of the ground, an offering unto the Lord. And Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering. But unto Cain and his offering he had not respect, and Cain was very wroth. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? Why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shall not thou be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

So here, this is an extraordinarily significant event. The foundations of God are very deep, they're very broad, and the rest of the scriptures, all the way through to the end of the scriptures, is but a repetition of this picture. And the picture is a glorious one, isn't it? The picture is a glorious one of acceptance with God.

You saw there in verse, Verse 24, chapter 3, the Lord drove the man out. He drove the man out. He drove him out because of sin. He drove him out because they had imbibed the poison of Satan. And yet, in this story, we have the one glorious picture that's repeated throughout the Scriptures that speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ, how there is a place of acceptance. There is one in whom we are accepted. There is a way back. Acceptance with God is the issue, isn't it? Acceptance with God.

Respect God had respect. Respect is such an incredibly important thing, isn't it? So important. It's so important in families. It's so important that you young people respect your parents. It's so important in life. It's so important for all of our relationships that there be respect. There is no satisfactory marriage where there is not fundamentally a respect. And here is an offering that God accepts. The issue that is lies before us, and lies before us all to the rest of our days, is God accepting you? That is the issue. How can God accept me back into his presence? It's not you accepting God. The issue in Genesis 4 and the issues throughout the rest of the scriptures is God accepting you. You've heard the songs, haven't you? You've sung the songs, probably I have. I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back. You've heard people say, I accepted Jesus as my personal savior. And people say in their preaching, will you now accept God's offer? That is not the issue. That is not the issue between your soul and God Almighty. The issue is, will God accept you? It's not you accepting Him, it's will God accept you?

And here we have these two men, and throughout the scriptures, wherever you have 2 men. They are a picture. There are 2 trees in the garden. There's one of works and there's one of grace. There are 2 covenants. There's the covenant of works which we're all born under and there's the covenant of grace in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here are 2 sons of Adam. Abraham had 2 sons. There were 2 sons of Isaac. Esau and Jacob, two men went up to the temple to pray. Two men on either side of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Golgotha. There are two destinies, salvation or damnation. There are two groups of people in this world. There are sinners and there are the self-righteous. Here in these stories, in all of those pictures where you have two, you have all of humanity. On the Day of Judgment there are only two groups of people. There are those in Matthew 25 when the Lord Jesus Christ comes with all of his angels in the power of all of his glory to be seen. There are just two groups. There are the sheep and the goats. There are the eagles and the canes. fixed between them. And you'll see as you go through the scriptures, the rest of the scriptures, that Abel's offering and Abel's acceptance with God is the same as the acceptance of all of God's people throughout the scriptures.

They are accepted, as I told the children earlier, they are accepted in the beloved. No one comes to the Father but by me. No one comes to the Father but with me and in me.

There is here a time of public worship. These two men came to this particular place at this particular time. This is the first recording of a church service in all of human history, the first recorded church service. And before we go on too much further, they came to public worship.

One of the things that naturally causes us to, when we think of the Pharisees in the New Testament, when we think of the Judaizers, we think of these incredibly wicked and incredibly evil men. And our natural thought, when we think of a Cain as a murderer, is that we think we're dealing with someone who is so outwardly wicked and immoral and just a profane man in all sorts of ways, the sort of person you would cross the street to get away from.

That is not what the Scriptures are saying, and that is not why Cain is an example of a Jew. Cain was a religious man, an extraordinary religious man. Cain, in so much of his life, was a hard-working and a moral man. So we mustn't think of Cain being this evil person. Outwardly evil. The Pharisees weren't outwardly evil. The only way they were ever exposed is when God comes along. That's the only way they're exposed. It's only when the light of who the Lord Jesus Christ is shines, then the wicked and the righteous are seen.

And there is a place, there is a time, and there is a place for public worship. And that's the great, It's a great question. Is this that place? You will ask that question. I'm asked that question continually. I'm told very often that it's not.

Come with me to Exodus chapter 20, and I want us to see that there is a place. There is just a place in And throughout this world and throughout time, there is one place where God gathers his people and God meets with his people. And after the giving of the law, and after the declaration of the sacrifices, and after the declaration that you cannot come to God on the basis of your steps, on your works, you're not to build an order to God that has steps on it. You're not to walk up on steps of progressive sanctification and progressive holiness to God. You come complete and accepted in the beloved.

But listen to what the Lord says in Exodus chapter 20, at the end of verse 24. He says, in all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee. There's just one place. The one place is person, the Lord Jesus Christ. The one place is the place where the name of God is declared. The character of God is declared. The one place where the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ is declared is the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the issue. That was the issue that lay before Abel and Cain. How do you get to the tree of life? How do you become accepted before God?

So this is a profound and profoundly significant story. And it's a really simple story. But here, at the beginning, to go back to Genesis 4, here at the beginning of public worship, there was an offering, there was an acceptance with God, there was respect to the saved sinner and his offering. This is a place, we're here to meet God. We're here to declare the character of God Almighty. We're here to declare that one offering of blood, that one offering of that lamb, the one way in which there is acceptance with God in this particular lamb. God says, I'll meet with you there. We meet in Christ and we meet with Christ continually bring to God his Son as our only sacrifice, as our only offering. And he says, when we have the Lord's Supper later on this morning, he says, do this in remembrance of me. We're here to remember him, we're here to remember his sacrifice, we're here to remember what he did on the cross.

There is a way God is to be worshipped. a time and a place. And I know the children of God have times of private worship, but if you have times of private worship, then public worship will be incredibly important to you. And we're not making rules about all these things, but public worship is something extraordinarily precious about public worship. We come, we come into his presence.

And I want us to see, as we saw in that text, that neither of these men are seen separate from their offering. You notice that what it says, Cain and his offering, verse five, Abel and his offering. Our offering to God and us coming into the presence of God are united as one. There is a way that seems right unto men, and the ways thereof are the ways of death. So here we have two men, two sacrifice offerings, the blood of the lamb and the first fruit of the ground. One sacrifice offering is accepted and one was not. God had respect to one. and not respect to another. God accepted one and God didn't accept the other. These were moral men. These weren't openly wicked men.

I want us to see something special about this place because in verse 24 it says that he drove the man out and he placed at the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword. The place where they met, that word placed in all of the rest of the Old Testament means to tabernacle. to dwell. All 83 times in the Old Testament it means to tabernacle dwell. In the scriptures the Lord God is always portrayed as the one who dwells. Where does he dwell? On the mercy seat. Where does he dwell? Between the cherubims. Our great God keeps the way of the tree of life.

So let's look at some of the words in this and I trust that they'll be instructive and we'll try and do a Bible study and then we'll come back and look at the way of Cain a bit later on.

Chapter 4 of Genesis and verse 1, Adam knew his wife Eve and she conceived him, she bare Cain. Cain, the word Cain, the name Cain means possessor. possession, acquired, to get, to buy, to obtain, and Cain was a tiller of the ground." Eve thought that she'd gotten a man from the Lord. She will find out as we see in 1 John chapter 3 that she'd actually got a man whose origins were of the devil. She wanted to know that. Verse three it says of Cain, in the process of time he came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. So this man who was a possessor, this man who acquired, this man who gets and obtains, he brought of the fruit of the ground a place of the earth. What was the problem with the earth? Genesis three, it's cursed. He brought to God something from which God had said is cursed. He was a tiller of the ground. He was a worker. He was a labourer. Don't think that Cain was a lazy man. And that word tiller means the one who served and a worshipper. He brought that. He genuinely thought that he was worshipping God. He genuinely thought that he was coming into the presence of God, worshipping Him. And he brought it the fruit of the ground. He thought something that was worthy of reward, a bearer of fruit. He wanted to show the fruitfulness of his labor and he wanted to show the fruitfulness of the ground.

And don't think that Cain brought some rubbish to God. You can imagine the watermelons that grew in those days and the carrots and the zucchinis and the fruit. The platter of vegetables and fruit that Cain brought was mouthwatering. The mangoes, all of the most God.

Verse 4 says, And Abel brought the firstlings of his flock, and the fat thereof. And then it says, The Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering. I want the Lord to have respect under what we offer him. To respect is to look upon with favour. That's what respect is. God is of two purer eyes than to behold evil. He can't look upon iniquity, Habakkuk said.

What was the issue with Abel? We read in Hebrews 11, faith. Abel believed God. 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 speaks. That word witness and that word testify is the word martyr. And so what was the issue as we go through this passage of people? What was the issue? What was Cain's great sin? And our minds immediately say, well, Cain's great sin was murder. That wasn't Cain's great sin. Cain's greatest sin is unbelief. He brought the wrong sacrifice to God. and from that mercy seat and that place where God met with people, he knew what God required as a covering for sin.

I just love that story in Genesis. You know Genesis 3, we talk about it so often and we ought to talk about it so often. But Adam and Eve, after they had sinned, they were hidden in the dark place of the garden and they made for themselves coverings of fig leaves. A fig leaf has the shape of a man's hand, and the figs, you go, I can give you some fig leaves from the fig trees here. And the fig leaves just are incredibly coarse and incredibly rough, and they just decay into powder. They don't, not like gum leaves and other things, they just decay into powder. It's a picture of the works of man. So they were trying to cover their shame by the works of their own hands. They were trying to bring a covering so that they could be at peace with themselves by the work of their own hands.

And God, as you know, in the rest of Genesis 3, God calls them to him. They weren't seeking God. God sought them. And then he declares his judgment upon them and on Satan and on this earth. But then, listen to verse 21. It's just the most glorious picture of the gospel. Having brought them to himself, having exposed them for what they are before God Almighty, unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats. Almighty shedding the blood of a lamb to cover the sin and to cover the shame of Adam and Eve. And listen to what he did. He brought them to himself. How do you get the skins on there? You get the skins on them because you take the fig leaves off them. And who did the covering? Listen to the end of that verse.

Adam and Eve taught their children again and again about how you approach God. The other problem we have with Canaanites is we think they're just teenage boys. These are grown men with families. They're not young children. They had been coming to church, as it were, for years and years and years.

against God. Cain's great sin is that he had no regard for the holiness of God Almighty. He thought that he could bring the fig leaves of his own works into the presence of God Almighty.

Cain's great sin is that he didn't see himself as a sinner. And I know sinners are only made to be sinners by the work of God Almighty in their lives.

Let's go on in Genesis and we'll try and look at something of the rest of this story. In verse six, the Lord said to Cain, why art thou wroth? Why is there countenance fallen? God had no respect for Cain and his offering.

And the Lord said to Cain, Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen, if thou doest well? What is doing well in the simple context of this passage of Scripture? Doing well is bringing to God what God requires for acceptance and an offering, what God requires to be in His presence. That's what doing well is. Doing well is believing God. Doing well is trusting God's provision to cover the sin that He had committed.

If thou doest well. Cain did not do well. He didn't do what was good.

In verse 8, and Cain quarreled is what the word means. He debated. The thing that's extraordinary is that Cain had an issue with God and Cain didn't go to God to sort out that issue. He wanted to debate with Abel about it. And what were they debating? We know what they were debating about. They were debating about works and grace. They were debating about law and salvation by grace alone.

Cain talked. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel, thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the Lamb.

And now, verse 11, this is extraordinary. This is the first time that there is the mention of humanity being cursed. Now art thou cursed from God. the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond thou shalt be in the earth.

And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid. And I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth, and it shall come to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay me.

And the Lord said unto him, therefore, whoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be his. taken on him sevenfold, and the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest any finding him should kill him."

We shouldn't think of any physical marks, the Lord determined that Cain was not going to be destroyed. What an extraordinary situation, what Cain thought was a blessing was actually an extraordinary curse, wasn't it? in rebellion for the rest of his days. And if you read the rest of Genesis 4, you'll read how rebellious his descendants came.

Now listen to this. In verse 16, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. What did David say? Cast me not from your presence. Don't cast me out of your presence, Lord. And he dwelt in the land of Nod. That land of Nod means wandering, it means to be a vagrant, it means to be without a permanent place of rest on the east of Eden.

Cain, a fine, upstanding, religious man. What would I have done? I have made myself better with the Lord's help. I didn't do the things that others did and I've done these things. I used to be such and such, now I'm not. He was a devout religious man and he produced fruit that he thought was worthy of reward. Cain is a picture of man-made works religion that is the religion of most of the people of this earth.

became, like all self-righteous religious people, is set to work to make himself right with God. He's set to work to make himself accepted with God. That's what all false religion does. It keeps men working, it keeps men labouring, it keeps men thinking that by their doing they're going to obtain

Listen to what false religion does in the hearts of God's people. It says in verse 13, if you're there with me, and Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. This is an amazing picture of works religion. In the margin of some Bibles, and another accurate translation is, My iniquity is greater be forgiven. My sin is more than what may be forgiven. And that's why man in false religion is always working, because always his iniquity is greater than can be forgiven by his own remedy. He's trying to clean up his act and the sin just grows and grows and grows. Man's sin, man's iniquity is always greater than his remedy is able to provide. There is no rest, there is no rest outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no rest for the wicked. There is no rest.

He worked, as Jude tells us, he worked for reward. He worked for means

Viper. Extraordinary name that God gave these people. They're so instructive, aren't they? Ible's name means Vanity. Ible's name means Emptiness. Ible's name means Unsatisfactory. Altogether, Vine and Empty.

bringing the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's all he brought. He brought nothing except the Lord Jesus Christ. And Cain may well have said to Abel, said to God, what works has Abel done? He doesn't have any works. There he was sitting out in the field, playing his harp like David did, practicing his slingshooting like David did, and just looking after the sheep. He didn't produce the sheep. God produced the sheep. He didn't grow the wool. God grew the wool. It was God's land. All of it is God's providing. And you're accepting Abel. You're accepting Abel and you're not accepting me for all of my works. Look at all of my fruit. Look what I have done. Look what I am not what I was before. Look how I've grown. And Abel just brings, what does he bring to God? He brings the Lord Jesus Christ. By faith, Abel brought the Lord Jesus Christ to God. He came into the presence of God by the blood of

I love what the Lord said. He said, where's your brother? And Cain says, am I my brother's keeper? Who was Abel's keeper? Where was Abel when God asked the question? God's never asking questions to get information. Where was Abel? He was in the very presence of God Almighty. The moment he died, he was in the presence of God Almighty. Cain was asked, Cain said, am I my brother's keeper? And the Lord said, in a sense, to himself, no, I'm his keeper. I've kept him. I've kept him.