Sin leads to Sin

Genesis 4:7 “If thou dost well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shalt be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”

Cain, son of Adam and Eve, offered God the fruits of the soil he had farmed. Able offered an animal sacrifice. God honored Abel and his sacrifice but not Can and his sacrifice. Cain became very angry. His partial obedience was disobedience and disobedience led to even more sin. The fruits of the ground is an acceptable sacrifice as an offering of Thanksgiving. However, most sacrifices were to be animals because “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). The shedding of blood was the constant experience of worship that pointed to the the blood of Christ shed from the cross as purchase of our salvation. Cain brought an offering, but one that satisfied Cain, not one that was offered for his sin. Please notice that the rejection of Cain’s sacrifice was because God “had not respect” unto Cain and his sacrifice. The person of worship must be respected by God for his offering to be respected.

Rather than repent, Cain targeted Abel’s obedience as the cause of his own rejection. “If it were not for the teacher’s pet, my offering would be acceptable.” God pointed out that if Cain would do well his offering would be accepted. However, Cain was not doing well. Cain’s sin led to more sin, then to the murder of his brother. Disobedience is sin and leads to further sin instead of a godly life. “Sin lieth at the door” (v.7).

Human nature says that the end will justify the use of any means. That is a deadly conclusion. The ways of God are as crucial as the end result. Having rational minds, we tend to use them to create substitutes for the ways of God. A spirit of practical human reasoning as a substitute for obeying God is still the way of people today. This idea that the end justifies the means seriously influences even the church today. It is as though God does not understand, and we have some better idea. But obedience is obedience and requires an act of faith–complete obedience even when it does not make sense to us. Obedience is one of the highest acts of worship. It exalts God and reveals our trust in Him.

Some people, like Cain, insist that God must accept what we offer Him. “But the people took of the spoil sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God” (v.21). However, what God values is our obedience. King Saul found this out the hard way and it cost him his kingdom (1 Samuel 15:12-24). “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft (a religion which worships the lusts of the flesh), and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry”(the worship of one’s own will) (v.23). King Saul blamed his sin on the people. “I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice” (v.24). Modern day sinners, like Cain and King Saul, say someone else is always to blame.