Something remarkable
happened in the book of Genesis. Cain murdered his brother Abel, the first time
murder occurred on the earth. Besides the gruesome and malicious nature of the
act, what makes it remarkable was the reason why he did it.
In Genesis Chapter 4:5-7, God said to Cain “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” This was before Cain committed the murder.
Cain and Abel had to do
service to God. We do not have on record when they received instructions for this
service but they must have received instructions to do so, otherwise God would
not tell Cain that his service would have been accepted if he did the right thing.
Cain must have had knowledge of what was right just as Abel who did the right
thing.
Notice in the record of
events in this chapter that at no time did Cain deny or protest what God told
him. If he had no knowledge of the right thing to do as God said, he would have
denied or protested. Another thing was
that despite Cain being rebuked by God for his wrong doing, he did not see it
fit to repent. There was nothing stopping him from asking for forgiveness and
an opportunity to do the right thing, but he did not.
Why
would Cain willfully do the wrong thing despite knowing what was right?
This is a question we’ll
do well to ask ourselves daily in our generation.
In the 7th
verse, God said to Cain that ‘if you do not do what is right, sin is
crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it’.
God is all knowing, He knows the end from the beginning. He warned Cain and admonished
him to do the right thing or else he would get into worse trouble.
What Cain did with the
warning and admonition hints about why he did not do the right thing in the
first instance. He ignored the warning and just like God said, he fell into the
trap which sin brings.
Cain simply never took God
or His word serious and this led to his eventual shipwreck. He knew the right
thing to do in service to God but he did not do it, he was warned of what this
could lead to but he never heeded the warning.
THE
BELIEVER'S SERVICE TO GOD
As believers, we are saved
to serve God. Hebrews 9:13-14 says if the blood of goats and bulls and the
ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them
so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our
consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! The ultimate purpose of
salvation is service to God.
Service to God starts and
ends with obedience to His will which is His word. The cleansing of
our consciences from
acts that lead to death (KJV - purging of our conscience from dead
works) gave us divine ability to obey God. Our conscience (consciousness)
is our soul distinguishing between what is morally good or bad, prompting to do
good and shun bad, commending good and condemning bad.
For anyone who is born
again, you will recall what happened when you accepted Jesus as your Lord and
savior. Notice the choice of words here, being born again is beyond receiving Salvation
from Jesus and going your way. Accepting Jesus as Lord is what prompts His
coming with the salvation He brings. He comes as Lord, not just ‘salvation
giver’. There is no salvation without Jesus’ Lordship.
Coming with the joy of
salvation and peace in your spirit was the purging of your conscience from dead
works and immediately you realized that you start getting drawn to the things
of God while becoming uncomfortable with acts that lead to death or dead
works, though they may be desirous because of the pleasure they give
the flesh. This happened to everyone into whose life Jesus had come as Lord and
savior.
By the way, 'acts
that lead to death' or 'dead works' mean 'sins' (Romans 6:23). They are also
referred to as works of (living after) the flesh (Romans 8:13), transgression of
the law, disobedience to God (Hebrews 2:2) and unrighteousness (1 John 5:17). All
these refer to not obeying or serving God.
God’s expectation is that after
salvation, we fill our consciousness with His word (will) and live by it. This
does not happen automatically but by what we choose to do and eventually do.
What makes it possible for us is the divine ability (grace) we received at salvation.
Unbelievers cannot do this because the divine ability is not there, their
conscience is still ruled by acts that lead to death.
Disregarding the word of
God and the nudging of the believer’s purged conscience lead believers
into trouble more than anything else and boy! Do we have this as common place
in this generation?!
Our conscience is a priceless
faculty in our service to God. This is why it’s the first port of call when the
adversary comes because our resistance to temptations starts from there. If it
is filled with dead works, it will excuse away all what God says are wrong
(calling them right) and hinder our service to God just like it did for Cain. Romans
12:2 says we are to renew our minds with God’s word. James 1:21 admonishes the
same. Filling our conscience with the will (word) of God is the only way we keep
it purged and working right.
We are expected to build
the word of God into our consciousness and always yield to His Spirit as He
leads us mostly through our conscience. The more purged our consciences are of
dead works, the easier it is for us to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. The
good thing is, whatever the Spirit of God leads us to do will always agree with
the word of God.
1 Timothy 1:19 says holding
on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have
suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith. The way to hold on to
faith and a good conscience is to take God serious and not be like Cain.
Come to think of it, why
would someone murder his brother because the brother was righteous (1 John
3:12)? It is simple, Abel being righteous made Cain look bad but Cain could have
also been righteous if he wanted to. We should not be caught on the side of
those fighting the truth and those committed to it, the end is always disastrous. As believers, we should embrace the truth and live it.
Having a good conscience
does not amount to being weak, having a good conscience is not the same as not
being smart. Having a good conscience is strength to the believer and ensures
success in our service to God. It is the only way the believer does right.
Let us keep our conscience
purged of dead works, filling it with God’s word so that it can work for us in distinguishing
between what is morally good or bad, prompting us to do good and shun bad,
commending good and condemning bad.
We are saved to serve God
and salvation is meaningless if its purpose is not achieved.
Meditate upon these things; give thyself
wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all (1
Timothy 4:15).
Pastor Gboye Omolayo is the Resident Pastor of Church@Allen, Allen TX, USA. He is a prolific writer and preacher who believes the efficacy of the word of God and the potency of the works of the Holy Spirit are still available to the Church today, as were at the Church’s infancy. He is the publisher of this blog.
Pastor Gboye Omolayo is the Resident Pastor of Church@Allen, Allen TX, USA. He is a prolific writer and preacher who believes the efficacy of the word of God and the potency of the works of the Holy Spirit are still available to the Church today, as were at the Church’s infancy. He is the publisher of this blog.
