We all know the story of Cain and Abel. They were brothers, they knew God, and they sought to please Him in their own way.
In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. Genesis 4:3-5
Poor Cain! God accepted Abel and his offering but He rejected both Cain and his offering. Why would God do that?
As we know rejection has serious implications. In Cain’s case he got sullen and even angry.
So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” Genesis 4:6-7
God explained why He rejected Cain. He wasn’t doing well, meaning he was living as he wanted and not as God wanted. But God in His mercy showed Cain the way of salvation.
This was clearly a pivotal point for Cain. God made it clear that he had to make a choice as to how he dealt with rejection, even rejection from God Himself.
On the one hand Cain was tempted to continue in the sin of his father Adam. He desired to blame someone else for the consequences of his own poor behavior [Gen. 3:12]. On the other hand, he could choose to overcome temptation and not let sin rule over him. What would he choose?
We don’t know Cain’s thought process for sure, but God’s warning to him had to teach him that he ‘could not have his cake and eat it too.’ He could not have the favor of God and live any way he wanted.
What would he choose? What would we choose? At times living a righteous life seems too hard for us, but living without God’s favor is even harder. Perhaps Cain thought he could trick God into accepting him if he offered God something of value. He may have thought that his offering would show that he was invested in his relationship with God, while not totally revealing his lack of total submission to God and His ways.
But God is not interested in partial submission, nor is he interested in half-hearted offerings. In the book of Hebrews it says:
Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’” Heb. 10:5-7
We see here very plainly that our religious rituals and traditions are not what God wants from us. But look at the person who has a true heart desire to do God’s will. They will gain God’s heart and God will be well pleased with them!
Cain’s heart was not with God. He wanted God’s favor, but he also wanted to do things the way he wanted. In this way Cain became the father of all religious hypocrites. These are the people who seek to curry God’s favor while choosing not to do what is needed to rule over the sin that displeases God.
God warned Cain that sin was crouching at his door and desired to rule over him. Cain chose poorly and let sin win. The result was the murder of his brother, Abel.
As the Apostle John wrote many years later:
We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother.
And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil
and his brother’s righteous. 1 John 3:12
Cain’s deeds were evil even before he killed Abel. Abel’s righteous life and God’s acceptance of Abel infuriated Cain. Although the righteous path God wanted Cain to follow was clearly laid out before him, Cain refused to war against his own sin and temptation. As a result, he murdered Abel and the lives of both men were ruined.
The Book of Jude says that there are certain ungodly people even in the church who choose this path, the “way of Cain.”
Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion. Jude 11
The ‘way’ of these people is to desire forgiveness of sins without being cleansed from all unrighteousness. [1 John 1:9]. They come to church filthy with sin but try to hide it. They conform to our religious traditions and customs. They know that Jesus is the only way to salvation. But, as the letter to Titus says:
They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.
They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. Titus 1:16
Run from the ‘way of Cain’! We can’t fool God with our religious rituals and traditions. Turn to Him with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength and He will receive you.