The Destruction of Man

What is the chief end of man? Well, I agree with our Presbyterian brothers that have summarized what Scripture says. Well, it is to glorify God and enjoy Him. Our lives were created. We were created to worship God. This morning's sermon is all about worship. We were created for Him and to live our lives toward Him. As we saw last week in the fall in Genesis 3, Well, things aren't the way they're supposed to be. Our hearts are no longer turned to worship God, the Creator. Our hearts are turned to worship us, the creature. As we look at this morning, we're going to see how things go really bad. That a power, the destructive power of sin goes, well, becomes more powerful as we see in chapter four. This morning we're going to be looking at Cain's murder of Abel, but we're also going to see The real focus here is on who worships God or how are we supposed to worship God? If you look at chapter four, just make some observations before we get into the text. It can be broken up into three clear sections. The first section is we're going to spend most of our time on this morning, because it's the heart of the passage, but the three sections are broken up according to a phrase that repeats. You see in verse 1, Adam knew his wife and she conceived and she bore a child. Verse 17, the same formula is repeated, but now it's Cain knew his wife, she conceived and she bore a child. And then verse 25, Adam again knew his wife and she had a child. So the three basic sections are verses 1-16, 17-24, and 25-26. Hence, that formula helps us separate that. We can see that Genesis 4 is a unified story. There's lots of words repeated seven times in this story. Very significant. The name Cain is repeated 14 times. That shows the importance of Cain for this particular story. The name Abel is repeated seven times. The word brother. repeated seven times. You can already see the sibling rivalry is the main focus here. If we were to look larger, Genesis 4 is a complete unified story, but it has to fit within the bigger story. Genesis 2 verse 4 began a second creation account, not a different creation account, another way, another look, another perspective of a creation, of the creation. If we look at chapter 2, verse 4, through the end of chapter 4, either Lord God or God the Lord is referenced 35 times. That matches the 35 times it was referenced in Genesis 1 through 2, 4. It's very intentional. Moses has put this together to make you see that these two creation accounts go hand in hand. The second creation account really goes all the way through Cain's murder in this chapter. And so we see a unified story. But let's get into the story itself. Let's look at the setting, verses one and two. 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. Now, when it says Adam knew his wife, well, it means he knew her in the biblical sense, obviously. It's scripture. He knew her, she conceived, she bore a son. Now, as we look at this, we have to realize that this comes in light of Genesis 3.15. As we're looking at this, we know what comes afterwards. But if you're reading the story for the story, you're excited about the first child being born of Eve. Genesis 3.15 said a seed was going to be born, a child will be born of her that will reverse the curse. And then Adam says she will be the mother of all the living. You are anticipating who this child be. How will he reverse all these horrible things that have happened to us? There's anticipation. And then there's a second son, Abel. Notice that Eve gives God the glory and the credit. She has had a son from the Lord's help. I believe they're referencing the pain and childbearing. He provided a son. He is the one who has given a son so that she can fulfill the creation mandate to fill the earth and to reverse the curse. And there we see Abel was a keeper of sheep. Cain, a worker of the ground. They're known by their occupations. Both of these are good jobs. Both of these are jobs in which they can fulfill their exercise dominion. One will keep animals. One will keep the herbs and the ground and the plants and the shrubs. So, that's our setting. Now, let's get into where the tension begins to arise. In the course of time, they become older. 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 in his offering. But for Cain in his offering, he had no regard. Now, this is where the tension builds. We don't know how they knew to sacrifice. We don't know if God had already given some kind of prescription of sacrifice. Maybe the killing of whatever animal God used to give them loincloths and to cover themselves, maybe that was a precedent for an offering. It's not clear, but we see both of these men seeing that they're supposed to give God something back from what he has given to them. Maybe it's an innate intuition. that hasn't been completely destroyed at this point. We see here in the offering, the scene, verses three through five. One gives an animal sacrifice, the firstborn of the flock, because he was a shepherd. And then one gives an offering. And with one, God says he has regard, and the other he does not. Now, a key question is, why does God have regard for Abel's offering and not canes. Well, one traditional reading is that God requires a blood sacrifice, which would make the killing of the animal to give them coverings. That would kind of make sense there. And as we look ahead, we see that God does require a blood sacrifice in Jesus Christ. But the problem with this reading as to the belief that Cain's sacrifice wasn't accepted because it wasn't a blood sacrifice. The stories, the way the story is told doesn't give into that. First of all, blood never mentioned. It's never mentioned that Abel gave a blood sacrifice. The word for gift for both of them is the same generic word for gift. Moses had, as we know from Leviticus, he had words that could have been specific. One gave a blood gift. One gave a grain gift. He could have made that contrast if he wanted to, but he didn't. He used the generic word gift. Also, what you see emphasized isn't the fact that one was blood, one was not. We see that, well, Abel gave from the firstfruits. He gave the firstborn. He gave him the fat. He gave the best of what God had given him. Now, I don't think it's the fact that Abel gave a blood gift back and Cain didn't. I think it's all about what the gift reflects about their hearts. Abel's offering is held with regard. It's accepted because Abel gave from a joyful heart. Abel gave seeking to give glory to God. Abel gave seeing that God is the author and ruler of all life and has the proper right to receive the highest worship. Cain held back his best gift. Cain was selfish with his greatest gift. Maybe Cain doesn't trust God enough to provide for him. Or maybe Cain is just wanting to eat the best grain for himself. Here we see the difference in the gifts. It's not a matter of one being blood and one of them being grain. It's a matter of the heart. God doesn't require sacrifice. He requires obedience. God desires a joyful worship. Not just something we have to give him. The next scene, verses five B really through seven, the warning and notice the next three sections are united because there's conversation taking place. There's dialoguing. Right? Cain was very angry. The Lord said to Cain. Cain spoke to Abel. The Lord said to Cain. Cain said to the Lord. All of this begins a heated conversation. 5b, the warning. So Cain was very angry and his face fell. That's obviously an idiom. His face literally didn't fall. It shows that he's sad, he's down, he's angry. 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. It's desire is for you, but you must rule over it. Now a key question here, why is Cain angry? Or better, with whom is Cain angry? Who should Cain be angry with? Now this is a very important question for all of life. Because if you have children, or if you've had disputes, one of the most important things to do in the midst of a dispute is to assign blame properly. Right? Whenever there's a fight between your children, what do you do? Who had the toy first? What happened? You want to know the objective truths so that you can assign the blame appropriately. Well, this is what we need to be doing in terms of thinking about Cain. Who is he blaming and is he assigning the blame appropriately? Is he angry with God or with Abel? Is he angry at God because he didn't take his offering? Or is he angry with Abel because God took his offering? Now, I think the anger that Cain has, I think as we see the dialogue happening, I think as we see the movement of the story, Cain's anger is against God. He takes it out on his brother, but it should have been anger against himself. He should have taken the opportunity to self-evaluate, but instead, as we know, he will take his anger out on his brother. You see, friends, it's easy for us to assign blame wrongly. It's easy for us. Let's say a husband, a man who's out in work. You don't get the right promotion that you thought you deserved. You don't get the raise you thought you deserved. Well, what happens? You come home and you take on your wife. That's the twisted nature of sin. We take our anger, we don't place it in the proper place. We don't put a proper check on our anger. We take it on those we most love. That's how twisted and how corrupt our hearts have become. That's us living under the curse. See, notice the warning here. God sees what's taking place in Cain's heart. God sees how bad this is going to be. God gives a warning. You can do well. You can repent. You can give your best offering. Or you can let sin sit there and fester, take root, grow, and it will destroy you. God sees the amazing power of sin to destroy, to kill. It's powerful. It will overcome us if we let it reside within us. And here God gives Cain a warning, seeing what's going to take place, seeing his heart. See, sin is like the poison. We don't let our children play with poison. We lock our cupboards. We have child protection on the cupboards underneath the sinks and wherever there are chemicals, because we know if the children play with the chemicals, they're going to die. Friends, we've got to start looking at sin as what it is. It's not something to play around with and flirt with. Sin is destructive. Sin is a power that you cannot control. You may think you can flirt with it to a certain point and it won't destroy you. You keep flirting with it. You're playing with poison. You're bringing into your life, your home, your marriage, your relationship with God, things that will kill you and destroy you. We see here, God gives Cain a gracious warning. And of course, we know that Cain does not take that warning. Look at verse 8, our third scene, the murder. It's short and harsh. Cain spoke to Abel, his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Now, we don't know what Cain said to Abel. Maybe he said, come out to the field. But certainly, Cain, it's a cold-blooded murph. There's really not a whole lot to elaborate upon. It's very clear. It's position in the story is central. It's the central hinge upon which this story turns. The brevity shows the cold harshness. Sin manifests itself in destructive power. Cain kills one who has made the image of God. He kills his own brother. Now get that. Cain gave a half-hearted offering. Abel gave a full-hearted offering. God regards Abel's offering, not Cain's offering. Cain takes the anger of not having his offering accepted. His anger should be against God, but he takes it out of his brother. That's twisted. That shows how irrational sin works. That shows how irrational sin makes us function with one another. See, what Cain should have done was take upon himself a season of self-evaluation. But instead, he lets sin win. Sin lurks. Instead of realizing that God is good, he falls into the same sin his mom and dad did. Instead of seeing God's goodness, His provision, His mercy, His joy, His wisdom, His beauty, he sees God as being harsh with him by not taking his offering. And he takes it out on his brother. The foreseeing. The confrontation. Verses 9-12. Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? This is very much like God walking into the garden and asking Adam, where are you? God knows. God knew where Adam was and God knows here what happened to Abel. This isn't an inquiry as to where is he? No, it's an inquiry to say, This is an invitation. You can start telling me what happened. And Cain is just like his father, or maybe worse. He said, I do not know outright lie. 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 its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth." Cain's response. He first gives us an outright lie. I do not know. And then this grossly dismissive question. This is God he's speaking to. Imagine how frustrated you are when you know you start asking your children about what happened and you know they're giving you an intentional lie. How frustrating that is to be disrespected. How frustrating it is to not be honored. Here it is Cain speaking the same way to God. I don't know. Am I his keeper? The answer to that question is yes, you are his keeper. And the other part of this question is the fact that he's not just his brother's keeper, as we know through the Old Testament, the older brother is supposed to be the kinsman redeemer of the murdered. Cain is supposed to be the one that goes and makes right the murder of his brother. That's how twisted and gross this story is. The one who's supposed to go be the redeemer for the wrong done to his brother. He's the murderer of his brother. Do you see how twisted this is? Look at the confrontation. Cain's dismissiveness. Cain's lack of throwing off the responsibility of avoiding any real repentance or self-evaluation. It's just sickness. It's gross. Then we see God's response to this sin. He is just. He is holy. What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. His brother's blood is giving a testimony against Cain. The verdict is you are guilty. You are a murderer. There's no need for a trial. There's no need for a jury because the blood speaks to God and the case is closed. The ground speaks against you. The blood speaks against you. And now he must suffer two horrible consequences because of his sin. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. So now no longer man just doesn't have to work against the thistles and the thorns. Cain's curse is beyond that of Adam's. The ground is not going to give its full strength. He's going to have to labor even harder His sweat and his blood is going to have to be more in order to actually produce the kind of fruit the trees are supposed to give him. The other one is maybe the worst of the curse. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. Now, we live in a transient society. Most people are not from Charlottesville here. Most people have moved here or you're going to move away. We live in a transition society, especially here at UVA. We have a culture and society where we can easily pack up, move out and settle again. America has blessed us with that kind of a society. Modern world has blessed us with that kind of society. This is not one of those societies. Israel never knew that kind of society. You see, the family is your protection. The family is your livelihood. You had to depend upon one another. To be cast out of the family, to be cast away, means you're a wandering fugitive that anyone can kill. You no longer have the protection. You no longer have the camaraderie. You no longer have the gathering together to work for the good of everyone. This is a huge curse. But you see, the punishment fits the crime. He sinned against his family. He killed his brother. He sinned against the ground. He let the blood spill in the ground. The punishment fits the crime. Scene five, verses 13 through 16, the mercy. Cain said to the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me 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 anyone 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. Cain's quite the character. After God gives a just punishment, Cain complains about it. Cain asks for mercy. This is too much for me. You're driving me away from the land. More importantly, here is the first time you really see his recognizing a need for God at all from your face. As you read through the Psalms, Whenever God shines His face on you, He's shining His good pleasure upon you. He's shining His provision. He's shining His goodness. When God's face is towards you, His goodness and everything about Him is for you. And here Cain realizes, I'm losing God's good pleasure. God's good provision for me. See, we were created to worship God face to face. We were created to have an intimate relationship with God. We were created for Him. We were created to know Him. We were created to bask in His love and His generosity. We were created to speak with Him. And as you read through the Old Testament, there's always this, you cannot see God's face. Here, Cain is driven from God's face. Well, we praise God because we know that one day we will see Him face to face because of the great work of the Redeemer. So here's Cain, he's complaining. God, you're too harsh again. And it's amazing. God gives him a merciful reply. He gives him a mark. He gives him a mark of protection. No one will kill you. You are protected. This just shows God's goodness. God's patience. God's rich mercy. He's not a God just waiting to destroy us. No, he's a God who is patient with us. Especially in light of Cain, who does not regard God. He does not see him highly. He murders his own creation. He murders his own brother. And here God is merciful to him. Well, that concludes the first section. Let's continue to get through the next two sections, then we'll begin to think about how we can apply these stories. Section 2 is Cain's legacy. That begins verse 17 through 24, and here we just simply see the genealogy of Cain. The rest of the Bible is going to be following the genealogy of Seth. But here, just so we know what happens, we see Cain's legacy. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And I think one of the important things here is that we see that this Enoch is not the same Enoch that we know of later on in the genealogy. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. To Enoch was born Arad, and Arad fathered Mehuzel, and Mehuzel fathered Methusel, and Methusel fathered Lamech, And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all who played the lyre and the pipe. Zillah also bore Tubal-Cain. He was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah. Lamech said to his wife, wives, Adah and Zillah, hear my voice, you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech's is 77 fold. Now, I'm sure all those names were blessings to you. They were to me. So as we look there, we see the genealogy. Genealogies are important in terms of establishing that. Well, the first thing we see is that the point of the story is to show the history of what happened. This is Cain and his legacy. We also see in the midst of that genealogy that the work of a man is what defines him in many ways. The real focus here is in verses 23 and 24, the poem. And this is just beautiful Hebrew poetry. I've talked about it before. Hebrew poetry doesn't rhyme. That's not what makes Hebrew poetry great. It also doesn't necessarily follow a meter, even though it oftentimes does. No, what makes Hebrew poetry function is parallelism. And you just see a wonderful example of Hebrew parallelism here. Look at the first two lines, Adah and Zillah. Look right below it. You wise. Look at the next two that correspond there. Hear my voice, listen to what I say. The next line is really the central focus here. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. He's not talking about two different murderers, it's the same person. It's parallelism. They repeat things. If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech's is 77 fold. There you're not repeating, you're building upon it. Now, what is this section trying to accomplish? What is the point here? Well, that his descendants, Cain, follow his example. Cain's descendants follow him and his rebellion. Cain's descendants are doomed to disaster. There's nothing but curse surrounding his future descendants, especially Lamech, who boasts. He's boasting here. I have killed a man for wounding me. This is boastful language. And then oddly, he concludes himself, my revenge will be 77 fold. I will be cursed. I am destined for doom and destruction. And so you see the heritage, the lineage, the genealogy, the legacy of Cain. And I believe that this is put right next to the very last section, verses 25 and 26, for contrast. Section 3. If section 2 was Cain's legacy, section 3 is God's legacy. And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth. For she said, God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him. In case you missed it, in case you forgot, in case you forgot how bad sin is run amok among the first family on God's good creation. To Seth also was born, a son was born and he called his name Enosh. At that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord. Here we see God being good. We see God being gracious. We see God providing according to His sovereign, wise goodness. Cain has killed Abel. What are we to do now? Where will we find the seed who's going to reverse the curse? Where are we going to find the seed who will destroy sin and death? Well, God provides Eve, another son, Seth. God has appointed another offspring. God replaced him. His name may even mean substitution. There we see God being good to us and providing another offspring. The other thing that makes this clearly God's legacy is the very last line. At that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord. Instead of these murderers, Instead of this lineage that opposes God and kills and murders, here we see a people who are going to call upon the name of the Lord. This is a ray of hope in the midst of great disaster. Now, let's give a basic overview here. As we look at the story, the primary tension in the story between Cain and Abel isn't actually between Cain and Abel. The primary tension that continues to bubble up, the tension that we see build and establish itself is between God and Cain. Cain is upset with God because God did not regard his offering. But what that offering reveals is that Cain doesn't have regard for God. Cain has a small view of God. As we see in the dialogue, God warns Cain and Cain ignores this warning. He acts out of his sin. And God gives him a just and yet merciful punishment. Friends, if we're going to learn from the story, we're going to have to see our sins in Cain. We're going to have to realize that Cain is the person that we most identify with in the story. And the first problem that Cain has and the primary problem, that's the root of all the other problems. is that Cain has no regard for God. Cain has a low view of God. Cain's view of God is too small. He was created to worship God. He was given good gifts from God. And his problem is that he does not have an absolute allegiance of worship to God. Why does he think God too small? What is the cause of this thinking about God too little, too less, too small? There's the right word. What is the cause behind Cain thinking of God as too small? He was thinking of himself too much. Cain wanted the offering. Cain wanted the firstfruits. Cain's actions are not righteous because his heart isn't bent towards God as it was created to be. No, Cain's heart is bent upon himself. This is what makes us think less of God. You see, we oftentimes like to get into the sovereignty of God, man's free will debates. We have to realize is that it's about God's sovereignty or our sovereignty. That's the debate. Do we want to be sovereign or are we going to let God be sovereign? Are we going to be in control of how we live and what we do and how we give to God and what God deserves? Or does God tell us how to worship Him? Do we worship God according to His instruction, according to what He is worth? He is worthy of our hearts, of every fiber of our being. Our hearts are supposed to be singly aligned. But sin crouches. It undermines that allegiance. It undermines that worship. We think God small because we want to think. The great temptation of thinking of ourselves great is always there hindering us. How do you strengthen your view of God? By submitting first to the Word of God. That's the first step. Can you read Scripture and say, this is what God says, therefore, this is what I'm going to believe. This is what God says, therefore, this is what I'm going to do. As you begin to submit to God's word, you're submitting to God, as you're submitting to what God has declared, you're submitting to God, the great ruler and instructor. If you have a hard time with that. Read good books on the doctrine of God. That sounds nerdy. Your pastor's nerdy. That's what you're going to get. J.F. Packer, Knowing God is to find generations of faithful Christians. That book changes the way you think about God. It is a book that seeks to put God as high as we can think about him. Read good books. We have that book. We will give it to you. There are lots of great books that summarize the greatness of God. Read these books. Discipline your mind, reminding yourself constantly of how great God is. Because if you don't do this, the circumstances you face day to day are going to win out. The circumstances you face day to day, the message you always want to be hearing and the message you always will be hearing is that you're great and you can do it and you don't need to think about God. You think about yourself and your own protection, your own provision. That undermines and destroys a high view of God. The second problem we see in Cain is that his small view of God manifests itself in his small gift. His small view of God manifests itself in his small gift. God had blessed him with the grain. God had blessed him with the fruit. Everything Cain had is because God was good and provided for him. As we look back in Genesis 1 and 2, one of the things that really just blows my mind from those chapters is how good God is. Over and over again, God declares it's good. Over and over again, God provides man for everything he needs. He has a garden. He has the trees. He has a helper. Everything we need, God can provide. Everything we have, God has given to us. But we, with sin always crouching at our door, but we with sin always seeking to grow and fester, we take God's good gifts And we use them for our selfish pleasure. We take God's good gifts and instead of finding out how we can enjoy Him with those good gifts, well, we enjoy our own selfish pleasures. What causes us not to give God our first fruits with joy? Well, the first thing is a lack of faith. The first thing I see in my own life as to what causes me to question if I should give God back the best. It's a lack of faith. Maybe I won't get this good of an offering to give back again. It's a lack of faith that God is going to continue to be good and continue to provide. I'm questioning God with a lack of faith when I think maybe I won't get these kinds of good gifts again. Or maybe if we go a little deeper, I like to hide behind a lack of faith. Really, it's just selfishness. There's an issue of me questioning God, but really behind all of this is a selfishness. I want to buy things for myself. I want to buy things for other people. I want to use, primarily we're thinking here is our finances. I want to use my money on myself. I want to buy a big tractor right now. I can't find one big enough. I have to realize what God has given me, I am responsible for. God has made me a steward of all the good gifts He's given me, and I can't use it solely for myself. I need to be using it to glorify God. I need to be using it to encourage the brothers and sisters. I need to be using everything God has given me for His glory. And we're not just talking about finances here either. We can think about our time. Time is probably our most valuable resource. How are we using our time? Is it for our own selfish gain? Or is it for God's glory? How are you using your heart? What are you putting your emotions upon? How are you using your mind? What are you thinking about? Are you using these resources that you have stewardship over? to glorify God with joy, or to entertain yourself. There's a book a while back, Entertaining Ourselves to Death. We have to realize this is the culture we live in. We are taught, we are trained, everything about this culture is that we're supposed to be entertaining ourselves to death. Again, I've said it before, this world's not a playground, it's a battlefield. It's a battlefield for souls, it's a battlefield for your own spiritual condition. Friends, if you want to start giving with a heart of joy, again, think higher of God and less of yourself. Finally, we see that a small view of God manifests itself in murder. He was angry with God for not regarding his offering. And instead of taking responsibility, instead of repenting, instead of listening to God's warning, he goes out and kills his brother. The question stands here, as we read in 1 John 3. Well, the question stands, are we our brother's keeper? Are we supposed to be keeping one another? And the answer is yes. As we see in 1 John 3, because God has loved us, we're to love one another. Too often, our resources are used to murder one another. Our words are one of the most valuable resources we have. Are your words used to murder? Now, obviously, you're not killing anybody with your words, physically speaking. But are you discouraging to your brothers and sisters with your words? Are you encouraging? Are you building up? Are you tearing down? Are you grumbling or rejoicing? Friends, the way we speak to one another says a lot about our view of God. Do we view each other as brothers and sisters adopted as a family? Are we obstacles? We're a family that must be united in the gospel. And we need to start speaking and acting like it. Finally, friends, we are like Cain. But thankfully, a son has been born into this world who is not like Cain. Cain was the older brother. He was supposed to be the Redeemer, but he's the murderer. He's disqualified from fulfilling Genesis 3.15. But Jesus Christ came as the perfect big brother. The most perfect big brother we could ever hope for. He came. God Himself took upon flesh and became a human being so that He can serve as the firstborn of the new creation. And He's the big brother that does keep His brothers and sisters. Look at John 17. I have kept all the Father has given to me, and I will send my Spirit to keep all of us. What good news? Jesus Christ has kept us. And more than that, He keeps us in His death and His resurrection. The first thing we need to see in that is that we need to be kept. That's kind of scary to think about. We need to be kept by the power of God. We need to be kept by the hand of Christ. Nothing can separate us from His love. That's encouraging news. We must realize that our hearts are always turning. Our hearts always have sin crouching. Friends, let us praise the Savior who keeps us. Let us praise our big brother, Jesus Christ, who saves us and keeps us. Finally, we see the gospel most clearly from the gospel from the book of Hebrews. Christ is likened to Abel. The author of Hebrews says that the blood of Christ speaks a better testimony than the blood of Abel. Let's think about that. What did Abel's blood testify to? Guilt. That's what Abel's blood testifies to. And if we're all honest with ourselves, we all have a number of testimonies out in this world that would testify without a doubt, case closed, we're guilty. We all have testimonies all over this world, even in this room, that we are guilty of sin. We are guilty of rebellion against God. We are guilty of hurting fellow creations. We're guilty. Thanks be to God that he has sent another testimony that's better, that's more powerful. The blood of Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He died in your place for the wrath of God that was supposed to be upon you. The blood of Jesus Christ declares to the Father, this one isn't guilty. He's innocent because he believed in me. Friends, as we think about the gospel, as we think about those we have hurt, as we think about how guilty we would be if someone got all the evidence against us. Let that not overwhelm us. Let that lead us. To the testimony of Jesus Christ, to the blood that declares this one is mine, this one's innocent, this one is forgiven. The blood of Christ declares forgiveness, grace, love and peace. Let us pray. Lord, we praise you. Because as a congregation, of murderers. We can come before your generous ear and we can speak to you. We can speak to you because you have forgiven us all in Jesus Christ alone. You have provided that big brother that we needed who would redeem us. You have provided that big brother whose blood is powerful because it's the blood of God. You've removed our guilt. You've removed our wrath. You've given us hope. You've given us love. You've given us forgiveness in Jesus Christ. For that we praise you and we thank you. Amen.