SIN IS WAITING
© Copyright 1-99 by Mark Beaird
Text: Genesis 4:7
(NIV) 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 master it.
Scores of people lost their lives. The world’s mightiest army was forced to abandon a strategic base. Property damage approached a billion dollars. All because the sleeping giant, Mount Pinatube in the Philippines, roared back to life after six hundred years of quiet slumber.
When asked to account for the incredible destruction caused by this volcano, a research scientist from the Philippines Department of Volcanology observed, "When a volcano is silent for many years, our people forget that it’s a volcano and begin to treat it like a mountain."
Like Mount Pinatube, our sinful nature always has the potential to erupt, bringing great harm both to ourselves and to others. The biggest mistake we can make is to ignore the volcano and move back onto what seems like a dormant "mountain."
-- Stephen Schertzinger in Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker), from the editors of Leadership.
The Word of God teaches us that if we "walk in the light as He is in the light," we are forgiven, our lives will be fruitful, and we will be at peace with God. However, it also teaches us that if we do evil "sin lies at the door." In other words, if we turn to sin, or give sin an occasion, sin will be there, like a forgotten volcano, ready to destroy us.
Philip Henry said, "Sins are like circles in the water when a stone is thrown into it; one produces another...When anger was in Cain’s heart, murder was not far off."
In our text, sin is likened to, or compared to an enemy that is lying in wait ready to attack us. The implication is that if we are to escape the attack we must be on guard and always alert. The truth is that sin and enemy Satan are always there ready to get in our lives when we let down our guard. With this in mind, look for a moment with me at the warnings concerning this enemy of ours.
I. SIN WANTS TO ATTACK YOU.
A. Sin’s attack is subtle.
1. Satan is cunning like the serpent.
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11:3, “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” (NIV)
2. Satan is a predator like a lion.
Peter warns us in 1 Peter 5:8-9, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking who he may devour; whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world."
B. Because of a lack of watchfulness, the damage inflicted by sin is often
done quickly.
The wisdom of Solomon is found in Song of Solomon 2:15 where he reminds us that it is, "The little foxes, that spoil the vines…"
II. SIN WANTS TO OVERCOME YOU.
A. The aim of the enemy is for you and I to let sin dominate us.
Paul reassures us in Romans 6:14 when he writes, "For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace."
We must make the choice that we will not allow sin to destroy us.
On July 20, 1993, while cutting down oaks in a Pennsylvania forest, Don Wyman got his leg pinned beneath a fallen tree. No one could hear his yells for help. After digging for more than an hour to try to free his bleeding, shattered leg, he hit stone. He would bleed to death unless he did something drastic.
Wyman made his decision. Using a wrench and the starter cord from his chain saw as a tourniquet, he cut off the flow of blood to his shin. Somehow he had the fortitude to amputate his own leg below the knee with his pocket knife. He crawled to his vehicle and drove to a farmer’s home. The farmer got him the help that saved his life.
Like Don Wyman, men who want to follow Christ face tough choices. We have sinful habits we want to keep as badly as our leg. We also have a Lord and Savior who calls us to repent. It takes strength to cut off our wickedness.
-- Craig Brian Larson, pastor in Chicago. Men of Integrity, Vol. 1, no. 1.
B. Satan wants us to believe that we are helpless.
James 1:13-15 says, "Let no man say when he is tempted. I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man; but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
Some would actually want us to believe that God is the reason that they are living in sin. They say, “Well god made me this way,” or “God should have stopped me if he didn’t want me to do it.” Needless to say, God is not the problem.
III. SIN WANTS TO MAKE YOU A SLAVE.
A. When sin takes hold, it drives a person to do it’s work.
Our text warns us that “sin desires to have (us) you,” therefore the only
way to prevail over it is to “master it.”
Sin cannot be reasoned with, it must be mastered.
For eight years Sally had been the Romero family pet. When they got her,
she was only one foot long. But Sally grew until eventually she reached
eleven and-a half feet and weighed eighty pounds. Then on July 20, 1993
Sally, a Burmese python, turned on 15-year-old Derek, strangling the teenager
until he died of suffocation. Associated Press Online (7/22/93) quoted the
police as saying that the snake was "quite aggressive, hissing, and reacting"
when they arrived to investigate.
Sins that seem little and harmless will grow. Tolerate or ignore sin, and it
will eventually lead to death (Jas. 1:15).
-- Bruce E. Truman, Mt. Olivet, Kentucky. Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 4.
B. Small sins give birth to worst sins and worst consequences.
Example: King David, who sinned by lusting after a woman, was driven to
murder by sin.
John Dryden said, "Better shun the bait than to struggle in the snare."
CONCLUSION
In his message, The Cry of Mystery, Bruce Thielemann said, I’ve not seen
this myself, but in the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul, they have a very precious
goblet. In the center of the inside of that goblet is carved, in gold, a serpent. It has
ruby eyes and diamond fangs; its mouth is open and ready to strike. When the
goblet is filled with wine, the ruby-red liquid covers the snake. You cannot see it,
but as you drink the wine, suddenly the presence of the serpent with all of its
menacing appearance is revealed.
Now Jesus, when he came to live life with us, drank the cup of life to the
full. But here in Calvary he is at the depths of that cup. And suddenly the serpent,
which had been lingering in all of it, through all of it, was revealed in all of its
menacing nature. The intensity of evil--and Jesus saw it.
-- Bruce W. Thielemann, "The Cry of Mystery," Preaching Today, Tape No. 66.
The warnings of God’s Word concerning the deceptiveness and dangers of
sin are as real as God’s promises of forgiveness and love. The problem is that we
too often forget to heed the warnings. But today can be different.
