The Way Of Cain

There are two kinds of people in this world and they rarely get along. 

Genesis 4:3-7 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the LORD. 4 Abel also brought a gift--the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but He did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.

6 "Why are you so angry?" the LORD asked Cain. "Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master."

Jude 1:11 What sorrow awaits them! For they follow in the footsteps of Cain.

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If you are following my study through Genesis you should know by now that sin is the root cause of every breakdown on this planet. We like to think that the issues are very complex but God has made it crystal clear that every breakdown, every unrighteousness and every injustice is a direct result of sin.

The only reason the issues are complicated is because man is too arrogant to admit the problem and seek the help that we need from the only person that has the cure. We prefer to ignore God's rules and do things our own way.

When Adam and Eve sinned we see the shame and remorse that they had, they admitted their sin and they willingly accepted their punishment without arguing with God. But that is not true of every sinner. Their first born son wasn't concerned at all about what God thought about his sin.

Cain's attitude toward sin was self centered and indifferent to the ways of God. Cain was obsessed with what he thought was fair and just and he thought he should be able to be his own god and make his own rules. Cain may have thought: Why should Abel get God's favor? Doesn't God know what Abel did to me?

Cain was probably warned by his parents, surely the boys heard stories about the good old days back in the garden, the devastating consequences of their sin must have been talked about at home, especially when the boys were misbehaving.

Psalms 51:17 The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

God warned Cain that sin is powerful, it desires to have you, and it crouches down low so you won't know how big it is. Sin will stalk you and if you give it an opportunity it will not let you go without a struggle. The smallest little grudge wants to be murder if it isn't controlled.

God showed grace to Cain and let him know why he wasn't pleased with him, God could have been a harsh judge but he came in love. Cain hated God and he couldn't bear the thought that his brother had God's approval.

Cain deserved death but he didn't worry about God killing him, he was pretty sure that one of his relatives would try to get revenge for God, so God protected him from physical death but it was up to Cain to decide his spiritual condition.

Most of the sermons preached on Genesis four focus on murder, fake worship and the power of sin in Cain's life. All of those are great points but if you look at chapter four through seven as a whole there is a message that is even more important.

1 John 3:12 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. 

Cain and Abel show us that there are only two kinds of people in our world, there are people that belong to God and all of the rest of mankind belong to Satan. We all decide for ourselves: Will I try to be God or will I be happy to be under God?

Cain is the prototype for everybody that does not belong to God, just look at his family tree in the next few chapters of Genesis. The list includes a lot of accomplished men that achieved great things and contributed to society and to culture but there isn't anything spiritual mentioned about the people in Cain's lineage.

1 John 3:12-13 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. 13 So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

It's only the beginning of God's book and already the ungodly seem to be in control, as quick as sin ruined Cain it also ruined the culture, we can see today very clearly where the mess all around us came from.

Cain and his ungodly offspring would defy God's definition of marriage and take more than one wife. They would be known as unforgiving and violent people. Sure, they were religious but they would like to make the rules and decide how God should be worshiped.

Man has made a quick mess of God's perfect creation, it looks bad, much like it does today but the promise remains. The promise that someone from the woman's offspring will strike the head of Satan. The plan to kill Abel was Satan's first attempt to prohibit the fulfillment of the promised Messiah.

God has a remnant in Seth's lineage, in the midst of a world full of ungodly people there are only eight people, Noah, his sons and their wives that God can use to fulfill his promise. Take note that the lineage of Seth doesn't have any cultural acclaim like Cain's offspring, the people of Seth were famous for what really mattered, they worshiped God correctly. (Genesis 4:26)

The Bible is quick to show us that there are two kinds of people in this world and they will have a hard time accepting each other. It seems like the problem is getting worse everyday as various groups of people attempt to change our values and force us to accept their deviation from God's original design.

The world will always be angry because God's children are favored, we must be careful that we don't join them and give them our anger, we need to be known for our amazing ability to show love to people that do not love us.

The most important message to learn from Cain is that he belonged to the evil one, Cain and his descendants never did love God and they all died in the flood. You can find favor with God and avoid judgement if you accept his offer of salvation.