IS SIN YOUR MASTER?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field."

And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"

"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"

The Lord said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

Genesis 4:8-12

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Sin afflicts us all.

Unfortunately, it’s a fact that we can’t escape and the scriptures affirm it.

“...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

So we all are sinners and have to deal with the affliction, the curse brought on by the disobedience of Adam and Eve in Eden’s garden, but how sin manifests itself in our lives depends on whether or not we let sin master us. With this, we all have the potential to be as good or as bad as we want to be or if we view this idea of good or bad potential in a Christian, spiritual context, we can say that we all have the potential to be as holy or evil as we want to be.

This brings us into the 4th chapter of the Book of Genesis and verses 6 and 7 where we find God giving Cain the following warning over what he might do while “downcast” and “very angry”:

“Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Sadly, Cain didn’t step back from his emotions and heed God’s caution as we see in our passage for today:

Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field."

And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"

"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"

The Lord said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” Vv.8-12

Here, we clearly see the consequences that come when we allow sin to consume us. Truly, sin did become Cain’s master as he allowed the rage, jealousy and envy he felt for his brother to lead him to commit creation’s first premeditated murder.

The scriptures tell us that after luring Abel out into the field, Cain kills him and initially thinks he’ll get away with it. After all there were no witnesses, right?

Wrong.

For just as it is today and will be forever more, there isn’t anything a person might do that is out of God’s sight. Nothing is ever concealed from Him.

Going back to our passage for today, we see the Lord enter the scene after the killing, asking Cain about his brother’s whereabouts to which Cain doubles down on his wicked transgression by lying and saying he didn’t know. And then, as if trying to deceive God wasn’t bad enough, we find Cain further replying with a degree of snarkiness:

"Am I my brother’s keeper?"

These words fully confirm that Cain was out of his mind while immersed in his iniquity because it was absolutely crazy to behave in such away before the power of his all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful Father God.

Now, God could have said to Cain, "No…you’re not your brother’s keeper but you ARE your brother’s killer" but it didn’t need to be said because that this juncture, both God and Cain know what has happened. And so God cuts right to the heart of the matter asking:

"What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground."

Here, the Lord makes it clear that He fully knows what Cain has done and Cain clearly finds out that even the ground couldn’t conceal the sin he committed. This is followed by a clear pronouncement of God’s judgment, a pronouncement that reminds us how God doesn’t tolerate disobedience or knowingly doing wrong.

“Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

Here, we find God paying down the punishment. Cain would no longer be able to ply his trade, working the soil (v.2), as it would never yield another crop for him again. Further, God made him a "restless wanderer on the earth."

So what are to take away from this message today?

I offer you three important points to remember.

1. Nothing holy or God-pleasing will result from allowing sin to master you.

Don’t ever fool yourself into thinking that you can’t be led into serious trangressive behavior as Cain was. There are all kinds of wrongs that can damage another person so refuse to let anger, jealousy, envy, or any other destructive emotion reign in your heart and mind. When you feel Satan bringing these things on, step back and turn to God, allowing Him to continue to be your Master.

2. Nothing happens outside of God’s sight.

God sees EVERYTHING and not one thing is hidden from His sight. A person never gets away with anything so it’s an exercise in futility to believe otherwise.

3. God’s judgment will come on anyone who allows sin to be their master.

We serve a self-proclaimed jealous God. He and He alone is the Master and Master of all created things and to allow anything else to take His place is an absolutely punishable offense. When it comes right down to it, no one will escape the Lord’s judgment if they refuse to repent and turn away from their sinfulness.

In closing, at the heart of the Abel and Cain account, we find sin, sin that crouches, lurks, invites, and accepts as Cain turns from an angry man to a murderer. In the mind of the sinful Cain, he could elevate himself sheerly by eliminating his brother who had gained more favor with God. Easy smeezy and problem solved.

Unfortunately, sin never takes a person into a more favorable condition or position. Rather, it leads us toward enmity with God and its associated destruction.

So what’s the solution? How can we avoid falling into the same place as Cain?

I think the answer is pretty fundamental.

We have to make sure that God and God alone is our Master, and realize that we have no hope against sin without His power and strength within us, every second of every minute of every hour of every day. May His will and way always rule supreme in our hearts, leading us to the kind of righteousness He desires, a righteousness that produces a life that is pleasing in His sight.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.