An Acceptable Sacrifice
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By faith
By faith
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
In the book of Genesis we find the account of Cain and Able bringing a sacrifice to God
After the fall of man a judgement was passed and a promice made
So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.
And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
The first glimmer of hope for fallen man
Eve must have thought that God was fulfilling His promise and the Cain was that reality!
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.”
There must have been great hope that through Cain might come deliverance from the curse but that was not to be!
Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.
Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering,
but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
Many explanations have been given as to the reason of God’s rejection of Cain’s ofering
Most common - works of man’s hands vs works of God
The problem is that during the temple sacrifices they were commanded to bring cakes of meat - grain as an offering
When deciphering the OT we turn to the for revelation
Of course our text today - Heb 11:4 explains it clearly
The problem was the Cain did not offer “by faith” by which Able was account righteousness!
So in a sense it was due to cain just assuming that God should accept his sacrifice, it wasn’t offered in faith but in presumption
We see the response of Cain to the situation
but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
Cain was angry - literally to have a strong feeling of displeasure with an action to follow! - enraged
He was evoked to an action that would bring dire consequence
Why is it in the nature of man to tell God what He should accept as a requirement of righteousness?
Able made a sacrifice from a pur heart and in faith that God would accept it, Cain had no such concern
In v6 God speaks to this self-righteous anger
So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
Well - be agreeable!
All God wanted was his agreement and it says that he would be acceoted
but Cain would not have any of that! For in the next verses Cain strikes down his brother in retaliation
Now 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 killed him.
Later when God talk to Cain we read the following:
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.
So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”
Again all God required for Cain to come into agreement and make confession so that there could be reconciliation! But none was found
Now in Hebrews we read the following:
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith is not a wish Although in a sense it is a desire to see God do something about a particular issue
But it is much more than that!
I would like to propose that Faith is expectation manifested by obediance
Faith puts into action that which one truly believes
The word also translates out to faithful and faithfulness although there is a great difference between these two
To be faithful is to practice or follow something - sports team, music band, practice of an instrument, going to church, etc
Faithfulness is a state of being the invades everything one does! It is allegiance, loyalty, Fidelity. It sacrifice everything for what it believes
A faithful person attends, faithfulness adheres, it never is moved or shaken
A so the Scripture says
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
The proof that God accepted his sacrifice was he obtained God’s righteousness by no other work of his own, only a steadfast trust that God wold accept it!
My friend today no sacrifice that you bring to God through your own work can ever justify you before Him
Why is that the hardest words for man to utter are “I am guilty”?
There is always an excuse. There’s always a reason when all the God wants id man to agree that he needs help!
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Today, are you betting on your own righteousness to get you through? Are you hoping that all the money you gave to that church building will be enough?
Stop trusting in your own plan! Don’t be angry that its not enough to get you though
Com into agreement with God and let Him wash your garment and make it as white as snow!
The Scripture is clear, by faith it was accounted unto him as righteousness