"If You Do Well" Sermon: Genesis 4:1-16

“If You Do Well”
[Genesis 4:1–16]
October 5, 2008 Second Reformed Church

Why should we do what’s right? I would assume that we generally think doing the right thing is the right thing to do. But why? What is our motivation for doing the right thing? Some people would say that we should do the right thing simply because it’s right. That’s called “moralism.” Some people say we should do the right thing because it will benefit us. Some people say we should do the right thing because we want to avoid pain and punishment. Is there a specifically Christian reason to do what’s right?

Last week we saw Adam and Eve be thrown out of the Garden of Eden for their sin. They left in shame, blaming God for their sin. But here, as chapter four begins, some time has passed, they have repented. They have believed the Promise of God that was given to them in the midst of their punishment – that God would send a Savior to save them from their sin – and all those who would believe in the Savior Alone for their Salvation.

And Adam and Eve knew each other in that most passionate and intimate way that is part of the glory of the relationship between the husband and the wife, and she bore Cain and Abel. And they rejoiced in the birth of their children. As Solomon would write years later, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward” (Psalm 127:3, ESV). They had faith in God and sought to follow His Command to be fruitful and multiply.

And we immediately jump ahead: Cain and Abel are at least young men. Cain is a worker of the ground, and Abel a tender of the flocks. They are both employed in honorable professions. There is nothing said in the rest of the text or in the rest of the Bible to tell us they they had done wrong in their livelihood. In fact, we see the opposite: from the beginning, humans are told to care for the whole Creation, to work the land, and care for the animals. So, what we are to find will not be answered in what they did. There was nothing wrong with Cain being a worker of the ground and Abel a tender of the flocks.

We are then told that each of them offered a sacrifice to God. From this we know that Adam and Eve taught their children Who God is and that He is to be worshiped. They had been restored before God, and they were raising their children in the faith that was delivered to them. Cain offered up a sacrifice of the fruit of the earth, and Abel offered up the firstborn of his flocks. And God received Abel’s offering, but He rejected Cain’s. Why?

We are not explicitly told. Yet, we can draw a reasonable conclusion: the author of Hebrews wrote, “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. ... And without faith it is impossible to please [God], for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:4, 6, ESV). And God told Samuel, “For the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (I Samuel 16:7b, ESV).

We can draw the conclusion that Cain’s offering – his sacrifice – was not made in faith, and God knew that, and that is why God rejected it. Cain may have done everything right as far as preparing and offering the sacrifice was concerned. It might have been a perfect sacrifice, according to the book, but God knew it was not offered in faith, so God was not pleased, and God did not accept it.

Let us understand this truth: we cannot become right with God by our works. No matter what we do – if we give generously to the poor and the Church, if we keep all the moral laws, if we attend worship every time the doors are open, if we come to every event and study, if we memorize the entire Bible – if we do everything we believe is right and everything we believe we ought to do, but don’t have faith, God will rejects us.

Understand, we ought to do all those good things, but as a response to the faith we have been given. We respond to faith in Jesus Christ by doing the good works He has set before us. If we have faith, our good works will be accepted. But without faith, our works are worthless, and Jesus shall say to us on the last day, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41b, ESV).

Cain flew into a rage: “What’s wrong with my sacrifice? I did everything according to the book – just like Abel – why didn’t You accept my offering?” God answered him, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at your door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

God rebukes Cain, “Are you really angry with Me? If your sacrifice had been offered in faith, I would have accepted it, but it was not. And if you do not come to me in faith, sin is waiting for you, and it will drag you down to a place where you may not be able to return. So, repent of your sin – reject it – and have faith.”

Paul wrote, “He will render to each one according to his works, to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality” (Romans 2:6-11, ESV).

And after the sin of Israel, Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams” (I Samuel 15:22, ESV).

Going through the motions is still just going through the motions. God is not pleased when we do everything right and don’t believe Him. In fact, God’s Wrath is against all those, whether they do right or not, who do not believe in His Savior for salvation.

But Cain rages on: he is filled with pride and jealousy. “I did everything my little brother did – better. And You accepted his offering and not mine. I am Cain, the first-born ” And in his anger and sin, Cain took Abel out into the field and murdered him. “If you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you....”

John warns the Church, “We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous” (I John 3:12, ESV).

God confronted Cain: “Where is Abel your brother?” Of course, God knew very well, but He wanted Cain to recognize what he had done – perhaps Cain would confess and repent.

“I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”

“What have you done?” “Cain, do you think you can lie to Me?” “Your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.”

We’re told throughout the Scripture that prayers offered in faith are a sweet smell in the Nostrils of God, but our sin is a stench. Nothing escapes the Eyes of the Almighty and Living God, and even if it were possible to Hide from God’s Eyes, our actions also produce a smell to the Almighty. We cannot escape the Eyes of the Almighty and Living God.

A poet has written, “You can’t run, you can’t hide, from the Hound of Heaven. You’re free to choose. Can you refuse the Seeker of Souls?” (Daniel Amos, “The Hound of Heaven”).

Cain couldn’t hide. You and I can’t hide. No one can hide. God knows. God hears. God smells our works. And God was finished with Cain and his excuses, but God didn’t command the full punishment – not on that day. The Law says, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (Genesis 9:6, ESV). But God didn’t require Cain’s blood on that day.

Still God raged against him for his sin:

“First, not only will the ground be difficult for you to work, it will never give its best – your crops will always be diminished.

“Second, from this day forward, you are cast out, a fugitive. You will never be safe or settled; you will never have a resting place on the earth again.”

And Cain responded: “That’s not fair You’re diminishing my livelihood and making me a nomad, someone who will be hunted down and killed. That punishment is too severe After all, all I did was refuse to have faith in Your Salvation and kill my brother.”

And God promised Cain, “No, if anyone kills Cain, I will avenge him sevenfold. And to keep anyone from killing you – to keep people away from you, I am going to mark you.” And God did something to Cain – we’re not told what, but it is likely that it was physical, since it kept people from killing him. God did something to Cain’s body that made people stay away from him, perhaps even fear him. Cain was not only a nomad, but most of his human contact was cut away from him.

Why should we do what’s right? What is our motivation for doing the right thing? Some people would say that we should do the right thing simply because it’s right. Some people say we should do the right thing because it will benefit us. Some people say we should do the right thing because we want to avoid pain and punishment. But there is a specifically Christian reason we should do what’s right.

John Calvin wrote, “...the chief point of well-doing is, for pious persons, relying on Christ the Mediator, and on the gratuitous reconciliation procured by him, to endeavor to worship God sincerely and without dissimulation” (Commentary on Genesis, 125, re: v. 7).

In other words, the reason a Christian ought to do what is right, the reason a Christian does things that are right, is that Christ is our Salvation – we have faith in Him and His Salvation – and that makes us desire to worship God through doing what is right. The Christian seeks to do what is right out of love for God and the desire to show that He is Worthy. The Christian does what is right as a response to God’s Love and Salvation through Jesus.

Does that make sense? We may have other reasons as well – respect for the government, not wanting to suffer, etc. – but our primary reason to seek to do what is right is that Jesus is our Savior. We have been saved through faith alone, by grace alone, by Jesus Alone, so we desire to obey Him.

The author of Hebrews said that the blood of Abel called out his righteousness to God, but he also said this: “...Jesus [is] the mediator of a new covenant, and [we come] to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24, ESV).

Abel’s blood cried out his righteousness through the faith he had in God and in the Promised Savior. We, however, look to a great shed blood that is greater than that of Abel’s – to the Blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross two thousand years ago for the sins of all those who would believe in Him Alone for Salvation. If you believe that Jesus is that Promised Savior – the Only One Who can deliver You from your sin and God’s Wrath – then you are saved – you are forgiven – you are made right with God – something you could never do though you tried to keep every law and do every good work. So God has done it for us: He came to earth, lived under His Own Law, suffered, died, was buried, rose, and ascended back to His Throne at the Right Hand of the Father, where He now intercedes for us and gives us joy in our obedience to Him.

This Same Jesus invites all of us who believe to commune with Him through the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. As we receive the bread and the cup, Jesus is spiritually present with us, and He gives us grace, that we would be strengthened and matured, and able to do the work that He has set before us. If you believe in Jesus, let us join together and commune with our God and Savior, and then let us go forward, in response, by obeying Him.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we shudder at the sin, the pride, and the jealousy of Cain. We repent that we, too, have chosen to sin and sin again. Forgive us through the better Blood of Jesus. Reassure us of Your Salvation, and grow us in faith and obedience. For You are worthy of worship, and You Alone are our Eternal Joy. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.