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Newington Three Angels Church

Eric Walsh

The Depth of the Fall

We are going to get right into our word for today.

We're going to be digging deep into God's word.

And I want to just start us off by reading the scripture reading for today's message.

Romans chapter 8 and verse 1, which says, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.

Our message is entitled, The Depth of the Fall.

Father God, we thank you for this opportunity to study your word.

Once again, Lord, I just ask that you make me a nail on the wall, a rusty, sorry nail, Lord.

But upon that nail, Lord, I ask that you hang a portrait of Jesus Christ.

Instead, Father, especially with this message, let us hear a word from the throne of grace.

It is our prayer in Jesus' precious and holy name.

We're going to go to the book of Genesis, chapter 4.

Genesis 4, verse 1, The scripture says, And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.

The Hebrew reads literally, I have gotten a man, the Lord.

When Eve held her firstborn child, her firstborn son, she had hoped that he was the child of promise from Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15.

You can only imagine what it would have been like for Adam and Eve the first time they saw a thorn grow out of the side of a rose bush, or the first time they saw a lion chase down an impala and begin to tear it to shreds.

Death and decay was instant after they sinned and they were living with the consequences.

Eve, who had taken and bitten the fruit first, was probably so eager to bear the promised 1 who would crush the head of the serpent and bring all of this to an end.

But oh how disappointed Eve would be in the final analysis.

The scripture says in Genesis 4 and verse 2, And she again bare 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.

So Abel raised livestock and Cain grew vegetables and fruits or whatever it was of the ground and Cain brought this as an offering unto God.

Genesis 4 and verse 4 says, And Abel, He also brought 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.

Cain was very wrought, and his countenance fell.

The Hebrew phrase here used can be translated literally, it burned with Cain exceeding.

He was so angry that what he had grown was not accepted.

He was jealous that Abel, his younger brother, his offering was accepted.

And so Cain became very angry in the fact that his works weren't enough to sacrifice to God.

In this message, we are going to take, show you 7 steps following Cain's demise from Cain, the 1 who was hoped to be the promised child to Cain, who was in not only full blown rebellion, but is pushed away and walks away from God.

The first step, and I bring this up because many of our young people are leaving our churches.

And there's a lot of ask as to why, and I wanna say that for many of our young people, because even when I look back at my own life, I went through some of these steps.

We go through these steps, we follow a course that leads us to the land of nod and away from the presence of God.

The first step is self-righteousness and pride.

I could pull them apart, but the truth of the matter is when Cain was trying to save himself by bringing what he had grown to try and make the point that he was able to produce that which he should offer.

It was 1 that was brought to show that the blood of the animal had to pay the price.

Even when you're young, sometimes you start to think, you know better than God.

I never forget being in Bible studies in South Florida when I'd moved there and kind of picking and mocking at some of what we believe and say, you know, people in church always saying, we're gonna run to the hills.

And I would clown and say, how are we gonna run to the hills in Florida?

The Bible says that pride goes before the fall and arrogance, haughtiness goes before destruction.

That first step is when you start to feel yourself.

You start thinking you're better than you really are.

Spiritually, you've figured out what God has not figured out.

Spirit of Prophecy says this, Patriarchs and Prophets, page 72.

The class of worshipers who follow the example of Cain includes by far the greater portion of the world.

For Nearly every false religion has been based on the same principle, that man can depend upon his own efforts for salvation.

It is claimed by some that the human race is in need not of redemption, but of development, that it can refine, elevate, and regenerate itself.

As Cain thought to secure the divine favor by an offering that lacked the blood of a sacrifice, so do these expect to exalt humanity to the divine standard, independent of the atonement.

The history of Cain shows what must be the results.

It shows what man will become apart from Christ.

Humanity has no power to regenerate itself.

Like the second law of thermodynamics, There is a spiritual entropy in the world.

The world is devolving and you can see it from the things that are happening in the world.

The recent Oscars and the big a brouhaha that came out of that.

You can see that all of these things, the world, the fiber of decency is beginning to be unlocked.

You look at the war crimes that are now being levied against Vladimir Putin, or claims of war crimes against Putin, the leader of Russia, and some of the things going on in Asia like China and India, even against Christians.

It shows you that man cannot regenerate itself.

Some say that really the evil in the world is religion.

Religion is why men are divided and fight.

But even in communist, atheist China, there is destruction, persecution, and harm being done the innocent.

Cain could not work his way into favor with God.

Spirit of prophecy going on says, man, it does not tend upward toward the divine, but downward toward the satanic.

There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

Cain and Abel represent 2 classes that will exist in the world till the close of time.

1 class availed themselves of the appointed sacrifice for sin.

The other ventured to depend upon their own merits.

Theirs is a sacrifice without the virtue of divine mediation, and thus it is not able to bring man into favor with God.

It is only through the merits of Jesus that our transgressions can be pardoned.

Without the divine mediation, there's no way to be brought into favor with God.

And true, when you look at the religions of the world, every religion believes that if you follow these principles, if you do these acts, if you flog yourself this way, you climb up stairs on your knees, or if you visit some river and do this thing, that somehow that will bring you into favor with God.

But it is the substitutive work of Christ that alone can bring us into favor with God.

Maybe somehow his parents gassed him up and he began to believe that he would save the world and so how could God reject his offering?

The Spirit of Prophecy continues, she says, those who feel no need of the blood of Christ, who feel that without divine grace they can by their own work secure the approval of God are making the same mistake as did Cain.

If they do not accept the cleansing blood they are under condemnation.

There's no other provision made whereby they can be released from the thralldom of sin.

Jesus came and died so that we could live.

Genesis 4 and verse 6, The Lord said unto Cain, Why are you wrought?

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The Depth of the Fall

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