Adrian Rogers - The Blood Makes a Difference
Find Hebrews chapter 11, and in just a moment we're going to begin reading in verse 4. Now the central theme of the entire chapter of Hebrews chapter 11 is that God is to be worshipped. And if God is to be worshipped, He must be worshipped in Spirit and in truth. Let's read, if we will, Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 4, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh". So really, we're going to have a sermon from a dead man this morning. "He being dead yet speaketh".
Beyond a shadow of any doubt, one of the most interesting men I've ever met was a man I pastored in Ft. Pierce, Florida. His name was Charlie Fisher. We called him Uncle Charlie. He was no bigger than a minute, but he weighed two tons spiritually. He was a man that was fearless for the Lord Jesus Christ. Uncle Charlie had an old airplane with canvas sides. He'd written across the sides of that airplane, "Christ is the answer". It had an open cockpit. He'd put his goggles on, get a basket full of tracts and fly over county fairs and dump out the tracts on the people, and circle around the field with that sign on there, "Christ is the answer". I prayed with him so many times, and he would pray and get happy in the Lord and get on the floor and crawl around and begin to giggle, praising the Lord. Absolutely fearless.
When I baptized Uncle Charlie, he had already been saved for a long time, but I needed to baptize him before he came into the fellowship of our church. And I wasn't prepared for what happened. I put him under the water and when he came up out of the water, he stood up and lifted both hands and said, "Glory to God". He said, "Buried in the likeness of His death and raised in the likeness of His resurrection"! Incredible individual. Uncle Charlie finally died. He told his son Lee, who was a dear friend of mine, he said, "Don't worry about my funeral. Just invite all my friends and take this tape recorder and push the button. That's all you have to do". He said, "I've already taken care of everything".
And so, the funeral came, and Uncle Charlie was there in the casket, all of his friends were there. Lee got up and pushed the button and it was Charlie. He said, "Hello, everybody". Said, "I'm Charlie Fisher. I'm up here in Heaven. It is wonderful up here in Heaven". And he began to tell everybody about how glorious Heaven was. And he preached a sermon on how wonderful Heaven is. And then he said, "I want to tell all of you to come and meet me in Heaven". The only man I ever knew who preached his own funeral. Charlie Fisher preached his own funeral. "He being dead was yet speaking". Well, there's another man who has preached his own funeral, and that's a man named Abel. And we're going to learn about him today.
Now what we see in Abel is a shadow of the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now the Old Testament is a book of shadows that point to New Testament truths. For example, in Colossians chapter 2 verse 17, the Bible tells us that the Old Testament is a shadow of things to come. Now you think about shadows. A shadow must have light and it must have something to shine upon. Now the light is the Old Testament Scripture and the body that the shadow shines upon is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the angle of the light determines the sharpness of the shadow. In the early morning, the shadows are not real clear and they're somewhat distorted. By midmorning the shadows become clearer. Then at high noon, there are no shadows at all.
Now, in the Old Testament we have shadows that pointed toward the Lord Jesus Christ. But when Calvary came in the New Testament then it's high noon. What we're going to see here in this story of Abel is the beginning of these shadows that are pointing to the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, look again if you will in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 4, "By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice". Well, where is that story found? The story is found over here in the book of Genesis. So turn if you will with me to Genesis now, for a moment. Genesis chapter 4. Open your Bible. It's very important or you won't understand Hebrews 11 if you don't understand Genesis chapter 4! Do you have it in your Bible? Now watch. Genesis chapter 4 verses 1 through 5.
Now, "Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived," now Adam and Eve, obviously, the first humans here upon the earth, "and she conceived and bare Cain". Now Cain was her first born, "and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel," that's the one we're talking about today, "was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground". One a shepherd and one a farmer. "And in the 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 his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell".
Now we're going to stop reading there, but keep your bookmark there in Hebrews chapter 11 and then Genesis chapter 4, because we're going to go back and forth so we can understand. What we have here is a shadow of the cross in the offering that Abel made. Two offerings. Cain offered the fruit of the ground. He offered vegetables to the Lord. Abel offered to the Lord a slain lamb of the firstlings of the flock. The Bible says that God accepted the offering of Abel, but He did not accept the offering of Cain. One, the offering from the ground, the fruit of the ground. The other, a spotless lamb. Now, we're going to see in this chapter, Hebrews chapter 11 and Genesis chapter 4 some contrasts. Are you ready?
First of all, here was a contrast in their worship. Two boys, they're worshipping God. One is worshipping in Spirit and in truth. And the other is worshipping by his own ingenuity. Now remember Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 4, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice". Now, what was the difference? Well, may I say this? And listen to me very carefully. All religions are not of the same value. In America today we're looked upon as politically incorrect and almost un-American if we don't put our arms around everybody else and say, "Your religion is just as good as mine". It is not true. God had respect unto Abel's offering; to Cain's offering He did not.
Now we're supposed to be tolerant today. And I believe in tolerance in some areas, but I do not believe in tolerance that sacrifices truth. And there's nothing today so intolerant as the intolerance of those against those of us who say there is a fixed standard of right and wrong. There is a true religion and there is a false religion. This world doesn't need religion. It has too much religion. This world needs Jesus.
And may I tell you that David Barak, who is a scholar, tells us that in the world today there are 9,900 different religions. 9,900, almost ten thousand different religions. And some of these religions have many Gods. The Hindus have three hundred million Gods. I didn't stutter and I didn't misread that. Three hundred million Gods in Hinduism. And even Christianity, we divide Christianity up into Baptist and Presbyterian, and Methodist, and Episcopalian, and so forth. But listen to me: there are only two religions in the entire world: the true and the false. The true and the false. Now that may seem narrow to you, but that's what our lesson is all about. There is the religion of grace and the religion of works. There is the religion of Cain and there is the religion of Abel.
Now let's look at this. And I'm not going to ask you to take my word for it. Let's just look at the Bible and see what the Bible has to say about it because I realize what I'm preaching today is politically incorrect. So be it. Look at the worship of Cain. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 4, "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain". What was the way of Cain? The way of Cain was the way of good works. It was salvation by his own effort. He was a tiller of the ground. And the Bible says that you're going to till the ground by the sweat of your brow. What Cain offered to God was his own toil, his own sweat, his own effort.
Now, when he came to God with this offering of vegetables and fruits, it must have been beautiful. I mean, it must have looked like a county fair. There's the most fragrant fruit. The most beautiful flowers. The most succulent vegetation. And he offers this to God because he's been out there plowing the ground. But the Bible says in Genesis 3 verses 17 to 23, "Cursed is the ground, of the sweat of your brow, when you till the ground". And what he has done is, he is offering his own work to them. Put in your margin Jude verse 11, "Woe unto them for they have gone the way of Cain". What is the way of Cain? It is to try to save yourself by your own good works rather than by the grace of God. It represents culture rather than Calvary.
Now you're in Hebrews chapter 11. And in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 22 the Bible says, "Without shedding of blood, is no remission". There is no salvation apart from the shedding of blood. What did Cain offer? Vegetables. Have you ever heard this statement? "You can't get blood from a turnip". "Without shedding of blood there is no remission". "Well," you say, "Adrian, that's what you say". No, that's what God says. "Well," you say, "I have my own religion". So did Cain. You say, "Well, I'm looking for a religion that suits me". So did Cain. And Cain died and went to Hell. "Woe unto them for they have gone after the way of Cain".
Most of the people in America don't need religion; they need to turn from religion to Jesus Christ. Most of the people in America are egomaniacs strutting to Hell thinking they are too good to be damned. When I first came to this city, a lady met me. She was kind of giddy. But she was trying to impress me. And she said to me, "Oh, Dr. Rogers. We are so happy to have you in our city". She said, "I'm in a Bible study group," and she said, "We're studying that new edition of the Bible". Now at that time, the new Bible that was being studied, passed around was called Good News for Modern Man. It was so funny to me. She said, "Pastor Rogers, we are studying that new Bible, Modern News for Good Man".
I tell you, that's a lot of what we have today. Modern news for good man. Friend, man is not good and the news is not modern. It's as old as the book of Genesis, and it is good news for bad man. That's what it is. It is the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is not salvation by works. And here Cain offered of the fruit of the ground. Now what did Abel offer? Well, the Bible says Abel offered of the firstling of his flock. Go back again if you will in Genesis chapter 4 and verse 4, "And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock". Abel's offering was based on a blood atonement.
Now let me tell you the difference between these two. I said people need to turn from religion to Jesus Christ. Religion is what sinful people do for a holy God. The Gospel is the good news of what a holy God has already done for sinful man. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 4, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice". Now where did Abel get the idea of bringing a blood offering to almighty God?
Now remember, it was just a shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where did he get that idea? Well, when Adam and Eve sinned against God, they tried to clothe themselves with fig leaves. What is that? The fruit of the ground. What did God do? God came into the Garden of Eden, and God made them coats of skin, animal skin. How do you get coats of skin? Blood had to be shed. Where did Abel learn the idea that it takes blood? "Without shedding of blood is no remission". He learned it from his parents. You say, "Did he really know this"? Listen to me, Abel was a prophet of God, a prophet.
You say, "Where do you get that"? Put in your margin Luke 11 beginning in verse 49 through 51. Jesus is speaking, "Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: That the blood of all the prophets," underscore that, "that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias".
All of the prophets. Abel is called a prophet of God. Abel was a martyr who died for his faith. Adam and Eve had two sons, one a martyr, one a murderer. Abel was a prophet; he understood the Word of God. Now, you say, "Did he really understand about the Lord Jesus Christ"? Well, if he was prophet. Put in your Bible Acts chapter 10 verse 43, "To Him," Jesus, "give all the prophets witness". Now if Abel was a prophet, and he was, and the Bible says, "To Jesus give all the prophets witness," back there just outside the gates of Eden, was a man named Abel who offered a spotless lamb that is a picture, a prophecy of Jesus who is to come.
Isn't the Bible a wonderful book? The Bible is a wonderful book. Don't get the idea that these people out there were just plowing with sticks and didn't know anything. No, and let me say something else. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was not an afterthought. It was not an emergency action. God had the redemption by blood in His heart before He ever made the world. Put in your margin Revelation chapter 13 and verse 8. The Bible says, "And all that dwell upon the Earth shall worship Him whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world". Jesus was in the heart and mind of God from the foundation of the world. Before He swung this world into space, God had redemption by blood in His mind.
You take the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and you cut it anywhere, and it will bleed. There is a red river of life. It begins to flow in the book of Genesis and it flows all the way through to the book of the Revelation, the chapter I just read to you. That river began to flow when God made coats of skin for Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:21. And then in Genesis 4:4, that river passed on down when Abel took of the firstlings of the flock and offered a blood sacrifice to the Lord. The first act that Noah did when he came out of the ark, after Genesis 6 and the flood came, was to offer a blood sacrifice. You can find that in Genesis 8 verse 20.
In the first half of Genesis 22, God called Abraham, the father of the faithful, God said to Abraham, "Abraham, take your son up to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him". And at the last moment when the knife was about to fall into the bosom of Isaac, God said, "Abraham! Don't hurt the lad. Don't harm the lad! Look over here is a ram caught in a thicket". I like to think of it as a ram crowned with thorns, his horns locked in that thicket. Take that ram and sacrifice him. No wonder Jesus said in John 8:56, "Abraham saw My day and was glad". Abraham, way back more than a millennium before Jesus ever came, knew something of the blood sacrifice.
And then in Exodus 3 verses 7 to 10, God called Moses. God said to Moses, "Moses, take My people from the land of Egypt, the land of sin and darkness and slavery and bring them into the promised land". And in Exodus chapter 12 in the first 13 verses, God said, "Moses, when you do this, in order to let the people go out, take a lamb... Tell every family, 'Take a lamb and sacrifice that lamb and put the blood of that lamb on the door posts of that house. Because My death angel is going to come through the land of Egypt.'" And God says, "My death angel is going to be looking for something. He's going to be looking for the blood. And if the blood is there upon the doorpost, watch it. When I see the blood, I'll pass over you". That's where we get the word "Passover".
Now friend, it was the blood that caused the death angel to pass over. I tell you, had they put rubies and diamonds and gold and emerald upon that door, the death angel would have come. Had they written beautiful poetry and put it upon that door and nailed it there, the death angel would have come. Had they taken a live and spotless lamb and set that live and spotless lamb there, the death angel would have come. People say, "Christ is my example". No, He has to be your Savior. Now you're not saved by learning lessons from the life of Christ but by receiving life from the death of Christ. God says, "When I see the what? The blood, I will pass over you". "Without shedding of blood is no remission of sins".
And then after Moses, they got in the land, God gave them the Levitical law. And they were told how to make those sacrifices. And every smoking altar of every Jewish temple, it all points to the coming of Jesus. And thousands and thousands of lambs and rams and turtle doves are offered and blood is shed. Why is this? The Bible says over here in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 4, it's impossible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin. Why all of those sacrifices? God is just pointing toward Calvary. This red river of life begins to run. I'm telling you these are all shadows, these are all prophecies, these are all types, these are all lessons, and that river runs and runs and runs. Till it finally comes to Calvary.
When Jesus bows His head and dies, and the blood is shed, this is what God is getting people ready for. Pavlov, the Russian psychologist did experiments in what we call "conditioned response". He got his dogs, you remember reading about in Psychology class. He had his dogs, and he would ring a bell and feed the dogs, ring a bell, feed the dogs, ring a bell, feed the dogs. He got the dogs where all he had to do was ring a bell and they'd begin to drool. They'd begin to salivate, because they knew that the bell meant food. What is God doing in the Old Testament with all of these sacrifices beginning with the skins that clothed Adam and Eve, beginning with Abel's offering? What is God doing with all of that?
God is conditioning His people. There is a conditioned response. When they see the blood, they know that sin means death, sin means death, sin means death, sin means death. And therefore, people are ready for the death of the Lord Jesus Christ when He died upon the cross. For, "Without shedding of blood is no remission". Don't think this was incidental, friend. This is fundamental. There was a contrast in their worship. Now secondly, not only is there contrast in their worship, but friend, also, the consequences of their worship. Look if you will in Genesis 4 verses 5 and 6, "But unto Cain and his offering God had not respect. And Cain was very wroth". Plain English, he was ticked off. He was angry. "And his countenance fell. And the Lord said to Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen"?
Now, God did not have any respect for Cain and all of his good intentions and all of his good works. The difference between Cain and Abel is the difference between righteousness and unrighteousness. Now you would say, well, God would just say to Cain, "Well, you tried and you didn't get a hundred percent on the test, but I'm going to grade on the curve". No, God doesn't grade on a curve, and God doesn't just give an "A" for effort. And God will not overlook sin. Put it down big, plain and straight, God will not overlook sin. You know, there are people that say, "Well, God's too good to punish sin". You got it backward. God is too good not to punish sin.
If you had to go through all the lectionaries and dictionaries of the world to get a word that would describe God and put it into one word, of course that would be impossible. But if you had to choose one word above all other words it would be the word "holy". Holy means that God is a holy God. God never has, God never can, God never will overlook sin. All sin must be punished. If God overlooked sin, God would topple from His throne of holiness. God would cease to be a righteous God. Put in your margin Romans chapter 3 and verse 23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God". And by the way, you want to know what the definition of sin is? Coming short of the glory of God.
Don't lie down in the gutter alongside some old hypocrite and say, "I'm longer than he is". Don't measure yourself that way. Here's the glory of God, here you are. The gap between the glory of God and you, that's sin. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God". All of us. Now, notice Romans 3 verses 24 and 25, "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past". What does the word propitiation mean? It's a big word. It means satisfaction. Nothing can satisfy the righteousness of God, the holiness of God, except the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God cannot, God never has, God never will let any sin go unpunished. Your sin will be pardoned in Christ or punished in Hell, but it will never be overlooked. I've frequently said, when a guilty man is acquitted the judge is condemned. If God were to let sin go unpunished, God himself would become a sinner. All Christianity is described in three sentences: I deserve Hell. Jesus took my Hell. There's nothing left for me but His Heaven. That's what it's all about. It is salvation by grace. And the consequences of that worship is lasting, not only in time, but in eternity. Now Abel was killed by Cain, but he didn't cease to exist. "He being dead, yet speaks". For the child of God, death is not a period, but a comma. He still lives on.
Now here's the third and final thing. I want you to see not only the contrast in their worship, and the consequences of their worship, but I want you to see the conflict of their worship. Look if you will now in Genesis 4 verses 5 through 8, "But unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect. And Cain was very angry, wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, 'Why art thou wroth? 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.'" Sin is like an animal, crouching at the door. That's what that literally means. God says, "If you do what I tell you to do, you'll do well". God is no respecter of persons. And, "Sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire".
That is, sin is ready to devour you. "And thou shalt rule over him". That is, if you'll do right. "And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, that while they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him". Now I want you to listen very carefully. The first murder was over religion. And it was a religious crowd that crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. As I say, Adam and Eve had two sons, one was a murderer, the other was a martyr. Why did Cain kill Abel? Because his heart was not right with God. No man can be wrong with God and right with his fellow brother. False religion is characterized by force. Our faith is characterized by love.
Now you think of what is happening in the world today. You think of the people who are being murdered in the name of religion who paid for their faith with their blood. They're showing the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps Cain was too refined to offer a blood sacrifice, but he was not too refined to plunge a knife or whatever into his brother's bosom. Now, listen to John 16 verses 1 through 4. Jesus said, "These things have I spoken unto you, that you should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think he doeth God service".
Does that sound contemporary? "The time will come that whosoever killeth you will think he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor Me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, that ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said unto you at the beginning, because I was with you". Jesus said, "No fine print in the contract". I'm going to ask some of you who have not yet done it to come forward this morning to give you heart to Jesus Christ. But when you do, if you're sincere, it may mean that you will die for what you've done here this morning. You say, "I won't come". It's your business. But Jesus said, "I'm going to tell you ahead of time. 'The time will come when they who kill you will think they do God a service.'"
Now friend, the word martyr and the word witness are the same word in the Greek language. Death doesn't make martyrs, it just simply reveals them. What is our true faith? True faith is never based upon force. One of the greatest mistakes the so-called Christian church ever made was the Crusades, when we tried, by force, to spread our faith. Friend, Islam is an idea, like Communism is an idea. And you cannot kill an idea with a bullet or a bomb. The only thing that will kill an idea is a better idea. And that is the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You say, "Don't you believe in self-defense"? I believe in it with all of my heart. And I believe there are times when we need to go to war, but not to spread the Christian faith. We spread the Christian faith with love.
Now I want you to listen very carefully. "The teaching of Jesus is clear. No one ought to be compelled to become a Christian. This sets the Christian faith drastically apart from Islam. In no country where the Christian faith is the faith of the majority is it illegal to propagate another faith. There is no country in the world that I know of where the renunciation of one's Christian faith puts one in danger of being hunted down by the powers of the state. Yet there are numerous Islamic countries where it is against the law to publicly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And where a Muslim who renounces faith in Islam to believe in anything else risks death". That's the difference friend between true religion and false religion. The salvation of Jesus Christ is by grace through faith, based on the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is never coerced, never!
Now, listen to me. Cain slew Abel. Cain was the loser, not Abel. He won the martyr's crown. There're two religions in the world, only two: the true and the false. The difference between these two religions is the difference between Heaven and Hell. You say, "Well, Pastor Rogers, I believe there is another way other than the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ". You do? Well, let me ask you a question. If there is another way other than the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, tell me why did Jesus die? The Bible says in Galatians 2 verse 21, "If righteousness come by the law, Christ is dead in vain".
If a man, a woman, a boy, a girl, could be saved any other way, then Calvary was a blunder. Why did God let Jesus die on that cross if there's another way? Why not take the other way? Why did He allow His darling Son to die in agony and blood if there's another way? There is no other way. Hebrews 9:22, "Without shedding of blood is no remission". There is a red river of blood that flows through all the Bible. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. A preacher, a good man, as the world goes, a compassionate man as the world goes, had the religion of Cain.
There are a lot of preachers with the religion of Cain. He had the religion of Cain. He was from a very liberal denomination. He was in his study, there was a knock on the door. He opened the door and there was a little girl, just poorly dressed. And he said, "Little lady, what can I do for you"? She said, "Are you a preacher"? He said, "I'm a minister". "Could you help me"? He thought she needed food. "Could you help me"? He said, "Well, if I can, I'll help you. How can I help you"? She said, "Can you help me get mother in"? Well, he thought perhaps her mother was drunk.
"Well, sweetheart, where is your mother? How do you want me to get her in? I'll go to her and help get her in, where is she"? Said, "My mother is dying. She's at home, she's dying". "Well, what do you mean, 'Help get my mother in?'" "My mother doesn't know God. She sent me out to find a preacher to help get her into Heaven. Can you help get my mother in? My mama is dying". Preacher said, "Yes, sweetheart, I'll go". And he put on his coat and got his hat and went with the little girl down to the poor section of town, there to that little tenement, and there was a woman on her death bed, dying. Not even with the doctors and the nurses to take care of her. That woman said, "Are you a preacher? Are you a minister"? "Yes, I am". "Are you a man of God"? "Well, I trust so". "Can you help get me in"?
Now remember, he didn't preach the blood atonement. His was a religion of culture and good works. The religion of Cain. He began to tell her about the Sermon on the Mount, and living right, and doing good, and kindness and all of these things. High, wonderful, platitudinous ideas. The woman had a distraught look on her face. She said, "You don't understand. I have lived a sinful and a wicked life. And now I'm dying. All that you say sounds very good and very wonderful, but I am dying. I can't do any of that. Don't you have a message for a woman like me"? And that preacher began to think and he realized, "I don't have a message for a woman like that".
And then he remembered the story that his mother told him before he'd gone off to the seminary and gotten educated. About a Savior who took our sins and carried them to the cross and in agony and blood died and said, "It is finished and paid in full". And he went back and told her that old story, though he himself didn't really believe it. Told her about Jesus. Told about the cross. Told her about grace. Told her about forgiveness and led her in a prayer. And she prayed and asked Christ into her heart and was gloriously saved.
Later on, that liberal preacher stood up in another preachers' meeting and gave a testimony. And here's what he said. He said, "Sirs, that night that woman came in and I came in too! I came in too! I gave my heart to Jesus! And I got saved". What can wash away my sin? Nothing! Nothing! Nothing, but the blood of Jesus. Two religions, two ways. Cain and Abel. Vegetables and a lamb. Will you lay your pride and your good works in the dust, and will you today say, "Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me. Oh, Lamb of God, I come to Thee. I come". Will you? For your sake? For His sake? Will you trust Him?
Bow your heads in prayer. If you're not certain that you're saved, I want to lead you in a prayer. And in this prayer you can trust in Christ. Repeating words won't save you. The Bible says it was by faith, it was by faith that Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice. "Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God". Would you pray this prayer?
Dear God, I am a sinner and I'm lost. And my good works cannot save me. Thank You that You sent Jesus, a spotless lamb, Who paid with His own blood my sin debt. And I receive You, Lord Jesus, into my heart now as my Lord and Savior. Forgive my sin, save me Jesus.
Did you pray it? Then by an act of faith, claim it. Say:
Thank you Lord. I receive it by faith and that settles it. And Lord Jesus, I will make it public. I will not be ashamed of You, because You died for me. In Your name I pray, Amen.