Once in a while, as I preach through the scriptures, I think over the years I've preached from every book of the Bible. I've preached most books of the Bible, but verse by verse. But once in a while, I like to go back to the beginning and remind us of some truths that adhere to what I call the biblical interpretation rule of the law of first mention.

And today I want us to go back to Genesis chapter four. And I want to talk to you about this subject, the secret of a well-lived life. And of course, what we have here is the story of Cain and Abel. Let's just read a little bit of it, verse one. As you know, this is after the fall and after the Lord had established the sacrificial way of worship, approaching Him, which was a picture all through the Old Testament of a sinner coming, begging for mercy, salvation from sin, in and by the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. that was established over in Genesis 3, and we'll read that verse here in just a minute. You're all very familiar with it. But it says in verse one of chapter four, this is after Adam and Eve, Adam had fallen, and they were cast out of the garden from the presence of God. And it says, and Adam knew Eve, his wife.

They had entered a marriage relationship. and they consummated that relationship. And as a result of that, she conceived her first son. She bare a son, his name was Cain. Cain. And most commentators, or translators rather, agree that that name means gotten or acquired. And here's what Eve said in verse one, I have gotten, Some translations I think say, the man from the Lord. Now you know, before they were cast out of the garden, God gave them a promise over in Genesis 3,

15. And that was the promise of the woman's seed. And that was the Messiah, that's a prophecy of the Messiah. Look over there in verse 15, I will put enmity, between thee and the woman, between Satan and the woman. Because Satan deceived her, and what I hear in this verse, he's revealing that the Messiah, the savior of his people, would be born of woman and not of man.

Woman has no seed. But he's going to be born of the seed of the woman, And he said, I'll put enmity between thy seed and her seed. Well, where's she gonna get her seed from? Well, we learn later, she's gonna get it from the Holy Spirit. It's a divine seed, but it's human, but it's created by the divine, and that he would be born of a virgin. So that's what it means, the seed, the woman's seed and her seed. And it said, it shall bruise thy head. Now to bruise his head is a death blow. And thou shalt bruise his heel. He'll die, but he'll be raised again. He's not gonna stay dead.

So Eve had in mind here, it seems that the Messiah was already born. But he wasn't. We know the story of Cain. The Messiah didn't come till, what, 4,000 years later, somewhat. It says in verse two, she bare again his brother Abel. And the name Abel is a word that means held. Something like that. Some say it's like habit or something like that.

But anyway, either way, and Abel was a keeper of the sheep. He was a shepherd. That's a great picture of our Savior, isn't it? The shepherd of the sheep. But Cain was a tiller of the ground. He was a farmer. Nothing wrong with being a farmer. Abel wasn't better off because he was a shepherd.

It's just the fact of the matter. Just as Christ is the shepherd of the sheep, he's also the one who plows and seeds and waters the ground, spiritually speaking. So it could have been a type of that of Christ too. But anyway, it says in verse three, in the process of time.

Now what you have to say, understand here in announcing their birth, and then saying that Abel was a keeper of the sheep and Cain was a tiller of the ground. Cain and Abel were not young boys at this time. They were evidently heads of households with wives and childrens and occupations. They were performing the duties, what they were doing.

It says in verse four, it says in the process of verse three, in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought the fruit of the ground offering unto the Lord. Now the only one who was supposed to do that was the head of the family because he was acting as the high priest of the family in the family situation. So Cain had his own family and he went to offer the fruit of the ground as an offering to the Lord for the family. And then verse 4, and Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and and of the fat thereof, and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.

So there's Abel bringing an offering as the head of the family. So during this dispensation of time, that's how they did, that's how they worshiped. The head of the family was the high priest. Here's a picture of Christ who is the head of his spiritual family, head of the church. And these were not the first sacrifices offered to God for sin.

It's certain that God had instructed Adam as to how and where he was to seek atonement for sin and worship and approach the living God. Look over at Genesis three again. He first announced the woman's seed, the Messiah. And then look at verse 20 of Genesis chapter three.

It says, and Adam called his wife's name Eve. And you know, that's the first time she was called Eve in the garden. She wasn't named Eve from the start. Her name from the start, you know what it was? Woman. But he gave her the name Eve. And what does Eve mean? Well, Eve means living. because she was the mother of all living. Now that tells you that God had intention all this time to save a people and for them to live eternally because if that weren't the case Eve wouldn't have been the mother of all living, she'd been the mother of all dead. So understand that and it says Adam called Eve his wife's name Eve, Adam called his wife's name is Eve because she was the mother of all living and then look at verse 21. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skin and clothed them.

Now what do you suppose you have there? Well, to make coats of skin out of animals, you know, I'm not a big hunter, and I certainly don't make furs and all that, but I do know this, in order to make a coat of skin out of an animal, which I believe was probably a sheep, but that's just my speculation, you gotta kill something, you gotta shed some blood. Now, why is that?

Well, remember what God told Adam in the commandment? in the day that you eat there you shall surely what? Die. And God imprinted it on his mind at that time that in order to make an atonement for sin there must be justice and justice means death. Now what do we say? The soul that sinneth it shall surely what? The wages of sin is death. Now sure the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord but that first part has to be taken care of too, you can't ignore it. Wages of sin is death.

Well we know from the Bible there's different types of death, there's physical death. Now Adam did not die physically at that time but the process of physical death began It just took a few more years than what's represented here. It is appointed unto men once to die. And after that, that's physical death. But Adam did die spiritually immediately.

He lost contact, lost knowledge, lost everything with God. The only way he could regain that back was through the new birth. You say, well, it doesn't say anything about a new birth there. It doesn't have to. It says it over in John 3. Is that not good enough for you? How many times does God have to say something, or when does he have to say it for it to be true? You must be born again, or you cannot see the kingdom.

I believe that Adam and Eve both were born-again believers. they are already set by God for his mind for redemption by the blood of the Lamb which was to come later. And so you have physical death, you have spiritual death, you have legal death and that is Adam died spiritually under into us he was brought into a state of darkness Depravity, unbelief, rebellion.

And that was seen before they left the garden. The biggest act of depravity that Adam and Eve performed was sowing fig leaves together and trying to hide their nakedness from God. So what did God do? He took those fig leaves off and he replaced them with something much better, animal skins, upon which blood was shed.

And that's a picture of our redemptive death in Christ. He died, he shed his blood, he paid the penalty of death and gave us a coat of righteousness, his righteousness imputed. And all of that. Now, so you see there, all this now in verses four and five, it says that in the process of time, let's read verse four again.

Abel, he brought also the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof and the Lord had respect. Now notice this, it doesn't say the Lord had respect unto Abel, it says the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offerings. But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. The Lord accepted Abel and his offering. The Lord did not accept Cain and his offering. Now the reason I emphasize that and his offering is you've got to see that the main issue here for the sinner coming to approach God is the offering. You know, a lot of preachers, they'll go to this page and they'll say, well, Cain was not as sincere as Abel.

Well, first of all, you don't know that, because it doesn't say that. All we know is what it tells us. And if you look over, look, for example, over in 1 John. 1 John, well, let's look first at Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11. Now this is some New Testament commentary on the Old Testament. Now he's talking about the hall of faith here. These are Old Testament believers whom the Holy Spirit inspired the writer of Hebrews to record in the list of sinners saved by grace in the Old Testament and what they went through.

And in verse four of chapter 11, he gets to Abel. And listen to what he says, by faith, now that's God-given faith, there's no other kind. By faith, some people say that this should be translated by Christ. But it says, by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. did Abel bring? The firstlings of the flock. He slew an animal, shed blood, and brought the sacrifice to the Lord. Now we know that the blood of animals cannot take away sin, the Bible tells us that even back in the Old Testament, but the one whom that blood of animals, that sacrifice represented, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, can and does take away sin.

And it says, God testifying of his gifts and by it being dead yet speaketh. Abel's preaching a message even today because of what he did. And then look over at 1 John 3. Here's another Old Testament commentary. Verse 11. And again, what he's talking about here is what makes the difference in salvation. It's Christ. the Lamb, His blood, His righteousness, the grace of God. He says in verse 11, for this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one and slew his brother, and wherefore or why slew he him? Why did Cain slay Abel? Because his own works were evil and his brother's works righteous. Now, what was Cain's works? Go back over and look at it. Cain brought the fruit of his own work, the fruit of his labor. He offered the fruit of the ground, his work, no blood, and I'll show you that in a minute, but Cain and Abel brought the blood of the land. Now, let me just give you this rundown. What was wrong with Cain's offering?

Number one, it was a bloodless sacrifice, thereby denying the justice of God. It's kind of like going up to God and saying, well, I know I'm a sinner, but you don't have to kill anybody to heal me or forgive me. I've got a better way. Number two, it denied Cain's own sinfulness. of the things that God requires and he gives us is a knowledge of our sinfulness to where we come to him willingly begging for mercy. Cain denied that, his depravity, his guilt, his defilement. Thirdly, it denied his need of a redeemer.

The Lord Jesus Christ. Cain would be his own high priest before God, his own mediator, his own intercessor, his own savior. Number four, it exalted Cain, not the Lord. It exalted his own works. I've worked hard, Lord. I sweat it out here in this field. You can hear it. He denied that he deserved condemnation and death based on his best efforts to serve God. approached God on the grounds of his own merit and works and he was proud of the fruit of the field.

And then lastly, it was evidence of unbelief. God had already told him the way to worship, slay an animal, shed blood, and out of that comes coats of skin. That's like saying the death of Christ, his shedding his blood unto death, issued forth in the only righteousness by which God can be just and justify a sinner. I plead the righteousness of Christ. So that's why he didn't have respect in Cain's offering. Why did God have respect in Abel's offering? Number one, it was an offering of blood, which meant satisfaction to God's law and justice. That's what Christ is. Did you know that? He is satisfaction to God's law and justice for the sinner who comes pleading his person and work. It's called propitiation.

Abel's offering was a confession of sin, depravity and guilt and defilement. He came humbly before God realizing his need of a substitute, a righteousness he could not produce. He basically said, and here's the third thing, it was a confession of the inadequacy of his best efforts to keep the law and establish his own righteousness. It's like he was saying, God, you'd be well within your rights to plunge me headlong into hell because that's what I deserve.

Fourthly, it was an offering of faith, God-given faith, by faith able. Abel believed and obeyed God. He came to God the way God told him to come. And then five, it was an offering that typified the Lord Jesus Christ, the woman's seed, salvation based upon the grace of God. through his blood and righteousness.

Christ is the Lamb of God, the innocent dying for the guilty. The Lamb had to be a male the first year, remember, a prime of life without spot, without sin, without blemish. It had to be slain without the shedding of blood. There's no remission of sins. And roasted with fire, Christ suffered and shed his blood for our sins. And that's it. Now go back to Genesis four. It said, but unto Cain, verse five, but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. Cain was very angry and his countenance, his faith, you could tell it in his face. And the Lord said unto Cain, why art thou wroth? Why are you angry? And why is thy countenance following? The Lord knew why. You know that, don't you? He's not trying to find information here. He's trying to point out something that's very important. And here's my text, verse seven.

If thou doest well, shalt thou not 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. Let me read you that verse from another translation, just so you get the real meaning of it. It means the same thing there, but sometimes people run over those words pretty quick. Here's what God's saying to Cain. If you do well, now whatever that is, if you do well, well, we already know what it is, don't we? meaning believing me and doing what is acceptable and pleasing to me, believing in God and doing what is good and acceptable in God's eyes.

Will you not be accepted Cain? We've already told you what it is to do well, you reject it. And if you do not well but ignore my instruction Sin crouches at your door like a hungry lion. And its desire is to overpower you, overtake you, overcome you, kill you. And you've got it to deal with. If you reject God's way of salvation, You better come up with your own way. And you know what? That's impossible. That's impossible. Now, first of all, what is it to live a well-lived life? A well-lived life.

We would always, when we were at Alex's funeral, had several friends and his sister who got up and had a letter from his employer that just painted a great picture of Alex. What a kind, responsible, hard worker, friend, all of that. And if we stopped right there, and I didn't get a chance to get up, which I did, most people would say, well, boy, that Alex, he led a good life. And you know what? I'm pretty sure most people would have said that about Cain up to this point.

But here's the point, and this is the point that the Lord's making to the human individual. A life lived without Christ without the grace of God, without being in a state of justification before God, having your sins forgiven on a just ground, having righteousness on a just ground, the blood and righteousness of Christ, life without truth, life without the grace of God, can never in the end be a well-lived life. No matter what you do or what they say about you in this life, without Christ, without all those things that I mentioned, when you lay down your head and breathe your last breath, it's over. As far as well-lived is concerned. And that's what Cain didn't believe and what he didn't see. Cain was a hard worker, I believe that. I believe he raised his family responsible. But in the eyes of God, it was not a well-lived life.

The secret of a well-lived life is Christ. living for the glory of God in Christ. That's it. You can live for yourself. You can live for your family. You can even live for your country. But if that's as far as it goes, when you breathe your last breath, it's over. Your legacy is gone. There's no gospel. Oh, my soul. What a miserable way to die.

And I encourage you. I encourage you to live a well-lived life in all of those areas of responsibility and benefit to others, all of that. Work hard. Be a good husband, a good wife, a good father, mother, all of those things. But if that's as far as your well-living goes, you will, in the end, be of all people most miserable. You know the story from here on. I'm not going to read the rest of these verses.

But you know about Cain. He murdered his brother Abel. He got so angry that Abel was accepted and he wasn't. and he murdered him. You know the story how God came, Christ, I believe, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, came to Cain and talked to him like he did there. He says, if you do well, don't you know, why are you angry? You shouldn't be angry, you know, I've already told you. And you rejected it. And then after Cain killed Abel, The Lord came looking for him, and again, he wasn't looking for him, he knew where Abel was. Abel was already with the Lord in spirit.

And he said, where's your brother, Cain? You remember Cain's famous words, am I my brother's keeper? And you know, right there is a lot that the only thing people get out of this message. Am I my brother's keeper? So in other words, I read that and I say, well, I ought to be my brother's keeper. Well, I'd say that too, but that's not the main thing of this story. The main issue of this story is how can a sinner approach God and be accepted? That's the main thing. And that's through the merits of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And then the Lord said, what have you done, Cain? voice of their brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And of course Cain was caught. And he was set out to wander the earth. You see, without Christ, we're lost. We're just wandering the earth. Oh, we may have a GPS and we can get to there from here. All that.

But when it comes to dealing with God, dealing with the issues of life, death, judgment, and eternity, without Christ, we're lost. And we may think we know the way, but we don't know the way. God has to reveal it to us, just like he did to Abel. Why didn't he reveal it to both Cain and Abel? I don't know. That's his business. And I'm not going to get into his business.

But I do know this, Lord show me the way. Help me to live a well-lived life. If it's 70 years, great. If it's a couple hours, like the thief on the cross. You realize the thief on the cross lived his last few hours a well-lived life? And that was the best life he ever had and he was nailed to a cross? But that's when he knew the Lord. That's when he had fellowship with Abel, bringing Christ, pleading the blood and righteousness of his Savior, his Lord.