The Crossroads of Religion

Where did Cain get his wife? I don't mind answering that question. If it's asking a serious vein,
the person asked that question to cast a doubt on the word of
God, I don't have time for him. But if some young person or adult
in this congregation, in a serious vein, with a real desire for
knowledge, asks me where did King get his wife, I'll be happy
to tell him. I know. Now we've been bound
in our thinking by, and I don't mean to condemn children's
Bible story books, but they can be desperately fatal. And we've been bound in our thinking
by these silly little picture children's Bible storybooks that
are totally, totally unrealistic about our mother Eve and totally
unrealistic about our father Adam and totally unrealistic
about the first family. Let me show you how this family
is pictured. Buy your little children's Bible story books
and open it up and you find a picture of Adam and Eve hiding behind
a clump of bushes in the garden. And a snake up a tree with an
apple. And Eve reaches up and takes
the apple and hands it to her husband. They eat and the next
picture shows the lightning flashing, the thunder and the clouds and
they're running. I don't read where any lightning
flashed or thunder sounded or clouds rolled. darkness descended
upon the earth I found the scripture says Adam and Eve because of
their shame that they had sinned against God and rebelled against
God ran and hid from God and then the next scene shows them
out in the field and here's Adam and here's Eve dressed in in
animal skins which is accurate but there's a boy named Cain
and there's a boy named Abel and that's all And we assume
that that's all the children that they had. And here we have this man, Cain,
and this young man, Abel, offering a sacrifice. They're just in
their late teens, and here they are offering sacrifice. Now,
what business has a teenage boy got offering a sacrifice when
he has his father, Charlie, to offer the sacrifice? Everybody didn't go kill a lamb
and offer a sacrifice. The father in the home, there
was a lamb offered for the home, for the whole family, and everybody
that was in that household. You didn't have people running
around everywhere offering sacrifices. Priests were designated to offer
sacrifice. In this case, the father, Adam,
was commanded to offer the sacrifice. Every boy in the family didn't
offer his own sacrifice. And so you have this boy, A.
Cain, rises up and kills Abel, then all Adam and Eve got one
boy. And we'll overlook the fact that before that third son, Seth,
was born, Adam was a hundred and thirty years old, wasn't
he, Cecil? A hundred and thirty years old,
didn't have but one child. You see, these Bible storybooks
have us bound, and they have us Submitting to a tradition
that turn over to Genesis chapter 4 verse 25 You have Cain born and then Abel
born and then here in Genesis 4 25 and Adam knew his wife again
only three times in 130 years did he know his wife and Adam knew his wife again and
she bore a son and called his name Seth. Now look at verse
3 of chapter 5. Adam lived a hundred and thirty
years and begat a son in his likeness after his image and
called his name Seth. Well now let's take the Bible
and let's look realistically at this thing. Let's look at
it as if it's not a little Bible picture storybook of people who
were unreal and unintelligent and like little fairies somewhere
in the woods. Let's look at it like they're
real flesh and blood people like you and me. That God made man
and put him on this earth and gave him a woman. And told them
to be husband and wife, multiply and replenish the earth. Let's
look at it candidly and realistically and understand that the Bible
can't tell everything that happened every second of the day for the
900 year period of Adam's life. The Bible has to shorten these
things. It has to talk about the things that are concerned
with redemption. That's what the Bible is, a book
of redemption. It's not the history of the human
race. This world wouldn't contain the books if God recorded everything
that Adam did and everything that Eve did and every child
that was born and every problem they had. The world wouldn't
contain the book. So God has given us a brief summary
of those things which concern us and concern Christ and concern
redemption. Now look at chapter 4 verse 1
here. Adam knew his wife. How can you
by the wildest stretch of the imagination suppose that this
was the first time that Adam knew his wife? One thing we can be sure of,
and the only thing we can be sure of, is that there were no
children born in the Garden of Eden. If there had been born,
they would have been born without sin. When God created Adam and Eve
and put them in the Garden of Eden, the commandment was to
multiply and replenish the earth. However, God kept back any birth
of a child in the Garden of Eden Because if it had been born to
a perfect father and a perfect mother who were without sin,
that child would have been without sin and we would have had a race
of sinners and a race of people who were not sinners. God in
his wisdom kept any child from being born in the Garden of Eden.
All right, they leave the Garden. They're shut out. They're out
there with the judgment of God upon them because they're fallen
creatures now. But they were already husband
and wife. They were already male and female. They were already
two people. And they were out here and shut
out of the Garden of Eden. And it says that Adam knew his
wife Eve, and she bore a child. Now let me ask you this question.
We know that Cain was the first man-child born. Because Eve says
here, I've gotten me a man from the Lord. We have no record whatsoever
that tells us that Cain was the first child born. And I worked
on this. It's not that. We have the first
man-child. The old Jews contend that Cain
was a twin. They have no scripture for that. They say Cain was a twin, his
twin was a girl whom he married. Abel was a twin, his twin was
a girl whom he married. But we have no record of the
children born to Adam and Eve. There's no record. It just says
that Adam knew his wife, and a son was born named Cain, and
she thought it was the Messiah. She said, I've gotten the man
from the Lord. It wasn't the Messiah. It turned
out to be the boy that broke her heart. But who knows how
many children Eve had up to this time? How many girls? Well, there
was one girl or two, and Cain was the third. He was the first
man. We do know that. How much time passed between
the birth of Cain and the birth of Abel? No one knows. No one knows how many children
were born between Cain and Abel. She again bears his brother Abel.
Do you know that the birth of girls wasn't even mentioned in
the Bible? Let's take chapter 5 and let's
look at some of these fellows here now. Chapter 5 of Genesis. Will you look over there a moment?
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God
created man, in the likeness of God made he him, male and
female created he them, and blessed them, and he called their name
Adam, man, in the day when they were created. And Adam lived
a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his likeness,
after his image, and called his name Seth. Well, wait a minute,
there's no mention of Cain, no mention of Abel, no mention of
anyone else. But here Adam is 130 years old,
and his beautiful wife Eve is 130 years old, and they have
a child. Do you know what Clark's commentary
says? That by the time Seth was born,
Adam and Eve had 32,000 descendants. By the time that this third son
that's mentioned was born, 130 years old Adam was, that he had
possibly 32,000 descendants. You sit down with a pencil and
paper and see how easy that is to figure out. normal healthy woman normal healthy
man get married they'll have a child a year if they're not
if they don't take some kind of some kind of steps to to prevent
having a child a year Eve had a child every year I'm just certain
of that now let's read on Adam lived a hundred and now the verse
4 and the days of Adam after he'd begotten Seth was 800 years And he begat sons and daughters,
lots of them. He lived 930 years. All right,
read on. And all the days that Adam lived
was 930 years, and he died. And Seth lived 105 years and
begat Enos. First mention of his child is
Enos, and he's 105 years old. How many were born between then?
105 years old and mentions his first son. It mentions this son
because this son has a particular relationship to the story of
redemption. Read on a little further. And
Saeth lived after he begat Enos 807 years and begat sons and
daughters. Not one daughter is named. Not
a one. And all the days of Seth were
912. What I'm saying, my dear friends, is this. You consider
the health and the strength of these men and women who lived
900 years. You and I are in our 40s and
50s and 60s, and we're frail and we're broken, and we've got
problems and all these things, but Adam, when he was 800 years
old, would still be getting sons and daughters in perfect health. And all of those hundreds of
years. And Adam was 130 years old before he ever begat Seth,
and he lived 800 years. Consider Eve now. She's 130 years
old when Seth is born, and she's still having children. You see what God has done in
these opening chapters, what our Lord has done. I speak reverently
and I speak respectfully of the hand and work of God. What our
God has done In naming Cain, and Abel, and Seth. And then
Seth's boy, 105 years old, before he was ever born, Enos. God is
singling out these special men in the family of Adam to tell
the redemption story. He's not just satisfying the
curious by giving us a history. Here you've got in the first
six chapters of the book of Genesis about a millennium covered. How
do you cover a thousand years in six chapters and tell everything
that happened? You would think reading the history
of our country in its early days, the only men who lived was John
Adams and Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, a few others, but
there were thousands and multiplied thousands of people back in those
days. They were everywhere. They had
their history too, but you can't read it. It's not preserved.
We single out one man or two men or three men to tell the
story of the freedom founded and fought for and established
in America. And God has singled out Cain
and Abel and Seth and Enos and Enoch and one or two other men
to tell the redemption story. That's what it's about. Now, if you want me to picture
the early family and write you a children's Bible storybook,
I'll show you Adam and Eve coming out of that garden, and nine
months later, a year later, a young girl or boy or girl born, maybe
king was born, I don't know, then a girl was born, and by
the time they had been out of that garden 12 or 13 years, that
table was full of children. They were little boys and girls
running around everywhere, and by the time they were 25 or 30
years of age, they had 20 or 25 children running around the
yard, and these boys married their sisters. And when Cain and Abel, now watch
this, the extended story of Cain and Abel is given to teach how
God saved sinners. Redemption, true faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now Cain offered, he came the
way of works, and Abel came the way of grace. Cain is the way
of the flesh, the natural man, and Abel is the way of grace,
the way of God. And I want to point out three
things. Now let's look at the first thing. We're sure of this,
and these are the things we need to stress, is what we're sure
of. We're sure of this. that God instructed Adam in the
true sacrifice for sin before he ever left that garden. And
Adam instructed his children. God instructed Adam. For example,
when Adam and Eve fell, there had been no blood. There had
never been any blood seen on this earth when Adam and Eve
fell. Never a death. An animal had
not even died. You see, Adam and Eve didn't
eat meat. They didn't eat animals. They ate herbs. The animals didn't
eat each other. There was no anger. There was
no warfare. There was no battles fought. There was no bloodshed. Everything
was peace and love and joy. And sin came. And Adam and Eve,
in their shame and humiliation, took fig leaves and made aprons
to cover their naked bodies. They never realized they were
naked. They never saw any reason to have clothes. They didn't
have any thought of sin, any thought of guilt. Everything
they looked upon was pure and lovely and beautiful and like
God. But now they have bad thoughts. And they can even look on that
which is beautiful and have bad thoughts. And so God slays an
animal. blood has to be shed, the innocent
has to die in order that Adam and Eve should be covered. Their
sin, their nakedness should be covered. That's the first blood,
the first sacrifice, the innocent dying for the guilty. It's my
fault he had to die. If I hadn't of seen that animal,
I wouldn't have had to die. And Adam and Eve looked upon
that blood running out of that animal, and that animal being
slit open, and the horror of it. And God says, All right, Adam,
this is the way sin is covered. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. The innocent has to die for the
guilty. You have to have a covering for your sin and a sacrifice.
You see, Adam, my justice demands death for sin. The soul that
sinneth shall die. So somebody's got to die. And
my son will come in due time and die. And you'll picture his
death by these sacrifices. This is the way to God. It's
the way of blood. It's the way of death. It's the
way of sacrifice. Now if you want to know what
Cain and Abel are doing, offering sacrifices, they're offering
sacrifices as family heads. You see, read on chapter 4 here,
Cain and Abel now are married men with families themselves. They're married men with families
themselves. They've got families. Now, before they were married,
before they had chose their occupation, when they were boys, they lived
in their father's home. Adam offered the sacrifice. Boys
didn't offer sacrifice. Fathers offered sacrifice. Heads
of homes. You won't find anywhere in this
book Child or a teenager or an unmarried boy run around making
Sacrifices a fella tried it one time King Saul did and and the
priest of God said you you've made a big mistake boy It's better
to obey than the sacrifice You don't do that. The only one who
sheds blood and offers a sacrifice is the one God ordained to do
it And God's wrath came on Saul for that And Cain and Abel didn't
just run around building altars and offering sacrifices until
they were married men with families and Cain became a farmer and
Abel became a shepherd and it was time for them to bring their
sacrifices for their families before their God. And you know
what happened. Cain, it says here, it came to
pass in the fullness of time, the process of time, verse 3,
that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to
the Lord. All right, what's wrong with
his sacrifice? What's wrong with Cain's sacrifice? God rejected
it. What's wrong with it? Well, number one, it was a bloodless
sacrifice. There was no blood. There was
no death. That's what's wrong with King's
sacrifice. That's the first thing. Turn to the book of Leviticus,
chapter 17, verse 11. The first thing wrong with King's
sacrifice, it was a bloodless sacrifice. The scripture says,
without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness. Now under
the law, almost all things were purged with blood. Some things
were purged with fire, some with water, but anything having to
do with sin, Anything having to do with man's relationship
with God had to be by blood. It says here in Leviticus 17,
11, the life of the flesh is in the blood. I have given it
to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your soul. It's
the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. It's the blood. And Hebrews 9.22 says, without
the shedding of blood there's no remission. So the first thing
wrong with Cain's sacrifice, it was bloodless. It was bloodless. Second thing wrong with it was
this. It denied that he was a sinner. It denied that he was a sinner.
You say, how do you know that? All right. He approached God
on the grounds of his personal merit, his personal worthiness,
not as one in need of a redeemer. He ignored the justice of God
that should have been satisfied, and he brought to God a product
of his own making. of his own making. That's what
he was. He came to bargain with God.
He worked hard and he labored through the strength of his flesh
and the sweat of his brow and he raised some beautiful things
and he brought it to God. He's denying he's a sinner. He's
denying that his sins deserve death. He's denying that the
justice of God is against him. He's denying that the wrath of
God is against him. He's denying that his sins deserve
God's anger and God's judgment and God's wrath. He's bringing
something that has nothing to do with justice. And then thirdly,
instead of coming by faith to God, in the Redeemer that God
has provided, Cain brought the fruits of the ground that God
had already cursed. He brought something, he brought
an offering that was under a curse, from the ground that God had
cursed. He glorified not the mercy of
God, He glorified not the goodness of God. He glorified not the
grace of God. He dishonored Christ. He ignored Christ. He ignored
the way that God had designated and God had appointed and God
Almighty had ordained. He ignored Christ. King came
before God to be accepted. That's what this offering was
for. God, here's my offering. Accept me on the basis of my
offering. So he's saying, God, accept me
on the basis of my works, of my talent, of my goodness, of
my generosity. And he's shutting out Christ.
He's shutting out the Mediator. He is his own mediator, Charlie. He doesn't need a mediator. He's
not a sinner. That's what's wrong with his
offering. It was bloodless. It dishonored Christ. It came
from a ground that was cursed. He denied that he was a sinner,
and he denied that sin deserved death. And he ignored the mediator. And he dishonored Christ. All right, why did God have respect
to Abel? It says here in Abel verse 4,
he also brought of the first sling of the flock and the fat thereof and the Lord
had respect unto Abel and to his offering. Turn to Hebrews
11 4 and Paul mentions that in the book of Hebrews chapter 11
verse 4. It says in Hebrews 11 4, 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, is yet spoken of, or yet
speaketh. First of all, why did God have
respect to Abel's offering? Well, first of all, it was an
offering of faith. By faith, Abel offered a sacrifice. Like Abraham, Abel believed God. He came to God the way that God
told him to come. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. He came the way God ordained. Sacrifice. So he came by faith. He believed God. That's the first
thing. He believed God. He didn't reason
out a way. He believed God. He believed
God. That was Abraham. He believed
God. He didn't understand. He couldn't
figure it out. He didn't sit down and try to
reason, now this is a better way or that's a better way. He
just believed God. Brethren, that's the first and
most important thing for me to stress for the young and old.
Believe God. Believe the record that God had
given concerning His Son. Not that you understand it. Not
that you comprehend everything about it, it's a mystery, but
just believe God. If God says blood is necessary,
all right, blood is necessary. If God says the wages of sin
is death and a substitute must die, all right, a substitute
must die. That's the way God has ordained.
I believe God. Without faith it's impossible
to come to God. So first of all, Abel's offering
was offered in faith. He believed God. I'm coming God's
way. Sink or swim, I go to him. If
I go to hell, I'll go to hell trusting in the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ. Because that's the only way I
know. Secondly, it was an offering of blood which typified Christ,
the Lamb of God. He took the firstling of the
flock. Just like God told him. Christ was the first begotten.
The only begotten. The first of all the elect. He
took the innocent, the lamb. He brought that lamb and slew
it, the suffering of the slain lamb. He presented the blood
on the offering, just exactly like God told him to, by faith,
and in doing so, he pictured Christ, of whom John the Baptist
said, that's the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the
world. Christ is led as a lamb before her shearers, is dumb
as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before her shearers is
dumb, so he opened not his mouth, he went to Calvary, and there
his body was bruised and broken, and his blood was shed. Thirdly,
it was accepted because it was offered by faith, it was an offering
typifying Christ, the Lamb of God, and thirdly, It was an offering
which revealed how he felt about his sins. They deserved death. Do you think if he didn't know
and realize that his sins deserved death and judgment and God's
anger, that he would have taken his best lamb, the firstling
of the flock, without spot or blemish, if he felt it was a
time-wasted thing? The firstborn, the lamb without
spot or blemish. And it's possible he is just
getting started in this lamb business. Young married man with
one little child maybe. This is his first offering. And
he comes as a family man and he takes the number one off the
top of the cream, the cream of the crop. And he kills that lamb
and brings its blood before God. And he said, Lord, accept me.
I'm no good. I'm a sinner. My sins deserve
death. And I ought to die. But this
lamb pictures, it's what you said, Duke. And I believe that
the way to God is by the sacrifice of the innocent for the guilty.
Now, in closing, the results. All right, God turned down King's
sacrifice. He must. King's sacrifice doesn't
picture anything but a rebel, anything but a proud sinner,
anything but human works and human merit and human effort.
That's all it pictures, King's beautiful sacrifice. If you can
call blood beautiful, and yet it is, because it's called in
the Scripture the precious blood of Christ. And it pictures here
a guilty sinner, the judgment of death upon that sinner, the
wrath of God against that sinner, and that someone comes between
that God and that sinner, and that someone's Christ. And Christ
took all that wrath and judgment and death into his body and died
and shed his blood and his body was consumed, burnt on the altar
of the cross, that that sinner might have fellowship with God.
that the wages might be paid, that the full penalty might be
endured, and the sinner set free. Cain doesn't show anything. Bless
his heart. You feel your heart broken for
him. But he just stands here face
to face with a holy God with some apples and oranges. And
all God can do is spew him out of his mouth. God can't do business
with that guilt-laden sinner, that wicked proud, self-righteous
rebel. And King, God turned him down
in verse 5, King got mad, oh he got mad. He got upset, his
countenance failed, he became depressed and angry. Now let
me tell you something, men have a religion It's a religion of
works. But let me tell you something.
It can't give you peace any more than Cain's sacrifice could give
him peace. It cannot yield you any comfort,
as Cain's sacrifice couldn't bring him any comfort. It couldn't
bring him any assurance. It couldn't bring him any rest.
It couldn't bring him anything. But he's confused. His countenance,
he's pouting his lips out, you know, and he's mad. He's got
a frown on his face. He can't find any peace over
here with these fruits and vegetables and no mediator. He can't find
any rest, any assurance, any comfort. God's angry. King's
upset. And God says to him, now look
at verse 16, Why are you angry? Why are you angry with me and
angry with Abel? Now listen, you ought to be angry
with yourself. But religious men are not angry
with themselves for their unbelief and for their rebellion and their
disobedience. They try to make baptism a saviour,
they try to make the Lord's table a saviour, and they try to make
the bread and wine a saviour, and they try to make works and
the law a saviour, and you tell them it's Christ, they get mad
at you. You tell them salvation by the blood, salvation by the
Lamb, salvation by the mercy of God, salvation by the Mediator,
and they get mad at you, angry. They don't care what you say,
I'm going to heaven. All of us traveling different
roads, and you got your way, and I got my way, and he gets
mad, not at himself, he gets mad at you, mad at God. King, why are you angry? Why are you angry? I don't understand
why you're angry with Abel and why you're angry with me. Why
aren't you angry with yourself? Instead of looking into their
own hearts and finding the real reason for their trouble, And
growing angry with themselves and saying, I'm a fool. I'm a
fool to ignore the Word of God. I'm a fool to try to gain heaven
by my own merit and righteousness. I'm a fool to ignore the blood
of Christ. If God Almighty had had any other
way of salvation, He wouldn't have given His only begotten
Son. I'm a fool to ignore it. They don't talk that way. Of
course God's sovereign, of course He'll be merciful to whom He
will. I'm a fool to think that God Almighty can't do what He
will, when He will, with whom He will. If He's God, no sir, they get mad, angry. But I'll tell you this, If that's
so, God's no savior of mine. Now wait a minute. Now wait just
a minute. If you're going to get angry,
and if you're going to become violent, don't get violent with
this book and with God and with somebody else. Get angry with
yourself. Oh, God be merciful to me, you fool. Can you pray
that way? God I'm nothing and nobody, got
no brains, I'm a stupid son of Adam, I'm a fallen son of Adam,
I'm a toy in the hand of evil and sin, God help me!" Now we
grow angry, we're going to have our way, and so look what happened,
so he talked to his brother And he said in verse 7, God said,
if you do well, you'll be accepted. If you come the right way, you'll
be accepted. God's gracious. He's plenteous in mercy. Don't
grow angry, my friend. Come on to the Lord. Bow before
this book. God will give you mercy. I don't
care who you are. But now, if you're going to grow
angry, like the Pharisees, and you're going to turn and go the
other way, then sin life at the door, you're going to have to
deal with this sin question. Seeing life at your door and
you're gonna have to handle it. I don't want it at my door I'm
gonna lay it at the door of Christ. I'm gonna say Lord here's this
whole This like Barnard you say whole kit and caboodle shooting
match. It's up to you take care of it. I don't want any part
of it Just leave it to the Lord But now he said if you don't
come the way of God you gonna see in life at the door and you
got deal with it So Cain talked with Abel his brother and came
to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up and slew
his brother Turn to 1 John 3. This has something to say about
this. 1 John 3, and we'll quit. 1 John 3. Now this is the message,
verse 11. 1 John 3, 11, this is the message. that you've heard from the beginning
that we should love one another. Not as Cain who was of that wicked
one and slew his brother. And why did he slay him? Because
his own works were evil and his brothers were righteous. What
did he slay him over? The first blood of a first man
to be shed on this earth was shed over religion. It was when,
watch this, when religion came to the crossroads. They stood
here. Adam had taught his boys the
way to God, the way of the cross, the way of blood, the way of
sacrifice. And they come one day, two brothers,
to offer a sign. This is why Cain and Abel are
mentioned. All the other boys are not mentioned. The thing
was decided between these two boys. There were other boys in
that family, but between these two men, these two young men,
they had families of their own. I'm making my decision. I've
got a family of my own, and you've got a family of yours. Abel came
God's way and Cain went the way of works, the way of self-righteousness,
the way that denied substitution and God's judgment. was upon
him and he found no peace and so he made war on the way of
grace and it's been that way just like Ishmael mocked Isaac
you come right on down through the word and Christ said to his
disciples the division has not ceased turn to John 16 and listen
Christ warned his disciples human works hates grace grace is not
going to declare war on human works because we understand it
weren't for the grace of God we'd be over that Now, none of
you are going to go angry at people who do not believe the
gospel of grace, if you've got the right kind of heart, because
if it wasn't for God's grace, you wouldn't believe. Abel never
got angry with Cain. Cain got angry with Abel. And
when I see grace people who make war on other people, I wonder
if they're really grace people. People who come the way of the
cross. That's a way of revelation. If it wasn't for God's mercy,
you wouldn't have it. If it wasn't for God's grace,
you wouldn't have it. So don't implore the tactics
of Satan lest you prove after all you're one of his own. We
have pity and compassion upon those who know not the way of
life. Not anger. Not anger. We don't declare war. That's what's wrong with these
crusades and all. Men go to war in the name of
God with a sword and a shield with a cross on it. That's foolishness. They don't know God. Men who
know God go forth in compassion and concern for sinners with
this is the only sword they carry. And they understand that if the
Holy Spirit doesn't reveal it, that won't be revealed. Who maketh
thee to differ? But listen, Christ said in John
16, here he says, these things have I spoken unto you that you
should not be offended. Verse 2, they'll put you out
of the synagogue. Not you'll put them out, they'll
put you out. The time cometh when whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God a service you don't
kill them they kill you and These things will they do unto you
because they've not known the father and if you do these things
to them You don't know the father But these things have I told
you when a time shall come you may remember that I told you
And it started this is where it started right here with Cain
he grew angry killed his brother. He destroyed him. I can't have
my way or destroy this. It's a big book, but it's a book
that tells a story, the redemption story. That's what it's all about.
It's a story of redemption. Christ talked to his disciples
and he took the scriptures and he said, I'm going to expound
to you the things in Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms concerning
me. And if you see an absence here
in these early chapters concerning the birth of different children
and all of these things, It's because they have no immediate
application with the redemption story. God has taken us to these
two altars because they tell a story, Christ or works. Christ
or works. There's no use going around looking
at everybody's altars, they'll tell the same story. We've got
these two right here, Cain and Abel. And the results of where
works leads a man. No peace, no comfort, no fellowship,
no communion with God. And leads him to make war on
this one. Our Father, we give thanks for thy word. Thou knowest
all things. Thou knowest, Lord, the hunger
and the thirst we have, not for curiosity, but that we might
know Christ and grow in grace in the knowledge of Christ. But
we want to understand these things. Give us practical spiritual wisdom. Lord, deliver us from the bondage
of tradition. and open our hearts and our eyes
and our ears to commune with thee and to understand the things
which thou hast written, to know the joy of believing in Christ. And let every one of us here,
we all are priests now, not just the heads of families and not
just Aaron and Levi, but we're all priests. And we come with
the sacrifices of love and faith and praise and prayer and joy.
through our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given his blood for our
sins. In his name we pray. Amen.

The Crossroads of Religion

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The Crossroads of Religion

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