Alright, Genesis chapter 4 and
verse 1. And if you will, turn to Hebrews
11. Genesis chapter 4 verse 1 says, And Adam knew Eve his wife, and
she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have begotten a man
from the Lord. And she again bare his brother
Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep,
but Cain was a tiller of the ground." Now this morning we're
going to see in these two men what God regards as the more
excellent sacrifice. The more excellent sacrifice.
Now, first thing we see is there's no difference in Cain and Abel
according to the flesh. Both are sons of Adam. Both are
born with the same corrupt nature that Adam passed on to them through
natural generation. As we'll see next, both came
to make an offering unto the Lord. Probably both were taught
by Adam. the promise of Christ to come
which God taught Adam in the garden when he slew an animal
and made coats of skins and covered Adam and Eve. But Hebrews 4 tells
us something that shows us what the difference was between these
two. Hebrews 11 verse 4 says, By faith, Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain. How did Abel have this faith
in God? Turn over to Ephesians chapter
2. Ephesians chapter 2. Verse 1 says, And you hath he
quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins. Abel had faith the
same way every sinner has faith. He was born of the Spirit of
God. Look down at verse 8. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, out of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. So we see Abel according to the
Scriptures, was born of the Spirit of God. No man could come to
the Father lest he be drawn of the Father, born of the Spirit
of God, given faith by God, and by faith Abel offered a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain. Abel was the workmanship of God,
created in Christ Jesus, and what we see here is a good work.
He brought a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, but he brought it
by faith. He brought it by faith. This
was a work God had ordained before that he should walk in. And he's
walking in it by God's grace. Now this is the fruit of grace.
Faith is to God speaks, faith hears. Faith believes and faith
obeys. This is the simplicity of faith. Faith hears the Word of God,
faith believes God, and faith obeys God. Faith stands only
on the rock of Christ Jesus. It has no ear but for heavenly
wisdom. Faith does. Faith trusts only
in what the finger of God writes. Faith reasons this way. The mouth
of the Lord hath spoken it. That's the reasoning effect,
the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. Now think on this. Here Abel is in the twilight
of creation, in the twilight of the world, and he's believing
on the Son of Righteousness, who's yet to come far, far, far,
far, far down the road. And yet he stumbled not, he staggered
not in unbelief, he believed God, he believed the promises
God had given him. Now, here you sit at the end
of the world, in the last days, which have been since our Lord
walked this earth, with the full blaze of the Son of Righteousness
shining. Now what will you do? What will
you do? Well, let's see the difference
that grace makes. Genesis 4, verse 3. And in the
process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit
of the ground an offering unto the Lord. Cain is a tiller of
the ground. He's a farmer, and he offered
the fruit of the ground. The way which Cain came to God
manifests what was in his heart. This manifests what was in his
heart. The way in which you come to God manifests what's in your
heart. Cain offered unto the Lord his
self-will. That's what he offered to God.
God has ordained the way in which he was to be approached. And
Cain's been taught this way. He's been taught this way. But
he comes with something that in his estimation is more dignifying
than blood. He places his puny reason above
almighty wisdom and decides he'll come another way than how God's
commanded he come. And he comes Not in the truth
of God, but he comes in a lie. He's professing himself to be
wise, and he's become a fool. And he's worshipping and serving
the creature, his self, his will, his way, more than the Creator. He's bringing the work of his
own hand, the fruit of his own hand. Cain offered his own pride. That's what he's offering unto
the Lord, his own pride. Blood signifies the need of pardon
of sin. This was both a sin offering
and a burnt offering. This is what was shown here in
this offering. This lamb was slain and this
fat of it was burned. This was to be a burnt offering,
a thank offering, a praise offering unto God. And Cain comes with
something he's worked out by his own hand. He doesn't come
by faith in Christ. And He's coming in pride. He's
coming with these best fruits that He's grown, that He's going
to bring, that He's going to offer up. But He's not coming
by faith in God. in the promise of God. This is
the deceitful heart. This is what it imagines. That
we're rich and we have need of nothing, when in fact we're lame
and blind and out of the way and in need of God's grace. This
is pride. Pride. Cain is offering the Lord unbelief. That's what he's offering Him.
Unbelief. God has set before him redemption
by Jesus Christ in the promise and type here. And he's closed
his eyes and he won't behold God. He won't look to God. He's
closed his hand. He won't lay hold of Christ. He's stumbled at the sure foundation. He's closed his ears and he won't
hear Him. He's closed his heart, he won't
receive Him. This is the situation of all
sinners born in Adam. The whole head is sick and the
whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot to
the head there's no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores that have not been closed, neither bound
up, neither mollified with ointment. And this is what Cain is bringing
to offer unto God. Now let's look at Abel. Verse
4. And Abel he also brought, he
Cain, he brought of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof. Abel selects the firstborn of
his flock. He selects the very best lamb. A spotless lamb. And he offers
the fat thereof with it. His lamb was slain. The blood was poured out. It
was put upon the altar. It was burned. And the fat was
burned with it. Abel confesses this is what he
justly deserves. He's confessing that in Himself
He's lost, He's ruined, He's undone apart from God's free,
justifying grace in Christ. He's confessing that He has no
power to save Himself, but He's got to be saved by the blood
of Christ the Lamb. He's confessing that all his
works, everything that he does before God has got to be received
by faith in Christ. Upon the finished, sure, complete
foundation of redemption accomplished. Abel confesses here he believes
God. That's what he's confessing when
he comes this way. By faith, He's laid hold of the
promised Messiah. By faith, He's trusting in the
blood. He sees Christ afar off. By faith, He's trusting that
He's complete in God's Christ, in God's Messiah, in the Promised
One. That's how He comes. And by faith,
He's confessing He needs Christ to be His high priest, to be
His mediator, to be His intercessor, to be His all, to be His complete
acceptance with God. Now, let's see what the Lord
says. Verse 4. And the Lord had respect unto
Abel and to his offering. The Lord accepted Abel in the
Beloved. Christ hadn't come yet. Christ
hadn't come to the cross yet. Christ hadn't laid down His life
on the cross. How is it He accepted him in the Beloved? You hear
me talk about the word surety? Christ is surety for His people.
He's surety, meaning it's done. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. It's done from the foundation
of the world. The works were finished from
the foundation of the world. And by faith, being born of the
Spirit of God, coming the way every sinner comes to God, Abel's
accepted in the Beloved. Abel has been fully pardoned. He's been fully justified. He's
been fully sanctified. He's holy and accepted of God. In all his works, coming and
offering this most excellent sacrifice, he did this by faith. And God looked upon this work
and said, well done. Well pleasing. because it was
a work and an offering unto the Lord that was in the Lord and
was accepted through the blood of the Lord. Well, what about
Cain? Verse 5, But unto Cain and to
his offering the Lord had not respect. And Cain was very wroth
and his countenance fatal. Cain got very angry at God and
at Abel. Very angry. Now, enmity against
God is what Cain was when he came with his offering. It's
what he was when he approached God with these fruits that he
had grown himself. It's what he was when he came
to God that way. But now, He's done all these works. He's done
all this work. And he's beholding God doesn't
receive him. God doesn't have respect unto
everything he's done. And that enmity can't be hidden.
He's angry at God. And he's angry at his brother
who God accepted. Whom God's pleased with. and
whose offering He had respect to. There's no joy and there's
no peace. No matter what your service to
God is, no matter what you do, there's no peace, there's no
assurance, except you be settled in this grand truth that you're
complete in Christ. Until the end, you'll be like
Adam and Eve. They worked and worked and worked
to put those fig leaves together. They knew something had to be
done. They had to have a covering of some sort and they worked
and worked and worked to put those together. And then when
they heard the voice of the Lord, they weren't assured that all
their working was going to be accepted of God. And they had
to do something more. They went and tried to hide themselves
in the trees. And that's what it is if you
don't have faith in Christ. If you don't trust Christ and
are resting in Him. We're not trying to get a reward
from God. We've got the pearl of great
price. We're not trying to gain acceptance with God. We're accepted
with God by faith in Christ. We're not trying to become more
to add to redemption, to add to justification, to add to the
finished work of His sanctifying grace. We want to be narrowed
to Him and enjoined to Him and be coming to God only in Him,
confessing in everything we do, He's our full, complete assurance
and acceptance with God. We rest in that. Rest in that. That's where peace is. That's
where comfort is. That's where it is. Abel had
that peace. He had it. This is what Hebrews
11 says. He obtained witness that he was
righteous. God testifying of his gifts.
He obtained that witness. Where? In the heart God's maid
knew. God purged his conscience. And
he had peace with God. He knew in his heart he's accepted
of God in Christ the Lord. By faith, by faith, He obtained
witness. Faith is evidence of things not
seen. We don't yet know what we shall
be, but we know when He comes, we'll be like Him. We'll be like
Him and we have the witness. The Spirit of God bears witness
with our spirit that we're the children of God. And this is
through faith. Faith doesn't add to what's been
accomplished. Faith merely receives it. I think
the illustration I gave you before was, you know, you go to the
water faucet and you turn the water faucet on and water comes
out of the faucet and you get a cool drink of water. Robert,
you didn't do one thing. to make that water faucet be
there. Your father put the water faucet
there. Your father installed it and put it where it is. You
just receive water through it. That's what faith did. God put
it there. And you believe God. It's an
active thing. You believe Him. God doesn't
believe for you. You believe Him. But it's merely the conduit
through which you receive the testimony of God that God's done
all the work in His Son and you accept it. And everything we
do We come to God on that foundation. Those priests, all those sockets
and everything that was laid for that foundation in the tabernacle
was so heavy, and I think I figured it out one time, it weighed around
1,500 pounds when it was all disassembled and moved. And that
foundation was made from the pure silver shekel of the sanctuary. And God said, and it's given
for you to remember your redemption when you were brought out of
Egypt. And that's what those sockets were made out of. That
foundation was made out of. And everything the priests did
in that tabernacle, they did on that finished foundation.
They didn't add to that foundation. That's how Abel was accepted. That's why his offering was a
more excellent sacrifice. He came in Christ. Well, look
at verse 6. And the Lord said unto Cain,
Why art thou wroth, and why ist thou countenance fallen? He's
the firstborn son. He's come with the best. He thought he was bringing his
best. And he's taken by a lot of natural reasons that God ought
to accept him. And God says to him, why are
you mad? Why is your countenance falling?
And he says in verse 7, If thou do us well, shalt thou not be
accepted? If you come in Christ, shall
not you be accepted? If thou do us not well, sin lieth
at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt
rule over him. It's not that God's not willing
to save, all those that come in Christ the Lamb with the more
excellent sacrifice. That's not what the problem is. The Lord said the problem is
you will not come unto Me that you might have life. This is
the condemnation. Light has come into the world
and men love darkness rather than light. And because their
deeds were evil, because Cain's own deeds here, these religious
deeds were evil, he wouldn't come to the light lest God reprove
him for these deeds. But the doer of truth comes to
the light as Abel did, confessing all his deeds are wrought in
God. That's what he was confessing
the way he came. That everything was wrought in
God. And now look at this hardness of heart. Look at this hardness
of heart, brethren. I want you to see this. Even
when he's told this, even when God has taught Cain this, told
him this, look what Cain does. This is what was in his heart
when he came. This is why that sacrifice was
rejected. This is why he was not accepted
of God, because this was what is in his heart the whole time,
murder. murder. Still, instead of hearing
God's Word and coming to God in the sacrifice with which God
will receive, in the more excellent sacrifice, by faith, what does
he do? He does the same thing he did
when he came with the fruit of the ground. without blood. He does the same thing He did
then. He murdered. He trampled underfoot the Son
of God. And now, when that sin is aggravated,
He tramples underfoot His own flesh and blood, His own brother.
Look, 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. Slew him. Works and grace don't mix. They never have. Works in grace
just don't mix. They don't mix. We can't mix
them. We can't mix them. It's an impossibility
for us to. It's really not truthful for
us to say that we have mixed law and grace. It's an impossibility.
You can't do that. You really can't. This is what
the scripture says about it. If it's by grace, then it's no
more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more works.
But if it's by works, then it's no more grace. Otherwise, work
is no more work. It's either one or the other.
Not a mixture. We may look like we're trying
to mix them, but we either come in all in grace or all in works. It's only two ways there are.
Only two ways there are. Now, Satan threatens and your conscience accuses you,
the law condemns you, your wounds are deep and heavy and incurable
by anything you do. If you look to yourself, you're
going to find despair. If you look to the world, they're
going to mock you. If you look to reform, you look
into a broken cistern. If you look to performances of
devotion, it's going to be a broken reed, it's going to pierce your
hand. Abel is yet testifying. And here's what he says. Hear
him. He says this day, flee to Christ by faith and come to God
with the more excellent sacrifice. And God will receive you. God
will receive you. Complete in Him.