Good Works Vs. The Blood

Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, there has been a need for a blood sacrifice. "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins," says the Bible (Hebrews 9:22). God demonstrated this first by providing the skin of an animal for Adam and Eve to wear, by doing this he was really sacrificing the blood of an animal and then covering humanity in it. There has always been the need for blood to cover man's sins - life for life. So, when it came time for Cain and Abel's offering, Cain got it wrong (good works) and Abel got it right (blood sacrifice). There had always been a need for animal sacrifices for the blood/life, but it was always planned by God for Jesus to come at a certain time in history and pay the price once and forever. Now there is no more need for continual animal sacrifices because Jesus paid it in full, forever: "Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people." (Hebrews 9:28) You cannot be saved by good works, but only the blood of Jesus: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."