A Blossom Bible Podcast
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A Blossom Bible Podcast
Hebrews 11:4 Faith That Outlives Death: Abel's Legacy
Well, taking a little bit of time, probably from now until Christmas is my guess. Hebrews, chapter 11. Christmas is my guess, hebrews, chapter 11. It's known by many as the hall of faith and it's not necessarily a listing of people who are perfect If they were not perfect, we'll see their flaws as well but it's a who's who of faith, those who live their life by faith. And we found out in verse 6 that, consequently, that life lived by faith pleases God. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. We'll find out a little later in chapter 12, verse 1, that those who live their life by faith run this race of life with endurance by faith, run this race of life with endurance. And in verse 2, chapter 11, we saw last week that these folks who live by faith also obtain a good testimony Pleasing to God, enduring in life and obtaining a good testimony. It's those that live by faith, and we see a group of folks here in chapter 11, whose life showed what faith looks like. Verse 1, you'll remember from last week, is a sort of definition by faith. Now, faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, and that's a good definition. We looked at it last week for the evidence of things not seen, and that's a good definition. We looked at it last week. But sometimes it's easier to demonstrate than define things, and faith is one of those things. For sure, it's a lot easier to demonstrate it than to define it.
Speaker 1:Today we come to verse four and only verse four because we're not in any kind of hurry and we see Abel, the second son of Adam and Eve, and his short account from Genesis, chapter four we'll look back at today. We see here, though, that Abel lived by faith. Let's read it in verse four 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. So Abel here lived by faith, and, funny enough, he was the first one to live by faith. Now, adam and Eve were there, and we don't other than the fact that they brought sin to all of us. That was kind of a big deal.
Speaker 1:We don't read much else about their life so much. Did they have some faith? I'm sure they did, but they lived less by faith and more by sight. You remember Adam and Eve's example? They would walk with God in the cool of the day, the presence of God there with them. They heard God speak, probably in a lot different way than we do, and yet they still jumped right into sin there in chapter 3. They saw everything clearly. They knew exactly how things started and what the truth of life was. They weren't really walking by faith, and what little bit of faith we wanted to see in their lives. We really didn't see much right, as they did exactly what God told them not to do.
Speaker 1:Well, cain doesn't live by faith, we'll see today, in contrast to his brother, Abel. But Abel here is probably, you could say, the first truly live by faith and his faith is seen in his worship and in the form of sacrifice. Notice there verse four. He offered a sacrifice there and you know the story. We'll see it here in a second. In fact. Well, yeah, let's stay here for a second. You know the story back in Genesis, chapter 4. He offered a sacrifice. Well, we read here in verse 4 that he offered to God a more excellent sacrifice. Now, that word excellent there in, if you have King James, new King James, not actually there in the original Greek it actually says he offered a more sacrifice. We could say a better sacrifice, but it really is a more sacrifice. That's what Abel shows us is his sacrifice.
Speaker 1:Let's turn back. There's no point in putting it off. Let's turn back to Genesis, chapter 4. We see this account in Genesis, chapter 4 and verse 1. Now you'll notice probably, your heading there says that Cain murders Abel. That's the first murder we read in chapter 4. But just kind of notice, for the sake, how long does it take? Notice it's chapter 4. I mean, in most of your Bibles we're looking at two or three pages into a perfect creation. We already have sin entering the world and now, in chapter 4, we're going to have the first murder. Look at verse 1. We'll read just a little bit of this right now.
Speaker 1:Abel's story one. We'll read just a little bit of this right now. Abel's story. Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain and said I have acquired a man from the Lord. Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain a tiller of the ground. 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 for the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel in his offering, but he did not respect Cain in 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. 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. Now, sad, sad story here Cain and Abel first murder.
Speaker 1:But what can we tell about Abel's sacrifice from this? Well, the part we were looking at there in Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 4, is that his sacrifice was more in some kind of way, more excellent, yes, more of a sacrifice. Now, one thing we shouldn't get from this is that somehow we're graded on a curve, right, because who is this compared to? Cain is compared to Abel and his sacrifice was more, but we're not graded on a curve. That's the way most of us look at life, right? If it were school, most of us who were graded on a curve did not do so well. If it were school, most of us who were graded on a curve did not do so well. But in life, if we were graded on a curve, some of us would think we do pretty good man, compared to the rest of the world. I'm not that bad of a person. I'm pretty good. But that's not the way it works.
Speaker 1:When we read here that Abel's sacrifice was more, it certainly wasn't just his comparison to Cain. It has to do with when. First, when his sacrifice was offered there notice verse 3 in chapter 4 of Genesis. In the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering to the Lord and Abel, we read there, brought an offering as well. The process of time. Now, we could look at that and go well, just well you know, time went by and they brought a sacrifice, sure, but this idea of the process of time has to do with a completion of time, a very certain time. Now we're not sure when this was. It could have been the harvest, it could have been some time established by God, determined to and told to Adam and Eve when to offer sacrifices, but in some kind of way it was a specific time. Notice also where the sacrifice was brought. Notice verse 3,. Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. The sacrifice was brought to the Lord and Abel did the same. Where would that be? Some speculate, just speculation.
Speaker 1:Some speculate that the where the sacrifice was brought was to the gate of the garden of eden. Um, you remember there, and you can look back in genesis, chapter 3, verse 22, as adam and eve fell into sin, jumped into sin. God says this there in verse 22. Then the lord said behold, the man has become like one of us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore the Lord, god, sent him out of the garden to tell the ground from which he was taken and he drove out the man and he placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden and a flaming sword. Which, so God sees a problem here. As man has now fallen, he says the problem is if he takes of the tree of life, that other tree in the garden that God said, go ahead and eat freely of it, the tree of life, he'll live forever in this fallen state. And God says not going to let that happen. God intended to save humanity and he says so. We got to block off the garden. I don't get this. I don't quite understand this. But God there places two cherubim verse 24 of chapter 3. Cherubim is the plural of cherub. Right Now, don't think little cherub. You know Valentine's Day angels, these are some mean angels. These are some pretty buff angels. They can do a lot of damage and they take care of things. And God places these cherub angels at the gate of the garden. They got flaming swords to keep things safe and secure.
Speaker 1:Many have pointed to this as a picture of perhaps the mercy seat there on the ark, the ark of the covenant, you know Indiana Jones, ark of the covenant kind of stuff and there were these two angels that overshadowed the mercy seat of that Ark. It's also a picture of heaven, but possibly this was kind of that place of sacrifice. It's speculation, it's interesting. But here it was when God had determined it, because Cain brought it there in the process of time and it was where God determined it. He brought it to the Lord and both of them, cain and Abel, brought their sacrifices to that place. But then we get to the what they sacrificed. And this is where the most dramatic differences are. You'll remember and I'm going to get a glass of water here for a second, I'm getting dry You'll remember that Cain brought some of his produce.
Speaker 1:Cain was a tiller of the ground, nothing wrong with that Took care of the trees and planted, and there isn't really, like you know, maybe as much work as we would have to do, but he did. He worked the ground and he benefited from the plants there, fruits and vegetables. So Cain in verse 3, brought some of the produce of the ground. Abel, in verse 4, brought the firstborn of his flocks. Now, abel brought the firstborn. That's one thing to see, it's the best. It's the first Cain, it's not so specific, he just brought some. But more significant, and you know the difference here Cain brought the fruit of the ground, abel brought blood sacrifice, and that's what most would point to the difference. There is the blood sacrifice. We'll consider that in a moment, but not just the what they brought, but the how they brought it. We see that here in chapter 4. Abel brought it by faith. That's going to be important, a blood sacrifice.
Speaker 1:But then notice the heart right, it doesn't take long when Cain is not approved of his sacrifice that his countenance falls. And you can picture that, right, when your countenance falls, my wife always lets me know that's what she's really good at Letting me know. When my countenance has fallen, right, because you know whether it's something I ate and I didn't like it so much I can't help it, my countenance falls. Or when I'm just tense she goes I can feel it on you. Right now I'm like, okay, all right, you do, but not everybody does. But your countenance falls, right, your attitude changes and everybody knows it.
Speaker 1:And here we read that Cain's attitude just went downhill. His countenance had fallen. And God warns him. Here we read he warns him, cain, why? Why is your countenance fallen? If you do what's right, you'll be approved. And then God warns him.
Speaker 1:We read Cain, sin is crouching by the door of your house and its desire is to have you, to kill, you, to take over. Cain, don't give in. Isn't God good when he sees the little ugly things in our heart? And he says don't go that way, why are you doing this? He tells it like it is right. Here's Cain. He's starting to plot how he's going to kill his brother. He's so angry. And God says Cain, sin is the one crouching at your doorstep. You're going to crouch and try to kill your brother. Sin wants to kill you, cain, be careful.
Speaker 1:But Cain didn't bring a pleasing sacrifice and that's really where he had the hard time. His sacrifice wasn't pleasing. Now, the biggest point that most people bring up is that Abel's sacrifice was a blood sacrifice. Now, if you look through Leviticus, bringing produce is not a bad thing to do as an offering, a grain offering, it's acceptable. But a blood sacrifice ties together with our sinfulness so many times. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 22, pointing back to Leviticus, chapter 17, verse 11, says this and according to the law, almost all things are purified with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no remission or no forgiveness, right? So, pointed out there, hebrews, pointing also back to Leviticus 17, without the shedding of blood there's no forgiveness of sins. It's the way it was. Now, how would Abel know that? That's something to think about, because Moses came way after Abel, way after the flood, way after Abraham Isaac, jacob, all that Way later Moses wrote down Leviticus. So how would Abel know that a sacrifice of blood was important? Perhaps through his parents?
Speaker 1:In chapter 3 of Genesis, you'll remember, as Adam and Eve dove into sin. As sin entered the world, they became aware of their nakedness. Strange, before this point they didn't have any clue of it and somehow their mind is opened up and their eyes are opened up to their nakedness. I'm sure there's sort of an embarrassment amongst themselves perhaps, but there seems to be this embarrassment between them and God, because God comes in the garden, like he always did, and Adam and Eve hide themselves in the bushes. They've tried to clothe themselves with some leaves not a good idea and God comes, the same way he always did. He says Adam, where are you? Now? That's not information that God was looking for. God knew exactly where Adam was, but Adam was hiding in the bushes. From God, adam, what are you doing? Is really the question there.
Speaker 1:And God, from the get-go, begins to take care of their sin and the issues of their sin. He makes a promise to him that he's going to deal with it through the anointed one, the Messiah, who would come. But he also then takes and makes clothes for them out of skins. We read there in that last chapter, verse 21 of chapter 3, if you want to look at it, the Lord, god made tunics of skin and clothed them. And we look and we go. Well, that's nice. A little bit of leather, you know, it's durable, keep you warmer, it's good for you guys, god made them.
Speaker 1:But the thing is that we find out that tunics of skins don't just happen right, they come from an animal and, as far as I understand, animals don't give those things up freely. Right. An animal, perhaps a lamb, perhaps a sheep, that would be appropriate in so many ways. God sacrificed that animal in front of them. The skin came from that and they realized this, whether God said anything about it or not. They realized that animal would not be dying if it wasn't for me and what I did. And so God established this way of sacrifice.
Speaker 1:That sacrifice, shedding of blood, is essential to cover our sin, and that's what sacrifices did in the Old Testament. They covered sin for a time, and so, as Abel offers a sacrifice, he understands the severity of sin, and that's the way God established it that blood was required for sin. Now, why does God require blood for sin? Is it because he likes blood? Absolutely not. He says it clearly in Isaiah 111. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, says the Lord. I've had enough of burnt offerings of rams and fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or lambs or goats. It wasn't that God required blood because he liked blood, but because sin is serious. It's a substitution for the justice. Sin has to be dealt with, sacrifice is needed, and the sacrifice proves the painful point that each one of us is lost.
Speaker 1:Now picture in the Old Testament Again people would bring sacrifices Every time they came to worship God. They had to bring a sacrifice for sin or they couldn't be with God. And what you would do is you would take a sacrifice of lamb and you would put your hand on that sacrifice and you would confess your sins. So even more, there's this idea of my sin is upon this animal. Then they would kill that animal, they would slaughter that animal and it was vivid right, a vivid description and a show of what my sin did to that animal. And so we'll cover it more in a second here. But Abel is saying a lot when he offers a sacrifice. He's telling everybody number one that I'm a sinner, I need a sacrifice. But he's telling the world, which included basically Cain at that point you're a sinner, you need a sacrifice. We've all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Now, this is something that we really just don't like to admit, that we're messed up, that we're sinners, and a lot of talk of such things these days.
Speaker 1:This last week has been pretty heavy, regardless of your political opinion. Somebody Charlie Kirk was shocked last week, and your Facebook feed has had some moments of let's honor his memory. And then you've also had some friends from the past perhaps that are saying some very ugly things. He deserved to die. He was a messenger of hate and so he deserved this. And I'm not necessarily one that's listened to a lot of his stuff when I look back and I'm sure he's not perfect. He was not perfect. I'm sure he said some things that he didn't mean or shouldn't have said, but the thing I see over and over again is he just said what was true. You know your lifestyle is not acceptable, your abortion is murder, your pride is not going to make you a better person, and he told the truth. For the most part, I feel like he told the truth, and this is a thing that I see most people in my feed saying he deserved it.
Speaker 1:The amount of people that he hurt and wounded with truth, right, this idea that we're a sinner, that we need a savior, that God has other things for us. It's important to realize. I mean to be saved. You have to realize all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and people say, well, it's not kind and it's not loving to say that. But it's not loving not to say that. I mean really humorous illustration in a bad place for that.
Speaker 1:But when I was a kid we went on a road trip and I was maybe four years old. So I was always asking questions Dad, dad, dad, what's around the corner? Anyways, you know, it's like a four or five hour trip. So that got old, you know. And finally my dad said you know what, actually around the corner the road just drops off and we're just going to fall up and that's it. And he would smirk and that was big fun for him. Traumatic for me.
Speaker 1:But imagine if it were true, right, if the road just dropped off. Well, I don't want to tell them that they're in danger. I don't want to tell them that they're going the wrong direction. Lovingness is telling the truth. Yeah, you can tell the truth in love. But to not tell the truth is not loving at all. It's downright cruel if somebody's headed over the cliff, and we were all headed over the cliff, and so Abel here in his sacrifice.
Speaker 1:It was a better sacrifice because it told the truth about sin and what the Bible shows us. 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19,. 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19, knowing that you are not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish, without spot. Abel's sacrifice pointed to the wickedness of sin, for sure, the price of sin, but it pointed forward to the sacrifice that Jesus would make, the only sacrifice that can forgive us. Now let's go back with all these things in mind. Let's go back to Hebrews 11, and we'll really finish here Hebrews 11, verse 4.
Speaker 1:By faith, abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous. So Abel found righteousness through faith in this sacrifice, really looking forward to what Jesus would do. Now that is the truth for all of us, that the sacrifice of Jesus is the only way to be made righteous. We ought to realize that it's not by becoming a better person. It's not through taking out old bad habits, but it's strictly by coming to the cross. That same sacrifice and realizing my sin is upon him Now. Notice this, though, and I think this is appropriate too there you go, notice, all right, notice, you're right. There's always critters around here. All right, notice.
Speaker 1:Verse four, god testifying of his gifts, and through and though he, being dead, still speaks. Now check it out. Abel's sacrifice endures through time and even death. This is a durable sacrifice offered by faith. Abel's life speaks. Abel's life speaks to us even in our day, even though it's thousands of years later, even though Abel has been dead for a long time. Abel's life still speaks this truth that those who desire to live godly in this fallen world will suffer persecution. Now check it out the spiritual climate of Abel's world. A good percentage of the world was wicked. Now there may have only been four people on planet Earth, but Cain was sheer wickedness. He persecuted the righteous Even in a world of four people. Abel found persecution for his faith. He stood for righteousness even when it wasn't popular, even when it got him killed. It's an encouragement to us to live by faith, to point to that sacrifice.
Speaker 1:The truth of sin Sin is real, what God says is true, but what God has done for us is enough. The sacrifice of Jesus is enough, and his life still proclaims that faith message. We're all sinful, in need of a savior, and we find that with a lot of the people that we'll read about over the next few weeks. And we find that with a lot of the people that we'll read about over the next few weeks, people like Noah. Imagine that A world that most would say probably was the same population as our world today. And yet Noah was the only one who found grace in God's eyes, the only one who feared God and followed God. That's rough when the rest of the world just laughs at you and goes their own way To be a preacher of righteousness.
Speaker 1:We read of Noah, the prophets we'll read about who told the truth about sin. Your idolatry is wrong, your adultery is wrong, your immorality is wrong. And they suffered for us, jesus, who told the truth about sin, the price of sin, and they killed him for it. It became the price, the payment for our sin. So Abel has a lot to tell us about life in our world, but he has a lot to tell us about life in our world. But he has a lot to tell us about faith to believe in enough to let it change the way you live, to offer a better sacrifice. And our faith does the same thing. It looks to Jesus, notice.
Speaker 1:Lastly, here I think it applies so many times. We could say this about everybody in chapter 11, but look at chapter 12, verse 1. Therefore, we also, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, people like Abel let us lay same endurance this week. Abel encourages us towards the same endurance this week. Abel says by God's grace, I did it. By God's grace, each one of us will run the same race in front of us, by faith. So, god, we need you in order to live by faith, to understand our own lostness and sinfulness. God, we probably wouldn't come to that conclusion without you. I just pray that you would help us to realize that sacrifice that we needed and that sacrifice that you gave us. God, we know that that's the same word of hope that you have for our friends this week, our co-workers, the family, the people we might run into through town. God, it's the same message that there's hope and freedom from sin in what you've done for us. So, god, help us to live this out this week In Jesus' name amen.