Let's look at verse 11 of 1 John
chapter 3. For this is the message that
you heard from the beginning. This is the first message. You heard. That we should love. One another. That's the message. That's the gospel. that we should
love one another. Who's the we? All men should love one another.
No one would argue against that, but the we John is speaking of
are those who do not do as Cain does. That's how he defines those
who love one another. Verse 11, for this is the message
that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,
not as Cain. That's what I've entitled this
message, not as Cain. If we do what Cain did, if we
are what Cain was, it is impossible to love one another. Without question, there's not
a more significant story in the Bible than Cain and Abel. First story after the fall. Now,
both Cain and Abel were religious men. They both brought a sacrifice
and saw the need of a sacrifice. And one man was accepted by God. and the other was rejected by
God. One man, the scripture says,
God respected. Now what is it that God respects? It says Abel and his offering,
God respected him. You know, I suppose the highest
opinion you can have of anybody is that of respect. And God respected
Abel. And he had no respect to Cain. Now, back in verse 10, 1 John
chapter 3, in this, the children of God are manifest. This is what is seen. This is
how a child of God is identified. In this, the children of God
are manifest and the children of the devil. There are two kinds of people
in this world, before I go on reading, and this is so important.
Children of God and children of the devil. The righteous and
the wicked. Sheep and goats. Saved and lost. There's no in
between. There are only two groups. Children of God or children of
the devil, and he tells us in this verse how they can be identified. 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. Now, the first question that
enters my mind is, what is this thing of the doing of righteousness? Now we're going to go with God's
standard, not man's. When we talk about the doing
of righteousness, I know that religious men will take this
passage of Scripture and say, well, the bent and tenor of your
life is that of doing of righteousness. You may trip up some and sin
some, but if you're really saved, the bent and tenor of your life
is the doing of righteousness. That's not what that means. What does God mean by righteousness?
We'll look in verse four of this chapter. Whosoever committeth
sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression
of the law. Now that's what sin is. It's
breaking God's holy law. It's failure to keep the Ten
Commandments perfectly. And that's how God would define
righteousness. I mean, you might not define
it that way, but is our definition Relevant? No. God's definition
of righteousness is the doing of the law, keeping the law.
Look what verse Six says, whosoever abideth in him sinneth not. You know what that means? That
means he does not transgress the law. If you abide in Christ
and you're, if you're in Christ, when God looks at you, he looks
at someone who does not sin. Someone who does not break his
holy law. Someone who actually keeps the
law. You see, when God justifies someone,
that means they've kept God's law perfectly. You believe that? If God justifies someone, that
means they've kept God's law perfectly. That means they have
never sinned. When God justifies the ungodly,
they become righteous before Him. Look in verse 12. 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 brothers were righteous. Now notice the way God speaks
of the works of Abel. He does not say righteousness
was imputed to him, and therefore he had a righteous standing before
the law, although he was still a sinner. I could argue with
that's true, but that's not the way the language of the scripture
is. It doesn't say he had righteousness imputed to him. It said he was
righteous. Hebrews 11 verse 4 says the same
thing. 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 and
he being dead yet speaketh. This is God's testimony of this
man. Look in Hebrews chapter 12 for
just a moment. Hebrews chapter 12. This was so sweet to me to
think about this. Verse 22, Hebrews chapter 12,
But you will come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable company of angels,
to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written
in heaven. Her names are written there.
Before I go on, The Lord said to his disciples in Luke chapter
10, they came back and they said, Lord, even the devils are subject
to us through thy name. They were excited about how God
was using them. You know what the Lord said?
In this rejoice not, that the devils are subject to you, but
rather that your names are written in heaven. the General Assembly
and Church of the Firstborn, whose names are written in heaven
in that Lamb's Book of Life. To God, the judge of all, and
to the spirits of just men. Now that word just is the same
word that's translated righteous. To the spirits of just men, made
perfect. Now, I'm a righteous man right
now. If I'm a believer, if I'm in
Christ, when God sees me, he sees a righteous man. And we're
waiting for that time when we're made perfect without sin. But every believer is righteous. Abel was not seen by God as a
sinful man. who had righteousness charged
his account, he was seen by God as a righteous man, period. And if you're a believer, God
sees you as a righteous man or a righteous woman. And let me
remind you, I know I say this a lot and I hope you don't get
tired of it, but how God sees things, that's the way they are.
If God sees you as righteous, you know what? It's because you're
righteous. It's not because he just pretends that you are. It's
because you are. That is the heritage of every
believer. Now, this is what the Bible calls
justification. The most striking instance of
justification, I believe, Is that publican in the temple,
beating on his breast, crying, God, be merciful, be propitious
to me, the sinner, the worst man to ever live. Do something
about my sin, remove it, take it away from me through the sacrifice.
You know what the Lord said about that man? He said, I say unto
you, that man went down to his house, not pardoned, though he
was, Not forgiven, though he was. Not shown mercy, though
he had been. Not given grace, though grace
had been given him. He used this word. I say unto
you that that man went down to his house justified. That means he'd always kept God's
law. That means he had never sinned. That means he had never transgressed
God's holy law. That's what justification means. Now, let's take Lot as an example. Turn with me to 2 Peter 2. 2
Peter 2. Now, what do we see when we see Lot? You can read about him in Genesis
chapters 13 through 19. Those are the times when Lot's
name comes up. What do you and I see when we
see Lot? Well, first of all, we see a
very weak and selfish man who refused to defer to Abraham,
but he took the well water plain for himself, not caring what
happened to Abraham. He should have shown deference
to Abraham, but he didn't. He wanted his way. He moved into a city for financial
gain to the detriment of his soul and the soul of his family. When he warned his sons-in-law
about the destruction of Sodom, the scripture says he seemed
to them as one who mocked. They couldn't take him serious.
Because of what they saw in him, they could not take him serious.
When he said something, what's the matter? He said it. He seemed
as one who mocked. They would not take him seriously. When the angels told him to leave
Sodom, what did he do? He lingered. He didn't want to
leave, even though he knew what was getting ready to happen.
He lingered and the angels had to grab him by the hand and pull
him out. When he's fleeing Sodom, even
while he's fleeing, he said, oh, don't make me go to that
place. Let me stay in this city. It's just a little. What he got
tried to get God to change where he was going to go. And the Lord
did that for him. And then when he got into that
city and hid in a cave, the scripture says he became drunk and committed
incest with both of his daughters. And there were two nations born
out of that relationship, the Moabites and the Ammonites. And they were a thorn in the
side of Israel for centuries to come. Now that's what we see
when we see Lot. You agree with that, don't you?
That's what we see when we see Lot. Now look in 2 Peter 2, listen to how God the Holy Spirit
through the pen of Peter describes Lot. He delivered just, and that
word just is the word that's generally translated righteous.
He delivered righteous Lot. vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked. Oh, he was vexed living in Sodom.
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. Now, that's God's testimony.
That's God's statement concerning Lot. I think it's very interesting
that Lot's name means covering. And really, the true man is covered
by the flesh. I realize that. That's all we
see. But this is God's testimony of this man. Now, how attractive
does that sound to you? Which testimony do you believe?
Well, I see everything I said, but what I know about Lot is
he was a righteous man with a righteous soul whom God deemed as godly. The children of God, not only
doers of righteousness, but they're lovers of the brethren. Turn
back to our text, 1 John chapter 3. Now everybody that's justified,
listen to me, this is not pie in the sky. This is the truth.
Everybody that's justified, that means they've never sinned. That
means they've kept God's law perfectly. Anything less is not
justification. That's the meaning of justification.
This is what John says, everybody that is a child of God, they're
a doer of righteousness. That's justification. They're
an actual doer of righteousness. It doesn't mean that they have
a righteous life most of the time, and sometimes they trip
up. That's not a doer of righteousness. You know, if you only murdered
once, what are you? You're a murderer. If you only
tell one lie, what are you? A liar. Well, I only committed
adultery once. You're an adulterer. You can't
look at God's law and say, well, by and large, I live up to it,
but maybe every now and then I mess up. No, you've broken
the whole law. The Bible will not allow that
kind of thinking. Justification means being a doer
of righteousness. You've never transgressed the
law. You've never sinned. You've always done that which
pleases God. That thrills my soul to think
that that's who I am in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 11, for this
is the message, oh no, 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.
Now, what does that look like, this thing of loving one another?
What does it look like? Well, he's going to give more
sites of what it looks like as we work our way down through
this chapter. We'll consider those for the coming weeks. But
here's the first thing he says concerning this love of the brethren,
not as Cain. If you love the brethren, that
means you're not going to be like Cain. You're not going to
do what Cain did. You're not going to have the
attitude of Cain. And he goes on to say, Cain was
a murderer. And you know no murderer had
the eternal life in him. But what about this man, Cain? Well, turn back to Genesis chapter
4. Now, if you love the brethren, this
is going to be a description of you, not as Cain. Well, what
about Cain? Genesis chapter 4. Now, like
I said, this is the first story after the fall. Verse 1, Genesis
chapter 4. And Adam knew Eve, his wife,
and she conceived and bear came. Now, my marginal reading says
gotten or acquired. The meaning of his name is a fabricator, someone who acquires,
a smith, a maker. He's someone who did things and
made things. You women probably would like
being married to him instead of being married to somebody
like me who can't do anything. She always I make some kind of
statement, what would it like to be married to somebody that
could fix stuff? Well, I don't know. One of these days, maybe. But actually, I fixed a commode
the other day, so put the guts back in and did it all by myself.
I don't know why I'm saying that, but at any rate, his name means
fabricator. And you know Eve thought that
he was the promise of verse 15. Verse 15 in chapter 3, And I
will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy
seed and her seed, and it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt
bruise his heel. And Eve said, I've gotten a man
or thee man from the Lord. She thought this is the promised
Messiah. This is the one who's going to
crush the Satan's heel who deceived us. Verse 2, and she again bare
his brother Abel. You know what Abel means? Vanity. Vanity. You know, I guess compared
to Cain, there wasn't a lot to Abel. Abel was a fabricator.
He could do things. He could make things. He was
a successful farmer. And Abel's name was Vanity. What a name to name your kid,
Vanity. Verse 2, and Abel was a keeper
of sheep. He was a shepherd. He kept that
which he didn't produce. He just watched over sheep. But Cain, was a tiller of the
ground. Now this is very significant.
He was a tiller of the ground. Look into verse 17 of chapter
three, when God's pronouncing the curse. And unto Adam, he
said, because thou has hearkened unto the voice of thy wife and
has eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee saying, thou
shalt not even eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy
sake. He was a tiller and he produced
things from that which God had already cursed. Cursed is the
ground. That was his sphere of operation. He was working in that which
God had already cursed. Verse three. And in process of time, It came
to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, that
ground that God had cursed. Listen, if my flesh is in it,
it's cursed already. And that's what he's bringing.
He's bringing his best. I'm sure that he was an accomplished farmer.
I'm sure the vegetables and the fruit that he brought, he was
proud of them. He was bringing that which he
had made a real effort at thinking God could be pleased with this.
I'm pleased with it. Surely God will be pleased with
it. I like it. Surely he will. And in the 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
Adam had taught Cain and Abel the same thing. He didn't get
this from Adam. Adam saw right after the fall
where the Lord slew a lamb. And he took that lamb and made
them a covering, stripping them of those fig leaves. He taught
Cain that. He taught Abel that. The only
way that a holy God can be approached is through the blood of the coming
lamb. He knew a lamb's blood wouldn't
do anything, but it's what that lamb represented. I know Abel
had faith, believing the gospel when he offered up, because it
says, by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain. Now, Abel and Cain were taught
the same thing from their father. The only way a holy God could
be approached is through the coming sacrifice of the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. He knew the Gospel. It was meaningless to Cain. It
meant nothing to him. It was just religious talk. You
know why? Because Cain really had a high
opinion of himself and a low opinion of God. So it was just
religious mumbo-jumbo. It doesn't really matter what
kind of sacrifice I bring as long as my heart's right, as
long as I do my best, as long as I present that which I've
given the most for and taken the most effort in and I've really
wanted to please God with this. I mean, as long as my heart's
right, this is just as good. He couldn't see any problem in
what he was doing. He didn't realize how much he
was bringing the name of God down by thinking God could accept
something that he brought. It just was meaningless. You
know, you can grow up hearing the gospel as clear as it could
be preached. It may be meaningless to you. If you're dead in sin,
it is. You don't have an idea really
of who God is or who you are. Cain certainly didn't. So he
brought the fruit of the ground and he didn't see anything or
have any understanding about God's holiness or his own sinfulness. He just thought this will do.
This will do. It's my best. This will do. Verse four, Abel, he also brought
of the firstlings of his flock, and the faith thereof. Now, notice
he brought the best lamb, the firstling of his flock. Did he
make it the best lamb? No, it just was the best lamb. And he knew that was the one
that pointed to the coming lamb of God. And that's the one he
brought. This is not something he worked to get. It's just something
he saw that God did. And the only way he would come
into God's presence, he brought nothing but this sacrifice. He
wouldn't dare come any other way. He was acting in obedience
to the gospel that he had learned, and he was coming, bringing nothing
but the sacrifice. He knew God was holy. He knew
he was sinful. And the only way that God can
be approached is through Christ, through his precious blood. Yes,
he believed the gospel just as much as anybody here believes
it. Now Christ hadn't come yet, but he knew he was coming. And
that's who he was relying on, and he wouldn't bring anything
else. He wouldn't dare bring anything
else. The Lamb of God who would be
slain as the sinner's substitute. And let me repeat again, Hebrews
tells us he did this by faith. He believed the gospel He knew
exactly what he was doing. So he brings of the firstlings
of his flock and of the fat thereof. And look what this next statement
says in verse four. And the Lord had. What's the next word? Respect. To Abel. To Abel. and to his offering. Now let
me tell you something. If you come the way Abel did,
do you know the infinite God of glory has respect for you? That's the power of the blood
of Christ. That's the power of being saved
by the righteousness of Christ. That's the power of the doing
of righteousness. That's the power of justification. God has respect. And I don't know of a higher
view you can have of somebody than to respect them. To respect somebody. God respected
Abel. Abel brings the blood of the
Lamb and the infinite holy God had respect for Abel. Abel couldn't be seen independent
of his offering. But I can say to every believer,
because of union with Christ, because of your union with the
Lord Jesus Christ, because of His precious sacrifice, His blood,
His righteousness, God respects you. It's hard to get hold of
that, isn't it? But it's so. God, just like He
respected Abel, He respects you. Verse five, but under Cain and to his offering. You see, you can't be separated
from the offering. Abel could not be separated from
his offering and Cain could not be separated from his offering.
Under Cain and to his offering, he had not respect. Now, Cain, really had no respect
for God. And you know, God's going to
meet you on the ground you come. He will. If you come on the footing
of your own merit, you demonstrate no respect for God, no recognition
of his holiness, no recognition of the need of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And if you come to him on that ground, he'll meet you
on that ground and he'll treat you accordingly. If you come
looking only to Christ and you won't dare look anywhere else,
He'll meet you on that ground. He'll meet you on the ground
that you come. Now, Cain came offering the fruit
of the ground and God had no respect. And look at Cain's reaction
in verse 5. And Cain was very wroth. He was mad. and his countenance
fell, you know what his anger says? This is not fair. That's exactly what he meant
by that. This is not fair. You take a little kid that's
just old enough to think cognitively and they have thoughts, what
is the first thing that provokes their wrath? They feel like they're
not being treated fairly. That's why they cry. I'm not
being treated fair. This is not right. Everybody's
born with this sense of I want to be treated fairly. And Cain
was upset. This is not fair for God to respect
Abel's offering and to have no respect for mine. I am being
treated unfairly. Cain becomes God's judge. And
Cain becomes God's critic. That is why he was so angry. You know, whenever somebody objects to the gospel, the fairness
of it, 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 God to have mercy on one and not have mercy on another?
That's not fair. Now, when I make a statement
like that, all I'm saying is I'm better than God. And my judgment's
better than God. And God's not treating me right. What I'm doing is showing my
low opinion of God. How I can say something like
that about Him and bring Him down to my level. and I'm showing
my high opinion of myself. That's all that is. And that's
what Cain was doing. This is not fair. Verse six. And the Lord said unto Cain,
Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen?
Now he knew, he knew, he He knew, but he's going to show Cain what
his problem was. And look at this next statement,
verse 7. If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? If you come the way Abel came,
you'll be accepted. It really is that simple. If
you come the way Abel came. pleading only the merits of the
coming sacrifice and nothing else. If you come the way Abel
came, you will be accepted just like him. You'll be righteous
before me. You'll do well before me. You see, when Abel brought that
sacrifice, that's a righteous man doing that. That's what God
calls a righteous man. That's a man who knows the only
way he can actually be righteous is through the sacrifice. Cain,
you come like Abel, you'll be accepted just like Abel. You
know, I love what the Lord said, him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. You come like Abel did, you'll
be received. And what it says next, and if
thou do us not well, If you don't come like Abel came, sin lieth
at the door. Now we've all heard of the law
of first mention. Here's the first time sin is
mentioned. And how is it mentioned? As bringing
the wrong sacrifice. There's a lot of other things
we could say about sin, no doubt, but here's the first time it's
mentioned. And it's mentioned as bringing the wrong sacrifice. Cain was instructed how to come
into God's presence by his father, but it meant nothing to him.
He thought it was not even important because, after all, his heart
was right and he was doing his best. He demonstrated by that
he had no knowledge of himself and no knowledge of God. That's
why he got upset in the first place. But sin lieth at the door,
and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
If you do well, as the firstborn, you'll rule over him. Verse eight. And Cain talked with Abel, his
brother. And I can imagine how this conversation
went. Abel, you think you're the only
one saved. You're a member of a cult. It's
you and nobody else. You think you're the only one
saved. How can you be so self-righteous? What about me? Do you have complete
disregard for my efforts? Well, you think you're the only
one saved. I can't stand you. I can't stand
your self-righteousness. I can't stand the attitude you
have in thinking that your way is the only way and you just
cut off everybody else. Your way's the only way. My way
or the highway. I can imagine that conversation,
and I can imagine how Abel replied. Abel said to Cain, Cain, here's
what I believe about myself, if you want to know the truth.
I believe that I, in and of myself, am so sinful that the only way
I dare approach God is through the sacrifice of the coming Lamb
of God. I won't come any other way. You can say what you want about
me, but I know there's only one way to the Father, and that's
through the Lord Jesus Christ. And I reject all other ways. The way of blood is the only
way. And I bet King said, blood? I'll
show you blood! And then he, what, did he pick
up a rock and hit him in the head? Stick a knife through his
ribs? I don't know what he did, but
he killed him. He killed him. Thus Abel became
the first Christian martyr. And what was the issue? The blood. That was the issue. What was the issue? Grace or
works. That was the issue then, and
that's the issue now. And I guarantee you, this has
been duplicated millions and millions of times. It might be
that you haven't been physically murdered, but somebody wanted
to murder you. They did, they didn't like what you were saying,
they were angry. You're self-righteous, you think your way is the only
way? Well, this happens all the time. Now, not as King. You find me an able, somebody who will not dare approach
God apart from the blood of Christ, the successful, particular, effectual,
saving blood of Christ. And I'll show you somebody I
love. Don't you love that person who
won't come any other way but Christ? You love that person. I mean, your heart goes out to
him. You embrace him. That's your friend. You may disagree
with a lot of things about him, but you just overlook it. That's
your friend. Anybody who looks to Christ only,
you love. Now that's the love he's talking
about, the love of brethren. The love of brethren. Brethren
are people who have the same father. They're saved the same
way. And there is a genuine love to
the brethren. Look at how he says this in verse
back to first John chapter three. This then is the message that
you heard from the beginning that we should love one another.
Somebody says, well, what's that look like? Not as Cain. Not as
Cain. Who was at that wicked one and
slew his brother and wherefore slew he him? because his own
works were evil, and his brother's righteous." Now you remember
when God said to Cain, where's your brother? I said, I know. Am I my brother's
keeper? He's a smart aleck to the Lord.
He speaks disrespectfully to the Lord at that time. Am I my
brother's keeper? Well, he was lying. You know that. The Lord said, your brother's
blood cries to me from the ground. It had something to say. You
can't hide. Your brother's blood cries to
me from the ground. What does it cry? Vengeance. Justice. Pay him back. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. I've already read verse 23 once.
I want to read verses 23 and 24. You come to the general assembly
in 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 that speaketh better things than that of April. What does the blood of Christ
cry? forgive him. What does the blood
of Christ cry? Justify him. What does the blood
of Christ cry? Not guilty. The blood of Christ
has a whole lot better things to say than the blood of Abel.
The blood of Abel said give him back vengeance, put him to death. The blood of Christ says save
him. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank You for the
simplicity of the Gospel. How we thank You that through
Thy Gospel we are righteous. Lord, give us the grace to simply
take You at Your Word and believe. Deliver us from our own understanding.
Deliver us from our own thoughts. Deliver us from the false notions
of religion. Lord, save us by Your grace. Keep us. Reveal Yourself to us.
Lord, don't let us Believe what we would if you
don't forbid it, but cause us simply to believe your gospel.
Be our teacher, Lord, and reveal yourself to us for Christ's sake.
Lord, how we thank you for the forgiveness of sins. In Christ's
name we pray. Amen. Okay, Matt, come lead us in closing
in.