In the very beginning, there was a spiritual war between two brothers (Abel and Cain). We know that one worshipped God in the way the Lord had instructed — by blood sacrifice. The other thought to do it his own way –by fruits of the earth. One accepted, one rejected.
“Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”( Genesis 4:1-7)
Recently two brothers had a discussion on loving our Lord. Let us pick up the discussion.
Bro B — My brother, how are we to love the Lord? Is there somewhere in the Word that the Lord tells us plainly how to love Him?
Bro. R — We put Jesus first in all things. We base our life upon Him and spread His Gospel
Bro. B — Actually there is a specific place where He tells us “how” to love Him. It is found in John 14:15 and says “If you love Me, keep My Commandments (Entole).”
Bro. R — Listen my brother, Jesus had lots of Commandments, and that means we must obey them, that is all that is saying.
Bro. B — No, the word “Commandment” there in greek is “Entole” which is used to describe the holy 10 Commandments. For instance in Luke 23:56 it says – “And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.” The Sabbath here is called an “Entole”– one of the 10 Commandments. Therefore the Lord is saying in John 14:15 to keep His holy 10 Commandments and they are to be obeyed if we want to show we love Him.
Brother R — Jesus clarified His Commandments and said that they are now just two, read the following —
“Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”(Matt: 22:35-40)
Brother B — If that is so and the Apostles were understanding your belief, then why did they obey the Sabbath right after Jesus died? And why did they hold up the burial Of Jesus for obeying the Sabbath?
Brother R — (no response to the questions) I love you brother
Brother B — Let’s “love” each other in Christ ok? If we truly love Him we love Him as He said, not as we want to. This lesson is told of in the very beginning by Abel and Cain.
Brother R — I will pray for you brother as I see you are under bondage.
Brother B– Bondage? Sorry but you are failing to rightly divide the word of truth. If I am under bondage then Jesus is under bondage as HE said to obey the 10 Commandments.
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” ( 2 Tim 2:15)
Brother B — Think about it brother, you would not steal, murder, bear false witness, or break the holy 10 Commandments, now that you are a converted Christian, right? Then why would you think it’s ok to keep 9 of them and be free to break one — the Sabbath? So Jesus came and died on the cross to break us free from one Commandment? That is not “rightly dividing the word of truth”.
Then the discussion ended. Sadly, today we see the old lesson of Abel and Cain repeated. One brother wants to love Jesus as HE said, the other wants to as he thinks right. One will be accepted, one will be rejected.
“There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12)
Godsloveandlaw's Blog 
Leave a Reply