“… sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
(Gen 4:7, NKJV)
One hates to think that there exist roads that seem right to your eyes but which are in fact deceptive. What gives the spirit of deception the right to blind your spiritual eyes and discernment, perverting your well-meant actions? Before we can answer this we need to first examine how a door or gate can be opened for demonic impact within man, without one even noticing or realizing that this is what’s happening (Hos 7:9). To illustrate this we will look at the history of Cain, as he is a prototype of someone who seemed to walk the path of worship and sacrifice, but of whom the Word says in Jud 1:11 that “the way of Cain” ended in death. In the Scripture above God warns him and other believers, that sin lies at the door, waiting for you, and that its desire is for you (!), and that it is your responsibility to see to it that the enemy does not get past the gate. The YLT-translation is particularly apt – “at the opening a sin-offering is crouching”.
Believers often feel that God treated Cain unfairly. Gen 4 does not offer many reasons for why God accepted Abel’s sacrifice but rejected that of Cain, and it seems like a case (which the Reformed theology also wrongfully explains) from Rom 9:15 – “For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’” (We already covered this Scripture in great detail in the teaching about predestination). This is certainly not the case with Cain.
The inaccurate assumption underlying the perception that Cain was discriminated against is that all sacrifices must per definition be acceptable to God. We heartily sing along, convicted of the truth of the words – “Come, now is the time to worship. / Come, now is the time to bring your heart. / Come, just as you are to worship. / Come, just as you are before your god, come.” But there is no Scriptural basis for this. The unsaved can approach the cross “just as they are”, like the prodigal son in his ragged clothes, but when the believer approaches God it must be with clean hands and a pure heart, a person “who doesn’t worship idols” (CEV) or “lifted up his soul unto falsehood” (ASV), someone “who has not made promises in the name of a false god” (NCV).
When we approach God, James 4:8 warns us, we must cleanse our hearts and repent of our sin and falseness. God only accepts the sacrifice of a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart (Ps 51:17), “righteous sacrifices” (Deut 33:19). This Cain did not bring. He is juxtaposed with the “righteous Abel” (Matt 23:25); 1 John 3:12 explicitly states that Cain’s works were evil.
Cain’s sacrifice was not “a sacrifice of sweet aroma” (Ezra 6:10), it was “profane fire” (Num 3:4). God found Cain’s sacrifice offensive (Prov 21:3), “a futile sacrifice … an abomination” (Isa 1:13).
It is imperative that we bring spiritual sacrifices “acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 2:5).
- Sela: Ask the Holy Spirit if your sacrifices are righteous.
- Read: Jos 11 Est 4; Isa 27
- Memorise: Isa 27:1
