Thank you, John. Thank you, John. Thank you, Sherry.
The Lord said, You know you are not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold from your vain conversation or life. received by tradition from the
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot. Precious blood. Go back to Genesis
4 now. Genesis 4. The book of Genesis
is a book of beginnings. A book of firsts. First mention. The law of first mention. God
wrote this book, and in it He first lays out the truth about
all things, about God, about man, about salvation. We have
the first man and woman. The first marriage here in Genesis.
We have the first temptation. The first sin. The first children
born. The first religious meeting or service of Cain and
Abel. The first death. The first bloodshed.
first murder, first everything. And nothing has changed from
the beginning. God has not changed, thankfully. Man really hasn't changed. The
way Adam and Eve acted, the way Cain and Abel, we still act. And the way to worship God has
not changed. God set this forth. in the very
beginning. This story is about two brothers,
Cain and Abel. That's an old, old story. Nearly
every person has heard something about it. Few understand it,
know what it really means. If you do, you're so blessed. Both of these brothers came to
God. This is about two brothers coming
to God to worship, or it seemed that they were worshiping. They
were bringing something. They brought something to God.
Both brought something, but it was very different what they
brought. Very different. One of them was accepted by God.
God had respect unto Abel and his offering. The other came.
God rejected him. No respect. and what he brought. And it caused Cain to rise up
in wrath and kill his brother. His brother, over there. Now, I have three points to this
message. Very easy to remember, I believe. Three points. Who? We're going
to look at the difference between Cain and Abel. Who? Who made the difference? What
and why? Who made the difference? What
made the difference? Why did it make the difference? Who made the difference? There
are two sons here. You go with me to Ephesians 1. There are
two sons here. They are twins. Nearly every
writer, commentator believes that they were twins. And I read in the very original
Hebrew Bible that says that Eve continued to bear. She had Esau
and continuing to bear. I mean, she had Cain and continuing
to bear had Abel, meaning at the same time, twins. They were
two sons. They were twins. They had the
same parents, Adam and Eve. They had the same nature. They
had the same nature. Different personalities. There's
a difference in personalities. Those of you who have had more
than one child, there's a huge difference in that. There's no
denying that. Personalities are different.
And you wonder where? Like my two granddaughters, you
know. They're just so different. But
they had the same nature. Meaning. They have the same sinful
nature that they got from their parents. They're born in sin,
sinners. Don't know God, don't care about
God. My two granddaughters, unless
God does something for them, they won't give God a thought,
ever. That's a fact. And I've already
given away the question, who makes these different? These were two sons, they were
born the same, same parents, same nature. Scripture says,
we come forth from the womb, speaking a lie. We were conceived
in sin, we were born dead and trespassed in sin. That's so.
That's just so, isn't it? You know it's so about yourself,
and you sure know it's so about your children because they come
from you. They had the same upbringing. They were taught the same thing.
You parents who've had multiple children, you teach your children
the same lessons, don't you? You don't teach one one thing
and one another. No. Teach them the same lesson. And yet these boys turned out
very different. The end of these boys turned
out very differently. Who made the difference? One of them, Abel, the Lord called
him righteous. In Matthew 23, the Lord Jesus
Christ... Abel is mentioned two or three
times in the script, three times at least. And the Lord Jesus
Christ called him righteous. The blood in Matthew 23 talks
about the blood of righteous Abel. Cain is called of the wicked
one. Abel is called righteous. Cain
is called wicked. What's the difference? What's
the difference? One of my favorite verses, and
I learned it early, memorized it. I didn't have to really memorize
it. It was printed on my heart. For
who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that
thou hast not received? Who maketh thee to differ? 1
Corinthians 4 says, Who maketh thee to differ? He talks about
in Romans, the Jew and the Gentile, the religious and the irreligious,
there is no difference. All of sin comes short of the glory,
but God. Who maketh thee to differ? We
are born sinful, of sinful parents. Who maketh thee to differ? One's
not better than another. One doesn't turn out better than
the other because of something he did. It's whom makes a big
difference. What we're talking about is the
sovereign, yes, the sovereign, discriminating, electing grace
of God to make one righteous and leave the other one alone.
To just leave them to what they are. Oh my, look at this, Ephesians
1. Here we are again, Ephesians
1. He says, to the saints and faithful
in Christ, grace to you, peace from God our Father. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's not talking
to all men and all women and all people. It's talking to the
saints. It's talking to the faithful in Christ, those who He put in
Christ. Read it. Blessed be God who has
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things
or places. It's in Christ. All the blessings,
all the promises are in Christ. He's blessed us according as
He hath chosen us in Him because of Christ. Put us in Christ. Who chose who? God chose a people. So many people
get angry. That's the message we heard on
the radio. Election. Yes, election. I love
it. I love it. I love that God chose
a people, because if He hadn't, no one would have chosen them. Abel would not have come to God
had not God blessed him and caused him to approach unto Him and
taught him how, would he? That's one of our favorite verses
isn't it, John? Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest
to approach unto thee. The right way to bring the right
sacrifice, offering. Oh, bless it. He's chosen us
in Christ that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love. He did it in love. God set His love on people, people
as the stars of the sky and the sands of the sea. Over in chapter
2, it says, you, talking about these that God has chosen and
put in Christ, You, you were dead, you were dead in trespass
and sin. And time passed, walked according
to the course of this world. Just like everybody else. Just
like Cain. Just like Esau, who despised
the birthright. The prince of the power of the
air, you were captive to him. Spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. Verse 3, among whom also we all
had our conversation or life in time past. All we wanted to
do was fulfill the lusts of our flesh, desires of our flesh and
mind. We're by nature, by nature, born
this way. Children of wrath, like Cain,
even as others. Who maketh thee a different?
But God. But God. Who is rich in mercy. For His great love wherewith
He loved us, still speaking of these chosen ones, even when
we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ. It's
by grace that you are saved. I forgive. Oh, my. Back in our text. Genesis 4. So these two sons,
you know, they're both the same. They're born of the same parents.
There's no difference in them. There's no difference in them.
Who made the difference? It was the Lord who made the
difference. Look at verse 3. It says, In
the process of time it came to pass. There's a change that took
place. in one of these young men in
the process of time. The process of time. It means
some time took place. I don't know how many. It was
years, okay? This was years later. Both boys
grew up in time. They grew up in time. And lo
and behold, something happened to one of them. Something happened to Abel. A change took place. Our Lord
Jesus Christ said this to a man named Nicodemus. He said, You
must be born again. Born from above. Born of God. You must be born of God. Born
the first time. And Nicodemus couldn't understand
that, could he? Can I enter into my mother's womb a second time?
He said, no, this is something different. Something that takes
place in the process of time. Something God does to bring about
a miraculous change. Change of mind. Change of heart.
Change of masters. Understanding. Life given from
the dead. From darkness to light. The process
of time. It was God that made this change
in Abel and the process of time. Paul talked about it. Saul of
Tarsus. You remember Saul of Tarsus?
He hated God. Oh yeah, he did. Jesus Christ
is God. He hated Him. He was religious. He loved the God that he loved. But he hated the true God. He hated Christ. He hated the
truth. And Paul said this. He said, I was before injurious,
a blasphemer. That's to hate God. But God. But I obtained mercy. He said,
in the fullness of time, when it pleased God, who separated
me from my mother's womb, called me by His grace to reveal His
Son. In the process of time, something
happened. Same with many of you in here. Something took place. Who did
it? We're talking about who makes
us to differ. Something happened that made
these boys different. Made them bring different sacrifices. The process of time, it was God
that made them to differ and did something to Abel. Now, look
at this, verses 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 firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. In the process
of time, both of these young men, we believe they're young,
came to God to worship. It appeared to be some kind of
time of worship. They both thought they should
come and worship God or come to God and bring something to
God. Okay? And you know, men and women
have been doing that from the very beginning, haven't they?
All men and women, even heathens, savages, Come before some concept
of God and bring something, don't you? To try to please whoever
they think is God. Try to appease a God that they know they've offended. Right? Everybody does it. Man's been doing that from the
beginning. It started right here. It started right here. These
two boys. Both of them, I believe, called
him Lord. They both came to worship. It
seemed that way. They both brought gifts. They both seemed to be
sincere. But one came and brought something,
and the Lord rejected it. He had no respect. But Abel accepted and respected
it. What was the difference? Cain,
it says, was a tiller of the ground. Look at that, verse 2.
He was a tiller of the ground, and the time he brought of the
fruit of the ground. Do you remember what the Lord
said about the ground in chapter 2? Look at it over there, chapter
2, verse 17. After sin, You see, animals were taken from
the ground. Everything was created from the
ground. That's what it said there back in chapter 2.19. Chapter 2.19, the ground, the
Lord formed every beast of the field. Adam was taken from the
ground. The Lord God formed man from
the ground. And in chapter 3 it is. Chapter
3, verse 17, after sin, God said, Because ye hearken unto the voice
of thy wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded
thee, say, and thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground
that I say. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it
all the days of thy life. The ground is the earth that
is. The earth, everything about it is going to bring you nothing
but sorrow. Verse 18, it's a curse. Thorns and thistles it'll bring
forth. Verse 19, the sweat of thy face you'll eat red until
you return unto the ground. It's a curse. It's sorrow. Everything in this earth. And
He sent man out, verse 23, to till the ground from which he
was taken. Now, there's nothing wrong with
being a farmer. A farmer is a good thing. Adam was a farmer. Cain
was a farmer, okay? I've often thought if I wasn't
doing this, I'd want to be a farmer as my occupation. I love it, working with the earth. But Cain brought of the fruit
of the ground, and what he brought was vegetables, fruits, Flowers. I'm certain he brought lots of
flowers. Thinking God's going to be pleased
with him. God, this will be good. God will
be pleased. Abel. In verse 4 says Abel. In verse 2, Abel was a shepherd,
keeper of sheep. Where did he get the sheep? God made sheep long before He
made man, didn't He? He made sheep. Sheep were waiting.
There was a lamb before man was born. And Abel was born, and
Adam already had sheep. And he gave those sheep to his
son. Boy, what an illustration this all is. And Abel is a picture
crop. But anyway, Abel was a shepherd of sheep. And Abel, it says in
the process of time, that Abel brought the firstlings of his
flock. It doesn't say Cain brought the
first of his fruit. I'm quite sure he ate that, the
best tomatoes. This year I finally have a good
tomato crop. Last year I think I had one,
I mean one tomato. And this year I finally, well,
I was away when the first ones ripened and my parents ate it. And they called me to tell me
about it. We ate your tomatoes. And I admit, I really wasn't
happy about it. I love my breakfast. I love my
breakfast. I wanted to eat that. What's
that? That's my rotten nature. They
gave me everything, years and years. I wanted to eat that first
fruit. Well, never mind that. That's
a silly illustration. But anyway, I'm sure Noah and
Cain, that he didn't bring the first fruits. No, sir. He saved that for himself. But
he brought some. It looked pretty good. Cain's
wicked. But Abel, it says, brought the
firstling of his flock, the firstborn lamb. One of those sheep one
day, a lamb had a baby, a male. A male lamb, personally in the
flock. And Abel, oh, he was so thankful.
Who did that? God did that. God gave him those
sheep. And God creates life. And God
gave that lamb. And Abel had nothing to do with
it. He was standing low in the hole. One day, a lamb was born.
And Abel thought, I've gotten a lamb from the Lord. And it
was a beautiful lamb. It was without spot. It was without
blemish. It was perfect. He looked at
it and said, it's perfect. And he remembered hearing from
his parents years ago that the only way that God had mercy on
them, the way that God had mercy on them, what they saw God do
in the garden when they sinned against Him was take a lamb An
innocent lamb. A beautiful, spotless, unblemished
lamb. and killed it right before their
eyes. Shed its precious blood, its life blood, and it died.
And the Lord took that skin off that lamb as they watched in
horror as the Lord did something to that innocent lamb to cover
their sin. And God took that skin of that
lamb and covered them, their nakedness before God, and their
guilt began. and their chain began to fade,
and God covered them and told them of His coming Son, the seed
of woman, and how everything is going to be all right. You
are going to go through troubles and trials, but you come to Me
by the blood of the Lamb, which represents the Christ that is
to come and put away your sins that you have rebelled against
Me. The sin that you're full of and
your children will be full of. You come and you tell your children,
you come to me by the blood of a lamb, a sacrifice, an innocent
victim for the guilty. Substitution. That's how you
come to me and I will have mercy. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you, he said, to all the children of Israel. I will. And the plague will not come
nigh there. I will spare you. Come to me
with the blood." Abel remembered that. And Cain was taught this. Abel remembered that. So he said,
I'm not going to keep this lamb. I'm going to bring this to the
Lord. And he took that lamb and cut its throat. Cut its throat. He poured out that blood and
brought it, it says, with the fat thereof. It doesn't mention
blood, does it? No. But the fat, it killed it. It
killed it. There's no mention until Abel's
blood. But he brought that lamb, the
fat thereof, and offered it up unto the Lord as a burnt offering,
as a sacrifice to God. Now, what made the difference?
God accepted him. What made the difference between
Cain and Abel? We've got two sons. Who made
the difference was God. They both were of the same parent.
What made the difference in one being accepted and the other
one not accepted? What made the difference? Cain was rejected.
Abel was accepted. What made the difference? Did
they make the difference? No. It was what they brought.
It was their sacrifice. See, Cain brought of the fruit
of the ground. The Lord said, don't bring anything from the
ground. The ground is cursed. Whatever you bring from the earth,
don't bring me anything from down here. There's nothing down
here. Nothing from the earth. That
which is of the earth is earthy. That which is flesh is flesh.
Don't bring me sinful works and deeds and all that you do. I
don't care how good it looks to you. Don't bring me anything
that you've done. See, he went out, and I know
something about this, hard work. It takes hard work to raise a
garden. I worked harder this year than I ever did in a minute.
And I have to admit, I'm kind of proud of that garden. I guess
that's why now it's burning up. It's failing bad. But I was real
proud of that garden. I worked hard. You have to go
out and go till the ground. You're not going to grow anything
until you till the ground. He worked hard with his hand. And
then he had to plant that seed. Get down on your hands and knees
and plant that seed. Cover it up. Water it. You've
got to water it faithfully, don't you? You've got to weed it. When
I got back from two weeks, oh, weeds were everywhere. If I hadn't
weeded it, it's a goner. He weeded it. He weeded it. Fertilized
it maybe. Dunged it or whatever. He worked
hard on it. And that thing began to grow.
And buddy, when it grew and produced that fruit, he said, I know what
he thought. Look what I've done. That's what all men and women
of my nature do. They work hard at whatever it
is, and most especially in religion. Look what all I've done for God.
Look what all I've given up. Sacrifices. See, there's two religions in the
world. There's only two religions, and only one is true. It doesn't
matter what denomination or what name they go by. There's only
two. One is true and one is false. There's the religion of Cain,
which is works, my works, what I do for God, what man does for
God, what man does with what God offers him, they think. the
works of man, the will of man, the decision of man, the righteousness
of man. That's false. All religions but
one are false, are the way of Cain, be it Muslim, Hindu, Southern
Baptist, Catholic, works. Lord, look what we've done for
you. We accepted you. We believed you. Faith. They
even bring faith as a word. I believed you. I let Jesus in
and out. That's something you've done.
God rejects it. Rejects it. There's a religion of Abel. A
true religion. That's all they want. One Lord,
one faith. And I said before, who made him
to differ? It's the faith delivered to the
saints. By grace are you saved through
faith. There's only one thing. And it's not of your sin. It's
a gift of God. Nearly everyone in here before,
when you were religious, you went the way of pain, didn't
you? Aching. God's pleased with this. What
I've done or have not done. Or what I've given up. I want
to do this. I want to do that. God rejected it. But God, like
Abel, revealed unto you the way of righteousness. the way to
be accepted. How? It's not you at all. It's
in the Beloved. It's in the Beloved. Nothing
you've done at all. All your righteous filthy rags.
But God... I can't say anything without
saying that. Who maketh thee to live? He revealed unto you
the Lamb. Behold the Lamb. The Lamb. Abel brought the firstborn. Christ is the
firstborn among many brethren. Christ is the only begotten well-beloved
Son of God, well-pleasing. God is well-pleased for His righteous
descent, and He is pleased with those who come in Him, who come
by faith in Christ. He is not pleased with anybody
else. They won't accept them. They won't have any respect.
God is no respecter of persons, no matter how good they look,
how sincere. Paul said, he said, I know they're
sincere, my brethren, because I was just like them. But God won't accept that. But
what He will accept, is the most vile sinner who ever walked the
earth who comes from the blood of a lamb. Well, that's good
news, isn't it? It's not good news to a Pharisee.
Cain didn't like it. Cain worked hard. Why was he
mad? He's self-righteous. He's self-righteous. Abel loved it. Let me tell you
now who made the difference. What? Why? Who made the difference? God made the difference between
these two boys and how they thought about God, about themselves.
And what made the difference? What they brought. You know they're
different than what they brought. Abel came by the blood of a lamb,
something God did, a sacrifice, a substitution, nothing he did
at all. Why did God accept one over the
other? Here's what Abel is saying, and here's what everybody says
who really believes and trusts Christ and Christ alone. Listen
to me. I won't quote. This is it. It's the heart of
this message right here. When bringing the lamb, Abel
said this, bringing that blood, the lamb's blood that was shed,
he's saying, what he's doing is confessing his sin. He's saying,
I am sinful and I deserve the wrath and judgment of God. The
soul that sins must surely die. And he said, I deserve to die,
but I'm bringing this lamb in my place, in my stead. Would you accept the blood, the
death of this lamb who pictures the Son of God that's to come
someday? Put away the sins of his people.
Would you accept this lamb? I know this lamb blood won't
put away my sin, but the Son of God's blood will. Would you
accept this blood as my death? As payment for my sin? Would
you? Lord, I need a substitute. I'm unrighteous. This is an innocent
lamb. Your son is innocent. Would you
accept what He did on my behalf? Lord, I need Christ. I need His
righteousness. I need to shed blood. I need
Him to cover my sins. This is repentance toward God
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what this is. When Abel
came with this lamb, he is repenting toward God. I am a sinner and
deserve to die. And faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
my hope is you will accept me in the Beloved, in your righteous
Son, that you will forgive me because Christ died. Do you believe that? My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ's blood and His
righteousness. That you dare not trust the sweetest
frame or feeling or work or anything, but completely and wholly lean
on Jesus. That's the Savior's name. On
Christ the solid rock do you stand, and all other ground is
sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.
Do you really trust Christ? God knows. Cain, he heard that. He didn't believe it. He was sincere and he brought
something, but what he did by bringing these fruits and flowers,
and I keep saying flowers because that's what religion has a lot
of, don't they? Have you ever wondered why there
are so many flowers? Let me tell you, there is a vast
difference between bloodshed and fruit and flowers. Bloodshed
means somebody suffered pain. Bloodshed means somebody suffered
great sorrow. Somebody went through a horrible
death. You can't have bloodshed. I mean
shed, not dripped. Christ's side was pierced. His
head was nailed. His hands, his feet were nailed.
He went through separation. When blood, when somebody dies,
they're separated from somebody they love. Death is separation.
Death is horrible. Bloodshed. Why is blood so repulsive
to human nature? There's no substance like blood.
You ever thought about it? Nothing the color of it. Nothing
the smell of it. Nothing the sight of which brings
horror and fright. Blood. Why is that? It's life. The life of the flesh. And you
know when the blood is gone, the life is gone. It's a horrible
thing when you see bloodshed. And what it takes to put away
sin. It's a horrible thing that it
took. Sin is an ugly thing. Bloodshed
is not pretty. It's ugly. And what it took,
sin's ugly, so it took an ugly death, a horrible death, separation
from God. The wrath of God poured out on His
Son. His blood shed like a lamb that was slain. That's what it
took. Horrible. Horrible. And that's
so repulsive to self-righteous religion. I don't want that.
I'm going to bring flowers. I'm going to bring fruit. I don't think God is that holy.
I don't think man is that bad. I don't think that's what it
takes. That's an old-fashioned bloody religion. That's too archaic. I don't believe that. That's
what Cain thought. I don't believe that. It's true. Christ died. It pleased the Lord
to bruise Him. God had made His soul an offering
for sin. It's an ugly, horrible thing. People don't understand that
when they wear that cross around their neck as jewelry. It was
a horrible thing that the Lord Jesus Christ went through. He
went through hell. That's what it takes to put away
sin. Nothing but the blood. Have you ever thought why men and
women bring flowers to funerals? When did that start? When did
that start? Because death, when death, the
body begins to corrupt, begins to stink. Before embalming, death
was a horrible thing. It begins to stink. They began
to bring flowers to cover up the smell, to mask the smell,
to keep death from appearing to be death. Are you with me?
Do you understand? And religion brings fruit and
flowers, and at death we try to make the person appear not
to be dead. Let's bring flowers and make this seem like a happy
time. It's a terrible time. Unless, unless Christ died for
that person. But men bring flower, don't they? Cain brought flowers and fruit. Brother Scott used to say Cain
was a turnip farmer. Oh, Brother Scott, that coal miner God made into a great
preacher, he says he's a turnip farmer. I know he said because
you can't get blood out of a turnip. Wise men. Blood. What can wash away my
sin? Nothing but the blood. Cain,
alright. The end of the story. Cain got
angry. And so does everyone who hears
this message for the first time. Self-righteous people, religious
people hate it like Cain. They're very sincere. But they
hate this because it offends their works, it offends their
worth, their self-righteousness, and they hate it. And Cain, the
first murder took place because of religion. Religion. They've been murdering each other
ever since. And our Lord said, how do I know
Cain was righteous because the Lord, He suffered persecution
for righteousness sake, not His own. But another. Cain was wroth. Our Lord said
this. I've got to show you this. He
said to Cain, if you do well, won't you be accepted? What's he mean by that? If you
bring what Abel brought. How did Abel do well? He brought
the Lamb by the grace of God. Over in John 6, they said, what
shall we do to work the works of God? He said, this is the
work of God. Believe. Don't work anything. Believe
on Him. Our Lord said, if you do well,
you'll be accepted. If not, sin lies at your door. What does He mean by that? It
means that you're going to be subject to anything and everything. You're going to believe anything
and everything. Even the plowing of the wicked is sin. You don't
come by the blood of the Lamb. You're going to fall for everything.
And you'll be rejected completely. Well, Cain didn't like that.
And he began to talk to Abel, his brother, and I know what
they talked about. I know what they talked about. You've talked
about it to your brother, haven't you? You've talked about it to
your sister, haven't you? Your mom and dad, your neighbors,
your co-workers, haven't you? What's the conversation of God's
people? It's about the blood of the Lamb.
It's about the righteousness of Christ. And they talked about
this. And Abel said, Cain, we've both
heard the same truth. We know what the Word of God
says. We know what God told our parents
and tells us. We know there's one way to come
to God. And Cain said, I don't believe
that. And Abel said, well, I didn't
say it. God said it. Don't get mad at me, Cain. He
said, I don't like that. You think you're right and I'm
wrong? I didn't say that, Cain. I didn't say I was right and
you're wrong. You think you're better than me. No, Cain, I didn't
say I was better than you. I'm a sinner saved by grace.
I'm saved by the mercy of God, by the grace of God, by the blood
of Christ. I didn't say I was better than you. I'm not different
than you. I'm a sinner just like you. It's
by the grace of God I am what I am. I didn't say that, Cain.
He said you did too. And he killed him. And the first person ever to come into heaven. There
was one person in heaven. One person. One person in heaven. His name was Abel. This is true. One person in heaven. You know
what he's singing from the top of his lungs? Unto Him that loved
us and washed us from our sin in His own blood. Unto Him be
all the glory and the honor and the praise and the thank-giving.
Why am I here? The blood of the Lamb. That's
what He said. Brother John, you come. Let's all party to number 222.