Hebrews chapter 11, we'll read
down from verse 1 to verse 4. Now, faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by faith
the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that all things
which are seen were not made of the things which do appear.
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. Now the title of the message
this morning is The Justifying Faith of Abel. The Justifying
Faith of Abel. Now, the apostle before this
had encouraged believers. He had shown how Christ is our
High Priest, how Christ had offered Himself once unto God, obtained
our redemption, forever satisfied God's justice against our sins,
and now has risen to glory, and this is the evidence that we
are His. This is the evidence by which
we may know that we are redeemed, we are chosen, we are called
of God. This is it. Now, faith is the
substance of invisible things. Faith is
the substance of invisible things. I did not see God write my name
in glory. I did not see the Lord Jesus
Christ physically suffer for my sins. I did not physically
see Him rise from the dead. But God in grace has given me
eyes to see those things only through the gift of faith. Faith. And faith is not blind. By no means. God has not left
Himself without witnesses throughout the century concerning His Son. He has testified over and over
and over again of His Son. And by grace alone, we now receive
Christ by faith. By faith. Faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And we know
this, you that believe, you know this, that faith is no mere decision. It is no mere act of the will.
The will is involved, no doubt. Thy people shall be willing.
We are most definitely willing to come to Christ. So faith has
something to do with the will. But the will is not the cause
of faith. The act of the will to come to
Christ is a result of God's grace and power upon the dead. like Lazarus in that tomb. He
was sealed in that tomb. He was wrapped in the bond clothes
and laid there dead. And he would remain dead until
the voice of Christ called him by name and said, Lazarus, come
forth. And when he said, Lazarus, come
forth, what could hold him? God caused those men to move
the stone away and even in his bottom clothes, they could not
stop. Could you imagine? His feet were
bound. He couldn't walk. He couldn't
move. I can only imagine that he floated out because Why? That the Savior called and
that's exactly how you came. The Savior called and you came. And so what then is the evidence
of our union with Christ? It's this. Faith. And so faith, he gives the definition
of faith. Faith is the substance of things,
hope for evidence of things not seen. And so what the apostle
now will do. throughout the chapter 11 of
the book of Hebrews, what the apostle is going to do is he's
going to shine a light upon certain aspects or benefits of faith. He's going to use these Old Testament
saints who obtained a good report by faith. That's what he says
in verse 2. For by it, by faith, the elders obtained a good report.
And so he's going to use their good report to show you certain
aspects of faith. In other words, the people are
not so important. But rather what they testify
of, what their faith shows us about our salvation. The first
one we're going to see is this. Justifying faith. That faith,
by grace, we are justified. Faith is the evidence then of
our justification. Secondly, you look at Enoch,
he's talking about walking with God. Well, guess what? That's
an aspect of faith, isn't it? To walk with God. Enoch walked
with God and was not. Or it was translated that he
should not taste death. Well, that's a good evidence,
a thing of faith, isn't it? That we're not going to taste
death. That though this body dies, you're not going to die.
Matter of fact, as soon as that last breath, you will step over
into glory. There won't even be a hesitation.
There won't even be an interval. To be absent from the body is
to be what? Present with the Lord. So we
see aspects of faith. And then you could look at Moses
forsaking Pharaoh, and you're going to see Abraham leaving
his country, looking for that city whose builder and maker
is God. really enter into, that we can
identify with these men. And so this first one, justification
by faith. By faith, the scripture says,
able to offer to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Now, I want
you to go back to Genesis. Go back to Genesis chapter 4.
Genesis chapter 4. And we see that after the fall
of man, Adam and Eve came together and
there was conceived two sons. She first conceived and bared
Cain and said, I've gotten a man from the Lord. And she bare his
brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep,
but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Two sons after the fall. After man had fallen into spiritual
darkness, God in mercy came to Adam. And what did Adam do? He ran He hid from God. He tried to cover his sin with
fig leaves. And you mark my words, this is
exactly what man is doing today. Man is still following after
the religion of Adam, their father. They are trying to cover their
sins with the fig leaves of their religion, and good works, and
free will, and whatever it is that they think will get them
accepted before God. still trying to cover their sins
and obtain righteousness by some means of the flesh. And that
works so long as God doesn't speak. So long as this book is not read,
so long as this book is kept closed, man can be content with
the fig leaves of his righteousness. But the moment this book is opened,
the moment God speaks, They run for cover. They run, and that's
what Adam did. He ran to the woods. And so what
do men do when you confront man about his depravity and sin? What do they do? They run to
confusion. They try to confuse the matter.
They try to get, well, what about this? Well, what about this?
Well, what about you? What about your sin? Forget what
your mom and dad and brother and sister, forget about them.
What will you do when you stand before a holy God? What will
you do? God who demands perfect righteousness
from every one of you, what will you do? Because God will judge
you individually. He will not judge you based on
the works of someone else. He will judge you based on your
works. What are you going to do? See, you won't be able to
hide for long. Adam wasn't able to hide in the
woods for very long. When God comes, you won't be
able to confuse. You know, the Gospel is not confusing. It's not difficult. Because men don't believe it,
they make it difficult. They try to confuse people. The
Gospel is not confusing. sin, and declared to you the
gospel of his Son." What was his declaration to Adam and Eve?
The seed of the woman shall crush the head of the serpent, and
he shall bring his heel. It is not complicated. It's not
complicated. This is what Jesus Christ came
to do. He came as the seed of the woman
to destroy the works of the devil. He came to put away sin by the
offering of Himself. It's not complicated. It's very
simple. It is very singular. The gospel
is about a person. It's about Christ. It's about
the seed. Jesus Christ. He came to destroy
what? The works of the devil. He came
by the virgin's womb and under the law of God obtained righteousness. And by His one offering, He crushed
the head of the serpent. This is what took place on Calvary
Street. Satan in all his fury tried to
bruise the heel of the Son of God. With all of his influence,
he moved all of his men that he could to crucify the Lord
of Glory. And when he did, he thought it
was over. Thought he had won. But he had just only fulfilled
what God told Adam in the beginning. The head of the serpent will
be crushed. It was decreed of the Father
that Jesus should be crucified, and that's exactly how He died.
Isn't that something that the Lord prophesied? My hands and
feet have they pierced. Thousands of years, hundreds
of years before crucifixion ever became a means of torture, yet
God purposed, and it happened. Just the way He said it would.
And He is our High Priest, fulfilled all this, put away the sins of
God's people. The Father imputed all the sins
of His people to His Son, and God in love for us, in holy justice,
punished our sins in the flesh of His Holy Son. And this was
not only the word given to Adam, but also a picture was given
to Adam, wasn't it? God killed the innocent victim,
the animal, and provided skins cover their nakedness. What a
picture that is of Jesus Christ. How His death covers us. Not by fig leaves of work, but
by His very righteousness in blood. He covers us. Now this
word of God was spoken by Adam and Eve. Now how does this relate
to what Abel did? Well we know this, that they
taught their children concerning this matter of the seed. They knew it. Matter of fact,
that's what Eve thought when she said, I've gotten a man from
the Lord. She thought this was the Christ. Of course, he turned
out to be a rebel hater of God. But both of these boys were taught
this. They were taught of their sin
and need of an offering. How do I know that? They both
brought an offering to God. That's how we know. Look at that
next verse in verse 3. In the process of time, it came
to pass that Cain brought the fruit of the ground, an offering
unto the Lord, and Abel, he also brought the first things of the
flock, and the fat thereof. They both brought an offering
to God. Now before the fall, Cain's offering was one of the
fruits of the ground. He was a tiller of farmer. That's
what he was. He grew fruits and vegetables
and he was probably the best farmer that ever lived. I do
not doubt that. He was a good farmer. He worked
hard for his fruits. He labored in the earth. And
now before the fall, the earth brought forth her automatically fruitful before
the fall, but after the fall, after the curse had come, we
know this, that the earth began to grow thorns and thistles.
If you've ever tried to grow anything at all, you know how
difficult it is. You know that the weeds always
grow faster than the fruit. You know that you must till them
and take care of them, and it is hard work. It is hard work. Insects and funguses and all
sorts of things must be warded off. McCain was no lazy man. This man was a hard worker. He
tilled the land, day and watched it grow. He brought forth the
best of his fruits. The best. Now which would be more meaning
to you You went down to Kroger's and bought a bag of apples or
you actually grew an apple tree and picked it yourself. Now which
would be more, more pleasing? I tell you, there's
nothing more pleasing than having fruit and then picking it and
eating it. That just is really, it's really
a good feeling. So Cain, he brought the best
of his fruits But what happened to his offering? Look at verse
5. But unto Cain, and to his offering God had no respect. No respect. He had no respect,
listen, he had no respect of Cain, nor Cain's offering. Do you get that? He did not have
respect unto Cain and his offering. See then, the offering of a man
to God and the man himself are vitally united. They're really
not separate. If God has no respect to you,
He'll have no respect to your offering. If He has no respect
to your offering, He'll have no respect to you. They're linked. Now why? Why was Cain's offering
rejected? Why was Cain's offering rejected? Even because it was according
to the Word of God that they were given. God required a blood
offering. God's justice demanded the death of a substitute
or the death of the sinner. That was what it was taught then.
They were taught this by their parents. They were the first
generation of the earth. There was nobody to confuse them.
There was nobody to tell them any different. Adam and Eve instructed
them as to how God was pleased with them by a blood offering. That's the only way. Adam and
Eve said, sons, look, the only way God's going to accept you
is the way He accepted us. By a blood offering of this One
who's to come to see. And this is what we're going
to do. We're going to show forth this. We're going to present
these offerings even as God taught us to do. They didn't have much
understanding. I get that. But they knew this. God demanded blood. God promised, in grace, to send
His Son to justify by His blood, which these lesser and ineffectual
offerings were only to picture. But Cain, for Cain to offer a
bloodless sacrifice, no matter how pleasing and how necessary
food was to man, God did not accept it because it was bloodless. It was bloodless. Second, he did not accept it
because the fruit of the earth was cursed. The earth was cursed. And everything that came out
of the earth is cursed. Cursed. Therefore, Cain's offering was
rejected because it was bloodless and it was cursed. Now listen.
I'm going to even apply this in real time to you now. This is not something that happened
five, six thousand years ago. This is something that is happening
even now today. Listen, men are offering bloodless
sacrifices to God. Today men are offering the sacrifices
of their works which are cursed before God. Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do that. Very simple, it's plain. Don't run for cover. You can't hide from this. If
you are trying to earn your salvation, listen, you are going the way
of Cain. You are offering a sacrifice
that God does not want and God will not accept. All who are trying to come to
God by works and religion, ceremony, they're empty. God will not respect
you and He will not respect your offering. I don't care who you
are. You see, it just doesn't matter
who you are. Isn't that what this generation is? My circumstances
are different, Pastor. I've got a lot of different things
that are going on in my life that no, no, it doesn't matter. When you stand before God, if
you bring the fruit of your works, you will be rejected just as
Cain was. Now is that confusing to you? Is anybody confused about
that? I'll make that as simple as I
possibly can. You bring anything you want, you work for anything
you produce, and it is cursed. God will not accept it. I don't care if you're the most
moral man, or the most degenerate. I don't care if you build homes
for the homeless, feed the hungry, clothe the naked. If this is
what you're bringing as an offering to God, it is rejected. It is
rejected. And I tell you, those things
aren't bad, are they? Feeding the hungry, building
homes, being moral. Those things aren't bad. Those
are good things. Among who? Men. Those are good
things that help men. Cain's food helped man. There's no doubt about it. It
did nothing for God. And neither will all your works
and ceremonies. They won't do anything for you.
Won't do anything to God. That man whosoever he will, will
not be respected or accepted, Now you listen, Cain heard the
Word of God that sin was only remitted by blood, yet his faith... Now I want you to understand,
Cain had faith. Cain had faith. He had faith,
not in the Word of God. He had faith in his own opinion. Well, I know what you said, Dad. I know God said that blood is
the only way, that this Christ is the only way. But I've got
my own opinion about this. I think fruit is a better offering. And he said, you know what? I
have faith fruit is a better offering. You bet he had faith. He had no word to stand on. It was blind, empty faith. It was the faith that only the
natural man can produce. It is a faith outside the Word
of God. And anything that is believed
outside the Word of God shall be damned. You hear that? You
mark it. Anything opposing the Word of
God is damnable heresy. Cain's religion was damnable. We, like the earth, are cursed.
All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. There is none that
doeth good, no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Alright, who's confused? Is there anybody? Have I muddied
the water so much that you're missing any of this? You say to me, Preacher, I just
don't believe that. Okay. Well, you have your faith. And
you know, your faith is only in you and your thoughts. You
have nothing to stand on. You have no Word of God. You
see, I'm walking by faith, but my faith is in something far
greater than myself. My faith is in the same thing
that Abel believed in. Abel trusted and offered a sacrifice
according to the Word of God. I too believe and offer the sacrifice
according to the word of God. That Christ is my offering. Christ is my sacrifice. But anyone who trusts in themselves,
they have faith in their own selves. And I tell you, if you don't
believe this, this just proves my point. That you're blind,
dead and depraved. And if you like pain, continue
to offer your sacrifice and works and religion, you will die with
pain. You will be rejected with pain. But behold now, I give you a
better way." Are you ready for a better way?
Because that sure is morbid. That sure is doubt. Well, that's
a downer, isn't it? You bet it is, but it's truth.
It's truth. There's a better way, a way that
God has purposed, a way that God has accepted. It is a way of Abel. It is the way of our text. You
see, the scripture says, by faith Abel offered to God a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain. It was the way of faith. By faith
Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. We read
in Genesis 4 that this was the sacrifice of a lamb. You see, Abel was a keeper of
sheep. Abel was a keeper of sheep, and
he offered the sacrifice of the best of his flock. This surely
is also laborious work, is it not? You ever try, man, I'm just
trying to take care of dogs, and it's a mess. I'm just horrible
at it. It's laborsome. It takes work,
and Abel no doubt labored. and to feed the sheep, care for
the sheep, catch them when they're wandering, protect them from
wolves and bears and other things. But there's something, there's something here about
the sheep that Abel had nothing to do with. Listen, their blood. He had nothing to do with their
creation, did He? He had nothing to do with their
blood. So Abel, having heard the sure
message of God that sin must be punished, that God requires
a blood offering for the guilty, God in grace made provision that
Christ should come and make an atonement for sin by His blood. And to testify
of it, till He comes, sinners should offer by faith those blood
sacrifices as a testimony of their faith in Him, which Abel
did. Abel offered this sacrifice because
he believed the Word of God concerning Christ. He believed that he would
come and provide this sacrifice that was just then typical. It
was pictured. He did offer a blood sacrifice
to God. He did it according to the Word
of God. And Paul says, by faith, Abel
offered a more excellent sacrifice. Now, before they offered their
sacrifices, there were no outward indications of God's acceptance
of those sacrifices. You know that? Before Abel offered
that sacrifice, his sacrifice looked just as good as Cain's.
There was no difference. There was no difference in their
offerings outwardly. There was no indication as to
why God would accept one over the other. Listen, there is nothing
outwardly that would give you any indication as to who is accepted
of God and rejected of God. If you give any believer and
you watch them for a little while, you're going to find many things
about them that would cause you to doubt they ever knew the Lord
at all. Why? Because Cain and Abel were both
sinners. There's no outward indication whether they were accepted or
rejected. You remember the rich man in Hell, he desired Lazarus
to go back and he says, you know what, if you raise Lazarus from
the dead, then my brethren will believe. Warn my brethren. And you know
what Abraham said, even if a man rose from the dead, they would
not believe. See, salvation doesn't come by
outward visible signs and wonders. Salvation comes by faith in things
that are not seen. Abel offered that because God
said to him. Abel believed in Christ who was
to come. And he offered that and there
was no outward indication of the difference between him and
Cain. I preach to you with all the
boldness of my subject because my confidence is not in me or
in you. My confidence is in the Word
of God. The Word of God is my authority.
Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice because he offered
it according to the Word of God. That's why his offering was more
excellent. It was according to the Word of God. Because his offering pictured
the excellent sacrifice. Behold then the only sacrifice
that God will accept. He is sacrificing His Son. He
will not accept your sacrifices. He will not accept your works.
He will not accept your religion. He will only accept His Son. And the blood of His Son alone
can atone for sin. There is no other way. There
is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved. It is only in Christ alone. but only in His blood offering,
the spotless, sinless blood offering of the Son of God that puts away
sin. In Him, both natures of God and
man were represented. God could only be righteous,
and yet man alone could bleed and die. Therefore, behold, I
want to present to you right now the most excellent sacrifice
that was ever offered. It is the only sacrifice God
will accept. It is the sacrifice of His beloved
Son and the offering of His blood for the sins of His people. And
God has accepted that offering. by His one offering. The Scripture
says He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Those
that God chose in eternity. Christ represented them upon
the tree and died for their sins and He actually accomplished
redemption. This is the message. This is
the Gospel. Suffering the unmixed justice
of God, devoid of all mercy, Jesus poured out his soul unto
death. Sacred head now wounded with
grief and shame weighed down, scornfully surrounded with thorns
thine only crown. What thou, Lord, hast suffered
is all for sinners' sake. Mine was the transgression, but
thine the deadly pain. Lo, I see my Savior. I deserved thy place. Look on me now with favor. Vouchsafe
to me thy grace. This is exactly what Abel was
doing when he offered that sacrifice. He was trusting in the offering
of the one to come. Behold Jesus, the Son of God,
the only offering accepted of God? Why then, sinner, will you
not believe on Him? I've just told you your works,
your religion, And I tell you of a more excellent
sacrifice, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Are you a sinner? Then there is no value in any
of your offerings. They're all polluted. Only Christ
offers the perfect offering. and only Christ can save the
soul of sinners. Now, if I were to take the purest
of water, cold and refreshing, and offer it to the most thirsty
man that ever lived, but yet I added one drop of arsenic, what good would the water do
that thirsty man? Would be no good. That is exactly
what it is when a man says, I believe in Christ, and then tries to
add his own work to the work of the Son of God. You've added
poison to the purest of waters. You've defiled the most perfect
sacrifice by adding one thing you do. This is the religion of false
free will works religion. If you be circumcised, if you
add one word of your own to the word of the Son of God, you have
polluted His sacrifice, you have defiled it, and Christ shall
profit you nothing. Therefore, see Jesus now and
behold Him with the eye of faith. Trust only in Him for all your
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Believe the Word
of God. Cast all your soul upon Him,
and you, like Abel, will have offered a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain. A more excellent sacrifice. And you listen. Those who believe
in Christ will obtain the same thing Abel obtained. Look at
your text. By which Abel obtained witness. Witness. How do we know that Abel's sacrifice
was more excellent than Cain's? Some believe that fire fell from
heaven and consumed that sacrifice just like it did in Elijah's
day, when Elijah offered that sacrifice. Some believe that.
Whatever it was, there was something distinct about this offering. God made a difference between
the two. God testified in some manner
that his sacrifice was better. And I tell you how I know that
the sacrifice of Christ is better than any other sacrifice. Because
God gave witness to me, in my heart He put His Spirit to testify
to me. The Apostle Paul in Romans, I
believe chapter 8, tells us that the Spirit testifies with our
spirit that we are the sons of God. Now how do you know? Am
I being presumptuous to say that I'm a son of God? Am I being
arrogant in saying that God chose me, Christ redeemed me, and the
Spirit called me? I'm not being arrogant. I'm telling
you the truth because the Spirit of God now bears witness in my
soul. And what is the evidence of this?
The evidence is faith. Faith is the evidence. Faith
is not the cause, but faith is the evidence that I have that
sacrifice. I've obtained a more excellent
sacrifice than that of Cain. God testified. And I tell you
what, God testified of Christ's sacrifice, didn't He? When He
raised Him from the dead. Raised Him from the dead. Where's Muhammad? Dead. Buddha, dead. Any other religious leader, where
are they? Dead. And if they're not dead yet,
they will be soon. Jesus Christ is the only one
who has died and rose from the dead and testified. You know,
more men saw Christ than there was a sign of the Declaration
of Independence. 500 or more brethren saw him alive
after his crucifixion. More witnesses than any before.
Yet I've never met one of you. I didn't meet him. How do I know him? The Spirit
of God testifies with my spirit, I have witness that I have offered
an excellent sacrifice in Christ. I have an excellent sacrifice.
God has accepted it. And know this, all of us who
believe as able. We being justified before God,
having obtained the righteousness of God in the inner man, we,
I know this, we struggle with sin. Believer, you still struggle
with sin, I know you do. Because we still have this old
man, this old nature, that Paul said that the new man and the
old man, they war with one another, constantly struggling. But I
tell you this, Your new man cannot be contaminated. Isn't that good
news? The old man has no influence
or no effect on the new man. Not going to change it. Therefore,
when this old man drops into the grave, guess what? The new
man arises to be with God who made it. Isn't that what the
scripture testifies of Abel? Look at that last part. And by
it, he being dead, yet speaketh. The blood of Abel cried out for
justice. He was dead, yet he speaks. And you know this, when we die,
we will yet speak. But not seeking vengeance, rather
we will be seeking glory, praise, and honor to Christ. For the blood of Christ speaketh
better things than the blood of Abel. Doesn't it? It does. Therefore, as Abel was
justified, how? By faith. Faith was the evidence
of his justification before God. And so is your faith in Christ.
Do you believe in Christ? Do you trust in Christ? Then
you have offered with Abel a more excellent sacrifice being in
Christ. You are accepted. God has respect to you and your
sacrifice. Even because it was his son.
His Son. May God give us grace then to
take comfort in the grace of faith. Cause us to grow in the
grace of faith. I pray God bless us. Let's stand and be dismissed
and pray.