I did choose thee, Lord, for,
Lord, that Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neidert. 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 Nivert. I'm reading this morning from
1 John 3, beginning in verse 10. In this, the children of
God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth
not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother. For this is the message that
you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Notice Cain, who was of that
wicked one, he was a child of the devil, and slew his brother,
and wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil,
and his brother's righteous. I've entitled this message, Not
As Cain. Now there is not a more significant
story in the Bible than the story of Cain and his brother Abel. The first story recorded after
the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, and this is such a significant
gospel message, not as King. Now, notice he says in verse
11, for this is the message that we heard from the beginning,
that we should love one another. Who is the we? Well, all men
should love one another. Nobody's going to argue against
that. But the we John is speaking of are those who do not do as
Cain did. This is talking about the brethren,
the brotherhood. Believers are to love one another. You cannot be or do as Cain and
love your brother. Notice how he says, this is the
message we heard from the beginning that we should love one another,
not as Cain. You can't do as Cain and obey
this command of loving one another. Now, Cain and Abel, here we have
the two representative men. One is a child of God, the other
is a child of Satan. Someone says, is the devil the
father of men? Well, the Lord did say to the
Pharisees, you are of you're the father of the devil, and
the lusts of your father you will do. There are only two different
types of people. Children of God, children of
the devil, sheep, goats, saved, lost, the righteous and the wicked. There's only two types. And John
tells us about this in verse 10. In this, the children of
God are manifest, and the children of the devil, whosoever doeth
not righteousness is not of God. Someone who is of God is somebody
who does righteousness, neither he that loveth not his brother.
Somebody who is of God loves his brother. Now, what is this
thing of the doing of righteousness? This is so very important. He that doeth not righteousness
is not of God. He's a child of the devil. What
is this thing of the doing of righteousness? The doing of righteousness,
and we're talking about God's standard, not man's standard.
We're talking about God's standard. To do righteousness is to keep
God's law perfectly. It's to never sin. It's to stand before God without
sin. That's what the doing of righteousness
represents. You never sin. You always do
that which is right. You never lie. You never commit
sexual sin, no, not even in your mind. You never bear false witness. You never steal. You certainly
don't kill anybody. You keep God's law perfectly. That's what the meaning of the
doing of righteousness is. Believers do righteousness. Now, notice in verse 12 it says,
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother,
and wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil,
and his brother's righteous. Hebrews 11.4 has this testimony
concerning Abel. 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. Now, he could not be separated
from his gift, that lamb that he offered up as a sacrifice,
but that made him righteous. Righteous. He stood before God
as a righteous man, a law-keeping man, a man who never sinned. Abel was not seen by God as an
evil man that had Christ's righteousness imputed to him so that before
the law he stood without guilt, but he was still the same person.
No, God saw Abel as altogether righteous. It's what the Bible
calls justification. I think the most striking example
of this is the two men in the temple praying. One stood and
prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee that I'm not as
other men are. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
unjust, even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. You'll notice Christ said he
prayed thus with himself. He wasn't praying to God. He
thought he was, but that prayer didn't rise any further than
the ceiling. This man was blinded by his own
self-righteousness, and he prayed thus with himself. But the publican
in the temple This was a sinful man, and he beat on his breast,
crying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. He stood afar off.
He felt totally unable to draw near. God, be merciful to me,
the sinner. And the Lord Jesus Christ said
concerning this man, who by his own admission was nothing but
sin, I tell you, that man went down to his house not forgiven,
although he was, not pardoned, though he was, but justified. Now if you're justified, that
means you did not sin. If you're justified, that means
you stand before God's law perfectly. Justified. I think another example
from the scriptures would be Lot. Now, if you look at Lot,
you can read about his history in Genesis 13 through 18. How
does he appear to us? Well, he appears to be a weak
man, a selfish man. He should have deferred to Abraham
and let Abraham make the choice of what land Abraham wanted,
but he didn't. He saw the well-watered plain
and he said, that's what I want. He moved into a city that was
very evil for financial gain and evidently became a civic
leader because it says he sat in the gate. That's where the
civic leaders sat. He was more concerned, seemingly,
about his own human betterment than his soul's betterment. He warned his sons-in-law when
God said, I'm going to destroy this city. He warned his sons-in-law,
and the scripture says he seemed to them as one that mocked. They
thought, you can't take anything this guy says seriously. They
had absolutely no respect for him, the way he had lived. thought what he was saying was
just mocking. When the angels came to take
him out of the city, the scripture says he lingered. And they had
to take him by the hand and pull him out. And even when he's fleeing
from the city, he asks the Lord if he'd let him go to a different
place than the Lord had determined. He hid in a cave, he became drunken
and committed incest with his two daughters, and two nations
came out of that union that were thorns in the side of Israel
for centuries. Lot, that's what we see. Lot,
what a sinful man, what a weak man was Lot. Was Lot really that
way? Yes, he was. But look at God's
testimony of this man in 2 Peter 2. Here's what God says about
this man. He delivered, verse 7, just Lot. Not weak Lot, not sinful Lot,
but that word just is the same word usually translated righteous.
He delivered righteous lot, vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked. Oh, he was so vexed living in
Sodom. For that righteous man, this
is God's testimony, for that righteous man dwelling among
them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to
day with their unlawful deeds. The Lord knoweth how to deliver
the godly out of temptation. Lot is called by God righteous,
just, godly. Now that's how God saw Lot. And you know how God sees things
is as they really are. You and I really don't see things
as they really are. We have thoughts and opinions
and we sit in judgment on people and so on. I realize we're like
that way. I judge people so terribly. I
wish I wasn't like that. But we don't see things as they
really are. God's sight is how things really are. And He saw
Lot as a righteous man. Now this demonstrates to us the
power of the gospel. The power of the gospel makes
a man righteous just before God. not evil, but pardoned, actually
justified and righteous, that would be lot before God. Now, back to our text in 1 John
3, verse 10, in this the children of God are manifest, and the
children of the devil, whosoever doeth not righteousness is not
of God. It's only the doer of righteousness, and that's what
justification is. That's the power of what Christ did. He
made it to where everybody who looks to him only as everything
in their salvation is justified. They're doers of righteousness.
And neither he that loveth not his brother. God's people who
are justified are people who actually love their brother. It's a real love. It's not a
makeup love. It's a real love. Look what John says about this
in verse 14 of this same chapter. We know that we pass from death
into life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not
his brother abideth in debt. Whosoever hateth his brother
is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life
abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of
God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to
lay our lives down for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good,
and seeth his brother have need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion
from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children,
let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in
truth." Now, this love that he's speaking of is the result of
being born of God. He that loveth is born of God,
John said in 1 John 4, 7. This is not talking simply about
romantic love or love between parents and children. This is
talking about a spiritual love, a love for the brethren. Now,
all of God's children have this in common. They do righteousness,
that's what justification is, and they love the brethren. It's a true, genuine love. Now, what does this look like?
John says next, not as Cain. I'll tell you what it looks like
by telling you what it doesn't look like. It is not like Cain. Now, I'd like for us to If you've
got access to a Bible, go back to Genesis chapter 4, and we're
going to look at this story of Cain and Abel. There's not a
more important story in all the Word of God than the story of
Cain and Abel. Now, we read in verse 1 of Genesis
chapter 4, And Adam knew his wife, and she conceived, and
bare Cain. His name means acquired. worker,
fabricator. He was a talented man. Cain. She bare Cain And she said,
I have gotten a man from the Lord. And I have no doubt that
what she was talking about is she thought I've got the promise
seed, the seed that will come and bruise the serpent's head.
The man who would do this, I've gotten the man from the Lord. She was very excited about Cain
and she gave him a name that demonstrated his talents and
his ability. Verse 2, and she again bare his
brother Abel. You know what Abel's name means? Vanity. Just a breath. Cain was a strong man, a skillful
man. Abel, vanity. And Abel was a
keeper of sheep. He was a shepherd. He watched
over sheep. But Cain was a tiller of the
ground. He was a farmer. And you can
bet he was a good farmer. There's much significance to
this, though. The ground he was a tiller over
was the ground that God had cursed. In Genesis chapter 3, he said
to Adam, Cursed is the ground for thy sake. Everything that
Cain brought up was already cursed. Now, what Cain represents is
salvation by works, as we're going to see. And Abel represents
salvation by Christ. Now let's go on reading. Cain
was a tiller of the ground. 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, I have no doubt that he
picked out his best vegetables, his best fruit, whatever it is
that he grew. He felt very good about that.
He thought, well, God will be pleased with this. And he brought
the fruit of the ground. And Abel, he also brought of
the firstlings of his flock. He brought a sheep, a lamb, and
it was slain. And he offered the blood of that
lamb to God. Now, look at these two boys.
They had the same parents, and I have no doubt that Adam taught
them the same thing. You'll remember that when Adam
was driven out of the garden, God slew a lamb and made him
a covering. He tried to cover himself with
fig leaves, which represents man's attempts at salvation by
works, and God slew a lamb and he covered him with the coats
of skins of that lamb. And he was made to see, even
at that time, that the only way, the only covering, the only thing
that God can accept is through the coming Lamb of God. He knew
that there wasn't any saving efficacy in the blood of the
animal, but what that blood represented. And he taught both of these boys,
the only way you can come into God's presence is through the
sacrifice of the coming seed of woman who's going to come
and bruise the serpent's head. Now, he understood the gospel. Maybe not as clearly as someone
does now in the New Testament, but he understood that the only
way God can be approached is through the coming sacrifice.
He knew that animal didn't put away any sin, but what that animal
represents, the son of God who would come and crush the serpent's
head. That's the first gospel promise.
Now, both of these boys were taught the same thing, but it
just didn't mean anything to Cain. Here's why. Cain was completely
ignorant of the character of God, and he was completely ignorant
of his own character. He brought God down to his own
level. He thought, I'm pleased with
this. Surely God will be pleased with
this. And he demonstrated such a low opinion of God that God
could be pleased with what he brought. He had no understanding
of the holiness and righteousness of God. He had no understanding
of his own sinfulness. He thought, this will do. I'm
sincere. This is just as good as bringing a lamb. This is my
best. I'm doing my best, and I'm going to bring this to God.
Now, look what happened. Verse 3, God brought unto the
fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also
brought of the firstlings of his flock, and the fat thereof.
He brought the best lamb. He didn't make it the best lamb.
God made it the best lamb, but he didn't bring that which was
cursed. He brought of the firstlings of the flock. He brought that
sacrifice that was going to point to the coming sacrifice. Now
look at the language of verse 4. And the Lord had respect unto
Abel and to his offering. The feeling of respect towards
someone is the highest feeling I know of. to respect someone. I mean, love is great. It's great
to be loved. I want to be loved. You want
to be loved. I realize that. But to be respected. You're respected
means you're highly esteemed. You're viewed in a high way by
the person who respects you. Now, this verse of Scripture
says God actually had respect unto Abel. Now, What power there
must be in this sacrifice that makes Abel worthy of the respect
of God? God respected Abel and his offering. You see, you can't separate the
person and the offering. God had respect to Abel. God
had respect to his offering because he knew that that offering was
pointing to the coming Lamb of God who would put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself. God respected him. Look what
it says in verse five, but undecaying, And to his offering he had not
respect. God had absolutely no respect
for Cain and his offering. And I can tell you why. It's
because Cain had no respect for God. Cain Didn't pay any attention
to what he heard regarding what kind of offering he should bring.
He brought God down to human terms. I can understand God.
I can please God. I can do this and God will accept
that. He brought God down to his own level. He had such a
high opinion of himself that he thought God could accept his
works. And all he demonstrated by all that is that he had no
true respect for God. And God had no respect for him.
Now, God will meet you and me on the ground we come. If you
come pleading only the sacrifice of Christ and nothing else, God
will meet you there and God will accept you. If you come in your
disrespect and your salvation by works, God will meet you there
and you don't want to be on the end of that meeting, though,
because you cannot be saved by your works. You can't have anything
but God's disrespect and, in the end, God's wrath. So Cain
and his offering were not respected. Verse 5, And Cain was very wroth,
and his countenance fell. He was angry over this. This is not fair, were his thoughts. How is it that God would respect
and receive my brother's offering and he has no respect and will
not receive my offering? This is not fair. This is not right. You know,
this emotion shows up in children at a very early age. They always
know when they perceive that they're not being treated fairly,
and it's a part of a fallen nature. This is not fair. He was angry. When I hear people object to
the gospel, how could it be fair for God to elect one and pass
by another? How could it be fair for Christ
to die for one and not die for another? How could it be fair
for the Holy Spirit to give life to one and pass by another? When
we make that kind of objection, what we're saying is, I'm God's
judge and I don't think what He's doing is right. Since when
do me and you have the moral authority to set in judgment
on what God does and say, that's not fair, that's not right, He
shouldn't be doing that. Whatever He does is right. By God's grace, accept that whatever
He does is right. I think of the Lord saying, I
thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You
have hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babes, even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy
sight. Now, God doesn't do something
because it's right. It's right because God does it. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? But oh, how Cain resented this. This is not fair. He was very angry. Let's go on
reading. Verse 6. And the Lord said unto Cain,
Why art thou wroth? And why is thou countenance fallen? I have not done anything to give
you a reason to be mad at me. If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? You bring the right sacrifice,
you look to the coming sacrifice like your brother Abel did, you'll
be accepted. Don't start saying, this is not
fair. You know there's only one way
I can be approached. It's because of my holiness I
can only be approached through the blood of that coming one
who's to come and die for sinners and make a way for me to be just
and justify them. If you do well, you'll be accepted. And if thou doest not well, If
you bring the wrong sacrifice, sin lieth at the door. The only
reason for bringing the wrong sacrifice is sin. A low view
of God and a high view of yourself. And unto thee, you bring the
right sacrifice, and to thee shall be his desire, and thou
shalt rule over him as the firstborn, if you bring the right sacrifice.
Now, God is saying, I'm not doing you wrong. You come like Abel
came. and you'll be received." Verse
8, And Cain talked with Abel his
brother. And we know that they were having
an argument because We read, 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. He murdered him. He had no love
for him, and he murdered him. Now, I can imagine how this conversation
went. Cain says to his brother Abel,
you are so self-righteous. You think your way is the only
way. You think you're the only one saved. How is it that you
have such a high opinion of yourself? I don't agree with this only
one way of offering. And I can see Abel saying to
his brother, he said, Cain, I realize that I am so sinful that a holy
God could not accept me the way I am. And I really believe, because
we've been taught this by God, that the only way that I can
be accepted is through the blood of that coming Lamb of God whom
God has promised to send to put away the sins of His people.
That's the only way I'll come. through the blood. And I can
see Cain getting more and more furious. He said, blood, I'll
show you blood. And I don't know how he killed him. I don't know
if he bashed his head with a rock or stuck a knife between his
ribs, but he saw blood. And what was the issue? What were they arguing over?
The sacrifice, the blood, the blood has always been the issue.
Now, some people look at the blood as making salvation possible. I won't do this sin or any good.
The only thing that'll do me good is if Christ actually saves
me by His blood and accomplishes my salvation. If you say Christ
can shed His blood and that person might end up in hell anyway because
he didn't do something that'll make it work, you've taken away
the only hope I have. The only hope I have is that
Christ died for me, put away my sins, and made it to where
I must be saved. I believe the same gospel that
able did. Oh, may the Lord make us all
ables and not gains. We have this message on DVD and
CD. If you call the church right
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Kniper praying God
will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's our prayer.
Amen.