We find here a question. The first question the Lord asked
to the second man, the second sinner on this earth. The first
question he asked to Adam. He said, where are you, Adam?
The second question he asked was to a sinner in the same place
Adam was. This time he asked this question,
verse 6. And the Lord said unto Cain,
why are you angry? Why are you angry? Why is your countenance falling? I picture Cain walk back out
there to his garden, and he was hoeing harder than he'd hoed
in days. He was slinging that hoe into
that ground. He was angry. He was pounding it down as hard
as he could. He was angry. Let's go back up to verse 1.
And Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived, and bare Cain,
and said, I've gotten a man from the Lord. She thought she had
had that promised Messiah that the Lord had promised. She believed
God. Verse 2, And she again bare his
brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep,
but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of
time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground
an offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also brought of the
firstling of his flock and of the fat thereof. God had taught
Adam in the garden, and Adam had taught his sons the gospel.
The sinner had a place at the edge of the garden where he could
come to and worship God. They came unto the Lord. There
was a time set. They came at the end of the process
of time. They came and there was a way
to worship God. Both those boys came with an
offering. The Lord had made coats of skins in that garden and clothed
Adam. He promised him the Messiah,
the seed of woman. And we saw that when he renamed
Eve, it was a symbol of the faith he had. He said she's the mother
of the living, Christ the living, all living who live are living
in Christ. And these boys came and came
brought the fruit of the cursed ground. The ground was cursed.
Something symbolic there, isn't it? Same as a man trying to come
to God in the cursed ground of his flesh. Something he's done. That's what he tried to come
in, the works of his hands. And Abel came in the person and
blood of Christ Jesus by faith in that promised seed, that promised
Messiah. He came by faith in God. How
do you know? Because he came with blood. He
came with blood. He slew an animal. He brought
the firstling of his flock and the fat thereof. Verse 4 says,
And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but
unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. The Lord
had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and
to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and
his countenance fell. Our commentary on this verse
is Hebrews 11, 4. It says, By faith Abel offered. He believed
God. He believed the word he had heard.
He believed that God was going to save him through that promised
seed. Adam told him about his cursed
sin and what he had done. Adam told him how God came to
him and retrieved him. Adam told him how God, instead
of cursing him, said, I'm cursing Satan and I'm providing one that's
going to bear your curse and that promised seed. And Abraham
believed God. And that lamb was slain and that
robe was put on him. And he said, this is what God
has shown me, son. And Abel believed him. God gave
Abel faith. He was born of God and he believed
God. And he came that way. By faith Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness. that he was righteous. God testified. God bore witness of his gifts. God said of Abel, here's a righteous
man. He come the way I said come. Here's a righteous man. He come
trusted me. And he still speaks by that.
Verse 6, And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? Why are you angry? Why is your
countenance fallen? Now that's a good question. Are
you angry? Has what you heard made you angry?
Has the gospel that you heard made you angry? Why? Why? Why are you angry? You know it. If you are, you know it. Why
are you angry? Well, look at what the Lord says
in verse 7. If thou doest well, If thou doest well, the New Testament
tells us Cain's works were wicked. And we're talking about the very
works of him coming to worship God. That's what his wicked works
were. This is what he did not do well.
The Lord said, if thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? Where's this fault? Who's to
blame? Is Abel to blame? Is your brother
to blame? Is your father to blame? Is the
one to blame who's told you the truth? Is God to blame? Is that why you're angry? If
you do well, will you not be accepted of God? Won't you be accepted of God
if you do well? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. Whose problem is it, really,
if you're angry? The way's been made clear. The
way's been taught. The way's been set forth. If
you're angry and you're not accepted of God, where does the fault
really lie? Sin lies at the door. There's
a problem in the heart. That's where the problem is.
Do you think Cain liked to hear that? You reckon Cain agreed
with God? You reckon? Let's turn over to Micah 6. What
is it to do well? What does the Lord mean by doing
well? What is it to do well? If thou
doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? Look at Micah 6, verse 6. Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord? That's what Cain had done it,
and he had come to the Lord and made an offering. Here's a question. Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord and bow myself before the high God? What must I do
to work the works of God so that God will accept me? What is it
to do well so that God will accept me? These are the kinds of questions
that men have. These are the kinds of questions
that men ask. Sometimes they get distressed about their sins.
Sometimes they decide, well, it's time just to get religion
or whatever. Before the Holy Spirit has given
them an understanding, men will start asking these questions.
Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before
the high God? Verse 6. Shall I come before
him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Shall I
sacrifice the firstlings of my flock? Shall I take the very
best and the strongest that I have to offer God? Is that what I
ought to come to God with? No. No. You say, well, that's
what Abel came with. That's not what Abel came with.
That's not what Abel came with. No, Cain came that way. Cain
came trusting in his own sacrifice, the best he had to make him accepted
of God. Abel didn't come to God by faith
in his sacrifice. Abel came to God by faith in
God, by faith in that Messiah, and he came doing well. He came believing God. Now, it's
not coming to him with your sacrifices. That's works, not faith. God
won't receive it. He won't receive, not the very
best of them. Well, here's the next question. Will the Lord
be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of
rivers of oil? Is it the multitude of my sacrifices
that will please God? No. No. If God won't receive
one of our works, He won't receive any. Not even a multitude of
them. Nothing that we can sacrifice
to Him. Not thousands or ten thousands. Verse 7. Will the Lord be pleased if I
give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the
sin of my soul? If I sacrifice that which I love
the most, my own son and daughter, you know, literally, there have
been many throughout history who have literally thrown their
sons and their daughters into literal fire, thinking that it
would appease God for their sin. And there's thousands today,
there's thousands today who are doing the same exact thing by
trying to constrain their sons and their daughters to just believe
something. Just believe something. Get under
the banner of Christianity. It don't really matter. Just
make a profession. Just constrain to make a profession.
And what they're really doing is throwing their sons and their
daughters in the fire. And they'll stand before God
in that day and they'll say, wasn't that a wonderful work?
Paul said, they constrain you that they may glory in your flesh.
It's a deceitful heart that would constrain a man to do that. That
heart needs to be dealt with first, that mother, that father,
before worse than the daughter or the son. Throwing them to
the fire, throwing them in the fire. Constraining and sacrificing
your sons and your daughters won't satisfy God for your sins
either. Verse 8, He hath showed thee, O man, what is good. Uh-oh, we have to find out what
it is. He showed us what it is. He showed
thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of
thee? God said to Cain, If thou doest
well, shalt thou not be accepted. Now here's what we're going to
find out what it is to do well. He hath showed thee, O man, what
is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee? Here it is. But to do justly, and to love
mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. That's what the Lord
requires. Well, preacher, I've done that.
toward my brother all my life. That's how I've tried to deal
justly with him. I've tried to deal mercifully with my brethren.
I've walked humbly before God. That's what I've done. Who were
these sacrifices in these verses just before this? Who were these
sacrifices being made unto? to be made to God. Man was asking,
how can I come to God? How can I come before God? Satan
always starts with man. Satan always says, that's what
that means now. If you'll go out and you'll do
that to your brother and your sister and you'll treat me in
that way, God will accept you. That's starting with Eve. That's
starting with the woman. That's deceit and deceptive.
That's not how, that's not where we start, is it? Who has the
preeminence? God does. Christ has the preeminence. Look at the last three words
there. With thy God. That's the key
to this. He's told, the Lord's told you
what He requires of you. He's required of you to do justly
with your God. He's required of you to love
mercy with your God. And He's required of you to walk
humbly with thy God. What does that mean? That's what
I want you to see today. If you do well, will you not
be accepted? Sure you will. Here's what it
is. Here's the first thing the Lord
requires, that you do justly with thy God. What does that
mean? The Lord requires that you come
to God and confess that all you are is sin. He requires you come
to Him and you tell You confess before God that you justly deserve
His wrath and His indignation, that the very sentence that He
has leveled against you is just. This is how David said it in
Psalm 51, 4. He said, Against thee and thee
only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou
mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou
judgest. It's to do justly with your God.
That publican stood afar off and he wouldn't even lift up
his eyes to heaven. He smote upon his breast and
said, God be merciful to me, a sinner. I'm a sinner. He declared God just. He said,
you're right when you judge. God requires everyone that comes
to him to confess that you are nothing, that you have nothing,
that you can do nothing to please God. You see, to confess I've
sinned against God, that God is just in His sentence against
me, that I'm guilty of all charges, that's to do justly with God.
Because that's true. That's true. Cain was very angry. And Cain wouldn't do justly with
God. This was why Cain was angry.
This is why he came the way he did. He didn't come saying, I'm
a sinner. He didn't come saying, I can
do nothing. I am nothing. I have nothing. God, you're just. You know how Abel confessed that?
He came in an animal that had been slain. And by that he said,
this animal got what I deserve. You know, if you get better than
you deserve, you've got exactly what Charles Manson has right
now. because we deserve just exactly
what he has, what he's gonna get. We deserve to be in hell
right now. We deserve to be punished to
the ultimate sentence, to the ultimate degree, because we've
never, we've, when did it start? When we were conceived, when
we came forth speaking lies, when we walked all our days and
said, I'm not really that bad. I'm not really that bad. All
we've done all our lives is declared God unjust in His sentence of
us. Because God has said we are.
God has said that's the way it is. Cain heard that, that message. And when he heard that message,
his face turned red. It got flush in his cheeks. He couldn't hide it. His countenance
fell. And he got angry, he couldn't hide it, it was in his heart.
You see, he had done a lot of things to try to come to God.
He came worshiping in the way he thought God would receive
him. He went to a lot of effort in the things he did. He came
to the place at the right time, he came with everything, but
what God required, a contrite heart, a broken heart, a heart
that would declare God's just, and he's a sinner. He came with
everything but what God requires. He couldn't come with that. He
wouldn't come with that. He just couldn't. And he wouldn't stop
and ask himself, why is it I'm really angry? What is it that's
really keeping me from rejoicing like my brother Abel and like
my father Adam and like my mother Eve? What is it that's keeping
me from rejoicing with this, my family, and I can't seem to
have any unity with them and harmony with them and rejoicing
with them? It's got to be Abel's fault. That Abel's a sinner. I can see he's a sinner. It's
his fault. It's what he's done to me. It's his fault. It's my
father's fault. It's his fault. It's my mother's
fault. It's her fault. It was everybody's
fault but Cain's. He couldn't come to God and say,
I'm the only one to blame. Why are you angry? Why are you
angry? Well, this is the second thing
the Lord requires. He says there in that verse,
He has showed thee, verse 8, what is good, what does the Lord
require of thee, but to do justly with thy God. Here's the second
thing, to love mercy with thy God. That publican begged and
said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. You see, when you do
this first thing, when you're brought to this first place where
you can deal justly with God, You will love to do mercy with
God. You will love to come and beg
God for His mercy. You see, to do mercy with God
is to desire and to find a light only in Christ. To find that
all the mercy of God towards you is in Him and delight for
it to be so because you see, if God deals with me justly,
according to what I deserve, I need mercy. I need Him to deal
with me in a substitute. And that's what the sovereign
free mercy of God in Christ is. Christ's person, the one who
is holy and well-pleasing to God from the womb to the tomb.
The one whose blood made justification for his people. The one whose
very person is the righteousness. Our righteousness. That's the
mercy of God. He's the mercy of God. Christ
is all. Christ is everything. You will
never know anything about God until Christ is all. Until he's
all. Until he's all. Until he's all. You got too much. and you can't
get in the door, sin will bar the door. When Jesus heard these
folks murmuring and saying, ah, he's sitting with sinners and
he's eating with publicans and he's being merciful towards them,
they said, he don't know they're sinners? And the Lord Jesus Christ
said, he that's whole doesn't need me. That's why you don't
think I'm everything and fall down and deal justly with God
and beg mercy from God, is you don't need me, the physician,
Christ told him. And he said, but those that are
sick do. And he said, now you go and you
learn what that means. He said, get on out of here and
leave us alone and go find out what that means. And come back
when you come back with your tail between your legs, bow down
to God and worship God. And he said, because I'll have
mercy, not sacrifice. I'll have mercy, not sacrifice. I'll have mercy, not the blood
of bulls and goats. I'll have mercy, not thousands
and ten thousands of your sacrifices. I'll have mercy, not you casting
your sons and daughters to the fire. I'll have mercy, not you
walking in an aisle and giving your preachers to a stinking
sodomite's hand. I'll have mercy, not you learning
a system of doctrine and arguing with people who want to fuss
and fight over things that don't amount to a hill of beans. I'll
have mercy, not sacrifice. Do you want mercy? If you want
it, you'll have it. If you do well, shalt thou not
be accepted? If you deal justly with God and
come and love mercy, to do mercy with thy God, to delight in the
robe of mercy, that's the robe of Christ's righteousness. It's
to delight in the robe of free justification accomplished by
Christ's suffering. That's the justification of mercy. It's to delight in a complete
atonement accomplished by the sacrifice of Christ and be satisfied
with Him as God is. That's to delight and love mercy
with God. Cain was angry because he wouldn't
confess his sin. Cain was angry because he didn't
have delight in his soul for the mercy of God found only in
the person and blood of that promised Messiah. That's why
he was angry. This word reveals the intentions
of the heart. That's why he was angry. That's
the only reason. If there's anybody here today
that's angry, that's the only reason you're angry. It's so. It's so. Dear sinner, it's not
that you don't understand my doctrine. That's not keeping
you from being accepted of God. It's that you will not let go
of you. It's that you will not let go
of your sacrifices. is that you will not let go of
your righteousnesses and come empty, delighting to be saved
by God's mercy alone. That's why. That's why. Here's the third thing the Lord
requires. This is what it is to do well.
Look here in verse 8. It's to do justly with thy God.
It's to love mercy with thy God. And it's to walk humbly with
thy God. It's to humble yourself before
God. You see, When you're made to
know this, when we're made to know this, that the first step
that we took toward God was all owing to God choosing us when
we deserve nothing but His justice. For God having mercy upon us
in Christ when we deserve nothing but His wrath and condemnation. because He sent forth this Word,
He sent forth this Spirit, He's made us to be willing to bow
down and come down off our high horse and to humble ourselves
under His mighty hand. When He makes us to know that
that first step towards Him and knowing Him and believing Him
is all owing to His sovereign, irresistible, all-powerful, sustaining,
free grace, then from that day forward, We will depend upon
his sovereign, irresistible, all-sustaining, free grace. And we'll walk knowing that I
need him every hour. I need His gospel. I need His
word. I need His people. I need to
be where Christ has promised me He will meet with me. I need
to be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, which is
of anything I have done, period. I need to have the righteousness
which is accomplished by the faithfulness of Christ Jesus
alone, by faith in His blood applied into my heart by the
Spirit of God. That's where I want to be found,
not hiding in a refuge of leaves. Isn't that something that the
first question that was asked of a sinner by God to the first
sinner was, where are you? And you know where he was? He
was hiding in a refuge he had made himself. And the second
question asked to the second sinner by God was, why are you
angry? And he was angry because God
wouldn't receive him in that refuge of leaves. Look over at 2 Corinthians 12.
Look at verse 9. The Lord told Paul this. He said,
My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect
in weakness. And Paul said this, Most gladly,
therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power
of Christ may rest upon me. You know what it is to glory
in your infirmities? It's this. Paul said it in another
place. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything
as of ourselves, but our sufficiencies of God. It's to glory in the
fact that I don't even have wisdom to think anything of God without
God teaching me. That's glorying in your infirmities. It's what the Lord said through
Isaiah, He gives power to the faint and to them that have no
might. It's to glory in the fact that
I have no might. It's to glory in the fact that
He increases strength to them that have no might. Even the
youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly
fall. Why? There's no strength in them.
No strength in them, but they that wait on the Lord, those
that truly believe God, shall renew strength. They'll mount
up with wings as eagles. They'll run and not be weary.
They'll walk and not faint. Why? The Lord said, because my
grace is sufficient. I'll sustain you. I'll carry
you. And Paul said, therefore, I glory
in two things. He said, I glory in the fact
that I am thoroughly, totally helpless and unable to carry
myself one more minute without God carrying me. I'm unable to
think a right thought towards God without God giving me the
wisdom. I'm unable to even open this book up and look into this
Word right here if He doesn't give me a heart to seek Him.
I'm unable to do one thing towards my Lord if He doesn't constantly
keep me and draw me. I'll glory in that fact right
there. And here's the second thing he
said, I'll glory Him. He that glories, let him glory in the
Lord. He's all my wisdom, He's all my righteousness, He's all
my sanctification, and He's all my redemption. He's all the grace
I need. The grace that chose me, the
grace that redeemed me, the grace that regenerated, the grace that
keeps me is the grace that will carry me all the way home. I
depend entirely upon His grace. It is to declare God just that
you are a sinner and rotten and deserving of nothing but hell
and condemnation. It is to delight in the mercy
of God given freely in Christ Jesus to whomsoever God will
be merciful to. It is to delight in the fact
that I cannot walk another step. I have to submit myself to Him
for Him to carry me and lead me and guide me and teach me
and keep me and direct me all my days. That's so of me. That's
so of you, brethren. That's so of this body right
here, this jerk. That's so of us. That's what
it is to bow to Him. Paul wasn't glorying in his haughtiness.
That's what, remember we saw this morning, that's what Sodom
glory is in, haughtiness. I can do all things. Through
Christ it strengthens me. That's not the believer's cry.
The believer's cry is, I can do all things through Christ
that strengthens me. He's all my strength. And there's
a world of difference in that cry. Hell and heaven, dark and
light, night and day, oil and water, fire and ice, and they
can't walk together. This is what made Cain angry.
He wouldn't come down off his high horse and submit himself
in utter dependence upon the grace of God. Now let's go back
to Genesis 4. Let's deal with this last part
here, Genesis 4. This right here really blessed
my heart too. Genesis 4. Now, this is what
it is to do well. is to do justly with God, to
delight in the mercy of God in Christ, to submit yourself in
humility to the Lord's keeping hand. You come to God that way,
you'll be accepted of God. He's never turned one away that
came that way. All right, now let's read it
again. Genesis 4, 6. The Lord said unto Cain, why
are you angry? Why is your countenance fallen?
If thou do us well, shall thou not be accepted? And if thou
do us not well, sin lieth at the door. That word sin is in
a word that speaks in the male gender. And then it says here
in verse 7, And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt
rule over him. Now, let's deal with this last
phrase. Unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him. Now, some say this refers to
Cain and Abel and their relationship. Some have said that the Lord
said that Cain's rejection didn't change Cain's rights as the firstborn,
and Abel would still be in subjection to Cain, and Cain would have
the rule over him. Well, it's more true if we interpret
this in light of Scripture, what we know to be true of Scripture.
We'll see what this means. It's more true that if Cain was
born of God, of the Spirit of God, as was Abel, then both of
them would be united in Christ. They'd be united in heart in
Christ, in the love of the heart with Christ, and Christ is the
firstborn among many brethren. I don't doubt that there was
some discord between these two on both sides because Cain hated
Abel, and he was angry at Abel because God received him. He
might have tried to pretend like he was, but he hated him. He
despised him. He could not stand him. And Abel
probably had some apprehension about Cain's ability to rule
as the firstborn because they weren't in unity in the gospel.
They just were not at all. Can two walk together except
they be agreed? It just ain't gonna happen. I
mean, it's not going to happen. The Lord said a man's foal should
be they of his own household. I mean, you could be the most
slick-tongued politician there is and get all the endorsements
you can get. You can't bring light and darkness together,
and I can't either. God has to do that. God has to do that.
But if Cain was born of the Spirit of God, as was Abel, then Cain
would have loved Abel and he'd have ruled over him in love.
And Abel would have loved Cain the more and respected him as
the firstborn because they'd both be doing so to each other
in respect to the promised Messiah who's the firstborn. Christ would
have the preeminence between them both and there'd be unity
between them. What I see in this does include
brotherly love. It does include that. But I think
that the desire, the subjection here, it says there in verse
7, it says, unto thee shall be his desire. And it says, I think
that's referring back to sin that's crouching at the door.
And I think the reason that they're both in the male, spoken of as
male gender, is because sin, the one that's crouching at the
door, is the one who is a devouring lion. who walks about as a devouring
lion seeking whom he may devour. He's right at the door, and he's
ready, Satan is ready to devour Cain. He's got him. He's got
him. He wouldn't come to God. He's self-righteous, thinks he's
holy, thinks he ought to be accepted, thinks God's wrong, and he's
right. Everybody else is wrong. Satan's got him, and he's got
the door blocked, and he's waiting to just devour him like a roaring
lion. But this is what the Lord says. Turn over to Romans 6. He said
there, if you do well, you'll be accepted. And the second thing
that will happen is this, and unto thee shall be Satan's subjection,
his desire. He'll be in subjection to you
and you'll have the rule over him and sin. You'll have the
rule over sin. Look at Romans 6. Romans chapter
6. This is the second thing that
will be Cain's. He'll do well if he comes to God declaring
himself unjust. He comes in the mercy of Christ.
He comes submitted to God. The first thing is he'll be accepted
of God. The second thing is this, verse 14. Sin shall not have
dominion over you. It's going to be in subjection
to you. It won't have dominion over you. Why? Because you're
not under the law, but you're under grace. The law's got nothing
else to say to you. Sin's got nothing else to say
to you. Satan's got nothing else to say to you. Look down at verse
16. Know ye not that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye
obey? Where we have Cain right now,
he's in subjection to Satan. And Satan's got the rule over
him. Sin's got the rule over him. The law's got the rule over
him. And Cain's in subjection. But look what it says. It says,
whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness.
But God bethinked that you were the servants of sin, but you
have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered
to you. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants
of righteousness. You see, the Lord said, if you
came to me the way I set it right to come in Christ, Sin that's
lying at your door right now would be in subjection to you,
and you'd have the rule over him. And you'd be accepted of
me, and sin wouldn't have the dominion over you like it does
right now. That's what the Lord's telling him. If any sinner declares
that God's just and that he's guilty, if he loved Christ and
God's mercy, salvation in Christ and not by our sacrifice, if
he walked humbly with God ever depending upon his grace to sustain
us and keep us, that sinner does that because the Spirit of God's
regenerated him. The Spirit of God's washed him
clean in the blood of Christ at the Lamb and made him a new
creature in Christ born of the Holy Spirit. His old man, that
old dominating, sinful, satanic rich that he was, it's been crucified
with Christ. And his new man's been raised
with Christ to newness of life. We reckon ourselves as we really
are, dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God. And being made
a partaker of the divine nature, having Christ formed in you,
having the Holy Spirit, Christ being your new master now. Sin
shall not have dominion over his children because he's not
under the law, he's under grace. God won't allow it. He doesn't
mean that sin's presence won't always be mixed with what you
do. He doesn't mean that you're going to be able to keep the
law of God. He doesn't take you to Zion and then take you back
to Sinai. That's not what that means. He doesn't mean that Cain
won't be able to make himself perfect by anything he does or
doesn't do in his flesh. That's not what he's talking
about. That sin won't have dominion over you anymore satan takes
that very scripture. I've heard him do it satan takes
that very scripture and says now see here Sin won't have dominion
over you. So now you ought to be able to
live a holy Holy life now and you ought to be able to keep
the law and you ought to be able to Walk through the end of the
day and say well I did sin, but one or two times all day today
That's not what god's saying That's Satan's message. It'll
puff you up, make everybody wrong but you. It'll puff you up, make
you righteous and everybody else unholy. And you'll be saying
to them, you need to stand over there. I'm holier than thou. That's what you'll do. That's
what that message does. This is what it means. It doesn't
mean there won't be unbelief mixed with us so that when we
deal with our brethren that there won't be sin mixed with that.
And we'll sometimes say things we don't mean and sometimes do
things we wish we could take back and wish we hadn't said.
It doesn't mean that that won't happen. That will happen. This
is what it means. The language that's used in our
text, unto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt have the
rule over him, that's marriage language. That's the same language
that was used when the Lord came to Eve and He said, Eve, your
desire is going to be unto Adam. That means you're going to be
in subjection to Adam and Adam's going to have the rule over you.
The next verse in Romans 7, Paul says, we are dead to the law,
to our old husband, that we might be married to Christ. And now
we're in subjection to Him. We're married to Christ that
we might bring forth fruit unto righteousness. He's our husband.
He leads us. He protects us. He provides for
us. He guides us. He directs us.
He will not allow sin to come in and take you, Satan to come
in and take you for those for you to be turned out like an
adulterous woman. He won't allow that to happen
because He's the Master and He's reigning in the hearts of His
people. And He'll keep you and present
you faultless before the throne as His chaste virgin. Turn over
to 1 John 3. 1 John 3. Those born of God can't sin.
You know that? They cannot sin. They can't cease
from believing on Christ They can't be carried away with the
sin of seeking acceptance with God by the wicked works of their
religious deeds. They're going to be kept state
upon Christ because He's all our righteousness. And we're
going to be kept on Him because we were born of His incorruptible
seed, born of the word of truth. We will be kept if we were born
of the word of truth. If we weren't, there ain't no
telling what's going to happen to us. We're born of the word
of truth. We'll be kept, born of the incorruptible
seed. And that enmity that we had towards
God and towards our brethren is removed. It doesn't have to
reign anymore. Now we get along and we love
those that love our Lord, that are begotten of Him. Look at
1 John 3.8. He that committeth sin is of the devil, for the
devil sinneth from the beginning. Where are we at in our text?
We're at the very beginning of it. At the very beginning of
it. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He
might destroy the works of the devil. You see, you and I aren't
going to destroy Him. He is, though. If sin doesn't
have dominion over us, if that one's going to be brought into
subjection to us, it's going to be, we're going to overcome
Him one way, John said, and that's by faith, not by our strength.
Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. That's how this
thing, that's how this thing does. We're born of God and we
don't commit sin. For his seed remaineth in him. And he cannot see sin because
he's born of God. In this, the children of God
are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth
not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother." You want to see what those two things are? These are
the two things that Cain wasn't doing. That's the first thing
we dealt with. The Lord says, if you loved righteousness,
that's what He said when He said, if you do well, you'd be accepted.
If you love righteousness, if you came only in Christ, that's
what it is to do righteousness. And then secondly, He said, in
this enmity and this sin that's got to reign over you, it wouldn't
reign over you no more. You'd love Abel. You wouldn't
be ready to kill him. You wouldn't be angry. Look at
verse 23. This is His commandment. Here's the first thing, doing
righteousness. Believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ.
That's what the Lord said it is to do well, to do right. and
love one another. Love one another. If we deal
justly with God, and we love mercy with God, and we walk humbly
with God, then we will do the same with our brethren. But it
doesn't start with the brethren. It's got to start with being
born of God in the heart. Then we will do that, but not
before. Go back up now to verse 12. Not
as Cain, who was of the wicked one, and slew his brother, Why
did he slay him? Because his own works were evil.
What works? He tried to come to God by his
own. He wouldn't. He wouldn't bow down and say
he was a sinner. He wouldn't come in mercy alone, saved by
grace alone, through faith alone. He wouldn't humble himself under
the hand of God. He hated God and he hated Abel. But why? Because his works were evil and
Abel's works were righteous. Who made them to differ? Who
made these two to differ? Look back at verse 9. Whosoever
is born of God does not commit sin. You mean there wasn't any
sin in Abel? Sure there was. Sure there was.
But not in that new man. Not in that new man born of God.
There was no sin in him. It was created in righteousness
and true holiness, recreated in the image of God. And he couldn't
sin in that new man. It means he never could stop
believing on God. He never could. God wouldn't
allow it. He wouldn't allow that sin to reign over him. He wouldn't
let Satan have him and take him away because he dwelt in his
heart. He can't sin because he's born
of God. Look at verse 24. This is what I'm trying to say.
He that keepeth his commandments, this is why he does it. He that
believes on God and loves those that are forgotten of God, this
is why. Because he dwells in Christ and Christ dwells in him. That's why. They've been made
one. You know why you love your brother?
Just your natural brothers and sisters. If you love them, you
know one of the reasons you love them? Because y'all born of the
same family. You know why you love your spiritual
brethren? You're born of the same Spirit. You're born of the
same faith. You have the same love for the
same Christ. You're saved the same way, rejoiced
in the same. It's the same. It's the same. If he'd have been born of that
seed, he'd have done well. He'd have come confessing his
sin. He'd have come by faith in Christ. He'd have been bowed
to God and his heart had been united to his brother. And they'd
have had a happy family. But instead, he hated God, justified
himself, said, I don't care if that's how God says I have to
do it. I ain't coming that way. Not coming that way. And he hated
his brother. And just in a little while, he
killed his brother. He turned his back on God. but
God cursed him forever. Cursed him forever. When you're
washed in the blood, brethren take sides with God against themselves. They delight in mercy, believe
in Christ. They walk humbly before God.
They want to do nothing to hinder their brethren from keeping Christ
preeminent in their heart. You know what they don't do?
They don't walk around and go, That brother, let me tell you
this, you don't tell anybody else I said this now, but that
brother just don't love, he don't love like he ought to. You know
what he's saying? He don't love like I do. This good old stinking worm and
maggot that I am, that want to shove my dirty, stinking, filthy
rags in God's face and act like I'm somebody while I stand on
my brother. He ought to love like that. That's
Satan's love. That's Satan's love. No, true
love doesn't say that about the brother. True love won't even
say that to their wife. They won't say that for their
children about their brethren. They won't say anything like
that about their brethren. You know why? Because here's
what true love really says all the time. I wish I loved like
my brother. Are you content with your love?
I hope not. Oh, I hope not. Do you think,
boy, I love so much better than that other brother does. I hope
our thought is, Lord, I've never loved you and I've never loved
my brethren like I want to. Oh, I would love to. I see things
in my brethren where I think, I wish I could love like that.
I see brethren do things, little things I see them do, and I think,
man, that was such a courteous, complimentary, loving thing to
do. I wish I'd have done that. I'm
going to do that for my brother. I'm going to go to this other
brother and do that to him. That's a good thing, just to love somebody. That's love. Only God can give
that. Cain couldn't have that love
for Abel. He couldn't. He just couldn't,
and it killed him. Sin crouched at Cain's door,
and it had dominion on him. It barred his door from coming
to Christ. That enmity in his heart, it barricaded him, and
it reigned over him, and he died. Now here's the question to you,
sinner. The Lord said to Cain, why are
you angry? Why are you angry? If there's
anybody here today that's angry at the grace of God, why is it? Why is it? If you do well, you'll
be accepted. And that sin, by His Spirit working
in you, He'll keep you so that Satan can't have that dominion
over you, sin can't have that dominion over you, and that law
can't ever curse you again. You're not under the law of sin
and death anymore. You're in the kingdom of God. You're in
the family of God. He's got you now, and He'll keep
you, and He's gonna bring you home, and it's gonna be certain
He'll keep you. Because as He is, that's how
we are right now. Our life is hid with God in Christ. If you do well, you'll be accepted. And unto thee shall be sin's
desire, and you'll rule over Him. If you do not well, it's
cause of sin. Sin's got the dominion. You know
what I do? Any person here, young or old,
you know what I do? When's the last time you went
to God? In your closet, wherever it is, you can get along with
God and pour out your heart to God. When's the last time you
went to God and said, Lord, all I have ever done is sin against
you? The very best thing I have ever
done is altogether polluted in my sin. When's the last time
you said that to God? When's the last time you went
to God and said, Lord, the only way I want to be accepted is
by your free favor. by your sovereign grace, by your
mercy in Christ alone. If you're willing to be gracious
to me, if you're willing to have mercy on me, Father, that's all
I'm asking is just grace and mercy. And Father, help me now. Help me now to stay on my face. Help me now when I get up and
I go on my way, Help me now when I get up and I go do whatever
it is I gotta do. Help me, Lord, to stay bowed
before You in my heart. Make me be humble before You. If you can do that, honestly,
with a heart that truly delights in the mercy of God, the Master's
already taken. dominion in the heart, Christ
the Lord, by his spirit. And God will receive you. He'll
have you. He'll accept you. He's never
turned away one that came to him for mercy and beg mercy. But he will not take anybody. He will not have anybody who
tries to stand and pray by themselves, to be seen of men, to put on
some arrogant show, and to say, haven't I done all these great
things? Haven't I done all these great
things in religion for you, God? I'm not like that brother. I
love better than he does. He won't have that man, just
won't have him. And it'll go further and further
and worse and worse, just like it came. It's like it did when
you turn your tent towards Solomon. It'll get worse and worse. Come
to him, confessing what you are, begging mercy. Bow down before
God, and he'll receive you. He will. Amen.