Abel’s Faith

Please turn in the Word of God to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. If you are visiting with us this morning, we are continuing in our series in Hebrews. So we find ourselves in the 11th chapter now. This is one of the more well-known sections of this epistle.

Hebrews 11. I encourage you to read with me from the first verse. Hebrews 11, verse 1:

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 the 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. 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. But without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

This, beloved, is the Word of God. You are to receive it, and you are to believe it, and live your life by it. And the people of God said, Amen.

Let’s pray.

Lord, help us. Things may be going on in lives present here today that we know nothing about. I know nothing about all the turmoil, the fear, the anxiety, the concern, the worry, the stress, the pressure. So I pray that I will work in thine own mystical yet very real way by the Holy Spirit applying the word, instructing the heart, increasing the faith, and moving the eye away from all the worry to the unchangeable God. So bless us here in this time. Give us the Holy Spirit that these utterances we make may not be mere chaff, but as a living word. So help us, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

One of the truths we, I think, fail to remember as often as we should, is that our faith and commitment to Christ may cost us everything. Living in our own context, that’s not immediately obvious. It costs us things for sure, but few of us have the thought that it may, in the not too distant future, cost us everything. And yet that’s the case.

As the apostle continues to argue along the lines for a true evangelical faith in Christ that works, that acts in obedience to God, he begins with the example of a man who, even though he lived in a very sparse world that seemingly possessed almost no threat whatsoever, came to a very violent end. So you might imagine, maybe this is some of the reason why people have moved in recent days trying to get away from all the sin, all the crime, all the madness of the cities and other states, and trying to move away, find some isolation, some safe space. You would imagine that Abel would have been safe. But he wasn’t. He came to experience, as I’ve said, a very violent end.

By faith, Abel… Why begin with Abel? I don’t know. I can surmise. I was reading some men, and they remarked on the fact that we begin with Abel because Abel’s the first one where we see faith working, doing something, responding. We see it active. But in my mind, as I’ve said to you before, we see it with Adam. In the naming of his wife, that’s a response to the truth. Calling her the mother of the living, calling her Eve, was a response to what God had communicated. And you could say, by faith, Adam called his wife Eve. But it doesn’t say that. And maybe for good reason, Adam’s so identified as being the federal head that plunged him and all his posterity into sin and misery, that it’s so identified there that you move on from there. Or whatever the case, we begin with Abel.

Abel. Abel, I believe, was instructed by his father, Adam, given an example, taught to love God, taught to worship God, taught to sacrifice and rest in the promise of one to come. And so that seed of the woman that should bruise the head of the serpent, that promise gets propagated, gets communicated, gets declared to the children. Children, God has promised a Redeemer. He’s promised one who’s going to save us and deliver us. And so He rested in that, came to embrace that and trust that.

Remember, in the context here, the apostle is showing us that the word that made the world is the word that was believed by the Old Testament saints. See that in verse 3. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. What’s the significance? So that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. And the idea is that the word that made the worlds is the same word that men are trusting. So this Word can bring everything out of nothing, this Word can be trusted, even if or should it cost you everything. This is what we see in Abel.

And so this morning, we will confine our thoughts to what is found in verse 4. Abel’s faith. Abel’s faith. And we’ll see a few things here. First, is Abel’s faith expressing worship? Also obtaining righteousness and communicating a legacy.

So first, expressing worship. Abel’s faith expressing worship. Verse 4, by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. He offered unto God.

So, we have the narrative that brings us to Genesis 4, where Cain and Abel are introduced to us as those who are worshipping. They are worshipping God. Both of them, not just one of them, both of them are endeavouring to worship God. They come with their activity looking very similar, bringing themselves in an outward fashion to worship the Lord, to give what they believe is due to the Lord, and so on. And we find then that one is accepted and one is not, and has much to teach us.

But as I meditated on it afresh, coming to preach on this text, I saw, first of all, the similarities between Cain and Abel. I think you can’t appreciate the distinction unless you see how they are similar. And there’s remarkable similarity when you think about it. You see these two young men, these brothers coming into the presence of God.

First, they both have been taught to worship the true and living God. So they’ve had the favor that our children here this morning receive. You children are taught. And so Cain and Abel are reflected in you. You can see them having the same experience like you, although you’re taught much more than they were taught, but they were still taught. Both of them were taught. The truth was put before them. What God revealed was laid out before them. They were instructed, both of them equally.

Also, they both have a place where they worship. They bring their offering. And it implies there was a place to bring their offering. So there’s some place. Maybe Adam set it up. Maybe they set it up themselves. I don’t know exactly, but there’s some place. Is it the exact same place? I imagine it’s in proximity at least. And so they come to a location together, both of them bringing themselves to worship. They’re gathering to worship.

Thirdly, they both engage in worship then. They don’t just attend, they engage in it. They come to the place and then they engage in worship.

Fourthly, they both believe God is worthy of worship. Cain comes believing God is worthy of worship, just like his younger brother Abel.

Fifth, they both believe man is a sinner and needs to be reconciled to God. The act of bringing sacrifice shows something at least of there being an awareness, some kind of awareness of a need for some kind of sacrifice, that God needs something, or at least there is something that should typify this gulf that exists between man and God.

Sixth, they both believe God then demands a sacrifice, they understand that. They both are coming with something because they understand God demands this.

And finally, they both desired God’s favor. They wanted the favor of God, both of them.

Those are seven things. And when you pull them all together, right out of the gate, you can see how, as men and women and boys and girls gather for worship, they are always a mixed multitude, so to speak, always.

I know that some want to look at language we’ve already considered in Hebrews 8 where it says they shall all know me from the least to the greatest. But as I said back then, I don’t see how that can be fulfilled here.

I’m going to say something else I did not notice until I was meditating on this for this message: even in death, there is still mixture. There is not a unified perfect body of believers worshipping God without mixture until after the resurrection of the body.

Think of it: your soul goes to be with Christ, which is far better, but your body is still mixed, mixed with the unbelieving in the soil or wherever it was left. It’s left there, part of you, you that has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, your body still mixed with the unredeemed.

It will not be until the resurrection, when body and soul are brought together and we have the great judgment day, and the wheat and the chaff are separated, the lambs and the sheep and the goats are separated. Not until then will there be the full expression of new covenant blessings on which everyone will know me from the least to the greatest.

Right at the beginning, you have a mixture. And the implications of that are very clear to you and to me. That there is a distinct reality in the fact that before me is a mixture where some of you believe and some of you do not. Some of you are washed in the blood of Christ and some of you are not. Some of you understand that your sin can only be forgiven by the personal work of Jesus Christ, and some of you are either failing to understand or refusing to believe it.

We’re all here, you look well, you smile maybe as you leave the house of God, you shake my hand like everyone else, and as far as I can tell, you’re fine. But what does God see? He offered unto God.

Abel’s act of offering teaches us two critical truths about worship. First, his beliefs had been instructed by God. His beliefs had been instructed by God. By faith, Abel offered unto God. Why did he offer unto God? Because he had been taught. His father spoke prophetically to him about what God requires. Romans 10:17, “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” By faith, Abel offered. By faith, Abel offered. That faith was taking God’s promise. He was believing the promise and responding to that word. His offering was not arbitrary. It reflected an understanding of what God would reveal to his parents.

In Genesis 3, you remember that after Adam and Eve sinned, God killed an animal and clothed them with the skin of that animal. And they obtained then a standing before God, an acceptance before God through the covering of that substitute. The shedding of the blood, the covering of the skin showed to them what they needed. And they believed that. And then they communicated that we must believe to their children so that they would understand it as well. And Abel then, his offering demonstrated his submission to the Word, his belief in the Word.

His beliefs had been instructed by God. We’ll look a little more at that in just a moment, but also his actions had been instructed by God. His action, not just what he believed in his head, but then what he did was instructed by God. He saw, he understood by God taking an animal and killing it and pointing to the need for substitutionary atonement. He saw that and he acted in turn in relation to that.

His life then was governed. His beliefs manifested in obedience. He did not just worship based on his reasoning or his preference, but approached God the way God revealed. And so he came to God as God had told his parents, and maybe even had revealed to him in some fashion as well, we don’t know.

So that’s the first head, expressing worship. You see him, Abel, offered unto God. He’s worshiping here, he’s expressing worship, but also obtaining righteousness.

Obtaining righteousness 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.

So there’s an obtaining of righteousness here. He obtains righteousness. And this is really important because this whole book is dealing with a people who are meant to understand that they need righteousness. They need to be found righteous before God. They are concerned about being found righteous before God. These Hebrew believers, based on their background as well as the gospel that had been preached unto them, they are understanding they need righteousness.

So here’s a man who obtained righteousness. Way back in the beginning, he obtained righteousness. Well, how?

A few things. First, it is only possible by faith. It is only possible by faith. If you get nothing else, understand this. Do not miss the fact, look at it, that Abel’s faith precedes the offering. It precedes the offering. He’s not being considered righteous because of the offering itself. That the offering in some way was how he obtained this righteousness.

Don’t misunderstand what it’s saying. Don’t understand that to be that the sacrifice itself is how he obtained righteousness. Think about it just for a second. If you’re reading this book in one continuous sitting, we have just read in the previous chapter that the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin. Animals cannot, the sacrifice of animals cannot deal with the problem of sin. And so his righteousness cannot be based then upon the sacrifice itself, that he’s seen righteous because an animal was killed. It is the faith then that is the instrument that he is leaning upon, resting upon, believing something that is typified by the sacrifice.

Was he believing? Well we know at the very least, Genesis 3:15, at the very least that is his understanding, that is the divine revelation. There may have been more. But God’s Word tells us at the very least, He promised the seed of the woman will bruise the head of a serpent. And Abel is understanding that someone else, not me, someone else, the seed of the woman, someone other than me is going to deal with the problem of sin, is going to deal with the enemy, and is going to purchase for us reconciliation to God.

By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice by which he obtained righteousness. He stands there because his faith is laying hold on the promise. His faith is believing the promise. His faith is resting on the sufficiency of God’s provision alone.

So this is important. Again, the blood of bulls and goats can’t deal with sin. This is central to what we’ve already considered in this book. And then we can’t then sort of ignore what we’ve already read and say, “Look, Abel was made righteous because of the animal that he offered to God.” No. It’s an expression.

All of the faith in Hebrews 11 has a visible manifestation. It shows something. It is seen in the life, but that what you see in the life is not what saves. It’s not the worshiping, it’s not the obeying that saves them. That’s a response to the faith, the saving faith that they possess.

And this is important for us to understand. Faith, as our confession says, is the alone instrument of justification. Faith is the alone instrument of justification. It’s the conduit, it’s the means whereby we obtain what it is we need, we believe. So the promise is over there, the promise of forgiveness, the promise of pardon, and faith is the means whereby we seize it and it becomes ours. But the faith itself, the thing that reaches, isn’t what saves, it’s what God has offered that saves, it’s what God has provided that saves. And faith is the means whereby we appropriate it and it becomes ours.

In the confession in chapter 11, the opening paragraph is packed full of significance around this, and I commend it to you for your own meditation. But let me read it to you just to whet your appetite: “Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifies, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous.” How? How does he do this? Not for anything wrought in them or done by them. The righteousness is not something done in us or something done by us, but for Christ’s sake alone. Not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing. So it’s not just, “Well I give you faith, you believe and there’s how you’re justified.” No. Or any other evangelical obedience to them as their righteousness, but by imputing, crediting, giving, gifting the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves, but as the gift of God.

So, understand, what’s it saying? That it’s all Christ. Christ is the object. I’ve gone over this before, but it bears repeating, because if you miss this, you miss everything. Christ is the object. Christ is our salvation. And the Old Testament saints, so if you think about us, what are we doing? We’re looking back. The promise of salvation in the Messiah, who lived and died and rose again, and is currently at the right hand of the Father. We don’t see it. We didn’t live through the historical event, but we believe the promise, we see Him by faith, we rest in our faith, seize upon Him as Jesus Christ. He saves. His blood washes away sin. His obedience is what I need before God. And Abel, looking forward, seeing something through the promise of Genesis 3:15, seeing God’s provision of another, does the same thing. His faith reaches out and seizes on that promise. The object of that promise being God’s substitute, the redeemer himself, the mediator of the elect, Lord Jesus Christ—taking Him, believing on Him and finding that to be the grounds of righteousness before God.

So it’s only possible by faith. The righteousness here is only possible by faith.

I’m going to read about Abraham who also was declared righteous before God and others as well. And the only reason they find that is because they believe the promise of God. They take that word and see God’s provision for them. So obtaining righteousness, it is only possible by faith.

Secondly, it is always expressed or proven by works. It is always proven or expressed by works. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. So he’s doing something here. His faith does something. By faith, he acts. By faith, he, we would say, obeys. And it’s superior, right? His offering, as we know, if you go back to Genesis 4, you will see it. Maybe we should just go back and refresh our memories. Go to Genesis 4. Take time to read a few verses that open up this history for us.

Genesis 4, verse 1: 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 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, 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. 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 slew him.

So there’s a lot there, but we’re not preaching Genesis 4, but you see that the faith is expressed by works. Now, you can see that this is the case for both of them. Cain had some kind of faith, right? And this is what’s so important because if you say salvation is just the existence of faith, then Cain’s saved. He has some kind of a faith. He has some kind of a faith, but it’s not a saving faith. So there’s a distinction here then in how their faith, what it did, what their faith, what was the outworking of their faith. It’s not a saving faith. It’s not a saving faith.

So, first you see the distinction in the type of the offering. Abel brings a lamb and Cain brings something from the fruit of the ground, right? Some kind of grain or something he grew. So Abel here brings the first thing of the flock. And in doing so, he couldn’t bring that without the shedding of it. So it involves the shedding of blood. It involves a sense of substitution, a sense of being in the place of and offering up the life and atonement and so on. And so it acknowledged the seriousness of sin. By its very nature, you see the seriousness of it. There’s no bringing this back. There’s no undoing this. Right? The ending of this animal’s life is something that cannot be reversed. And so it’s pointing forward to a sacrifice, seeing something that God is going to do in His Son ultimately, and noting the importance of blood being shed in order to address the primary problem that is our sin.

So again, he’s following the pattern that had been set by God. None other than God. God had done this. He had taken an animal, ended his life in order to atone for the sin of Adam and Eve, or at least represent the atonement that they needed. Cain, by contrast, brought the fruit of the ground, right? And here’s where we sometimes forget that in Levitical sacrifices there was scope for grain offerings, meat offerings as they’re translated in the Authorized Version. And so you can bring of the fruit of the ground, right? The type of that offering isn’t completely eliminated, but it was never intended for atonement. It was never intended for atonement.

So, if we can dive a little and maybe try to read into Cain’s mind a little more, Cain is failing to understand, though he’s sacrificing, he’s failing to understand that there’s a certain type of sacrifice necessary. And that even if he wants to offer the grain, something that atones for sin must be present. Sin kills. And grain, in one sense, it does not live the way creatures live. It’s not animate in that way. And so it’s not the same, even when you talk about it dying, but it’s not the same. It’s not the same. It’s not the same. And so it does not point to the need for that. It does not signify essential truths in the heart of the gospel that God made plain when He was teaching Adam and Eve. So he’s pulling back from that. He’s not understanding. If he wanted to bring a grain offering, there would be provision for that, but not to at all, not to deal with or point to what’s necessary in order to deal with the real problem, which is sin.

But not only the type of the offering, the quality of the offering is distinct. If you look at it again, you will see that Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock. These are the primary, the most valuable, the best, and of the fat thereof. So he doesn’t hold that back either. This is showing his devotion, showing his love, his recognition of what God demands. In fact, in Leviticus 3, it says that all the fat is the Lord’s. He lays claim to it. And Abel, again, he’s offering the whole kit and caboodle, so to speak. It’s all theirs, to the Lord. The whole offering given to God is for Him.

And the fact that it’s firstfruits or the firstlings, that idea of bringing the best of his flock, shows again the significance of giving God the first, the best, the primary of what he possessed. But that doesn’t happen for Cain. The quality of his offering is not made distinct, it’s more general. He brought the fruit of the ground. It’s not the first harvest, as it were. It’s not the first fruits of the offering of the ground. Otherwise, it might say that. It’s just the offering of the ground.

So again, in terms of the quality, the type, the distinct things themselves, and then the quality of it. Not just the different types, but the different quality of what is being offered, and that is not without significance. It shows something of Cain’s heart versus Abel’s heart. Abel’s doing his best, he’s giving to God the best because, because what God is going to give is the best, His Son. Cain, in contrast, doesn’t understand that level of commitment, that level of sacrifice. So Cain’s offering then showed no indication of that, of giving the best. So it shows him something being held back in his heart. Maybe a casualness in the way he’s approaching God. A self-reliance indeed.

But also, it’s obtaining righteousness. Yes, it is only possible by faith. It is always expressed by works. But also, it is always seen by God. It is always seen by God. Go back to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, 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. By which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts.

Now you saw there in Genesis 4 what was said. I’ll read it again to you. Genesis 4, verses 4 and 5: The Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect. There are two aspects of that. Do you notice it? There’s the person and the gift. The person and the gift. And in Cain, there’s a problem with both; in Abel, there is not. There’s obedience and that which honors God.

But what does it mean to respect? What does it mean that the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering? But unto Cain and to his offering, He had not respect. Let me use the language of A.W. Pink to answer that succinctly. He says, “Whosoever God accepts or respects, He testifieth him to be righteous.” If God accepts you, the testimony is righteous. Let that sink in. Do you want to be accepted by God? On the great day when you’ll give account of yourself before God, when the books will be opened, when you have to stand before the terribleness of divinity and give account, no place to run, no place to hide. Do you want to be accepted? Then you must be righteous. If you’re not righteous, you will not be accepted. You must be righteous. Not righteous to me, not righteous to your parents, not righteous to your children, not righteous to your neighbors, not righteous to friends or church members. Righteous before the piercing view of God.

Now how, how can you know? On that day, that will be unlike any other day you will ever experience. How can you know you are righteous? Because until you figure that out, you have no guarantee that you are accepted. Abel obtained witness that he was righteous. God accepted Abel and his offering. He had respect unto. In other words, He’s declaring righteous, and with Cain, unrighteous. What made the difference? Well, we’ve already given the answer. Think of the two aspects here, the person and the gifts. That’s what the verse focuses on.

Hebrews 11:4 draws from Genesis 4 and shows the two distinct things: Abel and his offering, Cain and his offering. Look at Hebrews 11:4, it does the same thing, where it speaks that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. There’s the “he,” there’s the man himself, and what he offered. So in the recognizing of his person, he recognized it as righteous. He saw Abel as righteous. How? Simply because of the offering that he gave? No. Again, I told you, it’s not by the blood of bulls and goats or the lambs or whatever that you can obtain this righteousness. It is by faith. By faith, you rest on the promise.

Again, keep the context. What has the previous verse done? It elevates the Word. The Word of God that made the worlds. And He runs then into, proceeds into these people who did what? What did they do? They believed the Word. The Word that made the world, they believed. I’m not talking about the same language that simply God made the world. I’m talking about the One who uttered and spoke the world into existence. They say, “Well, His Word made the world. I’m going to believe His Word as is revealed to me.” How could you do anything else?

And so Abel heard from his parents at the very least, and maybe directly from God, about what is the right way to worship. And by faith, he said, “Yes, yes, there’s no way righteousness can come by me, no way salvation can be found in me, no way I can obtain a standing before God by my own works. I believe His promise, and His promise says, ‘The seed of the woman.’ And I believe it.” Are you following? You need to get this. And by that faith, by faith that laid hold on the promise, he is declared forensically, legally righteous. This is the One you see is going to come, and He’s going to be the righteous One. He’s going to be given the title Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. He is the One who’s going to fulfill the law, every jot and tittle. He’s going to render obedience on behalf of His people so that His people, by faith in Him, can receive by faith a standing that is declared righteous.

So his person is righteous. What’s God saying? Yes, that’s the gospel. That’s what God is saying. That’s the gospel. This is the way. It’s a blood-sprinkled way. Substitutionary death. It’s atonement by blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.

And again, this book has been establishing this very thing. Hebrews, if you read it in its context, has been laying up that very clearly. There must be shedding of blood, but the blood of bulls and goats will not do the job. It is the blood of God’s Son. It’s the blood of Jesus. The precious blood of Jesus. Our sins are washed away.

God testified of his gifts. Again, I don’t know exactly how this went down, how God declared that, but in some way made it known. We know, again, if you think about it even in your mind, God comes and does communicate with Cain. This is at a time when they have no Bible, they don’t have a record that tells them everything, so in some way God was free and came and communicated mercifully with these, as He did with their parents, Adam and Eve. He came to talk with Adam in the cool of the day and met with him and preached the gospel to him and gave his promise and encouragement. And He’s still doing the same thing. The Lord said unto Cain. So in some way, even prior to that, there’s this declaration, this affirmation that the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. I don’t know. I don’t know exactly how.

You think of Elijah, you think of the time whenever Aaron’s sons were set aside for the priesthood, you think of the time when Solomon dedicated the temple. On all three of those occasions you have God sending fire upon the sacrifice. Maybe, I don’t know. That’s how the testimony came. Fire came from heaven, consumed the sacrifice. God’s testifying yes to this and no to the other. Cain’s angry.

The point is God always sees it. He sees the person and He sees the gifts. He sees the individual righteous before God and then the life of faith that walks in harmony with it. Let’s put it this way: If you’re justified by faith in God’s promise of a Son, then you’re going to proclaim that message consistent with what you believe. That’s what Abel did. Cain did not. His person was not righteous and his offering did not proclaim the truth either. So God testifies against it.

All right, that brings us in finally to communicating a legacy.

Communicating a legacy. Because if you look at the verse again: By it he being dead yet speaketh. By his faith. By his faith—maybe you might say his gift as well, but certainly his faith, being dead, he yet speaks. He yet speaks, he does. Abel yet speaks. I mean, this morning’s sermon is evidence of that very fact. Abel still speaks. And he spoke even to Jesus. Abel’s life encouraged, comforted, spoke to our Lord Jesus. Luke 11, verses 50 and 51, Jesus says, Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

And you have to believe that brought Him some comfort, because He knew what was coming. Didn’t He? He knew He was going to come in the train of these faithful men. He’s coming in the same way as these people. That’s what unites them all. Those in Jesus’ generation were those to whom the oracles of God had been committed. When it comes to looking at the world before the flood, looking at Adam, looking at Eve, looking at Cain and Abel, these are the same. To them was committed the oracles of God. And you find among them the oracles of God. The Lord Jesus was going to experience the very same thing. He is standing in the midst of those who have the oracles of God. They have the Word of God and they’re going to kill Him.

So how is it a legacy? How is it a legacy? What are the ways in which we see this legacy of Abel? 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. What does he speak? What’s the legacy here that he says to you and to me?

First, there is only one way to God. Abel’s legacy communicates God’s inflexibility when it comes to how we approach God. Cain’s not a rabid atheist. Cain’s not a God denier, God hater, at least initially. He’s not rejecting; he’s not declining away from the responsibility to render worship to God in public worship. Cain is someone found in church, so to speak. I envisage Adam setting up a place of worship. Here’s a place that’s sort of set apart or in some way distinct from all their other responsibilities and their tilling of the land and their keeping of the sheep and everything else going on. It’s distinct. It’s for worship. We keep that place for worship. And Cain comes there, gathers there like others do, gathering in churches here and many other places. But God is inflexible in this, and Abel shows it. There’s one way to God, you don’t make it up. You don’t invent it. You don’t say to yourself, I think God will be okay because I’m doing the best that I can. Your best, if it rejects or undermines the gospel, will not be accepted.

You go to church—so did Cain. You give of what you have—so did Cain. You believe in God—so did Cain. And go down the list. But ask yourself, do you admit, do you accept, do you submit to God’s exclusive way of salvation? Abel did. Abel didn’t try to make it up. He took God’s Word and he acted on it. This is why this church must constantly, this generation, future generations, should the Lord tarry, maintain singular focus on what it is that makes the difference in man’s eternity. Are there doctrines we can disagree on? Yes. Can we sometimes look at those teachings? Absolutely. But we cannot get off the primary message. What you do when you leave these doors and enter into your community, you can argue. Someone might say, What do you think about the book of Revelations? As they often say, the book of Revelations, what do you think? Do you think we’re in the last of the last days or whatever? Do you think Jesus is about to come back? And you can discuss it all day long. And you can talk about the nuances and you can, maybe they watched some of the Left Behind series and they’re filled with all sorts of dramatic visuals in their mind. And you can talk about it all.

You must get them to the point. It has to be this laser focus. This is the fundamental difference. This is what matters. There’s one way to God, Jesus Christ. Do you believe in Him? Have you submitted to Him? Is He all your life? Is He your only righteousness? Abel was not willing to compromise on that.

I don’t know if you noticed, but in that little detail before Cain talks with Abel, there’s a conversation. There’s a conversation. Cain didn’t just go from what God said and go and kill his brother. They talked. I wonder what they talked about. I wonder if Cain challenged his brother and said, Do you really believe there’s only one way? Do you not think God is being a little narrow in saying that your way was right and my way was wrong? And maybe Abel took a stand to his big brother and he said, No, Cain, you know this, there’s one way to God. Cain rises up in his anger and kills his brother who was simply being faithful. There’s one way of salvation.

Secondly, there’s always opposition to that one way. Abel’s legacy shows there’s always opposition to that one way. Always. His murder, his martyrdom at the hands of his brother, reflects the enmity between those who accept God’s Word and those who reject it. This pattern of hostility seen in the first siblings on the planet continues throughout scripture, throughout history. Remarkably, focusing so often on that hostility between siblings. The brothers. The brothers who know the same truth. The brothers who are meant to believe the way you do. But they don’t. We’re all surprised. We’re surprised when our family turns against us. Why are you surprised? It’s there in Genesis 4. Then you go to Jacob and Esau and Joseph and his brothers and on and on it goes. Until finally, again, you see Jesus. And Stephen, standing amidst his kin, his brothers, according to the flesh, in a fashion. There’s always opposition to the one way.

And what is happening to the Hebrews? What is the context of the book? It is opposition. They’re facing opposition to the one way to God. Aren’t they? This whole theological treatise, this majestic sermon, is about the one way to God. You deviate from this way, you perish.

But also, the legacy is that God honors those loyal to the one way of salvation. He honors those who are loyal to it. Those who stay faithful to the message, Abel as he talks with his brother after they, as they walk home from church. Those who stay faithful to the message. Or Jesus as He is interrogated all night by the high priest and those with Him. God honors those loyal to the one way of salvation.

You see it wonderfully, and this is where we’ll close, Revelation 6. The language here is the same. For the purpose of this morning, you can draw the conclusion of God seeing and paying attention to those who remain loyal to the one way of salvation and honor them.

Revelation 6, reading from verse 9: And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God. And I saw them, and I saw them, and I saw them, for the testimony which they held. The Word of God. That’s what they held to. That’s what Abel held to. This is the whole point of Hebrews 11. These people, by faith, God promised something, they believed it, even to their own hurt. Same here. Last book of the Bible. They cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? God, are You going to act? Do You see it? Do You understand the injustice of what they have done? And white robes were given unto every one of them. And it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

There are others that are going to suffer as you did, and I will honor them as well. Then I will mete out the vengeance necessary on your enemies and on Mine.

Does the promise of eternal life, the knowledge of your sins forgiven, the awareness of adoption into the family of God, of acceptance before God the Judge, does the promise of eternal life, in balance with the threat of losing everything, does your possession of those benefits—forgiveness, adoption, acceptance, and so on and so forth—are you prepared, if necessary, for it to cost you everything?

This is the mark of the people of God. Their love for Christ is stronger than death and all the threats of this hostile world. I do not know what you are facing or will yet face in your family or what we will collectively face in the culture ahead in the world around us. I do not know, but I know this. All the threat of death is ever done for the people of God is to raise the honor in which they’re esteemed by the One who already loves them and gave Himself for them. May we value His opinion above the world.

Let’s bow together in prayer. Dear Christian, find comfort and solace in your acceptance in Christ. Rest. Find a refuge there in Jesus and His love for you. Do not seek the hostility of this world. Do not aggravate unnecessarily. Do not dispute on matters of almost irrelevant points in the scheme of things. But when it comes to the way of salvation, do not budge an inch. Stand fast.

Lord, bless us. Give to this people who trust in Thee a resolve to remain faithful. We pray that our Lord Jesus and by our actions that follow, may we remain true to our commitment and may Thy grace be sufficient for us in times of trial and persecution. Bless us, encourage us, until the very day when we finally go to be with Thee. Amen.

Whether it be by a violent, difficult death, or peacefully in our sleep, may we be found, our lives, hid with Christ in God. Hear us, sanctify the afternoon, and may the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit be the abiding portion of all the people of God, now and evermore. Amen.