Alright, turn with me to the
book of Genesis chapter 4. Genesis chapter 4. I've entitled this message, The
Offering that is Respected by God. The Offering that is Respected
by God. The scripture declares in verse
1 of chapter 4, and Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived
and bare Cain and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. Now, the Lord had promised after the
fall that The woman would be the one that would be bearing
children. She would have these children
in much suffering. But that through the woman was
going to come the Messiah, through the seed of woman. And now we
find that Adam and Eve have a son. And Eve, bearing this son, saying
that she knew and believed God, she named him Cain. Now Cain means possession. And it's very possible he doesn't
say that that's This is what she thought, but it's very possible
that she thought that she had received the promised Messiah. I've heard that, and it may be
so, but I couldn't find the wording in the scripture to bear it out
to my heart, so I'm gonna just say it like this, that she possibly
believed that this was the promised seed that would, according to
the word of the Lord, bruise the head of the devil. But though she thought Cain to
be the promised seed, and again, that may be so, I know for a
fact that she attributed the birth of her son to the Lord
and accounted the Lord. to be faithful to his word, knowing
that he was the source of life. So Eve knew God, and she believed
the Lord. And if this was the one that
she truly thought was the Messiah, obviously she was mistaken. But
she named him Possession. I've received a man from the
Lord. Then the second verse says, and
she again bare his brother Abel, And Abel was a keeper of sheep,
but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Now, Abel was a shepherd,
and Cain was a farmer. That was their professions. And the record of this second
son, Abel, his name means breath. It comes from a root word that
means emptiness, vanity, or unsatisfactory. And without a doubt, she loved
her son. It was her son, Abel, her second
son. But according to the name that
was given him, if she did actually believe that the first boy, Cain,
was the promised Messiah, then Abel's birth was of less significance. Let me just say it like that.
Based upon the name that she gave him, her firstborn, hopefully
the Messiah, the one that would redeem and save his people from
their sins. And even in her attitude, Again,
I don't doubt for a second that she loved him, but names meant
a lot. They named their children that
which was honoring to the Lord. You can go back and read those
names and see what they meant, but by naming the second boy
Abel to be a word that means vanity. you know, breath, airiness,
something. Her attitude, even in the name
that she gave him, we behold the first indication of the ignorance
and the animosity that the world possesses because of sin toward
the Messiah. Now, she saw Abel, naming him
that which is that fleeting breath, that's the same attitude recorded
in Isaiah 53, Isaiah 53 verses 1 through 3. This is the attitude
of the world. Who hath believed our report,
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground.
He hath no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there's
no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we
hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not." Now, how this proves, this is what Eve was thinking
concerning these two boys. But how we see, according to
the word of the Lord, Isaiah 58, 8, for my thoughts are not
your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. But in Eve's ignorance, I'm saying this based totally
on what she named the boys. Her attitude was in what she
named them. In her ignorance, she missed
the truth that Abel was actually a twofold picture. He was a picture,
first of all, of God's elect. Now this was her attitude toward
him, was that attitude of airiness, vanity. That's how she named
him. But listen to what the scriptures
has to say 1 Corinthians, that we're going to see in just a
minute, that wasn't God's attitude toward Abel, but that was hers. And 1 Corinthians, chapter 1,
verses 26 through 29, the scripture says, for you see your calling,
brethren, have it not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen
the weak things of the world, to confound the things that are
mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised
hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught
things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence."
So Abel was a picture, first of all, of God's elect, those
that are looked upon by the world as being vanity. a breath, just passing, you know,
emptiness. But secondly, Abel was a beautiful
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, because the scripture says in
verse 2, Abel was a keeper of sheep, a type of him who is the
good shepherd. good shepherd that giveth his
life for the sheep. This is what King David said
concerning the Lord. He said, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. The shepherd
who feeds and guides and protects and gathers his lambs with his
arms, according to Isaiah 40, 11, and carries them in his bosom,
leading them that are with young. She looked at Cain as being my
possession. She looked at Abel, named him
vanity, emptiness. Well, the scripture says in verses
three to five, and in 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 to his offering. But unto Cain,
and to his offering, he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth,
and his countenance fell." Now, surely Adam and Eve had taught
these These two boys, these men, the necessity and the responsibility
to offer unto God a fit and proper sacrifice and offering. These boys knew. They knew something
about worshiping God. They'd been taught. Scripture
says in verse 3, in process of time it came to pass. in my Bible says at the end of
days, so there was a, I don't know, could have been on the
Sabbath, but Adam and Eve taught them there's a time appointed
of God that God is to be worshipped. And these boys surely had been
taught again by their parents, that's the only ones that's here,
The necessity of not only bringing an offering unto the Lord, but
the necessity of bringing a proper sacrifice. It had to be a blood
sacrifice. The Lord taught Adam and Eve
that. You remember when they rebelled
against God and sinned against the Lord, they were naked and
they were ashamed. And they got some fig leaves
and were going to make themselves aprons to cover their nakedness. And God taught them something. He taught them that sin is going
to have to be atoned for and it's going to have to be by the
shedding of blood. Something had to die to cover
their nakedness before God. And they knew that. They knew
it. And they taught these boys that
very same thing. He taught them that in the garden,
they had to be clothed with the skins of an animal. And the slaying
of that animal was necessary that the atonement, the covering
for their sin And the satisfaction of God's justice was going to
be through death. The wages of sin is death. You're
never going to have to be a substitute. Somebody is going to have to
die. But the two different offerings
that these boys offered, Cain and Abel, Here we see the great
difference found within the world between the carnal man's attempt
to approach God by his own works and the believers approaching
God and his acceptance of God in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now remember, these boys have
taught, they're taught. One of them's a farmer, one of
them's a shepherd. But their vocations didn't have
anything to do with the responsibility that they were to offer a sacrifice,
a blood sacrifice. That's what it's going to take.
Without the shedding of blood, Hebrews 9.22, there is no remission. There's no forgiveness. And that
truth in Hebrews 9 didn't start in Hebrews 9 when the apostle
Paul, I believe the writer to the Hebrews, wrote it. It didn't
start then. It started when God taught these
boys, this is how you're going to worship God, this is how you're
going to approach God. It was a sacrifice. And they
had to hear that. They were doing something. These
boys just didn't come up with this offering. They were taught
that. Faith cometh by hearing. hearing
by the word of God. So Abel heard and Cain heard. They heard, this is how you approach
God, through a blood sacrifice. And Abel heard that truth heartily. And God obviously gave him a
heart for it, but Cain didn't. Abel heard it, Cain didn't hear
it, because what Cain did, he brought, the scripture says,
the fruit of the ground. His offering was a bloodless
offering, one that did not picture the sacrificial death of the
Lord Jesus Christ and concerning that sacrifice, Cain's sacrifice,
the fruit of the ground, It says to Cain, verse 5, to his offering,
he, that is God, had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and
his countenance failed. Now, though I'm sure that Cain,
his offering, I'm sure was probably very well prepared, it was probably
very pretty, Probably a very nice selection of the best of
the fruits or vegetables or whatever he had. But it was an offering of his
own labor. It was an offering of his desire. It was an offering of the works
of his hands. And the scripture reveals in
Titus 3, 5, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost. Cain's offering was one that
was found to originate from that which was cursed. In Adam's transgression,
the scripture says in Genesis 3, verse 17, unto Adam he said,
because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast
eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not
eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt
thou eat of it all the days of thy life. And Cain's worship
and that which he presented to God came from that which was
cursed. And God wasn't going to accept
it. It didn't have any respect for it. Cain's worship was a
form of godliness, but in his offering of the fruit of the
ground, he was denying the power thereof, the power to save. He
was denying what God said, this is the only way that man can
have any hope. There's only forgiveness through
the sacrifice of my son. And I'm not going to accept the
best you can do. I'm going to accept my beloved
son. That's the only one I'm going to accept. But the scripture
says, Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock. The chief, that's
what you mean, the first thing, the chief, the best. He picked
out the best he had. He didn't go over there and get
the lame one and the ones that were all broken down to old and
wasn't really good. He got the best of it. He got
the best one. He got the one without the blemish. He looked through those sheep,
and he took the best of his flock. He brought the firstlings of
his flock and of the fat thereof, and the Lord had respect unto
Abel and to his offering." Now, how they knew that God had respect
or didn't have respect in Cain's case, it's not told here, but
probably. I say this because what was happening
after this Leviticus chapter 9, verse 24, whenever Aaron,
the priest, offered the people's sacrifice, this is what it said.
And there came a fire out from before the Lord and consumed
upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat, which when all the
people saw, they shouted and fell on their faces. You remember
when Elijah God told the 450 false prophets to bail. He said,
we're going to settle this thing once and for all. We're going
to find out who's going to answer from heaven. Who's going to answer? We're going to find out. Is God
going to answer from heaven? And those 450 prophets of Baal,
you know they built an altar, they cut their bullet and they
put it all up nicely and laid it all over the altar and they
start crying out to Baal and they cried all day and they cut
themselves and nothing happened. Baal didn't answer. There ain't
nobody there. And then Elijah He took back
the altar of God that had been torn down and disrespected, and
they built it back. And he put on the altar, he put
the sacrifice. And he said, now you take some
water and pour it on there and do it again, do it again, do
it again. He poured water on there. And then he prayed. And
all of a sudden, God answered from heaven. Fire came down from
heaven and licked up all the water, burnt the sacrifice. God
accepted it. It was a sacrifice that was respected
by God. So we're not told exactly how
they knew, but these boys knew. Cain knew that his offering was
not accepted. And he knew that Abel's was.
And so the scripture says it was obvious that God had accepted
Abel and his sacrifice. Abel's sacrifice was one that
had been ordained of God, and Abel believed God. Abel believed God. Abel had faith. And I know that because in Hebrews
11, 4, it says, by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness. God answered. God answered. They knew he obtained
witness that he was righteous. Not in himself, obviously. But
God had shown mercy to this boy. God testifying of his gifts.
Testifying of his gifts by accepting them. And very likely by fire. Fire from heaven. And by it,
he being dead yet speaketh. He knew that the offering that
God would respect and receive was the sacrifice that set forth
and declared the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the one in whom the Father is well pleased. Abel knew that. And that's what he offered. He
didn't offer it just because he was a shepherd. His responsibility,
he just didn't do it, well, this is what I do, so that's what
I'll do. No, he did it because that's what God commanded. And
Cain was commanded to do the same thing. He needed to get
a sacrifice, a blood sacrifice was gonna have to be. He knew
that God demanded that which honored his son. So that sacrifice
offered by Abel, A sweet, smelly savor unto God who pictured Christ,
who satisfied every demand for righteousness, every demand for
justice. And it did it for a people of
God's choosing. And Abel and his sacrifice, God
had respect. Whenever Abel offered that sacrifice, that blood sacrifice,
This is what he was doing. He was admitting himself to be
a sinner. He knew, by faith, he knew that
that offering that was being made was a picture of him who
would lay down his life for the sheep. Abel knew, this is why
this picture, that offering is being offered. This picture is
that there's somebody that needs redemption. Somebody is going
to have to pay. And he knew it was Christ. He knew that by faith. God gave
him faith to believe that. And he was admitting himself
to be worthy of death. I deserve this. He confessed
his need of salvation by God's grace and therefore his need
of the Savior of sinners. You know, he knew this sacrifice
right here is saying that I deserve this. I'm worthy of this. If I got exactly what I deserve,
if God marked iniquity, this would be me dying. But there
is salvation in a lamb, in a substitute, in one that will bear the guilt
of God's people and bear it away. As far as the east is from the
west, in the ocean, the seas of God's forgiveness and forgetfulness. He believed that which God had
revealed, that there was a Savior. of God's choosing a servant,
a lamb that would take away, 1 John 1.29 says that lamb that
would take away the sin of the world, Jew and Gentile. Not everybody without exception,
but all God's people. And Abel believed that God would
provide himself. Abel, by faith, I mean, when
God teaches a sinner, of who the Lord is. He's God Almighty
made flesh. That's the Christ. God-man. And Abel, by faith,
believed that God himself, providing himself, providing himself, the
Lamb, would finish the work of redemption and salvation for
his people. He laid down his life. But on
the other hand, God did not have respect to Cain's offering for
the very reasons that I gave. It was from the fruit of the
ground. It didn't picture Christ. There
was no shedding of blood. There was, therefore, no picture
in praise and worship of God for his mercy and grace. And
God didn't respect it. He said in verse six and seven,
the Lord, and I think of the absolute truth of God to his
word. God's holy, he's fair, he's fair. And he's gonna talk to Cain about
this. And he said unto Cain, why art thou wroth? And why? is thy countenance fallen. If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted. And if thou doest not well, sin
lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou
shalt rule over him." Now, as part of that verse of scripture
that's, to me, that was easier to understand than the very latter
part of it. That latter part has, in most
commentaries, will admit this. That's a hard scripture to understand
by just reading it the way we just read it. I just read it.
It's what I did. But I believe the Lord has given
me some light on it. And I've tried to carefully look
at the wording and look at the definitions of the words and
get the heart of exactly what the Lord was saying. Well, since
I've already started, I'm going to finish my statement. A lot
of the commentators think that the very last part of that seventh
verse is speaking of Cain's fear. that he was going to lose his
birthright. That he was going to lose, that
because his sacrifice was not accepted, that he was more concerned
with his birthright, losing his birthright, than anything else. But I can't really see where
that last part of that verse, it's almost like you just what
the Lord has been talking about, then all of a sudden that last
part, he just changes the subject. I don't think that's what he
was saying at all. I'll tell you what I believe he was saying.
The Lord is speaking to Cain and inquiring concerning his
actions and his attitude. And he asked him this. I'll paraphrase
what he said. He said, why are you angry and
downcast? Your sacrifice was not one of
faith or obedience. And if your sacrifice was offered
with a right heart of faith and obedience, is there not forgiveness
with me?" Now, that's a compassionate conversation that the Lord's
having with Cain. Look at that, I'll just read
verse six and seven. The Lord said unto Cain, why
art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? If you do well, if you by faith
and obedience to my command, if your sacrifice was offered
with the right heart, of faith, is there not forgiveness? But
he said, And if thou doest not well, latter part of verse 7,
sin lieth at the door. He says, if you do not well or
if you do not that which is right. Now this is the truth that's
set forth. I mean, we command men, come
to Christ, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't look to your
works. I mean, we're saying in the preaching of the gospel exactly
what the Lord is saying to Cain. He said, do not well, if you
don't do that which is right, if you by willful arrogance miss
the mark and yield to the temptation of sin, failing to cast yourself
upon me for life and forgiveness, refusing to obey all that's left,
is the sin that you've committed. Now, that's what he said. Look,
here's how he said it in verse 7. If thou do us not well, sin
lieth at the door. You know, all that's left is
that sin that's lying at the door of your heart with this
desire for your eternal destruction. He said, but with me again, there
is forgiveness. and being found forgiven by me
through the blood of my Son, sin shall not rule or have dominion
over you, but you will have power over him. That is sin. This is
why I was saying it's so hard to just read it and understand. He says the last part of verse
7. He said, if thou doest not well,
sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire. That's
sin's desire. And thou shalt rule over him,
meaning sin lying at your door, having his desire to have power
over you. But if you do that which is right,
you will have power over him, over sin. Now, here's my question.
How? How, if you do that which is
right, how? There's one way. Not in ourselves,
not in ourselves. There's no power over ourselves,
over resisting sin. But only in the Lord. James chapter
4. James chapter 4. The scripture says James 4, 7.
Now listen to this. Submit yourselves, therefore,
to God. Resist the devil, and he will
flee from you. Draw nigh to God, he will draw
nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners.
Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Now, let me ask you this. What
power does any sinner have against Satan in himself? None. None. But the scripture
reveals in submitting ourselves to God, casting ourselves upon
the Lord, Lord you help me. I have no power. Lord help me. I have no power over doing anything
to rescue, to keep, to preserve myself. I don't have any power.
The Lord told Cain, if you do that which is right, There's
forgiveness to be. You do that which is wrong. In
resisting, my word, sin lies at your door. And the desire
that sin has for you is your destruction. But you do that
which is right. And the only way a man will do
that which is right is if God gives him faith to believe God.
Then sin won't rule over you. It won't have dominion over you.
You'll have the rule in the Lord. This is what he's saying in James.
You submit yourselves therefore to God and resist the devil.
And he will flee from you. You draw nigh to God, he'll draw
nigh to you. We cast ourselves upon the mercy
of God. Let me give you an example of
myself. Something that happens to me often. Feeling the frailty of my flesh. the struggles that I have just
to study, to prepare, to be ready, to be here, the weightiness of
it, and realizing in myself, Lord, this is such a disrespectful
thought that I'm having. Lord, help me. Lord, I'm struggling
with something that I have no power to change. I mean if you feel an inadequacy,
you feel a struggle within, you feel a laxness or whatever you want
to say, what am I going to do about it? I don't have power
over my emotions and those evil thoughts that come. Lord, help
me. Help me. I don't like it. I don't like that. I don't like
what I see in me. And so, what do I do? I draw
nigh to God. Lord, help me. Lord, I don't
have any ability to resist the fiery darts of Satan only by
faith. that you give me, Lord, I don't. So, Lord, I draw nigh
to you. You give me a heart to. And you
said you draw nigh to me. Lord, help me. So, here's the
only way that we're going to resist. That's what the Lord
told Cain. You do that which is right, and
there's forgiveness. You don't sin lying at your door. and it will have the desire over
you. You draw nigh to me. And it won't rule over you. It
won't have dominion over you. So we're only strong in the Lord. But then in the last verse for
tonight, the scripture says in verse eight, now God has just
spoken to him. He just talked to him. And Cain
talked with Abel, his brother. And it came to pass when they
were in the field, And Cain rose up against Abel, his brother,
and slew him. Now, without a doubt, I'll tell
you what I'm convinced the whole conversation was about. It was
about how a man can approach God and be accepted. I don't doubt for one second,
it says Cain talked with Abel, his brother. Cain brought this
conversation up. Cain knew that Abel's sacrifice
was accepted. And he knew his wasn't. He knew
that God had respect to Abel's sacrifice and he didn't have
respect to his own. And I don't doubt for one second
Cain was arguing that his sacrifice, his works were sufficient. And I don't doubt for one second
because Abel offered a blood sacrifice that Abel did what
he did because he agreed with God. And it made Cain mad because
in Abel's actions He was saying, what you're doing is not right.
It's not right. That's not what God said. You're
disobeying God. Now, you know, whenever you come
to a point and you start resisting a man's little g-god and telling
him, that's not the God of the Bible. That's not the God that
we're to be worshiping. And Cain was wroth. Man! And that conversation, they're
talking about sacrifices and God's acceptance and rejection,
and it was concerning who gets the glory in salvation. This
is what this is all about. Who gets the glory? Is it going
to be man or is it going to be God? Is it going to be man's
honor or God's honor? Is it going to be eternal life
by God's grace or by man's merit and works? That's what this is
all about. And it has never changed. That's what, from the beginning,
that's been the animosity. And Cain, knowing that God had
no respect to his offering, that he did have respect to Abel,
knowing that God had spoke to him about his sin, and about
the penalty of sin without repentance, knowing that God was not pleased
with him or his offering. And it was evident that Cain
never heard, never believed God. And he killed his brother over
it. This was the first murder. This was the first shedding of
blood and anger. And it was over the gospel. And
as to the question, why? Why did Cain kill his brother
Abel? We don't need to go any further
than the Word of God. 1 John 3, 11 and 12. For this
is the message, the commandment, that you've heard from the beginning,
that we should love one another. not his king, who was of that wicked one, and
slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him, because
his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. This is according to the Scriptures.
If a man or woman believes that salvation is by their works. Then the scripture says that
their works are evil. If a man or woman believes that
salvation is by the grace of God, their works are righteous
works wrought by faith, by the grace of God through faith. So
that first blood shed And anger was shed over the gospel. Abel was a picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and he was hated by his brother, Cain, without
a cause. There was no cause. Abel was
obeying God. That's what he did. When we believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, when we
believe that God saves His people by grace through faith, that
it's not by works of righteousness that we've done, it's according
to His mercy. Man hates that. The carnal man hates that. And
John 15, 18-21 says, if the world hates you, You know that it hated me before
it hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love his own. But because you're not of the
world, now listen to this, this is why they hate you. Because
you're not of the world, but I've chosen you out of the world.
Therefore, the world hates you. The world hates you. Remember
the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than
his Lord. If they persecuted me, they're going to persecute
you. If they kept my saying, they'll keep yours. So here was
the innocent victim, Abel, a type of him who knew no sin. The Lord
Jesus Christ, who was taken by wicked hands, crucified and slain,
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, but because of his deliverance into wicked hands, because of
his crucifixion, because of his death, his burial, his resurrection,
His ascension into glory. There is a people that God's
everlastingly loved, and they're going to be saved. God's gonna
save them. A people that's been redeemed
by His blood, robed in His righteousness, and very soon, they're gonna
be in His very presence by grace. I pray that God bless this to
our hearts. for God's glory and for our good.
Amen.