Today I want us to be looking
at Genesis chapter 4 verses 1 through 8. The title of the day's message
will just be Cain and Abel. Let's begin reading in verse
1 of Genesis chapter 4. And Adam knew Eve, his wife,
and she conceived and bare Cain. And she said, I have gotten a
man from the Lord. And she again bared his brother
Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller
of the ground. 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 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. And
the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth, or angry? And
why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shall thou
not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin
lieth at the door. And to thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his
brother, and it came to pass that when they were in the field,
that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. Now we come to see Adam and Eve
after that God had driven them out of the garden, and now that
they begin to have children. Before the fall they had no children,
but after the fall they had many children. If you're reading the
scriptures, I think that Adam lived to be like 900 and some
years old, and during that time they had a lot of children. But
here we're only going to look at two. These two men Or examples,
these are men, they're not young men, they're not boys, they're
men. They've come of age and this chapter, these verses deal
primarily with worshipping of God. Both these boys are going
to worship God. This is what we're going to try
to look at today. And that he can only be worshipped by faith
in a blood sacrifice. In Genesis 3, we saw the entrance
of sin into this world. Here we see the process or the
progress of sin and its fruit in these two men. In Genesis
3, we saw sin against God. Here we see it also against man.
And the person or the man who has no fear of God as Cain didn't,
who has no fear of God, has no regard for his neighbor or for
his brother. In Genesis 3, we read about the
enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.
And here we see in these two sons, Cain and Abel, that enmity
between these two men. Today I want to primarily be
looking at four things. I want us to look at these two
men individually. How did they approach God? How
were they received when they approached God? And what was
the outcome as they came to God? These two men, Cain and Abel,
they were brothers, born of the same parents, born in the same
home, raised in the same environment, and both of these boys had the
same gospel preached to both of them. And both of them had
a fallen, depraved nature. They both received their nature
from their father and from their mother. And out here, it talks
about these two boys coming. Now, let's look first at Cain. Because it first says, list him
first. When Cain was born, Eve said,
I've gotten a man from the Lord. He was the firstborn, the firstborn
male. And his name means, you know,
you need to notice when you read the scriptures that these names
are not just insignificant, they have meanings. So his name means
to strike suddenly, swiftly, or to inquire. What Eve was actually
saying, now remember God had made the promise to her and promised
to Adam that the seat of the woman would bruise the head of
the serpent. And when she said, I've gotten a man from the Lord,
what she was actually saying, I've gotten the man from the
Lord. She thought this would be the
one that was to come. Her firstborn son that would
come and redeem his people. She thought that this man came
would be the one that God would use to redeem his people, and
that God would strike quickly, she thought that he was the coming
Redeemer. And she thought that this man
Cain, this is who he was. I want you to think about this. Knowing human nature, knowing
fallen nature, and as Eve misunderstood this, But she thought this was
the man. This is him. I can see Eve her
whole life pampering this man, this young boy, all the way through
his childhood, even into adulthood. She was probably told him that
he was pretty special. And I can see him being a handsome
son. It doesn't say. But he was probably
a man's man. He probably stuck out among men.
And he probably, in the family, everybody looked to him. Everybody
looked to Cain. This is who Cain was. This is
who he was. But then we see Abel. His name
means emptiness, or vanity, or just unimportant. He was just
an extra son, or just another son. Abel was a son, but he was
just not, he was just insignificant. But God had his eye, what I want
you to see, here we see in these verses, God had his eye on the
weaker vessel. God's thoughts are not our thoughts.
God doesn't see things as we see them. He thought, well, this
is the man. This is the one. But Abel, insignificant. Here we see, though, as God said
all through the scriptures, here we see in these verses how that
God had respect to Abel and his offering and not to Cain. Here
God said a president all the way through the scriptures that
the older boy would serve the younger boy. that the purpose
of God according to election might stand. You remember the
story of Jacob and Esau. Jacob have I loved, the younger
boy. Esau have I hated, the older
boy. God chose Joseph over all his other brothers. God singled
him out. And that's what we see here pictured
in these two men. These men are pictures. God holds
them up as pictures. So let's think about that. Secondly,
how did they approach God? If you'll notice in verse 3,
it said that in the process of time, there is a process of time. This is God's time. It said that
when, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, it said when the
fullness of time was come, Christ came into the world. It says
in Ecclesiastes, to everything there is a season and a time
to every purpose under heaven. Time is not permanent. There'll
be a time when time is no more. But here it says, in the process
of time, this was the time of grace. This was the time that
Cain was to approach Almighty God and to come and worship God. This time, in the process of
time, and you notice that in the process of time, it came
to pass and it always will. Why? Because God rules over all
things. What's happening here is no accident.
God is arranging all this. God is in control of all this.
It wasn't an accident. This time, this time here was
fixed by Almighty God and there is a time, now listen to me,
There is a time when man is confronted with God, and how will he react
to the light that he has from God? The providence of God had
brought him to this place, this time, and this place of worship
in the process of time. In the process of time. Remember that. God controls it
all, and he's bringing it to pass in his own time. His time. So let's look first again at
Cain. How did he approach God? It's
said here that in the process of time that Cain brought of
the fruits of the ground an offering to the Lord. Cain was not an
ignorant man. Cain was a religious man. What
I want you to think about, and think about this, that Cain had
been taught the gospel, just like Abel had, by his father
Adam. You say, well, how did Adam teach him the gospel? God
taught him the gospel. God taught him the gospel when
he said the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the
serpent. And he also taught him the gospel when he took an animal
and shed blood and took skins and took the skins from those
animals and covered their nakedness, showing that only a man can be
redeemed by the shedding of blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. And the only way God can be approached
is by a perfect holy sacrifice. He had been taught this. But
how did he approach God? I see Cain as he goes and he
gathers together his offering that he's going to bring. He
sees the things that he had brought about, the works of his own hands.
He thought, well, this is the works of my hand. This is the
best I can produce and this is the best I have produced and
surely God will be accepted with this sacrifice. Now that's what
he thought. I believe that he went out and
found the best that he had. Now that's just my opinion. But
Cain is acting, listen to me, from a depraved mind. This is
what he thinks. This is not how he had been instructed,
but this is what he thinks. He thinks, I think this will
be good enough. The problem is that he thought. He is acting
from feelings. He had been told all of his life
that he was special and that his best would be good enough.
Doesn't that sound familiar today? Man's been told that he's good
and he's good enough is good enough, but it's not. And surely
he thought. That if man approves of it, then
God will approve of it. That's what he thought. That's
what I see here. He brought the fruit of the ground. What was
the ground? The ground was cursed. God put a curse on the ground.
And what came from the ground was cursed also. Just like those
fig leaves. Those fig leaves came from that
fig that was cursed. God pronounced a curse on it.
Cain was looking to himself. His eye was not to Christ. His
eye was to himself and what he could do. This is what we see,
how this man came, approached God. So let's look at Abel, his
brother. In Abel, he also brought of the
firstlings of his flock, verse 4, and of the fat thereof. And
the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering. He brought
of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof. What does
this say? I believe he had a flock of sheep. I believe he brought
a lamb because we see that all the way through the scriptures.
We see it in the book of Exodus. When they came out of Egypt,
they was to take a lamb of the first year without blemish, without
spot, without Didn't have a broken leg, didn't have anything wrong
with it. It was the best that there was. And he was to bring
that lamb and sacrifice that lamb. And he said he brought
the firstlings. Well, why did Abel do this and
Cain not? We'll see that in a minute. But
this is how Abel comes to God, how he approaches God. You know
what I see here? Abel's coming to God as a sinner. He realizes that he's a sinner
and that the only way he can approach God is through a blood
sacrifice, through a mediator. Abel, now listen, it said God
had respect or accepted his offering. Abel was accepted not on his
faith or his sacrifice. Listen, faith doesn't save. Christ
saves. You could shed all the blood
that was ever shed in the Old Testament and it could never
take away one sin. So it was not the faith or the
sacrifice. It was his sacrifice. It wasn't
his sacrifice or his faith, but it was witness that God testified
that he was righteous because of the one that it looked to.
It looked to the sacrifice that would come. In the world's eyes,
Abel was the least of the two men. He probably, I believe,
was despised by his brother. His brother probably looked down
on him. But Abel brought the firstlings of his flock, a lamb
without blemish, perfect. Why? This is what God prescribed. He said, how did he know to do
this? How did he know to do this? He had to be taught. Faith comes
by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. He brings a living
sacrifice, a blood sacrifice, because the life of the flesh
is in the blood. His father Adam told him, his
father Adam instructed him. How did he instruct him? He instructed
him by example and by experience. Adam had experienced what it
was like to sew fig leaves together to try to cover his nakedness.
He knew what that was like. And God set an example with Adam
when he took off those fig leaves and made him aprons and covered
his nakedness. He taught his sons. He instructed
his sons. And God gave Abel faith to believe
what his father said. Both these boys heard the gospel.
Both of them heard it. Both of them lived in the same
home. It says in Hebrews 4 verse 2, talking about the nation of
Israel and how that they rebelled against God, and he said, for
unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. The word
preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in
them that heard it. Cain had no faith. He said, how
do you know that if Cain had believed God, he'd brought the
right sacrifice? He had approached God the right way. The reason
I know that people don't believe God today is whether they try
to approach God. They try to come on their own efforts, on
who they are. In Hebrews 11, verse 4, it throws
some light on these verses. It says, by faith, able, offered
unto God. a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain, by which he obtained witness. Witness from who? He obtained
witness from God that he was righteous. What does it mean
to be righteous? It means to be righteous, holy.
Acceptable in the sight of God. God said, God witnessed to him,
said he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts and
by it he being dead yet speaks. Abel was the first man to ever
die upon this earth. The first man to ever die. And
he still speaks. Abel still preaches to us that
we are accepted unto God by what Christ has done, not by what
we do. He's being dead. He still speaks. He still speaks to us. So how
did these two men approach God? Something I want you to notice.
These two men, as I've already mentioned, they were born in
the same household, had the same parents. The only difference
I see physically that we have recorded here in the scripture,
one was a little older. What made the difference between
these two men? What made the difference between
Cain and Abel? Was it that Abel was just a little
bit smarter? Was it he just a little wiser?
Did he just happen to figure everything out? No, that's not
the case. That's not the case. What made the difference? between
these two men. And I'll tell you, it was grace. Grace made the difference. It
was not that Abel was naturally wiser or naturally smarter. One
was looking to the works of his own hands and one was looking
to the work of another that would perform that work. One was looking
to himself. One was looking to the Lamb of
God that God would provide that would take away the sin of the
world. That's who he's looking to. One believed God and the
other did not. It wasn't that he just believed
his daddy. It ain't that he just, that Abel believed Adam. He believed
God. It says that Abraham believed
God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. How were they received? So we
see the two men. We see how that they approached
God. But how were these two men received?
I'm going to look at Abel first. It says that God had respect
to Abel and to his offering. That respect, as I've already
said, means to be perfect. It means to be acceptable. In
Leviticus it says it shall be perfect to be accepted. It's got to be perfect to be
accepted. Now think about that for a minute. You think you're
approaching God and you're going to bring something to God that's
got to be perfect. It's got to be perfect or God
won't accept it. He said, why is that? Because
God's a perfect God. God's a holy God. God can't accept
anything less than who he is. And he said, the Lord had respect
unto Abel and to his offering. Because Abel looked to Christ,
God accepted him. Listen, God looked at his sacrifice
with a smiling countenance. He took and expressed delight
and satisfaction in what he did. He first was accepted and he
first accepted of his person and considered, he was considered
in Christ his well-beloved son. That's how God accepted him.
and then his offering in virtue of his sacrifice. And in this
respect, an acceptance might be signified by some visible
sign. To show that God accepted that
sacrifice, God could have spoken in audible voice. We don't know
what he did. But I know other places in the scriptures when
the sacrifice was placed on the altar in the time of Elijah,
God came down in fire and devoured the sacrifice. God devoured the
sacrifice. We don't know how he did it,
but God testified to what Abel did that God accepted what he
did. God accepted it. Now that's amazing
that God accepted it. God received his offering, this
sacrifice, this firstling of the lambs that he brought. He
received it because it looked to the Lord Jesus Christ like
when John the Baptist said, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away
the sin of the world. It's looking to Christ. That's
what salvation is. Short and simple, simple and
plain, salvation is looking to Jesus Christ alone. That's simple. But then it came into his offering. It said God had no respect, verse
5. God didn't receive it. It ain't that God just didn't
say, well, it's just not as good as Abel's. If you don't want
to say it as plain as I can say it, God spit on it. God stubbed
his nose at it. And God said, it is unacceptable. The Bible and other places of
scriptures, it calls it filthy rags. That's because this was
Cain. He thought this was his righteousness.
This is how he thought he could obtain a right standing with
God. And God spit on his sacrifice.
He had no respect for it. It wasn't accepted at all. This
offering that Cain brought was his pretended righteousness. This is what he brought. He thought
that God just ought to receive it. And it was the best he could
bring. And God called it filthy rags. He couldn't stand it. I want
you to see the last point. How did they respond? What was
the outcome? Now you imagine Cain. Now think
with me for a minute. He brings his offering. He says,
well, it's the best I can bring. It's the best efforts. God just
ought to receive it, hadn't he? No, he didn't. So what happened? It says Cain was wroth. Cain
was angry. Cain got mad. In these two men,
Cain and Abel, we see the two religions in this world. And
remember, there's only two, grace and works. You either try to
approach God based on your efforts, based on your resolutions, based
on whatever you want to call a good work. God calls it filthy
rags. Paul called it dung. Well, you
come to God by grace. Grace is God's unmerited favor
to an undeserving sinner. Cain believed. And all fallen
men, he believed like all fallen men do until they're saved by
the grace of God. That their acceptance with God
is based upon the works of their hands. Cain believed that man
must do his part. God despised, Cain despised God's
grace and anybody else who did believe in God's grace. The gospel
offended his pride. The scriptures talk about the
offense of the cross. It offended him. You ever been
offended? Cain was offended that God didn't
accept his sacrifice. It offended him. Made him angry.
Made him angry. This was more than he could stand.
And this is what happens today. If people ever hear the truth
about the gospel of God's free grace, they can't stand it. Because the majority of people
that we live in the world today, I don't care what brand it is,
what name you want to put on it, what denomination it is,
whatever it is, it's either grace or works. Whatever it is, whatever
it is, two types. We sit here in these two men.
The Lord Jesus Christ came back to his hometown one day and they
asked him to stand up and preach. Now, these are people that had
been raised with Jesus there in Nazareth. And when he preached
to them about there was many widows in Israel, the time of
Elijah the prophet, and God didn't send Elijah to any of those widows
but to that one widow who was a Gentile, he preached to them
election. He preached to them salvation
by sovereign grace. And he said when he preached
that, they rose up. and thrust him out of the city,
and led him to the brow of the hill whereon the city was built,
that they might cast him off headlong. They meant to kill
him." He said, why would those people want to kill the Lord
Jesus Christ? Because they were basing their salvation on works,
on what they did. Abel here was the very first
martyr who died for believing and trusting in Jesus Christ. Do you not see here the enmity,
the enmity, the hatred between the seed of the woman and the
seed of the serpent? They cannot mix. They cannot
mix. They're eternities apart. It
says, but as then he that was born after the flesh, talking
about Cain, referring to Cain, persecuted him that was born
after the spirit, even so is it now. And Cain, It said, talked
with Abel, his brother, verse 8. We don't know what they talked
about, but I believe Cain probably had some questions to ask his
brother. Why didn't God accept my sacrifice? My sacrifice was
just as good as yours. And Cain talked with his brother
Abel, and it came to pass, verse 8, when they were in the field
that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him, killed
him. Abel's death represented the
death of Christ himself, like his Redeemer, like the Lord Jesus
Christ. Abel was murdered by this religious
world. The Pharisees, the scribes, and
all those religious people who thought that God ought to receive
what they did, and he exposed their sin for what it is, and
it made them angry. And this enmity is still there
today. 1 John 3, beginning in verse
10. In this the children of God are
manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doth not
righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother. For this is the message that you have heard from the
beginning, that you should love one another. not as Cain, who
was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. Why did he kill
his brother? Here's the answer. And wherefore
slew he him? Because his own works, his own
works, were evil, and his brothers were righteous. That's what it
was over. Grace and works. And marvel not,
my brethren, marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. This world
is under the spirit of Antichrist already now. Antichrist. They're not for Christ, they're
against Christ. Whatever religion that it is,
we see it here, it's either a Cain religion or a fable of faith. And Abel still preaches. He's
still speaking that it's by grace. In Jude chapter, I mean, there's
only one chapter, chapter, verse, chapter 1, verse 11, He says,
Woe unto them, for they've gone in the way of Cain. What is the
way of Cain? The way of Cain is the way of
works confusion. It's the way of no peace and
rest. It's the way of endless wondering. What did he do? If
you read on later on in the chapter, it says he went to the land of
Nod, which means wondering. He never found rest. That's what the way of Cain is.
That's the way of works religion. The way of Abel is the way of
grace. It's the way of blood redemption.
It's the way of faith. And this is the way. This way
is that which is persecuted and then hated. And it's hated especially
by the religious world of this day. My question to you is, Which
way will you take? Will you try to come to God like
Cain did and be rejected? Or will you come like Abel did,
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ as your substitute and as your
righteousness? Till next week at the same time,
may God bless you.