Now, we open our Bibles to the
book of Genesis, chapter 4. If I have any apology to make
regarding preaching on the blood, my apology would be that I do
not preach it often enough. There are so many churches and
preachers today who no longer preach or sing about the blood. The Word of God calls it precious
blood. This enlightened age calls it
a slaughterhouse religion. And most modern churches want
nothing to do with the mention of blood. We preach on love,
but not on the blood of Christ. We preach on law and morality,
but we preach not the blood of Christ. We preach service and
goodwill. We preach healing and the kingdom
of God. We preach the second coming,
but not the blood, and not the blood. But you know, our God
declared in the book of Leviticus, and I wish you'd turn to this,
Leviticus 17. Our God declared in Leviticus
17 11, listen carefully to this, the life of the flesh is in the
blood. Now you just hold that there
for a moment, the life of the flesh is in the blood. Is that not true? The life of
the flesh is in the blood. You go down here to the hospital
and the first thing they'll do, when I went to Cleveland to the
hospital when I had the back problem several years ago. Well,
the first thing they did, got my name and address and my hospitalization
number. And then they took me in a room
and they started taking blood out of my arm. That's the first
thing they did, was start taking blood. That girl lined up six
vials. I never will forget that. And
I said, you going to fill all those? She said, I plan to fill
every one of them. I said, well, I'll need blood
before I leave here. Well, she said, your blood will
tell us all about you. Did you know that? She said,
it goes to different departments and different tests. And she
said, about everything the doctor needs to know about you, will
show up in your blood test. Isn't that something? But that's
what God's saying here in Leviticus 17, 11, the life of the flesh
is in the blood. In the blood. And you go in the
hospital room and you'll see that little bag of blood up there on the thing hanging there and
that tube comes down and goes in a man's arm. That's life going
in that arm. That's life. Take it out and
you'll die. That's life going on. The life
of the flesh is in the blood. But now, wait a minute, that's
not all. Let's read on. And I have given it, what? The blood, to
you upon the altar to make atonement for your soul. Oh, the life of
the flesh is in the blood. But something else, Danny, life
of the soul is in the blood. The life of my soul, my physical
life is in the blood, my spiritual life is in the blood, my human
life is in the blood, my eternal life is in the blood. You needn't
cut out the blood now, because it's the blood, listen, it's
the blood that makes atonement for the soul. You see, our Savior
standing in that awesome hour, the Last Supper. with his disciples
just before he went to Calvary and died and was buried and rose
again and went back to glory. And he sits here with his 12
disciples and he takes bread and he blesses it and breaks
it and gives it to them and he said, eat that now, that's my
body broken for you. And then very carefully he takes
the wine after supper and he blesses it And he gives it to
them and he says, this is my blood which is shed for you. This is my blood. This is your
pardon. This is your forgiveness. This
is your life. This is your hope. This is my
blood. This is my blood. He didn't mean that that wine
became his blood or his salvation in that wine or drink in that
wine, but the salvation in that blood. and his remission of sins
in that blood. Let me read another scripture
over in Hebrews 9. I wish we would become blood
conscious. Rather than, you know, rather
than departing from the preaching about the blood and the talking
about the blood and singing about the blood, turn to Hebrews 9.
I just wish we'd get to where we talked about it more and sang
about it more and preached about it more. Because it's the blood
that makes an atonement for the soul. It's the blood. I never
will forget a few years ago, I was preaching up in Pennsylvania. And the pastor up there took
me downtown. I believe it was in Lewisburg.
And the church there, Robert Lowry was pastor. I think I've
got the name right. Robert Lowry was pastor there. First Baptist Church, Louisburg,
Pennsylvania, 150 years ago, something like that. He's the
one that wrote the psalm, What can wash away my sin? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
washes white as snow. No other hope I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. And they've got a plaque to him
outside the church, got his name and that part of that hymn. Robert
Lowry, the day he got born and died, the day he pastored and
what he wrote about that hymn. But the pastor told me, inside,
they don't sing that anymore. They don't sing anything about
the blood anymore. Well, isn't that a shame? Salvation
out there on the billboard, but none in the church. for salvation
is in the blood. Hebrews 9, listen to this, verse
11, we're not ashamed of it, verse 11, Hebrews 9, but Christ
being come, a high priest of good things to come, by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood, by his own blood, he entered
once into the holy place. having obtained eternal redemption
for us, for the blood of bulls, and of goats, and ashes of a
heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctified to the purifying of
the flesh, that is under the law as a type and a picture,
how much more, more shall the very blood of Christ who through
the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot, without fault or
sin, to God. How much more shall the blood
of Christ purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God?" Oh, the Bible, the Bible is a book of blood. And
we encounter blood early in the pages of the Word of God. We
encounter, first of all, animal blood. Look back at Genesis 3.21.
We encounter, first of all, animal blood. In Genesis 3.21, it says,
"...Unto Adam also, and to his wife did the Lord God make coats
of skin," it doesn't say of wool, it doesn't say of wool, of skin. Now, that skin came off that
animal. That blood came out. There's blood we encounter early
to cover man's nakedness. That's a picture of Christ who
died that we might have a covering, that we might have a righteousness.
But here in our story, in verse 10, we encounter human blood. Human blood. Here in verse 10
of Genesis 4, and he said, What hast thou done? the voice of
thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." Now, I said
a few moments ago, we're inclined to form in our mind an impression. I do this, I've done it through
the years, and just without further study just keep that impression. And the impression we have of
this situation is Adam knew Eve, and the two were there, and they
had a boy named Cain. And then a little later along
came a boy named Abel. And Adam and Eve lived in the
garden, and Cain and Abel lived outside the garden. Cain and
Abel lived with them. They kind of watched them. They
grew up. The only two sons they had, and they were proud of them
and all that. And their daddy showed them how
to sacrifice to the Lord, and Abel became a keeper of sheep,
and Cain became a farmer, and when they brought their sacrifices
here, Cain brought his fruit of the ground and Abel brought
his blood sacrifice. Cain rose up and killed Abel,
and he just had one son, and everybody wondered, well, where
did he get his wife and all this sort of thing? Well, you see,
Adam and Eve, when they came out of that garden, they were
created in the image of God, and they sinned, and they failed. And that sinful nature was within
them, and the potential to die. In other words, it was there,
the poison of sin, the evil of sin, all the consequences of
sin. But Adam and Eve did not lose
their brilliance, nor their health at that particular time, nor
their strength, nor their comeliness, nor all of these things. And
Adam lived 800 years. And how long Eve lived, I don't
know. And God doesn't, in the first 7 or 8 chapters, go to
Genesis 6, you've already got a million people or more on the
earth, 2 or 3 million, Noah building an ark and God destroying the
world, that's just after five chapters. And what I'm saying
is this, is that Adam and Eve had a son, his name was Cain,
as the first one. And who was the second and third
and fourth and fifth and sixth and seventh and sisters and brothers
and all that, I don't know. But in God had they, Adam and
Eve had Abel, wherever he came along, I don't have the faintest
idea. But I know they did have these two sons, and there were
many more children, and they were They were married in intermarriage. You take like Noah and his wife,
Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their three wives came off the ark,
and the whole world started up from them again. And they married
their cousins, their first cousins, and things like that. And Adam
and Eve's children married their brothers and sisters. They set
up housekeeping. And how old these boys were,
we don't have the faintest idea. But there's a good possibility,
and how long Cain and Abel lived, I'm not sure. I didn't do any
research on that. But there's a good possibility
that at the time that this incident took place, when Cain and Abel
brought their sacrifices, that this was a very populated world
and society. Good possibility Cain had a wife
already, and Abel had a wife, And they had children, but these
were responsible, grown, mature men, not boys bringing an offering,
but men. And household heads and representing
their households. Because when God pronounced his
punishment on Cain, he said, I'm cut off from everybody. I'm
cut off from people. I'm cut off from you. And he
said, when I roam around here and somebody finds me, they're
going to kill me. because I've killed my brother." Evidently,
this is the first murder. And he said, they'll kill me.
And God says, I'm going to put a mark on you. And what that
mark is, I don't know, but it may be a mark that they understood,
that the people understood. See, God communicated directly
with them, speaks thus through his Word. But God put a mark
on him, and he said, anybody that kills He said, I'll take
vengeance on him forth. Oh, so Cain went out from the
presence of the Lord and out from that place and dwelt in
another settlement. And his wife, she said, she bore
a son. They built a city. But here were
these two men. And they came before the Lord.
Cain was a farmer. He was a farmer on his own. He
wasn't living with Mama and Daddy. He was a farmer. He had a spread.
He had a ranch. He had cattle and he had farms
and fruits and vegetables and all these things Cain did, and
Abel was a herdsman. That was his vocation. He had
sheep, cattle, and all these other things, and they brought
their sacrifices. It may not be that they were
next door. You see that God had respect
to Cain in his offering, to Abel in his offering. He had no respect
to Cain in his offering. And they discussed this thing
later. That was it, you see. We got
the idea that there were just two boys, and they went out together
to worship God, and Cain built an altar over here and put his
fruits and vegetables, and Abel built an altar over here and
put his sacrifice and his lamb. And God looked down on the two
altars, and it was a good possibility that if they had been together,
they would have had the same altar. And God looked down and saw the
two, so he took the blood and rejected that, and Cain turned
around and said, I'm mad, and hit him in the head and killed
him. My friends, there's a good possibility that Cain brought
his sacrifice before his own household, on his own property,
built his own altar, and sacrificed, brought all his fruits and vegetables
or whatever. Cain did, and Abel brought the
lamb. And it says here that in verse 8, and Cain talked with
Abel, his brother. And what did they talk about?
They talked about how God saves sinners. They talked about how
a sinner can come to God and be forgiven. That's what they
were talking about. Still on Cain's mind. God did not accept
his sacrifice. He was displeased with his sacrifice.
He accepted his brother's sacrifice. They talked it over, and Abel
stood firmly for the gospel of grace, for the gospel of the
blood, for the gospel of redemption, for the gospel of the Lamb of
God, and Cain stood against it. Have you ever discussed salvation
by grace with somebody and had them get mad enough to kill you?
Well, I have. I mean, their veins stand out
like water hoses, and they break out in sweat, and they turn red,
and their teeth gnash, and they say, Your God is my devil, and
I will not have it. I'll tell you that Cain and his
brother got into discussion about how God saves sinners, how God
accepts men, how men are redeemed, how to come before God. or human
work, grace or human merit. King was still angry about this
whole thing. He evidently picked up a rock
and hit his brother in the head and killed him. He may have had
a bow and arrow, he may have had a sword, he may have had
a hatchet in his hand. It wasn't primitive. He was a farmer. I know he didn't
plow with his He had tools, he had plows, he had oxen, he was
a farmer, a tiller of the ground. Brother Scott Richardson said
he knew what kind of farmer he was, he was a turnip farmer. And I said, well, Scott, how
do you know he farmed? He said, he can't get blood out of a turnip,
you know. That's free, that won't cost anything. But anyway, he
slew his brother. Now then, what he did with him,
I don't know, but his brothers lying there on the ground dead.
There's a good possibility, I'll tell you, if I killed somebody,
I'd hide the body. That's the first thing I'd do,
I'd hide the body. And my guess is that Cain hid
the body somewhere. He figured that he'd just report
Abel missing. They said, where's Abel? I don't
know. Last I talked to him, he's all right. Something of that
nature, you know. I hadn't seen him lately. But
anyway, somebody else spoke, and God said to him in verse
9, he said, Cain, where is your brother? Where is he? And Cain said, I don't know.
I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper? Am
I his nursemaid? Am I his babysitter? Am I supposed
to watch out after him? Am I responsible for him? You
know, it would be amazing to you how many sermons I've heard
on My, My Brother's Keeper and missed the whole point of this
message. There's a good message there, but here's the message,
listen, in verse 10, and he said, What have you done? The voice
of your brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. Now,
you want to understand this about the Lord God. I'm no expert on
the scripture or expert on how God does things, but I do know
this, God what he has done. He will do what he has done.
This may have been a week later. The Lord God does not act like
we do. That's the reason so many people
misunderstand the Lord God. They go about certain directions,
and they take certain directions, and God doesn't do anything about and they get the wrong impression.
Well, he will do something about it. The scripture says, because
execution against a sin or work, because
judgment against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore
the hearts of men do evil. Do you remember that scripture?
And we get things, we're such creatures of time, we're such
creatures of seconds and minutes and hours. You see, it's just
like me preaching this morning, I've got to quit in 15 or 20
minutes. That we're creatures of time. I mean, the world could
be coming to an end at 1230, but we're going to get out of
here at 12. We're creatures, we think that way. And God put
Moses on the backside of a desert 40 years. You know, 40 years
left him there sitting in the prime of his life, from the time
he was 40 until he was 80, didn't even speak to him. You sent him
out there. We wouldn't send him out there
40 minutes. We'd graduate him with a THD, you know. But God
put him there 40 years. And we do things so quickly,
but God Almighty came to Cain in the process of time, in due
time, when God pleased. And he said, where's your brother?
And then he said, Your brother's blood cries unto me from the
ground. Your brother's blood. Your brother's
blood speaks to the eternal God. Your brother's blood speaks to
the holy, just court of heaven. It may not have been any sheriff
to arrest Cain, but God's court hears Abel's voice. It may not
have been anybody to bring Cain into a law court or a jail or
anything like that, but he, God says, your brother's blood speaks
to me. Your brother's blood. Well, what does the blood of
Abel say? What does the blood of Abel say?
Well, I have five things that the blood of Abel says to God
and says to us. Would you listen to them? The
blood of Abel. The blood, your brother's blood
cries unto me, cries unto me from the ground. Well, first
of all, the blood of Abel says this, that man's a sinner. That's
the first thing it says, man's a sinner. Well, he's a rebel
against God. He was a rebel. You know the
first indication of his rebellion? When he built that altar so carefully,
so exact, so precisely, and then for a sacrifice put on it roots
of the ground. Oh, what a rebellious heart.
That's man. God said bring a lamb. God said
without the shedding of blood, no remission. Here's old King.
He's a rebel. Not only is he a rebel, but he's
self-righteous. He doesn't need a lamb. He doesn't
need the blood. He doesn't need the redemption.
He doesn't need. His sins don't deserve death.
So he brings proof. Another thing about him, he's
a creature of anger. God rejected his sacrifice. What's his response? Well, I'm
sorry, Lord, I was wrong. No, he got angry. His countenance
fell, that is, he pouted. He got so angry and he pouted.
So angry. And then he's a murderer. He
rose up in hatred and slew his brother, and then he's a liar.
God came to him and said, where's your brother? He said, I don't
know. Oh, I tell you, man, he's such
a great sinner, such a sinner. And notice something else about
King that's so much like us. We're rebels my way. I want my way, my way. Rebels,
we're self-righteous. We're angry men. We're men of
wrath, not men of love. We're men of vengeance. We're
men of hatred and murder. We're liars. We'll cover our
sins with lies. But we always get religion too
late. Did you ever notice that? Look down here at verse 12. And God said, You'll be a fugitive
and a vagabond Shall you be in the earth?" And old King got
religion. He said, My punishment's greater
than I can bear. He got serious with God there.
Before then, rebel, self-will, self-righteous, angry, sullen,
pouting, murderer, liar. And then when it all came out,
My punishment's greater than I can bear. I'll do whatever
you want me to, Lord. Too late now. Too late now. All right, something else the
blood of Abel says. He says that man's a sinner.
Secondly, the blood of Abel says that man's going to die. You
know, prior to the time that King killed Abel, nobody died.
But when that blow was struck, whatever it was, whether it was
a sword or a hammer or whether it was a rock or whatever it
was, Whatever it was that shed that blood from Abel's head,
and he fell to the ground, it tells my stove and yours too,
I'm going to die. Something is going to fail me
someday. Something is going to fail me. The Scripture says it's
appointed unto men what's to die. God said to Adam, he said,
dust thou art to dust, you shall return. You're going to die. Abel's blood says man's a sinner
and man's going to die. And I'll tell you something else,
Abel's blood says, God said it cries unto me. Abel's blood cries
out for punishment upon the guilty. His blood cries to me. The soul
that sinneth will die. God's holiness and God's justice
can't let that go by. God's holiness. Abel's blood
cries out, Shall not the judge of the earth do right? Shall
my blood go unabinged? Shall the guilty go free? Oh,
no. Abel's blood. Abel's blood demands
punishment. Abel's blood will not be silenced
till justice is done. God says it cries to me. I take
notice of it. Men may walk around and say,
that's where it came I mean, that's where Abel got killed.
Walk by that tombstone and say, there's where old Abel's buried.
He died, his brother killed him. But I'll tell you, his blood
cries out to a court that justice is so right and holiness is so
severe that not one jot or tittle shall in any wise past till it
all be dealt with in the law of God. We might bury some of our thoughts
and bury some of our deeds, but we can't bury the law of God.
It's still open right there. His justice will be done. That's
what Abel's blood cries unto me! And it, though this is present
tense, his blood cries unto me! Never stops! Never stops. And I'll tell you what Abel's
blood does, too. It condemns a bloodless religion. Let me tell you something about
old Cain. And this is where we don't understand
the Lord God of Heaven sometimes. Cain, you see, when he built
that altar and brought that fruit, that wasn't a spur-of-the-moment
thing. Cain had this in mind a long time. This might have
been on the Day of Atonement. This might have been on a special
day, this might have been on a time of sacrifice that God
had given to Adam and Eve. This might have been planned
months ahead. And he wasn't interfered with while he planted. He grew
those vegetables and fixed them, the fruit of the field. And he
said, these are beautiful, I'm going to offer them to the Lord.
He had it all fixed up. And he came and built his altar,
and I'm sure he built an elaborate altar he wasn't interfered with.
He put his sacrifice on the altar. He wasn't interfered with. He
wasn't stopped. Somebody said, why doesn't God stop them in
their error? Why doesn't God stop them in
their foolishness? Why doesn't God stop them? I
thought we wanted our free will. I didn't think we wanted God
to interfere. I didn't think it was right for God to interfere.
That's what they tell me. Not right for God to interfere.
Man's a free moral agent. Free will. I'll tell you this,
Cain was not stopped in his plans, he wasn't interrupted as he built
his altar, and he wasn't stopped in his worship. He went right
on through with it. Whatever length of time that
that went on, it went right on. And he wasn't, the thing wasn't
over until the sacrifice had been made. And God wouldn't accept
it. Just didn't accept it. Didn't
accept it. And I'm telling you this, Almighty
God puts up with a lot of things in his long suffering and will
deal with it in his own good time. The thing for us to do
is turn to Hebrews 12, and here's my closing comments. The blood of your brother cries
unto me from the ground. The blood of your brother cries
unto me from the ground. But you know, I thank God that
that's not the only blood that cries to God. It's the blood
of Abel, which says man is a sinner and a rebel and a murderer and
a liar, and it speaks of death and judgment and cries out to
justice be satisfied. It says here in Hebrews 12, verse
24, we come to Jesus, the Mediator, the new covenant, and to the
blood of sprinkling that speaks better things. than that of Abel. There's somebody
else's blood that speaks better things than that of Abel. That's our Lord Jesus Christ,
his precious blood that he shed on the cross, the blood of the
Lamb of God, the blood of our Redeemer. What does the blood
of Abel cry to God? Man's a sinner. What does the
blood of Christ cry? God is merciful to sinners. God
loves sinners. God will be gracious to sinners.
What does the blood of Abel cry? It speaks of death. Man shall
die. Christ's blood speaks of life.
He said, He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood shall never
die, but shall live forever. The blood of Abel, Almighty God said, your brother's
blood cries to me. Well, do you know something?
My brother's blood cries to God. That's right. Look at Hebrews
2. Let me show you that. Christ is my brother. My brother. That's what it says in Hebrews
2, verse 17. Verse 16 says, "...verily he
took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the
seed of Abraham, whereunto," Hebrews 2, 17, "...in all things
it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren." that he might
be a merciful, faithful high priest. Wait a minute. The blood
of your brother, God says to Cain, cries unto me for judgment
and justice and punishment. He says to me, the blood of your
brother Christ crieth unto me. As my high priest, as my intercessor,
as my mediator, Christ ever liveth to make intercession. It cries
permanently, presently, and persistently unto God for me. Your brother's
blood cries unto me. What does it cry? Life. Forgiving. Forgiving. That's what his blood
cries all the time. His cry, and you know something? Turn to Romans 8. I'll give you
this and quit. Romans chapter 8. The blood of
Abel, slain by the hand of Cain, the blood of Abel, God says,
crieth underneath and will not be silenced till judgment and
punishment falls upon the guilty. Let me tell you something, the
blood of my brother Christ constantly intercedeth and crieth unto the
Father, it will not be silenced. till I have what he purchased
for me on that cross. It will not. Look at Romans 8,
verse 32. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us everything Christ purchased? The blood of Christ
is effectual. It's effectual. Now, let me tell
you this. The law is effectual. It can't
be stopped, the justice of God can't be stopped, not by any
human being. Our sins cry to God, uncovered,
our sins cry to God, justice must be done, the law must be
honored, justice must be satisfied. And God will hear that cry, unless
the blood of Christ says the law has been satisfied has been
honored, the debt has been paid, and the blood of our brother
Christ from the cross and even from the mercy seat unto the
Heavenly Father, and he will pardon. Listen to this hymn here. Jesus, thy blood and righteousness,
my beauty are, my glorious dress. Mid flaming worlds in these arrays
That is, your blood and righteousness with joy I lift up my head. When from the dust of death I
rise to take my mansion in the skies, even then shall this be
all my plea that Jesus Christ bled for me. Bold shall I stand
in that great day, for who ought to my charge shall lay. while
through his blood pardoned I am from all of sin's tremendous
curse and shame. This spotless robe the same appears
when ruined nature sinks in years. No age can change its glorious
hue. The robe of his righteousness
is always new. O let the dead now hear thy voice,
bid them, Lord, in Christ to rejoice. Our beauty this, our
glorious dress, is Jesus' blood and righteousness. Thy brother's
blood crieth unto me." Which one cries for you today unto
God? Well, I boldly say it's the blood
of Christ in which I rest. the blood of Christ in which
I trust, the blood of Christ on which I depend. It's the blood
of Christ in which I'm washed. My hope is built on nothing less,
Jesus' blood of righteousness.