We’re all in the same situation. I mean we all come into the world like Cain did as sinners, but we have a choice. Even though sin is inherited and actual, it can be defeated. But only as we come to God on His terms, embracing His sacrifice for us with no hope of self-righteousness. And that was what God offered Cain. That is — that was the word of God to Cain. God — listen — was the first evangelist. And God was giving to the sinner two choices; this way/that way. Do what’s right from the heart and in the behavior. If you continue the way you’re going, you’ve got a life of conflict, and you’ll lose. And this sinner rejected the word of God, just like they all do. We know that because of Verse 8. Cain told his brother — could be talked with — spoke with his brother. And the conversation either occurred in the field or set up a meeting in the field. It’s really — it’s an incomplete sentence even in the Hebrew. The best way we can handle it is just say Cain talked to Abel, his brother. They had a conversation.
“And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.” Abel was lured into a trap set by his evil brother Cain. Cain decided this: I don’t want God; I don’t want forgiveness; I don’t want righteousness. I want sin; I love sin; my heart hankers for sin. I, um, I’m going to plan to sin, and I’m going to find my greatest fulfillment in my sin.
Now, let me tell you something, folks: That’s where — that’s where the sinner ends up. I don’t want righteousness; I don’t want God; I don’t want forgiveness. I want sin. Jesus said it this way: “Men love darkness rather than light because” … What? “Their deeds are evil.” They love their sin. People say to me so often, you know: Why doesn’t someone come to Christ? Why doesn’t someone come to Christ? Why do people reject? And the answer is very simple. They love their sin. They’re not desperate. They don’t want to be delivered.
This is a man who was getting a direct evangelistic message from the creator God Himself. There were only four people on the planet, and he knew who was talking to him. And he knew what God could do in his life because his parents had surely told him very often about paradise, and about walking and talking with God “in the cool of the day.” And God said he would take away the anger and the bitterness of his heart and He would lift up his face. And Cain said: Sorry, I don’t want your righteousness; I don’t want your forgiveness; I don’t want a relationship with you. I want my sin. So he plotted it all. He loved his sin, and he was fulfilled by his sin. And so, he put together a trap and caught his brother in it.
And by the way, in the Hebrew “his brother” in Verse 8 is emphatic. It says: “Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.” “His brother” is emphatic in the Hebrew, emphasizing the closeness, the intimacy. It would have been very easy, of course, for him to lure his brother. I mean there were only the two of them and their parents. He lured him in and killed him. Vicious hatred; vicious brutality. There never had been a killing of anybody. He invented murder. But this is the stuff of the soul of Cain. And that’s why Romans 10, when it describes the sinner, you know, sometimes we think sinners are really pretty nice people; they just don’t have enough information. But it says in Romans 3:10: “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have become useless. “…None who does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and …there is no fear of God before their eyes.” They don’t fear God. They don’t care about God. They love their sin and, if it needs be, they’ll kill. That’s why we have to have government. If we lived in a society without government, without police, we would live in anarchy. Murder would be going on all the time.
So, he made his choice. He chose not to do what was right, and sin that was crouching on his door pounced and turned him into a killer. And he couldn’t resist it. He couldn’t master it. Here were two sons, two seeds; one on the side of God, one on the side of Satan. And Cain, who the New Testament says, 1st John 3: “…is of the evil one.” He was the seed of the serpent. Poor Eve. When that first son was born, she thought he might be her seed who would “bruise the serpent’s head.” And it turns out that Cain was actually the seed of the serpent himself. The word “killed,” end of Verse 8, common word in the Old Testament for intentional murder; not manslaughter, not inadvertent kind of killing. This is a murder done out of envy. This is a murder done out of jealousy, done out of hatred. This is a murder done because there was a feeling of being inferior to righteous Abel. And his righteousness became intolerable to Cain. He hated his righteousness. Well, of course, there were only two people in the world. If you wanted to have a conversation, he only had one person he could pick except his parents, so he had to hang around this righteous man. And hanging around a righteous man can be very irritating to the unrighteous. 1st John 3: “Cain, who was of the evil one, slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.” It just ground on him that Abel was righteous. Not surprised that through the history of the world, God’s people have been killed, slaughtered, persecuted, and that it’s going on even today. We hear today that there are more Christians today being martyred than at any time in history. So here’s the doomed unbeliever. Has a hopeful beginning, but soon offers unacceptable worship in his self-styled religion. And when he’s rejected, he resents those that are truly righteous, that truly belong to God. And he gets mad at them and he gets furious with God. Then on top of that, he rejects the very word of God, who comes to him in a gracious way and offers him forgiveness. This is how it is with these apostates.
The next thing that the text yields for us is in Verse 9.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
