Are you interested in the spiritual



Are you interested in the spiritual? Are you fascinated? Is there a desire within you to get in touch with something spiritual because the physical world or your career or your relationships just aren’t satisfying you? You feel a void inside so you need to get in touch with something. Have you ever considered reading the Bible? Have you ever considered opening its pages and seeing what God says? This is where true spirituality is found. You say, “No, I’ve done that church thing. I’ve done the Bible thing—not as much as the church thing—but the people I see in the church, forget it. If that’s true spirituality I don’t want any part of it. Besides from all I’ve learned your God is awfully narrow and strict. On television they say I can get in touch with the spirit that is within me. That’s what I’m interested in. I’m interested in learning about the spirit within me.” Or as one man talks about on television: “Connecting with the mothership” which is going to lead you as a little ship right behind. Which of these is right: Connecting with the spirit within, discovering that and having some sort of spirituality of your own, or connecting with the Word of God? Which is right? If the Bible is right then the other is wrong. You don’t want to make a grave mistake so see what the Bible says and know what God says. Then you can make up your mind. At least then you will know the end of the path you have chosen to take.

You’ve been studying the book of Genesis, the book of beginnings. We have just left Genesis 3 where sin is introduced into the world through Adam and Eve listening to the serpent, listening to a lie. Now we are in Genesis 4 where God gives us the account of the first civilization and shows us how it begins. Remember that in Genesis 3, Adam names his wife Eve because she is the mother of all living. Thus Adam and Eve are the parents of all living from Genesis 3 on. All the way through the Bible they are the earthly parents. If we could trace our genealogy all the way back to before the Flood, we would find that Adam and Eve are in our genealogy. They are in the genealogy of Mary who gave birth to Jesus.

Genesis 4:1 Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD.”

Kay can hear the excitement in Eve’s voice: She has produced a man. She is interested in producing a man because she was standing there when God spoke to the serpent:

Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you (the serpent) and the woman, and between your seed (the serpent is going to have a seed) and her (the woman’s) seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”

So she knows she is going to have a seed and that the seed is going to be masculine: He, the woman’s seed, will bruise the serpent’s seed’s head—the head of the serpent. The serpent will bruise the heel of the woman’s seed. The woman’s seed is going to be a man. “He shall bruise your head.” Now she knows the consequences of her sin. She knows what has happened because she listened to the liar. She understands death. She can see the change in the cool wind that has come into the Garden of Eden. She can see the air permeated with sin because:

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—

Romans 8:22a For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers because of sin.

Now she’s had to leave the Garden of Eden and the way to the tree of life has been banned. Now she finds herself in a new environment. How wonderful to have a seed. How wonderful to have this young man by the name of Cain, this young man who can bruise the head of the serpent. Doesn’t that carry it a bit too far? Here is another way that it could be translated (It’s in the notes of the Inductive Study Bible if you have one.)

Genesis 4:1b “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD.”

“I have gotten a man, the LORD.” The word “LORD” here is “Yahweh”, the holy name for God. To one degree or another she understood the promise of Genesis 3:15. She understood that a deliverer—a Messiah—was coming; that the Lord was coming and He would bruise the head of the serpent. It could be that all of her hopes and dreams were wrapped up in Cain. When that first son came forth from Kay’s body she thought, “I have a son! I have a son!” That son can be a delight to your heart—or that son can be the grief of your heart.

Genesis 4:2 Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

Why are they tilling the ground? It’s been cursed. When Adam and Eve sinned God turns to Adam and gives him this word:

Genesis 3:17-19 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you shall eat plants of the field; By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Now Cain is a tiller of the ground. This is the consequence of their sin. No longer is God supplying so easily the fruit of the trees of the Garden and the produce from that Garden. Now they have to earn it from the sweat of their brow. This does cause a little conflict in marriage because the wife asks, “Why are you always working?” It’s put in there: The Bible says in Exodus 20:9-12 “Six days you shall labor and the seventh you shall rest.”

So Cain is laboring. He is a tiller of the ground.

Genesis 4:3-4 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering;

They built an altar and come with their offering. They both approach—Cain the firstborn and Abel second. As Cain comes he heaps up a basket of the produce of the ground—beautiful fruit and grains and greens. He gives them to the Lord on the altar. Now Abel comes, the second born. Abel’s not a tiller of the ground but the keeper of the sheep. He decides to give God a firstling of the flock, which is the best. You see that in Exodus and Leviticus. Later, God says that the firstborn belongs to Him. When Abel makes that sacrifice to God, obviously he’s going to kill that lamb. He flays the lamb to remove its skin, he doesn’t take the fat. Fat tastes good. Butter, cream… Sauté something in fat and it tastes good. But Abel offers the fat also. It’s interesting because when you read about the offerings in Leviticus, the fat belongs to the Lord. They were not permitted to eat the blood nor the fat.

So here are two offerings. We don’t know where God is, but they do because He doesn’t accept Cain’s offering. He refuses it but accepts Abel’s offering. How does Cain react?

Genesis 4:5 But for Cain and for his offering He had no regard so Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.

Cain became very angry. You could see it written all over his face. He was no longer happy. He was no longer in a mood to worship or celebrate God. It was all simply because God said, “I won’t accept that offering.” Cain fumed. He becomes very angry. That word implies that he becomes very red. The word for “anger” here is “charah” and it means “to glow”. It means to grow warm, to blaze up; all the blood rushes into the face because you are fuming—and Cain was. He was absolutely fuming.

Genesis 4:6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?”

For God to ask that, you must know that God knows Cain has no reason to be angry. Why is Cain angry?

Genesis 4:7a “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well…

Sin is like a tiger or a lion. It is crouching at the door ready to leap. Its desire is for you. That word “desire” is the same word in Genesis 3 when God says to the woman, “And your desire shall be for your husband.” God is saying that sin’s desire is to overtake you, to run over you. It’s longing to have you. So God asks, “Why has your countenance fallen? Why are you so angry?” When God says, “If you do not do well” it implies that Cain knew what was right. That’s why God asked, “Why are you angry?” God says, “Here you are. You have brought me a basket of the labor of your hands. You have tilled the ground and brought it to me. Why are you angry because I don’t accept it? If you do well, I’ll accept it. If you do well, you’ll be all right.

Genesis 4:7b “And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

Sin wants to get you, to consume you. Sin wants to have you. Sin wants to possess you. It wants to overrule you. You say, “There is nothing wrong with what Cain did. He worked; he brought the work of his hands. It was a nice offering—at least he came to God. At least he brought God a sacrifice; there’s nothing wrong with that.” In your mind there may not be anything wrong with it. He’s doing right, doing well; he’s coming to God… But there’s something terribly wrong with it: He’s not coming to God God’s way. This is the difference between the spirituality that is being touted on television, books and other things, versus the true spirituality in the Word of God. You say, “How do we know that Cain knew what to bring?”

Faith

Hebrews 11 is the faith chapter. “Faith” is repeated over and over and even opens this chapter.

Hebrews 11:1 Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Something is said. If you are convicted that it is true even though you don’t see it you live in the light of it. It is the assurance of things hoped for. Maybe a word is spoken that promises you that this or that will happen.

2 Corinthians 5:8 We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

The word promises you that if you believe in Jesus Christ, when you die you’re absent from the body but immediately present with the Lord. It is an assurance of things hoped for if you’re facing death or you get a death sentence written over you, just as one of Kay’s staff’s husbands, John, has had a death sentence written over him.

Kay’s husband went to see John who said, “I’m going to die with dignity.” He will die with dignity holding onto the promise of God because he has the assurance of things hoped for. He has the evidence of things not seen. The minute that John closes his eyes, he’s in the presence of God Almighty. That’s faith. Faith is taking God at His word.

You say, “I have faith in other people.” Yes, you might have faith in the man teaching that you need to get in touch with the mothership and follow it. There are all sorts of winds of doctrine and teaching floating around like new age things. You can have faith in those but the strength of faith is in the one who said it—the one who made the proclamation that you believe. So if you believe about a mothership, you believe in a man who came up with something from the figment of his own imagination and is not as substantiated as the Word of God.

Hebrews 11:1-2 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval.

If you want to gain approval with God, you have to believe God.

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is (that He is God, that He exists), and that He is a rewarder of those who (diligently) seek Him.

There is a pursuing, a seeking, of God. Even the seeking of God is put within us to cause us to seek God. This is how the men of old gained approval.

Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

That’s how we believe. The belief in creation boils down to a matter of faith. Are you going to take God at His word or not? No one was there at the time but God. You’d be smart to believe Him because He was there.

Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

Abel brought that firstling of the flock even though he was a tender of the sheep. Could he have brought grain or anything else? No. He knew he had to offer this according to God’s word. He knew that without the shedding of blood there was no pleasing or approaching God. Where was blood shed for the first time? It is at the end of Genesis 3 when God removes the fig leaves to clothe Adam and Eve with the skin of an animal. That implies death.

Hebrews 11: 4a By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous,

This is Old Testament, yet what is the first incident you see? A man offering a sacrifice who was a sinner, conceived in sin, produced by Adam and Eve.

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—

Here is Abel who is a sinner, offering by faith a sacrifice to God according to the word of God. And God declares him righteous. No works involved but simply approaching God His way. This is true spirituality.

Hebrews 11:4b … through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

The Way of Cain

The way of Abel is a righteous way, and he was declared righteous. The way of Cain is spoken of in the book of Jude.

Jude 4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

More is written about these men:

Jude 11a Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain,

“The way of Cain” is thinking that you can get to God and attain true spirituality on your own another way, apart from the Bible and apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the way of Cain. It ends in death and destruction. That’s not the way you want; you want true spirituality.

Recently Kay did a live call-in radio program on homosexuality and lesbianism. There were two calls on the screen. Both of them asked, “Why do Christians think that homosexuality is wrong?” Another question was, “I am in a lesbian lifestyle and I am perfectly content. Why are you telling me it’s not right to be in this lifestyle?” Kay gave them the same answer she will give us if we think that God is bigoted.

There may be another group of you out there who think, “If God is God, then why does He allow evil to triumph? Why does He allow evil men to triumph in this world? Why doesn’t He just move and wipe them out?” That’s what is addressed in the marvelous chapter of Genesis 4 about Cain and Abel and the offerings they brought to God.

Abel brought an animal sacrifice as his offering. God declared that Abel was righteous. God made him an example so that Abel’s faith still speaks to us today. But when Cain brought his offering, the fruit of the ground, God would not accept it. As a result, Cain was very angry and his countenance fell. Why was he angry? Because he wanted to come to God his own way. He had a way and a plan to come to God and he felt like it was perfectly fine and God should accept his sacrifice. He had a chance to repent but he didn’t.

Genesis 4:5-7 But for Cain and his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well,…

What is “to do well”? It is to come to God the way God said. In Cain’s case, it would have been for Cain to go to Abel and say, “I’ve got to give God a blood offering of an animal sacrifice. I need one of your sheep. Here, we’ll do a little deal; I’ll give you some of my grain like wheat, and some fruit, in exchange for a lamb. I’ve got to come to God. I’ve tried to come to God this way but He won’t take it, so I’ve got to come another way—His way.” That is called repentance. It is a change of mind that results in a change of direction. If Kay walks in the wrong direction and realizes it so that she stops and turns the other way, then she has a change of mind leading to a change in direction. Here, Cain does not submit to God. He does not say, “Okay, God, I was wrong; I’ll come Your way.” Instead Cain folds his arms, gets very angry and hot, then God warns him:

Genesis 4:7b Sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.

If you don’t master that sin, it will control you and bring destruction into your life. Does Cain listen? No.

Genesis 4:8 Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

What did Cain tell him? All we can imply from the text is that Cain told his brother that God would not accept his sacrifice. Kay can just see him so mad, raging, coming to Abel and saying, “You know what? I brought God that sacrifice. I saw Him accept yours but he wouldn’t accept mine. Then He told me that sin is crouching at my door. He said its desire was for me and I must master it.” You can almost hear Abel saying, “But why didn’t you take a sacrifice and do what you were supposed to do?” But they both knew what they were supposed to do because:

Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

Abel’s sacrifice was pleasing to God so He declared him righteous. Cain is so angry. God has warned him: “You have not mastered that sin.” So what does Cain do? Out in that field in the world outside Eden, Cain kills Abel—maybe with a rock, maybe he strangles him—we don’t know, but he kills his brother. Cain has gone his own way.

Romans 6:23a The wages of sin is death.

James 1:14-15 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

When we don’t control our desires, temptation leads to sin and sin produces death. You’re going to die.

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

In Romans, Paul tells us that when we don’t come to God His way, this is the result:

Romans 10:1-2 Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them (Isreal) is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.

Did Cain, in a sense, have a zeal for God? Yes, he had a hunger for the spiritual but the problem was that he wanted God on his terms. He wanted God according to his own reasoning and understanding. He didn’t want the straight and narrow path. He wanted to come to God in a way that suited him rather than in a way that suited God. Paul is talking about the same thing here: People who have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge.

Romans 10:3 For not knowing about God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

Does that describe Cain? Yes, he was seeking a righteousness of his own but would not submit himself or bow or bend. He was going to stand firm with his arms folded saying, “I’m going to come to You my way or I’m not going to come at all.” Sin was crouching at his door and the next thing you know, he’s out in the field speaking to his brother and then kills—murders—his brother.

Romans 10:4-10 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (It’s a matter of faith.) For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.  But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”  But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Paul goes on to talk about salvation, but what is salvation here? It’s all a matter of faith. It’s not a matter of you bringing God down out of heaven in some spiritual mode or of you building your own kind of altar. It’s not a matter of bringing God up out of the abyss. It’s simply saying and knowing, “This is what God says.” Jesus stands at the throne of God with arms outstretched and:

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

God is bigoted. A bigot is someone who thinks His way is the only way. But you don’t want to put the word “bigot” on Him because He is God. If He’s God and the Creator then there’s only one way to approach God, and that’s the way that God says you can approach Him. He is God. Cain would not acknowledge that God was God and that he should submit to Him. So God warns him: “If you don’t do that, sin is crouching at the door and its desire is for you, and you must master it.” So Cain talked to his brother in anger at him and told him what God did. The anger and sin came over him and all of sudden Cain attacked his brother. He murdered his brother simply because there was a day, a time, an opportunity, to come to God His way and Cain refused to do it.

Now Cain has a dead brother. What does God say to him?

Genesis 4:9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

This “where” question was also heard when Adam and Eve sinned and hid from God. He said, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:8-10)

The Way of Abel

If only Cain would have fallen to his feet over the carcass of his brother and cried, “God, God, I killed my brother. God, I got carried away. God, You’re right, sin mastered me. Sin was crouching at the door and it took hold of me. Look what I’ve done; I’ve made a mess of it.” What would God have done? He would have forgiven Cain because God is gracious. God gave Cain an opportunity to do well. It wasn’t the offering per se. The blood of bulls and goats and lambs is not going to take away sin. It’s not fruit versus blood. It’s obedience. It’s believing God. It’s saying, “God, that’s what You say; that’s what this Book says. You’re God and I’m going to believe you. You say, ‘This is the way’ then I’m going to walk in it. You say, ‘This is the way’ so I will not turn to the right or to the left. You say, ‘This is the way’ so I will observe to do according to all that You have commanded me because you’re God.”

There’s a whole world out there that thinks we’re bigoted and narrow-minded. They think we belong to a narrow-minded God. There’s a whole world like that. We have to understand some principles: As Cain rose up and put Abel to death, so the world wants to get rid of you also.

In John 15, Jesus makes a statement as He’s getting ready to go to the cross. He knows that his time has come, as Zechariah said, to smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. He wants to prepare them.

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

What does Jesus prepare them for?

John 15:16-17 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed (ordained) you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you. “This I command you, that you love one another.”

This is Jesus’s command, that you love one another. In 1 John 3, Cain is mentioned again. Isn’t it interesting that a man who is just mentioned in one chapter at the beginning of the Bible is used as an example to tell us that we are not to go the way of Cain.

1 John 3:10-12 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious:

What makes it obvious as to whether we belong to God or the devil? Cain was of the evil one by choice. What makes the difference? What makes us obvious?) anyone who does not practice righteousness (This means habitually; it’s a present-tense verb. It’s a habit of life) is not of God, nor the one who does not love (also in the present tense.) his brother.

Here is the narrow way, the right way, the path that God’s says you are to take. If you do not habitually practice the righteousness to walk in that path, then you don’t belong to God. It doesn’t matter what you say or how spiritual you feel. It doesn’t matter that you claim that you and God have an understanding—that “I am perfectly all right so leave me alone. I’m as good as the next person.” This doesn’t matter. If you’re not habitually walking in righteousness or practicing righteousness, you’re not of God. It’s obvious that you are of the devil.

But also, if you do not, as a habit of life, habitually love your brother, then you are not of God. The two distinguishing characteristics that make you obvious as belonging to God—being an Abel instead of Cain—are the facts that you practice righteousness (you do what God says is right) and you love your brother.

1 John 3:11a For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning,

This is the message of the Book and of God who would have accepted Cain if he had done what was right.

1 John 3:11-12 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous.

John 15:18-20 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you (Remember: “You didn’t choose Me but I chose you…”) out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.”

When Cain spoke to Abel, if he had mastered sin, if he would have done what God said, he never would have slain Abel.

Luke 11:47-51 “Woe to you! (Jesus re: the Jews.) For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. So (Consequently) you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs. For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’”

Cain slew Abel because Abel’s deeds were righteous. Jesus was slain by His brothers. “He came to His own and His own received Him not.” They slew Him yet He was righteous. Why? Because they would not submit to God or come to Him God’s way. If you don’t learn anything else from the study of Cain learn this: God is God and there is no other. There is no other way to Him except through Jesus Christ. Anyone who tries to come any other way will perish. Sin will be crouching at their door. Sin will master you when you refuse to obey God. It overtakes you and gets worse and worse and worse. In Genesis 4, there is death, death, death.

Genesis 4:8b, 23a,c Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Lamech said to his wives, “For I have killed a man for wounding me; and a boy for striking me;”

When we don’t submit to God, eventually it brings hatred and animosity to anyone who gets in our way. This is the way of Cain: 1) Thinking you can come to God another way; 2) Not loving your brother or being an example. When you don’t love your brother you end up murdering him. You watch: You’ll find persecution against Christians who stand for the fact that there is only one way to God. You’ll see it. Abel died, but he was righteous. What happened when he died? He went to that place that would eventually be called “Abraham’s bosom.” He was far better off than the world that happened as a result of Cain. The society came where even Lamech murdered a young man for striking him and killed a man for wounding him then said:

Genesis 4:24 “If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold (70 times seven).”

This is not a just judgment. Even in sin God is just. What does He say in Exodus? “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” Not “seventy-sevenfold.” God says “Forgive.” Cain could have had God’s forgiveness. He could have done well. All he had to do was come to God His way. This is what we forget: that God is God and we’re man. We don’t set the way or the path. We don’t set the offering or the fact that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. God has set it. We need to bow the knee. But when we do we can expect that there will be the Cains of this world who will persecute us and come after us. However, a holy God hears the cries of Abel’s blood and the blood of the prophets down through the generations. He says that a just judgment is coming. He also hears His Son’s cry from Calvary: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” God offers forgiveness if we’ll come to Him His way. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me. Those that come to Me I will in no wise cast out.” He’ll say, “Welcome home.”

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download