Pastor Tim Brown, Calvary Chapel Fremont, Sunday October 30, 2011

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The Way of Cain

Genesis 4:1-5

But these people mock and curse the things they do not understand. Like animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and they bring about their own destruction. How terrible it will be for them! For they follow the evil example of Cain… Jude 10-11  NLT

Moses just isn’t recording history, nor is he just telling a story - he’s writing a sermon. And in writing a sermon, he’s wanting to make a point.  He pens this in the wilderness/main audience are those who will be going into the Promised Land. A/E disobeyed/ kicked out of garden.  Israel disobeyed/kept out of Promise Land.  With the story of Cain/Abel he is going to make a further point in his sermon – something important 4 Israel 2 remember/abide by.   

Cain –from the root ‘to strike.’  Here is the one who will strike the head of the serpent.  He will conquer/prevail over enemy.  

The absence of the formula ‘she conceived and bore’ led to the tradition that Cain/Abel were twins.  JPS Comm.

Abel – vanity/breath/nothingness (maybe given after death/Eve named him such remembering the sad condition of the human race).  Here is one who can’t compete/prevail over the enemy.  Maybe after Cain, Abel was not seen as being necessary.   

There are some clues in the text that help us in understanding the point Moses is seeking to make -  

Cain – tiller/worker/SLAVE of the ground.

Abel – keeper/SHEPHERD of flocks.  Keeper used as honorific title.

Cain gave himself to what was cursed.  Abel gave himself to the means of redemption.   

Course of time = end of days (Sabbath?).  They were taught when to bring an offering.  In giving an offering they acknowledged that their property belonged to God.  They were taught where to bring an offering – there must have been an altar where Abel could have sacrificed the fat portions.   

God disapproved of Cain/offering.  Fire?  Lev. 9:24/Jud. 6:21; 1K18:38/2C7:1
 
Cain offered of the ground he worked.

Abel offered of the firstlings of his flock and fat portions.

Why did the Lord regard Abel’s offering/reject Cain’s?  Did it have to do w/ what was offered/who was giving the offering/how it was offered?  Why was Abel’s offering accepted and not Cain’s?

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.  Hebrews  11:4

Cain didn’t bring firstfruits –  there is a word for that.  Why didn’t he bring the firstfruits?  Did he not know?  Then why did Abel give the firstlings/fat? Did Cain bring the wrong sacrifice?  Yes, and a wrong heart.

From the beginning, sacrifices were always substitutes.  And if those they substituted for didn’t have right hearts before God, the sacrifices weren’t accepted.  Even when the people brought the right sacrifice, when their heart wasn’t right, it wasn’t accepted.

“What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle; and I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who requires of you this trampling of My courts? Bring your worthless offerings no longer…”  Isaiah. 1:11-13

Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.

1 Samuel 15:22

God has always been after the heart of man and this is what Cain didn’t bring to God.  Cain had a wrong heart/stingy offering.

This is the offering God wants - Romans 12:1

This is the pathway of offering – Hebrews 13:15  Christ is pathway…

Couple of implications: 1) Religion is the way of Cain.  Missions isn’t convincing of God, but preaching Christ.  2) Many who say they follow Jesus actually walk in the way of Cain.  God doesn’t want what is yours – He wants you.   

Cain brought that which displeased the Lord.  He didn’t come to God through another, but the fruit of his own sweat.  Note: not a rejection of God, but a rejection of God’s revelation, God’s ways.  Cain wanted to serve God, but in his own way.   

Was God holding Cain accountable to the standard of Abel?  No.  Cain was accountable to the standard of revelation.  God didn’t say, “When you’re as good as Abel I will accept you.”  God says, “When you walk in faith/obedience of faith I will accept you.”

Cain wanted his work to be applauded – but no applause from heaven/no angelic roar/no fire from the sky.  Cain wanted his work 2b his worship – this is what he excelled at.   

I believe in God/don’t go to church/not religious/conscientious and want to do a good job/ give to charity.  God knows my heart.

He wanted 2b known in heaven as he was known on earth.  He wanted to be known by his works, not his faith.  I don’t – I want to be clothed in Christ’s righteousness.  He would come to God, yes – but he would come on his own terms.   

Way of Cain – coming to God, but not in faith, not through Christ.  Cain believed in God, but he didn’t believe God.  He believed that there was a God and that He should be acknowledged, yet he thought he could relate to God as he saw fit and give to God what he thought appropriate.  Did Cain sacrifice?  Yes.  Did he obey/worship?  No.  Did Cain walk in faith?  No.

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.  Hebrews 11:6  

Point of Moses’ sermon - you cannot approach God on your own terms.  He is addressing a nation prone to wander, prone to follow religions/philosophies of surrounding nations.  Time and again man departs from the path of revelation and walks in the stubbornness of his heart.  We see this all the time in mundane life– why does my room need to be clean?  Why do I have to be home by 11:30?  Why can’t I sleep with another woman – why does my wife set the terms of our life together?

His first and ultimate problem was the sin of his own heart against a God who had given revelation saying, “This is the way life is meant to work.  This is the way you are to live and relate to Me.”  In rejecting this, Cain set himself on a course of destruction.