Genesis chapter four. As we—as I said last Sunday,
the book—the name Genesis means beginnings. Beginnings. And this is the origin. This is the starting point. of everything, this book. This is what God gave us first,
the starting point. My pastor always gave us a rule
to go by in reading and understanding the scriptures. He always talked
about the law of first mention, that when something is first
mentioned in the scriptures, a doctrine, whatever it may be,
a principle, when it's first mentioned, the first principle
set forth by God is generally, is usually the continuing principle
throughout the Bible. And you follow what I just said,
what he said? The law of first mention. First principle, whatever is
set forth in the Scriptures first by God, the way it's set forth,
is generally the same principle throughout the Scriptures. OK?
Whatever it may be. Sin, God's character, who God
is, his thoughts, his ways, his purposes. You see, he doesn't
change. So however God was in Genesis 1, God is in Revelation
22. Right? He doesn't change. man's
relationship to God and how man can know God and get to God.
It's set forth in Genesis and is carried through the same principle
all the way through—worship. I'm going to see that right here—worship.
How man—God teaches man to worship in the beginning is the way man's
got to worship in the end. The same way now we're going
to see that Abel worshipped God is the way that the angels in
heaven, or the saints in heaven, are worshipping God right now.
Blood. The blood of a lamb. That's what
song of heaven is concerned with. Genesis 3, Genesis chapter 3
we saw is the key to understanding the nature of man. We saw the
fall of man there in Genesis 3, and the consequences of the
fall. And we came to one conclusion.
Man's dead in trespasses and sin, right? And he's not going
to live unless God, who is life, gives him life. Christ said,
I'm come that they might have life. Genesis 4 is the key to
understanding religion, all religion. All the world's religions have
their beginnings right here in Genesis 4. All the world's religions—I
don't care what they are, whether it be things as seemingly diverse
or different as Hinduism or Southern Baptist religion. All the world's
religions start right here. All of them. Now, if everything, the Scripture
says, if everything said and done by God was written, the
world wouldn't contain the books. Okay? So there's some things
implied here. Some things we infer from the
Scripture, and I just have to quote this, 1 Corinthians 2,
There's a verse that says, they that are spiritual discerneth
all things. And it's clear—now stay with
me, I'm setting the groundwork here—it's clear to the discerning
reader, the understanding reader, that Cain and Abel—this is the
story of Cain and Abel, no one in here is ignorant of that story—but
it's clear to the discerning reader that Cain and Abel had
been well instructed by their father, Adam, in true religion,
or how to worship God. Adam, after the fall, was still
a brilliant man, and man is still somewhat brilliant in his intellect
and his capacities and so forth. Adam lived 930 years. Now, if a man doesn't learn something,
In nine hundred and thirty years, he's just, as Don would say,
dumb as a box of rocks. He can't learn anything. In nine
hundred and thirty years, Adam lived, and you know he accumulated
knowledge and wisdom. And God instructed Adam. Didn't
He? Sure He did. God instructed Adam. Adam, from the beginning of the
fall, when God first talked about the woman's seed, Do you think he just left Adam
in the dark about that, Jeanette? Don't you know Adam said, what's
this? Later on Adam said, Lord, what's this woman seeing? I didn't
fully, I don't fully understand what you, you think he left him
in the dark about that? No, he instructed him. The curse
of the ground, is it cursed that there's a ground? What is this,
Lord? The killing of that animal to clothe him, God instructed
Adam in these things. And we can infer that from this,
as we're going to see, why Abel brought what he did. Are you
with me? All right. God instructed Adam
and said, The soul that sinneth, Adam, must surely die. I told
you that from the beginning. You didn't understand it. Now
you know, don't you? The soul that sinneth must be
kicked out of the presence of God, must die, and without the
sharing of blood there's no remission of sin. Blood. You remember that
animal I killed, Adam, to clothe you? And God instructed him.
Don't you know about that? Sure he did, just like we instruct
our children. It's the blood that makes up
a tongue. The woman's seed, Adam, is the coming Christ. It's the
Christ whom I'm going to send from me to establish righteousness,
to live a life as a holy man, and to shed his blood to satisfy
justice. Blood, Adam, blood. Adam, blood, bring blood. It's a type, it's a picture of
your Savior, your Redeemer, the one who's going to bring his
own precious blood someday and put away sin forever by the sacrifice
of himself. Adam, bring blood. I won't accept
anything else. You see, it's blood. You've sinned, you've fallen,
you've come short of my glory, like I've demanded of you. Your
works aren't good enough, man. Blood's the only thing that's
going to satisfy me, satisfy my justice against your rebellion. Blood. And not a man's blood,
it's going to be the blood of the Christ. John, don't you know
he instructed them that way? Sure he did. Sure he did. All
right, look at chapter 3, verse 24. It says, "...and so God drove
out the man," look, I bet you've never noticed this. I didn't,
until I started studying it. Another man showed me this. Verse
24 says, "...he drove out the man, and placed at the east of
the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword, which turned
every way to keep the way of the tree of life." Cherubims
at the east of the garden. the east of the garden. God instructed
Adam that there was a certain place to worship. This was the
place, I believe, that Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel were taught
to bring their sacrifice, this eastern gate of the garden. Does
that remind you of anything? How did you get into the tabernacle?
The olden days, that tent, that tabernacle, that place that God
said you could worship, where the Shekinah, the flaming glory
of God. Flaming, that's what Shekinah
means. Where God met with man at the Mercy Seat. How'd you
get in that tabernacle? How'd you get in that? The Eastern
Gate. There was one way into that.
One way into it. And you know what hung over that
Mercy Seat? What hung over the Mercy Seat? God instructed Adam, there was
a place. Look at chapter 4, verse 3. Look at it. It says, In the process
of time, Cain brought. What did he bring? Where did
he bring? When you bring something, that means you're going somewhere. You come from somewhere to somewhere
to understand. When you bring something, Abel,
verse 4, he brought also. Where'd they bring it? They brought
it to this place. Brought it to this place. You
see, God told Adam, and God instructed Adam and Eve, that there was
a place to worship God and one way to worship God. One place
to worship God and one way to worship God. The place that God
had chosen was that eastern gate, and the
way that God had chosen was a bloody sacrifice. a bloody sacrifice. And both these things speak of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Both these things speak of the
Lord Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, all that—all
of those chapters—do you think that God laid down this tabernacle
and all those types and pictures and ceremonies and the tabernacle
and all the things about the tabernacle just so man could
play religion? Huh? And the Eastern Gate, gotta
be on the East, not the West, not the South, the East. Why
the East? That's where the sun comes up.
Huh? That's where the sun appears.
The sun rises with healing in its wing. There's a place, and that place
where we worship God is Jesus Christ, who tabernacled among
men. We come to God in and through
Jesus Christ. He's the place. He's the tabernacle
of God among men, right? He's the one. And the way that
we worship him is we don't bring things we do, but we look to
his blood, his sacrifice. One place and one way, and they
both speak of Christ, all right? Now, I thought that was interesting,
that verse 24. God didn't just put it there.
I mean, at the east of Cherubim, flaming sword, turn away. You
know, Deborah, that the Targum of Jonathan, that's an old, one
of the oldest of translations of the original Hebrew text. You know what the Targum of Jonathan
says about to keep the way of the tree of life? You know what
it says? It doesn't say to keep man from it, it says to keep
it open. Isn't that interesting? For y'all
who know what I'm talking about, to keep it open. You think God
would bar Adam from the tree of life? Let's keep it open. You bring sacrifice and you partake
of the tree of life. Does that make sense to anybody? At the eastern gate where the
cherubs are, over the mercy seat. Isn't that beautiful? All right,
move on. Let's read together. Chapter
4, verse 1. Deborah's smiling. I'm glad you
got that. Verse 1, Adam knew Eve, his wife,
and she conceived and bared Cain and said, here's what Eve said,
I have gotten the man from the Lord. It says, no, a man, no. It says,
the man. She says, I've gotten, that's
what his name meant, gotten, required. You know what Eve thought
here when she had this man-child? I believe this was her firstborn
son, maybe not her firstborn child. She might have had 158
daughters. Cain got a wife somewhere. That
answers that age-old question, okay? But you know what she thought
here? She thought this is the woman's seed. This is the man. The woman, the he, because God
said, It shall bruise our head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Now, man, this is a woman's seed. He thought, Rick, that I've gotten
the man. I've gotten the Christ. This
is the woman's seed. This is the Christ that's going
to get us out of this sin mess that we're in. That's what she
thought. That's the reason she said that to him. I've gotten
the man. Oh, she could never have been
further from the truth. If you missed it, it's not going
to be the seed of Adam. This woman's seed is not the
seed of Adam. It's the seed of God. It's not going to have the seed
of sin in it. All right, read on. The promised seed is going to
be from God. Verse 2, And she again bared
his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was
a tiller of the grain. All right? Abel was a shepherd. Abel was a shepherd and Cain
was a farmer, these two boys. And we're going to see in these
two young men all the religions of the world. We're going to
see all the religions of the world. We're going to see truth.
We're going to see error. We're going to see the one way
that God has told us to worship and every other way is error
and heresy. It all resembles this other way.
All right? Okay, these two fellas, Cain
and Abel, what was different about them? Nothing. There's
nothing here that tells us that Cain was more wicked than Abel.
Right? Is there anything here that says
Cain was a bad fella? He hung out at the bars, and
he cussed, and he's no good, and Abel, he was a righteous
fella. Huh? Is there anything that describes
the character of these two men? One was accepted and the other
was rejected. It doesn't say anything about their character.
There's nothing here to tell us that one was better than the
other, or one was more evil than the other, right? Nothing. On
the contrary, it seems like both these fellows are pretty good
fellows. They both believe in God. They came one day, they
came here, they came to church. Right? They came to church this
day. They came to worship God, didn't
they? They came to worship God. They
both came. They believed in God, they came to worship God, they
both bought something for God. They bought an offering. One
was rejected, the other accepted. Why? Because of what they brought. That was the sole reason. Wasn't
it? Not because of their character,
not because God didn't like farmers to be on the shepherds. There's
nothing inherently good or evil about either occupation. Right? What made one accepted as opposed
to the other, being rejected, was his offering. His offering. Are you with me? Come on. You with me? Verse 3. In the
process of time, and let's look, so let's look at it. In the process
of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of
the ground unto the Lord, an offering unto the Lord. And Abel,
verse 4, he also brought something. He brought of the firstling of
his flock, and, this is important, of the fat thereof. The fat thereof. That indicates that Cain had
slaughtered that animal, doesn't it? Fat. And an altar that talks
about burning the fat on the altar. Now, as I said, here's
the two religions of the world. Right here. And what they bring
to be accepted by God. Two religions. All right? And
which is yours? You need one, I'm telling you,
this is the most vital message you could possibly ever hear.
Which religion is yours? You need to know and understand
that. You're either in one or the other. You're bringing to
God one or the other. Right? Yes, one or the other.
You must. You must understand the difference,
too. From the beginning, God has set forth one way to worship
him, one way to approach him, one way to worship, and that
is a blood sacrifice. From the fall of man to the extinction
of man, this book talks about blood. This is a bloody book.
Our religion is a bloody religion. Bloody. The blood before the
Lord, the blood of the Lamb. Both these boys knew that. They knew that, and nobody today
is ignorant of that. They couldn't read this book
without seeing blood, blood, blood, blood, blood. What's all
this blood about, Stan? Just old Jewish footnote? God's
the one that started it. The first one to kill anybody
was God. He killed an animal. He slew
an innocent animal to cover a guilty man. God! Sarah was ignorant one time,
John, wasn't she? Of Abraham. She said, you're
a bloody man. God told him to do. Bloody. God's a bloody God. He said bloody,
didn't he? He said bloody. Both these boys
knew that. Now listen to the difference.
Let's see if you can catch this. Here. Now listen. One man believed
in God. The other one believed God. That's the difference in salvation.
One man believed in God, the other one believed God. You got millions and millions
of people that believe in God, but you got a few children who
believe God. One heard what God said, and
he said, well, that's good. That's good. And he proceeded
to do what he thought was best. But that's good, you have blood,
that sounds good, that sounds really nice. Surely, God will,
he'll like this. One heard what God said and did
receive the glory of his own. The other heard God tremble and
did what God said, and brought blood. Now let's look at the men and
their sacrifices. The men and their sacrifice,
and Old Brother Scott said this, he said, you are what you bring.
When God talked about these two fellows, he talked about them
and their sacrifice. Abel and his sacrifice. Cain
and his sacrifice. You are what you bring, as he
is. So are you. You are what you bring. How you
come and what you bring determines your heart, mind, and soul determines
what you are. You're either a believer or you're
not. Either believe in God or you believe God. To you, you're
a son of God or your son of El. What you bring determines that. Let's look at Cain. It said,
verse 3, in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought
the fruit of the ground, an offering unto the Lord. Cain was a hard-working
fellow, a farmer, and that's an admirable occupation. I have
a certain love and appreciation and respect for farmers. I really
do. They feed this country. I love and respect them and appreciate
them. But there's no virtue in that. Cain was a hardworking farmer,
bought the best he had. Let's see if you can catch this.
He bought the best he had. He bought the best fruits he
had produced. He bought the biggest, the finest,
the prettiest, the sweetest, the most fragrant of fruits and
vegetables and flowers that he had grown. What'd he bring? What he had done. Right. He worked real hard and he had
produced some fine things. his works. Those things kind
of remind me of today's religion, you know, that tries to bring
the best, the biggest, the sweetest, the grandest that man can produce—big
buildings, big choirs, beautiful robes and pictures and statues
and flowers. All this is is glorious displays
of man's works, isn't it? Offered up to God. But look at
verse 5. It says, "...unto Cain and his off'ring." God had no
respect. God rejected it, thumbs down. Cain brought all this in with
a big smile on his face. He'd done the best he could,
and he had an altar and had flowers and big, beautiful vegetables.
He worked hard. He worked all day long to adorn
this altar. He maybe went through some little
ceremony there at the Eastern Gate, had all this beautiful
and he had himself all fixed up and smiled, and God said,
that's a stench in my nostrils. God said, away with this. Rejected. And it said, Cain, look at it,
Cain, verse 5, was lost. The original translation says
his countenance was just fallen. You ever seen somebody like that?
I've seen women do that when I tell them that, you know, that
all of their morality and goodness, all the days of their life, their
churchgoing, and because they never did this and never did
that and lived pious lives, they don't account for nothing, that
God holds them just as guilty as a harlot in this truth. I
see their face go, drop, in horror and shock. Nothing? What? And what? Those can't be
sold. Well, I worked hard. That's the
problem. Look at what I did for you guys.
That's the problem. And to reject it. Why? The key
is in this. This was what Cain had done. And I don't care how much he
said it. This is for you, God. This is for God. This is in the
name of Jesus. This is in the name... It was
for Cain. Look what I did. Is it right? Look what I did for God. Look
at yours. There ain't nothing to that,
Abel. That's so despicable. That's
not pretty. That's an ugly sight. Blood and
death. That's negative religion, Abel. How many times I've heard that
today? I'm getting so sick of it. That's so negative. Death
and blood and sin and pardon and guilt and mercy. That's negative. Let's be positive. Look at—God
will accept this and not want it. Reject you and your offering. Because it's what Cain had done. Cain produced it, he said. Cain
would have been proud of it. Cain, Gloria, Cain got the credit
for it. Cain thought it merited him some
favor with God. It's self-righteousness. Another
word for it. Self-righteousness. And God said
he's like filthy rags. Those sweet-smelling flowers
that adorn the altar, he's dead. Maybe that's good. That's typical
of what we preach, isn't it? The flower fades. You know, I'm glad we have these
dead flowers here. Because the beauty of man is
like the flower of the field, the flower of Satan. All flesh
is grass, and so forth. Cain's flowers all smelled good
to everybody but God. Why? Cain did it. You understand? Cain did it. Cain did it. All right, let's look at Abel.
That's unbelief is all it is. And, you know, God told, look
up at chapter 3, verse 17. God told Adam, cursed is the
ground, isn't it? You see that? Cursed is the ground.
Everything that has anything to do with the ground is a curse.
Did you notice that, Sid? Did you notice that? Cursed is
the ground. Adam told, he came to that and
Abel to that. Cursed is the ground, boys. We
can't, the ground, we're dust and everything from the ground
is dusty and dirty and it's a curse. Curse. Everything taken from the ground.
Curse it. Ground. Earth. As many as are the works
of the law under the curse, the scripture says. By the deeds
of the law. The flesh in the flesh. No man can please God.
Not by works of righteousness and so forth. Whatever we do
is dirty, you see. Whatever comes from the earth
is of the earth. Earthy. Dirty. It's cursed. Right? God
won't accept it. God won't accept anything we
bring. God won't accept anything any
man brings. It's of the earth. It's tainted. Listen, everything
we do is tainted. Can you say that anything you've
ever done was without sin? It shall be perfect to be accepted
by God. Well, that's spot or blimmin'.
Can you say that you've ever come in this church house to
worship God with all your mind, heart, and soul, and strength?
Then God says he turns thumbs down on it. Is that right? God won't accept
anything we bring. Anything. Except. what he gives us to bring, what he tells us to bring, what
he supplies to bring. You see, we come empty-handed
and God says, now, you're not bringing anything, are you, to
be accepted by me? You're not bringing anything?
No, Lord, I don't have anything. I'm bankrupt. Here. Here's what Abel brought, verse
4. Abel, he also brought something. What did he bring? for the firstling
of the flock. He brought a lamb, firstling
of his flock, a newborn lamb. Firstborn, I believe it was a
firstborn. I believe it was a male. I believe
it was without spot or blemish. I'm certain it was. Positive
it was. God taught him that. Abel brought
a lamb, a sheep. Why? Number one, God made that
sheep. You don't grow sheep. You don't
go out and plant. You don't go out and plant sheep.
I like that fellow who said he was going to start a chicken
farm and bought all those little chickens and went back to the
store and said they all died. I can't understand. I said, well,
I don't understand what you're doing wrong. I gave you 150,
200 chickens, and he said, I don't know either. He said, I'm either
planting them too deep or too far apart. Well, you can't, you can't grow
sheep. Right? Man doesn't grow, man
doesn't give life to anything. Who's the author of life? Who
grows life? Animals. God. God does. God's the author of life. Where did Abel get these sheep
to begin with? God had already created sheep
before Abel. Boy, if that isn't a picture.
There was a lamb before there was a lamb. If that isn't a picture of Christ,
huh? And Jesus Christ, Scripture says,
is the Lamb of God made flesh. God made him flesh. We didn't—God
made him Lord. We don't make him Lord. We didn't
make him flesh. We didn't go up and get him and
bring him down. Huh? He's the gift of God to man.
Abel got his sheep from God. Christ is made flesh, the gift
of God to man, the firstborn Son of God, without spot, without
blemish, no sin. So Abel brought a lamb. That's
a picture of Christ. And the thought thereof. That lamb was first alive, wasn't
it? He didn't bring an aborted lamb. He didn't bring a lamb
that died at birth. He brought a beautiful, spotless,
robust lamb without spot or blemish. Gorgeous male sheep, lamb. And it says, the fat bear up.
What does that mean? It means he cut his throat. You know, Cain might have thought,
hey, that's good. Lamb, that's a beautiful lamb.
Gotta love that. And Cain and Abel got a knife
and cut his throat. What'd you do? What the fat? You see what all that's a talk
about? You see, men will take a Jesus, a sweet, kind, beautiful
man that lived with all these humanitarian efforts, feed the
sick and heal—feed the hungry and heal the sick, and do all
of these things—beautiful, beautiful. Oh, how we love Jesus. Why'd
he come? To live a beautiful life? To
die a bloody death. That's why he came. He said that to the disciples
on the road to Emmaus. Ought not Christ to have suffered?
Shouldn't he? To die a bloody death like Isaiah
53 says he's wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our
iniquity? The fact that Abel slew a lamb
and burned it on an altar, how did he know this? How did he
know to do this? God taught him. They shall all
be taught of God. All thy children shall be taught
of thee, and every man that hath heard and learned of the Father
shall come to Christ, bring and cry the sacrifice." Huh? How did he know it? God said
this. Listen to me. Remember God taught Abel, like
he did Adam and Eve. God taught Abel. He said, Abel,
you're a sinner. Everything you produce is full of sin, has sin
in it. I can't accept it. I'm holy.
Abel, I can't accept it. Abel, someday I will send the
Messiah, the Christ, the woman's seed, the sinless one, without
the seed of man, the woman's seed. He'll glorify me. He'll live a holy life as a man
that you failed to do, that your daddy failed to do, that all
of you failed to do. But he won't fail. He won't be
discouraged. And I'll accept him. I'll accept
the life of Abel. This woman seed, this coming
Christ, this man approved of God. I'll accept Him. And you
in Him, Abel. And you in Him. Abel, since man
has sinned, oh, man's got to be punished. Without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission of sin. You've sinned, Abel.
Your blood's got to be shed. Unless this man sheds his own
precious blood for you. Unless he takes your sin on him,
Abel. If this coming Christ, Messiah,
Woman, Savior, Redeemer takes your sin on Him, and I kill Him
in your place, you don't have to die, Abel. Oh, you'll die
physically, but you don't have to die spiritually. And He's
going to come and be made and die as punishment for your sin.
He's my Lamb. He's God's Lamb, Abel. I'm going
to send my Lamb. That's just a picture. What you're
bringing here, what I'm telling you to bring, just a picture,
just a type, just a symbol, just a shadow of what I'm going to
do. The coming seed, the woman seed, the Redeemer, your Messiah,
your Christ, your substitute. He's going to come. He's going
to put away your sin by the sacrifice of not a lamb or a bull that's
going to turn to dust, but Himself. His own blood, sinless blood,
spotless blood. And until then, Abel, you bring
a lamb. You bring a lamb. as a symbol
of your faith in this coming one. Until he comes, you bring
blood. Because, Abel, you see, salvation's my work. I'm going
to get all the glory. Salvation's a gift. Salvation's
of my sovereign free grace. Salvation's got to come from
me. It's got to give me all the glory. Salvation's from me, Abel. Bring blood. And I'll accept
you because of your sacrifice. You think God taught him that?
Sure he did. Sure he did. There's a scripture
over in Hebrews 11 that says this. It says that Abel, his
sacrifice spoke better things. Let me read it to you. It says
this in Hebrews 11 verse 4. It says, By faith Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice. excellent
than Cain. Who does that speak of? Paul
talked about the excellencies of the knowledge of Jesus Christ,
my Lord. The more excellent sacrifice,
that one sacrifice for sins forever, better than Cain's, by which
Abel obtained witness that he was righteous. And look here
now, look here at the text and I'll quit. I've only been thirty-three
minutes. Genesis four. Do you see the
difference in the, do you see the difference, huh? Do you see
it, everybody? The difference in what these
two men brought? This is all the religions of
the world are summed up in what these two men brought. And all
the religions of the world are still bringing one to the other.
I don't care what you call it, what denomination it goes under,
what name it goes under. I don't care how you doctor it
up or flower it up or whatever you do. It's either one or the
other. It's either what we do or what
Christ has done. It's either man's works that
God's going to accept something we do, even faith. That's how
subtle it can be, works and self-righteousness. We can say, well, I believed
on Jesus. You think Abel had the audacity
to say that to God? Well, God, I know you accepted
me today because I brought this lamb. You know what Abel said? Lord, accept me. Let the blood
of this lamb be propitiation for this old sinner on the mercy
seat. Lord, accept me in the blood.
The only reason I bought it, because a man can receive nothing
except to be given him from above. You told me. And the only reason
he didn't bring it, because you just, you left him to himself. And you revealed to me and you
impressed upon me by your Holy Spirit to bring blood. That's
the only reason I'm, the only difference. Who makes me to differ
from my brother? God, you have. It's either what We believe our
faith, our works, our religion, or what Christ has done. Two
religions. Call it what you may. Put it
under whatever name you want to. Two religions. Man's works
or Christ's person and work. Right? Look. Sovereign grace. See, Abel got
that lamb from God. Abel was taught by God, got the
Lamb from God, drawn by God, accepted by God because of the
Lamb. Sovereign grace and mercy through Jesus Christ our Lord.
You know, the first murder they ever committed was because of
this. It was a religious murder. Look at it. It says that, well,
look at verse 7. Verse 7, the Lord said to Cain,
if you do well, shall you not be accepted? What does that mean? Well, do
you remember when the Pharisees came to the Lord over in John
chapter 6 and said, Lord, what must we do to do the works of
God? Do you remember that? What should we do that God will
take notice of us and accept us. What shall we do to do the
works of God? Do you remember what Christ answered in John
6, 29? This is the work of God. This
is what God will accept. Nothing else. But you believe
on him whom he hath sent. Christ is person and work. If
you trust him and him alone, if you bring his person and work,
his sacrifice, not your own, That's the work of God, and that's
what he's saying to Abel in the very beginning. Isn't it, John?
Is God contradicting himself in John 6? No. God walked the
planet, and he said the same thing he did to Abel. If you
do well, you'll be accepted. What did Abel do to do well?
He brought blood. He brought blood. if you do well. If not, he said, sin lies at
the door. And this is the—all manner of
absurdities and heresy and error and sin and ridiculous things
and atrocities going on in religion today is right there. John, that's
what the Lord said there, John. He said, if you don't trust Christ,
he said in 2 Thessalonians 2, he said, because they receive
not the love of the truth, I'm going to send them strong deluge. And religion's going to be so
out in left field, so far away from the blood and the truth,
that they're not going to recognize the truth when they hear it.
Sin lies at the door, and you're open to all manner of things.
You're going to be exposed. Does that make sense to you?
Sure it does. All error, sin, error, heresy
and error. Verse 8, and I quit. He says,
So Cain talked with Abel, his brother. What'd they talk about? Cain and Abel had a little discussion
after this. Rick, what'd they talk about? Free grace. That's exactly what they talked
about. Abel said to his brother, his brother was mad, and Abel
said to his brother Cain, he said, Cain, God told, don't you
remember? Daddy taught us. Blood. God told
Daddy. And daddy told us, and blood,
and don't you know, because Abel, or Cain, God's holy. He can't
accept what we bring. It's filthy rags. It's sinful.
He's already told us that. It's what he said in his word.
God's holy, and he won't accept. And we're sinners, and we've
come short of the blood. And without the sharing of blood,
there's no remission of sins. And it's not what we do, it's
what God does. It's by grace, Kay. It's by grace. We're saved by grace. Obviously,
he's got to get all the glory. We can't share the glory with
God. And Kay said, uh... Yeah, I did. This is what happened. I'm not making this up. The first murder is a man who
just believed God, just gave God all the glory. He said, this
thing's Christ and Christ alone. That's what we do. And this other
fellow, self-righteous religionist, Abel turned his back, and he
bashed his brains in. He bashed his brains in. Killed
him. I won't have that. And our Lord said, the same thing
will happen to you, didn't it? See where it all started? Don't
you see where it all started? At the beginning. And the same
principles carried on through it. So as we can believe God,
whatever God says. You might not understand it fully,
but God says, blood, nothing else but blood. Those that believe
in a God, or have a God, believe in God, they're just religious
and Bring what they think, not what God says. God said without
the shedding of blood, there's no remission, no acceptance,
no favor, no merit, none, none whatsoever. I'm well pleased
with my son for his righteousness sake and his blood. Nothing else
will do. We better cling to Christ and
Him alone. Look to Him. Then Christ said,
you know, Cain didn't hate Abel. It wasn't Abel he hated. Who
was it? It was God. That's what the Lord
said about true believers. He said, It's not you they hate.
It's me. They don't like free grace. They
don't like sovereign grace. And they'll kill you if they
can. Oh boy, blessed are your ears. You understand this. Tracy, you're smiling. I think
you do. I think you understand. Blessed are you. Blessed are
you. You know the difference. You
are what you bring. If you're sitting there in Christ,
believing, trusting Christ, I don't care, you may be the worst woman
in here. You're accepted. You're accepted. God loves you. And you're accepted
in the blood. No other way. No other way. All right, Brother Joe, you got
a hymn selected? What is it? 212. I think there's
nothing but the blood in it. What? Can't wash away my sin. Nothing but the blood. All right. He is all my righteousness. Listen
to the words as we sing this hymn. From the 212, if you please
sing. Sing the first third and the
fourth stanza. First third and the fourth. Nothing
but the blood. What can walk away once in that
example of Jesus? What can make me hold again that example of Jesus? Oh, Christmas is my home, and
makes me white as snow. Oh, how I will adore you, and in wonder love you so. Nothing can part us now, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope. This is all my life just is Running
through the heart of Jesus. Right in your district.