The Faith of Abel.

Opening:

It is a Beautiful thing to open the Word of God on the Lord’s Day.

Introduction of the Passage:

We are examining what is commonly called the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. One of the central themes of the Christian life is that the righteous live by faith. This is repeated many times throughout the Bible. But in Hebrews 11 we have a list of those who set an example in their lives by living by faith.

This morning we are examining the life of Abel. We will be reading Hebrews 11:4 and Genesis 4:1-11. Turn with me to those. Keep a finger in Genesis 4 and turn with me to Hebrews 11:4 first. Please stand with me once you have located those.

Reading of the Passages:

Hebrews 11:4 “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 turn over to Genesis 4 with me.

Genesis 4:1–11 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.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 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, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 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.”

8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

Behold, the Word of God. Let’s pray.

Prayer:

Our gracious Heavenly Father, we come to you this morning and ask your blessing on this time. Speak to us through Your Word. May You use it to sanctify us and conform us evermore into the image of Your Son. We ask this in Jesus name, amen.

Introduction:

This morning we are examining a rather enigmatic biblical character. The author of Hebrews, who I believe is the Apostle Paul, has included some very interesting names in this list. If we were to go around and just ask who your favorite Old Testament Bible character is, we would probably get a mix of answers. Who is it that you think of when we discuss those who demonstrated incredible faith in the Old Testament? We would likely hear a lot about King David, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and Elijah. Maybe some of you would bring up some more obscure characters like Ehud who trusted God enough to become a divinely appointed assassin. But I doubt that many, if anyone, would bring up some of the names contained in this list of the faithful heroes of the Old Testament.

And we see this in how this list begins. Paul begins this list of the faithful with some names we likely rarely think of. He begins with Abel. And the reason we likely seldom think of Abel as one of the greatest Old Testament heroes, is because there just is not much said about him. We simply do not have much information about this man. But what we do have is incredible.

Jesus in His great prophetic attack against the Pharisees and unfaithful Jews in Matthew 23 includes Abel in the list of the righteous. He says this in Matthew 23:35–36“35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.” These verses alone cause us to wonder at the character of Abel. Jesus Himself calls him “righteous Abel.” And from the context, Jesus seems to be indicating that Abel was one of the prophets.

However, there is just very little information about Abel in the Scriptures. He is only mentioned a handful of times. But even though Scripture does not include many references to Abel, what it does include should inspire us to live like him and worship God like him.

You see, the only thing we really know about Abel from Scripture is how he worshipped God. And if we are honest, that is an incredible epitaph.

Text Idea:

You see, Scripture’s one great detail about Abel is that he was justified by faith and he worshipped God in that faith.

Sermon Idea:

This morning I pray that we can see Abel’s faith, and be encouraged to worship God in the same faith.

Transition:

So let’s dive into our texts. First, let’s establish what happened?

What Happened?

Explanation:

An important starting point is just to examine what happened. Who was Abel? What happened to him? And we see this in Genesis 4, which we read. So let’s summarize the story. First things first, Cain and Abel were the offspring of Adam and Eve. They were their first two children. Adam and Eve would go on to have numerous children. But their first two were two boys. Cain was the older, and Abel was the younger. Now we don’t know how old these two by the time of our account, but they were old enough to have work to do. And Genesis 4:2 tells us, “Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.” Both these boys had taken good work. Cain was a farmer. Abel was a shepherd. These are both good and strong occupations.

But the story really picks up when Cain and Abel offer sacrifices.

Cain and Abel Offer Sacrifices.

Genesis 4:3–4“3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions...”

Where did Cain and Abel learn to sacrifice to God? They learned it from their parents. Adam and Eve, apparently returned to faithfulness after the fall, and passed on to their sons the importance of worshiping God.

And Cain and Abel at least in action obey the teaching of their parents. They do sacrifice to God. Both of them bring of their labor to God. Cain brings the produce that he grew by the sweat of his brow. Abel brings of the flock he has raised. Both make sacrifice of the fruit of their labor. And this is an act of worship. You see, we are now in the New Covenant where the language of sacrifice is less common. It is still used, but is a bit more rare in our language. But what a sacrifice is is the giving of something to God in worship. It is an act of worship. Cain and Abel are here engaging in worshiping God. But only one is accepted. God accepts Abel and his sacrifice.

God Accepts Abel and His Sacrifice.

Genesis 4:4–5“4 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, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.”

As the offerings were given, one was accepted and one was not. God had regard for Abel and his sacrifice. This means God accepted both Abel and the sacrifice. And we must notice the order. God accepted Abel before the offering was given. This has great significance. God did not accept Abel because of the sacrifice. God accepted the sacrifice because He had already accepted Abel. We will get into this more later.

Now, we don’t know what the acceptance or rejection looked like. We don’t have that detail. But apparently it was obvious. Matthew Henry, the puritan believed it was most likely because of the similar wording to the account of Elijah and the prophets of Baal that God sent fire from heaven on Abel’s and not Cain’s. This is entirely possible because however God accepted Able’s and rejected Cain’s, it was unmissable. It was blatantly obvious. Abel left knowing God had accepted his offering. Cain left knowing his offering was rejected. And here we get a good picture of Cain’s heart.

Rather than repent, rather than humbly come to God, Cain leaves angry. Cain leaves angry with God, angry at Abel. And God warns Cain about sin.

God Warns Cain About Sin.

Genesis 4:6–7“6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 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.””

This is such a profound passage. Why was Cain angry? Cain was in the wrong. It was Cain’s sin that made both him and his sacrifice unacceptable. But the Lord makes a profound statement here. Sin is crouching at the door. It’s desire is contrary to you. Sin is right there at Cain’s door. It wants to take hold of him. Sin wants to rule over him.

And this is what sin does. Jesus says in John 8:34 “34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” Sin rules over us. Outside of Christ, sin is our slave master, driving us further into sin. And God warns Cain of this. He must slay the dragon of sin in his own life. He must not allow sin a foothold in his life. But Cain does not listen. And Cain kills Abel.

Cain Kills Abel.

Genesis 4:8–11“8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.”

Cain failed to rule the sin in his heart. He let it fester. And the result was the first murder. Abel was the first human being to die. Our great Uncle died at the hand of his own brother. And his blood cried out to God for justice.

Transition:

This is the account of Abel’s life and death recorded in Scripture. But there is a nagging question here.

Why Did God Accept Abel and His Sacrifice?

Explanation:

The account in Genesis contains much, but the one thing it does not contain is an answer to why Abel was accepted. We know from the Genesis account that Cain did not do well. God told Cain that if he did well he would be accepted. But that’s really it. So why was Abel and his sacrifice accepted by God? We learn the answer to this in our Hebrews account. Hebrews 11:4 “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.”

The first thing we see in our verse this morning is that God accepted Abel because of his Faith.

God Accepted Abel Because of His Faith.

It was faith. If you recall in the Genesis passage God accepted Abel and then Abel’s offering. In that order. And the why is because Abel had faith. This is a central point. Abel was accepted by God through faith. This is why Jesus called Abel “righteous” in Matthew. Abel was righteous because of his faith. You see Abel was right with God. However, Abel was not made right with God because of his sacrifice. He was made right with God because of his faith.

You see, we can so often get this twisted in our minds. We can think that the Old and New Covenants are fundamentally different. If we are not careful, we can think that in the Old Covenant, people were saved by works, but now in the New Covenant people are saved by faith. In fact, I have even heard numerous pastors say things like that. But here is the biblical reality. Everyone who has ever been saved was saved by faith. Paul labors this point again and again in Romans. He uses Abraham as an example. Was Abraham saved by circumcision? Was he saved by the Law? Was he saved by works? No. Abraham was saved by faith.

Listen to Romans 4:1–5“1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,”

The same is true of righteous Abel. He was made right with God because of his faith. Cain was left in his sin because he did not have faith. This is what the Apostle is saying in Hebrews 11:4. “...through which (faith) he was commended as righteous...” Through what? Faith. Abel was commended as righteous not by his sacrifice, but by his faith. Everyone, Old or New Covenant is saved by faith.

And this is also why God accepted Abel’s sacrifice.

God Accepted Abel’s Sacrifice Because It Was Given by Faith.

Much ink has been spilled in attempting to reason through as to why God accepted Abel’s sacrifice but rejected Cain’s. And one of the most common theories is that Abel offered the right kind of sacrifice while Cain did not. Abel offered a lamb. A blood sacrifice while Cain offered a grain sacrifice. And God accepts the blood of lambs but not grain.

However, there is a problem with this. In the Law of God it is perfectly acceptable to worship God by bringing an offering of the fruit of the field. Leviticus 2 details this.

You see, the reason Abel’s sacrifice was accepted while Cain’s was not, was not because Abel cracked the code on what God wanted while Cain did not. The reason Abel’s sacrifice was accepted was because he was righteous and he was sacrificing by faith. It was given in faith. And this is seen all through Scripture. Often, Israel would do all the right things. They would be honoring the external commands, but they were far from God in their hearts. And God rejected their sacrifices.

Isaiah 29:13 details this. “13 And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,” Isaiah 1 also speaks about this. God tells Judah that their sacrifices and offerings are an abomination to Him. Why? Because their hearts were far from Him. They were wicked, and they thought that if only they did the externals, God would accept them. But they forgot a central truth.

Proverbs 15:8–9“8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him. 9 The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but he loves him who pursues righteousness.” When Abel offered his sacrifice it was given from a heart that loved the Lord. It came from a man made righteous by faith. Abel wanted to honor God. Cain was simply doing the “right” thing. He did not love God. He did not offer a sacrifice to God out of devotion and love to God. He was like wicked Judah, offering the right sacrifice, but from a wicked heart. And that is an abomination to God.

But Cain, in hatred and rage killed his brother. And we saw that incredibly interesting passage about the blood of Abel crying out to God for justice. And Abel’s blood still cries out. Abel still speaks through his faith.

Abel Still Speaks Through His Faith.

Through faith, the witness of Abel endures even to this day. His dedication to God and faith in God still speaks even today. Abel was the first martyr. He was the first man to die, but he was also the first man to die for the faith. Abel leaves a lasting legacy of faith. He lived by faith, and he even died for faith. It was his faithfulness to God that led his brother to kill him. And Abel stands as an example of living by faith.

If I were to summarize how Abel lived by faith it would be this:

Abel Lived By Faith By Worshiping God in Faith.

By faith he was made righteous. He was forgiven of his sins and made right with God by faith. He worshipped God through sacrificing to Him by faith. And this sacrifice was worship. We must always remember that in this account, Abel is worshiping God. And he is worshiping God in faith.

And this legacy of faith stands as an example for us of what living by faith looks like.

Transition:

Well, we have seen how Abel lived by faith but we too must live by faith like Abel. We must honor our ancient uncle’s example set before us.

Live By Faith Like Abel.

Argumentation/Application:

When thinking about the hall of faith, we should always be asking, how did this person live by faith and how can I now follow their example in living by faith. Well, when examining Abel, he lived by faith by worshiping God in faith. So if we are to follow his example, we too must worship God in faith.

Our Worship Must be in Faith.

When we worship God, we must avoid simply going through the motions. Or worse yet, engage in worship with evil motives. What do I mean?

Biblical worship is really a broad topic. We can really say that everything we do is an act of worship. How we talk, how we engage with others, how we live our lives is an act of worship. But there are also special times that we dedicate to the express purpose of worshiping God. That is really what is in view here. There are days, times, where we specifically engage in worship. We do this when we go to a quiet place to pray or read God’s Word. We do this when we gather the family around and pray. But we also do this on Sundays. This is the Lord’s Day.

This is the time we all set aside for the corporate worship of God. When we gather together, we are coming into the presence of God. The author of Hebrews in another place uses the imagery of coming into the holy of holies. When we worship together there is something truly sacred that happens. This morning, as the people of God gather together, we are taken into the very presence of God.

And in these moments, we must ensure we are taking this seriously. One of my responsibilities as a pastor is ensuring that what we do here is honoring to God. I am tasked by God with guarding the flock. And this means that when we come into the presence of God, I need to ensure our service ordered to honor God. I am responsible that in the service, our worship is how He has commanded it to be. That means, it’s my job that we obey the Bible in how we worship. We are to pray, sing, read, and preach how God has commanded.

But the one thing I cannot do is change your heart. I as your pastor am powerless to cause you to worship in faith. I can order our service to be honoring to God. I can ensure that we are singing the right music. I can agonize over every word of the sermon to ensure it is honoring to God. But I cannot cause you to worship in faith.

Every Lord’s Day, we open with a prayer confessing our sin. We open by acknowledging our sin and confessing it to God. My heartfelt desire is that while we are bowed in prayer of confession that you are truly bringing your sin before God. But I cannot control that. You may be just closing your eyes and sitting there.

When we sing, we often sing Psalms. When we sing Psalms, we are singing the very God inspired song book. We are singing the songs God Himself inspired for us to sing. But I cannot reach into your heart and make you sing them by faith. I as your pastor can do everything in my power to ensure that WHAT we do is God honoring. But I am powerless to unsure you have the right WHY in doing it.

We can do all the right things but if we do them with hearts far away from God, we would be just like Cain.

So how do we worship in faith?

How Do We Worship in Faith?

Worshiping in faith means that we come to God in full assurance that He is our God, and we are His people. It means coming to Him knowing that we are sinners saved only by grace. It means that we are driven to worship by our love for God. When we open in confession of sin, we know in our hearts that we are a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness. It means when we sing, the words of the Psalms are not mere words. They are cries from our heart to our God. It means when the Word of God is read and preached we hunger for it with all our hearts.

And it should be obvious to us that this is not a work that we just will ourselves into. This only comes from a true and deep love for God. When we know who God is, and we love Him dearly, this kind of worship flows from our hearts.

What separated Cain and Abel on a fundamental level is that Abel loved God while Cain hated God. When God came and corrected Cain, he was not filled with repentance. He did not say to God, “Oh Lord, I am so sorry! You’re right! Forgive me! Show me how to worship you!” No, he was filled with anger and bitterness.

The heart that loves God is correctable. When God tells us we are wrong, we humble ourselves. We repent. We change our ways. Maybe you are here, and you are guilty of simply going through the motions. You come into worship and simply do the right things. And the things you are doing may be right. You sing the Psalms. You pray the right prayers. You even read the Bible. But inside is a heart that does not do this out of love for God. As you examine yourself, you can see that your heart is far from Him. Beloved, you are being like Cain.

And if that angers you, then you are further proving you are like Cain. Cain upon correction became even more angered. But I implore you, do not be like Cain. Hear the warning from God. Sin is crouching at your door. It desires your harm and slavery. It wants to bind you in its fetters and never let you go. Hear God’s warning and repent. Rule over your sin. Confess it to God. And repent.

But maybe you aren’t angered. You’re heartbroken. Maybe you are here and you would admit that many times, you are guilty of simply going through the motions. Your heart is not in it. You aren’t singing out of love for God. And this burdens your heart. You want to do this out of love for God, but there are just days where it is hard.

Beloved, hear now the promise of the Lord. There is grace in the arms of Christ. 1 Peter 5:6–7“6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” Do you hear that promise? Cast that anxiety on Him. He cares for you. Cast your burdens onto the arms of the Lord. He cares for you.

Ask Him to help you. Ask Him to help you love Him more. Ask Him to give you a heart that longs to worship Him. Lean on Him. He cares for you. Desire that heart. Desire to worship Him truly.

But do not be discouraged. There will be many times where you simply won’t feel anything. There are mornings where it is all you can do to keep the kids from eating the hymnal pages. Even here you can worship in faith. You can love God deeply, even in those moments. This is because love is not an emotion. Love is not a feeling. Feelings and emotions often accompany true love. But love is more than just those feelings. In those moments you love God by in faith telling your children to spit out page 243, fold their hands, and pray along with all the other saints.

In those moments you are worshiping God by teaching your children the importance of worship. You are modeling for them the commitment to honor God, even when it is hard. Even in the distracting, difficult times, you can still come to God humbly, and offer to Him worship. You can still from the heart, give Him praise. You do this because He is worthy of it.

You see, By faith Abel was commended to God as righteous. And because of his faith, God accepted the offering. You may feel like your offering is feeble. You may feel like what you are giving is not enough. But Abel was not accepted because of his works. Abel and his offering were accepted because of his faith. Even the smallest offering, offered in true faith is acceptable to God.

Conclusion:

Abel, by his faith offered to God true worship. It was not his works that made him righteous, it was his faith. In the same way, we must worship in faith. More than just the motions. More than just the emotions. But a true faith in Christ. A sure and solid commitment to the One who has redeemed us.

Visualization:

As we go from here, let us always remember, the righteous shall live by faith. And this means that the righteous, like Abel, worship in faith.

Reiteration:

My closing charge is this:

May We be a Church Who is Committed to Worship God in Faith.

May our lives be an offering of worship given to God in faith. in good times and in bad, in easy times and in hard, may we be a church who is committed to worship God in faith. And when we fail, may we not be like Cain. May we repent, and turn to God always in faith. Let’s pray.

Closing Prayer:

Offering:

Offertory Prayer:

Benediction:

Psalm 55:22 “22 Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”