The Cry of the Blood of the Murdered

Pick up the Bible in front of you in the pew and turn with me to the fourth chapter of the book of Genesis. The first book of the Bible at the chapter four. We're reading from verse one to verse fifteen.

And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a killer of the ground.

And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground as 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 to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth and his countenance failed. And the Lord said unto Cain, why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance foiled? If I do us well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if I do us not well, sin lieth at the door.

And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother. And it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him.

And the Lord said unto Cain, where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not, am I my brother's keeper? And he said, what hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now thou art cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tellest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength.

A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid.

I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. And it shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall slay me. And the Lord said unto him, therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.

And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. And God will bless his holy word to all our hearts. I want to speak upon a timely subject this evening.

The cry of the blood of the murdered. And I want to take for my text the fourth chapter of the book of Genesis and the verse ten. God is speaking.

And God says to Cain, what hast thou done? What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. There is a cry to high heaven tonight, especially from its witch.

It is a cry of the blood of the murdered young woman of that city. Murdered in the last few days. That blood's cry cannot be muffled.

It cannot be silenced. And it cannot be stopped. It has reached past the stars already.

It has reached the third heaven where the thrice holy God rules and reigns. And it will be certainly in God's time event. There is nothing new under the sun, the infallible Bible tells me.

And the scriptures of truth warns us that God remembers the acts of the wicked. And blood, after it is shed by a criminal, has a voice, a loud voice, an insistent voice. It is a cry for absolute justice and vengeance upon the guilty.

The blood-stained road that Cain traversed is not hard to describe. Cain was too proud to offer the sacrifice that God demanded. He rejected God's way.

He brought a bloodless sacrifice that God abhorred. And he was angry because God did not accept his sacrifice. So angry that he took his anger out upon his twin brother Abel.

And Abel had offered the blood sacrifice, had been accepted of God, and had known the joy and pardon of sins forgiven. So a great argument and debate took place. And what happened? Afterwards, Cain arose in anger and he swore his brother Abel.

It was a very short step from the rejection of the blood sacrifice until Cain had visited his brother with death. And we read in verse 10 that God spoke from heaven and he said to Cain, What hast thou done? And Cain, in his sin, replied, Nothing. He made no reply.

And God passed immediate sentence. What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto thee from the ground. There is always vengeance and retribution when a flaw is broken.

Many of the inhabitants of this world have gone down this same road that Cain went down. Only the grace of God can keep depraved men and women from the final stand. We could all be among the numbers who murder in this land.

This cry, many thousands of years ago, from the lip of the blood that was shed, reached the ears of the everlasting God. I trust that there will be a mighty re-echoing of that in our day. And that those that do such deeds of blood will be called through providence to be examples of the strength and power of a thrice holy.

While the literal blood from the body of the murderer has a voice, so the blood of souls, souls murdered by foul play and unfaithfulness, the blood of the souls of men has a voice of equal power and equal authority. There are many persons who need tonight to be indicted solemnly on this score. Their victim's blood cries to the thrice holy God for vengeance.

I must look at some of these characters. There are those who seek to educate their fellows in the evil habits of obeying God and defying His divine law. They are the officers of the devil's corrupting propaganda.

It pours forth today from television and radio, from websites and from the news and the press. Men and women are sidetracked, and boys and girls learn from their earliest days the evil and are taught and educated to practice that which can only bring the terrible curse of a thrice holy God. Hell-bent on destruction of this world are those who sell the fruits of hell itself and do the work of the devil, attacking purity and morality.

Hell has its Sunday school teachers. Hell has its satanic missionaries who are bent in their industry to make those that sit in their classroom tenfold more the children of hell. There may be someone even in this service, and you have put your hand to this evil work.

And you have sought to lead young lives not in the path of holiness and in the path of purity, but by your hints and example you have sought to destroy them and to take them down a path whose exodus leads into the blackness of darkness forever. We live in an age contaminated, an age where we tremble for our children, an age when strong populists are against God, against Christ, against the Bible, against purity, and against lawful. And there are those who seek and preach the gospel of defilement.

And it's not the good news, it's the bad news that leads to the destruction of the human soul. We must say to them, they need to remember that one day they will answer for their misdeeds. And one day they will account to God personally for their stewardship.

Cain stood before God. God searched his heart, and we read that he cried out, My punishment is greater than I can bear. And somewhere this night in the caverns of the damned, the soul of Cain rises and falls on the everlasting flames of God Almighty's perdition.

It's greater than I. Immediately a person starts to think about the things of eternity. There are those that want to dampen that person's thoughts. Immediately a wife becomes concerned about her soul.

Often times her husband seeks to turn her away from Christ, away from grace, away from gospel pardon and gospel forgiveness. And the same happens the other way round. Many a husband who got anxious about eternity, anxious about his past sin and sinning, and was anxious to get right with God, was stopped by one incident that I will never forget.

I had a great mission once in Rather Island. That little country town was shaken from end to end. Hundreds of people came to hear the gospel.

So great was the crowd in the Friends Meeting House, that we moved to the First Presbyterian Church Hall. And then it was too small and we moved into the church. I remember one night in a very solemn meeting, a man, shaken from his head to his toe, put up his hand when the appeal was made.

But when the people came out to be counseled about their personal faith in Christ and salvation, that man didn't move. And I noticed although his hand was still upraised, another hand came up and took him by the wrist and pulled him down. And he was trembling and weeping.

And he said, I come. The blood of immortal souls are upon those that do such things and behave in such. You can be responsible for dimming the faith.

You can be responsible for taking away the agony of a soul that needs to be encouraged to go to Christ. You can lead them to Bypath Meadow and from Bypath Meadow to the broadest part of the broad road that ends in the darkest hell. The blood of souls can be upon us by our attitude to those that are anxious to come to Christ.

Those who work at turning men and women from the things of God are responsible for great spiritual damage they inflict upon them. And the blood of the innocent cries out against them to the God of truth and the God of love. Oh, be warned, my friend.

The avenging angel can strike those who would stand in the way of a sinner pressing into the kingdom of God. Seeking to darken the soul of a seeker could bring immediate judgment upon you and will be answerable in the great day of God's wrath. And who shall see the wrath of a thrice holy God? Destroying the souls of others, you will have your soul itself destroyed.

It is a terrible trade, ruining precious souls who are seeking salvation. That is the most hellish of all. Of course, there are those who are blatant in their antagonism to the gospel.

And they use unashamedly their infidelity to try and laugh and mock those that would be concerned about coming to Christ. Not willing to hide their shameful ungodliness in their own breath, they expose it to the world in their blasphemous language and polluting speech. I would say to such, take heed.

You will be the worst of all sufferers at the end of the day. You may play with the serpent today, but rest assured the serpent will play with your soul. You preach, you that are a violer of the Most High God, you preach a blasphemous message.

But you, like the fool that you are, forget that all sowing brings a reaping. And how terrible will that reaping be. What does it say? You reap whatsoever you sow.

The harvest is certainly coming. You reap whatsoever you sow. You cannot gain by your propaganda of lies, nor can you escape from the final reckoning.

Those souls who have helped to damn other souls will meet one day at God's great throne in the last assized day of the court of heaven. And God himself will indict them of the hideous, hellish crime they committed in dampening the fears of men and women who wished to come to Christ, but were stopped by their blasphemous performance. What shall I say from this pulpit tonight about the unfaithful minister? The minister who was expected to deliver souls from hell by his preaching, was instead, he doped his congregation, put them to sleep, and fooled them with the false piece of a false gospel.

The unfaithful preacher has the blood of souls upon him. He has blunted the sword of truth. He has chloroformed his hearers.

He has turned religion into a mere theater performance. He has made prayer a melody. He has made the Holy Spirit of God a phantom.

He has made eternity a joke. But one day, he will answer, Great upon God, help us to be free from the blood of our hearers. How terrible will the judgment be upon the minister who led his congregation astray to hell.

How high is the cry of that blood, the blood of the people of Nephews, deceived by a false gospel or a blasphemy. The ruining of souls is a terrible and appalling crime. Note that it was the voice of Abel's blood, Cain's twin brother, which he butchered, which cried to God for vengeance.

What a business is this when we see men using their ties of brotherhood to keep their brother or their sister or other members of their family of coming to know Christ as Savior and the giver of peace and the giver of heaven to the soul. No wonder their blood cries out. And what shall I say of the sons and daughters who have come to Christ but never really concern themselves about their fathers and their mothers who are yet unsaved.

Each day in old age their parents are drawing nearer and closer to the great eternity. Yet many saved boys and girls have not been faithful in pleading with their parents to come to Christ and be washed in the blood of the Lamb. Instead they have been silent.

Instead they have shown traces of worldliness which has been a bad influence to win their parents. I would say to you, young man, young woman, tonight it will be too late to be concerned about the eternity of your parents when you view their corpse in the casket awaiting for final burial. It will be too late then.

I have stood at many a coffin in my day. I have heard the shrieks of Christian young people. And they said, Mr. Pius X, I have to condemn myself.

I did not pray enough for my mother. I did not walk before her in the full-orbed ship of gospel freedom and peace. And now she is gone.

And I do not know where she is. Eternity. Eternity.

Where will we be in eternity? Oh, my friend, if you have engaged in this awful sin of destroying souls, their broken hearts cry out against you. Broken homes cry out against you. Broken souls cry out against you.

Their precious blood cries out to God. Many precious souls, you and I will answer for in the great eternity. Was I faithful? Did I rid my soul of their blood? Or did I not take the matter of eternity seriously as I should? Is there any hope for souls who have the blood of the victims crying out against them? Humanly speaking, there is no hope for you if that is your case.

No hope, humanly speaking. But oh, thank God tonight I can tell you of another blood that cries for me. It's the blood of the one who as he shed it, and he shed his first blood when his hands were fastened by the nails to the cross.

And what did he say? Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. That cry from the Savior's blood reaches the divine throne and is heard.

God the Father says, what blood is that that speaketh better things of evil? The reply sets all heaven singing. It's the blood of thy well-beloved Son. God removes the robe of the judge when he hears about his son.

He puts on the robe of mercy. He cries out, sinner, hate the sin that has passed. But trust now in the Savior for the future.

The blood of my Son cleanseth thee from all sin. Cry out, dear sinner friend, whatever your state may be, cry out to an all-forgiving God. For thank God there is mercy through the precious blood of Christ.

The vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus the pardon receives. May that pardon be the blessing of every one of us for Jesus' sake. Let us bow our hands.

Father, we thank Thee for the solemnity of this night. We thank Thee for the solemnity that we have felt as we have spoken Thy word. Right it with fire upon our souls.

And O God, may we thank Thee as never before for the precious blood of Christ that cleansed us from all sin. None need perish. All may look for Christ.

May no soul leave this meeting unconverted. And those who have been unfaithful in their witness from this night, fire us up with the desire to bring souls to Christ. For if one soul meets me at God's right hand, my heaven will be two heavens in Emmanuel's plan.

For the people of God said, Amen.