Fourth chapter of the book of
Genesis. I'd like to read verse 24 of
chapter three. So he drove out the man And he placed at the east of
the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword, which turned
every way to keep the way of the tree of life. Now here's
the first story after the fall. That gives us some idea of the
significance of this story. Verse 1, And Adam knew Eve, his
wife, and she conceived and bare Cain, and said, I have 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 and 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? 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 rule over him. And Cain talked
with Abel his brother. And it came to pass when they
were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother,
and slew him." I have entitled this message,
Two Religions. Two Religions. Now there are only two types
of men in this world, the righteous and the wicked. Right now, God
either views me and you as righteous or wicked. There's no in between. There
are no gray areas. There's no intermediate state.
As I stand before God, I am either righteous Or I am wicked. Somebody once said there are
only two types of people in this world. The righteous. All of which believe themselves
to be wicked. And the wicked. All of which. believe themselves to be righteous. Isn't that interesting? Every
righteous person believes themselves to be wicked. And every wicked
person believes themselves in some way, in some measure, to
some degree, to be righteous, or at least to have the potential
to be righteous. If I just do this, that'll make
me righteous. There are only two types of men.
The righteous and the wicked. And there are only two religions.
The religion of works. Salvation in some way dependent
upon what you do. And salvation by grace. Salvation dependent upon what
Christ has done. But are there not many religions?
Not really. Not really. There are only two. All religions
come down to this, salvation, a right standing before God,
a relationship with God. Because of what you do or because
of what Christ has done. Works or grace. Now Cain and Abel represent these
two men. The righteous who believe themselves
to be wicked. Abel proved that by his offering.
He wouldn't come to God in his own works. And the wicked who
believed themselves to be righteous. Cain proved that's what he thought
about himself. Now, like I said, there's not
a more important story in the Bible. It comes right after the
fall. And that gives us some idea of
its significance. Now, in verse 1, And Adam knew
Eve, his wife, And she conceived and bare Cain. His name means
acquired by purchase. And she said, I've gotten a man
from the Lord. And she was very excited about
this. She thought this was the promised seed. She thought this
was the seed of woman that would bruise the serpent's head. She
believed she had the Messiah. She wasn't sure how that could
happen, but she was excited about this. I've gotten this man from
the Lord. Oh, what joy she had in Cain. And then Verse two, again she
bare his brother Abel. You know what Abel means? Vanity. She named her boy Vanity. She
said there's not much to him. I mean Cain's the man. Cain's
the man. Cain's gonna do something for
us. Abel, just not much to him. Same Hebrew word, Vanity. What a name he had to carry with
him. Vanity. And he believed that about himself.
He believed that just not much to him. Abel, verse 2, was a keeper of
sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Abel was a shepherd.
He watched over what he had no hand in producing. That's what he did. Cain was
a worker of the ground. His fear of operation was producing
something from that which God had already cursed. Remember,
cursed be the ground for thy sake. Cain tried to bring life
out of that which God had already cursed. Now these boys had the
same mom and dad. They were taught the same things.
And you can be sure that their father Adam had told them about
what happened in the garden. He told them of the fall. And
he told them how they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves
of apron is their own righteousness and have God remove those and
he slew a lamb, the first blood shedding, and covered them to
cover their nakedness. He had taught those boys that
the only way God can be approached is through a blood sacrifice. Now, why is that? Why is that? Why is it that God can only be
approached through a blood sacrifice? Let me answer that question,
because God's holy. Because sin must be punished. God would cease to be God if
sin would go unpunished. He can't just sweep sin under
the rug. God's holy. God's just. And He can only be
approached through that substitutionary sacrifice, that blood sacrifice.
There's no other way to come. Somebody says, well, why does
it have to be that way? Because God's holy. That's why. Because God is just. Because
God cannot except sin in any way. My sin must be punished. The only way I can come into
God's presence and be accepted by Him is if something is done
about my sin. Adam taught those boys. The only
way you can come into God's presence is through a blood sacrifice.
Now verse 3, And in process of time it came
to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, an offering
unto the Lord. Now why did Cain do this? Why
did he bring vegetables? Why did he bring fruit? Because he was a wicked man who
believed himself to be righteous. That's why he did this. He was
a wicked man. who believed himself to be righteous. His reasoning was something like
this. As long as my heart's right, as long as I'm sincere, does
it really matter what kind of sacrifice I bring? I mean, I'm
bringing a sacrifice. My heart's right. I've got the
right motive and so on. I don't think it makes much difference
what kind of sacrifice you bring as long as you bring a sacrifice.
I don't want to split hairs over this thing. What difference does
it make? He knew he needed a sacrifice. He knew God would not accept
him as he was. He had some vague notion of that.
He knew something needed to be done about his sin, so he offered
up his best. I can see him carefully arranging
the fruit and bringing it before the Lord and putting it in an
appealing manner. And he looked at it with a measure
of pride and said, surely God will accept this. I would. Salvation by works. He brought something from that
which came from what God had already cursed. God cursed the
ground. He brought something from that
cursed ground and He presented it to the Lord. This will help
you. Food! Food! I mean, I guess He thought
the Lord was hungry and needed what He had to have. Here it
is. Here it is. This will help you. This is good.
You know, the Lord said, if I was hungry, I wouldn't tell you about
it. The cattle on a thousand hills is mine. Verse 4, And Abel, he also brought
of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof, he brought a slain lamb. Now Cain brought what he considered
to be life. What did Abel bring? He brought
death. He brought a slain lamb. And
understand this, Abel knew exactly what he was doing. The scripture
says, I read that at the first of the service, by faith Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice. He knew exactly what
he was doing. He didn't think the blood of that lamb That lamb
that would put away sin, he knew it represented the coming lamb,
the coming son of God. He looked to him who was to come
by faith. Abel offered unto God this more
excellent sacrifice. Abel knew the only way I can
be accepted by God is not by what I do. It's by what the coming
lamb of God will do. He believed in substitution just
the way you and I do. He believed the gospel. He believed that
he didn't just have to think this blood of this lamb will
put away my sin. He knew it was the coming lamb
of God that would put away sin. By faith, Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. You see, Abel, when he
slew that lamb, he really believed this is what I deserve. I deserve
to be cut off by God. I deserve to be thrown away. My sin has separated me. This is what I deserve. And the
only way I can be accepted is if God views me in this land,
if my sin is paid for by the coming land, that promised Messiah,
the seed of woman that shall bruise the serpent's head. He
knew the gospel. He believed the gospel. Cain
presented the best he could do. Life from that which God had
already cursed. Abel, the Lamb. Now look what it says in verse,
the latter part of verse four. And the Lord had, look at that
word, don't miss that. Respect. unto Abel and to his
offering." You see, you can't separate the person from the
offering. If you want to understand the person, look at the offering. The Lord had respect. Now, that's powerful language,
isn't it? You know, I could say to every believer in this room,
you know something? The Lord, the God of glory, respects you. It says He had respect to Abel.
Not just to Abel's offering, but he had respect to Abel and
to his offering. Let me quote Hebrews 11.4 once
again, by faith. Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. There's that righteous person.
He was righteous. God testifying of his gifts. The holy God, the God of glory
bearing witness to his gifts. Abel was a righteous man. So righteous that the God of
glory actually respected him. Now how important can that be?
Can you imagine God respecting you? That word means to gaze
on with approval. God looking at you and gazing
on you and saying, I'm pleased. Perfect righteousness. Now how in the world can that
be? God had respect to Abel and to his offering. Abel was a righteous
man. That's the question of the century.
How can that be? Well, hold your finger there
and turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you
in Christ's name, you be reconciled to God, for He, God, hath made
Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin. And look at that to be,
it's in italics. I think it reads better without
it. He hath made Him sin. He hath made Him sin for us who
knew no sin. He never sinned in His person
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. My sin became the sin of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was made sin. What all that means, I don't
know. It's too horrible to think about. I mean, we've got to think
about it, but He was made sin. All that I am, He was made to
be. And just as truly as He was made
sin, every believer is made what? The very righteousness of God. That's real. I am the very righteousness
of God. If Christ died for me, like Abel,
I'm a righteous man. I have no sin. I'm the very righteousness
of God. Now that's how Abel became righteous. This sacrifice, notice it said
he had respect to Abel and his offering. And I love the way
the scripture points out it's a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain's. Now what's more excellent, what
Christ did or what you did? What's more excellent, his righteousness
or yours? You know, I'm amazed that religious
people teach... I'm not amazed by it, I'm one
of them by nature, but it does amaze me that people teach that...
that you can earn a higher award in heaven by adding your works
or your righteousness to Christ's righteousness and somehow that'll
make it better and you'll get a higher award, a bigger... Have
you ever thought about how ridiculous that is? You can add something
to the righteousness of Christ that make it better? That's blasphemous
is what that is. That's blasphemous. Oh, Abel
was righteous because of the offering. The Lord Jesus Christ
put away his sin. Now, if I'm... God had respect
to Abel and to his offering. And God has respect to every
believer who looks to Christ only. Are you like Abel? If you're
like Abel, you're a righteous man who believes yourself to
be wicked. And you know your only way of
approach to the living God is through the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you wouldn't dare come any other way. God testified of His gifts. You see, God sees things as they
really are. You and I don't. I mean, we flat
out don't see anything, do we? Not in reality. I mean, I don't
know what's going on. The Lord does, and I'm fine with
that. And, you know, I can't see it. You're a lot like me.
I realize that. But really, none of us see things
as they really are, do we? I mean, we just don't have enough
information. We don't know the facts. But
God sees things as they really are. And He testified that Abel
was a righteous man because of the offering of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And God's testimony is true. You know, when the Lord
Jesus talked about Abel in Matthew chapter 23, He called him Righteous
Abel. And that's what every believer
is. God testifying of His gifts. Turn back to Hebrews 11 for a
moment. Hold your finger there in Genesis 4 and turn back to
Hebrews 11. Verse 1. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for. Now, I have a hope that when
I stand before God, I'm righteous. That's what my
hope is, that I stand before God without sin. That's what I'm hoping for. Well,
what's the ground of your hope? I believe the gospel. Let's go
on reading. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now, I'll tell you
something that's not seen. It's not seen that I'm righteous. You can't see it. I can't see
it myself. I can't look at myself and say,
I'm righteous before God. I'm without sin before God. I
can't see that by looking at it. All I see All I see is myself. That's it. I do not see anything
else. What is the evidence that you
are righteous before God? I believe the gospel. I'm relying
on Christ as my righteousness. I can't see that I'm righteous.
You can't see that I'm righteous, but I am righteous. You see,
that's not something you could see. Faith is the evidence of
things not seen. What a glorious thing that God
of glory had respect to Abel and to his sacrifice. Something must be of infinite
worth for the God of glory to have respect for it. Romans 3.24
says, being justified freely, freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That's what every believer
has. I turn back to verse 5 of our
text in Genesis 4. The last sentence of verse 4,
And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering. Verse 5, But unto Cain and to
his offering he had not respect. Now once again, you can't separate
the person and the offering. When God saw Cain, He treated
him with utter contempt. He had no respect for Cain and
he had no respect for his offering. He found it an insult. Cain gave his best and God rejected
it. He had no respect for it. He
had no regard for it. He felt nothing but contempt
toward Cain and toward his offering. Now, why? Why did God treat,
I mean, Cain, you put yourself in Cain's place. I mean, he did
what he thought he ought to do, I reckon, and he gave his best,
and God had no respect for what he brought. Why is that? Well,
let me give you two or three reasons. First, his offering
was an act of disobedience. God said, you bring the blood. Don't bring anything else. And
Cain said, well, I'm not going to split hairs as long as I bring
a sacrifice, it's okay. And it was an act of disobedience.
When God told the children of Israel, you put blood over the
door. And when I see the blood, I'll
pass over you. What if somebody said, well,
gold will do. Gold will do. I mean, gold's more expensive.
I mean, maybe be more pleased with that or anything else, anything
other than the blood. What would have happened? wrath
would have come upon them to the uttermost. He brought fruit from that which
God had already cursed. You see, if you bring anything
that comes from that, that means anything from your flesh, anything
that comes from you. I've done this. If you bring
anything that has anything to do with you, you're bringing
to God that which He's already cursed. His sacrifice was a denial of
who God was and who he was. He was insulting God by thinking
God could accept that. He was denying his own sinfulness. He didn't really believe that
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. He didn't believe that
the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. Bottom
line, this is the religion of works. Cain was a wicked man
who believed himself to be righteous and he thought God could accept
something that came from him. He represents salvation by works. Now, let's look at Cain's response
in verse 5. But unto Cain and his offering
God had no respect. And Cain was very wroth. He was very angry and his countenance
fell. He was mad about this. He was
upset. He resented it. Now, question, why? Why was Cain so upset over this?
He was mad. As a matter of fact, he was so
mad at his brother over this that he ended up killing him. You
know that. Why was he so mad? Let me give you two reasons.
First, he didn't really believe he was a sinner. And two, he thought God was treating
him unfairly. He didn't really believe he was
a sinner. Now, he believed he sinned. He
saw a need for sacrifice. He knew he did something wrong.
He brought some kind of sacrifice. He believed he sinned, but he
didn't really believe he was a sinner. You see, if you really
believe you're a sinner, you know if your hand touches anything,
it's bad, it's wrong, it's evil, it doesn't matter what it is.
He had no understanding of that. He didn't really believe he was
a sinner. And because of that, he thought God was treating him
unfairly. It's not right for him to accept Abel's and not
accept mine. He didn't see the vileness of
his own sin. You know how I can tell if somebody
really believes they're a sinner? I hope I really believe I'm one.
I really do. I hope I believe I'm one, but
I know this. Anybody who really believes they're
a sinner. They won't dare come into God's
presence in any way but simply in the Lord Jesus Christ. They
won't bring their works. They won't bring their sincerity.
They won't bring their efforts. They know all about them is sin.
And the only way they would dare to come into the presence of
God is through the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, that I might be found
in Him. That's the only way I want to
be found. That's the only way I want to be viewed in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I don't want Him to look at my
preaching. I don't want Him to look at my motives. I don't want
Him to look at my... No, let me simply be found in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We sing that song, when He shall
come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in Him be found, dressed
in His righteousness, alone, faultless to stand before God's
holy throne. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground, it's sinking
sand. Somebody who really believes
they're a sinner, at all times, they simply want to be found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. How about you? How about you? Cain did not believe it was fair
for God to accept Abel and not to accept him. You see, when
you're self-righteous, you feel like you can judge God. This
is not fair. Kind of like the response of
the natural man when he hears that God has elected a people.
He elected a certain amount and didn't elect everybody. How could
that be fair? Or how can it be fair for Christ to only die for
the elect and not die for everybody? How can that be fair? All of
a sudden, men think that they can stand in judgment on God.
I love what Paul said. Nay, but, O man, who are you
to reply against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? See, self-righteous
people always dislike God's sovereignty. Always. Now, let's go on reading.
Verse 6, And the LORD said unto Cain,
Why art thou wroth, and why has thy countenance fallen? Now look
what he says in verse 7. 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. God will meet you and he'll meet
me on the ground we want. He says to Cain, who is so angry
and so resentful, this is not fair. He says, if you do well,
you'll be accepted. If you bring the right sacrifice,
if you come by way of the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll be accepted.
And if you don't, Sin lies at the door. I think it's interesting
the first time sin is mentioned in the Scriptures, it has to
do with bringing the wrong sacrifice. Now, listen to this. The Lord
will meet you on the ground. You want to come. He surely will. If you want to come in your works,
if you want to come in your righteousness, God will meet you on that ground.
You see what happened. If you want to come on the ground
of free grace, God will meet you there. If you do well, you'll
be accepted. If you come pleading only Christ,
listen, anybody who comes to Christ pleading for mercy, God
will accept. He has never turned down in the
history of the universe, He's never turned down one sinner
seeking mercy. You come seeking mercy, you'll
have it. You'll have it. You come pleading grace, you'll
have it. Can't anybody say, well, I wanted
mercy, you wouldn't give it to me. No, that's never happened.
Anybody who ever comes, he receives. Him that cometh to me, he said,
I will in no wise cast out. If you do well, you'll be accepted.
Isn't that wonderful? If you come, oh my God, give
me grace to do that even right now. I want to, I want to come
to other men. You know, the scripture has so,
so many twos to give us this contrast. Two other men, the
Pharisee and the publican. He comes into God's presence.
I thank thee that I'm not as other men are. Talks about all
the things that he did. He gave God the credit. He did. He gave God the credit. I thank
thee that I'm not as other men are. Then he starts lying. Talk
about what he doesn't do and what he does do. They were lies.
God made him on the ground a king. And then there was that publican
who wouldn't so much as lift up his eyes to heaven but smote
on his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, thee, sinner. And what did our Lord say about
that man? He said, I say unto you that he went down to his
house justified, not guilty, accepted. Now, the Lord will
meet you and me on the ground we come. Verse 8, And Cain talked with Abel. Now that word talk, they weren't
having an amicable discussion. The word is literally quarreled.
Cain started a fight. He was upset. He quarreled. He challenged. He spoke against. And I can kind of imagine this
conversation they were having. Cain quarreled with Abel. This
is not fair that God accepts you and respects you and he doesn't
have anything to do with me. This is not fair. And Abel replies,
Cain, fair is hell. If God gives me what I deserve
and if He gives you what you deserve, He'll send you to hell
right now. He'll send me to hell right now.
That's what fair is. And you know, you've been taught
that the only way that God can be approached is through the
blood of the coming Lamb of God. He believed the gospel. He knew
just as well as I do. Christ hadn't come yet, but He
knew His only hope was found in that one God would sin to
put away his sins. He knew he couldn't approach
Him any other way. He knew that. He said, God has always told
us we can only come through the blood. And I imagine Cain said,
why you narrow-minded, bigoted idiot. You think your way is
the only way. It's not right. And Abel replied,
Cain, this is not my way. This is the Lord's way. He's
taught us that we can only come through the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. No other way, no other plea.
And I imagine Cain thought blood. I'll show you some blood. He
picked up a rock or a stick or something. And he hit his brother
and his brother crumpled to the ground. Lies there dead with his blood
running out. The first Christian martyr. That's where that started. The
first Christian martyr. Now, Hebrews 11.4 says, by faith,
Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.
By which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying
of his gifts, and listen to this last phrase, and by it, he being
dead yet speaketh. You know Abel speaking today.
He's speaking right now. He being dead yet speaketh. Well, what's he got to say? Well,
the first thing I like to think about is Abel. Being in heaven. Being in the
very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me for a moment
to Colossians chapter 1. Verse 20. And having made peace through
the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things to Himself.
By Him, I say, whether it be things in earth or things in
heaven, and you that were sometime or before time alienated and
enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled
in the body of His flesh through death to present you." This is
the way Abel's presented. This is the way I'm presented.
This is the way every believer is. Holy. unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight, in the very sight of God. Now God sees things as
they really are. You and I don't. He sees things
as they really are. And right now, me and Abel and
every other believer, in the very sight of God, we're holy,
without blame, and unapprovable. That's a good place to be, isn't
it? Abel, how'd you get that way? The blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Do you find satisfaction in that? You know, God's satisfied with
the blood of His Son. I am too. I am too. I really believe that
His blood makes me that way. That's Abel. He's speaking today. He's in glory. He's unblameable,
unreprovable, and holy in God's sight, and we know how. The blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Abel was murdered for his
belief. Works religion hates grace religion,
doesn't it? Always has, always will. You see, If your hope is in your
works in some way, and somebody says your works don't even count,
well, that's taking away your hope. If your hope is in some
experience you've had, and you say your experience doesn't count,
salvation is accomplished wholly by what the Lord did, folks are
going to get mad. Works always hates grace. I got a letter this week. I'm
not going to say it because it had cuss words in it. But I was
glad to get it. I was glad to get it. A guy was
talking to somebody that heard the TV program. I mean, and I
thought, well, he heard something. He heard something. And I wrote
him back last night. I wrote him back and I said,
I said, I'm preaching the truth of God, and deep down, you know
it. Now, he might disagree with that, but I know he does. Works, hates, grace. But what
does What does Abel tell us? Well, the issue is what it's
always been. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, this is the issue. It was the issue then, it's the
issue now. Whose blood was shed? That's
the blood of the God-man. What did he accomplish by his
shed blood? He accomplished the full, complete
salvation of everybody he died for. And that's my hope. I've
got one hope. I don't have two hopes. I got
one hope. My hope of standing accepted before God is because
Jesus Christ the Lord died for my sins and put them away. Now,
if you tell me that he can die for somebody and they might end
up in hell anyway, you've taken away the only hope I got. The
only hope I have is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is the issue. What did his blood actually accomplish? Hebrews 10.14 says, By one offering. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. That's what His blood did. What is Abel saying to us? This message of the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ excludes and condemns all forms of salvation
by works. condemns them. And Abel tells us that this is
a gospel worth dying for. It surely is. This is a gospel worth
dying for. And you know what? I don't need fear of punishment or hope for
reward to cause me to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's
all I need. He died for me. Let's pray.