Lessons from Cain and Abel

“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” -- Hebrews 11:4

There are some very important lessons for us in the things recorded in the Book of God about Cain and his brother Abel. They are important and practical.

1. Public worship is now and always has been the ordinance of God. — Let self-serving men say what they dare against it. God has always ordained the assemblying of sinners in the name of his Son for worship. Adam and Eve set a time and place for public worship, and taught their children to do the same.

2. The only way sinners can approach and find righteousness with God is by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, by faith in him. — Cain was rejected of God because he trampled under his feet the blood of Christ and sought to climb into heaven by the merit of his own works. Abel was accepted because he trusted Christ alone.

3. There are only two religions in the world. — The Religion of Cain and The Religion of Abel. – Works and Grace. – Carnal and Spiritual.

4. Our acceptance with God precedes our faith in Christ. — Abel did not earn divine approval by bringing his sacrifice of faith. His sacrifice of faith was the witness of his righteousness, not the cause of it.

5. Salvation is by grace alone. — Grace does not flow in bloodlines. Grace does not depend upon works. Grace is the sovereign prerogative of God and the work of God (Rom. 9:15-18).

6. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” — Cain’s worship, his sacrifice, that very thing by which he hoped to be accepted of God, was as much an act of sin as rape and murder, a sin of much greater portion than rape and murder. His worship was and act of defiant unbelief and rebellion.

7. That which distinguishes one man from another is the grace of God and the grace of God alone (1 Cor. 4:7) — Electing Grace! – Redeeming Grace! – Regenerating Grace! – Keeping Grace! All believers gladly acknowledge, “By the grace of God I am what I am!”

“Naught have I gotten, but what I received,

Grace hath bestowed it since I believed.

Boasting excluded, pride I abase,

I’m only a sinner saved by grace!”