Turn with me to Genesis chapter
4. I bring greetings and love from
the congregation, Hurricane Road, there in Ashland, Kentucky. We
remember you all frequently in our prayer, in our thoughts,
thankful for your faithfulness Lord has given you through so
many years, since before I was even born here. Appreciated the greeting in the
parking lot this morning, saying, yes, I'm glad to be home. This
is one of my many homes, wherever family is, wherever
fellow believers, fellow children of the King meet together, we're
home. This is double home, because
I was actually born here also, so glad to be home and glad to
be here together. As I said, very appreciative
of the faithfulness that the Lord has given you, that we would
meet here together, to hear one sinner. talk about
the Savior. What can Jonathan possibly say
to you? Nothing. What can a man possibly say to
you? But we come and meet in faith that we'll hear together
from the Lord today. Appreciate your faithfulness.
I'm thankful for our Lord's faithfulness that he has shown us throughout
all these years. Here in Genesis 4, Let's look
at the first seven verses together. The text and title of the message
is found there in verse seven, where the Lord asks Cain, if
thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? It's the title of
this message. If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? And as we read through these
seven verses, I want to look for four main points. I'm going
to preach the message before I even get started. I found that
I have a tendency to do that. I've recently figured that out.
My kids point out to me whenever we're in a restaurant, whenever
we're home, whenever we're anywhere, wherever we're eating, daddy
finishes first. I like to woof it down. That's
kind of the way I like to do things. I'm gonna preach the
message before we even get started. So those of you who are like
me and like to woof it down, you can hear the message, and
then we'll go through the message as we go through these verses,
and we'll go back and savor it a bit also. But look for these
four phrases as we read through. If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? What does that mean? What does
that mean, to be accepted? What does that mean? Accepted
by whom? And what does that mean, to be accepted? If thou doest
well, shalt thou not be accepted? What does that mean, to do well?
The Lord said to Cain, right? If thou doest well. What does
that mean, to do well? What does it mean, to not do
well? Three, who does well? If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? Who does well? And four, what
that question starts with, that word if. We'll get to that word
if. If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? Let's read together here these
first seven verses of Genesis chapter four. And Adam knew Eve,
his wife, and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I've
gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother
Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller
of the ground. And 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 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. Cain was very wroth, and his
countenance fell. And the Lord 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, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt have the rule over him. That last phrase there
is talking about Cain shall again have rule over Abel, the younger.
Sin lieth at the door, and to him shall be his desire if thou
doeth not well. Matthew Henry wrote this about
these verses. In all ages, there have been
two sorts of worshipers, just two sorts, such as Cain and Abel,
namely, proud, hardened, despisers of the gospel method of salvation,
who attempt to please God in ways of their own devising, in
ways of their own devising, and, as pictured by Abel, humble believers
who draw near to him in the way he has revealed. Two sorts of
worshipers, those who attempt to please God in ways of their
own devising, and those who draw near to Him in the way He is
revealed. Often when I'm driving, as I
was this morning, I scroll through the radio. I listen for preachers. I don't do that when the kids
are in the car. I don't want them hearing it. But I do that
when I'm by myself, like I was this morning. I scroll through
and I listen to preachers. And you hear some things, right? You hear some words we recognize,
some words we know. I heard the word elect today on the radio. I heard the word salvation. I
heard the word righteousness. I heard some things that we recognize.
I heard some songs that we sing. I heard some cadence that I recognize. And as I'm listening, I listen
and I listen and I find myself asking the same thing Isaac said,
I see the wood, I see the fire. Where's the lamb? Where's the
lamb? There's Cain and Abel. There's always been two sorts
of worshipers. Those that come through the lamb
of Christ and those that come through some way of their own
devising. Where's that lamb? Both Cain and Abel were both
raised with the knowledge of God. Adam and Eve had taught
them, right? They taught them that they were
separated from God and that God had provided a way to approach
him through a blood sacrifice. Look there in verses three and
four here in our text. 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
his flock, and the fat thereof. The Lord had respect unto Abel
and to his offering. He did not have respect unto
Cain and his offering. He did not have respect. They
were taught, right? They were taught to bring a sacrifice,
and Abel's sacrifice was accepted. Cain's was not, but they were
brought up, they were taught, just as Adam and Eve had been
taught and shown. And Lord asked Cain this question, Cain, why
art thou wroth? Why is thy countenance fallen?
If thou doest well, won't thou be accepted? Why art thou wroth? And I'm struck, I want to pause
here, by just our Lord's tenderness. in bothering to ask this question.
Our Lord's tenderness right this moment in bothering to commune
with us. Our Lord's tenderness to ask
this question. Cain, why art thou wroth? Adam has fallen and now his oldest
son Cain has rebelliously brought the work of his own hands. And
could the Lord in justice and in holiness and in rightness
cut him off right there? Of course he could have. But
he said, Cain, he asked him a question, Cain, why art thou wroth? I'm so struck by just the tenderness,
again, of that question. Here's why Cain was wroth. Turn
over to Isaiah chapter 45. Look here, Isaiah chapter 45. We'll start here in verse eight.
Drop down, ye heavens, from above. Let the skies pour down righteousness.
Let the earth open. Let them bring forth salvation. Let righteousness spring up together.
I, the Lord, have created it. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker. Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of
the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioned it, what
makest thou? or thy work, he hath no hands?
Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou?
Or to the woman, what hast thou brought forth? This is why Cain
is wroth. This is why we in our natural
state left alone, this is why we're wroth. We say we're not
clay. And we say that God the Father
is not the potter. I'm not clay. We most certainly
are clay. Adam was made from the dust of
the earth. Adam was named clay. We are clay. One one to him that
says to the potter, what maketh thou? Who are you? That's what
we're really asking. God, who are you to exert this
authority over me? I'm not clay. Just as Cain, If the Lord struck
him down right there for bringing a false sacrifice, a sacrifice
not of blood, would God have been correct and right and just
and holy? Yes. And as it is with us, if
God destined all of us here in this room for hell outside of
Christ, would he be holy and just and right? Yes, absolutely.
Absolutely. He's the potter. I'm the clay.
Know that he would give us life to embrace that and love him
for that, rather than our natural state from our father Adam that raises our fist and shakes our
hand in the face of God and says the same thing Adam said when
he took the fruit, I will be God. The same thing Lucifer said,
I will, I will, I will. God, forgive us our nature and
give us a holy nature. Cain believes that he's worthy
to stand in God's presence. That's why he brought in the
work of his hands. He believes he's worthy to stand in God's
presence. And this is such a clear picture
of every religion and every belief that's there outside of absolute,
pure, sovereign grace. Every other religion is Cain's
religion. outside of absolute sovereign grace. Every belief,
every hope outside of Christ alone and his sovereign authority
to do what he will is Cain's religion. And the result is the
same. It's an offense to God and it won't be accepted. Why
aren't thou wroth? God could have justly killed
Cain on the spot, but he didn't. He asked him a question. That such tender character, it's
the same as when he showed Cain's father, Adam, mercy in Genesis. Look back at Genesis chapter
three, just across the page there. In
verses eight and nine, Adam rebelled in God's face. They heard the voice of the Lord
God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam
and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God
amongst the trees of the garden. And could the Lord have cut them
off in justice? Yes. But he called, the Lord
God called unto Adam. Adam didn't call to the Lord
God. Adam and Eve hid from the Lord God. The Lord God initiated
the contact. The Lord God reached out to Adam.
The Lord God in his goodness and holiness and justice and
rightness as a response to his own goodness,
not as a response to Adam, as a response from himself, because
he could and because he would, he reached out to Adam, called
unto Adam and said, where art thou? He reached out to Adam
in tenderness, just as he's reaching out to Cain, saying, Cain, why
art thou wroth? The same tenderness that our Lord showed to Paul
in Acts 26, when he said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Saul, Saul, Adam, Cain. It's the same tenderness that
our Lord showed to the woman in John 8, caught in adultery. And he said, woman, where are
thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, no man, Lord. And he said, neither do I condemn
thee. The tenderness of that question, the same tenderness
our Lord showed to Peter when he asked Peter, whom say ye that
I am, Peter? Such tender questions. A tender
question here to Cain, too. I'd like to pause there and think
of his tenderness and just think of the fact, we could stop right
there, just the fact that the Lord would see fit to commune
with sinners. We could spend a whole day just
glorying in that characteristic of our Lord, just that one characteristic,
that He would see fit to not cut us off for all eternity.
but to reach out based on his goodness, based on who he is,
based on his character, based on his love, based on his justice
and holiness, none of which were compromised in any way. justice
and holiness and love and forgiveness, none of which were compromised,
one bit, all complete and sovereign and total together at the same
time because of who he is, he reaches out to sinners based
on his goodness as a function, as a result of who he is, his
tenderness. that he would see fit to communicate
with sinners like us, sinners like me, that he would see fit
to communicate, we could stop right there. I could be happy
for the rest of the day just thinking about that one point
right there. That he would see fit. We took a trip to California
this summer. Part of the trip took us through
a few cities, San Francisco, LA, and San Diego. and the homeless
population there. I'd heard about it. I'd read
about it. It's staggering. My goodness. It's everywhere
I looked. Again, I've read about it, and
I've seen it. Now that I've seen it, there's places where it's
every alley. It's every overpass. It's every
underpass. It's every single place there's
a little bit of a shadow, some homeless person's living underneath
it. It's staggering. And after a while, I got to the
point I'd seen so much of it, I couldn't even look anymore.
I turned my head. I couldn't even look at it anymore.
I had to look away. Not so with our Lord. Not only
does he speak to sinners, he doesn't look away. He knows us
by name. He took that sin of his people into his own body.
I couldn't even look. He took it into his own body
on the tree, and he faced God's justice by himself, alone. Faced the Father's judgment for
sinners, alone. He didn't look away. He didn't
look away from sin, and he didn't look away from justice. Not for
a minute, he didn't look away. He speaks to sinners. Hebrews
2 states, Wherefore, in all things it behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for
the sins of his people. So much there. That he would
be made like unto his brethren, that he would call us his people, based on his goodness, because
he sees fit to do so. Glory to God, glory to Christ.
In tenderness, he speaks to Cain. What he says to Cain is the same
tender question for sinners and saints both today. Why art thou
wroth? If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? What does that mean? Now we start with, what
does that mean to be accepted? The word acceptance speaks to
exaltation. It speaks to dignity. It speaks
to honor. All things which we lost forever
in Adam. All things which we in and of
ourselves can never get back. There's nothing that we can do
to ever restore that relationship with our Holy Father. We can't
do it. There's nothing we can do. All
those we lost. Acceptance means to rightly stand
before a holy God, which we cannot do. When Adam was in the garden
before the fall, Adam talked with God, but in his rebellion
he lost that right, and we lost that right in him. No sin. No
sin. what we would call little sin,
big sin, no sin, can be in the presence of a holy God and not
be consumed, absolutely consumed by that presence of a holy God.
Psalm 24 says, who can stand in his holy place? He that hath
clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul
into vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. That's none of us, that speaks
only of Christ. Psalm 130 says, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? What does that mean, to
be accepted, to be able to stand in the presence of a holy God?
The Ark of the Covenant could never be approached outside of
prescribed times and always with a blood sacrifice. God's perfection
can never be compromised. Not at all, not at all. Not a
shade. of gray can't be compromised
at all, absolute perfection, never compromised. He's perfectly
holy, perfectly holy. To be accepted means to have
a right to stand in that holy presence. It means, outside of Christ, no person
in their right mind could stand here and say, well, I'm getting
ready to stay. It means being worthy of God's love, being worthy
of God's love. means being redeemed from sin's
claim on us, and holy, to stand in God's presence. How in the
world, how can God remain holy and still look on me, me not
be consumed? Either his holiness has to suffer,
or this sinful man must be consumed. One of those things must happen.
And in man's religion, Cain's religion, right here, in Cain's
religion, always results in a lowering of God's holiness, in a perverting,
in a polluting of God's holiness. Always results in that. Just
as when Cain brought the fruit of his hand, he was saying this
is holy enough. He was polluting God's holiness.
Works religion, anything, anything outside of Christ. Even looking to our faith, can
become a work. That's how lost and dead we are.
It's not our faith that is our righteousness. Christ, Christ
is our righteousness. We look to Christ as the able
sacrifice pictures. Anything from us pollutes God's
holiness. It cannot be accepted. We must
be consumed. Turn with me over to the book of Colossians, chapter
one. Colossians chapter 1, here in verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in life. who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, his Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins. He's made us meet. He's made
us worthy to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
of light, because he would, because of his goodness. 1 John 1 states
that God is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins. He's
just to forgive us our sins. His holiness isn't diminished.
He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Our text says, if thou doest
well, shalt thou not be accepted? I say to Cain, he says to Cain,
I say, sinner. I say, Jonathan, if thou doest
well, shalt thou not be redeemed? Shalt thou not be made worthy?
And this is the good news of the gospel. God states to Cain,
and he states to me, and he states to you, sinners, amazingly, against
anything that we could possibly hope for in ourselves, he states,
there is acceptance. There is acceptance. This isn't
man's design, this isn't some trick. Some of you know I sell
insurance for a living. The last 10 pages of every insurance
policy is all the fine print that you really don't want to
read, you know? It's all the exceptions, it's all the fine
print, it's all the... It's all the reasons that that policy
isn't going to do what you think it's going to do. That's not
this. There is acceptance with God through Christ. Period. There's not a list of policy
exclusions, if you will, pardon my silly example there, but there's
not, there's not exclusions. If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? There is acceptance. This isn't
from my mouth, this is from God's mouth. Isn't that what he said
to Cain? If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? Shalt thou not be worthy? Shalt
thou not be able to stand, rightfully stand, have a right to stand?
and be able to stand correctly, rightly in my presence. There
is acceptance. So what does that mean then?
What does that mean to do well? Acceptance is accepted before
a holy God without sacrificing, tarnishing, or polluting his
holiness in any way. An absolutely holy God, we stand
before and not be consumed. That is to be accepted, actually
to be brethren. to be sons, and to not be consumed. What then does it mean then to
do well? Well, left to our own interpretation,
we're gonna get this wrong 100% of the time, and I wrote here
in my notes, dead wrong. Dead wrong because we're dead,
right? We're born spiritually dead,
separated from God, not holy, unholy, holy as other. not holy,
we're dead. What's gonna come forth from
a dead heart? We're gonna be dead wrong. We're
dead in sin, we're born with a dead nature. Our minds and
our hearts are gonna produce dead thoughts, dead works, if
we're left to ourselves. Turn with me over to Romans chapter
three. Romans chapter 3. I'm being very
brave by not having everything marked here and turning them
with us here together. When I'm asked to teach the high
school class, buddy, I have everything marked because those kids beat
me to the scriptures every single time. So I'm being brave by not
having them marked here ahead of time. But here in Romans chapter
3, look here starting in verse 9. What then? Are we better than
they? No, and no wise, for we have
before proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under
sin. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of
the way. They are together, become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good, no, not one. This is us. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
Their tongues, with their tongues they have used deceit. The poison
of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. The way of
peace have they not known. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. Now we know that what things whoever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.
We're dead. We're gonna produce dead thoughts,
dead reasoning on what that means then to do well. In Matthew 15,
Christ declares this, but those things which proceed out of the
mouth come forth from the heart. They defile the man. For out
of the heart, out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These
are the things which defile a man. It comes from our heart. From
our heart, to answer this question, what does that mean to do well?
We'll come up with Cain's sacrifice. Our sinful hearts produce an
open sepulcher that again, if left to ourselves, if Christ
doesn't intervene for us and give us life to do so, we will
reason that either I set my own standard of what doing well means,
Or, okay, maybe we've gotten some knowledge. I say, okay,
the bar is holiness, but here's how we're gonna reach it. I'm
gonna do my part and God's gonna make up the rest. I heard that
at a funeral last week. I'm gonna do my part, God's gonna
make up the rest. This is so disrespectful to God. It
shows a horrible lack of knowledge of myself. To think that I can
make up a part? My goodness. That I can add anything
but dead works to the equation? But that's left to ourselves.
That's what we think of ourselves. I can get myself almost there.
I just need God to take that last step for me. That's Cain's sacrifice. It wasn't
accepted. I've mentioned before here that
every time I put together a sermon, every time I stand anywhere and
preach, I imagine that someday my kids are gonna listen to this.
And I speak to them a lot. When I'm putting together notes
and while I'm standing here, I'm speaking to my kids just as I'm
speaking to you, and I say to them and I say to you, my friends,
my family. It's no different than ingesting
poison. In fact, ingesting poison is better. Whether someone mistakenly ingests
poison or does it on purpose, it's gonna have the same effect.
It's gonna lead to death. And this line of thinking, that
we can produce even one step of holiness, that we produce
anything other than unholiness in God's eyes, will always, 100%
of the time, always, always, always lead to death. whether
it's done in open rebellion or whether it's done in foolishness,
I pray that Christ reach out to us and steer us and give us
life and give us hope and keep us from that awful poison of
works. It'll always lead to death. It'll
always lead to death. To lower God's standard of doing
well to some standard that I set, again, it's no different at all
than what Adam did when he took the fruit and tried to usurp
God's throne. It's treason. No different than what Lucifer
did when he said, I'll be God. Our blind reasoning is going
to actually lead us to the exact same place that Adam's did, and
of course it would. We have Adam's nature. Adam's
nature is going to lead us to the exact same conclusion, which
is, I will be like God. That's works religion. These hands. I was looking at
them while I was driving here today. I recognize these hands.
I saw them from the backseat of the car the whole time I was
growing up. I saw the hands up on the steering
wheel. I saw my dad's hands. That's these right here. Of course
they're my dad's hands. I'm my dad's boy. I've got his
same genetics, his same nature, same hands. Now, mine are a little
bit crooked, because I've done crazy things, and I've broken
almost every finger. So my fingers are a little bit
bent and twisted, and my dad's weren't. So they might look a
little bit different, but I still recognize them. And works religion
might sound alike, God looked down in the history of time and
saw who would choose him and who wouldn't. Saw who would be good and who
wouldn't. And those are his elect. Well, those are still Adam's
fingers. They might be a little bit crooked,
but I still recognize that for what it is. Those are Adam's
fingers. That's Cain's sacrifice, that's works. I hear, sadly, all the time,
And my nature is still there, my heart's still there, I'm still,
God help me, I'm still drawn to, I look to my faith. How satisfied are you when you
look to your faith? God help us from it. Our salvation isn't
in our faith, our salvation's in Christ. Faith is evidence
of the salvation and the life that's been given. Works religion,
Cain's sacrifice, and until this flesh heart is put into the ground,
there will always be a part of it that is drawn to that. God
help me. All the more reason for us to
be here, right? To be reminded, to see Christ
again. I see him again, and that fades away, right? In Christ's
glory, works can never stand. We see Christ one more time.
That works religion, Lowering God's holiness is me making myself
the judge. I'll be the judge, and if I'm
the judge, then this isn't taking it too far. If I'm the judge,
then I'm God. Cain bringing his works sacrifice before the Lord
was him saying, I'm God. I'm God. I set the standard.
Lowering the standard of good to my own standard of good is
It's just another way, it's just broken fingers. It's still the
same works religion, evil fingers that are denying God his throne
and his authority. That's what we have the problem
with. That's why Cain was wroth. Why aren't you, why are you wroth?
I'm wroth against God's authority over me. That's always been the
issue. Look back there in Genesis three
again. In verse 23. Therefore the Lord God sent him
forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence
he was taken. So he drove out the man and placed at the east
of the garden of Eden cherubims with a flaming sword which turned
every way to keep the way of the tree of life. When Adam fell,
God banished Adam. He banished him from the garden.
He banished him from his presence because Adam is sinful, God is
holy. Sin can never be in the presence of holiness. God's holiness
will absolutely consume it. So he banished Adam from the
garden. And at this same time, God established a communication
between himself and with Adam through a sacrifice. The sacrifice
was a picture of Christ, who had always been Adam's sacrifice.
He had always been Adam's sacrifice. Revelation 13 calls Christ the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, right? He had always
been Adam's sacrifice. The sacrifice that Adam was taught
to bring, the sacrifice that Adam taught Cain and Abel to
bring, these are all pictures of Christ. The sacrifice had
to be perfect. What is it to do well? The sacrifice
had to be perfect. Abel brought the firstlings of
his flock. Abel brought that which he could not produce. You
can't produce life. You can't grow a lamb. God alone opens the womb, right?
Abel didn't dress up the sacrifice. He didn't garnish. He didn't
put it on a fancy platter. He didn't adorn it. I was in
4-H when I was a kid, and I took cooking classes. And we were
always taught that you first eat with your eyes. So when you
prepare a meal, you make it look really, really nice because we
eat first with our eyes. You make the meal look really,
really nice, right? That's not what Abel, that's
not the sacrifice before God. The sacrifice that pictures Christ
is a bloody sacrifice. It's a brutal sacrifice. It's
not fit for civilized society. It's messy. The sacrifice is
brutal. The sacrifice is bloody. It's
violent. Because that's what sin deserves.
To be absolutely consumed. So Abel brings the bloody, violent,
brutal, messy sacrifice of the lamb in faith, picturing what
his own sin deserves. It must be absolutely and utterly
consumed. It's a serious sacrifice. All of that speaks to the seriousness
of sin and of judgment. Scripture says the wages of sin
is death, a brutal death, death. God's judgment will have, it
absolutely will have death to be satisfied wherever sin is
found. The fire of God's holiness will utterly consume it. It must.
And it's right that it is. Sin must be consumed, and that's
right. In this sacrifice, Abel saw the darkness of his own sin.
And Abel also saw Christ. God had taught Adam and Eve of
Christ when they fell. Look back in Genesis again, Genesis
chapter three, verse 14. The Lord God said unto the serpent,
Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle,
above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go,
and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will
put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her
seed. It shall bruise thy head, thou
shalt bruise his heel. God taught Adam and Eve about
Christ. Eve knew that a man would come
for salvation, for redemption, and that this perfect man would
bruise the serpent's head. Eve knew that. Adam and Eve,
they knew that. That a perfect man would come
and would redeem them. They're the only two humans on
earth. They were looking for that man. They knew a man is
going to come and redeem me to God. They knew this perfect man
was gonna come, so much so that in Genesis 4, when she bared
Cain, she thought Cain was the man. Behold, the Lord has given
me a man. She thought, this is the man,
this is the Christ, this is the perfect man here for redemption. They knew that the sacrifice
that they were taught pointed as a picture to that man, and
that that man would come and do well. they knew that the sacrifice
pointed as a picture to that holy one that God would send.
And through the sacrifice, Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel and
their families, they all saw this picture of Christ that would
come and that he would do well, that Christ would do well. So
again, I ask, what is that then? What is it to do well? God asked
Cain, if thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? What is
that to do well? Well, it's to be holy. It's to
be without fault. It's to be perfectly good. It's
to always be perfectly aligned with God's will. It's to be righteous. To do well is to be the holiness
of God. Turn with me over here to Matthew
for a minute. To do well is to be the holiness
of God. Matthew chapter 17. I'm going to read another verse
for you while we're turning to Matthew chapter 17. In Matthew 3, lo
a voice from heaven sang, this is my beloved son in whom I am
well pleased. Here in Matthew chapter 17, verse
5, excuse me. While he yet spake, behold, a
bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the
cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased. Hear ye him. When his disciples heard it,
they fell on their face, and they were sore afraid. Jesus came, touched
them, and said, Arise, be not afraid. When they lifted up their
eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. What is it to To do well,
it's to be the holiness of God. Only Christ, did God say, this
is my beloved son. This is in whom I am well pleased. What is it to do well? It's to
be the holiness of God. It's to be the righteousness
of God. And Abel's sacrifice pointed to Christ. It pointed
to that righteousness. Abel's sacrifice pointed to the
one, to the one, Christ, who would do well. Bear with me while
I turn over here to John here in John chapter 1 To do well again, it's it's to
be the righteousness of God of God himself in John chapter 1
Verse 29 the next day John the Baptist seeing Jesus coming unto
him and saith Behold the Lamb there is he's pointing to Christ
Jesus behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of
the world There's the Lamb. He did well. There's the Lamb.
Later he says in verse 36, looking upon Jesus as he walketh, he
saith, behold, the Lamb of God. There's the Lamb. The Lamb always
and only pointed only to Christ Jesus. He does well. What is it to do well? It's to
be the righteousness of God. To do well, again, is to be the
righteousness of God Himself. And that's why Cain's sacrifice
was so offensive. Cain brought the best of what
he had made. I imagine. I imagine it's the
very best Cain could do. I imagine it was impressive to
see. I do. He bought the best he could do.
Scripture doesn't say it, but Let's imagine for a minute that
Cain's sacrifice was sincere and good and stunningly beautiful
to the eyes. Let's imagine that it was. He
put everything he had into it, and it was sincere. But it's
of his own hands. It's of Cain's own hands. And
that speaks to what's truly in his heart, which is this. This
is what's truly in the sinner's heart. I don't need God's holiness. That's what it speaks to, is
I don't need God's holiness. This is the truth of all beliefs,
all religions, that point anywhere other than solely to Christ alone.
What is it to do well? At that same funeral last week,
Heard someone say, this is why we're good to our neighbors.
This is why we try to live a good life. This is why we, and list
whatever it is. Everyone has their pet good,
right? Everyone has their pet, this is what it means to be good.
It's to do this and it's to not do this. And everyone has their
own list. This is why I live this way. And they said it, it's
to get eternal life. Left to ourselves. That's what
I would be standing here telling you. Left to myself, that's what
I'd be standing here telling you right now. Because dead hearts
produce dead works. How offensive is that to God?
That we would even dare compare our own works to Christ. Who he is and his own work. That we would, let alone compare
them, but to say that those are equal. I'm equal with Christ.
I'm equal with God. That's exactly what Cain did
with his sacrifice. It's exactly what we do when
we bring our best efforts to God. Or we show our dead indifference. That's what we do. I'll not have
this man rule over me. It's that indifference, it's
that evidence of our natural heart. Again, no different than
Adam, no different than Lucifer. Trying to put ourselves on God's
throne. What is it to do well? It's to do the holiness of God,
it's to be the holiness of God. That's what it is, to do well.
The holiness of God himself. And God says to Cain, Cain, if
thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? Well, Jonathan,
are you telling me I have to do the holiness of God? I have
to be the holiness of God to be accepted? Yes. Absolutely. I heard a man years ago stand
in this pulpit and say, This is a works religion. It absolutely
is a works religion. It's Christ's work. Christ worked
religion. He is the holiness of God. He's
the holiness of God. Who is it that does well? Cain,
if thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? Who is it that
does well? If I am, if you are, to do and
to be the holiness of God himself, to be accepted, That's what it
takes, that's what I must be, to be worthy to stand in God's
presence. I heard a person say one time,
and I believe this, God will meet you where you want. God
will meet me where I wanna meet. On the grounds that I want to
meet God, God will meet me there. Scary part of that is, God help
me, is that left to myself, I will always choose to meet him on
the basis of my work. and that will never be accepted.
It'll always be consumed. God will meet us where we want.
This should make us cry out to God for mercy all the more, because
left to ourselves, we'll choose the same thing, right, that Cain
did. We'll choose to meet God standing on our own merit. We
think so highly of our own worth and so lowly of God's. It's further
evidence, again, of our dead nature that we inherited from
Adam. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 53. Here's the answer. Who has done
well? Only Christ has done well. Only
Christ has done well. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. Only the man, Jesus Christ. has done well. What does Romans
3 say? There is none that doeth good. No, not one. And here in
Isaiah, which we'll read, it says, all we like sheep have
gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. Only Christ has done well. Only
Christ has done well. But God said to Cain, if thou
doest well, if thou doest well, Now, each of us here is plenty
smart enough to read through the Bible and recognize, at least
mentally, that Christ has done well, right? Any fool, including
this one, can read through and determine, well, Christ has done
well. I can mentally ascend to that. But how can I do well? Because
God said to Cain, if thou doest well, thou shalt be accepted. Shalt thou not be accepted? How
can I do well? How is that possible? Listen
here, if you still have Isaiah 53. Listen as we read through
Isaiah 53. These first 10 verses are Christ
doing well. Who hath believed our report,
to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? He shall grow up before
him as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground. He hath
no form, no comeliness. When we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised, he is rejected
of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We hid as it were
our faces from him. was despised. We esteemed him
not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
Yet we did esteem him smitten of God and afflicted. But he
was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. With his stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way. The Lord hath laid on
him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He has brought us a lamb to the
slaughter. As a sheep before her shears is dumb, so he openeth
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. Who shall declare his generation? For he was cut
off out of the land of the living. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. He made his grave with the wicked
and with the rich in his death, because he hath done no violence,
neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord
to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. And
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed,
prolong his days, the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. Now here in verse 11, here's us justified. Christ, he shall see the travail
of his soul, he shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, he shall divide
the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto
death. He was numbered with the transgressors, he bear the sin
of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Christ, there in verse 11, Christ
justified many. He made many accepted. If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? Christ made many accepted, for
he bore their iniquities. He didn't make them acceptable.
He made them accepted. It is finished, he said from
the cross, right? Christ finished salvation. He made them accepted. Turn with me over to Romans chapter
five. Romans 5, look here with me in
verse 12, then we'll skip down to verse 18. Wherefore, as by
one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and
so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Therefore,
as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation,
even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Be made, made righteous. Moreover,
the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now turn over to first Peter
with me. Who hath done well? 1 Peter chapter two. And just hold our place there
for a minute. Christ didn't bear the iniquity of his people in
a figurative way. During my graduation there was
a speaker and at the end of the speech they gave him an honorary
degree. That means they're going to act as if he actually did
the work. They're going to treat him as if he actually did the
work. They're going to give him the degree as if, as if, as if he actually
did the work. When really he didn't. It's an
honorary degree. That's not Christ's work. It's not an honorary degree.
It's not a figurative work in any way. Salvation isn't considered earned.
Sin wasn't considered to be born. He bore our sin in his body on
the tree. With the man that spoke at our
graduation, they gave him the honorary degree. If you will,
I'm gonna say, we're just gonna call it good, right? We're gonna
give you a degree and call it good. It's an honorary degree.
God doesn't call anything good that is not good. Isaiah 5 states,
woe unto them that call evil good and good evil, that put
darkness for light and light for darkness, that put bitter
for sweet and sweet for bitter. It's not pretend. You've heard
a thousand times, I'm sure, what Scott Richardson used to say.
It's not pasted on righteousness. It wasn't pasted on sin either.
He bore the sin of his people. He bore it in his body on the
tree to death and paid that sacrifice. I pray we never fall into that
evil trap of calling it good, calling it good. Imputation is
real. Christ bore the iniquity of his
people. Now, here in 1 Peter 2, look
here in verse 23. Who, when he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed
himself to him that judgeth righteously, who his own self bare our sins
in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes we are healed.
For ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the
shepherd and bishop of your souls. Just as Christ didn't figuratively
carry the sin of his people, sinners aren't figuratively righteous.
Christ really bore our sins, and we are really, truly made
righteous. We read in Romans 5, for as by
one man's disobedience many were made sinners, we read that earlier,
so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Made
righteous. We read in Colossians, giving
thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet, to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in life. We read that earlier
also, made meet. Second Corinthians 5.21, we quote
this often, but why would we not? Why would we not quote this
often? For he hath made him to be sin
for us, made him, Christ, to be sin for us, who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Christ did not
bear our sin in a figurative way, and sinners are not made
righteous in a figurative way. Who does well? That's what we're
still answering this third question. Who does well? God said to Cain,
if thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted? Christ does
well. And because he does well, those
in him do well. We do well in Christ. Had Cain
brought the blood sacrifice, which pointed to Christ, as Abel
did? Abel did well. Did Abel do well because he brought
the sacrifice? Christ did well. Abel's sacrifice
was pointing to Christ. Abel was in Christ, and therefore
Abel did well. Does that make sense? It's Christ
who does, who does well? Christ and those who are in him
do well. And if thou doest well, shalt
thou not be accepted? in Christ center. Got to find
that person from the funeral last week. I do, I have to find
them that they're trying to live a good life to get eternal life.
I have to find them and tell them, sinner, no, listen, if
thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? If you are in Christ,
shall you not be accepted? That's what the scripture says.
We're not cut off. The flaming swords between us
and, as they were in the garden, between us and God's presence
aren't there anymore because of Christ. We can come to the
Father freely in Christ. We can, and it's right for us
to. It's just for us to. He's made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance in light. He's made us worthy, accepted,
worthy. He's made us worthy to stand
in his presence because of Christ's work. Who hath done well? Christ. Who hath done well? His people
in him. Cain, if thou doest well, shalt
thou not be accepted? Those in him do well. It's so
much, it's not just written on a ledger.
It's real. That 1 Corinthians states, but
of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness, sanctification and redemption. He's made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. that according as
it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Who
does well? Christ does well, and in him his people have done
well. What does God say to Cain? If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? And now finally, the last word,
and I'll be brief. If, if, When I was studying,
I saw quite a few sermons on this text. This is the point
in the sermon where almost every sermon that I read focused on
this if and turned everything over to works. The if isn't contingent
on us. This isn't an if-us. The if isn't
now to follow a list of instructions. The if isn't to point you to
your faith. The if isn't even to point us to... Abel bringing the sacrifice isn't
what made Abel accepted. Christ made Abel accepted. The
sacrifice simply pointed to Christ. The same as the serpent in the
wilderness, look and live. That's the message, look and
live. The if, in if thou doest well, this isn't a condition
for the sinner. in coming to Christ, no condition has ever,
no condition has ever, no condition will ever be left on the sinner. From, again, that first time
that God slew the animal in clothes, Adam and Eve, and they saw that
animal sacrificed. I think of that frequently. Adam
and Eve, who had never seen blood before, saw that animal gutted,
and then wrapped in that skin, and they saw that this is what
my sin deserves. I deserved that. and to be clothed
in Christ's righteousness. They saw this in picture and
in type. To Abel's sacrifice here, to the brass serpent in
the wilderness, to the thousands of sacrifices in the tabernacle,
to Christ, to Christ's sacrifice. No condition has ever been left
to the sinner. The message has never been anything
other than sinner look. Look to Christ. Look. Look and
live. Christ who has made us accepted. Christ who hath done well. Christ
who hath done well. Look to Christ. Look and live.
And even our looking isn't doing well. Christ did well. It's not
our looking. The if isn't on us. The if isn't
to the sinner. Don't trust your works. Don't
trust your faith. Don't trust your looking. Trust Christ. Christ hath done
well. He hath done well. The only if
here is whether or not Christ doeth well. If thou doest well
shalt thou not be accepted. The if is on Christ. If Christ doeth well. then his people shall be accepted.
If he has been successful, then his people will be successful.
That's the only if. If Christ doeth well, then those
looking to him doeth well. If Christ is accepted, those
in him are accepted. If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? Amen. Let's pray together. Our Holy Heavenly Father, I pray
that you've been here with us and that you take your word,
bless your saints, call sinners to repentance. Most importantly,
glorify your name. I pray that you forgive us our
sinfulness, see us always and only in Christ. Keep us, Father,
keep us always looking only to his blood sacrifice alone. Father,
don't let us stray. Forgive us. We pray for others
who are meeting even now that you bless the remnant. Bless
your word. Bring glory to your name. And
we pray this thankfully in Christ's name because of his sacrifice,
because of who he is, because of what he's done. We come before
you in his name alone. Amen.