Freedom From Morality (LIVE)

We trace Genesis 4 to show how quickly God pointed to the cross and how Abel’s faith, not Cain’s effort, won God’s favor. The call is to stop striving, trust the finished work of Jesus, and live as new creations who obey from love, not fear.

• Cain and Abel as a mirror of faith versus self-effort
• God’s warning to Cain and the offer to lift his face
• The futility of coping with sin through works and morality
• The finished work of Christ as God’s accepted sacrifice
• Identity in Christ as sons, kings, priests, and new creations
• Obedience flowing from love instead of earning favor
• Assurance, advocacy, and freedom from tormenting doubt
• Invitation to believe, pray, and step into community

Please remember to like and share and comment and all that, especially if you're on the social media side, that helps us tremendously

Chapters

• 0:58 Welcome And Global Greeting
• 1:35 Setting Genesis 4 In View Of The Cross
• 3:33 Abel’s Faith And God’s Favor
• 6:30 Cain’s Anger And God’s Warning
• 8:39 No Other Offering For Sin
• 11:54 Curse, Mercy, And Leaving God’s Presence
• 15:37 Building A Life Without God
• 17:03 God Needs No Sacrifice From You
• 19:45 Finished Work Of Christ Explained
• 22:30 Identity In Christ Over Sin
• 25:30 The Torment Of Trying To Be Enough
• 28:30 Denying The Cross With Moral Effort
• 30:37 Joy In The Accepted Sacrifice
• 32:41 Stop Coping And Come To The Cross
• 36:10 Freedom, Assurance, And Advocacy
• 38:34 Obedience From Love, Not Fear
• 41:45 New Creation, Not Self-Improvement
• 44:35 A Simple Gospel For The Weary

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:33

Hallelujah. Welcome, uh precious uh gathering the Lord's house tonight. Uh, to those of us who are here in person, and amen to those of you who are listening across a variety of formats, across a variety of platforms in over 80 nations around the world. Uh, whether you've been with us for years or whether this is your first time hearing us, uh, we're glad to have you. Um remember to like and share and comment and all that, especially if you're on the social media side, that helps us tremendously. And uh thank you, those of you who have been doing that. Amen and hallelujah. And so let's go back to Genesis chapter 4 today. Genesis chapter 4. And I hope you're amazed, if you're someone who has read this account and read scripture, at how quickly God began to point to the cross. How quickly after Adam fell, um, how quickly uh you know, after you know Adam and Eve they fell in the garden, how quickly the Lord began pointing to Jesus, the Lord began pointing to the blood, the Lord began pointing to a sacrifice that he would make, not that they would come up with, that he would make. He began pointing to that almost instantly, my friend. Had to take a little bit of time and show Adam what was going on, um, and there had to be a consequence for the sin. Yet it didn't stay there. Almost immediately after that, he began pointing to the cross. He began pointing to a redeemer, a redeemer that he would provide. And don't know if you've ever read the account in Genesis 4 that way, but we're gonna see that tonight. And I guarantee you, my friend, you're in here somewhere. This is about way more than God, Cain, and Abel. You are here right this very second. You are in this account right this very second. The Lord is speaking to you through this account right this very second. So with that in mind, let's unfold it. Amen. So we'll go back and um we'll start Genesis 4 1, and let's read what the Word of God says. And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I've gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord, and Abel he also brought of the first things 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 so time of offering came up before the Lord. I know this pointed to Jesus. Time of offering came up, and as we saw last week, the only real difference between Abel and Cain lies in their faith. Abel, a man of faith, and that faith produced a good work. That faith produced something in Abel, and it produced an offering. And the Lord, you notice he had respect to Abel and to his offering. Both. Respect to Abel, and the New Testament calls Abel a righteous man. Jesus himself spoke of the blood of righteous Abel. And so the Lord had respect to a man of faith. Completely fallen, yes. Born separate from him, yes. Yet a man of faith. A man who believed God, a man who knew God, a man we might even say he loved the Lord his God. And he loved him for who he is. He didn't love him out of, you know, he didn't make an image and love that. He didn't come up with a God that he liked and loved that. No, he just simply loved the Lord and believed the Lord and put his faith in the Lord. And that faith came up, and that faith did something. James will tell us that faith without works is dead. That faith did something. I believe it did a lot of things, but the scripture just sort of narrows down on this time of offering. But out of that faith, he brought an offering, and God looked at it and God was pleased. God was pleased with Abel, God was pleased with the offering. Some people said he took up the offering by fire right on the spot. Hallelujah and amen. And Cain, a man of unbelief. And the Lord did not have respect to Cain. And also did not have respect to Cain's offering. And yet it didn't stop there. Didn't stop there. Cain, as we saw, got very he kind of had this slow burning anger inside. And I believe Cain separated from the Lord. This wasn't the first time that anger came up. This wasn't the first time the unbelief just came up. See, Cain's a grown man here. But this was an occasion for it to come out. And it did. Started between Cain and God. And we see, you know, tragically his countenance fell. His eyes turned downward. His eyes turned into himself. Stopped looking at God, stopped listening to God. And it was all about Cain. And and it was an anger. It was an anger. It was an anger. And it was and it was there. And the Lord saw that. And notice how the Lord didn't just say, Forget you, Cain. No. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? Why is thy countenance fallen? Why? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And you know, bless God, we gotta forgive the King James people here, amen. Um if you do well, i if you come by faith, if you come with a faithful heart, will you not be lifted up? This is the remedy to Cain's downcast continence. This is the remedy, my friend. God's saying, if you come by faith, will you not be lifted up? God's the one who would lift his countenance. And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Now let's look at this through the old the New Testament. If Cain continues in his unbelief, which sadly he does, he is left with nothing else but his sin. As perhaps he heard on Sunday, there is no other offering for sin. There's no other offering for sin but Jesus Christ. And in these days, pre-cross, there was no other way to deal with sin. He will walk in his unbelief, and he will forever have the burden of dealing with his own sin. He has nothing else. If he'll walk as a as an angry man, he'll always have his anger. And we saw that the anger grew, the anger grew, the anger grew, and the anger exploded out one day at Abel. And he murdered his brother. Out of unbelief. Cain would never have the life that God wanted for him to have. God spoke to Cain before the murder. God spoke to Cain after the offering. God spoke to Cain when God saw a wrathful heart in Cain, and what did Cain do? He just kept right on walking in his wrath. Cain did not turn at that moment and say, Blessed be the name of the Lord my God. Thank you, God, for speaking to me. Thank you, God, for giving me a way to have relationship with you. Thank you, God, for even being able to give you an offering. Thank you, God, for for having relation and interaction and fellowship with you, even though I'm a man apart from you, I'm a man in my sin. But hallelujah, I can worship you. Hallelujah, I can please you. I can be pleasing to you. And thank you, God, for pointing out this wrath. I don't, Lord, I'm going to come in faith. Hallelujah and amen. Is that what happened? Is that what's happening in your life? See, I told you, you're in here. You're in here somewhere. You're either a born-again, saved, blood washed, spirit-filled, hallelujah, yes and amen, child of the king. Or you're here. Walking away from God. Walking separate from God. Which one are you tonight? You see, ultimately, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. And so, you know, the murder goes on, and then Cain sort of receives a unique curse from God. On top of the existing curse. The ground would no longer yield its strength. He would be a fugitive and a vagabond. And yet he would receive a unique mercy from God. He would in a way walk through in a way would Adam walk through. He would receive a curse and a mercy. You see, Cain had you know the audacity, and we saw this last week, but we're building to something. Verse 14 says, Behold, you know, God, you know, you've driven me out from the face of the earth, and from your face I should shall be hidden. I'll be a fugitive and a vagabond. And it came to it'll come to pass, everyone who finds me is going to want to kill me. They're going to slay me. They're going to put me through what I put my brother through. And then the Lord said to him, Whoever slayeth Cain, vengeance on him would be taken sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain lest any finding him should kill him. He received a unique mercy. And then for the purposes of tonight, where did Cain go from here? He went out from the presence of the Lord. Out from his presence. Oh, Cain believed God exists. Oh, he absolutely knew that God speaks. He had personally encountered the Lord on more than one occasion. And yet, out from the presence of the Lord. Out from the presence of the Lord. Out from the presence of the Lord. To deal with his sin. To deal with the sin. To deal with the sin. Day in and day out to deal with the sin. You see, he'd never escape it. He would never escape the reality that he had met with God. And God had spoken. And yet Cain on the inside walked away. He'd never escaped that. Try as he might, and try he did, my friend, he built a city. Try he did. He named that city after his son. He started having a family. Try, try, try. Even the name Enoch, you know, speaks of this was a new beginning for Cain. But out from the presence of the Lord. Try and try and try and try and try. But he never escaped that day. He never escaped that moment when he interacted with the living God, and the living God interacted with him, but Cain went the other way. He didn't run to God. You see, even here, you know, the mercy of God did not break this man. The fact that God would have such a mercy to protect him from being murdered. Though Cain murders his own brother. Oh my friend, sometimes mercy will break people. Didn't break this man. On he went away from the presence of the Lord. On he went, on he went, on he went. Coping forever with the consequences. Trying to cope. Trying to move on. Trying to raise a family. Then he had descendants, and these descendants, what did they do? They were wonderful things. Ada Bar, you know, he had several, several people, you know, eventually his descendants, they became the father of such as dwell in tents and such as have cattle, um, father of all such as handled a harp in the organ, instructor of every artificer in brass and iron. They did wonderful things. All perhaps to cover up. All you know, maybe they built their city, you know, and y you you see the blood. The blood of Abel. And the fact that Cain had walked away to deal with his sin by himself. Oh my friend. In reality, I need to ask where you are today. In reality, God needs no sacrifice from you. Let that sink in. God is not looking for you to deal with your sin. He needs no sacrifice that you could offer him. You see, my friend, God gave a law one day, a few generations after this happened. And that law included sacrifices for a number of things. But you read the book of Galatians, and it says, if there could have been a law given that could give life, then verily life would have come by the law. Even the law that came from the mouth of God Himself couldn't give life. Let that blow your mind. So what do you think your morality can accomplish? If the God-given law that Moses got up on the mountain of Sinai from the Lord God Almighty directly, written by the finger of God in tables of stone, if that law couldn't give any life, what can your morality accomplish? What can your attempts to deal with your own sin on your terms in your way accomplish? What can all of your coping accomplish? What can all of your trying accomplish? What can all of your suffering accomplish? What can all of your attempts at self-control accomplish? What can all of your sense you know just trying to move on and trying not to think about it? What can that accomplish? And my friend, here's the real kicker. God's not pleased whatsoever. What pleases God? Go back to Genesis 4, my friend. A simple faith. A simple faith. That led to a man doing something. An act of worship. An act of love to God. And God smiled. And I believe at this time he counted Abel for a righteous man. Faith, my friend, that hasn't changed a bit. Hallelujah. That has not changed a bit. You see, my friends, Jesus already became your sin. Hallelujah. Jesus already became your sin. You see, God doesn't want an offering from you. God doesn't want a sacrifice from you. Why? Because God brought his own. God brought his own sacrifice. And God made his own sacrifice. And God became your sin. The Son of God Himself, Jesus Christ, the Lord God Almighty in the flesh, became your sin personally himself. He doesn't want you to die. Jesus already died. He doesn't want you to bleed. Jesus already bled. He doesn't want you to try and try and try and try and try. Because Jesus has already done. And Jesus has already finished the work. And Jesus has already completed the work of becoming your sin. So hallelujah. You must be born again, John chapter 3. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins, washed us, it's already done. Washed us from our sins in his own blood. And hath made us kings and priests unto God his Father. Revelation chapter 1. Book of Galatians, chapter 4. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father, wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son? And if a son then an heir of God through Christ, Galatians chapter 4. Does this sound like your walk? Does this sound like you in Christ? Does this ring true of you right this second in Christ? Does has is this your day today, today, today, today, moment by moment by moment by moment existence in the Lord? A beloved son, a born-again man, a born-again daughter, a beloved adopted heir with Christ, a king and a priest, a saint. Is this you today? Because you'll notice in these verses and throughout all the Old Testament, there is really no struggle with sin. Let that rest on you for a moment. You see, to go back to Cain, Cain's relationship with God became dominated by sin. That was not the relationship that God wanted with this man. Always defined by the sin. Always trying to deal with the sin. Always trying and painting God as a tyrant. Painting God as someone who's just impossible to please. Painting God as a villain. Painting God as an interloper. Painting God as a pest. And God responded in mercy and in truth. And yet God counseled the man. And yet God said, You know, why are you wrong? Why is your countenance fallen? If you come by faith, if you come by faith, if you come by faith, I will personally lift you up. And no, Cain would not. And so Cain went out from the presence of God, and yet under God's mercy, and yet, always dealing with his own sin, and yet having children and bringing up those children. God is, you know, and with God's version of Cain, with Cain's version of God. Wow. So my friends, we must make it personal tonight to you. And I say this in love. Because I know a great many religious people do a great many religious things. And my friend, I need to ask you when you go to bed at night, I need to ask you when you're all alone, I need to ask you in the stillness. Do you constantly wonder if you're doing enough? Do you constantly wonder if God is pleased with you? Do you constantly wonder if did I do enough good today? Did I do enough good today? Did I do enough good today? Um, do you constantly live in that fear? Do you constantly live in that struggle? Do you constantly live, you know, and and your whole relationship with God is just dominated. Oh God help me. Oh God help me to not fornicate anymore. Oh God help me to not drink anymore. Oh God help me to please, you know, to please the church. God help me to please the you know the pastor. God help me, God help me, God help me. I just don't know, God, and I'm tormented. You're tormented. It dominates your entire Christian walk. And every time you pray to the Lord, you you kind of wonder, is uh is he happy with me? Did I do enough? Did I did that did I do enough good? Did I do enough right? Did I have like the right emotional state? Did I have the right frame of mind? Did I have it? And you never really know. That's the real torment. You never really know. Manny's the person I talk to. You don't they claim Christ. They claim God. But you ask them, um what's gonna happen when you meet him, and they say, I don't know. I'm not sure. I I hope. I I hope so. But I don't know. I hope s I I hope he's pleased with me. I I hope I I've done enough good and kinda got the whoa. Cain. I hope I've done enough. And and all that bad that happened a while ago. But look at what I got I got a city now. I got a family now. I mean I've got a wife and kids now. I I I've got we're we're building stuff now. I mean we're I hope he's happy with me. Oh my friend, you may be closer to Cain than you ever thought. But I tell you, the Lord God Almighty is having a mercy on you tonight. Because if I just describe your walk with God, and you need to hear this in love. If you continue in that walk, you will march straight into the devil's hell. In the name of Jesus. You will march straight on into the flames, thinking you're working for Jesus the whole time. When in reality, here's the kicker. If you've got a moral code, if you've got a moral framework, if you've got a religious worldview, no matter if you stamp the name of Jesus somewhere in it, and that's what you're pursuing, you're denying the cross. I've said it before and don't skip over it. God already brought his own sacrifice. And God already, hallelujah and amen. God already made his own sacrifice. And God already accepted the sacrifice that he made. God already shed blood. God watched it happen. God was pleased the whole time. God was rejoicing the whole time. The angels are rejoicing the whole time. And man, they really start rejoicing when up from the grave he rose on the third day. Hallelujah. They really started rejoicing. And then all heaven erupted the day Jesus walked up to that altar in heavenly places and said, Here's the blood, it's finished. And the God and God the Father jumped off of his throne, and God the Father danced, and God the Father twirled, and God the Father rejoiced, and they embraced hallelujah and amen. That happened already. That is the Jesus the Lord God Almighty wants you to trust in right this moment. The finished sacrifice of the Lord God Almighty Himself, the Lord who is love, the Lord who is holiness, the Lord who is justice, the Lord who is judgment, the Lord who is truth, the Lord who is grace, the Lord who is mercy. Hallelujah. He did this already. And he is well, well, well pleased with his son. Matter of fact, that's where Jesus is right now. He's at the right hand of the Father. Matter of fact, Jesus is returning and Jesus is coming again. And so you are insane if you are living a religious life in the name of the Lord, trying and trying and trying and trying. Trying to make your own offerings. He already did it. Trying to make your own way. He already made it. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. There's no one coming to the Father except by me. Trying to do your own work. To overcome your sin. To cope with your sin. To find some sort of measure of mental and emotional stability. In the middle of your sin. Oh my friend, God lovingly points you to the cross. He says, I already coped with your sin. I already, I uh you you want stability? I already I I gave you peace. You're more than just stable. You you've got a peace that the world can't under understand or comprehend. You're always ever learning and never coming to a knowledge of the truth. Ever learning, ever, you know, well, let's try this way. Let's try to bounce my eyes off of the ladies on off of the man. Let's try, let's try, you know, whenever that comes up, I'm just gonna bounce my eyes. And try real hard to jam some scripture through my head instead of all those images. And we're just gonna try real. Yes, I've been there. Yes, it nearly drove me insane. Yes, it's driving people insane out there right now. And yes, the Lord God Almighty wants to deal with it. Hallelujah. Trying to be something that you're not, because my friend, fish gonna swim, bird gonna fly, cat gonna meow, dog gonna bark. You're gonna sin. And God knows it. Question is, do you want your remedy or do you want God's? Your em your remedy is you're gonna you're gonna have a life full of frustration, you're gonna have a life full of failure, you're gonna have a life full of ups and downs, you're gonna have a life you you wonder why, you know, I talk to people who are like, yeah, yeah, I gave up on church 20 years ago, it didn't work. This is why it didn't work. Because it was all just a bunch of human work. And so, no, it's not gonna work. That's the and you get jaded. And you get hard and you get cynical and you just get blah. A lot of people claim that you know it's just kind of blah. It's kind of oh yeah, you know, I go to church, I do this. But my friend, that's not the life God wants for you. That's not the life he has for you. You see, born-again man, woman, and child, your sin is in the past. Your sin is on Jesus, and Jesus died, and Jesus rose again. And so God's not looking at you and seeing your sin anymore. Matter of fact, we got a glorious promise out of 1 John. It says, you know, if any man sin, talking to believers, if any man sin, well, immediately we we have an advocate with Christ, we have an advocate with Jesus. Um, goes so boldly to say that you know, if you're in Christ, you don't sin. That that's how far away from sin that a born-again man, woman, and child is. That's how how far away you are. It's not even in the equation in the eyes of God anymore. It's not even in it's not even in consideration. God Himself doesn't remember it. One of my favorite gospel songs, we're gonna sing this one here. You know, in the depths of the sea by the cathedrals. Go look it up. Your sin is in the depths of the sea, forgotten, far away, and you're free.

unknown: 34:16

Amen.

SPEAKER_00: 34:17

You're free. So why do we obey God? We obey God because we love him. Why do we follow Christ? Because we want to. Because he's our Lord, he's the author and the finisher of our faith. We're his bride. He uses the language of a bride, he uses the language of a child, he uses the language of adopted children. Um, we're at home with God. That's why we follow him. Hallelujah. Is that why you follow God tonight? Because my friend, there this whole Cain and Abel thing is still going on today. It's still going on right now, it's still going on right this second. You're either in love with the Lord, following him, excited, passionate, joyful, at peace, at home, bearing out the fruits of the Holy Ghost, joyfully walking out a calling, joyfully walking out being the church, joyfully walking out, you know, fellowship with one to another, blessed be the name of the Lord. The word we heard on encouragement and exhortation, hallelujah. That's got to go on more around here. That's gotta go on in your church, my friend. Blessed be the name of the Lord, and it's not a heavy thing. I'm asking you today, do you think it's a heavy thing? Do you think it's something you always have to work on? Cain. See, we gotta go back over so many verses. Hallelujah. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. You don't work on anything. You must be born again. You don't work on anything. You work on nothing. Has made us the most underpreached promises of Christianity. Kings and priests. Oh, that's past tense. That's completed already. You are saints. You are the sons of God. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. Where do you have to work on anything? You oh, you you say your flesh. Well, we bless God, we all got one. Oh, but what's God say about it? On two different occasions, Paul did. I am crucified. I am crucified. Am crucified. Am crucified. That the body of flesh might be destroyed, rendered inoperative. You're free from it. Resist you blame the devil. Resist the devil. What does God say? Resist the devil and he will flee from you. You see, do you see the Lord lovingly taking away every excuse you have for not following Christ? Every excuse your flesh can come up with for not believing the Lord. Every excuse your flesh can come up with for not having the life that God wants you to have. Because that's not just to the church. God does want you to have a life, a fruitful life, a full life in Him. I'm talking to the lost people. I'm talking to I'm talking to Cain. I'm talking to modern day Cains in America and around the world. God wants you to have a life with him. And that life is not dominated by sin. That life is not you always trying to please him. That life is not following all of his rules and then flagellating yourself when you don't. That life is not giving a backbreaking offering to the church and hoping that God's just gonna give it back to you somehow. That offering is not finding a purpose-driven life. That offering is not seven steps or seven sacraments or five pillars or all these tenets, or trying to figure out how to harmonize all of the fathers way in the background, and they wrote all this stuff, and you gotta figure out how it all goes together. No, that's not life. The life God has for you is real simple, not complicated. Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong. Jesus loves me, he who died. Heaven's gates have to open wide. This is your song, lost person. He will wash away your sin. He will wash away your sin. Let his little child come in. That's it in song. That's it in verse. Faith. Do you believe that Jesus Christ died for you? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is risen again? Do you believe that Jesus Christ loves you? Do you see, even now, how your entire Christian existence, how your entire religious existence, how your entire moral existence is powerless to save you. And even beyond that, it's not pleasing to God. Even beyond that, you've been denying the blood in the name of Jesus. You've been denying Jesus in the name of Jesus. Because my friend, as I hope you've heard tonight, his work is finished. God's sacrifice is already made, and God's sacrifice is already accepted, and there will be no other. And that includes the sacrifices that you're trying to make. But oh my friends, God will never tear anything down without building something up. He'll never show you your sin without drawing you to the Savior. That's his will for you. God didn't come here to leave you broken, hopeless, helpless, and miserable. Even if your entire religious life has collapsed tonight, He's not here to destroy you. He's here to save you. Because my friend, if he would have continued your own way, it would have been certain doom and destruction. But if you'll stop right now, right this very moment, a humble believing believing, hallelujah. That's the work of God. Believe on the one he sent. Do you believe him tonight? And if so, call upon the name of the Lord. And no, you're not alone. I myself was once a king. Was once. My wife used to be a Cain. Many people in this room used to be a Cain. Going about trying to establish your own righteousness, going about trying to please God. Going about lost. His love broke through. Is it breaking through to you tonight? Hallelujah. If so, call upon the name of Jesus. And my friend, you know, if our musicians will come here tonight, we'll have a time of invitation here. And if you'd like someone to pray with you. And I simply ask you to come forward. If you need to be saved, come forward tonight. Now, church, this altar is open to you tonight. My friend, if you're behind the camera tonight or if you're on audio tonight, and and you want to be saved. My friend, just ask the Lord to be saved. Just let that belief in you, that faith in you come up in some words. Whatever the words are, ask him to be born again. Ask him to be saved. Ask him to be a Christian. Ask him to take away your blood. Ask him, my friend. And my friend, if you come honestly, if you come humbly, if you come as a heartful thing, he will in no way turn you away. So my friends, I thank you again for listening, and thank you for being here. Thank you for being on the other side of that camera. Thank you for being on our audio broadcast tonight. And thank you. And now please, please, please, please continue to be. And especially if you know what he has in your life. Make sure that you can speak. Because I know the Lord is speaking. And I know he loves them. And I know he has a design for them to be born again. He doesn't want them to perish, but he wants him to come. So right man, feel free to use some questions. And feel free to let us know how we can pray for you. Feel welcome and fight to come and see us in person. And thank you again for listening.