Cain and Abel
God's plans continue
After Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden, they had two sons: Cain and Abel. The name Cain means ‘acquisition’. For Eve, Cain was part of the plan of God. She thought that he was the promised seed that would crush the serpent's head. Cain became a farmer of the land and Abel became a shepherd. With the birth of these two boys this gave Satan a new target to try stop God's plans. He tried to take down Adam and Eve and that didn't work. So along comes Cain, the ‘acquisition,’ and this gave Satan a new chance to enter into human history to destroy what God is doing.
As time went on they brought offerings to God. Cain, being a worker of the land, brought some of his plants. Abel, being a shepherd, brought one of his best sheep or a blood sacrifice of a lamb. Abel's offering was accepted by God in part because it was the best he had, and in part I think that God looked at the blood of the lamb and could see in the future Jesus on the cross. But Cain’s offering was rejected. Some writings outside of the Bible seemed to indicate that he just offered some straw or some fruits and vegetables that were not very good to start off with. I also think that God rejected Cain’s offering because of his heart. When Cain made the offering, he made the offering of stuff that was of no value to him. This shows the condition of his heart, that he really didn't value his relationship with God. God can see the intent of our hearts, and Cain’s heart was found lacking. Or another way to look at it, he was just going through the motions and really didn't care about pleasing God.
So because of this God rejected Cain’s offering, and Cain became jealous.
Slide 1
Genesis 4:6-7
God knew that sin was crouching at Cain’s door.
God knew that the desire of sin was contrary to Cain, and it wanted to hurt Cain. The Hebrew word used here is the same as a word picture of a flood in a river overflowing its banks, and going everywhere it wishes. Sin wished to rule Cain in every aspect of his life.
The same thing Satan or sin desired was to overpower Cain, which is the same problem that you and I have. The Holy Spirit will teach us and convict us of sin. We have the choice of listening to the Holy Spirit. If we choose to listen, we can avoid the penalty of sin or its sting, but if we don't listen we will have problems as described in
slide 2
James 1:14-16
By our own desires, we are tempted or lured or enticed. God called out Cain when he said you could have done better. But his thoughts and emotions were in a bad place. And the sin that was crouching at ‘his door’ sprang into action because Cain stayed in this bad frame of mind.
This action brought forth sin, in this case the murder of his brother because Cain was jealous of his success and God's approval of him. And just like it says in James, when sin is fully grown it brings forth death. For Satan this was a great opportunity to take out both of Adam and Eve's children. This would prevent the offspring of man crushing his head. So when Cain killed Abel, the sin did indeed bring forth death.
But God then confronts Cain saying “Where is Abel?” Cain's response is “I don't know, am I my brother’s keeper?” In other words, he lied to God, straight to God's face. At this, God confronts Cain once again with the truth, and says “Your brother's blood calls out to me from the ground.” This is a present tense statement. And when Cain still doesn’t repent, God then pronounces judgment on him. Cain then complains back to God saying “Your judgments are too harsh!”
So, let's see here…