When Cain and Abel brought their offerings to the Lord, the expectation was that they would bring their offerings by faith and obedience in what they learned from Adam, in what God had commanded them to bring. What was God’s response to each of their offerings: In (V4) God respected Abel…. and his offering, but in (V5), God did not respect Cain…nor his offering. God knew both of their hearts; He therefore knew how they came to Him…. Abel brought his offering to God by faith and in obedience to God. He believed God, and His promise. You see, Abel’s faith was in a Person! Abel came to God with a right heart! Hebrews 11:1,4, Romans 10:10 Abel believed and obeyed God from his heart. BUT CAIN, unlike Abel, brought his offering to the LORD with a wicked and rebellious heart, and in disobedience to what God commanded. Proverbs 21:27, 1 Samuel 15:22-23. What a lesson on how we come to God for worship! God rejected Cain and his offering! Cain became “very wroth”, he was in a rage and furious; he was angry with God for rejecting him and his offering, and he was envious and hated his brother because God accepted him and his sacrifice. You see, Cain was proud and arrogant like his father, the devil…. Have you ever talked to someone about the Lord, and they get intensely angry toward you when you tell them that their thoughts about God are wrong, or they’ve sinned against God, or you just try and correct them with the scriptures. This was Cain’s way! It was gonna be his way or no way. Sadly, many of the religious lost TODAY think like Cain! But then we come to (V6-7), it’s an amazing passage to consider, because, even in Cain’s anger and resentment toward God, God was patient, God reasoned with him, gave him “space to repent”, an opportunity to do right….and you will be accepted! Cain’s rejection of God, and what God required of him is snapshot of how EVERY rebellious sinner reacts to gospel truth. Cain’s rebellion against God is one of the most prominent examples in all the Word of God of a sinner despising God’s goodness toward him. God reasoned with him, gave him a way to escape his own self-destruction, but in his anger and rage, Cain would not hear it. Isaiah 1:16-20 Cain despised the riches of God’s goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that God’s goodness was to lead him to repentance, not harden him! Cain’s refusal to forsake his anger/rebellion against God ruined him; it wasn’t long, his anger festered to hatred and the murder of his brother. And Cain showed no remorse at all when he was caught and punished by God…. he only complained to God that his punishment was too hard…. like most guilty and condemned sinners today. My sin is not that bad!
This was Cain’s way. What is the way of Cain? Jude 11 is where we see this phrase.
Jude 11: “Woe unto them! For they have gone in the way of Cain”. Cain was a religious hypocrite who was exposed. And when he was exposed, it wounded his pride and exposed his rebellion against God! The reaction to wounded pride is anger and rage! Cain was going to worship God his own way, God’s Word didn’t matter, he was going to do what was right in his own eyes! Proverbs 16:18, 25, 18:12 Cain was an angry man, he was spring-loaded/quick to anger, and once he was there, he stayed angry…. against both God and man. Ecclesiastes 7:9
Cain would not be instructed or corrected, and he was too arrogant to humble himself before God and confess that he was wrong…. THIS even after God Himself gave him space to repent! In fact, any attempt to correct him only made him angrier. Proverbs 9:7-9 Cain hated his brother Abel because he was accepted by God. People like Cain hate God, they hate God’s true message and worship, and they hate true worshipers of God! Remember godly Stephen? And so, our Lord! Cain resented his punishment from God for killing his brother; sinners always think God has treated them unfairly. Every lost sinner is in danger of going the way of Cain ruining their lives, piling sin upon sin, being driven further from God. Here you have it brethren, Cain was the first rejector of the gospel, and of God’s goodness toward him. It’s a sad pattern of what we see so often in this fallen and sinful world. You can tell sinners what God told Cain; turn from your sins, and God will accept you!
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