Genesis 4:1-7

[0:00] Genesis chapter 4, beginning at verse 1, says, And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bear Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.

[0:13] And she had given bear his brother Abel, and she had given bear his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

[0:23] And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground and offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.

[0:36] 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 rough, and his countenance fell.

[0:48] And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou rough? And why is thou countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, send life at the door.

[1:01] And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. That's all I want to read right now. So again, we have here, as far as we know, as far as the scriptural account goes, the first two children that were born to Adam and Eve.

[1:19] Now we know at some point, later on, don't know when, they would have had to have had sisters, because folks are as, there was multiplication of the human race that was made.

[1:31] And you can't do that with two men, and you can't do that with two women. There had to be females somewhere along this line. We look at that, and we say that's disgusting. They had to have been brother and sister.

[1:43] Folks, that's the only choice that they had at the time. So keep that out of your mind. That's not the message that we're preaching now. The message that we like to get into, is it says in process of time, in verse three, process of time, it came to pass that came brought of the fruit of the ground and offering to the Lord and able.

[2:06] He also brought of the firstlings of his flood, and the fat thereof and the Lord had respect unto able, and to his offering. Why would the Lord, when the Bible says multiple times, that God is no respecter of persons, why would it plainly say here in Genesis chapter four, that he had respect unto able, and unto his offering, but unto Cain he did not have respect, nor to Cain's offering, did he respect.

[2:35] Folks, it plainly says here, that this happened in a process of time, that means that they were accustomed to go into a certain place at a certain time.

[2:46] To worship God, God had not completely cut off his communing with his creation. He had not completely cut them up at all. I don't know where they might have met.

[2:58] I don't know how they may have worshiped. I don't know how they may have prayed or any of those things, but obviously there were offerings that were made under God.

[3:09] Obviously God had made some kind of statute, some kind of law, don't you think, for a moment that Adam hadn't passed down to Cain and to able what God required of them.

[3:24] Adam would have told him, hey, I had it good in the garden. I didn't have to work, I didn't have to sweat, I didn't have to do any of these things, but I missed it up.

[3:37] I missed this up for me, for your mama, for you, for your brother. I missed it up for us all. Don't think for a second that Adam would not have passed that on to his children.

[3:53] Adam would have passed everything that he could on to his children. Unfortunately, the sin nature passed as well. Unfortunately, this happened in process of time, in process of time.

[4:08] They brought these offerings before God. They brought the, Abel brought the firstlings of the flock and the fact that came brought the work of the ground.

[4:19] Now folks, I've heard it preached, I've heard it talked, that it was because it was something of the ground that God did not respect Cain's offering. Folks, I don't believe that for one second.

[4:31] That's why God disrespected it. That's why God did not accept that offering. Folks, if you read in Hebrews chapter 11, that great faith chapter where it talks about the faith of Noah, it talks about the faith of Moses, it talks about the faith of Abraham, and the faith of Sarah, and the faith of all these other saints of old.

[4:52] Abel is the very first one that is listed in that great faith chapter. It says that by faith, Abel brought his offering unto the Lord.

[5:03] It was his faith in what he was doing for God. It was his faith in God himself that God respected him and respected his offering.

[5:14] That tells me that obviously Cain had no faith. He was doing it out of habit, in process of time.

[5:25] It had become a ritual. It had become something that Cain just did. It had become something that he didn't do wholeheartedly. Hey folks, you can read over in the book of Exodus and over in the book of Leviticus, and you can read on about it in the book of Deuteronomy, that they had green offerings.

[5:43] They had things that did not require blood. They had things that didn't require fat, or the kidneys, or anything else, any kind of bloodshed. They had certain offerings that were there.

[5:54] So this offering that Cain would have grown had nothing to do with the fact that it came out of the ground. It had to do with the fact that Abel had faith when he offered this.

[6:06] Abel had faith. It was kind of to him for righteousness. God saw it as righteousness, and God said, because of that faith, that's why he could hear Abel's blood scream from the ground.

[6:21] That's why God respected Abel's faith, or Abel's offering, because Abel offered it in faith. Folks, they had the best diagram of how to worship God.

[6:37] They had the best instruction of what offerings to bring, and how to bring them, because the very one that saw the first offering be made was their father Adam, the first offering that was ever made was some innocent animal that God killed himself to take the skins off of, and make coats for Adam and Eve, because their own gifts, that covering their sin, were weak, they were people, and they were no good.

[7:09] It took something that God did. They didn't take what man did. It took what God did. Roger taught an unawarable job of teaching Sunday school this morning. Taught out of Daniel chapter six, teaching about Daniel and the Lion's Day.

[7:23] We all look at that as some children's fable, some children's story out of the Bible, something, and we all sing our songs about it when we're children, but folks that applies to us as adults, just as much if not more so, as it does to any child's life.

[7:39] When Daniel got, when the King, King Darius, when he signed the decree, that said that anyone that worshiped God, or made a petition to any God, or any man within 30 days, will be cast into the den of lies.

[7:55] When Darius made the decree, and Daniel got called doing exactly what Daniel had always done, just as able did, what he had always done, Daniel continued to do what he had always done.

[8:09] He got called, he couldn't get himself out of that fix. Darius couldn't get him out of that fix. It took enough of God to do it.

[8:20] It took an act of God to get you out of your fix. It took an act of God to get me out of my fix. It not only took the sacrifice, not only got me another father, but it took a father himself to send the Holy Ghost to where I was, to show me the stake that I was in, to show me the condition that I was in.

[8:40] The entire means of salvation is completely and holy in hand of God. It takes God to show us that we're sinners.

[8:51] It takes God to wash this clean with the blood of Jesus Christ. It takes God to keep us. It'll take God to get us home. It takes God to do it all we cannot do.

[9:04] Any of it on our own cane here was trying to do something on his own. He was depending on his own toll. He was depending on his own sweat.

[9:14] He was depending on his own work and on his own merit to get good with God. And God said, I will have none of it.

[9:24] It took what Abel did. Did it in faith? Folks, it takes faith like Abel's. For us, don't take Abel. Abel didn't die for me, Jesus Christ did.

[9:37] But it takes faith like Abel's. It takes, and what else does the Bible say about Abel? If you continue reading there, God asked Cain, we all know the story of Cain and Abel.

[9:49] Cain rose up against his brother. He slew him out in the field somewhere. I don't know where people say that Cain killed Abel with a rock that ain't nowhere on the pages of scripture. I don't know if he choked him.

[10:01] I don't know if he smothered him. I don't know if he beat him to death with his own fists. All I know is the Bible says that Cain rose up against his brother and he slew him. What did God do though?

[10:11] He didn't ask because he didn't know. He asked Cain though, where's your brother? And his brother said, I don't know, Cain said. I don't know, am I my brother's keeper? They both, when God came to Cain and asked that question, it was just when Locke, when he came to Adam in the garden after they had eaten of the forbidden fruit and he called out to Adam saying, Adam, where art thou God knew exactly where Adam was?

[10:40] He wanted Adam to know where he was, where he stood, what he had done. He wanted him to know and he wanted Cain to know the same thing.

[10:52] He comes to, says, where's your brother? I don't know, God knew exactly where he was. God could hear his blood screaming from the ground.

[11:02] He said, that brother's blood cried to me from the ground. It cried from the ground. Hey folks, the Bible says that that blood of Abel's, it was righteous. I ain't saying Abel had power to save you.

[11:14] I ain't saying that Abel had power for salvation. I ain't saying that he was made righteous because of the faith that he had in God.

[11:25] And that's the only thing that makes us righteous. That was the only thing that made Abel righteous, was the faith. Folks, this was a shadow. This was a shadow of what was to come. And their shadows recorded all throughout the Old Testament.

[11:39] There are shadows of the cross. There's shadows that Jesus crossed himself. There's shadows on the tabernacle that you can read about in the book of Revelation. There's shadows of all sorts of things all throughout the Old Testament that we can find.

[11:53] This was a shadow of salvation. This was a shadow of the cross to come. That Jesus Christ will be crucified on. It was a shadow to show us that only God can do something about our sinful pleasures.

[12:12] Only God can do something about that. We cannot. We cannot. I don't know if I've ever said it here.

[12:23] But I know I haven't had other churches. I've seen billboards. I've heard radio ads. I've seen television commercials, even though I don't watch much television.

[12:38] I could even tell you the last time I had one on. But I've seen all these things, says, once your own myth, your hood, says, don't do it because you'll be hooked you next time around.

[12:53] Once alcoholic, always alcoholic. Once on heroin, it'll take this many years of treatment to get over that addiction.

[13:04] Folks, that is contrary to what my Bible says. When they say, once an addict, always an addict, that is contrary to what the scripture of Almighty God says, because the scripture of Almighty God says, to any man that be in Christ, he is a new creature.

[13:20] All things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. God makes us a new creature. God saves the drunk. He saves the prostitutes. He saves the dopeheads.

[13:30] He saves the pillheads. He saves those that are murderers. He saves the rapists. He saves all these people. He is God. He is the only one that can do that.

[13:42] We can bring ourselves down off of highs and off of drunks. Hey, folks, I'm speaking to you from experience. We can come down off those highs, and we can say, hey, I'm never going to do that again.

[13:56] I'm never going to get drunk again. I'm never going to get in that bad of shape again. But hey, you wait just a little while longer, and it won't be very many weekends. You'll wrap back out there doing exactly what you was doing before because God had nothing to do with it.

[14:13] When God makes a new creature, God does it right. God told Abram and Sarah, when Isaac was born, Abram was 100 years old, a 100-year-old man having a brand new baby boy.

[14:26] He told Abram and Sarah, I'm going to bless you with a child. This is a promise I made to Abram when he was still over there in year of the Childies. Before he ever came out of that land, I promised him I was going to multiply his seed.

[14:39] And when God fixed Abram, he fixed him right. I understand that Hagar came in on the scene first. I know that Abram and Sarah got the cart before the horse with that.

[14:50] But folks, this was an old man that God had fixed. Hey, Abram was beyond the age of having children. Sarah was beyond the age of having children.

[15:01] But when God fixed Abram, he fixed him right. He didn't just fix him for that one child Isaac either. He read just a few chapters after all that.

[15:13] He married a woman named Kattura. Had six more sons. Hey, when God fixes something, he fixes it right. He fixes it completely. He fixes it.

[15:23] Holy, when God saved my soul, he didn't save me just a little bit. He didn't save me 90% and say, Spencer, I'm going to wait and see. How do you do for the next 20 or 30 years? He saved my soul.

[15:35] He saved it completely. My Bible says he is able to save to the other most. And that's how my God saves. When he came down here to Canaan, he knew exactly where his brother was.

[15:50] But the righteous blood of Abel had cried to God from the ground. This was a picture of cross across.

[16:03] It was a picture, what must be done. That first picture was given in the chapter before this. God killed an innocent animal.

[16:13] That animal, as far as scripture goes, never ate of that fruit. That animal never went against the commandments of God. That animal never did anything.

[16:24] It was completely and totally innocent. Yet God killed it. When Abel came and made his offering unto God, he brought an animal.

[16:36] I don't know how perfect that animal was. I would imagine, though, this is Spencer's thought. I would imagine God had some specifications. He gave them later on. They had to Passover lamb.

[16:47] He read over in the book of Exodus, that Passover lamb. He had to be a lamb that was without blemish, without spot. Hey, they had to start a couple of days before the Passover lamb was ever even killed.

[16:58] They had to set it to the side to make sure it wasn't halted. To make sure it wasn't lame. Make sure it wasn't deppin' one ear. Make sure there wasn't anything wrong with that lamb. They had to watch it for a couple of days before it was deemed that one was sufficient to be the Passover lamb.

[17:15] Abel brought a sacrifice. God made a sacrifice without a need. Abel brought a sacrifice and their head to have been bloodshed. That's the key to the entire thing, the Passover lamb.

[17:28] It wasn't so much as them eating the Passover lamb, not sodden. It wasn't as much as them eating the Passover lamb, roasted and eating it completely and totally not before.

[17:38] It didn't have anything to do with the herbs and the spices. It had to do with the bloodshed that had to take place.

[17:48] And when they killed that Passover lamb, they smote it on the side parts, post, they smote it over the doors. That was the protection that they needed. It was the blood and it was the way that God prescribbed it.

[18:01] Amen. It's no different than New Testament. It is no different. That was just a shadow. That was a shadow of things to come. That was a shadow of an ultimate sacrifice.

[18:14] That was a shadow of the one who would once and for all go into the Holy of Holies according to the Book of Hebrews. Once and for all, he would go in there, offer up his blood. He would offer it up.

[18:25] Folks, that was the atoning sacrifice. That was the atoning sacrifice. That was the last one that was made available. That was the last one that is available. It's the only one that counts.

[18:37] Everything that these Old Testament people did, the thousands, maybe millions of animals over the years that were slaughtered as far as sacrifice went. They were to do nothing more than point to the ultimate sacrifice that would take place on Calvary's cross.

[18:55] Amen. In the future, I don't know. I don't really get into it a whole lot because it's not real plain in Scripture.

[19:05] They will be a temple in Jerusalem that will be rebuilt and there will be sacrifice made there. Now, will that be for the remission of sins?

[19:16] I don't think so. I think it'll be because that's what the Bible says. That the remission of sins, that is only through the blood of Jesus Christ. It was never made possible through the blood of bulls and goats.

[19:29] Again that Scripture, it was not possible through the blood of bulls and goats, nor a turtle does, nor of the oxen, nor of anything else that they brought before God as a sacrifice.

[19:42] The remission of sin was not possible with those sacrifices. The only way it was possible was with absolute pure blood and the only one with that absolute pure blood was a man named Jesus Christ that came here, was born, spent 33 plus years on this earth, was crucified, died, buried, and was resurrected and is now sitting at the right end of glory for your intercession and for mine.

[20:13] That's the only blood that counts. The only sacrifice that Abel brought, that was what we call nowadays small potatoes. But it's what God required at the time.

[20:26] It's what God said that it was an offering unto God. Genesis 6, Genesis 7, Genesis 8 rolls around. That ark, hey, that was a picture of Jesus Christ.

[20:37] But when they step off that ark, it was one of the first days Noah does. He makes a sacrifice unto God. He offers an animal up to God. Folks, if you read, over there were the animals on the ark.

[20:49] Yeah, they came in two by twos, but those plain animals came on by seven. Why was that? Because God required sacrifice. God required offering. God required something of those people.

[21:03] God requires something of us. Everybody here should know what I'm about to say. He requires Jesus. That's what God requires. It's Jesus Christ.

[21:13] No sacrifice of our own, no more than this sacrifice that Cade brought before God. Hey, it was a sacrifice for Cade to go out into the field wherever it was and gather that up.

[21:25] It was a sacrifice for him to give part of his harvest away. It was a sacrifice for him to take a few steps or walk to many miles. However far it was to get to where God was, to make that offering.

[21:38] Oh, that was a sacrifice, but it all came to know as far as what God required. God required the shedding of blood.

[21:49] Enabled for right in that. God later provided that for everybody. There are man named Jesus. Again, you look at Abraham. Just a few chapters over, several chapters over here from where we're at in Genesis this morning.

[22:03] You look at Abraham, God told him, you take Isaac, you go over yonder on that mountain, you offer up your son unto me. His only son, that was the promised Cade. That was the one that God had promised was going to multiply.

[22:15] And now God's telling Abraham, go and offer up your son. But folks, praise God. We know that that didn't happen. We know from the scriptures that when he got him up there, he bound him up even on the way up the hill.

[22:29] Isaac said, God, Father, we have everything that we need, but where is the lamp or the sacrifice? Where is the offering? And Abraham said, God will provide a sacrifice.

[22:41] God will provide a lamp. He got Isaac all bound up, laid him there on the altar, raised the dagger up. I don't know how close he was to bringing it down, but there was a noise.

[22:55] There was an angel spoke. Said, do him no harm. Don't hurt that boy. Then there was a ram, caught him in a thicket. Folks, that was a substitute.

[23:06] There were still bloodshed that took place that day. Folks, Isaac was a sinner. Abraham was a sinner. Noah was a sinner. Abel, no matter what we think of him, he was a sinner.

[23:19] And we all know Adam was a sinner. Seth, who continued on from Adam and Eve, that was the more so Godly line that came from Seth.

[23:30] Folks, he was a sinner. They were all sinners. Isaac was a sinner, but there was a substitute provided for him that day. There was a substitute that ram that was caught in the thicket.

[23:40] Hey, Isaac deserved to die that day. I ain't saying he'd been a mean little boy. I ain't saying he'd backtalk his parents. I'm saying he was a sinner and he deserved death just like you are a sinner and you deserve death and I am a sinner and deserve death.

[23:56] But praise God, there was a substitute. This sacrifice that Abel broke, it was a substitute. It was a substitute to foreshadow the substitutes that we find in Exodus, to foreshadow the ones in Leviticus, foreshadow all these other ones.

[24:13] Folks, you read of thousands upon thousands of animals that were slaughtered, that were killed as sacrifice, as offering unto God. Even Solomon, when he dedicated the temple, just at that one dedication, there were thousands of animals that were offered unto God at one single dedication to a temple.

[24:34] But folks, that's how God said it should be. He wanted sacrifice. What does God want us to sacrifice of ourselves, not for salvation?

[24:45] Once we've receded, the Bible says that we should offer up ourselves a human sacrifice, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service.

[25:01] That's what we offer. But it ain't for salvation. It ain't for salvation. I can't go to God as a lost man, come and bawl my eyes out of an altar and say, God, I'm giving myself to you.

[25:15] And then God looked down and said, I'm going to give you salvation then. Now why? because I had to initiate that. God initiates salvation. Not only that, but in a case like that, in that scenario I just give, I would have to give something in order to receive my salvation.

[25:33] I gave nothing for my salvation. I give nothing right now for my salvation. Now listen, the Christian walk, yeah, it's hard. And that cross sometimes it gets heavy. So that cross will make you weary.

[25:44] The steps seem like they come further and further apart in this walk. I understand some of you have been in a whole lot longer than what I have. You can testify to what I'm saying right now.

[25:55] Yes, the Christian walk is hard. That Christian walk is not what gets us into heaven. That Christian walk is what we get. That's what we do. After God has saved our souls, after God has granted salvation, after God has washed us clean with the blood of Jesus Christ.

[26:11] Amen. In process of time, y'all keep that in your mind. Anytime you're reading this chapter, in process of time, this was something that had been taking place for a while.

[26:23] I don't know how long. It could have just been weeks. It could have been months. It could have been years. But we do know, just gathering from what we can read here in the scripture, we can about guarantee and enable for a real man, at least in the late teens at this point, if not older.

[26:45] But it was in process of time, able to continue doing what he continued doing, why? He's the one of the two of them that had the faith.

[26:56] He's the one of the two that the Bible says, by faith, able to offer more excellent sacrifice unto God. By faith he did that. And by faith God accepted it.

[27:07] Or because of faith I should say, God accepted it. And by faith, again, continue doing what he had been doing, offering their own faith. But now listen, God don't close the door on faith.

[27:20] He says, the Lord said unto him, why art thou raw? Can't you got mad? He got mad because his offering wasn't acceptable, because his own works weren't acceptable, because his own toll and his own sweat and his own tears were not acceptable.

[27:36] The Bible says he got raw. And the Lord said unto him, why art thou raw, and why is thou countless fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted. If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted.

[27:48] Now what is that doing well? Going out here and not sinning again for the rest of our lives. Good luck. Good luck. It won't happen. If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted.

[28:02] What is well? God's way. God's way is well. God's way is good. What is God's way? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God's way.

[28:14] And there is no other way. He said, I'm the way the truth to life and no man comeeth under the Father, but by me he is the way he is the only way. So folks, if we are expecting to be accepted by God, it will be by his way.

[28:28] He told, he told, listen folks, if this had been you being God, or it had been me being God, and Cain had done this, I would have kicked him to the curb, I would have done to hold myself and buried him in it, probably alive, and you would have done the same thing with that much power.

[28:44] But my God is rich in grace. My God is rich in mercy. And again, Cain, the opportunity. He said, if thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted.

[28:56] If thou doest not well, send life at the door. Folks, that's our only two options. We do well we're accepted. Well is God's way. Well is through Jesus Christ. If we do it not well, the Bible says any man tries to enter in.

[29:10] There are any other way about Jesus Christ. He's a thief and a robber. He's a thief and a robber. But if we do not well, send life at the door.

[29:22] What does that mean? Do you read this? The original Hebrew language is signifying it lies at the door like a creature, waiting to pounce on you when you come out.

[29:34] Folks, you know how you tell somebody they're real Christian or not? You don't see their actions in church. You don't judge them by their actions in church. You look at what they're like out there in the world.

[29:46] Send life at the door. And when you go out the doors of the church, that's when you show your true colors. When you get out there with buddies, whether you're male or female, whether you're old, young, whatever the case is, that's when you show your true colors.

[30:01] That's when either you're shining the light of God or you're not. It's easy to pull the wool over the preacher's eyes and over Deacon's eyes and over everybody's eyes in the church. Make them take care of one again, save child of God, and we all own our way to heaven together.

[30:16] But when you go out there in the world, when you're at home and not by yourself, or when you're in a room by yourself, what are you looking at on the Internet? What are you doing with the magazines?

[30:26] What are we doing with all these other things? How much are we drinking when we're away from here? How much dope are we shooting when we're away from everybody? Folks, when you leave the doors of the church, that's when it shows if you're a true Christian or not.

[30:39] When you leave the doors, a sin is lying out there for a child of God just as much as it is a lost person. But the child of God knows how to fight it.

[30:50] The lost person don't. And that's why they just travel on out in the world with it. And it pounces them, and it ravages them, and it mauls them, and it eventually destroys them.

[31:01] That sin will destroy us. That's the message for it this morning.