Lord willing, tonight I'm going
to be preaching upon hearing the gospel again out of Genesis
chapter 50 verses 15 through 21. Hearing the gospel again. This morning, I would love to
preach this message thinking it could be my last time to ever
preach. And I would like for you to hear
this message as if it could be the last time you would ever
hear. I've entitled the message for
this morning, The Two Religions. The Two Religions. I asked our old buddy Siri how
many distinctive religions there were in the world. And Siri gave
this answer. There are over 10,000 distinctive religions in this
world. That's Siri for you. That means 10,000 different gods. And then I asked Siri another
question, how many denominations are there worldwide within the
scope of Christianity? Guess what her answer was? 45,000. All of which claim to
have a little better grip on things. Most of them would say,
well, the others are not totally wrong, but I'm righter. denominations. Did you know that in reality
there are only two religions? Two religions. The religion of works and the
religion of grace. Those are the only two religions. The religion of works makes my
acceptance with God ultimately dependent upon something I do. That's the religion of works. My salvation is ultimately dependent
upon what I do. Now this can take so many forms. If my salvation is dependent
upon me at the first, I need to make some kind of decision.
I'm going to seek God. I'm going to do whatever is needed
for me to be saved. Now, I want all of us to seek
the Lord with all of our heart. But if somebody thinks I've got
some control in this, I can make a decision to be saved. I can, as an act of my will,
be saved. That makes your salvation dependent
upon you. If in the middle of my salvation, I say, well, I
can become more pleasing to God. I can become more holy and less
sinful by the things I do, how I conduct myself, how I seek. That works. Now I want to seek
the Lord with all my heart. I want to give myself to reading
of the word. I want to be a man of prayer.
I'm not saying anything against those things, but if I think
I can do something to make myself more pleasing to God, less sinful,
more holy, that works. If I think that when it's all
said and done at the end, when the judgment comes and I somehow
earn a better place in heaven than you did, Because I was more
diligent than you, because I worked harder, because I gave more effort
in this thing, therefore I'm gonna be rewarded more greatly
than that person who didn't put out the effort as me. That's
works. That's works. Salvation by works. That's the religion of Cain.
Now in the religion of grace, Your salvation is 100% dependent
upon what Christ has done. Not 99%. Not 99.99%. 100% dependent
upon what Jesus Christ the Lord has done. It has nothing to do with
your works. If you're saved, it's not because
you did anything. It's because of what Christ has
done for you personally. That's the religion of Abel. The religion of Cain is the religion
predicated on your works, the religion of Abel. is the religion
predicated upon the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, not only
are there only two religions, there are only two types of men.
And they're both represented in this story. Two types of men,
the righteous and the wicked. There's no intermediate area.
There's no gray area. Before God right now, I am either
righteous or wicked. Only two types of men. And they're
both represented by these men, Cain and Abel. And let me give
you two undeniable facts about these two men. All of the righteous,
without exception, all of the righteous, believe themselves
to be wicked. And all of the wicked, without
any exceptions, believe themselves to be righteous, or at least
have the potential to become righteous by the things that
they do. All of the members of the religion
of Abel, the religion of grace are comprised of all the righteous. And all the members of the religion
of Cain are comprised of the group called the wicked. Now
go back to our text in Hebrews chapter 11. In verse one, now faith. Faith, the gift of God. I won't be saved without it.
If I do not personally believe the gospel, if I do not have
this faith he is speaking of, I will not be saved. Now, faith is the substance,
the ground of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. For by it, faith, the elders
obtained a good report. The only way you and I are gonna
obtain a good report before God is through faith. Me believing
this message God gives us in his word, faith. Verse three, through faith we
understand. that the worlds were framed by
the word of God so that the things which are seen were not made
of things which do appear. The only way I'm gonna have any
true understanding, faith. There is no understanding, no
true understanding, without faith. That's how important this thing
of faith is. Verse four, 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, present tense, right now. Now, the story of Cain and Abel
is the first event recorded after the fall. That gives us some
idea of the significance of this story, the first story recorded
after the fall. Now, somebody might be thinking,
what are you talking about, the fall? The fall, what's the fall? Well, it's when our first parents,
Adam and Eve, sinned against God in the Garden of Eden. They fell from their position
of acceptance with God to a position of rejection by God, called the
fall. In the day, God said to them,
in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. And that day they died spiritually. they became dead in trespasses
and sins. Now that's what we're talking
about when we're talking about the fall. That's what God's talking about, the
fall. Listen to this scripture. Romans chapter five, verse 12
says, for by one man, talking about Adam, sin entered the world
and death by sin, so that death passed upon all men, me and you,
in that all sinned. Now here's what took place in
the fall. When Adam sinned, I personally
sinned. I was in him. You were in him. You're not condemned for the
sin somebody else committed. You're condemned. I'm condemned
for the sin I committed. When Adam fell, I fell. You fell. Somebody once said,
if you're wrong on the fall, you're wrong on it all, and that's
so. There's no understanding of the gospel apart from some
understanding of the fall of our first parents, Adam. 1 Corinthians
15, 22 says, in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive. This story of Cain and Abel,
and there's not a more important story in all the Bible, is given
right after the fall, and both Cain and Abel were affected by
this fall. Now, the placing of this story
gives us its importance. Now, look what our text says
in verse four. By faith, Abel offered unto God. a more excellent sacrifice. What Abel did was an act of faith. He knew what he's doing. And
he knew why he was doing it. Faith cannot be exercised without
knowledge. There is no faith without knowledge. Second Timothy 112, Paul said,
I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I've committed to him against that
day. There is no faith without the knowledge of the gospel. You can't believe something you
don't know any more than you can come back from a place you've
never been. He knew. By faith. Abel offered
him to God. I love the way it says a more
excellent sacrifice. He was superior and Abel knew
it. Abel knew this because he knew
this sacrifice that he was offering was pointing to the coming Lamb
of God. He knew exactly what he was doing. He knew that he could not approach
God in his own merit, in his own works. He had far too much
respect and reverence for God to think that God could accept
something that comes from him. He knew the only way God could
accept him is through the sacrifice, the bloody death of the Lord
Jesus Christ on the cross. Now somebody says, why? Why this
blood? Why this death? Why is that so
important? Abel understood he was a sinner. Abel believed that. And Abel
knew that he couldn't come into God's presence on his own. He knew the only way he could
come into God's presence and be accepted is because Christ
was punished for his sin and put it away by his bloody death
and he wouldn't come any other way. He understood that is the
only way God could be approached. You see, he had the same faith
Abraham had. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifies the ungodly. His faith is counted
for righteousness. He believed the same thing Abraham
did. He believed the same thing me and you do for believers. Same
thing. And by this sacrifice, look what
it says in verse four, by faith, Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous. God gave this witness. You know, if I tell you I'm righteous,
I may be, I may not be. If God says I'm righteous, I
am. And God says this with regard to Abel. He obtained witness
that he was righteous. What made him righteous was the
sacrifice. Notice how it 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 what? His gifts. his gifts, that which
he brought, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God testified
of his gifts. Now by offering that sacrifice,
he was saying, I am so sinful. I am so sinful that I dare not
approach a holy God on my own. And what did God say about this
man? He says, I could never satisfy God. Only the death of the coming
one that this lamb pictures can satisfy God. And God said he's righteous. That would be God's testimony
of every believer here. He would say with regarding you,
you're a righteous man. Righteous before God, a righteous
woman. God testified that he was righteous. Now, can a sinner really be made
righteous? Can a sinner actually be righteous?
I mean, I know myself, and I have some inkling of how sinful I
really am. Just an inkling. I don't really
know the whole story, and I'm glad I don't. Take away all the
restraints. Take away never being exposed
or caught. How bad would every one of us
be? I shudder to think about it. I'm sure you do too. But
I have just an inkling of my own personal sinfulness. How can God call me righteous? Let me remind you of what sin
is. Sin is the transgression of the law. There are other definitions
in the Bible of sin, but the one that I think comes clearest
to us is sin is the transgression of the law. And here's the fact
of the matter. You and I have not kept one commandment
one time. Now, do you believe that? Do
you believe that? that you really have not kept
one of God's commandments one time. Now, somebody may be thinking,
I think maybe I have, at least one of them or two or three.
Once? Well, if you think that, all
you demonstrate is you don't really understand the holiness
of God's law or your own sinfulness. If you have some understanding,
you'll know that even if you quote scripture and do nothing
else, if you did it, there's sin in it. You did it in some
way to make yourself look better or maybe make somebody else look
worse. You and I are sinful. We break God's holy law. And because of that, I can't
blame Adam. All I can blame is myself. It's
all my fault. And I can't, I cannot look on one human being
in judgment thinking I'm better than that person. Not one, not
one. Now how can a sinful man like
that actually be righteous before God. That's what the Bible is
all about. If you want to know how you can
be righteous before God and really be righteous, not just pretend,
not just saying it and not being so, the Bible gives us the answer
to this question through this story of Cain and Abel. God testified with regard to
this man who, by his own testimony, he was a sinful man. That's why
he brought that sacrifice. God testified that he was righteous. Now let me give you real briefly,
he was righteous by union. What's that mean? Righteous by
union? Well, he was united to Christ.
What in the world does that mean? Hebrews 2.11 says, both he that
sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all of one. One. If I'm united to Christ,
that means I'm one with him. It means who he is, I am in him. Just like when Adam fell and
sinned, I sinned in him. When Christ obeyed, if I'm in
him, I obeyed in him. I have his righteousness united
to him. Righteous by imputation. I love the scripture. Blessed is the man to whom God
imputeth righteousness without works. God can do that. He's
God. And when he imputes righteousness, it's not like he says, well,
he's a sinner, but I'm gonna impute righteousness to him anyway.
No, he only imputes righteousness where there is righteousness.
And that is what Christ accomplished for every believer. He imputes
righteousness to me because in the beloved, I am righteous and
accepted and perfect. Romans 5, 17 says we're righteous
by gift. We read of the gift of righteousness.
Righteousness is his gift. You see, God can give this gift.
And if he gives it to me, it's mine. Righteous by nature. That's given in the new birth.
He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
And righteous by faith. What is the evidence of this
righteousness? I believe the gospel. And Brother
Abel is speaking today. Now let's turn to Genesis chapter
four. Genesis chapter four. First event recorded after the
fall of our first parents. Verse one. And Adam knew Eve, his wife,
and she conceived. And Bear came and said, I have
gotten a man from the Lord. Now, I believe that she thought
that she had that promised seed in Genesis chapter 3. She believed
that this is the seed of woman that he promised. I've gotten
the man from the Lord, but she was mistaken. And she again bear
his brother Abel. Two brothers, same mom, same
dad. And Abel was a keeper of the
sheep He was a shepherd, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. What he offered to God came from
what God had already cursed, the ground, when he offered the
fruit of the ground. Verse three, and in process of
time, it came to pass. Now there's
a time for everything, and this is the time of worship, public
worship. It came to pass, God purposed
it, it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground
an offering unto the Lord. Now we don't know what kind of
vegetables or fruit he brought, but I'm sure that he felt good
about it. I'm sure he was a very good farmer, and he brought the
fruit of the ground. He brought that which, God had
already cursed the ground, hadn't he? But he brought that which
came out of God's curse, and I'm sure he felt good about it. This was an adult. This wasn't a kid. This was an adult. Cain and Abel
were adults. I don't have any doubt that Their
father had told them about what took place in the fall. I'm sure
their father told them about the Lord Jesus Christ slaying
that animal and taking the skins of that animal and covering them
with it, removing those fig leaves that they tried to use to hide
their shame, and he provided a covering for their shame. And
this is all a part of that promised seed that would come and bruise
the serpent's head. I have no doubt that Adam, Somebody
says, how do you know? Well, it doesn't say that, but
I believe it. I realize that. I mean, it would
appear that way. They knew something about a sacrifice,
didn't they? They knew something about they had to come into God's
presence. Without, they couldn't come without
blood. And I have, I'm sure Adam told them this and Cain heard
this, but you know what? Cain didn't see a need for it. This is just as good, as long
as I'm sincere, as long as I do what I'm doing with all my heart
and I'm sincere. Does it make any difference what
kind of sacrifice it is? You know what he demonstrated
by that? He demonstrated he didn't have
a clue who God was, and he didn't have a clue who he was. That's
what he demonstrated. He had no respect for God. He
had no reverential awe of God. He thought he could come waltzing
into God's presence with that which he did. He didn't respect
God. These boys had both been taught
the gospel, but he saw no need. Now in his works, he was denying
God's holiness and his own sinfulness. Abel, verse four. Abel, he also
brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the faith thereof. Now look at the language the
Bible uses. And the Lord had respect unto
Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering
he had not respect." Respect. What a word. Respect. Now Abel brought the
blood and he did so intelligently, it was an act of faith. Abel
was saying, 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,
nothing, but the blood of Jesus. Not of good that I have done,
nothing. 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. And the Lord had respect to Abel
and his offering. Now, listen to this statement
real carefully. The person cannot be separated
from the offering they bring." The person cannot be separated
from the offering they bring. The Lord had respect to Abel
and to his offering. They can't be separated. God
testifying of his gifts. Now let's talk about this term
respect. Mutual respect. This is the very foundation of
a good relationship. Respect. You know, if you're
married, you're gonna have a good marriage if there's a mutual
respect between one another. And if that respect is not there,
there will not be a good marriage. I mean, this is so important
to respect. The relationship between Parents
and children, it's only good if the children respect their
parents. And the parents really respect
and regard their children. I mean, if you're an employer,
you're gonna have happy employees if you respect them. And you're
gonna like your boss if you respect Your boss. Respect. It's a very, it's the foundation
of a good relationship. Respect. And there's nothing
more ugly than an unrespectful person. Someone that doesn't
respect authority. Somebody that has a sense of
entitlement. They never respect it. That's ugly. It's ugly. Be a respectful person. Respect
everybody. Respect everybody. What if they
don't deserve respect? Respect them anyway. Treat everybody
right. Treat everybody right. Now, this
is so incredible. When the Lord looks at Abel and
his offering, and the scripture says, God had respect unto Abel. And unto His offering, God looked
upon it with approval. God gazed upon it with reproval
because God knew that offering pointed to the great offering
of His Son. And God was satisfied. God had respect. God was pleased
with Abel and his offering. Because that offering is what
made Abel respectful, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God
had respect. But unto Cain and his offering,
the scripture says he had not respect. God had no respect for
Cain and his offering. You see, when Cain brought his
offering, he demonstrated he had no respect for God. God said,
the only way I'm to be approached is by the blood of my son. And
Cain disregarded that because he had no respect for God. He
had no respect for his holiness. He had such a high view of the
gifts that he could bring. He didn't respect God, and God
didn't respect him either. You see, I can't be separated by the offering
I bring. You can't be separated from the
offering you bring. You look to Christ only, God
respects you because he respects your offering, because he respects
his son. You bring anything else, God
has no respect for you because you demonstrate by what you bring
that you have no respect for God. You have no reverence, you
have no awe of his person. The religion of works, God has
no respect for. You see in works, you have no
respect for God and he has no respect for you either. Is that
clear? Verse six and verse five, but
in decaying into his offering, he had not respect And look what
said of Cain. And Cain was very wroth and his
countenance fell. He didn't like what he just heard.
He disagreed. He didn't think this was fair.
He was angry. His countenance fell. 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? And if thou
doest not well, sin lieth at the door. Now, I love the, the
Lord is, is so, he doesn't just blot Cain out. He said, Cain,
if you bring the right sacrifice, you'll be accepted. Now listen
to me. Don't think, well, what if I'm
not one of the elect or what if I'm not predestinated? If
you look to Christ only and if you come into the Father's presence
pleading Him only, you will be accepted by God Himself. God's never turned anybody down
that came into His presence looking only to Christ. If Christ is
all you have, you're accepted. God accepts you. God respects
you. God is well pleased with you.
Just as well pleased with you as He is with His Son. You bring
the offering. You look to Christ only. You'll
be accepted. Cain, why are you so upset? If
you bring the same offering your brother did, you'll be accepted.
But if you don't, if you bring the wrong offering, This is the
first time the word sin is used in the scripture. Sin lies at
the door. Sin is behind this. And unto thee his desire and
thou shalt rule over him. What's that mean? I really don't
know, I'm afraid. I thought about it, I've read
about it, and I don't know what all that means, but whatever
God meant by it, that's what it means. Verse eight, and Cain talked
with Abel, his brother. Now this was not an amicable
conversation, this was an argument. That is in the language. Cain argued with his brother. Cain did not like what just took
place. He said, this is not fair. This is not right. I've done
my best, I bring this into God's presence, and I reject it, and
God has no respect for it. And you know the thing, you think
about this, when you're not respected, that's as bad a feeling as there
is, when somebody doesn't respect you. And that's how Cain felt,
I've not been respected. He had such a high opinion of
himself, I've not been respected. And this is not fair. And I can see Abel saying, Cain,
we've been taught all of our life that the way of Christ is
the only way into God's presence. We've been taught all of our
life that it's the blood of Christ that makes us accepted. We've
been taught that all our life. The way of Christ is the only
way. And I can hear Cain saying, when
he hears that word only, he says, well, you self-righteous jerk.
You think your way's the only way. I'm not gonna listen to
this from you. And I can hear old Holy Abel
say, it's the blood that makes atonement for the soul, not your
works. It's only the blood. And Cain
says, blood? I'll show you blood. And he beats
his brother to death. And Abel becomes the first Christian
martyr. And what was the issue? The blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whose blood was shed? It's Christ
that died. Why did he die? To put away sin. Did he do it? Absolutely. When he said it is finished,
the sins of all of God's elect were blotted out and made not
to be. So what did old Cain do? Verse 8, Cain talked with Abel
his brother and came to pass when they were in the field that
Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. The first
murder. And the Lord said unto Cain,
where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am I
my brother's keeper? Well, he's lying to the Lord.
He knew exactly where he was. He knew where he left his body. And he said, what hast thou done?
The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. Now I would imagine when Cain
slew his brother Abel, Probably was not that worried about it.
There weren't any jails. There weren't any judges. There
weren't any jury. There wasn't a police force.
He could do what he wanted and probably without much consequence,
he might have thought that. But what does God say? Your brother's
blood cries to me from the ground. All sin will be punished. I don't care if there's no jails,
no jury, no judge, no law. All sin will be punished. And God says to Cain, your brother's
blood cries to me from the ground. And now verse 11, Thou art cursed
from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's
blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground,
it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive
and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto
the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear. Not my sin is
greater than I can bear, my punishment. is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out
of this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face
I shall be hid. I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond
in the earth, and shall come to pass that everyone that findeth
me shall slay me. And the Lord said unto him, Therefore,
whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.
He was protected in that sense. And the Lord set a mark upon
Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. And Cain went out from
the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the
east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife. She conceived
and bare Enoch. And he built a city and called
the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. What
did Cain do? He went out and immersed himself
in the earth and built a city to make this a better place to
live. under God's curse. Last scripture, Hebrews 12. Verse 24, and to Jesus, the mediator
of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh
better things than that of Abel. Now, you remember the way God
said your brother's blood cries to me from the ground? What was
he crying? Vengeance. Justice. Kill him. Put your curse on him. What does the blood of Christ
cry? forgiveness, pardon, grace, justice,
albeit justice, just grace. What a cry that is. How superior
is to that cry than the cry of the blood of Abel from the ground,
the blood of Christ from the cross. Abel speaks today. Let's pray. Lord, your gospel is above and
beyond the grasp of any of us. It goes beyond our understanding
unless you're pleased to make it known to us. So, Lord, we
ask in Christ's name that you would take this message and bless
it. and cause everybody in here to
bring by your grace the same offering Abel did, looking only
to the blood sacrifice of thy son as our only way into your
presence. Lord, we ask that you would bless
this message for your glory and for our good. In Christ's name
we pray, amen.