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THE KING’S BUSINESS
'ly poised that the pitch of a 'will away from God threw it off the center and wrecked it materially and morally. What wonder that He says, “Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate” (Jer. 44:4). (3) Paradise is no place for sinners. God shut them out (Gen. 3:24; Rev. 22:14, 15). It is as impious as it is vani to look for Edenic conditions with men in the guilt and power of sin. To re pair the mischief of that one wilful mo- me.nt is as impossible to man as to con struct a universe out of material chaos. Catastrophic failure has overwhelmed our (fancied progress at every stage. God only can do it. We must start where ruin started. Get right with God. First Eden within. After that—with out. 2. Hope. Pandora, the Greek Eve, lift ed the lid of the forbidden casket and loosed a horde of hideous things with envenomed stings inflicting all the tor ments of sin and its consequents. One good among the evils she held captive, Hope. This is a reminiscence of Genesis 3:15, the Protevangel or First gospel, which lights our way through this les son and the whole Bible. II. THE TWO SONS. 1. Cain. The first infant; miniature man; what a wonder—the first babe to the first pair! Eve called him “Cain,” i. e. “Gotten,” an American mother would have said “Gain,” i. e. “Gotten.” She said, literally, “I have gotten a man, even Jehovah (the Hope).” So read Luther and many before and since, and so would all if they could believe Eve knew so much of the Gospel as did the Virgin. Had Mary said what Eve said we could not doubt her meaning (Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:23). 2. Abel. "Abel” means vanity, noth ingness. So Eve noted her disappoint ment. Cain proved no gain. Like all babes from that time he turned out bad; her sorrow, not her Saviour. III. THE TWO SACRIFICES; 1. “An offering,”—why? Doubtless by Divine direction. The Lord, the Son, our great High Priest, who slew the first sao rifice and made a covering (atonement) of its skin (Gen. 3:21), taught man to offer expiatory sacrifices. This only ac counts rationally and satisfactorily for the fact that ALL from the first have of fered sacrifices. He who taught Aaron (Lev. 17:1-7) taught Adam. 2. Cain’s offering. The product of his own labor (v. 2) “Of the fruit of the ground-” 3. Abel’s offering. A creation, a gift
of God, life; “of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.” IV. THE DIVERSE RECEPTIONS. 1. The Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.” 2. But unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect. 3. Where the difference lay. (1) Not in the characters of the men. If it were character, since perfect character must be demanded by perfect righteousness, an offering could make no difference, but here the result is linked with the offering, “and to his offering.” “There is no difference” (Rom. 3:22). His offering decides a man’s standing before God. 2. Abel’s offering met the require ments of Scripture. (a) Blood—“When I see the blood I will pass over you” (Exod. 12:13); “It Is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul,” or “by reason of the life” (Lev. 17:11). (b) A lamb, true type of the Lamb of God (John 1:29). (c) Faith, “By faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” (3) Cain’s offering did not meet the requirements of Scrip ture. (a) It was his works. No man can he justified before God by his fruits (Rom. 3:2, 28; 4:1, 2, etc.) (b) It was bloodless, and “Without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). (c) It was without faith (Heb. 11:4) and “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). (4) Three fatal errors are here condemned from the beginning, but prevail till today: That men can be justified (a) by character, or (b) by works, or (c) without the blood of God’s Lamb. God will have respect unto me and my offering if I approach Him with the blood of Christ. Otherwise He will not have respect either to my offering or to myself. (5) How did God indicate His acceptance? No doubt by fire from heaven (Lev. 9:24; 1 Kings 18:38). How does He indicate acceptance of my sacri fice? By the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven (Acts 2:1-4; 11:15-17). V. THE EFFECT ON CAIN. 1. Cain’s wrath. His wage was first against his Creator. The Cain mind is the carnal mind, which is enmity against God and His laws (Rom. 8:7). It hates God because He fixed a sting in sin; linked remorse with rebellion; bred the adder in the wine cup; and thrust the dart in the liver of the debauchee; and makes pride ashamed of itself; and cov etousness to scorn itself; and guilt to scorch, and sear the conscience. The Cain mind demands the pleasures of sin with the countenance of God. it would
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