Galatians 4:29 - "At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now." (NIV)

1 John 3:12 - "Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one."

Genesis 4:5 - "But on Cain and his offering he (GOD) did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast."

Cain wasn’t rejected because of his offering, rather the offering was rejected because of Cain; his heart was not right with God.

How did Cain and Abel know they needed to offer sacrifices?

There's no doubt that Adam taught them about the need and rules of the sacrifice.

Adam taught them the best time for a sacrifice.

Adam taught them the best objects/animals for a sacrifice.

Adam taught them how to prepare the sacrifice.

Every aspect of preparing a sacrifice was taught by Adam to his sons, Cain and Abel.

So imagine when they were about to go for a sacrifice, Adam said to Cain, "Son, you need to bring a lamb for sacrifice."

I can imagine that Cain, since his heart was not right with God, might have said “Dad, don't teach me, I know what I'm doing, people are different and have different worship styles God will accept my worship, it doesn't matter. Why do you parents always have to be so controlling and feel the need to advise me on everything?"

Then I can imagine that Abel may've replied, "No Cain, you have to listen, you can't do it this way, you need to bring a lamb" at which Cain may have replied, "Don't tell me what to do. I am older than you and know more than you, what do you know?"

Romans 12:3b - "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought."

Romans 12:16 - "Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Be not wise in your own conceits."

Jude 1:11 - "Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain."

The way of Cain is the way of self-will and unbelief.

Beware of the older brother Cain!

Your spiritual man will tell you, "Listen to the word of God – God speaks through his servants."

The Cain in you will say, "No, I know everything. I don't need anyone to teach me."

Your spiritual man will say, "Take the word of God, read, and meditate."

The Cain in you will say, "No it's boring - I'd rather watch TV and spend time on the computer."

Your spiritual man will tell you, "Spend time with God in prayer."

The Cain in you will say, "No, I'm not in the mood to pray. I would rather chat with my friends on WhatsApp and Facebook."

Your spiritual man will say, "Things in your life are not going well, fast and pray."

The Cain in you will say, "Why? No good has come from serving God thus far."

Your spiritual man will tell you, "Never miss a prayer meeting."

The Cain in you will say, "I am too busy – if I miss a prayer meeting, nothing will happen."

Your spiritual man will tell you to conduct prayer meetings in your home.

The Cain will say, "No, I don’t care – meetings at church are good enough for me."

What is the result of listening to the Cain in you?

The devil begins to tighten his grip on you – he begins to take control of your mind.

He begins to take you away from the Lord - away from the light and into the darkness.

When God rejected Cain's offering, he became very angry.

Genesis 4:6 - "Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?"

Anger is the product of evil – anger is a powerful emotion that can lead to violence and even murder.

Jesus taught that anger in the heart is the moral equivalent of murder with the hands – Matthew 5:21-26

God spoke to Cain personally and tried to lead him back to the way of faith, but Cain resisted.

Many times we pray, Lord speak to that particular person – here in this case, the Lord directly spoke to Cain.

1 Corinthians 2:14 - "But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

Cain was unwilling to get right with God.

When we hate others, it’s a sign that we’re not walking in the light - 1 John 2:9-11, and that we don’t have God’s love in our hearts - 3:10-16.

Genesis 4:8 - "Now Cain said to his brother Abel, 'Let’s go out to the field.' While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him."

Harboring uncontrolled bitterness is the product of evil.

Instead of turning back to God to fix his problem – Cain turned to his brother and wanted to attack him.

Some people are always bitter toward others.

Why did Cain become angry against Abel? Abel didn’t do anything against Cain.

This is called spiritual warfare – a spiritual clash or conflict between two spirits.

The anointing will always attract attacks from the evil one.

Genesis 4:8 - "Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”

Cain should have settled his issue with his brother inside their home – instead, he dragged the issue onto the field.

Some people do the same - be wise and settle your issues inside the home – don't drag innocent people into your mess, deal with it inside, not in the field.

Genesis 4:9 - "Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?' 'I don’t know,' he replied. 'Am I my brother’s keeper?'

Cain lied to the Lord. How many times have we lied to God and others concerning spiritual things.

Lying is the product of evil.

"I don’t know" is not a spiritual man’s answer.

We can’t separate our relationship with God from our relationship with our brothers and sisters.

That includes our natural brothers and sisters as well as our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Hebrews 11:4 - "By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead."

1 John 3:12 - "Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous."

Jude 1:11 - "Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion."