Heb.11: 4

Genesis 4:1-5

"A more excellent sacrifice than Cain"

The theme of Hebrews 11 is FAITH, and it is FAITH that contrast two brothers, Abel and Cain. By faith we are informed that Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. From the first two sons two ways emerge: the broad way with its wide gate, and the narrow way with its restricted gate. This morning I want to preach on the way of Cain, and see it against the backdrop of the way of Abel.

Death is never the last word in the life of a righteous man. When a man leaves this world, whether he is righteous or unrighteous, he leaves something in the world. He leaves a testimony whether if be good or bad. Dead men do speak to those who will listen. What Cain tells us is more relevant than anything you are likely to read in the current newspapers or magazines.

Genesis 4 seems so unfair. Abel brings a lamb and sheds the blood of that offering, and Cain brings the ripest grain and the best of his crop. God accepts Abel’s offering but rejects Cain. WHY? The answer is simply found in one word SUBSTITUTION.

Cain and Abel both had access to the same information. Cain had heard the report as well as Abel. BUT he did not believe God. He invented what he must have supposed to be a better, or more excellent way.

It had not taken Cain and Abel’s parents long to learn that human nakedness could not be covered with the fig leaves of human effort. Sin could only be covered by the shedding of blood. An innocent substitute had to die in their stead so that a fitting covering could be theirs.

Cain and Abel must have been told these things often. Hebrews 11 reminds us that it was by faith that Abel offered his sacrifice. Romans 10 reminds us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. God must have made it clear and plain to both these boys that if He was to be approached at all, it must be by faith and it must be by the blood. This was a divine revelation. Abel was not making a good guess when he offered the right sacrifice. Abel embraced God’s revelation

Cain disregarded and dismissed the revelation. Cain substituted human reason for divine revelation.

It was by faith and not by fancy that caused Abel to bring his offering to God. Abel believed God’s Word and acted upon it while Cain rejected God’s revelation and acted on reason. Abel’s offering was based on God’s revelation, and Cain’s offering was based on man’s deliberation.

There are only two ways today:

One way is God’s, and the other is man’s

 

One way is by faith and the other by fancy.

 

One way is fo grace, and the other is of merit.

 

One way is of faith, and the other is of works.

 

One way is called Christianity, and the other is called religion.

 

One way rest on what God has said, and the other rest on what man thinks.

 

One way rest on what Christ has done, and the other on what man can do.

 

One way rest on DONE, and the other rest on DO.

 

Proverbs 16:25 states "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

 

Reasoning has a dreadfully blinding influence; it has led thousands to mistake the way to hell for the road to heaven.

Cain believes in God, but he does not believe God.

WHY SHOULD FAITH BE THE REASON MAN IS JUDICIALLY ACQUITTED OF HIS SIN OR NOT? Because unbelief was the cause of man’s fall. Eve fell by believing what Satan said instead of what God said. Cain’s way is believing what man thinks instead of what God says.

Cain’s religion was built on one simple but false reasoning: WORKS. Cain sweated and worked hard to bring his offering to God. He reasoning enshrined the idea that a man can earn his salvation, that he can acquire and accumulate merit. Cain was not an atheist. On the contrary he worked hard. He sweated and toiled to produce the fruits and flowers that graced his altar.

Religions today have the same message. The message is always the same -salvation has to be earned. It had to be purchased with good works. However, that is not what the Bible says!

Ephesians 2:8,9

Titus 3:5

Instead of believing the revelation of what God has said, men are taught today to believe in what they can do.

Galatians 3:26 "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."

There is no rite, ritual, or observance that can bring salvation.

There are those today who try this means of salvation. They live a good life.....moral......clean......attend church regularly...... preach .......teach .......sing in the choir.

See Matthew 7:19-21.

 

It is not DO, but DONE.

Upon a life I did not live,

 

Upon a death I did not die,

 

Another’s life, another’s death.

 

I stake my whole eternity.

 

I John 5:11-13

II Corinthians 5:17

 

Hebrews 9:22

I Peter 1:18,19

What can wash away my sin,

 

Nothing but the blood of Jesus

 

What can make me whole again,

 

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

 

Heaven is exclusively for those who have placed their trust in Jesus and His shed blood.

 

Cain’s offering of fruits and flowers, spices and herbs, color and fragrance were prettier, but it was not sufficient. Abel’s altar with its blood and its slain lamb was not appealing to the senses. The fruit of the earth in which God had cursed was useless as a means of salvation.

What does God see when He sees the blood that makes it so precious?

I Corinthians 6:19,20

"...the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin"

There is no stain made by sin so deep that the blood of Christ cannot wash it away entirely away from the soul.

Colossians 1:20 "And, having made peace through the blood of his cross...."

Conclusion:

The way of Cain preaches to us that one comes to God by faith and not by any works of righteousness. He reminds us that one cannot follow reason and ignore revelation. Those who go the way of Cain are too proud to admit they are sinners and need a substitute.

 

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