What does "sin lieth at the door" mean? Genesis 4:7 7 ″If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him”. Larvae of fruit flies and other insects do not eat their way into the fruit from the outside. Rather, the insect lays the egg in the blossom.

1. What does "sin lieth at the door" mean?
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Genesis 4:7
7 ″If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well,
sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule
over him”.
Larvae of fruit flies and other insects do not eat their way into the fruit
from the outside. Rather, the insect lays the egg in the blossom.
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2. The fruit grows around it; sometime later the worm hatches inside the
fruit and eats its way out.
Sin is like that. It begins in the human heart and, if unchecked, works
its way out in thoughts, words, and deeds. As with the fruit fly, it
takes quick, vigorous action to deal with it and root it out. If you let it
go, it gets the upper hand, resulting in terrible destruction.
Because of the sin of Cains parents, he was the first person born in sin,
as all since then have been.
Adam’s sin was imputed to the entire human race so that each person
is born in sin.
Romans 5:12
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin;
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
David, whom God called a man after His own heart said.. “Behold, I
was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me”.
Psalm 51:5
Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked: who can know it?”
Jeremiah 17:9. Paul sums up the human condition this way:
Romans 3:10–12, 23
10 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable;
there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
This is the doctrine of total depravity.
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3. !
Total depravity does not mean that every person is as bad as he can
be, nor that sinful people are incapable of good deeds. Rather, it
means that there is nothing in the human heart capable of earning
God’s favor. The human heart, by nature, is hostile toward God and
unable to please God.
Romans 8:7–8
7 “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God”.
You can give a pig a bath and dress it in a tuxedo, but unless you
change its nature, it will go back to wallowing in the mud. As sinners
we can dress up in good deeds and look good on the outside, but
unless God gives us a new nature, our hearts are corrupt.
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4. We sin because we are sinners by nature.
Jesus taught the same thing..
Mark 7:20–23
“20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,
fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye,
blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”
Sin stems from within.
God didn’t accept Abel’s offering out of arbitrary unfairness. Nor did
he accept it because it was Abel’s best effort. Abel was, by nature, just
as much a sinner as Cain was. God accepted it because Abel offered it
in faith in response to God’s word.
It had nothing to do with Cain’s efforts or Abel’s efforts. It had
everything to do with God’s just requirement for a blood sacrifice to
be the only means of approaching Him.
This is the essence of what is meant by sin being at the door, sin is in
us to begin with as a result of the sin of Adam, judgment comes if you
decide to adhere to this nature or chose the freedom from judgment
through Christ.
Romans 8:1–8
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the
law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh:
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5. 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that
are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and
peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
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