The Old Testament scriptures
are treated by most in this modern 21st century as a religious fairy
tale, mere Jewish fables. Few believe it, and the few who
claim to believe it do not think it has any relevance today. But true believers, that is,
those who believe God, according to God's Word. True believers
believe and therefore clearly see that all things are as they
were in the beginning. The book of Genesis, Genesis
means beginning. That is what we are looking at
this morning, the book of Genesis. And since God hasn't changed,
that's what The last book of the Old Testament says, Malachi
3, 6, God said, I am the Lord, I change not. Since God hasn't
changed, man hasn't changed, and God's way of saving man,
or that is salvation, hasn't changed. Therefore, things continue
as they began. And if you miss the beginning,
or do not believe it, you miss the rest. There are 66 books
which comprise God's Word, the Bible, 66 books, 39 Old Testament
books, 27 new. Can one possibly begin a book
in the 40th chapter and understand it? Can one not read or miss
the introduction and understand the purpose and meaning of a
book? No, no way. And so it is with
God's Word. Believers, though, believers
believe and clearly see that God created all things as they
are right now. And they continue to this day
as they were in the beginning. Believers believe and therefore
clearly see that God is the creator, and therefore omnipotent, or
that is, all-powerful, omniscient, all-knowing, omnipresent, everywhere
at the same time. God is creator. God, therefore,
He is the owner, the sustainer of life, the sovereign ruler,
of all life. Creatures are owned by the Creator
and manipulated or moved by Him, not vice versa. What could be
plainer from the Scripture? He's Creator, we are creatures. Believers believe and therefore
clearly see that God in the beginning commanded one way to approach
Him. one way to worship Him, one way
to be accepted by Him, and that one way from the very first man
and woman, Adam and Eve, the one way was the blood of an innocent
sacrifice. Which blood, which innocent animal
represented God's Holy Son who was to come to this earth? The
way to God. All right, in Genesis chapter
4, if you're looking at it with me this morning, Genesis chapter
4 is the true story of two young men, children of Adam and Eve,
two young men named Cain and Abel. Now, Adam and Eve had many,
many children. Adam lived 930 years and Eve
at least 900 years. You can believe that or not.
But true believers believe. Well, Adam and Eve lived 900
or more years. And in that time, they had many,
many, many children. Estimates have it as many as
30,000 descendants in their lifetime. That is the children's children
and children's children's children. All right. Cain and Abel, mentioned
here in chapter 4, are not necessarily the first two children of Adam
and Eve. But they are mentioned, they
are recorded by God for a reason, for a purpose, because Cain and
Abel represent the two religions in this world. Cain and Abel
represent two religions. There have only been two religions
in this world from the beginning, and that's the way it is now.
There is the true religion or true way to worship God, God's
appointed way. And then there's man's religion
or the way of Cain, the way that man thinks is right, the way
he made up to come to God or worship God. And it's written
here in the beginning in Genesis 4. Two religions, one true, one
false. And today, thousands of years
later, no matter what name a religion goes by, no matter what it says
or how dressed up it may be or how complex it may seem, it is
found in one of these two, Abel or Cain. The way that Abel approached
God or the way that Cain did. All right, let's look at it.
In Genesis 4, I'm reading. 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 the process of
time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground
an offering unto the Lord. All right, Cain brought the fruit
of the ground. Cain was a farmer. There's nothing
wrong with being a farmer. A farmer is an honest way of
life. Adam was a gardener, a farmer
in the beginning. Farming is a good thing. That's
what God made man in the beginning. Well, Cain was a farmer, a hard-working
farmer. All right, it says he came to
God, or that is, He came to worship God, and what he brought to God,
the sacrifice offering that he brought to God, was the fruit
of the ground. Alright, now what did God say
about the ground? In chapter 3 of Genesis, verses
17 through 19, God told Adam, Cain's father, God told Adam
that Cursed is the ground for thy sake. Cursed thorns and thistles
shall it bring forth. In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground. Out of it, or
the ground, wast thou taken. Thus thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return. Cursed is the ground. God said,
You came from the ground, you'll return to it. You will grovel
in the dirt, and then you will lie in that dirt when it's all
over. You, Adam, are nothing but flesh
and bones, dust, sinful flesh. And everything about the flesh
is corrupt. Flesh and blood is cursed. Flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, because flesh
and blood is sinful flesh. But Cain brought the fruit of
the ground. unto the Lord. Cain worked long
and hard growing a garden. And in time, he made him an altar,
and he dressed it up, and he thought it was beautiful. And
he worked hard on this altar, and he worked hard on the basket
of fruit and produce that he brought to the Lord. And he brought
this big basket of fruit or produce to the Lord. And it said that
the Lord rejected Cain's offering. You'll see why in just a minute.
But Abel now, in verse 4, it says, Abel was a keeper of sheep. Verse 2, Abel was a keeper of
sheep. Where did these sheep come from?
Well, God made sheep. God, when Abel was born, there
were already sheep there for him to keep. The silly old question
is this, which comes first, the chicken or the egg? Well, that's
ridiculous. God made all things as they are. In the beginning, God made all
animals as they are, after their kind. And God made these sheep. The sheep which Abel kept, which
Abel tended, were given to him by God, were made by God, and
provided for Abel by God. And Abel brought that which God
had provided. And verse 4 says, Abel brought
the firstling of his flock. That is, the firstborn male lamb
of this flock of sheep, and the fat thereof. That means he killed
it. Now where did Abel learn this?
Why did Abel do this? Because God taught it to him.
Perhaps through his father Adam. Because God taught Adam and Eve
from the beginning. When Adam and Eve first fell,
when Adam and Eve first sinned, God, it says, slew an animal
and clothed them with the coats of skin, of the skin of that
animal. Clothed them with coats. shed the blood of an innocent
animal, an animal which had not sinned, to cover the nakedness
of these sinful creatures called man. And that represents Christ. That's the way that God showed
from the very beginning that he is to be approached and worshipped.
That's the way that God showed from the very beginning that
the only way which he can deal with sinful man, and that is
through a sacrifice. That lamb represented Jesus Christ,
the innocent, holy, spotless Son of God, the first, the only
begotten Son of God, the Lamb of God, John said, which came
into this world, holy, spotless, And that skin represents the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, the life he lived, which
is imputed to God's people, which covers them, which makes them
acceptable, and the death he died to pay for their rebellion
and their sin. And so God taught Abel, and Abel
brought what God taught him to bring, the blood of a lamb, which
represented God's Christ, God's only way. It's impossible that
the blood of a lamb can put away the sins of a man. But by faith
in Christ, Abel brought this lamb, representing Christ, who
was not yet come. Do you understand that? The blood. And it says that God had respect
unto Abel and to his offering. You are what you bring. You are
how you worship. God accepts you according to
the sacrifice you bring. Or that is, according to faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not by what you do or how you
look, but according to the sacrifice you bring. God accepted Abel,
but God rejected Cain, it says in verse 5, unto Cain and his
offering he had no respect. He had no respect. You see, Cain
brought what he had done for God. Abel brought what God had
brought to him. Nothing could be clearer from
the scripture that God will only accept what Christ has done on
behalf of human beings. God will not accept the best
that you and I are or do. No way. There are only two religions,
works or grace, that which man does for God or what God does
for man in the Lord Jesus Christ. Only two religions, never have
been any others but these two. And religion is, no matter how
it's dressed up or what it is called, it is either works or
grace. Cain's way, works, produce, that
which man produces or does for God, or Abel's way, the prescribed
way God told man to worship, Christ, Christ only. The story
doesn't end there. It says that Cain was wroth and
his countenance fell. And God said, if you do well,
you'll be accepted. And he said that in John chapter
six, verses 28 and 29. The work of God is to believe,
trust Christ, and that takes the work of God for someone to
believe. And that's what God accepts.
Simple faith. Well, Cain. talked with Abel,
his brother, and what they talked of was this way of worship. And Cain didn't like it that
his works were not accepted, and he rose up and slew his brother
Abel. Well, two religions, works or
grace, the way of Cain or the way of Abel, which was Christ's
sacrifice. Which do you bring? How do you
come to God? May the Lord teach you the truth.
Amen. Okay.