I asked Brother Jim to read those
verses there in Genesis. That will be part of my text
today, but if you follow it along with him, just mark your place
there and turn back to Hebrews chapter 11, if you will. We use
both of these texts here because they relate to each other in
a lot of specific ways. A more excellent sacrifice. In
Hebrews 11 and verse 4, and you remember what Hebrews 11 is all
about. If you don't, Bill preached a
whole series of messages through this chapter, excellent messages
that you might want to get a hold of and look at if you want. This
is all about the Hall of, I call it the Hall of Fame of Faith.
It's about many Old Testament saints who by faith did this
and this. They wondered and all kinds of
things. It's about Old Testament saints
who believed the same gospel you and I believe. They had the
same righteousness you and I have. They trusted the same Savior
we trust. It says here in Hebrews 11, four,
by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying
of his gifts, and by it, he being dead, yet speaking. All right,
let's review this age-old story of Cain and Abel here that Brother
Jim read here in Genesis 4. I'm just going to look at these
first five verses primarily, but it says, He was a farmer. He was a tiller
of the ground. And in the process of time, Cain
brought an offering of the fruit of the ground. He brought of
the works of his hands. He had some good produce or something
to bring and he brought it, expecting God to accept it. And Abel, verse
4, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat
thereof. And the Lord had respect unto
Abel in his offering. He accepted Abel. He accepted
his offering. But unto Cain in his offering,
he had no respect. He didn't accept Cain. He didn't
accept his offering. And the message today, we will
consider four reasons we read back here that Abel offered to
God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. I want to show you
four reasons why Abel's sacrifice was more excellent than the sacrifice
of Cain. As we see here, Abel was a keeper
of the sheep. He brought a lamb of his flock.
He brought a blood sacrifice. Abel's sacrifice was more excellent
first because it pictured and typified the substitutionary,
sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Abel knew Christ
as the woman seed. He was the promised Savior, one
whose sacrifice would end all sacrifices. And you might ask,
well, how did Abel know this promised seed? Well, he heard
about him from the first declaration of Christ in the Bible, way back
there in Genesis 3 and verse 15. If you're right there, you
can look at this, verse 14. Genesis 3, 14, and the Lord said
unto the serpent, after the serpent beguiled Eve and led Adam into
rebellion. The Lord pronounces a curse on
him, and the Lord said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done
this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast
of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go,
and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And here's
the declaration of Christ, the first one in the Bible, right
here. And he said to the serpent, I will put enmity between thee
and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. Now, the woman
has no seed. He's talking about Christ here.
He's talking about the woman's seed, the woman who would be
born of a virgin. And it, that is Christ, will
bruise thy head, crush it, take the life out of it, take the
sting out of it, and thou shalt bruise his heel. God pronounced
the curse upon the serpent because he had deceived Eve and led Adam
into rebellion against God. He pronounced hatred here between
the woman, between Satan's seed and her, the woman's seed. And
as I said, this is the first declaration of Christ and his
victory over sin and Satan. Christ would be born without
the aid of Adam, without any connection to Adam whatsoever. He was born of a virgin. Behold,
a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. In that woman's seed,
Christ would bruise the head of Satan. He would render a death
blow to Satan, which he did at the cross by his obedience unto
death. He rendered a death blow to Satan,
and Satan would bruise Christ's heel, which he did by tempting
him and tormenting him throughout his life and by influencing those
who eventually put Christ to death. Something else you might
be wondering about Abel. How did Abel know to bring a
blood sacrifice? How did he know that? Who taught
him that? Well, he learned it from Adam and Eve's experience
after the fall. Look at Genesis 3.21, it says,
unto Adam also and his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins
and clothe them. When Adam and Eve ate of the
forbidden tree and their eyes were opened, and they knew that
they were naked, which means that they knew they were exposed
to the wrath of God. But they didn't come to God and
admit their mistake, did they? No, they sewed fig leaves together
to cover up their mistake, and they hid themselves among the
trees of the garden. They tried to cover their sin,
and they tried to hide from God. See, that's a picture of natural
man. I mean, natural man is hiding from God, even in the religion
of this world, like Brother Jason preached this morning. I mean,
there's nothing about God in that religion, not the true and
living God, not the true Christ of the Word. And that's where
man's hiding out, religious man. But God came to Adam and Eve.
He didn't wait for them to come to Him. He came to them and He
restored to them the fellowship that that sin had broken. He
killed an animal, probably a lamb, to show that sin must be punished. It can't go unpunished. No sin
can go unpunished. And to show that sin would be
punished in a God-appointed substitute, that is, a lamb. the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. A lamb without spot or without
blemish. And then God took the skin of
that slain animal and he made coats of skins for Adam and Eve. Now that's a picture of that
precious robe of righteousness that Christ worked out by his
obedience unto death. The blood sacrifice Abel brought
declared that he had nothing of himself to offer that would
make him acceptable to God. It spoke, his sacrifice now,
spoke of his unworthiness. It spoke of his undeservedness.
It declared that he was totally dependent upon the innocence,
the righteousness of another. He was looking to the one pictured
in his sacrifice. He was not looking to anything
in himself. He said, like the song says,
in my hand, no price I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.
Now Cain, on the other hand, he's a tiller of the ground,
he's a farmer, and he brought the fruit of the ground. He brought
the best that his hands produced. There's no reason to think that
he didn't take the most excellent crops he had and take the best
of that and bring them to God. He's looking, after all, for
acceptance from God. Cain's sacrifice, that's his
offering, it reeked of self-righteousness. It declared I've done something
worthy of your acceptance. I produced something that qualifies
me to come into your presence. Cain's sacrifice declared nothing
of a need for a substitute. And that's what every sinner
declares who comes to God, pleading anything as the ground or cause
of their acceptance, but the imputed righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Cain was like that Pharisee that
Brother Jason preached on this morning in Luke 18. He trusted
in himself that he was righteous. But that Pharisee went to his
house unjustified, not like the publican who went justified.
Likewise, Cain and his offering, like that Pharisee, was rejected.
Cain and his offering was rejected by God. The first reason Abel
offered a more excellent sacrifice was because it pictured and typified
the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what
was pictured in every sacrifice from the one where God shed the
blood of an animal and clothed Adam and Eve with the skin all
the way up to the time Christ offered his. Everyone up to the
time Christ died on that cross was a picture and type of Christ. So if we look back to Hebrews
4 now, by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous,
God testifying of his gifts, and by it being dead, yet speaketh. The second reason Abel's sacrifice
was more excellent than Cain's is because it was offered by
faith. You see, by faith Abel offered
a more excellent sacrifice. And by faith means two things
here. It means that it was offered
in obedience to the revealed will of God. And second, it means
it was offered by the confidence of one to whom God has given
faith. Now let's talk about those two
things, two reasons why, about faith. First, Abel's sacrifice
was offered in obedience to the revealed will of God. Abel knew
how to worship God. He knew how to approach God. He knew what God required. He
knew what God commanded of those who sought worship, to worship
Him. He knew God's mind on this matter. And he knew because he'd been
taught. God taught Adam the right way
to approach him in worship when he sacrificed that lamb and made
those coats of skins. And Adam taught his sons. He
taught Cain the eldest and Abel the youngest. We know he taught
them. How do we know that? Because
Abel came the way of acceptance with God. He found acceptance. He learned the way to come and
be accepted by God. It's not reasonable that Adam
taught Abel, his younger brother, the right way of worship, and
he didn't teach Cain. No, he taught both these boys
the right way to approach God in worship. Abel believed God. He followed the instructions
of God. He came by faith. He came in
obedience to God's revealed will by way of worship. Cain, on the
other hand, he was taught too, but he rejected God's instructions. He rejected his father's teaching
on this matter. He rejected the way he was taught
and came his own way. He didn't come by faith. He rebelled
against God's revealed way of worship. Coming by faith first
means coming in obedience to the revealed will of God. What
has God said that you and I sinners, how are we to approach unto Him?
Well, according to His gospel, the only way to approach unto
God is based on the imputed righteousness of His Son. That's the only basis
on which God will take the worship of any sinner. So, coming by
faith is coming according to the revealed will of God, but
it also means coming in the confidence of one to whom God has given
faith. We come by the testimony of God.
We come in obedience to what he's commanded, but we come as
one who has been given faith by God. Look back at our text,
Hebrews 11 and verse 4. It says here, by which Abel obtained
witness, by which refers back to this more excellent sacrifice.
His sacrifice testified, he obtained witness by it, he received a
testimony from it. And the sacrifice Abel brought,
it was a witness for him. It was bearing a testimony for
him. His sacrifice was testifying
on his behalf. Now, this is all the language
of a courtroom. When a defense lawyer needs to
strengthen his case, what does he do? He brings in an expert
witness. This witness is probably a doctor
of something, maybe of child psychology or criminal behavior
or whatever kind of expert he needs. And this expert has probably
written a book or two. The testimony of this expert
will carry a lot of weight with the jury. This witness is brought
in to convince that jury that his client could not be guilty
of the crime that he's charged with. Now, the sacrifice Abel
brought was his expert witness. His sacrifice gave convincing
testimony that Abel's worship would be, not might be, but would
be accepted by God. And it would be accepted not
because of the sacrifice, nor because of Abel's diligence in
bringing what God commanded. Abel looked beyond the blood
beyond the sacrifice he offered. He looked to the one who was
pictured and typified in that sacrifice. His worship would
be accepted, not might be, it would be accepted because his
sacrifice pictured the one whose righteousness enabled God to
be just and justify or declare righteous unworthy sinners like
himself. Abel's sacrifice gave evidence
that his hope was in the righteousness of the woman saved. It was in
the righteousness of that coming Messiah. According to God, He'll
save every sinner who comes to Him based on that same righteousness.
Listen to Hebrews 7, 25. Wherefore, Christ is able also
to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him. based on his righteousness, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. All who come to God
by him will be saved to the uttermost. Abel came to God by Christ. He came pleading the blood of
his surety. That's why he came with confidence
that he would be accepted. He didn't come doubting. He didn't
come wondering. He knew God would accept him.
And it was the testimony of his sacrifice that gave him that
confidence. Now, Cain, he was not a man of
faith. He didn't believe God's testimony.
He rejected God's way and came his own way. He didn't see his
nakedness. He didn't see his exposure to
God's wrath. He didn't see his worthlessness
of his deeds as far as recommending him to God or giving him any
acceptance with God. Therefore, he saw no need for
the blood. He saw no need for a substitute. Cain, he couldn't
see beyond the blood. He couldn't see what Abel saw.
He didn't see past the blood to the person the blood represented.
He couldn't see what Abel's sacrifice pictured. All Cain could see
was a bloody mess, so he brought what he thought was better. What
he thought, surely, if Abel's accepted by blood, I'll surely
be accepted by this by the best of my hand. It's the best I got,
after all. But Cain was rejected. But unto
Cain and to his offering, God had no respect. Rejection is
all that any sinner will find who attempts to worship God by
the works of their hands, which is what? It's anything other
than the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Abel's
sacrifice was more excellent than Cain's because he brought
it, he offered it by faith. It was offered in obedience to
God's revealed will and it was offered with confidence that
Abel, his person, was accepted and therefore his sacrifice would
be also. How could Abel, how can any sinner,
have such confidence. How can I have confidence that
when I come to God, He's going to accept me? I know He will.
I don't have any problem with it. It's because of what the
sacrifice I bring testifies. The third reason Abel's sacrifice
was more excellent is because it testified, it gave convincing
evidence that Abel was righteous. Look back here at Hebrews 11
and verse 4. By faith, Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous. Abel brought the blood of a lamb.
His sacrifice pictured the substitutionary death of Christ. His sacrifice
declared that his hope of salvation was in the imputed righteousness
of his substitute. Abel's sacrifice was his expert
witness. And his expert witness sacrificed
that Abel was righteous. God, the judge, confirmed the
testimony of Abel's witness. God himself testified of Abel's
gifts. And how did he do that? How did
God testify of Abel's gifts? Look back at Genesis 4 and verse
4. And Abel, he brought the firstlings
of his flock and the fat thereof, and God had respect unto Abel
and to his offering. He accepted him. his person and
his sacrifice. God had respect unto Abel and
his offering. He accepted Abel's person first
and therefore he accepted Abel's offering. Now he couldn't have
accepted Abel's offering if he hadn't first accepted his person.
How could Abel's person already be accepted before he even brought
an offering? Before he even came before the
Lord? How could his person already be accepted? Now, right here
on this point, God has to overcome our natural way of thinking.
You see, the natural way of thinking is, well, you bring your offering
and God accepts you because of your offering. No. No, it's just
the opposite of that. God's got to accept your person
before he can accept your offering. Abel's acceptance was in the
Beloved. Abel, like each of God's elect,
was accepted in Christ before the world began. Listen to Ephesians
1, verses 3 through 6. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He has
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy. and without blame before him, in love having predestinated
us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Those who come to God, those
whom God has accepted will in time. come to Him and plead the
merits of Christ's blood and righteousness. All that the Father
has given to Christ, all whose salvation the Father conditioned
on Christ, put in His hands, made Him responsible for us,
the surety, like Jim prayed in his prayer. He took this obligation
upon himself before the world began. He said, Father, if they've
wronged you or owe you anything, put it on my account. I'll be
the one to pay it. And all that the Father has given
to Christ will in time come to Christ. He will be their sacrifice. He will be their offering to
God. And they'll come to God, a just
God and Savior, and God, having accepted them in Christ before
the foundation of the world, will have respect. He will accept
them and their offering just like He did Abel's. Because Abel
was already accepted, he brought the sacrifice that pictured Christ,
the one in whom he found his acceptance. And the sacrifice
he brought testified on his behalf that he was righteous. Now, there's
something we need to be clear on right here on this point.
Abel's sacrifice is not what made him righteous. His sacrifice,
in fact, made up no part of his righteousness. His bringing what
God commanded did not make him righteous. In other words, coming
by obedience to God's revealed will. That didn't make up any
part of his righteousness either. Abel's sacrifice only pictured
the one by which God declared him righteous. God accepted Abel
because he was already righteous. He was righteous because God
had made him so. By the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. And in that verse we could all
quote 2 Corinthians 5 21, God made Christ to be sin that we
might be made legally accounted righteous in God's sight based
on his righteousness imputed alone. God accepted Abel's offering
because his offering declared that his hope was in the blood,
the imputed righteousness of Christ alone. And by that, his
offering declared, it testified that Abel was righteous. Cain,
on the other hand, he was far from righteousness. God rejected
Cain. He rejected his person and he
rejected his offering. Now that rejection, like Brother
Jim said, it angered Cain. He got mad at God and killed
his brother. And according to the scriptures,
he did so because his own works were evil and his brother's were
righteous. Listen to 1 John 3 and verse
11. This is the message that you've
heard from the beginning that we should love one another. not
as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And
why did he slay him? Because his own works were evil,
and his brother's were righteous." The only works recorded about
Cain are his religious works. He came to worship God. He brought
the best of his hand. Contrary to our thinking by nature,
we all grew up under the message of Cain. We've all walked in
the evil of Cain. We're taught the ways of Cain. Listen to Jeremiah 13 in verse
23. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? Can the leopard change his spots?
Then may you also do good that are accustomed to do evil. That word is taught. We've all
been taught to do evil. Who taught us? Our fathers? Our traditions, our religion,
all taught us to do evil. Now, by nature, we don't like
to hear that we were ever like Cain. Now, we won't side with
Abel. We don't want to be like Cain.
But in reality, we were taught to bring the works of our hands.
When we were ignorant of the only way God would accept us
based on Christ's imputed righteousness alone, We were all coming to
God based on something else. And whatever else that was, it
was the works of our hands. That's what the scripture says
of us. I'm going to summarize Romans 3, 10 through 18 here.
It says there's none righteous, none seeking after God, no fear
of God before their eyes. In other words, there's no reverence
and respect for the God who justifies the ungodly based on the imputed
righteousness of Christ. These things are spoken about
all the sons and daughters of Adam without exception. God has
to teach sinners his way of salvation until he does all walk in the
ways of Cain. That's why we have to be thankful
for the last point in this lesson. Abel's sacrifice was more excellent
than Cain's because his sacrifice testified that he was righteous. Cain's sacrifice testified that
he was evil. Now, the last point of the message
is this. Abel's sacrifice was more excellent because by his
sacrifice, Abel's still speaking today. Look back at Hebrews 4,
11 and verse 4. By faith, Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than came, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. And by it, he being dead, yet speaketh."
Still speaking. Abel's message is still being
heard. It's still going out. It's still
being proclaimed, and Abel still speaks through that message.
That message he rang out because the message he rang out is none
other than the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ. It's the good news of how God
could accept into his presence an ungodly sinner like him, or
like you or me. and yet be righteous when he
does it. It's the message of how God can
be just and yet justify ungodly sinners. Abel is still proclaiming
because according to God's testimony, Abel's way is the only way, the
only way that a sinner can worship the true and living God. If you're in Hebrews there, just
look at Hebrews 11 and verse 6. It says, but without faith,
it's impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him. We must believe. If we come to
God, we've got to believe that he is. You can't come to God
until you know him by faith. You can't come to God until you
are persuaded that he justifies the ungodly based on the imputed
righteousness of Christ alone. That's his testimony, and that's
by which faith we come. That's what distinguishes God
from the idols of men's imagination. That's what he said in Isaiah
45. He said, look unto me. who is to me a just God and a
savior. Abel's sacrifice pictured the
one by whose righteousness imputed God declares otherwise ungodly
sinners righteous in his sight. Abel came by faith. He came in
obedience to God's revealed way of worship. He came confident
that God would accept his worship, and he was confident because
his sacrifice testified that he was righteous. He still speaks
through his sacrifice every time a gospel message is proclaimed
in this world. The most urgent need in the life
of any sinner is to hear Abel's message, to hear God's gospel. And keep on hearing it. Don't
just hear it one time, but just be under it. Be where it is.
Christ said to some in John 8, who believed on him, they believed
that he was Messiah, here's what he said to them. He said, if
you continue in my word, the words that declare him, the words
that present him a right to your understanding. If you continue
in my word, then are you my disciples indeed, and you'll know the truth,
and the truth will make you free. You've got to continue in that
word. See, we're just beginning to be taught when God brings
us into this right relationship with him. That's just the beginning
of things. I mean, some of us have been under this gospel for
30 years, and right now, I marvel at how little I really know about
what this word actually said. The gospel is a simple message.
This book that declares it is very complicated. All right,
look back one last time in our text, and I'll close. By faith,
Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,
by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying
of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh." I encourage
everybody listening to me to learn Abel's way of worship. Learn the Christ Abel looked
to. Learn the righteousness Abel
rested in. Learn all you can about Abel's
more excellent sacrifice.