Who Rules Who?

Genesis 4:1-8 NKJV  Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD.”  (2)  Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.  (3)  And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.  (4)  Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering,  (5)  but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.  (6)  So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?  (7)  If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”  (8)  Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. 

So what are we talking about today church? 

• Callings 
• Money 
• Sacrifice 
• Tithing 
• Sin 
• Pride 
• Control issues 
• Anger issues 
• God’s Grace 
• And God’s Instruction 

• Man this story has it ALL! It starts with the first time man brought life into the world and it ends with the first time man brought death into the world. 

• Right, it starts with the birth of Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve’s eldest children. Mankind had brought life into the world, yes God brought life first in the garden, but here we see mankind creating life, as was promised to Eve in the garden… this is a wonderful thing! 
• But the story ends with the Cain murdering Abel! God had caused the death of an animal to cover Adam and Eve’s sin in the garden, but this is the first time man took the life of another man… that is a horrible thing. 

• And in between the life and the death, we see the whole symphony of man’s short existence on earth played out. 

• Can and Abel had callings, they had work they had to do, as all men do. 

• Cain was a farmer, and Abel was a Shepherd. 

• Interesting… the first human to die on earth… was a shepherd.  Rember how God declares the end from the beginning? The first death was a Shepherd who was murdered… Jesus was murdered and as such He defeated death! Look what Jesus said about himself in John 10:11 

John 10:11 NKJV  “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” 

• But back to the symphony of man’s life. 
• Man is born, and then man has to work. 

• You will also notice that Adam and Eve did some things right when raising their boys… 

• Because here we see that Cain and Abel desired to make sacrifices to God. To give to God… Adam and Eve instructed their children on how to give and worship God! 

• We then see man failing to live up to God’s perfect standards… 

• As happens to all of us from time to time. 

• And how does God greet that failure? Does He greet it with wrath, or with discipline, or with destruction? 

• No, God greets it with grace and instructions and warning, showing Cain the way He ought to go. 

• But Cain let’s his pride, and his anger, and maybe his greed in front of God’s instruction, and in the end he murders his brother. 

• These events, as recorded in Genesis 4:1-8 are so richly packed with wisdom and theology and prophecy… and this morning we are going to try to tough on the highlights, so buckle up… today’s sermon is titled: 

• Who Rules Who? This title stems from the apex line from these verses, the climax of the story if you will… when God drops this eternal truth that could preach a thousand sermons… 

Genesis 4:7 NKJV  If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” 

• So, we are going to start out this morning… we all love talking about money right? Praise God! 

• Point one this morning: Does Your Money Rule You, or Do You Rule Your Money? 

Point One – Does Your Money Rule You, or Do You Rule Your Money? 

Genesis 4:3-5 NKJV  And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.  (4)  Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering,  (5)  but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 

• Here we see the very first offerings given to God, the very first financial gifts given… 

• So it would be odd of me to not talk about money and giving to God. 

• Now this sermon is not ENTIRELY about tithing, we will have a sermon about that when we get to Melchizedek in chapter 14, but it is here in Genesis 4 so we are going to talk about it. 

• Now immediately, some of you might be thinking “These verses aren’t about money, stop trying to force finances into the story of Cain and Abel”. 

• But I would argue that these verses are, at least in part, about finances. 
• Of course they are not about green back dollar bills that say “In good we trust” on the back and “Federal Reserve Note” on the front… but it is about finances none-the-less. 

• Because before currency was invited, things still had value. 
• Cain still had wages for his labor, and able still had wages for his labor. 
• Cain’s wages were a harvest of grains and maybe vegetables. 
• Abels wages were livestock, wool, and maybe even sheep’s milk. 

• Cain could buy meat by trading his grain. 
• Abel could buy grain by trading his livestock. 

• This is how society worked for a very long time. 
• Before you carried a wallet, you would carry a scale… “Want this chair? It costs five pounds of grain” so you weigh out five pounds of grain and you bought yourself a chair. 

• So in a society without currency, their finances were their goods. 

• Today it doesn’t work that way, you can’t go to Walmart and buy a TV with a bag full of grain… you can’t bring in a sheep and trade it for groceries… We use money today, but the concept still applies. 

• When Cain gave his offering of grain, he was giving up something of value, something with purchasing power. 
• When Abel gave his offering of wheat, he was giving up something of value, something with purchasing power. 
• So yes, I think these verses apply to our finances, and how we give. 

• Now I don’t want to get to far into it, because there is a lot to go over… but God commands us to give 10% of our finances (be it wheat in the olden days, or money today) to him, through the local church. 

Leviticus 27:30 NKJV  And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’s. It is holy to the LORD. 

Malachi 3:10a NKJV  Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house… 

• And least you think this is only Old Testament, note that in Mattew 23:23 Jesus says that it is good to tithe. He tells pharisees “You do well in tithing, which you should be doing, but you should also be acting in love and mercy and faithfulness” 

• Yes, tithing is an old testament and new testament principal. 

• It is how the priests would eat in the Old Testament, it is how pastors eat today. 
• It is how synagogues and the temple was built, furnished, and upkept. 
• It is how the church is upkept today. 

• But here is the thing about tithes and offerings, THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE A SACRIFICE… and they are supposed to be your first fruits… the best of what you have you give to God. And this is where Cain messed up. 

Proverbs 3:9 NKJV  Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase; 

• Notice the word here is “Firstfruits”. You are to tithe not just any kind of fruit, but the first fruit. 

• Before you eat of it yourself… before you use it to trade with… before you use it to pay your bills… you are to give a tenth to God. 
• And this is a sacrifice… because you have no other choice but to trust God with the remaining 90%… You are sacrificing 10% from the get go, and maybe even more with offerings like Missions offerings or Free Will offerings… 
• And when you make these sacrifices with your firstfruit you are telling God “I don’t know what is coming up this week, this month, or this year… But I know you are there and I trust that I can go farther with you and 90% then I can without you and 100%. 

Proverbs 3:9 NKJV  Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase; 

• Now the word for first fruits here comes from two Hebrew words… one that means fruit, and the other… well the other is ray-sheeth! 

• Who remembers what Ray-sheeth means? Beginning! Your first fruits, your beginning fruits. 

• Now let’s look back at Cain and Ables offerings… 

Genesis 4:3-4 ESV  In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground,  (4)  and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, 

• Cain brough the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground… notice what is missing in that sentence? Ray-sheeth! There is no word in this sentence that means first! 

• But then you look at Abels offering… Abel brings the FIRSTBORN of the flock! Why specify firstborn? Because it is important, God does not waist ink! 

• Cain’s sacrifice was not of his first fruits. Abel’s was. 
• WHY?! Well we don’t know… but as a pastor who is pretty well acquainted with the human condition, I can speculate… 

• Maybe it was because Cain had already eaten of his harvest… he was hungry, and that first harvest is SO yummy… the first bread baked fresh in the hearth… I bet it hits different… 

• And maybe Cain had some things he needed to take care of, some things to buy from his brother or his parents, or his many other siblings which we will talk about later… Mayb Cain just REALLY needed that fresh new technological wonder known as a SPOON! 
• Maybe he had never tasted fruit before, and one of his siblings ran an orchard… and maybe Cain was so excited to taste fruit for the first time that he took the first of his harvest and camped outside of the apple store overnight so he could get the latest and greatest apple to try out! 

• Whatever the case, his offering was an AFTERTHOUGHT… He gave God the leftovers… Hardly a step of faith, he already had everything he needed. 

• Abel on the otherhand gave God the firstborn, the best, the first of his flock. Before Abel thought about Abel, Abel thought about God. 
• So the question church is “Who rules who?” Do you rule your money or does your money rule you. 

• When you get paid immediately a power struggle enters in: 

• Hey Money! Good to see you! I haven’t seen you an a month! 
• Hey brother! Good to see you! I missed you! There is so much to do together, we need to get to work… we got the car note to pay off, and groceries to buy, and don’t you want that new hunting rifle, I think there is enough of me to even get that this month! 
• Woah Woah Woah! Before we do all of that I need to give 10% God, I must honor God with my first fruits 
• Ey’ yo! Stop all that nonsense! If you do that you won’t have enough for that sweet new rifle… I mean do the math, you might not even be able to afford groceries! Tell you what… why don’t you wait until the end of the month, and if there is some of me left, give it to God… but you got to look out for number one my man. 
• I AM LOOKING OUT FOR NUMBER ONE, MONEY, GOD IS NUMBER ONE! 

• Church who rules who? 

• As for me and my house we serve the Lord, we do not serve Mammon, the false god of finances, we serve the Lord, PERIOD. AND I WOULD RATHER STARVE TO DEATH SERVING AND HONORING JESUS THAN I WOULD MAKE MILLIONS WHILE DISHONORING GOD. 

Luke 16:13 NKJV  “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” 

• God is not my afterthought, God is my ONLY thought! And when other priorities come in, it is on me to repent and turn back to God. 

• Sacrificing finances is a way to be free from Mammon, to be free from the cares of this world, and to walk out faith and trust in God. 
• Let me end this point with some promises of blessings in Malachi, I read the beginning of this verse earlier… 

Malachi 3:10-12 NKJV  Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.  (11)  “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the LORD of hosts;  (12)  And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” Says the LORD of hosts. 

• Listen, I don’t tell you this because our church is hurting financially, we aren’t. 

• I am not starting some new giving campaign. 
• I simply want you to be so blessed that the nations of the world look at you, your family, our church and say “THEY ARE BLESSED!” 

• Now I thought about waiting to take up the offering until after the service… because I thought “They will give more after they hear this message!” but then I thought, this is not about that. 

• I don’t want you to simply give more, I want you to have a heart change. 
• I want you to go home and read the scriptures and pray. 
• I want you to talk to your spouse about tithes and offerings. 
• I want you to get on your knees and cry out to God “Father, I don’t know how you will make it work, but I commit to honor you with my first fruits” 

• And then I want to hear all the testimonies about how God has made a way to make 90% go so much farther than 100% 

• Now that is all I am going to say about money, because I think more happened with Cain and Abel than just finances and greed, or financial laziness, or whatever was the case… 

• God said “You must rule over sin”, so lets talk about that this morning… Point two, does You Rule Sin or Does Sin Rule You? 

Point Two – Do You Rule Sin, or Does Sin Rule You? 

Genesis 4:5-7 NKJV  but [God] did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.  (6)  So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?  (7)  If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” 

• Sin lies at the door… it’s desire is for you, but you should rule over it. 

• Interesting that doors were already invented at this time… God did not make monkeys, he made highly intelligent civilized humans. 
• Archeology confirms this by the way, with their flawed dating methods they still confirm that the first tools used by humans are far older than the first human remains found. There has never been remains of humans found that outdates the intelligent use and creation of tools. Interesting… but not what this sermon is about. 

• Sin lies at the door, it’s desire is for you, but you should rule over it. 

• Now take a moment and ponder how good God is. 

• God did not rebuke Cain. 
• God did not scold him, discipline him, curse him, or otherwise punish him… 

• God said “Hey, you messed up, there is no reason to be angry about it though. You can do better, you can give a better offering, and if you do it will be accepted. No problem man, you got this. Control yourself and don’t let sinful anger tell you things aren’t ok, control that sin, rule over that sin. 

• But Cain was angry… I can see him saying to himself something like “Flippin flappen no good brother of mine… my left over wheat is just as good as his stupid good for nothing firstborn lamb… why does God love him more? Why does God hate me…” 

• But God doesn’t hate Cain, God loves Cain. God is patient with Cain, God instructs Cain, God gives Cain Grace, God gives Cain a merciful warning. 

• But Cains pride couldn’t see it. His temper was too hot. He coveted his brother’s relationship with God. He didn’t understand, so instead of seeking understanding, he sought vengeance. I WILL MAKE THIS RIGHT!  

• And how did that turn out? 

Genesis 4:8 NKJV  Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. 

• This is a story, literally, as old as mankind. When sin rules over you, it devours you, it destroys you, it costs more than you wanted to pay and takes you farther than you wanted to go. 

• Sin ruled over Cain and it lead to the first murder. 

• What about you, are you so different from Cain? 

• When you sin, does God not respond to you in the same way that God responded to Cain? 

• When you sin, as a Christian, God does not hate you, God loves you. God is patient with you. God instructs you. God give you grace. God gives you His word and a pastor who preaches and teaches that word to give you merciful warnings. 

• And yet, like Cain, I have seen many respond to those warnings with anger… “How dare that preacher say that I am in sin. He doesn’t know me, he doesn’t know better than me! He thinks he is so much better than me, he is just a hypocrite!” 
• I have watched people come into the church and tell me things like “You are the best preacher I have ever met” and “This sermon series has changed my life” and “I wish more pastors would preach like you”… but then the SECOND I call out something they are doing in their life, then all of the sudden they get mad, they run away, they curse me and the church. 

• WHY? Am I disciplining them? No. Am I cursing them? No! Am I mocking them? No. I am simply saying “There is no need to be angry, you too can do well, you can be accepted, you can make changes. You don’t have to be who you were before. We are all growing, come grow with us” 

• Yet they love their sin so much that they chose it over the church, over the gathering of the brethren, over worship, and fellowship, and serving and tithing. 
• They chose their sin over blessings, and comfort, and peace, and love, and joy, and faithfulness, and mercy, and self control. 
• They chose their sin over the bride of Christ, and they run, trying to have a relationship with Christ but not a relationship with His bride… then, slowly but surely, unless repentance comes, they lose their relationship with their savior… 
• Sin rules over them. 

• Church I don’t want that for you. If I call out your sin it is because I love you and want you to be blessed! I want you to be close to God and God close to you. 
• I want you to live up to all that God has for you. 

• I don’t want you to turn out like Cain. 

1 Peter 5:6-9 NKJV  Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,  (7)  casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.  (8)  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.  (9)  Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 

• Man, church, I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be devoured by the Devil… I don’t want sin to rule over me. So I have one option, I MUST RULE OVER IT. 

• I must resist the devil, and he will flee from me. 
• I must flee from sexual immorality. 
• I must take every thought captive. 
• I must humble myself, pray, turn from my wicked ways, and seek the face of God. 

• And when I look sin in the eyes, when I look the devil in the eyes, when I look temptation in the eyes… I do not fear, for my God is with me… and I look right at that crouching lion, outside my door, and I say “LOOK AT ME! I AM THE BOSS NOW! Sin you don’t rule over me, my God rules over me!” 

Conclusion 

• Let me conclude by this… my family, the friends I have here that stick closer than a brother… they are the ones whom I have offended, but they stay anyway. 

• They are the ones whom my sermons have rubbed the wrong way, but they keep coming back. 

• Sometimes I am wrong, and they let me know… and I get offended… but I humble myself and pray and seek truth. 

• Sometimes they are wrong and they get offended, but they humble themselves and seek truth. 

• If you want to know if you will be in this church 10 years from now, ask yourself who is in charge of you… Do you rule your sin, or does your sin rule you? Do you get angry when you get rebuked, or do you take a step back and consider “How can I do better” 
• Guys we can be a church of believers growing from glory to glory. 
• We can be a church of saints who are being perfected in the faith. 
• We can be a church with an OUT OF THIS WORLD relationship with God… but we must rule over our flesh, our emotions, our deceitfully wicked hearts… we must rule over our finances, and we must rule over our sin. 

• Who Rules Who?