Crouching Tiger, Roaring Lion
“If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
I’ve always been intrigued by this verse. Honestly, because for a long time I did not fully understand what God meant by “if you do what is right, won’t you be accepted?” I’m not claiming to fully understand it now, but I think I have a better understanding of it now than I did as a young believer. God’s counsel to Cain is still very much relevant in the life of a believer today.
To unpack this verse, I’m going to start with the second half.
…sin is crouching at the door…Its desire is for you…
Before we get going, we need to make sure we review what is foundational to our faith, because we have to view the topic of sin in light of the cross. We are going to keep coming back to this truth because our hope lies therein.
Jesus’ blood has set us free from the penalty of sin. There is no sin that we can commit that the blood of Jesus does not cover. There is no sin that we have or will commit that jeopardizes our justification, our salvation, our eternal life, or any other promise of the Gospel. God has declared us righteous, despite our sin, because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. This is what we call positional righteousness. (See 2 Corinthians 5:21.)
But even though we are positionally righteous, declared free from the penalty of sin, we are still sinners. Even though we have been set free and Jesus has conquered sin, we remain sinful. Why? Especially when the Bible indicates that this victory over sin is for my present life, not just the one to come. Why do we still struggle with sin if the Bible says we are victorious over it?
This was the question I asked myself often during a period of my life where I was in a pattern of sin that had a hold on me. While I knew [de jure] through Christ, freedom for sin was offered to me, bought for me, I didn’t feel free, and more importantly, I wasn’t living in that freedom. In reality, I was no different than a non-believer, continuing in my sin. This idea that I was declared righteous and yet I was living unrighteously brought feelings of hypocrisy, shame, and condemnation. And yet, the idea that I was supposed to live righteously, as a believer, when I am a sinful human seemed like an impossible standard. I thought, as I fell into sin over and over, “How am I going to get out of it? How am I going to rule over it?” As I continued in my struggle, I thought, “What was the point in having been a believer all these years, doing all the things, if I find myself still enslaved to sin? What am I doing wrong? What am I missing?”
First, I think we need to have a right view of sin and in this verse, God is giving Cain important insight. Sin is very real and very powerful. Sin doesn’t just want to be a part of your life. God says, “its desire is for you.” Sin wants to usurp power and control you. The Bible tells us that without Christ we are enslaved to sin, so that would make sin our master. And this master wants to destroy you. The Bible is clear that sin produces death. Now, this is where we remember the good news of the Gospel, that through Jesus’ blood, sin no longer results in [spiritual] death to those who trust in Jesus’ Christ, hallelujah!
Even though we have been declared free from the penalty of sin [spiritual death], it can still very much destroy us in our present life. Even as believers, sin still seeks to control us. This is where we have to hold the thought in tension that although we are positionally righteous, we remain sinful humans. So, we should not view sin lightly, but rather remember the gravity of sin. As believers, sin can rob us of our intimacy with God; it can wreak havoc on our peace. It can destroy the relationships we have with others. We can still be enslaved to it and our fleshly desires.
In the book of James, note what he writes to believers: “but each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after the desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15). It is naive to think that when we become Christians sin goes away, or can no longer be a struggle. There is something innate in our human condition prone to sin and once we become believers, rather than our sinful natures disappearing, our flesh wages war against our spirit
Second, I think we need to stop thinking of sin as a list of “not to do behaviors.” In doing so, we tend to acknowledge the gravity and repugnance of “big tickets” sins, (like murder, adultery, stealing, to name a few), but fail to see the gravity of what we would deem “minor sins.” We tend to view sin as a behavior issue when in reality the Bible makes it clear that sin is a heart issue. This mindset keeps us from recognizing when the seeds of any sin are taking root. We might think “I would never do x” or “I can do this, because I know where the line is to stop” [this is how I used to justify my gossip]. But anytime we are indulging our flesh, even a little bit, we are sowing seeds of pride, anger, lust, bitterness in our heart that left unchecked will lead to sinful action. And even if in your own strength you can refrain from certain actions, your heart is not in tune with God’s spirit.
Sin, at its very core, is rebellion against God. As Christians, the blood of Christ has reconciled us to him, but as stated before our flesh still wages war against our spirit. We rebel (or sin) against God when we choose to act according to our flesh rather than His Spirit. Any sin, big or small, action or thought, is rebellion against God, and little rebellions give rise to a rebellious spirit if not kept in check. Sin is more than a collection of bad behaviors. It is a heart condition that says “I don’t need God; I will do life how I please.” Look back at what James says is the result of that very desire. Even for believers, sin is still crouching at the door. And when we cater to our desires, even a little bit, sin will consume us.
You must rule over it.
So, let us not be naive to think we have control over sin, that we can manage it, that it’s a beast we can tame and put on a leash. On the contrary, when we allow sin in our life, it becomes our master. When sin is reigning in our life, we are enslaved to our desires. On a practical level, these desires dictate how we spend our time, our money, what we watch, what we listen to, who we hang out with etc. This is why Paul tells us “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies so that you obey its desires” (Romans 6:12). We are called to be obedient to Christ, not to our flesh. So we can see the need to rule over our sin. The need to tame it. The need to manage it.
And this is where so many of us get it wrong.
We are not called to manage our sin, but to be free from it. After we become believers God wants us to experience the fullness of His grace and presence here in this lifetime too, not just after the resurrection. He freed us from the penalty of sin [death], but also from the power of sin in this lifetime too. So upon our confession of faith, His Spirit inhabits us, and He begins this beautiful work of sanctification.
We’re going to explore more of what this looks like in a moment, but for now let’s recognize that sanctification is not sin-management. Sanctification is the process through which Jesus frees us from sin here now. [Note the word process; it does not happen overnight.] But the Bible is clear that Jesus’ blood has set us free from the power of sin, both positionally and practically. The Lion of Judah came and conquered sin. Death and sin are under His authority. So we can have hope that our time here on Earth is not managing a tiger lurking in our house that we have to appease, keep on a leash, or hide from (because as we saw earlier, we are incapable of taming this wild beast). The blood of Jesus grants us positional righteousness and empowers us to live a life of practical righteousness, i.e. a life free from sin. Romans 6:14 says “For sin will not rule over you because you are not under the law but grace.”
If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?
If you are like me, I used to look at God’s statement to Cain and think he was admonishing Cain for not having the right behavior. That Cain was not “doing right” and that God was saying “if you do right, if you behave rightly, you will be accepted.” But this is acceptance based on works, not faith. And if you are like me, for many years, I knew that my salvation was through faith alone, but I thought that sanctification was my responsibility. Enter, doing right. I believed the “to do’s” like going to church, reading my bible, praying, were the means to sanctify myself. I believed, also, that these disciplines in and of themselves were a safeguard from sin. And ultimately, I believed sanctification was about my behavior: doing the “to do’s” and avoiding the “not to do’s.
But I found myself struggling with sin and was fighting a losing battle on my own. I had done bible study, done church, done prayer, and nothing was working. What was the point in engaging in those practices if I was still enslaved to my sin? In desperation, I cried out to God and said, “I’m done, Lord, I need you. I need you to fix me.” I was doing a devotional, and looking at Ephesians 6 where Paul says, “be strong in the Lord.” I realized that while I could say that, I honestly had no idea what that meant, or what that looked like practically in my life. The Holy Spirit showed me that I had spent many years doing these spiritual disciplines (prayer, bible study, church going, etc.) but in my own strength.
I realized that I spent most of my life engaging in those disciplines without engaging the Holy Spirit. Those practices do help us live godly lives, but only when we engage with the Holy Spirit. It is such a subtle shift in perspective, but one that makes all the difference. That practical righteousness that I mentioned earlier, sanctification, is a work of the Holy Spirit. If it was a work of ourselves it would be called self-righteousness. And when we try to assume responsibility for our sanctification, we are being self-righteous, arrogant, and trying to be our own Savior and Lord. But it took me a long time to figure out that difference.
Here is a truth that we have to hold in tension: that it is the Holy Spirit who transforms, or sanctifies us, but that we are called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. It is the Holy Spirit at work in us, but He does call us to practical actions—steps of obedience— through which He transforms us.
If we’re not careful, we can think that the work of the Holy Spirit is mystical and we are magically transformed, with no partnership with us. Our transformation by the Holy Spirit is not mystical, but it is mysterious. We cannot say how the Holy Spirit transforms us. It is not formulaic. It is not “do x + y and get z.” But while we cannot define exactly how the Holy Spirit transforms us, it is tangible. The Holy Spirit calls us to obedience to practical, daily, specific actions that through daily abiding (obedience to those actions), we are transformed into His likeness. And this includes the spiritual disciplines, or spiritual practices, that we would expect in the Christian walk.
Remember things like prayer, going to church, and other spiritual disciplines in and of themselves will not free you from sin. If you do them as a list of religious practices devoid of the Spirit, you are practicing religion and bound to legalism. There is no freedom there. But if you engage with Spirit, He will lead you in obedience, and to walking with the Spirit. In reality, these disciplines, when we engage with the Spirit, bring us into His presence. The more we are in His presence, the more our spirits align with His, and we choose life in the Spirit (obedience) instead of death in our flesh (sin).
The goal of practical righteousness is not to avoid sin, but to pursue holiness. It is not reactive to sin, but rather proactive in seeking His presence. We can look at the presence of specific sins in our lives and use it to evaluate our hearts, like a gauge, but we can also look at our fruit, or lack thereof, as a gauge as well. Sanctification is not behavior modification. It is aligning our lives with the Spirit and allowing Him to transform our hearts, which in turn, does change our behavior. The Bible says that when we are walking in the Spirit, we will produce fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness…). This fruit is the result of sanctification.
Fruit is not the end game, but the evidence and blessing of a life intimately intertwined with God. And that relationship is the goal. He is the prize. I used to think sanctification was practicing for heaven. But God sanctifies us here on earth because the promise of eternity (life with Him in its fullness) with Him starts here now.
But when Jesus returns and establishes the new heaven and the new earth, we will have His perfect righteousness bestowed on us. This righteousness is not earned by how well we did here on earth. It will be graciously given to us.
So, why then does God say “you must rule over [sin]. If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?” Looking back at the original text, it was based on Cain and Abel’s sacrifice. Abel’s sacrifice was one of faith. God was telling Cain to come to Him by faith and walk with Him. And that is what He is asking us to do as well. Only by trusting in the blood of the Lamb will we be accepted and only by His Spirit will we be able to do right and rule over sin.
