Old Testament Characters (Part 3)
CAIN AND ABEL: False Worship and Hatred - Genesis 4:1-15

The book of Genesis is well written and well organized....it’s a book of
‘first’...chapters 1-3 tell us about the creation, man, sin, and judgment.

Chapters 4-5 show how the descendents of Adam and Eve branch out into an
ungodly and godly line of people:
· Cain and his offspring represent the ungodly line of civilization and
society
· Abel and Seth represent the godly line of civilization of society...it
is Abel who worships God as God dictated and it is Seth and his seed
Genesis 4:26: "Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time
men began to call on the name of the LORD."
· This was part of the wonderful promise God made to Adam and Eve after
they had sinned: He promised a seed through whom a godly line of people
was to be born and also a Savior would come through that line.

Genesis 4:1-: "Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and
gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought
forth a man." {2} Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept
flocks, and Cain worked the soil. {3} In the course of time Cain brought
some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. {4} But Abel
brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD
looked with favor on Abel and his offering, {5} but on Cain and his
offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face
was downcast. {6} Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is
your face downcast? {7} If you do what is right, will you not be
accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your
door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.""

Don’t fail to acknowledge that there had never before been a pregnancy or
birth upon earth before! Think of the happiness and expectations!
Realize, too, that Adam and Eve had believed God and knew they would have
descendents: Eve’s name meant "to give life" or "the mother of all
living."

Abel was a herdsman and Cain a farmer, two occupations which met the very
basic needs of man: food and clothing. They had learned their profession
from their father: remember God had shown Adam how to clothe his family
with animal skins and told him to till the ground (Genesis 3:17-23).

God’s response to the false worship of Cain and the proper worship of
Abel is a strong lesson for us today! God didn’t just accept and reject
the offerings—He also accepted and rejected the man as well...it was the
offering that made the man acceptable or unacceptable to God.
What was it that made Abel’s offering acceptable?
Hebrews 11:4: "By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain
did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of
his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead."

Abel offered that which God’s word ("faith comes by hearing God’s word")
had told him to offer. He likely had been taught by Adam to offer this
kind of gift.

Cain offered a different gift—not according to God’s word (faith).

When Adam sinned, God killed an animal and clothed Adam with its skin. By
this act, God taught Adam:
· that sin causes death
· that an innocent substitute had to sacrificially die in order to clothe
man’s shame and guilt
· that man could approach God only if his shame and guilt were hid
through the sacrificial death of an innocent substitute

Abel approached God through the sacrifice of an innocent life...Cain
approached God through what his own hands and mind had produced! Jude
also seems to suggest that Cain was a false teacher who sought to
establish a ‘false way’ to God:

· Cain had a form of godliness and religion, but he denied the power (2
Tim. 3:5).
· 1 John 3:12 indicates that Cain was a child of the devil, and this
means he practiced a false righteousness of the flesh, not the
righteousness of God through faith.
· Jesus called the self-righteous Pharisees "children of the devil" and
blamed their kind for the death of Abel (Luke. 11:37-51).
· Jude 11 talks about "the way of Cain," which is the way of religion
without blood, religion based on religious good works and
self-righteousness.
· "There are only two religions in the world today: (1) that of Abel that
depends on the blood of Christ and His finished work on the cross; and
(2) that of Cain that depends on good works and man-pleasing religion.
One leads to heaven, the other to hell!"

There are some strong lessons here for us about false and true worship:

Worshipping by Faith
What ever we do in word or deed we must "do all in the name of the Lord,"
i.e. by His authority (Col 3:17).

Many regularly worship God but have taken little thought as to whether
there is divine authority for the manner in which they worship.
It is imperative not only that we worship God, but that we worship Him as
He has directed; for it is possible for one to worship God in vain (Mt.
15:9).

God makes it very plain in His Word that men must do what He says in the
way He says do it; for what might seem right to men might not be right in
the eyes of the Almighty God.

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,
declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa.
55:8).

"There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end is the way of
death" (Prov. 14:12).

It was neither the lack of worship, nor the worship of a false god that
condemned Cain. It was the worship of the true God in a false way.

Cain's worship was offered out of convenience according to man's way.
There are people everywhere who are looking for a religion they like.
Many go from church to church trying to find the one that is pleasing to
them.

Yet we, like Abel, must be concerned with what is pleasing to God. We
must seek to worship and serve God by faith, offering to Him only what He
has authorized in the way He has directed.

This is true whether it be concerning the music we offer up to God (Eph.
5:19; Col. 3:16) or when and how we partake of the Lord's Supper (1Cor.
11:23-29; Ac. 20:7).

Some lessons about anger/hatred
A German school teacher says: "Hatred in the intellectual world is what
the atomic bomb is to the physical."

Our lesson today will allow us to trace hatred and warfare and also to
hear the words of God Himself on the subject—the story is too often told
without them!

1. Hatred grew out of differences
One writer: "I like everything I know; it is just the ones I don’t know
that I don’t like." Compare the feuds between cattle men and sheep men in
the old West (we saw sheep and cattle together in the same field in Davie
just the other day).

Discuss this statement: "We are different!" Reply: "we are brothers."


2. Hatred grew out of Cain’s own moral failure
Cain was angry at God for not accepting and blessing His worship. He was
angry because He could not approach God the way He wanted to approach
Him.

He should have been angry at his own unbelief and hypocrisy. Cain was at
fault, not God!

He was also angry at his brother, because God had accepted his sacrifice.
He resented and despised Abel!

One writer: "I have noticed that the man who is doing his level best to
live a Christian life knows how hard it is, and is usually generous of
his fellow man. It is the one who has something in his own life to hide
who wants to drag everybody else down to his level."

Bitterness, frustration, quarrelsomeness—they have the same source. When
one fails himself, he can trust no other.

What should have been Cain’s response: he should have gotten down on his
knees in repentance and received forgiveness. It also would have helped
him deal with his anger:
Psalms 37:8: "Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it
leads only to evil."

Ecclesiastes 7:9: "Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger
resides in the lap of fools."

Matthew 5:22: "But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother
will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother,
'Raca, ' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!'
will be in danger of the fire of hell."

Colossians 3:8: "But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as
these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips."

3. Hatred is expressed in jealousy and resentment against the better or
more fortunate
Fear and lack of security make one dangerous: as a skittish animal.
Jealousy usually comes to another who is viewed as superior (how popular
is the star pupil?).

Materially: driver of a jalopy smashes the big car.
Morally: the resentment kindled against Jesus: "If they have hated me,
they will hate you, also."

4. The time to conquer the thing was before it took shape in action
The scene in verses 6-7 is profound: God reaches out in love and
compassion to Cain and is willing to forgive him...God drives home four
points:
· If you do what is right, you will be accepted
· If you do not do what is right, then sin lies at the door (notice that
God calls this false worship sin)
· Sin desires to have you (the warning that false worship is a way Satan
uses to get us)
· You must master sin (approach and worship God as He dictates). We must
approach God through sacrifice and depend upon God for His presence and
poer to conquer and overcome sin.

Note that we are never given a positive response from Cain. He apparently
chose to continue in his sin of false worship, of approaching God as he
wished.

Some other lessons
Matthew 15:11: "What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,'
but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.'""

Matthew 15:18-20: "But the things that come out of the mouth come from
the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' {19} For out of the heart come
evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false
testimony, slander. {20} These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating
with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'""

"Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer"

5. The act found a time (deliberately) for fruition
The Septuagint says ("Cain told Abel his brother") "Let us go out into
the open field." Six times in these verses we’re reminded that Abel was
"his brother," which points out just how terrible this act was.

Sin grows up! Note the sins of Cain:
· anger
· deception
· murder
· ignoring and rejecting God’s warning and Word
· choosing to follow the way of sin and of Satan

Strickland Gillilan: "When inclined to work up a triple plated hatred for
somebody, just pause, count to 10, and think. If hate still lingers, sit
down and write a letter to that half-forgotten man or woman who gave you
a lift when you needed it most."

6. Discovery and punishment are sure
God confronted Cain with his sin—again it could have been a time of
repentance and forgiveness...It was certainly "the day when every secret
thing was made known..."

Genesis 4:10: "The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's
blood cries out to me from the ground."


The judgment of God:
· to bear the curse of God in his soul as a murderer
· to constantly experience difficult labor
· to always be a restless soul, a wanderer upon the earth

Cain’s response "My punishment is greater than I can bear" is not the
response of a repentant soul—it is the complaint of a hardened heart
against God. He is reacting and complaining that the judgment is too
great, is unfair, etc.

7. God forbids revenge
Genesis 4:15: "But the LORD said to him, "Not so ; if anyone kills Cain,
he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on
Cain so that no one who found him would kill him."

Last modified: April 18, 2006