The Evolution of Cane

Genesis 4

Genesis 4:1–12 “And the man knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man with the help of Jehovah. And again she bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto Jehovah. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And Jehovah had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And Jehovah said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shall it not be lifted up? and if thou doest not well, sin coucheth at the door; and unto thee shall be its desire; but do thou rule over it. And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And Jehovah said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: am I my brother’s keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now cursed art thou from the ground, which hath opened its mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; when thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee its strength; a fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be in the earth.”

Four Things We Learn from Cain

(1) He approaches God in his own righteousness

(2) He becomes jealous, envious, prideful and Kills his brother

(3) He denies his sin and even mocks God.

(4) Cain is banished from God

1) He approaches God in his own righteousness -Matt 22:1-14

1Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.” Only those clothed in the righteousness of God can enter the kingdom of Heaven.

Man cannot come to God in his own righteousness, but only through the righteousness of God. Philippians 3:9 “and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith:”

2) He becomes jealous, envious, prideful and Kills his brother 

God even warns him of his anger-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.

James 1:15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

3) He denies his sin and even mocks God.

Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”

2 Peter 3:3 “Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.”

4) Cain is banished from God.

Gen 4:14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

Since Cain cannot be driven from God’s face, it is a symbol of a broken relationship that he once had with God.  Just as his parents broke their relationship with God, Cain did likewise. However, God still loved Cain

Romans 8:38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Conclusion

What did we learn from Cain in this section of Scripture?

God set the standard that sin results in death.

Gen 2:16  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 

2. Blood is required for the covering of sin.

Gen 3:21  Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

This was the first incident of the necessity of an animal sacrifice to cover man’s sin. You will notice that the covering of their nakedness, as a result of their disobedience, allowed God to have a relationship with His creation in Chapter 4.

It was this sacrifice that Able offered to God, and it pleased God, because Able came to God on God’s terms, not his. Cain, did not offer an animal sacrifice, but a sacrifice of his choosing, not God’s. That is why God respected Ables sacrifice, and not Cains.

God was giving us a picture here of how temporary the covering of sin was using animal sacrifices, this was brought even more to the front when God instituted the Law of Moses that required the blood offering on the ark of the covenant once a year. The blood only covered the sins temporarily and gave a need for a more perfect sacrifice to not just cover our sins, but to cleanse our sins. That only came when the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ came and not just covered our sins, but cleansed our sins, for yesterday, today, and tomorrow!

Man still strives to come to God on man’s terms, not Gods, if he comes at all. It is said that all roads lead to heaven. That is man coming to God on his own terms. It is through the works of the flesh that he desires to have fellowship with God. But just as the king in the banquet throws out the man who comes to the wedding in his own coat, so will God reject anyone coming to Him in their own righteousness.

They come saying how God is love, and He accepts you as you are. How we are to love and accept people as they come. Not requiring any godly transformation in their lives. That is why we have such corrupt churches today. They boldly ordain Lesbian and Queer pastors. They bless same sex marriages. They corrupt the salvation message of God and lead thousands to destruction.

2 Corinthians 11:4 “For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if ye receive a different spirit, which ye did not receive, or a different gospel, which ye did not accept, ye do well to bear with him.”

We need to watch ourselves that we do not allow sin, or the culture of the world come into our churches. We are to bring the culture of the church into the world, not the other way around.

Be the watchman on the wall. Do not allow yourself to follow Cain’s decision to come to God on our own terms, and then get angary and sin against Him when he doesn’t accept it. Do not allow that to happen to us, and do not allow it to come into the church.

Pray that this church be the light of Orland, and that God will give you the boldness to be that light that brings others to His love and peace.

Let us pray:

God, our Father. Forgive us when we try to please you in a manner that we want to please you, not in the way that you want to be pleased. In Micah 6:8 “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?” Let us be that person. Help us to bring others to you and teach your true love to them. Be with this church. Bless Pastor Daran as he leads this church, and bless this ministry.

In Jesus Name,

Amen