Gen 4:6+7, Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." 
	We now come to the details of the story of Cain slaying Abel, his brother. There is a major element of our humanity that is on display in this account of which we would be very prudent to take to heart. It is found in the passage before us, as God talks with Cain about the rejection of the sacrifice. It is obvious that Cain takes it as a personal affront that his brother’s sacrifice pleased the Lord while his did not. God gives Cain some urgent and direct insight into what will happen if he continues to follow the course that his anger is leading.
	This may very well be the reason that God rejected Cain’s sacrifice, to show him and to show us the vial effects that our personal anger will have and the lengths and depths of its destructive power within us. In Cain’s case, it led him to murder his own brother, who was innocent of any wrong-doing. Abel had done nothing to Cain. He had not conspired with God to reject the sacrifice of his brother. He had not ridiculed him nor had he gained any physical or economic advantage over his brother. As a matter of fact, Cain went to Abel and told him what God had told him, as one brother would seek the advice and counsel of another. Then he killed Abel.
	Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? God cut right to the point with Cain. He knew what was going on in Cain’s heart and mind. God directly challenged him with the question of his anger. What was behind that anger? What was at the core of his discontentment? God also gave him every opportunity to change the course of his action. If Cain would set aside that anger and do well, his countenance would be lifted up. He did not have to continue with the deepening rage and resentment that was infesting him. He could turn away from it and receive the blessing of God’s peace.
	The Lord not only encouraged him to set aside his anger, but was very candid with what would happen if Cain chose to harbor and to feed that anger in his heart. And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it. Cain was at the junction of allowing himself to be dominated by sin or to overcome it. God stated point blank that sin was right there, anxious to entrap Cain, if he did not rid himself of the anger that was building up within him. Rather than set his heart against the sin, Cain chose, rather to open that door. With that opening, sin’s bloodlust overwhelmed him and he slew his brother in the field. 
	This is the inward battle that we all face in regard to how we deal with our deepest emotional responses. When we take into our hearts those elements of anger and resentment and unforgiveness, we are fully opened to the ravages of sin. It is waiting at the door, seeking every opportunity to conquer us and to cause us to act in manners which only serve to deepen our entrapment under its steely claws of agony and death. 
	As we are told in Job 5:1+2, "Call now, is there anyone who will answer you? And to which of the holy ones will you turn? "For vexation slays the foolish man, And anger kills the simple. When we give into anger and vexation, we face death. We give up the choice to do good and to do well. We surround ourselves with the elements of death and foolishness and frustration and blinding fury that eliminates reason and understanding. 
	The Lord has repeatedly issued this warning for the sake of His people, those who know Him. He does so, because He knows the dire consequences, as illustrated by Cain’s utter disregard of God’s warning. Isa 1:16-20, "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless; Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow. "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the Lord, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. "If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land; "But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword." Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken. 
	Notice that there is a promise for those who accept the warning to not give in to the vile whispers and cunning of sin, evidenced in anger and evil intent and unforgiveness. We can learn to do good. We can act in accordance with what pleases the Lord. We can consent to His way and obey His Word. This is not beyond the grasp of our ability to honor the Lord in all our actions. 
	As an aside, I am not stating, by any measure, that we are capable of earning our way into salvation! That can never be! We are saved by the blood of the Lamb. We are also not capable of perfect obedience of ourselves. This full and complete obedience only takes place as we are sheltered in the righteousness and the holiness of the Son of God. As we believe in Him and receive Him as Our Lord and Savior, we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. He is the One by Whom we are able to resist and to obey and to honor God in our every endeavor. It is in that obedience unto life that we overcome the sin which otherwise would so easily beset us.
	The issue here is that many of us do not choose to obey! We do not choose to set aside our anger! We do not choose to forgive! We do not choose to honor God by doing what is right and perfect and true! We vilely elevate ourselves over Him in our allowing anger, and frustration, and self-righteousness to rule the manner in which we regard others. We put ourselves before others and claim some type of superiority over the manner in which our lives, our behavior, our spirituality, our reasoning, our understanding, and our holiness are greater than anyone else’s. 
We promote our self-interests because we think we deserve more than we are given in this realm. Because of this attitude of our greatness and everyone else’s lack of standing, we refuse to obey. We rather choose to hold anger and frustration and unforgiveness in our hearts because we vilely think that we can handle it. We wickedly think that our attitude and demeanor will make the other suffer for all our perceived injustices. 
Jer 2:5-7, Thus says the Lord, "What injustice did your fathers find in Me, That they went far from Me And walked after emptiness and became empty? "And they did not say, 'Where is the Lord Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, Through a land of deserts and of pits, Through a land of drought and of deep darkness, Through a land that no one crossed And where no man dwelt?' "And I brought you into the fruitful land, To eat its fruit and its good things. But you came and defiled My land, And My inheritance you made an abomination. When we refuse to choose not to be angry, when we refuse to not to set aside our perceived inequities, when we choose not to forgive, we defile our salvation and make it an abomination in our hearts. We put ourselves in the seat of judgment and utterly refuse to grant that same consideration to others that we have received from the Lord Jesus Christ. We besmirch His holy name and trample It under the muck and mire of our filthy feet! 
We absolutely delude ourselves if we feel that we can so easily set aside the gloriousness of the salvation that is offered at the supreme cost of the very life-blood of Jesus Christ! As God revealed to the Prophet Jeremiah in Jer 2:31-35, "O generation, heed the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, Or a land of thick darkness? Why do My people say, 'We are free to roam; We will come no more to Thee'? "Can a virgin forget her ornaments, Or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me Days without number. "How well you prepare your way To seek love! Therefore even the wicked women You have taught your ways. "Also on your skirts is found The lifeblood of the innocent poor; You did not find them breaking in. But in spite of all these things, Yet you said, 'I am innocent; Surely His anger is turned away from me.' Behold, I will enter into judgment with you Because you say,' I have not sinned.' 
We will not lose our salvation, but we will lose the peace and the living relationship with Jesus Christ that is ours to enjoy on this earth. We will find that we are simply going through the motions, living our lives caught in the sorrowful and despicable realization that we are displeasing to God and to man. We will find ourselves unable to truly worship God since we have cut ourselves off in our disobedience. We will also find that we cannot function as this world does in its ignorance because we know the truth of God and His great love to us. We become sickened with our lot because we allow our anger and our attitude of unforgiveness to ruin our every manner of thought and action. Everything we do and say is fouled with the resentment and the frustration and the animosity that infests us like a malignant and cancerous growth. We will grow sick of hearing the truth because it resonates within our inner man like a noisy gong irritating our senses. It shatters the deadness that we suffer as refuge from all the chaotic clamor and racket that harangues our heart.    
	We will have to endure the same voice of the Lord as recorded against the People of God in Mic 6:1-3. Hear now what the Lord is saying, "Arise, plead your case before the mountains, And let the hills hear your voice. "Listen, you mountains, to the indictment of the Lord, And you enduring foundations of the earth, Because the Lord has a case against His people; Even with Israel He will dispute. "My people, what have I done to you, And how have I wearied you? Answer Me. He will call forth into our souls with that same question and with unending urgency. He has given us nothing but love and encouragement and salvation and forgiveness and restoration and loving-kindness and gentleness and grace and mercy. Yet, despite that unfailing and unending love, we have chosen to turn our back against Him by seeking out our own retribution against one another. We have allowed ourselves to mock Him by deliberately choosing to open our hearts and our minds to the filth of self-righteousness and disunion and dissension. 
	Our Lord highlighted this self-righteous attitude of anger and grumbling in the parable of the day workers. Matt 20:10-16, "And when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; and they also received each one a denarius. "And when they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying,' These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.' "But he answered and said to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? 'Take what is yours and go your way, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. 'Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?' "Thus the last shall be first, and the first last." 
This is so indicative of the attitude with which we each have to deal. We are always looking out for our own sakes. We try to measure everything in terms of its fairness with regard to me. Those early morning workers were very satisfied with their wages until they felt that someone else had gotten a better deal. Then they felt cheated. They expected that they would receive more than they had agreed to because they didn’t feel it was fair for the master to pay the same wages to those who were put to work later in the day. 
We get angry and upset and frustrated when we wickedly perceive that we may have been wronged in some measure. It is the open door to sin and to destruction. Rather than celebrating the reality that we are saved and justified and glorified in Christ Jesus, we try to measure our worth and the value of our efforts against those of other brothers and sisters in Christ. We tend to sow discord and rancor by declaring that God is not fair in the manner in which He chooses to bless so and so. We decry the fact that we have been Christians for all our lives and have had to work so hard under such difficult conditions day in and day out, while never quite coming into the same rest and peace and relationship of those who seem to be newly born again. 
Such audacity in the face of God’s grace and mercy is truly indicative of the same heart that infested Cain all those centuries ago. As we re-read this passage, let us take to heart what the Lord is revealing. Let us seek after Him to work into us the will and the obedience to overcome and to do what is honoring and right in the eyes of the Lord. So be it!
Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." Amen.

	This morning’s benediction is Eph 3:20+21. Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.