I was listening to the opening
line of Psalm 139, 1, the song we just heard. Thou has searched
me and known me. The Lord is the only one who
really knows me. I don't know myself. I like what
Henry Mahan said. We're all three different people.
The people we think we are. the people others think we are,
and the people God knows we are. And what a glorious thing to
think that He knows me in His Son. Now, let me remind you,
if you'll turn back to Genesis chapter 4, that all Scripture,
2 Timothy 3.16, all Scripture, is given by inspiration of God. Every word in this book is God-breathed,
said exactly as God would have it said. This is the religion
of this book. There's nothing in this book
that is unnecessary. There's nothing in this book
that can be considered of secondary importance. God doesn't reveal
things that are of secondary importance. Let me remind you,
this is the book of God, but there is no scripture more important
than that passage of scripture. I just read the story of Cain
and Abel. Now the timing of this story
is it's the first thing recorded after the fall. Now that gives
us some idea of its significance. It's the first thing recorded
after the fall. The teaching of this story, how
God is to be worshipped, how God is to be approached. What could be more important
than that? And in this story, we have the
two representative men, Cain and Abel. Me and you are either
a Cain or an Abel. These two men represent the two
religions. There were only two religions.
the religion of grace, and the religion of works. And these
two men represent those two religions. And these two men describe how
God sees a righteous man and how God sees a wicked man. Now,
notice I said how God sees. Not how you and I see, as I said,
we don't see very clearly, but God does. And in this passage
of scripture, we find out who God says is a righteous man and
who God says is a wicked man. Once again, that is the two groups,
the righteous and the wicked, Cain and Abel. And what I think is so amazing
This is true across the board. All of the wicked believe themselves
to be righteous. Cain is the perfect example of
that. And all of the righteous believe themselves to be wicked. Abel is the example and the illustration
of that. Cain and Abel. Chapter four, verse one, and
Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bear Cain and
said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. Now I have no doubt
that she believed that she had the promised seed at this time.
He promised one who would bruise the serpent's head, here he is. I don't know how long this took
place after the fall, but she was very excited. I have gotten
the man from the Lord. And she conceived and bear Cain
and said, I've gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bear
his brother Abel. Now Cain means purchased, acquired. Abel means vanity. She was very excited about Cain.
Abel was kind of an afterthought. Can you imagine if your name
was Vanity? It fit pretty good, wouldn't it? Vanity, Abel is
Vanity. And Abel, verse two, was a keeper
of the sheep. He was a shepherd. But Cain was
a tiller of the ground. He was a worker of the ground
that God had already cursed. He was bringing to God that which
God had already cursed. You remember when he said to
Adam, cursed be the ground for thy sake. Verse three, and in process of time, came to pass that Cain brought
of the fruit of the ground, the ground that God had cursed, an
offering unto the Lord, an able he also brought of the firstlings
of his flock, and the fact thereof." Now, the process of time, the
end of days, listen to this, this is very important. Even
then, there was a time for public worship. That's what that's a
reference to, at the end of the days, the time for public worship. Now, worship is private, and
the worship that is truly private takes place more powerfully in
public worship. than it does any other time,
the preaching of the gospel. And there was a time for them
to meet. When people don't worship publicly,
I question whether they're gonna worship privately. If someone
says, I don't need church, I don't need to hear the gospel, I don't
need to come to, well, yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. Now let's
go on reading. And in process of time, it came
to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground and offering
to the Lord. And Abel looked down in verse
four and Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock. Now we read of two offerings
and these two offerings represent the two religions. Two offerings,
two religions. The first is the religion of
works. Works makes your salvation dependent
in some way on what you do. That is salvation by works taken
any direction you want. If any aspect of my salvation
is dependent upon me doing something, I BELIEVE IN SALVATION BY WORKS. SALVATION BY GRACE IS SALVATION
COMPLETELY DEPENDENT UPON WHAT CHRIST HAS DONE, WHAT GOD HAS
DONE FOR THE SINNER, AND BOTH OF THOSE THINGS REPRESENT THE
TWO RELIGIONS. NOW, I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT ADAM
TAUGHT HIS BOYS WHAT TOOK PLACE IN And I'm sure he gave GRAPHIC
DETAIL of the promise of the coming seed that would CRUSH
the serpent's head. He knew this was the Lord Jesus
Christ, somebody's coming. He told them about how he and
Eve watched as God slew that animal and covered them and took
away their fig leaf coverings of their own works and covered
them with that animal that he slew. He told them that the only
way God can be approached is through the sacrifice of that
one who is coming. the one who God promised would
come, the seed of woman, the virgin born birth of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who would crush the serpent's head and his heel
would be bruised. He believed the gospel. He heard
the gospel. There's always only been one
gospel. It was the gospel then, it's the gospel now. Adam taught
those boys that. Now, Cain saw no need to do what
Adam said. He thought, well, you know, I'm
sincere. Any old sacrifice will do. I mean, this is my best.
I'm sure that he took the best fruits that he had produced from
that ground that God had cursed and offered them up to God and
said, surely God would accept this. I see the beauty in it.
I see the pleasing character of these plants I'm bringing,
my hard earned works. Surely God accept this. I would
like it. But Abel was different. Abel
brought a blood sacrifice. A slain animal, and he knew that
that slain animal wasn't gonna wash away his sins. He knew it
pointed to the coming one, the Lord Jesus Christ. He understood
that the blood of Christ was the only approach to God. It's the blood that maketh atonement
for the soul. I love the hymn we sing, 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 that flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fountain I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Now that was the religion of
Abel and that's the religion of every believer. I know that
there were people, there were people listening to this and
saying, amen, amen. That's all my hope. That's all
my peace. You see, this was the religion
of Abel. He believed Himself to be a sinner
who deserved death and could only approach God through the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the virgin-born Son of God who
put sin away, Cain saw no need for that. As long as he was sincere,
what difference did it make what kind of sacrifice he brought?
You know, my heart's right. I had the best of intentions.
I was well-meaning. As long as I'm well-meaning,
everything's okay. He thought like every natural
man thinks, like a man dead in sins, like Adam and Eve before
God saved them, like they were in the garden. They didn't see
where they had done anything Too terrible. They went and hid
from God's presence. They didn't ask for forgiveness.
They didn't confess their sin. They acted like any natural man
would. Well, Cain was doing the same
thing. He was acting just like his mommy and daddy did before
God saved him. He saw no need of the blood. You see, in reality, he had no
respect for or fear of God. And that's the bottom line. You
see, the kind of offering you bring says everything about you. The kind of offering I bring
says everything about me. You can't separate, and we're
going to see this, you can't separate the person and the offering.
If I bring my works, all I demonstrate by that is I have no regard for
God, no respect for God, no view of His holiness. And I think
God can accept my works. I mean, they're good enough.
They might not be perfect, but at least I'm sincere. At least
I'm doing my best. God can accept this. I would
accept them. They're showing no fear of God, no respect for
God and such a high self-righteous, blinded view of themselves. Such is Cain. He brings his offering. He did not really believe he
deserved death. He did not take seriously what
God had said. He didn't take seriously what
his father had taught him. He thought he could come into
God's presence on his own, when it comes right down to it. Now,
Cain is an example. He's a very clear illustration
of a wicked man who believed himself to be righteous. That's the story of Cain's life. Able, he believed himself to
be a wicked man. He would only come through the
blood sacrifice that he knew was pointing to the one who would
come. He wouldn't dare approach God
any other way. He feared God and believed himself
to be a sinner. Once again, Abel is an example
of the righteous who truly believe themselves to be wicked. And I know this, God viewed Abel
as righteous. The Lord Jesus Christ viewed
Abel as righteous. Do you remember when he talked
about the blood of righteous Abel being shed? Hebrews 11,
four says, by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain, by the which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts. This is God's testimony of this
man. He was righteous. Cain, the scripture says, was
of that wicked one in 1 John chapter 3. And he is listed in
the example of a false prophet in the book of Jude. We read
of the way of Cain, the way of works. Every false preacher is
a preacher of the way of Cain, the way of works. Now, What I want us to consider
next, after we consider these two boys bringing their offerings,
Abel, his name means vanity. He brought the blood. Cain, whose
name means acquired and purchased. He had purchasing power. He had
ability. He brought the fruit of the ground,
his own works. These are the two offerings.
Now look at God's view of these offerings. The last sentence
of verse four, and the Lord had respect. Now that's a very powerful word. The Lord had respect unto Abel
and to his offering. Now you see, you can't separate
the person from the offering. God had respect to Abel. I mean,
he looked at Abel and he respected this man. He viewed him highly. He esteemed him. Why did he view
Abel like this? Because you can't separate Abel
from his offering. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, the blood of Christ makes that one who comes into
God's presence somebody that God respects, somebody that God
esteems because they're perfectly righteous in God's sight. God
had respect to Abel and his offering. But to Cain and to his offering,
he had no Respect. Now think of this thing
of respect. How do you feel when someone
disrespects you? You feel a certain amount of resentment, don't you,
when someone disrespects you? That's a bad feeling. Respect. You know, respect is the foundation
of a good relationship. In a marriage, respect. Respect for your spouse. Children
are taught to respect their parents. Respect is very, very important. You do your children a great
disservice. Listen to me. You do your children
a great disservice if you don't teach them to respect authority. Respect their teachers. Respect
the law. respect their parents, respect
every place where God has placed authority. And as a matter of
fact, the scripture says if you do that, it'll be well with them.
The thing of it is, if your kids disrespect authority, they're
gonna be failures. They're gonna have a hard time
in everything they do. But if they respect authority,
they're going to do well. They're going to do much better. And so this thing of respect
is such an important thing in relationships. Respect. And you know, there's nothing
more ugly. You think about this. There's nothing more ugly. Let
me repeat that, ugly than a disrespectful person. Someone who doesn't give
respect where respect is due. They're disrespectful. And oh,
that person is not somebody you want to be around. Disrespectful. Now I realize somebody says,
well, see what they're thinking of their spouse. You need to
respect me. Well, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you do, but also remember
this, respect is earned. Respect is earned, but where
it's there and someone doesn't give it, that is so ugly, this
thing of respect, such an important concept. Now, God had respect. He looked with approval and gazed
upon with admiration Abel and his offering. And if you come
to God the way Abel did, God has respect for you. He gazes upon you with approval. He sees you as perfect. That is the way God viewed Abel
and his offering. Abel's person could not be separated
from his sacrifice. Now, let me repeat this scripture
again. I've heard it quoted once, Hebrews 11, four. By faith, Abel
knew what he was doing. By faith, Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice that came. by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous. It doesn't say that he was counted
as righteous. He was righteous. That's what
the blood of Christ does. God testifying of his gifts. This isn't man's testimony. This
is God's testimony. God testifying of his gifts. Now, this is the worship of God
and the only way he is to be reproached. But look in verse
five, but under Cain and his offering, he had not respect. Now, Cain had no respect for
God. If he did, he would have never brought that offering.
He had no respect for God. This offering was an act of disobedience. He didn't bring what God commanded.
There was no regard to God's holiness, no regard to God's
attributes. He was coming just the way he
thought it would be okay to come. No confession of his sin and
his deservedness of death. Cain and his offering cannot
be separated. Now, all you have to know about
Cain is his offering. He was a self-righteous man.
He thought God could accept what he brought. He had no respect
or reverence for God. He thought a holy God could accept
his gifts, bringing God down to his level. He had no respect
for God. Now, God had no respect for him. And if I come into God's presence
like Cain did, God will have no respect for me. As a matter
of fact, I will be offensive to him just as Cain was. And look what it says about Cain. In verse five and Cain was very
Roth. He was angry over this. He was
mad. This is not fair. Why would he accept my brother's
works and not accept mine? This is not fair. He was very wroth and his countenance
was fallen." Well, I've seen that before. People hearing the
gospel and their countenance falls. There's no love for what's
being said, only anger. Such is Cain. His countenance
was Fallen, very wroth. Now, what that means, this gives
you some of the idea of the presumption of Cain. All of a sudden, Cain
had become God's judge. He could see what God was doing
and saying, I disagree with that. I think that's wrong. Now, anytime
I respond to the gospel like that, oh, I become God's judge. All of a sudden, I'm God's moral
superior, and I can determine what's right and what's wrong.
What a proud, presumptuous view of himself. It's like that man
in Romans 9. This isn't fair. Is there unrighteousness
with God? God forbid. For he saith unto
Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'll have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it's not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. That would say to me, why is
he at my fault then? How can he hold me responsible
for what I do? If salvation is totally by his
sovereign mercy, who's resisted his will? I can't resist it.
How can he hold me responsible? All of a sudden that person has
become God's judge, knowing what God should do and what God shouldn't
do. I love the way Paul says, nay, but oh man, Who are you
to reply against God? What makes you think you have
the moral ability and the sense to judge what God does is right
and what God does is wrong? God's God. Keep your mouth shut. That's what he means by that. Now, look, why is thy countenance
full? Look what he says in verse seven.
If thou doest well, Shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin
lieth at the door. I think this is very interesting.
The first time sin is ever mentioned in the scripture is bringing
the wrong sacrifice. Now there's some significance
to that. The first time sin is ever mentioned, if you bring
the wrong sacrifice, sin lieth at the door. Sin is the cause. of this. Now, I see the kindness
of the Lord in this question. It's kind of like I saw the kindness
last week of the Lord in dealing with Adam and Eve. They never
asked for mercy. They never confessed their sins.
They were just victims. This is God's fault. I mean,
they acted just like every other natural man acts that doesn't
know God, but God had mercy on them anyway. and provided a sacrifice. Well, here's the same deal with
Cain. If you come the way Abel does,
you'll be accepted. If you come bringing the right
sacrifice, you'll be accepted. If you come pleading only the
blood, you'll be accepted. If you ask for mercy, you'll
have it. The Lord said, Him that cometh
to me, I'll in no wise cast out. Now you can't, oh, well, I wanted
mercy. I wanted grace, but I wasn't
one of the elect. Christ didn't die for me. I wanted mercy. No,
you didn't. No, you didn't. You thought God
should treat you on the basis of your works. That's why you're
in trouble. Cain believed works. That's all you can say. He had
no respect for God. And he couldn't say, well, I
wanted mercy and God wouldn't give it to me. Nobody's ever
gonna be able to say that. If you ask for mercy, you'll have
mercy. Everybody in here, everybody
out of here. If you ask for mercy, you'll
have mercy. Anybody that comes to Christ,
I don't care who they are, they will not be turned away. The Lord said, he that cometh
to me, I will in no wise, for no reason whatsoever cast out. If you come the way your brother
did, you'll be accepted. But, and if thou do us not well,
if you come your own way, What does it say? If you do not well, sin lies at the door. Sin is
the cause of it. And unto thee shall be his desire
and thou shalt rule over him. Now, if you don't bring the right
sacrifice, sin lies at the door and sin desires to rule over
you. And he will, this is not talking
about his brother at this time. Sin lies at the door and sin
is seeking to rule over you. And you're not to have sin rule
over you. That's what he's saying. Now,
what's all that mean? If I'm saved, it's all God's
fault. If I'm lost, it's all my fault. Very simply. If I'm saved, it's all God's
fault. If sin has dominion over me, it's all my fault. I'm not a victim in this thing.
It's all my fault. Verse eight. Now, after this
took place and Cain talked with Abel, his brother, now that is
a, it was more than a conversation. There was a heated argument that
took place. This was not friendly conversation.
This is not, well, we'll agree to disagree. Not at all. There was an argument that took
place, and I know what that argument was over, the sacrifice, the
blood. That was the issue then, and
that's the issue now, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can
hear Cain saying to Abel, This is not FAIR that God accepted
your sacrifice and did not accept mine. Abel replies, Cain, this
is the only way of approach to a holy God. There are no other ways. Cain
says, Why you self-righteous think your way is the only way,
jerk. You think your way is the only way. I don't like this. Abel says, Cain, this is not
my way. This is God's way. The only way
to approach God is through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
LOOKING TO HIM ONLY, RESTING IN WHO HE IS AND WHAT HE DID,
KNOWING THAT GOD MUST CAST YOU OFF IF IT'S NOT FOR, IF IT WASN'T
FOR THE GRACE OF CHRIST AND THE BLOOD OF CHRIST AND THE GOSPEL
OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. GOD PUT IT THIS WAY, AND THIS
HAPPENED AFTER THIS EVENT, BUT HE STILL UNDERSTOOD THIS. GOD
SAID, WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD, I WILL PASS OVER YOU. NOT WHEN I SEE
YOUR SINCERITY, NOT WHEN I SEE YOUR WORKS, NOT WHEN I SEE YOUR
UNDERSTANDING OR YOUR KNOWLEDGE. WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD, I WILL
PASS OVER YOU. THAT'S ALWAYS BEEN THE GOSPEL. WELL, CAIN IS BOILING BY NOW.
HE SAYS, I'LL SHOW YOU BLOOD, AND HE COMMITS THE FIRST MURDER. He didn't have the fear of a
human judge appearing in court, standing before a judge and jury,
and the fear of being thrown into jail or anything like that. There wasn't anything like that
around yet. He didn't have the restraints that you and I do
that would keep us from committing certain acts. All that was gone.
All he knew was he hated this man and he killed him. He killed
him. And what was the issue? The sacrifice. That was the only issue. The
sacrifice. It was the only issue then, and
it's the only issue now. Whose blood was shed? This is the blood of the Son
of God. Why was it shed? He was made
sin. He became guilty before God.
That's why he died. Who did he die for? THAT AN ISSUE? IT CERTAINLY IS! HE DIED FOR
THE ELECT. HE DIED FOR THOSE THE FATHER
GAVE HIM. WELL, WHAT DID HE ACCOMPLISH BY THAT DEATH? THE COMPLETE SALVATION
OF EVERYBODY HE DIED FOR. THAT WAS THE ISSUE THEN, THAT
IS THE ISSUE NOW. NOW LOOK IN VERSE 9, Verse 8, And Cain talked with
Abel his brother. It came to pass, when they were
in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother,
and slew him. And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy
brother? And he said, I know not. Am I
my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood
crieth unto me from the ground." Now, every sin you and I have ever
committed, a lot of them we don't know about,
a lot of them we've forgotten. Oh, we might have felt bad when
we got caught at something, but we've forgotten about it. Every
sin you and I have ever committed cries to God from the ground. Every one of them. God's just.
No sin will ever go unnoticed or unpunished by him. The way we've sinned against
God, used, abused, and mistreated people, all acts of dishonesty,
every sinful desire, it all cries to God from the ground. Abel or Cain, you might not feel
so bad about this. You may think Abel had it coming,
but this sin, the blood of your brother that the ground soaked
up after you smashed his brains in, it's crying to me. from the
ground. What does it say? Avenge, punish,
put to death. Turn with me for a moment to
Hebrews chapter 12, or Hebrews chapter 11 rather. No, Hebrews
12. I want you to see this. Verse 22, but you are coming
to Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general
assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven.
And to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect. And to Jesus, the mediator of
the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling. And look at this
next line. That speaketh better things than
that of Abel. Now what did Abel's blood cry? Condemn. Revenge. Punish. What does the blood of
Christ cry? Justify. Forgive. Save, and it never cries in vain. Everybody that the blood cries
for for this is saved by the God of glory. Truly, the blood
of Christ, that blood that flowed from his body down the wood of
the tree into the ground and soaked up THE BLOOD, BECAUSE
OF THE DEATH AND THE AGONY OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, IT SPEAKS
BETTER THINGS THAN THAT OF APPLE. Now, go back to Genesis 4, we'll
close up. And now, verse 11. And now 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 her 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. No sorrow for
his sin. My punishment is greater than
I can bear. I love Charles Spurgeon's comments
on this. Most preachers, if they were
sentenced to an eternity of listening to themselves preach, would cry
with cane of old, my punishment is greater than I can bear. I
see that. Verse 14, Behold, thou hast driven
me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face
shall I be hid. I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond
in the earth, no certain dwelling place. There's no understanding
of dwelling in Christ, just all over the place. It shall come
to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay me. I'm in trouble.
And the Lord said unto him, Therefore, whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance
shall be taken on him sevenfold. The Lord protected his earthly
life. 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. That's powerful words, isn't
it? He went out from the presence of the Lord. He didn't want to
be in the Lord's presence. What did Adam and Eve do? They hid
from the presence of the Lord. They didn't want to be in the
Lord's presence. Cain didn't either. He 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, and she
conceived in bare Enoch, and he built a city." You know what
Cain did? He went out and made this world
a better place. He went out and built him a city. I'm sure it
was a good city. And I'm sure all kinds of good
came out of that, earthly speaking. He immersed himself into the
things of this world. He went out from the presence
of the Lord and built him a city. Which man am I? Which man are you? Cain, daring to approach God. with
something you've done. Showing no respect for God in
such a high opinion of yourself. Or Abel, who saw no safety in
approaching God any way than the blood of the coming one,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who knew that he was a sinner and couldn't
approach God any other way. Which one are you? Cain or Abel? If you're Cain, God doesn't respect
you any more than you respect God. If you're Abel, God gazes
upon you with approval and respect because of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's pray. Lord, I ask in Christ's name,
I ask that you would unite our hearts together to pray, to fear
your name. Lord, let not any in this room,
for Christ's sake, leave here as a Cain. But Lord, let us all be Aples,
looking only to thy son. Lord, you moved Adam and Eve,
to name Abel, Abel, vanity. And we know that in and of ourselves,
man at his best state is altogether vanity. Fitting name. Oh, that we might be found in
thy son. Bless us for Christ's sake. In
his name we pray. Amen. Dwayne, could you come
lead us in closing hymn?