What a blessed thing the gospel
is. God help you to believe it. God help you to believe it. I'm
going to bring a message here out of Genesis 4. Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel. First two men
mentioned in the Scriptures. First two brothers other than
Adam. And here we see that these men
came before the Lord and they came with offerings. They came
to worship God. We've come to worship God today.
And we're going to worship Him one way or another. We're going
to worship Him God's way or our way. We're going to be a Cain
or we're going to be an Abel. We're going to come with a blood
offering or we're going to come with our own works, with our
own work. And that's when I read this to
you, you see how that Cain got very angry, got very angry, and
he committed sin, murdered his brother. And let me tell you
this, sin's never an isolated act. It's never an isolated act. It's not just one thing you do
and it has no effect on anybody. Sin always has fruit to it. There's
a cause and an effect. Sin is the cause and the effect
of it always has others. Adam failed. When Adam sinned
against God, what was the effect of that sin? What was the effect
of Adam's sin? Adam, when God told Adam, put
him in the garden, told him to dress it, he says, now you can
eat, mayest eat of every fruit of the tree of every garden in
this evening. You dress it and you keep it,
but there's one tree right out there in the middle. And he says,
don't you dare eat of that fruit. The day you eat that fruit, that's
the day you'll die. That's the day you'll be separated
from Me. That's the day that death will set in on you and
you'll not only be separated from Me and not have no fruit
in relationship with Me, but you'll start dying physically.
And not only that, but since you're the only man and everybody's
going to come through your Lord, you're going to cause every one
of them to be what you are. When you disobey God, they're
going to disobey God. When you sin, they're going to
sin. So where the sin is, there's other sins to cause but for the
effect of it, the fruit of it. It's all the effect and fruit
of sin. And so there we see man sinning
in the garden. That was the individual sinning
against God. But here we have sin in the family. Here's the
fruit and effect of what Adam did manifest itself in the first
two men mentioned in the scriptures other than Adam. Here we have sin in the family.
Sin contaminates, it spreads, and it brings forth death. It
brought forth death in Adam. It starts bringing forth death
in us. And sometimes we don't know how
we're going to leave this world, but we're all leaving it because
of death. Why is death? Sin bringing forth death. And
beloved, that's why men die, because of sin. And sin, it contaminates,
it spreads. It spreads from me to my children,
from their children to their children, from their children
to their children. And in Genesis 3, the sin that
Adam committed was against God. And here in Genesis 4, it's against
a fellow man. And I'll tell you what, when
a man kills another man, it's when there's no fear of God.
No genuine respect for the right of his neighbor. I don't like
the way he treats me. I don't like the way he does
things. I don't like the way he's doing the things he does,
so I'll just kill him. That's what happened here. In
verse 1, look what it says here. And Adam knew Eve, his wife,
and she conceived and bear Cain, and said, I've gotten a man from
the Lord. She thought Cain was this promised Messiah, the seed
of the woman. She thought this was going to
be the promised Messiah, the Savior, the Redeemer of them.
She said, I've gotten the man from the Lord. That's what she's
saying here. And then in verse 2, Our Lord singled out these
sons of Adam to teach us all redemption by blood. And she
giveth his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but
Cain was a tiller of grain. He singled out these two men
here, these two sons of Adam, to teach us all that redemption
is by blood. that redemption and salvation
is by the sacrifice of another. It says in Hebrews 9.22, without
the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. There's
going to be no sin put away. There's going to be no sin paid
for. And God says the life of the flesh is in the blood, and
I have given the blood upon the altar to make atonement for your
souls. And then the second thing he
teaches us by these two sons is not only redemption by the
blood, but to condemn salvation by works. In the process of time, Cain
brought the fruit of the ground, an offering unto the Lord. Abel,
in verse 4, brought the first of his flock. And the Lord had
respect unto Abel and his offering. God shows us here that he condemns
and judges and will not accept salvation by works. Not by works
of righteousness, which we haven't done. For by grace are you saved
through faith, and that's not of yourselves, it's the gift
of God. Not of works. Lest any man should
boast. If a man taught something in
tribute, he'll boast about it. That's why free willism is so
damnable because man actually thinks that he, by his own power
and authority and doings, that he can contribute to what God
did in Christ. That he thinks he's got contributed
to his own salvation. World's religion is horrible. It's damnable. And oh, that's
what he says, we were redeemed not by such corruptible things
as silver, gold, but by the precious blood of Christ. And oh, beloved,
the way of Abel here, when he brought the firstlings of the
flock, that's the way of grace. That's the way of grace. The
way of Cain, when he brought the fruit of his ground, that's
the way of works. And here, beloved, this is the
crossroads, this is the place man's going to come to. He's
either going to come to God, either by his own works, or he's
going to come to God through Christ, through a blood offering.
And he's going to choose one of them, he's going to make his
mind up which way he's going to come to God. There ain't but
two religions in this world. No matter how you boil it down,
there ain't but two religions. That's of God, the hall of grace,
or it's of works, and it's got to be all of works. No matter
what thing it goes under. You know, that's what he says,
if it's of grace, then it's no more works. Romans 11, 5, if
it's of grace, it's no more works. Or otherwise, it wouldn't be
grace. He says now, if it's of works,
It's not a grace or otherwise works. It not really works. You
can't mix them together when it comes to coming before in
the presence of God. And there we have here two religions. And we have two men. One's a
farmer and one's a shepherd. One's a shepherd. And let's look
at this together. First thing we learn this is
through Cain and Abel. God is to be worshipped. and
can only be worshipped by sacrifice. And the sacrifice is to be offered
in faith. It says there in verse 3, And
in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought her
the fruit of the ground, an offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also
brought her the persons of his flock, and the pack thereof,
and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but
unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And also
here comes Abel, he comes and he offers a sacrifice to the
persons of his flock, and the sacrifice is to be offered in
faith. Now there's three things here
that we see about the worship of Cain and Abel. First of all,
there was a place where God was to be worshipped. It said in
the process of time it came, that they came to this place.
They can process the time and they were also brought. So there
was a place that they came to. There was a time and a place
that they came to worship God and offer their sacrifices. Cain
brought an offering unto the Lord. And he brought his sacrifice
and his offering to a particular place. And it tells us there in verse
16 that Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. He brought
his offering to a particular place. Abel brought his offering
to a particular place. And one of them stayed in the
presence. One of them, he said, because my offering is not respected
and my offering is not accepted, I will go out from the presence
of the Lord. And that's what happens. If God
will not accept your works and your offering, you'll go out
from the presence of the Lord. And no doubt, beloved, there
was an altar here. Because Abel brought the firstlings
of the flock and the fat thereof. And what they'd done, they'd
burnt the fat upon the altar. And that was a sweet-smelling
savor unto God. So there was a God's only to
be worshipped by a sacrifice. And it's not a, you know, they
both brought sacrifices. And then there was an appointed
time for worship. It says there in verse 3, and
the cross says the time, or at the end of days. at the end of days. It says in
the margin. At the end of a certain amount
of days. You know they had three feasts
and they had three particular offerings, the feasts that they
had. You know there was the Passover. They done that once a year. That
was at the end of days they went. Then they had the Feast of Tabernacles.
That's the end of days they went to there. And so they had these
end of days. It was a time that there was
a set time for these fellows to come and make their offerings,
to come before God. And then there was the prescribed
means of worship. A prescribed means. God could
be approached and worshipped only by means of a sacrifice.
Well, now how in the world do you know that they knew this?
I'll tell you how they do it. Adam taught them. Who else could
have taught them? You know Adam was hid in the
garden in the first shedding of blood. God shed the blood. The first shedding of blood was
God slew the animals and clothed Adam and Eve. They learned right
then and there. That the only way your sin can
be atoned for, the only way your sin can be put away, the only
way you can be accepted of me is through the death of the just
for the unjust. Somebody is going to die for
sin. If you're going to stay in my presence and worship me,
your sin must be atoned for. And so God shed the blood, God
Himself clothed their nakedness with the sin of all skin, showing
that righteousness of Christ is the only thing that can serve
Him. And oh beloved, and look what it says there, in verse
4. And Abel he also brought unto
the first of his flock, and the fat thereof, and the Lord had
respect unto Abel's offering. Now you keep Genesis 4 and look
with me over in Hebrews chapter 11. I want you to see this. Look what God said about Abel.
God speaks about Abel over here. And the only thing he says about
Cain is over in 1 John he says Cain was of that
wicked one. Hebrews 11 verse 4, now it says,
you know, by faith Abel offered. Look what it says here in Hebrews
11 verse 4, by faith, that's what I told you, you know, the
offering has to be by faith. By faith Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. By which he obtained witness
that he was righteous. Who witnessed that he was righteous?
God witnessed to it, because he came God's way. God's witnessing
to his faith. God's witnessing to his sacrifice. God's witnessing to his righteousness. God testifying of his gifts,
and by that blood that he shed, and by that gift that he done,
by it he being there, yes, speaking to us, teaching us, and preaching
to us, today, by Abel's act of sacrifice, and Abel's blood shedding. And all beloved, he believed
God, and it was effortless, by offering a sacrifice according
to God's will. And you know, faith cometh by
hearing, hearing by the Word of God, and that's how his faith
came to him. He believed what his father told him about God.
He believed what his father told him about a sacrifice. He believed
what his father told him about needing a blood sacrifice. He
believed him. He believed God, and he believed
that his father says, you know son, if you don't bring the right
offering, Your sin will be against you in the day of judgment, and
you'll suffer eternally. The only way in the world that
I'm alive today, and I'm accepted of God today, is because God
Himself shed blood. And no doubt from then on, Adam
himself no doubt offered that sacrifice. And here's Abel, he
believed what his father said about God, so he believed God.
Now watch what happens here, back over in Genesis 4. The offerings
of Cain and Mabel, it says here that God accepted one and rejected
the other. He accepted one, and let me tell
you this, the difference is not in the two men. You can't turn
your hand for the difference in these two men. You know what
the difference was? Their offerings. What they brought
to offer. That was the difference. Cain
wasn't any worse than Abel. They both were sinners. They
both was in need of a savior. They both in need of redemption.
They're both in need of a sacrifice. They're both in need of being
accepted of God. They're both in need of righteousness.
They both need a sacrifice to come into the presence of God.
Cain wasn't worse than Abel. He wasn't an atheist here. He
wasn't an infidel. The very fact that he came here
and brought his own offering, he acknowledged the existence
of God. He was going to go up and worship him, but he was going
to worship him his way. He says there in verse 3, that
came, brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the
Lord. He's going to worship God after his own way. And you know
what that's called? That's called will worship. That's
called will worship. How many people will worship?
At least worship by the reasoning of your own will and your own
way and decide this is the way I'll do it. That's what will
worship is about. How many people will worship? They worship by
their own will, their own reasoning, their own philosophy, their own
opinions, their own thoughts, their own feelings. And God don't
enter into the picture. The Bible don't enter into the
picture. And He brought us through the
ground. And I'll tell you another reason why his offering was rejected. His offering was a bloodless
one. It was bloodless. And without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sin. When God told him to offer the
sacrifice, the Passover lamb, He said, put the blood on the
side post of the door and over the lintel. And He says, when
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. And every house that didn't
have blood, the firstborn in that house, died that night in
Egypt. The only place where anybody
didn't die was in those houses that had the blood on them. And
the only way their firstborn died was through that blood,
that Passover lamb. And there were probably over
200,000 lambs offered that night, but God says the Passover, count
it as one. And there's only one offering
that God will accept, and that's the blood of His own Son. And
Christ has already offered that, so you can't bring an offering.
You've got to come to the offering God's provided. Christ has done
enter once into the Holy Place, and there put His own blood on
the altar. And there, beloved, He came out
with eternal redemption for us. Huh? And, oh beloved, when he
brought his blood as a sacrifice, he would deny his need of being
redeemed. I don't need a redeemer. Why
do I need a redeemer? Why do I need somebody to redeem
me? Why do I need somebody to pay my sin debt? Huh? He says, I'll be my own
priest. I don't need a priest to offer
a sacrifice for me. I'll bring my own. I'll be my
own priest. I don't need nobody to mediate
for me. I don't need blood to mediate for me. I don't need
anybody to mediate for me. I'll be my own mediator. Huh? And, oh, beloved, not only was
it offering of blood, this one, but his offering was the fruit
of his own labor. It's just what it says. Oh, he
said he brought her the fruit of the ground and offering unto
the Lord. You know, you go in these Chinese restaurants, and
of course, when you go in there, they all got them a little altar.
You can't go in any of them, but they got an altar. And you
know what they got? They got a bunch of fruit there. They got a bunch
of little statues, and they got fruit there. Next time you go
to China, go in there, and you'll see they got a little table there. They got a basket of fruit and
stuff there. You know what that is? That's the offer to their
gods. And they're not, you know, would
I not accept an orange? Would our God accept turnips?
Would our God accept tomatoes? Would He accept a bushel of beans? Would He accept a bushel basket
full of yellow squash? Would He accept a hundred pounds
of potatoes? Would that put away our sin?
Was that what He brought? Take them to the county fair
and let them judge them and get you blue ribbon for your potatoes
and your squash and your corn and your beans. But don't bring
them to God. Don't bring the works of your
hands to God. Because you're just bringing
nothing but beans and corn and squash and tomatoes and God said
I won't have it. What kind of God would it be
that could be satisfied with that? They don't even satisfy us. That's
why we just keep buying them, and keep getting them, and keep
using them over and over again. There's only one thing that satisfies
God, and only one thing will satisfy our conscience. One thing
satisfied God, and that was the blood of His Son, the death of
His Son. He saw the travail of His soul,
and was satisfied. And beloved, the same thing it
took to satisfy God, took to satisfy me, and if God is satisfied
with Christ, it satisfies my conscience. And it don't cry
out anymore. The same blood that appeased
and satisfied God, appeases and satisfies my own conscience.
Huh? And oh, beloved. Oh, here's the
works of His own hands. What He was doing here, He was
denying that He was a sinner before God. That's what He's
saying. I'm not a sinner. Huh? I don't, I don't, you know,
I don't deserve death. And not only did he bring the
fruit of the ground, but he brought it from a cursed ground. The
ground had been cursed when God told Adam, Cursed shall be the
ground for thy sake. From his forth, it ain't gonna
bring nothing but thorns and briars because you don't have
the sweat to make a living now. So he wanted to bring the sweat.
of his own. And it's not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but his own mercy he saved us. And thirdly,
he refused God's revealed way of worship and acceptance. God
has done revealed the way he's going to be worshipped, the way
he's going to be accepted. He's done shed the blood. And that's
why it says in Ephesians 1 and 6, when we're accepted in the
beloved, in whom we have redemption, through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. So God rejected Abel's offer. Why did God have respect unto
Abel's offer? First of all, it was an offering
of faith. We see over there, by faith, Abel offered. It was
an offering of faith. And then God said his was a more
excellent sacrifice. And they'll say Abel was more
excellent. Don't talk about anything about Abel. He said, you know,
by faith he offered a more excellent sacrifice. Not Abel's the finest
fellow in the world. Not Abel's the strongest man
in the world. Not Abel's the most faithful man in the world.
He said he was accepted because of his sacrifice. We stand or
fall with our sacrifice. He came to the way that God told
him to come. And secondly, it was an offering,
typifying the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a lamb. When John says,
Behold the Lamb of God, he was remembered all the way back here
and all the way through the scriptures where there was a lamb. Bring
a lamb. Remember Abraham told his son,
My son, God will provide himself a lamb. And sure enough, when
he had Isaac on the altar, God stayed his hand and he looked
around behind him and there was a ram caught in the thicket and
he put that around that male lamb without spotting blemish
in Isaac's place. So every lamb typified showed
redemption through Christ Jesus our Lord. And oh he brought a lamb the
firstling of the flock It's the innocent dying for the
guilty. That lamb never done anything. Christ had no sin. He knew no
sin. But He was made sin for who?
For us, His people. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity
of the soul. It's the innocent dying for the
guilty and it has to be without spot and without blemish. And
when He brought that, He was confessing that I'm a sinner. I deserve death. So I offer this
in my place, in my stead, so that I will die and accept this,
O God, from, accept this offering, and I'll, and judge Him in my
place. Let Him die in my stead. And
oh, that's why people, that's why people have such a hard time.
They had such a hard time. They just can't hardly believe
that I could be that bad of a sinner, that I must be that awful that
it would take the blood of somebody else. But in that Leviticus,
they laid their hands upon the head of the sacrifice. That meant, beloved, you identified
with it. You were confessing your sins
on it. You were confessing, I deserve to die. And all will be loved. Put your
hands on Christ. Come to Him. Now look what happens
down here in verse 5. But under Cain and his offering
he had not respect, and Cain was very angry. Got mad. And his countenance was falling.
His countenance fell. He got angry. You know, you can
tell. How many times have one of you
all said something? Who are you mad at today? Why are you so
mad? Why are you so upset? You can tell what people's count
is for. Huh? Well, I'll take care of him.
He sure seems like he's mad at somebody. Yeah, I don't have
to. Who in the world are you mad
at today? I've done nothing to you. Well, that's what Cain was. He was mad and he was mad at
God. You mean to tell me that I cannot
be accepted by what I've done. I've brought the best I've got.
I've picked through it. And you mean to tell me you're
not going to accept me? You're not going to accept me? Look what I've done. I labored
hard for this. And he got mad. Oh, because God refused his offering. It was a form of godliness. That's all he had here. But he
did not have the very power of it. There was no genuineness
to his offering. No genuineness, no reality to
his godliness. And look what God said to him.
God asked him, why are you wrong? Why is he counting his calling?
You know who he was talking to? The Lord Jesus Christ. God's
only spoken to men through Christ. Now watch what he says here.
He said, if thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? What
that means is, if you bring the accepted sacrifice, you'll be
accepted. And look what he says, and if
thou doest well, sin lies at the door. And what he's saying
is, if there's a sacrifice let outside your door, you know exactly
what kind of sacrifice to bring. You go outside your door, you
can go get a sacrifice. You can get a blood sacrifice.
And then watch what he's saying. That's why I noticed what it
means. Because unto thee shall be his desire. You're the firstborn. And you'll rule over him. So he says, if you bring the
right sacrifice, that would be the right thing to do, and that
would be the will, and then you'll be accepted then. But if you
don't, you'll be... You'll end up lost. And that's what he did. He went
out in the presence of the Lord. And oh, beloved, look what happens
in verse 8. And Cain talked with Abel, his brother. They was out
having a conversation. Talking like brothers do. And no doubt he began to, I think,
probably show his authority over it. And Abel says, you know what
you need to do to be accepted. Abel probably started preaching
the gospel to him. Probably started preaching the
gospel to him. Probably started telling him, you know, God accepted,
not me, but accepted my offering. And watch what happens. And it
came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up
against Abel his brother and slew him. First, sin permitted
outside the garden. other than Abel or Cain bringing
his sacrifice, which was murder, killed his own brother. Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as yourself. He didn't even love his family.
He didn't even love his own brother enough to keep from killing him.
You say, people wouldn't do that. Oh yeah, brothers have killed
brothers. They've always done it. Been many of them done that.
Been many of them done that. That's happened here. I know
of brothers killing brothers. But now look what happens now.
And so Cain had believed he had lost the birthright of the firstborn,
and rather kill Abel than submit to him. Cain decided to be first at all
costs. If it means that I've got to
kill you to be the firstborn, I'll do it. Look what happens now. And the
Lord said unto Cain, We're as able thy brethren. Now
I want you to notice something. You can't hide sin. There was
no human eye. There were just two men there
in that field. And there was no witnesses. Nobody there. They wasn't going
to be taken to court. Wasn't going to be tried for
murder. Wasn't going to be tried for manslaughter. There were
just two men there. But yet, his sin couldn't be
hid. You know who saw it? God saw
it. God saw. Ain't that what it says
here? Sin can't be had. There's no human witness, but
God saw. God saw. Ain't that what he says? We're
going to say, well, thy brother, he said. First thing he done,
he lied to God. Boy, when you start down that
slippery slope, bringing your own works and that, next thing
you know, you'd be lying to God. Oh, I ain't never killed anybody. I ain't never killed anybody.
I ain't never murdered anybody. But have you ever been mad at
somebody enough that if you'd got your hands on them, you'd
hurt them? Have you ever parted vengeance in your heart or in
your mind? That's murder. That's what our Lord said. Look
what he said. Am I my brother's keeper? I don't
know where he's happy. Oh, he started lying to God.
Be sure your sins shall find you out. Cain said, I know God.
He starts out. Starts out, first of all, mad
because he's mad at God. Abel, no doubt, says, you know,
you've got a sacrifice. Why don't you take it? God told
him he could go get a sacrifice. And here Abel goes out in the
field and he starts preaching to him and he says, no, I'm the
firstborn and I'm going to rule this roof if it means your death.
And so he started out, first of all, mad at God, but he couldn't
get to God. But you know who he could get to? He could get
to his brother. He could get to that one accepted
of God. And that's the way people are
in this world. If they can't get to God, they get to the closest
thing to Him. Me and you. And oh, beloved, notice there
was no contrition here. There was no broken heart. There
was no broken spirit. There was no humility here. There
was no Kim confessing his sin. He didn't say, I've sinned. I'm
sorry. Oh, I've done a wicked thing.
Please forgive me. Oh, I didn't mean to kill. And
you know, if he had turned around and brought a sacrifice, David
committed murder, but yet he was a man after God's own heart
and he was accepted of God. He died in peace. This man committed
murder and was not sorry for it. David said, it's against
you I've sinned to have done this evil in your sight. Simon Peter denied the Lord three
times. He said, nobody denied the Lord.
Simon Peter did three times. But he was forgiven of his sins. This man did not. He could have
been forgiven, but he says, no. I'm not brokenhearted. I'm not
going to confess my sins. He lied to God. He didn't say,
oh, what have I done? I've killed my own brother. No,
no. Do you know what he said? And he said in verse 10, he said,
what have you done? The voice of thy brother's blood
crieth unto me from the ground. It's the blood of a righteous
man calling out to God. It's the blood of a man accepted
of God crying out. And if you think Abel's blood,
imagine what the voice of the blood of Christ says. How loud
it speaks before the presence of God. If Abel's blood voice
speaks, how much more shall the voice of the Son of God and His
blood speak in the presence of God. Huh? Oh my. And now God says this in verse
11. Now you're cursed. from their
earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's
blood from thy hand." When you till the ground, it ain't going
to yield to you under you anymore. Not like it has. A fugitive,
you're going to be a fugitive the rest of your life. You're
going to be a vagabond. You'll never have a resting place.
You're going to be on earth. And watch what old Cain says. He said, this is what I deserve.
This is what I deserve. It's what I deserve. No. He said,
oh Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear. You're just
too hard on me. My punishment is too great. That's
what Satan told Eve. He said, oh no, no. God won't
cause you to die. You'll just have your eyes open.
You shall not surely die. He said, God's too just to kill
you. God's too just to damn you. God's
too just to let you die. And that's why he said, if God
did justice, it's just too much. My punishment's too much for
what I've done. But oh, here he is, he lied to
God. Tried to come to God with his
own words. That's what you think about this,
if righteousness come by the law. If it come by your deeds,
come by your works, then Christ is dead in vain. That's what
he's telling us. If you try to come to God any
other way than through the blood of Christ and His righteousness
sacrifice, what you're saying is that Christ is not enough.
His death is not enough. His blood is not enough. His
righteousness is not enough. There really ain't complete salvation
in Him. I need to add something to it.
And how damnable would that thing be to God? How would that stink
in the mouth of somebody? And then verse 14,
he says, Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face
of the earth. Even the earth will reject me.
Everybody on earth will reject me. And watch this, and from
thy face shall I be hid. Oh, my. You'll never look at
me again. You'll never look my way again.
And David and all how many saints says, Oh Lord, cause your face
to shine upon us. Turn your face toward us. Cause
the countenance of thy face to shine upon us. And here he says,
Oh, your face on me. I'll be hid from it. I'll be
a fugitive, a vagabond in there. And watch while now, he says,
in the time to pass, if everyone finds me, he's going to try to
kill me. Gonna try to kill me. Gonna be
a wanderer. And watch what God said to him
here. The Lord said unto him, Therefore
whosoever slayeth Cain, your vengeance shall be taken on him
seven times worse. You think your punishment is
greater than you can bear? You wait till somebody lays a hand
on you. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain. What kind of mark?
I had no idea. But evidently he put some kind
of a mark on him. And that's any man should kill
him. He said, you're going to live to the day you die and you're
going to live in misery. You're never going to know any
peace. You're going to always feel like somebody, the wicked,
you're going to feel like somebody's going to kill you. Every morning
you get up today, somebody's going to slay me. Somebody's
going to kill me. You're going to have a miserable
life from down to the day you die. You're going to find out.
And that's what eternity is going to be like. Hid from the presence
of God. Be a fugitive. Be put out from
the presence of God. And God puts a mark on you that
you'll never be in my presence ever again. And you'll die and
never die. You'll always be dying, but you'll
never die. What a horrible state. And then
look what it says. And Cain went out from the presence
of the Lord. Oh my, surely, surely you won't
go out of here from the presence of God today,
will you? Will you go out from the presence of the Lord today,
like Cain? He says, there's God. There's
His presence. There's how I can be accepted.
But I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to turn and go
this way right now. I'm going to put God to my back. I'm going to put God behind me. And
I'm going to go that way right there. Surely you wouldn't do that.
Surely, surely, surely you wouldn't do that. Where's the praise to
the Lord at? At the right hand of God. The
Lord Jesus Christ. God help you to look to Him.
Look to Him. You know, the work's done, the
sacrifice's been offered. There's nothing for you to do
but say, I believe God. I believe that sacrifice. I believe
that blood offering. And I'm going to come to Him.
God help you to do it. Our precious, precious Lord Jesus.
Our gracious God in Heaven. Thank you for your gospel. Thank
you for the truth as it is in Christ. Father, bless this word
to hearts and minds today. Father, don't let anyone go out
here from your presence. Stir up the heart, stir up the
mind, stir up the conscience until it can find no rest, no
peace, except in the Lord Jesus Christ and his work done for
sinners. God help them please to do that
for Christ's sake. We bless you for Him. Amen. Amen.