DWDP : Gen 4, 6-8 Mastering Sin

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What does your face reveal about your spiritual condition? Dr. Robert Jackson dives deep into Genesis 4:6-8, exploring God's profound warning to Cain that remains startlingly relevant for believers today: "Sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must master it."

Drawing from personal anecdotes—including being mistaken for a pastor while dressed in hunting gear—Dr. Jackson demonstrates how our countenance inevitably reveals what's in our hearts. When filled with the Holy Spirit, Christians radiate a distinctive presence that others notice even without words. This "aroma of Christ" should be characteristic of all believers, not just pastors or ministry leaders.

The message takes a fascinating turn as Dr. Jackson unpacks Romans 6, revealing the spiritual mechanics behind our freedom from sin's dominance. Through our identification with Christ's death and resurrection, believers have died to sin's power and been set free from its enslavement. This doesn't mean temptation vanishes, but rather that we now possess both the choice and the spiritual power to resist sin's pull. As Dr. Jackson crystallizes this truth: "Sin has no power over me unless I grant it power."

A compelling illustration about lion tamers drives home the message's urgency. Like a trained lion that still views its trainer as potential prey, sin continues to desire control over believers. Those who become prideful or careless about sin's power place themselves in grave spiritual danger. Sin, like a predatory lion, is always watching for moments when we let our guard down.

Have you recognized the areas where sin crouches at your door? Listen now to discover the liberating truth that in Christ, you have already been given everything needed to live in freedom. Share this episode with someone struggling with habitual sin who needs to hear this message of hope and victory.

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Episode Transcript

Dr.Papa (00:03):
Welcome to More Than Medicine where Jesus is more
than enough for the ills thatplague our culture and our
country.
Hosted by author and physician,Dr Robert Jackson.

Dr. Papa (00:16):
Papa, can you tell me a story?

Dr.Papa (00:19):
Do you really want me to tell you a story?
Well, you go, get your brotherand your sisters and I will tell
you a story.
Well, you go, get your brotherand your sisters and I will tell
you a story.
Welcome to Devotions with DrPapa.
Gather around, grab your Bibleand let's look into the written
Word, which reveals to us theliving Word, who is our Lord

(00:40):
Jesus Christ.
Well, today we're in Genesis 4,verses 6 through 8, and let me
read those verses to you beforewe begin.
Then the Lord said to Cain whyare you angry and why has your
countenance fallen?
If you do well, will not yourcountenance be lifted up?
And if you do not do well, sinis crouching at the door and its

(01:06):
desire is for you, but you mustmaster it.
Cain told Abel, his brother andit came about when they were in
the field that Cain rose upagainst Abel, his brother, and
killed him.
May the Lord add his blessingto the reading of his word.
The Bible tells us that Cain'scountenance, his facial

(01:29):
expression, fell because therewas rebellion in his heart.
So my first point today is acountenance fallen.
His countenance fell becausethere was rebellion in his heart
.
As we discussed last week, ourcountenance reflects what is in

(01:52):
our hearts.
Sin and carnal passions in ourhearts inevitably clouds our
facial expressions.
Conversely, the fruit of theSpirit in our hearts will make
its way to our countenance,creating a radiant,

(02:12):
christ-revealing facialexpression and the aroma of
Christ all about us.
I've had people ask me over theyears are you a pastor?
I've had people ask me over theyears are you a pastor?
And sometimes it's ludicrous.
I was coming out of Walmart onetime, fully dressed in
camouflage, after going deerhunting, carrying a 50-pound bag

(02:36):
of corn to feed my deer, andthis lady at the checkout
counter looks at me and says areyou a pastor?
Now I thought to myself whatabout this getup makes her think
that I'm a pastor?
And I laughed out loud and Isaid no, ma'am, I'm a doctor and
a deer hunter.

(02:56):
Why do you ask?
And she said you just gave methe impression that you were a
pastor.
And I laughed and I thoughtabout it for the longest time.
But you see, some of you, asSpirit-filled Christians, give
off the aroma of Christ and yourfacial expression reveals

(03:21):
what's in your heart.
And what's in your heart is thefruit of the Spirit.
And when people see you, evenwithout saying a word, they
surmise that you are a Christian.
Now, shame on you and me thatwhen Christians see that radiant
expression and that aroma ofChrist Christians see that
radiant expression and thataroma of Christ they equate that

(03:45):
with being a pastor and notwith being a Christian.
Everyone who sees that radiantChristian, spirit-filled
countenance and sense that aromaof Christ, they should say, aha
, here is a Spirit-filledChristian.
But in our culture they equatethat with being a pastor.

(04:10):
And that's the fault of you andme as Spirit-filled Christians,
that they do not equate thatwith the average person in the
pew, the average person in thepew.
Pastors are not the only oneswho should be filled with Holy
Spirit.

(04:40):
Now my second point is thiscrouching sin.
Why do we always talk about sinin every single Bible lesson?
Well, it's because the heart ofthe human problem is the
problem of the human heart which, as you know, is sin.
It's sin and its consequences.
Sin always divides.
It divides man from God, itdivides man from man, it divides

(05:03):
husband from wife, it dividesparent from child.
Can you even imagine a worldwithout sin, a world without
lying, cheating, stealing,without divorce, without
sickness or death?
There would be no need forhospitals or prisons or

(05:25):
cemeteries, why that would beheaven Exactly, certainly not
this sin-corrupted world inwhich we live.
What God told Cain is true foryou and me If you do not do well

(05:46):
, if you do not chooserighteously, sin is crouching at
the door.
What exactly does he mean bysin?
Sin is that proclivity, thatpropensity, that tendency in all

(06:06):
of us to rebel against God andGod's law.
The hymn writer said prone towander Lord, I know it, prone to
leave the God I love.
Truth be known, our hearts lovesin more than they love God.

(06:27):
Listen to Paul writing to theRoman Christians.
He said All have turned aside.
Together, they have becomeuseless.
There's none who does good,there's not even one.

(06:51):
Who's that describing?
That describes you and me.
That describes everybody.
You and I know.
Sin crouches at the door ofyour heart and mine.

(07:19):
Now, my third point in thislesson is controlling sin,
because, you see, god said itsdesire is for you, but you must
master it.
You and I must understandclearly that sin in us, that
tendency to rebel against God,seeks to rule over you and me.

(07:41):
It seeks the ascendancy overyou and me, it seeks the
priority position.
Why?
In order to control you and meand to manipulate you and
express its freedom from God,which ultimately makes you a

(08:03):
slave to sin.
But you must master sin in yourlife.
You cannot allow sin, alienpower in your life, to gain the
upper hand Otherwise.
Otherwise you can become aslave to anger or bitterness or

(08:26):
unforgiveness, or pornography,or lust, or lying or hatred, or
alcohol or drugs.
Slavery to sin comes in manyflavors and we all know that
personally and we know it verywell.
Jesus said you're a slave ofthe one whom you obey.

(08:48):
Now let's talk a little bitabout the book of Romans, a
little bit of Roman theology.
In Romans, chapter 6, verses 3through 6, I'm going to read
those verses to you.
Romans 6, verses 3 through 6.
I'm going to read those versesto you.
Romans 6, verses 3 through 6.
Now pay close attention as I gothrough this, starting in verse
3.

(09:08):
Or do you not know that all ofus who have been baptized into
Christ Jesus?
Now, when he says baptized, hemeans placed into or fully
identified with, he means placedinto or fully identified with
those of us who have beenbaptized into Christ Jesus have
been baptized into his death,fully identified with his death.

(09:28):
Therefore, we have been buriedwith him through baptism into
death, so that, as Christ wasraised from the dead through the
glory of the Father, so we toomight walk in newness of life.
For if we have become unitedwith him in the likeness of his

(09:49):
death, certainly we shall alsobe in the likeness of his
resurrection.
Knowing this, our old self wascrucified with him in order that
our body of sin did you catchthat phrase?
Our body of sin, that old manthat was dominated by sin, that

(10:10):
propensity to choose rebellionagainst God, our body of sin,
might be done away with, so thatwe would no longer be slaves of
sin.
For he who has died is freedfrom sin.
Now, if we have died withChrist, we believe that we shall

(10:31):
also live with him.
Now understand clearly, brothersand sisters, that when we are
fully identified with Christ,that old man that was enslaved
by sin has been set free fromsin.
You have died to sin.
Sin no longer has control overyou, has power over you, and now

(10:54):
you are free to choose and youhave power of Holy Spirit in you
to enable you to chooserighteousness.
He who has died is freed fromsin.
Say that a thousand times inyour life, every day.
He who has died is freed fromsin.

(11:14):
Those of us who are in Christare fully identified with his
death.
Those of us who are in Christare fully identified with His
death.
We are dead to sin and aliveunto Christ.
What a wonderful phrase.
Sin has no power over me, unlessI grant it power.
Before I became a Christian, Iwas spiritually dead and had no

(11:37):
choice but to obey sin, whichhad the mastery over me.
I was a slave to sin and Satanwas the slave master.
But now I am dead to sin, setfree from its power over me and
listen to verses 11 through 12.
Listen to verses 11 through 12.

(11:59):
Even so, consider yourselves tobe dead to sin, but alive to
God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore, do not let sin reignin your mortal body so that you
obey its lust or obey itsdesires.
Now you remember?

(12:19):
God told Cain its desire is foryou, Its desire is to rule over
you.
And here Paul is telling theRomans that they should not
allow it to rule over them.
And he's telling them.
He says do not let sin reign inyour mortal body so that you
obey its lust.
And he says you don't have toany longer, you've been set free

(12:42):
from it, and it's an amazingconcept.
And he says consider yourself.
The King James version saysreckon yourself to be dead to
sin, but alive to God in ChristJesus.
You see, now we have a choiceand we have the spiritual power
to resist sin and to walk inrighteousness.

(13:04):
Now listen to verse 13 and 14.
He says and do not go onpresenting the members of your
body to sin as instruments ofunrighteousness, but present
yourselves to God as those alivefrom the dead and your members
as instruments of righteousnessto God, for sin shall not be

(13:25):
master over you, for you are notunder law but under grace.
Sin shall not be master overyou.
And he says now you have achoice.
You don't have to present themembers of your body to sin as
instruments of unrighteousness,but you have a choice and you
have the spiritual power topresent the members of your body

(13:48):
as instruments of righteousness.
I told you we would talk aboutlion taming this week.
I read a book some years agoabout lion taming and about a
man who worked in a circus whohad lions that they trained.

(14:08):
The author said that eventhough the lions were raised in
captivity and fed a regular diet, that whenever he walked in the
cage with the lions, that theywould lick their chops and stare
at him as if he were their nextmeal and that he could see in

(14:29):
their eyes that their desire wasfor him.
And he used that phrase andwhen he said it, I thought
immediately of this verse inRomans, chapter 6.
He said their desire was for me.
Consequently, he always carriedhis whip and his sidearm which

(14:51):
they feared with him whenever hewas in the lion cage, and they
had a policy that they neverwent in alone.
Two people always went togetherinto the lion cage.
However, there was one trainerwho boasted that he was not
afraid of the lions and that thelions could sense that he was

(15:13):
not afraid of them and he nevercarried his whip or his sidearm
and he often went alone into thelion cage to feed them and to
clean up after them, whicheveryone considered foolish and
obviously it was against policy.
One day policy One day,everyone in the circus heard the

(15:39):
alpha male lion roaring andthey found the alpha male
standing over this foolishtrainer over his dead body,
standing over the dead body ofthis boastful lion trainer,
standing over his dead body,roaring and establishing his
dominance.
He didn't eat him, he justkilled him.

(16:00):
His desire was for him, theboastful, prideful trainer.
And you see, sin is crouching atthe door of your heart,
crouching at the door of yourlife, watching you and waiting

(16:23):
for its opportunity.
Its desire is for you and it'swaiting for its opportunity when
you are slack and when you letyour guard down.
Its desire is for you, but youmust master it.
Paul said in Roman that sinshall not be master over you.

(16:45):
Consider yourselves to be deadto sin, but alive to God in
Christ Jesus.
These are wonderful words,these are amazing words, and you
and I should ponder them andhide them in our hearts and be
thankful to God in Christ Jesusthat we have Holy Spirit in our

(17:07):
hearts who allows us to bemaster over the sin that is in
us, and that we now have achoice and we can choose
righteousness and that we canchoose to walk in righteousness.
Thanks be to God through ourLord Jesus Christ.

(17:27):
You're listening to Devotionswith Dr Papa.
We'll be back again next week.

Dr. Papa (17:46):
Till then, may the Lord bless you real good
Instagram or webpage atjacksonfamilyministrycom.
Also, don't forget to check outDr Jackson's books that are
available on Amazon.
The Family Doctor Speaks theTruth About Life in his first
book, and the Family DoctorSpeaks the Truth About Seed
Planting Equipping Believers forEvangelism is his second.

(18:09):
This podcast is produced by BobSlone Audio Productions.