In the first book in the Bible,
the book of Genesis, chapter 4, is a story which we have studied
once or twice before together, but important enough to consider
over and over. It's a story recorded by God
in His Word of two young men named Cain and Abel. Two young men which represent
all of mankind. All religions can be found in
one of these two men, one of these two representatives. All
religions are found under one of these two men. Let's read
it together. Genesis 4, I'm reading verses
1 through 5. And I read, 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 a keeper of sheep,
but Cain was a 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 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. Two sons of Adam both came to
worship the Lord, being taught by their father to worship God. They both came one day to worship
the Lord, and they both brought something. It says that Cain
brought the fruit of the ground. Being a farmer, he brought what
he had produced from his garden. Abel brought a lamb, the fat
thereof, it says. In other words, he killed a lamb
and roast its body over the fire. shed its blood. Abel brought
a lamb. Being a keeper of sheep, he brought
the firstling of his flock, a lamb, a firstborn male lamb. Two sons of Adam. Now they were
probably in their twenties, maybe older than that. But they had
been taught by their father Adam and mother Eve. They had been
taught from young babes, from young children. They had been
taught the story of the fall. The story of the fall of Adam
and Eve, the fall of mankind, what happened in the garden.
You know, certainly they told their sons about how they sinned
against God and rebelled against God's strict commandment to them
and how God cast them out of the garden. And yet God talked
to them of the woman's seed which would come and bruise the head
of the serpent, and yet the serpent bruised the heel of that woman's
seed, which is the story of the Christ, the coming Christ. And
Adam and Eve told their sons Cain and Abel about the coming
Christ who would come and be made of flesh and bruise the
serpent or get man out of the mess that he got himself into. And yet he would be bruised himself,
wounded and bruised as Isaiah wrote in chapter 53. And God
showed that by killing an innocent animal in the garden and covering
Adam and Eve's neck in a picture, an object lesson. a picture to
the first man and woman of how God would someday, in His Christ,
cover man's sin with His own righteousness, with a shed blood,
an innocent dying because of the guilt of the guilty, the
sin of the guilty. All a picture of Christ. And
Adam and Eve told these two young men about that. God told Adam
and Eve to bring blood, to bring sacrifice of a lamb, which was
typical of a picture of the coming Christ of God, the coming Lamb
of God who is called in the Scriptures the Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. Adam and Eve told these two young
men about how God taught them there is only one way to approach
a holy and just God who is offended by man's sin and rebellion. There's only one way for God
to be just, punish man's sin and yet justify guilty man. And that is by the innocent dying
for the guilty. By the Christ shedding His blood,
or that His dying, His soul be made an offering for sin, that
man might go free. And how that Christ would impute
His righteousness, that is, The holy life of the Christ would
be charged to a reckon to the account of guilty sinners and
their guilt, their sin charged to him and him suffering the
wrath and judgment of God in their stead, in their place as
a substitute. Adam and Eve told this to their
sons, Cain and Abel, that the only way to come to God was through
the blood sacrifice. All right, both of them were
taught that. Both of them taught that. And here they came one
day. They came to worship God. This says, "...came and brought
of the fruit of the ground." The fruit of the ground. Now,
God cursed the ground. And He cursed man. Man who fell
is of the earth earthy. And he's cursed. The ground,
God said, would be cursed because of man's sin. Anything that comes
from it, from the ground and from man's works would be cursed
by God. Nothing man can produce from
this earth or from the flesh is pleasing to God. God said
that in the garden. Cursed is the ground for your
sake. Out of the sweat of your brow
you will earn your bread, but you will not earn heaven. But
Cain was proud of his garden. He was proud of his labor. He
worked hard at it. It's hard work. It's commended
in Scripture. But he was proud of that. And
he thought God would be pleased with what he had to offer to
God. He thought perhaps that bloody
lamb was too messy and too ugly and perhaps old-fashioned. What a bloody thing. What a barbaric
thing to kill an innocent animal like that and bring that blood. He thought, my fruit, my vegetables,
my garden, my produce, things that I have produced, things
which I have worked so hard, I bring to God and surely He
will be pleased with what I have done and what I have brought
Him and what I have sacrificed. And you know for a fact that
Cain must have set up an elaborate table or altar to display his
fruit, his produce, thinking God will like this. God will
be so pleased. Look what I brought him. The
fruit of my garden. But it says in verse 5, unto
Cain and his offering God had no respect. And Cain was wroth. In other words, God Almighty
turned His back on that offering. God Almighty paid no attention
to it. As a matter of fact, He rejected
it. He rejected it. Hands down. And Cain was wroth. Angry. Who was he angry at? Well, he
was angry at the Lord. He was angry at God for not accepting
what He had done. And God said in verse 6 and 7,
The Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? Why is thy countenance
fallen? In other words, do you have a
right to be angry? You've been told. You were taught
from a child the only way to approach Me. You know how to
come to me. Why are you angry now? Verse
7, he says, If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? If
thou doest well. Well, what did God tell them
to do? He told them to bring the blood
of the Lamb. And over in the Gospel of John,
one time some Pharisees said, What must we do to do the works
of God? What must we do? in order for
God to accept us, that God will be pleased with the works of
God. What must we do? Here's what
Christ answered. He said, this is the work of
God, that you believe on him whom he hath sent. Not do anything, but look to
the one who did it, the one who whose work alone God will accept,
the one whose holy life alone God will accept, the Christ,
believe on Him. And that is the work of God.
This is the work of God that you believe. According to the
working of His mighty power, Ephesians 1, 19 says, those who
believe do so because God worked upon them, gave them, Ephesians
2, 8, the gift of faith. It's not of ourselves. Well,
if you do well, he said, Cain, won't you be accepted? If you
bring blood, you'll be accepted. If you believe God, believe His
Word, look to Christ alone, you'll be accepted. You'll be accounted
holy, just, righteous before God, well-pleasing in His sight,
accepted in the Beloved, Ephesians 1, 6 says. Well, Abel, it says,
brought the lamb. Abel brought the firstling of
his flock. That is a lamb. It shed its blood,
the fat thereof. A live animal was slain for Abel's
sacrifice, for Abel's offering unto God. A live animal, which
Abel did not raise this live animal. God, the Giver of life,
the Producer of life, in Him we live and move and have our
being and everything else lives in Him, and God Almighty created
this live animal and gave it to Abel to bring. He brought
a lamb, a live animal, not something he produced, dead fruit, but
an animal, a live animal slain and its blood poured out. And
the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering. Abel and his
offering were accepted, respected by God. Well, God is no respecter
of persons. That is our outward person, our
outward morality, what we do, whether you're this way or that
way, a Jew, Gentile, rich, poor, young, old, black, white, or
moral or immoral. That's not the respect. God doesn't
look on the outward countenance of person, their person. But
He has respect unto Abel and his offering. In other words,
you are what you bring. You are what you believe. You
either bring your works, or you come believing God's work. You
either bring your sacrifice, what you do, that you're proud
of, your morality, your righteousness, or you believe Christ's righteousness. Verse 8, God Almighty respected
Abel. He accepted Abel and his offering. Abel was accepted because of
what he brought, and so it is with every Believer, God only
accepts those who trust and look to his son alone. His righteousness,
his shed blood. Well, in verse eight, it says
Cain talked with Abel, his brother. What were they talking about?
Well, they were talking about this whole thing, how that God
rejected Cain and accepted Abel and his sacrifice. And Abel told
Cain again, why are you angry, Cain? Just bring what God told
us to bring, the blood. Just do what we were taught from
children, how to worship God. Come with the blood, not bringing
our own works, our own offering, but what God has provided, a
picture of the Lamb of God, the Christ of God. Just bring that.
God will accept you. And Cain got mad at Abel, and
it says, were in the field and Cain rose up against Abel, his
brother, and slew him, killed him. Abel became the first martyr
for the truth. Abel died in the faith and died
because of his faith. He was killed by another man
because of what he believed. And so it is. All religions are
found under these two young men. You either trust the Christ of
God believe the word of God concerning his sacrifice, or you bring your
morality. Call it what you will. Call it
Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, whatever you want to call it.
It's found under one of these two young men. You bring either
your works, which will be rejected by God, your morality, or you
come believing in the Christ of God, the Lamb slain of God
Almighty. Well, I hope God will reveal
this truth to you. Until next Sunday, good day. Bye.