Let's begin our service opening
our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews the ninth chapter. The first part of this chapter,
the first few verses, the writer is talking about the temple or
the tabernacle, excuse me, tabernacle in the wilderness. In verse six,
he says, Now, when these things were thus ordained, the priest
went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of
God. But into the second went the high priest alone once every
year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for
the errors of the people. The Holy Ghost is signifying
that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest
while as the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure for the time
then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, which
could not make him that did the surface perfect as pertaining
to the conscience, which stood only in meats and drinks and
diverse washings and cardinal ordinances imposed on them until
the time of reformation. But Christ, being come in a high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean
sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God. We'll end our reading there.
All right, let's stand together as Mike leads us in singing our
call to worship. What can God's justice satisfy
And guilty sinners sanctify? What can God's clean Christ's blood alone. My works cannot remove
Thy gifts, blood on Calvary spilled. On this alone my hope is filled. Christ's blood Nothing could ransom me from
hell and all my debt to God. Christ's blood alone. Christ's blood alone. Sing and confess Christ's blood
alone Secured thy place Christ's blood alone Christ's blood Now let's turn to 222. 222. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners' blood beneath that
blood blows off their guilty stains. Whose broad stripes and bright
stars through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watched
were so gallantly streaming? their guilty state. The dying thief rejoiced to see
the fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. And there may I do my lessee. Wash all my sins away. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power. Till all the ransomed church
of God be saved to sin no more. Till all the ransomed Church
of God be saved to sin no more. Where since my faith I saw the
spring, My flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been And shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. And trough me till I die. When this poor lisping, stammering
tongue Lies silent in the grave, Then in a nobler, sweeter song
I'll sing I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power
to save. It's turned at 275. 275. 475. I'm sorry. Yes, 475. 475. That's a big difference. We'll sing it to the tune that's
in the book there, the old tune. I know a lot of some of you like
the old tune. you Redeemed, how I love to proclaim
it, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed through His
infinite mercy, His child and forever I am. Redeemed, redeemed, Redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. His child and forever I am. Redeemed and so happy in Jesus,
No language my rapture can tell. I know that the light of His
presence With me doth continually dwell. Redeemed! Redeemed! Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb! Redeemed! His child and forever I am. I think of my blessed Redeemer,
I think of Him all the day long. I sing, for I cannot be silent. His love is the theme of my song. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I am. I know that I shall see in His
beauty The King in whose law I delight. Who lovingly guardeth my footsteps,
And giveth me songs in the night. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I'll love. Turn, if you all will, to the
book of Genesis this morning. Genesis chapter 4. I'm going
to read the first 15 verses. Genesis chapter 4. And Adam knew Eve, his wife,
And she conceived and bear Cain and said, I have gotten a man
from the Lord. And she again bear his brother
Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller
of the ground. And in process of time, it came
to pass that Cain brought the fruit of the ground for an offering
unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of
the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof. And the Lord
had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and
to his offering, he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and
his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain,
Why art thou wroth? And why hast thy countenance
fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if
thou doest not well, sin lieth in the door. And unto thee shall
be his desire, the desire of sin, and thou shalt rule and
thou shalt 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. And the
Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said,
I know not. Am I my brother's keeper? And
he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood
crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from
the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's
blood from my hand. When thou tellest the ground,
it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive
and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto
the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou
hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth. And from
thy face shall I be hid. And I shall be a fugitive and
a vagabond in the earth. And it shall come to pass that
everyone that findeth me shall slay me. And the Lord said unto
him, Therefore, whoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken
on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon
Cain. lest any finding him should kill him. May the Lord bless
his word. Let's pray. Our God and Heavenly Father,
we are so thankful that you have given us the man whom you've
sought. That your son, our Lord Jesus
Christ, took on him flesh and became a man. A man whose blood
cries to Thee, and whose blood we can approach Your throne.
Father, we're so thankful that for us You've taken away that
first man caught up in the doings sayings of false religion caught
up in the works of our own hands and have caused us to look to
Christ, to look to the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that
washes us from sin, to look away from our own works and look to
thy work, to Christ. Father, we, it's in that blood
that we approach your throne of mercy and pray that you would
have mercy on us once again this morning, that you would send
your spirit to be among us as we endeavor to meet in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, leave us not alone. Don't
leave us to the imaginations of our hearts, but speak to us
through your word. Give our pastor a word from Thee. Lord, feed your sheep. Cause the good news of our Lord
Jesus Christ to bless our hearts. Give us hearing ears and receiving
hearts and Lord, we pray that the word spoken here might go
forth through this community, through the world, through the
means that you've given. that you might call sheep into
your fold. What we ask for this congregation
here, we ask for wherever men stand this morning to point people
to Christ. Lord, make that word effectual. Father, we pray that you would
have mercy on those of our number who are sick body, mind, spirit,
that are going through deep trials. We think of our brother Scott,
we think of our brother Bob. Lord, so many you've laid heavy
burdens on. And we confess, Lord, that it's
too much for us to bear. We pray that we could lay them
at the feet of Christ, that he would bear our burdens for us,
that these trials that you've sent would cause us to look to
Christ in all things. Give us the grace to rejoice.
Lord, accomplish your will. Father, we pray for our children. We pray that you would have mercy
on their souls. Lord, You've given us the ability
to teach them and to read the scriptures to them, to teach
them the word. Lord, only thou can reveal yourself
to them. We pray that you would cause
them to run to Christ, to know their need, and to run to the
Savior, the substitute. For our parents, give them patience,
give them wisdom, give them grace. Father, we need thee in all things. Pray that you would cause us
to look to thee. Once again, we pray, Lord, that
you would sanctify your word to your children here this morning,
that you would Give us one more time a glimpse of Christ. We ask all these things in His
name for the sake of His blood. Amen. I'd like for you to turn to 227. Sing the chorus with me on this
song. Oh, now I see the cleansing way,
The fountain deep and wide. Jesus, my Lord, mighty to save,
points to His wounded side. The cleansing stream, I see,
I see, I plunge, and oh, it cleanseth me. Praise the Lord, it cleanseth
me. It cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth
me. I see the new creation rise. I hear the speaking blood. It speaks, polluted nature dies,
Sinks neath the cleansing flood. The cleansing stream, I see,
I see, I plunge and oh, it cleanseth me. O praise the Lord, it cleanseth
me, it cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth me. Amazing grace, tis heaven
below, to fill the blood of mine. And Lord Jesus, only Jesus, no,
my Jesus, The cleansing stream, I see,
I see, I plunge and oh, it cleanseth me. All right, let's open our Bibles
first to Hebrews chapter 12. The title of the message this
morning, The Blood Speaks. In verse 24 of Hebrews chapter
12, you see where I took my title. Verse 23 says, We're come to
the general assembly in church of the firstborn, which are written
in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of
just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new
covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better
things than that of Abel. Now the writer here tells us
about the blood of two men, and you may want to turn back now
to Genesis chapter 4, the passage Brother Dan just read for us.
The writer to the Hebrews tells us about the blood of two men,
the blood of Abel and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the blood of both of these men tell us some very important things.
The blood of Abel tells us some important truths about you and
me, about mankind. And the blood of Christ tells
us some important truths about God, about salvation in our Lord
Jesus Christ. Verse one here, Genesis chapter
four, and Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bear
Cain and said, I've gotten a man from the Lord. Now, Adam and
Eve understood God's promise to them as he was thrusting them
out of the garden. They understood God's promise
of the seed of woman. They understood that God was
going to send a man. born of the seed of woman who
would crush the serpent's head and would deliver them from the
curse of sin and the power of Satan. You know, Adam and Eve
were a whole lot like us. We're born with Adam's nature.
They understood God's promise and I know full well what they
wanted. They wanted God to fulfill his promise right now. I mean,
though this is a great promise. I'm a wonderful, I want God to
fulfill it right now. If I was them, I wouldn't want
God to wait 4,000 years either, would you? And when Eve had her firstborn
son, she said, I've got the man, this baby, this is the man God
promised to come who would deliver us from sin. Now he wasn't, but
that's what she thought when he was first born. And she thought
that because they were looking for a Redeemer. And I point that
out, they were looking for a Redeemer for this reason. If they were
so earnestly looking for the Redeemer, They were teaching
their children to look for him, too. I mean, we parents, we teach
our children whatever is important to us. That's what we're going
to teach our children. They taught their children that
God was to be worshipped through a blood sacrifice. They taught
their children that because God taught them that's how he is
to be worshipped. I'm sure these two brothers, Cain and Abel,
they saw their father, Adam, worship God through a blood sacrifice
many times. Adam is the one that taught them
how to do it. Well, verse two. But she again bear his brother
Abel, and 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 of the fruit of the ground an
offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also brought of the
firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord
had respect unto Abel and his offering, but unto Cain and his
offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth and his
countenance fell. Now Cain and Abel were not two
boys here. They were full grown men. They
were not the only two children of Adam and Eve that were alive
at this time. There were, you know, the writer
speculated there were a million maybe people. I don't know how
many people were alive at that time, but we're not told of all
the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. The Bible couldn't contain
all the names. These two names are mentioned
as representative men, as pictures of something that we need to
learn. They're not young boys. They were heads of their own
home. They're married, had children, they had homes of their own,
and they were offering a sacrifice, worshiping God as the head of
their home. Otherwise, Adam would have been
offering the sacrifice for them. They're heads of their own home,
and they offer these two sacrifices. Now, here's the first thing that
the blood of Abel speaks and tells us of. It's man's nature. Abel's blood tells us that man
is a sinner. And we're a sinner. We all sin
because we have a sin nature. And our sin nature is a religious
nature. It's religious. It's a self-righteous
nature. That's a rebel against God. It's
religious. It's religion is wrong in every way, but it is religious.
And the proof of that is by nature, we try to come to God our own
way. God's told us the way to come
to Him, but we won't do it. We're going to try to come our
own way. And we do that because we're natural-born rebels. That's
what we're, natural-born rebels. We're going to say, no, I'm going
to do it my way. And we also do that because we're self-righteous.
We think I'm good enough to come to God my own way, on my own
merit. And when Cain brought his offering,
the fruit of the ground, you know what he was doing? He's
denying he's a sinner. He didn't need a blood sacrifice.
It's the blood that maketh atonement for the soul. Aten or Cain was
denying he was a sinner. He didn't bring blood. The only
thing that will cleanse blood, atone for sin, or the only thing
that will cleanse sin, atone for sin, it's the blood and nothing
else. When Cain did not bring a blood
sacrifice, he was denying he needed a substitute to die in
his place. He didn't bring a lamb that had
been killed as his substitute. He didn't bring a lamb that was
a sacrifice for his sin. He brought the fruit of the ground
that he grew his own self. Now I have no doubt Cain brought
the very best fruits and vegetables that he had. He didn't bring
any bruised tomatoes. You know better than that. Of
course he didn't. He brought the very best that he had. And
can you imagine what those fruits and vegetables looked like at
that time? I know God had cursed the ground, but the ground at
that time brought forth much more than it did now. I mean,
the fruits and vegetables this man grew were something else.
But God would not accept them. He had no respect to that offering.
And you know why? Those fruits and vegetables represent
our works. They were Cain's works, weren't
they? And God will never accept our works because our works are
sinful. Everything we do is sinful. because it flows from a sinful
heart. Cain, you think about this. He brought fruits and vegetables
from the ground God had cursed. They came from a cursed place.
The same thing is true of our works. They come from a cursed
place. They come from a nature of sin. And God won't accept them. Even
the very best things, our righteousness, what we think is our righteousness,
all it is is a filthy ride. God will never accept our religious
works any more than he would accept cane sacrifice, vegetables,
the very best he could grow. Well, what are our works we try
to impress God with? Well, we have some examples of
it in scripture, don't we? It's prophesying, preaching in
Christ's name, casting out devils in Christ's name, doing many
wonderful works in Christ's name. All those works are evil. They're
wicked. if they're done without faith
in Christ. And the only reason we insist on bringing our own
works, trusting our preaching in his name and casting out devils
and many wonderful works. The only reason we want to trust
those things is we think God will accept them. And we think
God will accept them because we're rebels. God said he won't
accept them, but we're so rebellious we say, yes, you will. We insist
on coming our own way because we're rebels. We insist on coming
our own way because we are self-righteous and we think our works are good
enough. So we don't need a substitute
to die in our place. We don't need a sacrifice. We
don't need someone else to obey God's law, make us righteous
in Him. We think we do just fine our own selves. Now there are
a lot of things in our society that promote sin and promote
violence. And it's just, it's astounding
to me. And it's very wise to keep your children from too much
screen time, from playing violent video games and hanging with
the wrong crowd. If you're a parent, by all means,
you know, protect your children from all that stuff as much as
you can. But I promise you this, it's not going to stop them from
sinning. I mean, you keep them from all that stuff. Don't be
surprised when they lie to you. Don't be surprised when they
smart off to you. Don't be surprised when they, because sin is not
coming from those things. They're not being taught to sin
from those things. Sin comes from the heart and
it is our nature. And Abel's blood cries from the
ground and testifies mankind has a sin nature. Number two,
Abel's blood speaks of anger. Cain was wroth. God did not have
respect to Cain's offering. And the word means God would
not look to it. He wouldn't look to it and accept
it. He wouldn't regard it. In one
place in scripture, this word respect is translated spare. God would not spare Cain because
of his sacrifice. He wouldn't look on his sacrifice
with any respect because Cain offered his sacrifice on the
ground of his personal worthiness. Look, God, here's what I can
do. That's his personal worthiness. He didn't come in Christ's worthiness.
He came in his own and God would not have any respect to him.
And when God would not respect that sacrifice, Cain got mad. He got mad at God. He didn't
get mad at himself. He should have been mad. He should
have been mad at himself. How foolish was I to bring my own works to
God? But he didn't get mad at himself. He got mad at God. And that's man's nature, isn't
it? We're mad at God. We've declared war on God. The
carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can it be. We've declared war on
God. We're mad at him. We're mad at
God for making the rules. We're mad at God for saying this
is what I'll accept and only what I'll accept. We're mad.
We declared war on God. And brethren, it's a losing battle.
But that's what we've done by nature. And that's what Abel's
blood, it speaks of man's anger. And thirdly, Abel's blood speaks
of hatred and murder. Verse 8. 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, I know we've got a picture
in our mind that's propagated by children's Bible storybooks
and so forth. Cain and Abel weren't offering
these sacrifices side by side at the same time. You know, if
they had come to worship God together, they probably would
have used the same altar. They didn't come together. They
were worshiping God, offering these sacrifices to God as heads
of their own home. doing it separate from each other.
Later on, they came together. Maybe Abel went to visit Cain
in his orchard, or maybe Cain went to visit Abel in the field
where he's keeping his sheep. I don't know. At some point,
they got together. And as they were talking, like
brothers do, they started talking about their worship service and
the sacrifice that they'd offered to God. One of them asked, how'd
your service go? When you worship God, how'd your
service go? That's what we do. And tomorrow morning seems like
often if I talk to another pastor, it's often on Monday. You know,
one of the first questions, how'd your services go yesterday? God
bless you. You're preaching. If I talk to our daughters this
evening, you know, they often call their mama. How'd your services
go? I always joke with it. Did Todd
learn anything this week? You know, how'd your services
go? That's what they were doing. How'd your services go? And Cain
told Abel, it didn't go well. They go, well, I'm mad at God.
I'm mad about this. God would not accept my sacrifice.
And Abel was bold. Now, he's the younger brother,
but he's bold. Abel would not compromise the truth. He reminded
Cain, his brother, he said, now, Cain, you know this. God must
be worshipped with the blood sacrifice. Daddy taught us that. You know that. Sinners are saved
through the obedience. and the death of Christ our substitute,
this One who is to come, this One we're looking for. It's going
to be through His sacrifice. We're looking to Him. God can't
accept our works. You know that. You know all of
our works are sinful. Sinners can only be saved by
grace. Sinners can only be saved through the blood of the sacrifice.
Now you need to quit this. You need to get off this tangent
of offering your works. Go to God with the blood. Here,
take a lamb. Pick a lamb. Go to God with the
blood. Beg God for mercy. Beg God He'd forgive you. Oh,
and Cain was, he's still mad. He's mad at God. Now he's mad
at Abel. He's mad at anybody who believed. He's mad at God.
He's mad at anybody who believed God. And he picked up a rock
maybe or a sharp stick or something, I don't know. And he bashed his
brother's brains in. He killed his brother. His brother
now. The first murder that happened
on this earth happened in an argument over grace and works.
It's been the same ever since, hasn't it? Murders proceed from
a sinful heart of hatred. And this is what Abel's blood
speaks. It speaks of man's hatred of God and hatred of others.
Fourthly, Abel's blood speaks of being a liar. Verse 9, And
the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said,
I know not. Am I my brother's keeper? Now,
you children, listen to me. Here's something you get for
free. When our girls were little, Janet asked, I don't know, I
don't even know what question brought on this response, but
this is the response this little girl gave to her mom. I don't
know. Am I my sister's keeper? Well,
that got a lecture from Mama. And I got home. I heard about
it, and I said, I'm going to take my crack at this too, you
know. And Janet said, yes, you are. Yes, you are. And you children
remember this. Yes, you are your brother's keeper,
your sister's keeper. You've got their back. You always
have their back. You watch out for them. doing
something they ought not be doing, then you tell them. You have
their back. You protect them. And that don't
just apply when you're little. All your life long, you've got
their back. Now you show them. You show them you've got their
back. You show them, yes, yes, I'm your keeper. I've got your
back. I told my daughter, I told that to her mama, my wise fatherly
advice was this. If you're going to quote somebody
from the Bible, don't quote Cain. If you want to find out how to
be a brother, don't look at Cain now. Don't look at Joseph's brothers.
Find somebody else. Oh, my. Well, this is what Abel's... You get that for free. That's
some worldly advice for you. Make your life better. God, I'm sorry. But that's important.
I hope you take that. It'll make your life better now
if you've got to show your brother and sister you love them. But
Abel's blood speaks of being a liar. Cain knew good and well
where his brother was. Cain, I'm sure he hid the body,
you know, he didn't just leave it out there and nobody hid the
body. He lied to God's face. He knew where his brother was.
And you know what Cain is showing here? He's under the influence
of Satan, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience. He's under the influence of him
who's the father of lies, who told the first lie. The first
lie told on this earth was told by Satan. He told Eve, Naive,
God didn't tell you the truth. You shall not surely die. And
Cain's acting just like him, just telling God a bold faced
lie. And that's man's nature. That's your nature and my nature.
We are incapable of telling or loving the truth. When we say
man by nature is a liar, that's true, we can't tell the truth.
But it also means this, man by nature hates the truth, can't
love it. Fifth, Abel's blood speaks of death. Man must die. All flesh must die. And it's
because of sin. Abel's blood crying to God from
the ground meant there had been death. This bloodshed means there's
been death on earth. Abel was murdered because all
flesh must die. I mean, he was murdered, but
he would have died eventually. His blood cries to the ground
that because of the sin that's in us, you and I must die. Abel's blood cried out not only
that he died, but that we must die. And the reason for both
death, both Abel's and ours, is going to be this, sin. Sin,
when it is finished, bringeth forth death. And if you don't
believe me, take a stroll out by the cemetery. Jan and I were
out there for a funeral this week, and when it was done, we
went up to the grave where her grandmother and grandfather were
buried. Found a few other family members up on top of the hill
there, Rose Hill. And man, you look out over there, there's
thousands of tombstones sticking up all over the place. A lot
of death, Janet. There's a lot of death. That's
sin. Sin, when it's finished, brings
forth death. Sixth, Abel's blood speaks of guilt. Abel's blood
was crying out, Cain's guilty. Cain's guilty. Cain's guilty.
He's guilty of murder. Abel's blood didn't just cry
out Cain was guilty. Abel's blood cried out that all
men are guilty because we all got the same nature that Cain
does. We're all guilty before God. Abel's blood speaks of guilt,
darkness. Seventh, Abel's blood speaks
of the need for justice to be satisfied. Abel's blood was crying
out to God. It just kept crying, kept crying,
kept crying out to God. Crying for justice. You know,
you see this happen all the time. A beloved family member gets
murdered. What does that family do? They're
at the police station every day saying, have you found this person?
Have you found him? Are you looking? Have you found
him? And once they find him, they arrest him and they charge
him. They're trying him down there at the courthouse. Guess
where that family is every single day? Front row. front row behind the prosecution.
I want justice done. They're there demanding justice. They're there. They want that
judge and that jury to know somebody cares. This person who died is
somebody that's important to us. We're demanding justice.
That's what Cain's blood was crying out. Demanding justice. God carry out justice. And Abel's
blood kept crying until God dealt with the murderer in justice.
And Abel's blood keeps crying out to you and me. Even Christ
to this day crying to you and me, God must dispense justice
because of sin. Abel's blood crying, telling
us that. Eighth, Abel's blood speaks of the curse of sin. Verse
11. And now art thou cursed from
the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's
blood from my hand. When thou tellest the ground,
It should not henceforth yield unto thee her strength, a fugitive
and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth." Now God seems
to give Cain here an even worse curse than he gave to his father,
Adam. God had already cursed the ground
for Adam's sake, but it seems like it brought forth thorns
and thistles, but it still seemed like it yielded much more strength
than we see today. But now God's cursed the ground
even more. He said it's cursed for your
sin. It'll bring forth less bounty than it had before. At least
at Cain it did. Now do you think your works are
good enough? Huh? You think your works are good
enough to get God to accept you? God's going to take those works
and he's going to make them more and more and more sinful. They're
going to become more and more of a curse to you, not a blessing.
Abel's blood speaks of God's curse against sin. And then Abel's
blood speaks of punishment. Verse 13. Cain said unto the
Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear. This is what
Abel's blood cries. Sin must be punished. God will
punish sin. You know, Cain didn't feel too
bad about what he'd done until God punished him. He didn't feel
too bad about his sin. He took a rock and smashed his
brother's skull in. He didn't feel too bad about
it. He was mad. He didn't feel too bad as he watched life slip
from his brother's body. He'd never seen that before.
He didn't feel too bad as he watched a pool of blood spread
out there on the ground. He didn't feel too bad. He hid
Abel's body under some bushes, you know, got some branches and
covered him up. And he did not go tell Abel's
family, his wife and children. He didn't go tell them where
he was. They were just looking for him, wondering, where's Abel?
Where's daddy? Wondering. That had to be so awful. Didn't
it feel awful to them? Can't even go tell. He didn't
feel too bad. But oh, he felt bad when God announced punishment.
When God announced punishment. But then it was too late. It
was too late. Abel's blood cries out to you
and me. There must be a day of reckoning. There's got to be
a day of reckoning for our sin. There's got to be a day of judgment. when the Lord Jesus Christ will
come and judge all men in righteousness. See, our sin must be punished.
God has to punish sin. Either us or our substitute.
Somebody's gotta be punished. And if we don't hate our sin
until God punishes us, and really, if we don't hate it until God
punishes us, it's still not hating our sin, just hating being punished,
isn't it? If we don't hate our sin until God punishes us, it's
gonna be too late. Too late. Today is the day of
grace. All today is the day. This has
been the day of grace 6,000 years. Long as this earth has
been, there's been a day of grace. God's promised a Messiah that's
coming. God told us here he is. God's given us the gospel to
preach until he's coming back. It's the day of grace. But one
day, one day, the day of grace can be over. It's going to be
too late. And God is going to punish the And if we keep trying
to God, try to come to God by our own works, we're never going
to find mercy and grace from God. One day it'll be too late. And then 10th Abel's blood speaks
of separation from God. Verse 14. Behold, thou hast driven
me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face
shall I be hid. Now I shall be a fugitive and
a vagabond in the earth, and it shall come to pass that everyone
that findeth me shall slay me. Now Adam had already been thrust
out of the garden because of his sin. He had already been
thrust out of that place. He used to walk with God in the
cool of the day. But now he's been thrust out of God's presence.
And now Cain is thrust out even further. He's thrust out from
society. He's thrust out where God's hidden
his face from him. He's thrust out from God and
society. And the reason for it is sin. Sin demands separation
from God. It's your sin that separated
you from your God. All right, that's the blood of
Cain. Are you depressed yet? I hope so. I hope so. You see,
nothing from Abel's blood, it only speaks of darkness and judgment
and death, doesn't it? Well, thankfully, the writer
of the Hebrews says there's a second blood that speaks. Now let's
look at what the blood of Christ speaks. The blood of Christ speaks
something far better because the blood of Christ speaks the
opposite of everything that Abel's blood speaks. Abel's blood speaks
of sin. The blood of Christ speaks of
righteousness. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
son, cleanseth us from all sin. The blood of Christ washes his
people white as snow. And the blood of Christ does
more than wash away the sin that's already there, although it does
that. But the writer to the Hebrews, did you notice what he called
the blood of Christ? The blood of sprinkling, the blood of sprinkling,
the blood of Christ was shed, offered to God as payment for
sin that put away the sin of his people. The father accepted
that blood as payment in full for all of the sin of all of
God's elect. But that blood wasn't just shed,
it was sprinkled, sprinkled, sprinkled on the hearts of God's
people by God the Holy Spirit. And when He does that, when the
blood of Christ is sprinkled on our hearts, we receive a new
heart. That new heart is a new nature. And that nature is sinless. It's a righteous nature that
can never sin. So the blood of Christ guarantees
the salvation of His people by making them righteous. If the
blood of Christ has taken away your sin, the blood of Christ
sprinkled, the blood of sprinkling, if that's given you a new righteous
nature, there's no reason for God to ever damn you. because
there's no sin. That's what we have in the blood
of Christ. Second, Abel's blood spoke of anger. The blood of
Christ speaks of peace. Abel's blood speaks of man being
angry with God because God's made the rules. God's made the
rules and said, this is the way you can come to me and only the
way you can come to me. And we hate that. We hate that
we cannot come to God our own way by our own self-righteousness. But the blood of Christ speaks
of peace, peace with God. You see, the blood of Christ,
look at Colossians chapter one, the blood of Christ takes away
the sin that makes God angry. So God is at peace with his people. And the blood of sprinkling,
the blood of Christ sprinkled on our hearts gives us a new
nature that has peace with God. The blood of Christ sprinkled
on our hearts makes us stack our arms and surrender to God. so we have peace with him. The
blood of Christ makes it so we're not angry with God anymore and
we're at peace with God too. Colossians 1 verse 19. For it
pleased the Father that in him, in Christ, should all fullness
dwell, and having made peace. And this is something that's
already done, having made peace through the blood of his cross,
by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him, I say,
whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and even
you, you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by your
wicked works, you didn't have peace with God, yet now hath
He reconciled. He brought you back together,
giving you peace and fellowship with God in the body of His flesh
through His death to present you holy and unblameable and
unreprovable in His sight. There's peace with God in the
blood of Christ because the blood takes away the sin that makes
God angry And it gives a new nature to his people that is
not angry with God. And there's peace, there's fellowship
because of the blood of Christ. Then Abel's blood speaks of hatred.
The blood of Christ speaks of love. Look at 1 John chapter
4. Abel's blood, remember, spoke
of man's hatred of God and man's hatred of other men. But the
blood of Christ speaks of love. God's love for His people, His
people's love for Him and for others. 1 John 4, verse 10. You want to know about love?
You want to know what love is? Herein is love. Not that we love God,
but that He loved us. And here's the evidence of how
God showed His love. He sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Now, beloved, if God so loved
us, we ought also to love one another. And the blood of Christ
shed as a sacrifice for the sin of God's elect. That speaks of
God's love for sinners. You see, God doesn't love sinners. God doesn't love a people because
Christ shed His blood for them. See that? Christ shed His blood
for a people because God loved them. God chose them. God put
them in His Son. God chose to redeem those sinful
people in His Son. God loved them. That's why He
sent His Son. to die for their sins. Christ
died because God loves sinners. And that causes a two-way street.
The blood of Christ sprinkled on our hearts gives us a new
nature that makes us not angry with God anymore, but makes us
love God and love other people. Fourthly, Abel's blood speaks
of man's lies. The blood of Christ speaks of
truth. Like I said, not only does man
love love telling a lie. He loves hearing a lie. He loves
hearing a religious lie. And scripture tells us this is
why men's going to perish, because they received not the love of
the truth. They received not. They refused it. They rejected
the love of the truth that they might be saved. But the blood
of Christ speaks of truth. See, it's the blood of Christ
that enables God to save sinners and still be true to his holy
character. God saves sinners in such a way
that He makes it right for Him to show mercy to them. Because
the blood of Christ removed the sin that made God angry. See,
Scripture describes our God as just and justifier. He's just
and the justifier of the ungodly. How can that be? Only through
the blood of Christ. That's how God can save sinners
and still be just. accept sinners in his presence
and still be just, still be holy, because the blood of Christ has
taken away their sin. God's justice has been satisfied
in the death of Christ. Now he can be just in receiving
his people to himself. That's the truth of how God saves
sinners. Then Abel's blood speaks of death,
but the blood of Christ speaks of life. Abel's blood, remember,
said all men must die because of sin. There must be death because
of sin. But the blood of Christ speaks
of life. All of God's elect must live. They must have eternal life because
Christ died for them as a sacrifice for them. The blood of Christ
took away the sin of his people that causes death. Sin causes
death. Well, if Christ has taken away
your sin, there's no reason for you to die. If Christ died for
you, you must live. You must be given eternal life
because Christ died for you. Then Abel's blood speaks of guilt,
but the blood of Christ speaks of innocence. Abel's blood cried
out that Cain was guilty of murder. It kept crying out to God, guilty,
guilty, guilty. The blood of Christ cries out,
his people are innocent. Examine them. My blood has taken
away their sin. I made them innocent. He keeps
crying out. As Christ the mediator sits on
his father's right hand, making intercession for his people,
he didn't even have to say a word. The evidence of his sacrifice
in his body, the scars in his hands, his feet, his side, on
his brow, all are a constant reminder of his sacrifice. And
his sacrifice keeps crying out to his father, innocent, innocent,
innocent. Father, accept them. They're
innocent. Then seventh, Abel's blood speaks
of the need for justice. Christ's blood constantly cries
out, justice has been satisfied. Cain's blood would not quit crying,
or Abel's blood, excuse me, would not quit crying for God to punish
Cain's crime. It wouldn't quit crying until
justice had been satisfied. The blood of Christ does the
same thing. The blood of Christ cries out that the death of Christ
has already satisfied justice for God's people. And the blood
of Christ, the Cain's or Abel's blood, keeps crying until justice
is served, right? Christ's blood keeps crying out
until mercy is served. It keeps crying out for mercy
and grace and life for God's elect. The blood of Christ is
going to keep crying until it's satisfied, all of God's elect,
for safety and glory. In 8th, Abel's blood speaks of
the curse of sin. Christ's blood cries out for
blessing. Abel's blood demanded a curse
for sin. It demanded a separation from
God and death. But the blood of Christ took
away the sin that caused the curse and caused the separation.
So the blood of Christ calls for a blessing for God's people.
Now the Bible begins with creation. Is that what you looked at in
your lesson this morning? Last week and this week, Janet
had a sub in for Sabrina's. Talk about creation. That's the
way the Bible begins with creation. And then immediately after creation,
you know what we read about? The curse of sin. Adam's fall
and God pronounced a curse on his creation because of sin.
Now the whole Bible The whole Bible speaks of Christ. I mean,
from the first page to the last page, even in creation, in the
fall of man, that speaks of Christ. But boy, especially after all
these pages here, God pronounces the curse right here on this
page, this page right here in my Bible. Boy, a lot of pages
after that, isn't there? You know, all those pages, every
single page, you know what it speaks of? How Christ came to
remove that curse. Did He get the job done? Did
He? Let's look at the last page and
see. Look over Revelation chapter 22. I used to love to read a series
of books by John Jake. He wrote historical novels. You
know, they're about that thick. And you get to liking the characters,
and I don't want to find out what happens at the end, but
at least I got a favorite character. Are they alive at the end of
this thing? And I just go look at the end and see their name.
Are they alive? Try to get some hint. My favorite
character, did I make it through this book? You want to know how
this thing, God's purpose of mercy and grace turns out? Don't
just get a hint. Read it. Let's find out here. What happened? Did Christ get
the job done? Revelation 22. Verse 3, And there
shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb
shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. Yeah, Christ
got the job done, didn't He? His blood took away the curse
of sin for His people and gave them eternal blessing. He took
away the curse and all that's left from God for those people,
His people, is eternal blessing. Now here's the last thing. Keep
your Bibles open to Revelation 22. Abel's blood speaks of separation. The blood of Christ speaks of
union and fellowship with God. Both Adam's sin and Cain's sin
caused them to be thrust out of the presence of God, separated
from God. And the whole Bible is written.
I mean, including creation and the fall of man, the whole Bible
is written to tell us how Christ came to restore fellowship with
God. Christ came as the way that sinners
can come back to God, have fellowship with God, have union with God.
It's in Christ. That's what he came to do, to
establish fellowship with the Father. Well, again I ask, did
he get the job done? Let's look at the end of the
book and find out. Verse 4, Revelation 22. And they
shall see his face, and his name shall be in their forehead. Yep,
Christ got the job done. Not only will God's elect see
Christ's face eternally, they'll have eternal face-to-face fellowship
with the Lord Jesus Christ. His name should be in their foreheads.
I mean, the name of Christ can be written on your forehead.
He's given you the mind of Christ, the nature of Christ, so that
you be like Him, body and soul, made just like Christ, having
fellowship with Him, And that's how the book ends. And Christ
got the job done, didn't he? I'll tell you, I sure do like
what Christ's blood says, don't you? I want to hear more about
what it cries. May God give us faith to believe
what we hear. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for our Lord Jesus Christ. How can we ever thank you enough? How can sinful men and women
lost and dead in sin, loving a lie in darkness. How can we
ever thank you enough for sending your son to be the sacrifice
for our sin and giving us everything we lost in Adam, but better in
our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, how we thank you that
you've preserved your word through the centuries. Enable us through
your word to hear what the blood of Christ cries. how it speaks
of forgiveness and life and peace and joy. Father, how we thank You. Father,
I ask You, I beg of You that You take Your Word that has been
preached this morning and apply it to the hearts of those who
are gathered here. Father, I beg that You do this
for Your glory, that You enable us to see more of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that You cause us to come to that You cause us to
rest in Him, that You cause us to lay down our works of self-righteousness,
our works that come from this guilty, cursed heart, enable
us to rest in the blood, the sacrifice, the righteousness
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, for Your glory, save
Your people. For Your glory, preserve and
protect and comfort and edify Your people through the preaching
of Christ, we pray. Give us the faith, the ears of
faith that would hear and cry and come to Him that we might
have forgiveness, life and peace in Him. It's in the precious
name of our Lord Jesus Christ we ask this great blessing and
we thank you. Amen. Let's stand and sing 252, number
252. Come, every soul, my sin oppressed,
There's mercy with the Lord. And He can surely give me rest,
I trust Thee in His Word. Only trust Him, only trust Him,
only trust Him now. He can save you, He can save
you. can save you now. For Jesus shed his precious blood,
rich blessing to bestow. Once now into the crimson flood
that washes white as snow. Only trust Him, only trust Him,
only trust Him now. He can save you, He can save
you, He can save you now. the way that leads you into rest. Believe in Him without delay,
and you are fully blessed. Only trust Him, only trust Him,
only trust Him now. He can save you, He can save
you, He can save you now.