Beyond Cain’s Mark: Embracing God’s Forgiveness

God doesn’t make any mistakes. When He created you, He wasn’t having a bad day. He didn’t accidentally leave something out and now you’re at a disadvantage. God calls you a masterpiece. You have royal blood flowing through your veins. He’s crowned you with His favor. You’re not lacking; you’re not at a disadvantage. You have everything you need to fulfill your destiny.

From our archives, the Billy Graham classes.
Now tonight, I want you to turn with me to the eleventh verse of Jude.
Jude is a little book tucked away in the back of the Bible.
And there are just a few verses, and this is just a phrase from one verse.
And here’s what it says. Woven to them. For they have gone the way of came.
WOW under them. For they have gone the way of Cain.
Now, that’s a strange expression, the way of Cain.
And yet when I pick up the Bible, I find an interesting thing.
That there are only two ways of life in the whole Bible.
One is the way of caring, and the other is the way of his brother, Abel.
Abel was accepted by god and Cain was rejected it by god.
So there’s the way of able, and there’s the way of cain.
And tonight, I want to talk about these two brothers because they were the first children in the history of the human rights.
God had created Adam and Eve.
And they had two children, their first two children, Cain and Abel.
And we find brothers all the way through the Bible like Jacob and E saw, and Moses and Aaron and absalom and Amen.
James and John, Peter Andrew, Joseph and his brethren.
And in the first or the fourth chapter of Genesis, you’ll find the story the fascinating challenging, thrilling tragic story of Cain and Abel.
You see, they were the first children born, they were the first farmers, they performed the first religious ceremony, and they had the first quarrel and the first act of violence that was ever done on this planet was done by Cain against his brother when he killed his brother in a fit of anger because of jealousy and envy.
But Adam and Eve must have been excited when these boys came along because Eve said, I’ve a man from the lord.
You see, Adam and Eve had just come through a terrible experience.
They had rebelled against god in the Garden of Eden.
Now in the Garden of Eden, where they lived, there’d never been a war There were no armies.
There were no police that didn’t need them. There were no jails. There was no poverty. There was no suffering.
It was a marvelous world to live in.
And they rebelled against God.
And god drove them out of paradise, drove them out of the Garden of Eden, and it says a very interesting thing.
End of the third chapter of Genesis, so they wouldn’t touch the tree of life. Why?
If man had eaten of the tree of life, he would have lived forever in his sins.
In that sense, death is a blessing. To the human race. Suppose Hitler lived forever.
Suppose people like Stalin and Eitman live forever. And plague the human race.
But one generation passes, and another comes. It’s constantly changing and shifting.
God drove them out so they wouldn’t eat of that tree of life and live forever in their sins.
But god also promised before he drove them out, god promised that someday he would send a redeemer.
And he illustrated it by going out and slang some animals and shedding blood and clothing, Adam and Eve, in skins, and god was teaching that the only way ever to approach him in the future forever Forever was by the way of blood.
And that is why you pick up the Bible, and you’ll find so much blood.
Someone has said that Christianity is a bloody religion, and it is.
The blood of Jesus Christ The Bible says without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
And every time you go and take communion in your church, And you pick up the cup of the juice of the wine It’s symbolic of the blood that was shed on that cross for you.
And without the shedding of that blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.
Now, Cain was born with sinful instincts because you see, we inherit the instinct to sin from our parents.
David said in sin did my mother conceive me. Isaiah said all we like sheep have gone astray.
We read in our paper last week.
How they are now painting garbage cans and garbage sacks with psychedelic colors.
And they do look pretty. I saw some of them. But inside, it’s still garbage.
Now you’re all dressed up tonight.
Most people, when they come to a religious meeting, a church put on their best, you may come from a poverty stricken area.
You may not get, but about ten thousand dollars a year. You may be in dire harmony.
And you may be suffering.
In this beautiful bluegrass part of Kentucky.
But on the inside, jealousy, pride, lust, idolatry, all the sins that mankind is guilty of is lurking inside of your own heart.
You know, Jesus said to the pharisees of his day, that they were whiteed sepulchres But inside, they were rotting bones of death.
No wonder the Pharisees didn’t like it. He called them all kinds of names.
You read the twenty third of Matthew. He said on the outside, you look beautiful, you look fine.
You’re religious. You look like you’re going to heaven, but I can see inside your heart.
I see your pride. I see your lust. I see your hypocrisy.
And god knows all the secret things, and god looks down inside of you And he says to you, mister Baptist and Mr.
Methby of God or whoever you may be.
I see you And what I see indicates that your heart is full of rebellion. You need forgiveness.
You need to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus.
Now, when Caine was born, Eve, I think, thought that the birth of Cain was somehow a gift from god that would cancel out her sins.
She thought that maybe Cain was going to be the Messiah that had already been promised.
She said my child is from god.
You know, there’s evidence everywhere that all of us would like to cancel out our past and our sins We would like to get in touch somehow with god, but if we reject god’s way and go the way of Cain as Cain rejected god, what do we turn to?
We turn to the stars. We turn to anything that will get rid of this guilt and give us some purpose and meaning in our lives as to why we dissed.
And Cain thought, or Eve thought that maybe Cain was going to help out her young son.
But Cain, you know, was born into a world with tremendous advantages.
There’d never been a war, There was no hate and no jealousy.
No poverty. He had everything that a person could want No one was ever killed.
Nobody was ever murdered. Nobody ever stole anything. It was a marvelous world.
And Cain also was religious.
He and his brother both were religious, but that didn’t satisfy them somehow.
Kain decided to reject god’s way.
Cain decided to go his own way, and there are only two ways of life, the way of Kain and the way of able.
They were both religious and they came to worship god. But they came differently.
God said without the shedding of blood, there’s no forgiveness.
So Abel brought A sacrifice of blood. It was ugly. It was dirty.
Why did god choose blood? Do you ever thought about that?
Many of us are repulsed at the sight of blood. We hate to see it.
Our sins are ugly. Our sins are dirty.
And every time we see blood, it reminds us of our sins which are ugly before the god and will cause judgment.
But Cain did not bring blood.
He said it’s too dirty, it’s too ugly. I’m going to bring the best fruits that I have.
I’m going to bring the finest vegetables I have as an offering to god.
But the Bible says it’s better to obey than to sacrifice.
The Bible says only by blood. We say can get there some other way.
We’ve got our own way figured out.
And, you know, a lot of people believe in Jesus today, They’re accepting Jesus as a revolutionary hero.
A lot of people are singing about Jesus, writing about Jesus. All that’s fine.
I hope it keeps up. But you be sure who Jesus is.
He’s more than just the superstar.
Jesus is the son of the living god, and when he died on the cross, he didn’t stay there.
He rose from the dead, he’s alive.
And when he shed his blood, that blood meant something.
It meant that god was now able to forgive all your sins.
It meant that god was now able to transform you and write your name in the book of heaven because Jesus Christ died on that cross.
God can now remain just and be the justifier of the sinner.
You see, if I may say so reverently, god faced a dilemma.
God said, the wages of sin is death. You have to die. You’re under the sentence of death.
How can god come along and just forgive it and wipe it out?
The jury says that a man like Charles Manson is guilty.
But suppose the judge would say, oh, we’ll let Charlie go on back.
He’s got all those girlfriends and all those responsibilities and things. We’ll just forget all that.
That wouldn’t be justice. Suppose God would say that to you. You are guilty. I’m guilty.
We’ve broken god’s laws. All of us. God cannot come along and say, let’s forget it.
Unless somebody pays the death penalty. We’re under the sentence of death.
Well, somebody did pay the death penalty for me and for you.
Jesus Christ on the cross, paid the death penalty, shed his blood.
And now god can say, I forgive you the debt is paid.
That’s how much god loves us. That’s what the gospel is. The word gospel means good news.
And the good news to the whole human race black white, yellow, red, whoever you are, whatever your social standing or your educational status.
God is saying I love you I forgive you. That’s the gospel.
And I don’t care what your sins are.
I don’t care how bad they how black they are, how dirty they are. God says, I forgive you.
I love you, and I proved it. By giving my son on the cross.
That’s the way of able. Now, the way of Cain is to say to god, No.
I want to go to heaven. I wanna be saved, but I’m gonna go my own way.
I’m not going to come your way, God. I don’t like the way of blood.
I don’t like to go by the way of the cross. I don’t want to die to self.
I don’t want to give everything up that I love.
All these desires and passions of mine.
They may be wrong, but lord, I want to hold on to them. I’m going to go my own way.
And somehow, I’ll get that. No, you won’t. There’s only one way to have.
One door. It’s the way of the cross.
And without the cross, There is no salvation according to the bible.
So they brought their sacrifices to god.
And, you know, we’re doing the same thing. We go to church.
We try to live a good moral life. We pay our bills.
We do the best we can. And we think that’s going to be good enough. No.
There has to come a time when you must be born again.
There has to come a time when you are converted.
And notice the scripture says in Hebrews eleven four that Abel made his decision for god by faith.
Abel didn’t understand it. You don’t have to be a theologian to come to Jesus Christ.
You don’t have to understand much about the gospel of the Bible when you come to Christ.
Come with what little knowledge you have. You know you’re a sinner. Your conscience tells you that.
You know Christ is the savior. That’s all you have to know. Just come and receive it.
By faith. It says by faith. Abel made his sacrifice unto god.
You see, Cain didn’t come by faith.
He came by his own works and his own goodness and his own ideas chose his own path, and god said, okay, and you’re rejected.
But he accepted Abel and able for certainty is in heaven, and we’ll see him someday.
Now, What happened? Cain became jealous. He became angry.
And one day, when they wowed in the field, he picked up a rock and hit his brother over the head and killed him.
Murder, the first violence, the first murder the first war in the history of the human race, and it’s been going on ever since, and it’ll always go on till Jesus comes back and sets up his king because you see war comes from the human heart.
Bible says, from whence come wars among you, don’t they come from your own lust?
That war in your own beings? The world wars that we fought in this century.
Are only extensions of the wars in our own hearts?
There are many wars going on around the world right now. In addition to Vietnam.
Man is a warring animal.
He’ll continue to fight and kill their wars going on in the cities of this country right now and in the rural areas.
People being murdered by the hundreds every month.
People being killed on the highways by drunken drivers and drivers under the influence of drugs.
Fights and quarrels in homes between husbands and wives and children and parents war war war.
We’re a warring people. And the first act of violence was committed by Cain because of jealousy.
You see, it started in his heart. He probably thought about it a long time.
He was jealous of his brother.
And this jealousy gave vent until finally it ended in murder.
And god came along one day.
And warned Kain, said Kain, you know, sin crouches at the door.
Even before he had ever committed that murder, god saw his heart, and god saw what he was thinking.
And god said, Caine, watch out. Sin is in your heart. It crouches like a tiger.
It crouches like a lion, ready to spring.
I’ve heard people stand up and say, well, if I were in a certain place, I wouldn’t do a thing like that.
You don’t know what you would do.
You give all the circumstances surrounding that certain event, you might do it.
We all have the tendency to lust and to hate, and to have jealousy and pride in our hearts.
We don’t know what we would do. We’re all rebellious against God.
And under given circumstances with the right type of temptation, we might do anything.
Or the right type of pressure, we might do anything.
And King was warned by god, and god warned you in the Bible that your capable of any sin.
And every person in this audience tonight has broken the ten commandments.
And the Bible says, if you’ve broken one, you’re guilty of all.
And after the death of Abel and after the murder had taken place, and Cain had probably buried him to try to hide the evidence, God said, Cain, where is your brother able?
And Cain said, I don’t know. And my my brother’s And then god said this interesting thing.
He said, the voice of thy brother’s blood cries up from the earth.
The Bible says your sins are written down. God said, Jane you’ve sinned.
I have to judge you. And god did judge it.
God said a fugitive in a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
And Cain said my punishment is greater than I can bear.
And for the rest of his days, Cain bore that punishment for that one violent act in which he killed his brother, jealous of him hated him then killed him.
Give your life to Christ, and you can face reality.
You don’t have to have a drug or a pill or a glass.
To face the reality of life or the circumstances of the troubles of the trials you’re going through.
Let Christ come in. And take over your life and cast all your burdens on him for he careth for you.
The Bible says that the Lord set a mark came.
And Caine went out from the presence of the lord and dwelt in the land of nod on the east of Eden.
Notice He was close to paradise, yet a million miles from it.
Billy Sunday once said I’d sooner be a foot out of hell and headed away than to be a million miles out of hell and headed toward Some of you are close to the kingdom of god, but you might as well, be a million miles away because you’re headed in the wrong direction.
You’re headed in the direction of Cain. Religious. But you haven’t yet experienced Christ for yourself.
Others of you are headed toward heavy and the kingdom of god stumbling, faltering, failing, maybe.
But yours is the way of able you’ve come by the way of the cross.
And you’re saying, Lord, Jesus, be my lord, and be my savior, and be my Christ.
These two young men can enable, typify all the young people that are in the world today.
What about you? Have you made your commitment and your decision to Jesus Christ?
Have you trusted him? You say, well, Billy, what do I have to do?
You have to repent of your sins, and that means you have to be willing to give up your sins and change your way of living.
Secondly, you have to come by simple childlike faith. Notice I said childlike.
Jesus said you have to become as a little child. Now there are many professors here tonight.
You might be a PhD in science or philosophy or psychology or some other discipline But you have to become as a little child intellectually and spiritually.
And you have to say, Lord, I don’t understand this.
This is a realm that I don’t understand, but I come by faith.
It has to be a child’s faith, like the faith of a child and its father, a mother.
And then you have to say I’m willing follow you and serve you no matter what the cost.
Young man, young woman, father, mother, whoever you are here tonight, I’m going to ask you to get up out of your seat hundreds of you.
As hundreds have come at every service.
And come and stand in front of this platform and say by coming, I do receive Christ.
I want to go the way of Abel. I want my past forgiven.
I want to know I’m going to heaven.
I’m going to ask you to get up and come right now.
And after you’ve come, I’m going to say a word to you, have a word of prayer, give you some literature, and you can go back and join your friends.
If you’re with friends or relatives, they’ll wait If you come in a bus, they’ll wait.
Those of you up in the gallery, it’ll take a minute or two for you to come, but you get up and come right now.
Quickly, hundreds of you. Just get up from everywhere and come and stand here quietly.
And the choir is going to sing just as I am.
You may be in the choir, and God has spoken to you tonight.
There’s a little voice that says you ought to come, the voice of the spirit of god.
And you may never have another moment quite like this. You get up and come.
If you would like to commit your life to Jesus Christ, please call us right now toll free at one eight seven seven seven seven two four five five nine.
That’s one eight seven seven seven seven two forty five fifty nine.
You that are watching by television, from a bar, or from your home, or from a hotel lobby, You can see that hundreds of people are coming here on the campus of the University of Kentucky to make their commitment to Jesus Christ.
As their lord and their savior, they want to go the way of able.
I’m going to ask you to make that same commitment where you are You can do it right now in the quietness of the place that you are.
You can say yes to Jesus Christ. He will come into your heart.
May god help you to make that decision and that commitment? God bless you.
If you just prayed that prayer with my father or if you have any questions about a relationship with Jesus Christ, I would just call that number that is on the screen.
There’ll be someone there to talk with you, pray with you, and answer those questions.
And remember, god loves you.
If you would like to commit your life to Jesus Christ, please call us right now toll free at one eight seven seven seven seven two four five five nine.
That’s one eight seven seven seven seven two forty five fifty nine.
Or you can write to us at Billy Graham, one Billy Graham Parkway, department c, Charlotte, North Carolina two eight two zero one.
Or you can contact us on the web twenty four seven at peacewithgod dot tv.
We’ll get the same helps to you that we give to everyone who responds at the invitation.
On behalf of Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham of Angelistic Association, Thank you for watching, and thank you for your prayers.
You’re invited on a journey of discovery at the Billy Graham Library.
Retrace Billy Graham’s from humble farm boy to an international ambassador of god’s love through multimedia, photos, and memorabilia.
Prude of the spirit is love.
Tour the restored Graham family home place, browse roots attic bookstore, and have a meal at the grandmother’s dairy barn.
Enjoy special exhibits, events, and seasonal activities for the whole family.
Admission is free, so come walk this journey of discovery at the Billy Graham Library.
It’s Anne. She’s in trouble.
If you don’t take it to the edge every chance you get, did already, baby.
I was in trouble, and I didn’t know what to do. Help. Where are the Jews?
I knew that I could on the world.
It’s like you’re in a dream, but not really a dream. This is a reality.
I don’t really believe in all this I know something crazy is happening right now.