Let's turn back to Hebrews chapter
11. Hebrews 11, look at verse 4. 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. Cain and Abel both approached
God with a sacrifice, with an offering. Both appeared to approach God
in some manner of worship. Both apparently believed that
there was a God. but only one was accepted, and
the other was rejected. Both brought an offering unto
the Lord, but what a huge difference between the two. Listen to what
is said of Abel. He received a good report. Abel was righteous, righteous
in the sight of Almighty God. That word righteous, it means
faultless. Can you imagine? Is that just
too much to even imagine, to stand faultless in the sight
of Almighty God? It means without guilt. We've got plenty to be guilty
of, don't we? But to stand in the sight of
Almighty God without guilt? It means innocent. It means holy. Holy. Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice. I believe that's the sacrifice
I want to know more about, isn't it? That more excellent sacrifice. Turn back to Genesis 4. Again, we read of two men. We read of two sacrifices, one
of which was accepted and one which was not. Genesis 4, look
beginning with verse 1, and Adam knew Eve, his wife,
and she conceived and bear Cain, and said, I have gotten a man
from the Lord. And she again bear his brother
Abel. And Abel was a keeper of the
sheep, but Cain a tiller of the ground. And 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 of
the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof. And the Lord
had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and
to his offering, he had no respect. And Cain was very wroth, and
his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain,
why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin
lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire. thou shalt rule over him. And 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 he slew him. He slew his brother. Now beginning
in verse two, we see a description of these two men. We see two ways in which men
would approach unto a holy God. We learn this, that Cain was
a tiller of the ground. He was a farmer. And Abel was
a keeper of the sheep. a shepherd. How many times do
we read of that shepherd throughout the scripture, throughout God's
word? And Cain would approach God by
the works of his hands? Is that how a man is saved? Is
a man saved by the works of his hands? Romans 3.20 says this,
therefore by the deeds of the law There shall be no flesh,
no flesh justified in his sight. Yet men continually try to approach
God by what they've done. By the deeds of the law shall
there be no flesh justified in his sight, for by the law is
the knowledge of sin. In Matthew 3, verse 19 through
20, we read this, I'll have mercy and not sacrifice, not man's
sacrifice. I've not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Able will approach God through
a blood, a blood sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood.
there is no remission. By the blood, by the blood, by
the blood, huh? Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb. We have redemption through the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, through His blood. And here in
this chapter, we see the religion of this world boiled down to
two. No matter what it's called, no
matter what the name is out on the placard, it comes down to
one of these two things, the works of Cain or the way of grace
through Abel's sacrifice, through that blood sacrifice. Remember what we read there in
Hebrews 11 for? I'll remind you several times
this evening, by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent
sacrifice, a more excellent sacrifice, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous. Let's look at these two sacrifices
here this evening. Cain, again, he brought the fruit
of the ground. He brought that which he had
labored over, which he had raised. And Abel, his brother, brought
a lamb. Cain's sacrifice. What do we
know of it? Well, there's no blood involved.
There was no blood shed. It denied the need for a Redeemer. It denied the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what men do when they
say they're saved by their own works. They deny their sin. They deny the need of a savior. Cain would have been his own
high priest. He would have been his own mediator,
his own intercessor. He would have went to God by
the works of his hands, by what he had done. Denying. denying that he was a sinner
in the sight of Almighty God. What do we deserve? We deserve
death. We deserve condemnation. And yet he approached God on
the grounds of his own merit, of his own works. I was thinking
about this. It was a sacrifice that cost
him nothing. We used to raise a garden, and
by the end of the year, we'd start out selling some stuff
at the farmer's market. But by the end of the year, we're
giving stuff away. You can't get rid of it. That
don't happen with livestock, does it? No. The fruit of this world,
the fruit of this ground, you just watch and see. People give
it away, and that's what That's what he brought before the Lord. He refused God's way of worship,
that which was revealed, his way of acceptance, that which
would point to the high priest who would go into the Holy of
Holies, and he dare not go in there without blood. Without blood. How often do we
see that blood sacrifice in Scripture? Leviticus 1711, it is the blood
that maketh atonement for the soul. Without the shedding of
blood, what? There is no remission. Cain brought a bloodless sacrifice. And we read that God had no regard
for it, no interest in it. What about Abel's sacrifice? A more excellent, a more excellent
sacrifice. Abel brought an offering of faith.
That's what we read there in Hebrews 11, 4. You know, I have
to wonder, you reckon Adam, I'm just confident in this, that
he taught his boys How to approach unto God? I'm confident he told them of
that time when he disobeyed God. There in the garden, that he
told them about their fall. When they fell, when God had
told them of every tree in the garden thou mayest freely eat,
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Don't eat of
it. Don't eat of it. For in the day
that you eat thereof, thou shalt surely die." I believe those
boys probably heard that time and time again. That he sat them down and told
them, God told us not to do this. And yet, we did. We took that
fruit and we weren't deceived. Adam wasn't deceived. Eve was,
but Adam was not deceived. He took it willingly. He willingly
disobeyed God. And maybe he told a myth about
how after that happened, how they went and tried to knit
those fig leaves together. to make aprons to cover their
nakedness. How they went and tried to hide.
Imagine that. Imagine that. We tried to hide
from Almighty God. And maybe he told them how God
found them. And he clothed them. Remember that? He made those
coats of skin. He sacrificed an animal. and clothed them and covered
their nakedness. That sacrifice that would point
to the Savior, that sacrifice that would point to the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain from before the foundation of
the world, that picture revealed over and over again in God's
Word. An animal slain, a sacrifice
made, A blood atonement. Could it be? Could it be that
he told that story over and over again, and in time, Abel heard
it? Abel heard it. You do not dare
approach a holy God without blood, without a sacrifice. Like Abraham. Abel, Abel believed
God. He didn't just believe in God,
he believed God. And he came to God in the only
way that we can approach him. Abel brought the firstlings of
the flock. The firstlings. Now that means
these lambs that were brought forth first. These were the prized lambs,
and they were often used as a sacrifice. They pointed to the Lord Jesus
Christ, the firstborn, the Lamb of God. That's what John said.
He said, behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of the world. A lamb without spot, a lamb without
blemish, The firstling of the flock and the fat thereof. It
was the fattest lamb in the bunch. The choice, the choice lamb. Oh, the finest. Not the one we
would pick. We'd pick one that had a broken
leg or one that didn't look like it was going to make it. He brought
the choice, the choice lamb. A more excellent. A more excellent
sacrifice, free from defect, free from blemish. Again, not
a sick lamb, not one that had been attacked by a coyote the
night before, that was on its last limb. Not one that was lame,
but the choice lamb. Perfect, perfect and without
spot. an offering again that pointed
to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb, the Lamb of God. Just as we see that Passover
Lamb in Exodus, turn to Exodus 12. Exodus 12. Look at verse 5 of Exodus 12. Here's a description of it. Your
lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. Take it out from the sheep, from
the goats, keep it up until the 14th day of the same month, and
the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the
evening. A lamb. That which is innocent
dying for the guilty. A male of the first year in the
prime of life without spot, without blemish. That's the Lord Jesus
Christ. He was without sin. And they were to slay that lamb.
They were to shed its blood and roast it with fire. The Lord
Jesus Christ, He suffered. He suffered like no man ever
has or ever will suffer. And He shed His blood. His blood
was poured out for our sins. It was an offering confessing
sin. An offering confessing, I'm worthy
of death. I deserve death. Our sin deserves
the wrath of Almighty God. And in order to justify us, the
Lord Jesus Christ must die. He must satisfy God's wrath.
He must satisfy God's justice. How awful, how awful sin must
be. How much God must love his people
that he's willing to sacrifice his own son for us. Turn to Romans
chapter 3. Romans chapter 3, look at verse
23 of Romans 3. All have sinned. and come short
of the glory of God. Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness. For the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare I say at this
time, whose righteousness? His righteousness. His righteousness. That he might be just and justifier
of him which believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ our
substitute. He made full satisfaction. but for the law and justice of
Almighty God, again, enabling God to both be just and justify
those who believe on His Son, those who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's a more excellent sacrifice. I pray we'd be taught of the
Lamb. Lamb, a lamb. We read earlier there where John
said, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of
the world. The Lamb of God, He is the more
excellent sacrifice. He stands above all others. All others point to Him. Every
one of those sacrifices point to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
they were all pictures, all pictures and shadows of things to come. There's only one. There is only
one sacrifice for sin. And we read this. He made one
sacrifice for sin forever. And then what'd he do? He sat
down. The work finished. The work complete. Nothing left
to do. Hebrews 10, 11, listen, every
priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which what? Can never take away sin. But this man, this man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever,
he sat down on the right hand from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool. All those offerings in the Old
Testament, they were just, again, representation. They pointed to that one who
would come. They were nothing more. They
were nothing more. They could never take away sin.
We read that in Scripture. The Lord Jesus Christ excels
them all. Again, he made one sacrifice,
one sacrifice for sin. To see the lamb that Abel offered
on that altar, the lamb which God accepted by faith. and had
respect to Him. But for us to see that, we must
see the Lord Jesus Christ and none other. Paul, writing to
the Ephesians, he said, to the praise of the glory of His grace,
wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, accepted in Him. And this Lamb, this Lamb is a
Lamb of God's providing. Our lamb? That's what Abraham
told Isaac. Remember that? Isaac spoke to
his father Abraham and he said, he said, here's the fire and
here's the wood, but where's the lamb? What was the reply? God will provide himself a lamb. Turn to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. beginning with verse 4 of Isaiah
53. Surely He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We've turned everyone to his own way. Who did the Lord punish? The
Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed,
he was afflicted, Yet he opened not his mouth, he is brought
as a lamb. A what? A lamb. A lamb to the slaughter. As a
sheep before her shears is dumb, so openeth he not his mouth. He's brought as a lamb to the
slaughter. What is a more excellent sacrifice? He made his soul an
offering for sin. He's the Lamb of God's appointing.
That Lamb who was verily foreordained from before the foundation of
the world. Look at Psalm 40. Turn with me to another scripture
here, Psalm 40. Psalm 40 verse 6, beginning with
verse 6. Sacrifice and offering thou didst
not desire, mine ears hast thou opened, burnt offering and sin
offering hast thou not required, then said I, Is it in David? This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written
of me. I delight to do thy will, O my
God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips. O Lord, thou knowest. I have
not hid thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared thy
faithfulness and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving
kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. A lamb, a
lamb, a more excellent sacrifice. Cain brought of the fruit of
the ground that which he had raised. Abel, Abel brought a
lamb. Turn back to Hebrews 11.4, just
a few more scripture here. Hebrews 11.4, by faith Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous. that he was innocent. I say that
again. Don't we love to hear those words,
that those could be spoken of God's people? Innocent, faultless,
holy, approved, accepted of God. How? One sacrifice, the Lord Jesus
Christ, one offering. Hebrews 10.14 says, for by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, them
that are set apart. One offering, a more excellent
sacrifice, the Lamb of God. Turn with me to one more passage
and I'll close. Turn to Revelation chapter 5. Revelation chapter 5, beginning
with verse 8. Here we read the Song of Redemption. And you know what it declares?
It declares a more excellent sacrifice. Look at verse 8. When he had
taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell
down before the Lamb. fell down before the Lamb, the
Lamb of God, having every one of them harps and golden vials
full of odors, which are prayers for the saints, and they sung
a new song, saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to
open the seals thereof, for thou was slain. That's the Lord Jesus
Christ. Thou wast slain, and thou hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, out of
every tongue, out of every people, out of every nation, and hast
made us unto our God kings and priests. We shall reign on the
earth, and I beheld and heard the voice of many angels round
about the throne, and the beast, and the elders. And the number
of them was 10,000 times 10,000, and thousands and thousands,
a number which no man can number, saying with a loud voice, worthy
is the Lamb. Worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and
honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as
are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I say, blessing,
and honor, and glory, and power be unto him. that sitteth upon
the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever." What can be
said to that? Verse 14, the four beasts said,
amen. And they fell down and worshiped
him that liveth forever and ever. Can you imagine who would ever
grow tired of singing that song? of rejoicing in the Lamb of God. Worthy is the Lamb, a more excellent,
a more excellent sacrifice. All right, we're closing in.