From the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster we present Let the Bible Speak. It's good to have you join us today as we spend time around the Word of God, preaching Christ in all his fullness to men and women in all their need. Like the rain, like the falling of a leaf, like the grinding of a machine, me and time. Fading days are very fast, but the dying will soon be past. And the days that have me past, me and time, me and time. Let's go. I If in sin you longer wait, you may find no hope and pain. Can I extend to you a very warm word of welcome? Thank you for joining us in this Let the Bible Speak service. I trust that the Lord will himself draw near and bless you as you listen to the hymns and hear the preaching of God's precious and his holy word. Let us unite our hearts together, please, in a word of prayer. Our loving God and our gracious Heavenly Father, we come into thy presence in and through the name of thy dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the one of whom thou didst say, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. We thank you, Lord, that his birth pleased thee. We thank you that his life pleased thee, that he was born of the Virgin, lived without sin. We thank you, Lord, that his death pleased thee, when he shed his blood on Calvary's cross. and He shed His blood for the remission of our sins. We rejoice that there is redemption through the blood, even the forgiveness of our sins. And we thank the Lord that because our sinless Savior died, our sinful soul is counted free, and God the just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me. We thank you, Lord, for His resurrection, that it pleased the Father too. And we rejoice that He triumphed over the grave and ascended into heaven to set at Thy right hand ever living to make intercession for his people, awaiting the day when he shall return, and his foes, his enemies, shall be made his footstool. We thank you, Lord, too, for the gift of saving faith and evangelical repentance. We look back to that happy day when we confessed our sins to thee through Christ. We're born of the Spirit of God. believed in the salvation of our souls, and were made new creatures in him. Lord, we pray that even now thou wilt draw near to us as thou didst draw near to those on the road to Emmaus. And as Christ talked to them, and their hearts burned as he opened the Scriptures, and spoke to them by the way, explaining from Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms, all the things concerning himself, it is our prayer now, that as the word of God is opened, read, and proclaimed, that the Savior too will draw nigh, and apply it to the hearts of all who hear, May they be strengthened in their faith, those who know and love thee, and any who listen in and listen on, who have never yet believed in Jesus Christ as the Savior of their souls. May it please thee to draw them to thyself and grant them saving faith in Jesus Christ. We ask these things in the Savior's worthy. and his holy and his blessed name. Amen. Amen. Our Bible reading is taken from Genesis chapter 4, Genesis chapter 4, and reading from the verse 1 to the verse 13. And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and birth came, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.' And she again bore his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of 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, 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 hand. When thou tellest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Amen, and we'll end our reading at the 13th verse of Genesis chapter 4. And trust the Lord will give us understanding of his word and bless the reading of it to our hearts. Our next hymn is entitled, Softly and Tenderly, Jesus is Calling. Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me. Still the mortal, he's waiting and watching, watching for you and for me. ♪ Come home, come home ♪ ♪ Ye who are weary, come home ♪ ♪ Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling you home ♪ Calling, O sinner, ho! Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing, Passing from you and from me. Oh Oh Jesus. Oh. ♪ All is for you and for me ♪ ♪ Oh, we have sinned, we have mercy and pardon ♪ ♪ Pardon for you and for me ♪ ♪ Come home, come home ♪ ♪ We who are weary, come home ♪ ♪ Fairly, sweet and early, Jesus is calling ♪ I'd like to thank the Reverend Abernethy for his warm words of welcome. It's a great joy and a privilege to be here on this occasion to open up God's Word and to bring a message that I believe the Lord has laid upon my heart. I want to link the passage from Genesis chapter 4 that has been read to us with what the Bible has to say in Jude verse 11. For there we read, woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain. To follow someone is to walk in their footsteps. We can walk in someone's footsteps either physically by actually walking in the way that they take, perhaps following them along some narrow laneway or path. The hills around where I used to live when I was growing up was covered by little paths that had been worn down by sheep making their way through the grass and heather. Sheep, of course, are well known as animals that follow those who go ahead of them and just follow the animal in front. And so these little trails would be eroded just by the sheep following each other in single file. They physically walked in one another's footsteps. It's also true that individuals can walk in someone's footsteps in a symbolic sense as well, by copying their manner or behavior, by following their example. And of course, there's nothing wrong with following someone's example and walking in their footsteps in this sense, as long as the individual you choose to follow takes you in a path that is wholesome and good. The Bible in Proverbs chapter 20 and the verse 2 speaks of walking in the ways of good men and keeping the paths of the righteous. And it's proper, good, and wholesome to follow in the ways of such individuals. But of course, not every individual is a good person to follow. And not every way that you and I can take in life is a good way. Our text warns us against doing such a thing of following an individual who would lead us in the wrong way and in the wrong direction. And it admonishes us by pronouncing a woe upon those who would do such a thing. It could be that I am speaking to someone on this occasion, and that's exactly what you're doing. You're walking in Cain's footsteps. You're treading the path that he trod, living the same sort of lifestyle, making wrong choices, despite having been greatly privileged in your early days in the things of God. Cain's path, which is typical of the path that you are on, is described for us in our scripture reading in Genesis chapter 4. And there are a few things I want to highlight to you about Cain's path. Your path might be like Cain's in that it has brought you from a godly home. There's nothing wrong, of course, with having a godly home. Indeed, it's what we all ought to strive for. And if you are an individual who has been brought up in a godly home, a Christian home, that's the Bible's ideal for you and for your home. Where mother, father, and children exist in happiness and in the joy of a loving family environment and acknowledging the Lord in all of their ways. Perhaps that's the sort of family that you, like Cian, were brought up in. How blessed was this man as a young boy. He was the first little baby born into the world. His parents, of course, had been created as adults. And so Cain was the first to utter a baby's cry, to keep his parents awake at night. He was the first to have to learn how to talk and walk and do all the things that little children do. But Cain was further born into a home where his parents honored the Lord. Because whenever Cain was born, his parents were a godly couple. Of course, they'd made their spiritual mistakes in the past. Remember how Eve had sinned against the Lord by taking the forbidden fruit and marring the companionship, and she and her husband had known with the Lord. But as a couple, by the time Cain was born, Adam and Eve have found the Lord to be forgiving and gracious, and had been taught by the Lord how a lamb could be slain and its blood shed as an innocent sacrifice and substitute for sin. And in their home, no doubt, Cain was taught by his parents how to approach unto the Lord. He would be instructed that the only way to come into the Lord's presence was by the shed blood of that innocent lamb. And it would be impressed upon him from his earliest days, they being faithful, godly parents. Cain, if you want to have a relationship with the only holy and true God, you must come this way. Nothing else but the blood of an innocent sacrifice can give you peace with God. And in that home, in those early days of his life, Adam and Eve were in tight teaching keen of the Lord Jesus, who generations later would die on the cross for those who had broken the law of God. And so here is a man, and from his earliest days, he was taught and nurtured in the gospel. And that's just like you, perhaps. Like you, he could never remember a time when he didn't learn of the things of God. And whenever Cain's brother was born, both of them were taught together. And Cain also, as a young man, heard the news one day that his brother Abel announced to the family that he had become a child of God. Because Abel had a time in his experience, his life's experience, when he repented of his sin, and he trusted that when Christ would die, he would do so for his sin. And Abel knew that he was a believer. And Abel didn't need anyone to convince him of that fact. The Lord, in the moment of his conversion, brought a peace to his heart. The Holy Ghost took up residence, and he was convinced that he was born again. And we have God's word as proof that Abel, way back at the beginning of time, was a child of God. Because the Bible speaks in Matthew 23 and the verse 35 of righteous Abel. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 4 says that Abel obtained witness that he was righteous. And so to think of Cain as a young man growing up and he's surrounded by a godly influence. There was only four people alive in the world at that particular time. Three of them were believers. Cain. was surrounded by the influence of the gospel from his earliest days. Cain was taught to keep the Lord's day because we read in Genesis chapter 4 and in the verse 3 that in process of time, this family met together and Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. It's believed that that phrase in process of time could be rendered as at the end of days. It's a reference to the end of a week, to the seventh day of the week. week. And Cain was taught by his parents, by his brother, therefore, that there was a special day in the week. When the Lord was to be honored, when he was to be worshipped, when the Lord was to be exalted, and when they did not engage in the usual events and the work of the other six days of the week. And so here is a young man, and he's nurtured in the gospel, perhaps just like you. And you have been surrounded by godly people and by spiritual things in days gone past. But perhaps like Cain, your path has also taken you into the depths of sin. That's what happened to this young man. And in his rebellion to God, he comes to a point in his life where he sought to sin against God. I'm sure Cain in his life, like each and every one of us, committed what we might call as ordinary sins or what might be described as lesser sins. But we discover from Genesis chapter 4 that the Spirit of God highlights some most remarkable sins in the life of this young man. He sinned against God. In verse 3, we discover that he brought the fruit of the ground to the Lord. He harvested that which he'd grown. And he brought the fruit of the ground that he had harvested before the Lord as an attempted offering for his sin. You see, Cain believed that he was a sinner. He believed that he needed something to come between him and God that the Lord might accept him. And Cain chose to go against all that he had been taught in that he knew about the slain lamb and the shedding of the blood of that innocent lamb, and he seeks to bring the work of his hands to God as an offering for his sin. And the Bible tells us that the Lord did not accept that offering. He had not only sinned against God, he sinned against his fellow man. We discover that Scripture informs us that the first four commandments in God's holy law are toward the Lord. The final six commandments demand the rightful treatment of those around us, in that we are to live for the benefit, for the well-being, for the joy and happiness, not only of ourselves, but of our fellow human beings as well. But we discover in Genesis chapter 4 and verse 8 that Cain lifts his hand against his brother and he takes his life. Cain's life, you see, was on the downward path. He departed from God, from the things of God. He went from bad to worse. I might be speaking to someone at this particular time, and that's how you are, brought up in a godly home. But your life is in ruins. Sin has destroyed you. And maybe, like Cain, the path that you are on is in danger of taking you to the place of eternal punishment. Because the Word of God says in Jude verse 11, that those who go the way of Cain for them is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Once whenever I was in Wales on a visit, we went down the Big Pit Coal Museum at Pontypool. And during that tour, we were taken 300 feet down the mine shaft to one of the original coal faces. It's eerie, it's creepy, it's cold, but the most remarkable thing is the darkness. They turn off the lights, and the darkness is so, so real that you are unconscious of everyone else around you, and it seems as if you are the only person there. In many ways, it is a most frightening experience. The Bible says that Cain, because of a sin, because of his refusal to repent, has gone out into the blackness of darkness forever. And Cain's soul is lost in that place called hell. Oh, my friend, don't go that way. I would call you to that place of repentance because, thank God, there is a place where sins are washed away, for Christ has died. and Christ has shed his precious blood to pay the price of man's sin. And so, in the conclusion of this message to you, I would like to invite you to repent of your sin, come to the Savior, call upon him in repentance, bow the knee, and thank God the Bible tells us that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. Don't follow Cain. Don't walk in Cain's footsteps, but close in with the Lord's offer of mercy. Let's bow in prayer. Eternal God and Father, we pray that thou will take thy holy word and the truth of thy word write it upon our hearts for Christ Jesus our Lord's sake. Amen. Thank you for spending some time with us today around the Word of God. For further information visit our website at ltbs.tv. We look forward to joining with you next time as we seek to let the Bible speak once again.