18 many men and again this is bit controversial and in that new earth in the garden of
18:24 Eden right he put Adam and Eve he put together perfection it didn't mean out
18:30 there there was sin it was basically unclean some people call it or imperfection and that accounts for
18:38 dinosaur fossils that accounts for cromagnet man it accounts for homo
18:43 erectus and in Derek Kinder's When God made Adam his image, God had
18:51 made him the federal king. Everyone out there became regions. So the blessings went out and when Adam sin, that same
18:60 curse went out. And so it ties in with Romans 5. So kinder in one proposition
19:06 basically says that explains and reconciles signs with the Bible. Now you
19:12 don't have to agree to it. Why am I telling you this? because it's interesting if you want to have a dialogue with other people on that.
19:19 Here's what Christians believe. It should not be a debate about evolution versus the Bible. The Bible is
19:27 not against evolution as a biological process because chapter 3, we found out
19:32 already there is already an evolution of plants. Versus 18, it will produce
19:38 thorns and tissels for you. That's evolution. what the Bible or what Christians are concerned about is when
19:45 evolution is taught as a worldview and removes God. So a little bit of diversion for us. So let's go back to
19:51 the text. So after that what happens is that we know Cain then went out he built
19:56 a city. Um his children did very well. And here's the third S, right? You
20:03 notice there's a the word seven is mentioned a few times. First is found by by God. The Lord says anyone who kills
20:11 him verse 10 will suffer vengeance seven times over. And then in verse 24 the
20:19 descendant of Cain Lamech says if Cain is avenged seven times Lamach 77 times.
20:25 So what does that seven implies? We're going to go to it and I want to make a suggestion. Seven is actually perfection
20:32 and by lame perfection is being being distorted. The last S I'm going to give
20:39 you, we had first we had about sacrifice. The second is sin. Here's the
20:45 third one, sovereigntity. Sovereigntity. So I want to give you three points. Number one, there are two ways to live.
20:53 I think that's important for us to remember. There are two ways to live. Is marked by Cain. The way of Cain, the way
21:02 of Abel. And in these very difficult times, we need to get our overall perspective right.
21:08 And we need to ask ourel again are we going the way of Cain or are we going the way of Abel? There are two ways to
21:14 life. That's the first thing perspective. Here's the second point which is really relevant to us.
21:21 Guard your emotions. And during this time a lot of people are fearful.
21:26 In the case of Cain it was anger. And God is telling him guard his emotions.
21:32 Why? Because he says sin is crouching your door. you must rule over it. He
21:37 hasn't sinned yet and we know he's very angry. Guard your emotions whether it's anger or fear or sadness. Lastly,
21:46 this is a story where the good guy dies. The bad guy does very well. I mean, the
21:52 bad guy has kids. They go on to invent everything. They they are the forefathers of creativity, music.
22:00 They're the forefathers of agriculture. They are forefathers of technology. That's the line of a murderer. So you're
22:08 a Hebrew guy, you read it, you say, "What what what's so great about this chapter?" So God is sovereign and and
22:13 that that's probably important for us as we we go through such difficult times and we are we are just not sure when it
22:19 will end. So we're going to look at these three points. So let's look at the first one. Two ways to live. And I want
22:26 to I want to look at the book of Hebrews. But let's let's we picked up just now there are two sacrifices,
22:33 right? And it's very obvious Abel gave the best, Cain did not. And of course, a
22:40 lot of people like to make a lot of comments about that. They like to speculate that Cain did it because of
22:45 reason A, B, for ritual. The Bible doesn't tell us. So, let's not speculate. Let's go to the book of
22:53 Hebrews because the book of Hebrews picks up this sacrifice. And if you have
22:58 your Bibles with me, turn to Hebrews chapter 11. Now, it's important because
23:05 Hebrews is a book telling Christians to persevere. And in the context of
23:11 Hebrews, it's persecution for us. Now, is not persecution, it's uncertainty. So, it's is a good book to refer to. So,
23:18 look at Hebrews 11 verse one, famous verse. Now, faith is confidence in what
23:23 we hope for, assurance for what we do not see. This is what the ancients were
23:28 commanded for. And we jump to verse four. The first person he mentions. By faith, Abel brought God a better
23:36 offering than Cain did. That's all it says. By faith, he was commanded as righteous. So his offering was
23:42 righteous. Why? It says when God spoke well of his offering. And here's an
23:47 interesting verse. By faith, Abel still speaks
23:53 even though he's dead. And by faith, Abel still speaks even though he's dead.
23:59 Wow. What is he speaking to you and me? He's saying this. He's saying any
24:05 sacrifice, remember the context of chapter 11 is faith. Context of Hebrews 11 faith. Any sacrifice not given in
24:13 faith is not a sacrifice at all. So during this time, if you are tuned in
24:20 and you've been doing it regularly, it shows your heart is right. Some people says I only go church I and and and they
24:28 don't bother but when the virus is over you see them back again sitting at the
24:34 back so encourage yourself you're on regularly you persevere
24:40 that's a sacrifice of faith because faith is seen in difficult circumstances
24:46 you see why is Abel's faith pointing to us what does it speak to us it speaks
24:53 to us being a living sacrifice. There are two ways to live and that's
24:59 Romans 10. You're either a living sacrifice where you give everything to God,
25:06 he rules over you or you have a form of religiosity. You have a form of being
25:14 like Christian. You you'll be there. You you go through the motions but in dark
25:19 times you are shaken because your faith is not really there. Two ways to live.
25:25 One, God is king in your life. Why? Because Jesus died for my sins and he's
25:33 both my Lord and Savior. Secondly, you come to church. You look like a
25:39 Christian. You speak Christian words and like Cain, you offer some sacrifices.
25:44 You give money in, you come occasionally, you know how to say the right words, but the heart isn't there.
25:51 You see, it isn't about a person who doesn't believe in God and a person who believes in God. It's about being fully
25:59 committed to God and not Cain and Abel, Enoch and Jacob, Ishmamail and Isaiah.
26:07 And as you go on, same thing. Sorry. Ishmamail and Isaac, you you have sheep
26:13 and goats. You know, two kinds of Saul, narrow gate, wide gate, two ways to
26:20 live. And you got to ask yourself during this difficult time, you may think you're a Christian, but are you like
26:26 Cain? Because there's much more to Cain to us than we admit. And during crisis
26:31 times where our faith is being shaken, that's where we see who
26:38 are we. Here's the other part and and Hebrews is interesting because Ka uh Abel is not just mentioned in chapters
26:47 11. He has that bonus of being mentioned again in chapters 12. And chapters 12 is
26:53 such a great chapter. We'll come to a little bit about it. And quite interestingly when you go to verse 18
26:59 that's again two choices. Mountain of fear mountain of joy. You notice the
27:04 Bible is very consistent about this motive. Two ways to live two choices. So
27:09 mountain of fear, mountain of joy. Let's go to verse 22. You have come to Mount Zion. I want to see whether you can
27:16 picture this in your mind. He's trying to get you to be encouraged. You must understand the church is persecuted at
27:22 this point. to the city of the living God, to heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of
27:29 angels in joyful assembly. So, so the author is trying to tell you, "Wow, look at that. Hey, hey, don't don't look at
27:36 your current problems. Look with eyes of faith to the future, to the church of
27:42 the firstborn." That's interesting verse, right? Whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge
27:48 of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of
27:54 a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the
28:03 blood of Abel. You got to really soak that in because
28:08 that's really powerful. What is he telling us? Because we read just now in Genesis chapters 4:E 10 he says the Lord
28:17 said what have you done your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.
28:23 You see Abel foreshadows Christ. He's a living sacrifice
28:30 and his act of righteousness caused him to die.
28:35 That's interesting, isn't it? because it's the first account after chapter 3, the new normal. But Abel can't save us.
28:42 His sacrifice points to judgment. And this is why he says, "Your blood's blood
28:47 cries out to me from the ground." What does it mean? There's judgment for sin.
28:52 So you pause here a bit. All of us are a bit like Cain. You say, "Oh no, I didn't
28:60 murder anyone." Really? So if a person goes out there and unintentionally
29:06 infects a lot of people and someone else dies,
29:11 doesn't that make you a sinner? If you go to the supermarket and you
29:17 hoard toilet rolls, what's the difference? If you go on WhatsApp and pass fake news
29:25 and get people depressed, what's the difference?
29:31 you sit at home and and just get on everyone nerves and and always worry and say,
29:38 "Excuse me for those who don't understand Cantonese." What's the difference? You see, sin and suffering are very tied together.
29:45 And so, the blood of Abel points to us in judgment. And so, we are all sinners.
29:53 And so the Hebrews writer says this really really u encouraging to Jesus the
29:60 mediator of a new covenant to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. The blood
30:06 of Abel points to judgment. The blood of Christ points to grace.
30:13 Two ways to live. Are you under grace? Are you under judgment? Does the cross,
30:20 does the gospel just wrap everything us around? Now,
30:26 that's the big picture, right? And you can ask yourself, what's that got to do with what we're going through?
30:31 Everything. Let me give you a classic application just now. We talk about
30:36 toilet rolls, right? Why do people haul toilet rolls? Because there's one emotion there and
30:43 there a lot of online articles on that. It's about dealing with fear. People
30:49 hoard toilet rolls because when you're when you're under fear, you you feel like you're not in control.
30:55 So what do you do? You hoard it because it makes you feel in control. There something you can control. It psychology
31:02 makes you feel better. But actually it's nonsense. It's a very sinful act because you deprive other people of toilet roll.
31:08 The same thing. Last week there was a talk about a certain uh uh you know prescription that was supposed to cure
31:14 uh COVID 19 and it went viral online. Thearmacies are all out of it. So people
31:21 stock, they hoard because the essence of sin is self-centerness. So a guy who who probably needs it can't can't buy it
31:27 anywhere else. You go out there to the supermarket, you want to get sanitizer, 70% alcohol, you can't get it. People
31:33 hoard. So don't say we're not like Kane. So what is that? That's fear. Now here's
31:39 the other extreme. Some people says I'm not afraid of it. I I'm going to go out. There's a rebellious side. I'm going to go out anywhere. God's going to protect
31:46 me. That's nonsense. So how you deal with the emotion of fear
31:51 if you don't control it? What is God telling us? Sin is crouching
31:59 at the door and you must master it. You see when you go on the text here, right, the text in verse 9, how do we know his
32:06 emotions? Because the first thing the Lord says to Cain is why are you angry?
32:14 Why are you angry? because those emotions are the gateway
32:19 to sinful thoughts. He's angry and God is trying to tell you, you know, don't
32:25 let that anger cloud your thinking. Instead, think about what you did. And
32:31 what did he do? He did not give a sacrifice out of faith.
32:36 But what happened? He he let anger just overwhelm him. You notice the language
32:41 here is like a predator. Sin is crouching. It's like a lion. It's interesting as scholars have picked it
32:46 up because in earlier chapter you you notice sin you have few people right our sinful nature the environment and the
32:52 devil and and the snake is called what the snake is deceptive so here here's the thing that how sin works with you it
32:59 deceives you that's what a snake does because the children of the snake are like this and it pounces on you when
33:06 you're not on God so let me explain a little bit the Bible is full about
33:12 dealing with emotions Anger is here. First emotion. Fear all
33:18 over the Bible. You find it in Chronicles. You find it in Kings. You find in the Psalms. No. Uh although the
33:25 oceans roar, you know, Philippians 4, you know, verse six. Now, do not be anxious for anything. Fear is major. And
33:32 here another two more emotions, sadness and joy.
33:38 But what is the text telling us? If the text is pointing towards the gospel, we
33:45 we found it just on Hebrews chapter 12. What is your shield against negative
33:52 emotions during this time? Your shield is the gospel.
34:00 Your shield is the gospel. So brothers and sisters,
34:06 you're sitting home. You are fearful and and and you have every right to be
34:12 fearful. We could spike more and more. The worst could yet to come.
34:18 The economy could be devastated. Some of you out there could go financially very very bad. And then
34:26 people are tense. WhatsApp racist remarks are being made on all sides.
34:32 When fear overwhelms us, it spirals down. In the same case with Cain, it was
34:37 anger. Anger led to resentment, led to jealousy, led to him killing the
34:44 brother. And that's not all. He left a legacy of hate to his children. And his
34:51 children lame remembers it. No remorse and doubles down. Cain is murdered. Cain
34:58 murders anyone. Lamech murdered 70* 7 avenge is an intergenerational problem.
35:07 Guard your emotions because it will it will just make your mind think of all
35:12 sorts of things. Now let let's find something in scripture to deal with the emotions of fear because that's
35:18 something we all go through. Now so let's turn to that very famous text in
35:24 Philippians and we all know that right? We all know Philippians 4 and uh let's read it again. Philippians 4 and we will
35:31 go to verse 6 and it says do not be anxious about anything that's being
35:38 fearful but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. I want to focus on
35:47 verse seven. You see the emotion is there. So first thing Paul tells you is
35:55 calm yourself down. That's why he says the peace of God which transcends all understanding
36:01 will guard your heart and mind. Notice he uses the word God. You know why guard? Because when when we are fearful
36:07 our mind plays up a lot of things. We think of well how long more this going to go? No. How am I going to pay my
36:13 staff? How am I going to to survive if my company doesn't do well? Will it go
36:18 on long? Will the economy collapse? With this the mind plays up many things. So
36:23 he says guard it but guard it with what? Guard it in Christ Jesus.
36:29 God in Christ Jesus. Why God in Christ Jesus?
36:34 Few reasons. One Jesus understands fear.
36:40 At the garden of Gethsemane he says if is possible take this cup away from you.
36:47 So you are fearful. You have a savior who understands fear. Number two, he is
36:54 victorious over fear. So for us who are Christians, we should
36:60 not be anxious. Now that's a struggle. That's a struggle. That's why Paul keeps saying rejoice, rejoice. He's not
37:05 telling you to be really you going to be rejoiceful, but he's trying to tell you your joy should be in the Lord. And he's
37:11 going back to Abel. If your life is a living sacrifice, you give your best to
37:16 God. God doesn't say he's going to remove your problem, but God saying he
37:21 will walk with you. In the same way, God was willing to walk with Cain through
37:27 his problem. And Cain didn't want it. And so Cain departed from the presence of the Lord after the judgment. So
37:33 brothers and sisters, if you if you're worrying about these things, let
37:39 Christ, let the gospel, let the gospel do two things. One, you're fearful.
37:44 Well, Christ understands fearful. So it's normal to be fearful. But number two, he's victorious over fear. He will
37:51 walk with you through. Let him guard your hearts and mind. Here's another thing. Remember, there's some practical
37:57 u advice the Bible is giving emotions and the mind and the Bible is always
38:03 telling you the mind is the key thing. That's why living sacrifice. You going back to the first point. What is living
38:09 sacrifice? That Romans text, the renewal of your mind.
38:16 Either that you keep thinking all sorts of thing you let loose and you sit in four walls there you know you check your
38:21 your WhatsApp every few seconds the dopamine level goes out of control your cortisol goes up you get bombarded every
38:28 few minutes because you're checking your phone they tell you no numbers gone up this is what's happening in the states this is what happening in Spain what
38:34 happened in Italy you you you getting negativity overdose
38:39 so you renew your mind here he gives you a very practical thing you know what he says verse 8 finally Brothers, sisters,
38:46 whatever is true, a lot of WhatsApp messages aren't true. Whatever is noble,
38:53 passing messages around and saying that it's really bad. How long? But sometimes not very noble. Whatever is right,
39:00 whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is
39:06 excellent, praiseworthy, think about such things. And I I'll tell you one great way of doing this. join us
39:13 in our zoom prayer. We will encourage one another and for me u we've been
39:20 doing it a while and I hear brothers sisters they talk we encourage the mind doesn't get so negative. So guard your
39:27 emotions, fill yourself with people and a situation which is not so negative
39:33 because emotions are the gateway for sinful thoughts and sinful thoughts
39:40 leads to sinful behavior. Let me end with this and uh I'm just
39:46 going to wrap the whole story and let's go back to the uh the whole idea of the seven again. I mean this seven is
39:53 interesting because it's not just mentioned twice uh where uh in verse 10
39:59 uh Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over and then lame saying again uh you know in verse 24 Kane is avenged
40:06 seven times lame 70* 7 if you if you count the word Cain and the word brother
40:11 and you and you do a head count they all in multiples of seven so the author
40:16 wants you to pick this up now seven is in the Bible perfection.
40:23 Perfection is this God's will is perfect even though you don't see it. What you
40:29 think the number of the devil is 666 because it's close to seven. Now this is
40:35 what scripture is telling you is happening and this a new normal. The devil tries to imitate God. He can do a
40:42 lot of things. Do technology, do music, do agriculture, show progress but the
40:47 heart is deceitful. There's polygamy and there's violence. You know where we're going with this, right? So this is where
40:53 the text is trying to pull you down. You see when you look at the chapter, right? You see good guy dies,
41:01 bad guy lives, has kids. What does the children do? Become the forefathers of
41:06 all the things that we hold dear today. Agriculture, technology and creative arts. But violence is there and polygamy
41:15 comes in which is abuse of women. Today you know before this virus happened right? Didn't you and I think we were
41:22 living at the peak of civilization. They called it the fourth industrial
41:28 revolution. We thought we were invincible before this technology is moving so
41:34 fast. We are completely wired. And what's the most one of the most precious
41:39 commodity? We wanted the ability and the freedom to travel. We could just get
41:46 anywhere, do what we want. And in all the scenarios, we imagine
41:52 that we will be brought down. Did we ever imagine we will be brought down by
41:58 the smallest of creatures in the fallen world? The germ. The germ humbled us. So
42:05 God is speaking to us and what is God saying? God is saying even in this story
42:11 which is such an unhappy story the war between the offspring of the
42:17 serpent and the woman continues. It means God works through what we call
42:23 salvation history through bad times, through good times and through this virus. God is working. We don't know
42:31 what he's doing but he's working. Let me just end with uh Romans 8. We we looked at it before. I want you to just pick
42:38 that up again because Romans 8 wraps up a lot of what we are saying and we read
42:45 this before in two weeks ago when we look at creation care. Let me just go to
42:50 verse 20. For the creation was subjected to frustration. Romans 8. You have your
42:57 Bibles. I hope you've turned to it. Not by his own choice but by the will of the one who subjected it. by the will of the
43:03 one who subjected it. God's in control. That's what he's saying. In hope that
43:08 the creation will itself will be liberated from his bondage to decay. And that's what the virus is doing to us. We
43:16 in bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of
43:21 God. That's new creation. So what is God telling us? If you're a
43:26 Christian, we are on our way to new creation. This virus will affect us,
43:34 affect our lifehoods, affect us financially, but we are new creation. It will come to
43:41 pass. It will come to pass. And we will all be a new creation with
43:48 Christ again. God sometimes does what uh I think John Piper calls an occasional
43:55 thunderclap. He did it in 208 in a tsunami. and
44:01 20,000 people died in one day. Sometimes this happens to shock us to say that we
44:06 are not gods of our lives. We are not as smart as we think we are. A small little
44:11 germ, a tsunami will rock us. In this time, brothers and sisters, you have to
44:17 ask yourself, what is God speaking to you? Is God calling you to repentance or
44:24 are you giving into fear? I want to end with a story. This is quite a famous story making the rounds. uh there was a
44:29 plane and the plane was uh going through turbulence is uh has been spoken by Dr.
44:36 David Jeremiah in one of his sermons is and the plane is going through turbulence and everybody in the place
44:42 starts to get all panicky and all fearful because the plane starts to know die when you know they all going to die
44:47 they're going to die and in the plane there's the pastor who's very fearful he sees everybody buckling up the plane is
44:53 going through turbulence he sees a little girl and the little girl is sitting there very cool very calm
45:01 reading a book the plane shakes and shakes and shakes she's very calm about
45:06 Finally, the plane lands and he goes up to the little girl and he says, "You know, little girl,
45:14 why why were you so calm?" And she says something interesting. She
45:19 says, "I know. I knew that the plane would land because
45:27 my dad is the pilot." God's your pilot.
45:33 God is your pilot through Jesus Christ. And he will take us through this crisis.
45:39 He doesn't promise us safe, comfortable lives all the time. His will
45:47 is sovereign, but he will take us through. We just need to put ourselves
45:53 as living sacrifices. Make the right choice in the two ways to
45:58 live and guard our emotions. One point the virus would end. Life
46:05 would go on and during this time God's doing a thunderclap.
46:11 Are you listening?
46:16 At the end of uh chapter 4, the text says this. At that time, people began to
46:24 call on the name of the Lord. To call on the name of the Lord is essentially meaning to pray to call on the Lord. And
46:32 uh during this time a difficult time for us who depend on Christ and not depend
46:40 on ourselves is time for us to call onto the Lord. So I'd like to encourage all
46:47 of us where you are now at home. Quieten down yourself. We're going to enter into
46:53 a time of worship. going to as the music plays, let the Lord minister to you. Let us be children
47:01 of grace and not children of judgment. Let us be the offspring of the woman
47:07 from Abel. So quieten down now as uh brother Leon just takes us through the song. Let God's spirit minister to you.
47:15 Let me just open the prayer. Lord, we ask right now we just quieten ourselves
47:22 and may your spirit just work with us in worship and in prayer. And oh Lord, we
47:28 call upon your name now. We can we can do no other in this difficult times.
47:35 For many out there are suffering. uh marginalized people who live day by day, businesses who are collapsing,
47:43 people who are feeling lonely, and it this is in many ways the church's finest
47:49 hour. Here we are Lord, send us send us to
47:55 this broken world. Here we are, Lord. Let us not wallow in our own emotional
48:00 dungeon. Let us not wallow in the dungeon of fear, but let us step out.
48:06 This is the time while the world stands still in this pandemic. Let us rise as a
48:13 people of God and go to the nations and bring to them the message of your
48:20 amazing grace. We say this in Jesus' name. Amen.
48:28 Amazing
48:33 grace, how sweet the sound
48:39 that save the rich like me.
48:47 I once was lost but now
48:53 I'm found. I was blind but now
48:59 I see.
49:07 There was grace there that thought my heart to fear
49:16 and grace my fears. Believe
49:24 how preious did that grace
49:30 appear. The hour
49:36 leave.
49:43 If you look at scripture in the book of Hebrews, we were looking at just now. And Hebrews as mentioned is written at a
49:49 time of great testing for the church. And we are like most people out there being tested. We may not be persecuted.
49:55 This is something happening to everyone. But this is relevant to us. In chapter 12:1, therefore since we are surrounded
50:02 by such a great cloud of witnesses and that's you brothers and sisters, let us throw off everything that hinders and
50:08 the sin that so easily entangles. the sin of fear, the sin of giving in to fear, the bondage of fear, the the sin
50:16 of these uncertain times and that we are we are just tempted, oh Lord, to trust
50:22 in ourselves and not in you. And he say, "Let us run with perseverance the race marked up for us, fixing our eyes on
50:28 Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of faith. For the joy set before him, he
50:34 endured the cross, scorning his shame, and sat down the right hand of the
50:40 throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners. And here's
50:45 a verse for you, brothers and sisters, so that you will not grow weary
50:52 and lose heart. So that you will not grow weary and lost heart. Father, Father God, we just come in prayer now.
50:60 Give us a heart for the nations. Again, this is not our darkest hour. It is our
51:07 finest hour. Lord, let the church arise
51:12 when the world seems lost. When the world seems panicky at the pandemic, let
51:18 your people arise. Go to the nations. Let us reach out for those who feel lost
51:23 at home. Let us reach out for those who are financially troubled. And we begin by prayer. We begin by prayer. So if you
51:31 are seated there right now, I'm asking you to have a big perspective on this. There are two ways to live. And the way
51:37 of Cain is a way of self-centeredness. But we choose the way of Abel. Abel who
51:43 gave himself us as a living sacrifice and pointed the way to the cross. Let
51:49 not sin crouch at the door and pounce on our fear. Oh Lord, we will not we will not submit to that. Let not fear grapple
51:57 us and bondage us. We have a captain that will bring the plane to safety.
52:04 We need to trust you, oh Lord. And Lord, you have not said that our lives will not be free of pain and suffering. Many
52:10 struggle out there, but you have promised you will walk with us. So right now, if you're seated there and you're
52:16 struggling, whether it's financial, emotional, the Lord is with you. He will guard your hearts and mind in Christ
52:23 Jesus. Let his amazing grace fill you brothers and sisters. Hallelujah Lord.
52:29 Hallelujah. The Lord bless you. Have a moment of silence as we just quieten down and let
52:35 the song just minister to us. In Jesus name we say this. Amen. the Lord.
