This sermon delves into the story of Cain and Abel from Genesis, highlighting the consequences of sin, the importance of ruling over sin with God's help, and the need for total surrender to Christ for victory over sin. It emphasizes the power of the Holy Spirit to break the bondage of sin and the significance of yielding to God's counsel and word for deliverance.

Well, good evening once again, great to see you, great to be back. Thank you so much for the prayers over the past few weeks. We had a great time of ministry in South Africa. We were there ministering in a couple of the churches in the Cape Town area, as well as having a conference that had people coming from, boy, as far north as Nigeria. And let me think, there were people from Nigeria, the Congo, Malawi, Zimbabwe. And then from Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Durban. So, just a great group from, you know, a lot of different parts of Africa came together. And we had a week-long conference together, and it was just a time of great encouragement. And you know, it's always so good to meet people all around the world who love the Lord, and, you know, people who have just been so blessed and touched by the ministry here. And one man from the Congo came up to me, very excited, he wanted a photograph. And I found out that he has been translating Pastor Chuck's 5,000 series into French. And so, it was just a great thing to meet him and talk with him and get that photo with him. And so, we did the conference, spoke at some churches, went to a township. A township is a community where, you know, it's a poverty-stricken kind of a thing, where people live in just these little shack kinds of things. And, you know, really deplorable conditions. But again, in a place like that, you see the Lord working. And some of the folks in one of the churches there have a ministry, so they took us over. And we had a great time there with a number of the kids, just sharing with them. So, it was a great trip all in all. Monday, Sunday night, we left South Africa and flew into England. Arrived there Monday morning at 6, and drove up to York. And was with the Bible College up there and taught the students on Monday night. I'm kind of losing track of what day it is. Yeah, it was Monday night that we got there. And then, I spent the day with my daughter yesterday, which was really a wonderful time. And then, at 4 o'clock this morning, Scott and I got up and we drove back to London. And an unusual snowstorm hit. So, we were driving through a snowstorm and we made it back. But, you know, it seemed like it took longer in the baggage claim at LAX than it even took to fly from London back to LA. So, but it's great to be back. It's good to be here tonight. And we are going to pick up our study in Genesis. So, let's turn to the fourth chapter, Genesis chapter 4. And we will be picking up the pace here as we move ahead in Genesis, at least for the next two chapters. And then, we'll probably slow it down a bit again as we go through Noah and the flood. But we'll take the fourth chapter this evening. Lord, we pray as we look to Your Word once again. We pray that You would speak to us, Lord, how we thank You for the Bible. How we thank You, Lord, for Your truth that guides our lives. And Lord, speak that truth into our lives tonight, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. As we come to the fourth chapter, the first man and woman have been expelled from their original home in the Garden of Eden. Their fellowship with God, their Creator, has been severely restricted. Their bodies, as well as all of the rest of creation, have been infected by a powerful, destructive, evil force called sin. And that destructive force is now going to begin to manifest itself in the human family. And so, we read, Now Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain and said, I have acquired a man from the Lord. Then she bore again, this time, his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of the sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So, Cain was evidently the first person born. And Eve thought that he was the fulfillment of the promise. You remember, God had declared in pronouncing His judgment on the serpent, that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. And it seems that Eve thought that her firstborn son was going to be the one to fulfill that prophecy. But tragically, as we will see, Cain was not the one to fulfill the prophecy. He was actually the one who would follow more in the footsteps of the serpent, who had originally deceived Eve. And so, Cain is born. And then Abel then comes along. And we're told that he is a keeper of the sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering. Now, of course, many, many years have passed. We have the record of the birth of these two. And now we find them in adulthood. And I don't know that Abel was born second. There were probably other children that were born. And we're going to see that in a few minutes. But we've now moved ahead without any details of their youth or of their growth or development. And now we find them as grown men. And they are offering, an offering to the Lord. And we read that God did not receive Cain's offering, but he did receive Abel's offering. Now, in Hebrews chapter 11, we're actually told why it was that God received Abel's, and he did not receive Cain's offering. And there we are told that it was by faith that Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice to God than Cain. And so really the distinguishing element there in their offerings was faith. Abel offered an offering in faith where Cain did not do that. Now, it couldn't be that Cain had no faith in the existence of God. He certainly did believe in God's existence. And he comes before the Lord in some way with this offering. His faith lacked not in the existence of God, but in the ways of God. You know, it's possible. And there are many people in the world today who believe in God. They believe in a supreme being. They believe in a divine creator. They believe that there is a God. They're not atheists. They're not agnostic. They're theists. They believe that there is a God. But they do not believe in the ways of God. And they assume, like Cain assumed, that you can approach God in just any old way that you decide. They do not adhere to the idea that God is the one who establishes the basis by which we approach him. And those people today are, in many ways, the descendants of Cain, at least in this sense. As you look more closely at this, it's really, again, that distinction that's made between a religion that's based upon a sacrificial atonement or a religion that is based on the works of men's hands. And this attitude that Cain had, this attitude of feeling that he didn't need to necessarily conform to God's way of offering, the idea that he could come and approach God in any way that he felt was right, this is, you know, that distinction that we find to this very day. The distinction between those who believe that they can approach God through their own works, they can approach God through their own goodness or their own best efforts, versus those who believe what the Bible says, you can only approach God through his prescribed method. And you must approach him through an atoning sacrifice. And of course, that atoning sacrifice comes through Christ. Now, the rest of this story is absolutely fascinating. It's astounding to me, the way Cain responds. Because he's responding to the Lord directly. And notice what happens. So Cain, God did not respect Cain's offering, and Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. So, you know, here is a man who, God rejects his sacrifice because it wasn't a sacrifice offered in faith. It wasn't a sacrifice that God had prescribed. And Cain's response to God is one of anger. He's angry with God for not accepting his sacrifice. And the idea of his countenance falling, you know, it's just written all over his face. He is upset. He's upset with God. So the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is to rule over you, but you should rule over it. So God doesn't receive Cain's sacrifice. Notice here, we have Cain's reaction, we have God's response, and then we have Cain's resolve. Cain is angry. But notice how gracious and merciful God is, even in the face of this angry man. God doesn't immediately condemn Cain. He doesn't immediately dismiss him or cast him out of his sight. God graciously and mercifully takes the time to explain to Cain that he can make an acceptable offering. And it's interesting to me here how God, you know, is reasoning with him. He's letting him know that, you know, we can fix this. It doesn't have to be this way. And of course, again, we see a picture of God's dealings with us. You remember speaking to the prophet Isaiah. The Lord said, come and let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Come, let us reason together. And God, rather than hastily judging, He is, He's full of compassion. He's patient with our failures. He's ready to give us another opportunity. As I mentioned, I was with my youngest daughter yesterday. And the Lord's just doing a really beautiful work in her life. And we're so thankful for that. But she was telling me about a friend who had gotten into some trouble. And then, you know, there's some really bad things that have sort of resulted from that. And the friend is looking at that as a judgment of God upon their life. The friend is sort of saying, God's punishing me for something I did in my past. And so my daughter said to me, she said, now, you know, is that true, Dad? Do you think that that's what's going on? And she told me a little bit about, you know, the situation. And then I said, well, you know, I mean, you know, there are times when that does happen. The Bible does say that whatever a man sows, he will reap and so forth. But, you know, on the other hand, God is so merciful. And she said to me, she said, you know, yeah, because I was reading. And this one passage, it said that God hasn't dealt with us according to our iniquities. And I said, oh, yeah, that's Psalm 103. I love that Psalm. And that's a truth. God is patient. He's merciful. He's gracious. And we see it so clearly here with Cain. He's upset. He's angry. He's mad. And yet God so patiently saying to him, why are you angry? Why is your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? So God is basically telling Cain, look, there's a way to get this thing righted. And he says to him, if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. So God tells him, look, we can get this sorted out. But God also warns him. He's at a crossroads, so to speak. He's at this critical moment where sin is looking to dominate his life. But God says to Cain, he says, but you should rule over it. So God gives him another opportunity. He gives him counsel on how to have victory over this animosity that he has toward God and toward his brother. But look at Cain's resolve. Astounding. Now, Cain talked with Abel, his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. Cain rose up against his brother and killed him. Now, John, in his first epistle, he writes about Cain. And he says this, he said, Cain was of the wicked one and he murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brothers were righteous. So here we see sin in the heart of Cain. We see it manifesting itself in this jealousy, in this hatred that leads him to take the life of his brother, that leads him to murder. Now, notice what John said. Cain was of that wicked one. He was of the wicked one. Remember what Jesus said regarding Satan? He said, he is a murderer. He is a liar. Two characteristics of the devil that Jesus pointed out there in John chapter 8 are that he is a liar. His natural tongue is deceitful. When he speaks a lie, he's speaking from his very own resource. That's his nature. It's a nature of deceit. He's a liar. He's also a murderer. Wherever you find murder, you find Satan actively at work behind that. You know, being in Africa, it's amazing how, and you know, Africa has been referred to as the dark continent over the centuries because it has been a place where paganism and witchcraft and idolatry and all those things have had such a stronghold on that continent. And, you know, we hear stories of these genocides that take place. Remember a few years back the genocide in Rwanda and a million people or so butchered. And just a few months back, maybe you remember, Kenya. And we were actually going to be going to Kenya. And we weren't able to go. Ed went this time. But I remember some months ago we were talking to somebody about Kenya and they were saying, oh, Kenya is the most stable country in Africa. And it's, you know, it's a wonderful place and all of this. And I'm sure there's many wonderful aspects to it. But, you know, suddenly something went wrong in the political system. And the next thing you know, you've got this sort of genocidal thing that develops again and people just being murdered right and left. And, interestingly, this week when I was in South Africa, the ruling political party, the ANC, the African National Congress, they've been sort of trying to push a particular person into the presidency. And some of the group has rejected that and they've broken off from it. But the headlines in the paper this week as I was reading one of the main newspapers down there, they were talking about the split off. And it was a photo of a group of people, you know, hands raised up, grimacing, shouting. And they're shouting death to the leader of this opposition party. You know, I mean, they don't like a candidate down there. They just say, let's kill him. You know, I mean, that's basically what the headlines said. But there's just this murderous kind of a spirit all over that place. And that is a sign of Satan's work in his activity. And we see it here very clearly with Cain. He murders his brother. And then the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel, your brother? He said, I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper? And the Lord said, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond, you shall be on the earth. And Cain said to the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear, or my punishment is greater than I deserve. So look at the hardness of this man's heart. Now, here's the point that I want to impress on you. We have a tendency in our psychologized culture to think of sinners as sort of innocent victims. Or we think that, you know, people are bad or they're evil because of, you know, well, it's the environment that they grew up in. They didn't really have a chance, you know. And that's why they've turned out the way that they've turned out. Look, here we have a man who grows up in probably the most perfect environment you could have had, with the exception of the garden before the fall. He's living in the world at a stage where the corruption of sin has not really advanced much at all. And so he's living under, environmentally speaking, ideal circumstances. There's a relatively small population on the earth and all of them are related to one another. And so it's not because of, you know, a population problem that he might have had difficulties. He's got godly parents, parents who love God and have tried to instill within him the right things from his youth. So he's got all of those advantages. But notice what he also has. He has a hostile, rebellious heart against God. And you see, the fact of the matter is this. The Bible tells us that the problem is in the heart. The problem's not in the environment. The problem's not in a lack of education. The problem is not because of poverty and all of those things. Certainly those things make some contribution. But it's very minimal compared to what the real issue is. The real issue is the heart of man. And we see it here with Cain. Here is a man who just has a heart that is set against God. He's angry with God. God graciously and mercifully extends an opportunity to him to get things right. He rejects God's counsel and he goes out and he murders his brother. And when God comes to him and says, where's your brother? He says, I don't know. What are you asking me for? I'm not my brother's keeper. No conviction. And then when God pronounces a judgment on him that is actually somewhat of a gracious judgment because God doesn't demand his life. God allows him to live. But Cain now complains that the judgment of God is too severe toward him. Oh, this is amazing. But I bring this up because I think that a lot of times we forget. We forget that we're dealing with sin and we're dealing with wickedness and we're dealing with hard hearts. Hearts that are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And, you know, sometimes I think it's hard for us, especially after we've been saved for a while and you sort of forget about the way you might have been previously. It's kind of hard for us to imagine that somebody would just intentionally and knowingly set themselves like that against God. But listen, people do. Multitudes of people do. This is the condition of the human heart. It is, it's at a condition of enmity toward God. And we see that so clearly with Cain. And so even now, rather than repent, he is revolting against the judgment, the merciful judgment that God is bringing upon him. He says, surely you have driven me out this day from the face of the ground. I shall be hidden from your face. I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth. And it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me. It's interesting about murderers. They have no problem taking somebody else's life, but they certainly don't want anyone to mess with theirs. There's a big controversy and has been as to whether the death penalty is a deterrent to crime and particularly to murder. And we'll look at it right here. Cain has mercilessly murdered his brother, but now he's afraid for his life. He doesn't want anyone to touch him. But here again, the Lord, amazingly, and the Lord said to him, therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. So the Lord prohibits anyone from killing Cain. Again, another extension of God's mercy toward him. Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. Nod means wandering. So now Cain, as a part of his judgment, he becomes a wanderer. But he has also made this decision to go out from the presence of the Lord. Of course, Cain could have repented. He could have come to his senses. He could have asked God to forgive him and to have mercy. He could have taken responsibility, but he doesn't do that. Now, just a quick side note I want to touch on. Notice, he's afraid that someone might kill him. God says, whoever kills Cain. The implication in these references is that there are a fair number of people on the earth. Now, how are we to understand that? You know, when you just read the account, you're tempted to think that it's just Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel. And now Abel's been slain, and so they're back to just one child. But that's not the case. We're told in chapter 5 verse 4 that Adam had sons and daughters. You see, the Bible is not a history of the world, if you will. The Bible is a history of redemption. So the Bible doesn't give us information about all of the people that ever lived on the earth. The Bible has not even hinted to us at this point that there are other children that have been born to Adam and Eve, but there certainly have been, because as we go on, verse 17 says, and Cain knew his wife, implying that at the time Cain was already married. So there is a population that has developed, and this population, these are the descendants, the other descendants that are not mentioned, they're the other descendants of Adam and Eve. The reason why Cain and Abel are mentioned, specifically, well, Cain, of course, because he was the firstborn, but then secondly, because of his evil deed, that Abel is mentioned because Abel seemed to be the one through whom the promise of God was going to be fulfilled. And so as we go through Genesis, we will find this pattern where different families will be highlighted and followed for a brief period, and then they will be left behind, and everything is ultimately narrowing down to the family through whom the promises are going to be fulfilled. So it's important for us in this age of skepticism to understand these kinds of things. You, of course, many of you, you remember hearing about the famous Scopes trial back in 1925, I think it was. And William Jennings Bryan, who was the representative of the, I guess you might call it the creationist position at the time, he was made to look like a fool by Clarence Darrow when he could not answer the question, where did Cain get his wife? Where did Cain get his wife? I mean, that seems like a relatively simple question, but he didn't have an answer for it. And even down to this very day, skeptics, critics, those who are looking for fault in the Christian faith, they will ask that same question. Where did Cain get his wife? Well, the answer is Cain married one of his sisters, or perhaps he married a niece. Because again, if you read closely, you see that Adam and Eve did have other children, and that there was a population on the earth at this time that was sufficient for Cain to be fearful that someone might take retribution against him for his act against Abel. And so Cain goes out from the presence of the Lord, he knew his wife, she conceived and bore Enoch, and he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch. To Enoch was born Arad, and Arad begot Mahujael, and Mahujael begot Methushael, Methushael begot Lamech. Then Lamech took for himself two wives. The name of one was Adah, the name of the second was Zillah. And Adah bore Jabal, he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother's name was Jubal, he was the father of all those who play the harp and flute. And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naama. So in in verses 16 through 22, we have the beginning of human civilization. And contrary to modern anthropology, human civilization began very early. Man did not really live in what they would think of in terms of a primitive state for very long. It's very early on that, notice, a city was built. There was city life, there was rural life, arts were developed, there were tradesmen, commerce began to take place. So, you know, again, the evolutionary idea that for eons of time, man lived in a primitive, animal-like state, does not reconcile with with the biblical picture. And as we pointed out many times before, the evolutionary view of life in the world and everything else in the biblical view are completely contrary. Almost a complete opposite of one another. So here's the first taste of a self-sufficient society. Remember, Cain goes out from the presence of the Lord. So this is a secular society, essentially. This is a society that is intentionally choosing to experience life apart from the influence of God. And of course, that has been the case for most societies. And it is the case tonight with our society. Lamech is interesting because he sort of epitomizes the Cainite lineage and he also sort of epitomizes just man in his natural state. He rejects the ordinance of God. Notice, Lamech, he takes two wives. So you see in this Cainite line, these descendants of Cain, there is that same rebellion to God's way. God says it's to be done this way. Cain rejects it and now we see that same thing in his descendants. And so this man, Lamech, he decides that rather than have one wife as God had prescribed, he will take two wives. And then Lamech said to his wives, verse 23, Audah and Zillah, hear my voice, wives of Lamech, listen to my speech, for I have killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech 70 sevenfold. In this poem or this little song, you see in Lamech this arrogance and you see the spirit of revenge. You know, Lamech was kind of like the first rapper. He boasts in his song about killing somebody for basically nothing. So we're seeing that emergence within the human family of the sin nature. Now, Cain's family is a microcosm. It's pattern of technical prowess and moral failure is that of the human race. And like all godless men and societies, it ultimately will disappear from history. And so this really sort of brings us to the end of the story of Cain and his descendants. But the work of God and the people of God go on. And so we read in verse 25, And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth. For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed. And as for Seth, to him also a son was born, and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord. So a slight deviation in the record to briefly talk about the first born person, Cain, to follow his lineage very briefly. But then that disappears, and now the godly line emerges through Seth. And it was then that men began to call on the name of the Lord. So as Abel was a righteous man, Cain was a wicked man. Seth is evidently a righteous man as well. And I think there's a definite connection between his birth and his life and men calling upon the name of the Lord. So there's a fresh new work of God. There's a fresh new move of God marching toward the fulfillment of the promises that God made. And Seth is now the one through whom that is going to come. Now in backing up just for a moment as we close, I want to go back to God's instruction to Cain for the application. As he says to him, sin lies at the door and its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. The picture is that of a lion crouching, ready to pounce on its prey. And Cain was in that place where, you know, he could go either way basically at this point. And tragically, he chooses the wrong thing. He goes the wrong way. But perhaps there's someone here tonight who's in that place as well. Perhaps you're here and you're in that place where you're sort of at a crossroad. And sin is there. Sin is crouching. Sin is ready to pounce upon you and to consume your life. But it doesn't have to be that way. It doesn't have to be that way. You see, with Cain it was that way because he rejected the counsel of God. And that's true today as well. A person who is overcome by sin, a person whose life is consumed by sin, is a person who has rejected the counsel of God. Again, I want to go back to that idea. You know, sometimes we, you know, we look at a person whose life is consumed with sin. And sometimes we even listen to their story. And, you know, they speak as though they had no, they had no decision in the matter. They speak as though this was something that was completely beyond their control. And again, in our culture, we have a mentality that feeds that. A few months ago I was sitting in on a session, a rehab session where, you know, they're counseling people through their drug addictions and so forth. And, you know, they're talking about the disease. And they're talking to these people and referring to the fact that, well, you know, you have a disease. And as I was sitting in this session, the lady who was conducting this session, she just said to everybody in the room, she said, now, does everybody understand that this is a disease? Does anyone have a problem with that terminology? And I said, well, yes. Don't want to spoil the party, but I do have a problem with that terminology. This is not a disease. This is sin. You see, as long as we persist in calling it the wrong thing, as long as we refuse to face it for what it really is, as long as we persist in not taking responsibility for this being sin and just outright rebellion against God, we can never progress beyond it. We've got to call it what it is. We've got to understand what it is. And only then can we properly deal with it and be freed from it. You see, sin can only have dominion over us if we allow that. But if I am submitted to Christ, then, of course, one of the primary things that Jesus came to do, He came to destroy the works of the devil. He came to set me free from the power of sin. He came to break those chains and that bondage. And if a person is professing to be a Christian, if a person is believing that they have received Christ, but yet they're still all bound up in sin, it's either one of two things. Either they haven't really met the Lord in the in the sense that they need to, or perhaps they have received the Lord, but they haven't understood that the way to victory is through total surrender of yourself to Christ. Sin lies at the door. Its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. You see, God tells us that we should rule over it. We can rule over it. But we can only rule over it through the power of the Holy Spirit. And the power of the Holy Spirit is mine as I yield myself to Christ. You know, it's not enough to desire victory over sin. I mean, many people desire. I talk to many people who will tell me, and I believe sincerely, I want to be freed from this. I don't want to do this. The desire is there. But it takes more than just desire. It takes more than just resolve. We've all experienced those times when, you know, we have resolved to not do a particular thing. And yet, we find that with all of the resolve that we can muster up, we still don't seem to have the ability. And those very things that we said we would not do, we promised that we wouldn't do. We made a resolution. We took a vow. We swore that we wouldn't do it. We find ourselves doing those things again. You see, the fact of the matter is sin is more powerful than we are. And the only power that can break the power of sin is the power of Christ. And so, I have got to call upon Jesus. I have got to yield myself to Him. And it says, I yield myself to Him that He supplies me then with that power, and then I am able to do what God said to Cain that he would have been able to do. I'm able to rule over sin rather than sin ruling over me. And it's through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in my life. There is not a single sin that can resist the power of Christ. But that's the only power that sin can't resist, the power of Christ. And so tonight, if you're at that place, if you're at a crossroads, or maybe you're beyond the crossroads. Maybe you're at the point where sin has taken over your life, where you're being consumed by some sinful practice. And maybe you've desired to be out of it, and you've resolved never to do it. But you know, you find yourself in that place where it just seems that you don't have any power. The Lord is able. And what He wants from you is simply to acknowledge that the problem is sin, the problem is rebellion, and that He and He alone is the solution. And that you will look to Him exclusively for deliverance. He will bring it. That's what He promises to do. That's what He came to do. Remember what Jesus said. He said, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. If we abide in His word, if we allow His word to reside in our lives, if we are submitted to the authority of His word, then what we have as a promise is we have liberty. We have freedom. He's going to set us free from the power of sin, from the effects of sin, from the bondage of sin. Sin is lying at the door, and its desire is to rule over you. But you should, you can rule over it, because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. Greater is the Spirit of God working in you than all the power of sin, than all the power of Satan. But it's that, it's that point of laying hold of that, and taking that on board for yourself personally, and saying, yes Lord, I want that. I want that freedom. When I was in South Africa, I met a number of young men who were recovering drug addicts, and one particular young guy, one evening he sat down and just, you know, asked if he could talk to me, and I sat for about an hour with him. And you know, it was so beautiful to be able to sit there, and to have him share with me his frustrations, his difficulties, his struggles, his bondages, and sharing them with me with the, with the intention of, you know, really crying out for help, and seeking counsel, and to be able to respond to each one of his problems, and concerns, and whatever else it was, to be able to respond to each one of those things. With the Word of God. And after an hour and a half or so, you know, to have him stand up, and you know, have the biggest smile on his face, and to just reach over and give me a hug, and say, thank you so much. Thank you so much. You encouraged me. And to see him, just over these couple of days, to see his countenance lift, and to see him being strengthened through the Word of God. God has victory for us, and that victory comes as we depend on the Lord, relying upon Him. We can't do it in our own strength. We, God never intended that we do it in our own strength. We yield to Him. We just throw up our hands. Lord, You've got to help me. You've got to deliver me. And as we yield to Him, He supplies us with that power. Let's pray. Lord, thank You that that is a reality. Lord, that we're not talking philosophies here. We're not talking theories, but we're talking about reality. We're talking about the power of the gospel. We're talking about the power of the Holy Spirit. We're talking about what happens to a person who yields themselves over to You. Lord, we've seen from looking at Cain, we've seen the outcome of those who reject you. We see the outcome of those who turn away from your counsel and go into sin. We see, Lord, how that just leads to one miserable experience after another. But Lord, how we thank You that there is an answer, that there is deliverance, and that You've supplied that through the power of the Holy Spirit. So Lord, tonight help us to trust in You. Help us, Lord, to receive Your counsel. Help us, Lord, to take Your word to heart. Help us, Lord, to submit to You and to know that power and to know the victory over sin. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Let's stand together. If you need prayer tonight, pastors are down here in the front, and they would love to pray with you. And maybe, you know, there's a fair number of people here tonight. Maybe you happen to be one of those that's really struggling. Maybe you're going through a real time of temptation. Maybe you've succumbed to the temptation. You find yourself, you're all bound up, but you came here tonight, and you're looking for that glimmer of hope. Well, you found it. The Lord is merciful. He's gracious, and He wants to touch you, and He wants to deliver you. And these men up here would love to just take a few minutes and pray with you. And as we pray together, and as we call upon the Lord, and as you yield yourself to Him, and we depend on that power of the Spirit to come, God will break that bondage. He'll set you free, and He'll set you on a new course. So take advantage of that opportunity tonight as we finish up. Just make your way up here, and let these guys pray for you. God bless you, and have a great rest of the week. you