Though We May Die, Our Legacy Will Continue to Speak-3
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4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he was attested to be righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.
Let’s look at the actual events alluded to in our text:
3 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
As we look at our text in Hebrews and the account in Genesis I would like us to think a little deeper about Abel:
About his offering to God
About how Abel sacrificed to offer to God
About how God “regarded” Abel and his offering and, as the NIV says it: “The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering”
We do this on what has become an infamous day.
A day when it seems the devil gets a lot of attention.
The things that the devil authors: fear, horror, demonic practices, witches, etc. are not just lauded, they are applauded with great fervor and zeal.
Instead of celebrating the devil’s accomplishments, let’s remember:
First of all that this is Reformation Day.
A Protestant religious observance celebrated on October 31, it recognizes the day German monk Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church on October 31, 1517. This act is commemorated as the official starting point of the Protestant Reformation.
And then, tonight is Hallows’ Eve where we prepare to remember that tomorrow is All Saints Day:
In the early years when the Roman Empire persecuted Christians, so many martyrs died for their faith, that the Church set aside special days to honor them.
Of course, the Bible doesn’t tell us to pray to the saints (Matt. 6:6) or through the saints (1 Tim. 2:5). Instead, we think of our connectedness to past saints and find inspiration in their stories of God's faithfulness. Like Abel, Hebrews 11 gives many other examples of the great cloud of witnesses whose lives tell of God's unfailing love and grace. These saints speak from the past and are whispering at this moment...
"God is faithful."
"The Lord is good. Trust Him."
"His grace was sufficient for me in my trials and it is sufficient for you today."
Offering to God
Offering to God
As we think about how God is Almighty and Good it SHOULD incite us to give offerings in praise to God.
Neither our text in Hebrews nor the account of Genesis 4 tells us WHY Cain and Abel offered a sacrifice to God — just that they did.
I would like to think they understood what King David said in:
1 Chronicles 29:9–16 (NASB95)
[In response to King David’s request for offerings to build the Temple] Then the people rejoiced because they had offered so willingly, for they made their offering to the Lord with a whole heart, and King David also rejoiced greatly. 10 So David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly; and David said, “Blessed are You, O Lord God of Israel our father, forever and ever. 11 “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth [comes from and belongs to You]; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. 12 “Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. 13 “Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name. 14 “But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You. 15 “For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope. 16 “O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and all is Yours.
Like Cain and Abel we can only offer back to the Lord what He has given us.
It starts with a tithe or 10% of what He gives us.
Notice I said it “starts” with 10%.
If we would live a life blessed by God we will freely offer God 10% of what He gives you.
To do less or to give nothing says we don’t believe God of His Word.
We don’t believe He can or will provide for us.
Let me be even more blunt:
To give less than 10% or to give nothing is robbing God.
Wednesday I tried to encourage us to study the teachings of the prophets since Jesus said in
17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
We had a short discussion about how the teachings of the Prophets may differ from the Law by building upon them (that is building upon the Mosaic Law).
I think in the area of offerings we can also see how the prophets build upon the teachings of the Law concerning offerings.
The Law says in:
30 ‘Thus all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord.
Building on the teaching of the Law, the Prophet Malachi said:
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. 9 “You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! 10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. 11 “Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the Lord of hosts. 12 “All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,” says the Lord of hosts.
Do you want to blessed and leave behind a legacy of faith?
Do what Abel did: willingly give offerings to the Lord — starting with a tenth.
By being faithful to give at least 10% (and I would say that God certainly wants us to give more) we say:
I have faith that I cannot out-give God.
I believe God gave me anything I have and He will continue to provide for me as I am faithful to offer to Him a tenth of all He gives me.
Giving a tithe, or 10% is just giving God what rightfully belongs to Him.
Giving above a tenth can certainly involve sacrifice.
God shows favor to those who sacrifice to Him.
He showed favor to Abel.
A Better Sacrifice
A Better Sacrifice
Apparently for both Cain and Abel they offered what they each considered a sacrifice, but Abel’s has the testimony of being a BETTER sacrifice.
You’ll notice in Genesis 4:4 that Abel brought not only the firstlings or male firstborn, but he also brought the “fat portions”
The Complete Biblical Library says: “Fat parts” is a Hebrew way of saying the very best of the best. The same word is translated “finest” (of the wheat) in Ps. 147:14.
Leviticus 3:16 (NASB) 'The priest shall offer them up in smoke on the altar as food, an offering by fire for a soothing aroma; all fat is the LORD'S.
ALL of the best belongs to God.
Giving God the best will involve sacrifice.
And yet God still calls us to sacrifice for Him.
He calls us to first and foremost offer ourselves as living sacrifices to Him:
1 So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship.
The Psalmist tells us in:
17 The sacrifice God wants is a broken spirit. God, you will not reject a heart that is broken and sorry for sin.
These are the sacrifices for which God is looking. The sacrifices, as Jesus said in Matthew 5:
People poor in spirit.
Who mourn for sin.
Not only does God call on us to give him the living sacrifice of ourselves, but He also calls us to give Him sacrifices of praise:
15 Through Him then, let’s continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips praising His name. 16 And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Notice that in that same passage we are not only to give sacrifices of praise, but to also sacrifice by doing good to others, by sharing with others.
— praise, doing good sharing — with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Some of the men have signed up on a list we have at the back on the missions table to sacrifice their time and efforts to help the many widows we now have in the church.
If a widow has no family member
If they cannot afford to hire work done
For absolutely necessary projects
Men are volunteering to help.
Ladies, please contact the church
We will coordinate — please don’t contact the men directly (we are trying to divide the work evenly AND according to the skills men have.
I’ve heard that some men are being asked to do more than their share.
Also, please plan to pay for any materials needed for your projects.
If you don’t have the money, we will try to help through the benevolence funds.
(You can donate above your tithe!)
Thank you men for doing good for our widows!
God desires that we show our allegiance — our consecration to Him — to Him by offering sacrifices.
As I said Wednesday night, one of the things I hope I can do as a pastor and a teacher of the Bible is to encourage you to dig into and study God’s Word on your own.
So, this morning I want you to consider how Abel offered a sacrifice to God.
As I said a moment ago, maybe he did it because of being so thankful to the God who took care of him in a hostile world.
Made hostile by the disobedience of his own mother and father.
But don’t stop with Abel’s sacrifice!
The theme of sacrifice flows all through God’s Word.
In the law, in the prophets
Jesus taught about sacrifice in the Gospels
The Apostles teach us about sacrifice in their epistles
So maybe it would be a good thing to do a study on sacrifice.
It is applicable to our lives.
By offering a better sacrifice Abel was accounted by God as righteous in God’s sight.
God Shows Approval
God Shows Approval
We should all want to be righteous, we should all want to be approved and accepted by God.
It is a very bad thing to not be approved by God — to be unrighteous.
That was Cain’s legacy — his offering, his sacrifice was not regarded or approved by God.
It made him angry.
God warned him:
Don’t get angry, do what you know is right.
Don’t let the sin of jealousy eat you alive. take control of it.
But he didn’t defeat sin — it defeated him.
And Cain went on to have the legacy of being the first murderer.
But Cain’s legacy of murder didn’t just have temporal consequences — it had eternal consequences.
God didn’t make the righteous and unrighteous share the same eternity.
The unrighteous, those who, like Cain, determined to live unaccepted, unapproved, unrighteous lives leave this life to inhabit hell.
Jesus said in:
41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed people, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;
We see in this passage that hell, the place of eternal fire, was originally created for those who chose to rebel against God: the devil and his angels.
But those who refuse to live for God ALSO end up there in eternity.
But that is not the final destination:
11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them; and they were judged, each one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
How are our names written in the Book of Life so that we might escape the wrath of God?
By being righteous in God’s eyes.
Romans 4:22–25 (NASB 2020)
22 Therefore it was also credited to him [Abraham] as righteousness. 23 Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, 24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, to us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 He who was delivered over because of our wrongdoings, and was raised because of our justification.
Thank God for His righteousness that keeps us from the Lake of Fire, into which hell is thrown.
As bad as hell is, the Lake of Fire is worse.
ESPECIALLY since Jesus freely gives us a way of escape!
Like Abel let us seek to be accepted and approved by God.
Let us seek the testimony that our text in Hebrews 4 speaks of: that we are righteous.
Their Example of Faith
Their Example of Faith
And so, after three sermons we come to the end of what the Lord wanted me to share with you from Hebrews 11:4.
We now have a better understanding of what it means to leave a legacy of faith.
Even though Abel is long dead, his example speaks to us and instructs us on how to live in a way that secures the righteousness of God for our lives.
Do YOU hear that example?
Do you live in a way that honors God and brings His righteousness upon your life?
If not, turn to Him today.
Offer God the living sacrifice of your life.
If not for the first time, reconsecrate your life to God.
The Lord’s Supper
The Lord’s Supper
Like Abel of old, let us offer a sacrifice to God.
Before we can offer, we must prepare ourselves:
27 So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. 31 But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way.
Genesis 4:4 tells us that Abel offered “the firstlings of his flock” — the male firstborn, the best, foreshadowing what our heavenly Father did when He gave His only begotten Son to be the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Receive Elements
All invited - you don’t have to be a member
Come, take a piece of the Bread and one of the cups and hold it until we all partake together.
Let’s gather at the front and partake together as the family of God.
Hymn: At The Cross/Love Ran Red
Bread
3 He was despised and abandoned by men, A man of great pain and familiar with sickness; And like one from whom people hide their faces, He was despised, and we had no regard for Him. 4 However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore, And our pains that He carried; Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted, Struck down by God, and humiliated. 5 But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed.
He took OUR sins in His body.
26 Now while they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”
Prayer
I. End prayer with prayer from Seder:
A. Blessed are you, O Lord our God, who brings forth bread from the earth.
Cup
10 But it was the Lord who decided to crush him and make him suffer. The Lord made his life a penalty offering, but he will still see his descendants and live a long life. He will complete the things the Lord wants him to do. 11 “After his soul suffers many things, he will see life and be satisfied. My good servant will make many people right with God; he will carry away their sins. 12 For this reason I will make him a great man among people, and he will share in all things with those who are strong. He willingly gave his life and was treated like a criminal. But he carried away the sins of many people and asked forgiveness for those who sinned.”
He shed His blood to wash away our sins and give forgiveness that leads to life.
27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.
Prayer
I. End prayer with prayer from Seder:
A. Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.
Jesus is Coming
This meal reminds us that Jesus is coming soon. Jesus told us in:
12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward each one as his work deserves.
Hymn: Oh I Want To See Him