Let's turn in our Bibles now to page 9, Genesis chapter 4, verses 1 through 15. Genesis 4, 1 through 15. And we'll do our best to read all of these verses in unison. Longer passage, but we'll try to do so. Let's begin. Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain and said, I have acquired a man from the Lord. Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry and his countenance fell. So the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? "'If you do well, will you not be accepted? "'And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door, "'and its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.' "'Now Cain talked with Abel his brother, "'and it came to pass, when they were in the field, "'that Cain rose up against Abel his brother 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 he said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. "'When you till the ground, "'it shall no longer yield its strength to you. "'A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.' "'And Cain said to the Lord, "'My punishment is greater than I can bear. "'Surely you have driven me out this day "'from the face of the ground. "'I shall be hidden from your face. "'I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth. And it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me. And the Lord said to him, therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. That is the word of God. Are all religions essentially the same? Well, beloved in the Lord Jesus, is there really much difference between religions? Don't all religions speak of doing good things? Don't they all point to God? Well, let's hear what the Bible says about that. Our headings are two, very simple. Examination of a false religion and the exposure of that false religion. And our goals are that you will, one, see the clear distinction between those who love Christ and those who don't. And that you will then be moved to bring Christ's revelation to those who hate him, those who are in the false religions, so they can be changed from enemies to friends. First, we will look at an examination of a false religion. Well, the Bible says that Eve gave birth to two sons, the first being Cain and the second, Abel. Eve expected Cain to be the savior. And you say, how do we know that? Because the very name itself, the name best translated is this, I have gotten a man, the Lord. She really had some kind of expectation that Cain would be the Messiah. Cain himself was a farmer and didn't evidence much of that Messiah spirit for sure. And it must be that when she had her second son, not seeing the hope that this one will come to redeem us, that one who will crush the head of the serpent, that she named the second son Abel, which means futility. Maybe she didn't see what she was looking for and chose to use such a name. Abel, in the meanwhile, was a shepherd. Now, how bad was Cain? Cain was far from being the Lord that she expected, that Eve expected. And he showed it by bringing inappropriate offerings to Yahweh. You notice sometimes a mother, I think Mother's Day is coming up and the first thing you think about children, well, maybe they don't like me as much. Look at what they gave. But the bigger thing to be concerned about is what would they offer to God? Do they offer their lives to God? There's no better present a mother could have. And she's looking at Eve, sorry, at Cain here and thinking, look at what I have. He was headstrong. He wanted to worship God the way he wanted. And here's the reality, brothers and sisters. Cain was worse than a murderer long before he killed his brother. How? He worshiped a false god. There's no sin worse. The very first commandment is what? You shall have no other gods before me. So instead of offering a blood sacrifice to picture Christ who was coming, and he was coming to save the world, Cain brought an offering of his garden. He brought fruits and vegetables. I have no doubt that these fruits and vegetables were good. Who could say no to good eggplant, right? But they were unacceptable to God. Jorina would have seen this growing up in India. From 3.30 in the morning, people are going around selling flowers and things that they have to put and give to their gods. Are they well-meaning? Yes, they wanna worship God and everyone has a desire to worship, but their offerings were unacceptable. Now in his mind, it might have seemed reasonable to worship God in that way. But who was he to talk back to God, who demanded that he be worshipped with the blood of a pure animal for the forgiveness of sins? That's where the arrogance comes in, right? We think we know better than God, and we will give God what we think he should get. Now, Cain's sin was exacerbated because he knew better. He knew it was wrong to offer vegetables and fruits before God, and yet he brought that to God. It was willfulness. He had the picture of sacrifice in his parents when God killed the animals and provided those symbolic coverings of righteousness and the real covering of their nakedness. They knew that without the shedding of blood, there was no forgiveness of sins. and that the blood of the clean animal represented the coming work of Jesus Christ, who will shed his blood for our sins. If you have your sermon notes handy, look at 1 John 1, verse 1. We say together. that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled concerning the word of life." When did this begin? From the beginning. They knew about this from the very beginning of the world. But Kain Sin was not just exacerbated because he knew better and didn't do it. Cain's sin was even more exacerbated than that because it was not only the offering was wrong, but he brought this offering with a wrong attitude, with a wrong heart. Cain was trying to be acceptable to God without confessing or without acknowledging his guilt. Maybe his name got to his head. To have the name the Lord in your name can make you feel very pompous, arrogant, for sure. Look at Proverbs chapter 15, verse eight. Together, the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight. You have to worship God the way he says and with the right heart. The wicked can try to come and offer the best offerings, but it's unacceptable before God. You see, in reality, King was offering self-worship. He wanted to be the focus. He would determine how he was to be worshipped, what to do, and what the attitude of his heart ought to be. In reality, he had a different religion. It looked like he was doing some of the same things as the other religions. And there we have the problem. Let's read from Jude chapter 1 verse 11 and 12 together. Woe to them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the air of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are spots in your love feast, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds. Late autumn trees without fruit. You know, this is the picture. The spots there mean something black or something dirty in the midst of the purity. It's like when you see a fly in your drink. That's another way of thinking of it. That's the way God described these people. And they were following in the way of Cain. Now, they were in church. And if you remember what we preached from Jude, the series was snakes in the church. What are snakes doing in church? They shouldn't be there, but they were. And that's the problem, because there's the look of Christianity without the heart of Christianity. 1 John 3, 11 through 13 together. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain, who was a wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brothers righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you." That's the foundation. That's a strong statement. Don't marvel. Don't be surprised if the world hates you. because that's what happened to Abel. He was doing what was right and following the true religion, and the one who was following the false religion, the fake religion, hated him. On the other hand, That was Cain and his vegetables and fruits, whereas Abel worshiped with a blood offering, which was acceptable to the Lord. Hebrews chapter nine, verse 22 says together, and according to the law, almost all things are purified with blood and without the shedding of blood, there is no remission, no removal of sins without the shedding of blood. Now, It may be, and we're guessing here, that maybe his name, Abel, which means futility, reminded him of the impossibility of pleasing God by his own effort. And he realized he needed something more. He needed to worship God the way God says to give a meaning to his life and to give him salvation. Look at Psalm 39, verse five now together. Indeed, you have made my days as hand breaths, and my age is as nothing before you. Certainly, every man at his best state is but vapor." Think about that. Man's best state, he is vapor. You talk about futility, and he understood that. And that's why he went to God. That's why it's so important, even as Reformed believers, when we understand total depravity, you should love God much more than someone who believes in partial depravity. Because you know the depth of your wretchedness, and so you will hold on more to God. Now Abel saw the hopelessness of his position and he knew he had to make right with God in the things he did. You see the difference in the religion. He looks to God, sees his hopelessness, and then Hebrews 11 verse 4, together. By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, testifying of his gifts, and through it, he being dead, still speaks. So remember, the Bible says if something is not done from faith, it is sin. Abel had faith, and it was acceptable before God. Now what happened to Abel's sacrifice? We continue to examine this false religion. Coming back to Cain now. God rejected Cain's offering, and yet even as he rejected Cain's offering, he encouraged Cain to do what is right, and reminded him of the reward for doing right. God was telling him, look, Cain, it's not hopeless. If you come with a proper sacrifice, I will open the door for you to be repentant and we will join together again as father and son. But instead of looking at his heart and his infidel status before God and seeing his sin, Cain's response to God was with anger. Because Cain's religion was about himself. He was God. And suddenly this other God was defying him and saying, no, no, no, you need to worship me with blood sacrifices. He didn't like that. You see, Cain had the form of godliness, but was a stranger to the power of God. He didn't know the true God, but he looked religious. Now I'm sure you'll see lots of applications now. What can you learn from this? Well, first of all, names are not insignificant. Name your children wisely. It is one way in which you will teach them something for the rest of their lives. You will never be there with them. You die, you go on, and they continue. So take the time to name your children. It's a good thing. I did a quick search about some names that are popular these days. Let me give you names that people named their children. Busy, Apple, Orange, Blue Ivy, Dream, Stormy with an I, Extra, and one I saw recently, Toast. That's how they named their children. What are those children gonna grow up when the parents are gone? Is there even a little thing that will make them think about those names? Second, worship God as he says, only the way he says. The worst kind of deception the devil uses today is to use churches to look Christian. but there's no true gospel. You know, there are people invoking witches. It's extreme cases, but they're there now. Women standing up in the pulpits, which is already a problem, and invoking all kinds of weird saints and spirits. The most dangerous religions in the world Use part of the Bible and ignore the rest of it. They look good, but they have a false foundation. And people think of Mormonism. They think it looks good. The people are singing some of the same songs. And people said they're nice people. They're always so sweet and polite. Jehovah's Witnesses, most Seven Days Adventists, these are all cults that look something like Christians. Islam, they say they believe the Bible. They believe in Jesus. You talk to a Muslim, do you believe in Jesus? Of course we do. That's why they're so dangerous because people drop their guard when they hear some religious things. The devil knows that. That's why most religions are, you see some similarities. So people feel they're close enough to the truth. But you must worship God only in the way he says, not the way these religions do. Third, God does not want ritual worship either. You know, sometimes there are real Christians, but they go into church and they just go through the motions. They're not thinking about the songs that they're singing. They're not agreeing with the pastor as he leads in prayer. They're not paying attention to the sermons. Or they eat the bread and they drink the wine without thinking about what they are doing. That's ritual worship. God wants you inwardly and outwardly. Four, if you want to live and worship God, if you want to live and worship the way you desire, know that you have made yourself God. If you want to change an element of worship so it will suit you because you don't like what we do, now, no church is perfect. Everyone must improve. But if you think the church is all wrong and you need to change the way the church is worshiping, you need to see if you are making yourself God. One more. Only blood sacrifice will remove sins. the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And that's what this all pointed to. A religion that is not grounded upon the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the only base for the atonement of sins is a false religion, and you should run away from it. Now let's see what false religions actually do as we move to our second point. We examine the false religion in terms of in the life of Cain in particular, but now we expose the consequence. Cain killed his brother, committing fratricide. And this is one of the worst type of murders. You know, if you murder a stranger, that's terrible. But when you murder someone that you grew up with, that's linked to you by biology, that you grew up together in community, that's the worst type of murder. That's one he should love and yet he murders. Cain did not want to acknowledge his sinfulness. And that's the natural outcome. Now you see what the religion, how it plays out. He worshiped, God says, what you did was wrong. And instead of saying, look, I'm sorry what I did. I'll try to make it right. He decides to cover his sin and his hatred, his malice, led to murder. But when he was doing that, he was really reflecting his true father, the devil, a murderer, an enemy of God. The devil always tried to destroy the line of promise and kill the seed of the woman. That's mentioned throughout the Bible. That's why when you talk about redemptive historical preaching, as you would often hear from Reformed pulpits, we're showing the devil's attempt constantly in the Old Testament to try to kill the seed of the woman. Then even after Jesus died and went back to heaven, the devil will come after the children of the seed of the woman. And that's what you see even in Revelation. See, Cain's God, While he made himself God, he also had another God, the devil. And his love for the devil was greater than his love for his own family. Cain hated God. And to show his hatred for God, since he could not attack God, he attacked God's people. He attacked God's son. Now you begin to see the outworking of the hatred, outworking of the false religion. So while Cain and Abel were both covenant children and received the same privileges and opportunities, they were very dissimilar. One followed the true God, one followed the false God, Satan, and himself. So God asked Cain about the whereabouts of his brother. You know the story. God knew where his brother was, but he did this in order to give Cain a chance to repent. That's how good God is. He should have slain this man right away, but he given him opportunity and said, where's your brother? And he should have said, look, I overreacted. I did something wrong. He didn't do it with his sacrifices. He didn't do it with his murder. So God confronted him about this. God was really showing mercy. You know, pictures of the child hanging from the apple branch, hanging from the tree, and screaming, and is afraid he's going to fall, he's lost his footing. And then the father says, look, let go, I will catch you. What was Cain's response? I will keep holding on the apple branch and scream and eventually fall and hurt myself. He was rejecting the opportunity that God was given to him. And in fact, Cain decided to plead his innocence. He committed a deliberate murder to cover up his sin, and then he covered up his murder with another lie. See the trouble he got into? Bad sacrifice, murder of his brother, lying tongue. And in fact, he's the first man to have ever questioned God, telling God, you did something wrong here. Am I my brother's keeper? God told Cain what he had done to his brother then. God didn't hide it from him, and the evidence was there against him. God confronted him, and then God convicted him and said, you know, your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground. And then unable to reply, after he was exposed, God condemned Cain. What did God do to him, though? It's interesting. God condemned him to harder work than even what Adam was cursed with, that he would be a fugitive always watching over his shoulder, and that he would be a wanderer, a vagabond throughout the world. Severe condemnation, horrible punishment to be a fugitive. And even then, after he was convicted and condemned, he complained about his sentence. And look again, the third time you see God showing grace to him. God was still giving him an opportunity to say, I will protect you even from someone who is trying to kill you. So there was still a measure of hope again that God offered. Again, three times. He didn't have to do that, but he did. Thought the vigilantes will come and get me. He was guilty of abuse, murder, idolatry. What can we learn from this? We see the natural outcome of false religion is destruction. I could include that if you have in your notes. I think probably this one should be right at the very top. All false religions lead to death. All false religions will lead you to eternal death, and many of them to physical death. Remember the Hindus who burned their wives, the wives alive when their husbands died? It's destructive. How Hindus in India today kill their newborn girls, hundreds of thousands of them, and feed them to crocodiles. It's deadly. Think of the destruction of a family. Think of what Islam does when it encourages a man to have multiple wives, how that weakens society. I didn't think of all the religions teach them to kill all the people. Look in our bulletins today from Andhra Pradesh, a pastor and his wife were sent to jail for two years. for forcing a woman to become Christians even though she publicly and in court says, I didn't do it. They didn't do that to me. They still will send her to prison for two years. Think of jihad, what they believe. If you're a Muslim, you become a Christian, you have a death sentence automatically on your head. The goal is to kill. That's why Christians are called infidels and dogs in the Quran. False religions never lead to good things. So in our society where we like to say, oh, can't we all get along, and all religions talk about God, and all religions talk about good things, those are ignorant people who say those things. Second. Because of that, expect hate. That's what we read in the scriptures. There are many children of Satan in false religions, and if you don't experience hate, thank God for that. But the question you need to ask yourself is this. Are people not persecuting you because you hide, and you never talk about being a Christian, or you never live a Christian life? Look at what the Lord says, Luke chapter six, verse 22, together. Blessed are you when men hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and cast out your name as evil for the son of man's sake. That's what you're expected to have. Jesus said, if they persecute me, they will persecute you. And Jesus singled out the persecution of Abel as a prophet to warn you to watch out for persecution from people of false religions if you live a godly life. Also, Matthew 23, 34, and 35 together. Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous bloodshed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Barakai, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Abel was a prophet of God and was murdered. So expect hate. Third, touching back on some of the things that we've seen. Muslims have claimed to be your brothers, but they are not. They don't love Yahweh. So they will kill you in many countries like Saudi Arabia. Radhe knows about some of the things that are taking place there. If you try to evangelize, the trouble you will get into. If you try to build a place of worship, it's not permitted. You're not even allowed to rent a place and meet. You'd often have to meet in embassies that are considered foreign countries or foreign property. And if someone were converted through your evangelism, you could be executed. And they've done so. Again, Hindus aren't your brothers either. That's why they've tried to make so many laws to ban. And in fact, in India, there are many places you are not allowed legally to change your religion. And you think, why are they so afraid? They have to use the power of the sword of the state in order to keep you in their religion. Maybe it's not worth it. Definitely isn't. In Sri Lanka, they tried to pass laws to ban evangelism and conversion. They tried three times in parliament to pass that law. In Nepal, used to be the only Hindu country in the world, you were forbidden to evangelize. And there are strict punishments that were put. This past week, I talked to Pastor Rakesh in Nepal, and the government sent out another notice, a warning of dangerous Christian meetings. And these are foreigners who come to meet with pastors and congregations there. So they could be arrested for doing that, illegal meetings. Buddhists are not your brothers. They would threaten their own people for becoming Christians. The government of Canada is not your friend. Or they won't promote the bill that they will criminalize what God commands you to do. In fact, right now, there are laws in Canada that would make pastors criminals if we do some of the things that are forbidden there, that God requires us to do. You see, your God is Yahweh. Theirs is the devil. Pray for the salvation of these Hindus and the Muslims and the Buddhists, the government leaders. Pray for their salvation. Don't think they're your friends. but don't treat them as if they're hopeless because the gospel has changed many persecutors of God's people. Four, covenant sign doesn't save. This privilege doesn't make you a Christian. You've been baptized, wonderful, but that doesn't save you. Being a member of the church doesn't save you. You're saved by Grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Remember the Pharisee and the publican when the Pharisee stood up and talked about how wonderful he was before God and the publican got up, beat his chest and say, God have mercy upon me a sinner. Which one was justified? The one who called for help. They were both covenant people. They were both circumcised, but one yelled out, have mercy upon me, I need help. So that's important for you, children, especially. Don't think because you're baptized, everything is okay. You have to grab hold of the promise that God gave you and receive it into your heart. Trust that the Lord is your savior. And finally, expect us, Cain. This was repeated for Israel in Canaan. And if you refuse to do well, the land will spit you out. This is an important one in our times especially because we've enjoyed a long period of prosperity and Christian influence in the West. But it will not continue forever. I think in some ways we are going on fumes. We expect financial and social prosperity without having the foundations. We've given up the foundations. Religion is not based on the letter or the letters that make up the word. It's on firm trust and walking in the way of Jesus. Because if the Western church does not do that, we will find ourselves losing as Cain was put out from where he was and going into the land of not. Let's conclude. The false religion of Cain was examined and exposed Graphically so. He worshipped how he wanted. He did what was easy. He did not care what God wanted. He served the devil. All false religions are of the devil. Now the true religion was grounded in faith in the coming Savior. That's what Abel had. And it was pictured by sacrifices. So brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, get a full sense of your inability to please God and therefore cling to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as your own. Your name should have been futility, but it isn't anymore. Why? You've been given a new name. Why? Because you have grabbed hold of the promises that God's given to you. But then live your life now as a sacrifice for the Savior. Love Him. Love His people. Don't follow what other religions teach. They don't have the same God as you. Praise your God with passion, not half-baked praises. We don't have to make the bloody sacrifices, but the sacrifice of praise in the house of God. And then those who live as Cain, those of the false religions, are acting like gods and will incur God's wrath, help save them. Confront them so they are convicted and you will save them from their condemnation to hell. And finally, what is your religion? Is it to do what you think is best? If so, you are your own God and you have rejected Yahweh. If God were your God, you would do what pleases Him. May you come to your senses and may you realize there is only one God and that you can only begin to please Him when you offer the life and death of Jesus as your life and death. Amen. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for your words today. Thank you for reminding us of how we need Jesus, the only hope in the midst of darkness. Lord, let us then live that way, understanding that we've been separated from wickedness. Let us not be pulled in and lured by false religions that kind of look like Christianity, but isn't. Lord, hold fast the truth of your word. Hear us, for we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.