Let's turn tonight to Hebrews
chapter 11. We are going to look at verses
four through six, but let's read verses one through six. Now faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. For by it the elders obtained
a good report. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God so that Things which
are seen were not made of 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. By faith, Enoch was translated
that he should not see death, and was not found because God
had translated him. For before his translation, he
had this testimony that he pleased God. We looked last time at that
definition that the writer gives us of faith in verse one. Faith
is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. And with this definition, we
considered the fact that the covenant that God made with the
nation of Israel at Sinai was full of things which were seen,
things which were seen. It had a tabernacle, priest,
and then the many sacrifices and offerings. All of those things
could be seen. The new covenant, The new covenant
that we read about in this letter, this letter of Hebrews, both
in chapters eight and chapter 10, the new covenant we read
is a covenant of invisible things, things that we must see by faith. We must see by faith. Now we enjoy and enter into this
covenant by faith. We looked at that verse in Isaiah
where the Lord said he would make a covenant with us. He made
a covenant with us, that is his people, his chosen people, in
Christ before the world began. And yet when we are called by
his spirit and have faith, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we
enter into that covenant with him. And that covenant, if you
will keep your places here, but turn back to the letter of Galatians. That covenant was a covenant
of promise as it was announced to Abraham. In Galatians chapter
three, and beginning in verse 16, we read, now to Abraham and
his seed were the promises made. Promises, covenant of promise. He saith not unto seeds as of
many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ. In this
I say that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in
Christ, the law, now that law of course is the law that was
given along with the covenant at Mount Sinai, the law of Moses
as we refer to it because it was given through Moses, the
law came by Moses or through Moses, but grace and truth came
by or through Jesus Christ. This is what we read in John
one, but notice the law was added. This, I say that the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which
was 430 years after, in other words, 430 years later. After this covenant of promise
was made and revealed to Abraham, then the law was given. And the apostle says that that
covenant, that law, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise
of none effect. For if the inheritance be of
the law, it is no more a promise. but God gave it to Abraham by
promise. And we see the continuance of
the covenant of promise is the new covenant that is made with
us in Christ and we make with him by faith. In the verses that
we will look at tonight, we're going to look at two of the elders
Remember there in verse 2, if you turn back to Hebrews 11,
the writer tells us, for by it, that is by faith, the elders
obtained a good report. And by elders, that refers to
those Old Testament saints. And he's going to mention many
of them in this 11th chapter, many of those Old Testament saints,
the elders, which by faith obtained a good report. And we're going
to look at two tonight, that is Abel and Enoch. Now in this chapter, the writer
gives these examples chronologically. I mean, we're going to see tonight
Abel, then follows Enoch, then comes Noah, then comes Abraham,
then comes Isaac. And so he gives these examples
of faith as they came chronologically. But all of them, I believe, show
us a different characteristic about faith so that we learn
more about this faith that he is speaking about. From Abel
and Enoch, tonight we look at two things. That is righteousness. Righteousness. And number two,
pleasing God. Pleasing God. First, Abel and
the truth about justification by faith. Notice verse four. By faith, Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous. He was righteous. God testifying of his gifts,
and by it he being dead, yet speaketh. A man is counted righteous,
justified in the eyes of God, not by works. Much of the letter
of Romans and the letter of Galatians The Apostle Paul goes to great
lengths to prove and to show how that no one is justified
by the works of the law. That justification being declared
righteous is by faith in the person and the work of Jesus
Christ only through him. What does righteous mean? We
read about righteousness, and I speak about righteousness as
I preach the gospel quite often. But what does righteousness mean? How would you define righteous
if you were asked to define the term righteous? This is a definition
that I would give. It means to be right. Right by
a certain standard. You young people, as you take
a test in school, let's say there's 10 questions on the test, and
you answer each of those 10 questions, and your teacher grades the test,
and you have nine right, or 10 right, eight right. Now, she has a standard. She
has the answers. And so she grades by that standard. But when we speak about righteous
and the sense of being righteous before God, what is the standard? What is the standard? The standard,
is it the opinions of men? Is the standard the opinions
of the religious world? Is the standard by which someone
is declared righteous by the thoughts of whatever time period
we live in, and does it change as the years go by, as the centuries
move on? Is it by a certain rule of morality? Of course not. Of course not. The standard is God's absolute
holiness. God's absolute holiness which
never changes. A man is righteous or not righteous
according to God's standard, God's holiness. Now how can a
sinner who in ourselves, we come short
of that standard. We never come up to that standard
in ourselves. We recognize that, we confess
that. If the Lord saves us, we recognize
that, we confess that. We have no righteousnesses of
our own. We know the scripture speaks
of our righteousness as a filthy rags. How then can a man or woman
be declared righteous, be right before God? We know it is by
the righteousness of Jesus Christ. His perfect, perfect, absolute
obedience to God's standard, to God's law, to God's holiness. And then suffering at the hands
of that law, suffering in the place of his people. And that
righteousness is called the righteousness of God because Jesus Christ is
God. God manifests in the flesh. And
that righteousness is imputed or counted to everyone that believeth,
able. As the scripture here says, by
faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice. Abel's sacrifice, what kind of
sacrifice was it? Two things about his sacrifice
which pictures the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, his sacrifice
was a blood sacrifice. A lamb was slain. And the second
thing about his sacrifice was an innocent victim suffered in
the place of the guilty. What a picture, right? What a
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to turn back with
me. Let's read about this in Genesis chapter four. Genesis chapter four. And verses
one through seven. Genesis chapter four, verse one. And Adam knew Eve, his wife,
and she conceived and bare Cain and said, I have gotten a man
from the Lord. And she again bare his brother
Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep,
but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time
it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an
offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also brought of the
firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord
had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and
to his offering he had not respect, And Cain was very wroth, very
mad, 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,
and thou shalt rule over him. I want you to notice especially
these words in verse 4 about Abel's offering of the fat thereof. Of the fat thereof. I see that
as being especially important because later when God gave the
law, you know, there were many sacrifices, there were many lambs
which were slain, there were bullocks which were slain, there
were goats which were slain. But the fat, the fat always was
to the Lord. Now the fat, what would it do
upon the altar? It would disintegrate, right? It would burn and it would rise
up. And in Leviticus chapter three
and verse 16, we read, all the fat is the Lord's. Every animal,
the fat of that animal was always The Lords. How did Abel know
to offer such a sacrifice? How did he know? How did he know
to offer such a sacrifice? Because his father Adam taught
him. God taught Adam and Eve, and
Adam taught his children. He taught his sons. Matthew Henry
said, Adam instructed his sons in the mystery of sacrificing,
a mystery of sacrificing. Now what we see here is that
Cain did not have faith. He did not have faith and he
did what lost men, what most lost men always do, who do not
have faith. They bring to God the works of
their hands and they seek acceptance because They're trusting in their
rightness. They're trusting in their rightness. Cain did exactly what all lost
men, for the most part, do. They bring their good works. They bring their morality. They
bring whatever they trust in. Some people trust in the fact
that they're not religious. But every man is trusting in
something. You can be sure of that. And
he thinks whatever it is, it's going to be accepted by God,
just like Cain thought. Such offerings are never accepted.
Cain's offering was never accepted. And the reason is because a person
is never declared to be righteous by his doing, for by grace are
you saved through faith, and it is not of works, lest any
man should boast." Now, Abel did have faith. He didn't have
faith in the blood of that lamb. He didn't think that the blood
of that lamb would take away his sins. He knew just as Hebrews
chapter 10 begins, for it's not possible that the blood of animals
should take away sins. But what he did know and what
he did believe is that blood of that lamb that he sacrificed
pictured the promised one But one that John the Baptist pointed
out that day, behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the
sins of the world. The sacrifice that he offered
pictured the coming one, the one who had been promised to
Abel's parents, Adam and Eve, the seed of the woman. And he
looked forward, he looked to the future, to that promised
one by faith. John Owen explained the difference
in the two offerings in this way, Cain's offering and Abel's
offering. And I quote, Cain considered
God only as a creator and preserver, whereon he offered the fruit
of the earth. Faith, the faith of Abel was
fixed on God, not only as a creator, but as a redeemer also, who had
appointed the way of redemption by sacrifice and atonement."
That's a good explanation of the difference between the two
offerings. Cain, he only considered God
as a creator and preserver, and so he brought a thanks offering
maybe. But Abel, his faith was fixed
on God, not only as a creator, but also as a redeemer who had
appointed the way of redemption. And his appointed way was by
sacrifice and atonement. Now the verse here in our text,
Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 4, tells us that by his offering,
by Abel's offering, that he obtained witness that he was righteous,
God testifying to his gifts, to his offering. What does that
tell us? It tells us that God in some
way testified to Abel's offering. He testified to the fact that
he accepted Abel's offering. Now we're not told how God testified. Most of the writers believe it
was by fire. Like when Elijah confronted those
false prophets on Mount Carmel. You remember his bullock on the
altar. God testified that Elijah was
God's prophet by fire coming down from heaven and consuming
the sacrifice, the stones, and licking up the water. And when
Solomon dedicated the temple, you can read this, I believe
it's in 2 Chronicles, But when Solomon dedicated the temple,
the scripture says, when Solomon had made an end of praying, you
remember he was dedicating the temple and he was praying before
the people and the sacrifices, the offerings were there on the
altar, evidently, because it says, when Solomon had made an
end of praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed
the burnt offering and the sacrifices. So most of the writers believe
this is a way by which God testified. He testified to the acceptance
of Abel's sacrifice, and he didn't to Cain's. And Cain got mad. He was wroth, wasn't he? No doubt
he saw. However it was that God testified
that he accepted Abel's offering, Cain knew immediately God didn't
accept his offering, and he was robbed. He was mad. Now, a second
way that God testifies to Abel's offering, and that he was accepted
by God on the basis of faith, faith in Christ and the promised
one, The scriptures, this verse itself testifies that Abel was
righteous. How does God testify today? The witness that God gives today
to those who believe in Christ for righteousness is God, the
Holy Spirit. Look with me in Romans chapter
five, Romans chapter five. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God, and not
only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation
worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope,
and hope maketh not ashamed, because, now notice, because
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost
which is given unto us. Justified by faith, everyone
who is justified by faith, the Holy Spirit is given unto us. And as it says, his love, the
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. In other words, we
are convinced of God's great love, that God loved us so much
that he gave his only begotten son, that through him, we might
be made right. And also in Romans 8 and verse
16, the scripture says, Beginning with verse 15, for
you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,
Abba, Father. The spirit himself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. So the first
example that the writer brings before us is Abel, which speaks
to us of the righteousness, which is the righteousness of Christ
received by faith, imputed unto all who believe. Now the second
example is Enoch. And the truth that is brought
before us here is that Enoch, by faith, was pleasing, pleasing
to God. Notice again the verses five
and six. By faith, Enoch was translated
that he should not see death, and was not found because God
had translated him, for before his translation he had this testimony
that he pleased God. Pleasing God by faith. And I want to include with this
verse here a verse in Genesis that speaks to us about Enoch,
and it says, And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for
God took him. the writer equates pleasing God
and walking with God as synonymous terms. Pleasing God, walking
with God. Now Enoch's case is unique, no
doubt about that. His case is unique. But still,
those who believe unto righteousness, we are to walk by faith and thus
please God. Listen to two verses from the
New Testament about walking and pleasing God. In Colossians 2
and verse 6, we read, As you have received Christ Jesus the
Lord, so walk you in Him. How did we receive Christ? By
faith. To as many as received Him, to
them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them
which believe on His name." How did we receive Christ? We received
Him by faith. Paul says, so walk as you received
Him. We walk by faith. And also in
1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 1, he wrote, furthermore, then we
beseech you, brethren, and exhorts you by the Lord Jesus, now listen,
that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and
to please God, so you would abound more and more. And I have three
things, hurriedly, quickly rather, have three things to remind us
about walking with God by faith so as to please Him. The first thing about this walking
with God by faith and pleasing Him is we walk by faith expecting
to be with Him in glory. And I say this because of this
verse and the context of this verse. Remember Paul in 2 Corinthians
5 said we walk by faith and not by sight. What's the context
in which he gives that verse? Well, the context is that we
have, if this tabernacle, if this tent is taken down, we have
a building of God eternal in the heavens. And so to walk by
faith, so as to please God, we walk, we live in this life expecting
that when we leave this world, we're going to be with the Lord.
to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. And second,
look with me in 1 John 1, we walk by faith when we walk in
the light. Remember the song we sing sometimes,
Trust and Obey? I forget how that goes, but it
speaks to us of walking in the light of his word. We'll walk
in the light. 1 John 1 verses 5 through 7 says,
this then is the message which we have heard of him and declare
unto you. that God is light, and in Him
is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ,
His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. when we walk with the Lord
in the light of his word. What a glory he sheds on our
way. I believe that's the way the
hymn reads. Yes. Walk by faith, we walk in
the light. We walk in the light, in the
ongoing faith, in the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus Christ. Yes, we fall. Yes, we We fall
into sin, we make mistakes, but we walk in the light of the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ, looking unto him that his blood cleanseth
us. That's ongoing, isn't it? Cleanseth
us from all sin. And third, to walk by faith so
as to please God, is walking in the Spirit, or by the Spirit,
keeping in step, someone said, keeping in step with the Spirit.
Look over in Galatians, and I'll close with this, Galatians 5. So we are made righteous by faith, and we walk by faith
so as to please God. When we take our eye, when we
lose sight of the cross, when we lose sight of the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ, his sacrifice, then we're sure to stumble. But
when we live in the light of God's gracious provision that
he has given us in Christ, then we, like Enoch, will walk with
God. Galatians 5 and verse 16 says, This I say then, walk in the
Spirit. Walk in the Spirit. Look down
to verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. Well, I pray the Lord will bless
this word to all of us here tonight that we may learn about faith
from Abel and also from Enoch. Now, let's sing a verse of a
hymn and we'll be dismissed. Alright, well let's all stand
and turn to number 261 and we'll sing that song, Trust and Obey.
What a wonderful song that is. Trust and Obey.