Sin Must Be Conquered

Key Question: What was the difference between Abel’s sacrifice and that of Cain’s?

There are four facts concerning sin which are found in these verses.

I. Sin will keep us from doing our best unto the Lord. “Therefore, by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name (Hebrews 13:15).

Have you ever noticed that after a person leaves the sanctuary after a worship service, that some seem a lot happier than others and even more changed than others. I believe it is the way in which a person offers their sacrifices unto God.

Some come to the place of worship expecting great things to happen while others come expecting others to make them happy. Consider this: one person after the service will say “Wow wasn’t that a great service? I could feel the presence of God in our service today!” Another person responds, “I did not get anything out of this service.” Two people, two different responses with two different attitudes.

Sin affects us physically, emotionally, and mentally. If we have unrepentant sin in our life, and especially an unforgiving spirit in our hearts we will not give our best unto the Lord.

It says that Abel gave the first born of his flock; which was probably a sheep or a goat.

Cain gave of his produce; it not stated that he gave of his best unto the Lord.

“Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22”. This does not mean that God turned his offering down for this reason.

There was a provision for the giving of produce as a free will offering. This type of offering was acceptable as a sin offering. It could have been that there was some unrepentant sin in Cain’s life.

Cain was very angry and his countenance fell. When one becomes angry, sin always lies at the door.

This is not to suggest that every time someone gets angry; that they sin. We must be careful not to judge. But temptation always lies at the door; when we are angry.

God asked Cain, “Why has your countenance fallen? 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 must rule over it!

Do you see a similar situation in Luke 18:10-13? The Pharisee was thanking God that he was not like other men, especially this tax collector. He was full of pride. This Pharisee could be a type of Cain in the New Testament; while the Tax Collector was a type of Abel in the New Testament. This sinner would recognize that he needed a sin offering while the Pharisee would not want to admit that he even sinned. Abel brought a suitable sacrifice in order that his sins would be forgiven. It was not even acknowledge in the Scriptures that he gave his best unto the Lord.

II. God Requires Obedience Rather than Sacrifice Hebrews 13:15 “Therefore, by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” Whenever, we come into the presence of God, we bring a sacrifice of praise. But before he will accept our sacrifice of praise, we must be obedient God first.

Before we come into the presence of God we must be sure that we are holding no grudge or have unrepentant sin in our lives.

We also must be sure that our attitudes are in sync with the Scriptures.

When we come into the sanctuary of praise we should be focusing on Jesus Christ, the only one who can take away the penalty of our sin which is death. Our focus should not be on our neighbors, what we are going to do after church, or trying to sell items among the church members. We come to church to strengthen our relationship with Christ.

Whether it is our sanctuary of praise, our tithe and or gifts we must give Jesus the best that we have.

III. Sin steals our joy. Too often we are not happy with ourselves or with others like Cain. The main reason for this is we are working outside God’s will for lives. When we make sinful choices, instead of God choices, we are not going to be happy campers.

Christ does not want us walking around being defeated. He has given us life that we might enjoy it abundantly.

The true happy person is one who has committed his life to serving the Lord with his/her heart, mind, soul, and strength.

The last couple of weeks, Manila have been hit by the worst floods I have ever seen in my life. And yet one person was jumping in the flooded street, in front of the justice, hitting the water and yelling “Give Me Justice.” He was of course making a good thing out of a bad situation.