If I told you that my task for
this morning was to give a detailed description of you personally,
you'd listen very carefully. I'm sure you would. Well, that's
what I'm going to do. I've entitled this message, Which
Man Are You? Which man are you? We're going to look at the story
of Cain and Abel. And these two men are the two
representative men. You personally are described
in detail by one of these two men. This morning, you and I
are either a Cain or an Abel. And not only Do these boys represent
all men? They also represent the two religions. Now, please listen carefully.
There are only two religions. They're not three. They're not
four. There's not the seven great world religions. There are only
two religions, the religion of works and the religion of grace. Those are the only two religions,
the religion where your salvation is somehow dependent upon something
that you do, or the religion that your salvation is utterly
dependent upon what Christ has done. These two boys, Cain and
Abel, represent the two religions. Now the setting of this story
gives us some idea of its importance. It's the first thing that is
recorded after the fall of our parents in the garden. Click on that for just a moment.
This is the first story that's given to us after our parents
fall into sin. They were created upright. And
in Genesis Chapter 3, Genesis Chapter 2 and 3, we have the
story of the fall. While we're there, look in Genesis
Chapter 2, verse 16. Now remember, Adam and Eve were
created upright. Verse 16. And the Lord God commanded
the man saying of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat. But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Now there's the command
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the day you
eat of it. And I think it's interesting he doesn't say if you do eat.
He says, in the day it happens, when it takes place, you shall
surely die in that very day. Now, that's the command of God.
Now, let's look in chapter three, verse one. Now, the serpent. Was more subtle than any beast
of the field which the Lord God had made, and he said unto the
woman, yea, hath God said you shall not eat of every tree of
the garden? Did God say that? God did not say that. He said,
there's one tree that you can't eat of. Satan begins by trying
to introduce something new, trying to add to what God has said.
God gave commandment concerning one tree that you should not
eat of it. Verse two, And the woman said
unto the servant, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of
the garden. He didn't say what you said, he said. But of the
fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God
has said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it.
Lest you die. And I think this is very interesting.
We don't read anywhere about God saying don't touch it, do
we? But here Eve adds something to what God has said. Here's
where touch, not taste, not handle, not religion began. Don't even
touch it. God never said that, but Eve
added that to what God had said. Now, the crack in the dam is
opened, adding to what God had said. We read in verse four,
And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die. Now, remember, God said, In the
day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. And the serpent said,
You shall not surely die. For God does know that in the
day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and you
shall be as God's, knowing good and evil. Now, what's this all
about? Here's Satan's temptation. God
knows that when you eat of that fruit, of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, your eyes are going to be opened. And you're
going to be knowing the difference between good and evil. And you're
going to make a choice. You're going to choose the good
over the evil. And that's what's going to cause
you to be like God. You see, right now, you're nothing more
than a robot. There's just nothing to you right now. But if you
open, if you eat this fruit, your eyes will be open, you'll
be able to make your own choice. And that's what's going to make
you like God. Actually, the temptation of the garden is you'll have
a free will. That's what's going to make you
like God. You're going to have a will and you're going to be
able to choose what you think you ought to reject the rest. And
you know, that sounds plausible, doesn't it? It sounded pretty
good. I mean, if I would hear an argument like that, I'd say,
well, that makes sense to me. He was a very subtle, crafty
devil. So we read in verse six. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, the lust of the flesh. and that it was
pleasant to the eyes in a tree. There's the lust of the eyes
in a tree to be desired, to make one wise. There's the pride of
life. She took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto
her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them
both were opened, and they knew that they were naked." Now, you
can't help but notice, I don't see where they died at this time. They're still moving. Well, you
know as well as I do that they did not die physically on that
day, but on that very day, they died spiritually. They died spiritually. What happened in the garden?
Spiritual death. Now please listen carefully.
What can a dead man do? Well, physically, just a dead
man. He can't hear, he can't smell, he can't see. He can't
feel. He can't taste. He's dead. He's dead in the spiritual senses. A spiritually dead man can't
hear the gospel. Oh, he can hear it audibly, but
he can't hear with understanding. He can't see the beauty of Christ.
He can't smell his sweet savor. He can't feel his sin. He can't
feel his embrace. He can't. He's dead. He's spiritually dead. Can you
teach a dead man anything? Can you influence a dead man
for good? Can you take what he has and try to use it in order
to improve his situation or make him a better person in some way?
Is there anything that a dead man can do? The answer is absolutely
not. Spiritually dead. Now that was
the case of Adam and Eve. They became spiritually dead
and all their descendants became spiritually dead. And these boys
we're reading about were born after the fall. That which is
born of the flesh is the flesh they inherited, their parents'
nature. Look at this last verse of Genesis
chapter 3. So he drove out the man, and
he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and
a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of
the tree of life. There was a sword turning every
way, any way you would try to approach this tree of life, you
would have been smitten with that sword. There was no way
back. And that's the setting of Genesis
chapter four spiritual death and no way back. And let's look
at verse one of Genesis chapter four and Adam knew Eve his wife. And she conceived and bear came.
And said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. Literally, I've
gotten the man from the Lord. She thought this was the promised
Messiah. She thought this is that one who was spoken of in
Genesis 315, where God said, the seed of woman, her seed will
bruise the serpent's head. And she thought, well, this is
him. She thought, I have gotten the Messiah. I can imagine how
excited she was about this. I've gotten the man from the
Lord. Verse 2. And she again bare his
brother, Abel. Now, Cain's name means to acquire
by purchase. To buy. His name actually teaches
us something about salvation by works, doesn't it? To acquire
by purchase. To buy. You know what Abel's
name means? Vanity. That's the actual meaning
of his name. Can you imagine naming your kid
Vanity? Come here, Vanity. I mean, what kind of self-esteem
is that kid going to have, you know? Vanity. Not much to him. He certainly
was not viewed as important as Cain. Cain, I have no doubt,
was the star child. His parents loved him. Abel was,
well, Vanity. Vanity. Just not that much to
him. They just didn't think he was that important. I think it's
interesting in the Hollywood, you remember that movie, East
of Eden, that had James Dean. Maybe some of you kids don't
remember, but some of you do. James Dean was the cane kicker.
He was this wild, rebellious kid that everybody liked, and
Abel was the mama's boy that nobody liked. That's not really
who it was. Cain was the star child here,
and Abel was nothing more than vanity. And the occupations of
these two men are described in verse 2, and Abel was a keeper
of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Abel watched over
that which he had no hand in producing. All he did was watch. He watched over that which he
had no hand in producing, but Cain was a tiller or a worker
of the ground. His fear of operation was working
in that which God had already cursed. Do you remember in Genesis
317 when God said, Cursing is the ground for thy sake? So his
fear of operation, his way of working, was working in that
which God had already cursed. 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 we read
of these two boys' offerings. And before we go on in the next
couple of verses, I have no doubt that Adam had instructed these
boys the proper way of approaching God. I don't have any doubt that
he told them about that coming Messiah that was promised in
Genesis chapter 3, the seed of woman that would crushed the
serpent's head. He told them that their only
hope was to be found in that Messiah. He told them about how
God removed their fig leaves and their own covering of their
works, and he slew an animal. He sacrificed an animal, and
he covered it with their skins. And he told them that the only
way of approach to God was through a blood substitutionary sacrifice
that would point to that Messiah that was coming. I have no doubt
that Adam instructed those boys clearly regarding that. But what
did Cain bring? We read in verse 3 that in process
of time, at the time to bring the sacrifice, it came to pass
that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to
the Lord. He offered his best. It may not
have been what his dad taught him to bring, But it was good
enough. After all, as long as you're sincere, as long as your
heart is in the right place, does it make that much difference
what you bring? I mean, I'm bringing the sacrifice. It might not have
been the sacrifice my dad commanded me to bring that God would require,
but my heart's riding this thing. I'm giving my best. I can imagine
it reaching. And I can see him taking the
best fruit that he'd grown. And it was beautiful. I can see
him arranging it and standing back and looking on it and gazing
with a sense of satisfaction. Oh, this is This is wonderful.
God will accept this. I would. Surely God would. He
was very pleased with what he brought. Abel's sacrifice was radically
different. Verse 4, And Abel he also brought
of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof, he took
the best lamb, the firstling, he took the best lamb, he cut
its throat, and he killed it. And he took that dead body with
the blood streaming down, and he offered it up to the Lord
as a sacrificial death. And that's what he offered. Now,
you look at the two offerings. I'm just on the surface. One,
a beautiful bunch of fruit that you'd worked hard to produce.
Another, a dead lamb. Which one seems the most appealing
in flesh? I know the answer to that. Now, when Abel offered
up this offering, I have no doubt that he knew exactly what he
was doing, because Hebrews 11, 4 says, by faith, by faith, by
faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
death, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testified
of his gifts, and he, by it being dead, now lives. Abel knew exactly
what he was offering when he offered up this bloody sacrifice. Faith is intelligent. It's not
blind. It's intelligent. He knew the
sacrifice, pointed to the promise of Genesis 3.15. Now, the blood
represented the life of the sacrifice. The fat, which says he offered
the fat thereof, that represents the excellency of the person,
the one who's being sacrificed. He knew that the blood of that
sheep would never take away his sins. He knew he pointed to the
coming Messiah who was promised in Genesis 3.15. His father taught
him that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission
of sins. Now understand this, without
the shedding of blood, I remember when I was a kid, I used to wonder,
why does blood have to be shed? Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins. Why is that? That seems kind
of like a gruesome thing, to say blood has to be shed in order
for sin to be put away. Well, the only reason we think
things like that, and I imagine you thought something like that
yourself, The only reason we think something like that is
because we're so ignorant of the character of God. God is holy. God cannot let sin go unpunished. God cannot let sin go unpunished. For me to come into God's presence,
I'm going to have to be perfect. I can't have any sin on me. Well,
I've seen something's going to have to be done about my sin.
The only way I can approach God is through the blood of a substitutionary
sacrifice. And I can almost see Abel as
he watches that lamb die after he cut that lamb's throat. And
I tell you what, that must have been a horrible thing to do.
I mean, there hadn't been a lot of bloodshed up to that point.
He cuts that lamb's throat and he's thinking in his own heart,
this is what I deserve. This is what I've got coming
to me. This is what ought to happen to me. Now, I want to
say something to you about this, this thing of sin. Deserving to be damned. Deserving
to go to hell. You know, sometimes you feel
like you deserve to go to hell, don't you? Sometimes you really feel
like God would be just if he cast you off. Sometimes you don't
feel that way all that strongly. I mean, as far as the way you
feel, you might just be thinking about something else, and you just don't feel
that way very strongly. Let me say this. Believe it's
true. Because God's Word says it, whether
you feel it or not. Right now, everybody in here,
believe that you deserve to be cast off and cut off eternally,
whether you feel it or not. Believe it because God's Word
says it. That is why we believe, not so
much because we feel something, but because God's Word says it.
This is God's revelation of himself. And I believe his testimony concerning
me. I deserve to believe. I deserve to be cut off. That's God's testimony concerning
me. I see Abel as he watches that
lamb say, this is what I really deserve, and my only hope is
the lamb that God will provide. I know that's what this lamb
points to, the lamb that God will provide. But look what it
says next in our text, 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 when the
Lord looked at Abel and his offering, the scripture says he had respect. He looked upon it with approval. And notice it doesn't simply
say he looked at the offering with approval. It says he looked
at Abel. You can't separate the person
and the offering. They go together. He looked at
Abel. And he had respect. He looked
at the offering, and he gazed on it with approval. He looked
at Abel and the offering, and he had respect and delight. Was Abel a sinner? Well, by his
very offering, he confessed as he was. By his very offering,
he says, I deserve to be cut off. Whether he felt it as strongly
as he should, I don't know. But he knew he did upon the testimony
of God's Word. And he knew he deserved to be
cut off. He confessed that. In his offering,
his offering confesses he's a sinner, yet God had respect to it. That
tells me there must be something of infinite worth in that offering
for God to respect it. Now, for God to respect something?
You know, the stuff that goes on on the earth right now, let's
just take all the religion going on, the average church service
going on. Does God respect that? There's so much going on on the
earth that God pays no attention to. It's just not something that
impresses him. But when God saw Abel, and when he saw this bloody
sacrifice that he offered up, the scripture says God had respect
toward him. Now, God had respect, first of
all, toward the gift. I want you to listen to me real
carefully. This is very important for us to understand this. God,
first of all, had respect to the gift. Hebrews 11, 4 says,
by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain. God testifying of his gift, his
gifts, the gift he brought. Now this is what God had respect
to. He had respect to the gift. The sacrifice of Christ is what
this is a reference to. What's the more excellent sacrifice?
The sacrifice of your works, the things you do, the things
you intend to do, or the sacrifice of Christ? What is the more excellent
sacrifice? Now, let me let me remind you
of three things regarding the sacrifice of Christ. And that's
all this land pointed to. There was no there was no saving
efficacy in this land in and of itself. It's what it points
to, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me remind you of three things.
First, who is it that died? It's not somebody like me dying.
If I died for you, what good would it do you? Would it put
away what's in? Not at all. This is the God-man dying. This
is the excellency of this person. This isn't some mere man dying.
This is the God-man dying. He actually died. Let me remind
you of something else. Why did he die? Why did he die? I can answer that question. He
died because he was guilty as charged. The sins of God's elect
were charged to his account. They became his and he was guilty. It's not as if he were guilty,
but he really wasn't. No, he was guilty as charged. The sins of God's elect actually
became his. When he said, my God, my God,
why have you forsaken me? It's because he deserves to be
forsaken. He was guilty as charged out there. Let me remind you
the third thing about this one who died. And this is why this
is the more excellent sacrifice. What did he accomplish by his
sacrifice? And we see who it was that died
who was the God man. We see why he died. He died because
he's guilty. Charged with the sins of his
people. Guilty by imputation. They actually became his. Well,
what did he accomplish? Well, listen to this scripture.
Hebrews chapter 10, verse 14. It says, Wherefore, by one offering,
talking about his bloody death, by one offering, he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. You know what that means? That
means when he died, this sinner talking to you right now, God
said he's perfect. Without sin, perfected forever,
a perfectly completed action that never needs to be repeated.
That's what he accomplished. He accomplished the complete
salvation of everybody he died for. You know, when he said it
is finished, It really was finished. Wrath was finished. Wrath spin
itself out. He drank the dregs of God's wrath
dry. There was nothing left. This is this is where my comfort
comes from. This is where my rest comes from
because of this excellent sacrifice. I have such confidence in his
sacrifice. Praise God for his sacrifice. And because of the gift, remember,
it says God had respect to Abel and his sacrifice because of
the gift. The person really is righteous. God had respect to Abel and his
sacrifice. You see, the sacrifice caused
Abel to be righteous in his person. Hebrews 11, 4, once again, by
faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain, by which he obtained witness that he himself was righteous. That's God's testimony. Because
of this gift, he himself is righteous. Look over Matthew chapter 23.
Look what the Lord says about Abel. Verse 35. He's speaking to the
Pharisees. He says that upon you may become
all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood
of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias. That's the testimony
of the Lord Jesus Christ regarding the person of Abel. He was a
righteous man. You see, everybody that Christ
died for, everybody that he offered up his sacrifice for, is given
a righteous nature. It's what's called the new birth.
It's what's called being born again. And that which is born
of God must necessarily be righteous because it's born of God. He's
given a righteous nature. And because of this Right, this
great gift, this righteous nature. He's also righteous in his works.
Now let me turn to 1 John chapter 3. This act of his was a righteous
act in God's sight. His offering up this sacrifice.
1 John chapter 3. And this verse speaks of his
works. Look in verse 12. It's not as Cain, who was of
the wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he
him? Because his own works were evil,
and his brother's works, what that's referring to, his brother's
works were righteous. Now there's the testimony of
God's Word regarding this man because of the sacrifice. He's
righteous in his person, and he's righteous in his works. You see, he offered his sacrifice
by faith. Hebrews 11, 6 says without faith,
it's impossible to please God. And the contrary is true also
with faith. You actually please God. Now, how is that? Because faith
looks nowhere but to the sacrifice of Christ, and it refuses to
look anywhere else. And that's why God is pleased.
Thy faith has saved me. Well, how can your faith save
you? Well, faith looks to Christ. It looks nowhere else. And that's
a good scriptural term. Now, I know that, strictly speaking,
faith doesn't save me, Christ saves me. I know that, strictly
speaking. My faith didn't die for my sins,
Christ did. My faith didn't keep the law for me, Christ did. Faith
believes that. Faith rests in that. Faith looks
nowhere else but that. That's what faith does. And so
Abel is viewed as a righteous man. And the evidence that Christ
died for Abel and gave him this righteous nature was his faith.
By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain. Now let's go back to our text in Genesis 4. Talk about
Cain for a moment. But unto Cain, and to his offering, he had not respect. He had no
regard. He had no approval whatsoever. He had nothing but contempt.
Now, you look at the difference. He had respect to Abel's offering,
but when he looked at Cain's, he had no respect. He had nothing
but contempt and had no regard to it whatsoever. Now, why is
that? Well, let me give you three or four reasons. First, it was
not the sacrifice of God's command. He never told came to bring the
fruit of the ground. He never told him to. It was
not the sacrifice. Secondly, it was a bloodless
sacrifice. Remember, Hebrews 922 says without
the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. Somebody
once said Cain was a turnip farmer. I'm sure you've heard that. Can't
sweep blood from a turnip. Cain was a turnip farmer. He
offered up a bloodless sacrifice. Now, in offering this bloodless
sacrifice, Cain exposed himself. In offering up the fruit, the
fruit of the grass, the best he could produce, he exposed
himself. First, he showed what a low view he had of God. Surely
God would accept this. I certainly do. Surely God would,
too. He's bringing God down to his
level. He demonstrates what a high view of himself. Look at what
I've done. Surely God will accept this.
He demonstrated the essence of unbelief, a low view of God and
a high view of self. I wonder, have you ever dealt
with the fact that anything you offer to God is no good because
you offered it? Have you ever dealt with that?
Just the fact that you offered it made it no good. Cain had
a complete ignorance of his own sinfulness and God's character,
and Cain insulted the gospel. He said the blood was not really
necessary. This is good enough. He bypassed
the blood. Is it any wonder that God had
no respect to Cain and his offering? Verse 5, And to Cain and his
offering he had not respect. Verse 5, And Cain was wroth,
he was angry, and his countenance fell. You know, I don't know
how many times in preaching the gospel I've watched people's
countenance fall. I love it when people's countenance beams. I
love it when they're just rejoicing in what's being said. But I've
also seen quite a few times when people hear the truth of this
gospel, their countenance falls. They're not happy about what
they're hearing. Cain was upset. Now let's go on reading, verses
6 and 7. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why are you wroth? And why is that countenance falling?
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, that thou shalt rule over him. Now, in these
verses, we're introduced to this subject. Human responsibility. In verse 6, God says, Why are
you angry? Why is your countenance fallen?
You have no reason to be angry. Verse seven, if you do well,
shall thou not be accepted? If you bring the right sacrifice
like your brother did, you'll be accepted and you'll rule over
him. But if not, sin lies at the door. And the first time
the word sin is used is with reference to bringing the wrong
sacrifice. If you bring the right sacrifice like Abel did, you'll
be saved. If you refuse to bring the right
sacrifice, you'll be condemned. It's as simple as that. And in
this, we're given the great truth of human responsibility. Now,
you and I, right now, everybody in this room, man, woman, boy,
and girl, we're responsible to believe the truth. We're responsible to believe
the gospel. You're responsible to come to Christ. When He says,
come to me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, you're responsible
to come. Everybody's responsible. And if I don't come, it's not
because God prevented it. It's because I wouldn't come.
Now, this is true. This is true. God is absolutely
sovereign. He's the first cause behind everything. If you've
done this because of God, you do it. He's the first cause. That's what the sovereign of
God means. He's the first cause. This is also true. Men are totally
dead in sins, unable to come to God, unable to come to Christ.
Dead in sins. This is also true. God, before
time began, unconditionally elected a people to salvation. He chose
who would be saved. Christ came and died for those
people and omened for those people, and they shall be saved. And
God's grace is irresistible and invincible towards those people.
And because His grace, the grace of the Holy Spirit, is irresistible
and invincible, they will persevere all the way to the end. And that's
true. But did you know that if you
don't believe, that doesn't take you off the hook a bit? It's
still true that if you come to Christ the way Abel did, pleading
nothing but the sacrifice, you will be saved. Nobody can say,
well, I'm not saved because I'm not elect. No, you're not saved
because you refused to come the way of the sacrifice. That's
the difference. That's the difference between
everybody. This is how you're going to be
described. You and I were either a Cain
or an Abel. Cain saw the need of a sacrifice,
but he wouldn't come the way of the blood only. He wouldn't
do that. Abel came the way of the blood only. And everybody
in this room falls into one of those two groups. So, God assures
him, if you do well, you'll be accepted. And if you do not well,
Sid lies at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him. If you do well, you're going
to be the firstborn. You're going to be the head over
everything. Then we read verse 8. And Cain talked with Abel
his brother. And that word talked is an unfortunate
translation. It's literally he argued. with
Abel, his brother. They had an argument. They had
a disagreement. What do you reckon their disagreement was about?
Anybody guess? It was the sacrifice. That's what the disagreement's
always about, the sacrifice. Cain says, Abel, you think your
way's the only way. Abel says, well, it's God's way.
I guess it is the only way. It's what God told us. The way
of blood, no other way of approach. Blood? I'll show you blood. He
picks up a rock and he hits his brother and his blood flows to
the ground. And thus Abel becomes the first
Christian martyr. And the issue then is what the
issue is now. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, let's go on reading in verse 9. And the Lord said unto Cain,
Where is Abel, thy brother? And he said, I know not, for
am I my brother's keeper. And he said, What, what hast
thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the
ground. And now thou art cursed from
the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's
blood from thy hand. Now, notice that phrase, your
brother's blood cries to me from the ground. What did it have
to say? What did his blood say? when
it cried to God from the ground. It cried vengeance. He's guilty. He's caught red-handed. He must
be put to death. My blood says that he is guilty. He's caught red-handed. Vengeance
and justice. That's all his brother's blood
cried from the ground. Now would you turn with me to
Hebrews chapter 12. Look in verse 24. And to Jesus, let's start in
verse 23. To the general assembly and church
of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God, the judge
of all, and the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus,
the mediator of the new covenants, and to the blood of sprinkling.
Talking about the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That blood
that dropped to the ground from the cross. And to the blood of
sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Now you remember what Abel's
blood said. Justice. Vengeance. What does the blood of Christ
say? Forgiveness. Complete justification. Peace. It says come and draw
near. We draw near to the blood of
Christ, drawing to God's very presence, to the blood with boldness,
knowing that his blood makes us perfect in God's sight. I
want to look at one other scripture. Turn to Romans chapter three. Again, reading in verse. Twenty
three. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has
set forth or ordained to be a propitiation, a sin-atoning victim through
faith in His blood. Now I want to ask you a question.
While you're sitting there listening to me, and God looks in your
heart, does He see you as one who really does have faith in
His blood? Is that what God sees? Do you
really? Do you really believe that His
blood only makes you perfect without sin in God's sight. Do you really believe that? No. Well, if you do, you're an Abel. And if you don't, you're a Cain. Now, that's the difference. The
difference is in how these boys, they both saw the need of the
sacrifice, didn't they? Abel brought, you know what sacrifice
he brought, and you know what Cain brought. They both saw that
everything wasn't right, and they needed a sacrifice. But
their difference was the sacrifice they brought. Do you, when God
looks at your heart, right now, He's looking into your heart.
Does He see someone who truly does have faith in His blood? Well, I can't speak for anybody
else, but I can speak for myself. I really believe that the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from A-double-L-all sin. And that's where I'm resting. I'm enabled. I hope everybody
else in here is enabled too. Let's pray together.