by standing and singing 283.
283, yesterday, today, and forever. 283. Oh, how sweet the glorious message
simple faith may claim. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. Still he loves to save the sinful,
heal the sick and lame. ? Cheer the mourner, calm the
tempest ? ? Glory to his name ? ? Yesterday, today, forever
? ? Jesus is the same ? ? All may change but Jesus never ?
? Glory to his name ? ? Glory to his name ? ? Glory to his
name ? ? All may change but Jesus never ? ? Glory to his name ?
? He who pardoned Eric Peter never needs thou fear ? ? He
who came to faithless Thomas all thy doubt will clear ? He
who let the loved disciple on his bosom rest, bids thee still
with love as tender lean upon his breast. Yesterday, today,
forever, Jesus is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. He who mid the raging billows
walked upon the sea, still can hush our wildest tempest as on
Galilee. He who wept and prayed in anguish
in Gethsemane, ? Drinks with us each cup of trembling in our
agony ? ? Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same ? ? All may
change but Jesus never, glory to his name ? ? Glory to his
name ? ? Glory to his name ? ? All may change but Jesus never ?
? Glory to his name ? ? As of old he walked to make us with
them to abide ? ? So through all life's way he walketh ever
near our side ? Soon again shall we behold Him, hasten, Lord,
the day. But still till be this same Jesus
as He went away. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to his name. Glory to his name. Glory to his name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to his name. Thank you. I'm going to read Genesis four.
That's where it's going to be today, I think. And Adam knew Eve, his wife,
and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man
from the Lord. And she again bare his brother
Abel, and Abel was the keeper of sheep, and Cain was the tiller
of the ground. 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. And the Lord said unto Cain,
why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou
dost well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou dost not
well, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talketh 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 thou art cursed from
the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's
blood from thy hand. When thou tellest the ground,
it shall not henceforth yield unto thee. But her strength, a fugitive, a vagabond,
shall 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 the
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
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. And Cain went out of the presence
of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.
And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived, and bare Enoch. And
he built a city and called the name of the city after the name
of his son Enoch. And unto Enoch was born Irad. And Irad begat Mehuel. And Mehuel
begat Methuselah. And Methuselah begat Lamech.
And Lamech took unto him two wives. The name of the one was
Ada, and the name of the other was Zilla. And Ada bare Jabal,
and he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such
as have cattle. And his brother's name was Jubal,
and he was the father of all such handle, the harp, and the
organ. And Zilla, she also bare Trubalkang,
an instructor of every I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And Adam knew his
wife again, and she bare a son, and he called his name Seth. For God, she said, hath appointed
me another seed instead of Abel, which Cain slew. And to Seth,
to him also that was born a son, and he called his name Enos,
and began men to call upon the name of the Lord. Let's pray. Father, we come to you thankful
this morning for our time together. Lord, we're thankful, as always,
for a place to come to hear the gospel. There are very few and
far between, Father, and we're just happy to have a small place
in the middle of Southwest Missouri, and there's no one else that
we know of within hundreds and hundreds of miles. We're just
thankful that you decided to raise a place up right here.
And Father, we ask that you continue to bless this church and bless
the one that you sent to bring the messages to us. And Father,
we ask that you continue to open our eyes and hearts to hear the
message that you send to us. Lord again, we ask that you watch
over our pastor as he studies Support him as he as he brings
the message and again make it clear and concise as he usually
is and we just ask that you just continue to Watch over all of
us and care for us in Christ's name As you remain sitting, let's
sing 258. 258, He Hideth My Soul. A wonderful Savior is Jesus,
my Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock where rivers of pleasure I see. He hideth my soul in the
cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love, And covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord He taketh my burden away He holdeth me up and I shall
not be moved He giveth me strength as my day He hideth my soul in
the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of his love and covers me there with his hand. and covers me there with his
hand. With numberless blessings each
moment he crowns and filled with his fullness divine. I sing in my rapture, O glory
to God, for such a Redeemer as mine. He hideth my soul in the
cleft of the rock, and shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love, and covers me there with His hand, and covers me
there with His hand. When clothed in His brightness
transported, I rise to meet Him in clouds in the sky. His perfect salvation, His wonderful
love, I'll shout with the millions on high. He hideth my soul in
the cleft of the rock That shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of his love, and covers me there with his hand. And covers me there with his
hand. Thank you. Cain and Abel. Cain was a wicked
man. Abel is a godly man. He's a sinner
saved by grace. In his flesh, he's wicked, but
he's a sinner saved by grace. Now Cain is a type of the old
man of flesh, born after the image of his father, Adam. And with Abel, we see a couple
of types. There's some figures that we
see there. In one sense, we see pictures
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We see him, the Son of
God, whom the Father loves and was taken and slain. And we also see in him a type
of the believer born of grace. We see the fruit of righteousness
wrought in this man, Abel. Now, as with any type of Christ,
there's going to be differences, and the difference that we see
between Abel and the Lord Jesus Christ is that with Christ we
see Christ more gloriously than what we see in the blood of Abel.
We see how the blood of Christ cries for grace, grace and mercy
to the people of God. And then we have Seth at the
end of this chapter. And Seth is a type of the believer,
born of Adam, born again, of the Spirit of Grace, one who
died with Christ and yet lives in Him. So to begin, we actually
should look at Genesis 3 verse 20. Let's just look at that one
verse. Genesis 3 20, and Adam called
his wife's name Eve. because she was the mother of
all living. The name Eve means living. She's
the mother of all living. And that means, if you have questions
as we're reading these early chapters, where did Enoch get
his wife from? Well, we're told she came from
Adam and Eve. She came from Adam and Eve. She's
the mother of all living. So any of these men early on
and their wives and children, they would be all descended from
Adam. As we gain an understanding in
the gospel, we understand that God deals with all men and one
of two men. We're all dealt with either in
Adam and we stand in Adam in the works of this flesh or we
come in the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, and stand in his
righteousness, made partakers of his inheritance by the grace
of God. So all were in Adam when we sinned
against God in the garden. That's the point here. We all
are born of Adam. There's none of us that are an
exception except the Lord Jesus Christ, who's not born of Adam's
seed. He's born of the seed of of woman. And so because we're
all sons and daughters in Adam and Eve, death passed upon all
men for that all have sinned. And that is made evident in this
chapter. And so Genesis 320, declaring
Eve to be the mother of all living, confirms that all the men and
women we read of here early on, they are from Adam and Eve. When Cain took his wife, It would
have been a sister at that time. Now, we're told that at some
point after Cain and Abel, perhaps a long time, we don't know. We
don't know exactly when Cain and Abel were born to Adam and
Eve, but after them, Eve continued to have children. She had another
son. Look over at Genesis 5. Genesis
5, verse 3. And we get a sense of this. It
says, an Adam lived 130 years and begat a son in his own likeness
and after his image and called his name Seth. Seth. So they would have had lots of
children, I suspect. They would have had lots of children
during this long period of time. Probably more, possibly more
after. These were healthy people. Even with regards to Cain marrying
his sister, these were genetically healthy people at the time. I
mean, now, you wouldn't want anything like that at all. But there's a lot of genetic
mutations there that are in us. And at this time, they still
probably were relatively healthy in that sense. The Lord keeping
it that way for our good, but the focus here is that the Lord
only speaks of three men. Out of all the children that
Adam and Eve had, he speaks of Cain, Abel, and Seth. Cain, Abel, and Seth. Maybe that's
all that they had, besides the wife of Cain. But that's it. That's all that
they speak of here. And these three men, however,
are a type for us. We see pictured the old man of
flesh. We see pictured the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Savior. And we see pictured the believer
born again after the Lord Jesus Christ, born of him. And so beginning
now in Genesis 4 verse 1. And Adam knew Eve, his wife,
and she conceived and bare Cain and said, I have gotten a man
from the Lord. And so it is believed by just
about everyone that Cain is the firstborn child of Adam and Eve. He's the firstborn son, the firstborn
child of Adam and Eve. And I think it came shortly after,
time began after the fall. I think that, I could be wrong.
I don't know, but Cain was born sometime after the fall. He was
conceived and born sometime after the fall. And this means, his
name means possession. Possession in the sense of, I've
acquired of the Lord a child, a son. And there's excitement
that's expressed here by Eve. She says, I have gotten a man
from the Lord. She is joyful over this man-child. Why? Well, her joy is stemming
from the gospel, which the Lord preached in the garden in their
hearing when they heard the gospel of the Lord, who said back in
Genesis 315 about the seed of woman bruising the head of the
serpent and that this one would redeem all that was lost. He would redeem and restore that
which was lost in paradise when Adam fell in rebellion against
God. The problem is they were the
seed of man and not the seed of woman, but the point is she's
looking for, she's been clothed. She's heard the gospel. I believe
Adam and Eve are believers now. They're saved. They've been delivered
from their death. His flesh is still corrupt, but
he's been delivered by the Lord, and so she's looking for the
Redeemer promised by God in the garden. She's looking for that
one who should be born of her and for their redemption. You know, the prophetess Anna,
when Christ was brought into that temple that morning to be
circumcised when he was eight days old, there's a prophetess
that lived there named Anna, a very old woman, and it says
that she spake of him, of Christ, to all men. then that looked
for redemption in Jerusalem. The people of God look for their
redemption. And we see it right here with
Eve. She was looking for redemption. She was excited because she thought,
is this the Redeemer? Is this the promised son who
should redeem us and restore all that we lost in our rebellion
against God? And so Anna here, she spoke to
all those who looked for redemption. Even our Lord says to you and
I, he says, when all these things come to pass, look up for your
redemption draweth nigh, meaning he shall return again one day.
We look for that redemption. We've been redeemed by Christ
and we look for that redemption when he comes again and gives
us a new body and creates a new heaven and a new earth. Now,
moving on in verse two. And she again bare his brother
Abel. Now it's assumed that Abel is
the second born. We don't know. We're not expressly
told, but it does seem that this child is the second born. And Abel's name means vanity. It literally means breath. Breath. In the sense of, what do I need
another one for? I've got the Redeemer here. It's overkill here. It's excessive
here. What do I need another for? And
that's one sense. And then in the other sense is
his life was cut short. His life was as a breath, as
a vapor. Here today, gone before the day's
out. He was gone very, very quickly. And so one of the things that's
confirmed to us here as we look at Cain and Abel, if there's
any question whether or not we are sinners in Adam, that we
were in him and fell in sin, you see it right here out of
the gate with Cain and Abel. We see that they are sinners
who have inherited a corrupt, sinful nature, born of Adam's
corrupted seed, of Adam's defiled, ruined seed. Because Cain's gonna
murder his brother Abel, and it's gonna be because Abel believes
the gospel. He believes God. He trusts the
promise of God. He had respect unto God's sacrifice. He had respect unto the gospel
of God. Whereas Cain had no respect unto
God's word. He had no respect unto the promise
of God. And so he came in his own works. He came in his own works. Now
let's continue in verse two. And Abel was a keeper of sheep,
but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Now, in and of themselves,
these occupations are both respectable occupations, right? Cain is there laboring to bring
forth fruit, crops and food to feed himself and his brother
and Adam and Eve. and ables raising sheep, which
is good for their clothing. It's good for all their clothing
needs. And so they're respectable occupations. But the truth is they're both
very expressive of the gospel. They're actually expressive.
They speak to the gospel that the Lord has taught us. You know,
our Lord, Our Lord is called in the scriptures, the great
shepherd of the sheep. Our Lord is the shepherd. He's
the good shepherd. He's the great shepherd of the
sheep. And so Abel, like our Lord, is
a keeper of sheep. He tends to the sheep. He cares
for the sheep. He provides for the sheep. He's the protector of the sheep. And because of Adam's sin, we're
told that this ground is cursed. And our flesh, which is of this
dust of the earth, is cursed. And here's Cain who is a tiller
of the ground, a worker of the ground. He's working and laboring
and spending in that which is the cursed thing. It's a picture. It's a picture that he's laboring
in that which is cursed. Look back at Genesis 3. Genesis
3 verse 17. Unto Adam God said, Cursed is
the ground for thy sake, and sorrows shalt thou eat of it
all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall
it bring forth to thee. And thou shalt eat the herb of
the field, in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till
thou return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken,
for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. And so Cain,
being a tiller of the ground, is a type to show us that any
who come to God in the strength of their own works in what they
bring forth in this flesh. Any who would come to God and
approach unto God in their own works shall be rejected. They will not be accepted of
the Lord. They'll be refused. Just as the
scriptures teach, they that are of the flesh cannot please God. Cannot please God. But all who
come to the Father through the blood of the Lamb of the Lamb
of God, all who come to the Father trusting the blood, looking to
the blood of Christ, they are accepted of the Father. They
are received of Him. And this is pictured in verses
three through five. Let's look at Genesis four, three
through five. And in the process of time, it
came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, the
fruit of his flesh. and offering unto the Lord. He's coming in the cursed thing.
He's coming in the strength of his flesh. And Abel, he also
brought of the first things of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto
Abel and to his offering. Why? Because Abel came in the
blood, in the blood of the Lamb. But unto Cain and to his offering
he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and
his countenance fell." So here you have Cain, the elder brother. Some of you have siblings and
you understand the hierarchy that exists sometimes among siblings
and he's the firstborn and he's a picture of the old man of flesh. All he has is a fleshly life. He has no spiritual life in him. He has no spirit of God in him
and he comes to God bringing the labors of his flesh, the
works of his flesh, what he's done in the cursed thing. And in doing this and making
this sacrifice, God has no respect unto what he does. But to the
second brother, a picture of those who are born again of the
Spirit of God, which cannot sin, the Lord has respect unto the
sacrifice that he comes to God in, which is the blood of the
lamb. He's coming in the lamb, and
he doesn't respect Cain's labors, and so Cain gets hot with anger. He's mad about this. He feels
disrespected. He's disrespected, right? And
so he's angry in verses six and seven, and the Lord said unto
Cain, why art thou wroth? Why are you angry? 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. All right, sin is ready to pounce
upon Cain. Now, God taught Adam the gospel. Understand this, God taught Adam
the gospel. When we were in chapter three,
you saw how that the Lord slew those cattle, probably sheep,
the Lord slew those cattle before Adam and Eve. And they saw blood
shed, why? To cover their nakedness. They were naked before and they
had no shame, but now they have shame and that nakedness has
to be covered because those fig leaves are not doing it. And
so the Lord butchered those animals right before their eyes and they
saw what their sin did and what their sin required. It required
the shedding of blood. Those cattle died in their place. They took their place and the
Lord taught Adam this gospel in the slaying of those cattle
to cover their nakedness. And Adam was made to understand,
this is picturing my redemption. This is picturing the work of
the Redeemer whom the Father promised that would come and
crush the head of the serpent whose voice I hearken to. He's
gonna restore everything. And I'm coming looking to my
Redeemer's blood, to my Redeemer's work. He was looking to Christ. And so Adam taught his children
this gospel. He preached to them the gospel
that the Lord preached to him. And Abel heard it. He did well
in obeying the gospel, meaning he believed. He too looked for
the Redeemer. He looked unto the blood of the
Redeemer but with Cain. How did Cain hear it? He didn't. It was death to Cain. It meant
nothing to Cain. He didn't see the Lamb. He didn't see the Redeemer. There's
two brothers having the same dad hearing the same gospel message
and Cain probably heard it longer than Abel because Cain was older
and yet he didn't hear it. And he came in his own strength.
Maybe previously he came and just decided, you know what?
I'm going to do something nice for the Lord. I bet you the Lord
will like this. And he came bringing his own
labors this one time. And the Lord respected what Abel
brought but not what Cain did. And so God disrespected him. He disrespected God. by coming
in his own works. And so God disrespected him.
And that's what we're saying. Those who say, you know what? I don't need the Lord. I don't
want to trouble the Lord. I can do this. I can pull myself
up by my own bootstraps. I can make good of what I've
ruined and wrecked. I'll do better. I'll do harder. Let the Lord have his own blood
to himself or give it to somebody who's too weak to do it themselves.
And they may think they're doing what's good and respectable,
but they're disrespecting God. They're saying, thanks, but no
thanks. I don't need that. That's just
a waste if it was shed for me, because I don't need that. And
so they're disrespecting the promise and the word of God.
That's what we're saying. And so God disrespected him.
He said, you're not going to come in the blood I've given? Then you're not coming at all. I'm not receiving any of your
works. Your works stink. They're vile. They're repulsive.
They're not righteousness. They're filthy rags. And so God disrespected him.
And so, brethren, we preach Christ crucified. We preach Christ crucified
and those who come in the blood of the Lamb. believing that He
is all their righteousness, those who trust Christ and have no
confidence in their flesh, knowing our works are sinful and vile,
those who come believing, they shall be accepted. They are accepted
of the Father. That's the good news. What must
I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. All of you. whole thing everything
you need your household shall be saved and so why because we're
coming in the promise we're coming believing God we're arresting
everything on him saying Lord you said it and I see I can't
do it Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief Keep me, Lord,
draw me. If thou doest well, if thou believe
on Christ, shalt thou not be accepted of the Father? That's
the doing well, coming in the blood of Christ. Whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And that's a sweet word, right?
We don't know if we're the elect. We don't know if we're the chosen,
but one thing we know we're part of is the whosoever. And the
Lord says, don't worry about whether you're elected or not,
do you believe? Do you believe all who believe, all who come
to me in the blood, they shall be accepted of me. You know, that's contrary to
how most men preach the gospel, which is not the gospel because
it's their works, but we don't accept Jesus. We don't accept
him as Lord of our life. We come believing, praying, God
will accept me. Will God accept me? Well, whosoever
believeth in the Son shall have eternal life. They have the forgiveness
of sins. And so all who come to Christ
You have nothing to fear. You that have no righteousness,
who come to Christ, you are accepted of the Father. Praise God. And He'll teach you everything
you need to know. He'll keep you. He'll bless you. Because it's all according to
His grace and purpose. So don't get caught up trying
to figure out mysteries. We know it's the truth. We know
that God has a people whom He elected, whom He chose, but do
you believe? That's what the Lord reveals
in his child, this faith that comes in the Son. So Cain had
no life in him, no spiritual life, no faith, and so he's going
to do what? He's going to kill this Son of
God whom the Father loves. He's going to put him to death. Genesis 4 8 and 9 and Cain talked
with his 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. I don't know if Cain went out
there with the intent to slay his brother but whatever they
spoke of it just fired up Cain all the more and he said I'll
show you and You can imagine Abel was just speaking the truth
to his brother. Brother, will you not be accepted
if you come in the lamb? Fathers told us how that their
blood was shed to cover their sin, and that's a picture of
the Redeemer who should come. Will he not receive you if you
come in the blood, trusting his word of promise made to us? And Cain said, I mean, when you
were younger and you spoke to somebody that was older than
you, and did you ever hear them say to you, who are you to tell
me? You think I don't know that already?
I know more than you know, and you're gonna tell me how to worship
God? Whatever they said, it didn't go over well at all for Cain. He would not hear it. And the Lord said unto Cain,
where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am I
my brother's keeper? Cain is here full of self-justifying
pride and anger. He's just in himself. In this
reference, Abel was a keeper of the sheep. And I did look
those words up in this word here, my brother's keeper. They're
actually two different words. And this word here, when he says
it, he's saying, Am I the one who's going to protect him? You're
the one who's supposed to protect him. You should know. You should
know where he is. You're his keeper. And that gives
us a sense of what Abel said to him, brother. Because Cain
was probably saying, that's it. I'm done. I'm out of here. I'm
not coming to him anymore. This is it. And he probably said,
and Abel, I could hear him saying, brother, he's our protector. He's our keeper. If you go outside
of him, what are you going to do when you meet another man
who will take your life? The Lord's your keeper. And you
could see just how Cain said, oh, is he the keeper? Let's see
him keep you. Let's see him protect you. And
he went after his brother. That's probably, that's how I
hear it. I mean, I don't know. I'm speculating.
But it built up where he was angry and said, because he says,
am I my brother's keeper? You're the keeper. He said, you're
the one who will protect me if I don't worship you. I don't
want to worship you. He says he worships you, and
you didn't keep him. Where were you to protect him? And so it's
a wicked thing what Cain did. It's a wicked, evil thing that
Cain did there. And it pictures the horror, gives
us a sense of the horror of what men did to our Lord, the Lord
of glory, their Lord, the God who created them. And it's a
picture of what man does in rebellion against God. who would take the
Son of God and crucify him. All right, he that, oh, actually
Acts 2.23, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain. And it's sometimes hard for us
to identify with, you know, the horror of it because we see,
we look past it and see the glory, the grace of our God and what
was wrought for us. But it's evil what we did, what
man did in this flesh against the true and living God. And
we see it here with Cain taking his brother Abel. who loved the
Lord and trusted the Lord and spoke the gospel to his brother,
tried to calm him down and comfort him with the truth, and he turned
against him and slew him, and it's what our Lord did. All he
did was good. All he did was preach, speak the truth, what
his father sent him to do. All he did was lay down his life
and heal the sick and to take our diseases upon him and to
comfort the hearts of the people, and they turned against him and
crucified him. And that's what we are in his
flesh. But we see that it was for God's
elect, it was for his people that Christ was put to death.
He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall allay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. And so men took the Lord, in
our flesh we took the Lord and crucified him. Even Caiaphas,
the high priest at that time, being the high priest, didn't
even know what he was saying, but he preached the gospel. He
prophesied that truth when he said, it's expedient for us.
It's profitable for us that one man should die for the people
and that the whole nation perish not. And yet, in this most wicked
work of man, in his lowest form, with him rebelling against God
to the uttermost, Yet we see how the Lord triumphed gloriously
over the strength of man. In His weakness being put to
death, He triumphed gloriously over our weakness. And that's
what the Lord is teaching us, is that there's nothing He's
not able to do. and he's able to bring out good
in all things and it's for our good that the Lord Jesus Christ
laid down his life and died for his people on the tree bearing
their sins that we should be delivered from our sins. He redeemed
everything. He gave everything so that we
should have eternal life and an inheritance with him, having
a new heavens and a new earth and a body raised from the dead,
a new body joined unto him to dwell in his presence forevermore,
forevermore. And so Cain wickedly taking hold
of Abel and slaying him whom the Lord loved, pictures the
work of sinful man and what he did, what he did when he took
the Lord of glory and hung him on a tree. And we see in Matthew
27, it says, likewise also the chief priests mocking him with
the scribes and elders said he saved others, himself he cannot
save. If he be the king of Israel,
let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
He trusted in God, let him deliver him now. If he will have him,
for he said, I am the son of God. And we see that. When Cain said that to the Lord,
am I my brother's keeper? You're his keeper. You didn't
save him, but we see how the Lord with Christ didn't deliver
him. That we should have eternal life. That we would know the true and
living God in union, being made alive by him. Otherwise, we'd
just perish in our sins. We would just die in our sins.
This is where the type of able most separates from our Lord's
death. Look at Genesis 4, verse 10 through
12. And he said, what hast thou done?
The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And that's what our blood does.
It cries for vengeance. Even in Revelation 6, verse 10,
the souls which were beheaded for their faith in the gospel,
they said, how long, O Lord, dost thou not avenge our blood. How long till you avenge our
blood, Lord? That's what our blood cries.
And he said, now art thou 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. Abel's blood, like our blood,
cries out for vengeance, cries out that Cain would be judged. And his works are cursed and
he's cursed in the flesh and there's nothing that Cain can
do to rid himself of his sin. And that's a picture of us in
the flesh. We are all sinners. Vile, wretched sinners who can
do nothing to save ourselves and cleanse ourselves from our
sin. But the blood of Christ doesn't
cry vengeance. The blood of Christ cries grace,
grace, grace. To all who look to me, to all
who come to me, my blood is shed for the remission, the forgiveness
of the sins of my people. And so the blessing here is that
the blood of Christ cries, is the mercy of God. That God may
be merciful and just to forgive all who come to him in the blood
of Christ. Though we deserve death, just
like Cain deserved death for putting his brother to death.
But because our sin put Christ to death, yet his blood cries
grace and mercy for all who look to me and believe me. That's
the grace of our God. Jesus is the mediator of the
new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better
things than that of Abel. And that's what the Lord's showing
us. Though we deserve death, though
we deserve curses and cursing for our sins and everything we
do, everything we are in this flesh like Cain, yet the blood
of Christ doesn't cry out vengeance for us. It cries out mercy and
grace. Look to him, believe him. all
who come to the Father, believe in the promise of God made unto
us in Christ, trusting his righteousness, trusting him, they are received,
and they have the forgiveness of sins. Now, unlike Cain, who
found no acceptance with God by his works, those in Christ
are given rest for their souls. Now, Cain complained about his
punishment, saying, it's greater than I can bear. And so the Lord
did provide for him. He did provide a covering for
him, a restraint, so that other men finding him would not slay
him and do to him like he did to his brother. It gives me a
sense that this is exactly what Abel was talking to him about,
saying, brother, the Lord's your protector. The Lord's our keeper. He'll provide for you, brother.
And now everything that Cain rejected and said, oh, he's the
keeper. Now you see all those worries
coming on in Cain's mind. If I go out there, when this
world begins to populate more and more and others find me,
they're going to do to me the way I did to my brother because
I don't have a keeper, Lord. I've rejected you. I'm cast out
from your presence. And so the Lord says, I'll keep
them in check for you. And we see how the Lord does
have mercy on men. He makes his son to rise on the
just and the unjust. And he brings his rain to fall
on the just and on the evil and the good, those who are saved
by his grace. So we see the Lord's protection, but only those who
come in the blood, believe in the blood, have that fellowship,
that spiritual life, that knowledge of the true and living God. Now,
this very quickly, there's a people to whom the Lord will be gracious,
giving them the new birth by the seed of Christ, according
to the giving of the Holy Ghost. And we see this in Seth, all
the way down in verses 25 and 26. It says, and Adam knew his wife
again, and she bare a son and called his name Seth. For God
said, she hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain
slew. And to Seth, to him also there
was born a son, and he called his name Enos, which is a general
term for man. It's just a general term for
man. I've heard that it also means weakness, but I didn't
see it in my studies, but it's just a more poetic terminology
to use for man in general. And it says, and then began men
to call upon the name of the Lord. And so Seth means a setting
in place of another. Seth was put in place of his
brother, Abel, and Seth pictures all those who were crucified
with the Son. Just as we were, we died with
Christ, and in Him our lives, our sins, everything is hid with
Christ in God. It's been put away in Him. But
there's a rebirth that the Lord works in His children, whereby
they live again. and they live upon the blood
and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we begin
to call upon the name of the Lord. So Cain, Abel, and Seth,
we have a picture of the old man, we see a picture of our
Savior whose blood was shed for his people, and we see a picture
of the new man born again, born of the seed of Christ. We see
what Christ has done for us. We were dead in trespasses and
sins, we could not save ourselves, Christ came and did the whole
thing. triumphing gloriously over our sin and dead works. And so he gives us life now by
a spirit whereby we live in him and look to him and are made
to trust in him. So you that You that come in
the blood, that's the grace of God. You that have no righteousness
of your own, that is the very grace of God working in you that
gives you, that gave you an ear of faith to hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches. We look for so much more. We
think that we need so much more. but the Lord has given us everything
in the simplicity of the Lord Jesus Christ. You believe his
word, trust his promise that all who come to him in Christ
have eternal life. And all those fruits of righteousness
will follow as we heard earlier today. Amen. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you for your grace. Lord, we see what we are, the
horror of what we are in Cain. And we see how that our sin required
the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ, your son. Lord,
we cannot rid ourselves of the stain by our own works of flesh. We cannot come any other way.
To do so is a despising of your grace, a despising of your promise
made in Christ. But to come in the blood, though
in ourselves, in this flesh we are sinners, unworthy of your
mercy, Lord, you say, all who come in the blood have the forgiveness
of sins. For they do honor the Father
and honor the Son. being born of your grace to see,
to trust, to believe your word of promise made to us right after
the fall. Lord, keep us ever looking to
our Lord. Keep us walking in our Lord in
grace and faith and love, Lord. We pray that you would bear these
fruits of righteousness in us, not as we look for them, but
as we look to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn, 63. Take the name of Jesus with you,
63. ? Take the name of Jesus with you
? ? Child of sorrow and of woe ? ? It will joy and comfort give
you ? ? Take it then where'er you go ? ? Precious name, oh
how sweet ? ? Hope of earth and joy of heaven ? Precious name,
O how sweet, Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Take the name of Jesus ever,
As a shield from every snare. If temptations round you gather,
breathe that holy name in prayer. Precious name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name, oh how sweet. ? Hope of earth and joy of heaven
? ? O the precious name of Jesus ? ? How it thrills our souls
with joy ? ? When his loving arms receive us ? ? And his songs
our tongues employ ? Precious name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. ? At the name of Jesus bowing
? ? Falling prostrate at his feet ? ? King of kings and heaven
will crown him ? ? When our journey is complete ? ? Precious name,
oh how sweet ? ? Hope of earth and joy of heaven ? Precious
name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Thank you.