(Church of Cain) Works of Cain - Part 4 — Ralph Sexton

Cain’s Offering and the Hope of Christ’s Return

Genesis chapter 4,. And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from God, from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was the keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.

But unto Cain and to his offering, notice the phrase, he had no respect. And Cain was very wroth. His countenance failed. The Bible talks to us about the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The greatest hope that I have today in my heart, that you have in your heart, is the fact that Jesus is coming again.

The reality of that. Every problem you have and I have is going to be solved when He comes. You say, well that's escapism. You call it what you want. I'm enjoying the fact He's coming back. Jesus is coming.

If you are in love with someone, do you not want to see them? I'm in love with Jesus. Jesus is in love with me. I want to see Him. I'm so excited about going to the Holy Land in November because I'm like a kid at Christmas.

Man, I love that. I can't wait. I can't wait for promise to be seen. I'm already working on services. I'm excited about what we're going to see and enjoy. But that's just an earthly anticipation. The way things are shaping up, we'll do the Holy Land together.

And it won't be John of Sod doing our guiding. It'll be the Lord Jesus Christ. How will that be? That'll be good. We have that hope. Jesus said, I'm not going to tell you the day I return. I'm not going to tell you the hour I return.

That's a secret. No man knows. Not even the angels. Of that day and of that hour, no one knows. But He said, I will tell you two clues. And Dennis, here's the two clues. He said, if you want to know when I'm coming, you study what was going on during Noah's day.

And you study what was going on during Lot's day. And if you'll study those two things, when you see them happening in your society, your culture, your time, then you'll know I'm not even at the door.

The Works of Cain and the Triumph of Self-Will

So we've been studying, as a church family, Noah's days. I want to introduce this thought to you. The works of Cain. The works of unbelief. The works of Cain's hands. Here's one way you could view this.

Cain's will is now overriding God's Word. Self-will becomes more important. What I think and what I want becomes more important than biblical principles. Cain's will is over God's Word. And if you allow that to happen, what happens is that the works of Cain then bear fruit.

And the fruit of that is wrath and anger. And it is discord and an unsettled spirit. And it becomes and grows into wickedness. And what we find is the discord of Cain's heart. The dissatisfaction of Cain's heart.

Turned into anger. And anger mutated into murder. In verse 3, we find out the reason that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. In verse 5, we see what Cain got upset about.

But unto Cain and to his offering, the Word of God says that God had no respect. Why did God disrespect Cain? Why did God disrespect his offering? Because Cain brought the wrong sacrifice. He brought the offering and the labor of his self-will.

Now, Cain was very contemporary in his thinking. Cain was trying to please the society of his day. He wanted to have a politically correct offering. He did not want to have a bloody sacrifice that had been shown to him as the way to appease God.

He wanted to have a softer approach to the holiness of God. So Cain changed his thinking. Cain ignored God. Cain turned around twice and he abandoned his heritage. Old time religion was out of touch. The old time way wouldn't work.

So he offered the wrong sacrifice in self-will. Cain, when we read this passage, expresses not one hint of guilt. Nowhere is he crying like Isaiah, I am a man of unclean lips. Nowhere is he saying, God have mercy on me.

Abel had already been overwhelmed by God's grace. Cain was offering his works. Abel was offering God's works. Cain was saying, look what I've done. Abel was saying, look what God's done. Cain was saying, I am great.

I am good. I've worked hard. Abel saying, I don't deserve this land. I don't deserve grass growing on the land. I don't deserve the sheep that God gave me. I don't deserve the air that's in my lungs. But I've been blessed by God.

And God looked my way. And God had mercy. And God's lamb, I'll take it over to the altar and I'll give a sacrifice that cost a life. He presented the blood sacrifice. Cain ignored God's plan. Cain expressed no guilt.

And he also, if you read this carefully, he acknowledged not anywhere here about faith in any kind of atonement. That man would be reconciled to God. If you have time in your personal study this week, look at Hebrews 9 .22 about the shedding of blood for the remission of sin.

Abel’s Faith and the More Excellent Sacrifice

A powerful verse in Hebrews 11. How does Hebrew 11 verse 4 read? Notice the phrasing in your Bible. By faith, Abel. This is Hebrews 11 .4. By faith, Abel offered unto God. And what did he offer unto God?

A more excellent sacrifice. And then God doesn't stop there. He says, than Cain. He mentions it again in his words. That Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice unto God. And not only did he state that, but here's what he said, Brian.

He said, and it was better than Cain's. That's strong. But that same verse in Hebrews 11 .4, it goes on to say, by which, what? He obtained witness that he was righteous. He obtained witness. Who was the witness?

God Himself. The next line in that verse says, God testifying of His gifts. And by it, He being dead yet speaking. He said, He got murdered. He got killed. But the very fact He's dead, He's still preaching out of the ground.

The biblical principles of what He did to do business with a holy God. Cain offered a sacrifice. Brother Bill, in the Hebrew, that word is a word, Mishnah. M-I-N-C-H-A. And it means that His sacrifice there in the book of Genesis is a Eucharist offering.

It's an offering of the earth. It's an offering there of the fruit of the ground. And what Cain did is he ignored his own sinfulness and his greatest fault was he ignored his own personal need of divine intervention.

Human Depravity and the Need for Divine Intervention

He was going to help God redeem himself. One of the truths of this Bible that our flesh does not want to receive is the total depravity of man. Man doesn't want to hear. He's depraved. Men and women, teenagers and young adults don't want to hear.

They're depraved. Sociologists and people that are working and psychologists and counselors and therapists, they're always trying to fan the spark of goodness inside of man. And we'll fan that. Cain was not without education concerning proper worship or the words and requirements of a three times holy God.

I don't have time to read all this scripture into your hearing, but go to Genesis chapter 2 verses 8 and 9 and you'll read about the Garden of Eden. You'll see God planted a garden and there He put man.

Go to Genesis chapter 2 verses 15, 16 and 17. You'll find out there's a tree of life in the midst of the garden. There's also a tree of knowledge of good and evil. You'll also go to chapter 3 and you'll find that sin is in the Garden of Eden now.

Eve and Adam have sinned, Genesis 3, 6 and 7. And the Bible said she took of the fruit thereof and did eat. And ladies, let me just tell you something. This is Mother's Day and we're honoring you today, but ladies, young teenage girls, young single ladies in our church, moms, let me just share something with you.

There's not a more powerful force in this building today outside of the Holy Spirit of God than a godly woman. The power of a godly woman, the power of a young lady surrendered to God, the power of a teenage girl that walks with King Jesus, nothing more powerful.

You say, what are you talking about, preacher? God made man the head of the home, but God put man's heart in the hands of a woman. You read this book and you understand what this book says. And it says right here that she took the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband.

And the next phrase, her husband, with her. There's no comma, there's no pause, there's no period. It says, her husband with her. Her husband loved her. Adam didn't sin. Adam wasn't tricked. Adam loved Eve.

He's the type of Christ. We're a type of Eve, the church. Boy, this will preach forever, but it's good truth. And the Bible says that she gave her husband with her and he did eat. I'm going to tell you, ladies, you have the power to lead your home, the power to lead your husband, your children, teenagers.

You've got the power to lead other teenagers, single young ladies. You've got the power to influence the party, the crowd, the car you're in, the music that's being listened to. You've got that power.

God gave you the heart, the power to touch the heart. The Bible says he did eat and the eyes of both of them were open. Genesis 3, 22, here's what we read, Jackie. We read the gardens now, it's taken away.

They lost it all. They had everything. They had the tree of life. They had food. They had fruit. They had everything. And now it's all going to be taken away. It's removed. In Genesis chapter 3, verses 22 and 23, the Lord sent him forth from the Garden of Eden.

And so he drove out the man. And heavenly beings are now placed at the gate. Here's the Garden of Eden. If the platform's the garden and here's the gate in, and now there's heavenly beings, angels, cherubims, and they're guarding the gate so Adam and Eve cannot come back in, so man can't enter back into the garden.

Not only that, but we read something else. What does it say here in verse 23? And therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So verse 24, he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims.

And notice this, a flaming sword which turns every way to keep the way of the tree of life. God said, I'm not only going to put angels, but I'm going to do a flaming sword. Now church, you read this with me carefully.

It doesn't say that the sword's even in the hand of the angels. What does it say? He said, I put cherubims and what? And a flaming sword. And not only is it a flaming sword, but it's a smart flaming sword.

Men think they're so smart they got laser guided weapons. God had a laser guided sword in Genesis 3. I'll sneak around, that sword right there. I'll go, laser guided, motion detector, heat seeking, infrared, divine flaming sword.

You say, it's all in the Hebrew. You got to read this. This is good. The tree of life is represented as a sinful nation is trying to have life eternal. Why did God block that tree of life? Sinful men, sinful women.

Watch this. If they could get into the garden and they're sinners now, and they could get to the tree of life and they could eat that, those fallen natures would have lived forever. And God blocked that.

God didn't allow it. You know what? Cain knew this history. Cain had been there. Adam and Eve. How many times had Adam and Eve got their boys, and Adam's holding on to the hand of Cain, and Eve's holding on to the hand of Abel, and they said, come on boys, we need to show you something.

And they walked over to the gate. Those little boys' eyes got big. See those big angels? Said, we used to live inside there, boys. Look in there. You see that big tall tree? Mom and Daddy used to sing under that tree.

We used to picnic under there. You see that? We used to walk with God. First time I ever saw that tree, God walked me over and said, look at this. God provided for us. Boys, we used to fellowship with God.

We know He's God and we know He's great, but it used to be different. It used to be a lot more personal. It just wasn't on Sunday. It was every day. We walked with Him and talked with Him as we traveled life's road.

Restored Fellowship Through the Holy Spirit

That's why you're so blessed as Bible believers, because Jesus said, if I go away, I won't leave you comfortless, and He's put the Holy Ghost inside of us. We're having restored fellowship. Adam and Eve, the fellowship was broken.

We have that restored fellowship. Notice here something powerful. Not only did they look in and see that tree, that tall tree, but Cain and Abel grew up looking at the gate. They saw the angel standing guard.

They witnessed the flaming sword that turned to block men from entering into the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve told them in the evenings, they told them around the supper table, boys, let me tell you something.

As you grow up, I know we're sitting here, and I'm having to work and to plow and to till, but let me tell you something while you're having your dessert. I remember a day when roses had no thorns. I remember when there were no weeds in the garden.

I remember, son, how it used to be when the power of God was on our church. I remember when it was all-time religion. I remember when there was conviction. I remember when it was more than a production of man's hands.

Trade it all off, boys. Don't you guys trade it off. Don't you lose what God's given you. Don't waste the sacrifice of our pain of disobedience. You stay true. They fellowshiped around their dinner table.

They told bedtime stories. Cain and Abel grew up hearing about the day of Genesis 3 .23 when God sent them forth from the garden. The Hebrew word shalak is to actually send away or to cast out. And they were cast out of the garden.

And God spoke to Adam and Eve and spoke to them to teach Cain and Abel, boys, whatever you do, serve God. Boys, you don't have to worry about your talents. Everyone can be faithful. Be faithful, boys.

Be faithful to God. Obey His Word. Don't ever do anything to cause God to send you away. We heard Him. We rejected His Word. We disobeyed Him. And He sent us away. I'm forgiven today, boys. God made the sacrifice.

God killed the animals. God made my first set of clothes. He hid my nakedness from His searching eyes. But boys, don't ever sin against God. God will forgive you. But the price of sin will always remain.

The Consequences of Sin and the Cost of Fellowship

The wages of sin is death. Let me tell you something. I can come up here to Brother Ricky, and I can pick at him and pick at him and punch at him and punch at him. Until finally he gets angry. He stands up and he pops me right in the nose.

He can go home and his sweet wife can say, now I know the pastor was asking for it, and I know he pushed you over the threshold, and I know you got mad, but you shouldn't have broken the preacher's nose.

And he'll get in the car and he'll drive over here and he'll say, preacher, you know I love you. You know I got mad. I'm sorry I broke your nose. And I can say, you know what, Brother Ricky, I deserve that.

I was way out of line. I had sin in my heart. I want you to forgive me. And he says, well, pastor, will you forgive me for breaking your nose? And I say, sure, I will. And we'll get down and we'll pray together.

God forgives me and God forgives him. But watch this. I still have a broken nose. Two big old black eyes. He's right with God, I'm right with God. And I'm walking around here. Oh, what happened? Oh, none of your business.

You love God? Yes, I love God. Oh, my head's killing me. Are you going to heaven? Yeah, I'm going to heaven. My nose will quit bleeding. To break fellowship with a holy God. You don't want to lose God's touch on your life.

You don't want any little old root of bitterness to come in there and break your fellowship. The devil doesn't have to drive a train wreck into your life to break your fellowship. All he wants to do is take the edge off your sword.

Take your joy, take your victory. They were warned. The boys grew up with the first person accounts of what disobedience will do. They knew the cost of sin. Genesis 3, 24 says, so he drove. Hebrew, drove.

Garash. G-A-R-A-S-H. That word means to drive out. But I like the second meaning of that word because the second meaning of that word says to drive away from a possession. They possessed the garden.

They had the land. And guess what? Their sin caused God to drive them away from what they once possessed. When you backslide, you lose that possession. God forgives you, but it takes a long time to get restored what you have traded away at the flea market of Satan.

Adam and Eve are now found begging God in Genesis 3, 24. What do you think happened? What do you think occurred? I believe God said, you can't stay here. If you eat of the tree of life, you'll live forever.

But Cliff, what are they going to do? They don't want to leave. This is utopia. This is paradise. Everything is provided. So I believe when God came to them, they said, God, please, can't we have another chance?

God, please, let us stay. God, I promise you, we won't do that again. God, please, give us another opportunity. God, please. And the Bible says that they were driven out. I believe they left crying and begging to stay.

Because of the phrasing of that Hebrew verb, I believe they were driven out against their own will. They wanted to stay. And God said, you can't. If you break and make another mistake and eat of that tree, you'll live forever for the fall of nature.

And that'll never happen. He said, I've got a promise coming. Genesis 3 15. There's help on the way. But until then, that blood sacrifice will have to happen. And Cain and Abel knew this. And Cain ignored God's word.

The Blood Sacrifice and the Kinsman Redeemer

And so what he did is he gathered up his fruit, his labor, his vegetables, his pears and apples and oranges and apricots and zucchini and squash. He gathered all his pumpkins. He gathered all his corn and green beans and greasy cut shorts and big boy tomatoes.

And he gathered all of his flowers and all of his blooms. And he brought them up and he said, here God, I love you too. And God looked at him and he said, son, you know the rules. You're trying to do it a new way and it's not going to work.

You can't save yourself with your own works. He brought a curse to cure a curse. And you can't cure a curse with a curse. The only thing that'll lift the curse is the blood sacrifice. 2 ,000 years ago outside of Jerusalem, Jesus Christ, the Kinsman Redeemer, the Lamb of God was nailed to a tree, Eddie, so you and I could be at church today and know our sins have been forgiven.

You say, well, Brother Ralph, I'm here today. I'm watching on the internet. I'm watching on TV. I'm listening on the radio. You don't know how bad I am. You don't know what I've done. You don't know where I've been.

You don't know what I've gotten into. Oh, I know. But you don't know how great He is and how powerful He is and how rich His royal blood is and how marvelous His grace is and how long-suffering His mercy is.

All you've got to do is bring all of that waste and filth and garbage and mess-ups and mess-ups and disasters and hopelessness and helplessness and just bring all that junk and bring it over here. And say, can I trade this in for life eternal?

Can I start all over? And He'll just take, Pam, that precious blood and He'll wipe all that past away. And He'll look down at you and say, you're brand new there, just like you never sinned. I love you.

You're my child. You walk with me. A new day with God is now because of the blood. Cain made the mistake of trying to do it in self-will and self-help. Cain thought he was better educated than his parents.

Adam and Eve were good, well-meaning people, but they were sort of old-fashioned. They were tuned to the past. Cain said, I've got new technology, new ways to farm. I'm more sophisticated. I've got self-importance.

People look up to me in the community. I'm a leader. I don't have to go that low road.