SERIES BUILDER
Descent into Darkness
Escaping spiritual wastelands
Bill White |  Printer view |
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Level 1: Cain gives in to apathy.
• Genesis 4:2b–4
• Abel offers his best portion to God (prime rib as opposed to hotdogs), and he does it before he's got a guarantee of the future (giving his firstborn), showing his trust in God.
• Cain just gives "some" and just gives "fruits," as opposed to the best or the firstfruits.
• God doesn't curse Cain—he just smiles on Abel—but Cain misses the blessing because of his lackluster effort towards God.
• There is an exit on this floor—God says that there is still a blessing available to Cain.
- Genesis 4:7
Level 2: Cain gives in to anger.
• Instead of getting a blessing, Cain gets angry.
- Genesis 4:5b
• Cain gets angry, not because God hurt him, but because his brother got something special that he wanted, which is envy.
• Illustration: Basil the Great (330 A.D.) defined envy this way: "Envy is pain at our neighbor's prosperity."
• God doesn't come and strike Cain down because of his anger—God comes and reaches out to Cain.
• There's an exit on this floor—God sees where the spiral is leading and tries to head Cain off at the pass.
- Genesis 4:7
• The exit on this floor is realizing you're a sinner—and knowing that God is warning you so you can escape.
- 1 Corinthians 10:13
Level 3: Cain gives in to murder.
• Genesis 4:8
• Cain sets himself up to sin—he invites Abel to "come out to the field with me," out of sight of others where he can perpetrate his sin.
• Cain wants to give himself over to sin—just like us when we go on the Internet late at night or take that road home by the bar, wanting to put ourselves in position to give in to sin.
• Illustration: Patti Davis' Struggle with Sin [see Illustrations and Quotations below]
• There is still an exit on this floor—God gives Cain the opportunity to confess, to unload his guilt.
- Genesis 4:9
• God is so gracious, he always invites us to own up to our sin on our own; he beckons us out of the spiritual wasteland and through the exit to true freedom.
- 2 Peter 3:9
Level 4: Cain gives in to deceit and denial.
• The spiral continues downward as what started as mere apathy and then anger has turned into manipulation, murder, deceit, and denial.
• Genesis 4:9
• Cain lies to God and then gives up his remaining dignity, asking, "Am I my brother's keeper?"
• Illustration: Pascal: Only Two Types of Men [see Illustrations and Quotations below]
• There is an exit on this floor—God intervenes and promises to protect Cain wherever he goes.
- Genesis 4:11–15
• There are consequences to every sin, and for his Cain is banished, but God is still caring for him.
Conclusion
• Can you see an exit from where you stand on that downward spiral?
• Can you see that exit saying that blessing is always available?
• Can you see the flashing sign that warns you that sin is crouching at your door—but that you can master it?
• Can you see the exit that says you're invited to confess—before you're exposed?
• Can you see the exit that says he still loves you even when you've sinned?
Illustrations and Quotations
Patti Davis' Struggle with Sin
Ronald Reagan's daughter Patti Davis struggled with the sin of drug addiction. As she describes it, it's not much different than our struggles with other sins.
"You will never understand drug addiction unless you understand that it's a love story. Because, even though I was in love, my lover was cold and cruel, and hardly faithful. I followed the white lines of coke laid out on mirror after mirror. In the end, there was only one mirror left. I had to look at myself."
NY Post (4-30-01)
Pascal: Only Two Types of Men
"There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous."
Blaise Pascal, French scientist and philosopher
Sermon Three
Title: Embracing the Grinder: Letting the Wilderness Shape You
Subtitle: We think of trials as situations that we want to be rid of as quickly as possible, but God often uses them as seasons to refine our character.
God is present in every spiritual downturn, but we rarely experience Him there because we don't know how.
Subject: Letting trials shape our character
Text: Exodus 17:1–7
Big Idea: We think of trials as situations that we want to be rid of as quickly as possible, but God often uses them as seasons to refine our character.
Purpose: To enable us to escape spiritual wastelands by allowing God to use those circumstances to grow our character
Relevance: Everyone struggles to make sense out of difficult circumstances. Like the Israelites in the desert, we need to learn how to turn towards God in trials instead of grumbling.
Introduction
• Don't think God will never lead you into the wilderness … because he will.
God leads us into the wilderness.
• It is God who is leading the Israelites into the wilderness; it is God who brought them to Rephidim, and he knew that it had no water.
- Exodus 17:1
• God leads you into the wilderness because he wants to work on your character.
• The people had obeyed up to this point, but that doesn't mean they don't have to obey again—obedience simply brings us new opportunities to be obedient.
• Jesus was sent into the wilderness right after receiving the Father's blessing.
- Mark 1:12
• God wants to grind down the rough spots; he wants to shape your soul to look its very best.
God is not in a rush.
• God is in no hurry to get you through character school.
• Deuteronomy 1:2
• It was only an 11-day journey from Sinai to the Promised Land, but it took forty years for God to do the character work.
• How long will it take for you to learn?
• God does not simply want to get us to the right place; he wants to make sure that when we get there we are the right people.
Will you grumble?
• The Israelites respond to their trial just as we do to ours: they grumble.
• Exodus 17:2–3
• Like them, we often become namby-pamby navel-gazers—it's all about me; it's all about my comfort.
• Ultimately, we don't want to trust God—we are stuck between a past act of deliverance and the promise of a future good, and trust is what covers the relationship in between.
• Promise is not fulfillment; we still have to walk the path.
• We want faith to be sight; God wants our sights set on faith.
Will you turn to God?
• Moses is the one who gets it right, but that doesn't mean he refrains from stating how harsh the reality is.
• Exodus 17:4
• But in the midst of trouble, Moses leans on God because he trusts him.
• Moses asks God for help rather than demanding or complaining, so God answers him.
• Illustration: Embracing Change [see Illustrations and Quotations below]
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