Sermon Tone Analysis

Someone has said, “A faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted.”

There will be times when your faith will be tested,

These moments reveal the true strength of your faith in God.

Someone once said, “A faith that costs you nothing accomplishes nothing.”

But these moments will come at a cost to you—personally.

When my wife and I entered the ministry, it cost us something.

We had no idea what would be involved in our going into the ministry by faith, if we had, we might not have done it.

But faith told us to step forward and in doing so we presented the offering of our lives into the hands of God!

Interestingly, the first life we will study as we move our way through the great chapter of faith is a man who is known for giving an offering to God!

The story we read about is given to us in Genesis 4:1–8

God had given a commandment to Adam’s family to bring a sin offering of blood.

No other offering would be accepted.

Cain chose not to bring what God commanded.

He brought what he thought was acceptable.

But God rejected Cain’s and accepted Abel’s.

As a result, Cain killed Abel.

And here we find God bearing witness to the fact that while Cain despised his brother and the commandments of God, Abel did not.

Abel had faith in God’s Word and obeyed without hesitation.

God is looking today for 21st century believers who will be willing to offer, by faith, what has been commanded by the Lord:

Offer monetary offerings—money

Offer spiritual offerings—prayer, praise, worship, thanksgiving

Offer physical offerings—time, service, witnessing

Let’s not forget the chilling words of James as he writes:

It does no good to just believe, if you are not willing to live out that faith!

What is to be offered by faith?

What does it cost the believer to live by faith?

Look with me at three key ingredients that are necessary for a faith that is prepared to give willingly to the Lord.

I.

The Object of Our Faith Offering

What is being given and to whom is it being given?

Abel did not exercise his faith in order to build himself.

Abel had a different motive altogether.

His motive was to bring pleasure to the Lord with his life!

If we are to please the Lord, we must be willing to offer...

A. A Portion of Ourselves

Abel’s offering was personal.

God is not as interested in how much we present as He is in how much we withhold.

The Lord desires much more than a feeble offering!

God is aiming for your own heart.

David had committed two very grievous sins—adultery and murder.

The law made provision for adultery, but for murder there was no sacrificial provision.

There was nothing David could offer to the Lord.

This is what pleased the Lord about the Macedonians’ offering.

You see God tells us in...

So when we speak of an offering of faith God is not as concerned with receiving an thing as He is with receiving a little more of YOU!

Your affection

Your attention

Your adoration

Your trust and faith in Him

A. A portion of ourselves

B. A Presentation to the Father

Or in other words, who are we offering to?

The Bible says that Abel offered this offering “unto God.”

Cain was doing things his way, but Abel was concerned about doing things God’s way.

It was given unto God!

Faith offerings that please the Lord are always given unto Him!

He is the focus!

Not focusing on the church, not focusing my duty, not focusing on anything except the recipient of my offering…God.

God sees the heart!

I.

The Object of Our Faith Offering

II.

The Measure of Our Faith Offering

Now, what is the make-up of a true offering of faith given unto the Lord?

What does God look for in a more excellent sacrifice?

What made Abel’s offering more acceptable than Cain’s?

A. Measured by Sacrifice

It cost Abel something to live by faith.

He had to raise, love, and care for the best of his flock only to take it to the altar and offer it up to the Lord.

And it is in the sacrificial spirit of our offering that our faith is truly measured!

Sometimes we preachers say things like, “If you don’t believe, just try God out, see that He is faithful.”

I believe we do more harm than good with statements like this.

Don’t try God—trust Him!

Faith that is pleasing to God is always sacrificial in spirit!

When Jesus observed the offerings being given at the temple.

He took note—not of the largest amount, but of the largest sacrifice!

“God is not looking for equal giving, but equal sacrifice.”

We always sacrifice to that which is important to us.

In January of 1982, Air Florida’s flight 90 crashed into the 14th street bridge and fell into the Potomac River in Washington D.C.

Here seen hitting the bridge.

Initially six people survived the crash; they were seen in the water, clinging to the tail section of the airplane.

A helicopter was brought in and hovered over the survivors, lowering a lifeline and flotation ring.

The craft could only handle one person at a time.

Each time the helicopter returned and lowered the line, one of those in the water—a man described as balding, probably in his 50’s, and with an extravagant mustache—passed the line on to one of the others in the water with him.

(We later learned that this man’s name was Arland Williams.)

here pictured in a screenshot from a news report.

When the other five had been rescued and the chopper returned for him, the man had gone under the water, another victim of the crash.

One of the rescuers in the helicopter later said, “In a mass casualty, you’ll find people like him.

But I’ve never seen one with the commitment.”

The man in the water could not have anticipated this tragedy, nor the role he would play in it, but there must have been some earlier commitments in his life—to such things as caring and selflessness—that equipped him to keep passing the lifeline to others when his own terror had to be crying out for him to cling to the line himself.

What commitments have you made early in your relationship to God that will cause you to sacrifice to the Lord?

A. Measured by sacrifice

B. Measured by Excellence

Abel’s offering was an excellent sacrifice because it was an obedient sacrifice!

Cain’s sacrifice was rejected because his offering was not according to the direction of God.

God made provision for sacrifices, In order for man’s sin to be covered during the Old Testament.

The law tells us that sin must be atoned with blood.

It is the only acceptable sacrifice.

So until the promised Messiah would come and take away sin, God’s people had to cover their sin with substitutional sacrifices of blood.

Abel brought a substitutionary blood sacrifice.