The Way of Cain

Genesis 4:8 - 16
There are many murder mysteris on TV, thousands of books books written about murder and crime. Murder is a dreadful, horrible thing. The Bible never shirks away from telling how awful sin is. This is an account of the first murder. Christians are followers of the gentle Lord Jesus who had no hate. We see here the stark opposite of Jesus. We can see the horror of sin and the need to repent. Francis Schaeffer spoke of the two natures, the two lines of Cain and of Abel. Cain is the first unbeliever while Abel is the first true worshiper of God and also the first martyr. Everyone in the world is either in the 'line of Cain' or the 'line of Abel'. Everyone in space and time are in one line or the other. Cain is proud and stubborn, self reliant, he had his own worldly religion. The way of Cain is the way of the World today. To claim that all religions are the same is the way of Cain. It goes against the way of Abel which seeks the way of the cross.
1.THE FIRST MURDER - verse 8.
This was a premeditated murder in the first degree. Murder is to slaughter a victim (Greek). He murdered his own brother, his mother's son. He murdered one he should have loved. It was a terrible crime. Why did he do it? Had he been abused? Brutalised by war? Neglected? No, it was pure wickedness, he had allowed anger to build up. God tried to talk him out of it and it had destroyed him, he gave into it. John 3:12, he murdered because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. Jesus spent his whole life doing good and living a life of love, he experienced hate and was murdered by evil men. He was hated without reason and was handed over out of envy to Pilate. People are being murdered in parts of the world because they are believers. Matthew 5:2 - 23, to be angry without cause is to make ourselves subject to judgement. There is a little bit of Cain within all of us and a lot in some of us. We must not allow anger to well up in us.
2. THE FIRST TEMPORAL PUNISHMENT
His parents were overwhelmed with grief
a) God's questions are met with denial of responsibility - verse 9. God interrogates him, he had the evidence and Cain evaded, he lies. He won't even aknowledge his sin. Brothers should stick together, Cain says 'I don't have any responsibility for him.' Dio we hear the voice of modern man in Cain's cruel question? Individualism goes against God's order. The sense of belonging is seriously out of vogue today, many do not want to get involved, they cross the road and claim to be free. We are all our brothers' keepers, we each have a responsibility for our brother. How can we love God who we have not seen if we cannot love our brother who we have seen. We are called to care by God. We are a family of brothers and sisters and called to care for each other in and out of the church. We should not ask what our family can do for us but what we can do for our family.
b) God's sentence delivers him to restless wandering - verses 11 to 12
Cain hoped God would ignore sin, if it seems he does, there is the day of judgement. God's punishment is two fold, he does not have a patch of land of his own and is left to wander. He doesn't kill him, he has time to repent and there is no government to execute him. Thirdly he will be an example to others, he is a warning, he will be full of remorse and guilt and live a life of regret. To know relief he must repent. So he says to him you'll be a vagrant, aimless, detached, no roots, living under a suspended sentence.
c) God punishment brings self pity and fear - verse 13. He cares only for himself. He doesn't express even the tiniest twinge of repentance. He only fears for his own life. He fears what Abel's relatives will do. When God sends some sort of judgement people complain and say 'God's not fair' - Proverbs 19:3. A man's own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the Lord. He does not find forgiveness because he will not repent.
d) God's grace promises protection - verse 15 and Romans 2:24. He has a mark on him to ward people off. We can repent and live an upright life or we can be bitter and not deal with it. Cain went away from God and wandered in a tractless land. David and Paul both repented when they sinned. God had already pleaded with him to make a right choic, now he protected him from death, which would have given him an opportunity to change and say I'm sorry, I repent. That is the common grace that God extends to every unbeliever. We can know God's peace if we repent of our sins in the name of the Lord Jesus.
e) God's grace was spurned. Abel's faith could not convince Cain but it speaks to us today. It records the guildty man who lives and the innocent man who died, this happens today. The way of Cain is a hard way, a way of hate. He presented human excuses, he wandered away from God, he knew human loneliness instead of human friendship. Abel's was a far better way, we can know this