In this sermon, the preacher discusses the story of Cain and Abel from the book of Genesis. He highlights the contrast between the two brothers' offerings to God. Abel's offering of the firstlings of his flock is accepted by God, while Cain's offering of the fruit of the ground is not respected. The preacher emphasizes that many people today are following in the way of Cain, acknowledging God but not offering Him their best. The sermon concludes by emphasizing the importance of God's provision and man's decision in finding salvation.

Looking at the Old Testament Scriptures, Book of Genesis, and we were trying to get before us man's malady and God's remedy. We saw a little of man's malady, sin, and a little of God's remedy, how he met that state of need, promise of the woman's seed. And I want to follow that up this evening with God's provision and man's decision. So we're going to read in chapter four, Book of Genesis, chapter four. I'm reading from verse one, And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of the sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in 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 he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And 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 slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not, am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground, and now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hands. When thou killest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. The fugitive and the vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid, and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. And it shall come to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay me. And the Lord said unto him, Therefore, whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and he conceived and bare Enoch. And he builted a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch. And unto Enoch was born Ida, and Ida begat Mehugel, and Mehugel begat Methusel, and Methusel begat Lamech, and Lamech took unto him two wives, and the name of the one was Ada, and the name of the other Zillah. And Ada bare Jebel, and he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. And his brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all such as handle the hearth and the organs. And Zillah he also bare Tubal-Cain, an instructor of artifice in brass and iron, and the sister of Tubal-Cain was Nehemiah. And Lamech said unto his wives, Ada and Zillah, Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech, for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold." Now, that portion of Scripture is following on what we had this morning to bring before us man's malady, God's remedy, and now God's provision and man's decision. Now, you probably have realized that I'm dealing with this in a very simple way. We are looking at what we find here in these early chapters of Genesis, and trying to get the picture clear before us. Now, I'm persuaded that when Adam and Eve had sinned against God, and God had made that promise that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head, that Adam and his wife no doubt believed what God promised, that the seed of the woman would indeed bruise the serpent's head, and so they would be delivered in view of sin. And when God saw that they believed it, and proved it because the man said to his wife, well then, in the light of the promise made by God, your name is Eve, life. Under the sentence of death, and yes, he says life, your name is life, the mother of all living. And then it was that God took coats of skin and clothed them, covered them, atoned for them. He made that provision for them, so that in that which God had provided they were able to stand without fear in his presence. Now, I'm persuaded that later, as we are reading here, Eve conceived and bare a son, and called his name Cain. Now, when she did that, I'm persuaded that Eve sought that the promise had been fulfilled, the promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. Now, she has brought forth her firstborn son, and he says his name is Cain. The name means acquired. I have acquired the man of the Lord, I've acquired the man that God made promise of. This is the seed of the woman, although it wasn't, but she verily thought it was, so she said his name is acquired. I have acquired this man from the Lord. Well, immediately it goes on to say that she then bore Abel, and she said her second son's name was to be Abel, which means vanity, vapor. I wonder why? Could it be that she has been disillusioned? Could it be that she has seen now so much in that firstborn that she is disappointed, and so the secondborn is called Vanity, Vapor? Now, we have these two sons, Cain and Abel, and they are found now coming before God with their offerings. Now, remember that when God drove the man and the woman out of the garden, he placed there at the entrance of the garden cherubim and a flaming sword to keep the way of the tree of life. Now, those cherubim denote the very presence of God. We find them again later on in the tabernacle. They were made of one piece with the mercy seat, and their faces were towards one another, and they were looking down upon that mercy seat, and God said, it is from between the cherubim upon the mercy seat that I will commune with thee and give thee commandment. So, the cherubim denoted the very presence of God, and so now they are outside the garden, and there is a cherubim to keep the way of the tree of life, and this flaming sword. This was the very presence of God. It was, if you like, a primitive tabernacle. Now, I'm also persuaded that as these boys were growing up, that the father would tell them something of the story of when they were in the garden, and of what took place in that garden. He would have told them how that God had provided coats of skin for them. He no doubt realized what was back of this, the suffering, the blood-shedding, the death, providing for them a covering that would enable them to stand in the presence of a holy God, in spite of their sins. And I'm persuaded he would explain to his sons this, and they would realize that there where the cherubim were, that was the very presence of God, and it would be to that place that they would bring their offering that they would come for worship. Now, as we are looking at this, we shall find, with regard to this man Cain, because I want to keep your thoughts on him, we shall find that there are seven steps, seven movements, and there were, as it were, seven answers to those seven movements made by God himself. So, now we look at these two young men. We're not told anything about their early days. We are told about their being brought, their being born, and then there's a gap. And now we find those young men, and they're standing right there in the very presence of God, and they brought their offering. Now, as they stand there in the very presence of God, God views those offerings that they brought. He looked at this offering that Abel brought. It was the firstling of the flock, and of the fat thereof, and, in all probability, it was a thin offering. And as God looked at that offering, he had respect for Abel. Then God looked at the offering that was brought by Cain. He brought of the firstfruits of the ground. No doubt he brought that which was worth bringing. Later on, God demanded that he have the firstfruits of the ground. These two men have worked, they've labored. One is the keeper of the sheep, looking after the flock, the other is the killer of the grass. Now they stand there in the very presence of God with their offering. God has respect for Abel's offering. He has no respect for Cain's offering. Now, why was it that when God looked at this offering of Cain that he had no respect for it? Because, you see, the offerings which they brought, they were a revelation of their condition of soul. The offering revealed the condition of soul. So, as God looked at the offering that Abel brought, he could see from that the condition of Abel's soul. Abel had a sense of sin, and because he had a sense of sin, he brought a sin offering. So, the offering he brought reveals the condition of his soul. And now God looked at the offering that Cain had brought, and the offering Cain brought was a revelation of the condition of his soul. He had no sense of sin. Now, these are things that we need to remember. This is a holy God who has made clear the only possible way of standing before him is by way of suffering, bloodshedding, and death. There is no remission without the shedding of blood. This has been made clear. Now these two young men come there into the presence of God, and their offerings reveal the condition of their soul. And the one is accepted, and the other is rejected. Rejected because his offering revealed that he had no sense of sin. Now, this is a tremendous thing today. There are thousands of people, I'm persuaded, who are, as we find here in Cain, remember, people say, I heard a man say this, that Cain was the very incarnation of godlessness, that he was a godless sinner. And it is emphasized again and again that Cain was godless. Now, I don't believe this. I don't accept it. Let us get the picture before us. There were the cherubim. There was the very presence of God. God was tabernacled there, and Cain was standing right there in the presence of God. He was there acknowledging God. He was there believing in God. He was there bringing his offering to God. How then can we say he was godless? We must give him credit for what is due to him, that he came into the presence of God. He acknowledged God, he believed in God, and he brought his offering to God, and he brought the best he had. Now, remember that as well. And he brought something which later on God required, and God had no respect for it. Why? Because there was no sense of sin. Now, remember this. There are churches today that contain probably thousands of men and women who are like Cain. They come into what they understand to be the very presence of God. They acknowledge God, they believe in God, they bring their offerings to God, and God has no respect for them. Why? Because the offering they bring reveals the condition of soul. They have no sense of sin. You are not able to say that those people are godless. They acknowledge God, they believe in God, they come there to worship God, they bring their offerings to God. How can you say godless? Oh no, that was Cain. And we have thousands, probably millions of Cains today. They are asked. They think they are all right. They are given to understand they are all right. God has no respect. This is a terrible state of affairs. They have never availed themselves of what God has provided in a sin offering in Christ himself. Oh, they acknowledge Christ as Savior. Yes, they believe he died on the cross. You have all that, and yet there is something lacking. There has been no sense of sin, there has been no repentance and no turning to God to accept Christ, no realization that in the sight of a holy God they deserve the judgment of God. Oh no, no. They are brought in, and they become members of the church, and they're brought into circumstances where they take it all for granted, and they go on, and eventually they find themselves where? Find themselves in a lost eternity. Whose fault is it? Who led them to believe such things? What a responsibility! So, now we look at Cain, and the first thing we have before us is Cain's offering, and God had no respect for it. Now, what follows then? And I want you to notice how wonderful God proves himself to be. When Cain saw that God had no respect for his offering, he was wroth, and his countenance fell. Now, God might have said, you did not come the right way, you failed, and now you're angry, you're full of wrath. You get away from me, you move out. Now, God doesn't treat him like this. Now, I want you to notice this. Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell, and the Lord said unto Cain, what did he say? Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen? Isn't it wonderful? This is God himself speaking to this man Cain, standing there in his very presence. Cain, why art thou wroth? Why is thy countenance fallen? Come on, Cain. Just have a good look at yourself. Just examine yourself. Spend a little time in self-inspection. Cain, why art thou wroth? Why is thy countenance fallen? Come on now. Look into your own heart. Cain, listen. Why not be honest about this? Have a good look into your own heart, inspect your own heart, and be honest. Come on. Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen? Be honest. And then God calls him to opportunity. Cain, be honest. If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? Come on, be honest. You know very well. If thou doest well, thou wilt be accepted. You know that. And, if thou doest not well, then sin lieth at the door. Now, this is rather difficult. I can't understand it if I read it like that, and I have to remind myself that both in the Hebrew language and the Greek language, the word for sin is the same word for sin offering. That one word may mean sin, and it may mean sin offering. And so, here, when I read it, and he says, If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And, if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. It doesn't help me one bit. But sin offering, oh yes. Oh, now then, If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? You know you will. And, if thou doest not well, a sin offering lieth or coucheth at the door. Cain, remember your brother Abel. He brought a firstling of the flock, and of the fat thereof there had been bloodshedding and death. And God had respect for that. Now, Cain, what about you? If you had done the same, if you had done well, you would have been accepted. And now, even though you have not done well, Cain, a sin offering lieth there, coucheth there, right at the door. You haven't got a long way to go. It's just there. Come on now, Cain. Look into your own heart. Be honest, and seize the opportunity. How wonderful God dealt with this man, Cain. Trying to help him. So, we go a step further, and we find that, evidently, Cain didn't soften up. There was no self-inspection. He was not honest. He didn't take the opportunity. And now we find sin coming out, in a sense in which we didn't see it, we didn't realize it. When we had that story brought before us of the man and the woman in the garden, and how they sinned, we might be inclined to treat it lightly. Well, what did they do? Well, there was a tree there that was forbidden, and, well, they shook up the tree that was forbidden. Nothing very terrible about that, is there? Well, they didn't commit murder or something like that, did they? No, they just, well, what does the word say? Well, they missed the mark. Not much in that, is there? And so we might be inclined to treat it lightly. So, you see, that's how sin came in, and, well, it's not all that terrible, but that's not the end of it, is it? That's only the beginning of it. There it may seem not a very great matter, but now it's going to come out. Now we're going to see it. And now we see here 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 threw him. When we read those words, Cain was wrought and his countenance was fallen, who was he angry against? Against God? Well, no. Against Abel? Well, no. What was it then? Well, it's just within himself. Because his offering had been rejected. He was wrought, his countenance fell. But now we can see the direction. He rose up against Abel, his brother, and he slew him. Now you've got sin. Now it's beginning to appear as it really is. Cain's hand is red with the blood of his brother. What a terrible thing. What does God do in this matter? God came in and said, Where is Abel, thy brother? He said, I know not. Am I my brother's keeper? He said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. Now God takes action. And that action is swift and sure. God takes vengeance. Now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. That was God's judgment on Cain. You would think, wouldn't you, that Cain might even now repent? He might even now look into his own heart and be honest and remember that the thin offering catches at the door. No, no. So we see now that God has come and he has passed his judgment upon Cain. And Cain, Cain repents. No, he doesn't. There's no repentance. And so we read, Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I behead. And I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth, and it shall come to pass that everyone that findeth me shall flare in it. No repentance, only remorse. No repentance for the deed he has done. Only remorse because of the punishment he's going to receive. You've got to follow this man carefully. As we read the word of God, what a revelation it is. We're beginning to see this man in his true colors. Now God steps in, and he makes this fact very clear. Verse 15, And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain. Notice that. God set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. What has God done? He has reserved that man for himself. God will deal with that man, and God will deal with every man for this. Men may not be able to deal with men for what they have done. God will deal with them. And so God reserves Cain, puts a mark upon him. As much as said, this is my affair, I will deal with him. But it's the same, it's true, of everyone. God puts a mark and says, this is my business. I will deal with men for sins, for that which is spiritual. Man cannot deal with that, but I can deal with it. And so he reserves Cain. Now, follow the movement again. Verse 16, He would have thought, wouldn't you, that Cain might have repented now that God had said, I'm putting a mark upon you. I'm reserving you. They shall not slay you. I'll see to that. He might have said, well, because of your goodness and your kindness, I'm going to avail myself of what you provided. That sin offering that counts you at the door. No. Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. He turned his back on the God who was trying to help him, who was showing him mercy, who was being gracious. He turned his back on God and he went out. You know, this is the terrible thing we've got to face up to. Man can turn his back on God. Man can go out from the presence of God. God is not going to interfere. Man has a will of his own. God is not going to force that man against his will. And if man will go out from the presence of the Lord, he may go out. But don't forget that the final word is to be given by God himself. So Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and he went out to build a city. He must have made a good job of it. It must have been a tremendous city. He was very successful, evidently. Men can go out from the presence of the Lord. They can turn their backs on God, and they can make a success of things. What do you want, Cain? I want a city. And I want everything in the city that will satisfy me, and that will satisfy all who live in the city. You can have it. If that's what you want, Cain, you can have it. Judas, what do you want? I want thirty pieces of silver. You can have them. What do you want? I want to build up a great business. I want to start some great enterprise. I want to make money. I want to be rich. You can have it. You can have it all. But don't forget, the final word is from God himself. So we see, apparently, Cain made a good job of it. In that city, we find that we have the pioneer, the pioneer of commerce and colonization. There it is. Jabil, the father of such as dwell in tents and of such as have cattle. He was the pioneer of commerce and colonization. All coming out of Cain, turning his back on God, and going out and building a city. Now we have it. We're moving on. Jabil, the pioneer of commerce and colonization. Then we have Jubal. And he was the pioneer of all the fine arts. No? His brother's name was Jubal, and he was the father of all as such as handle the harp and the organ and the piano and all the rest of it. Plenty of music, wasn't there? And there it is, the pioneer of all the fine arts. But more than that, Zillah, he also there, Jubal Cain, he was an instructor of every artifice in the brass and iron. He was the pioneer of all mechanical skill and invention. And we've even got a poet here, I think. Lamech said unto his wives, Abram, Zillah, Hear my voice, you wives of Lamech. Hearken unto my speech, for I have slain a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt, following in the way of Cain. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, surely Lamech seventy and sevenfold. There you have a poet weaving poetry to defend a murder. And all this comes out of Cain. Turning his back on God. Going out to build a city. Going out to determine to have that which would please him. And he could do it. And God allowed him to do it. And you say, well that's very wonderful. It all seemed to end up so nicely. All these pioneers begin their work, there's all this development and progress, and it goes on until you've got a wonderful city. Everybody happy. Everybody prosperous. Isn't it? Well it ended very nicely. No it didn't. That wasn't the end of it. The end of it was the gathering of the clouds, the darkening of the sky, the lightning, the thunder, the bursting of the clouds, the floods, the fountains of the deep ocean, and all that was swept away in the judgment of God. So it didn't end in music. It ended in judgment. Well now that's the story of Cain. It's helpful, isn't it, to look through it, and to remind ourselves that so many today are going in the way of Cain. They acknowledge God, they believe in God, they bring their offerings to God, they go there to the place where God is supposed to be. But they have bypassed the cross. There has been no true dependence, no faith in Christ. An acknowledgement, yes, a belief, yes, all that, as it was with Cain. But no sense of sin. No sense of sin that drove them to the cross to believe on him, that they might be cleansed by that precious blood from all sin, that they might direct themselves to God. No, no movement in that way. And then we see that God reasons with him. Why art thou wrong? Why is thy confidence flawed? Come on. Look into your own heart. Come on. Be honest. Come on. Here's your opportunity. I've made provision for you. What is your decision? I'm going out. I'm going out to have what I want. And he went out. That's the story you've got here. For this story is happening all the time. Men and women are going in the way of Cain. This is the way of Cain. This is the tragedy of much of our preaching today. Why are we crying out to people today? Make Jesus your friend. Let Jesus come into your heart. Some of you say, yes, I've made Jesus my friend. Well, you're a Christian. Oh? Isn't this the way of Cain? Do you acknowledge God? Yes. Do you believe in God? Yes. Are you going to bring your offerings to God? Yes. Well, you're a Christian. Oh, no. No sense of shame. But we are preaching this today. Our preaching is so shallow. We are making disease, if we possibly can, for people to say that they are Christians, to say that they believe. We ought to be preaching the gospel in such a way that men and women are convicted of sin, that they realize what their condition is in the sight of a holy God, and that they will repent and turn to him. That's how we must preach today. I finished preaching in a tent. I'd been going on night after night preaching, and I said one night when I finished, I said, Look, if there's anybody here tonight concerned about salvation, if you feel that God is working in your heart, convicting you of sin and righteousness and judgment, and seeking to lead you to repentance and to faith in Christ, now is your opportunity. I'm your servant for Christ's sake, and if I can help you, I'm only too willing and too happy to help you, to get this matter settled. I can talk it over with you. I can't save you. But I can help you, you see, to stand there in the presence of God and acknowledge your sin and accept Christ. I can help you. And as I said it, I saw a man get up on his feet at the back, and he came walking down the center, and I was standing by the platform here, and he came right up to me, and as he was coming along there, I looked at his face and I said to myself, I think I'm in for a spot of trouble. And he came right up and he stood in front of me, and he said, You! Who do you think you are talking to? I said, I've been standing here preaching the gospel. He said, you've been standing there preaching at me. I said, now just a minute, there's a lot of people here. I know there's a lot of people here, he said, but you've not been talking to them, you've been talking to me. Oh, I know, he said, my wife's been talking to you. Oh yes, she's told you all about me. Oh yes, you know all about me. And he said, there's a lot of people here, you know, they know me as well, and they've told you what a scoundrel I am, what a skunk I am. Oh, you know it all. And every night as you've been preaching, he said, you've had your eye on me. And every time you point, you point at me. There's nobody in the tent who needs to be saved, only me. I know it, he said. Oh, I know it. I said, now just a minute. He said, you've had your say and I've been mine. You keep talking. I said, all right. Go on. Well now, he said, I'm going to tell you this, that right here and now, I accept the Lord Jesus Christ as my own personal saviour. Will you shake hands with me? I said, what? I said, shake hands? Yes, I'll shake hands. Is this true? Yes, he said. Oh, I've been a sin of the deepest dire. Oh, I know what my condition has been. And he said, every night, I've suffered. God has been working in my heart. I know it. He said, now listen, right here and now, I accept Christ as my own personal saviour. I said, thank God for that. He said, now listen, I'm coming to the meeting, I'm coming to the tent every night, and you can go on preaching, you can go on pointing, you can say anything you like, and I know now you don't mean me. I know now you don't mean me. Oh yes, and that man, for years, he went on a wonderful testimony to the saving grace of God. Later on he became an elder in one of the churches there. I said, thank God for that. But you see, that sense of sin, oh, let Jesus come into your heart, make Jesus your friend, make it so easy, anybody, everybody goes, yes, sure, I believe you. Where are we? Not long ago when I was down in El Paso, I had a lot of young fellows in the service and they were coming to the meetings every night. There was about eight of them. They came every night. And after they'd been in the meeting, they came to the house where we were staying and the man and his wife, they had an open house. Anybody could come there and make themselves comfortable. So the boys came in and then they started asking questions. And we were going on until two o'clock and half past two in the morning. Well, I don't know what's at the back of all this. I said to this brother, when they'd gone, I said, look, are these fellows members of this assembly? He says, no. Oh, I said, I thought they were. No, he says, no, no. He says, they're here in the services, but they don't belong to us here, no. Well, I said, who are they? He said, we don't really know who they are. They're Christians. How did he get out with all these questions? I don't know. And it went on night after night. So the last night, and this man and his wife said, tomorrow we start off for California and you're starting off and you're going down to Tucson and Arizona. I said, that's right. So all these young fellows came for the last night. It was about two o'clock in the morning. The leader, very intelligent young fellow, he said, Mr. Brown, I want to say something. And I said, go on. He said, you know, we've been coming to all your meetings and they've been very helpful. But he said, the big thing has been these talks until two o'clock in the morning and us being able to ask you questions. That's the big thing, he said. And I want to tell you this, that as a result of all this, my life has been completely revolutionized. Well, I said, you're saying something. Yes, he said, I know what I'm saying. He said, these fellows can speak for themselves. And they all said, yes, Mr. Brown, this is the result. Our lives have been completely revolutionized by these talks. But I said, just a minute, I want to know what's all this about. Revolutionized in what way? Well, they said, you know, we belong to a movement and we've been taught a technique and we can get men and women saved. And we've got thousands of them. We've got a technique and we work the technique and it succeeds. And we've got thousands of people. And then we began to find out that as quickly as we got them, so we lost them. But he said, they were going away still, believing that they had been saved. And they said, we realize now that we have put thousands of people in a false position. They may wait in a lost eternity because we said, when we came to the end of our technique, well, then you're a child of God, you're a Christian. We told them that, and they accepted it. Probably thousands of them not. What are we going to do with the ground? You've opened our eyes. It's not what we do. It's not a technique. It's God working in the power of His Spirit to convict men of sin and righteousness and judgment. They've been brought to repentance and faith in Him. This is the great thing, self-inspection of realizing the condition of their soul. And then, being honest with God. And then, opportunity. The sin offering punches at the door. Faith in Christ. That's it. Oh, I thank God for that experience. I thank God that He opened the eyes of those young men to see you can't get people saved by a technique. You can't get people saved by saying, well, let Jesus come into your heart, make Jesus your friend. No, no. You'll only get them saved when you take them there. To that cross. Into the very presence of God. To realize what that cross meant. What God was doing in that cross. And they're in repentance. They accept Christ as Savior. Only then can we believe for one moment that they are truly born again. For I trust the Lord will bless what has come before us. That we may remember this. Watch out. Don't think for one moment that because people believe, because they acknowledge God, because they bring their offerings. No, no. Only when you know that there has been a... Only when you know that there has been a sense of faith, there has been true repentance, a faith in Christ. Yeah? That's it. May the Lord help us to work to that end. Whether in conversation, in preaching, in teaching. No matter what it is. Reaching out. Let's remember. It's the work of God in the power of the Spirit. It's not some ability we've got. Not some technique we can bring into operation. No, no. Independence upon God and the power of His Spirit to work through the words. Now we know. We're getting men and women truly saved, truly born again. Shall we pray? O God, our Father, again we give thanks to Thee for Thy precious Word, for these wonderful pictures that we have there. Things that happen, truly happen, and yet Thou didst bring them in in such a way that there are lessons for us to learn. And we thank Thee, our God, for what we've seen with regard to this man Cain and the man Abel. And we ask of Thee, Lord, that each one of us may be before Thee and able to bless and to praise Thee because our eyes were opened, because we realized what our condition was in Thy sight, because we saw that there was no hope within ourselves, that we could not justify ourselves in Thy sight. We could not produce a clothing of righteousness that Thou couldst accept. Thou didst reveal unto us our condition. And we ask of Thee, our God, that this may be true of us, that Thou wouldst so work that men and women may stand before Thee, realizing their sinful condition.