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Transcript 328E
Why Was Cain's Sacrifice Not Acceptable? [Gen 4:5]
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: I have a question about Cain and Abel. How come Cain's sacrifice wasn't acceptable to God, and Abel's was?
HC: The question is, When Cain offered a sacrifice of vegetables, or herbs, and Abel offered a sacrifice that was a lamb, why was Abel's sacrifice more acceptable? Or why was it acceptable, whereas Cain's was not?
First of all, it was not because of the nature of the sacrifice. Later on, on Mount Sinai, God gave laws concerning sacrifices, and there were sacrifices of meal offerings, which were acceptable to God. So even though Cain offered a sacrifice of herbs, that in itself was not wrong.
But the problem was what was going on in the hearts of these two men. Cain brought his sacrifice, and you'll notice that Cain's hope was in this earth. You'll notice in Genesis 4:11, God tells Cain, after Cain killed Abel, "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 on the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear." Now notice why he says this, in verse 14: "Behold thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth."
You see, he had placed his hope in this earth. His hope was not in God. His hope was in this earth and the things that it would produce. You'll notice later on, after he went to the land of Nod, that he built a city, and his descendants were the first forgers in iron and bronze. He found his security in the things of this earth.
When we examine Abel's life, we find that his descendants didn't build cities. They were shepherds. They were pastors, if you will, because the word shepherd means pastor. They were concerned about more important things than finding their security in this earth.
The problem was that Cain was serving the ground. He did bring a sacrifice, but it was not a sacrifice of commitment to God. It was a sacrifice of going through the motions. Abel, on the other hand, brought the very best of what he ruled over. He was a shepherd. He took the very best of the flock and offered that as a burnt offering to God. And in so doing, of course, he anticipated the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He anticipated the shedding of Christ as the one by whose blood our sins are covered.
CALLER: Okay. Cain offered the herbs and the plants. Could he have offered something better than that?
HC: If he had loved God, even though he offered the herbs and the plants, if he really loved God, God would have accepted that sacrifice. Later on in the Bible God tells the Israelites, "Your sacrifices are an abomination to Me." They went through all the ritual of offering animal sacrifices. They killed the lambs, and so on. But God said, "Your sacrifice is an abomination to Me, because your heart is far from Me."
It's like someone who is going through the motions of going to church and praying, and even teaching Sunday School, or preaching, or whatever. If in our heart we don't love God, if in our heart our will is not surrendered to Christ, then all this activity of going to church and going through the notions of being a Christian is in reality an abomination to God. We are kidding with God. We are playing with God.
If we're going to be acceptable to God, it means that we've got to come to God with a broken and a contrite heart. It means that we've got to come with a surrendered will to Him. We've got to come with the view of obedience to Him.
CALLER: Okay. Thank you very much for clearing up that question
HC: You're welcome. Good night.