I did choose thee. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nibbert. In Hebrews chapter 11, verse
four, we read these words. 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 by it he being
dead yet speaketh." Now we're going to consider Cain and Abel
this morning. I've entitled this message, The
Two Religions. I asked Siri, If you don't know
what Siri is, it's that thing on your phone that you ask it
a question and it answers it through whatever it does. And I asked Siri how many distinctive
religions there were in the world. And this was the answer given,
over 10,000 distinctive religions throughout this world. I then
asked her how many denominations there were within Christianity,
and she said 45,000 denominations within what is
known as Christianity, all of which claim to have some better
grip on the truth. Did you know that in reality
there are only two religions? The religion of works and the
religion of grace. Let me repeat that. In reality,
there are only two religions. The religion of works and the
religion of grace. Now in the religion of works,
your salvation is in some way, be it ever so small, is in some
way dependent upon what you do. Your salvation is ultimately
in your hands. You've got to check the boxes.
Whatever it is you need to do for you to be saved, you need
to do it. That is salvation by works. In the religion of grace, your
salvation is completely dependent upon what God does for you. Your salvation is completely,
100% dependent upon what Christ does for you. Now, if any aspect
of your salvation is dependent upon what you do, for instance,
the beginning of your salvation, it's up to you to make a decision
to follow Christ. It's up to you as an act of your
will to accept Him as your personal Savior. And if you don't do that,
you won't be saved. It's dependent upon your choice.
My dear friends, that's salvation by works. That's salvation dependent
upon you. Or if in the middle of your experience
of salvation, you become more holy and more righteous by your
works, by your Bible reading, by your prayer, by your self-denial,
by your battle with sin, and you become more holy than your
brother, that's works. That's a part of salvation by
works. Or at the end of your salvation,
you earn a higher reward in heaven because of your personal obedience
here on earth. And you have a higher position
in glory than your brother who didn't have quite as many good
works as you. That's still making part of your salvation at least,
partly dependent upon your works. That is salvation by works. That is the religion of Cain. In the religion of grace, your
salvation is 100% dependent upon what Christ does for you. Now, Abel's religion was predicated
on Christ, grace. Cain's religion is predicated
on works, what he did, as we're going to see in this passage
of scripture. Now, not only are there only two religions, there
are only two types of men. what the scripture calls the
righteous and the wicked. That is how God views you and
me in one of these two lights before God, I am either a righteous
man or I am a wicked man. And listen to this statement
very carefully, because this is true. All of the righteous,
without exception, believe themselves to be wicked. And all of the
wicked, without exception, believe themselves to be righteous, or
at least have the potential to be righteous. If they do whatever
it is they think they need to do to become righteous. Now, all of the members of the
religion of Abel believe grace. All of the members of the religion
of Cain believe works. All of the members of the religion
of Abel are the righteous. All the members of the religion
of Cain are the wicked. Now, in Hebrews 11, verse 4,
we read, by faith, Abel. And we're going to get into the
account in Genesis 4 in just a moment. It's the first account
of what took place after the fall of our first parents in
the garden. It's the first story, the story of Cain and Abel. But
here the writer to the Hebrews in the New Testament says with
regard to Abel, by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain. The first event recorded after
the fall, by faith, Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain. He understood what he was doing. He believed the gospel.
He did this by faith. Now, somebody may be thinking,
what do you mean by the first event after the fall? What are
you talking about when you talk about the fall? Well, this is
a reference to the fall of our first parents in the Garden of
Eden. You may remember that God said
to them, or to Adam, in the day you eat thereof, speaking of
the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in
the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. And we know from Genesis chapter
three that he did eat of that fruit and he did die. Now he didn't die physically,
but he died spiritually. He became dead, spiritually dead,
in trespasses and sins. Now, somebody may think, what
does that have to do with me? Well, it has a whole lot to do
with you and I, because the scripture says in Romans 5, verse 12, by
one man, sin entered the world, talking about that transgression
of Adam, and death by sin. spiritual death, one day physical
death, and then eternal death, and death by sin, so that death
passed upon all men, me and you, in that all sin. You see, when
Adam ate the fruit, you and I were in him, and we ate the fruit. When he sinned, we sinned. Somebody says, how could that
be? Because you were in him. But I didn't do it. Yes, you
did. When Adam did, I did. That's what the scripture says.
By one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. They sinned. That has a great effect on me. Now, this is the first story
after that took place. What Abel did was an act of faith.
He knew what he was doing and he knew why he was doing it.
He didn't think the blood of that lamb that he was bringing
would actually put away sin. He knew it was the blood of,
it represented the blood of the one who was to come. the Lord
Jesus Christ. He knew it was only through the
blood of Christ he could approach God. He did this by faith. And Abel offered unto God what
the scripture says is a more excellent sacrifice. He knew
it was superior to Cain's because Abel knew this sacrifice pointed
to the sacrifice of Christ. Now in Abel offering this sacrifice,
there were two things he was acknowledging. Number one, he
was acknowledging God's holiness. God is holy. He cannot accept
anything but that which is perfect. And the only way I can be perfect
is through the blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't
come on my own. If he would have tried coming
in his own works, he would have demonstrated by that. He didn't
really believe God was holy. He didn't have any real respect
for the character and the person of God. But when he came with
this blood sacrifice, which pictured the blood sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ, he's saying, I recognize that God is holy. The second
thing he was recognizing in bringing this blood sacrifice was his
own sinfulness. I dare not approach God on the
basis of what I do, only on the basis of what the Lord Jesus
Christ would do. He was acknowledging his own
sinfulness. Now, by this sacrifice, the Scripture
says, he obtained witness that he was righteous. Now, what an amazing statement.
By bringing that sacrifice, he's saying, I'm sinful. I'm too sinful
to come into God's presence on my own. I must have my sins paid
for by the blood of the Lamb. And yet the scripture says, he
obtained witness, and this was God's witness of him. God's testimony
with regard to him. He obtained witness that he was
righteous. God testifying of his gifts. Now, what made him righteous?
The gift. the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now listen to this scripture
from 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. This is a glorious scripture. For he, God the Father, hath
made him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin. Now don't miss that. He made him to be sin. My sin became His sin. God removed my sin from me and
placed it in Him. In His own body, the scripture
says, He bear our sins in His own body on the tree. For He has made Him to be sin for us who knew no
sin. He never sinned in Himself. He's
the spotless, innocent Lamb of God, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. You see, the righteousness that
Jesus Christ worked out while He walked on this earth is nothing
less than the righteousness of God, the law-keeping of God,
and it is given to every believer. Their sin was given to Him, His
righteousness was given to them. By that offering, the sacrifice,
He was saying, I'm so sinful, I could never satisfy God, only
the death of the one this sacrifice points to could. And God said,
He's righteous. Can a sinner really be righteous? Yes, he can. This is God's testimony. It's not a pretend righteousness.
It's not God saying, I'm righteous when in reality I'm not. Every
believer is the absolute righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. The righteousness of Christ is
imputed to them by God. And understand this about imputation. God's not saying, well, he's
wicked, and I'm going to impute righteousness to him, and all
of a sudden he's righteous. That's not really the meaning of imputation.
If I don't have any money in the bank, and I say, well, I'm
going to impute $1,000 into my checking account, does that put
$1,000 in my checking account? No. The only way, if I impute
or reckon $1,000 is in my checking account, it's because $1,000
is in my checking account. If God imputes righteousness
to a believer, it's because he is the righteousness of God in
Christ. If God has imputed righteousness
to me, that means I'm in a state of having never sinned, just
like Christ. Now, that is the heritage of
every single believer without exception. They're the very righteousness
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the writer goes on to say,
and he being dead yet speaketh. Now Abel was murdered by his
brother, but he being dead yet speaketh. Now let's go back to
Genesis chapter four and read about this account. Genesis chapter
four. I'm going to begin reading in
verse one. If you could get a Bible and
follow along, it would be helpful. And Adam knew Eve, his wife. This is the first event that
took place after the fall, after they were expelled from the garden.
And she conceived and bear Cain. and said, I've gotten a man from
the Lord. Now, she heard God's promise
in the garden, the seed of woman shall bruise the serpent's head.
And she thought, this is the seed. This is who is going to
come and bruise the serpent's head. I think that she thought
she had the Messiah. 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." Now,
here are these two boys that represent the two religions. One was a shepherd, a keeper
of the sheep. The other was a farmer. And he
worked upon that which God had already cursed. Remember when
God said, cursed be the ground for thy sake? He was working
from a sphere that God had already cursed. Verse three, and in process of time, it came
to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering
unto God. Now, I don't have any doubt that
Adam had taught these boys that the only way of approach was
the blood of the lamb. Do you remember how after the
fall he watched God slay a lamb and took the skins and covered
them? That was the first death. How
poignant that must have appeared to them when they saw the blood
of that innocent victim shed so they could be covered picturing
the coming one who would shed his blood and cover his people
with his righteousness. And he taught these boys that
the only way of approach to God was the blood of the Lamb. But Cain saw no need for this. As long as I'm sincere, what
difference does it make what offering I bring? I'm going to
bring my best. I'm going to bring the fruit
of the ground. And I'm sure that the fruit of
the ground that he brought before God was quite impressive. He was impressed with it. He
thought God would be impressed with it too. Now what Cain was
doing, When he brought the fruit of the ground, he was demonstrating
he had no respect for God. He didn't do what God said to
do. He had no fear of God. As a matter of fact, all he demonstrated
was an utter lack of respect for God. And he also demonstrated
a very high opinion of himself. God can accept this, I would,
surely God would. He had no regard for what God
commanded to be brought, the blood of the Lamb. As long as
I'm sincere, he thought, what difference does it make? My fruit
will do. Verse four, and Abel. Now Cain
brought his works. He brought his best. And Abel,
he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof,
he brought a slain lamb. And the scripture says, the Lord
had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and
unto his offering, he had no respect. That is a solemn thing to think
about. What Abel did, he did intelligently. It was an act of faith. He was
saying, by bringing this sacrifice, what can wash away my sin? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, this I see, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing, this my plea,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can for sin atone, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Not of good that I have done,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. That is the way Abel approached
God, and the Lord had respect to Abel and his offering. You
see, the person cannot be separated from the offering they bring. Respect. Do you know mutual respect
is the foundation of a good relationship? In a marriage, if you respect
one another, that will be a successful marriage. The respect that a
children has toward their parents, the parents have toward their
children in the proper sense. The respect if an employee is
respected by their employer, they'll do a good job for them.
And it's very important that they respect the authority that's
over them. Respect is such an important
aspect of a good relationship. And really, there's nothing more
ugly than a disrespectful person. And one of the most difficult
things to deal with is to deal with someone who shows you absolutely
no respect. Well, that was Cain. Cain had
no respect for God, and Cain had no respect for his brother. That's the religion of Cain.
But the scripture says God had respect to Abel and to his offering. God gazed upon Abel and his offering
with approval and respect. And this is speaking of God's
satisfaction with the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
blood of Christ makes God respect an individual and they are worthy
of the respect of God. That's how powerful the blood
of Christ is. It makes me holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in God's sight. Now the sacrifice you bring says
everything about what you think about God and yourself and his
son. The person cannot be separated
from the sacrifice. And God had no respect for Cain's
sacrifice. Cain cannot be separated from
his offering. It tells what he believed about
God and about himself. He had no respect for God and
God had no respect for him. But unto Cain and to his offering
he had not respect. And if you come into God's presence
in your own works, you're gonna find he has absolutely no respect
for you. And if you come in your works,
your doings, you prove by that you really have no respect for
God, no fear of God, no reverence of his person. Well, Cain was
very wroth over this. Scripture says, and Cain was
very wroth. And his countenance fell. He was angry. This is not fair. This is not right. I brought
my best and God rejects it. His countenance fell. He didn't agree with Abel's way
of approach. He thought mine's just as good.
This is not fair. Verse six. 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? If you bring
the same sacrifice your brother Abel brought, you'll be accepted.
And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. The first
time sin is mentioned in the scripture is with reference to
bringing the wrong sacrifice. The first time sin is mentioned
in the scripture is with reference to man thinking he can be saved
by his works, that God can accept what he does. And unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him if you bring the right sacrifice.
So then we read in verse eight, and Cain talked with Abel, his
brother, and I know what they were talking about. They were
talking about the sacrifice. I can almost, when it says talk,
that's not talking about an amicable conversation. There was heat
and anger in this conversation. I can hear Cain now, this is
not fair. It's not right for God to reject
my offering and to accept yours, and for God to have no respect
for my offering and to have respect for yours. And I can hear Abel
say, Cain, we've been taught all of our life that God is holy,
and we know we're sinful, and the only way we can come into
his presence is through the blood sacrifice. And I can hear Cain
then say, you think your way's the only way, you self-righteous
jerk. You're showing no respect whatsoever to my religion. Abel
replies, this is God's way. This is not my way. This is God's
way. God's holy. And you and I can't come into
his presence on our own. We must come only through the
coming Lamb. And by now, Cain is furious. He says, blood, I'll show you
blood. And he beats his brother to death. kills him, and his
blood is soaked up by the ground, and he goes his way. Thus, Abel becomes the first
martyr, and the issue in this martyrdom was over the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm sure Cain wasn't real
worried about it. There were no police then. There
was no jail to go to. He just thought, well, I'll move
on. But the scripture says, when God confronted him about it,
he said, your brother's blood cries to me from the ground.
And then the writer to the Hebrews speaks of the blood that speaks
better things, the blood of Christ that speaks better things than
that of Abel. Abel's blood cried vengeance. The blood of Christ
cries, save him, pardon him, justify him. cleansing. Oh, the blood of Christ speaks
better things than that of Abel. Which religion are you in? the
religion of works, or the religion of grace. We have this message
on DVD and CD. If you call the church, write,
or look on the church website, you can get a copy. This is Todd
Nyberg praying that God will be pleased to make himself known
to you. That's our prayer, amen. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to todd.nyberg at gmail.com,
or you may write or call the church at the information provided
on the screen.