Written 9/15/21
Yesterday I shared that Cain killed Abel, all because Cain had a hard heart and allowed his feeling of anger to turn into the behavior of murder. God had warned him not to let sin crouch in, and basically told him to repent for having a hard heart. The act of repentance would soften his heart, and this would enable forgiveness to come. But Cain would not. Instead, Cain took Abel’s life. When God heard the blood cry out from the ground, He said to Cain, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.” Then God told Cain “he was cursed from the earth, which had opened its mouth to receive his brother’s blood.” The “tiller of the ground” had lost his living. The ground would now be barren to him. In addition, and probably more importantly, God told Cain he would be “a restless wanderer on the earth” - with no Father or no home. Genesis 4:12 Can you imagine losing everything you love, all because you let anger seep in? I imagine Cain did not even know what love was, because if he had he would not have had a hard heart. When he brought God the offering that came from the ground, there must have been a selfish motive attached to it. All I can imagine is that God knew this, because God says the heart is the most deceitful of all. God wants our worship to be all about him. He wants us to love him and trust him more than we love and trust ourselves. Brothers and sisters in Christ, “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.” 1 John 3:12 You will know the condition of your heart by this - if you are able to lay down your life, just as Christ did when he loved you enough to forgive your sin. 1 John 3:16 If your heart condemns you, and you feel bitterness seeping in, then come before the Lord, fall on your knees and give it all back to Him. “God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” He is strong enough to restore you. Dear friends, God loves you and has already forgiven you, for all the things you have thought and done, and will think and do. His desire is to bring you back to Eden - in a restored state. That is why He sent his beloved Son to come and die for you. 1 John 3:20 and Revelation 22 Only God can take away the curse that came from his own mouth. Only God creates the meaning of life and death. And God blesses those who truly know what love is. God gave his most precious Lamb to be the final sacrifice offered for all of human sin; to be the firstborn human, made from the fruit of the Spirit and the womb of the woman, who is not a murderer. Jesus laid down his life for His brothers and sisters. He did get angry, but He did not sin. He did not seek revenge through murderous intent. Instead He did the will of the Father, and He gave up his life. And now, “The blood of Jesus speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” And all we need to do is repent, and believe that Jesus died for us. And that He sent the Holy Spirit to come and live inside of us. If you believe that Christ is the Son of the Most High God, and you believe in the most precious Holy Spirit if God, then you will understand exactly how pure our God’s love is. If this is you, “then you have come” to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.” Hebrews 12:22-23 “You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” Hebrews 12:23-24 Brothers and sisters in Christ- “See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” Hebrews 12:25-26 “The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken - that is, created things - so that what cannot be shaken may remain.” Hebrews 12:27 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28-29
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