"And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house a house of merchandise." (John 2:15-16 KJV)
"For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow the was washed to her wallowing in the mire." (2 Peter 2:21-22 KJV)
So, here is the thing that Pastor Jon was trying to illustrate, maybe as far back as twenty years ago: Cain had an issue with following God's requirement for sacrifice, as he thought it was cruel and inhumane to kill a innocent animal as a sacrifice for sin. I think it is rather interesting how that plays into this current culture and the unbelievable stupidity that people feel that the planet is more important than the lives of their fellow human beings!
Maybe you cannot see the similarity in the this verses that; but it all comes down to what we are as human-beings, created in the image of God, verses that which does not have a soul or have the same connection that we have to the One that made them. For Cain, not only was his offering wrong, as it was the works of his hands, but it was also cheap, in that it did not included a sacrifice of blood. Basically what that actually represented, was that Cain did not think his sin was really all that bad, so it really didn't require much for it to be covered over or forgiven.
It really puts a little different light on Jesus cleansing the Temple, and the motivation of why using sacrifice for anything else than what it was meant to be, was something that God was not very happy with, to say the least. Add to that, the fact the Cain was a farmer, while Abel was a shepherd; there appears to be another disconnect in the mix, because that there really wasn't the same connection to the sacrifice being given. Go figure!
About that other message, to help brighten your day. It was about how Eve named her children, as both her and Adam were expecting the Savior to come and right the wrong that they had done. When Cain was born, she named him what she did because she thought he was the One; the actual wording was that of, I have received The Man of the LORD. As Cain had grown, into a child, she discovered that he couldn't have been the One, because he was so sinful; born in sin and not even needing to be taught how to lie.
And then there came Abel; "breath," is pretty much that meaning; like, Wow, another one like the other, just another man; and here we go again...
"But God commanded his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more, being reconciled we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." (Romans 5:8-11 KJV)
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