found it, you can say amen, and I'll know that you're there. Amen. Not hard to find this morning, an easy passage, a familiar passage, something that you've heard about all your life. And one of the second stories, or third stories, that a lot of times when parents tell their children when they're teaching them, about the Bible and the things of God. All right, Brother Butch, I think I got it going now. So, Genesis chapter number 4 this morning, and let's look at verse number 1 and notice what it says there. It said, And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of the sheep, but Cain was the tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought the fruit of the ground, and offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also brought of the first things of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. For the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth, and why is that countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And the Bible says, And Cain talked with Abel and his brother, and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. Now we're going to take our text out of verse number seven. And this is a famous passage, and I preached on it. here at Fellowship Baptist Church once or twice the 20 years I've been here. But yet it's an important subject this morning when we consider what God said. He says, if thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? That's a spiritual truth. If you do the right thing and you obey God, then God will accept your person. It says, and if thou doest not well, he says this statement, sin lieth at the door. You know, that's the problem with so many people in the day in which we live. Because sin lies at the doorstep of their heart every day. And they stumble over it every day. Because they can't seem to get the sin in their life taken care of. Sin is such a terrible thing in anybody's life. It's terrible in the sinner's life. It's terrible in the saint's life. Sin kills everything. And I think we know that. And that's why God told Cain, he said, Cain, look out, sin lieth at the door. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray you bless the word this morning. And there's no one that can say this morning that they don't need this message as we preach on sin. Because sin is affecting every one of us. Lord, I wish I could say that sin has never touched my life, but I would be a liar. I wish I could say that I've never had sin in my life, and again, I would be a liar. And God, I wish I could say, God, that sin's not powerful, and Lord, I'm immune to it. But God, that's just not true. Sin affects every one of us this morning. And I just pray that we could be honest about it, and that was Cain's problem, and that's why sin lied at the door, and that's why he did what he did. And God, I pray the Holy Spirit would speak to all of our hearts this morning. And God, I ask it in Jesus' name, amen. This morning as I preach on this thought of sin laughed at the door, this is an interesting account of what unconfessed and unchecked sin does in a person's life. What do I always tell people? Keep short accounts with God. I don't know about you, when I do something wrong, the Lord tells me right away, hey, that wasn't right. Hey, you shouldn't have taken that. Hey, you shouldn't have lied about that. Hey, you shouldn't have done that. And I said, God, I'm sorry, you're right, I shouldn't have done that. Right? And we sin and we do things without thinking about it, but let me tell you, when God deals with you about it, hey, you gotta take care of it on the spot. Less sin get advantage in your life. I've learned one thing, when you gotta say you're sorry, you gotta apologize, you gotta make things right, the sooner you do it, the better. Years ago, when I was in grade school, in fifth grade, I liked this girl, her name was Jen Heon. And she was a Korean girl, and she was new in the school, and she was the only Korean girl in the school, and she was pretty. And I liked her, but I didn't know how to tell her I liked her, because you just didn't do that, right? You don't tell people you like them. And so I thought I would impress her one day. And you know how boys are, they be mean to girls. And so she was running on the baseball field, and we were all running, and I said, have a nice trip, see you next fall. Well, you know what happened, right? And man, as soon as I gave her that little shove, and she went down, I knew I'd done the wrong thing. Because she started crying. And her knee was skinned, and her hand was skinned, and I thought, oh boy, I'm standing back, I am in trouble now. Of course, Miss Alexander come running out, and she said, what happened, what happened? She said, all I heard was something about have a nice fall. I thought, oh my gosh, I am really in trouble. Well, of course, Mrs. Alexander said, these boys are so mean. I was glad she said boys because, you know, we were boys who were running together. I wasn't the only mean boy. We had a whole classroom full of mean boys. But she did some investigation, and she came to me and said, now listen, let me tell you something, Chris. He said, you're going to apologize to her, and I will give you five days to do it. Well, that was on Friday, so I knew Monday I had to make some apology. But I couldn't do it on Monday. And then Tuesday came around and I didn't do it. Wednesday came around and I hadn't mustered up the courage to do it yet. And Lori Schaffer, a friend of mine, she said, Chris, the teacher told me that if you don't apologize by Friday, you're getting paddled. Well, I didn't mind getting paddled, but the only problem was if you got paddled at school, you got paddled at home. Right? And they stuck a note to you, and you had to go home, and your parents had to sign the note, and you had to bring it back that they knew that you got paddled. So on Friday afternoon at lunchtime, I finally mustered up the courage. I saw her walk between where they had the shelves where you put your coats in the lunchroom, and I went and told her, I said, Jennie, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. And after I said that, this load of weight was lifted off of me. And I thought, man, why didn't I do that on Monday? Why didn't I do that on Friday? You know, the Bible talks about a weight of sin. And there is a weight of sin that weighs us down in our spiritual life. But there's something about when you get on your knees and you talk to God and you tell God you're sorry, that lifts the weight of sin. When I got saved, December 15th, 1979, I asked Jesus Christ to be my savior, and I asked him to come into my heart and forgive me of all my sin. Man, that was such a burden that was lifted. Because for the first time in my life, I felt clean. And I thought to myself, God, if only I'd have known about this sooner. If only I'd known about, and I was 17 years old. And I'd carry that weight of sin in my life probably from the time I was 10 or 11 years old, because we were living so sinfully, even as children. Sin is a cancer that spreads like wildfire in a person's life. Cancer untreated will spread throughout the body. What do they say? Get early detection. Early detection is the key to surviving cancer. I had some skin cancer on my head here years ago, and my father-in-law gave me some stuff that eats skin cancer. He got it from the VA. And he said, hey, you want to try that? And I said, sure, I want to try it. And it did. It ate the cancer on top of my head. But you know what it did? It made it spread all the way to my skull, almost. And by the time I finally said, I better do something about this, because the bleeding wouldn't stop, it broke open every day. Because skin cancer bleeds. If your skin cancer's bleeding, it's growing. And so I went to Dr. Banks over here. He's the best there was in Chattanooga. And he said, you know, he said, what have you been doing? He said, I've been putting this topical cream on that eats the cancer. He said, yeah, but it's spreading underneath. And after four hours in his office, four and a half hours in his office, while he's cutting my scalp and cutting and cutting and cutting, he finally got down. He says, now, Chris, I'm pulling off your skull membrane. They did pathology four times. It was as big as a half dollar on my head. And he said, I'm pulling off the skull membrane. And I said, doctor, does that mean if that is cancers that I have bone cancer? He says, Chris, that's exactly what it means. We waited another 30 minutes, pathology came back, and they said there was no cancer in the skull membrane. You know what he told me? He said, you won't do that again. Early treatment and detection is essential. Can I tell you, when it comes to sin, early treatment and detection is essential in your life. Because if you let it go, it'll spread like cancer. How do you get four-stage cancer? Because it starts in one spot and spreads to another organ, to another organ, to another organ, until it's terminal. And sin is just like that. The wages of sin is death. It'll kill you. Sin kills. The California wildfires that they had years ago, when they went out there and they detected the fire, a half acre was on fire, and they said, you know what? No big deal. We'll take care of it tomorrow. It's nighttime. Let's just let it go. Well, by morning light, 100,000 acres had burned and it was uncontrollable. Can I tell you that? That's what sin does to people's life. The Bible says the little foxes spoil the vine. A little lie, a little stealing, a little cheating, a little misbehaving. And let me tell you, that thing can turn into something really big before you know it. where it gets control of you. I've said this many times, sin will eat you up just like a wildfire, and you won't even know what happened. People say, how did I get to this place in my life? Because that's what uncontrolled sin does to a person. And it overcomes you quickly. I have seen people get involved in sin, and in a matter of weeks, their life was completely destroyed. I've seen people get involved in sin and in a matter of days their life was destroyed. And I've seen people get involved in sin and in a matter of hours their life was destroyed. That's why we need self-examination sometimes. 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5 says, Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith, and prove your own selves, and know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates. You say, what's that mean? Hey, you shouldn't have to ask anyone if you're saved. You should be asking yourself, am I saved? Am I living the Christian life? Am I doing the right thing in my life? You know, many times when I'm doing something, I'll pray and I'll say, now Lord, is this the right thing? Is this something I should be doing? Is this something that's good and right? Or is this something that's displeasing to you? I don't wait for you to tap me on the shoulder and tell me, hey, I want to take care of that thing early in my life. Lest it becomes something that's completely devastating and out of control. You see some self-examination, some sincere and honest evaluation in our life. You know, that's the problem when it comes to so many things. We cannot be honest with ourselves. Hey, we've got to be honest with ourselves when it comes to what sin is. The other day I was down at LKQ and I was getting this little thing for Brother John and I had this desire or this evil thought to just put it in my pocket. It's just a little piece of wire. It's a pigtail. And I thought, you know what, this is no big deal. This is nothing. It's just a little pigtail. I mean, this thing couldn't cost 50 cents. And my evil sense said, just put it in your pocket and leave. And then the Holy Ghost said, yeah, but that's stealing. Don't tell me, hey, I'm tempted with sin just like you are. And I got it back out of my little pocket and I said, I'm not gonna take that. And I actually had two of them. And I got up the thing and I said, hey, is this 50 cents? How much is this thing gonna cost? And the guy said, that'll be $10. I said, you gotta be kidding me, $10, my little thing? That's ridiculous. And I thought, you know what? It's better I paid the $10. What's the point you're making? I could have kept that in my pocket. But what would that have been? Stealing. Would I not be the biggest hypocrite ever to get up here and tell you not to steal? And then I'm doing it myself? Let me tell you, a little sin can mess up everything in your life. And big sin starts with little sin. And stealing is no little sin, it's a big sin. You take a little something and lose all your credibility. You take a little something, hey, and you lose all your respectability. Hey, you take a little something, and hey, and God is not pleased with it! We gotta be honest with what sin is. Hey, look at yourself and make an honest evaluation. Right is right, wrong is wrong. Hey, was it right that thing you told somebody? Is it right that you got mad and cursed someone out? Hey, is it right that you did some of these things that you shouldn't have never done? Hey, recognize what it is. The Bible says be angry and sin not. An honest, sincere evaluation when it comes to salvation. Sometimes people cannot be honest with themselves that they've never been saved. They've never been saved, but they can't be honest about it. You ask them, hey, you been saved? Well, you know, I'm a good person. That is not what I ask you. I mean, are you a professional politician? Now, a politician, do you ask them a question, and they talk about everything else except for what you ask them? Because they're not gonna address the question. It's yes or no. I love these hearings they have in Congress, and they'll ask a witness a question, and the congressman or the senator will say, it's a yes or no question. Well, salvation's the same way. Have you ever been saved? It's a yes or no question. Are you living for Jesus Christ? Well, I'm trying to, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. No, it's a yes or no question. And when people start off-escaping, or how is that word? They start going off into the weeds somewhere and say, can we not get to the point of what we're talking about? I asked a man one time about that, and I said, why are you changing the subject? And he finally said, preacher, I don't want to talk about it. And I said, you need to talk about it, brother. That's the problem. You ever try to talk to your kids and they don't want to talk about it? They put their head down. They pout. Right? I have seen big adults do that in my church office. And I'm thinking, you've got to be kidding me. I don't wanna talk about it. Hey, can I tell you, sin has to be cleansed and it has to be confessed. And you oughta know that you're saved and going to heaven. The Bible says, these things have I written on you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know you have eternal life, and that you may believe in the name of the Son of God. 1 John 1, 8, 9 says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just, forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You see, that was Cain's problem. God did not accept Cain's offering. He couldn't deal with it. He couldn't deal with the fact that God did not have respect unto his offering. You say, why didn't God have respect for Cain's offering? Because God doesn't accept any of us on our terms. Can I say that again? God doesn't accept any of us on our terms. You can't say to God, you have to accept me as I am. You can't say to God, this is how I'm gonna be saved. You can't say to God, I'm getting into heaven my way. No, the Bible said, Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. You get into heaven God's way and no other way. Or you're a thief and a robber. And that was Cain's problem. In verse 3 to 5, Cain had labored. It says, in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought before the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought the first things of the flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering. Why? Because you've got to bring blood. Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. You've got to bring a lamb because Jesus Christ will become the Lamb of God one day. And he would spill his life's blood and give his life's blood so that you and I could be saved. Verse 5, it says, But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect, and Cain was very rough, and his countenance fell. Did you ever hear that saying, you can't get blood out of a turnip? He brought his vegetables, but let me tell you, there was no blood in the vegetables. He brought his good works, but there was no blood in his good works. He brought the best that he could do. But the lesson is it wasn't good enough. If the best you could do was good enough, Jesus would have never died on the cross for the sins of the world. But you know what unconfessed sin produces? Verse number six or five says, And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. You know how you know when kids are messing up with sin? Their countenance falls. And the relationship is broken. When my kids were messing up and fooling around and doing wrong things, me and Miss Lisa always knew it. And we would have our discussions, say, yeah, Rebecca and Sarah are messing around, and Sarah's back there right now. And he said, we're gonna catch them, it's a matter of time. Because their attitude towards us has changed. And it wasn't that we changed, it was that they got sin in their life and it's caused them to change towards us. Sometimes as pastor, I'm in the church and people love me, love me, love me. And then all of a sudden they hate me, hate me, hate me. And I'm thinking, what has changed here? Why has their attitude changed towards me? As far as I know, I haven't noticed or done anything, but all of a sudden, one day, they walked in the back door, and their countenance was fallen. And just like God noticed it, and just like you as a parent noticed it, I as a pastor notice it. One dear brother, one time, his countenance had fallen, and not here, but somewhere else, and all of a sudden, he'd start calling me, hey, bud, hey, bud, hey, bud, what it used to be Brother Chris. And I'm thinking, what's going on here? What's happening here? His countenance had fallen. And lo and behold, I became public enemy number one. And to this day, I didn't know what I had done. You say, what was the problem? The problem was him and the sin in his life. Hey, preaching is a spotlight. that shines on people's hearts. And you can't blame the light that exposes the truth. What did Jesus tell the Pharisees? If I had not come and been a burning and shining light, right? Then you'd had a cloak for your sin, but now you've got no cloak for your sin. It's why they hated Jesus. Can I say this this morning? I'm preaching on sin and what sin does when it lies at the door. I got a few little things this morning. When sin lies at the door, the first thing it does is defiles your conscience. You say, what does it do? It'll take the peace and joy and happiness right out of your life. You know, the Bible says in Galatians 5.22, talks about the fruit of the Spirit. You can tell when people are walking in the Spirit and when God is with them and God's blessing their life. It's obvious because it resonates off of their countenance. I mean, it's like a bright and shining light off of their up their soul and their spirit. That's why he said in Galatians 5, 22, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance against such there is no law. And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Man, when you're walking in the Spirit, it's obvious. And there's a Holy Ghost glow about your countenance. Amen. A man said this, joy is the flag which is flown from the castle of my heart when the king is in residence there. And that is so true. Abel is rejoicing, he's shouting, he's got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, right? And man, he's singing and he's praising God. And man, Cain's getting upset. He's getting madder by the minute. What are you so happy about? Why are you smiling? I can't tell you how many times years ago I'd go into work and I'd be smiling and I'd be singing and they said, what's up with you? Why are you so happy? And I'd say, why are you so unhappy? Why are you so miserable? Sin makes everybody miserable. And sometimes my mere, I mean the mere sight of me would make people wanna convulse. I said, am I that ugly that they want to convulse? Am I that ugly that they're that upset and they want to cuss just at the sight of me? No, it was sin in their hearts. Abel is rejoicing, and you should be also. 1 Peter 1.18 says, What's the child of God do? We rejoice with joy, unspeakable full glory. That's why we see each other. What comes there right away? We smile, give each other a hug, shake hands. Because right away, hey, we're in the Spirit. I'll meet sinners, and man, I'll be glad to see them, but they are not glad to see me. And I'm thinking, who died? What's going on in your life? What's going on is sin lies at the door. And it's a way to sin at their door, and they can't get past it. That's what's going on with Cain. That's why he killed his brother Abel. That's why the Bible says, when it comes to this, now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and of such the like of which I tell you before, as I have told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Cain got filled with hate towards his brother. You say, why? Because sin lies at the door. Did he have a reason to hate Abel? Other than the fact that God accepted him and he did not accept Cain? Man, we blame a lot of people when sin lies at the door. It's everyone's fault but yours when sin lies at the door. David in his great prayer in Psalms 51, he prayed and said, restore unto me the joy of my salvation. You know what sin does? It takes the joy out of everything. And that's the problem. That's what sin does to the sinner and it's what it does to the saint. It takes the joy out of everything. When you're living in sin, you cannot enjoy the church service. Because the whole time God's reminding you of your sin. That's why it's better to take care of your sin before you get here. Amen. You'll enjoy the service a whole lot better. Because sin defiles your countenance. Can I say this? Sin will drive you crazy. Sin will drive you crazy. Madness, misery, murder. Isaiah 57 says, The wicked are like a troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose water cast up mire and dirt, and there's no peace, sayeth my God, unto the wicked. The wicked can't find rest. Cain was filled with wrath towards God, and he took it out on his brother Abel. It's what sinners do. It's what backslidden Christians do. Remember when Stephen was preaching Acts chapter number 7? And that Bible says that that crowd got so filled with wrath, they were so full of wrath that they gnashed on him with their teeth. Man, you gotta be crazy mad when Stephen's preaching. I mean, they got so crazy mad that they're actually biting him. You say, what got him so upset? What got him so mad? Because he said, he's stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. You don't always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so did ye. He said, which of the prophets have your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which have showed before the coming of the just one whom you have now been betrayers and murderers who have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it. And when they heard these things, they were cut through the heart and gnashed on them with their teeth. And we know what they did, they took them out and stoned them. Chapter 8, the Bible says that Paul was consenting unto his death. And at that time, there was a great persecution against the church of Jerusalem. And they were scattered abroad throughout the region of Judea and Samaria, except the apostle. You say, what happened? The apostle Paul began to persecute and he began to torture people. And the Bible says that they fled and they were scattered. Chapter 9, verse 1, And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, When the high priest desired of them letters of Damascus to the synagogue, they found any of this way, whether they are men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. God got hold of Saul, knocked him off his horse. He saw that bright light. He saw Jesus Christ. And he heard that voice saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecute. It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Paul was so burdened and so weighed it down by the testimony of Stephen. He held the clothes of those who stoned him. He heard him crying out, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. He heard him cry, I see Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he was so convicted. And sin was lying at the door. And Jesus said, Paul, Saul, it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And we know that Saul got saved that day on the Damascus road. He said, what do you got to do? You got to deal with your sin or you'll go stark raving mad. That's why as a preacher, and as a Christian, and as a father and a grandfather, I don't take everything personally. People are not mad at me, they're mad at God. They're mad at themselves. And they don't have no one to take it out on, so they take it out on the preacher. They take it out on the church. They take it out on the church family. Hey, they take it out on their wife, or their husband, or their children. I don't take it personal. I never have. That's why people can say the worst things about me and I can still smile and shake their hand. Because I know it's not true. They say, Brother Chris doesn't love anybody. That's a lie. And I know it's a lie. And it doesn't bother me. People blame God for everything, don't they? God ain't taking it personal. He loves us, that's why He gave His life on Calvary. Paul was exceedingly mad at Jesus Christ, yet Christ showed His love towards him on the Damascus road. But see, when sin lies at the door, can I tell you, hey, there's a repercussion for sin. There is. And sin is so powerful it defiles your countenance. It'll drive you crazy. Can I give you this example? There was a police officer friend of mine and he served in New York as a police officer. He was a sergeant. He was there at the desk and one day a man came in and he said, what are you doing here? He said, sir, can I help you? What do you want? He says, I killed a person 20 years ago and I can't live with it anymore. He said, you did what? He said, I killed a person 20 years ago, and I can't live with it anymore. I want you to put me in handcuffs, and I'm gonna go show you where I buried the body. They put him in the car, they took him down there, and sure enough, they found the body, this person that had been missing for 20 years. He said, what made him confess? Guilt made him confess. You ever read that book, Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart? He killed that person, buried him under the house, and all he could hear was the heart beating till it drove him crazy. Sin don't drive you crazy. That's what sin does. Charles Voltaire, sin had driven him crazy. He was an atheist, said there was no God. And on his deathbed, his dying bed, he calls for the doctor, and this is what he said. I am abandoned by God and man. He didn't even believe in God, but he said, I'm abandoned by God and man. I will give you half of what I'm worth if you will give me six months to live. He said, sir, I cannot give you six weeks. Voltaire replied, then I shall go to hell, and you will go with me. And then he died. You say, why was he such a bitter person his whole life? Because sin was at the door and he wouldn't take care of it. And the whole time, Jesus knocking. Hey, let me in. Let me make you clean. Let me take away your sin. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. You're a Christian, but your life's filled with sin. And Christ saying, hey, we gotta take care of this. I'll get it right tomorrow. I'll get it right next week. I'll get it right next month. You will never get it right if you don't deal with it when God's talking to you. That's why I keep short accounts with God. I don't want to be like King Saul where God quit speaking to him. Sin will drive you crazy. Sin is such a terrible thing. Sin will take dominion over your self-control. That's why the Bible says, let not sin therefore reign nor more body that you should obey it, unless thereof. The amount of Christian people that are controlled by pornography is staggering in this nation. There was a time when the pornography industry was a million-dollar industry. It's a billion-dollar industry now. And the appetite is insatiable when it comes to pornography. And everyone is being affected by it. From the politician, to the policeman, to the schoolteacher, to the preacher in the pulpit. To the person in the pew. It's that powerful. Did one drink ever satisfy? No. Did one night of sex ever satisfy? Uh-uh. Did one cigarette ever satisfy? That's why they came in packs of 20. I think they're packs of 20. I don't know. I never had one in my pocket. I've never bought one for myself. But I think there's 20 in there. It's because one doesn't satisfy. Did one lottery ticket ever satisfy anybody? Did one hit of drugs ever satisfy anybody? Did one TV show ever satisfy anybody? Did one computer game ever satisfy anybody? I was talking to a guy the other day, and he's talking about that Warcraft game, and he says, man, he said, that thing's so addictive, it grabs hold of you. He said, I broke the addiction and said, I gotta stop this, this has taken all of my life. I can't tell you how many men are divorced. The one man, he said they had a video of him. He's playing Warcraft. He's got the headphone on and his wife is packing up their things and she's walking out the door. She said, I'm leaving and never coming back. And he didn't even know what she said. Because he was so consumed by a video game. God help you if you're that consumed with anything. People die and go to hell because of a TV show. A man said, I come to church, but I don't want to miss my TV show. Now, we know that was years ago before they had DVRs and all that kind of stuff. But the point was, that thing was in such control of his life that he'd sell his soul for it. Sin consumes and controls a person's life. You say, how do you break it? You gotta get rid of it out of your life. Cain was consumed by a sin, and it was at the doorstep. And I'll tell you right now, sin is a very cruel master. Cause you to do things you'd never think about doing. This fentanyl make you do things you'd never think about doing. This Adderall that people use make you think about doing things you'd never consider. This meth and this oxycodone make people do things they'd never dreamed that they would do, and yet they're doing them. Can I say this? Sin destroys those that are close. You say, what does sin do? When sin lies at the door, it's gonna destroy those that are around you. Family and friends and future. Cain killed his brother. Isn't that what he did in verse number eight? Sin's lying at the door and he kills his brother. Cain talked with Abel, his brother. He said, come here, Abel, I want to talk to you. Abel smiled and he's happy. He thinks they're going for a walk. He thinks they're in communion. He thinks they're having fellowship. But no, he's going to his deathbed at the hand of his own brother. And it came to pass they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him." Cain killed his brother. Nero killed his mother. Herod killed his son. David killed his friend. Sin kills. Sin's lying at the door. Sin'll kill. One time I almost tried to kill Davy Wilson. I was stomping on his head. So angry with sin. And he's my best friend. You say, well, friends like that, who needs enemies? But that's what sin does to everybody. James 1.15 says, when lust conceived it, bringing forth sin, and sin when it's finished, bringing forth death. You better remind yourself of that every day. It'll kill your relationship with God. It killed Cain's relationship. The Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? He said, I know not. Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What is thou dumb? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. Now thou art cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from my hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. God said, Cain, you've gone too far. Sin will always make you go too far. That's why you got to deal with your sin. Remember the rich man in Luke 16? Hey, sin will make you go too far. Sin will damn the condemned. The rich man, no doubt, said, take thy ease, eat, drink, and be merry. And God said, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. The Bible says the rich man, he fared sumptuously every day in Luke 16, and he died, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in flame and fire and torments. John 3 says this, 16, for God's love of the world that gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Why is there damnation and condemnation and perdition and suffering? Because sin lieth at the door. What did God tell Cain? Lord, said unto Cain, why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. I'm so glad one day I came out my door and I saw that sin and I said, God, I'm sick of my sin. And I called out to God and I confessed it and he cleansed it and he took it away. Thank God I've been clean ever since. I've said this and I'll say it this morning. Americans will burn in the lowest hell because of all the opportunity they've had to receive Christ and rejected it. To whom much is given, much is required. We live under the sound of the gospel and the shadow of the church, and yet sin has hardened our hearts towards God just like it did towards Cain. God said, Cain, sin's lying at the door, son. Sin is lying at the door. What are you going to do about it? You bring the right offering and I'll accept you. And Cain said, you'll see me in hell first. And that's exactly where he went. That's where Charles Voltaire went. That's where all those people go who say, I will not do it God's way. And then sin takes its toll on people's life. I figured out a long time ago that I wanted to be forgiven, and I wanted to be clean, and I wanted to go to heaven, and I wanted to do it God's way. What is God's way? That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, shalt believe mine heart that God raised from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For the heart, man believeth in righteousness, but the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. And then it says, for whoso shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. What is God's way? Telling God you're sorry, and please forgive me of my sin. Is it that hard? The point is, it's that simple. And God made it simple, so that everyone could receive it. See, you can't harden your heart towards God and think you're going to receive anything. And you've got to get past that problem of sin in your life, where you can admit that you're a sinner. You know, since I've been saved, it's been very easy for me to admit that I'm a sinner. That's the truth of the matter. It's very easy to admit when you're saved. But it's pretty hard when you're not saved. It's pretty hard when you're self-righteous. It's pretty hard when you're self-centered. Can I tell you the greatest thing you'll ever do is admit what you are. And then beg for God's mercy and forgiveness. Is there something at your doorstep this morning? And I'm talking to the Christian and the sinner. I'm talking to the saved and the lost. Is there anything at your doorstep this morning that you need to take care of? Can I tell you, if there is, you ought to run to this altar and take care of it this morning. And get the sin out of your life. You're not saved. You ought to get up this first line of invitation and come forward. Let's take a Bible and show you how to be saved. My brother-in-law gave me that gospel track, how to get to heaven from your house. And I thought to myself, I just want to be clean. I just want to be forgiven. Is that you this morning? If it is, you ought to do something about it. Let's stand for prayer. You're standing this morning. The next step is simply