As always, I want to bring you
a message from the Word of God. This morning, I'm preaching to
you and reading from the first book in God's book, the book
of Genesis, chapter 4, if you'd like to follow along. In this
chapter, you have the story of two men who come before God to
worship God, to be accepted by God. Two men who believe a way
to approach God. This is the two religions in
the world. All religions are found in these
two men. I read, Adam knew Eve, his wife,
and she conceived and bear Cain and said, I've gotten a man from
the Lord. And she again bear his brother
Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but
Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came
to pass, 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. The Lord said unto Cain, Why
art thou wroth, and 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. 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. End of reading. All religions
begin right here. The two sons of Adam, all basic
beliefs about God, about man, about how we may please God,
or appease God, or be accepted by God. Two religions right here,
and only one is true. All religions of the world are
found under one of these two religions. Cain brought, it says,
the fruit of the ground, produce, things he planted, things that
he grew, things he had worked to produce. Cain came to God
with an offering of his works. Abel, in verse four, it says,
bought the firstling of the flock, or sheep. He brought a lamb,
a lamb which God created, a lamb which God provided. Abel had
nothing to do with that lamb's life, with that lamb's, it was
provided by God. This was a lamb, an innocent
animal, which Abel killed and shed its blood, and brought its
blood to the Lord, to God. And God accepted Abel because
of his offering. Now all religions are found right
here. They're the religion of works,
like Cain, what he did to try to appease God, to please God,
what he did, his work, or grace, like Abel, who brought what God
provided him, what God had done, not what he had done. All religions
are found under these two men. The works of man and his flesh,
like Cain, or the works of God and Christ and the Holy Spirit,
like Abel. God rejected Cain and his works. He rejected what Cain offered,
what Cain had done. But God accepted, God accepted
what Abel brought, the Lamb, which God had provided. Now that
lamb represents the Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb, the way, the
only way to approach God. All religions are found right
here. Call them what you may, call them Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism,
or Christianity, call it Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Mormon, Seventh-day
Adventist, it is either works or grace. We've accepted by God,
by what we do, our works, our will, our choice, our faith,
our sacrifice, our righteousness, our morality, or by grace, what
God has done, what Christ has done for us. Well, the religion
of Cain, the religion of man's works, will, choice, faith, sacrifice,
morality, is false. Like Cain, we will be rejected
by God. Scripture says, by the deeds
of the law, no flesh will be justified, that is accepted,
declared accepted of God, innocent of wrongdoing. For by grace,
the scripture says, for by grace are ye saved, through faith.
And that is not of yourselves, even it is a gift of God. It
is not of works, lest any man should boast. In Ephesians 1,
6, it says, we are only accepted in the beloved, accepted by God,
by the faith of Jesus Christ. His works, His righteousness,
His bloodshed for the remission of our sins, for the forbearance
of sin, for the forgiveness of sin. Here's what both of these
men believed and are saying. And this is what all men and
women and young people say when they bring one of these two things,
works or grace. It is the same today. It is no
different. Cain worked real hard producing his garden, his fruit,
his vegetables. He plowed that field. He planted
the seed. He worked real hard weeding that
garden. He fertilized it and he harvested. He picked the fruit. These were
his fruits. These were his flowers, vegetables. And he brought these to the Lord. They were beautiful to look at.
It was a nice display. He put it in a beautiful basket,
which he probably wove with his own hands. full of flowers, lots
of flowers and he thought God will surely be pleased with all
that I have done for him God will look upon this beautiful
display of my works and my sacrifice and what all I have done for
God and he will surely be pleased with what I have done for him
my works but God rejected Cain He rejected his works. Why? Why? Because there was no repentance
of sin here. There was no confession of guilt
here. There was nothing of grace what
God had provided. There was no death. There was
no blood. But rather Cain is saying to
God and coming before God, look at me. Aren't you pleased that
I came to you? Aren't you happy to have me?
Look at what I've done. Look at what I brought you, Lord.
Look at what I brought to you. Aren't you pleased with me? and
God rejected him, and Cain got angry. Abel, on the other hand,
is coming before God bringing an innocent lamb, the firstborn
lamb of his flock that God had given life to, that God has given
to him. Abel killed that lamb, shed its
blood, and what he is saying What Abel believes and what he
is saying when bringing this dead, innocent lamb before God
in its blood, he is saying, I am guilty. I am a sinner. God be
merciful to me, the sinner. O holy and righteous God, I come
before your holy presence asking you to forgive me of my sin,
for I am unrighteous, I am unworthy, I have sinned against thee in
thought, in word, and in deed. My best deeds, my best works
are filthy rags. I bring to you what you gave
to me. I bring to you what you provided
for me, an innocent lamb. I bring to you what you told
me through my parents. to bring, that is the blood of
an innocent lamb, shed in my stead, in my place, my substitute,
the lamb that you provided, oh holy God, this lamb represents
your Christ, your substitute, the one who is to come and be
my righteousness, and be my sin bearer, and be my sin offering,
my burnt offering, to lay down his life and shed his innocent
blood for the remission of my sin, oh God, be merciful to me
oh god accept me in my substance in the land god accept me in
thy christ that is to come and scripture said god accepted abel
listen both boys heard the truth from their parents they heard
the gospel they heard the only way that a sinner must come to
a holy god from their parents adam and eve in the garden Man
sinned. Adam and Eve sinned against God
in rebellion against God, His sovereignty, His holiness, His
righteousness, His law. And they died in sin. They became guilty, full of shame. They were naked and soon to be
cast out by God. But God, rich in mercy, for His
great mercy and His love to these sinners, God the son of God yes
Christ was in that garden he spoke to them he's the word of
God he spoke to Adam and Eve and convicted them of their sin
revealed to them what they had done against him made them guilty
before him and he told them of the woman's seed that's the the
virgin-born son of the Most High God, made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem them from that broken law. And he told them
that he would come, this woman seed, this virgin-born son, the
Son of God, the Christ of God, and would crush the serpent's
head, his power, the sin that he brought into this world. But
he himself would be made sin, made a curse by God, and shed
his innocent blood die that these guilty sinners might live and
he illustrated that by taking a lamb right before their eyes
slaying that lamb shedding its innocent blood death this lamb
died for these sinner and he took the skins of those lambs
the skin of that lamb and covered their nakedness and by the death
of this lamb they didn't die but they were cast out and God
said don't come to me except with that with the blood you
won't be accepted except through the blood well God said in Romans
3 that by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified in
his sight, that all are guilty before him, that only by the
righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ,
only by the blood of Christ we are accepted. God set forth Christ
to be the propitiation, the covering through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sin. That's
how we come to God. Why did Abel believe and Cain
did not? Because God gave him this faith. You see, by grace are you saved
through faith and that's not of yourself. It's the gift of
God. Cain heard, Abel heard the same
story, the same truth. Abel believed. Why? God gave
him that faith. You don't even bring faith to
God as a work. Look what I've done. You don't
bring your faith. You don't bring your will. You
don't bring your decision. That's works. You will be rejected. But you've come to God like Abel
saying, you gave me this faith. You gave me this lamb. Oh Lord,
I bring to you what you provided. All of this is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ, God's provision for salvation, for the remission
of the sins of his people. Well, Cain got mad, and so do
most people get mad over the truth. And he slew his brother
who talked with him of the truth. The Lord told all his disciples
and all who believe him, marvel not if the world hates you. For
the truth say, for God's glory, God's work, Christ's work, God
rejects man's will, man's works, man's choice, man's righteousness,
man's morality, and only what Jesus Christ does for God's people
is accepted. What about you? Do you have the
faith of Abel or do you come by your own works like Cain?
Oh, may the Lord reveal the truth to you is my prayer. Amen.