Warning From the Start
In Genesis 3, we find the account of sin entering the world and the world experiencing the consequences for the first time. In the very next chapter we see the family of Adam and Eve making offerings to God, but the sin that entered through his father was already at work in Cain.
Both he and his brother Abel had just made a sacrifice of some of what their labors had provided. Abel had brought the firstborn of his flock and fat portions (the best) but from Cain we simply are told that he brought some of the fruit of the ground. While we aren’t told explicitly, it appears that the reason God was more favorable to Abel’s sacrifice is because of the qualifiers we find on his compared to Cain’s. He was bringing his very best, and we have no record that Cain had done the same.
Because God had accepted Abel’s offering but not Cain’s, he became envious. God, knowing the anger he had in his heart, issued a warning to mankind about how sin operates.
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 contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
Genesis 4:6
Not Your Friend
In our culture today, we are bombarded with the idea that the gratification of our basest desires is the meaning of life. Freedom no longer means the liberty to pursue godliness (provide for your household, charity toward others, defense of the good, etc…) but rather has been twisted into mean the right to debase yourself in any imaginable way.
The pursuit of pleasure is called “self-love” but God told us from the start it’s the exact opposite. The desire of your sin is contrary to you. It is self-destructive. The fulfillment found in sexual immorality, insobriety, gluttony, envy, and all the other things encouraged by our culture is destruction. We are being cheered on as we commit a slow suicide.
Sin is a natural part of humanity since the fall. That is to say, it is a part of our very nature. When people excuse their sin as just “a part of who I am” they’re not wrong, but it is no excuse. As God told Cain, we all have sin crouching at our door, but we must rule over it. It is part of who you are and it’s still no excuse.
Those people in your life encouraging you constantly to give in are not your friend any more than the sin itself is. If it were a lion crouching at the door, would the person telling you to head on outside and give it a pet be someone you would trust?
God is Forgiving
However, before God warns about the sin into which Cain would eventually fall, he makes a promise in the form of a rhetorical question. If you do well, will you not be accepted? Of course you will! After Cain made a half-hearted sacrifice to God, he was still told he could be accepted if he turned around. God is always ready to accept any who repent.
With such a wicked foe and loving savior, it is madness to continue to seek pleasure in the desires of our sin. If you wish to be free from the “freedom” of slavery in sin, Christ already came and died on your behalf that you can claim that true freedom in him today!
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1
For all our talk of “freedom” to do what we want, true liberty has always been in Christ.
