Brotherly Love & Hatred | 1 John 3:11-15

ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church

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Okay, let's go ahead and get started here. So as was promised last week

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This is the Cain and Abel overflying cup that runneth over from the previous Lord's day.

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All right, so we're gonna keep Chugging chugging through that topic and But this this message will also broaden our horizons a little bit more to the general theme of brotherly love and hatred as we will see and I want to Go back to first John chapter 3 and start in verse 10

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Back up a little bit to get more of the context here To get a little bit more of the context so in verse 10

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God's Word says by this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifested Everyone who does not do do righteousness is not of God as well as the one who does not love his brother

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Remember that this is the also descriptive Indicative for this is the message which you have heard from the beginning that we should love one another not as Cain for example who was of the evil one and slew his brother

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Abel and for what reason did he slay him because his deeds were evil and his brothers were righteous

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Do not marvel brothers if the world hates you. We know we have

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God's assurance that we have passed out of death into life Because we love the brothers the one who does not love abides in death like Cain Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him so We've been working through this passage here for the past few weeks and These are obviously strong words, these are very strong words and sharp contrast to be continued even right here now, so We've seen how

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Cain and Abel are these contrasting object lessons

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That illustrate for us what we should do on Through Abel that is to love

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Love love God love neighbor live sensibly righteously and godly in the present age as Titus 2 12 also says do righteousness like first John says and By contrast with Cain not do what we should not do

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That is sin. We should not do sin or hate especially a hatred against brothers like Pastor David was saying by denying ungodliness and worldly desires so That and we obviously we should not go the way of Cain of Evil the devil, but instead we follow

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Abel's example of faith and godliness and Like first John here

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Some the first psalm encapsulates Much of this contrast between the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked very very sharply

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So turn with me to psalm 1 The first psalm in psalm

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Chapter 1 God's Word says how blessed is The man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the seat of scoffers

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But does that describe anybody we've just read about? But his delight is in the law of Yahweh and in his law.

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He meditates day and night And he will be like a fig tree like a tree firmly planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither and In whatever he does he prospers

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The Wicked are not so but they are like chaff Which the wind drives away?

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therefore the wicked will not Rise in the judgment nor senior nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous

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For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish

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Amen, so This is very important You'll you see these contrasts all throughout scripture all throughout it's a very black -and -white contrast

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Regarding much of what? First John explains here in the the first part of the letter that we've covered so far and in chapter 3 as well so this is something that we want to have in in mind as We keep working through this passage

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Because there are some difficulties here that will arise that we'll need to work through and understand properly now

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I Want to go back to Genesis chapter 4 and reread the narrative of Cain and Abel to continue kind of working through that Sort of pick up where we left off from last time

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So if we go to Genesis chapter 4 verse 1 we will see that God's Word says once again

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Now the man Adam knew his wife and she conceived and gave birth to Cain and she said

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I have begotten a man with the help of Yahweh and Again, she gave birth to his brother

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Abel Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a cultivator of the ground

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So it happened in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh of the fruit of the ground

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Abel on his part also brought forth brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions and Yahweh had regard for Abel and for his offering

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But for Cain and for his offering he had no regard so Cain became very angry and his countenance fell

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Then Yahweh said to Cain why are you angry? And why is your countenance fallen if you do well?

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Do righteousness Will not your countenance be lifted up if and if you do not do well sin is lying at the door and his desire is

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For you, but you must rule over it Then Cain spoke to Abel his brother and it happened when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him

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Then Yahweh said to Cain where is Abel your brother and he said I do not know Now is that is that true that he doesn't know just something to keep in mind there

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Am I my brother's keeper and he said what have you done? the voice of your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground and Now cursed are you from the ground which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand

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So this is a very This there's so much in here that I don't want us to miss out on and so I want to recall first that of the incredibly

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Insightful parenting lesson that God gives us here and how he first how

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God first treats how God deals with Cain throughout this this this this

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Scenario and I noted last last week that God did not compare

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Cain to Abel nor did he show Partiality or favoritism or favoritism of any kind to either one in any way but he held both to the same standard the same exact standard his standard and Rewarded the one and punished the order the other accordingly even though he had also warned and admonished

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Cain so And I was thinking about this and it reminded me

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I forgot to mention this it reminded me of There's other Situations in the

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Bible where something like this did happen where favoritism or partiality was shown and one

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Notorious kind of notorious example is with Jacob who later became Israel and Later on in Genesis.

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We we find that Israel Israel loved

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Joseph More than all his sons because he was the son of his old age and he made him a very colored tunic or the coat of many colors and His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers.

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And so what happened they hated him and Could not speak to him in peace so that's what oftentimes tends to foster that kind of Hatred or bitterness is when there's favoritism like that shown and Back when

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Israel was Jacob He also loved Rachel more than Leah his other wife

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So he had he had a tendency there to show favoritism not good

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Not good and that caused problems needless to say But even though God did not do that and Shows us very clearly how we should not do that as Believers and as parents and so on We have to Obviously it happens and we need to be careful of ourselves would not to do those things and to repent and If that does become the case

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That's not to say that that doesn't excuse Joseph's brothers for hating him that's obviously a sin on their part there they they

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Their sin was evil just like God says later on in Genesis 15 now

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Nevertheless Cain still lacked the most basic most important most fundamental thing of all

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Which is of course faith Because by faith

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Abel offered up to God a better sacrifice than Cain like Hebrews 11 verse 4 says and we understand that Cain's motive for murdering his brother was very much a blind and baseless jealousy because He needed to look in the mirror and blame himself for his problem not

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Abel Abel wasn't the problem and that happens a lot too we When we when we deceive ourselves and fall into sin

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We tend to blame others in fact oftentimes we tend to blame the very people that are trying to help us and That's that's a very bad situation to be in and And the verse 12 and 1st

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John back in 1st John tells us that Cain murdered his brother because his deeds were evil and his brothers were righteous.

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So it was no there was absolutely no No justification whatsoever none and worse yet like we saw

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Cain's response to God's fatherly admonition was to actually murder his brother and and as bad as that was that's not even the worst of it as things get

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Basically get worse from that point on now it's clearly from this passage and later on in Scripture that The problem here is obviously with cables.

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I mean, sorry cable Cain's Way of life his disposition his walk his lifestyle

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Of sin of doing sin Beginning but beginning first and foremost with his lack of faith

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Which was evidenced early on even when he offered An unacceptable sacrifice.

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It was not according to God's Standards and it was apart from faith so Now He Cain continued on this crooked path of a hater and a murderer and a lack of repentance a lack of repentance this will be very relevant as we read the next few cover the next few verses in first John as well and There is some sense though in which

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Cain at at the at least in some sense was not Hypocritical he wasn't a hypocrite.

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He wasn't really like and sometimes he wasn't really hiding his hypocrisy he just kind of demonstrated what he was and more and more because insidious sin which is personified there in Genesis 4 and Its desire kept festering in him and took over took over him and He became increasingly worse and more overt more overt that's the opposite of covert which means like hidden he just became more obvious and Acting out his sin and his hatred

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Against his own brother This is a very much what

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James warned us about regarding lust conceiving and birthing sin and which matures and brings forth death and Christ similarly warns us that the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart they come from the inside and And Those defile the man for out of the heart come evil thoughts murders adulteries sexual immorality steps false witness slanders all these perversions and sins come from the heart

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That's from the Gospel of Matthew and And We saw how

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Cain's sin his roots in matured to the point of bringing forth that fruit of death

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Because he abided in death like 1st John says such that the first recorded human death in the entire history of mankind is

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Cain's grisly murder of his own brother Ain't that insane like that's that's just Disturbing and sad, but it's a testament to our human nature our fallen human nature now

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Cain of course we we know knew better He had no excuse. Nobody has any excuse because we're all guilty sinners and We obviously need to keep a mind.

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However that as 1st John 3 15 Warns us that we're all

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We've all been guilty of murder in some form. We've all been guilty of it

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Every because everyone who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer

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Has eternal life abiding in him period no murderer so Keep in mind keeping in mind though that of course this is talking about a habitual state of being somebody who is essentially an unrepentant habit habitual murderer with no regard for repentance or any of those things that First John has been describing to us

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That evidence believers who walk in the light as opposed to in the darkness now

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Turn with me to Matthew chapter 5 in verse 21 as the

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Lord Jesus gives us a little more insight into this same dynamic and an issue of human nature and of God's Holiness in Matthew chapter 5 the first sermon that Christ preached publicly known as the

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Sermon on the Mount That's a great sermon to memorize too, by the way excellent passage to memorize

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Christ says You have heard that the ancients were told you shall not murder and whoever murders we shall be guilty before the court

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But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother like Cain obviously shall be guilty before the court guilty and whoever says to his brother with contempt and insult

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Raqqa Which means you basically you empty -headed moron or idiot?

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Excuse the language there, but that is that is what it means Whoever calls his brother

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Raqqa shall be guilty before the Sanhedrin which is like the

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Supreme Court the final court and whoever says you fool

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Shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell into the fiery hell so These are strong words hard sayings but it is the reality of God's holiness and standard and our utter inability to keep

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God's standard and So calling somebody fool fool it in a in a in a in a derogatory sense not in a not an inaccurate sense

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Is guilty enough to condemn you makes you guilty to be condemned cast into hell

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So That's the reality that we all face not just Cain.

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It's not just Cain's reality. It's our reality all of our reality now

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Some might devilishly claim That if you're already guilty at heart then you might as well just go through with it and commit the sin, you know the murder or the or the adultery or whatever but Obviously, that's just not that's that's now that that is foolish that does make you a fool to think that way

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That is absolutely twisted and perverse logic

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Because even though we are we have all been Hater all all haters are murderers at heart and Guilty therefore of murder

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Those who hate both inwardly and outwardly are

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By acting out their hatred and commit actual murder or in various other ways you can hate somebody and murder them in Various ways you can assassinate their character.

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You can speak evil of them. That's called reviling slander those kinds of things and Those who carry it out outwardly are worse you're worse off Because you're doubly guilty.

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You're not just guilty of hating in your heart. You're guilty of carrying it out and that is

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Worse so Then the same goes for lust and adultery lusting after somebody who's not your spouse makes you an adulterer at heart, but if You commit the adultery that's worse

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That's worse worse consequences for that they are root these are root sins and fruit sins

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Okay, but again just because you don't commit physical adultery or physical murder doesn't mean you're not a murderer or an adulterer

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We have to understand that Distinction and balance in God's standard of holiness now

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What what this ultimately boils down to is a very common prevalent agenda all throughout

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Scripture all throughout the Bible of wickedness and it is that Cain hated and Not just hated

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Abel, but wanted to replace Abel. He wanted to replace him just as Satan the devil and Antichrist hate and therefore want to replace

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God and his seed Remember Isaiah. I will be like the

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Most High I will ascend to the fire the farthest star of the north and Want to replace

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What therefore wants to replace God and his seed which is Christ?

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which is what Antichrist means in the place of Christ Just as the scribes and Pharisees hated and wanted to replace

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Jesus when he was on earth and just as You see the pattern here it's a common pattern just as the world

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Which remember what that is? It's the collective Unrepentant unregenerate society that we live in Just as the world hates us and wants to replace us like sheep to be slaughtered as Romans 8 says

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Though those of us that is who trust and follow Christ who are

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Who go the way of Abel so Abel is not an anomaly

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By any means and again, we will see that we will see how Christ points us out the world hates us

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First and foremost because it hates who? it hates Christ it hates

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God the true only begotten Son of God Who bears witness about the world that its deeds are evil right in John 7 7 so It just like Cain he didn't like the fact that Abel was doing good and was blessed by God and was regarded by God that jealousy drove him to to hate him and And So now in 1st

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John verse chapter 3 continuing on continuing onward in verse 13 we find

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That the Apostle John says the exact same thing He says do not marvel

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There shouldn't be a surprise Do not be surprised brothers if the world hates you

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If the world hates you we know We know that we have passed out of death into life

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Because we love the brothers unlike Someone we know right

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Cain those who though the one who does not love in General but his brother in particular

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Like Cain abides in death Lives in death so to speak and Cannot abide in Christ and his anointing of truth.

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It's all in the same vein This is all part of the same wicked pattern and family even similar to Many other accounts in Scripture like the prodigal son the prodigal

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Son's brother his jealous spiteful older brother in Luke 15 who similarly went the way of Cain and Is the is the same way the same abiding in death of the scribes and Pharisees?

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Who likewise? Hated Jesus and plotted to murder him They plotted to murder him

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Turn with me now to the gospel of Luke in chapter 11 verse 46 where we find a very relevant

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Passage and insight from our Lord the gospel of Luke chapter 11 verse 46

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Our Lord said Woe to you Scholars of the law

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It's talking about the scribes and the Pharisees for you Weigh men down with burdens hard to bear and you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers

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The hypocritical legalists in other words Woe to you for you build the tombs of the prophets, but your fathers killed them

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Does that sound familiar? like Cain So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers because it was they who killed them and you build their tombs

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Essentially in honor of what they did For this reason also the wisdom of God said

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I Will send to listen to this beloved listen carefully to this

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I will send to them prophets and apostles and in the parallel account in Matthew He adds wise men and scribes in Matthew 23 and Some of them they will kill and some they will persecute

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Why? Why is why why is that? so that Listen to what

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Jesus says so that the blood of all the prophets

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Take note of that phrase all the prophets Shed since the foundation of the world may be charged against this generation

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It's for that reason to charge and hold them accountable from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah Who was killed between the altar and the house of God?

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Yes, I tell you it shall be charged against this generation

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They are guilty cursed and condemned just like Cain was

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Woe to you Scholars of the law for you have taken away the key of knowledge

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You've taken away the words of God from the people Rejecting the anointing of truth you yourselves did not enter

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You did not enter and you hindered those who were entering so Okay, Wow, these are powerful words

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Powerful words now ask yourself this Does this sound at all?

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Like the same message that these Ministries and liberals like he gets us preaches is it this

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Jesus? this same Authentic Jesus in their words quote unquote that they preach

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I'll raise you one though Does the the obvious? That's a rhetorical question, right?

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The obvious answer is no, it ain't the same Jesus not even close Does but does this sound like even the more conservative popular?

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Teaching and message that God basically loves everyone without exception

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Does God really love everyone? How can you reconcile a

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God? Who indiscriminately loves everyone with passages like these?

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You need We have to take a hard look at what the word says and not lie to ourselves a lot of times

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We put on religious goggles That prevent us from seeing what's really there and this is not hard to understand

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This is not a this is not it may be hard to accept, but it's not hard to understand and Revelation 19 15

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We find a description of Christ Which says and from his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it he may strike down the nation's and he will rule them with a rod of iron of punishment and He treads the winepress of the wrath of the rage of God The Almighty the fury and rage of God That don't sound like the

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God that These folks talk about the radical love God. Oh, he just loves everyone.

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He loves everyone What about this? Who is he who it who is

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God raging against? Who is God raging against with the wrath of his fury and rage?

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It's not just anger It's rage Holy righteous hatred and rage

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Who is this wrath against? Now, of course God doesn't hate

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Sinfully the way we do God's hatred is entirely justified and God's hatred is rightly poured out on every single one of us

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That's what we all deserve. We deserve God's wrath and fury and winepress of his judgment

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But it's by his grace that we get otherwise But we all deserve it

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But Who is he? Who is this directed against it's against the reprobate

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It's against It's against those and because God is inflicting and executing

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Vengeance, okay Vengeance on those who do not know

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God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our

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Lord Jesus These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction

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Away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 2nd

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Thessalonians chapter 1 Verses 8 through 9 direct quote

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You cannot reconcile a God who loves everyone with passages like this.

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You simply cannot it is dishonest now

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We need to be careful here too and I need to be careful because I kind of I may have a

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Kind of I didn't explain. I wasn't very clear or or maybe not very consistent in how

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I explained this but even though God in some sense

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Demonstrated kindness and fatherly care for Cain to Cain And Disciplined him as a father a loving father does

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This does not mean however that God loved Cain in an ultimate sense

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Okay just because God lets the rain pour on the just and the unjust and even blesses and Allows the wicked to have and enjoy good things in this life

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Does not mean that he ultimately loves them Okay This is very important to distinguish

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Many people get this messed up and wrong even people from our tradition in the reformed tradition

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We have to be consistent with God's love and hatred even the

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Genesis account The same passage is clear Listen carefully to verse 5 in chapter 4 of Genesis Look at what it very clearly says

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God had no regard not just for Cain's offering but for Cain himself

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He had no regard for neither Cain's offering nor him nor Cain himself

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He regarded neither That's another way of saying basically he did not love him

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Okay, and Because God ultimately does not love those whom he ultimately hates

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You can't look you you this is this is not

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This is this is a black and white distinction, right? Either you love somebody or you hate them

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Just Like Christ said You cannot serve two masters Either you will love the one and hate the other right or Be a slave to one but not to the other

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You cannot love and hate the same person you cannot and we shouldn't

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And we shouldn't expect God to contradict himself that way. That's not Because that's not biblical it's not right and it's not consistent.

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It's a contradiction and God does not contradict himself The Bible very again, it's very clear enough quoted these passages a number of times before that God loves

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Jacob but hates Esau hates him and prepare vessels of wrath

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That are fitted for destruction to the praise of his glorious grace and justice

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Romans 9 so I want to You know in my conversation with some of you all last week.

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I Okay, I Read the the what the

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Reformation study Bible has to say about this and I thought it was very helpful In the article on predestination and reprimand reprobation it

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The it says this in the Reformation study Bible in what sense did

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God hate Esau in what sense? Two different explanations are offered to solve this problem

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The first explains it by defining hate not as a negative passion directed toward Esau But as simply the absence of redemptive love

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The God that God loved Jacob simply means that he made

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Jacob the recipient of his unmerited grace He gave God a benefit that Jacob did not deserve

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But Esau did not receive the same benefit and in that sense was hated by God The first explanation sounds a bit like special pleading to get

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God off the hook for hating somebody Amen Amen The second explanation gives more strength to the word hate

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It simply says that God did in fact hate Esau not in a passive sense in an active sense, right?

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Esau was odious in the sight of God. There was nothing in Esau for God to love

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Or any or any of us for that matter? It was because of Christ that he loves us.

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Amen, but but Esau Was a vessel fit for destruction and altogether worthy of God's wrath and holy hatred

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Let the it ends by saying let the reader decide There's no there's no just there's nothing to decide here.

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The first explanation doesn't make any sense and Like he like like it explains.

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It's just a way of trying to soften and Something that makes them uncomfortable that makes people look comfortable and that offends people

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But this is the God of Scripture And we shouldn't be making apologies for that for the

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God that he is so Not not and not only that Not only that But to claim that God Hates and hardens it doesn't

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God it doesn't just say that God hates those whom he wills to hate

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It also says that he hardens whom he hardens in Romans 9 and back in the

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Exodus account with Pharaoh It's not just that he hates and hardens those he do those whom he desires to Merely by withdrawing his grace.

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It's not just in a passive sense Um It is to betray

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This is to betray his divine sovereignty and omnipotence over all things as Well as his providence and predestination of all things all things including sin and The wicked and their judgment.

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It's all been predestined so it

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To claim that God hates and hardens Merely by withdrawing his grace passively is to betray his divine sovereignty and omnipotence over all things as well as his providence and predestination of all things if God would so ask yourselves this if God withdraws from from somebody like Cain or Esau Then who is left in control

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Who's who's taken over who is left in control of the individual of or of the the circumstance

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Who is the one causing all things? all things without exception including sin and hardening

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Unbelievers to work together for the ultimate good of those whom he loves That's Romans 8 28 all things.

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It's not just some things. It's not just the good things. It's the good the bad and the ugly just like a

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Joseph rebuked his brothers with you meant it for evil But God purposed it and meant it for good

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It was God's design For his brothers to betray him

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God purposed it that way he caused it to happen Now We have to obviously make careful distinctions.

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That doesn't mean God commits the sin himself. God doesn't sin But he causes and orchestrates it to happen he causes and orchestrates it to happen

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Right and there's a lot of misunderstandings about these doctrines because of the the the offensiveness that it causes to us

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Humans who who think we who would like to think that we have some form of control. I Am the master of my fate.

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I am the captain of my what is what is that poem? Indictus, you know, that's a very popular poem that a lot of public schools recite in colleges or whatever but That's not that's a lie, that's a total lie

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Now on the and there's another Again, this gets distorted in different ways

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You have even very popular preachers like Paul Washer Who is

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I've criticized before and a number of things regarding his lordship salvation and the kind of the legalistic emphasis that he tends to have but he

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Explains human wickedness in a way. That's it's just very he says that Mankind is so evil that if it weren't for the restraining common grace of God You would we would all be as bad and worse than Hitler so because of the fact that God is restraining our evil with his common grace if If he lets go of that the evil would just take over and make us completely wicked

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But but this is not what the Bible describes This is not what scripture describes

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God causes Everything to happen exactly as it happened exactly that way

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God made Hitler as evil now again He didn't God made man upright, but God purposed and predestined

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Hitler to be as evil as he was That was his design that was his design and We are all as good and as bad as God has designed us to be beat to be now

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That doesn't mean that's not that doesn't give us an excuse Just like Romans 9 says right and say well who how can we who can resist his will?

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To which Paul responds who are you old man to question God you don't question

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God God can do whatever he wants with the clay that he makes he can make vessels of honor and Grace and vessels of dishonor and wrath if he so choose to it's not ultimately

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We have to this this Did we have to rebuke this man -centered approach to life?

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Because it's not about us. It's about God and what he thinks and wants so That's what we need to be careful with because again

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God designed it that way God designs it that very way

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And and Even even

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Mark killer in his word pictures program. I really enjoy his His TV series, but even he says and he's a reformed guy

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He's he's in our tradition, but he says no when when God Hardened Pharaoh's heart.

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It wasn't that he actively hardened him. It's that he passively withdrew himself But then again that leaves the question open who's in control then

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Who's in control of Pharaoh? Like Like Acts 17 28 says

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Who then is the one causing all of us to live and move and continue to be what we are?

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Amy to be Acts 17 28

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Including the wicked like Cain and Esau and Pharaoh and so on That's what we have to we have to make sense of the whole

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Council of God amen, we have to be able to properly reconcile these things and so In other words, okay to put it another way

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God is never ever Fully detached from his creation ever including the wicked

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Including the wicked he's never fully detached or uninvolved. He never he he withdraws his goodness

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Yes but he hardens and That's what the gospel does

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When the gospel it preach is preached the Bible describes that the gospel is designed

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Not to say it's not designed to save everyone But people don't Like to think that the gospel is designed to soften they elect unto salvation and to harden the reprobate unto damnation and make them more guilty and Make them more guilty

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So what does what does God say again I Am Yahweh and there is no other the one forming light and creating darkness producing peace and creating calamity calamity intense chaos destruction

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I Am Yahweh who does all these he takes credit for all of it and he's not ashamed of it

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That's his glory Because God is going to hold everybody accountable That is exactly what

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Christ was saying He is literally saying that he's holding that generation of the scribes of Pharisees wicked those wicked persecutors accountable for the blood of the

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The prophets that their fathers spilt so that they could be fattened up for the slaughter of their judgment that is the doctrine of Reprobation of God's holy hatred and wrath

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That is what it's all about and That I'm sorry.

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I lost my place here the Yeah, he that's what he's doing.

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He fattens the wicked Reprobates like these scribes of Pharisees like Cain like Pharaoh.

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He hardens them for the slaughter So that he can exercise his glory in their judgment in their

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Perishing in eternal hellfire Vengeance is God's Vengeance is the

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Lord's and he will be satisfied He will be that is a guarantee.

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So hard things Beloved but this is the God This is the same

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God who loved us and sent his son to die on the cross for us, even though we deserve this

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We all deserve this. Amen. So Here our big takeaway

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One of the big takeaways is that you cannot truly understand and appreciate the beauty of God's love you cannot understand it fully unless you also

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Understand the holiness and righteousness and purpose of his hatred and his sovereignty

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You cannot understand God's love fully and truly unless you also understand

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God's holy Hatred and wrath and rage and fury

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These are some things these are we shouldn't we need we have to embrace who God is This is the

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God that we That the word reveals to us and that we all are called to love and serve and he is a good

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God He is a good God because we deserve his wrath now

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I want to try to wrap up here with Cain and As I said this cup is gonna run over to the next

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Lord's Day because I do want to cover Abel as well But I want to I want to answer the question here was

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Cain eventually saved later on is there any evidence to suggest at all that uh, he eventually came around and became a believer and followed

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God Cain was the father of Enoch And he built a city and named it

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Enoch after the name of his son Which is from the same chapter in Genesis 4 17, but this is not the

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Enoch who was raptured by God This who was the son of Jared So, I mean he's like, okay.

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Well, he left a good legacy. Well, I'm afraid not not necessarily And what's worse is that murder reoccurs in Cain's lineage lineage physical murder

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When lame Lamech said to his wives Adah and Zillah hear my voice you wives of Lamech hear my word

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Give ear to my word for I have killed a man for striking me and a boy for wounding me if Cain is avenged sevenfold than Lamech 77 -fold like Wow, so Okay, not looking too good so far, right?

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And then obviously God curses Cain and his work denouncing him as a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth and Genesis 4 or 12 and Cain thus responds to God.

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My punishment is too great to bear Behold you have driven me this day from the face of the ground and fear and from your face.

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I will be hidden that is That is sad, that is sad that he he was aware of what was going on and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth and it will be that whoever finds me will kill me and That's when

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God puts a mark on Cain and so that if anybody Kills him would be avenged.

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Their death would be avenged sevenfold, but But look at this carefully because Cain's sorrow is not a godly sorrow

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It's not a godly sorrow like the prodigal son sorrow Who lamented to his father?

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I have sinned against heaven and before you I am no longer worthy to be called your son

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That's an example of godly sorrow and repentance somebody who humbled themselves and said I'm not worthy of your love

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I'm not worthy of being called your son From the parable of the

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The the the parable the prodigal son now Again Cain's sorrow is not one of genuine genuine godly repentance and remorse but of rather of selfish self -preservation and of worldly sorrow like Esau's like Esau's sorrow

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But for for godly sorrow produces a repentance without regret Leading to salvation but the sorrow of the world brings about death

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The second Corinthians 7 verse 10 so And worse yet like I was saying before it only gets worse because Cain made no confession whatsoever of his sin ever

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Not like the tax collector who's standing some distance away was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven

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But was beating his chest saying God be merciful to me the sinner

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That is what true repentance and the evidence of grace in a believe in a believer looks like That's what it's supposed to look like Amen so So that's

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Not what Cain did at all and then it's so sad because Genesis 4 16 says then

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Cain went out from the presence of Yahweh and Settled in the land of Nod east of Eden That is sad sad now obviously the presence of Yahweh in a

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Yahweh's good goodness and Yahweh's goodness and His graciousness his grace his favor but that's ultimately what is at stake here is

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Is there there was no repentance there was no Cain had no such repentance and We have to properly understand these are hard things

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I know these can be hard things to understand beloved and a lot of people offer up confusing and contradictory explanations

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But God's Word in a very real sense is clear if we're honest enough to look at it and accept it for what it says and Not try to explain it away

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What what the obvious meaning of the passage tells us right so we have to we have to be honest with God's Word and And understand that this is a good thing this is good.

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God is good. God is good. That's what makes God good God's goodness is

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Good because of his love and his hate Otherwise his love would not be what it is so We must have that that is the only

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God He like like he says there is no other there is no other he is the only

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God that we must serve and Seek to understand fully Amen beloved so with that said let's bow our heads in a word of prayer

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Our gracious precious Heavenly Father you Lord who are both the same

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God who creates peace and calamity and is powerful and Almighty and You who have mercy on whomever you will and harden whom you whoever you will

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Lord we and we know and understand father by your word that all of these things are good and just because We know

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Lord that we all deserve your holy wrath and hatred and justice

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None of us are worthy none of us Not even not even righteous able deserves your grace and mercy

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But you've given you have given it to us Lord You've granted us that grace and mercy by virtue of your precious only begotten

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Son your one true seed that Gives us the blessing and extends that grace to to us and receive it with repentance

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To be conformed to his image in glory and righteousness Lord as the loving father that you are and even even even and even the fact

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Lord that you are so good to us and that you Demonstrate kindness and goodness to the wicked and allow them to enjoy good things in this life

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Yet nevertheless You are you are not you won't by no means clear the wicked or the guilty they will have to pay because you are just and your justice will

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Needs to be satisfied always and forever and by your grace through your son

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Our justice was fat as was satisfied on the precious cross of Christ Lord We thank you so much for that father for the faith that you have blessed us with which

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Cain clearly did not have an evidence in his life of unbelief and wickedness

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Help us Lord to walk in the way of Abel and of your son and of your word in that Positive object lesson and to be wary to take to heart the warnings that you've given us of these object lessons

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These many object lessons of those who have strayed from the truth who have wandered from the faith and have not followed your

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Law and accepted you for who you really are Lord Help us to be honest with ourselves and with your word and to continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our

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Lord and Savior we ask these things and we thank you. We thank you Lord and we ask these things in Jesus precious Almighty name amen

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Thank you for listening to the sermons of thorn crown covenant Baptist Church where the Bible alone and the

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Bible in its entirety Has applied to all of faith and life. We strive to be biblical reformed historic confessional loving discerning

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Christians who evangelize Stand firm in and earnestly contend for the Christian faith

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If you're looking for a church in the El Paso, Texas area or for more information about our church Sermons and ministries such as Semper Ephraim on the radio and thorn crown network podcast

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Please contact us at thorn crown ministries calm and may the mercy peace and love of our triune