A False Hope That Millions Living Today Believe
“There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).
Many today believe that how they live their lives will determine where they go for eternity. This is true, but not in the way most believe. We are born with a fallen nature and incapable of pleasing God by what we do. The Lord wants us to live good lives, but we are unable to do this in ourselves because in our fallen nature we cannot live a righteous life. It is impossible!
Cain and Abel are our first examples in the Bible of the two roads that people choose to please and be accepted by God. Cain offered up the “fruit of the ground,” his labor, to the Lord, and the Lord rejected it. The Lord loved Cain as he did Abel and encouraged him to offer up the right sacrifice. But Cain refused and, therefore, as the sacrifice he offered was rejected, so was Cain. Cain’s approach is the approach of all those in the world today who believe that living a good life is enough. They believe that God will accept them because they have walked out this life trying their best to do the right thing. This seems so right in our fallen human nature, and the Lord does want us to live good lives before Him. But this will not make us acceptable to God, nor will it result in us going to Heaven.
Cain is in Hell today if he did not change his way of approaching God and come God’s way. Well, some might say, he killed his brother so that his fate was sealed. There is no sin the Lord will not forgive if we come His way. There is no evidence in the Bible that Cain came to the Lord, but we all have until we breathe our last breath to make things right with the Lord.
Abel brought from “the firstlings of his flock.” In so doing, Abel realized that he was in need of a redeemer and that a blood sacrifice of an innocent lamb was required by the Lord. This was a type pointing ahead to Christ Who would pay the sin debt owed in His sacrificial death on the Cross. The Lord had shown his parents, Adam and Eve, their need for a redeemer by providing “coats of skin” to cover their nakedness after they sinned against the Lord in the Garden and attempted to cover their nakedness with “fig leaves.” By this, the Lord was showing them that without the shedding of blood, which spoke of the animals sacrificed to provide a covering for their nakedness, there could be no forgiveness of sin. This represented a type of Christ Who would provide the ultimate covering for sin that is the only covering the Lord will accept. Adam and Eve, and all those who have come after them, were shown by this that the Lord must provide the covering or payment for sin, not man.
We can read this account of these two men in the first book of the Bible and know that their story is there as an example for us today. As has been mentioned, these two men and their individual approach to the Lord represent the two ways that mankind has sought to approach God down through the ages. I believe the Lord gave us this account in Scripture that all would see what He required in order to have fellowship with Him.
The Gospel is very simple. A child can understand it. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the Cross of Calvary to pay the sin debt owed to God. We must come to the Lord in repentance and faith believing that by Christ’s sacrificial death on the Cross, our sins are forgiven and that we are now accepted by the Lord and have become children of God. Those that do not come this way will go the way of Cain. Pride is what holds many from coming to the Lord because we must admit we are sinners in need of a Savior.
So, we cannot live a life pleasing to God through our own strength and ability. The “fig leaves” we try to cover ourselves with by trying to live good lives outside of God will reap the same results as that of Cain’s sacrifice. We must come to the Cross seeking forgiveness and believing that the covering for our sins is accomplished and accepted by God at Calvary. For those who go the way of the Lord, there are untold blessings. We’ll close with a verse from the Bible in which the Lord makes His way very clear for all to see:
“For by Grace (unmerited favor) are you saved by faith (in the “covering” for our sin He provides which is Christ and Him Crucified); and that not of yourselves (salvation is completely of the Lord): it is the gift of God (paid for by His Son’s sacrificial death on the Cross). Not of works (we cannot earn it by what we do), lest any man should boast ( in our own abilities)” (Ephesians 2:8,9).
Always Remember,
God Loves You!
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