The title of the message, Who Maketh Thee to Differ? Who
Maketh Thee to Differ? When I started reading this chapter, preparing this message, my first
thought was on the grace of God to Abel. I thought, my soul,
Abel, you have found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The only
difference between Cain and Abel was the grace of God. The only
difference between me and the lost, the only difference between
me and Charles Madsen is the grace of God. That's the only
difference. That's it. Scripture says in
Ephesians 2, For by grace are you saved through faith. And that's not of yourselves.
That's the gift of God. God gave you faith to believe
Him. He commands us to believe and gives us the faith to believe.
He does the work in us that enables us to believe. Now it says that
Adam knew Eve, his wife. And Eve conceived and she bears
a son. called his name Cain, and she
believed that she had gotten, that she had acquired, because
Cain's name means acquisition, it means acquired. She believed
that she had acquired the man, the promised seed from the Lord
that would deliver them from the curse, from death. She said, I've gotten a man from
the Lord. She was excited, excited. But we know that flesh and blood
cannot produce such a person. Only God can produce such a person. Only God. Adam could not produce
anything other than himself. Sinful, rebellious, and we see
that in ourselves, especially when we were without Christ.
We see it in our children. You see it in this generation.
It's rebellion. It's a spirit of rebellion. That's
all Adam can produce. That's all we can produce. It
takes God. It takes God to create a man
in righteousness. And it takes God to create THE
man of righteousness, who is our righteousness, the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's of God. Flesh can't do
that. Flesh cannot produce righteousness. Remember in Genesis, like begets
like, and you can't produce anything differently. Like begets like. And after that, it says in verse
2, And she again bare his brother Abel. Now Abel's name means vanity. Vanity. Probably, by this time,
she was so disappointed in Cain that she gave up hope and just
called his name Vanity. By this time, because we don't
know, just because we have their names one after another doesn't
mean they were born, or Abel was born right after Cain. There
may have been other children in that line. They may have,
several years may have gone by. And no doubt she realized, no,
I didn't get the man from the Lord. This is a product of us. Cain is a product of us. And
so she calls Abel's name Vanity. Now let me note some things about
these two men. Both Cain and Abel had the same
parents, Adam and Eve. raised in the same home, sat
under the same discipline, heard the same message. Both of them
boys heard the same message of redemption. They heard the same
message of what happened in the fall. Listen, they had first-hand
account from their father, who was the one who made it happen,
who caused the fall. So they heard the same message
about the fall, the same message about redemption, the same message
about the promised seed who would come and deliver them. They heard
that same message. And this is what struck me in
reading this, to title it, Who Maketh Thee Different? Sitting
right there in the same home, same message, same parents. One
heard the gospel and one did not hear. One did not hear. You know, I have one brother that
believes the gospel. I have four sisters, two brothers. My oldest brother came down here
and believes the gospel. But the others? And why me? Why me? Why would God choose
me and enable me to believe the gospel? And the others, just
no interest whatsoever. There's only one answer. The
grace of God. The grace of God. That's the
only answer there is. One found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. The other one was left to himself. Both had the same nature of birth. They were both spiritually dead.
Both spiritually dead. Both were totally depraved. And both brought an offering.
Both were religious. But one was true. One was a true
religion. There is a true religion. It's
a religion of grace. Sovereign grace. And the other
one was false. Now it says in verse 3 and 4,
In the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought
of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD, and Abel
he also brought of the firstling of his flock, and of the fat
thereof. And the LORD had respect unto
Abel and to his offering. But Cain brought an offering
it says, unto the Lord. But it was an offering of the
fruit of the ground. It was an offering of His works.
He was so proud of it. I bet the garden was beautiful. I bet He had a great garden.
And He looked at that fruit and He was so impressed with it.
He was so impressed of His garden. And He brought His works, His
fruit to the Lord. He brought His fruit to the Lord.
That's what He did. It was from the cursed ground.
God cursed that ground. It was nothing but carnal worship.
There was no heart worship in that whatsoever. I have no doubt
that when Cain brought that offering, it had more to do with, look
at me. It had more to do with himself
than it did God. I guarantee you it did. And Cain's
offering was not what God had revealed. Back in chapter 3,
in verse 21, it says, Unto Adam also and to his wife did the
Lord God make coats of skins and clothes. God shed blood.
God is the first one who shed blood. He shed the blood of an
animal and He took its skin and He clothed Adam and Eve. And
that is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a type of Christ. There's no coming to God. We
cannot have anything to do with God apart from the shedding of
blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sin. No remission. I believe it was
Scott Richardson who said this. He said, There's no blood in
turnips. You can't get blood out of turnips. And he brought
it the fruit of his hands. There's no blood in it. Without
blood, there's no forgiveness. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no forgiveness. And our nakedness can't be covered
with anything but the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the only way it can be covered. Cain believed his way was good
enough for God. Cain had no reason to bring the
fruit of his ground. Nobody told him to do that. God
did not tell him to bring that. But he believed it was good enough
for God, which showed his ignorance of God. The Scripture says in
Proverbs 21.2, Every way of man is right in his own eyes. came to believe that what he
did, what he brought was right. It was right. He may have been very sincere
in it, but I tell you what, you can be sincerely wrong. And being
sincere doesn't make it right. And then Abel, Abel brought that
which God required to be brought. He brought a sacrifice. He brought
the blood. The blood. Abel believed God. He believed the message he heard
in his father's house growing up. I have no doubt he heard
this from Adam. He believed the gospel. And he brought the offering that
God required to be brought. And when he brought the offering,
he shows here that he brought it, first of all, he brought
it by faith. When Abel brought the offering, he brought it in
a spirit of worship. To believe God... Now listen,
to believe God is to worship God. It's the beginning of worship. If you don't believe God, forget
about it. Worship is not going to happen. The first act in worship
is to believe God. And then from there it goes.
From there it goes. But until we believe God, we've
never worshipped God at all. Until we believe God concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to Hebrews 11.4. By faith... You know, he's the first one
mentioned in Hebrews in that hall of fame of faith. Abel is
the first one mentioned concerning faith. By faith, Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain." What was the excellency
of the sacrifice? It's the one it pointed to. It's
the one it pointed to, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Abel looked,
and I have no doubt, Abel looked beyond that sacrifice, that typical
sacrifice, he looked beyond that sacrifice to the one it represented,
the seed. the Lord Jesus Christ, by which
He obtained witness, and this witness is of God, that He was righteous, that He
was righteous, God testifying of His gifts, and by it being
dead yet speaketh. I'm standing here this morning
speaking about it. Thousands of years later, we're standing
here talking about Abel and his faith in Christ. God received Abel's offering. It represented Christ and him
crucified. It was exactly what God required
for worship. If we're going to worship, we've got to have Christ and
him crucified in the message. It's got to be our message. God's
not going to bless any other message. The substance of it, the core
of it, has got to be the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Abel brought exactly what God
required. He brought a sacrifice, he brought
blood. And God rejected Cain's because
it was opposite of what God required. Cain brought his pride. That's
what he brought. He brought his pride. He brought
his arrogance. Cain brought himself. That's
what he did. He brought himself before God. Abel brought the
sacrifice before God. In verse 6, the Lord asked Cain
a question. because he got so upset over
this. And the LORD said to Cain, Why
art thou wroth or angry? Now listen, he wasn't just upset.
You don't kill somebody just because you're a little upset. I mean, hatred was just dripping
off of him. Hatred. And it's this hatred
of God. Why are you angry? And why has
thy countenance fallen? What reason did Cain have to
be angry? The one who had the right to
be angry was God. It was God. The instructions
on worship and how God is to be approached was very clear. It's very clear. You can write this down or just
log it away in your memory. We never, never, never, ever
have a reason to be angry with God, ever. Well, why did God
do that? Well, if He told you, you wouldn't
understand it. God's thoughts and ways are so high above us,
we couldn't comprehend it. But we never have, and I thought
about this this morning, it doesn't matter what the Lord Puts me
through. I never have a reason to be angry
with Him. In verse 7, we see the long-suffering
of God. This is the long-suffering of
our Heavenly Father. Cain is upset. Cain brought the
works of his hands. Cain brought his pride. He brought
his arrogance. He brought everything that sin
is before God and tried to call it worship. Tried to call it
worship. Pass it off as worship. And God
said, 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. God gave Cain
space to repent. He's giving him space to repent
right here. Offer the proper sacrifice and
you will be accepted. You'll be accepted. All sin can
be forgiven. Even this cane can be forgiven. Offer it in faith, offer it in
love, offer it in sincerity. Offer the proper sacrifice, the
one that I require. Offer it and you will be forgiven. But if you do not well, if you do not turn and repent,
sin will have you. Sin will have you. And unto thee,
it would say, if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.
The idea of this is that sin as a beast is crouched at the
door. And Cain, if you keep going down
this path, it's got you. It'll devour you. And we see
how it does. It will devour you. Isn't it
amazing that God would even speak to this man? That He'd even give him space
to repent? But that's our God. That's our God. But if you do not well, sin will
have you, sin like a master. It rules in our members and it
rules over us and it will bring us into bondage. Now verse 8, we see the evil
result of sin. We see the evil result of sin.
Cain goes to his brother, Abel, he talks with him. He said, let's
you and me go out. Let's go out into the field.
Let's go out and talk. Let's go have a private talk. Let's go
somewhere where we can talk. I mean, he's wanting to... There's
so much hatred dripping off of him, he can't let it go. He can't
let it go. He said, let's go somewhere where
we can talk. Envy ate him up. This is what
sin will do when it takes hold. When it takes hold, this is what
will happen. Envy will eat you up. He became
jealous. He became jealous because his
younger brother was accepted and he was rejected. Him being
the elder brother, he believed he had a right He had a right
to be accepted. It's only right for God to accept
me. The Jews said, We be Abraham's seed. What are you talking about? We're Abraham's seed. We've never
been sinners. Hatred. Hatred ate him up. I tell you, when these things
take hold, they will absolutely destroy you. Envy, hatred. Hatred of God, right here, early
after the fall, we see the results of the fall. And we see that
the carnal mind is enmity against God. Right here we see the deep-seated
hatred of human nature and jealousy. Jealousy of his
brother being accepted. Boy, you'd think that would just...
You'd think it would thrill us to hear that God saved sinners,
wouldn't you? You know, when the Lord said that there were many lepers in Israel,
and God only saved one, He only cleansed one, that was Naaman
of Assyria, they got so mad at him, they wanted to throw him
off the hill. How many times did the... Pharisees get upset because he
healed somebody on a Sabbath day. Remember when the prodigal son
came back and the father ran out and kissed him? And that
son that stayed home was mad. Instead of rejoicing that his
brother came home, that his brother was accepted, instead of that,
he got mad at his father. He said, I've been here all this
time. I didn't go, I didn't leave, I stayed home, I obeyed the laws
of the house, and you never offered a fatted calf for me. You never
had a party for me. That's the attitude that Israel
had when the Lord came into this world and He was saving sinners.
Publicans and sinners, they were upset. They were upset that God
was having anything to do with me and you. when we ought to
rejoice. Ought to rejoice. And it says
that Cain rose up and killed. That is, he murdered. He murdered
his brother Abel. The first murder that ever happened
on this earth was over the gospel. And the first martyr was Abel. It says in 1 John 3.12, not as Cain, 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." First
murder was over the gospel. First murder was out of God's
safe centers. First murder was over God's grace. Now in verse 9, And the LORD
said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? Now God's not asking
for information like, you know this, you know He's not asking
because He doesn't know. No, He's going to make Cain, He's
going to reveal to Cain his guilt and his sin. And the LORD said
unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know
not. And like I said, this statement is unbelievable. What a smart aleck statement
to make. I tell you what, it's a statement
made out of anger. It's a statement made to God
out of hate. You accepted Him, not me. I'm not His keeper, you are. God searches out Cain's sin.
The Scriptures say, He that covers his sins shall not prosper. Another
Scripture says, Be sure your sins will find you out. And the
first thing Cain does is lie to God. See how one sin just
leads to another? He lies to God. I don't know where he is, he
said. I don't know. I don't know. Am I my brother's
keeper? The short answer to that is yes.
Absolutely, you and I are each other's keepers. The gospel teaches
us to look after one another, to prefer one another before
we prefer ourselves. That's what the gospel teaches.
And God says this, and how searching is the law of God, how searching
is the all-seeing eye of God, What have you done? What have you done? Every rebel is going to face
this in judgment. What have you done? Your brother's blood cries to
me from the ground. Cain, I know what you've done.
I know what you've done, and I'm going to make you confess
what you've done. God reveals to Cain that He knows
where Abel is. He says, Your brother's blood,
crying to me from the ground, and now your curse from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to
receive thy brother's blood. He buried him somewhere. God
knew where, and Cain knew where. He said, your brother's blood
cries for me from the ground and the earth has opened up her
mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. Boy, the
Lord just keeps driving home the guilt of it, doesn't He?
Your brother's blood from your hand, you buried him in the earth. Now, when you till the ground,
it's not going to yield anything for you. You're just going to
be a vagabond in this earth. And Cain said, Lord, my punishment
is greater than I can bear. Oh, you just wait till hell comes
along. You think it's tough on this
earth, you just wait until you step off this earth into torment. That's why I kept thinking, Who
maketh thee different, Abel? John, you'd be right there. You'd be right there with Cain.
You'd be right there. And yet we see here God's long-suffering. Instead of annihilating him right
there, God let him live. God let him live. And not only
did He let him live, but in verse 15, And the Lord said unto him,
Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him
sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest any man find him,
and should kill him. And Cain went out from the presence
of the Lord. And I wrote out, and I'm going
to quit on this verse. I wrote out from that verse, willingly
to go. Cain went out from the presence
of the Lord. He was willing to leave his presence. Jacob said,
I will not let you go till you bless me. I will not let you
go till you bless me. But Cain willingly turned his
back and left. Who maketh thee to differ? I'll
chew on that today. Chew on that today. Let that
be your dinner. Let that be my dinner. Who makes
me to differ? The grace of God. The grace of
God. All right.