Worship That Testifies of Righteousness

Transcript

GR 1709
11/24/2013
Worship that Testifies of Righteousness
Hebrews 11:4
Gil Rugh

We're in the book of Hebrews and the 11th chapter, Hebrews 11. The book of Hebrews has unfolded the wonder of God's revelation in His Son. The letter began, “God who spoke in many ways, many means through the prophets in bygone days has spoken in these last days to us in One who is a Son.” And the book of Hebrews has unfolded the beauty of that message given in and through God's Son Jesus Christ. And the fullness of that revelation made clear that God's Son came to earth to be the fulfillment of all Old Testament anticipation. He came to do what no one else could do, what could not be accomplished through the priestly ministry and sacrifices offered under the old covenant, the Mosaic Law. He came to be a new order of high priest. He was the priest after the order of Melchizedek. He came to offer the sacrifice, the one sacrifice that could finally and completely pay in full the penalty for our sin.

The problem that the readers of this letter, the ones addressed, were facing was they were Jews who had professed faith in Christ. But these were difficult times. To have declared that they were followers of Jesus Christ had cost them significantly. If you have your Bible open to Hebrews 11, just back up to the end of Hebrews 10, verse 32. “Remember the former days when after being enlightened you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle, through reproaches and tribulations, party become sharers with those who were so treated. You showed sympathy to the prisoners, accepted joyfully the seizure of your property. In all of this, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.” Having come through times like that, they are now faced with the reality that more trouble looms ahead. And in the face of building difficulty and the great suffering and losses humanly speaking they have experienced, some were contemplating that perhaps a return to Judaism would be a balance, a compromise. We would turn to the revelation God gave in the past and identify ourselves with that and alleviate some of the animosity that is directed towards the followers of Jesus Christ.

The letter to the Hebrews has made clear, that is not an option. True believers will manifest their saving faith by persevering on, by enduring, keeping their faith firmly set on the promises of God and the possessions they have in Him that are far better than anything this world has to offer.

Hebrews 10 concluded by references from the Old Testament. Verse 37, the promise, “for yet in a very little while He who is coming will come and will not delay.” A promise to sustain us, we're looking for the coming of Christ. We anticipate His coming, it won't be long. And He will come to fulfill all that is promised to us. But in the meantime, God says, My righteous one will live by faith. That well-known reference back to Habakkuk 2:4, “My righteous one will live by faith.” And note this, and “if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” True believers do not turn back. Those who turn back manifest they did not have saving faith.

The characteristic of saving faith is that it goes on. It is so important that we understand what God is talking about with His salvation. He's not talking about some who have truly believed and been saved turn back and are lost, that they lose their salvation. Perhaps another picture. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 5 and said “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, a new creation. Old things have passed away, new things have come.” We entered in to new life in Christ. That's a new life that is now lived. So when we believed in Christ there is a beginning point to that faith, a beginning point to that new life. But sometimes we think of saving faith as something that was just at that point in time. And then you just don't know what follows. But the reality of Scripture is you begin at that moment of trust in Christ, that's the beginning of a life of faith. That's the beginning of your new life in Christ. There is no going back, there is no giving up. That's what he is reminding them of.

All of us as believers, over time, and especially if difficulties pile up, we begin to think maybe there is an easier way, maybe I'm not doing something right, maybe more compromise. That is the mood of the day among many who call themselves evangelicals. Let's minimize our differences. I read you a book last week as an introduction. The man there was saying, we need to stop this literal interpretation of the opening chapters of Genesis and the literal interpretation of the closing chapters of the Bible, the book of Revelation and just have more in common. But I can't turn from the revelation of God. The faith I have in Him is a faith in the Word He has given, the promises He has given. Faith in the God who has been so faithful not only in my life, but back through the millenniums of the past to His people. This is the God who is faithful today.

So to understand biblical faith, it is a faith in the revelation God has given and a commitment to follow Him, obey Him and worship Him.

Hebrews 11 opened up, “now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” That's the substance, the concrete reality. We're going to see shortly, that's the difference between those who belong to God and those who do not. Those who do not belong to Him, do not have their faith in Him, can't understand why believers, Christians, believe all this stuff in the Bible, why they believe that God created the heavens and the earth by the Word that He spoke, why they believe that there is going to come an end and climax the earth's history when the Son of God will come again, establish His kingdom and rule and reign forever. And our hope is in Him and all that He has promised us and not in the things of this earth. And what is important to us is not what we see but what He has promised.

“By this faith,” verse 2 says, “men of old gained approval,” literally, obtained testimony. God testified that they belonged to Him, that they indeed were approved by Him, were righteous because they believed in Him. Then what he's going to do is give all these examples of faith. And verse 3 begins, “by faith we understand.” And he takes us back to the very beginning, Genesis 1. And he's going to follow in sequential order through much of Old Testament history, drawing out examples of people that belong to God were approved by Him to show that it was because of their faith in Him and their life lived by faith, believing what God said, even when there was no physical reality to hold onto. They just had the Word of God.

And when he takes us back to the beginning, he's not selecting an individual. But when we come back to the creation he says, all of us as believers in what God has said understand that God is the Creator of all things. So he says, by faith we understand. We looked at this verse and related verses. He includes himself with the believers he is writing to. We have the intellectual understanding and knowledge that the worlds, the ages and all that is in them were prepared by the Word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. We went back and started in Genesis 1 and God said, and God said, and God said, and God said. How did all that we see come into existence? By the Word of God. Oh, no, scientists say it evolved over billions of years. God says He spoke it into existence. Science says it evolved over billions of years, but I believe what God said. I wasn't there, I didn't hear Him say it but He had it recorded in His Word. The only One that was there, the Creator, then the angels created at the beginning of that first day rejoiced as God brought it all together. By the Word of God. I believe it.

My understanding is that those who have their faith in the revelation of God also believe it. We had a serious situation as we talked about. I read a book from a professor in an evangelical college whose argument was we need more intellect, we have to do away with this literal interpretation of Genesis which also leads to a literal interpretation of Revelation. You send your kids off, think they are going to a “Christian college” and they are being influenced by professors who are teaching them, you don't take the Bible literally or normally. That's not good for your mind. You have to be more intellectual, more scholarly, more open.

By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the Word of God so that what was not seen was not made out of the things which are visible. There was nothing and God brought it into existence. I don't think that is in conflict with true science because they are taking what is observed and backing up to try to guess what might have happened. But they are unbelievers to they can't accept what God said, there has to be another answer.

With that now as our common faith and foundation we'll start at the beginning, by faith. The next expressions that will be repeated, it will be by faith Abel, by faith Enoch. He comes to individuals in the Old Testament who demonstrated the reality of their faith in God by their walk of faith, by their functioning to please God.

So the first example is Abel. “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous. God testifying about his gifts through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.” Now remember in verse 2, “for by it the men of old gained approval,” obtained a good testimony, as you have in your margin. Same basic word as we have translated testimony down in verse 4. So we're picking up with now these older men, the men from Israel's history, which will include men and women, about whom God testified they were righteous. Their faith is manifested. We like to hide and say, you can't see my heart. You don't know whether I'm a believer or not. But the Word of God says, yes, we can see because we live by faith. You can see that Abel is a believer and Cain is not. And God testifies to that reality. Our faith is seen. We walk by faith, not by sight. The walk is the conduct of our life. If I walk by faith, you'll see my faith expressed and lived out by faith.

So we've moved from Genesis 1 to Genesis 4 with Abel. And I want you to note there is a consistency. I didn't bring the book I read from last week and I won't presume to think you remember. But the writer in that was saying that we should not take the Bible literally or normally. There is a problem. In Hebrews 11:3 the writer of Hebrews takes it literally or normally, that it was by the Word of God just as Genesis 1 said, as we read. In verse 4 how does he understand the account of Abel? Well, that's not a literal, actual, historical event. It is just an account to . . . No. He says Abel was a literal man, actual and historical figure. And what the Bible says about him in Genesis 4 is exactly what happened.

“By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain.” You know that causes us some problems. We have this idea that floats around that we shouldn't be critical of other people's religion. And here we have two individuals, two brothers, the first two sons of Adam and Eve. And they come to worship the same God, each bringing a sacrifice. And here the Bible tells us that one was better than the other. One was accepted by God and one was not.

Come back to Genesis 4. Genesis is one of those great books because it is easy to find, right at the beginning. The first three chapters, Genesis 1 gives you the overview of creation. God calling it all into existence. In Genesis 1:26, “then God said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them rule.” Verse 27, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.” And He told them to rule over the rest of creation. You come to Genesis 2 we get the details of that part of creation. How did God create man as male and female? Genesis 2 breaks that down into detail for us and shows how God created the man first, then the woman, then brought the woman to the man and we have the first marriage.

You come to Genesis 3, you have the fall. Sin enters the picture and the corruption of sin. Adam and Eve at the end of Genesis 3 are excluded from the Garden of Eden and one of the angelic beings, a cherubim, is there with a flaming sword. So there is no coming back in. Genesis 4 opens up, “now the man had relations with his wife Eve, she conceived and gave birth to Cain.” Then verse 2, “again she gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of flocks, Cain was a tiller of the ground.” You come to the New Testament and we'll see other passages, this account is taken literally. By literally I mean normally. Some people think literally means you can't have a figure of speech or those kinds of things. Of course you can. I read parts of the paper this morning. I read it literally or normally. In that there were some figures of speech but you understand them normally, we would say, literally.

So the account here you flow from the opening three chapters or Genesis into chapter 4, it's just the Word of God telling you exactly what happened, how it happened. So you have Cain and Abel, Cain is the oldest. Abel comes after. They have two areas of work, one keeps the herds, one tills the ground, does the gardening, whatever to provide.
It came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel on his part brought of the firstlings of his flock and their fat portions. That is what you might expect. Since Abel has herds, what he wants to bring as sacrifice to the Lord, he'll bring it from his sphere of operation and working. Cain works the ground so he brings offering from the ground. In Romans 10:17 we are told, “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ.” So you have to hear the Word of God to have faith in the Word of God is the point being made. Now it would seem in light of Genesis 4 that God has given revelation regarding how they are to worship Him. It's not just a matter of Cain and Abel probably decided Mom and Dad lived in the Garden of Eden and they got kicked out for their sin. I guess we ought to do something to worship this God. I'll bring what I have and you bring what you have and we'll see how it goes. No, it's clearer than that. In fact God is going to make clear, He had made clear what they should do to worship Him.

We want to see here that true faith is a response to God and what He has said and what He has done. Saving faith is not a feeling within you, it is a response to God. That is, since it is objective, not subjective. People talk about, I have my faith. I don't doubt that. I came here to preach today having faith that you would be here. I mean, we all have faith. But we're talking in the Bible faith as a response to God and the revelation He gives. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the message. In Romans it's the message concerning Christ because that's the climax of God's revelation.

So I take it God has given instruction. Perhaps it goes back in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve sinned, they were aware of their guilt. So in Genesis 3:7 when Adam followed his wife and rebelled against God, the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. They felt the need to cover themselves up. Then they hide from God. After God confronts them we are told in Genesis 3:21, “then the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” I take it there is more there than He just thought this would be nicer clothes or warmer, because the earth is tropical at this point. There wasn't a need for clothes for the winter season. I take it the animal skins and perhaps it was there that God gave them instruction on what would be necessary now to worship Him. Before they could just come and walk with Him in the Garden in the cool of the evening. There was no sin separation between their God and them. But now they would have to come to Him with a sacrifice. Cain and Abel understand that they need to come before God with an acceptable sacrifice.

Cain brought his offering and Abel brought his. Then you read the end of verse 4,” the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard.” He would not accept Cain's offering. You say, here we are, two brothers, both come to worship the same God. Shouldn't God be pleased? It's good to see two brothers, both coming to worship Me, both bringing from the realm in which they are involved. How could I not be happy about this? We understand. We get the idea. People come to church because they think God will be happy. He ought to be happy. I'm here. He ought to be pleased I want to worship Him. You understand that's not the God of the Bible. Here Cain comes with offering from that realm in which he works, just like his brother brings it from the realm in which he works. God says, I accept Abel, I reject Cain.
That doesn't go down well today. I was talking to somebody who was at a church, clearly not based on the Scripture and teaching the Scripture, not following the Scripture. You share with them that their worship is not acceptable to God. That's not going to go down well. Who are you to judge me?

Important to see what is happening here. We are going to divide the human race at this point. We all have Adam as the head of the race, Romans 5 develops that. Now we are going to divide the race descended from Adam into righteous and unrighteous, to between the children of the devil and the children of God. And that division as we are going to see will come right down to our day. You are either in the line of Cain or you are in the line of Abel. Christ will make that point. And so will other writers as we will see in a moment.

We want to note, the Lord had regard for Abel but for Cain and his offering He had no regard. Cain is upset. That tells you something about Cain's condition, doesn't it? I mean, I come before God and God, here is my gift. And He says that gift is not acceptable. Now I am angry with God. Wait a minute. Can I worship God not bowing in submission to Him? I mean, these are strong words. Cain became very angry, and literally that is the word for burning. Sometimes we use the expression like I was really burned up, I was burning over that. We understand what that means. I mean, I am really intensely upset. That's Cain here, we're told about Cain. He became very angry, he is seething, he is burning, his countenance fell.

And the Lord addresses Cain. “The Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? Why has your countenance fallen?” He's not asking for information because note the next, He tells him what to do to correct the problem. “If you do well.” So you see Cain was responsible to know, to do what God required. You already know what you should do. “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? If you don't do well, sin is crouching at the door, its desire is for you.” You must master it. Cain, you are in a difficult situation. You can either bow in faith before Me and respond in faith doing what I require. If you don't, the only alternative is sin will overtake you and master you. Well we know what direction Cain goes—Cain goes and tells his brother Abel. And sin is irrational. God has accepted Abel's offering, rejected Cain's, told Cain why his offering is rejected. Now Cain goes to talk to his brother Abel and tells him what God said.

Verse 8, Cain told Abel his brother. “And it came about when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.” Now can you make any sense of that? His problem is with God, isn't it? But what is the problem between Cain and Abel? Abel belongs to God, God has declared Abel righteous, if you will. He will be called righteous Abel in the New Testament, including our passage in Hebrews. He has rejected Cain. Cain persists in his rebellion against God, so his anger with God, his bitterness toward God, his hatred of God is taken out on the child of God, Abel.

Back in Genesis 3:15, when God speaks to the serpent, the devil who had manifested himself in the serpent. And verse 15 He says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head, you shall bruise him on the heel.” This conflict that is going to develop begins with Cain and Abel. And as we'll see the New Testament says that Cain was the seed of the devil, he was a child of the devil; Abel the child of God. The conflict begins and will culminate in that climactic sense with Christ who comes to accomplish what no one or nothing else could do and bring salvation and deliverance from the devil with his power. But here you have the conflict—Cain and Abel, Abel serving God and Cain serving the devil.

And then God comes to Cain and says, “where is your brother?” You see the attitude. Cain says to God, “what are you asking me for? I am not my brother's keeper.” You see the arrogance and disregard of the living God. Could I have said that to my earthly father? He says to me, where is your brother? I say, I don't know. What do you think? Am I my brother's keeper? My head would have been ringing for a month. Just that total disrespect. There is no respect in Cain. Is it any wonder he couldn't bring an offering that honored God? He doesn't come with an attitude of faith in the living God and a desire to please Him by bringing the offering. I will bring what I decide to bring and He better like it. That's where it is, like people today. You tell them what the Bible says about worshiping God, tell them how God must be worshiped. You must believe in Him and that means you must . . . What do you think? Your church is the only right one? Do you think you are right and everybody else is wrong? Back to that's what God says. It's Cain's attitude. He is all upset with Abel that God would accept him and his offering. And I'm even the older brother. And he kills him.

Come back to the New Testament, to Matthew 23. I want you to see the line that develops here. Matthew 23, and Jesus is speaking and one of the lines we followed in our study of Hebrews 11:3 on creation we noted that Christ, when He referred to the creation account in Genesis, He understood it literally as a historical account. That's true with the account of Cain and Abel. And so in Matthew 23 He is addressing the religious leaders of His day and they are in the line of Cain. So He says to them in verse 34, “behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of them you will kill and crucify, some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, persecute from city to city so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel.” There you have the first murder of God's righteous child. We're back to the beginning. So He says we go back to the first righteous man killed by the unrighteous, Abel. How does Christ take that? As an actual historical account. Let's go back and come down to the present time to an event.

In other words it builds. He is saying, “you demonstrate you are in that line and the persecution of God's people, the animosity towards God's people, the murdering of God's people, that puts you in the line of Cain.” The religious leaders that He is addressing, “you are in the line of Cain.” They are dressed up as religious people, they talk about worshiping the God of Israel but they are not at all.

Come over to Jude. You'll note the context of Jude. Verse 3, “beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.” Stand up, be a fundamentalist, battle for the truth. Today we say we just want to all get along, we shouldn't be dividing. Jude says, I am writing so that you will battle for the truth. Do we battle with other believers? That's the whole point. Look at verse 4, “for certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness, deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” These people have come in and been accepted in the church as believers. They have crept in unnoticed and God speaks of their true character. They are not genuine believers. You have to examine them, their teaching and their practice, and stand against them. Do battle with them.

It's hard. We think, we do battle with the world, we do battle with this out here. Do you know what the difficulties are? When those who profess to be believers come in and are part of our fellowship but their doctrine is not true, their lifestyle is not correct. Well, they say they are believers, who am I to judge? Well God has judged. If their life and their teaching are not conformed to this book, you have a battle on your hands. You are not accepted here, that will not be tolerated. And it can't be. The corruption of the evangelical church. . . Well, they are good people, I can't say they are not believers. The church says that they weren't doing church discipline because everybody sins and we just don't want to get into that and have to judge and this or that. When you give up being biblical, it's only going to get worse.

What does this have to do with Cain? Look at verse 11, “woe to them, for they have gone the way of Cain.” Cain was not a non-religious person, he is not an atheist, he is not an agnostic. He is coming before the true and living God, bringing an offering. But it's not what God required. God requires a heart of faith that will manifest itself in a desire to please God. And then let's worship God according to His revelation. These who have crept in have gone the way of Cain. They want to join the worshipers. They are in the way of Cain. So you see it continues on down. That was the beginning of a line of false worshipers and the degree of the falseness, if I can say that, varies. But they are all the same. These that Jude was concerned about were so much like Christians, it got confusing. And believers don't want to step up and oppose them because there is a lot we agree on. But always, always remember it's not what we agree on, it's what we disagree on.

This comes with the issue with Roman Catholics. Well there is so much we agree on. That's right. But what is significant is what we disagree on. That is true in those things that are corrupting the evangelical church. The threat to the evangelical church is not Buddhism, although the mysticism and some of these practices begin to make their way in, but Buddhism is a religious system we don't adopt. We adopt much of the sinful denials and we think, well science . . . I read you the statement from the book I read you last week, the professor at an evangelical college, you would know the name. I won't say it. Last time I said it I got a letter from one of the board members. Somebody sent them the tape. He uses a quote in there, we interpret the Bible through science. Now if you're going to interpret the Bible through science, interpret it through psychology, then interpret it through whatever. Pretty soon the Bible is not the authority. We just keep changing the Bible according to what science has decided, according to what psychology has decided, according to what secular linguists have decided. And we should accept that? The seminary I graduated from was torn apart because a man infiltrated among the faculty and began to promote some false teaching. And he was so effective that he won the day. I couldn’t believe it. I studied under these men. They would be too careful to get taken in by this. Masterful. Never underestimate the devil. If the Bible says it, we stand for it. That doesn't mean we can't have differences on certain passages, and understanding, but anything that involves a denial of biblical truth, we're in the way of Cain.

Back up to 1 John 3. And here in the context he is talking about living out our faith in Christ, manifesting the genuineness of our faith in Christ. It is seen in our conduct. So verse 11, “this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the evil one.” There is what God says about Cain, he was of the evil one. He is a child of the devil. At the end of 1 John he will say, “the whole world lies in the evil one.” The evil one is the devil. Isn't that amazing? Just outside the Garden of Eden, we have the first generation coming here, Adam and Eve's first child. And he is an ungodly man, a child of the devil, one of the seed of the devil that God referred to in Genesis 3:15. The enmity that would be there. And there at the very beginning he manifests that enmity between the child of the devil and the child of God. So you have two brothers and one kills the other because the child of the devil can't put up with the child of God.

So we are to love one another. Cain and Abel had a family relationship but they didn't love one another because Cain was of the devil, the evil one. He slew his brother. For what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil and his brother's were righteous. See what Scripture makes clear? There is no mingling together. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers in binding relationships. It's not God's intention. It is not God's intention that the church tolerate professing believers who are promoting wrong doctrine and wrong practice. Travesty in the church, the unwillingness to stand up. Fundamentalism is the bad word. I'm tired of reading “evangelical” literature about fundamentalists and we don't want to be fundamentalists. And the fundamentalists, they were those who stood for the Word. I'm proud to be in that line. People who don't care about the Scripture anymore give psychological talks, motivational speeches, throw in some verses and call them biblical sermons. Is it any wonder the atheists now have churches? We can mimic that, we can give motivational talks, sing songs and have good fellowship. We'll call it the atheist church. We as Christians say, they have a church? It's more like our churches than we would like to admit. We go and hear a motivational talk, sing a song, talk to your friends and go home. Wasn't that pleasant. No, we're talking about the truth. And we're not different. We have to be careful. Just like the Hebrews who were receiving the letter we are studying. You understand the seriousness of this, you stand for this. It's by faith. And when you stand like Abel, you will be opposed by those like Cain.

Come back to Hebrews 11:4. “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice.” God does evaluate worship. Abel's was better because it was offered consistent with what God wanted, what God had revealed. He obtained the testimony that he was righteous. Genesis doesn't say he was righteous, doesn't use the word righteous. God had regard for him. The Jews when they translated the Old Testament into Greek, called the Septuagint, they translated it with the word righteous. And to be approved by God, to be accepted by God is to be declared righteous, accepted as righteous by God because He has provided His righteousness to you because you have responded in faith to His revelation. We saw that Christ talked about Abel, from the blood of righteous Abel on. He is righteous. He obtained the testimony that he was righteous. Why is the testimony? God testifying about his gifts, that his offering was accepted. You understand, you can't think, well at least they go to church, at least they are religious. You understand that God said, when you have rejected His Word even your prayer is an abomination, something He hates. These people aren't more pleasing to God because they are more religious. It wasn't, well at least Cain brought an offering. He could have chosen to do nothing. That didn't make him more acceptable to God. You understand, and this is the argument here, there is only one way. The world is right. We are narrow. We are biased. We believe what God said in His Word is absolute truth and there are no alternatives. Everyone who agrees with God is right and accepted by Him, and everyone who disagrees is on their way to hell. Can there be any other view? We have to be careful. As the people of God we represent the living God. We are not here to make peace with the world. Woe to you when all men speak well of you.

It has come to think now, evangelical, and that word is almost meaningless, but evangelical pastors who were thought so well of in the world and get interviewed on TV and all this are so popular, and we think that's the model. Woe to you when all men speak well of you. Well they realize we are broader than that, they like us for all we do. Cain was Cain and Abel was Abel. That line continues.

He being dead still speaks. And it's through faith. Through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. In other words the faith of Abel still speaks. He was accepted by God through faith. So the first testimony from Old Testament history, all the way back to Genesis 4 is you are accepted by God through faith. If you don't have faith in Him and the revelation He has given, what do you have? Think about that. Where is Cain today? Here is a man whose parents were Adam and Eve, who is outside the Garden of Eden, perhaps could go look at the flaming cherubim. In fact there are some commentators who speculate that that might have been the place of worship since God is said to dwell above the cherubim. And this will be the focal point of their coming. There is no indication in Scripture. The point is look at that. You are the first son of Adam and Eve, God directly speaks to you. God said to Cain, if you do well. And Cain will spend eternity in hell. When God said to him, “if you do well you will be accepted. If you don't, sin will master you and control you.” Cain chose his way, he will not bow. The way of Cain, what Jude wrote—“be on guard, certain men have infiltrated among your churches.” You ought to fight against them, they are in the way of Cain. We're just glad to have them come. No, the line is drawn.

In conclusion let me take you back once more to Genesis. I keep referring to the fact that I believe God had revealed about the offering. There is another point we make in closing about Abel's offering that indicates God had given revelation regarding that. Back in Genesis 4:4, “Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.” He brought the best of his flock and of their fat portions. That would indicate there was some special revelation from God regarding how He was to be worshiped and the offering that would be accepted.

Turn over to Leviticus 3. Now what is being given here are the instructions for Israel which are later in Israel's history, they are after Cain and Abel, to be sure. But God gives specific instructions for the kind of offerings that would be accepted by Him. I just picked out these couple of illustrations. Leviticus 3, the peace offerings. The opening chapters of Leviticus give detailed instructions regarding the various offerings and how they can be offered. And in Leviticus 3 note verse 3, “from the sacrifice of the peace offerings he shall present an offering by fire to the Lord.” Now note, “the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, the two kidneys with the fat on them.” You see that connection to the fat? What did it say about Abel's offering? He brought the firstlings of his flock and the fat of that offering. I take it in light of the later revelation it is clear, this just wasn't that Abel decided, I'm dealing with flocks and I'll bring a flock, and Cain decided, I work the earth and I'll bring the earth. Clearly there was instruction by God.

That goes down through Leviticus 3. When you come to Leviticus 4 on the sin offering you have the same thing. Verse 7, “you bring the blood of the bull;” then verse 8, “he shall remove from it all the fat of the bull of the sin offering, the fat that covers the entrails, the fat that is on the entrails, the two kidneys with the fat.” So that statement of Abel's offering, he brought the firstling of his flock, Genesis 4:4, and the fat would indicate that there was specific revelation from God. And that's why God would say to Cain, you do well, do what I have instructed you. You will be accepted. How gracious God is.

We come to the same place. There are only two kinds of people, two groups of people. We are all descendants of Adam, sinners. But then we divide between the descendants of Abel, spiritually, and the descendants of Cain. Just because you are here doesn't mean you are in the line of righteous Abel. Cain was there before the presence of the Lord, bringing his offering. But he wasn't accepted by God. It's not enough to be there, it's not enough to bring an offering. You must have a heart of faith, having recognized and believed the revelation that God has given. That's the whole argument of Hebrews. Climactic revelation of God is His Son, the sacrifice of His Son. And it is through faith in Him that we receive forgiveness. And as a result of placing our faith in Him we now live a life of faith, a life of obedience.

So I guess we consider, are you a descendant of Cain or a descendant of Abel? You might look good. If we were observers sitting there and didn't know more fully, we might say, nice Cain brought his offering, he works the ground, he works hard, he has brought some of the fruit of the ground. But you have to come God's way. How gracious it is that Abel could be righteous, that God has provided salvation. That salvation is in His Son. I trust you have trusted in Him.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the testimony of Abel. He has been dead for these millenniums and yet his faith in You is clearly manifested. Lord, we praise You for the righteousness You provide for us through faith in Your Son Jesus Christ, the sacrifice He made. And Lord, I pray for any who may be here who may be in the spiritual line of Cain, come to this church, come regularly, bring offerings. But nothing is acceptable until they have placed their faith in You and the sacrifice of Your Son and come before You in faith to honor You, to respect You, to please You. Lord, that is our greatest privilege, our greatest blessing and we thank You for the grace that has provided salvation in Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.