The Lesson of Cain and Abel Author: Pierre Dungee www.getyouranswersonline.com
In this short book, we are going to explore what happened between Cain and Abel, as they were the firstborn from Adam and Eve after they had been expelled from the Garden of Eden. This is a very important story because many people to this DAY have not learned this lesson and they are not walking with the Lord Jesus Christ as they should because of this issue. So, what is the lesson that we are talking about here? The lesson is that the Lord is NOT going to accept anything from is other than what He has asked from us. The Lord is going to reject any offering, prayer or deed that He did not originate or ask for. Now that you have the premise of the book above, you can go onto the next book, or you can read on to see how this is the case. Let s look at scripture regarding this issue: Genesis 4:1-16 - 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. And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. 2
OK, now that we have the whole story, let s delve into what the issue was with Abel s offering and why Cain s offering was rejected by the Lord. Let s look at this scripture again: Genesis 4:1-7 - 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. What just happened here? The Lord accepted Abel s offering and rejected Cain s offering. Why? Scripture will tell you why here: Hebrews 11:4 - By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. Let s break it down so all can understand. You see, Abel gave an offering to the Lord which was his BEST first fruits of his flock, and made sure that the Lord got the best and fattest lamb that he could give. Now Cain just picked up any old fruit from the ground and figured that that offering would be good enough. He didn t think that the Lord would mind if he gave what he (Cain) decided to pick up off of the ground, and gave no regard as to the quality of the offering. Naturally, the Lord of Hosts knew this and rejected the offering. The Lord was also not accepting Cain s castoffs. Cain was upset that Abel s offering was accepted and his wasn t. So, in a fit of rage, Cain killed his brother. When the Lord confronted Cain, Cain lied and basically said I don t know, why are you asking me?. Of course the Lord knew that Cain had killed his brother out of jealousy and anger, and you can see the confrontation in the following scripture: 3
Genesis 4:9-12 - And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. Because Cain killed his brother and lied about it, the Lord cursed the ground that Cain was tilling, making it harder for him to produce the abundance of fruit that it would have, mostly because Cain had spilled innocent blood. You can read the rest of this account of Cain in your own study time, but it is important to see the lesson that the Lord is conveying to us here. Today, many people do things and say that they are doing things for God when the Lord Jesus Christ: 1. NEVER Asked them to do the things that they are doing; 2. NEVER Told them to do the things they are doing; 3. NEVER Authorized them to do the things they are doing. Here is an example of this. Many of you Christians out there are celebrating Christmas, with all of the pomp and circumstances that are around a holiday, as many are saying that Christmas is a celebration of Jesus Birthday. Many Christians will adorn their homes and lie to their children about Santa Claus, saying that Santa brought the presents under the tree. So let s look at the problems here: 1. Many Christians are saying that Christmas is a celebration of the Lord Jesus Christ s Birthday when the celebration is actually a pagan ritual. The Roman Catholic Church adopted the celebration of Yule, which is a pagan god. Yule is a pagan winter solstice celebration of getting rid of the old and bringing in the new, as the people knew that the long winter nights will come to an end. The Roman Catholic Church had incorporated this pagan practice and had renamed the celebration as Christ Mass. 2. When you confront people with the fact that Christ Mass is pagan, they will tell you that they don t care; they tell you that they are celebrating Jesus s Birth. The world will support this, and declare Christmas a Christian Holiday. Many churches will have skits and plays where they commemorate Jesus being born in a nasty, stank smelly, poo and pee stained barn in a feeding trough. 3. Many people tell their children this lie, and the children pass this tradition down to their children, not realizing that they are cursing their family up to 3 and 4 generations. 4
So what did the people do wrong? They never asked Jesus if it was OK to celebrate His Birthday; The people took it upon themselves to make this something they will worship; They are telling Jesus that this is what they are going to do and He better like it; They are idolaters, as they are idolizing Jesus birth when He did not tell them to. So, now you see that these Christian people with the nice Christmas lights and the really good looking, nice smelling tree are actually spitting in Jesus face, telling Him what they are going to do and that they are celebrating things for Him. Not only no, but HELL no. Notice that Jesus says NOTHING in the Bible about celebrating His birthday; Notice that the people decided by themselves that this is what Jesus will accept; Notice that these so-call Christian people are going with what they say and are satisfied with what they are doing; Notice that they NEVER ASKED JESUS if what they were doing is OK. This is the key thing, Christian they NEVER ASKED JESUS ANYTHING; they just assumed that what they are doing is OK, and they ran with it. Can you now see how these Christians will be sent away from Jesus because they NEVER consulted with Him about anything? This is the lesson of Cain, and many Christians, who say that they love Jesus, will be dammed because of their actions. Why? It is because Jesus is the Lord God, not these people. Who are these people to tell Jesus what He is going to accept? Do these people have any authority to deem ANY holiday one that the Lord will sanction? 5
In fact, that attitude will offend the Lord Jesus Christ, and if that person was filled with the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost would have withdrawn from them. We are as followers of Christ, to FOLLOW JESUS and be OBEDIENT to what He tells us. We are in no position to tell the Lord Jesus Christ ANYTHING, and it is that arrogance that has cost many people their salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ is HOLY, and we are to worship Him in Spirit and Truth because He is the only one who can save us from a burning hell. Jesus is the ONLY one who will let us into His Kingdom, and we are subjected to Jesus as SERVANTS. How is a servant going to tell the King what to do? How is the servant going to dictate anything to the King? Even though the people mean well, they are evil and they are in SERIOUS error. How you would like it if your child is telling YOU what they are going to do and insinuate that you better like what they are doing? Some of you are raising your children in this manner, and those children are going to be in for a rude awakening when they try and exert their authority against an adult. That adult is going to slap down those children who have not been raised correctly to respect those who may know more than they do. Conversely, we see the same thing going on with so-called Christians who think they are going to tell the Lord what they are going to do. No. We are to FOLLOW Christ and be OBEDIENT to what He is telling US to do. This is how we show Love to the Lord, and He will respond in kind. 6
So how do we fix this? We learn how to ASK Jesus for guidance and information; We learn how to ASK for permission to do things; We learn how to check with the Lord Jesus Christ to see if He approves of what we are doing; We stay in communication with Jesus and if He tells us know, ask Him why He said NO. Jesus will explain to you in detail what you need to know. Understand that Jesus loves his disciples because they are OBEDIENT to Him, as you can see in scripture here: John 14:15 - If ye love me, keep my commandments. John 14:21 - He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. John 14:23 - Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. We learn how to walk WITH Jesus and NOT run out in front of Him. Many of you are looking at this right now and you are wondering what is going on. You see, you have been taught how to be disobedient by your pastor and your churches. You have NOT been shown how you are to walk WITH the Lord Jesus Christ because the churches do not know Him. 7
Reformat yourself, Christian, and ask Jesus about EVERYTHING before you do anything. As you grow in your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, you will learn to know what He would want and like sometimes without even asking. You have to learn how to walk WITH Jesus and get to know Him and His ways. No one in a book can teach you that, Christian, as you have to experience that for yourself. Be cordial; be courteous, as Jesus is a King, and you are to treat His as such. Consult Jesus in ALL that you do, and you will see that His burden really is light, and you will be a LOT better off. Take what you have learned today, Christian, and apply the lesson Cain to your life. Don t just go and do things as YOU see them; ask Jesus if what you are doing is OK. Ask Jesus for help and guidance. Ask Jesus to order your steps so you can walk as He wants you to walk. As Jesus to send you the Holy Ghost if you are not already filled. This is the first step for you to get to know and walk with Jesus, as He is willing to give you the answers to the test called judgment so when you stand in front of Him to be judged, there are NO surprises. Know this, Christian if you do endure to the end, Jesus DOES hug His people personally as He welcomes them into His Kingdom. 8
Here is Our Challenge to all of you: We challenge you to go to Jesus directly RIGHT NOW and ask Him if what is shown here is true. Use this as a means to start a conversation with The Lord Jesus Christ and sit with Him and ask Him questions. Start with (asking out loud): Jesus, is what I just read true? He will answer you, Christian; use this as an opportunity to start the conversation with the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep talking with Him. Get to know Him and He will start to reveal Himself to you. You need to find out for yourself if what you support or believe is true, and what better way to find out than to ask the Lord Himself? You need to find out for yourself and work out YOUR salvation for YOU, as the scriptures tell us to. 9