Believe For It - Hebrews 11:4-5

Recap

Difficult days for Hebrew people.

Confidence, Expectation, Testimony

God approves faithful people

Now, we will study faithful people in the Old Testament

(READ Genesis 4:1-10 and Hebrews 11:4-5)

Abel was the 2nd son of Adam and Eve.

God accepted Abel's offering over Cain’s.

Little OT Commentary about Abel’s character.

In (Matthew 23:35), Abel was called righteous by Christ himself.

Someone has left a legacy of influence in your life.

Faith in God leaves a legacy.

1. Righteous Sacrifice

Scholars debate the differences between Cain and Abel’s offering to God.

Abel offered an animal sacrifice of blood.

Cain offered a thank offering of produce from the ground.

Jewish sacrificial system did not yet exist.

We don’t know completely for sure if the objects of the offering were a deciding factor.

To gain approval means to bear witness or give a good report.

Righteousness by faith comes with the right attitude of mind, which is pleasing to God.

Faith caused Abel to be accepted, and then his offering pleased God.

doing what parents say, but still getting in trouble… Attitude.

We miss the message and the blessing when we lose sight of a proper attitude of sacrifice.

God doesn’t need your stuff. He wants you. But he will use your stuff to shift your life so he can have you fully.

Faith sacrifices everything to belong fully to God.

2. Faithful Sacrifice is Eternal

“…dead, he still speaks.”

Blood crying from the ground shows how precious Abel was to God. Because of his faith, he was still in God’s sight, even when dead. So Abel is a witness to us of the blessed effects of faith.

God didn’t case Abel aside once he received Abel’s offering.

Abel recieved access to God’s presence through the blood.

He believed in God through faith and he left a legacy that still speaks.

“Did God say to do it? Then, the answer is yes.”

As we grow spiritually, we are called to believe God wholeheartedly.

Life - Personal, family

Livelihood - Tithing, giving

Actions

Everything

“Faith needs a vigorous and generous soul, and one rising above all sense, and passing beyond the weakness of human reasonings. For it is not possible to become a believer, otherwise than by raising one’s self above the common customs of the world.” - St. John Chrysostom

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.” - (Romans 1:16-17)

Godly people live their life according to God’s standard.