From the ministry archive
Scripture and Discernment
"And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again 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 the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord 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 the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 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. And Cain talked with 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" (Gen. 4:1-8). I would like to look at this passage of scripture here that describes what led to the first act of violence in the history of the world, and in doing so I want to point out what IS there, as well as what is NOT there. First of all we see that Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain was a tiller of the ground. I think it makes good sense for us to understand that both of those occupations as it were, were viable and needful jobs that someone had to do. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the business of shepherding, neither is there anything wrong about farming; and that was certainly the case then as well. Next we see that both Cain and Abel worshiped God, and though that is in essence a very good thing, that is where things went askew in this event, or at least where things were manifested to already have been askew. Hold that thought as we move ahead here and see what happened next, and what it was that GOD had to say about the matter. It is clear that Abel's worship was accepted by the Lord, and that Cain's worship was rejected by the Lord. The big question at hand is WHY was Abel accepted and Cain rejected? The long standing traditional answer to this question is that Abel knew to make the blood sacrifice, but Cain was carnally minded and therefore offered the fruits of the ground.
In answering our question from the scriptures, we will see what is NOT in the passage, and it just so happens that by inserting what is NOT in the passage we lose sight of what IS in the passage, that plainly gives us the answer to this all-important question. The facts are that both men brought what they had available to them, and that both animal offerings and fruit of the ground offerings were commanded under the old covenant. Even though the old covenant was not yet established, things that pertained to the law were already in the conscience of mankind, and that was manifested in many ways before the law was given. But let's look at what GOD said about why Cain's offering was not accepted: "And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 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." So it is a simplistic matter that Cain's sacrifice to the Lord was rejected because he was holding to sin that he had not repented of. God clearly told Cain that if he had DONE WELL he would have been accepted, and that if he wasn't accepted it was because of sin. Period. That is what is there. What is NOT there is that God told Cain he wasn't accepted because he hadn't offered the blood sacrifice. It's just not there. I have found in my long experience in Christ that every doctrine that is not true is obscuring a doctrine that IS true, which also desperately needs to be known and understood by God's people. Let's note here and understand that immediately after his offering was rejected, Cain murdered his brother. It makes no sense that if he only needed to offer the animal sacrifice in order to be accepted by God, that Cain would have gone out and killed his brother. More likely he would have traded some crops to his brother for a few sheep so that he could make the needed offering. On the other hand if he was holding some wrong thing in his heart before he made his offering, and refused to let it go even after being reproved by God himself; that it would have gendered unto a furtherance of sin in him, giving place to envy and then murder. John the apostle made this point about Cain clearly in his first epistle: "For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous" (I Jn. 3:11,12).
Cain's 'evil works' were not that he offered the wrong offering, but that he had held to some kind of illicit thing in his life, which is what the Lord told him. As God said, if Cain had 'done well' BEFORE he brought the fruit of the ground, he would have been accepted. Not only so, but the Lord also told him that he would have the rule over his younger brother IF the deeds of his life merited it. If Cain had been righteous as a man, he would have been in authority over his brother, and he would have 'ruled' over him with love which is the will of God. But because he alienated himself from the love of God by his sins that were not repented of, he chose to rule over his brother in his own way, which was to kill him. The truth of this matter is a very simple one, and it is a rule of thumb if you will, that has been in place from then until now. It is that any worship of God will be accepted by God ONLY IF the worshiper is bringing it with and true and honest heart. The scriptures are continuously replete with this reality, both in the old testament and the new: "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight" (Prov. 15:8). And again: "Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright" (Psm. 33:1). And in the new: "But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory [rejoice] not, and lie not against the truth" (Jas. 3:14). And once more: "Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (II Tim. 2:22). So the point is that the only worship that God has EVER accepted is from those who were and are striving to follow after his righteousness in their lives. To worship God with sin present has always been an abomination to him, and especially since he has sent his Son to make the way for us to literally have sin OUT OF our spirits and our lives. There is nothing that will harden the heart more than worshiping God with a conscience of sin, and that is how and why Cain murdered Abel directly after worshiping God and being rebuked by God for his sins. This is a truth that is much needed among God's people today, especially the younger crowd who have picked up this world's mindset on things like the widespread acceptance of fornication. With everyone believing that Cain's offering was rejected because it was the wrong offering, the truth of the matter is obscured and that is just one more feather in the devil's cap as he seeks to block out all the light of the Son from shining through to nurture his people. May all of Satan's crafty devices be broken up, and may God's magnificent grace be magnified to and among his redeemed. Amen.
