I invite you to join me in your copy of God's Word in Hebrews chapter 11.
On your bulletin this morning is a quotation from a Puritan preacher by the name of John Trapp,
the context of this letter that we've been working our way through now for so many months is that,
as far as we know, this letter is written to a small church on the outskirts of Rome,
a group that's been sent out of Rome of Greek-speaking Hellenistic Jews.
That's the title of the letter, Hebrews.
And they had suffered much for their faith.
Chapter 12, verse 4 says they had not yet suffered to the shedding of their blood.
No one had died in their church.
They had been publicly ridiculed.
They had been imprisoned.
Their material possessions had been taken.
And the temptation for this church was to go back to the ways of Judaism,
to return to the old covenant worship, thinking that it would be good enough.
We could worship as we once did and not suffer in this way.
And the author of Hebrews writes to them to say,
no, Christ is better.
Press on.
Persevere.
You have not done this in vain.
There's something that awaits you beyond this world.
Have, take up this living hope.
Show yourselves to belong to Christ.
To preserve your souls by your faithfulness.
He has been hard on them at times.
And he has been encouraging to them at times.
And this is where we find ourselves now as we concluded chapter 10.
And in verse 39, he said to this church he's writing to,
and I hope to us this morning,
but we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed,
but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
And then he begins to give a description of what faith is.
So what does he mean by this?
This type of persevering faithfulness.
And he says in verse 1 of chapter 11,
now faith is the assurance of things hoped for,
the conviction of things not seen.
So he says it's the surety in the promises of God.
Those things that God has spoken to us,
that we believe them.
And then in verse 2 he says,
for by it the people of old received their commendation.
Now the rest of chapter 11 is the author of Hebrews' tour
through the Hebrew Scriptures,
our Old Testament,
concerning the people of old who received their commendation.
Now when thinking commendation,
think approval.
This is how the people of old received their approval from God.
It was by their faith.
And the first in his tour through the Hebrew Scripture
is also the first martyr of the Bible.
A man named Abel.
A man who was killed for his faithfulness.
And I just absolutely love when the providence of God is made apparent.
God always is ruling.
Whether we recognize it or not,
he's always in control of all things at all times.
I just absolutely love it when I go,
thank you for being in control of all things at all times.
I made a schedule for us to preach through the book of Hebrews
that got thrown off course.
That got thrown off course by an illness that Clay had when he was scheduled to preach.
What a wonderful thing that we're not talking about Enoch this morning,
who didn't even die,
who was taken up on the International Day of Prayer for the persecuted church.
I don't know what I would have done with that.
Praise God this morning that we get to look at the faithfulness of the Bible's very first martyr.
So our text for today is Hebrews chapter 11, verse 4.
And beloved, this is God's word to us, written for his glory and our good.
We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
Hebrews 11, verse 4.
By faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain,
through which he was commended as righteous.
God commending him by accepting his gifts.
And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.
Now upon an initial reading of the account of Cain and Abel,
Genesis chapter 4,
one can find themselves rather confused.
Why is it that Abel's sacrifice was accepted and Cain's was not?
It feels a little arbitrary when you first look at the text.
The whole matter is a bit enigmatic, right?
Without some deeper, some more closer examination.
So this morning, I want to do that with you.
I want to look at that text a bit.
And then we'll look at the commentary that the author of Hebrews gives us as well
to observe the faithfulness of Abel.
So mark Hebrews chapter 11 and turn in your copy of God's Word to Genesis chapter 4.
And we'll read the first 16 verses,
which is this account of the story of Adam,
or excuse me, of Cain and Abel.
The second word in verse 1 is Adam, which I was staring at.
Beginning in verse 1 of Genesis chapter 4.
Now Adam knew Eve his wife,
and she conceived and bore Cain,
saying, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.
And again she bore his brother Abel.
Now Abel was a keeper of sheep,
and Cain a worker of the ground.
In the course of time,
Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground.
And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock
and of their fat portions.
And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering.
But for Cain and his offering,
he had no regard.
So Cain was very angry,
and his face fell.
The Lord said to Cain,
Why are you angry,
and why has your face fallen?
If you do well,
will you not be accepted?
And if you do not do well,
sin is crouching at the door.
Its desire is contrary to you,
but you must rule over it.
Cain spoke to Abel his brother,
and when they were in the field,
Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
Then the Lord said to Cain,
Where is Abel your brother?
He said,
I do not know.
Am I my brother's keeper?
And the Lord said,
What have you done?
The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.
And now you are cursed from the ground,
which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
When you work the ground,
it shall no longer yield to you its strength.
You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.
Cain said to the Lord,
My punishment is greater than I can bear.
Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground,
and from your face I shall be hidden.
I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth,
and whoever finds me will kill me.
Then the Lord said to him,
Not so.
If anyone kills Cain,
vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.
And the Lord put a mark on Cain,
lest any who found him should attack him.
Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord
and settled in the land of Nod,
east of Eden.
And the episode ends there.
But what does it all mean?
Augustine wrote on the matter in his famous work,
The City of God,
which I commend to you,
where he explained Cain was first born,
and he belonged to the city of men.
After him was born Abel,
who belonged to the city of God.
Augustine saw that Cain and Abel
approached God and the things of God
with radical difference.
Jude wrote in Jude verse 10,
and the first part of verse 11,
These people blaspheme all that they do not understand,
and they are destroyed by all that they,
like unreasoning animals,
understand instinctively.
Woe to them,
for they walk in the way of Cain.
There's a juxtaposition being made here
between these two brothers.
It is this difference that we want to understand this morning,
that the author of Hebrews intends for us to understand,
the way of Cain
and the enduringly faithful way of Abel.
He wants us to find ourselves identifying with Abel,
being those who have faith
and preserve their souls.
In order to do so,
we will put them against each other,
juxtapose them
with particular attention to Abel
in the following outline.
So here's the outline for our text this morning.
Number one,
Abel's worship by faith.
Number two,
Abel's wholeness by faith.
Number three,
Abel's witness by faith.
If I printed notes for you on the back of your bulletin,
you could see the cleverness of the alliteration.
Worship,
wholeness,
with a W,
and witness.
Number one,
Abel's worship by faith.
The very first part of verse four says,
by faith,
Abel offered to God
a more acceptable sacrifice
than Cain.
To do something by faith,
it must be connected
to a word from God.
We are not faithful willy-nilly.
We are faithful in God's promises
and in God's commands.
Paul writes in Romans chapter 10,
verse 17,
so faith comes from hearing
and hearing willy-nilly.
That's not how the verse ends,
is it?
And hearing through the word of Christ.
So,
there must have been something
that undergirded
Abel's faithfulness
and Cain's
faithlessness.
God must have given instructions
for sacrifice.
Otherwise,
how does the text in Genesis 4
make sense
in light of Hebrews 11,
4,
who is here,
the author,
saying that it's by faith
that Abel offered to God
a more acceptable sacrifice.
It must be that God told Adam and Eve
and therefore Cain and Abel
that their sacrifices
were to be made
with animals.
In Genesis,
death enters into
the garden.
Genesis chapter 3,
we see the rebellion
of Adam and Eve
and the curse that follows.
And because they were
working to hide
their nakedness
and their shame
with fig leaves,
God instead
makes for them
more suitable clothing.
And what does He do
in order to make
more suitable clothing?
He sheds the first blood.
The first death
enters into the garden
because of the sinfulness
of man.
It would seem,
as a result of this,
that sacrifice
began
at this
time.
It's likely
that Cain and Abel
understood
their need
of atonement,
of replacement
death
for them
to be found
acceptable
before God.
At the first reading
of this text,
and I have
for many years,
thought that this
was the first time
that Cain and Abel
had attempted
to worship the Lord.
This was the very
first time they ever
had brought sacrifice
before God.
Like, look at these two
just suddenly getting
the idea that they
should offer a sacrifice.
Right?
And they came up
with what they had,
and God commended
one and was unhappy
with the other.
However,
at this time,
if you look through
genealogies,
Cain was 129 years old.
likely lived lives
of worship
toward God.
And then Genesis
chapter 4,
verse 3 reads,
In the course
of time,
Cain brought to the Lord
an offering of the fruit
of the ground.
And in the course
of time is more
literally translated,
at the end
of days.
At the end
of days.
Indicating
the end
of a specific
period
of time.
Likely,
we can't know
for sure,
but likely,
a time that God
had designated
for a regular
sacrifice.
It was probably
a time that God
had given
for them
to come
and offer
a sacrifice.
At the end
of that time period,
they came to offer
their sacrifice.
So God
had given
instruction
as to how
they were
to worship.
And Abel
worships faithfully
according to the
prescription
that God
had given him.
Cain
does not.
Cain
comes to God
in his
own way.
Cain
is thinking
he has a
superior way
than the way
that God
had commanded
them to come.
Cain
may have
reasoned
in this way
and I'm just
going to read
this to you
quickly
because I think
it was well
written,
better than I
would write
myself,
from a
commentary
by Kent
Hughes.
That Cain
may have
reasoned
like this,
what I am
presenting
is far
more beautiful
than a
bloody animal.
I myself
would prefer
the lovely
fruits of a
harvest
any day
and I
worked far
harder than
able to
raise my
offering.
It took
real toil
and sweat
and it is
even of
greater market
value.
Enough
of this
animal
sacrifice
business,
God.
My
way
is far
better.
It's
with this
kind of
attitude
that Cain
comes
and makes
his offering.
Cain's
offering was
the evidence
of his
self-righteousness
and pride.
He thought
he knew
better.
Abel
humbly
believed
God
and
obeyed
his
command.
He
came
to
God
with
a
submissive
penitent
heart
trusting
that God
would accept
him
through his
prescribed
means.
Further,
Cain,
upon having
his offering
rejected,
became
angry.
He thought
that he
had some
right to
worship
God
on his
own
terms.
And when
that way
was not
accepted,
he stamped
his foot.
God is
being unjust
towards me.
I thought
I was
doing a
thing that
was good
and proper.
And God
in his
great mercy
goes to
him.
This
astounds
me in my
reading of
this story.
He becomes
angry at
God because
God doesn't
accept his
unacceptable
sacrifice.
Genesis 4
5 says,
so Cain
was very
angry and
his face
fell and
God comes
to him
and he
speaks to
him,
verse 6
and 7,
why are
you angry
and why
has your
face fallen?
If you
do well,
will you
not be
accepted?
Cain has
the opportunity
here to
repent.
You were
right,
God of
heaven and
earth.
You told
me the
way in
which I
should come
and worship
you.
the doing
well of
verse 7.
But what
does Cain
do instead?
He remains
angry.
He does
not
repent.
His mom
had to be
talked into
sinning.
He couldn't
be talked
out of it.
And his
anger
finally and
fully finds
its vent
in the
murder
of his
brother.
God
will
to
God
on
his
terms
and
not
our
own.
We
are to
submit
ourselves
humbly
to his
good
commands,
trusting
that we
will be
delivered
by the
atoning
work of
Jesus
Christ
on our
behalf.
God.
We are
to come
to God
on his
terms.
And there
is no
other way
to properly
worship God
than through
the sacrificial
work of
Jesus Christ.
There's no
other way.
If you don't
place your
faith in
Christ,
if you're not
found in
him,
clothed in
his
righteousness,
then anything
you attempt
to do
for
God,
toward
God,
will not
be accepted
by him.
But if you
are in
Christ,
if you
belong
in him,
in his
righteousness,
you've been
buried by
baptism
into his
death,
you've been
raised to
life in
him,
then we
can do
no wrong.
In all of
our feeble
efforts,
God accepts
us because
he accepts
us in
Christ.
Don't lose
sight of
what the
author of
Hebrews has
said in
the previous
chapter.
We walk
through these
texts so
slowly.
Just back
in Hebrews
chapter 10
and verse
14,
the author
wrote,
for by a
single
offering,
he has
perfected
for all
time those
who are
being
sanctified,
set apart
by the
single
offering of
Christ
himself.
Offered
once for
all.
And then
in verse
18 of
Hebrews
10,
where there
is forgiveness
of these,
there is no
longer any
offering for
sin.
Praise God
we have no
need of an
altar in our
gathering place.
There is no
altar here.
If you're in a
Christian church
that claims to
have an altar,
it should make
you cock your
head a little
bit.
I don't know
what's happening
in this place.
We don't make
sacrifice again
and again.
once for
all.
Jesus
accomplished
this work.
And it's
by faith
in Christ
that we
properly
worship
God.
That's
Abel
trusting in
the sacrifice,
the atoning
work of
this worship
that God
had prescribed
that commended
him as
righteous.
Which brings us
to our next
point.
number two,
Abel's
wholeness
by faith.
Abel's
wholeness
by faith.
This is the
middle part
of verse
four of
Hebrews 11.
Through
which he
was commended
as righteous.
God
commending
him by
accepting
his
gifts.
Proper
worship
comes by
faith.
Righteousness
being
declared
right is
also
the result
of faith.
We do
not know
exactly
how it
is that
the Lord
had regard
for Abel
and his
offering.
Jewish
tradition
holds that
a fire
came down
and consumed
it but
didn't consume
Cain's
offering.
But we
don't know
for sure.
But the
author of
Hebrews
under
inspiration
of the
Holy
Spirit
tells us
that God
commended
Abel
as
righteous.
Commending
him by
the acceptance
of
his
gifts.
saving
faith
is
accompanied
by
works.
The
works
do not
save
us
but
saving
faith
is
evidenced
by
works.
James
write in
James
chapter 2
verse 17
and 18
so also
faith by
itself
if it
does not
have
works
is
dead.
Verse
18
but
someone
will
say
you
have
faith
and
I
have
works
show
me
your
faith
apart
from
your
works
and
I
will
show
you
my
faith
by
my
works.
Abel
believed
in
God.
He
believed
in
God's
commands
he
believed
in
God's
promises
and
he
showed
that
he
believed
by doing
what?
By
obeying.
He
evidenced
his
belief
in the
fact
that
he
obeyed.
It
wasn't
the
work
that
saved
him
it
was
his
faith
evidenced
by
his
work.
This
is so
very
important
for us
to
understand
in
our
age.
Again
from
Kent
Hughes
I like
this
little
analogy
he
wrote
faith
and
righteous
works
are
like
the
wings
of
a
bird
there
could
be
no
real
life
no
flight
with
a
single
wing
!
Whether
works
or
faith
but
when
the
two
are
pumping
in
concert
their
owner
soars
through
the
heavens
authentic
faith
produces
an
authentic
life
that
flies
high
like
the
Abel
of
old.
It was
through
the
evidencing
of
Abel's
faith
that
God
declared
him
righteous
whole
Abel's
wholeness
by
faith.
And
then
third
and
finally
Abel's
witness
by
faith.
The
last part
of
verse
4
of
Hebrews
11
says
and
through
his
faith
though
he
died
he
still
speaks.
And
I
hope
that
the
end
of
verse
4
just
resonates
with
you
as
we
have
previously
considered
those
who are
suffering
around
the
world
even
in
this
day
for
the
name
of
Christ
and
Pastor
Han.
In
Genesis
chapter 4
verse
10
Abel's
blood
cries
out
from
the
ground
for
justice.
Today
his
blood
cries
out
for
faithful
perseverance.
That's
what the
author of
Hebrews
is doing
all
through
chapter
11.
He's
saying
to us
look
look at
the
faith
of
Abel
and
press
on
to
the
end.
Your
end
may
come
soon
like
Abel's
it
may
come
long
like
others
but
press
to
the
very
end.
Don't
be
one
who
shrinks
back
and
is
destroyed.
Be
one
who
has
faith
and
preserves
their
souls.
Abel
speaks
to us
from
the
very
page
of
scripture
as
this
author
pens
this
letter.
He
is
not
silent
although
Cain
thought
he
was
silencing
him.
He
and
so
many
more
after
him
have
taken
their
place
with
our
Lord
and
glory
and
they
want
to
see
us
ushered
into
their
number.
They
are
longing
for
the
day
to
come
when
the
number
of
the
church
will
be
complete.
And
it's
to
this
end
that
the
author
of
Hebrews
is
encouraging
!
us
right?
Worship
by faith.
have
wholeness
by
faith
and
witness
by
faith.
Live
faithful
lives
and
preserve
your
souls.
Hebrews
chapter
12
and
verse
1
he
brings
chapter
11
to an
end
as
he
says
therefore
since
we are
surrounded
by so
great
a cloud
of
witnesses
!
Let
us
also
lay
aside
every
weight
and
sin
which
clings
so
closely
and
let
us
run
with
endurance
the
race
that
is
set
before
us.
Let's
pray
together.