It's a delight to bring the Word of God to you again this evening. If you would like to follow along in the reading of God's Word, I'd like to read first from John's letter, 1 John 3. We'll be reading verses nine through 15. I'll be preaching from Genesis chapter four on Cain and Abel. And here, John makes reference to that situation and gives a light to it. And so I think it's good to read that here as well. 1 John chapter three, beginning with verse nine. This is the word of the living God. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." Now let us turn to Genesis chapter 4. We'll be reading verses 1 through 16. We'll be focusing most of our attention on verses 1 through 8, but in order to give broader context, I want us to read down to verse 16. Genesis 4, beginning with verse 1. Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain, a worker of the ground. In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground. And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering. But for Cain and his offering, he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it. Cain spoke to Abel, his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel, your brother? He said, I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper? And the Lord said, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. Cain said to the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me. Then the Lord said to him, not so. If anyone kills Cain, Vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Let's pray together. Dear gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you again for giving us this day of worship and rest We thank you that we can close the day with you, hearing from your word. We thank you, O God, for your word. We thank you for the richness of it, the variety within it. We thank you, Father, for the encouragement we receive, the instruction, the promises, and also the warnings. And as we think about the warning of apostasy tonight, We pray, Father, that you would minister to our hearts and lives. We pray that Christ would be exalted and magnified. Bless now both the preaching and the hearing of your word. For your great name's sake, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. Not many people think of fishing as an extremely dangerous sport. It is usually considered a time when you can relax, when you can quietly and peacefully enjoy nature while pursuing a little fun recreation. I was a young boy out fishing with some family and friends when someone on the boat, who will remain nameless, drew back their fishing rod and tried to cast their line into the water. Well, when the fishing rod was drawn back, the hook got stuck on something. So the person yanked on the line a couple of times in order to get it free, until they finally stopped when they heard a couple of shrieks coming out of my mouth. Yes, the hook had gotten stuck on the top of my head. And with those couple of extra jerks of the fishing rod, it was in their good. So he rushed back home, and I had to go see the doctor in order to get the fishing hook removed. As you know, fishing is actually something of a theme in the Bible. Jesus encouraged his disciples, and by extension, the church, to learn to become fishers of men. But our message this evening comes with a warning. For it is not only the zealous disciple of Christ who likes to go fishing. Satan himself, that great enemy of Christ and his church, loves to go fishing for souls. He doesn't fish for the heathen or the atheist. He doesn't even fish for the civil member of society. No, they are all already within his grasp. He is after the covenant people of God. And what that means, my dear brothers and sisters, is that Satan is fishing for you. The Puritan, Thomas Brooks, painted a vivid picture of Satan's devices when he alleged that Satan presents the golden bait and he hides the hook. Make no mistake about it. If you are a member of Christ's body, Satan will not give up until you are either dead or his sinful hooks are in you so good that he drags you down your backslidden path until you have completely apostatized. from the faith. Therefore, I urge you this evening, beware of the path that leads to apostasy. Beware of the path that leads to apostasy. In the passage before us, I want us to take a look at some of the particular sins that Cain committed that can serve as warning signs for the person who is on the path that leads to apostasy. The first warning is this. Beware of harboring spiritual pride in your heart, for this sin is surely on the path that leads to apostasy. Beware of harboring spiritual pride in your heart, for this sin is surely on the path that leads to apostasy. There are some specific things in our text about Cain and Abel and their offerings that shed some light on the nature of Cain's pride. It says in verses four and five that God had regard for Abel, that is, for his person and his offering, but did not have regard for Cain and his offering. I think that the word and in both cases is significant. Acceptable worship before God comprises more than just a matter of sincerity of heart. Surely the faith of a person as well as their act of worship is important to God. We do know that Abel had a strong faith. He was commended for it by the author of Hebrews in chapter 11. So it makes sense here that God would have regard for Abel. But what about the offering that Abel brought before the Lord? If you look closely at the beginning of verse four, you will see that the text says that Abel brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. Now, for those of you who know anything about the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, the wording of this verse is clear to you. Isn't it interesting that Abel knew about the importance of offering the firstborn of the flock? At the time of Moses, when the sacrificial and ceremonial system became more elaborate, the firstborn of the flock was very important. In Deuteronomy chapter 15 in the first part of verse 19, it says, all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock, you shall dedicate to the Lord your God. And we know there was great significance in the notion of the firstborn sons. throughout the Old Testament. This would ultimately find its fulfillment in Christ, whom Paul said in Colossians 1 15 was the firstborn of all creation, meaning that he was the preeminent son, the rightful heir and the sovereign ruler of the universe. Clearly, from the earliest days, the special meaning of the firstborn was realized. Therefore, Abel knew what it meant to bring the very best of what he had to the Lord. But even more striking is the fact that he understood the significance of the fat portions. As we know, the fat of the animal sacrifices was not to be eaten at all. It was dedicated entirely to the Lord and burned in the fire on the altar. It says in Leviticus three, beginning with verse 16, and the priest shall burn them. That is the fat portions on the altar as a food offering with a pleasing aroma. All fat is the Lord's. It will be a statute forever throughout your generations and all your dwelling places. You shall eat neither fat nor blood. Now, I share all of that with you in order to ask you a very important question. How in the world did Abel know about the significance, even down to some of the details of animal sacrifice? It says in Hebrews 11, 4, that Abel, by faith, offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice. Clearly Abel had faith in the promise of God to search to send a Redeemer who is typified in the sacrificial lamb He had learned that the only acceptable way to come to God was through the sacrifice of a through the shedding of blood And he obviously learned this through his parents. I In Genesis 3.21, shortly after the giving of the promise, we find the Lord God making for Adam and his wife garments of skin in order to clothe them. What do you think the Lord did with the rest of those animals? What do you think he did with the fat portions? Did he not at that very moment show them how he was to be approached in worship from that day forward? Do you see what Cain did to the instituted worship of God? Do you see how prideful and arrogant he was to think that he could offer something different than what God had required? To think that he could replace something as significant as animal sacrifice with some fruit from the ground and think that God should accept it. It is true that later under the Levitical system, there were such things as grain offerings and the offerings of the first fruits of the harvest. But our text here in verse three doesn't even mention the idea of first fruits. It simply says the fruit of the ground. And there really is no indication in scripture that before the mosaic economy, such offerings were made by God's people. We don't find Noah offering any fruit of the ground, although he did know about the clean and unclean animals, and did in fact offer some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird on the altar after the flood. Where was Abraham's offering of fruit from the ground? We don't see one. We do see him climbing up Mount Moriah with his son Isaac. and being given the promise that God will provide himself the lamb. Whereas Job's offering of grain and fruit, you won't find it. You will only see him rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings on the altar on behalf of his family. You see, the shedding of blood from the offering of an animal upon the altar was at the very heart of worship. under the Old Testament. It spoke the most clearly and the most profoundly of the promised Messiah to come. And those who did it in faith, like Abel, were commended and accepted before God. As one can see, what Cain did here was far worse than mere innovation in worship. He was, through his offering, denying the very promise that was given to him as a youth, that a savior would come who would destroy the works of the devil and undo the sinful rebellion of his parents by making atonement for sin. Thus, he sought to find acceptance with God in a different way, through something he had done, through his work of tilling the ground rather than in what God had promised to do for him. But this is, of course, what always happens to God's people. when they begin to take their eyes off the Lamb of Christ as being the only sufficient sacrifice for sins, when they want to contribute something of their own, when they want to look at something they have done as a way of finding acceptance before God. This is exactly what the Pharisees did in their attempt to worship God. Well, Isaiah prophesy of them. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Such spiritual pride prevents you from embracing the Savior with a simple, unfeigned faith. It prevents you from delighting in the gift of his son as an all-sufficient atonement for your sins. Such pride will, in fact, cause you to despise the goodness of God, which leads us to the second warning. Beware of harboring resentment in your heart toward your God, for this too is a sin that is on the path that leads to apostasy. Beware of harboring resentment in your heart toward your God, for this too is a sin that is on the path that leads to apostasy. Notice at the end of verse five, it says, so Cain was very angry and his face that is his countenance fell. Things didn't go his way. So he became depressed. His soul became downcast and you could see it in his face. Why doesn't God accept my offering, he thought? After all, I am a tiller of the ground like my father before me. I am tired of constantly trading in my hard-earned produce for one of my brother's lambs to be used as an offering. Why isn't my offering of fruit from the ground good enough for God? Do you remember the priests in the days of Malachi? Do you remember how God rebuked them for despising the name of the Lord by offering polluted food upon the altar? In Malachi chapter 1, God, when he spoke to the priests, said this, But you say, What a weariness this is! You bring to me what has been taken by violence, or is lame, or is sick, and this you bring as your offering? Shall I accept that from your hand, says the Lord? Oh, that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain. I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. The priests had the privilege of being the Lord's special inheritance. And what did they do with God's blessing? They despised it. And when God would not accept their offering, they resented Him for it. Like those priests in the days of Malachi, Cain began to find the worship of God wearisome. He did not find the worship of God to be a delight and a joy. In fact, he began to despise it. And yet we still find God in His goodness, reaching out to Cain. In verse six and seven, the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? God gave Cain an opportunity to repent. In fact, he urged him to do so before it was too late. Before his sinful desires got such a hold of him that he ended up making a shipwreck of his faith. I wonder if there are any of you here tonight that have begun to find the worship of God wearisome. You do not find God to be your chief joy and delight. I want you to know that the very same call to repentance that God issued to Gain, he issues to you again today. It is too late for Cain, but it is not too late for you. My dear friends, God urges you today to look again to his son afresh with a simple, unfeigned faith, to repent of your spiritual laziness, to turn off the path that leads to apostasy before it is too late. Such a mindset, if unstopped, will only become worse. It will cause you to become bitter and envious, especially against those who have found favor in the sight of the Lord, who actually delight in it. Which leads us to the third warning. Beware of harboring envy in your heart against your brother. For this sin is most certainly on the path that leads to apostasy. Beware of harboring envy in your heart against your brother. For this sin is most certainly on the path that leads to apostasy. In verse eight, we read, Cain spoke to Abel, his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. The apostle John, we read earlier, he shed light on this incident in verses 11 and 12 from 1 John chapter 3. Hear his word again. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? because his own deeds were evil and his brothers righteous. Hatred for God shows itself most tangibly in hatred for God's people. When Satan fell from grace out of pride and envy, he could do nothing against the one who created him. So he went after his children, Adam and Eve, in a similar manner. Cain, who became angry toward his God because of the favor shown to Abel, took out his vengeance upon his brother by putting him to death. What is so striking about Cain's apostasy is how much it parallels that of God's covenant people in the days of Christ. You will recall the spiritual pride of the scribes and Pharisees in Jesus's day, and how they profaned the worship of God and resented the ministry of Christ among them. When the Jewish people handed him over to the Romans to be crucified, it says in Mark 15, 10, that Pilate perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. Did you hear that? They put him to death out of envy. Cain was just one man, but it was the Jewish people as a whole who yelled out, crucify him, crucify him. In Matthew 27, 25, it says, and all the people said, his blood be on us and on our children. Cain only murdered a son of Adam, but the whole nation of Israel murdered the Son of God. Some of you may have come here this evening and may have thought that apostasy is a rare thing. I can tell you on the authority of the Word of God, on the authority of the passage I just quoted to you, that that is not the case. like Jesus' disciples who would cast a net in order to see how many fish they could catch. So Satan likes to cast a big net in order to see how many of God's people he can drag with him to hell. And here he drug down an entire nation. Satan, with his sinful hooks, brought down with him a third of the heavenly host. He could easily take you down as well. Apostasy from the gospel is not a rare thing. It's a common thing. Therefore, it is incumbent upon all of you to examine your hearts most scrupulously, most painfully. No one is exempt from the warning of apostasy. if you would steer clear of the path that leads to apostasy. You must look to Christ. You must look to Christ with a simple, humble, unfeigned faith. Only Christ can keep your feet from stumbling. Only Christ can keep you on the straight and the narrow path. You must renounce all confidence in yourself and place all of it upon Christ alone. You must delight yourself in the worship of God through him who made a perfect atonement for your sins. Be thankful for the goodness that he has shown to you and diligently make use of the means of grace that he has given. cast resentment and envy far from you. Let them not come near the door of your house. If you are prone to the sin of envy, then you must plead with God in the secret place to kill that sin in your life before it ends up killing you. Don't think that you are immune to the sin that leads unto death. Beware of the path that leads to apostasy. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we tremble at the warnings that you give to us in your word. May we never take our eyes off of Christ as the only sufficient atonement and sacrifice for our sins. Help us, O God, to delight ourselves in the worship of you to make diligent use of the means of grace and help us to love our brothers and our sisters. Root out any envy that may be in anyone's heart tonight. We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you keep our feet from stumbling. Help us always to look to you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.