This sermon delves into the foundational principles found in the Bible, emphasizing the importance of studying and understanding God's Word. It explores the distinction between sins that harm oneself and sins that harm others, highlighting the need for repentance and seeking deliverance from both types of sins through Jesus Christ.

We've been looking in these past sessions on some foundational principles that we are trying to glean from the first chapters of the Bible. The Bible is the only book in the entire world that's written by Almighty God through men. Many Christians claim to believe that but if they really believed it, they would study it. They would try to understand what God is saying. It's inconsistent for a Christian to say that there is only one book in the whole world inspired by God and then not spend time trying to understand it or study it. God has written the scriptures in a special way. It's not written like any other book. The Bible says in Proverbs 25 and verse 1 that is the glory of God to conceal a matter and is the glory of kings to search out the matter. So God in his glory has concealed a number of truths, divine revelation within the pages of scripture and if you are a king in Christ, it is your glory to search them out and find them. There are certain truths that you can find on the surface of the Bible just like there are certain things you can find on the surface of the earth but the most valuable things on the earth are not found on the surface. They are found deep down in mines, gold, diamonds, etc. It's the same with scripture. Man had to dig 10,000 feet into the ground sometimes to get some of those treasures out but people are willing to take the pains to do that to get a diamond or a gold out of there. Why aren't Christians more eager to dig into God's word to find out what God has hidden here? It's because there's an inconsistency in their life. They say they believe this is God's word but they don't treat it as such. It is not enough to study this book like we study some book on history or chemistry. For understanding this book what we need is not a clever mind but a pure heart. That's why Jesus said in Matthew 11 25, I thank you father you have hidden these things. From the clever and the intelligent and revealed them to babes. Is there any book in the world that only babes can understand? That clever people can't understand? Only one and that's the Bible. What do babes have which clever and intelligent people don't have? A pure heart. Clever intelligent people have a high IQ but their heart may not be pure and so in those words of Jesus we discover that God's revelations are given to those whose hearts are pure. It is your heart condition that is more important than your head condition when you come to the scriptures. So we've been trying to look into the depths of some of these passages of scripture to try and find out first of all we saw what God's purpose for man was. The provision he makes for all our needs. Satan's tactics to try and trip man up and the fall of man that we saw where he began to accuse his wife. His fellowship with God was broken. His fellowship with man was broken. We want to look a little more at Genesis and chapter 3 and chapter 4 and see something about something significant. Here in Genesis 3 we read that God when he came and met Adam and asked him about his sin and Adam did not confess his sin. Except indirectly blamed his wife and the wife blamed the serpent. We find the word cursed coming twice. God's punishment was a curse but the curse was not upon Adam and Eve. It's very important for us to notice that that when Adam and Eve sinned God did not curse them. He said to the serpent and that is the serpent who was possessed by the devil. He was cursing the devil there and the serpent in whom the devil came in Genesis chapter 3 verse 14 he says cursed are you more than all the cattle and every beast of the field and the second curse was on the ground in verse 17. Now it's very interesting the Lord said to Adam you have listened to the voice of your wife which was wrong on his part God had made him the head of his wife and instead of being the head of his wife and encouraging his wife to obey God he allowed his wife who was standing next to him to listen to the devil and obey her. A husband has the responsibility in that as the head of the home and as God's appointed representative in the home to make sure that the devil doesn't take over that house. You shouldn't allow your children or your wife to let the devil run the house. If you're the head of your house God expects you to fulfill your divine responsibility and ensure that as God's representative in your house the devil has no place in it. So he told Adam because you've listened to the voice of your wife and you also ate from the tree which I commanded you not to eat. Now strictly speaking we would think that God would punish him and say you are cursed therefore but he doesn't say it. He doesn't curse the woman he doesn't curse the man he said cursed is the ground. So we see the serpent the devil was cursed and the ground was cursed but man was not cursed. Man was only told that he would have to work very hard now in future perspire thorns and thistles would come forth in the ground the animals would become wild he would not find it easy to get his bread from the ground his wife would have painful labor. In verse 16 we read that and so we see that not only God did not curse Adam but we see something more. We read here that God gave a promise that he would provide a solution for Adam's failure. That's a wonderful thing we see about God and it's very very important for us to know something about God's character here. The devil comes to condemn us to discourage us to make us feel useless rotten good for nothing but God never speaks to us like that. If you hear a voice in your heart saying you are useless you're good for nothing nothing you'll never be able to make it in life and your hope you're a gone case you're hopeless you can be 100% sure that that is not the voice of God that is the voice of the devil. The devil is always interested in discouraging you scolding you blaming you and very often compelling you to act. God is not like that. You can distinguish the voice of God. God speaks doesn't condemn he convicts and there's a difference between conviction and condemnation. God did not come to Adam and say you are useless you're good for nothing. No. He told him specifically what his sin was. You listen to the voice of your wife. You ate of the tree that I commanded you not to eat of. That's not all. I am providing a solution for this problem. It's like if your little son was doing arithmetic and he did not know how to solve a particular problem what do you do if you're a good father if you're a bad father you'll turn around to your son and say you're good for nothing you're useless you'll never nothing good will ever come out of you etc etc and call him some bad names but if you're a good father you won't just ignore his mistake and say oh well it's okay it doesn't matter no you'll say son you made a mistake and I'll show you exactly where the mistake is this is where you went wrong and this is how you must do it this is how to correct that problem that's the way you distinguish between a good father and a bad one and that's the way you distinguish between the voice of God and the voice of the devil the voice of the devil is always condemnatory accusatory blaming us and saying that nothing good will come out of us and so when God came to Adam he told him specifically what he had done wrong and then also he told the woman that the seed would come in the he told the serpent that one day his head would be crushed by a seed that came out of the woman and that's referring to Christ in verse 15. So it's very interesting also to see that God speaks about the solution before he speaks to the woman and the man about their sin otherwise they'd have been so discouraged isn't that so wonderful to see that the solution is mentioned in verse 15 and then God speaks to the woman and convicts her and tells her about how she's going to be punished for her sin and then tells the man how he's going to be punished for his sin it's very interesting to see God's way he does not scold us he doesn't discourage us and this is a great example for fathers it's like God coming and saying listen Adam and Eve I've provided a solution for this problem my son is going to come and crush the head of this devil but I have to deal with both of you and this is what you did wrong and therefore you're going to be punished like this this is what you did wrong Adam and this is how you're going to be punished but neither of them as I said was cursed but when you come to the next chapter we find Cain the first child born to Adam and Eve he is cursed we read in Genesis in chapter 4 the Lord speaks to Cain and says to him in verse 11 now you are cursed do you see the difference why didn't he say those words to Adam and Eve why did he say to Cain what was Cain's sin which made it worse than the sin that Adam and Eve committed I mean so much worse where that when you see the contrast in one case God cursed the ground and the serpent but in the other case he curses the person himself it's very important to see the sin in Genesis 3 and the sin in Genesis 4 let's call them Genesis 3 sins Genesis 4 sins what is the big difference because in that we can learn something for ourselves we are trying to understand God's principles why are we talking so much about sin because all the problems that have come in the world are basically due to sin for example there are a lot of people preaching today about prosperity material financial prosperity they say a poor man that's what he needs first of all promise that God will make you prosperous then there are a lot of people who speak about physical healing they say a sick man what he needs first of all is healing but do you know what is the cause of all this financial distress and sickness it's ultimately at the root it is sin so if you merely cut off the fruit and don't deal with the root you're not going to solve the problem you maybe you solve two problems of health and poverty but there are 101 other problems that come from this root of sin and so the bible does not begin with telling us how sickness and poverty came into the world but how sin came into the world those are the first chapters of the old testament and in the first chapter of the new testament we find the solution in the first promise in the new testament is the angel tells joseph in matthew 1 21 you shall call his name jesus because he will save his people from their sins so what did jesus what does the word jesus mean one who has come to save us from our sins not from poverty and disease first of all but to deal with the root like john the baptist said in matthew chapter 3 an axe is laid to the root jesus didn't come with a pair of scissors to cut off the problems of poverty and sickness no he came to with an axe to deal with the root of the problem which is right down at the bottom and that is sin and that's why we need to see the origin of sin because from that root has come all of man's problems all the fights and quarrels and divorces and wars and famines and earthquakes and every wretched thing that you can think of on this earth what is the root cause man's sin and if that is not dealt with in your life you can have a temporary solution to certain problems it's true that god blesses us physically materially it's all true but it's if you only deal with those things and you haven't dealt with the root he doesn't really solve your problem basically and you can still be blessed in these ways and be eternally separated from god in hell you can be blessed with prosperity you can be blessed with health and still go to hell but you if you're saved from sin you can never go to hell even if you're poor and even if you're sick elisha was sick and died of the sickness that he was sick of we read kings 13 the great prophet but he went to heaven because he didn't sin he had dealt with sin in his life and so we see here two types of sins in genesis 3 and genesis 4 and we need to try and understand the difference between the two so that we can see why is one more serious than the other the difference is this when eve sinned she hurt only herself she died her contact with god was gone her body began to decay her spirit died and her soul became dark when adam sinned he also sinned only against himself his spirit died mind became dark and his body started to decay contact with god was gone that's the genesis three type of sins sins where you hurt only yourself for example you get drunk or you're a drug addict or you smoke cigarettes or you watch pornographic movies you hurt yourself you're really in that act not hurting anybody else as a result of that act you may go and hurt others that's another thing but in that act itself you're hurting only yourself but there are other sins and that's the type we read in genesis 4 where you hurt somebody else cain was jealous of his brother abel and did something to harm him hurt him these are two types of sins let me make it clear once again genesis 3 where you hurt only yourself genesis 4 where you hurt other people it says here that cain was angry with abel god tried to warn him saying listen be careful because sin is crouching at your door the door of your heart genesis 4 7 but you must master it do you know that way back in the beginning as soon as man sinned in genesis 3 the very next words almost in genesis 4 from god is you must conquer sin in the new testament in romans 6 14 it says sin shall not be master over you because you're not under law but under grace but that was god's desire described here in genesis 4 7 do you know what's god's desire is for you my friend that you should master sin that you should conquer it and that's not a new testament message it's in genesis 4 verse 7 you must master it sin is crouching at your door waiting to possess you like a tiger sitting outside your door his desire is for you to have you but you must master it of course under the old covenant they could not master it because the holy spirit had not come to dwell within man it is impossible to master sin till the holy spirit comes to dwell within man and that happened only on the day of pentecost that's when grace came through jesus christ that enables us to overcome but the desire to overcome is described by god way back there in genesis 4 7 but cain didn't listen he didn't respond and he got angry his anger was seen on his face you know man's heart is very often visible on his face is the first question the lord asked cain why are you angry cain verse 6 why is your face falling why is your face dark why isn't it bright if your heart is clear your face will be bright but something's wrong you've got a wrong attitude towards your brother and the lord pulled that up and said be careful because if you don't watch this this is going to get from go from bad to worse it's already bad cain in your heart attitude towards cain i towards abel i see something but it's going to get worse if you don't deal with it because sin wants to master you cain didn't listen he went and killed abel and the lord asked him again where where's your brother he said i don't know my my brother's keeper he goes and tells a lie to god and god says the voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground when you hurt somebody that injury is crying out to god now we know that blood is not able to speak if your blood spills on the ground the blood cannot speak in language that man can hear but that blood can speak in a language that god can hear that's what we read here in genesis chapter 4 we read in verse 10 the lord says to cain the voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground when cain smashed abel's head and all his blood spilt on the ground that blood was crying out to god saying god take vengeance on me i'm an innocent man i'm a righteous man and this man has come and hurt me i never did anything to him he came and hurt me do you know that when you hurt somebody whether you spill his blood or not whenever you hurt someone and you've injured someone in some way that injury cries out to god i mean the man may be a very merciful man and he may say okay brother i'm not going to have anything against you i forgive you but he can only forgive you in the horizontal he can't forgive that vertical dimension of your sin you know when you hurt somebody that two dimensions to your sin one is vertical where you have sinned against almighty god every sin is against god but here you've also sinned against your brother when adam sinned there was only a vertical dimension to that sin he sinned against god eve sinned against god but when cave sinned there was a vertical direction and a horizontal direction so the man a man whom you hurt may injure you may sorry forgive you for your injury but he can only forgive that horizontal dimension the vertical dimension you still have to answer for by personal repentance when jesus died on the cross he forgave that horizontal dimension to his those who crucified him saying father forgive them for they don't know what they do but they still had to answer to god for that vertical dimension and one day they'll be pulled up at the judgment seat of god for what they did to christ because that part is not dealt with because they didn't repent so we see here the lord told cain you are cursed it's a much more serious thing to commit a sin where you injure somebody else in some way now let me ask you a question if you know a brother a christian who gets drunk or who's a drug addict would that shock you more or than a brother who backbites against another personal tells a bad story about somebody else now generally speaking i found among christians they'd be more horrified if they heard a brother was a drug addict than if they heard some brother speaking evil about another behind their back because most believers do that in any case but which is a genesis 3 sin and which is a genesis 4 sin if you're a drug addict you're harming yourself that's a sin no doubt but it's genesis 3 type of sin where you hurt only yourself but when you speak evil about somebody else you are hurting another person you're robbing him of his reputation you are hurting him just like cain hurt abel that is more serious but because people haven't studied the bible they don't think of gossiping and backbiting and evil speaking as sin they don't think of accusation as sin they don't think of taking people to court as a sin they don't think of anything that hurts another person as a sin believers are tremendously guilty of committing sins where they hurt others i tell you the drug addict is a thousand times better than you who backbites and gossips and speak evil of others you know that there's a curse on those who harm others and that's the reason a lot of believers don't grow spiritually because they have sinned against somebody else and they keep on doing it they think murder adultery those are sins against others those are serious because external but many christians don't think of evil speaking hurting other people in that way as a serious thing so let's try and understand the seriousness of sins whereby we hurt other people what is the result he was cursed and he became a wanderer it says here the lord told him you are going to be a wanderer verse 12 you're going to be a lonely person those who live in sin there's a spiritual loneliness in their life they're lonely because god is not with them godly people are not with them they may have friends of of the same type there are gangs of murderers who are friends with each other but there will be a loneliness in loneliness in the sense that god is not with them and godly people are not with them and so we see here the result is not only that but we see cain's children went astray from god just like cain became a murderer one of his descendants became a murderer and they drifted away from god so there are tremendous consequences when this curse of god comes upon a person so let's keep this in mind sins where we harm ourselves are serious but as not as serious as sins where we harm other people jesus came to deliver us from both let's seek for deliverance from both god bless you