By grace I'm saved, grace free
and boundless. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor. We
are located at 4137 Todd's Road, two miles outside of Manowar
Boulevard. Sunday morning Bible class at 9.45 a.m. Sunday services
are at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Wednesday services
at 7 p.m. I'd like to read a passage of
scripture from Genesis chapter 4. It's a very familiar story. It's the story of Cain and Abel. And I've entitled this message,
The Two Religions. In Genesis chapter 4, I'm going
to read 8 verses, And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived,
and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten the man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother
Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller
of the ground. And in process of time, it came
to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering
unto the Lord and Abel he also brought of the firstlings of
his flock and of the fat thereof and the Lord had respect unto
Abel and to his offering but unto Cain and to his offering
he had not respect and Cain was very wroth and his countenance
fell. 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, and unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him. 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. Now in this story we have the
two religions. We have the religion of grace
in Abel's offering and we have the religion of works in Cain's
offering. There are only two types of men
in this world, the righteous and the wicked. There is no in-between,
there is no gray area, there is no intermediate state. As
you and I stand before God, we stand before Him as either righteous
or wicked. I repeat, there are only two
types of people in this world, the righteous and the wicked. Somebody once said, the righteous
all believe themselves to be wicked, and the wicked all believe
themselves to be righteous. That's interesting, isn't it?
And it's true. Every righteous man believes himself to be a
sinner, and he needs a sacrifice. And every wicked man believes
himself to be righteous. He believes he at least has the
potential to be righteous. He may do bad things, but he
can turn it around if he wants to. Every righteous man believes
himself to be wicked. And every wicked man believes
themselves to be righteousness. Now there's only two types of
men, the righteous and the wicked, and there are only two religions.
The religion of works and the religion of grace. Now somebody
may think, but are there not many religions? Or what about
all the different religions of the world? Well, not really. There are only two religions.
The religion of grace. where a right standing before
God is completely dependent upon what He does for you. And the
religion of works, where you believe a right standing of God
is somehow dependent upon or contingent upon what you do. Now, Cain and Abel represent
these two men, the righteous and the wicked, and their offerings
represent the two religions, the religion of grace, and the
religion of works. In verse one, we read, and Adam
knew Eve his wife. Now this is the first story that
took place after the fall of our first parents in the garden.
And this gives us some idea of the significance of this story. And Adam knew Eve his wife and
she conceived and bear came. His name means acquired. And
she said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. She was very excited
about the birth of Cain because she believed that this is the
promised Messiah. After the fall, God gave this
promise, the seed of woman. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ,
shall bruise the serpent's head. And no doubt, he thought at this
time, he's here. I'm excited. And she again bear
his brother Abel. Abel means vanity. That's what his name meant. Can
you imagine having a name like that if your name was Vanity?
I suppose that Eve favored Cain. She thought he was the special
one. And Abel, there's just not that much to him. So she named
him Vanity, Abel. And Abel was a keeper of the
sheep. He was a shepherd. He watched
over something in which his hand had nothing in producing. And Cain was a tiller of the
ground, he was a farmer. And he brought out of the ground
that which God had already cursed. If you remember in Genesis chapter
3, in the pronouncement against Adam and Eve, he said to Adam,
Cursed be the ground for thy sake. So Cain brought fruit out
of that which God had already cursed. Now we read in verse
3, and in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought
of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord, and Abel
he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat
thereof. Now, both of these boys knew
they needed to bring a sacrifice. I don't have any doubt that their
father Adam taught them God can only be approached through a
blood sacrifice and he recounted what took place in the fall after
The Lord approached Adam and Eve, and they'd covered themselves
in those fig leaves, which represent man's righteousness, trying to
make a covering that God can accept. God removed that covering,
and He slew an animal. That was the first blood shedding.
They saw an innocent animal slain, and He made coats of skins and
gave them to Adam and Eve, and He taught them through that God
can only be approached through a blood sacrifice. We can only
be saved by a blood sacrifice. Now somebody says, why is that?
Why must there be a blood sacrifice? That almost seems violent. Why
would God require blood? I can understand somebody asking
that question because I've asked the question myself. Why blood?
Here's the answer. God is holy. God cannot let sin
go unpunished. If he could let sin go unpunished,
he'd cease to be God. He'd cease to be just. He'd cease
to be holy. Sin must be punished. My sin deserves death and the
only way God can accept me is through a blood sacrifice. My
sin being charged to somebody else and that person being killed
for it. That's what the Lord did on the
cross. It was God the Father who put him to death. The sins
of God's people became his. And he was slain. The only way
God can be approached is through a blood sacrifice. Now understand
that. You can't come into God's presence
on the basis of your own works in any way. You must come through
the blood. And Adam taught both of these
boys that, so they both bring their sacrifice. And look what
Cain brings. Verse 3, In the process of time
it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground. Now, why did he bring this sacrifice? It was the wrong sacrifice. Why
did he bring the fruit of the ground? It was a bloodless sacrifice.
Why did he bring a sacrifice like this? I can answer that. was a wicked man who believed
himself to be righteous. His reasoning was something like
this, as long as my heart is right and I'm sincere, does it
really matter what kind of sacrifice I bring? I don't want to split
hairs. As long as I bring a sacrifice, I'll be alright. He knew he needed
a sacrifice. God would not accept him as he
was. He had some vague notion of that.
Something needed to be done about his mistakes and his sins and
the things that he did that were wrong. So he brings a sacrifice. He offered up his best. Surely
this will make up for my shortcomings. This is my very best. He brought
the fruit of the ground. He brought life. He brought life. That which came from the ground.
He didn't bring death. He didn't bring blood. He brought
life. I guess he thought maybe this
will help God out. Maybe God's hungry and he'll accept this.
This represents salvation by works. Surely God will accept
this output. He demonstrated an ignorance
of the character of God. But let's read about Abel's offering.
Verse four and Abel. He also brought of the firstlings
of his flock, and of the fat thereof." He brought death. He brought a blood sacrifice,
a lamb slain, and he knew exactly what he was doing. He didn't
believe that the slaying of that animal had anything to do with
putting away his sins. Hebrews 11.4 tells us, Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained
witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. It was by faith in the coming
Lamb of God that Abel did this. Abel knew he was a sinner, and
he knew the only way he could approach God, the only way God
could accept him, is through the sacrifice of the coming Lamb
of God. He didn't think that the that
particular land put away his sins he knew what it represented
by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain now let's go on reading in verse 4 and Abel he also brought
of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof and the
Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering now did you hear
that for something To earn the respect of God, it must have
infinite value. The Lord had respect to Abel
and to his offering. Now, Abel saw himself to be a
sinful man. He wouldn't dare approach God
apart from the blood of the coming lamb. He didn't plead his works
or his sincerity or his goodness, only the blood. And yet the scripture
says God had respect to Abel. his person and his offering. You see, the person cannot be
separated from the offering. He didn't look at Abel with disdain
and say, well, I'll accept you for the offering's sake. No,
the scripture says he actually had respect to Abel and to his
offering. Now, how can that be? Let me
read Hebrews 11, 4 once again. I'm going to quote it. Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Now what was more
excellent about his sacrifice? Put this way, what's more excellent?
Christ's works or yours? Grace or works? What Christ did
or what you do? Which is more excellent? Oh,
the work of Christ is infinitely more excellent than anything
you or I could do. He offered unto God the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all he would offer. I
can't come on my own. I know you're holy. I know you're
just. I wouldn't dare come any other way. And the scripture
says God had respect. Hebrews 11, verse 4 says, "...by
which he obtained witness that he was righteous." Now, here's
the excellency of the sacrifice Abel offered. It made him righteous
in his person. Now, how could that be? In 2 Corinthians, chapter 5,
verse 21, we read, "...for he," speaking of God, "...had made
him," the Lord Jesus Christ, "...to be sin, for us who knew
no sin, that we might be made the very righteousness of God."
in him. That's how righteous Abel was.
He was the very righteousness of God. You see, the sins of
God's elect were placed upon Christ. to where he became guilty
of those sins. God didn't look at him and say,
well, I know you're innocent, but I'm going to treat you as
if you are guilty. That would be unjust. No, he saw Christ
as guilty. He was made sin. All my sin became
his, so he became guilty of it. God's wrath came down on him
and killed him. He had it coming. He was guilty. God is just. The
only reason for death is sin. Christ was made sin, and God
Killed him it pleased the Lord to bruise him and just as truly
as he was made sin his perfect righteousness The righteousness
of God is made mine. It's made every believers able
is righteous because of that Sacrifice and God testified of
this God sees things as they really are you know when the
Lord spoke of Abel in Matthew 23 35 he spoke of righteous Abel
and Every believer is righteous in
the Lord Jesus Christ God testifying of his gifts in Hebrews chapter
11 This is where I got the passage regarding Abel. I want to read
verse 1 and 2 to you now faith Is the substance of things hoped
for? Abel had a hope that he was righteous
before God and What's the evidence? He believed God. He believed
the gospel. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now, I am righteous. I can't tell by looking at myself
I'm righteous. You can't tell by looking at
me that I'm righteous. What's the evidence that I am? I believe
the gospel. I can't see it, but I believe
I am through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what
faith is and that's the faith Abel had. By faith, Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. What a glorious thing
that God of glory had respect to Abel and to his sacrifice. And my dear friend, if you trust
Christ, God has respect to you through the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's a glorious thing to think
about, that the living God could actually respect me through the
Lord Jesus Christ. And He does. God had respect
to Abel and to his offering. Now in verse 5 we read in our
text, but unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect. Now once again, you can't separate
the person and the offering. He had no respect for Cain and
he had no respect for his offering. He treated Cain and his offering
with contempt. He found it an insult. Cain gave
his best and God rejected it. Now, why? Why was God so hard
on Cain? Let me give you two or three
reasons. First, because Cain's offering was an act of disobedience.
God never told him to bring the fruit of the ground. He said
to bring a blood sacrifice. Cain bypassed all that. He thought,
well, as long as I'm sincere, it doesn't really matter what
kind of sacrifice I bring. I'm not going to split hairs
over this thing. His bringing of that fruit of the ground was
an act of disobedience. And he brought fruit from that
which God had already cursed. You know, if you bring anything
that comes from your flesh and think God can accept it, you're
bringing something to God that he's already cursed because we've
already sinned. Thirdly, his sacrifice was a
denial of who he was. There's no confession of sin
in bringing this sacrifice. He's bringing his best. Surely
God could accept this. And when he thought God could
accept this, he was denying who he was, a sinful, evil, wicked
man. He's saying, I'm good. God can
accept this. He can accept my best. He was denying who he was. He was denying who God was. He
was saying, God is not... He didn't audibly say this, but
this is what he was saying in bringing this sacrifice. He's
saying, God's not really holy. He can accept what I bring. He
denied the holiness and the justice of God. Now, the bottom line
is, this is the religion of works. Cain was a wicked man who believed
himself to be righteous. And he thought that God could
accept what he brought. He thought there was merit in
what he brought. And if I believe that God can
accept anything that comes from me, I'm in the religion of works. God will only accept that which
comes from His Son. He'll only accept those who are
in His Son. You know, I hear preachers say,
won't you accept Jesus? That's not the issue. It's not,
will you accept Him? You know, you don't find that
in the Bible. Will He accept you? That's the issue. Cain brought
works and God refused to accept it. He rejected it. Now, we read
regarding Cain after God had no respect for his offering.
We read Cain was very wroth. He was angry. And his countenance
fell. You could see it on his face.
He was very displeased with God's response to his sacrifice. And
the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is thy
countenance fallen? Now I can tell you why he was
mad. And I can tell you why his countenance fell. He was mad
because he really didn't believe himself to be a sinner. That's why he couldn't understand
why God would respect Abel's offering and had no respect for
his. He didn't really believe himself
to be a sinner. Abel believed he was. He proved
that by the sacrifice he brought. You know, I can tell whether
somebody really believes they're a sinner by the sacrifice they
bring. If you bring your works, you don't really believe you're
a sinner. Oh, you may think you make mistakes and do bad things
from time to time, but you don't really believe you're bad to
the bone and evil. Somebody says, no, I don't believe that. But
God says you are. God says I am. That's God's universal testimony. And if I don't believe I'm a
sinner, I'm going to think I can bring something that God will
accept. Cain didn't believe himself to be a sinner, and consequently,
he thought what God did was unfair. It's not fair for him to accept
what Abel did and reject what I've done. You see, when you
don't believe you're a sinner, all of a sudden you think you're
competent to stand in judgment on God and say, well, this is
fair and that's not fair. Whereas if you really believe
you're a sinner, you bow to all that God does and all He says
is right. You say with Abraham, shall not
the judge of the earth do right? Cain found fault with what God
was doing. Now we read in verse 7, here's
how God responds. He says, if thou doest well,
Shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not, well,
sin lieth at the door. God says to Cain, if you come
the same way your brother did, you'll be accepted. Do you realize,
my dear friend, that God will meet you on the ground you want
to? If you want to come on the basis
of your works, God will meet you there, and He'll deal with
you accordingly. And if you want to come on the
basis of pure, free, sheer grace and mercy, He'll meet you there. Now you can't mix the two. It's
either all your works or all of grace, and God will meet you
on the ground you want. You can come like the Pharisee,
in the temple. You can remember that here was
a wicked man who believed himself to be righteous. He came and
said, I thank the Lord that I'm not like other men are. I fast
twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.
I'm not an extortioner. I'm not an unjust man. I'm not
like this filthy publican here. Oh, I give you the credit, but
I'm different. He came on the basis of what
he was. Look what I am. And then you
have the publican. He was a righteous man who believed
himself to be wicked. He beat on his breast and cried,
God be merciful to me, the sinner. And our Lord said concerning
that man, I tell you, that man went down to his house justified
at one who All he could claim was sin. God be merciful to me,
the sinner. He went down to his house justified.
Do you know what the Bible means by justified? It means not guilty. It means altogether righteous. If I'm justified, I am altogether
righteous. Now, God says, Cain, if you do
well, you'll be accepted. And if you do not do well, sin
lies at the door. I think this is interesting.
This is the first time sin is mentioned in the scriptures.
And it has to do with bringing the wrong sacrifice. Now let's
read the final verse, verse 8. And Cain talked with Abel. And that does not mean they were
having an amicable discussion. The word is literally quarreled. He quarreled with his brother
Abel. I can imagine how the conversation
went. He was mad at Abel. He resented
the fact that God accepted Abel's sacrifice, and he didn't accept
his, and he resented Abel. He was jealous of Abel, and he
was mad. And he said, Abel, I can imagine
the conversation went something like this. Abel, this is not
fair that God would reject my sacrifice and accept yours. And
Abel replied, Cain, our father taught us that the only way to
come into God's presence is through the blood sacrifice. No other
way. You knew that as well as I do. You see, the fact of the
matter is, God is holy, and we're sinful, and we can't come into
God's presence any other way but through the blood. And Cain
said, why, you think your way is the only way. You're narrow-minded. This is not right. And Abel said,
Cain, the blood, is the only way to come into God's presence.
There is no other way. This is God's way. And Cain said,
blood. I'll show you blood. And he struck
his brother. Maybe with a rock, maybe with
a log. I don't know how he did it, but
he struck his brother. His brother crumpled to the ground. And we
have the first Christian martyr. And he died over the blood. Now I want to quote Hebrews chapter
11 verse 4 to you once again. 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. Remember his brother killed him.
He being dead, yet speaketh. He has something to say to us
today. Now, Abel speaks from heaven. He is in the very presence of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's in heaven. And in heaven,
he's holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight. That's what Colossians
1.22 says the blood of Christ does. It makes those for whom
it was shed holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. And Abel will
tell you, the only way I am this is through the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, not my works, but His blood. What does Abel say
to us? He says, you stand for this, this way
of blood. The cost of your life. Because
men, religious men, do not like the religion of grace. They prefer
the religion of works. And if they're able, they'll
kill somebody over this. Because if I say salvation is
all of grace, that takes away their hope. Because that's what
they're hoping in. You see the issue, this is what Abel tells
us, the issue is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the only issue. Paul said, I determined not to
know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Whose blood was shed? That's the blood of the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. What did His blood actually accomplish?
When he said it is finished, when he bowed his mighty head
and said it is finished, the salvation of everybody he died
for was finished. Signed, sealed, and delivered. Completed by one offering he
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now, this blood
excludes and condemns all forms of salvation by works and this
is enough. to make me give myself wholly,
lock, stock and barrel to Him. Now we have this message on cassette
tape or CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. My grace, I'm saved. Grace free and boundless. You have been listening to a
message by our pastor, Todd Nyberg. Address all correspondences to
Pastor Todd Nyberg, care of Todd's Road Grace Church, 4137 Todd's
Road, Lexington, KY 40509.