Would you turn to Genesis chapter
four? I'd like to remind you by way
of introduction that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. God breathed. said exactly as
God would have it said. Aren't you thankful for that?
I'm so thankful for the Word of God. I'm so thankful that
I don't have to depend upon a man. I've got the very Word of God. Men preach it, but we've got
the Word of God. When you were reading from 1
Corinthians 1, and the scripture said, to them who are called,
my thought is, Lord, call me. Call everybody in here. to them that are called, both
Jews and Greeks. I want to be one of those people,
don't you? To them which are called, called by God. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and every word in this book is of critical importance. I've heard preachers talk about
doctrines that are important and then those that are of secondary
importance. Oh, you can look at God's book
and say, well, this part is important and this part is less important.
I don't think any man has the ability to make that call. This is the word of God. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. And I know this, There is no
scripture more important than this scripture in Genesis chapter
four. I've entitled this message Cain
and Abel. And you and I are either Cain
or we are an Abel. All of the world can be divided
into these two different types of men. a Cain and an Abel. So I will be describing you and
me. We're either Cain's or we are
Abel's. Now the timing of this story
is it's the first thing recorded after the fall. That gives us
some idea of its importance, doesn't it? It's the first story
after the fall of our first parents. And the teaching of this story
is how God is to be worshiped and how he is to be approached. Now there could be nothing more
important than that good there. There is no worship without an
understanding of this story. There is no approaching, me personally
approaching God and be accepted of Him apart from some understanding
of this story. The story of Cain and Abel. And
we have the two representative men. There are only two types
of men. The men that are represented
in this story. This covers everybody in the
world to ever live. There are only two types of men.
There are only two religions. Both of those religions are made
known in this story. There are only two types of men
in this sense, the righteous and the wicked. Cain, the wicked. Abel, the righteous. And this is God's testimony of
these men. This is not my thoughts or your
thoughts. This is God's testimony of these
men. Hebrews 11, four says, by faith
Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,
by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts. This is not some man's idea.
This is God's testimony. When the Lord Jesus spoke of
Abel, he spoke of the blood of righteous Abel, a righteous man. Cain is of that wicked one, according
to John. When Jude spoke of false prophets,
he spoke of the way of Cain. Able represents the righteous. Cain represents the wicked. And I think this is so true. Listen to this statement. All
of the wicked believe themselves to be righteous. Cain demonstrates
that. And all of the righteous, no
exceptions to this. All of the righteous believe
themselves to be wicked. Abel illustrates that so clearly. Cain and Abel. Now look in Genesis chapter four,
verse one. And Adam knew Eve, his wife,
And she conceived and bear Cain and said, I've gotten a man from
the Lord. Now by that she meant, I've got
the man. That promise in Genesis chapter
three, verse 15, the seed of woman shall crush, shall bruise
the serpent's head. I've gotten the man. from the
Lord. She was excited about this. She
believed him to be the one. And verse two, and she again
bear his brother Abel. Here we have Cain and Abel. Now,
their names mean something. Cain means acquired. When you
acquire something, you've worked for it, haven't you? It means
purchased. Abel means vanity. Why would she name her son Vanity?
What if that was your name? Well, it is. It is. Man at his
best state is altogether vanity. But we see something about the
character of these boys. Came, acquired, purchased. Abel, he was an afterthought. Vanity, not a whole lot to him,
and I believe Abel thought that with regard to himself. And look
at the description of these two boys, verse two, and Abel, was
a keeper of sheep. But Cain was a tiller, and that
word tiller is a worker, a worker. He was a worker of the ground. One was a shepherd. The other
worked in that which God had cursed, a worker of the ground. Verse three, and in process of time. Somebody says, what's that mean?
The end of days. What this is talking about is
a specific time for the public worship of God. That's what was
going on at this time. There was a time to bring the
sacrifice. There was a time for public worship. I love public worship. I love to hear the preaching
of the gospel in the power of God the Holy Spirit. And I know
when I'm hearing the gospel is when I know I'm saved. You know,
the only time I know I'm saved is when I'm hearing the gospel.
And I'm talking about the gospel. I'm not talking about religion.
I'm talking about the gospel. When I hear the gospel, I know
I'm a child of God. Nothing like that. That's the
greatest thing There he is, to hear the gospel and the power
of the Holy Spirit, the process of time. And in process of time,
it came to pass. There is a phrase I love in the
scripture. God purposed it, it came to pass. How many times is that in the
Bible? It came to pass, it came to pass. I love that song or
sing, be still my soul. The winds in the way still know
his voice. They know who rules them. It
came to pass. Everything comes to pass. God
purposed it. Don't you love that? God purposed
it. It came to pass. Our God really
is God. He's an absolute sovereign control
of everything. And it came to pass, we read
of these two offerings. 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. Now this
represents the two religions. There are only two religions.
It really is this simple. The religion of works and the
religion of grace. Now the religion of works, what's
that mean? That means some part of your salvation is dependent
upon what you do. It really is that simple. You
can believe that God loves everybody, Christ died for everybody, he
wants to save everybody, but it's up to you as to whether
or not you'll accept or reject what he did. That's salvation
by works. That makes salvation dependent upon something you
do. And then there's the religion
of grace. Salvation dependent upon what
Christ has done. What you do, what Christ has
done. Those are the two religions. And I have no doubt that Adam
told his boys, Cain and Abel, about what we considered yesterday,
the Lord God slaying that beast and covering them. He told them
about the coming one, the promised Messiah that would destroy and
crush the serpent's head. and would be bruised. His heel
would be bruised by the serpent. I have no doubt that he told
those boys the only way of approach to God is through the blood. That lamb he slew pictured that
one who's coming. He understood. Now somebody says
they were just going through religious exercises. No, they weren't. By faith, Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice. He knew exactly what
he was doing when he did that. He knew he was only approaching
God through the blood of the coming seed of woman that would
accomplish salvation. Now, I think this is interesting
to note. You can tell everything about
somebody by the sacrifice they bring. Says everything. You come by
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and you come no other way, you
say by that I believe God is holy, and I'm nothing but sin,
and I would not dare approach God apart from him. You come
bringing your works, you say everything. You don't really
believe God's holy. You think you can bring something
that he would accept, says everything. Everything you want to know about
these two men and about everybody else, can be seen by the way
they approach God, what offering they bring. Abel brought the
blood. You know, I love that hymn we
sing, what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood. of Jesus. For my pardon, this
I say, nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing, this
my plea, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can for sin atone, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. not of good that I have done,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is that flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
the blood of Jesus. Now this was the religion of
Abel. He believed God to be holy and
I wish I knew how to define holiness, God's holiness as it ought to
be defined. I don't think any man is up to
that. This is one of the things about the preaching of the gospel
is it's failures built into it. You'll never be able to say it
as it ought to be said. I realized that, that God is
holy. He's other. He's other. He's all together. He's unlike
me and you. He's holy. And I'm a sinner.
What's that mean? If I'm a sinner according to
the scripture, it means that all I do is sin. It means that I cannot not sin. And it means my sin is all my
fault. I can't blame Adam. I can't blame
my mom and dad. I can't blame my circumstances.
My sin is all my fault. If I'm a sinner, it means I can't
look down in judgment upon any son of Adam for anything. That's where I am. I can't look
down in moral superiority at anyone. And it means I have no
claims on God. I have nothing about me that
can demand anything from God. That's a sinner. That's a sinner.
Now, how is a sinner going to approach God? Same way Abel did,
only pleading the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Cain
saw no need for that. He saw no need. I have no doubt
that his dad taught him how the Lord God was to be approached,
but it just wasn't an issue with Cain. He was like any other lost
man. It just wasn't that important. I think of Nadab and Abihu when
they offered strange fire before the Lord. What is this strange fire? When
they offered up incense, the only way you could burn that
incense is if it was from fire from off the altar. No other
fire would do. It had to be fire from off the
altar of sacrifice. And that represents the only
way this incense is heard by God. The only ways our prayers
are heard by God is through the intercession of Christ because
of the blood of Christ making them acceptable. And you know,
Nadab and Bayou, they thought, well, as long as we got the incense,
we don't have to go all the way to get the fire from off the
altar. Any old fire will do. I mean, we're sincere. We're
doing our best. It's okay. And they burnt that
incense with a strange fire, which didn't come from off the
altar. And the scripture says fire came down from heaven and
consumed them. There was nothing left but ashes,
and Moses said to Aaron, their father, they had it coming. They
had it coming. That's precisely what they deserved. This was Cain's attitude, just
like Nahab in a bayou, I'm sincere, I'm okay, long as I'm sincere,
I'll bring this and God can accept it. He didn't take seriously
what God had said. Now, once again, we see in these
two boys, one who believed himself to be righteous, Cain, he thought
he could come into God's presence, and the other who believed himself
to be wicked, Abel. and he would not dare come into
God's presence apart from the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want us to notice God's
response to these two sacrifices. And notice the language of the
scripture. This is God's response. We read in verse four, the last
sentence, and the Lord had, what's that word? Respect. Respect. The Lord had respect unto Abel
and to his offering. Now what's it take for God to
respect something? What's it take for God to respect someone?
God had respect to Abel, to this man, Abel. God had respect to
him. And you couldn't separate him
from his offering. God had respect unto him and
to his offering. Verse five, but unto Cain and
to his offering, he had not respect. And once again, the person can't
be separated from the offering, can they? To Abel and his offering,
God had respect. But to Cain and his offering,
God had not respect. Now let's think just for a moment
about this thing of respect. What is the foundation, even
on human terms, what is the foundation of a good marriage? Respect. Respect for one another. A true,
God-given respect. What is the foundation of a good
employer-employee relationship? Respect. When the employer respects
his employee. When the employee respects their
employer. That's good, isn't it? That's
a good relationship. The best thing that we can teach
our children is for them to respect authority. That's the first commandment
given with promise. Honor your father and mother.
And that's speaking of a respect for authority. If you teach your
kids, if I teach my kids to respect authority, they're going to be
better off in life. They're going to do better in school and jobs,
whatever it is. Respect is such an important
thing. And what is more ugly than a
disrespectful person? Someone that just has no respect
for authority, no respect where respect is due, but they don't
have it. That's an ugly person. Respect. Now to think of this,
God having respect to Abel. Do you know if you're a believer,
God, and I wouldn't say this if the Bible didn't say it, God
respects you. He has a respect for you. And
that respect cannot be separated from the sacrifice. You see,
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ makes everybody he died
for without sin before God respectable. God respected Abel and his offering. I think of when, Noah got off
the ark and he offered up that sacrifice. We considered that
just a moment yesterday. And the Scripture says it came
up as a sweet savor to God, a pleasing aroma. This is the way God views
every believer. He's satisfied. That's what the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ does for every believer. It makes
God satisfied, completely satisfied with you. He's not looking for
anything else. That's the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It makes God respect. But what's it say about Cain's
offering? To Cain and his offering, he
had no respect. You see, Cain didn't respect
God, did he? He was irreverent. He was self-righteous. He brought the fruit of his own
works. He was looking to himself. He
was a self-righteous man. He was an irreverent man. He
was a wicked man. Thought he was righteous, but
he was a bad person. And God had no respect for him,
nor his offering. As a matter of fact, Cain was
an offense to him. Now look at the Lord's view of
the two offerings. And remember, you can't separate
the person and the offering, can't be done. He looked upon
Abel and God had respect to Abel and his offering because of what
the blood of Christ did for him. And to Cain and his offering,
he had no respect. Let's go on reading. Verse five. And Cain was very
wroth. He was angry and his countenance
fell. He was displeased with what had
taken place. This is not fair. It's not fair
for God to accept my brother's offering and not accept mine.
He demonstrates what a man dead in sins feels quite free to do. He said in judgment on God saying,
this is fair and this is not fair. Now, anytime I feel the
liberty to look at what God does and make my assessment, that's
not right. That's not fair. Who do I think I am? I think
of what Paul said in Romans nine, when the fellow said, Why does
he yet find fault with regard to God? If he hardens one and
saves another, if he hardens one heart and he doesn't hurt
another and he holds me responsible for what I do when he hurt my
heart, how can he find fault? How can he judge me for that?
I mean, he hurt my heart. How can he hold me responsible?
I love Paul's answer. Nay, but old man, who are you
to reply against God? Since when do you have the moral
abilities to sit in judgment on God? That's what a lost man
does. And that's exactly what Cain
did at this time. His countenance fell. This is
not fair for God to accept my brother's works and not to accept
mine. His countenance fell. Verse six. And we see the Lord's mercy so
clearly here. And the Lord 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. Now listen to what he says to
Cain. What are you mad at? If you come the way Abel came,
you will be accepted. Now we can say that to everybody
in the world. If you come pleading Christ,
if you come pleading mercy, God will accept you just like he
did Abel. Somebody says, well, I asked
for mercy and God didn't give it to me. I don't believe that
for a second. You might've tried to bargain with God. You might've
said, if you do this, I'll do that. Or if I'll do that, then
you... That's not asking for mercy. You only ask for mercy
when you're in the hands of an utter sovereign who can do with
you what he will. And you come into his presence
and say, have mercy. You're admitting when you ask
for mercy, my sin's all my fault. Would you please have mercy on
me for Christ's sake? The Lord promised him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise, for no reason cast out. Now there is mercy for anyone
who comes to Christ. I say that unequivocably. I wish
we could open the doors. If you come to Christ, don't
say, well, I can't come because I'm not elect. I can't come because
Christ didn't die for me. I want mercy. No, you come to
Christ. I don't care who you are. You
will be received. That's a promise. Why are you
upset, Cain? If you come the way Abel did,
by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain. What about Enoch? Scripture says
regarding Enoch, he had this testimony that he pleased God. That's God's testimony, but without
faith, without faith, it's impossible to please God. Now let me remind
you what faith is. Faith doesn't have anything to
do with what you think about yourself. Faith has wholly to do with what
you think of him. Do you believe on Christ? Do
you believe he's the son of God? Do you believe he's God's Christ?
Do you believe he's God's prophet, priest, and king? A prophet like
no other prophet. He's the one who didn't say,
thus saith the Lord, I say unto you, is the way he spoke. He's
like no other priest. These other priests brought animal
blood. He brings his own blood. He's like no other king. Their
king is a borrowed authority. He's king of kings and Lord of
lords, God's king. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? Are you relying on him as the
Christ? You're received. You're received by God. What
think ye of Christ? That is the issue. And what the
Lord says to Cain, if you come the way Abel came, you will be
received. But if not, if not, if you come
some other way, sin lieth at the door. Now, this is the first
time in the Bible the word sin is ever mentioned. And you know what it has to do
with? Bringing the wrong sacrifice. Sin lieth at the door. And there's a lot of things we
could say about sin. Sin is the transgression of the
law. The thought of foolishness is sin. Whatsoever is not of
faith is sin. But if I bring the wrong sacrifice,
here's the only reason. Sin lieth at the door. Sin's the cause of this. It's
sin to come into God's presence any other way than the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's sin. Sin lied at the door. And look what it says, and unto
thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him. Now
that's not talking about Abel. For many years I thought that
was talking about Abel. It didn't make sense to me, but
I assumed it was. No, sin wants to rule over you. And only in bringing the wrong
sacrifice does it not rule over you. Verse eight. And Cain talked with Abel. Now, this wasn't a friendly conversation. This was an argument. Cain talked,
he argued with Abel. Abel, I can almost hear the argument. Cain says, this is not fair for
God to accept your sacrifice and him not to accept mine. This is not fair. And I can hear Abel saying, Cain,
this is what God has taught us. The only way he can be approached
is through the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other way. The Lord said, I am the way. There are no other ways. I am
the truth. There is no other truth. I am
the life. His life is the only life that
God can accept. No man comes to the father but
by me. And I have no dad, maybe in other words, but it was the
same thing. Abel was letting Cain know there is no other way. He is the way. And then Cain
got mad. He said, you narrow-minded, self-righteous
bigot. You think your way is the only
way. You think your religion is the only religion. You're
judging me. I don't like what you're saying.
And Abel said, this is not my way. This is God's way. This
is the only way. And remember, Abel, I mean, Cain
at this time, he didn't have the law of fear. He didn't know
he wasn't gonna have to stand before a judge and jury. He wasn't
afraid of going to jail. There wasn't any such things
at that time. He didn't have the same restraints that men
have right now, a fear of what would take place. And you know
what he did? He bashed his brother's brains
out. He was so upset over what he was saying. He thought it
was so unfair. It was so wrong that he slew
his brother. The first murder. Abel was the
first martyr. And what was the issue? The blood. That was the issue. Whose blood? It's the blood of God. Why did he die? Why bloodshedding? Sin. The wages of sin is death. The only reason anybody dies
is because of sin. Who did he die for? The elect,
those the father gave him. What did he accomplish by his
death? The complete salvation of everybody he died for. You know, religion never even
brings up those issues for the most part, do they? Whose blood? Who did he die for? Why did he
die? What did he accomplish by it? But that was the issue. And
that is why Cain murdered Abel. And Cain, verse eight, 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. He killed him. He hated him.
what Abel stood for. He didn't believe. Verse nine,
and the Lord said unto Cain, where is Abel thy brother? Now the Lord knew, but he says,
where is Abel thy brother? And Cain says in a smart aleck
fashion, this is what everybody knows about Cain and Abel. This
is, if you didn't see, am I my brother's keeper? That's what
most people would think of when they think of Cain and Abel.
Am I my brother's keeper? But I can see the smart aleck
way he says this to the Lord. And he said, verse 10, what has
thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood
crieth unto me from the ground. Now his blood had seeped down
into the ground and there was some kind of covering that perhaps
men couldn't even see it now, but God said, he cries to me
from the ground. What does it say? Vengeance,
justice, revenge, put him to death, What he did was wrong. Your brother's blood cries to
me from the ground. And this is a very, I don't know what kind of thought
to call it, but every sin I have ever committed cries to God from
the ground. All sin will be punished. every act of injustice, every
unclean thought, every dishonest thing, and every abuse of some
person that I've done, I've forgotten it all. Most of the 99.99% of
my sin, I don't even remember, and really, I didn't even know
it was sin in the first place. But it all cries to God from
the ground. No sin will go unpunished. God is just. No sin will go unpunished. Now
hold your finger there and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12.
Verse 24. And to Jesus, Hebrews 12, 24,
unto Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood
of sprinkling, his precious blood. And look at this next phrase,
that speak of better things than that of Abel. What's that mean? The blood of
Christ cries, justify him. Forgive him. Accept him. My blood demands it. I've washed away all of his sins. And he stands before me perfect
without sin and without fault. Now that's better, isn't it?
The blood of Christ has better things to say than the blood
of Abel. Abel's blood says vengeance. Christ's blood says justification. Everybody he died for. Now let's go back to our text.
Now this curse upon Cain, verse 11, and now thou art cursed from
the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's
blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground,
it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive
and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth." You're gonna have
no certain dwelling place. You're a fugitive and you're
a vagabond. And Cain said unto the Lord,
my punishment, not the sin itself, my punishment. is greater than
I can bear." Charles Spurgeon made this statement with regard
to this scripture. I've always liked this. He said,
most preachers, if they were sentenced to an eternity of listening
to their own preaching, they would cry with cane of old, my
punishment is greater than I can bear. And I certainly can see
that, but he wasn't concerned about the sin. All he cared about
was the punishment. 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. I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond
in the earth and shall come to pass that everyone that findeth
me shall slay me. And the Lord said unto him, Therefore,
whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.
And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should
kill him." What was that mark? Who knows? But everybody know,
don't touch Cain. God will venge you sevenfold
if you do that. And then we read in verse 16,
Cain did the same thing Adam did. He went out from the presence. of the Lord." It doesn't say
he was driven out. It says he went out. He wanted
to get away from him, and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east
of Eden, and Cain knew his wife. How many people say, where'd
Cain get his wife? That's a dumb question. Where'd Cain get his
wife? Well, he had one. That's enough,
isn't it? He had one. And Cain knew his
wife, and she conceived and bear Enoch, and he built a city and
called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch." I
never will forget a statement Scott Richards made about that.
Cain went out to make the world a better place. First time we
read of a city, a civilization, and he named it after his own
progeny, going out from the presence of the Lord. And that's what
folks are doing right now. My, I want to be able, don't
you? May the Lord enable us to be
just like Abel, looking to Christ alone. Pastor.