We come to the second reading of God's inspired word. And this is the sermon text for this morning. Genesis chapter four, verses one through 16. Turn there in your pew Bibles. If you're able on your pew Bible, it's just page number three, three in your pew Bibles. And then stand out of respect for the reading of God's inspired word. Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. And again she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel in his offering, but for Cain in his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it. Cain spoke to Abel his brother, and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? He said, I do not know, am I my brother's keeper? The Lord said, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. Cain said to the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.' Then the Lord said to him, Not so. If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God abides forever. Amen. You may be seated. Before I was a pastor, I had a job as an academic tutor for kids who were struggling in school. And that's where I met two young brothers named Nick and Harley. Nick was 16 years old. He was a quiet kid and brooding. Harley was 14, easily distracted, but a happy-go-lucky guy. Happy-go-luck, I don't know how you say that, you know. He was goofy. He was a goofy kid, fun to be around. I tutored the brothers together in the same room for two years, and then I showed up for work one morning to hear horrible news. The night before, Nick had murdered his brother. He had beat his brother to death on Halloween night over a piece of candy they were arguing over. How do you get there? How does sin get to that point? I've always thought of Nick. I think of him now as he is in prison. And I wonder what happened. How did he get to this point where he did such a sinister thing? How did he get to the point where his brother's Harley's blood is crying out from the ground? My brother killed me. The story of Cain and Abel. When I think of Nick and Harley, I think of Cain and Abel. And this text here in Genesis chapter four tells us what happened. It all started with the slide of a heart away from God. And that slide of a heart away from God led to wicked and notorious sin. And this is a story that comes to us not just to explain how murders happen, how horrible things happen in this world, but this text is here to really be a mirror that shows us ourselves, that helps us understand ourselves. understand the wickedness of our own hearts, and to warn us, to warn us what life is like under the curse, not just in the world around there, but the world in your own heart, that there is something so wicked that could spring up from within you, that if it is not slayed, it is not dealt with by the grace of Jesus, it will do horrible and wicked things to others and to yourself. I want us to follow The story of Cain and Abel. And the first thing we see is the subtlety of sin. That's where it all begins. The subtlety of sin starts deep within the human heart, deep within the corrupted human heart and life after Adam's fall. And we notice that this story starts with two offerings that the boys bring to the Lord. Abel brings the firstborn from his flock and Cain brings some fruit from his farming. God rejects Cain's offering, but he accepts Abel's. Why? Why does God reject? Cain's offering. Why does he so readily accept Abel's? And there's all these theories about this. In fact, we have a lot of scholars will say, oh, it's because of the blood sacrifice. We see the importance of blood sacrifice throughout the Bible, and especially in the Old Testament, that has to be the explanation. Cain brings fruit, Abel brings a sacrificed animal, and God is accepting that sacrificial lamb, as it were. But what we see is actually in the Old Testament, God accepts Book of Leviticus, Book of Deuteronomy, he accepts sin offering in the form of fruit of the ground, grain offering. That is not really what's happening here. No, what's happening is there is a difference in the boy's hearts. There's a difference in these sacrifices because one, Abel brings the very best of his flock. That's what he does. He works with the sheep and he works with the livestock and he brings the very best that his livestock has to offer. You notice in the text how it singles out that he brought the firstborn of his flock. But what does Cain do? Cain only brings some of what happens to be lying around in his vegetable garden. He's good at working the soil. He's good at producing fruit. But he just brings in this undiscerning fashion just what's lying around. Abel brings the best, but Cain brings a half-hearted offering. What is happening? Cain is just going through the motions. When he comes before the Lord, it's like any other day, but when Abel comes before the Lord, He knows he's meeting with the very God of the heavens who gave him that livestock in the first place. And so Abel comes with this with this heart that is that is broken and thankful before the Lord. Here's the very best I have to offer. And Cain, Cain goes through the motions. Cain is just there. And we know, as we see and read in the scriptures, that God wants our obedience to Him to be born out of a joyful heart, a heart that loves God, a heart that gives our lives to Him, not out of mere duty, but out of faith. God doesn't want a heart that just goes through the motions, just shows up on Sunday. He wants a heart. God wants a heart that's there, that sacrifices. In fact, if you turn to Hebrews 11, verse 4, we hear that, By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And though through his faith he died, he still speaks. See, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. because it was brought by faith, by faith. A faith sacrifice, that's what the Lord is looking for when we come before him. A broken and a contrite heart, we see later in the scriptures. A heart that comes before the Lord and says, God, I have nothing in myself to bring, but Lord, a heart that's broken before you, a heart that cares for you, a heart that loves you, a heart that says, God, I lay myself down before you at your feet. And right away we have to ask, are we merely going through the motions in worship? Do we just check a box? Okay, I was there. Sunday morning, I was there. Or do we come before the Lord on his terms with love and reverence? Cain sees the relationship his brother has with God. He sees the smile on Abel's face. He sees the connection between Abel and his God, and it's a relationship he's never known, and he grows very angry, visibly angry. And there's always with Cain this associated grumpiness, right? He just says, oh, if my brother has a relationship with God, if God accepts his offering, go ahead. Why doesn't he accept me? See, the seed of sin, and this is very important for you to understand, the seed of sin starts with our attitude toward God. If we come into God's presence just saying, okay God, I showed up, you ought to accept me, you ought to accept me as I am, then we're starting from the complete wrong place. We need to come as able. Lord, I don't deserve you. I don't deserve to be in your presence. but I bring before you the very best sacrifice that I can bring, a broken and a contrite heart. God confronts Cain and notice, I want you to notice the graphic way that he points Cain to the subtlety of his sin. You notice in verse six and seven, what does he call his sin? He says, your sin is like this crouching animal. Its desire is to rule over you. And the picture here is of a beast that's crouching low. You can almost picture a lion that's in pouncing position, or a snake that's coiled up and it's ready to strike. And isn't that a graphic picture of what sin is like in our hearts? God says to Cain, He says, look, this jealousy you have, this frustration you have, This sin, this broken relationship you have with me, that this needs to be addressed. Because if you don't, in its very posture, sin is within you like this beast that is threatening to overpower you and take control of you and kill you. Crouching sins. Are you aware of crouching sins in your own life? The ones we rationalize and minimize, the ones we pay the least attention to, the ones we say, I'll get around to that eventually, or who cares? No one, no one sees this. Or we compare, we say, I've seen other people that are far worse. What are the crouching, pouncing sins in your own heart? The ones that you tend to treat respectably, to let live there without being touched? The ones you barely put an effort into addressing? Is it a jealousy toward another Christian? And you let that thrive, you let it live. Is it a bitterness towards God? And it just, there it is. Waiting to pounce at a moment's notice. Sexual immorality unaddressed. You know, here's the thing about crouching sins. If you see a crouching lion before it springs into actions, you might be able to escape it at that point, right? You see a lion, it's crouching, you're aware of it. You might be able to actually outrun it or just find some way away from it. But if you turn your back to a crouching lion, if you turn your back to a snake that's in striking position, think of how utterly foolish that is. You're leaving yourself defenseless and susceptible. And this is what God is warning Cain about. Sin is there I see it in your own hearts It's there and no one else sees it Cain unless they're paying attention to the frown lines on your face But you know, it's there Cain don't turn your back to it I It was planted there when you did not like me. It was planted there when you did not like God. It was planted there when you wanted a world that was different, when you wanted me to accept you on your own terms. And Cain, now we are not we are not at the right place. And Cain, there is a sin. There's a bitterness towards me. There is a jealousy towards your brother. And it is there deep within your heart. Don't turn your back to it. It will kill you. What does Cain do? He turns his back. And friends, the warning that comes to you this morning is to identify the crouching sins of your own life, the sins you choose to ignore. And friends, instead of ignoring the sin in your own heart, the call is to be killing sin or it will be killing you. And that's a direct quote from John Owens. Be warned, the beast that threatens to destroy us lives within us. It's sin. That's the subtlety of sin. It begins before you even see it manifest itself in the world around you. It begins deep within the human heart, a grudge against God and then a grudge against fellow man. And if you leave it alone, it becomes like a crouching beast. It pounces when you're least aware of it. It pounced on Cain and Cain moves with very fast speed to execute an unthinkable act. Notice verse eight, what does he do? When the brothers were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him, and killed him. You think, why? Why did he do this? This is horrendous. This is unthinkable. Did he strike him down with a rock? Did he grab a hold of him with his bare hands? We don't know. But the scene, whatever happened there is horrific. And he bears guilt for his brother's blood. Why did he do this? Was it out of hatred for his brother? No, ultimately you need to know this was, this horrendous act was out of hatred for God. The way of Cain is the way of a man in rebellion against God. Sin lashes out against fellow man. But do you know why? Because fellow man is made in the image of God. If sinful man who hates God and who hates that God won't accept him exactly how he is and exactly on his terms, if sinful man could get a hold of God and kill him and wring his neck, then he would. That's exactly what we would do in our sinfulness. If we could get a hold of God, we'd kill him. Guess what? We did that. In Jesus of Nazareth, God comes in the flesh, and as soon as sinful man can get its hands around him and strike him down, it does. It nails him to a cross and crucifies him. Sin lashes out against fellow man because we can't right now Get a hold of God, but we can get a hold of the closest thing. We can get a hold of other human beings who bear his image. And we say, I guess that'll do. No murder's ultimate grudge is against his brother, or his sister, or the guy down the street, or the random person on the sidewalk. No, ultimately, the grudge is against God. and a hatred that burns against the creator of this universe and says, why did you make me this way? Why did you make your world this way? I don't like you, I don't like your rules. I don't like that you won't accept me on my own terms. I don't like that you smile on the contrite and the broken. I don't like that you're displeased with me, God. I don't like that you frown upon my sin. I don't like that you condemn me for my sin. And sinful man says, I hate you for that God. There's a warning here. In fact, there's a lot to unpack here. Let me just mention first and foremost, friends. First John tells us that we, as righteous in this world, those who have been called out of darkness into light, the seed of the woman, not the seed of the serpent, we should not be surprised when the world hates us and acts like Cain. And the reason that the world would strike against us and persecute us when it gets a fair chance to do so, it's not because of something in us, it's because the world hates God. And you need to understand that that needs to be in an orienting idea That helps you make sense of life in this fallen world But let's not fool ourselves Cain and Abel both went to church Can enable both brought sacrifices before the Lord and so this warning comes not just to a the righteous ables, but also to the wicked canes who persist even right now in their sin. You think I would never do something like this. Friends, it is possible to commit awful sin that you have to live with your whole lives and you never dreamed that you would be at that place. But it all started with something you let grow in your heart unaddressed. And it grew and it grew and it grew and it grew and it grew until finally you find yourself with blood on your hands. And this is a warning to you to be killing sin lest it be killing you. It's a warning to our parents to not make lightly of the sin that they see in their own children. And the sin that rises up in our children's hearts. We laugh sometimes when we see the first few temper tantrums. And then the temper tantrum grows until we see our beloved boy striking down his brother. pushing them down. And then the wake-up call should be, if I don't address this, if I just let this grow, years down the road, it could be far, far, far, far, far, far worse. So we need to be diligent to be dealing with the sin on our own hearts and in the hearts of our children, tending to their hearts, telling them about this story of Cain and Abel. Warn them. Warn them that God sees. Did you notice here in this passage that there is no wicked deed that goes unnoticed. God comes and he says, where's your brother? He knows exactly where Abel is. Because he says in the next verse, your brother's blood is crying out from the ground. What is Abel's blood crying out? To God. My brother killed me. Bring justice. Avenge me. Avenge me. No wicked deed goes unnoticed. And we need to know that God, the God of the heavens, sees everything. He is righteous. He will avenge. And so we see the subtlety of sin. We see the potency of sin, its power to kill, to destroy those made in the image of God. as an act of hatred against God himself. But finally, we see in this passage the remedy for sin. And we see this beautiful hint of the remedy, which is God's grace. I want you to see a hint of amazing grace here in the text, because right upon God coming before Cain, and Cain has his brother's blood on his hands, and he cannot get that blood off of his hands. And his brother's blood cries out from the ground and says, justice, justice. At that very moment, God shows up, and what does God do? Well, first, he does not kill Cain, and he could. And what's so shocking about this is you turn later to Genesis chapter 9, and you'll notice that there is the death penalty is enacted for one who kills one made in God's image. So there is every right, even at this point, for God to say, I will let fellow man slay you for the horrendous thing you did. But instead, God says, wait, I'm not going to do that today. Instead, he places a mark on Cain. What was that mark? I don't know. Was it was it a tattoo? Some say it was You know, a black dog that followed Cain around everywhere he went. I have no idea what the mark of Cain was. But whatever it was, it was this visible sign warning anyone and everyone that he's under divine protection for the rest of his natural life. And guess what? Everyone knew he didn't deserve that. A visible mark and he walks around protected by God from being slain. Now there's a hint of grace there. But by the time we come to the New Testament, grace towards sinners like Cain is being shouted from the rooftops. No longer a hint, but now this broad proclamation. And I want you to see this. I want you to turn to Hebrews chapter 12, 24. And the reason I want you to actually turn there as you're able is because this is so magnificent and leads us straight into the heart of the gospel. Hebrews chapter 12, 24. on page 1009 of your pew Bible says that when you come to Jesus. Guess who you come to? You come to the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. What does that mean? Here's what it means. Abel's blood shouts out a message from the ground. What does it shout out? Justice, justice, avenge me. Take justice upon the sinner, O Lord. Strike him down. He's a murderer, he deserves it. What does the blood of Jesus cry out? Forgive him. Forgive the sinner. Abel's blood says, take vengeance upon the murder. But the blood of Jesus said, I died for that murdering sinner. He cannot be punished since I was already punished in his place. You see, I don't know if you've ever heard of the idea of double jeopardy. Do you know double jeopardy? Double jeopardy says you cannot be punished for the same sin twice. You cannot be punished for the same crime twice under the rule of law. And there's some sort of an analogy here that comes out with what Jesus did on the cross. Jesus died for our sins. He took it fully upon him. The very condemnation that our sins deserve, death, eternal death, Jesus took that upon himself on the cross. The very pains of hell, the wrath of God, And now when Satan would point at us and say, look at that sinner, punish him, God says, No, he was already punished when I punished my son, my innocent son, my undeserving son punished for the sins of the sinner. This means that no one is beyond grace, even the canes and the knicks of the world are never too far to receive God's redeeming grace, grace that comes to the murder. What is the remedy to a bitter and angry soul that hates God and rages against the world? The remedy to a bitter and angry soul that says, I don't like you, God. I don't like your way of relating to me. The remedy is this, the love of Jesus Christ. If you understand that you're secure in Christ's love, you won't want to be in control any longer. If you understand that Christ's blood has fully purchased Redemption from your sins Then you won't want to rage against God any longer you want to love him you'll want to serve him all the days of your life Brothers and sisters, do you know? What you deserve Do you know the condemnation that your sins deserve And have you come to see? Have you come to believe? Have you come to trust in the sprinkled blood of Jesus Christ, which speaks a better word than Abel? That word is forgiveness. That word is mercy to the sinner, mercy to you. Believe in him. Trust in him. Turn from your sins. Yes, even the crouching sins. And live for Christ, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we know that in our sin, in our bitterness, we do not love you. We hate you and we hate your world. That's why we rage. That's why our face is downcast. And yet the blood of Christ speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. That word to us is forgiveness, and that changes everything. It means, Lord, that we have a reason to smile again, to enjoy you again, to delight in you with our very hearts. Lord, it's because we're not in control. You're in control, but you've shown us through Christ that this is a good thing. This is a wonderful thing. Help us to believe it. Help us to walk in that way. Help us to walk as the righteous able. Help us to love you, Lord. We pray this in Christ's name.