And turn to Genesis chapter 4. That's the first book of the
Bible. Genesis chapter 4. I want to read like the first
five verses. Verse 1, And Adam knew Eve his
wife, and she conceived, and Bear came. and said, I have gotten
a man from the Lord. And she again bear his brother
Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep,
but Cain was a tiller of the ground. In 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, and the Lord
had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and
to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and
his countenance fell." I'm just going to stop right there. I want to talk about Cain and
Abel. I don't know what gave it away, but y'all don't look
surprised. Work and grace. That's what we see here. Work
and grace. This is the account of Cain and
Abel. Now this is not a Bible story,
okay? I look, because I remember those
Bible story books they used to have in doctor's offices and
stuff. And our mom probably bought us one. I'm sure we had one at
home. And I'm sure I scribbled all over the thing with crayon.
If I didn't, somebody else did because it was covered with crayons.
This is not a Bible story. The end of this story does not
end with Cain was going to have to live with the guilt of his
brother for the rest of his life and feel sorry. That's not how
this story is. Y'all know it. I don't have to
go through and read the whole thing. I don't want to spend
that kind of time. It ends up with Cain cursed.
and leaving the presence of the Lord. And that's what he wanted to
do. He did exactly what he wanted to do. We'll see that. But this
is the true account of the first two men born into this world. And the world has gone on exactly
the same ever since. I got to thinking, Walter, this
is a variation of that rule of the first mention. This is the
story of the first two men born into this world. And it shows
exactly the division that God makes. I like to look into the background
of the accounts of which I'm trying to preach, but this is
all I got. This is all there is. This is everything I have about
these two men. Cain continues on for the rest of the chapter.
It really doesn't seem a lot, especially about Abel. There
is one other verse, which we'll of course talk about in Hebrews
chapter 11. But it doesn't seem like a lot.
You can read it in about a minute and a half. But what I do want
to lay before you today is this account of these first two men
born in this world. Adam and Eve were created. These
are the first two people born in this world, and they ended
up at variance with each other. Well, one of them at variance
with the other. And this is the way this world's
history has gone. This is the way history has unfolded
in the scriptures and out there. Right now, right now, this is
exactly what is happening in this world. I mean, in this five
verses, we don't have a whole lot, but what we have is enough
to see the truth of God. I told Debbie, I repeated to
Debbie something that Dr. Jones said, Walter. I don't know
if it was on one of the disks I gave you, but he said, he was
quoting someone else saying, The only thing that history teaches
us is that history doesn't teach us a thing. That's the truth. That's the truth, for the most
part. You know, Earl used to say, better felt than telts,
what his mom told him. People don't learn from history.
People don't learn. I have a saying, I like to use
Learn from the mistakes of others. You don't have enough time to
commit them all yourself. Most people don't. But right
here, in this five verses, we will see the history of the world
as it is right now and going forward. Because man has not
changed. He starts off, and Adam and Eve
knew his wife, and she conceived and bear Cain, and said, I have
gotten a man from the Lord. Adam and Eve had a son. Now, Adam and Eve had a son. And Eve made that statement.
That's the only statement they have. I've gotten a man from the Lord.
She was looking for that seed of the woman. That's what she
was looking for. going to find out she didn't
have it. But that's what she was looking
for. And it was a celebration of life. It's a gift from God. She was looking for the one to
bruise the serpent's head. That's a good look. That's a
thing to look forward to. But this wasn't him. As it became
evident. Then it says, and she bared his
brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but
Cain was a tiller of the ground. So Adam and Eve had another son,
and Cain got a brother. We have no time frame given for
when these boys were born. We don't know how old they were.
If you look in the next chapter, you'll see, let's see. Verse 3 of chapter 5 says, and
Adam lived 130 years and begat a son in his own likeness after
his image and called his name Seth. That was 130 years. We don't know how long it was
when Cain was born or Abel was born. All we're told is that
they're born and that Cain was the elder brother. Is that order important? Well,
the short answer is yes. The long answer is everything
in the scripture is important. Whether you understand it or
not, whether I understand it or not, everything in this scripture
is important. We're told that Cain was the
elder brother. Abel was the second brother. It's the first man born into
the world, the second man born into the world. Now in the New
Testament, you will find something about a first man and a second
man. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 47 says
this, the first man is of the earth, earthy, and the second
man is the Lord from heaven. Now that's a reference to Adam
and to Christ Jesus, the natural man and the spiritual man. In
the first man, we have sin, disobedience, and death. That's Adam. Now,
even though I do believe Adam's saved, I disagree with Scott
Richardson on that, I think. And in the second man, we have
righteousness, obedience, and life. And we have a little bit
of a picture of that here. But this is all we have of the
lives of Cain and Abel until they come to give offering. Abel
was a keeper of the sheep and Cain was a tiller of the ground.
That's their whole history up until this point, up to this
offering. These two sons grew up. These
two sons worked. They had the same mother and
father. And that's it, that's all we got. There's no more here. Now I do have a point here. Don't
be concerned with what's left out of scripture. There's a lot
left out. There's a couple of whole lives
left out here. However, be very concerned with
what we do have. There are some people who spend
a lot of time speculating on what might have happened, what
could have happened, and all that breeds is questions that
can't be answered. Look at what He's given us. That's
the point. Look at what we have. We have
been given this book, this account, for a reason. And we are given
every account and every word for a reason, whether we know
it or not. Then the next three verses I'm
going to have to kind of talk about all together, because it's
all the same. And 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 the flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord
had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and
to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and
his countenance fell. I think it's an amazing coincidence,
and it seems to be that way that some people think it, because
I was being sarcastic, that they both decided to make an offering
at the same time to the Lord. It doesn't tell us what they
know or what they were told. But it does tell in the process
of time, they came to give an offering to the Lord. There was a set time. Now what
that time was, I don't know. But in the process of time, Cain
came to give an offering. Abel came to give an offering.
There is a time we are to worship God. If you know him, it's all
the time. If you don't know him, it's all
the time. But they had a set time, evidently. I mean, he brought this in here
for a reason. And Cain decided at some time
to bring an offering to the Lord. Abel also Now here are some observations
and conclusions from this account these three verses. I got similarities,
and I got differences the similarities Both Cain and Abel were natural
men. They were both born outside of
the Garden of Eden Both Cain and Abel were born of fallen
parents the same parents Now what's that mean? Both Cain and
Abel were sinners. Both had a fallen nature. They
were the sons of fallen Adam. Not of Adam in the garden, fallen
Adam. Outside of the garden, outside
of paradise. Naturally, there is no difference
between Cain and Abel. There is no natural difference.
They had the same parents, they had the same upbringing, they
had the same circumstances, and they were coming to the Lord
at the same time. They were trying to approach the Lord at the same
time. Both Cain and Abel brought an
offering. Both Cain and Abel felt a need
to bring an offering to the Lord. And both Cain and Abel wanted
to worship God. And both Cain and Abel thought
they were worshiping God. That's the similarities. Now
the differences. Cain brought a bloodless offering. Abel brought an offering with
blood and fat. Cain brought of the fruit of
the ground, and Abel brought a firstling of the flock. What
difference does that make? It makes all the difference in
the world. Cain thought to worship with
the work of his own hands. Cain offered to God for his sins
the fruit of a cursed ground. Why is that? Because Cain said,
I can make things right. And Abel said, I'm not right. That's why he brought it firstly
by the flock. Cain's offering shows contempt
for the word of God and for the seed of the woman. Because Cain,
Cain did not bring blood. That's the long and the short
of it. It's a blood sacrifice. You'll
see it from here on out. As we like to say, the prepondent
testimony of scripture. From here on out, you will never
see an approach unto God ever without blood. And the same goes
true about our Lord Jesus Christ. When he ascended into heaven,
he didn't ascend without blood. He ascended with his own blood.
Perfect blood. The perfect sacrifice for sin. But he did not approach unto
God without blood. Cain tried to. Whether Cain knew it or not,
an unpardoned sinner coming to the Lord with a bloodless offering
is showing that he thinks the father is wrong. It's that elder
son syndrome. That's what I want to call this
from now on. And guess what? Cain was an elder son. Yeah,
just like that prodigal talked about last week. We don't bring offerings today
of blood. The blood has been offered to
God by Christ once for all. But at this time and in this
place, showing forth the death that was to come, you are not
to approach God without blood. Ever. Ever. This is not a sheave offering
from the law, you know, or a wave offering. You know, this is not
the feast of the first fruits. This is an offering, a sacrifice
for sin. And it never, ever, ever happens
without blood. And it doesn't matter whether
Cain knew that or not. That's the way it is. You know? And you'll see it a little bit.
God gave him a chance. Did something out of the ordinary.
When does God do anything ordinary anyway? Abel knew somehow, doesn't
tell us how, that the Lord could be approached but only by a blood
sacrifice. Abel brought a substitute for
himself. And that substitute died. He
brought forth the firstling of the flock and the fat thereof.
Cain didn't believe he needed a substitute. Abel knew the answer to the sin
question. Because the answer to the sin
question is death. What is the result of sin? Death. And it's either going to be yours
or it's going to be somebody else's. That's the two choices. Someone is going to die for sin. Either you or a substitute. And
Abel brought his substitute here to approach unto the Lord. He
did not come without a blood sacrifice. Because Abel knew
that with the shedding of blood there is remission. And here's the kicker of the
differences between these two brothers. That which brought
able joy filled Cain with wrath. Now does that sound familiar
today? Approaching God in the proper
manner is going to fill this world with wrath. It still does. It still does. What was it, 30 years ago, Walter,
I had somebody wave a fist in my face. Because of this gospel. Because of this book. Because
of the truth in this book. Because of the truth of Jesus
Christ. A man turned around and put his
fist up at me. I held my hand down. Sure, I'm
an idiot. But no, I was not offended. They thought they were rejecting
me. They weren't. I was not the offended
party. I still believe that to this
day, Walter. I don't know how in the world I stayed that calm.
When I look back at it, I really don't. Well, it's the grace of
God. It was His hand. But I was not
offended. I wasn't hurt or upset that they
were mad at me. I was hurt. But I was saddened
more than anything else because they were rejecting the Christ
of this book. They would not have this man
to reign over them. And that gospel, which fills
me with joy, which I love to hear, I love to hear proclaimed,
I love to read, I love to study sometimes and just, and I don't
have enough time. That very same gospel fills them
with wrath. And their countenance fell, Walter,
that night. It fell hard. If you were there,
Roy was, I know, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It was
about a melee almost broke out. That's the way the world reacts
to a blood sacrifice. To the truth and the true way
of approaching the Lord. That's who we're approaching,
the Lord. That's who Cain and Abel were
trying to approach, the Lord. You don't need to approach me,
I can't do you any good. The approach is unto Him. And
you better come the right way. Oh my, that sounds like works.
Well, yeah it does, but he'll see to it. He has an ordained way. He's
got an ordained way now. We don't come with blood sacrifice. We come and hear His Word preached. And we believe Him. We believe
Him. Abel believed Him. Because there's a question here. Why did Cain despise the way
God is to be worshipped? And how did Abel know the proper
offering to bring to the Lord? Well, it's in Hebrews 11, verse
4, of course. You can't talk about Abel without
Hebrews 11. That's right. You can't talk
about Cain without Hebrews 11, because he's mentioned in there,
too. Hebrews 11, verse 4. By faith. By faith. By faith. By faith. Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained
witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts,
and by it he being dead yet speaketh." We are still talking about Abel's
sacrifice, Abel's offering, and Cain's offering. And Abel's offering was a more
excellent sacrifice. It was blood, and the fat thereof. The life is in the blood. And the savor, the flavor, is
in the fat. And God's going to have the good
stuff, or he's not going to have nothing at all. This is what
he said. The answer to those two questions, by faith able. knew the proper
offering to bring to the Lord. And why did Cain despise the
way God is to be worshipped? Cain was faith-less. An unbeliever. And that's what
that word unbeliever means. It means faith-less. What? You have no faith! If you don't
believe God, There's no other answer that
matters. Because naturally, like I said
before, naturally, there's no difference between Cain and Abel,
and there never was. But here's that point. Faith
is not natural. Faith is not human, if you want
to put it that way. It's not human! Walter said it
this morning, it's the gift of God. Abel had faith. Cain did not
have faith. That's the difference between
them. And was it say, when they offered
their sacrifices, what did it say? God had respect unto Abel. and his offering. But unto Cain
and his offering he had not respect. There's a difference there. Now,
I've been reading this book by this fellow. He does a really,
really wonderful job, and he sits there, but he wrote in there
that the only difference between Abel and Cain lay in their sacrifices. That's not quite true. The only
difference between Cain and Abel was manifested in their sacrifices. That's what it is. The only difference between them
was faith. By faith, Abel offered a more
excellent sacrifice. It was a more excellent sacrifice.
It was the sacrifice that God had ordained for that time and
that place. But Abel offered it by faith.
And faith is not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. And Abel
had it, and Cain didn't have it. So yes, there was a difference
between Cain and Abel. It was not of themselves, it
was not natural. But it's of God. That's the difference. And that's
the very first account of those two men, the first two men born
in this world. That's the difference today. This is the only verse in Hebrews
11 that actually shows a contrast between two people. Usually it
says, Noah did this, moved to the Sabaoth. Abraham did this,
Abraham did, here it says Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain. It didn't matter what Cain brought.
And Cain came first. By faith, Abel offered a more
excellent sacrifice. And you'll see, like I read just
a little while ago in chapter 4, see Cain's listed first. He's the elder brother. But when
it comes to the response, Abel's came first. And then Cain's came. He responded to the excellent
sacrifice first. before he tells us that he had
not respect to Cain or a sacrifice. Why point out this contrast between
Abel and Cain? Because that's the whole story.
That's the account. That's the account. Abel acted
by faith and Cain didn't. God spoke to Cain after the sacrifice,
after the offering, before the murder, because the murder's
coming. I'm not necessarily getting into
it, but it's coming. And the Lord said unto him, this
is verse six, said unto Cain, why art thou wroth? And why is
thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted, and if thou doest not well, send life at
the door. And unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him. Why are you wroth? Now, again,
I'm implying something here, but I think the speaker is inferring. If God is asking that question,
Cain already knows the answer. You understand? God was not speaking
just to hear himself speak. And I think it's just amazing
that he spoke to him. But then you think back, there
was not this book back then. I believe Cain knew the right
thing to do, but he didn't do it. And he didn't do it on purpose. Because he didn't want to, and
that's why he was mad. Because he thought he knew better
than the father. Just like that elder son, Mason.
He thought he knew what God needed. God doesn't need anything. God
didn't need anything. He was teaching us by this blood
sacrifice. He didn't need a lamb's blood
either. But without shedding of blood, there is no remission
and he wants you to know that. And it took the precious blood
of his only begotten son to redeem his people. Abel believed that
by faith. Cain didn't. The Bible exists in an after
manner as an instruction manual for a world that won't follow
it. It's right here in black and white. It's right here. This book is right here. You
can go and buy one. You can buy one from Amazon online.
You don't even have to leave your house. They'll bring it
to you. That's right. I'm waiting for one of them drones
to come by my house and drop something. I'm going to shoot
it out of the sky. He says, it's here. The word of God is clear. And
Cain, I do believe, Cain knew this. And willingly, knowingly
rebelled. He didn't see it as rebellion.
He saw it as putting his two cents in. And that's what this
world sees it as. That you go and listen. Well,
no, don't go and listen. But if you want to, turn on your
television. And you will hear so many ways to approach God,
your head will spin. But you won't hear what comes
out of this book. It's an aberration if you do. You come to the front of the
church, you pray the sinner's prayer, and you go back and you're
fine. You go to a meeting and revival
and you dedicate your life to the Lord. He doesn't need your
life, you need His life. God doesn't need us for anything. I do like it. You know if I were
hungry. I wouldn't tell you He doesn't
need us for anything. We need him And the conclusion is this The
whole religious world is divided and shown here in Canaan a Christ
said, I came to bring division. I came to set at variance. That's what happened here. That's
what happened here. Faithful and faithless. And I wasn't pointing at you
guys calling me faithful. Faithful and faithless. That's it. That's what this religious world
is divided into. Those who come by grace through
faith and those who want to come by their own works. Whatever
those works are, it doesn't matter. That's the two differences. This
book is full of divisions from beginning to end. Starting right
here with the first two guys born. But that division is who
make it thee to differ? What have you got that you haven't
received? We take no glory. We take no
credit. I don't take any credit for believing
God. I know who's made me to differ.
I know who made Abel to differ. It's by faith he offered that
more excellent sacrifice. Because there are only two ways
to approach to God, works or grace. Again, Walter said it
on the radio this morning. They don't mix, they never mix,
they never have mixed, and they never will mix. Grace and works. Because if it's grace, it ain't
work. There's no work. And if it's
work, it's not grace. The law demanded works for salvation. We couldn't do them. We couldn't
keep it. But the natural man thought he
could. At least good enough. There were
some that tried to water it down. Grace demands no works for salvation. Walter, you read it this morning.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Without works. Without works! No shedding of blood means no
remission of sin and Christ's blood being shed. means full
remission of sins. Acts 13, 39 put it this way,
and by him all that believe are justified from all things from
which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. This is what Paul was dealing
with, with the Galatians. They were those who wanted to
add to the grace of God. They wanted to add circumcision.
They wanted to add keeping the law for salvation. And that's dead wrong. Walter, I was thinking the other
day that sermon Henry Mahan preached, I'm sure I gave you the tape
of that years ago, when he hollered out, you that are under the law,
don't you hear it? You who are under the law, don't
you hear it? Well, the answer is no, they
don't. They don't hear it. Because if
they heard it, they knew they were condemned. If they heard it, they'd know.
They don't hear it. Cain didn't hear it here. Cain
wanted to do what he wanted to do, and it didn't matter to him
what the Lord wanted. That's what it shows. He said
he came to worship. He came to bring an offering.
Oh, I'm going to worship God. What's he bring? Fruit. Well,
that's nice. But that's not what God said.
God said, don't approach unto me without blood. And not your
blood, his blood. Cain and Abel are not the same. The difference was not between
them naturally, it was between them because of God. The fate
of God's elect. The difference was manifested,
shown forth, made known by their offerings. Cain's offering didn't make him
a sinner. Just as Abel's offering didn't
make him righteous. Okay? I got an exercise here
in biblical logic for you. The Lord said, I am the Lord,
I change not. Okay. The question is, does God
change? No. So, here's the statement. If the Lord respected Abel after
his offering, how did he feel about Abel before his offering? Yeah, that's good stuff, right? Okay, but now there's the converse,
okay? If the Lord had not respect for
Cain after his offering, how did he feel about Cain before
his offering? The offering didn't change God's
respect. God's respect changed the offering.
The source is the part that matters because he had not respect for
Cain. It's the only possible answer. The difference between Cain and
Abel is faithless and faithful because the difference is the
Lord. Faith is the gift of God. God teaches and faith believes. This is the difference between
the world and the true church. And this is a difference that
the Lord makes. And that's what I see in these
five verses. Our world, we're surrounded by faithless. It's the truth. I wish it were
not so. We are the aberration now. We
are not the norm. Believing God is not the norm.
I don't know that it ever has been. By the scriptures, it seems
like it never was, and it never will be. In Christ's day, he
said, few there be that find it. But this is the way the world
started with Cain and Abel. Faithful and faithless. And that's
the way the world still is right now. Faithful and faithless. Our heavenly father, we are thankful
again for this time in this place. For your gospel, which you have
delivered to us. Thank you for the years you've
given us to hear the With the eyes you've given us to see and
the heart to understand, thank you. But most of all, thank you
for your son, our Lord, who did bring his blood to you and offer
it for our sins. Thank you, Lord. In Christ's
name we pray, amen.