Why was Cain’s offering unacceptable to God? What drove Cain to commit murder in the very first generation of man? How did Cain’s offering compare to Abel’s? In this broadcast Carl continues his review of John’s first epistle, and investigates what motivates the heart to please God. Religion is man’s means of building a bridge to God, yet we know, that without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6). Our offering should reflect a heart of faith, rather than winning favor with God from a reluctant heart or religious heart. Join Carl now…
Here is a complete transcript of the broadcast (below)…
Friend, welcome. We’re continuing our study of the first epistle of John. Now, do you have a Bible with you? We’re going to go through some passages today that are going to be meaty. And you know, I pastor a church and people bring their phones to church and they say, well this is my Bible. No it isn’t, it’s a phone. A phone isn’t a Bible and a Bible isn’t a phone, amen? You need to become intimate with your Bible. And I can tell whether people read it or not, okay? Do you have any highlights? Do you have any markers in there? A Bible that is well-worn is going to be treasured for you because it’s a sign that you’re in it every day. And I would urge you to, you know, get a Holman Bible for $10 to $15 because the King James is public domain. They can do very cheap hardcover Bibles or even leather bound Bibles for $15 or so. And I have several of them. I have one in my vehicle so I have one at the ready. I have one right by my recliner in case I get an urge to look at a scripture. I have several in my study.
And you know friend, we need to have the Word of God readily available. And I’m not against electronic formats, don’t get me wrong, alright? I’ll tell you this, if you’ve not downloaded eSword, you need to immediately. It is a free software program by a gentleman called Rick Myers. And this guy, I mean he has converted a bunch of electronic commentaries, dictionaries, lexicons, and several Bible translations. Wait for this, for free, and he has put it on his website, go to e-sword.net. That’s e-sword.net and you can access that. And it is a wonderful package. When I was in Bible school, I was introduced to this and it was fairly new at the time but he has updated this software and it is so easy to use friend and it’s free. And God bless you Rick Meyer for doing this wonderful service to the body of Christ. And you know there’s Logo 6 out there or Logos 7 now which is a wonderful software as well and Bible Gateway and Bible Hub, Blue Bible and there’s several ways to access the Word of God electronically and most of them are free.
And we are living in a day and age right now where we have ready access to so much information whether it’s on the internet or whether it’s through commentaries that have been serviced online and are electronically accessible. And so we’re very grateful for those. But friend, you might say, listen I don’t even have a computer. Good for you friend if that’s the way you’re going. If you have a Bible and you can read it and you mark it with crayon or highlighter, good for you, alright? Because at least you’re reading it, amen? So let’s start now in the third chapter of the first epistle of John, verse 11. It says, “for this is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should love one another.” Oh friend, is there any other message I can say stronger on the radio? We need to love one another, okay? And again the metaphor in the previous chapters is walking in the light, synonymous with loving one another. And then John goes on to talk about Cain in this passage. I’ll read it in verse 12, “Not as Cain who was of that wicked one and slew his brother and wherefore slew him because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous.” And that’s an old term there in the King James, wherefore slew. In other words, why did Cain murder his brother Abel? It was because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous.
Now in order to get to the crux of this we’re gonna have to read from Genesis, I think, because we don’t want to just skim over this. This is a strong discourse reminding us that Cain was of the wicked one, okay? And the reason he was of him is because he had the spirit of murder inside of him already. And the reason he murdered his brother is because he harbored hate in his soul. He harbored that hate and he meditated upon that hate and that manifested to murder. And friend, all murder begins with a thought and then it becomes meditated upon and becomes a stronghold and then it becomes an action. And friend, if you’re hating a brother, now obviously Abel was Cain’s physical brother, but we have brothers in Christ and the onus is for us to not hate them. And so once again I would ask that you would release them. But the point that the Apostle John is making is that Christians are no different than Cain the murderer if they hate their brother. And that’s the quick analysis. However, let’s read Genesis for ourselves. Let’s just take time to read this story today, all right? Now we’re in Genesis chapter 4, all right? I’m gonna read from verses 1 through probably 12, “And Adam knew Eve, his wife, and conceived Cain. And she said, I’ve gotten a man from the Lord. And again, she bore Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.”
Verse 3, “And in the 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 first-lings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.” Did you catch that, friend? The Lord respected Abel’s offering. But unto Cain and to his offering he had no respect. And Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell. And the Lord said to Cain, why are you wroth? And why is your countenance fallen? If you do well, shall you not be accepted? And if you do not well, sin lies at the door. And unto you shall be his desire and you shall 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. Now friend, this is a very simple story but there’s so much meat in these verses, okay? First of all, Abel was a keeper of sheep. Cain was a tiller of the ground.
Did you notice that Cain’s offering of fruit of the ground was not respected by God? The first reason I would suggest that this was the case is because the ground from which Cain brought his offering was already cursed. Remember the four curses back in Genesis 3? The man, the woman, the earth, and Satan, right? The four curses. Cain was bringing offerings from a cursed land. Now that’s interesting to note. Secondly, Abel was a keeper of sheep. He would have brought a little lamb to the father as an offering. A little lamb as an offering. Hello, does that ring any bells? Jesus was the Lamb of God, the final offering and sacrifice for all. Even so early on in the first part of Genesis we are seeing a typology of Christ where Abel brought a sheep or arguably a lamb, the first of his flock, as an acceptable offering unto God. The third standout from this passage is that it says Abel brought of the first-lings of his flock and the fat thereof. It does not say that Cain brought the first fruits or the best choice fruits to the Lord. We know that God requires the first.
The firstborn is his, set aside for him, all right? And the first in Scripture of any offering is the most precious. And it looks like Abel brought a great offering in the sense that he brought the first of his flock and the fat, whereas Cain is not mentioned as bringing any of those things. And arguably that’s one of the reasons also why his offering was not respected by God. Now, fourthly, is it possible that Cain’s offering was the wrong type? If you read Hebrews and Leviticus, Leviticus especially in the middle chapters, it clearly says that the shedding of blood is the only way to atone for sin. And a grain offering would not be acceptable for that purpose. So, God established this precedent back in Genesis 3, right? Do you remember when Adam and Eve sinned? God made for Adam and Eve and his wife garments of skins from animals and clothed them. Right out of the gate in the previous chapter, Genesis 3, God is setting a precedent that the killing of animals and the shedding of blood in particular will provide the remission for man’s sin. But Cain brought an offering of from the field, and that did not atone for sin. So you could argue that by God setting this precedent in the previous chapter, Cain should have known that and have brought a different offering. But again, this is speculation and based on some study that I’ve done. And in Levitical law, the inclusion and the significance of the fat that Abel offered is also precious, and the firstborn of the livestock is mandated in Exodus chapter 13 and Exodus chapter 34. But you know, friend, in summary, I truly believe that Cain’s heart was wrong when he presented his offering. And that’s the crux of the matter.
Whenever we bring an offering to the Lord, our heart should be right. And I believe there was already a precursor of jealousy in him when he brought that offering, and that is why it was not acceptable. Now, there’s something else that’s a standout here in this exposition. Hebrews 11:4 says, “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. O friend, I believe Hebrews unlocks the matter to us. Abel came with an offering of faith. His heart was pure and clean before the Lord. Cain just put his fruit on the ground. There was no offering by faith. His heart was not right, and that’s why he was condemned, and it was unacceptable to the Lord. But I tell you right now, there’s a further revelation here later on in this passage. Now, the Lord already sensed this heart issue in Cain when he gave his offering. It’s not until verse 8 that Cain slew his brother, but in verse 7 the Lord confronts Cain about his issue. He says, “If you do well, shall you not be accepted? And if you do not well, sin lies at the door. Oh, sin was already lying at the door.” He hadn’t brought his offering by faith because of a heart issue. And unto thee shall be his desire, and you shall rule over him. And what is it talking about there? Who’s ruling over who? I think the Amplified Version says it better. Verse 7, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not well, sin crouches at your door.”
Its desire is for you, but you must master it. And friend, Cain didn’t master sin, because in the next verse, he killed his brother. He didn’t master it. And I say to you, friend, the challenge that God has laid down, the gauntlet today, you must master your besetting sin. Some people struggle more with some sins than others. Some struggle with lust, okay? Some struggle with greed, others with hate, worry, doubt, jealousy. Whatever your besetting sin is, you must master it, and it’s a command from the Lord. And the only way you can master it, friend, is by relying on the Holy Spirit, by pressing into him and saying, Lord, show me how to overcome these things. And then in later, in verse 9, you know, the Lord’s saying, where’s your brother Abel? He said, I’m not my brother’s keeper, dude. I mean, he had attitude. And the Lord said, what have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me on the ground. Friend, whenever innocent blood is spilled, a curse is placed on the ground. And then a curse was placed on Cain. He was marked. He was a vagabond for the rest of his life. But the issue started in the heart. He came with an offering that was unacceptable because of the heart that gave it. He did not offer by faith.
He already had a sin issue that God tried to confront in verse 7. But Cain was not willing to deal with it. And then in the very next verse, it manifested into murder. And friend, like at the beginning of this broadcast, I said, the message that has been heard from the beginning, verse 11, that we should love one another. And that was the very first generation, Cain and Abel, the first children that Adam and Eve had. There was murder in the first generation. How sad is that? I mean, that just shows you the influence of Satan right out of the gate. Man did not start out on a solid footing. But when Jesus came, he came to redeem us. And that sin nature can be quenched by the Spirit of God working through us as we participate with his word in our lives. Amen. God bless you, friend. We only did two verses today. Don’t shoot, pastor. All right, chill out. We’re gonna get through the rest of 1st John. But sometimes we go down these rabbit holes and we learn more from them.
https://carljosephministries.com/podcast/should-we-judge/
https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/isn/1-john-1.html
Title: Commentary on 1st John: Part 4
Related keyword searches:
Logos Bible Study
eSword
Why did Cain kill Abel
Why didn’t God accept Cain’s offering
How many curses in the Garden of Eden
Why was the serpent cursed
Six Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Why was Abel’s offering accepted while Cain’s was rejected by God?
Abel’s offering was accepted because it was given in faith, from the firstborn of his flock and included the fat portions, symbolizing sacrifice and devotion. Cain’s offering lacked the same heart posture and possibly was not the first or best of his produce. More importantly, Cain’s heart was not right before God (Hebrews 11:4), making his offering unacceptable. Abel’s offering was a blood sacrifice and type of what was only acceptable before God to atone for sin. Offerings from the ‘cursed’ earth were not acceptable to atone for sin in God’s eyes.
2. Was there something wrong with Cain’s offering itself, or was it just his heart that was the problem?
Both mattered. While Cain’s heart posture was a key issue, the offering itself may have also been inappropriate for atonement since it lacked the shedding of blood, which was already a precedent for sin covering (Genesis 3:21; Hebrews 9:22). Abel’s animal sacrifice symbolized this more clearly, while Cain’s offering from the ground did not.
3. Does this story mean that God prefers animal sacrifices over grain offerings?
Not necessarily in all contexts. Later in Scripture, grain offerings were acceptable under the Mosaic Law. However, in this context, God was teaching a principle: an acceptable offering must come from faith, obedience, and a heart aligned with God’s requirements. Abel’s sacrifice matched that standard; Cain’s did not. Only by the shedding of blood is there remission of sin (Heb 9:22) and Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable to God, in this manner.
4. What does the story of Cain and Abel teach us about the condition of the heart when we give to God?
It emphasizes that God looks at the heart behind the gift more than the gift itself. Cain’s offering was from a religious or possibly reluctant heart, not one of faith and love. God desires offerings that reflect a heart to please Him, not to earn favor or check off religious boxes.
5. How does this relate to the message of 1 John 3:11–12, which Carl discussed?
1st John draws a spiritual parallel: just as Cain hated and murdered his brother out of jealousy and unrighteousness, so too, anyone who hates a brother in Christ is compared to Cain. The epistle teaches that true followers of Christ love one another—a sign of walking in the light and living by faith.
6. What can believers today learn from God’s warning to Cain in Genesis 4:7?
God warned Cain that sin was crouching at his door, desiring to dominate him, but that Cain must master it. This applies to all believers: unchecked sin starts in the heart, and if not dealt with through repentance and reliance on the Holy Spirit, it can lead to devastating consequences. God gives us the choice and power to overcome sin, but we must respond in faith.
Carl is an authority. He is a biblical scholar, minister, author, husband, father, and life coach. In his mid-twenties he had a powerful encounter with God and saw miraculous healings as a result. Carl is a unique researcher who investigates current affairs, societal trends, prophecy, technology, cults, and end time events, all through a biblical lens.
Carl holds a Doctorate in Theology (Th D). His Alma Mata includes: Salford University, Manchester, UK, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, UK, Rhema Bible Training College (Tulsa), and Southwestern Christian University (Oklahoma City).
Carl Joseph Ministries empowers believers in Christ to fulfill their God given potential. Join Carl every other Monday on the Lions Unchained Podcast, available on Spotify, iTunes and other mainstream platforms.
He currently resides in Colorado, with his lovely wife Amy, and their three children.
